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"Wow!!! This is incredible!"
Chopper followed Tina into the villa area with his eyes wide open, staring at the smooth asphalt road and the neatly arranged houses lining both sides.
"Tina, do you all actually live here? I can't believe anyone built something like this out in the desert!"
Tina smiled and shook her head.
"No, we're just camping here for now. We leave tomorrow."
"Camping?! These houses, and this road, are all just... temporary?!"
Chopper pointed at the villas, then down at the ground under his feet, wearing an expression that strongly suggested he suspected he was being lied to.
"The main reason we can do any of this is because of something like this."
Tina reached into her small backpack, pulled out a capsule, pressed a switch, and tossed it on the ground.
Bang!
A thick cloud of white smoke billowed out. When it cleared, a pink children's pedal bike was sitting on the road in front of them.
"Sugoi!!!"
Chopper's eyes lit up like lamps.
"It's called a Koi-Poi Capsule. It stores real objects and releases them on demand."
Tina delivered this explanation with complete seriousness.
"That's incredible!!!"
Chopper was just working up to asking where such a thing could possibly be purchased when a calm male voice reached them from nearby.
"Tina. You sleep through the entire day and then wander around in the middle of the night. Every single night."
Tina spun around.
"Kaito-nii! Why are you still up?"
"I heard you brought in a lost raccoon, so I came to see for myself."
Kaito looked over at Chopper, who had gone red and was visibly fighting the urge to say something.
'It really is Chopper. Which means Luffy and the others are close by.'
His being here was not a coincidence. The guard outside had reported to the captain, the captain had reported to Kaito, and the moment Kaito heard the words "talking reindeer," the answer had been obvious.
He didn't have strong feelings about the Straw Hat Pirates one way or another. They were the protagonists of a story, but this was reality. If the chance to help came naturally, he'd take it. He wasn't going to go out of his way.
"Something wrong? The little raccoon is looking upset."
Kaito watched Chopper seethe in silence with a faintly entertained expression.
"I... I... I'm a—"
Chopper remembered the guard's warning before he'd been let in. The words died in his throat.
"Kaito-nii! Chopper is clearly a reindeer. Stop teasing him."
Kaito let it go. He straightened up, extended his right hand, and smiled.
"You're right. Sorry about that. I'm Kaito."
Chopper looked at the hand, then at the easy smile on his face, and found himself reaching back before he'd quite decided to.
"I'm Chopper. A reindeer. Not a raccoon."
"Obviously. How could you be a raccoon when you're this cute?"
"Hehe! Flattery doesn't work on me! Idiot!"
Chopper was completely immersed in being flattered. Kaito laughed.
"Alright, Chopper. One question — where are the rest of your crew?"
Chopper came back to himself fast. His eyes went wary and his body shifted into a stance that was clearly calculating escape routes.
"How do you know I'm with the Straw Hats?"
Kaito reached into his pocket and produced a wanted poster. He held it up.
It showed a drawing of Chopper with an expression of pure bliss, staring at a fistful of cotton candy.
Below it, a bounty.
"Isn't this you? Little reindeer, fifty Berries."
(The bounty only appeared after Enies Lobby in the original. The author moved it up here for the sake of the plot — it doesn't affect anything of consequence.)
"Ehh?!"
Chopper stared at the poster. Then he stared at Kaito with the quiet, braced expression of someone who has accepted their fate.
"Are you going to turn me in?"
'Luffy. Everyone. I don't think I'm making it back. I hope the journey goes well for all of you.'
Kaito reached out and ruffled the top of his head.
"Haha. I never said anything about catching you. Relax — I don't have bad intentions. And honestly, if I did, it wouldn't matter how many of your crew showed up."
He glanced toward the edge of the camp.
"Not that I need to ask anymore. Your friends don't really trust you, do they? They're all hiding just outside the perimeter. Should I invite them in?"
Chopper's face crumpled.
"Everyone... Wuwuwu!"
"Alright, stop crying. Come on, bring them in. I want to meet this famous crew of yours."
He glanced back. "Tina, you too."
"Okay!"
Tina fell into step beside him. Chopper scrambled to catch up.
Outside the camp, Nami lowered her telescope.
"Vivi, I can't believe Alabasta has a town this developed sitting in the middle of the desert."
Vivi's expression had gone quiet and thoughtful.
"Nami... as far as I know, there is no town like this anywhere in any desert in this country. I have no idea what this is. My father might know something."
Sanji's voice was careful.
"Then whoever is in there probably isn't rebels, and probably isn't working for Crocodile."
"I wouldn't be sure of that either. The whole country is in chaos right now. There are too many different groups moving around. I can't say for certain whose people they are."
"Then why don't we just go in?!" Luffy was already moving. "Chopper's been in there forever. What if they grabbed him? I'm going—"
Usopp caught him by the collar.
"Luffy! We talk first! Use your brain for five seconds!"
The group fell into anxious silence.
"Hold on." Zoro raised his telescope. "Isn't that Chopper?"
Everyone lifted their telescopes at once and looked.
A young man was walking toward them at the front, a small blonde girl holding his hand beside him.
And trailing just behind the two of them, unmistakably, was Chopper.