Takes place between Skypiea and the Davy Back Fight

Nami thanked the villager who had helped them and turned back to the crew. "You heard him," she said. "This island's only got an hour of Log, so if you wanna do something here, do it quick! Also—" she pointed to Luffy, Zoro, and Robin. "Since there's a small Navy base here, you three be careful."

"Aye-aye, sir!" Sanji exclaimed. He left the ship, declaring that he would go out for cooking supplies.

"I'll stay here," Zoro muttered. He leaned against the railing and promptly fell asleep.

"Adventure!" Luffy yelled, ignoring Nami and jumping off of the ship with Usopp and Chopper.

"Didn't you listen to me!?" Nami yelled.

"I'll stay here," Robin said calmly.

"Okay," Nami said, relieved. "I think I'll stay here too . . . I hope that idiot doesn't get in trouble."

"Hello?" Chopper called nervously. "Luffy? Usopp?"

He had gotten separated from the two at some point and found himself on the edge of the woods.

"They'll be fine," he said to himself. Yawning, he decided to take a nap and so leaned against a tree, closing his eyes.

Not long after that, two Marines came along the edge of the woods.

"They said anything will do, right?" said one.

"Yeah . . ." said the other. Pointing to Chopper, he said "How about that raccoon dog?"

"It's wearing a hat and pants," the first one said. "It probably belongs to someone."

"No one's here," the second one countered. He knelt and picked up Chopper; the little reindeer didn't wake. "C'mon, let's take it back and see if they can get good results."

"Oh, this is good!" said the doctor as he was handed the sleeping Chopper. "Good work, you two!"

The two Marines saluted and left. The doctor brought Chopper over to a table and laid him down.

"What do you think?" he said to the other doctor in the room.

"I think it will work fine," said the second doctor.

At this point, Chopper sleepily opened his eyes. He looked around, alarmed; he saw the doctors standing above him and started screaming.

"It's awake!" yelled the second doctor. The first doctor seized Chopper, preventing the little reindeer from moving. Chopper was too scared to change size.

The next thing he knew, there was a prick in his arm; he involuntarily relaxed and his eyes drooped.

"Sedative," he heard one of the doctors say as he fell unconscious.

"Luffy!" Usopp yelled, charging back to his friend.

"What?" Luffy asked, alarmed.

"Bad news!"

"What is it!?"

"Let's go back to the ship first! We need to tell everyone!"

"Tell them what!?"

Usopp was already running to the ship. Luffy shrugged and followed him.

Along the way, they spotted Sanji coming out of a store with several bags on one arm.

"Oh, you two," he said. "What's wrong?"

"Getbacktotheshipnowbigtrouble!" Usopp yelled as he ran past Sanji.

"Idunnowhat'shappeningbutit'sprobablybad!" Luffy yelled as he ran past Sanji.

Sanji scratched his head, shrugged, and ran after the two.

"What is going on?" Nami demanded as the three leapt onto deck, panting. Robin and Zoro looked up, interested.

"Yeah, you two," Sanji said. "What's going on?"

Luffy looked at Usopp. "Usopp, what's the bad news?"

"Where's Chopper?" Zoro asked, noting the little reindeer's absence.

"That's the bad news!" Usopp exclaimed. "I saw Chopper getting kidnapped! He's in the Navy base!"

"What!?" Luffy yelled. "That's bad!"

"Why the hell didn't you stop them!?" Sanji yelled.

"By the time I saw them, they were already going inside!"

"Well, that's no problem," Zoro said, placing a hand on his swords. "I'll bust in there and take him back."

"No!" Nami yelled. "Listen, obviously we're going to get him back, but Luffy, Zoro, and Robin can't go! Those three have bounties!"

"So?" Sanji demanded.

"So we need someone who can steal a uniform without being recognized," Nami explained patiently. "This means that it's me, you, or Usopp."

"This is no job for a lady!" Sanji exclaimed. "Usopp, let's do rock-paper-scissors."

Usopp whimpered. "B-Best two out of three goes."

Even though he tried very hard to lose, Usopp ended up winning two games.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed.

"Good luck," Sanji said, slapping him on the back. "Make us proud!"

Usopp mumbled something and jumped off the ship, running for the base.

"Why isn't it working?" demanded one of the doctors impatiently.

"I only injected him ten minutes ago," the second doctor said. "This new formula is supposed to be permanent, but it takes a while to completely set in."

"And in the meantime . . . ?"

"We wait."

A soldier peeked into the area. "Excuse me," he said brusquely, "I've just been told to inform you that the project has been cancelled by the commodore."

"What?" demanded the first doctor.

"But we already injected this raccoon dog with the formula!" exclaimed the second doctor, gesturing to the unconscious Chopper.

"That's not my problem!" said the soldier snappishly. "If you'll excuse me, I have duties elsewhere."

He marched off.

"Now what?" said the first doctor, staring at Chopper.

"I suppose we could run other tests on it," suggested the second. "I'll get the acid."

Another soldier came around the corner into the area. "Excuse m-me, doctors!" he exclaimed.

"We know the project was cancelled," interrupted one of the doctors.

"R-Right," said the Marine, trembling slightly. "Well, I've been ordered to take the reindeer elsewhere. If I may?"

Without waiting for an answer, he approached the table and scooped up Chopper, after which he strode out of the room, breaking into a run once he was out of sight.

If Chopper had been conscious, he would have noticed that the Marine had had an unusually long nose.

Finally back at the ship, still wearing the Marine uniform, Usopp brought Chopper into the kitchen and laid him on the couch. A minute later, Chopper's eyes fluttered and slowly opened. He looked around, confused, and saw the crew standing over him.

"What's going on?" he said sleepily. "Usopp, why are you a Marine?"

Usopp laughed. "This is just a disguise! I'll never be a real Marine, Chopper! Anyway, are you okay?"

Chopper shook his head. "Um . . . oh, right! I got kidnapped!" he said with alarm. "And they put me on a table and knocked me out . . ."

"Calm down," Nami said gently.

Chopper looked up at them with tears in his eyes. "T-Thanks for saving me," he said, crying.

"It was nothing!" Usopp exclaimed. "Only I, Usopp-sama, was brave enough to volunteer for the task!"

"Really?" Chopper asked.

"More importantly," Robin said, "I wonder if they did anything to doctor-san while he was unconscious?"

The others fell silent.

"I don't feel any different," Chopper said nervously.

"We can worry about that later," Nami interrupted.

"Yeah!" Luffy said. "Even if something happens, Chopper, you can fix it!"

Chopper nodded.

"Get some sleep," Sanji said, patting the little reindeer's head. "Come outside when you're rested up."

Chopper nodded again and lay down, closing his eyes. He was asleep within seconds.

"That's so cute," Nami said quietly.

"Yeah, whatever," Zoro said, stretching. "I think I'll take a nap too."

The crew, minus Chopper, left the kitchen.

The crew had set sail over an hour ago. Usopp had tossed the Marine uniform carelessly onto the island as they left. He had just gone into the kitchen to check on Chopper, who had not come out yet.

"Bad news! Bad news!"

Everyone looked at Usopp, who was running from the kitchen.

"What now?" Nami said. "Giant flying monkeys are attacking?"

"An army of snakes has invaded?" Zoro suggested.

"Is it those moles again?" Luffy asked eagerly. "I like that story!"

"No, I'm serious!" Usopp yelled. "It's actually really bad news!"

"Spit it out," Sanji said.

Usopp took a deep breath. "Chopper's disappeared!"