I Sell Gacha Jars in One Piece

The days passed easily as the three of them continued across the sea.

After everything at Ohara, Robin was noticeably more open than she had been when she first came aboard.

"Rocket! I win!"

With nothing to do, the three had taken up a card game to pass the time. Robin and Lily hadn't known the rules at first, but after Amon walked them through it, they picked it up fast. Both girls were sharp, and before long all three were going at it toe-to-toe.

Just now, Robin had thrown down both Jokers and ended the round in one clean move.

"I get to draw a turtle on your face."

"Draw a rabbit on Lily!"

Flushed with victory, Robin reached for the ink brush with a gleam in her eye. It was the first time she had ever played anything like this. She leaned in and began scrawling across their faces with cheerful precision.

"Lost again... I have to win the next one!"

Lily was, at the end of the day, still a child. Her card sense wasn't quite at the level of Amon or Robin, and she ended up on the losing side more often than not. But the little girl refused to accept defeat, and every time she lost she demanded another round.

"Ha! Next hand I'm drawing a tortoise on your face!"

Robin had been scrawling on Amon's face, and he glared at her with exaggerated menace.

"Heh. Say that when you actually win."

"Fine. Both of you just wait." Amon grinned and bared his teeth.

The game resumed. Three minutes later, Robin threw her arms up again.

"Three-with-one, pair of twos. I win!"

Amon stared at his hand. Then at Robin. The sting of a man who had just been made to eat his own words settled over him. He had been the landlord this round, and now both girls were closing in with brushes.

"I'm drawing a manatee."

"And I'm doing a watermelon."

They descended on his face with great enthusiasm.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have arrived at Drum Island. A new mission is now being issued."

Just as the brushes were about to touch his skin, the system chime rang through Amon's mind.

And there it was, a white island rising into view ahead of them.

"Drum Island! We're here! Game's over, game's over!"

Amon was on his feet in an instant, shouting with convenient excitement and putting as much distance between himself and the brushes as possible.

"Drum Island is still far away! You're just being lazy!"

"Exactly! There's plenty of time to finish!"

The two girls weren't buying it. They had finally beaten him, and they weren't about to let the moment slip.

"Ha, my ship's fast. Besides, I need to go get ready. We'll play again next time!"

With that, Amon turned and bolted, leaving two very unimpressed girls behind. Lily was especially put out. That had been one of the rare hands she had actually won against him.

But with him already gone, there was little they could do. Reluctantly, they followed.

...

Drum Island, a place of eternal winter, wrapped in snow year-round, a distinctive stop on the Grand Line home to a kingdom called the Drum Kingdom.

It was also where a certain reindeer was living right now.

"At this point in the timeline, Chopper should still be with Dr. Hiruluk."

That thought settled in Amon's mind as he headed into the island's interior.

...

A crash of sound brought him to a stop.

"Something's fighting up ahead."

Robin and Lily came up beside him. Robin's brow furrowed. She reached out with her ability to sense ahead.

"Let's go."

Amon led them toward the noise.

...

They arrived to a sight that stopped them cold.

A small reindeer wearing a round red hat and carrying a tiny backpack was hurling itself again and again into a large herd. The size difference alone was staggering, let alone the numbers. The little reindeer was covered in blood, battered from every angle.

And yet it kept standing up.

Its eyes were fixed on something in the distance, a single mushroom growing far across the cliffside. That was why it had come. Dr. Hiruluk had told it that mushroom was the only thing that could cure his illness. So it had to get through.

It had to.

The herd charged again. The small reindeer was sent flying, too light to hold its ground against animals three times its size.

...

It hit the snow and coughed up blood.

Then it stood up.

It barely made it to its feet before another reindeer launched from a distance and sent it flying a second time. When it landed, some of the herd moved to push it toward the cliff edge.

The little reindeer looked at the wall of bodies closing in, and something broke in its expression.

It hated how weak it was. If it were stronger, none of this would be happening. The mushroom wouldn't feel so impossibly far. Dr. Hiruluk would already have his medicine.

Maybe this was fine. Maybe this was just how it ended. It was a shame, though. A real shame about Dr. Hiruluk.

The herd surged. The cliff edge was right there. In the instant before the little reindeer went over, a dark figure appeared at its side.

"Get lost."

Amon had recognized him the moment he saw the hat.

There was only one reindeer in all of One Piece who dressed like that. Only one who wore a little round red hat and carried a small backpack on his back.

He stepped forward and let his Conqueror's Haki loose.

The wave hit the charging reindeer like a wall. They were thrown off their feet and slammed hard into the snow. After a moment of thrashing, they looked up at Amon, then turned and ran.

Chopper let out a quiet breath and sank to the ground.

...

"What just happened?"

Robin and Lily arrived a moment later, catching up now that it was over.

"Oh! A tanuki! He's so cute!"

The two girls spotted Chopper lying in the snow and couldn't hold back their reactions.

"I'm not a tanuki! I'm a reindeer!"

Chopper, who had been lying there with barely a breath left in him, somehow found the energy to leap to his feet the moment he heard the word tanuki. He stared them down with as much indignation as a small, battered, hat-wearing reindeer could muster.