One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Seventy Two [Rewritten]

-Chapter Seventy-Two-

"I think he might have fainted out of fear" I said.

"The old kook seems pretty tough, I never took him for a fainter" Usopp remarked as Chopper quickly rushed to the old man's side and pressed his head against his chest.

"Well, he was just cut free with a sword—I'd probably faint also after having something so deadly and sharp that up close and personal with me" I reasoned as I slowly stood now that the threat of being hit with a rock was no more. Crowding around the unconscious old-timer, I smiled as the goat I had been petting quickly followed along behind me.

"Oh no, guys! His heart stopped beating!" Chopper frantically cried when he was unable to locate a heartbeat, causing our eyes to widen as we all leaned away from Zoro.

"Zoro!" Luffy and I scolded.

"You!" Usopp gaped.

"How cruel!" Nami frowned.

"I'll say" Sanji agreed along with the bleating of the goats.

"Hey! I...what I...I didn't—" Zoro stumbled over his words as he frantically looked around, not quite knowing what to say to defend himself.

"I'm a doctor, is there any place nearby where we could stabilize him?" Chopper asked the goats around us. 

-Later-

I boredly kicked my feet from my perch on the porch of the old man's small hut. Fingers lightly scratching the top of one of the goat's head—I'm certain it's the same one from earlier—which was currently resting on my lap.

"I think I'll name you Baxter" I sweetly cooed down at the animal in my lap. "How does that sound?" I smiled as he softly bleated in return as if he was pleased with the name that I had chosen to give him.

"I very well almost lost my life out there, should have known better than to drop my guard around you pirates..." the old man grumbled from inside his hut as he finally came to.

"Oh, come on—it wasn't our fault" Usopp frowned, not liking how the geezer was already starting to put the blame on us for his near death. "You fainted on your own" he defended.

"Your heart stopped because you were shocked to see us, old goat guy" Luffy added.

"On the Grand Line, you encounter surprises stranger than us every day—with that weak ticker of yours, I'm surprised you've lasted as long as you have old-timer" Sanji bluntly remarked.

"Yeah, I'll say" Luffy agreed.

"Just shows how much of a fighter he truly is" I hummed, turning my attention away from petting Baxter so that I could join in on the conversation as the two nodded in agreement.

"We're just happy that Chopper was able to resuscitate you" Nami smiled as the old man sat up in his cot.

"What's there to be happy about, missy? You scared the hell out of me!" he angrily huffed before picking up an abacus from his bedside table. "Not to mention you almost got me killed, now I'm laid up and can't catch up and do my chores! You scallywags owe me—now let's see here, how about 50,000,000 belis to be exact?" he asked, causing the men to instantly walk away.

"That's a bit much, don't you think?" I sweat dropped, scratching my cheek as I watched how he firmly shook his head in disagreement.

"Hey! You're overcharging, aren't you?!" Nami snapped. "At the most, it should be this much!" she huffed as she quickly fixed his supposed mistake.

"You're being stingy—even with a discount, it's closer to this!" the old-timer argued right back as he now fixed her supposed mistake.

"But minus Chopper's consultation fee, it's this" once again did the ginger fixed his supposed mistake.