Introducing Tony Tony Chopper

Lost in the snow after the avalanche, Vivi and Usopp survive but cannot find their way, until they collide with an almost naked Zoro, who insists he was training when the slide hit. The three trek on and end up back in Bighorn, where villagers tell them Dalton is still buried while Wapol's men keep anyone from digging him out. On hearing the guards are foes, Zoro flattens one and earns the crowd's cheers, then coolly admits he merely wanted their warm clothes and that the fight was a bonus.

Inside the castle, Nami comes to in a room shared with a strange creature that walks and speaks yet treats her coldly. Kureha arrives and tells her the whole crew is fine and that she herself only just cheated death: two more days and an illness called Casha would have finished her. Even now, three further days of care are needed, which Nami complains is far too long. The peace breaks when Luffy and Sanji barge in chasing the reindeer to eat it, and Doctorine explains the beast accidentally consumed the Hito Hito no Mi, leaving it able to speak and to take on a human body.

Already glimpsed earlier as an ordinary reindeer and as a humanoid, Tony Tony Chopper now appears in full hybrid form for the first time. His powers come from the Hito Hito no Mi, which grants a reindeer the ability to become human. Kureha links Nami's sickness to the kestia parasite of Little Garden, and it is established that she trained Chopper in medicine.

The cover continues Jango's Dance Paradise, with Jango sliding his glasses down to reveal that his eyes are heart-shaped as well. The chapter formally names Chopper and ties him into the Drum Island story as Kureha's reluctant pupil. It belongs to the Drum Island Arc.