The air on Mushroom Island was thick with a complex smell, cloyingly sweet yet pungent.
Countless species of fungi grew, reproduced, and died here. Some towered like spires, others lay low like carpets; some were red as blood, others blue as the sea. Some glowed, while others spewed spores. A thick layer of mycelium covered the ground, soft underfoot and making a squelching sound with each step. The trees had long since died, their trunks crawling with mushrooms and moss of every kind, as though the dead wood had been dressed in a colorful fungal coat.
Chopper walked cautiously over the mycelial carpet, the hoofprints he left quickly covered by new growth. He carried a small backpack stuffed with emergency medicines and medical tools-even though he knew he might have no use for them in the coming fight.
"There are... so many fungi I've never seen before..." he muttered. His instincts as a doctor made him want to crouch down and collect samples, but his vigilance as a warrior kept him on guard. He shifted into his human-beast form, maintaining a height of about three meters, his brown fur particularly conspicuous in this colorful environment.
Thud.
A very soft sound came from ahead.
Chopper looked up and saw a man sitting thirty meters away beneath an enormous glowing mushroom whose cap measured over five meters across.
Hongo.
The Red Hair Pirates' ship's doctor. He looked about forty, his face weathered with maturity, his long brown hair tied back, the scar on the left side of his forehead clearly visible. His gap-toothed grin gave him a cheerful air-but the calm sharpness in his eyes formed a subtle contrast with his smile. He wore a gray coat, open to reveal a lean, muscular chest, and spotless gray trousers. In this environment full