Chouchou

Chouchou is a dog from Orange Town, famed for his unceasing vigil over the pet-food shop founded by his deceased owner. He is classified as a Type B creature, "Small Friendly".

He is an ally of the Straw Hat Pirates during the Orange Town Arc.

Appearance
Chouchou is a small white dog with thin ears, beady black eyes, and a short, whisk-like tail. During the Buggy Pirates' occupation of Orange Town, he bore several wounds.

After the town—and particularly his master's shop—was revitalized, he donned a black bow-tie to celebrate.

Personality
Above all, Chouchou is undyingly loyal to the memory of his late master Hocker, having dedicated the rest of his life to guarding Hocker's pet-food shop. Though generally stoic and unmoving, he will not hesitate to attack anyone who mistreats him or threatens the shop.

In rare cases, he can extended his loyalty to newcomers—as he did for the Straw Hat Pirates, helping them escape a misguided mob of townsfolk after Monkey D. Luffy avenged his shop's destruction.

Abilities and Powers
Despite his small size, Chouchou is shown to be very tough, being capable of taking several hits from Richie, a relatively large lion.

Past
Roughly thirty years after Orange Town was founded, Hocker—with Chouchou at his side—opened its first shop dedicated solely to pet food. Though business was often slow, the pair lived happily and inseparably for a decade.

Eventually, Hocker developed an illness, and while seeking medical attention left Chouchou to watch over the shop; this would be their final interaction, as Hocker quickly succumbed to the illness and died. Regardless, Chouchou kept to his assignment, spending day and night beside the shop and surviving mostly on feedings from the town mayor Boodle (who came to believe that Chouchou understood his master's fate, and treasured the shop purely as a memento).

Several months after Hocker's death, the Buggy Pirates invaded Orange Town. While all its human inhabitants fled to the outskirts, Chouchou still refused to leave the shop, even enduring multiple wounds from the invaders. During lulls in their activity, Boodle would occasionally sneak back to resume Chouchou's feedings, as well as (unsuccessfully) entreating him to join the evacuation.

Orange Town Arc


Following their first battle with the Buggy Pirates, Nami, Roronoa Zoro and Monkey D. Luffy—the latter trapped in a cage—encountered Chouchou and his shop. When prodded by the curious young pirate, Chouchou immediately bit Luffy, then spitefully ate the cage's only key. Fortunately, Boodle intervened in time to prevent any serious damage, and fed Chouchou while explaining his story to the Straw Hats.

Shortly after, the shop was approached by the Buggy Pirates' First Mate Mohji and his lion Richie. Undaunted, Chouchou bit the self-proclaimed "Beast Tamer" at the first opportunity, much to Luffy's amusement. Enraged by their defiance, Mohji and Richie attacked Luffy—cage and all—as well as the shop. Though Chouchou fought with all his effort, he was easily defeated, and could only watch as Mohji burned the shop to the ground.



Inadvertently, Richie's attack freed Luffy, who quickly grew to emphasize with Chouchou's grief, and avenged him by beating both Richie and Mohji senseless. Afterward, Luffy retrieved a pack of dog-food—the only item to survive the burning—and gave it to Chouchou.

Afterward, Chouchou left the town to join the evacuees.

Chouchou later helped the trio escape from the angry townspeople after Luffy revealed that he was the one who incapacitated the mayor, as well as revealing that he was a pirate. Chouchou was then seen biting Mohji on his rear end while the citizens chased out the remaining Buggy Pirates.

From the Decks of the World
After two years, Chouchou was seen having a grand opening of his giant pet food shop alongside the mayor of Orange Town.

Translation and Dub Issues
Chouchou is a French term translating roughly to "pet", though it is more often used as a term of endearment (or mockery) for human beings than animals.

Due to the fickleness of romanizing katakana, some early fan translations render his name Shushu. However, the proper spelling was confirmed as early as Volume 9's SBS, and is used in all professional English translations. The one known exception is Shueisha's English edition of the 7th popularity poll, which uses the Shushu spelling.

Playable Characters

 * Grand Line Dream Adventure Log

Non-Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Become the Pirate King!
 * Birth of Luffy's Dream Pirate Crew!
 * Aim! The King of Berry
 * Dragon Dream!
 * One Piece (Game Boy Advance)
 * One Piece Treasure Cruise

Trivia

 * Chouchou's unwavering devotion parallels many mythical and real-life accounts of dogs' faithfulness to long-dead masters, most famously Hachikō and Greyfriars Bobby.
 * Chouchou's given age of twelve-to-fourteen—presuming human years, not "dog years"—would be remarkably old for a real-life dog, even those from the longest-lived breeds. However, given that the world of One Piece features humans (e.g. Kureha) able to surpass 140 years without issue, it is possible that dog lifespans are also significantly longer.
 * Chouchou's favorite food is dog food.

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Chouchou Chouchou Shushu Shushu Шушу Shushu