Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura



Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura (エピソードオブチョッパー+冬に咲く、奇跡の桜, Episoodo obu Choppaa Purasu: Fuyuni Saku, Kiseki no Sakura) is the 9th One Piece film. Released on March 1, 2008, it is a remake of the Drum Island arc (essentially a "what if" story), with Franky and Robin featured as being with the crew and the Thousand Sunny as the ship.

In addition to Wapol, Chess and Kuromarimo, Wapol's older brother, Musshuru appears, with a new Devil Fruit power that allows him to produce poisonous spores. The film reveals that he too had been exiled from Drum Island and is seeking his revenge.

Synopsis
The film begins with a brief flashback in the history of the Great Pirate Age, during which we see how Drum Island was attacked by the Blackbeard Pirates. Wapol, the king at the time, fled the land with the 20 best doctors, not even bothering to fight back. Afterward the film introduces Luffy and his Straw Hat crew.

While sailing the ocean, Nami notices a storm coming in, and alerts the rest of the crew, allowing them to quickly take action and launch the Thousand Sunny away with a Coup De Boost. Almost immediately afterward, Nami collapses from a high fever, and as none of the crew know enough about medicine, they decide to find a doctor to save her.

Upon arriving at Drum Island, the crew receives a hostile reception, but Luffy apologizes and begs them to save Nami. Luffy, Sanji, Robin and Usopp take Nami ashore while Franky and Zoro stay behind. Luffy's group then learns about Wapol, the former king of the island, forcing everyone to only receive treatment from his personal 20 doctors, and of him fleeing the island with those doctors after Blackbeard's invasion. It is revealed that one doctor. Dr. Kureha remains, and that she is a "witch".

Meanwhile, back at the ship, Franky notices a strange ship - the Bliking - and he and Zoro investigate with the Shark Submerge. Soon after they reach the ship, Wapol's men attack them, and Zoro and Franky defeat them. Elsewhere, Wapol and Musshuru begin climbing the mountain, eventually being joined by Wapol's henchmen, Chess and Kuromarimo. Luffy and Sanji get attacked by some Lapans, and they are unable to fight back, fearing that the shock of any blows given or received will kill Nami. An avalanche buries the mountain in snow, and Sanji kicks Luffy out of the way to save him and Nami, being buried in the process. The avalanche sweeps through the town and buries Robin and Usopp, and Robin digs the two of them out and slaps Usopp awake with her powers. Zoro and Franky find a snowmobile and use it to head toward the mountain.

Luffy continues climbing the mountain, barely able to keep himself alive in the extreme cold. Just before losing consciousness, he reaches the top of the mountain, where Chopper saves him and brings him, Sanji and Nami in for treatment, curing Nami of her disease.

Nami learns about Chopper's past, and how he was ostracized by his herd and humanity for being different, but eventually was accepted by Dr. Hiruluk, a quack doctor who believed in the ability of the Sakura tree to cure any illness. Unfortunately, Hiruluk was suffering from a fatal disease, and Chopper's attempt to save him backfired, fatally poisoning him. After Wapol lured him into a trap, Hiruluk declared that the country's sickness would one day be cured before drinking a failed medicine and blowing himself up.

Eventually, Wapol and Musshuru reach the castle, intending to take back Drum Island. Chopper defeats Chess and Kuromarimo. Wapol, using the powers of his Baku Baku no Mi, attempts to shoot Hiruluk's flag off the top of the castle. Luffy protects the flag and starts to fight Musshuru. Musshuru initially has the advantage in speed, but Luffy's Gear Second allows him to keep up with him. Wapol escapes into the castle and eats Musshuru, fusing with him, but Luffy manages to defeat him and send him flying with Gear Third. Some of Musshuru's poisonous spores drift down, but Franky incinerates them with Fresh Fire.

After the battle, Robin and Nami manage to persuade Kureha to let her leave. While Chopper initially believes that he could not possibly be friends with any human, he decides to go with Luffy. Chopper tells Kureha, who berates him, claiming that he is not ready to leave home, and chases him out of the castle. She then orders the Drum guards to fire off Hiruluk's Sakura mixture, resulting in a pink snowfall and causing the mountain on which the castle stands to resemble a Sakura tree. With Chopper in tow, the Straw Hats sail off toward the next adventure.

Cast

 * Luffy - Mayumi Tanaka
 * Nami - Akemi Okamura
 * Zoro - Kazuya Nakai
 * Usopp - Kappei Yamaguchi
 * Sanji - Hiroaki Hirata
 * Nico Robin - Yuriko Yamaguchi
 * Franky - Kazuki Yao
 * Chopper - Ikue Otani
 * Wapol - Bin Shimada
 * Chess - Yūsuke Numata
 * Kuromarimo - Kenji Nomura
 * Dalton - Kenichi Ono
 * Isshi 1 - Takeshi Aono
 * Narration - Mahito Oba
 * Dr. Kureha - Masako Nozawa
 * Dr. Hiluluk - Shigeru Ushiyama
 * Musshuru - Mino Monta

Changes
In addition to the above mentioned changes:


 * Luffy's Gear 2nd and Gear Third appear in the film.
 * Instead of the independant actions he took in the original story (such as swimming in the cold lake), Zoro interacts with Franky throughout the film.
 * Vivi is no longer with the crew, and Robin performs the actions Vivi did during the story, such as slapping Usopp to his senses after the avalanche.
 * Because Vivi is not in the film, Luffy bows to the citizens of Drum Island and begs from them to let his crew pass on his own.
 * Wapol's subordinates are shown to drive around in snowmobiles.
 * Chessmarimo does not appear, as Chess and Kuromarimo are knocked out by Musshuru's spores early on in the climax.
 * Dalton's Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model: Bison powers are never seen or mentioned.
 * The Strawhats do not encounter the Bliking Pirates before arriving at Drum. Additionaly, Dalton doesn not attack Wapol and his men when they arrive in his village.
 * Because Dalton does not get injured, the Isshi 20 instead break away from Wapol to aid those injured in the avalanche.
 * Kureha treating the young boy in Cocoa Weed is removed.
 * There is no lift to Drum Castle.
 * For Wapol's final weapon, he uses the Baku Baku no Mi to fuse with Mussuru and the Bliking Canon.