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) 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). It features Franky, Nico Robin, and the Thousand Sunny, who weren't present in the original version. This is the only movie that doesn't fit in with the continuity of the One Piece Series

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.

This film was nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year in 2008, but was beaten by Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

Synopsis
It is the second film to focus on Chopper, as it is a retelling of the Drum Island storyline from the manga.

Plot
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 Burst. 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. Hiluluk, a quack doctor who believed in the ability of the Sakura tree to cure any illness. Unfortunately, Hiluluk was suffering from a fatal disease, and Chopper's attempt to save him backfired, fatally poisoning him. After Wapol lured him into a trap, Hiluluk 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 and Sanji fight against Chess and Kuromarimo. Wapol, using the powers of his Baku Baku no Mi, attempts to shoot Hiluluk's flag off the top of the castle. Luffy protects the flag and starts to fight Musshuru, whose spores knock out Chess and Kuromarimo. Musshuru initially has the advantage in speed and easily defeats Luffy and poisoning him with his spores. Chopper tries to fight back, but he is defeated, too. Musshuru is shot and set on fire by Usopp while Robin quickly administers the antidote to Musshuru's poison to Luffy. Luffy then uses Gear Second allowing him to keep up with and ultimately dominate Musshuru. Wapol escapes into the castle and eats Musshuru, fusing with him in an attempt to annihilate everyone in Drum. Chopper uses Arm Point to launch him into the roof, and Luffy manages to defeat him and send him flying with Gear Third's Gigant Pistol. 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 by handing over the antidote to the spores. 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 Hiluluk'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.

Changes
In addition to the above mentioned changes:
 * Rather than being in a hurry to get to Alabasta, the Straw Hats are desperate to get off of Drum Island before the Log Pose resets.
 * Luffy's Gear Second and Gear Third appear in the film showing that the movie takes place after the events of the Enies Lobby Arc, probably after The Straw Hats get away from Garp using the Coup De Burst. However since this is an alternate take on the story, it is non-canon.
 * Instead of the independent actions he took in the original story (such as swimming in the cold lake), Zoro interacts with Franky throughout the film. In the original story, he meets up with Usopp and Vivi after the avalanche.
 * 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 for them to let his crew pass on his own, rather than her admonishing him for failing to responsibly address the situation.
 * Wapol's subordinates are shown to drive around in snowmobiles, which can climb up cliffs.
 * Chessmarimo does not appear, as Chess and Kuromarimo are knocked out by Musshuru's spores early on in the climax. However Chessmarimo did appear in the trailers meaning he may have been intended to be a part of the movie in its earlier development.
 * Dalton's Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model: Bison powers are never seen or mentioned.
 * The abilities of Chopper's Rumble Ball are not mentioned, and while he uses every form except Horn Point against Chessmarimo, he only uses Walking Point, Jumping Point and Arm Point against Mussuru Wapol Cannon.
 * The Straw Hats do not encounter the Bliking Pirates before arriving at Drum. Additionally, Dalton does 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. Instead of leaving in order to follow Hiluluk's example, they leave because they are horrified of Wapol's plans.
 * Kureha treating Tamachibi in Cocoa Weed is removed.
 * There is no lift to Drum Castle in the present timeline, despite it being used by Hiluluk shortly before the end of his life.
 * For Wapol's final weapon, he uses the Baku Baku no Mi to fuse with Mussuru and the Bliking Cannon.
 * While Luffy does dig out the Lapahn after the avalanche they never get a chance to repay the favor.
 * The avalanche wasn't caused by the Lapahns, instead, it was Musshuru's idea to shoot at the castle, being too far, the cannonballs reached the mountain, causing the snow to collapse.

Bounties
During the introduction of the movie, several wanted posters of past villains appear. Here is a list of them in order of appearances:

Site Navigation
de:One Piece – The Movie: Episode of Chopper+: Fuyu ni Saku, Kiseki no Sakura