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It has been two days since Sunny breached the surface with the whale pod and the whole crew is still adjusting to the unique insanities of the New World. The weather is even more extreme than before but with Nami navigating, Sunny beneath their feet, and the whole crew together once more, they can handle anything.
After a night of electric snowstorms and dueling whirlpools, a thick fog settled over them early in the morning, driving most of the crew inside. Visibility is reduced to a few feet, his hand fading when it’s outstretched. It makes the day feel dreamlike, like someone turned the intensity of the world down. From Zoro’s seat in the crow’s nest, even the grass below him is hazy and washed out, a soft seafoam color.
Even as Sunny rocks, it feels still.
The only warning is a whistling canister hitting the deck.
From there, it is all motion.
He sounds the alarm and drops out of the hatch, meeting the first Marine to board with swords already drawn. The rest of the crew quickly follow suit and the muted hush is filled with the sounds of fighting. The heavy fog rolls across the lawn like a living thing, the white coats of the Marines disappearing into the mist. No single attacker is especially strong but, as is frequently the case with Marines, there seems to be no end to them. He can’t see past the edge of the deck, much less how many are waiting in the wings, their ships indistinguishable dark shapes on the horizon.
Flashes from lasers and lightning and fire light up the fog from within as his crewmates fight. Even almost blind, they still work together like a well oiled machine. Marines drop like flies and, like flies, more take their place.
A second canister sails through the air and Zoro is prepared this time. He cuts it cleanly in half, immediately dousing him and Chopper in some strange smelling liquid. It stings his skin on contact and his eye waters up, fully taking his sight. He focuses his senses, metal clanging as he blocks someone from taking his head.
As he waits for the next attack, Nami cries out in pain from where she was taking cover behind him. He grinds his teeth against Wado’s hilt and stains the next Marine’s coat red.
“Don’t let them throw those!” Chopper calls out, shaking the liquid off his fur in one of his new forms.
He grunts in agreement, pulling Kitetsu out of a Marine with a wet squelch.
A well-synchronized Coup de Vent and Gust Sword clear the fog off the deck and, visibility restored, the remaining Marines quickly attempt to retreat. Now able to see the ships, Luffy, Sanji, and Franky make short work of sinking them. Zoro assesses everyone as he blinks tears out of his eye. Nami’s sitting on the ground with a gash running down her leg and Chopper is already fussing over her with red rimmed eyes. Some of the others have bruising or irritated eyes, but mostly everyone looks fine.
Brook makes a quick retreat back inside as the fog creeps closer once more.
“Franky.” Luffy says, hand on his hat.
“Yeah, Luffy?”
“Let’s get out of here. I’m tired of this fog.”
Franky glances at the door Brook just left through and nods, making his way below decks to prepare for a Coup de Burst. The ship lurches and the Marines scrambling into their lifeboats scream as they sail over their heads.
It sits like a dense cloud on the horizon as they blast away and Zoro spends the last hour on his watch shift trying to come up with ways to work out his still irritated eye. Robin laughs at him when she comes up to relieve him but he pays her mocking no mind.
The newfound sunshine on deck is calling his name for a nap but he swings by the aquarium bar first. Nami sits at her desk with her injured leg held at an awkward angle. He knows she usually prefers to sit with them curled under her, more cat than cat burglar in those moments. The ship’s log is sitting in front of her, no doubt detailing the fog and the battle, but she’s not holding her pen. She seems tired, her glasses slipping down her nose.
“When did you last sleep?”
She jolts upright, glasses fully falling off. “Zoro! I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Yeah, because you’re exhausted. Go take a nap or something.”
Nami shakes herself, like she’s trying to wake herself up. “I’m fine! Chopper just gave me some pain meds and they made me sleepy.”
He raises an eyebrow at her. She glares at him.
He waits.
She slumps down over the desk top, caving. “Yeah yeah, shut up. Let me just check our heading against the information I got at Fishman Island and then I’ll go rest.”
“You better.” Satisfied, he turns around and heads back for the lawn. Maybe he should swing by the galley and get the cook to make her some fancy tea or something. He wouldn’t like that Zoro was the one asking, but he would do it for Nami.
He shakes his head to himself as he settles into the warm grass — she wouldn’t appreciate his nagging.
Nami stifles a yawn behind her hand as Zoro leaves. Her desk is unfairly comfortable for a piece of solid wood, though she wouldn’t put it past Franky somehow working his magic on it.
Her legs throbs beneath her. It’s not painful, but still an uncomfortable feeling. She really doesn’t want to stand up.
She’ll get up in just a moment…
Her eyes snap open as the hairs on the back of her neck raise. A storm is coming, quickly and violently.
The clock on the wall shows she slept for a full hour and she can feel it in her back and shoulder, stiff from napping hunched over. Nami limps as fast as she can out on deck, the storm already rocking the ship side to side.
It tilts when she opens the door, wrenching the handle out of her hand as the world rotates what feels like a full 90 degrees. Luffy and Chopper whizz past her, sailing through the air right before her eyes. They get knocked across the deck and fly over the railing, the splash is lost in the din of crashing waves and pounding rain.
She runs over with an aborted shout, looking for any sign of them. Clutched to the rail is Luffy’s hand, his arm extending down below the frothy water. A crack of lightning illuminates their shapes, Chopper clutched to Luffy’s front, as they sink deeper and deeper.
She stands there dumbly for a moment, their forms getting smaller. The rolling thunder jolts her back into her body. Sanji is already diving after them as she snaps out orders, the rest of the crew scurrying across the deck to man the sails. She turns her back to the railing, trusting in her crew to rescue their captain and doctor.
Nami is manning the helm by the time Sanji clambors over the side, dropping the two of them onto the deck. They sputter and cough up sea water when they land, Sanji already trying to light a damp cigarette.
She stays at the helm as the storm clears, dark clouds whisked away as quickly as they formed.
She paces around the top deck, her leg throbbing, her wet hair dripping, and her eyes glued to the log pose.
Her clothes have dried stuff against her skin by the time dinner is called. She puts down her shears from where she was pretending to prune her mikan trees and finally allows herself to sit down.
(She insists they keep the galley door open.)
Dinner is the usual lively affair. Luffy is at full energy even with his dip earlier. She guards her plate with less vigor than usual.
Chopper, on the other hand, is flagging. His fur is still damp in places, even in dry clothes. She leans over to him when Sanji steps into the kitchen to plate dessert. “Do you want me to help you wash all that salt out of your coat later?”
He blinks up at the unexpected offer, his eyes watery. He smiles at her as Sanji places a slice of cake in front of him. “It’s okay! Some stuff got rattled around in the infirmary earlier and I still need to finish sorting everything out. I’ll wash up once that gets done.”
Nami bites the inside of her cheek and forces herself to return the smile. “Well, let me know! I think we’re entering a stable zone so we should be coming up on an island soon. Actually,” She pauses, looking down at her plate, “I should go make sure our heading is correct, so you can have mine.”
She pushes her untouched cake towards him and excuses herself, going back to the helm and keeping an eye on the sky.
Zoro can’t sleep.
He took over Brook’s watch last minute as the fog rolled in, and now some part of him is still awake for his original shift. He stares into the dark of the bunkroom, the shapes just barely visible. The violin music is just audible through the walls and would normally help him fall asleep. Yet, he still feels restless.
He’s seconds away from getting up and keeping Brook company when the door opens. Chopper is briefly illuminated in the moonlight. His hooves clack quietly along the floor as he makes his way to his bunk. Suddenly, he trips over the couch and stumbles.
Zoro is already up and moving when he trips again, catching him before he falls flat. He’s just an impression in the dark, fur and horns and shape, but Zoro can hear his quiet sniffling. He crouches to be on something resembling eye level.
He knocks his hooves together anxiously and Zoro waits, trying to make out his facial expression.
After what feels like hours, he speaks up. “Would you mind helping me with something? Back in the infirmary?”
His voice trembles but Zoro would never call him out on it. He nods before realizing Chopper might not be able to see it in the dark. “Yeah, alright. Let’s go.”
Chopper clings to his sleep pants as they make their way to the infirmary. The lamps are on and the desk is messy, scattered with herbs and scrawled notes. Now in the light, Zoro can tell his eyes are even more red than they were at dinner. Or at least they seem to be, it’s difficult to tell when they’re almost entirely swollen shut.
His hooves clack together again before it tumbles out of him in a rush. “My eyes- They were bothering me after dinner so I thought I should make some eye drops but stuff wasn’t in the right place and it was taking a long time and my eyes kept watering and making it hard to see and now I can barely see at all and I’m pretty sure I don’t even have everything I need to make it and-”
“Calm down,” Zoro cuts him off, crouching down once more. “The witch said we’d be arriving at an island sure and it’s supposed to be populated. We can get you some eye drops or whatever once we dock.”
Chopper slumps, burying his face into Zoro’s knees with a muffled, “Okay.”
He runs his hand through his coat, scratching lightly at the base of his horns. “Do you want me to let everyone know what’s going on?”
He hums, unsure. “Maybe some sleep will help? I don’t want to bother everyone if this will just go away with some rest. Or at least make the swelling go down.”
“You wouldn’t be bothering anyone, but whatever you say doctor.” Zoro scoops him up into his arms and Chopper giggles wetly, head butting him in the chest. He climbs into the infirmary cot. The bunks would probably be more comfortable but he has a feeling Chopper wouldn’t want to go back and risk waking people up. He’s a soft weight against his chest as he drifts off into a light sleep.
He wakes up a few hours later, sweating. Chopper always runs warm but now he’s like a little furnace against his skin, shivering in his sleep. His fur is damp and matted with sweat. His breath comes out as a wheeze.
Zoro may not know a lot about medicine, but he knows a sick person when he sees one.
He lifts Chopper off his chest and gently places him on the cot, taking a moment to tuck the pillow under his head, before stalking out of the infirmary. It’s barely dawn outside, the sky shifting from black to gray before the sun crests the horizon. A light mist hovers over everything.
He catches Robin’s eye in the crows nest and signals for her to come down before slamming open the door to the bunkroom. “Oi, shitheads, wake up.”
There are squacks and shouting and a general hubbub for a moment. Usopp fully falls out of his bunk. In less than two minutes, however, they’re all gathered in front of him. Robin walks in with a half awake Nami trailing after her. He meets all of their eyes before speaking. “Chopper is sick.”
Predictably, everyone makes a ruckus. There’s shouting and questions, everyone talking over one another. They quiet when Luffy, the sleep fully gone from his eyes, steps forward and looks to Nami. “How much longer until the next island?”
She looks down at the log pose and tilts her head, as if the breeze itself will give her the answer (and maybe it will, he doesn’t know). “According to the information I got, it’s a small summer island called Reed Island. We just entered the outer edge of its stable zone, so we should make land in about a day or two. Early morning or afternoon tomorrow, at our current pace. Another Coup de Burst would cut that in half or more.”
“No can do, lil sis.” Franky sighs, “We weren’t able to fully restock cola at Fishman, we don’t have enough juice for another.”
“So we get to this island and get Chopper fixed.” Luffy says, a note of finality in his voice. He strides out of the bunkroom before anyone can ask any more questions, heading for the infirmary,
Grim set, they sail onwards. None of them are getting any more sleep tonight.
This is their first real island in the New World and Luffy wants to go look but he refuses to leave Chopper’s bedside.
They’re all crammed into and around the infirmary, both doors propped open. Nami paces on the deck outside, her eyes darting between the horizon and Chopper. Usopp is leaning in the doorway with something shiny in his hands, taking it apart and putting it back together and taking it apart again. Robin sits at Chopper’s desk, flipping through his books and looking at the goop he had half ready. Brook and Franky sit in the galley, talking in low tones while Brook plays something light and gentle. Sanji is at the stove, not smoking for once while the door is open. Luffy himself sits on the floor next to the cot, not willing to kick Zoro out of the seat next to the bed. Zoro, as he watches, replaces the damp cloth on Chopper’s forehead, scratching his fingers through his fur.
He turns away from the sight.
Nami knocks softly on the doorway, catching his eyes. “We’re getting close and will need to dock soon.”
Luffy nods and stands up, giving Chopper a pat on the leg before he clambors over Usopp.
The new island looks weird. Blocky and red, like slabs of raw meat stacked in a staircase. There’s a castle at the top, it’s white color difficult to look at in the bright sun. The heat blurs everything in sight. A summer island in summer.
He doesn’t like it.
After they make land, he hefts Chopper on his back, packed with as much ice as Franky and Sanji could manage. They set off towards the first people they encounter, who in turn direct them towards the castle. They’ll have to talk to the king, they say. He’s the only one with medicine. Apparently.
It’s hot. There are barely any trees for shade as they make their way. A long, long staircase leads up to the gleaming castle.
Luffy supposes it’s better than climbing a mountain this time.
They pass by fields with people working under the blistering sun. Squat ugly buildings that spit out dark smoke are dotted here and there. The few houses he sees are long and huge things with tiny windows.
They keep walking.
Finally, at the top, there is shade. There are trees and ponds and cool stone. Someone meets them there, dressed in weird fancy clothing.
“Please state your name and business.”
“I’m Monkey D. Luffy and I’m going to be King of the Pirates!” Nami hits him in the back of the head. “Oh, and we need a doctor guy to fix Chopper.”
The lady nods and writes something down on a piece of paper, humming. “And Chopper is…?”
He pulls his head out of the way to show her Chopper on his back, the ice packs long past melted.
She makes a face as he stretched his neck but smooths her expression before writing more on her paper and stepping to the side. “You may proceed through to the waiting chambers where you will join the line. If His Royal Highness, King Jack Hi the Second, decides he no longer wishes to grant audience today, you will be asked to leave and may try again another day.”
“So just go straight?”
Nami grabs him by the arm and steps forward. “This way, Captain. We have some more waiting to do.”
Inside, the temperature cools even further. The room is taken up by a long line of people flanked by two long lines of guards. They all turn and stare as they open the doors and join the line. Luffy ignores them. He’s used to staring.
Sanji puts a hand on his shoulder, gently working one of the straps holding Chopper. He tightens his grip on the makeshift harness before Sanji speaks up. “We should try and get him to drink something while we’re in here. It would be good for him.”
Luffy allows himself to let go after a moment and steps back next to Zoro, watching the rest of the crew fuss.
He knocks his shoulder into Zoro’s but says nothing. Zoro doesn’t respond in return. But they understand.
It doesn’t take long for the waiting to become agonizing and he wants to run laps just to do something. Robin tries to teach him some card games but the people behind them are interested too and she turns to discuss different games with them. Brook and Franky try to play some music but the guards shout at them to stop or they’ll get kicked out. Sanji is pacing in tight circles because the guards told him he couldn’t smoke. Usopp’s stories keep trailing off, losing the thread.
They slowly shuffle forward as the people go through the doors. They’re rarely in there for long, somethings only seconds and they come out with dejected looks on their faces. Some of them are angry. Some of them tear up. Most of them look blank and resigned. Tired. Used to it.
They shuffle forward some more.
When they’re finally first in line, a different person in fancy clothes reads stuff off of some more paper. “Monkey D. Luffy and company, requesting aid for one Chopper dash animal?”
“We need a doctor to fix him.”
“So you are confirming you are the pirate Strawhat Luffy and this is your request?”
He squints at him. “I just said that.”
He scribbles some more things on the paper and gestures to the guards crossing polearms in front of the doors. The guards glare at their assembled group. “Do not speak to His Royal Highness until spoken to. Do not make any threatening moves towards His Royal Highness or anything that can be perceived as a threat. Anyone out of turn will be swiftly and severely punished.”
A third person in fancy clothes opens the door and bustles them into the next room. It’s tall and echoing, with more guards and servants gathered about. There’s no decoration except for the throne at the back. It sits above everything else. The person instructs them to stop in the middle and scurries up to the throne, bowing deeply before bending down next to the king. They pass him yet another piece of paper.
The king is drowning in fancy clothes. Heavy looking things, draped in layers with lots of fiddly bits. He glints in the light from all the shiny things stuck to him, covering his clothes and on his head. There’s even things on his shoes. It looks uncomfortable.
He tap tap taps his shiny stick on the floor as he looks down over them. He looks bored.
He finally speaks, “Strawhat Luffy, yes?”
“That’s me, yeah.”
He smiles and it’s not a nice one. He points one finger, laden with rings, towards them. “I see you want us to take care of your… pet. Bow to me and I will see this request fulfilled.”
His refusal sits on his tongue. He doesn’t like this man at all. But before he can open his mouth, a servant scurries along the back wall. A flash of blue hair. Abruptly, he misses Vivi like a lost limb. She would have a deplomatic solution or whatever. Chopper wheezes on his back, hot like a brand against him.
The decision is easy.
He lowers his head. “Please help Chopper.”
The tile is cool against his forehead.
After an eternity, the king speaks again, that bad smile on his face again. “See to the animal.”
King Jack has demands, of course, thinly veiled as requests.
Weapons, of course, would make the people skittish so don’t carry them. Our doctors would get nervous if you crowded them, of course, so please limit it to two people in the infirmary at a time. While you’re here under his hospitality, you may as well do some work. Strawhat Luffy is an infamous pirate captain and would probably scare people even without weapons, so of course it’s best for him to stay within the palace. Of course, of course.
Even in the palace where it’s cooler, the heat is nearly unbearable. It makes everyone sluggish and irritable, but it especially wears on Franky, his body overheating and wearing on his mechanical parts.
He steams as Nami wipes him down in an attempt to cool him off. She has to wear her thick gardening gloves to even help him out because otherwise she would burn her hands on the metal.
She would much rather summon a rain cloud for him, but she caught sight of the attendant assigned to watch her half an hour ago. She’s lucky enough that her Climatact doesn’t look like a weapon. She dunks the rag again, focusing on his joints and the places here his mechanical body meets the scant bits of flesh he still has. The water sizzles as it touches him.
For once, he’s quiet, looking over the fields he just came from. He should be working inside, at least in the shade, but the island’s factories were not built with his bulk in mind. She doesn’t ask him to stop working. She would never, not while Chopper’s health is being kept hostage.
It stings to know she can’t smash the king’s face in. The provided doctor had sputtered some lie about only being able to make one dose at a time but Nami knows how to read between the lines. She knows methods of control when she sees them.
Her only solace is that Usopp, Robin, and Sanji all made sure the medicine was real and not some sort of poison. Perhaps Chopper’s insultingly low bounty is coming in handy for once.
She goes to dunk the rag again and the bucket is empty. She feels like she’s barely lowered his temperature when he stands up, the mechanisms audibly whirring.
“Thank, lil sis!” He smiles at her with a thumbs up. It looks so fake.
She grabs him by the arm before he can walk off, the metal warm even though her gloves. “You aren’t allowed to give yourself heat stroke while we’re down our doctor, you hear me?”
His face cracks for a moment before he’s smiling again, clapping a heavy hand down on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
She waits until he’s gone to peel off the gardening gloves, her palms red and irritated beneath them. She drops them into the bucket and walks away, needing to move.
Nami finds Luffy sitting high in a tree in the courtyard, overlooking the island.
Below, the citizens toll away in the dense heat, ferrying harvests across the fields with manual rail carts where they will be received by the factories to be processed. She can see Franky’s hulking form helping to repair some of the rails, once again baking in the sun. If she squints, she can maybe make out some of the others, scattered about and put to work.
She can’t climb trees like Luffy does, as quick and nimble as his family name, but she makes her way to a branch below his. She sits in silence for a moment, the rustling of leaves the only sound.
“I hate this.”
She grips the wood under her palms, the bark rough and cool. It stings a little bit but she pays it no mind. “I do too.”
“No one here is free, not even us.”
The breeze stills and the courtyard is quiet. The shouting of people in the fields is too far away to hear. The bustle of the castle pauses for a moment as the day reaches its hottest point.
Like the whole world’s heart skipped a beat at that, not just hers.
She hums, willing her voice not to catch. “I think once Chopper is okay, I want to raid the treasury.”
Luffy flips upside down on his branch. He doesn’t face her but she can see his profile from the corner of her eye. “What do you think is in there?”
“Well, he’s a king, so probably lots of gold. Maybe even a treasure map or two. Statues and paintings and other works of art.”
“Statues of cool monsters?”
“Sure why not? Maybe one is a three headed dragon, with a head of bronze, silver, and gold. And the eyes are studded with diamonds.”
“And if you touch it, it breathes fire out of all the mouths!”
She laughs quietly. “That would make it hard to steal though, wouldn’t it?”
“Exactly!”
“But I want to steal it.”
“Oh, hmm…” He swings himself lightly back and forth, turning over this extremely serious dilemma. “There’s a magic word that makes it stop breathing fire so you can steal it.”
“And what’s this magic word?”
“Meat!”
She pushes him a bit, sending him swaying. “That’s too easy, Captain.”
His face turns bright red as he thinks before he untangles his legs and flops down next to her on the branch. “I dunno, that’s hard. You’re better at this than me.”
“...I bet it’ll be really cool to punch the king right in his face.”
He hums. “Yeah, it would.”
She bumps his shoulder with hers and they watch the fields together, the breeze picking up again and bringing some much needed relief.
Zoro sits by Chopper’s bedside, feeling naked without his swords.
They had to fight to get him a bed. The king’s people had originally wanted to put him in the stables outside. Every single one of the Strawhats bristled at that and they quickly changed their minds, making up a room for Chopper with record speed.
The royal veterinarian has been working with the physicians to cure whatever infection thing Chopper has. Apparently, because it started in his eyes and that’s close to his brain, even a few more hours without treatment could have killed him. They won’t even be sure there’s no lasting effects until he’s lucid again.
The sun is starting to set outside the small infirmary window. The cook was around a while ago to try and get Chopper to eat something, anything.
The bowl of clear broth sits mostly full on the bedside table.
The door slides open and Usopp jumps when Zoro turns to look at him, folding his hands behind his back. “Oh! You’re still awake. Have you slept at all today?”
“Not particularly.” He admits easily, “But I’m fine. What’s wrong with your hands?”
He laughs, high and nervous. “Nothing! I just wanted to tape them, for precaution! You know how Chopper is always getting on our case about stuff like that…”
Usopp trails off, fidgeting with his hands behind his back. Still hiding them.
“Well, let me see then. Despite what Chopper believes, I do know a thing or two about first aid. You may be bisexual or whatever, but having someone else tape your hands is a lot easier than doing it yourself.”
“To be fair, you do seem to think that booze heals everything. And also what does me being bisexu- oh. It’s ambidextrous, Zoro. The word is ambidextrous.”
He waves it off. “You understood what I meant, so what does it matter? Now let me see your hands.”
Usopp sighs, big and theatrical like always, before finally taking a seat next to Zoro. “It really isn’t that big of a deal, I was just gonna grab some more bandages from here-”
“Hands.”
He slumps and takes his hands out from behind his back. His nails are more chipped than usual and one is bruised and swollen. His palms are mostly fine, already calloused from ship work, but there are smaller cuts along his fingers. They shake a little as Zoro holds them, fine tremors from exhaustion if he had to guess. He hasn’t seen much of Usopp, he hasn’t visited the infirmary often.
He grabs the medical tape from the counter behind him and starts on the first hand. He wraps around the joints carefully, supporting them as best as he can without taping too thick.
The only sound in the room is Chopper’s quiet wheezing as Usopp watches him work. He stretches out his hand when Zoro moves onto the other, testing his range of motion.
“Where did you learn this? I’ve never seen you tape your own hands.”
He shrugs. “Some of the kids in my dojo were more brawler types. Not many, but enough. I guess all that grabbing isn’t great for your fingers.”
Usopp nods, admiring Zoro’s handiwork. “Makes sense. Finger cramps suck.”
He grunts, finishing up with Usopp’s other hand. They’ve stopped shaking. “There, all good to go.”
“Thanks! You should get some sleep if you can. I’m sure he’ll be fine soon.” Usopp stands and starts to walk out, pausing by Chopper’s bedside. He is still for a moment, his face turned away so Zoro can’t see his expression. He pats the sheets and leaves, sliding the door quietly shut behind him. In and out so quickly.
Zoro briefly considers taking his advice and taking a quick nap, but someone is scheduled to administer another dose soon. He feels like a caged animal cooped up in the room for two days now, but he doesn’t dare leave.
The door slides open again and a nurse walks in, trailed by Nami carrying a fresh pail of water. She takes a seat on Zoro’s blind side, but doesn’t lean into him. She sits ramrod straight, paying attention. Her hand, however, curls around his wrist.
They both watch with focused eyes as the nurse wakes Chopper up.
His eyes, still red and with dried tears crusted into his fur, crack open. The nurse helps him sit up and Chopper squints up at them. “Doctorine?”
Zoro grits his teeth and Nami’s nails dig into his skin.
The nurse doesn’t answer, coaxing him into drinking the medicine they brought in. They check Chopper over, shining a light into his eyes and ignoring his noises of soft confusion. Zoro’s jaw aches.
They lay Chopper back down and review a clipboard, turning to the two of them.
“It- He’s making progress. It’s still too early to tell if there will be permanent damage to the eyes, but neither the fever nor the infection are getting any worse, which is good. Based on what you reported, our best guess is that the chemical irritant made the eyes more vulnerable which is what allowed the infection to set in after it fell overboard.”
Zoro doesn’t say anything. The nurse pales at his stare and scurries out of the room.
Chopper falls back into a fitful sleep on the bed and he reaches over to pull the sheet over him again. Nami pulls her knees up to her chest and Zoro bumps her shoulder with his.
It’s a long few minutes of silence.
“I can’t help but feel it’s my fault.” She admits into the quiet, “You heard what they said. He fell overboard and that’s what made him sick. If I had been watching the weather more closely-”
He bumps her shoulder again, harder. “Then you may as well blame me two fold. I was the jackass who cut open the stupid Marine thing and I was the one who let you get hurt because I wasn’t paying enough attention.”
She sighs, resting her head on her knees. “I know what you’re doing but it doesn’t really change the facts of the matter.”
“No it doesn’t.” He feels her lean into him, her hair falling down his arm. “We’ll do better next time.”
“I know we will.”
Outside the window, fog settles across the island like a blanket. Or it would, if Brook hadn't drawn the blinds.
Luffy sits on the floor of his room, listening raptly as Brook teaches himself some of the songs of the island. Like he has for the past five nights.
“They’re mostly work songs,” Brook explains as he fiddles with his guitar, like he did the night before and the night before that, “Things to maintain a rhythm and keep spirits up.”
“Like shanties?”
“Precisely! Miss Nami may get short with us when we sing the more raunchy ones, but they are an important part of a healthy ship. They help us haul ropes in time with each other and make sure we adjust the rigging correctly.” Brook holds one boney finger up and waggles it back and forth, moving to a rhythm only he can hear.
Luffy grins up at him, rocking back and forth in time, “I knew we needed a musician.”
Brook nods, dropping his hand to the body of his guitar instead of twisting the weird metal knobs more. He keeps on tapping his fingers, like it was a piano instead.
“Yes, indeed.”
They keep up a conversation, Luffy making sillier and sillier song requests, until Brook falls asleep right in his chair, still sitting up. As quietly as he can (which is not very), he pulls the sheet off the bed and drapes it across Brook's lap. He doesn't try to pry the guitar out of his hands; he woke him up last time he did that.
He takes a seat on the bare bed and looks to the curtained windows. It's still hot, even at night, and he feels like he's melting. With Brook finally asleep, everyone has gone to bed, with the exception of Zoro.
He can tell they’re all flagging. He had hoped an island that looked like meat would be more fun.
Chopper’s poor health is hurting them all and he can’t punch the stupid king in his stupid face because of it.
Instead, he demands more and more of his friends as recon pennies or something. They spend the days out in the town and surrounding fields, doing backbreaking work.
And to make things worse, they’re all lying to him about it.
He can see the sluggish way Franky moves in the wet heat, the way Usopp massaged his hands at the table. He knows the way the people are treated is killing Sanji and Robin, barely able to afford food and under the thumb of this dumb king. Every night, the island is covered in a thick fog and every morning, Brook takes longer and longer to come to breakfast.
Yet they all tell him they’re fine.
He knows his crew can handle themselves, but they’re all acting like they’re on their own. Like they can’t rely on him, like someone won’t be right behind them to pick up what they’ve dropped.
The two years apart weighs on his chest, choking him.
He stands up abruptly, needing to move, to do something.
It isn’t long before he finds himself in front of the infirmary doors. He can sense Zoro on the other side, his presence steady as usual. Chopper’s is still weak but is no longer stuttering, fading in and out.
Zoro is awake, of course, when he opens the door. It smells sterile and still and a little bit like old sweat. Chopper is on the bed, looking smaller than usual without his hat. Even though Luffy can sense him, he still pauses for a moment to watch his chest move with breath.
There's scruff on Zoro’s face from going too long without shaving and the bags under his eyes are dark. He looks like he hasn't moved from his seat in hours.
“Okay,” Luffy decides in that moment, striding across the room, “You need to not be here.”
“I'm not leaving.”
“I know!” Luffy throws the little window open, letting in the muggy night air. Through the fog, he can see just the beginning hints of daylight. “Come sit with me!”
Zoro gets up, eyeing the little iron flower box attached to the outside wall. “There’s no way we'll both fit on it.”
“I'm sure we will!”
“We are going to break it.”
Luffy swings himself through the windowsill, taking a seat. He pats the damp earth next to him, whatever flowers that were here long since withered in the heat. “Nu-uh.”
Zoro snorts for the first time in ages and shakes his head fondly. “If you say so, Captain.”
The flower box shudders and groans as Zoro (much less gracefully) clambors out of the window and sits down next to him. It creaks but it holds. He was right about the space though and Luffy ends up partially squished under him.
“Zorooooo…” He whines, pushing against his back.
“I thought you said we would both fit?” His eye glints with laughter, even as he keeps a straight face.
“Meanie.”
Zoro huffs out another laugh and then closes his eye, taking a deep breath of the fresh breeze. The fog rolls over the island like the white sea and blankets the world in a hush. He takes a moment to stretch out his senses, pinging against each crew member in turn.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. A ninth not here yet but who will join them soon.
The barest hint of sun crests the horizon and the fog lights up pink, like cotton candy. The flower box groans beneath them and there's a crack as something is pulled out of place.
He scrambles back through the window, pulling Zoro with him, just in time for it to dislodge and clatter down the side of the building. It hits the ground with a loud clang and he's bent over double laughing. Zoro shoves at his shoulder, but he's laughing too, some of the tension in him released.
There's a noise behind them and they both turn to look as Chopper sits up in bed, blinking up at them with clear eyes. “What's so funny?”
After a stupid king is punched and a treasury is raided and a whole army is sliced in two, what feels like the entire island is packed into the palace. They relish in the cool tile and the feast and the mountains of ice cream whipped up.
Chopper is perched on Franky's shoulders with a sundae bigger than him, his third of the day, laughing and clapping. Sanji is in his element, serving ice cream left and right, while Usopp narrates the king tumbling down all those steps, his crown shattering as he fell. He knows Robin and Brook are off raiding the library, but he can't seem to find the others.
He gets Franky’s attention. “Do you know where Luffy, Zoro, and Nami are? None of them were hurt too bad, but I want to make sure Luffy and Zoro haven't wiggled out of their bandages. Again.”
“I'm sure they're fine!” Chopper has to steady himself as Franky strikes a pose. “Worry about yourself first, lil man. You really gave us all a scare.”
He taps his spoon against his empty bowl. “I know, it won't happen again. I'll do better.”
Sanji appears with a fresh bowl, this time piled high with fresh fruits. “It won't but that's not what he meant. We'll all do better. Honestly, it's kind of stupid of us that the rest of us barely know first aid. And-” He jabs his finger in his face. “That doesn't mean you're doing a bad job, just that sometimes we're split up and we should know how to stabilize someone long enough for us to get them to you.”
Chopper glares down at the bowl to pretend his eyes aren't welling up with tears, but his voice still comes out wet. “Like you aren't one of the worst offenders. Idiot.”
“Yeah, you tell ‘em Chopper!” Usopp pipes up from across the room before yelping as he ducks under Sanji's kick.
He giggles, his eyes scrunched up with laughter instead of sickness, thoughts of the others momentarily gone as Usopp and Sanji play fight across the room.
Just one hall over, surrounded by plates licked clean, empty mugs, and multiple statues made of precious metals, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami sleep well for the first time in days.