Hi there and welcome to my fic. A few things you can choose to read before going into the story.

First of all: Upload schedule. I will upload a chapter every friday (let's all forget that today isn't a friday)

Second: To everyone who has read another fic of mine called Through the Eyes of a Cook, you might find some Easter Eggs hidden in future chapters

That's it for notes, so enjoy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece


~Exploring the unknown~

There was always a certain kind of excitement when the weather stabilized, because even if they couldn't see it yet, they all knew what it meant: An island was approaching. When Nami confirmed that this was indeed a stable climate created by a close by island and not one of the many tricks of the Grand Line, everyone reacted differently. Usopp and Chopper got really excited and started jumping and playing around wondering what kind of island they would be landing at. Zoro slowly awoke from his nap, but didn't move from his spot. He knew that entering an island's climate was a safe spot and that meant that possibilities of enemy attacks increased tenfold. Sanji started preparing lunch boxes, because there would exploring and that made people, especially Luffy, hungry. Franky made the Sunny ready to be hid away, because whether or not this island was inhabited, it was of the utmost importance that they kept their ship safe, especially if they were to explore the island and leave her unattended. Nami, Chopper and Robin all began preparing backpacks, because if there was a town they had shopping to do and if it was deserted they had research to do. Nami would draw a map, Robin would explore the island's history and Chopper would look for herbs and medicinal plants. Brook was just purely ecstatic. It had literally been 50 years since he had seen an island that was not Thriller Bark, and that had technically been a ship, so landing in a new place was sure to put him in good spirits and he shared this of excited mood of his through cheerful music.

Luffy himself ran to the figurehead, where he would be the first person to spot the new island and sure enough, within the next ten minutes:

"Island ahead!" He yelled at the top of his lungs and drew the attention of his crew. He ran back to deck and joined Usopp and Chopper in their excitement.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled to make sure Luffy heard her over the music and thrilled atmosphere, "Did you see what kind of island it was?"

"There was a lot of green!" Luffy yelled back. Nami just nodded and said something to Robin and Sanji who were standing beside her. After that Sanji disappeared into the kitchen, hopefully to make some delicious food, and the girls disappeared into their room.

It only took the Sunny half an hour to reach shore. It seemed like the island was a deserted one and they docked their ship on the east side of the island safely hidden away in the shadow of some rocky structure. There was a beach stretching as far as the eye could see, and Nami said that the whole island was most likely surrounded by endless beach and where the beach stopped the vast jungle began. Usually forests tend to start out with a thin layer of trees and then get thicker when you go further in, but this was not a regular forest. They would have to cut several vines and thick branches to just enter it, so there was really no telling what they would meet on the island. The crew also seemed unusually fearless, especially the trio consisting of Usopp, Nami and Chopper. It seemed that the recent events of Thriller Bark had toughened everyone up and a little mysterious jungle was not about to scare them as much as actual zombies. Luffy was quite proud of how far his little crew had gotten in such a short amount of time and smiled to himself as Usopp and Nami were showing their excitement for the new adventure.

They decided to let Zoro stay on the Sunny as he was the only one who didn't show any particular interest in the new island, but of course Luffy would be sure to drag him out tomorrow, or maybe tonight depending on what happened. So the crew set of into the jungle with no goal in mind other than having fun. Brook was leading the party as he had a sword and could cut them a path. Luffy was walking right after him and they talked about adventures and sang songs about exploring. The others were following them closely so that no one would get lost. Franky had taken the rear and made sure to keep everyone in sight. They had only been walking for ten minutes when they came to a small pond, where the trees thinned out and sunlight escaped through some of the branches to create small rays of light. The place looked almost like it was taken straight of a fairy tale with the way the light seemed to dance among the trees and the reflections from the pond made it seem like the place had a life of its own.

"Pretty..." Nami exhaled and they all just took a moment to appreciate the sight before them.

Afterwards they all just scattered around the area. Luffy sat down beside the pond, took off his sandals and put his feet in the water. Sometimes he was sad that he couldn't swim. Even though he felt himself getting a little weaker just by submerging himself from feet to knees, he still enjoyed the feeling of the water gently caressing his skin and cooling him down during a hot day like this was. However, if he had the choice between being able to swim and having his rubber abilities, he would choose the ability every time. Not only was it a fun ability, but when used correctly it could be a powerful weapon. Luffy still thought that he ways to go before he had fully explored the extent of his devil fruit, but that was all in good fun and as long as he could improve he could become stronger.

As Luffy sat by the pond, he looked around at his crew. They were all fully absorbed in their own thing and Luffy was glad to have found such passionate people to join him. Nami was sketching for her map. Luffy didn't know the details of mapping out an island, but he knew that it took a lot of sketches, so Nami always carried as much paper as her bag could contain whenever they arrived at a new island. Robin was examining some flowers close to Luffy. The flowers she was currently looking at were bright purple and bigger than Luffy's hand. After a while Robin decided that this flower would do well in her garden and dug it up with the roots and everything. She then activated her power and carried the plant off to the Sunny. They were still within a short enough distance from the Sunny for her ability to reach all the way there, which excited Luffy since that meant they still had so much to explore. Franky was inspecting the durability of the vines and trees growing around them and was muttering something to himself. Luffy couldn't catch everything that he was saying, but he was sure that it was for the ship. Brook had sprawled himself on a patch of grass in the light of the sun, which he so enjoyed and was humming a song Luffy couldn't recognize. Usopp and Chopper were gathering herbs of all sorts, while Usopp was telling Chopper about their events on Little Garden, as this island looked a lot like it, just without the dinosaurs... but they could still make an appearance. Sanji was gathering food, which meant that tonight's banquet would have new interesting dishes. Luffy couldn't wait! Sanji's food was the absolute best.

As the strawhats settled peacefully by the small pond, animals started to arrive. They had possibly been scared away, when Brook had cut through the trees to get the crew forward, but now they were returning. First came the birds who joined in on Brook's song and they connected in perfect harmony. Second came the reptiles, friendly snakes slithered around them and hung themselves among the vines, while geckos and frogs made their way to the sunlit areas. Luffy was especially captivated by a yellow snake close to him. It was a bit smaller than the others, but shone brightly in the sun. Last came the gigantic turtles. The first one slowly popped up beside Luffy, sipped some water from the pond and settled quietly beside him. It's legs were as thick as Luffy's head, it appeared to be longer than him if he were to lay down beside it and its shell was big enough for at least three people of Luffy's size to ride it. All in all the thing was a whole lot bigger than Luffy was. The first turtle was soon followed by another three and Luffy noticed that all their shells had scratches on them, but they all just settled around Luffy who decided not to think to much about it and laughed as he climbed on top off one of them. When he sat down, the turtle began moving around and Luffy giggled childishly as the turtle took him for slow ride. It wandered a bit around the pond, but then set off into the jungle. Luffy decided just to stay where he was and he heard Nami yell after him:

"Be back before sunset!" And he just gave an affirmative thumbs up as he let the turtle lead him wherever it wanted.

They walked for a good amount of time, Luffy wasn't sure how long, but it had, at the very least, been two hours. As a survivor and a glutton, Luffy knew how to make it in a jungle where everything was potentially poison, so he ate only what he caught other mammals eating, as that was always a good indicator of what was safe and what was not. Luffy might not be the brightest on the crew, but he had experience with being thrown into strange, unknown forests without food for a considerable amount of time. Luffy was currently eating a weird fruit that tasted a bit like caramel and he made sure to save some for Chopper, because he would definitely like this. Luffy then noticed that not only were the trees thinning out, but they seemed to be going uphill. Luffy looked back and slowly the jungle came into view. It almost looked like a green blanket had been put on the island. It perfectly covered everything, except for a small area on the north of the island, where there was a clearing big enough for a small village. Luffy decided to let that piece of information be known to the rest of the crew whenever he got back. If there was a village, the others would surely like to know. He made a mental note to bring it up during dinner.

By now they had almost reached the top of whatever they were climbing and Luffy caught sight of the Sunny and wondered if Zoro could see him. Of course, the Sunny looked like an ant from where Luffy was, so Luffy must have looked even smaller from Zoro's perspective, and he was probably sleeping anyway, so it didn't matter. Luffy almost fell when the turtle tipped over the edge and he instinctively held onto his hat. After having secured his hat Luffy looked up and found himself in a giant crater and it did not take a genius to figure out that he was currently standing in the mouth of a volcano. Luffy slit down from the turtle's back and began exploring. It was a surprisingly fertile land and all over there were plants and animals nesting, but what really caught Luffy's attention was gigantic flower in the middle of the crater. It hadn't bloomed yet but each leaf was the size of the Sunny's main sail. It had no stalk, so Luffy could really really appreciate it in all its glory without accidentally ruining it by climbing on top of it. It was a bright blue flower and it glistened in the sun, just like the small yellow snake had. Luffy wasn't the only who was fascinated by the flower as it seemed that animals gathered around for no real reason.

As the colour of the sky began to change, Luffy decided that it would be best to get back to his crew, and he was sure that when he came back Sanji would be waiting with a delicious meal. Luffy figured that the fastest way to get back would be to rocket himself as far as he could get and then just walk the rest of the way, so he grabbed onto the edge of the crater and pulled himself as far back as he could. Now make no mistake, Luffy had a pretty good hold of how far his rocket could get him, and he had calculated that he would probably land a good five minute walk from the Sunny. But, and this was a big but, this would only have been the case if Luffy had not currently been well above ground level. So he rocketed himself towards the ant sized Sunny, watched as it continuously got bigger and watched as he just about missed it and landed in the waters behind it. The splash was loud and big, and though Luffy knew that he couldn't swim he still tried hard as he sank towards the bottom of the ocean. His vision was quickly blurring, but he did catch sight of the hand reaching for him just before he passed out.

҉

Luffy woke up on a bed of warm, soft sand and decided that he was too comfortable to move, so he just settled for opening his eyes and looking around. Zoro was sitting beside him, trying to dry his now wet shirt, but after getting sand on it and messing it up even further, he just decided to give up on the shirt and looked to his now conscious captain.

"How come the first thing you do when you come back is throw yourself into the ocean? How did you even manage that?" Zoro asked acting annoyed.

"Minor miscalculation," Luffy answered smiling and Zoro let out a small laugh.

"You call flying to your death a minor miscalculation? I really don't want to see a major one then."

"I wasn't flying to my death," Luffy countered and put on a perfect pout.

"I am pretty sure jumping into water would qualify as flying to your death."

"No." Luffy said and smiled again, "Cause I know that you'll always save me."

Zoro smiled back, "Damn right."

They enjoyed a moment of peace, but then the wonderful smell reached Luffy and he shot up and looked to the source of it. Sanji had set up a mini kitchen on the beach and was grilling some sort of meat that made Luffy's mouth water. He turned to Zoro, pulled him along to join the others and the banquet started, as Luffy forgot to tell the others about the clearing he had discovered. The food was delicious, the music was lively and the spirit was high as the strawhats partied until it was almost time for the sun to rise once again.

҉

The following day was even hotter than the previous and Nami explained that this summer island they had come upon was currently in between spring and summer, so it would only get hotter everyday. Yet no one really complained, because this place was a nice break from all of the eventful things that happened so regularly in their lives, and they could deal with a little heat in exchange for a holiday. Chopper of course was having it the worst, being from a winter island, having fur and all that, but he seemed to deal with the heat with the help of a special cooling device Franky had made for him.

Sanji, Nami and Robin had been the first ones up that morning and after Sanji had served the ladies their breakfast, they had apparently returned to the jungle to continue working on Nami's map. Sanji had then served the guys brunch when they woke around noon and the crew had just gone out to do their separate things. Soon Luffy found himself alone on the ship with only Sanji and Zoro. Sanji was experimenting with new ingredients in the kitchen, while Zoro was napping on deck, as usual. Luffy had wanted to drag Zoro out into the jungle with him and maybe show him the volcano with its giant flower, but for now the heat was at its worst and it was making Luffy feel funny, so he decided to just join Zoro in his nap. He put his hat on Zoro, so that he could use his shoulder as a pillow and drifted off into a quiet sleep...

Luffy was half aware that he was awake and that Zoro was talking to him. He couldn't quite make out what exactly Zoro was saying, but he did catch the repeated mention of his name. Luffy wasn't sure if he wanted to ignore Zoro and go back to sleep, or wake up to find out what he was saying. It didn't sound too urgent, so Luffy decided on sleep. It didn't come as easily as it had the first time around, and soon enough Luffy heard Sanji's voice saying something and Zoro's voice saying something else. He then heard hurried foot steps and Sanji's voice became clearer than before. He too seemed to be repeatedly saying his name, so he decided to find out what was up and slowly opened his eyes. He had expected the sun to blind him, but Zoro had moved to keep his head in the shadows and Luffy looked directly at a worried Sanji.

"What...?" Luffy asked sleepily and he felt Zoro's hand on his face, which was somewhat weird and irregular.

"How are you feeling?" Sanji asked and Luffy was trying to find the reason behind Sanji's worry.

"'m fine, just tired..." Luffy said and kind of just wanted to go back to sleep, but Zoro moved and Luffy couldn't get comfortable again.

"Luffy, you're burning up. You have a fever," Zoro said and he too sounded more worried than Luffy felt there was reason for.

"It's just the heat..." Luffy said, but apparently none of them were having it and Zoro put him in his arms and began carrying him inside.

"Cook! Find Chopper." Zoro commanded and Luffy heard Sanji agree and found it weird that he so willingly accepted that Zoro gave him an order. Wouldn't they normally be fighting over something like that?

"I'm telling you, I''m fine..." Luffy said weakly. He was just so tired.

"I'll believe you if you can escape me," Zoro countered and made his way to the kitchen. So Luffy took the challenge and tried to get out of Zoro's grip, but he could hardly find the strength to move his limbs, let alone get free from a Zoro's strong arms. After weakly struggling for a minute Luffy admitted defeat and sighed.

Zoro took him to the Sick Bay where he put Luffy on the bed and covered him with a thin blanket, since it was too hot for the warm fluffy ones. He then proceeded to making Luffy drink plenty of water and when he couldn't possibly drink more, Zoro put a cool, wet towel on his forehead and told him to go back to sleep. Luffy would have told him to stop ordering him around had it not been for the fact that he was super sleepy and had no good reason to disobey.

҉

Luffy woke up to the feeling of something cold on his arm and opened his eyes to see Chopper examining him and Zoro sitting by the foot of the bed, following Chopper's every move. There were also two silhouettes to his right, but Luffy couldn't see who exactly they were. He could only guess that it wasn't Brook as he caught sight of some flesh, but beyond that it could honestly have been anyone. Luffy's mind just wasn't clear enough to put anything together right now. Luffy then felt a small prick on his wrist and he immediately knew that Chopper was taking a blood test. He hadn't been awake for a long time, yet his body and mind were already feeling fuzzy and things that shouldn't be moving started moving, so Luffy decided to just close his eyes and listen closely to figure out what was going on.

"Can you cure him?" Zoro asked, his voice not masking his concern in the slightest, which Luffy did not like at all. One thing was for another crew mate to be worried about him, because that seemed to be almost a daily occurrence, but Zoro was only ever worried when he was literally on the brink of death, and even then he could manage to stay somewhat composed.

"I have to figure out what the illness is first, but most likely."

"Most likely isn't very reassuring," Zoro said and Luffy could he hear that he was trying very hard to keep his voice low, confirming for him that they didn't know that he was awake.

"It's the best answer I can give," Chopper sounded a bit sad, but Luffy had faith in his doctor, even if he still wasn't a hundred percent convinced that he was, in fact, ill. Couldn't he just be sleepy? Very sleepy? All day...? Okay, when Luffy thought about it, it did sound suspiciously a lot like being ill and Zoro had said that he had a fever, and Zoro wouldn't lie. Not to Luffy at least.

"How long before we have a diagnosis?"

"Well, I need to test the blood, but if we're lucky, I should be done within the hour, and if not, then by nightfall at the latest."

"Okay..."

"Are you gonna stay?"

"Of course."

After their brief conversation silence followed, or at least, Luffy thought that silence followed, but he could be wrong. When there were no sounds to focus on, he just seemed to fall in and out of sleep until something happened that he could once again pay attention to.

He heard a collective pair of footsteps, someone opening a door and then saying something. Afterwards Luffy sensed that the room had gotten crowded and he wondered just how many people were in there. He still couldn't find the energy to open his eyes, so he once again settled for listening. The first voice he heard belonged to Usopp:

"How bad is it?" A short pause and Chopper answered:

"It's not too bad... for now, but if we don't treat him... he'll be dead within a week."

None of the newly arrived strawhats did anything to hide their surprised and horrified outbursts.


I know that not much happened in this chapter, but set up is important, so let's see how much of the foreshadowing you caught onto ;)

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