I've watched One Piece for a while, but this is the first time I've posted a fic in the fandom. Please be gentle (though I can handle constructive crit)

The first thing Zoro noticed when he regained consciousness, was that the ship was quiet, eerily so. He couldn't hear his crewmates muffled voices beyond the infirmary door, nor were the everyday sounds, like the waves crashing against the hull, and the subtle sound of the air moving through the ventilation system, present.

A little quiet never hurt anyone, but Zoro knew in his gut that something was wrong. He glanced over to his right with his good eye to see Chopper dozing in a chair beside him, sleeping so quietly, Zoro couldn't even hear his soft snores. Zoro weakly rolled over onto his side, and noted the lack of rustle from the bedsheets.

He frowned in confusion. What was going on?

He turned his attention again to Chopper. Would the doctor have answers for him? He called out to the reindeer doctor... or at least he thought he had, but he couldn't even hear his own voice. For one of the very few times in his life, fear knifed through his heart. Had he... lost his hearing?

Chopper was awake, switched to heavy-point, and at Zoro's side in an eye blink. He was excitedly saying something, but Zoro couldn't make out what it was. The doctor went to the door, then slowly, the rest of the crew filed in, with the exception of Luffy, who ran up to Zoro's bed.

Luffy's smiling lips were moving, but no sound came forth, confirming what Zoro already knew. Luffy was speaking so quickly that Zoro had no hope of deciphering his lip movements. Zoro frowned, and as a last resort, he stuck a finger in his left ear, jiggling it around vigorously before removing it.

No change.

Luffy turned worriedly to Chopper, pointing at Zoro; his lips moving in the now familiar rapid fashion. Chopper, who now had a concerned look on his face as well, answered what had presumebly been a question from Luffy. Then Chopper turned, searched through a drawer, and pulled out a pen and pad, writing something down on the paper. He showed it to Zoro. It read in bold black letters:

'Zoro, can you hear us?'

Zoro closed his eye, and sighed. Though Chopper was his nakama, he really didn't want to admit to something that could be seen as a weakness by his enemies.

And then there was Sanji, who'd laughed at his expense in Thriller Bark when Perona's ghost had made him say something he'd later wished he hadn't. No. He definitely wasn't in the mood to be taunted by the blond.

He really didn't want to answer that question with everyone in the room watching him, anticipating the answer. Chopper put down the pad and appeared to direct everyone from the room. Zoro's thoughts were confirmed as everyone slowly started to file back out of the room. Sanji paused and turned back for a second, just before walking through the door of the infirmary. Was that concern Zoro saw on his face? He couldn't be sure.

When the last of their crewmates had gone, and the door was shut to give them some privacy, Chopper turned back to his patient. He'd have to run some tests on Zoro to determine the extent of his hearing loss. Hopefully, the results would be at least somewhat favorable.

Sanji sat on the grassy deck of the Thousand Sunny, taking a slow drag off his cigarette. He began to relax as the nicotine circulated throughout his body. On the outside, he appeared to dislike the Marimo, always teasing, taunting, and bickering with him. But deep down inside, he actually cared for and respected Zoro. The teasing and arguing was, in a way, all just a facade to disguise how he really felt.

He really didn't dislike Zoro, the swordsman was his nakama after all. And he couldn't hate a nakama. If he hated him, they wouldn't be nakama.

Sanji sighed, closing his eyes. Zoro had suffered a serious bout of meningitis not too long ago, and was just coming out of his two-week long coma. Chopper had said that one of the after-effects of the disease was hearing loss, along with vision loss and brain damage. It didn't appear that he'd suffered either of the latter two, though it may have been too early to tell, but the hearing loss? From what little he'd seen from the interaction Luffy and Chopper had had with him, Zoro not only suffered hearing loss, but hearing loss in the profound sense.

Sanji wondered, as he took another long drag from his cigarette, how Zoro would cope with such a loss. Would he need help with some things? And, if so, how was that going to affect his pride? Like Sanji, Zoro was a proud, confident, independent man. He wouldn't want people to treat him any differently just because of something like this. He'd know that they meant well, but if anything, it would just make him angry and hurt his pride. He'd be ashamed of what he would probably come to see as a weakness.

No.

Best just to treat him normally.

Zoro would probably be in the infirmary for at least the next few days. He, on the other hand, needed to have a talk with their nakama.

Chopper sighed as he put away his test instruments. Everything he'd tried on Zoro had had negative results. Zoro's hearing loss was apparently complete and, as he'd told Zoro, likely to be permanent. As expected, the green-haired man hadn't taken the news well. He'd become upset and withdrawn. Chopper decided to leave him alone for a while. He hadn't meant to upset Zoro, but he wasn't about to lie to his patient either.

He covered Zoro up to his chest, gave him specific instructions not to leave the infirmary under any circumstances, after all, he was still recovering, then Chopper left the room.

Zoro loosely lay an arm over his forehead, thinking. The lights were dimmed because he was still sensitive to them, but he closed his eye anyway.

He hated being sick. Falling ill meant that he was still not strong enough. He couldn't wait to get back to his training. According to Chopper, he'd spent nearly three weeks sick in the infirmary. Three weeks too long. His strength was going to suffer as a result. He really needed to train himself back up to his usual level.

Chopper had expressly told him not to leave the infirmary. Maybe he could sneak back up to his training area, then sneak back in here later for bed. He turned back over on his side, then sat up weakly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He sat for a minute, regaining his equilibrium. He took a deep breath, then forced himself to stand.

Taking slow, shuffling steps to the door of the infirmary, he wondered how he'd let himself get so weak. Just walking to the door was tiring him out.

He leaned against the wall next to the door, and it was a good thing he did, because Chopper burst in just then.

"And I just told you!"

The chains holding him in the bed weren't too uncomfortable, he just wished he had one of his swords so that he could slice through them and get out of here. Didn't anyone understand the importance of him getting himself back into shape? He was fine now! He wasn't sick anymore! He was weak from lack of training! Couldn't they see?

Zoro struggled against his bonds. Chopper and Robin had made sure to wrap him in several layers of chain. They'd been too smart to use rope, which he'd have been able to tear as if it were wet tissue paper. He stopped, took a deep breath, and let it out, trying to calm himself.

He'd just settled down to try to sleep when a familiar head of blond popped into the doorway. Zoro hated for Sanji to see him like this, he was sure that he would crack up laughing like he had back in Thriller Bark. Instead, the blond walked calmly over to the bed, and sat down in a nearby chair. Zoro noticed that he lacked the cigarette he was usually perpetually smoking.

Sanji turned to the green-haired swordsman, and speaking slowly where Zoro could read his lips, he asked, "So... What was the deal with you trying to leave the infirmary?"

Zoro frowned, and didn't answer.

Sanji went on. "You know you're still recovering, right?" When Zoro again said nothing, Sanji continued. "That disease could have killed you. You need to give yourself time to recover. This crew needs you... you're our nakama."

Zoro's good eye widened in surprise. He couldn't remember a time when Sanji had referred to he and Zoro as being nakama.

"We want you to get better," Sanji confessed; his cheeks reddening a bit. "We need you to get better... I need you to get better..." He trailed off, noticing the even more surprised look on Zoro's face.

"Yeah, I said it!" Sanji shouted even though he knew Zoro couldn't hear him. "I need you. Even when it doesn't seem like it, you're important to me. Too important to me to lose... So you stay in here and stick to recovering, after that, then and only then you can return to your bonehead training workouts."

Zoro regained his composure and couldn't help a slight smirk. While Sanji's words had made him feel better, he was somewhat hesitant to believe them. "I never thought I'd he- receive words like that from you." He paused for a moment, taking another deep breath, then he continued. "I'm not going to promise that I'll stay here any longer than I have to. But... I guess I could stay for a little longer."

Sanji walked over to the bed, and bent down, tapping the chains around Zoro's body. "You'll stay here as long as you need to. And that'll be until Chopper clears you for release."

Zoro frowned, but realized that there was nothing he could do but comply for now. He sighed.

He really hated being sick.

If you like, please R & R. Will probably post the next chapter next week ^_^