"Zoro…" Luffy could only watch while his first mate tried his best to stop every single one of the six hundred and forty nine arrows aimed at his captain. He managed to stop a large number of them before he lost his grip on his swords, and instead, lowered his head and crossed his arms in front of him. Not a single arrow reached Luffy, the remaining fifty or so lodging in his arms and chest.

"Run…" He managed before the six hundred and fiftieth arrow was released, passing directly through his forehead. He fell backward, a few arrows dislodging as he did.

"Zoro!"

"Why won't you just wake up?" Luffy sat next to his first mates unmoving body in the bed closest to the door of the medical bay. Outside, Sanji took Zoro's place as midnight watch and the rest slept lightly, waiting for any sound that would herald the awakening of their swordsman. It had been a month and still Zoro hadn't moved. Luffy had begun to blame himself and chopper couldn't figure out why there was no movement. His heart still beat normally, he wasn't pale, he didn't seem to be in any pain, and he definitely wasn't dead. Luffy quietly watched the soft rise and fall of Zoro's chest before suddenly remembering the story that Nami had read to him earlier that day. 'Sleeping Beauty' He remembered. The prince had woken the princess by kissing her. He then realized that there was no possible way that he was Zoro's true love and scrapped that idea. He decided instead to take his hand and hope.

"…" Still nothing from Zoro. He looked up to see a tiny smile spread across the green-haired man's face. It was small, but it was more than he had done for a month. Suddenly, the grip on Luffy's hand tightened, and Zoro winced.

"Zoro! Are you alright!"

"…N-no…"

"Chopper! He's awake!" Chopper burst through the door just as he yelled, he had apparently been waiting outside the door. The rest of the crew followed close behind, crowding in to the small space.

"Is he alright? He's way paler than earlier! What happened?!" Chopper began to rifle through his bag, searching for anything that could act as a pain killer.

"I don't know! I asked him if he was alright, and he said "no" then got really pale." Luffy explained, worried.

"I'm fine…" Zoro managed weakly, "Go away. I want to… sleep…"

"No!" Chopper yelled, "If I do, you might die!"

"Just go."

"At least let me leave someone here to make sure you're okay!"

"Fine… whatever." Zoro was quiet for a moment, then, "Luffy…"

"Okay, He wants Luffy to stay, so everybody out! Go on!" Chopper shooed them out before grabbing his medicine bag and following them, saying "if he gets worse, you better call me, okay?"

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed as the door closed behind him.

"Luffy…"

"Zoro, are you going to be okay?" Luffy sat down once more.

"Dunno." He raised his hand to Luffy's chest, as if reassuring himself that his captain's heart still beat, "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Of course."

"Then so am I." Zoro smiled, the hand on the younger man's chest tightened into a fist, taking some of his red shirt with him.

"Wha—"His sentence was interrupted by the swordsman's kiss.

"I'm okay now." Zoro said, pulling away and settling back onto the pillows, while Luffy stared for a moment before smiling "I just had the best painkiller."