Takes place between Alabasta and Skypiea


"Nami-swan, Robin-chwan~! Breakfast is ready, my darlings!" After getting the girls, Sanji poked his head into the men's room and yelled "Get up, morons! Breakfast!"

"Breakfast!" yelled Luffy, jumping out of bed and running to the kitchen. Chopper and Usopp soon followed, and only Zoro was left behind, still asleep. Usopp paused and went to wake him up.

"Zoro… um, Zoro? Breakfast…"

Zoro didn't stir. Usopp shrugged and left him, wanting to get something to eat before Luffy devoured everything.

"Sheshe're g'd, Sh'nji!" Luffy mumbled around a mouthful of pancakes. He looked around as Usopp sat down. "Mm? Wh'rsh Sh'ro?"

"Swallow your food, you cretin!" said Sanji.

Luffy swallowed his food, choked, took a drink of water, and asked again "Where's Zoro?"

"Oh, I couldn't get him up. He was sleeping pretty heavily," Usopp said. "Anyone else wanna try?"

"Let him sleep," said Sanji. "It's his own damn fault if he misses breakfast. Nami-swan! Robin-chwan! Would you like some more pancakes~?"

"No thanks, Sanji-kun."

"No thank you, cook-san."

Once everyone was finished with their pancakes, they all headed off to do their separate things: Robin went to read, Nami to study her maps, Sanji to clean up the kitchen, Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper to play a game, and Zoro to—Zoro was still sleeping.

A few hours later, the ship had run into no trouble except an unusually tall wave. Sanji went into the kitchen, and called them all in ten minutes later for lunch. They came in the kitchen and started eating the sandwiches Sanji had prepared.

"Where's Zoro?" asked Chopper, looking around.

"Is that idiot still asleep?" muttered Sanji. "Luffy, go wake him up, will you?"

"Eeeeh?" whined Luffy. "But if I go, all the food will be gone when I come back!"

"You're the one who makes it disappear! Just go!"

Luffy grumbled, but went to the men's cabin to wake up Zoro, who was still sleeping on a lower hammock. He went up to him and poked his face. "Hey… Zoro, get up! Lunch's ready!"

Zoro continued sleeping. Luffy frowned and poked him harder. There was still no reaction from the swordsman. Luffy punched him in the stomach. Zoro still didn't wake up. Luffy scratched his head and went back to the kitchen.

"Where is he?" asked Usopp. "Is he awake now?"

Luffy shook his head. "Nope. I poked him and punched him, but he didn't do anything. He's still sleeping."

Chopper jumped down from his chair. "I'll go check on him! He could be sick!"

He ran to the men's room. In a few seconds, the others abandoned their half-eaten sandwiches and followed him.

They found Chopper first shaking Zoro, then taking something out of his backpack and breaking it under Zoro's nose (presumably it was a smelling salt). When that still brought forth no reaction, he pulled out his stethoscope and pressed it to Zoro's chest. After a few more things – sticking a thermometer in his mouth, checking blood pressure—he turned around and shrugged.

"I don't know what it is," he said worriedly. "Other than the fact that he seems to be in a coma, he's perfectly healthy. His heartbeat, blood pressure, and temperature are all normal for him."

"Maybe it was caused by his wounds from Alabasta?" suggested Nami. "He lost a lot of blood then…"

"No, those are fully healed, and that was several days ago anyway," replied Chopper. "The last thing I can do is a blood test."

He whipped out a syringe and stuck it in Zoro's arm (Nami looked away). After taking a sample, he ran off somewhere to run some tests. The others waited with the sleeping man. Luffy took out a marker.

About ten minutes later, Chopper ran back into the room with a fat book under his arm. "I found out what's wrong with him!"

"Good, maybe you can fix his stupidity," said Sanji.

"What? No, I meant why he's in a coma."

"Damn. Well, while you're at it, try to fix his stupidity too."

Luffy capped the pen he'd been using to draw a bushy mustache and fat eyebrows on Zoro. "So what's wrong with him?"

Chopper opened the book and flipped to page 394. He pointed to the picture. "This is what's causing it!"

The others leaned in. Nami squinted at the words and asked "It's being caused by werewolves?"

"Of course!" Usopp exclaimed. "That explains everything!"

"What?" Chopper looked at the page. "Why is this even in here? This is a book on mushrooms… anyway, that's the wrong page! Sorry, it was 493, not 394…"

He flipped to the correct page and showed them a section on a black-and-white mushroom. Luffy tilted his head. "I don't get it."

"This mushroom," said Chopper, reading from the book now, "has the unusual effect of causing a person to fall into a coma without any apparent cause. Its effects can lay dormant for years, depending on the individual who ate it."

"So he's sleeping because of a weird mushroom?" Sanji asked for confirmation. Chopper nodded.

"Then…" said Usopp. "The reason he sleeps so much is because of this mushroom!?"

"And to think we were angry at him for it sometimes…" sighed Nami.

"Actually…" said Chopper. "The mushroom wouldn't have anything to do with his naps."

"Does it say anything about a cure, doctor-san?" asked Robin.

"Um…" Chopper scanned the section, looked at the next page, looked at the spine of the book, and cried out in shock. He showed them the torn edge of a ripped page. "The page for the cure is missing! It got torn out!"

"Damn it," Nami swore. "What are we supposed to do about him now?"

"Why not wait until we reach the next island," suggested Robin, "and then ask any doctors we find there about a cure, if they happen to know of one."

"That's the best we can do right now, I suppose," said Nami. "But the mushroom itself isn't deadly?"

Chopper shook his head. "Not exactly. But since it causes comas, people can't get food or water for themselves, so they end up dying."

"That won't happen to Zoro, right!?" exclaimed Luffy.

"Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary equipment to give him nourishment and liquids," said Chopper, starting to shake. He looked up with tears in his eyes. "If he dies… it'll be my fault…"

"It's not your fault, Chopper!" protested Usopp. "We'll get help at the next island, okay?"

"We'll reach the next island tomorrow," said Nami, brightening, "so that should be enough time, right?"

Chopper nodded. Luffy took out his pen again and drew a star on each of Zoro's cheeks.