Title: Lines begin to blur

Pairing: Zoro/Sanji

X

It was all black. Zoro really couldn't see, but man, it hurt like hell.

He didn't dare to move, since it was pain all over. He couldn't really remember why it hurt so much. There had to be an attack. No, likely a war, since it hurt so much. He wondered where his nakama were. Wait – nakama, Luffy! Damn right that Bartholomew Kuma and his superhuman powers. That mountain-sized cyborg had better kept his promise or he would follow and hunt him down at the end of the earth if necessary.

He tried to open his eyes – wait, when did he close them – and he couldn't really see at all still. It was dark but he could feel his vision being blurry. Soon he began distinguish dim orange light and flashing blue and red lights. It hurt so much he really didn't question the lights. He was in pain, the fact he really didn't want to give out, but at this moment he hoped someone could come and help him. He hated this weakness but right now he would give his all just to get some relief from the pain.

And then someone answered his silent pleas (which, in this case, really weren't pleas – more like strong mans decision not to get all the glory from surviving) and he could feel a person's presence next to him.

"Oi, are you awake mister? Do you hear me?"

He felt like if there was Gods, they must've been mocking him.

"Shitty cook go away..." He grumbled and felt embarrassed for the cook was the first one to help him. He, out of all their nakama. God damn.

"What? OI! Don't fall asleep, fucking hell!" blonde was screaming on top of him. From his blurry vision he could distinguish golden hair and the voice was ever so annoying so it had to be the cook. He sounded pretty stressed somehow.

"Ha... t's wrong with yo... Get Chopper..." Zoro panted and cringed between words. God damn it hurt to speak. Did the motherfucking bear hit him with steel hammer or what? Did Luffy feel this pain before he took it to himself?

"Chopper? Whatever man, we better get you to ambulance and hospital soon"

He felt Sanji picking him up (bit awkwardly and with difficulty) and starting to walk towards the flashing lights. He wondered what the hell cook had meant. Hospital? Where was their tiny doctor? Hopefully he wasn't hurt; it would be bad for that tiny bastard to suffer many injuries since he was the medic in their crew. Couldn't the cook walk more stable? It hurt like hell every time he stumbled forward.

"Oi! Prepare the medical treatment, I found him lying at the side of the road. He must've been thrown out of the car while the crash!"

What crash? And car? Cook was freaking out obviously. He put Zoro down and started to blabber some medical things to the other voice, a man, and Zoro couldn't keep up with what they were saying. He was feeling dizzy, the pain felt like it was fading slowly away, somewhere far, just like voices of those two men.

"What did I say about the sleeping? It's a no-no!" he heard the cook saying and an instant wave of pain hit his body when the blondie hit his cheeks, trying to keep him awake.

"Motherfucker..." he grumbled but couldn't really keep his focus. Who was he talking to anyway? It made no sense. He was feeling very sleepy. It felt so much better just to drift off to the darkness where he couldn't feel the pain stinging his body all over.

"Hey! Oi! Stupid don't sleep, it's no good!" He heard the idiot scream to him as he shut the voices off and gave up to his tiredness.

X

Zoro woke up. It was white, all white.

Okay no everything was white. When he blinked his eyes couple of times he could see the tiny cracks in the ceiling. As he looked down, he saw a sickly mint-green hospital blanket on his body.

"What the actual fuck is this?" he said out loud to no-one in particular. When he moved upwards, his spine let out little cracking sounds and he felt like he had lain there for ages. Moving still hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain he felt that night. When was it? How long had he been sleeping?

Suddenly he was terribly aware that his swords were not on his hip. Nor were they on his sides. Groaning slightly he sifted himself to the edge of bed – only to realize his swords were not there either. He was starting to get really angry ('Who the hell steals all swords from injured person?') and kind of worried. Wado Ichimonji was a good sword – it was not nearly so blood lusting as its brothers, Sandai Kitetsu and Shusui. Sandai Kitetsu was on the other hand easily aggravated and very unpredictable as then Shusui was calm but deadly by its power.

He got up and started to scramble around the tiny room, looking every drawer – even the ones his katanas couldn't fit, just to be sure. As he was starting to really freak out, the door opened and Sanji stepped in.

"Oh, you are awake... HEY! You shouldn't be up! Get your ass back in the bed!" blonde shrieked to him angrily. He turned to face him, and looked at him dangerously.

"Where the hell have you put my swords, ero-cook?" he growled. At this, Sanji looked very puzzled.

"Firstly, I don't know anything about any damn swords, secondly, I am not a cook, I'm your doctor and you should listen to my advice and get back on the bed", he said and looked straight at his eyes.

"Tch, yeah right you're not a cook, blondie. Where the fuck are we? Where is everyone else? And why are you here pretending to be doctor?"

"We are at a hospital. I am not pretending to be a doctor, I am your doctor even though I am still a trainee and in the car there was nobody else but you and your cousin."

"My cousin?" Zoro looked almost as confused as Sanji had been looking just before.

"Yeah, Luffy? Monkey D. Luffy? The tiny 17-year-old boy with black hair?" Sanji asked giving him a questioning look.

"Dumbass cook, are you blind and idiot or something? Oh well, yeah, maybe you are. Luffy is not my cousin, I wouldn't let my cousin to be a captain of the ship I'm sailing on. We don't even resemble each other." Zoro mocked the angel-blond idiot. Had he no brains? How the hell he could've been on the ship so long and not realize they weren't related to each other in any way? Did he think Nami was his sister or something? God damn he hated that dumbass, how in the hell Luffy ever let him join the crew?

"I don't really get what you are trying to imply, but you seem to recognize your cousins' name. Could you now please sit down, so I can tell the news on his status and check that you're okay?" Sanji sighed, not really understanding this patient. He was starting to wonder if this green haired man in front of him was hallucinating – from the drugs, his condition or just because it was normal to him – so he kind of dreaded telling him the news.

The driver of the bigger pickup had flown trough his windshield on the pavement (he wasn't wearing seatbelt, so there was nothing to keep him at his car) and died from the cracked skull, caused by the direct collision with asphalt. The car, little Fiat Punto where Zoro had been, stood no chance against giant pickup. They were crushed. Somehow Zoro had flown out of the car, on the side of the road (luckily, since if he had flown on the road it would've been high risk that some other driver would've hit him then) badly bruised, broken and punctured lung but still alive.

Luffy, who had driven the car hadn't been so lucky. There was no escape when pickup hit his side. Airbag had opened but gave a little comfort when all the pressure hit him from left. The car had squashed on him, tearing his ribcages in pieces and paralyzing his legs. When his ribs cracked they punctured his internal organs so badly that even if they would've gotten him out of the car in time, there would not have been anything to do. The boy had been crushed and died at instant when his ribs gave out. Luckily it seemed that he had lost his consciousness at the moment pickup hit them. At least he should not then felt any pain.

It was somehow relieving for a doctor to know somebody hadn't passed in intense pain. It, sadly, wasn't so easy to accept for friends and relatives of the deceased.

"WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU JABBERING ABOUT YOU SHITHEAD GOLDILOCKS?! HE ISN'T FUCKING DEAD I SAVED HIM WE WERE NOT IN A FUCKING CAR CRASH, BARTHOLOMEW KUMA ATTACKED HIM YOU WERE THERE YOU SAW IT! I FUCKING KNOCKED YOU OUT COLD SO YOU WOULDN'T DO IT! DON'T TALK TRASH LIKE THAT YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Zoro screamed attacking him like a wounded animal. He jumped on him, knuckles first and hit him multiple times. He grabbed his hair and banged his head on the hospitals tile-floor, aggressively, like he could erase his cousins' demise by hitting the cook.

"Security! SECURITY, SOMEBODY HELP!" Sanji was screaming under him, trying to block his attacks. Why wouldn't the idiot blonde kick him, jump out of his reach and sneer to him saying that he was aggressive bastard getting so fired up from a joke. Suddenly he felt strong arms on each of his hands and was thrown on the wall.

"DO NOT HURT HIM GOD DAMN IT HE JUST SURVIVED A FUCKING CAR CRASH!" he heard blonde shouting to the pair of hands, which, now when Zoro could look, belonged to pair of gorilla-like men in black suits.

"Sanji are you alright-!" Zoro heard a women's voice and he looked at the shitty cook trembling from the anger and loathing towards other guy. Sanji was getting up, his cheek starting to bruise and lip bleeding, looking little disoriented.

"So you piece of shit, what are you playing at? Where are the others? Where are our nakama?" he growled, ready to jump at him and beat him to death if he continued to play this game.

"I'm so sorry Zoro-san. You cousin passed away on that car crash. There wasn't anything we could do to save him", he said, feeling sorry for the greenhead, even after he landed couple of punches on him.

"YOU PIECE OF TRASH, YOU MOTHERFUCKER, I'LL KILL YOU I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU SAY IT ANYMORE YOU ARE FUCKING DEAD YOU UNDERSTAND-", Zoro screamed, trying to leap out of the reach of those gorillas. He successfully landed a well placed punch on the cooks jaw before being restrained. He felt a sting on his arm and suddenly everything became blurry and mushy, the view darkening away from him.

X

"Oi Luffy! Nami! Others! He's awake!"

Zoro opened his eyes. Two dark eyes, like large buttons, were looking at him sternly.

"Are you awake? Are you feeling well?" Furry little doctor was asking, watching him very closely, like Zoro would shatter if he would take his eyes off him.

Instantly Zoro fumbled at his side, finding only air. He groaned and tried to get up.

"Whoa whoa, stay still, you're still an absolute mess. Your swords are resting on the table at the side, look!" Chopper said quickly, waving towards the table.

Zoro looked, and there he found Shusui, Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu lying calmly next to each other. He sighed, relieved. At least his swords were here.

When he looked around, he noticed he was on the Thousand Sunnys infirmary. From the familiar waving of the room he figured they were already sailing on the sea, away from Thriller Bark. He gave out another sigh of relief and slumped on the bed, which wasn't very comfortable but very familiar.

"ZOROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" boomed the loud yell, followed by a crash made by Luffy, who had just shot himself in the infirmary from the other side of the ship. Soon he was followed by Nami and Robin who smiled happily. They came around Zoro, asking how he felt – when he answered being fine, Nami decided he would be in dept to her 'cause he hadn't done his chores on the ship while resting. Soon after that Usopp, Franky and Brooke barged in, Brooke halfway through his new song "Awaken warrior" and Franky crying like a waterfall for the lyrics that were praising Zoros strength.

Soon Luffy was almost jumping on Zoro, and Usopp was bragging by telling everyone Zoro was awake because his prayers had been heard by gods. Nami was trying to get Zoro deeper in his dept, Brooke and Franky danced around to Brookes new song and Robin just sat smiling in the middle of the chaos called the crew of Thousand Sunny.

"GET OUT, OUT NOW! EVERYONE!" Chopper yelled from the top of his lungs, making everyone but Robin scuttle out of the infirmary. She laughed and made her way out, closing the door behind him. Chopper sighed, starting to collect all the fallen vials which were dropped while Brooke and Franky danced around. He was glad nothing had broken.

Zoro slumped back to lying, terribly aware his body was covered in bandages. He hated bandages. They were itchy, felt nasty and now he looked like...

"You look like a mummy." A snicker and a familiar click of the lighter.

"For heaven's sake I just woke up and there you are tormenting me with your existence", Zoro sighed, wanting to turn around but Chopper didn't really seem to be approving that.

"Just wanted to come and check if you would've dropped dead so I could use you in sushi or something, marimo" Sanji said and dragged slowly from his cigarette. Then he exhaled, adding up "though, it might've poisoned others or at least made them very sick from the bad taste, so maybe it was better you woke up."

"Oh, you were worried lover boy? How sweet." Now Zoro really wanted to turn around so he did, despite the disallowing looks Chopper sent him. Being on his side really hurt a little, but it was more pleasurable than looking at the stupid cooks face. He still got angry at him, saying those stupid things, even if it was in his head.

"What the fuck moss-head? I wasn't worried! I was waiting that Chopper would announce you dead so I could feed you to the sharks! Still I bet even them don't have so bad taste, though!" Sanji stomped away, clearly because Chopper was giving him warning looks about getting agitated. He knew Zoro was in no shape of fighting, so kicking him would've been a low trick.

After a ringing silence Sanji left behind Zoro started quietly:

"You know, I had a weird dream when I was sleeping."

"Zoro. You weren't sleeping, you were in coma. We were very worried you weren't going to wake up", Chopper said, giving him meaningful looks. Little doctor always told him he was taking too big risks, stating he wouldn't live to see the New World if he kept going like this. Zoro really didn't take the advice, saying that there was always one little tanuki patching him up.

"I was at a hospital and my swords were gone. Idiot cook was there too, dressed like a doctor, but he didn't seem to recognize me. He stated that Luffy had died – what was that again – in a car accident."

"I hit him and he didn't do anything. He tried to block my attacks but failed miserably. And I just kept hitting. It felt so real I was kinda afraid it was real."

Chopper looked at him looking troubled and then tested his forehead.

"You are feeling pretty warm, you may have slight fever. Go to sleep, I tell Sanji to bring you something to eat, since you haven't really got any real food in days", furry doctor stated and walked away. Zoro rolled on his back, lifting his hands to look at them. There were no signs of recent bruises, but it felt like he had been hitting something.

He let his arms flop down, not really having any energy. He would think about that tomorrow.

X X X X

Hi!

Hope you enjoy my first fic I've written in years and in English!

I'm sorry about awkward language and spelling mistakes: English isn't my first language, so I really am still kind of staggering. Put up a comment if anything doesn't seem to match (I'd like to correct the mistakes I make).

More coming up when I just have time to write it!