The whole crew was shocked at the sight of Luffy. His clothes were absolutely drenched in blood and he had several severe wounds. They ran over the deck to their wounded captain and Chopper immediately started to look him over.
"What's happened?!" Nami screamed in shock.
"Lu…..Luff…..Luffy...got...s..sho…..shot" Zoro panted out of breath.
"How is that even possible?, he is made of rubber for god's sake!" Nami hysterically
yelled.
Zoro tried to catch his breath before answering. "They made sea stone bullets" he finally said.
"What?!" The whole crew stared at Zoro in disbelieve.
"The new bullets are drenched in seawater and made of seastone that way they are able to counteract the devil fruit powers." Zoro explained.
"That explains Luffy's wounds" Chopper murmured, while wrapping bandages around Luffy's chest.
"How bad is it?" Zoro asked
"One bullet missed his face just barely and left a scratch. The second bullet is still lodged into his shoulder, so I have to operate on him. The last bullet seems to have gone through his abdomen, but the damage there is minimal. Furthermore he lost a lot of blood and we have no one who can supply a F-type. I stopped the bleeding for now, but I can't do the surgery safely without any blood. All we can do is clean and dress his wounds to prevent any infection and wait till he is strong enough to do the surgery without a blood transfusion." Chopper rambled.
"W….will he be alright?" Nami asked with tears in her eyes.
"I can't say for sure he will make a full recovery, his shoulder might pose a problem…." Chopper said sadly.
"Don't worry Luffy is strong!, he survived far worse than this" Robin tried to encourage the rest.
"I'm sure Robin is right" Sanji said. "But first shouldn't we move Luffy to the infirmary?" He asked while looking at Chopper.
"Ohhhh! That's right" Chopper said while snapping out of his haze.
"I'll take care of it" Robin said and a row of hands appeared from the deck. She gently lifted her captain and moved him over the row to the infirmary.
Chopper followed his patient and the rest of the crew watched after him till the door was closed. They were all shaken by what had just happened, especially Zoro. He hadn't said a word after explaining the situation, he just sat alone at the end of the deck in silence.
"Are you alright?" a voice said. Zoro looked up and saw Sanji staring at him.
"Y…..Yeah I'm fine" Zoro said while refusing to look Sanji in his eyes.
"I can tell something's bothering you" Sanji tried again.
"Just leave me alone, I'm fine" Zoro said in a surprisingly small voice.
Sanji sighed and lowered himself next to Zoro on the deck. He stared at the sky while smoking a cigarette. "Damm marine for putting us in a situation like this" he murmured. "Seastone bullets….. Who would even invent such a thing?" he kept talking while watching Zoro out of the corner of his eye. "They are becoming more of a nuisance everyday" he complained.
"It's not only their fault" Zoro finally murmured.
"How come?" Sanji asked curiously.
"Nevermind" Zoro said while turning away from Sanji completely.
"Fine" Sanji complained. "Why don't you go and see Luffy?" Sanji asked.
"I don't want to see him right now…." Zoro said under his breath.
"Why not?, you know he wants to see you when he wakes up. His first question will be: "Is Zoro alright?" Sanji said.
"I know…." Zoro murmured.
"So go and see him" Sanji said irritated.
"I can't…" Zoro murmured a little agitated.
"Why not?" Sanji almost yelled.
"Because it's my fault he's hurt!" Zoro finally yelled in Sanji's face. He immediately regretted telling him and stood up to leave, but a now gentle voice stopped him.
"Why do you blame yourself? What has really happened?" Sanji asked gently.
Zoro sighed while sitting down again and he told the whole story, about how he lost focus and Luffy jumped in front of him as a meat shield to protect him. Sanji listened to the story and finally concluded: "It isn't your fault, none of us could have known that the bullets could actually injure a rubberman".
"I know but still you know Luffy, he won't let me apologize and he will act like nothing has happened. I might even deny his injuries" Zoro said.
"You're probably right" Sanji chuckled. "Just be man mosshead! Get in there and face his forgiveness!" He joked at Zoro.
"Who are you calling Mosshead!, Bussybrow!" Zoro yelled angrily, while getting up to go to the infirmary.