Hi, I know, I'm so mean because as you can see by the title, this is going to be a painful chapter for poor Zoro.
I love hurt/comfort genre, and personally I think we don't see enough of that for our favorite future World's Greatest Swordsman, don't you think?
Well, here goes, hope ya'll enjoy this angst ridden piece of (hopefully) goodness.
Zoro sat up from where he had been puking his guts out into the toilet bowl, his hands trembled from where they gripped the polished porcelain, and a wince flashed across his face as his right side gave another sharp pang. This had begun a little over a week ago, a dull throb behind his navel accompanied by horrible bouts of nausea and dizzy spells wreaking havoc on the swordsman. Now the pain had moved from his navel down to his right side, and the nausea had developed into full on vomit fests in the bathroom.
Zoro rubbed his tired eyes before wiping his palm across a sweaty overheated brow. He knew that he had a fever, just as well that he knew that these symptoms were only going to grow worse if he kept going without medical attention. However, getting that was proving difficult.
He wasn't an idiot, he knew when to go to a doctor, and he knew that there were things that were impossible to 'tough his way out' of, but for some reason every time he attempted going to Chopper, something would occur that distracted them or made it impossible to relay his problem to the small reindeer. Thus here he was, wringing his stomach out for all it was worth, hoping that he could make it through the day and actually get in a solid conversation with Chopper without any interruptions.
Suddenly the bathroom door in the men's quarters opened, revealing the heads of his crewmates peeking in, mainly Usopp and Franky "Hey," the sniper whined petulantly clutching his toothbrush to his chest "are you almost done, or what?"
"Yeah Zoro-bro," Franky huffed "I'm normally a patient guy, but hogging the bathroom is un-super."
"Sor-" the moss headed man suddenly felt his abdomen convulse and he jerked his face back over the toilet to dry heave with a horrible gagging sound that made both men wince.
"Whoa, dude," Franky said softly taking his large metal hand and rubbing some of the tenseness out of Zoro's trembling shoulders "you ok, bro?"
Zoro spat some bile out of his mouth, and labored for air, even as his hand clutched his right side "Y-Yeah, I'm fine."
"It's probably just a bad hangover," a familiar voice sneered past the doorway within the room.
"Stupid ero-cook," the swordsman snarled, but without any real heat as he leaned against the wall of the bathroom.
"I don't know," Usopp muttered, chewing his bottom lip pensively "Zoro doesn't usually get hangovers."
"I'm fine," Zoro said firmly with a glare to show the evidence that he really was.
"Maybe you should still go see Chopper though," the sniper offered gently.
"Fine," Zoro grunted 'Like I haven't been trying all week!'
Suddenly the alarm bell rung and the navigator's voice screamed over the intercom "MARINES ARE ATTACKING ON THE STARBOARD BOW!"
"Aw man," the swordsman hissed as he hauled himself to his feet and stumbled out the door.
"Oi, Zoro-bro," Franky yelped as the green haired man pushed past him "are ya sure you should be fighting?"
"I'll be fine," the man sighed in reply as he strapped his swords to his side and ran out the door.
Brook walked up behind them, his skeletal face blank as he considered the swordsman 'I have a very bad feeling about this'.
….
The battle raged, and Zoro stumbled his way through it, pain fogging his every thought.
He didn't know how many marines he had defeated, didn't really care all that much for that matter, but he could tell that were losing. He knew that it was largely in part to the fact that he wasn't carrying his usual load, and the others were being forced to fight more than they were used to, but he was unable to do more.
Eight marines converged on Zoro, swinging their swords in a haphazard style that on any other day when he wasn't feeling so ill the man would have gladly insulted the marines for their shoddy training, and proceeded to bring them all down upon the swordsman hoping that he could be defeated through the force of numbers.
Zoro brought his three swords up to block all eight blades 'Dude, who brought a ninth?!' but he felt his right side give a painful stab which resulted in his right knee weakening, and giving out, leaving him on one knee in the dirt, straining to keep the blades aloft and out of his neck and back. Suddenly though a familiar black leather shoe flew through the space above him, kicking the marines away from him so hard and fast, that the swordsman heard the air whistle.
The marines were flung like ragdolls away from Zoro, and the man allowed his arms to fall to his sides with a sigh of relief, his shoulders going up and down as he fought for air "Th-Thanks…ero-cook."
Sanji opened his mouth to give Zoro a scathing retort, but quickly bit it back when he noticed the man stumble as he drug himself back to his feet, and rushed forward to grab the man's arm, and keep him upright. Sanji felt his jaw drop when he felt the heat radiating off the swordsman's skin, much hotter than it would be just from mere exertion, and he looked up to see Zoro's face covered in sweat, and his emerald eyes were glazed and unfocused.
"O-Oi," the cook drawled giving his nakama's arm a firm shake "you ok, man?"
"Huh?" the swordsman snapped out of his exhausted daze long enough to regard the blond man "Yeah, I'm just…tired."
"Zoro," Sanji said, his eyes narrowing as he used the man's name to show him just how serious he was "you have a fever."
"I'll see Chopper when we're done," he murmured casting his dull gaze away from Sanji and back towards the battlefield "until then, I have to deal with it."
Sanji sighed, but nodded knowing the statement was true "Fine," he said while lighting a cigarette "since you're currently useless, I guess I'll just have to pick up your slack and get this over with sooner rather than later."
Zoro smirked, knowing very well that his cruel statement actually translated as 'I'll cover for you and try to get you to Chopper as soon as we can.'
"Do whatever you want princess,"
…..
Chopper looked over to see Sanji and Zoro fighting marines back to back, and he smiled at the sight of the rivals working together, but suddenly his discerning medical eye caused him to take a second look.
To anyone who knew nothing about the pair, they would assume that they were incredibly strong, and leave it at that, but Chopper could see what others could not. He could see the way Zoro was fighting, his arms moving slowly as if his swords weighed more than he could bear, which was impossible considering the weights he usually threw around every day on the ship while they were sailing. He also noticed that every time Zoro was too sluggish to stop an attack, Sanji would step in and back up the swordsman, keeping him safe. That too, was odd.
Chopper felt an uncomfortable churning in his gut, Zoro was moving far too slowly, and he was favoring his right side, not to mention he was sweating far too much. Something was wrong.
….
Zoro sighed as he watched Chopper rush to fight by his and Sanji's side, his childish yet incredibly wise gaze keeping tabs on the two, and then groaned when his side gave another twinge, and his abdomen began to convulse in what he knew to be the first sign of another bout of vomiting. His knees turned to jelly, and he found himself falling to the deck, puking bile onto the wooden planks, and much to Sanji and Chopper's dismay, blood.
Sanji leapt high into the air, warding off another attack, before landing next to the man, and standing between him and any other marines "Chopper," the blond yelled "take care of Zoro, I'll cover you!"
"Right!" the reindeer replied.
However none were able to keep their promises when a loud explosion rocked the ship, and the cook looked up in time to see that the marines had used all of their cannons to force the Thousand Sunny several hundred feet away from their ship, and spinning in the water. What happened next was almost too fast for any of them to comprehend. Chopper, completely absorbed by the swordsman who was still vomiting blood, never saw the large wave that was kicked up from the explosion, resulting in both he and his patient being washed overboard.
"Chopper, Zoro!" Sanji screamed as he raced to the side of the ship and dove into the waves.
The blond swam for all he was worth, his eyes stinging from the ocean water, but he kept his eyes on the figures of his two nakama as they sunk further and further. Zoro struggled in the water, one arm wrapped around Chopper, but a harsh grimace twisted his features and he immediately curled up into a ball, his muscular arm wrapping around his stomach. A torrent of bubbles left the swordsman's mouth as the water muffled what was surely a roar of pain. Sanji felt his heart clench in fear when suddenly the moss headed man's eyes rolled into the back of his head and became deathly still.
Sanji strove forward, his arms cutting through the water, cursing himself for not trying to spend more time on working his upper body strength. After what felt like an eternity, the man caught his nakama, and swam up to surface. Breaking the water, Sanji groaned in pain as he struggled to keep his comrade's heads above the water, and cast about looking for their ship.
However the Thousand Sunny was not in view, neither was the marine ship, both had disappeared on the horizon in the time it took to save Zoro and Chopper from drowning.
"No," Sanji hissed as he stared out to sea "this is bad."
"Sanji," a quiet whisper floated up from his arms.
The blond looked down and saw the reindeer looking up at him through tired glazed eyes "Chopper," Sanji smiled relieved.
"We need to…find an island," the small animal gasped "Zoro…is sick…he needs a…doctor."
"Right," the cook nodded, and began to scan for just such an island.
A weight lifted off his shoulders as he caught sight of mountains in the distance, and quickly began treading water on his back, holding his nakama against his chest. Hopefully they would make it in time to find out what was wrong with Zoro, and get him proper help.
I'm going to cut it off here.
The next part to this is next, and I hope you enjoy it.
Once again, any thoughts or ideas, post them in the reviews!