.

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Chapter 4.

Yearn for a Flight, Make it Change You

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It was a long day for the Straw Hats. After sitting with Luffy till the sunset, they agreed to take shifts in the sickbay and returned to their quarters. They knew they needed sleep.

Sanji groaned in irritation. He was laying on his bunk, trying to finally get some rest. He heard Usopp grunting and turning in his bed. He could also see an overshadowed, hunched figure of Franky in the corner. The cyborg was mindlessly moving fingers over his instrument, never touching any string. He had his sunglasses on even in the darkness.

Sanji sighed. He guessed that their shipwright was more worried than he let on.

Marimo was absent. Of course he was. The cook wasn't surprised that Cactus-head abandoned the idea of sleep and remained by his captain. What a loyal fool he was!

But Brook seemed almost as bad. He kept standing at the door for a few hours now. He was gripping it with his bony hand, keeping it open. His face was pressed into the opening and his unmoving, eyeless gaze was glued to the infirmary.

"How is he?" he asked.

The unexpected question made Sanji shudder.

"He must be fine," he grunted. He lifted himself to a sitting position, admitting that there was no way in hell that he would fall sleep. "Why don't you rest already?"

"I can't," the musician answered. "It would... It would feel like betraying him, somehow."

"Bullshit," Sanji said. He searched for cigarettes, needing a smoke. "You know how Luffy is. He won't be happy if one of us gets sick. Besides, we must get a grip or we will just grow tired and useless. He needs us to recover."

Franky looked up from his guitar. "I don't see you resting, bro."

"Well," Sanji waved his hand in a small circle, " This is Luffy, we're talking about. He's bounced back from worse than this. Let's have some faith in our captain, eh?"

Usopp smiled a tight, forced smile.

"Of course I believe in Luffy," he said. "But just admit. We are all crazy with worry. And I don't know about you guys, but I can't take it anymore."

The liar grabbed his pillow and stomped to the door, squeezing it under his armpit. Brook finally budged. He stepped aside, letting him pass.

"I'm going to the infirmary," the sniper said. He turned in the doorway and looked at the others. "I understand I can't help, I do." His voice trembled with emotion. "I know... But it's better than nothing."

Sanji's eyebrows rose to his hairline. He watched as Usopp marched out of the room, and then released a heavy sigh.

"Well?" he asked. Franky sent him a smirk.

"You know, bro," he answered. He lifted his massive body to a standing position. "We wouldn't be sleeping today anyway. Not with our captain on our minds, no."

The cook smiled around a cigarette. "Speak for yourself. I think only about the ladies."

"Yohohoho. But they don't seem to share your sentiment, Sanji-san. Look." Brook pointed a finger to the outside. "Nami-san and Robin-san are going to the sickbay."

True to his words, the women were already climbing stairs to the infirmary. When the males left their room and silently walked in the same direction, Nami turned around with a surprised expression. Robin simply smiled.

"Taking a stroll at this hour?" she asked in a conspiracy tone.

Franky gave thumbs-up. "It's never too late to visit nakama. Friendship is SU~PER!"

"Not so loud!" the ginger hissed. "If Luffy is sleeping, you'll wake him up!"

Franky open his mouth in an "O" of understanding. Nami ignored him and Sanji ("Nami-swan, so thoughtful~!") and stood beside Usopp, who was lingering in front of the sickbay. They exchanged long glances.

"Well, knock already," the girl huffed.

The sniper cleared his throat and raised a fist, but it wasn't necessary. Before he could do anything, there was a click and the door opened.

A small figure appeared in the doorway. Chopper looked up at them, his beady eyes shining in understanding. There was no surprise in his expression.

"He is resting," he said quietly.

They didn't need clarification who "he", was. As they silently stepped into the sickbay, their gazes were drawn to the bed with Luffy and a chair beside it, where Zoro was sitting.

The swordsman was calm. He greeted everyone with a steady look of a green eye. Judging by the aura around him, the Straw Hats knew that everything was under control.

"He is sleeping. No incidents," Zoro gave a short update.

Some of the crew nodded. They let out the breaths they didn't know they were holding and lowered themselves to the floor. Sanji came in last. He threw away his cigarette and leaned against the wall, watching as Chopper tiptoed to his chair. The little reindeer hopped on it and gave it a little spin.

"Well. You seem happy," the cook noticed.

The reindeer nodded.

"I am. It's looking better," he said in a whisper. "Maybe Luffy will be okay in no time!"

"Of course. He definitely will," Robin admitted with warm expression.

Chopper's eyes sparkled.

They spent the next few hours in a relative silence. Even though they tried to avoid it, their gazes kept coming back to a prone figure on the bed. And Luffy... The view he presented was admittedly scary. The boy looked frighteningly thin and small, even under the covers. Ghost of breaths were slipping pass his parted lips, soft and almost silent. The Straw Hats were listening to them closely. They knew there was no need to constantly check if the boy did keep breathing, but they couldn't help slight paranoia.

It was a long time before they succumbed to exhaustion. Nami and Usopp were the first ones. They slid down the wall, tilting towards themselves and resting against each other. Chopper dozed on the edge of his chair. He wanted to stay awake and keep watch over Luffy, but his eyelids closed on their own. Zoro stood up and lifted him before he could fall, and gently placed him in the corner.

Franky and Brook weren't moving. The cyborg's eyes were hidden by sunglasses and the skeleton's eyes were nonexistent, but Zoro heard their snores.

Robin was also fighting a losing battle. She drifted away in a graceful position, head resting on hands clasped together.

Sanji quietly retrieved blankets from a closet. He covered her and Nami, and then returned to his place by the headboard. Soon enough he also fell asleep.

"You gave us quite a fright. We're restless without you," came a whisper from the swordsman. He brought his chair just a little closer to the captain. "You must come back to us. Come back strong."

He crossed his arms against his chest. He tried to continue his guarding duty and stay attentive. It was fairly late when he noticed black spots creeping in his vision. He gave his head a shake, but it was of no use. The world turned dark before he knew it.

Zoro's body slumped with gravitation. His muscular frame rested on his captain's legs, covered by the blankets.

Every crewmate was unconscious.

Apart from the snores, it became silent in the infirmary. Even Sunny seemed to cease rocking, with sea calm and as smooth as a table. There was close to no movement.

That is - until Luffy stirred.

...

The morning came far too quickly. Nami sat up, hearing her back crack in protest.

"Yuuck! Usopp, that's disgusting!" She made a wry face when she found a patch of wetness on her cheek - which was identified as the sniper's saliva. "Wake up!" she ordered.

She shook him by his neck. Usopp mumbled some incoherent words and Nami let him go.

"Why on earth were we sleeping together?" she wondered. She looked around and remembered.

Of course. They spent night in the sickbay.

Other Straw Hats were also coming round. They were sitting up from the strangest positions on the floor, woken up by the yelling.

Usopp blinked his bleary eyes. He was brutally brought back from a dreamland by Nami's fist, which descended on his stomach.

"Argh! Nami! What's your problem?" he shouted. "Why did you hit me?"

"Don't argue with Nami-swan, shitty nose," Sanji warned. He shot at the sniper a glare too full of drowsiness to be menacing. "Whatever you did, she must be right to hit you."

"I didn't do anything!" Usopp protested. "I was only sleeping. Well, not anymore," he added and threw Nami a pointed gaze. He was fast to backpedal when she returned it full force. "Ok, you win, you win! I'm sorry!"

"Uh... What's with the ruckus?"

The Straw Hats froze. Slowly, almost stiffly, all heads turned towards the owner of the voice.

Luffy was sitting on the bed, wearing a confused expression. His round eyes landed on Zoro.

"Nee! Can Zoro move a little?" he asked, seeing as Zoro was still on his legs. "You are kinda heavy."

The older man remained rooted to a spot. He was kneeling by the bed, with shocked gaze glued to his captain.

"Lu-Luffy," he rasped out. "What is that on your head?"

The raven looked up.

"What? Hair? Silly Zoro, do you see me with Boshi so much that you forgot what my hair looks like? You guys are so funny!" He laughed, seeing his friends shocked expressions. "Here." He took his hat, which was neatly placed on a cabinet. "Now it'll be better."

He plopped Boshi down on his scalp. But Boshi didn't stay there. Luffy was surprised when his hat fell off, as if pushed by some object. He quickly caught it and moved it back on top. But no, his hat was also stubborn. It slid down again!

Annoyed, the boy huffed and kept it firmly atop of his head. He thought that maybe if he waited long enough, Boshi would give up and remain in place.

After a long moment, Luffy carefully removed his hold. Boshi didn't budge. Satisfied, the rubber-man smiled and moved his hand to lower it... and then...

Then.

Luffy felt growing confusion when his fingers met something hard and smooth. He ran them up and down along the object, finding it to be long and pointy, stretching up to eight inches above him.

Strange. He moved his hand back down again. Whatever the Mysterious Object was, it was connecting with his forehead. What could it be? He moved his hand a little to the right and found that there wasn't one, but two sticks stuck in his head.

The hell?

"Guys?" Luffy addressed his stupefied crew. "It's not hair, is it?"

Sanji, still in a state of shock, stumbled to a closet and grabbed a mirror. He tossed it to his captain.

Fighting tremors running through his body, Luffy slowly raised the mirror to his face.

Alright... He was slightly pale, but looked rather normal. There were also two thin trickles of blood, ending in clotted pools on his eyebrows. And then, following the trail of red...

Luffy gasped, covering his mouth in surprise.

He had horns! Black, symmetrical and elegant, pointing upwards in graceful, curved columns. Legitimate horns! They appeared black, but when the boy turned his head at the right angle, he could see they were in deep, dark green colour, rather than black as his hair was.

So he grew horns? How? None of his friends had ones... Oh no, wait. Ucy from Dressrosa definitely did, but Luffy wasn't a bull, as far as he knew. Or was he? Argh, his mind was going to explode from thinking!

Luffy let his bangs cover his face. The crew felt a rush of worry, thinking that their captain was overwhelmed with situation. He had to be terrified!

"Oi, shitty captain. You alright there?" Sanji asked in concern.

"Luffy-san?" Brook added.

"Luffy..." Zoro said quietly. He tried to look at the boy's eyes, noticing that he started trembling. The swordsman's heart broke for his younger buddy. "Hey, it's not that bad. Chopper will definitely find a way to...-"

"YAHOOOOO!" Luffy shouted.

Everybody jumped backwards, startled by his yelling. Before anyone could react, the boy scrambled off the bed and fell on the floor. He quickly collected himself and ran to the door, somehow getting sheets draped around his legs and pulling them with him.

"I have horns! I have HORNS! How cool is that?" He charged outside and laughed merrily. "Ups!" he said, finally noticing the mess dragged behind him.

But it wasn't only the sheets trailing in his footsteps.

"Oh. Are these... wings and a tail?"

And sure enough, there were wings. Black and curled up, they were growing from the top of his shoulder blades, extending to more or less half of his back. Though small, they had unmistakable skeleton and a dark membrane stretched on its structure.

There was also a long tail with a triangular tip, swaying casually behind the captain. The latter stared at it with unreadable expression.

"Oh," he said finally. "Guys." He looked up at his dumbfounded crew. "I think... I think I might have a problem."

And so all hell broke loose.

...