Chapter 4

AN: Well another chapter here and done. So a popular question I've noticed is why does Luffy blame himself. No other reason, other than his promise to protect his nakama, and that he feels he failed in that. That's all. ^_^ So let's see here, Bornfree, you're expressions were incredible! I want more! LCS, I'm not surprised at all actually lol! Notice, I added some love cook references in this chapter just for you. ;) Oh, the romance will happen as it will. I never plan these stories out, i just let them take me where they will. Moulinrouge, I salute you back! And thank you, i'm glad you liked the hat idea. Just Being Em: Where do i begin? Love your reviews, and don't worry about dictionaries. I understood you just fine! Anywho, I hope you all enjoy this. I sat down for 4 hours straight and cranked this one out. Hoping to get the next one out sometime this week. Things can finally get a bit lighter! But not much, you know we all love the gore!

...

Sunlight streamed in through a window weakly, hitting directly onto the closed lids of a snoring reindeer. He grunted, trying to turn away from the light and burrow into his blanket. Unfortunately, the light only grew stronger until with a grumbling complaint, he hauled himself out of the warm, comfortable bed. His companions snored away, excluding a missing blonde chef, blissfully unaware the dawn had come. Hooves tapped against the floor as he stumbled his way out the door, rubbing sleep from his eyes and giving a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Morning." He mumbled to Brook as the skeleton descended from the crowsnest, before pausing in front of the door to the sick bay. No other incidents had occurred in the night he assumed, considering no one had come running for him. He looked to where Robin lay on her chair, fast asleep in the warm morning. Dark circles ringed her eyes, lines of worry creasing her mouth and forehead. She had likely been up most of the night.

Cautiously, the doctor pushed open the door to his inner sanctum, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the dark interior. His nose twitched, and he steeled himself for whatever the day may bring to him. The door clicked shut behind him, startling one of the room's occupants from their light doze. Appraising eyes ran over the two quickly, before pulling out the needed supplies he would require for the day. "Go get some sleep, I can take over."

Luffy swayed as he stood up, half a mind on protesting he was fine before Chopper sent a stern look at him, pointing at the door with one hoof. "I can handle this. I'll wake you if anything changes, now get out."

He nodded wearily, looking one more time to the woman sleeping peacefully for the moment, strawhat gripped tightly to her chest. "She fell asleep just before dawn." He mumbled, slowly making his way out. The thought of sleeping actually sounded really good, but he had something else to do first. So, with unsteady legs and eyes that refused to stay open, he stumbled his way through the ship to his destination.

Low muttering and the sound of pots and pans being noisily moved heralded that the blonde cook was already underway making them breakfast. He looked up, freezing as Luffy stumbled his way in. The man looked…horrible. His eyes were bloodshot and dark circles surrounded him. His hair was disheveled, more noticeable with the absence of his treasured hat. He looked like he could barely walk, and slumped down immediately into the first chair he came too.

"Luffy…you alright?" Came the cautious inquiry.

"Foooooooood." The man groaned, rolling his eyes up pathetically to the cook, who had come to stand next to him. "Huuuuungry." The blonde's eye twitched, teeth setting down a little harder on his cigarette. "Nami needs food too."

Crisis averted, the name of their navigator immediately cooled the blonde's temper before it could reach its boiling point. "Hai, it should be ready soon." He looked over to where he had been preparing a simple, but highly nutritious, soup for her. Starvation left the body unable to cope with complex foods, he knew all too well. "How is she?"

A shadow passed behind his captain's dark eyes. "You should visit her." Was all he said, reaching an arm out to snag a loaf of bread cooling on the counter. He ignored his crewmates sputtering, chewing slowly on the bread and thinking of the night's events.

She couldn't tell him much, whether her mind couldn't cope with remembering her time with whoever took her or she truly didn't know, was anyone's guess. He didn't press after asking her who it had been, and the subject was dropped. Very little had been said, she had been content to sit there, staring at the hat in her lap and just feeling it. Several times, she had said that same weird phrase; It's really you, as if she had to re-affirm it to herself. When fatigue finally forced her to sleep again, he doubted him and Zoro together could have pried that hat out of her grasp, broken fingers or not.

A plate was set down in front of him, and he opened his eyes slowly. Sanji continued past him, carrying a tray with two covered bowls and some drinks of some sort on it out the door. Luffy ate listlessly, his mind too much in turmoil of the state of his nakama. This was a situation he couldn't fix by beating someone up; he didn't know what to do.

…

Sanji knocked softly on the door, anticipation and fear twisting his gut around itself. He had never seen Luffy look so…defeated. The blonde dreaded what could have affected their happy-go-lucky captain so much. It was obviously more than just her injuries; he hadn't been nearly so affected when she had nearly died at Drum Island. And anything that could do that to their idiot captain was enough to put him on edge.

The door swung open, Chopper peering out at him. "I figured you'd be hungry, so I brought you some breakfast."

A tiny gurgle issued from the doctor's stomach, making him blush. He looked back to where Nami was sitting numbly, half-way through having her bandages changed. He opened the door further, motioning for the blonde to come in. "Wait here for a moment." He muttered, hooves clacking softly as he returned to the woman's side.

Sanji watched as the animal spoke quietly to the ginger-haired female, no reaction coming from her at all for several long moments when he had finished. Finally, she looked up, blinking. Then turned to look where he stood, giving her his best smile. She flinched, eyes squeezing shut and a fine trembling sweeping through her body. She nodded, returning her gaze to her lap where the strawhat rested. Chopper motioned him over, returning to his task of changing out soiled bandages for fresh ones.

"Nami-swan, I brought you a nutritious breakfast to help restore your radiant glow to your delicate skin." He tried to ignore the obvious fear in her eyes as she looked at him through her bangs, twitching every time he got too close. "I brought you something too, Chopper."

"Arigatou." Chopper absently replied, ignoring the gurgles coming demandingly from his stomach. Preventing infection from spreading any further was what mattered at the moment, he could go a little longer without food. "Nami, you should eat. You'll need all your strength."

She nodded slightly, unwilling to take her eyes off the man in front of her. She shuddered, recalling all too well what he had done in her dream last night. She played with the brim of the hat, using it to anchor her to reality. "Th-thank you, Sanji." She whispered, hissing through her teeth as Chopper moved to a particularly sore wound on her leg.

"Sanji-san, I need to ask that you come back later." Chopper all but ordered, his eyes wide as he gently probed the nasty cut with one hoof. High on her upper right thigh, red lines trailing outward from it, was a mark of such cruelty; the deer nearly remembered his old hatred of humanity.

The cook nearly argued, they had all been waiting so long to find their navigator and to now shoo him away after getting only a brief look! But then she cried out and he got a look at what had the animal's attention so fully, his lone visible eye widening at the inflamed mark. Infection oozed out of it whenever it was touched even lightly. "I will see you at lunch time, Nami-san." He smiled reassuringly at her, though her head was tilted too far down to see, teeth and eyes clenched tightly. He paused briefly at the door, wishing he could help or at least stay, but Chopper would do better with minimal distraction.

If Chopper had been a lesser deer, he may have partaken in the language that Sanji and Zoro were so infamous for. Instead, he settled for mentally beating himself as he looked over the extent of the wound. In the rush of guaranteeing she would not die last night, he hadn't had time to thoroughly look her over and this was just one of many injuries he knew, would need some extensive care. He would have to give her a full physical as well, though he could guess what he would fine. He may be an animal, but an animal that lived around humans and was trained by a doctor. He had been taught what injuries meant what and to piece together a scenario from them. She wouldn't be the first rape victim he had seen. No town was without its dirty little secrets, especially with a king like Drum had.

"Nami-san, could you please lay down?" He asked, watching the yellow-ish, thick gunk seeping from the cut marks. It was an older wound, one that had been festering for quite some time. Angry lines of blood poisoning streaked down her leg, ending just above her knee. Other lines extended up just past her navel. "I need to drain this. I'm sorry." He apologized, prepping two needles. One contained a painkiller, the other some antibiotics. She would require a daily shot of those every day until the infection was fully gone. Not something Chopper was looking forward to giving her.

"What's wrong?" She asked, swinging her legs back up onto the bed, biting her lip to prevent herself from crying out. Curious, she looked to where Chopper had been paying attention, immediately looking away. Something to remember him by. How right he was. Tears prickled in her eyes, and she lay down quickly to avoid looking at the mark again.

She focused on her breathing, keeping it slow and steady. It wasn't so bad with Chopper, easier to stay focused on where she was. For all his taunts, that bastard had never indulged in mimicking their doctor. He had restrained it to only the human members of the crew, and only the male ones at that. He had joked about ruining Robin for her as well, but he had flippantly said, "No dick, no point." Still, there had always been that fear that one day, that familiar little blue nose would have a pair of green eyes above it and a twisted smirk beneath.

She felt a tiny prick in her arm, watching from the corner of her eye as Chopper injected a clear liquid into her. A pleasant numbness flowed outward from the spot, relaxing her muscles and relieving more pain than she had realized she'd had. Course, when it's there all day every day, I guess you just forget how it feels when it's not there. Giddiness followed in the wake of the numbness, the drug fogging her mind. Chopper watched as her eye glazed over, a small smile pulling at her lips. Patiently he waited several minutes to pass, letting the anesthetic take full effect on her body. When her eyes drooped a bit, he began the arduous task of pressing as much of the infection out of the wound as possible.

She whimpered, but it wasn't too bad. A sharp pinching sensation, nothing she couldn't handle. She knew better than to cry or scream; it would only egg them on. If she stayed quiet, they would usually get bored and leave. But there's always more waiting. She shook her head, groaning at what the movement did to her skull and drawing the reindeer's attention briefly. I'm on the Thousand Sunny, not there. This is Chopper, not those men. She repeated the words over and over in her head, knowing they were truth but unable to believe in them. A sharper pinch to the leg left her gasping, looking down where streaks of red intermingled with the thicker yellow liquid coming from her leg. Her hands clenched instinctively into the bedding, as much as the splints would allow, which only caused them to hurt as well. Hot liquid scalded a line down her cheek where a tear slipped out, teeth worrying at an already ravaged lower lip. Her leg shook with the effort of keeping it still and not yanking it away, the pinching steadily becoming an outright horrendous pain. He's helping me. He's not doing this for fun. This is my nakama!

He kept going until only blood poured from the wound, no more trace of the pus that had been eating away at her underneath the skin. A quick look showed the woman nearly as pale as the sheets she lay upon, breathe escaping in small, frantic puffs of air. No delusions were made; the animal knew there were more places on her body that would need to be looked after like this. The only thing was, she couldn't handle another round of going through such a thing. She's in such a fragile state. This is going to take a long time for her to recover. If she ever fully recovers. Antlers shook at the dismal thoughts, but it was always hardest to hold onto hope in the darkest hours. And these were the darkest he had seen.

"A-Are you done?" She asked hesitantly when she felt nothing more than a warm, damp cloth cleaning her thigh.

"Hai! I just need to give you a shot…" He waited till she nodded before going back to cleaning the area and re-dressing it. "You should eat, I'm sure Sanji-san made something extra good for you." Her stomach gurgled at the thought of real food. Food other than musty bread and the occasional rotten fruit or vegetable. Food she didn't have to beg for pathetically.

She sat up after the needle was withdrawn, wincing as she moved too quickly for her ribs. Chopper had taped them into place, restricting her movements but they still hurt terribly when she twisted or sat up. She nearly cried at the scent of the soup when she lifted the lid, a cramp forming in her belly as it demanded to be fed. Clumsily, she gripped the spoon with bandages fingers, tears irritating her eye again at how much she trembled. The utensil slipped, clattering back to the tray and this time she didn't bother hiding the despair she felt in that moment. A soft cloth dabbed her eye gently, wiping the salty liquid away before it could leave it.

Delicately, Chopper lifted the bowl, testing the heat through the ceramic before lifting it up towards her. He shrugged shyly as the woman stared at him in surprise. "What are nakama for but to help one another out?"

A hesitant nod and she leaned forward to sip from the offered bowl, reveling in the incredible flavors. If there was anything she had eaten in the past more amazing then this soup, she couldn't remember what it was. When she had finished, she leaned back and gave her companion a true, full smile. "Arigatou, Chopper."

Flustered, he felt his cheeks heating up and was suddenly very thankful his fur hid what was an incredibly embarrassing blush. A large yawn from her and he was back to being a professional doctor, urging the young woman to lay back down and rest. Covers were pulled up and she was asleep before Chopper had finished tucking the sides in around her. For now, there was nothing more to do. He would drain more wounds either that night or in the morning and continue administering antibiotics regularly. The doctor finished off the breakfast that had been brought for him, sighing happily and leaning back in his swivel chair. His charge was fast asleep, for once un-plagued by nightmares. Likely, a combination of the drugs he had administered earlier, the fatigue she still suffered from, and having a full belly were helping keep her in a deep, dreamless state.

Contemplating, he looked at the clock, shocked to see it was nearly lunch time. The multitude and extent of so many of her injuries ate up his entire morning just re-dressing. I should let one of the others in to see her now, while she's asleep. It will be easier on every one if they're first encounter doesn't end with her panicking and aggravating her condition any further. Taking one more look, he left to find one of their other crewmates.

…

Sanji sighed heavily, staring in disgust at the puddle of drool that was dripping its way off the dining table. Heavy snoring echoed through the kitchen, but he still didn't have the heart to drag his sleeping captain out of his sanctuary. Images replayed in his mind from this morning as he slowly chopped vegetables to sauté for their lunch. The cook faltered, pausing for a moment as he recalled how much like a whipped puppy his favorite thief had looked. Hardly recognizable underneath all the gauze with dark blotches covering most of her exposed skin. His grip on the knife blade tightened, leaving the knuckles white and bloodless. We'll find who did this to her and I will personally shove their balls down their throat for touching her.

Windows rattled violently as a rather loud snore broke him from his brooding, making the blonde shake his head and return to his work. He would wake the idiot up as soon as he had finished the prep work. For now though, he kept his mind clear with cooking, focusing on his passion. He didn't even notice at first when the other lady of the ship padded in, slipping into a seat next to the captain. A small smirk touched her face at the pool of drool. Something told her the cook would have a job very soon for the sniper of their ship.

Blue eyes watched the chef's movements, though her mind lingered on her friend in the sick bay. She both dreaded and yearned to see her again. Her gaze trailed back over to her captain, realizing he must have stayed with her all night to be sleeping in the presence of food. Three months ago, she would have never believed it could happen, but they had all seen a different side to the happy-go-lucky young man the night they realized Nami was missing.

They hadn't been worried that first night, and that was what likely cost them the small window to find whoever took her before they left. Nami was known for disappearing on the occasional night, usually to go steal beli from some poor unsuspecting sap. Every now and then she'd come back after a night at a bar or from some shopping spree. But she had always returned before lunch. So when she didn't return to the ship by the time Sanji had announced their noon meal, Luffy passed to keep an eye out in the crows nest. When night fell, they began to search the island for her, hoping that she was just lost in some bar or had forgotten the time due to some massive sale in a mall.

As days passed into weeks, more and more he could be found up in the crowsnest, scanning the waters for any sign of their lost navigator. She had spent several nights with him, keeping him company in his silent vigil. Once, he had asked her, "Am I a bad nakama?" The heartbreak and worry in his voice had shattered her heart, and she'd gathered the younger man in a hug, telling him they'd find her. Robin prayed to never see him in such a state ever again.

"Are you hungry, Robin-chan?" Sanji asked, glancing over his shoulder at her. It was interesting to have him ask her something without going into his love-cook mode. It just went to show how affected he was by this whole thing. That and the two full ash trays sitting on the counter near him were clear indication of his current stress levels. She nodded slightly to his inquiry, amused at how he stopped what he was doing so that he could make something for her.

"She's doing better, by the way. I saw her this morning briefly. She was awake; Chopper's fixing her up. Would you like to take her lunch?" He very nearly regretted offering to let her do the simple task, but the look in the other woman's eyes let him know he had made the right decision. "It should be ready soon."

"Thank you. Really, thank you, Sanji-san." She knew what it cost him to put off being able to see the ginger-haired girl. He wanted to see her again as badly as she did. The man set a plate down in front of her with a variety of pastries and tarts. She gave him a surprised look, wanting to know how he had whipped these up so quickly. In response, he set a tray down next to her with more of the delicacies. They were simple foods, lacking his regular flourishes, but wholesome. "I'm sure Nami will love them. I'll tell you her reaction."

The woman picked up her plate, stacking it onto the tray, before taking it with her to go see her friend. She would have to find a way to properly thank Sanji for what he was doing for her. Inside the kitchen, said chef sighed again. I didn't want to have to wait till dinner, but Robin-chan needs this far more than me at the moment. Luffy gave another window-shattering snore, and the blonde casually kicked the chair out from under him, waking him up instantly.

"Wha…?" Dark eyes blinked as they looked around, one arm coming up to wipe drool from his mouth.

"It's lunch time, moron. Clean up the table or you're not getting any." Sanji grumbled, dropping the vegetables and meat he had diced earlier into a large wok. "Go call everyone while you're at it."

"LUNCHTIIIIIIME!" The captain hollered, rapidly scrubbing the table clean of all his sleep-drool before sliding into a seat again. "Meat, meat, meat. Hmm, I should bring something to Nami and Chopper, shouldn't I?" He mused out loud.

"I'm right here." A small voice piped up, Chopper walking into the room. "Robin is in there already with something for her to eat if she wakes up." He was tired already, and his voice showed that weariness.

An icy wave of dread washed through Luffy, and he looked at the reindeer sharply. "What do you mean, 'if'?"

...

AN: And I'm done. Yeah, I was gonna write more, but I really do love leaving you on a cliffhanger! Shishishi! So, reviews make me write faster, just so you know. .

Umm, oh if you're interested in how far along a chapter is to being done, i'm trying to update my profile everyday to reflect % of completion of chapters. Much love guys, if you've gotten this far, I hope its cause you're enjoying the story. That's the whole point of writing these afterall, am I right?