Disclaimer: I don't own the One Piece universe.

Characters: Vivi, Zoro
Rating: T
Contains: Blood, Sketchy Medical Care
Summary: Zoro takes care of the crew. Vivi takes care of Zoro.
Prompt: #026 "Blood" for 100 Women
Word Count: 1,496

Taking Care

The ship was quiet except for the boys' soft snores and the dull thud of Zoro's boots on the deck. A chill had settled into the air and Vivi tucked the blankets tighter around Nami before she stood. Quietly, she picked her way across the room, dodging the tangle of too-long limbs. Once there, she pressed one hand against Usopp's mouth and gave his shoulder a sharp shake.

As predicted, Usopp woke with a muffled yelp. But he calmed quickly when he saw her and Vivi pressed a finger to her own lips to shush him.

"I need you to watch Nami," Vivi said softly. She nudged him the direction of the bed. Only after he settled next to Nami, taking Vivi's place as the silent guard next to the pillow, did she let herself relax a little.

Mission accomplished, Vivi made her way topside. Usopp's quizzical gaze followed her up the ladder.

Vivi found Zoro pacing along the railing. It was a clear, cloudless night and the stars were bright. The waters were dark and calm, rocking the boat gently. There wasn't another ship to be seen in any direction. Only the icy breeze disturbed the night.

But Zoro's back was tense, and one hand had drifted to the white hilt at his side. He was ready, aware. If there was a threat, Vivi had no doubt that he would do his best to protect him.

It wouldn't be enough. As she drew closer, she noticed that his skin had taken on a greyish tinge and a cold sweat had broken out on his forehead. Just as she had feared. He wasn't taking care of himself.

"Come with me." Vivi hadn't meant to make it sound like a command. But, still, every ounce of royal diction and confidence had oozed into the words. If he were a normal man, Zoro wouldn't have put up much of a fight. He would've done as she said.

Zoro was not a normal man.

"Is Nami okay?" Zoro said in return. His voice was a mix of rough indifference, short dismissal, and quiet worry.

"She's fine." Vivi refused to let the for now pass her lips. "Usopp's taking care of her."

He breathed a soft sigh of relief, though his broad shoulders remained as tense as ever, and turned away from her. Back to the sea. To patrol for a threat that wasn't there. Something he could fight.

"And I'm taking care of you," Vivi finished after a short moment. The long chain of the peacock slasher fell from her hand and hit the deck with a soft thump of metal against wood. Zoro turned back to her, then. "One way, or another."

There was no way that Vivi could ever win in a fight against Zoro, even with him as weak as he was. She was betting on his loyalty.

After a moment, his hand eased on the katana. She couldn't tell if he was agreeing to go with her, or if he simply couldn't fight any more. He had started to sway in place.

Gently, she took his arm and slung it over her thin shoulders. Zoro gave in, then, and leaned against her, let Vivi lead him up to the galley.

It took shockingly little effort for her to lay him down on the table and that worried her more than anything. There was no time to worry, though, and Vivi set all her nervous energy to work for her. With a quick flick of her wrist, she turned the stove on. Then she filled a pot that wouldn't be missed with water and set it on the burner. While it heated, she pulled out several old towels, two rolls of gauze, and a mending kit. Those, she put on the table next to Zoro.

"I'm sorry," she said as she propped his feet on a towel. "We'll have to make do with the mending kit."

"S'ok," Zoro grunted back.

Vivi smiled softly at him and took one boot in her hands. As gently as she could, she peeled the wet leather from his skin with a sick, squelching sound. It had filled with a mix of blood: warm and fresh, tacky and congealing, rusty and dried. She suppressed the urge to gag and pulled off the second boot, quicker this time. Then she knotted towels around the ankles to try and stem the blood flow. The boots went into the pile of things that were going overboard when she was done.

Zoro had started to shake and Vivi draped her heavy jacket over him. "Stay with me," she said and, on impulse, she kissed his forehead.

She turned back to the task at hand. The water was hot now, but not so hot as to burn him. A dim part of her memory reminded her that she needed to sterilize the needle somehow and she passed it through the burner's flame before she turned it off.

Back at Zoro's side, she soaked yet another towel with the water. Then she put the lid on to keep the heat in and the chill out. With as much care and speed as she could muster, Vivi removed the towel from one ankle and started to clean it as best she could. As she did, she examined the wounds to the best of her limited ability. Like he'd said, he hadn't cut nearly all the way through. The bone and most of the muscle was still intact. But he definitely needed stiches and bandages while his injuries healed.

The next part would be the hardest. Vivi swallowed as she threaded the needle. It was simple sewing thread and she wasn't sure if it would hold. But it was everything she had. At the next port, she would make sure Zoro saw a doctor as well.

"I'm so sorry," she said again. Then, without an answer, she pinched the edges of the wound and shoved the needle in. It was just like sewing cloth, she told herself.

He made some sort of strangled, pained noise. But he did not flinch in her hands, staying perfectly, painfully still.

Vivi worked as quick as she could, pausing only to clean the wound again when fresh blood welled and to wipe her slick hands. Part of her feared she would lose the needle in the blood. She remained as firm and strong as he in her resolve.

It took her no time at all to wrap the gauze around her handiwork. The injury disappeared behind a strip of clean bandage.

She took a deep breath and looked up at Zoro. His dark green eyes were distant, monitoring what he could see of the ocean outside the window. The katana had found its way back into his tense grip. And she knew as surely as she knew her name was Nefertari Vivi that, as soon as she was done, Zoro would be back on patrol.

Part of her wanted to delay the inevitable, to keep him here, resting. But she knew that there was nothing she could do. There would be a fight this time. And so Vivi forced herself to move onto the other ankle, repeating the process.

Her nerves must have steadied somewhat. She still felt like she was going to be sick. But the stitching was easier and quicker this time. As if her muscles had settled into a more familiar process.

Zoro bolted upright nearly the instant she'd finished, her jacket falling into his lap. He slid around so that his feet rested lightly on the bench, as if he was testing if they could take his weight. There was still a greyish tint to his skin, but she knew that wasn't going to stop him.

After a moment, he stood. Vivi bounced on the balls of her feet, stopping herself from racing forward to catch him. Zoro swayed but stayed upright under his own power, and he made his way back to the deck without a second thought.

Vivi was less certain about her ability to make it back. Her knees felt like jelly as she cleaned up the evidence of the night's work. The towels, the boots, bits and pieces of bloodied thread and gauze, and even her stained shirt were thrown into the pot. She put her jacket back on, zipping it all the way up to hide her bare skin.

Dumping the bloodied cloth and water into the ocean was the surest she'd been all night. This was something that she had been prepared for. Though she was still sure that her people would be shocked to see their princess at work with such a grisly task.

On her way back, she passed Zoro. He had retrieved his second pair of boots from somewhere.

"You do good work," he'd said.

She nodded slightly. "You, too," she murmured.

They were passed each other when she heard him again, even quieter. "Take care of her, too, okay?"