Hey everybody,

it's Saturday! So you guys know what this means, here comes the new chapter! I have not much more to say than thank you all for your support and enjoy!^^

See you next week ;-)

Chapter 7

-Sanji-

He struggled to hold back his tears while laughing loudly and pinching Zoro's legs for about thirty times, before the other headbutted him to make him stop.

He could hardly believe it, it seemed impossible that things like this could happen.

"Stop it, dartboard brow, or I'll rip your head off!"

"As if you could." They both laughed. "But you could feel it, couldn't you? Every time?"

Zoro shrugged.

"What?! What means this," Sanji imitated the others, "you felt it, right?"

"I'm not sure that's what this means," said Zoro, shrugging his shoulders again, now with a slightly annoyed note.

"How can you not be sure? You just said that..."

"What are you guys doing out here?!" The door in their backs ripped open and they fell backwards, hitting the floor. "You're soaking wet! What the hell is going on?!"

Nami stood wide-legged above them, her hands against her hips. Sanji's good mood turned into pure joy when he noticed that she had exchanged the raincoat for blouse and skirt. The color of the day was obviously red.

"What the hell, Nami!" Zoro hissed, rubbing the back of his head as he slowly got back into a sitting position, holding onto the doorframe. Sanji stayed down to enjoy the view. He felt something warm slowly slipping down from his nose.

"I'm the one asking that! What the hell are you doing out here in the rain, in the middle of the night? Do you want to get sick?"

"It's not even late and it's stopped raining ages ago."

"You should be inside, Zoro! Chopper will behead you when he finds out! And you, Sanji... What are you...? Asshole!"

The next moment, Sanji's already beaten head hit the railing after Nami had kicked him with all her strength. She was so beautiful when she was in a rage.

Zoro leaned against the door frame and looked up at the navigator, while Sanji rubbed the back of his head and sat up. It was more than obvious that Zoro was annoyed about having to look up to her.

"I don't have to justify myself in front of you or Chopper, if I want to sit in the rain, then I sit in the rain, you got that?!"

"Marimo, stop being such an asshole, she was just worried about us," Sanji interfered and got up.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Nami grumbled with a raised eyebrow, her cheeks still slightly reddened, "but you should still come in now. Sanji, help Zoro."

Zoro sighed deeply and rolled his eyes.

"For all I care. Okay come on, cook."

"Good." Nami turned around and went back inside, just as Sanji remembered, what he had almost forgotten: The miracle!

He quickly followed her.

"Nami wait, we have to... Uff!" Zoro had grabbed him by the belt and slammed him to the ground with full force. Once again that day, Sanji met the floor, face first.

"What the fucking hell?!" He barked at Zoro, who just regarded him with a serious glare.

Nami turned around briefly, rolled her eyes, shrugged, and walked on. She didn't seem to worry, not surprising, given that it was kind of normal for Zoro and Sanji to annoy each other and obviously she had no problem with seeing Zoro lying on the ground. Perhaps only because she could trust that Sanji would help him.

"Oi, help me," Zoro said in his calm manner, acting as nothing had happened.

"After you just threw me to the ground?"

But then he looked at the other. The joy and relief that had enlightened Zoro's face just a few seconds ago had disappeared, had been replaced by calmness and serenity. This damn serenity the other had shown so many times during the last few days.

Sanji got worried. Could that mean…, could that mean that it had not worked?

He nodded and squatted down. This time, Zoro voluntarily put his arm around Sanji's shoulders and let himself be pulled up by him without resistance as he grabbed onto the doorframe with his free hand.

"We're getting better," Sanji commented tonelessly, to which the other replied with nothing but some sarcastic grumbling.

With slow steps they went inside, making Sanji realize just now the warmth from the inside of the ship and how cold he was. He felt the heat that the man at his side radiated and almost burned his side.

"Why do you think Nami was actually checking on us?" Zoro muttered in a concentrated voice.

"What? What are you talking about?"

He carefully let the other down on the bed.

"She probably thought we had killed each other because it was so quiet." Zoro laughed softly. "What a shock it must have been to see us just talking without even fighting."

"So this is you non-fighting?" Sanji asked with a raised eyebrow, closing the door.

Only now did he notice how soaked he really was. His suit was a single wet rag. Why had he not just put on sweater and sweatpants after the storm? Oh yes, unlike some certain idiot, he actually only wore such clothes for actually exercising.

Zoro had already gotten rid of his wet shirt and threw it to the ground. The part Sanji could see from his back looked well healed. But then Zoro started to take off his pants and Sanji's mood dropped. It looked funny, he had to admit it, but it was anything but funny. With a quiet sigh, he also took off his clothes.

"Do you know if Chopper has towels here?"

"Right next to the shelf. There are also some clothes. Help yourself."

Surprised, he found several pants and sweaters, as well as T-shirts.

"Are these yours?" He asked, throwing both towel and clothes at the other.

Zoro only slightly grumbled approvingly, while he buried his face in the soft fabric and then scrubbed the grass on his head dry.

"Why do you have clothes in the sickbay?"

"Chopper always stores some of my stuff here, he said because I spend half of my time here anyway."

"He isn't completely wrong, is he?"

They both grinned as they put on the soft and – most importantly – dry clothes, but Sanji could see Zoro's gaze getting more serious again.

"So?" Sanji asked, sat down on the office chair and rolled up the slightly too long sleeves. "Why did you stop me from telling Nami?"

Zoro looked away for a moment before meeting his gaze. Unlike Sanji, he had refrained from putting on his pants.

"Have you learned nothing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hope can be a dangerous friend."

Sanji remembered the morning not so far away, when Zoro had jerked a fork into his leg, the four small holes in front of him were like a small warning.

"So you can't feel anything?"

Zoro shrugged. "I don't know. I think so, but I don't know what it means or whether it lasts or whatever."

"We should get Chopper."

"No!"

He looked at Zoro.

"Cook, listen. Even if I could feel again, that doesn't mean that I can run again at some point. I don't want to make the others hope. You know how hard it is when you have to give it up."

Sanji crossed his arms and leaned back.

"That is, you wanna lie to them?"

"I don't want to upset them unnecessarily. If Chopper knew, he'd do a thousand tests with me and Luffy would come in every other second and ask if I'm back on my feet."

He frowned and looked at the other. The joy of earlier had faded. Zoro was right. They hadn't won anything yet. Slowly he bent forward and flipped a finger against Zoro's knee. He looked up in question, but the swordsman shook his head.

"Nothing," Sanji said soberly, trying to banish the melancholy from his voice.

"I think it still takes time." Zoro on the other hand didn't sound half as dissatisfied, rather thoughtful. "If the nerves are actually still alive, they probably just need time."

Slowly, Sanji raised his head.

"I don't feel this." Zoro drummed softly on his thighs with both hands. "But this one..." He pressed the small blister on his left leg. "I do feel this."

Hope. There was hope.

"You sure?"

"Yes. And honestly, thinking back I actually do believe that I did feel the fork as well."

"Really?"

"I just said that, didn't I? Stop pretending that this is something world-moving. It's just a dull feeling, nothing more."

"Duh! It is so much more!" He jumped up. "I mean, we all thought this was it. Damn it, you wanted to leave the crew until just half an hour ago. But now, now everything is possible again, Hawk Eyes is..."

"Cook." Zoro's voice was calm, one hand raised slightly reproachful. "Not so fast. Yes, I feel the blister, but no, I can't move my legs and I can't really feel them at all unless I press the blister."

Slowly Sanji sat down again.

Zoro, meanwhile, began to put on his pants. He looked much more experienced than Sanji would have expected. But he said nothing.

Suddenly he noticed a shadow under the bed. As he bent down, he recognized a plate. It must have slipped underneath the bed during the storm. As he bent down to fetch it, he also found fork and knife.

"You actually ate something," he muttered more to himself than to the other.

"Well, you actually made something edible this once," the other muttered gruff.

Sanji looked at him willing to kick his stupid face against the next wall, but then he had to smile.

"I'm glad you're back, Marimo. The crew is not the same without you."

Zoro rolled his eyes and threw his legs on the bed.

"No sweettalk, cook. Otherwise, I'll run you over with the wheelchair."

Seconds later, Chopper came in. Fluffed up like a bird in the mating season, he sucked in air, before scolding Zoro like a nanny would a child for getting dirty.

But even Sanji was not spared from the concerned and scolding words of the doctor, who could not believe that two adults could be stupid enough to sit in the cold, pouring rain.

With several apologies and reassuring words, Sanji finally managed to escape to the kitchen, followed by the envious and unnerved eyes of the swordsman.

But his apologetic grin turned into a grimace when he saw the battlefield of the dinner that the others had left for him. It would be another long evening.

When he finally left the galley, Luffy stood on the other side of the door, the straw hat pulled deep over his face.

-Zoro-

It took an eternity for him to get rid of Chopper, who had scolded him for over an hour and examined him a thousand times before finally giving his OK. But then he had continued to lament and had repeated that Zoro had to be more considerate of his body.

Finally, he had added two pills on Zoro's current medication, he was supposed to take every morning and evening, and warned him once again to avoid any alcohol. That was pretty much the worst thing about his current life.

Only a few seconds ago the young doctor had finally disappeared and left Zoro room to breathe; slowly, Chopper's over-motherly concern became a little annoying.

In his left hand Zoro held the last little pill and in the right a glass of water. He didn't think much of medication and was convinced that his body didn't need anything like that, but unfortunately, he always got weak when it came to the youngest crewmember. He loathed the idea that Chopper had to worry about him, and he would do anything to make sure the little one was happy, so he swallowed the damn stuff and behaved.

Quietly sighing, he put the glass away and looked at his legs on the bed.

Sweat dripped from his forehead and his fists tightly grab the blanket. But nothing. Not one toe moved, not a single muscle twitched and if he was quite honest, he could not even feel his legs.

Again he could feel this terrible feeling of hopelessness, but this time he did not want to let it in. He had already given up once, something that did not live up to his pride or honor. Never again would he allow himself to be rightly called a coward. He would fight and if he had to do it in a wheelchair.

And maybe, only maybe he wouldn't have to. Maybe the cook was actually right, maybe Hawk Eyes hadn't inevitably become unreachable for him.

But he couldn't stop himself from pinching his legs several times, just as the chef had done. The idea of actually using the wheelchair was reluctant to him, he really didn't want that.

"What are you doing?"

He might have jumped up in surprise, but his unmoving body limited it to a small bounce.

"What does it look like?" He replied calmly.

"I wanna try, too."

He rolled his eyes, there was only one idiot, who would make such stupid demands.

"If it makes you happy."

"Great!"

The next moment, three fingers drilled into his right leg and yes, Zoro could feel it. He could feel it more clearly than anything else so far.

"Sometimes I'm surprised how stupid you are."

"What?"

It wasn't the first time someone had insulted Zoro – after all, in this crew it was an open sign of affection – and it wasn't the first time that someone doubted his intelligence, but to be called stupid by this idiot was getting to his confidence, or rather on his nerves.

Named idiot jumped on the bed, almost on Zoro's feet, and sat down, still poking Zoro's flesh. If it was deep enough or the nails cut the skin he could feel it, it was dull, not as it should be, but it was clearly a feeling.

"You, out of all people, call me stupid?"

"Sure, I just did."

Zoro put a hand against his forehead and shook his head. Sometimes it was simply too much, even for him.

"I didn't choose you back then just because you're strong."

Surprised, he lowered his hand and looked at his captain.

"How...?"

"Sanji is not a good liar."

He raised an eyebrow. As far as he could remember, the cook was extremely gifted at distorting facts without being noticed, as opposed to Usopp, who's lies were way too obvious. The idea that Sanji should not be able to trick their gullible captain was hard for Zoro to believe.

"He's not good in hiding if he's not doing well; neither are you by the way." Luffy was still squatting on Zoro's lower legs, poking his thighs, as he looked at him through the fringes of his pony.

"Well, if you haven't noticed it yet, Captain, I've got good reasons to not do well," he said, pointing to the legs Luffy continued to poke.

Luffy leaned back and looked at him concentrated, with one hand he continued to press against Zoro's leg, picking his nose with the other. He really seemed to be highly concentrated right now.

"If it wasn't my strength, then what was it? I'm not known for my charms." Zoro couldn't prevent a grin as he recalled their first meeting. They had experienced so much together. They had become really good friends. He would do anything for Luffy, his captain, his friend. Luffy's dream had also become his. Luffy, too, grinned broadly and flipped the booger into the vastness of the room.

"I liked you when you ate the rice balls."

"Because you thought I would be a glutton like you?"

"And I was absolutely sure that I would have to take you with me when I heard about your agreement with this daddy's boy."

Zoro's grin faded.

"It is true that I looked for you because of your strength and your reputation. But that's not why I wanted you to be part of my crew." Luffy was still grinning, and it even grew. "I really wouldn't have thought I'd have to explain this to you. I thought you were smarter."

"You're the one to talk," Zoro grumbled tonelessly, lowering his gaze.

"Stupid cook not able to shut the fuck up even once," he grumbled silently under his breath.

"Because he's worried," Luffy replied lightly, shrugging his shoulders, "just like all of them."

"And you're not? You're not worried?"

"Of course not." Luffy laughed. "In the end you will be fine."

Zoro tilted his head and laughed in disbelief. "And how do you want to know that?"

"Chopper said so."

"Chopper said that the probability is just under one percent and that was when I just woke up, that was days ago and the more time goes by the less likely I'm to heal."

"Yes, but he said there's a chance, so you'll get healthy again. Because one single chance is enough for you." Luffy grinned light-heartedly. "After all, you're already feeling something."

He was supposed to be stunned, but somehow it didn't surprise him at all.

"Stupid cook, he told you fucking everything."

Luffy laughed and pinched Zoro's leg again.

"Luffy, listen. Even if, even if I feel something again, that doesn't mean..."

"Oh, this looks cool. What is it?" He didn't listen to Zoro at all.

Zoro sighed. He didn't know how Luffy had gotten Sanji to talk, and he knew even less what Luffy was up to or if he was actually up to anything at all. But one thing he knew for sure, and that was that he trusted his captain.

"That's the wheelchair Usopp and Franky built."

"Really? It looks really great. So many buttons, what are they for?"

"No idea. Usopp just showed me where the brakes are."

"Zoro?" Luffy beamed at him broadly. "Let's try it."

"Luffy. It's already in the middle of the night and the others are sleeping. We can give it a go tomorrow..."

"Oh, come on. It will be fun!"

He shook his head, why did he have so many weaknesses when it came to his friends?

"Oh, fine! For all I care. But you're to blame if it breaks."

He threw his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Get it closer to me, Luffy."

The other obeyed, jumping from one leg to the other.

For a moment, Zoro thought about how to do it, but then he simply grabbed both armrests and lifted himself onto the seat. Luckily, he had enough strength in his upper arms. It was much easier than expected.

"Open the door."

Luffy was already on it.

Carefully, Zoro placed both bare feet on the designated platform. On the lower legs and thighs as well as on the seat, he could see belt-like fasteners, which were probably supposed to prevent him from falling out of the chair.

Suddenly, his new transport option was pulled backwards when Luffy dragged him out of the door. By now, the storm had completely subsided, and the clear night sky welcomed them.

"Ready, Captain?" Zoro asked, as Luffy swung his legs over Zoro's shoulders from behind and grabbed his hair.

"Let's go!" Luffy shouted.