Note: (-i- means flashback in this chapter...)


Early the following day, a large ship with a wooden swan at the prow was sighted by the horizon; something that made Bon Clay dance and sing with joy. Standing on the starboard railing, he waited for his ship to glide up next to the Going Merry while he made quite an impressive speech about friendship surviving every obstacle including long distances and death. After that, he took off with his own crew and left the Straw Hat pirates to return to their daily routines.

Later that day, Usopp was sitting on the portside railing by the main deck, a fishing rod in his hands and a bucket on the deck behind him, in which seven emerald-green seasnakes were splashing and coiling around each other. He had been fishing for hours, ever since Sanji had pointed out that they only had enough food to feed them all for one more day, and he hoped that the seasnakes were safe to eat.

It was somewhat a disappointment that Sanji wouldn't have to be forced to cook fresh food during what remained of the five days he had promised Usopp, but the marksman knew better than to complain about the food. Sanji was truly a magician when it came to cooking. He had managed to feed eight people (including Carue the duck) for almost four days on their way to Alabasta with only three large radishes and a barrel of water, and every meal had been delicious. Of course, just like a magician wouldn't be able perform magic without his deck of cards or a magic wand, not even Sanji could cook without ingredients, which was why they had been sailing on empty stomachs for three days after the radishes were all eaten.

Glancing over his shoulder, Usopp wished that someone would join him, or at least come by and talk to him. It was getting very lonesome and boring to sit there all by himself in the silence that hovered over the caravel, waiting for a tug at the line and watching the waves roll by.

"Any luck yet?"

Usopp almost fell into the water when he heard the voice behind him, and he turned around to face the blond cook, who was walking towards him across the deck. Pointing towards the bucket of seasnakes, he reeled in his fishing line to check if the bait was still on the hook or not.

"I don't know if they are poisonous or not," he pointed out as he frowned at the clean hook and reached for the little tin can with bait on the railing next to him.

"Only one way to find out, I guess… I'll cook one of them, and you'll try it. If you die, we'll know that they're poisonous," Sanji said as he shrugged and bent down to take a closer look at the snakes. He looked up, caught the worried look Usopp sent him and tilted his head lightly to the side, looking at the marksman with one curled eyebrow raised.

"I'm kidding! Anyway, these snakes aren't poisonous, we used to cook them on the Baratie when the season was right. They taste almost like chicken."

Sanji grabbed hold of the handle of the bucket and tried lifting it, looking down at the pail with a puzzled expression when it wouldn't move. Usopp already knew that the snakes were heavier than they looked –the first one he caught had almost pulled him off the ship as it struggled to get free - and it took the cook two more attempts before he managed to lift the bucket from the deck. Usopp sighed and put his fishing rod aside. He swung his legs over to the right side of the railing and hopped down onto the deck.

"I'll help you with that. Wouldn't want you to drop it on your feet, now would we?"

Sanji glared at him and seemed to be about to make a comment about the sniper's injuries, but moved his hands on the handle so that Usopp could help carrying the snakes. The marksman's wounded shoulders were protesting violently against the heavy weight, but thanks to Chopper's pain killers, he managed to keep the pain that flashed through his arms somewhat under control. At least he didn't have to watch that stupid float bobbing on the waves anymore.

When they struggled to get up the stairs towards the kitchen, Sanji nodded towards the prow.

"He hasn't moved since after lunch, has he?" he said with a voice that was almost a little bit too calm. "Do you think he's dead?"

Usopp followed the cook's gaze and noticed the two figures by the prow; one sitting slouched against the railing, clearly fast asleep and the other perched on top of the figure-head. He smiled and tried to get a better grip around the handle of the bucket.

"Zoro or Luffy?" he asked, glancing at Sanji. The cook gave a light chuckle.

"Good point. Hang on, I'll open the door…"

When Sanji let go of the handle, leaving the marksman to hold the heavy bucket with his aching arms, Usopp had to let the pail drop to the deck. The bucket landed with a loud bang and wobbled around for a moment before coming to a stop. The snakes in it were hardly moving anymore.

Looking towards the prow again, Usopp wondered how many hours had passed something the captain had recovered from his fever. Just before lunch, Luffy had walked out from the storage room, demanding food. It had been a great relief for everyone to see him awake, but he hadn't been – and still wasn't – the same Luffy as before. That pale, quiet shell of a man who slowly had eaten the food Sanji put in front of him and then made his way to the prow to climb up on the figure-head hadn't been the real Luffy.

Usopp hoped that the captain would snap out of the daze he had slipped into. Like at the moment when Zoro had told him that they weren't going back to Alabasta. For a second or two, the real Luffy had broken through the lingering fogs of his sickness before punching Zoro straight in the face.

"Hey, are you going to help me or what?" Sanji asked impatiently, knocking his index finger against the marksman's right temple.

Usopp snapped out of his thoughts and bent down to lift the bucket from the deck. Together, Sanji and Usopp managed to get the snakes into the lounge. Usopp's arms were shaking as he finally was allowed to put the heavy bucket down on the floor next to the counter in the kitchen area, and when he turned to rub his throbbing right shoulder, he noticed that the wound was bleeding again, leaving a growing red blossom on the thick bandages covering it. Putting his hand over the wound, he turned to walk towards the door.

"I think I'll go and see if I can catch some more snakes then…" he said, wondering if Chopper would be angry with him for making his wounds bleed again. That doctor could be very intimidating once he got started talking about all the things that could happen if an injury didn't get to rest and heal properly.

Sanji just waved dismissively from where he was standing by the counter with a slim knife in his hand, swiftly preparing the seasnakes to be cooked. Closing the door behind him, Usopp sighed as he looked down at the bloodstained bandages around his shoulder. It wasn't hurting as much now that he wasn't carrying anything heavy, and he reckoned that he could catch at least one more snake before dinner. After all, he was Usopp, the King of fishermen.

- e – e-

When the door closed behind Usopp, Sanji smirked. His hands moved on their own across the cutting board in front of him, the slim knife removing the snake's head and skin without damaging a single glistening scale. When he thought about it, Sanji didn't have any reason to even speak to Usopp in a friendly or even polite manner. What the sniper had done back in the Marine base was unforgivable, even if the women he had hit were Marines who had been trying to kill him. Sanji hadn't been so occupied with the Marine soldiers clinging to his legs that he hadn't seen the woman point her pistol at Usopp's head. But he wouldn't get away with it. Oh no. Usopp didn't know about the extra rations of mushrooms Sanji had found when going through the cabinets after getting back to the ship the previous day. And Sanji had only promised not to cook food that was about to go bad – there had never been an agreement of what kind of food he would cook instead.

Opening one of the cupboards, Sanji jumped back just in time to avoid getting buried under a large pile of bowls of different materials. He groaned as he started picking up all the items that had scattered all over the floor. The Marines – or perhaps it was Bon Clay, he wasn't quite sure about that possibility, even though the okama had looked pretty damn guilty when Sanji found some of his precious knives in the fridge – had made such a mess in his kitchen that it was impossible to find anything in the room. It seemed like they had been planning to use the caravel as extra storage for supplies or something like that, because he had found a stash of weapons and small barrels of gunpowder hidden under the sink, and Nami had said that all of the treasure chests that had been in her room were gone.

Of course, he had found some food that hadn't been there the last time he had gone through their inventory – rice, beans, dried fruit and also some bottles of strong sake – but most of that food had already been eaten soon after they had left the Marine base. Sanji had to admit that he hadn't bothered to think of putting a limit to how much the others had eaten. After what they had gone through, he hadn't been able to deny them the pleasure of eating until their stomachs were about to burst. Hell, he had been stuffing himself as well, almost to the point where he couldn't move.

Now where could his frying pans have been hidden? Sanji frowned as he looked through all the cabinets in the kitchen area, flinching every time something fell down from the disorganized shelves and getting more and more frustrated for every time he opened one of the doors. Clenching his teeth, he had to turn away from the kitchen to keep himself from ramming one of his throbbing feet into the wall or one of the counters.

He could handle the pain it would cause him, but there would be consequences that weren't physical. Chopper would scold him for making the injuries worse, Usopp would scold him because he would have to fix whatever was broken and Luffy would be angry because Sanji was destroying the Going Merry. No, he would keep the promise he had made to Chopper and avoid kicking anything or anyone for at least a week, even if it meant that he would have to come up with another way to keep Luffy out of the kitchen for that long.

Then again, he hadn't seen the captain move at all since after lunch. To find the rubber-man rummaging through the pantry would actually at first be a relieving sign that things were going back to normal – then he would do anything in his power to get the food-thief out of his kitchen.

Wait a minute…He thought to himself. The pantry…

Sanji walked up to the large wooden door to the pantry and opened it, groaning tiredly as he stared at the shelf in front of his eyes, on which his frying pans and sauce pans were crammed in between half-empty jars of spices. Getting his kitchen in order was definitely going to take a while.

- e – e-

Nami was sitting by the table inside the lounge with a quill in her hand and some maps of the area and a half-finished letter in front of her. She was watching Sanji move around in the kitchen, feeling a drowsy cloudiness slowly spread inside her. Putting down her quill and moving the bottle of ink to the side, she leaned her head in her hands and stared at the letter on the table in front of her under heavy eyelids. Even the sharp noise of things falling from the kitchen was strangely comforting and almost soothing in the hazy cloud surrounding her.

She leaned forward over the table with her head resting on her arms, her eyes closed as she could hear Sanji mutter something from the kitchen area. Her leg and shoulder weren't hurting as bad anymore. Earlier that morning when she woke up, she almost hadn't been able to move her leg because of the sharp pain rushing up through the entire left half of her body every time she even thought of moving. As soon as he had awakened, Chopper had made some kind of new medicine that actually made the pain fade away and almost disappear completely.

But now the pain was slowly returning, and this horrible feeling of being surrounded by clouds that made everything sound and feel distant was taking over, pushing her to sleep. She knew that she shouldn't be sleeping. What if there was a storm, or even worse – a cyclone? If she wasn't awake to sense it, anything could happen to the ship and the crew.

"Nami-san? Are you feeling alright? Can I get you something?"

Nami blinked as she looked up, surprised to see Sanji sitting on the other side of the table, a newly lit cigarette in the corner of his mouth and his bare, bandaged feet resting on the bench next to him. She hadn't even noticed that the sounds of the cook moving around in the kitchen had stopped. Smiling tiredly, she stretched out her arms over the table and glanced at the log post strapped to her wrist.

"No thanks, Sanji-kun…" she said softly, leaning her head against the table again and closing her eyes. "But if you would be kind and turn the tiller a little bit to the starboard side, I'd be really happy."

"Anything for you, Nami-san," Sanji said with a smile in his voice. Nami could hear him get up from the table and felt the faint movement as the ship slowly turned in the right direction. Once again, she glanced at the log post and noted that they were heading straight for the next island.

Curling up by the table, she vaguely felt the sharp smell of something burning, but didn't open her eyes. She could hear footsteps coming towards her, and she winced lightly as she felt the warm weight of silky cloth being draped over her shoulders. The smell of cigarette-smoke filled her nostrils as she moved her hands from the table to wrap the black jacket around herself. She had actually missed that smell during their time in the prison, just as much as she had missed everything else about the ship and her friends. Listening to the soft humming of the cook as he made his way towards whatever was on fire in the kitchen, Nami finally allowed herself to take a break.

- e – e-

Zoro hadn't planned to wake up again until at least later that week, but as yet another wave crashed into the prow of the ship and a cascade of icy cold water was thrown over him and caused the skin on his bare chest to prickle, the swordsman decided that it was time to find another place to continue sleeping at. The saltwater seeped into his healing wounds through the already soaking wet bandages around his arms, chest, legs and head, causing a very uncomfortable burning sensation in his whole body. Slowly sitting up to keep the stitches all over his body from breaking, the swordsman rubbed his eyes sleepily before looking around over the deck.

Luffy was sitting on the figure-head to Zoro's left, staring blankly out over the water. When Zoro moved, the captain turned his head and glared at him, his eyes widening and revealing quite the amount of fury behind what remained of the feverish mists that still lingered about him. Zoro looked at the man, meeting that furious glare without flinching, the ghost of a punch still lingering on his jaw. When the captain turned away again, Zoro had to force himself not to say anything at all. He wasn't that eager to get punched again, there was no guarantee that Luffy wouldn't use one of his Gomu Gomu-attacks this time.

What had happened was simply that Luffy walked out from the storage room below the kitchen by noon that day, demanded meat and told Nami to make the boat go to Alabasta so that they could pick up Vivi and make her one of them. Zoro had been unanimously elected by the rest of the crew to be the one to tell the captain the bad news - that they couldn't go back to Alabasta. Being the so-called first mate had its downsides.

-i-

The captain was standing by the figure-head, leaning against the railing with his shoulders raised and his eyes towards the water below. His voice was dull and quiet when he spoke, but Zoro could hear him perfectly well.

"We have to go to Alabasta to get Vivi. She's our nakama, and I want her to go with us."

"Luffy…" Zoro sighed. There was no use in wrapping it up in silk. "We're not going back to Alabasta."

At first, Zoro thought that Luffy hadn't heard him, but then the black-haired man straightened his back. The look in the captain's eyes when he slowly turned around to look at Zoro was hurt and doubting.

"Yes, we are. Vivi is there and we're going to get her."

"Will you just listen to me for once in your life?" Zoro barely kept himself from screaming as he raised his voice, knowing that everyone else was standing on the main deck watching them. "We can't go back there because there are Marines all over the damn island! Do you want to go back to prison, or maybe even get killed?"

It would have been so much easier to try to talk some sense into Luffy's head if he hadn't still looked so damn sick with his pale, lifeless skin, his slack posture and those dull, misty eyes.

"We barely survived escaping this time, and we're not going to risk getting caught again. If you would just…"

He didn't see the punch coming. All of a sudden, the mists in Luffy's eyes vanished, and made way for the most furious rage Zoro had ever seen. The next thing he knew, he was thrown backwards by the force of the captain's fist connecting with the right side of his face. He was vaguely aware of the fact that Luffy hadn't powered up the punch with his stretching ability, the only power behind the force that threw him back against the deck was the desperation, frustration and grief the captain was feeling inside. As Zoro landed on the deck and slid over to the railing on the portside, he could hear Usopp running up the stairs towards him, asking if he was alright. He fought to get up from the deck, somewhat aware of that two of his wounds had opened again, and held out his arm to keep Usopp on a safe distance from the captain.

"You can be angry at me all you want!" he said loudly as he took a step towards the captain, still holding out his arm towards Usopp, who was standing in the stairs behind him. "You can blame me, you can hit me and you can even kill me for telling you that we're not going back, but it won't change a thing."

Luffy stood in front of him, his arms hanging powerlessly by his sides, and his eyes had once again been clouded. Silently turning around, he climbed up to his favorite spot on top of the figure-head and sat down, slouching forward over his bent knees with his back turned to his crew. He only climbed down to eat when Sanji called for him, but not even as he was eating did he seem to be even close to his normal self. The meals aboard the Going Merry were usually the noisiest times of the day, but as almost everyone was watching Luffy slowly eat only what was on his plate and then leave the table to climb back to the wooden sheep's head, no one seemed to be in the mood to start a conversation.

-i-

Shaking his head, Zoro got up from the deck and gathered his three swords. While leaning the swords over his left shoulder, he headed down towards the main deck where he passed Usopp, who seemed to have fallen asleep up on the railing with a fishing rod in his hands. The marksman was slowly tipping forward, and Zoro slowed down his pace, watching the long-nosed man warily for a moment before reaching out his hand and grabbing hold around the back of Usopp's neck, pulling him away from the railing. Usopp woke up with a yelp, looking around wildly before he noticed Zoro, who was still holding a firm grip around his neck.

"Wha- what happened?" he asked confusedly, one of his hands moving up towards his neck.

"If you're going to dream about being a great fisherman, then at least do us all the favor of tying yourself to the boat." Zoro said tiredly, letting go of the marksman's neck. Usopp was looking quite shocked as he realized that he could have fallen overboard. He didn't even notice that he had lost his fishing rod.

"Oh… Yeah, okay. I'll remember that. Thanks."

Turning away, Zoro glanced up towards the upper deck by the stern. Sleeping under the mandarin-trees was usually very relaxing, as long as no one caught you eating the fruit. But then he noticed that the upper deck was already occupied by Nico Robin, who was sitting in a beach chair and reading a book. Zoro definitely didn't feel like sleeping next to someone he didn't quite trust yet. He wasn't interested in going up to the lounge, and going back to camp out by the prow was out of the question. Therefore, Zoro headed down into the storage below the lounge, hoping to find it empty and quiet.

As he opened the door to the storage, he was happy to find it quiet, but when he entered the room, his eyes immediately fell on Chopper, who was standing on a chair while scrubbing the wooden table they had used as an operation table earlier. The room was a mess; dried blood and various instruments and rolls of bandage covering the floor around the table and wooden splinters from broken crates and barrels all over the room. It seemed like the little doctor had felt the need to get some of the stress out of his system.

When Zoro closed the door behind him and turned to look for a good place to sleep at, Chopper looked up at the approaching swordsman with wide eyes.

"Did something happen?" he asked carefully. "Does anyone need a doctor?"

Zoro watched the doctor for a moment, taking note of the reindeer's fast, shallow breaths and the light trembling of his hooves once he came up next to the table. Then he shook his head, leaned his swords against the wall to his left and reached out his hand towards Chopper.

"No, you can calm down. Everyone is fine. Do you need help with that?"

The reindeer looked at him for a moment, and then reached out the bloodstained rag he was holding between his hooves. Zoro took it and looked around until he found the bucket of water standing on a chair across the table. As he dipped the rag in the rust-colored water, he could see Chopper jump down from his chair in the corner of his eye and turned his head towards the doctor, who was slowly picking up the scalpels and other instruments from the floor. Sighing quietly, Zoro started scrubbing the bloodstained table, feeling his body urging him to sleep, reminding him that he hadn't gone down there to clean up the mess – even if he had helped causing some of it when Chopper stitched up his cuts. Then he heard Chopper mutter something and looked up.

"What? Did you say something?"

The reindeer jerked his head up, seemingly surprised to find that he had spoken out loud. He shook his head at first, but then he looked down at the dirty instruments in his arms, tears welling up in his eyes. Zoro caught himself hoping that Chopper wouldn't start crying, because he wasn't sure what to do if that happened.

"I wish we could go back to Alabasta…" he said quietly, walking over to a wooden box where he put down the instruments that needed to be washed. "Vivi said that the doctors in Albana had some great medicines that I could learn about. If I only had learnt more, then I could have cured Luffy immediately. But I'm not good enough yet."

Tugging at the bandages wrapped around his round body, he sniffled, suddenly looking like a helpless child. Zoro stopped cleaning the table and turned towards Chopper, not exactly sure what he was going to say. Chopper spoke up in his place, his eyes locked on a spot on the floor somewhere between him and Zoro.

"When we were in the prison cell and Luffy's fever was rising because I put the wrong ingredient in his medicine, all I could think of was 'He needs a doctor'. I am the doctor! And I could have killed him because I wasn't paying attention to what I put in the medicine. And still…" His voice broke as he sobbed loudly. "And still, he looked at me and smiled as he said that I've always his nakama."

Zoro shook his head as he wished that Chopper would stop talking so damn incoherently. It was hard enough to understand what the doctor was saying since he was speaking so fast and quietly, without having to decipher the meaning behind the words as well. Dropping the rag in a rust-colored puddle on the table, Zoro was convinced that Luffy had no idea that Chopper could have killed him with medicine. Hell, Zoro wouldn't have guessed that something that was supposed to cure also could be lethal.

Medicine seemed to be almost like a double-edged sword – if used in the right way and treated with outmost care and respect, it could be a powerful ally, but if disrespected, it could cause its wielder and everyone around him a lot of damage. Zoro crossed his arms over his chest mostly because he didn't know what else to do with them. Maybe if he just listened to what Chopper needed to get off his chest, the reindeer would feel better and maybe be able to do something about the salt that still burned in Zoro's wounds. Then Zoro could find some place where he could sleep in peace without being stepped on or tripped over.

"How is Luffy doing?" Chopper suddenly asked, looking up at Zoro.

Zoro blinked as the question was directed towards him. At first, it took a few seconds for the question to sink through the wall of 'intensive listening' he had built up around him. Then he nodded towards the door to the main deck.

"Well, he's still mad at me because I told him that we couldn't go back to Alabasta. I think he's mostly upset because he lost his hat, but other than that, I think he's recovering."

Chopper made a sigh of relief and felt his body relaxing as he reached down to pick up another roll of bandages from the floor. The last medicine he had made earlier that morning had made the captain's fever go down, but Chopper had still been worrying himself sick when the fog in Luffy's eyes didn't lift like he would have expected it to.

"Good. I'll make some more medicine for him after dinner."

Shrugging stiffly, Zoro scratched at the bandages wrapped around his lower arm before going back to cleaning the operation table. He wasn't feeling tired anymore and getting to move his stiff body was great, even if it wasn't a real work-out. Stiff muscles were awakened by the new movement and he could feel his energy return. Slowly, the wooden surface appeared from under the dried blood on one half of the table, and Zoro moved to start cleaning the second half while he listened to the reindeer moving around in the room, washing his instruments and sweeping the wooden splinters off the floor.

Suddenly, Chopper cried out and rushed over to the table. Zoro flinched as the reindeer jumped up on the table and grabbed hold of the swordsman's left arm. When he looked down at his arm, he noticed that the bandages were soaked in blood from his elbow down to his wrist. Raising an eyebrow, he wondered when the wounds could have opened since he hadn't felt any pain. He was about to protest and tell Chopper that he was fine, but the reindeer took the blood-stained rag from Zoro's hand and threw it into the bucket of water, muttering occasional curses over the stubborn swordsman who couldn't let his injuries rest for even one day. Then he started to remove the bandages around Zoro's arm while he muttered more curses – this time aimed at himself for allowing Zoro to help him – under his breath.

Standing perfectly still, Zoro watched the doctor swiftly remove the blood-soaked bandages from his arm, revealing the three long, bleeding gashes underneath. When he was done, Chopper jumped down from the table and hurried over to a wooden box by the wall to fetch a bottle of disinfectants, some cotton, a sterile needle and thread and more rolls of bandages from his seemingly endless supplies. Returning to the table, he climbed up onto the wooden board and tugged at Zoro's arm to make him move closer while he drenched a piece of cotton in the disinfectant liquid.

"This will sting a little…" the doctor said, mostly by habit. Zoro nodded lightly, trying not to sound too harsh when he spoke.

"I don't care. Just stitch it up."

The stinging feeling in the wounds as Chopper cleaned them and removed the old stitches was oddly refreshing. But when the doctor prepared the thin needle and thread to patch up the clean wounds, Zoro shifted his weight from one foot to the other, bracing himself against the pain he knew would come. It wasn't as bad as when he had had Johnny and Usopp assist him while stitching up the cut across his chest on their way to Arlong Park; Chopper used a considerably smaller needle, and it had to be hell of a lot easier to make it neat and clean when your vision wasn't clouded by the throbbing pain across your upper body. Even if he didn't need any anesthetics for the pain, Zoro couldn't keep himself from closing his eyes and clenching his jaw as the needle went through his skin.

Twenty-three stitches later, Chopper tied a knot to the thread and cut it off. Zoro felt his body relaxing when the pain faded away and tried opening and closing his fist a few times, watching the scarred skin on his lower arm stretch and relax with the movement. Chopper reached out for his arm, taped a folded piece of gauze bandage over the newly mended wound and started to wrap it in white cloth. When he was finished, he looked thoughtful for a moment as he looked at the bandages covering the swordsman's upper body.

"Maybe I should change the other bandages as well," he said thoughtfully, hopping down from the table and getting a chair to stand on. "Sit down, it won't take long."

Since he wasn't interested in getting into a discussion about the importance of keeping healing wounds clean, Zoro obeyed and pulled up a chair to sit down while Chopper started to remove the thick layers of white cloth from his chest and arms. Then he heard someone calling his name outside the storage and looked up. He knew that voice, and he didn't like the way the cook was using his name. Groaning, he moved his head to the side just in time to avoid getting one of the prongs of Chopper's right antler jammed into his eye. Chopper glanced apologetically at the swordsman, and returned to cleaning the many healing cuts on his chest.

The door to the storage was opened and Sanji stepped in, the sleeves of his pin-striped blue shirt rolled up over his elbows. When his eyes fell on Zoro and Chopper, he gave a light nod, a smile playing across his lips.

"Ah, there you are, Zoro. When you're done getting patched up again, bring the table to the stern, will ya?"

"What's wrong with the table upstairs?" Zoro growled. He had nothing against carrying the table up on deck, but he wasn't going to give in to Sanji's demands just like that. Sanji turned around while glancing over his shoulder, making Zoro realize that the cook was going to use his ultimate weapon.

"Nami-san is sleeping by the table in the lounge, so we need that table." He pointed in the direction of the still bloodstained table behind Zoro and Chopper. "Get the table and the chairs to the stern or there will be no dinner for you."

Zoro growled again, glaring at the cook as the blond man walked away again. Chopper stopped wrapping Zoro's chest in bandages and looked up at Sanji.

"But the table isn't clean yet!" he squeaked, waving one hoof in the air.

Sanji raised one of his hands, waving it lightly in the air to point out that it wasn't his problem and walked out from the storage room. Zoro shook his head tiredly and held up his right arm so that Chopper could change the bandages around it once he finished wrapping the swordsman's chest in white cloth.

The cook could think that his threat about no food was what made Zoro do as he was told, it was just as well. There was no need for Sanji to know that even if he would let Zoro starve, the swordsman could always ask Luffy to share some of his stolen nightly snacks. Of course, if he was going to be able to do that in the future, Luffy would have to stop being angry with him. It wasn't like Luffy to bear a grudge for this long; no matter how upset or angry he was, he usually calmed down when getting the situation explained to him or after a big fist-fight.

"There, all done." Chopper said happily, fastening the last piece of bandage around Zoro's arm. He glanced up at Zoro's face and frowned. "Wait, let me take a look at your head…"

"No, my head is fine, Chopper. Thanks." Zoro said swiftly, moving his hand to touch the bandages wrapped around his head. He gently pushed the doctor away from him and got up from his chair, turning towards the bloodstained table. As he lifted the large table from the floor, he met the disapproving gaze in Chopper's eyes and shrugged.

"You heard the cook. I'm hungry."

It was hard not to smile when Chopper sighed in defeat and slid down from his chair onto the floor. The little reindeer shook his head and folded his arms as he walked past Zoro under the table to continue cleaning up in the room.

"Fine, do as you please. But I'm not going to stitch up any of your cuts again, Zoro."

"Yes, you will…" Zoro said quietly, not referring to the cuts already on his body, but to the injuries that would be done to him in the future. Then his gaze softened, and he started walking towards the door, the puzzling thought of how to get the table through the door about to reach the surface of his mind. He turned around just before he reached the door, knowing that he had to say something to the doctor.

"Hey, Chopper. For what it's worth… We're all proud to have you as our doctor."

Turning back to open the door, Zoro shook his head as Chopper started yelling obscenities at him between fits of giggles and denials of being a good doctor. Opening the door, the swordsman noticed that he could just barely fit the table through the doorway if he pushed it in front of him. There was no sound coming from the deck, but from his position, Zoro could see that Luffy was still sitting up on the figure-head. Sighing, he pushed the table through the doorway, picked it up and walked towards the prow. The crew would never get back to their routines if Luffy didn't go back to normal, so something had to be done.


I have to cut there becausethe chapterisgetting far too long now. (Hmm... I think I made Zoro a bit OOC there. Sorry for that.) Ican't believe how long this turned out to be. From the beginning, what have become the chapters 14, 15 and 16 was supposed to be one long chapter. It was originally 13 handwritten pages, but then I started adding a little more details and new events to the story during my all-nighters and the text just started flowing over the pages.

Anyway, I should stop ranting now and get on with the next chapter, ne?

Magus Black – You're right. I'd love to switch lives with them. Maybe I wouldn't live that long, but I'd go down knowing that I had fun while it lasted. And living in the Oda-universe would mean that I'd be able to withstand major damage and still be able to walk away afterwards. Whoo!

FieryKitsune – I couldn't help but laugh at the part you mentioned about those macho men covering up their injuries. I actually know a few guys who would act just like that. And I do know several guys who can ask to be put out of their misery once they get a measly cold. It's interesting, really.