Fever

Disclaimer: Don't own it!

Chapter 3: Sirchana D. Aurelias

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The hours seemed to drag as the crew stayed by their captain, he seemed almost lost to them now as he babbled incoherently, mistaking them for Shanks and Makino and thinking he was a child again. The crew played along, not wanting to upset him.

Several times, Sanji had attempted to feed him, however that had ended up with more food on the cook that in his captain's stomach, and when he did manage to get him to swallow some food through his gasps for air, he either ended up choking on it or throwing up, thus resulting in it ending up on the cook anyway.

After the last attempt, Sanji had decided to give up not being able to stomach the fact that so much food was being wasted (and on him no less). He had understood for the first few times, but as he had ended up with the same result over and over, he had found his patience wearing thin and his temper threatening to appear. The last thing he wanted or needed right now was to be angry at Luffy.

He didn't even know why he felt so upset with the boy maybe it was because he was threatening to leave them. Whatever it was, Sanji didn't like it and had returned to simply stting beside his Captain, offering water when it seemed his breathing was faltering to the point where he could get no air into his lungs and hoping for the best.

The rest of the crew had had alternating reactions to their captain's illness ranging from guilt to sorrow to anger and more. The one seeming to handle the situation best was in actual fact Ace, which was rather surprising considering it was his own brother dying in front of his eyes. Robin had even shed a few tears for her Captain as her usual calm demeanour had crumbled after his request to speak with her.

He had personally asked to speak to them individually in his coherent moments. He would simply utter a name, and knowing it was not yet their turn the rest of the crew would leave. During these times, as they had spoken to one another about what Luffy had to say, the rubber boy would tell them how proud he was, confirm that they are in actual fact the best in the world at whatever was their job on the ship and simply talk until his breath ran out when he would listen until his eyes couldn't seem to stay open any longer wherein the rest of the crew would return.

These moments were very special to the straw hat pirates. Their captain was very special to them. They were like a family … a crazy, pirate, freaky family.

Chopper seemed to have the worst reaction of all the crew members beside Zoro, who was, at best, taking it like a man. The little reindeer had locked himself away in cupboard for hours before finally coming out at Luffy's weak request. He had tried to smile at his Captain, but had only burst into tears at the sight in front of him. The crew had tried to comfort him, but to no avail, as the little doctor fled the room once more.

As the hours ticked by, tension on the ship grew. Nobody knew who this ysterious woman was or what powers she possessed. Was she friend or was she foe? Why was it that only she could help him? There were so many questions that needed answering and so little time left for Luffy.

The crew became snappy at one another and even Sanji (though apologised profusely afterwards) snapped at Nami. It made the crew question their own bonds; whether the only thing holding them together was in actual fact Luffy. Nobody voiced their doubts, but each knew the other was thinking it.

But now wasn't the time for it, now was the time for being a true Nakama and being there for their Captain; and so they pulled together like they should and hovered over Luffy as he clung to life.

Finally after what seemed lie an eternity of watching their Captain suffer, seven rolled around and the entire crew save Zoro made their way up to the deck. They were shocked to find the old woman Ace had told them about waiting for them.

"Hi" Ace greeted warily, not really sure of what to say as she stared straight at him "Luffy is sick again"

"I am aware of that, boy" the woman replied "Take me to him and I will see what I can do"

"Who are you?" Nami asked

"Me?" the woman questioned "I am Sirchana D. Aurelias"

"D!" Ace questioned "Are we…?"

"We will discuss this later – take me to the boy"

"Sure, sure" Ace replied and beckoned her through the door.

The old woman was dressed in a tight fitting pair of leather pants, high heeled boots and she seemed to be as skinny as Dr Kuraeha on Drum island. She had pure white hair, but a purple streak ran down the side of her face and she had intense green eyes. A long sleeved shirt covered her upper body and played down the look of coolness she seemed to give off. Chopper couldn't keep his eyes off of her as he studied the similarities between her and his mentor.

When they reached Luffy, he was pretty far gone. Almost as pale as death and Zoro seemed to be clutching Luffy's hand so hard that if it had of been normal and not made of rubber, it would have broken. He looked up when the woman walked down. He glared at her.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, some of his old personality coming into play.

The woman put a hand on her hip and then waved a hand. Zoro felt himself pulled slightly away from Luffy, his hand detaching itself. He squeaked at first from shock before growling at the old woman.

"Witch." he growled,

He made an attempt to get back to Luffy, but found that he couldn't, and with each attempt he was dragged away again. His attempts became more desperate with each try and his fingernails scratched into the floorboards beneath him, but to no effect.

"You may as well quit." Aurelias snapped, her voice harsh. "You cannot break that spell"

Ace was staring at her and he made to move forward but she swept a hand out and sent him backwards. No one was able to move, and the only sound was Luffy's rasping breath and Zoro's frantic scrabbling at the boards to try and get back to Luffy.

"I ... won't quit." Zoro grunted out as he tried to go back again.

Aurelias paused and then smiled and waving her hand again, Zoro flew back and slammed into the wall.

"Stay down sonny." she said and then walked forward towards Luffy's figure. She gazed down at him.

"He shouldn't be sick." she muttered and then kneeled beside the boy and placed her hand over his chest. "I didn't think he would ever get sick. Not like this." and then she turned to look at Zoro, who was twitching on the floor, moving forward inch by inch. "He's in love."

"In … love?" the entire crew plus Ace asked in shock, even Zoro stopped scraping for a second to try and grasp what this woman had just told him before returning to his fight

It really was foreign concept for them to think of. Luffy in love was just something that would never even enter the heads of those that knew him. Sure, he loved his Nakama, he loved his big brother, but Luffy being in love, was just a little freaky.

"What does that have to do with this you old hag!" Zoro snapped angrily, still trying in vain to get to his captain

"Watch your mouth sonny" Aurelias replied "Or I may just decide to leave him here to die"

The room instantly silenced and the old witch smirked. Slowly she turned back to Luffy and her smirk fell into a frown.

"It doesn't make sense" she muttered "This … I thought it was impossible"

"What is?" Ace questioned

"He should not be sick … unless…"

"Unless what?" the narcoleptic man pressed

"This is going to sound a little bit cliché kiddies" the witch warned

"Unless what?" Ace urged again

"Unless he feels as if his love isn't returned. It may be returned, but Luffy may not feel it is, and therefore, he is letting himself die." Aurelias said sadly.

"How can that make him sick like this?" Nami questioned angrily "If you're 'love-sick' then you tend to get depressed or emotionally unstable – not the flu!"

"Well, that would be partially my fault" Aurelias admitted

"Explain" Zoro demanded

"Very well, your brother" she started as she looked at Ace "Decided to pick a fight with an ex-friend of mine"

Ace groaned, finally finding out that it was Luffy's temper that had gotten him in trouble again. This only caused the witch to smirk.

"Yes. Quite a firecracker wasn't he?"

"Get on with it witch"

"I have a name you know"

"I don't care"

"Then maybe I don't"

With that said, Aurelias moved to leave the room.

"Wait!" Zoro called and then reluctantly added "What's your name?"

"Sirchana D. Aurelias"

"Fine … Sirchana … Aurelias … whatever … please help him"

"That's more like it … now as I was saying" she continued, returning to her spot beside Luffy as she released her hold on the crew, letting them move freely "My friend cast a very powerful spell on your little brother, she spent and entire week perfecting it"

"That would explain Luffy missing for that time" Ace stated

"Indeed … she then cast it on him and sent him home to die"

"But you cured him" Ace interrupted

"Hardly" Aurelias snapped back "The magic she made was far above my standards at the time, I could only counteract it and suppress it"

"Is that what the potion you left with me did?" Ace asked

"Correct"

"So do you have another to give him?" he asked hopefully

"I wouldn't recommend feeding him" Sanji muttered

"Unfortunately no" the witch answered "The potion I gave him before is now coming into effect"

"What did it do?"

"I made it to suppress the sickness until something extremely unlikely of my choosing would occur and even then I wanted to make it so that the sickness could still be cured should it reappear so I made it 'love'"

"What?" Nami questioned

"With this one's personality" she explained, gesturing to Luffy "I assumed he would never truly fall in love with somebody and so decided that that would be the factor to base the reappearance of the sickness on … however if in the unlikely scenario he did fall in love, the sickness could be cured if the person he loved returned his feeling openly … it doesn't count if they hide it"

"What the hell?" he asked angrily "Why should he get sick, juts because he feels his love interests aren't returned? Why couldn't you just cure him!"

"I could only do so much then" she admitted "Plus I was a bit of a romantic in my earlier days!"

The crew stared at the witch incredulously. Was this woman for real? Zoro looked as if he was about to snap.

"But if you could do all of that, surely you could have cured him!" Nami protested

"There are many things unknown in this world and that boy is one of them – I could not fully cure him because of who he is"

"What do you mean?"

"I cannot answer that" Aurelias replied "It is a mystery of the D"

"What the hell?" Zoro asked angrily

"Why can the boy talk with dragons, why does he never give up? Why does his smile never falter or his dreams never die?" the old witch asked heatedly "It is the will of the D!"

Needless to say, the crew were speechless. Was there something so deep about Luffy, so mysterious? Right now they didn't really care, all they wanted was for their captain to get better.

"So what do we do now?" Sanji asked

"We get the person he loves to admit their feeling genuinely to him"

"But ... who does he love?" Sanji asked from the corner he had been sent to as the crew had not yet moved closer to their captain, not wanting to disturb the old woman.

Aurelias paused and then chuckled.

"Oh, it's not obvious?" she asked. Ace frowned.

"Is it...?" he muttered but the woman silenced him and then turned her vivid eyes on Zoro, who was still clawing his way slowly back towards Luffy as he was the only one to have not yet been set free from her holding spell. He didn't see the looks from the rest of the crew as his own eyes were set on Luffy's form on the couch.

"So, how do we get him to admit it?" Usopp asked.

"He needs to know he is loved or he will die" Aurelias stated and the entire room was silent. Zoro even paused, breathing heavily as his eyes roved over Luffy's form

Suddenly realising what the old witch was saying, Zoro turned on her and got to his feet glaring angrily.

"You're the reason for all of this!" he shouted "You're the reason he's suffering right now – so fix it!"

"I cannot do that"

"Why not?"

"He needs to be healed by the one he loves"

Zoro was just about to question how they go about doing that when a strangled cry came from the boy behind him.

The swordsman spun around just in time to see Luffy fall to the floor motionless. Nothing was moving … not even his chest.