There are five things that everyone knew about Zoro: he was always lost, regardless of the situation, time of day, weather, island, time interval, just always and everywhere, living in some kind of my understanding of the world and its movements; he liked to drink and sleep, he drank more than Luffy ate, and slept more soundly than any island stands in its place, but despite this, he instantly sobered up and woke up if danger was approaching; he was enormously strong, and even more monstrous healed, if someone asks Chopper, Luffy even as User Devil Fruit and "D" at the same time, did not have the same survival rate as their unofficial first mate, and he is the cause of nervous breakdowns them doctor who claws need to pull information from your patient, confident that the disease is only for ordinary people; he is faithful and loyal to the last breath and step to the last word and look, he is faithful to his word and his captain, a loyal team and swords true to yourself, never retreating, and never abandon their words; he is extremely simple, with no secret plans, no clever moves or long-term strategies, Zoro is a straight man, even if his straight line is full of zigzags and loops.
And so all strawhats not have words to express the horror, when the presence of Zoro disappeared. As if it had fallen into the abyss, taking Zoro from under their noses, they can't lose anyone else, they can't let someone kill one of them, not, never. And they turn away from their fights: strawhats towards the falling figure; the rest are pure seething rage, which is for Luffy.
Law wasn't an idiot, and he knew where he should be when he should be, and he knew full well that they would have to lose this battle to get the swordsman out of here. And as soon as he reached it, late in front of the big deer, he realized that the plans would need to be more than just revised, and someone would have to drag the Mugiwara-ya away from the battlefield, because his swordsman was almost dead.
The bandana has fallen from his head, the white shimmers with red, someone else's haki barely smoulders, the body barely breathes, and the heart, as if reluctantly, beats. Law assumes that this is a consequence of someone's Devil Fruit and almost begins to look for danger with his eyes, but Chopper barks at the patient, trying to bring him to his senses. The swordsman doesn't answer, which is a bad sign. They have to leave, urgently; the two doctors meet each other's eyes and nod in agreement.
"We have to go!" Law reports, tightening his grip on the nodachi.
"Cover us!" Chopper adds, squeezing Zoro's body tightly and carefully.
'He's too light', Chopper realizes with growing horror, and tells himself not to think about the worst. At their best, Zoro had stirred up his oldest wounds, which, of course, he hadn't allowed to be properly examined. Chopper tries to be optimistic, even if white-instead-of-green doesn't inspire anything good.
The most difficult thing was to take Luffy, who was only able to calm down the thought that Zoro needed them from the third time. Especially Luffy, everyone knows that; they all need Luffy to heal the wounds that could have been rotting for years, that they ignored and forgot. But when they arrived, all they needed was: Robin, and a huge amount of medicine to get out of the submarine. On the other side of the island, where Sanji and the captain were sent. The others were ordered to wait.
And they waited.
Two hours later, Sanji and Luffy returned, out of breath, dirty and battered, but with everything they needed.
Five o'clock, they were told to return to the sub again, and Robin returned.
Ten o'clock, Chopper came out looking grim and sad, saying he was useless at the moment, sobbing.
At seventeen o'clock, Torao came out, pale, with circles under his eyes, and his knees trembling with fatigue.
"I've stabilized it", Law begins, and many exhale, already fearing the worst, not knowing what they'll do if the worst comes. What would they do if Zoro died? "But he's not coming around, and I don't think he's coming around anytime soon. He has complete, the most terrible thing I've seen, exhaustion of the body. Worse than you, Mugiwara-ya, after Marinford", they don't talk about it. Not that Law doesn't know it, but it might give them a better picture. He needs Luffy to understand this information.
Chopper sobs, sniffling through his snotty nose.
"It's about five times worse than the Thriller Bark", he adds, so that the other nakamas will also accept the deplorability of the situation, because Chopper would never have shown Law's notes on Luffy after Marinford. He's too protective of his nakama to give them the details of his mini-heart attack from the first page.
The mugiwaras lapsed into silence: Sanji chewing on the unlit cigarette he'd brought with him; Nami holding on to Usopp, who was also on the verge of hysteria, out of habit; Robin grimly pursing her lips as she recalled decades of experience in hiding emotions; Franky opening and closing his mouth in confusion, not knowing what to do; Brooke staring at the wall, knuckling the fabric in his lap; Jinbei standing silently against the wall, Watching the entrance, Luffy stared at the paper sliding door as if it was the biggest obstacle in his life.
He stood up abruptly, startling Usopp and Chopper.
"Me need to see him", Luffy went ahead, but before him, he took a step towards Law, grabbing his elbow, "get out of the way, Torao".
Luffy didn't have time for Law's games and tricks — he needed to see Zoro. He needs to see that he's breathing, feel that his heart is beating, spread the haki enough to reach Zoro. He needs Zoro. And Torao doesn't dare stand in his way, even though he's also nakama.
"You shouldn't see him, Mugiwara-ya", Law says, without malice, with sympathy and warning. As they say to those who need to identify the bodies of their relatives. Luffy hadn't heard that tone since the Gray Terminal. The alien fingers felt icy, just as they had when Dogra had reported Sabo's death; when he had let Ace go, and everyone around him seemed cold, not hot enough to be Mera-Mera-no-Mi users.
Luffy stands for no more than a second or two before he pulls his hand away and walks over, opening the flimsy door loudly. Luffy tells himself that he's ready for anything; that he's probably seen more, that he's been in that state himself; that Zoro will pull through, as he always does. Luffy looks at the layers of bandages that blend in with the painfully light skin, instead of the tanned skin; at the protruding bones and barely defined muscles, instead of the usual strong figure; at the four IVs with two or three bags on each, snaking into the veins; at the tired dark, almost like Torao, circles under the eyes, dry lips, cracked skin; most unrecognizably, he has gray hair, much whiter than his grandfather's— and he stops.
Luffy doesn't know when he got to the bed, when he sat down so carefully, as if he was afraid that Zoro would disappear from the extra movement, when he began to greedily absorb every other person's breath in and out, when night came and when he ran his hand through someone else's hair: they are Zoro, this is Zoro, Zoro's presence emanates from him, he still smells like grass, like Zoro.
This is Zoro, Zoro, Zoro, Zoro, Zoro…
Luffy doesn't know when he suddenly started crying, when the pain returned to his soul, opening the doors like a family, reminding him of Ace, reminding him of how helpless he was, reminding him that despite all his strength, experience, knowledge, he didn't even notice that Zoro was ill…
Luffy doesn't know when the morning came, and then the next seven of them, but Zoro never woke up.
English is not my native language, please understand and forgive me.
I would like to be able to write a lot and long, but it does not work. Therefore, I would be happy to look for a co-author. Or if someone was inspired by the idea, that's fine, too.
