A series circumstances that test the blood and bond of each of the strawhats.

Will be a multi-chapter fic—

Author's note will be at the end :)

Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any related characters)


"The blood of the covenant is thicker

than the water of the womb." ~John 19:25-27

Luffy

~In which the savior must be saved and there is zero hesitation to provide the means~

"Luffy!"

(~)

The sirens blare throughout the city. Marines would be on them momentarily and they were running out of time and places to look.

Zoro growls, flinging a hospital room door open and peering inside at an unsuspecting elderly lady. She shrieks, slapping the air in a woeful panic. Without a second glance, Zoro turns on his heel and glides over to the blond preoccupied with doing the same thing to a different room.

Just as with Zoro, Sanji has no luck and pulls the door closed once more.

Zoro huffs as they turn the corner in a half-run, "Damnit, I thought Chopper said the room would be on this floor!"

"He did, marimo," Sanji acknowledges without even a glance his companion's way, "But, he doesn't exactly work here. He could have been wrong."

Screams ignite the air to their right as they run past the receptionist desk, heading for the wing of upcoming doors illuminated by flashing red lights. Patients flood the hallways, most looking as though they just have mild colds or broken fingers. Nurses don't even bother stopping them— too focused on the two declared pirates running amok in the hospital.

(~)

"Somebody find Chopper!"

"What? What happened, Sanji-kun?"

"...ugh…"

"H-he won't stop bleeding...damnit…"

(~)

"Robin, what was that word Chopper said?" Usopp can barely keep his voice calm as the two walk side-by-side down the hallways filled with panicked nurses, "The department he said we'd find it in?"

"Pathology, the study of pathogens and diseases," she answers swiftly, gleaming over at her companion with a practiced air of calm, "If I read the signs correctly, we have to go up one level to get to the department of Pathology. After that, we'll have to use force to get what we need."

Usopp chuckles half-heartedly, or in fear if one was to look closely, feeling his nerves burning as the patients' eyes linger on them. Getting out of the hospital will be so much more comfortable. Less about sneaking and searching, more about fighting marines and getting back to their captain and Chopper.

(~)

"Where the Hell is the ship docked at?"

"I-I don't know, Sanji!" Usopp stares unblinkingly at the limp form in the cook's arms, hands held up halfway as though he has the ability to make it all better. He doesn't, "We had Franky move Sunny after Nami and us headed out…"

Sanji hisses something under his breath as he gazes around them at the surrounding buildings and trees covered with fire and prone bodies and more fire. He tries desperately to not allow the overpowering feeling of despair become evident in his features as him and Usopp run through the town littered with battered and burnt marines. Looking down, seeing the paleness— the agony of the individual clutched to his chest, missing his precious hat and not having the energy to even address the fact that it was missing as far as he's aware— though, in reality, Nami had taken it with her, he finds the attempts impossible.

"Sanji, look!"

He does, and in the distance, just barely visible through the downpour of rain, he sees specks of orange and green.

For once in his life, Sanji feels exhausting relief at seeing the swordsman sprinting in their direction. Sanji's pace quickens with Usopp in tow.

"Nami-san!" he shouts frantically, the called name devoid of any tenderness or affection.

She approaches, stammering out shaky words as she skids to a stop in front of him, "I found Zoro. The ship is on the other side of the village. Brook went to tell Chop—"

Zoro suddenly comes to a halt in front of Sanji, not even bothering to meet his gaze as the swordsman tugs their captain from his grasp, hefts Luffy protectively closer to himself and charges off without another word.

Sanji, on a different occasion, might've cursed the swordsman out as he left them. He might have joined Nami in asking what he was doing or followed after him as Usopp does— hopeless to keep pace with the downright inhumane speed Zoro has somehow accomplished.

But he doesn't.

Because, unlike Nami and Usopp, Sanji saw the look in Zoro's eye. He saw the forced calmness. The look that showed a suppressed desire to panic and scream and maybe even cry. Sanji saw the look of someone who has shut off every thought except for the desperate understanding of what needs to be done.

And that scares him more than the blood staining his hands.

(~)

"Chopper, how's he doing?"

Nami walks into the infirmary uneasily, climatact clutched in a white-knuckled grip as she gazes over the two occupying the room. Her stance is halfway in the room, halfway prepared to attack anyone who even tries to get on board without an invitation— a coiled cobra prepared to strike should the need arise.

Chopper, despite having the concentrated stern look of a doctor, is teary eyed when he turns to Nami, "I hope they get back soon…"

Nami's throat constricts, eyes flickering from the reindeer to Luffy in the bed. His hand hangs off the mattress limply, face turned away and sheets tousled where he's struggled for solace in the past few days. Nami hopelessly grips the strawhat that she has held onto as per her captain's request, feeling her fingers shaking as she does.

"They will," she assures, and then more surely, one hand releasing her climatact as to set a frightened hand on the black waves of hair poking out from the bed, "They will."

(~)

"I thought bullets don't work on him!" Nami said frantically, clutching at Zoro's sleeve since he was the closest person available for her to do so, "What happened?"

Franky sets his giant hand on the railing, "The last I saw of Luffy, he was pummeling those wimps. What'd I miss?"

"All I saw was Luffy-san stumbling and keeling over." Brook mumbles thoughtfully, clutching his boney hands together tightly.

"The dumb cook's the only one who saw anything," Zoro grinds out, trying his hardest to ignore the blood that still soaks his haramaki from when he ripped Luffy out of Sanji's grip and carried his captain back to the ship at a hurried sprint— for once not getting lost on his way back. He catches Chopper's gaze with a levelled look and calls for him to explain with a simple calling of the doctor's name.

The small reindeer shuffles in place, taking a shaky breath.

"The marines knew about Luffy's invulnerability to normal bullets," Chopper declares, his small hooves quivering as he addresses the stressed crew, "They used kairoseki bullets on him."

The crew goes very silent very quickly.

(~)

A crowd has gathered around the ship. Wondrous eyes taking in the unfamiliar vessel with the skeleton and cyborg guarding it. The two of them try not to draw any more attention to themselves than necessary, but despite their efforts, the inevitable comes into view.

"Franky-san…" Brook alerts quietly, ignoring the gaping crowd practically blocking his view of the marine troops marching in their direction.

Franky says nothing, watching without a word. He knows that the two of them are more than capable of taking out the few marines headed their way. And with Nami up on deck, and Chopper just in case, miraculously, things get to be too much, there's more than enough man-power standing between the infirmary and the enemy.

He isn't worried about that, and merely glances around the marines headed their way with the hopes that he'll see a familiar face. A smack of green or blonde or various hands seizing the oncoming marines out of the blue, or even of a frightened, long-nosed man running around the large crowd of soldiers without any care other than getting back to Luffy.

He doesn't see any of that, though, and prepares for a fight.

(~)

"I can get them out easily," Chopper assures as the silence gets too much for him to bear, "the problem is that he's already lost so much blood...operating on him is almost impossible without the ability to start a transfusion line, but…"

"None of us are compatible with Luffy…" Robin mutters remorsefully, shaken by the fact that the kairoseki was still lodged inside her captain. The way it weakens her from outside her body is intense. She can't even imagine...

Chopper regards her, looking to the ground and mumbling a quiet, "Exactly. And the longer that kairoseki is inside him the more dangerous it becomes for complete system failure."

Everyone is quiet for a moment, and no one mentions how the sounds from the kitchen overhead, where Sanji was busying himself preparing a large meal for when their captain woke up, has suddenly turned to tense and eerie silence.

Zoro is the only one to speak, "How much time does he have, then?"

(~)

"Found it," Sanji murmurs enthusiastically as him and Zoro peer into the window of a secure door— authorized clearance allowed only.

Zoro huffs an irritated sound, pulling a sword from its scabbard right as Sanji prepares to do the exact same thing he was planning. Simultaneously, they both attack the heavily compacted door as though it had personally offended both of them.

The sound erupts down the hallway, and people on the floors surrounding them are probably aware of the noise as well, but the two of them pay no heed to the possibility of being found there.

They rush in, warped and battered security door laying in a heap of crumbled and sliced metal beneath their feet.

"Okay, cook," Zoro says, glancing around at the test tubes and locked containers and random supplies strewn on shelves and in open cupboards throughout the room, "where should it be?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Damn you," Zoro growls, "weren't you paying attention to what Chopper said?"

"Weren't you?"

Zoro sighs irritably and is about to go about searching the various closed containers when he hears a familiar woman's voice behind him. He pays her no heed, unlike Sanji who greets her joyfully, and merely watches as dozens of disembodied hands appear throughout the room and begins tearing into every container in sight.

"Zoro! Sanji!" Usopp shouts, then panics at his loud greeting and whispers, "we heard a loud explosion and thought that it was probably one of you."

Zoro is about to respond when Robin makes a pleased, most definitely relieved, sound from behind him, "There."

The hands all disappear as she walks forward towards a door on the far side of the room. Sanji follows her just as shouting sounds off from the nearby hallway. Neither Robin nor Sanji flinch at the sound, the latter of which moved to kick the door down like before. Zoro and Usopp, on the other hand, met each other's eyes before heading for the doorway and peering out.

Just as expected, marines were on their way to them— most likely having heard the loud explosion made by entering the room. Usopp screams. Zoro rolls his eye.

"Found it," Sanji calls, glancing past Robin, who takes care to open the blood bank fridge and search the labeled bags of red inside of it, "marimo, could you…?"

"Yeah, yeah, stupid cook," he growls, unsheathing his swords once again, "I got it handled."

He knows that, as he steps into the hallway and is aimed at by guns and charged at by men with swords, that he'll show no mercy to any of them that even attempt to stop them from getting away with what they need.

What they desperately need.

(~)

"The kairoseki is slowing down his blood flow and his respiration," Chopper tries to explain, "That means it's actually helping to keep him from losing any more blood at a drastic rate. I'd say...two days. Three, maybe, because of his stubbornness."

Zoro walks past Chopper immediately, reaching for the infirmary door handle. If his hand trembles as it clutches the door handle, no one comments on it, "Sounds like we have three days to locate a town and tear that place apart 'til we find what we need."

(~)

"Hand me that box, please," Robin says as she completely ignores the cries of pain coming from the hospital hallway only meters away from where her and Sanji are. Sanji complies without a word, handing her an empty box. She grabs bag upon bag of type F blood, and even thinks to grab some RH- for future use— knowing their resident cook, she's sure they'll need it.

Robin stands, hefting the box up with the help of her devil fruit ability.

"Robin-chan, let me—"

"No," she objects gently, gliding over to Usopp who aims at approaching marines. Without another word, she hands the box to the sniper with a meaningful look.

And just like always, they all understand.

Sanji nods once at Usopp, "Let's get going."

If Usopp is frightened, he doesn't show it too much. He skips out from the Pathology storage room, running down the opposite hallway from the marines flowing endlessly towards them, and doesn't turn back.

Even as Zoro stays behind to fight against the hordes of enemies who didn't care at all about the life they were perilously trying to save. Going to save.

Even as Robin prevents marines from following them.

Even as they run out of the hospital after leaping down several flights of stairs, Sanji dispelling every marine that came across them on the way.

Everyone's faith was now resting on his shoulders. And even if they hadn't put their trust in him, he wasn't about to disappoint the one person who deserved to be saved for a change. Who was suddenly helpless to do anything but wait.

He kept running.

(~)

"Zoro…" a tired voice tears him from his thoughts once he goes to stand and leave the room at Sanji's beckons— they've reached their destination. The swordsman has cut people down, been part of the start of a war with the World Government, been completely prepared to cut off his own legs without blinking, and endured immense pain beyond measure and yet, here, staring down at the frail form on the bed, red staining the sheets and the the boy's clothing, Zoro thinks he feels his stone-cold heart shatter.

Sanji's voice is the next Zoro hears, and its gentler than he thinks he's ever heard it, "We'll be back before you know it, captain."

Sanji hesitantly turns to gather the rest of the distressed crew but seems to find it immensely difficult to tear his eyes away. He somehow manages it, leaving the door open for Zoro as he goes and his hands shakily reaching to light a cigarette.

Luffy reaches a trembling and weak hand out, staring into Zoro's very soul as the swordsman takes the appendage, glassy eyes unwavering and full of sudden, desperate authority, "Make sure...everyone gets back...safely."

And typically, that would be a given. The crew is strong. The island has no tough opponents on it as far as any of them are aware and every person on their ship is prepared to sacrifice plenty to be sure everyone else is safe, but Zoro knows his captain and knows that this is different.

He won't be there to make sure.

(~)

"Chopper!" Nami called, running from where she had been standing on deck, blasting surrounding marines with lightning and constantly assuring the doctor that no help was needed. Her, Brook and Franky had the situation under control, he just had to stay with Luffy, "I see Sanji-kun and Usopp. Get ready!"

He almost felt like crying, and the thing was that, as overcome by despair and relief as he was at that moment, he didn't even have time to notice the hot tears sliding down his furry cheeks onto the mattress in front of him.

He heard Nami shouting for Sanji and Usopp, heard footfalls as the two of them boarded the ship, and heard their voices as they approached the infirmary. Chopper was busy pulling sterile tubes and needles out. His hands were steady as he attached them to Luffy's arm and prepared for the IV line to be attached to the blood his nakama had valiantly gone to retrieve.

Chopper was on autopilot when Usopp carefully dropped a box full of blood bags on the infirmary floor, and he didn't hesitate to hook two of them up to Luffy's frail form.

It was only minutes later when Nami also alerted everyone of Zoro and Robin heading their way. The sounds of marines fighting the crew didn't die down until everyone was on board and they had safely left the dock, everyone now only part-way concerned about the marine vessel being boarded in the distance.

They'd be far enough from the island in no time. The marines wouldn't ever have a chance to catch up.

The ship became almost silent then, and Chopper stood unmoving in the infirmary, observing the transfusion line with an almost frozen visage. He jumped when he felt a calloused hand land lightly on his shoulder, and only realized that all of his nakama had gathered around the infirmary door when he turned to face Zoro.

Brook with his expressionless skull that was somehow able to display an emotion that could only be described as haunted. Franky standing behind everyone as though he could support them yet looking uneasy himself. Robin with her stiff stance, hands clutched in front of her and eyes squinted remorsefully— always calm or trying to appear as such. Sanji with his tousled hair and undone tie, cigarette vacant from his mouth for once even if his fingers subconsciously twitch with desire. Usopp looking how all of them felt, quivering lip and searching, watery eyes. Nami with her disheveled tank-top and white-knuckled grip on the precious hat that belonged to their equally precious captain. And Zoro, always stoic and always focused revealing a hidden fear in the eyes that now lay on Chopper.

"Pull yourself together," Zoro says in a tone that is both comforting and stern, his other hand rubbing the dampness Chopper had forgotten about from the doctor's face with a single knuckle.

And suddenly, the weight of the hand on his shoulder feels like it could shatter the world into pieces.

But Chopper nods once, knowing he can bear the wait for his— their— sake, "Okay."

(~)

"Hold on, Luffy," Chopper mumbles, hooves tapping each other nervously, "Zoro and the others will be back as soon as they can."

The doctor hadn't expected a reply, yet, as always, Luffy was full of surprises.

"I know."

Chopper gasps softly, glancing over at Nami who was busy preparing her climatact while consecutively explaining the plan to Franky and Brook. She stopped suddenly, all three pairs of eyes outside of the infirmary turning towards the prone form.

And equally surprising, and yet not surprising at all, Luffy turns his pale face towards the four of them and smiles as vibrant as he can manage. If Brook gasps and moves back slightly at the sight, murmuring to himself as one might do in the throes of a nightmare, none of them draw attention to it— too lost in their own shock.

"I… trust my nakama," Luffy whispers hoarsely, breaths rattling across the silent deck, "A captain just… worries, y'know?"

No one says anything for a long moment, and when someone finally speaks it's Nami— voice caught in the midst of a sudden sob.

"You idiot…"

(~)

It wasn't until that night that the all-clear was given by Chopper.

Relief exploded across the ship, and Sanji finally found the motivation to move into the kitchen to make a very late dinner for the crew— setting aside plenty for when Luffy decided to raid to kitchen in the coming days. He never thought he'd look forward to it.

The entire crew was frightened by the close call. They had all grown used to the idea that Luffy was an invincible force of nature. After two years apart and coming back together to see how much stronger he had become, that thought even grew for most of the crew.

They had almost lost him, and all of them made a vow against the world that it would never happen again. None of them share their blood type with him, but they were damn sure that they were going to make the outcome be as if they had. He was going to live whether the world liked it or not.

And, hours later, when bleary dark eyes open and gaze at the sleeping crew surrounding him in the infirmary—

Zoro resting his back against the mattress with loud snores filling the entire room, Nami and Robin, forgotten books beside them, side-by-side in the corner, Franky settled at the far wall with Usopp strewn across his legs, Sanji protectively keeping his back to the door, Chopper resting on a stool by Luffy's head, and a gentle tune on an old violin being played outside on deck.

— Luffy thinks the same for his nakama as well.

He closes his eyes again, not allowing himself to start a ruckus this once. He simply fades off into sleep once again, the sound of his peaceful and strong and oddball and perfect family sleeping around him lulling him into resting blackness.

(~)

Fin


As a final chapter, I really wanted to highlight every member of the strawhat crew, especially since Luffy's case is similar to Sanji's in this manner. And I enjoyed thinking of the different ways each of them would cope and respond in this situation— so I hope you all enjoyed!

This is expected to be the last chapter of this series, but who knows! I could always think of writing more in the future should I think of more ideas that won't feel like I'm dragging it along.

Thank you to all the reviewers and favoriters!

A special shout-out to Wordlet for reviewing every chapter as I went :) really helped me feel motivated to continue going!

That's all for now!

Take care!