The point when Luffy knew something was wrong was when Chopper began to panic over the unconscious form of his beloved treasure-hunter. On first glance, it merely looked like she was still sleeping, and had picked up an injury on her foot; most likely a break in the bone or torn muscle. Luffy had been worried and upset over the woman's injury, but Chopper convinced the pirate captain that a broken foot was easily managed. Luffy semi-reluctantly left the reindeer doctor to his patients and joined the newly started party that the Moria victims initiated – he wasn't going to miss food and singing for anything.
After Chopper had taken care of the badly wounded Zoro – Luffy had no idea how the swordsman got in such a wounded state – the reindeer had moved onto Jiru. Luffy figured everything was fine until Chopper screamed in shock three minutes later. The doctor's scream had sent Luffy careening over to the two medical, make-shift beds – the ten-minute old party all but forgotten.
"No, no, NO!" The reindeer had a look of frantic panic in his eyes. "It's not there! How is that possible?"
"Chopper, what's wrong!" Nami had asked while Luffy was running over to the beds.
"Jiru's baby, it's gone!" Chopper had yelled in surprise; bringing the rest of the Mugiwaras over.
"Chopper!" Nami had hissed uselessly, laying a hand on the doctor's small-sized shoulder. "Luffy didn't know about Jiru's condition, she asked us not to tell him yet."
The unconscious form of the Golden Thief lay quietly on the table, her black shirt rolled up to uncover her tan stomach. Chopper had been examining that area when he started screaming.
"Well, he knows now, Nami." An approaching Usoppu had pulled the stunned captain away from Jiru's bed.
"Great, just great." Nami had muttered while Luffy stood there, his brain processing the situation. Although it was nearly impossible to tell, there was a telltale bruise along that ever-so sneaky bump of her lower stomach skin, right below the navel.
"She was pregnant? Why didn't Jiru TELL me she was having a baby?" Luffy's confused, anguished voice shouted loudly at the crew. "WHY DIDN'T SHE TELL ME!"
"Oi, you idiot, did you ever think she DIDN'T want you to know?" Usoppu's voice argued back, even louder.
Their shout-fest had drawn the crowd of people that the Mugiwaras had rescued from Moria's shadow-stealing tyranny. Usoppu, like the rest of the East-Blue pirates, knew Jiru well enough in that she was somewhat socially shy, and took a while to trust strangers. Shouting her personal issues to the masses was not a good idea. Chopper quickly unrolled her shirt and covered her once-bare stomach; hiding the sight from the strangers.
"Not want me to know? But you guys knew?" Luffy questioned further. "How long? How long has she been pregnant?"
"Luffy, calm down, and let us explain." Nami's pained voice interrupted the argument.
"No, I want to know…how long and who is the father?" the captain's voice ordered again.
"Two months…" Chopper put his two cents in, his cloven hoof-hands fiddling with the edge of his patient's black shirt. "We think the father is Zoro…"
"Just tell him the truth, Doctor-san." Robin's voice was finally heard. The raven-haired woman calmly joined them, looking sadly at the shorter female.
"The truth?" Luffy sounded confused.
"Jiru-chan was raped by one of the CP9, that bastard-giraffe Kaku." Sanji's voice was brittle enough to shatter like glass on rock. "It happened on the Sea Train before Franky, Soge-King and I managed to rescue her."
"She was terrified to tell you, Luffy. She didn't want you to go bat-shit insane and get into another crazy fight like you had with Lucci." Nami managed to interject before a long silence fell.
"Explain how Zoro might be the father…" The wavering, pained voice broke the lull.
"Zoro fought and defeated Kaku after bastard admitted to raping her." Usoppu answered quietly. "Zoro was the first one to deal with the aftermath."
"Aftermath?"
"Yea, the shitty swordsman was there to pick her up after she broke. It was after we got back to Water 7 that she fell apart, and they slept together then."
"So Zoro and the CP9 dude both raped her?" Luffy sounded shocked.
"No, Zoro helped her find herself, so she wouldn't hurt herself or the baby. She wanted to sleep with him to forget the fear. So he helped her by sleeping with her." Nami most likely wasn't looking at Luffy. "So we figured that Zoro, as strong as he is, might be…have been, the father."
"I see." Luffy's only response was.
"You gotta admit; Chibi-Nee-chan is strong. Stronger than I expected." Franky's baritonic voice chimed in. "I mean, she made some difficult choices and stuck with them; that takes guts."
"Shut up, you asshole! Jiru-chan is special. She may not look it, but she came from Outer Space!" Chopper's indignant voice rebuked the shipwright. "She's been through more than any of us can imagine!"
"Chopper, it's ok. Franky doesn't know Jiru like we do." Luffy's flat, even voice stopped the doctor's tirade. "She would have told me about it when she was ready. She's always known that. For now, let's let her sleep and heal."
"What…what about the baby?" Chopper's voice had been barely audibly.
"Chopper!" Nami gasped.
"We'll…figure something out, won't we, Chopper?" Luffy's voice sounded distant and mournful. "We've lost a member of the crew today, and we never knew it."
It took another two hours to pull Luffy and the others out of the macabre mood and back into the light-heartedness of the party. It took the combined efforts of food, music and every single one of the shadow-victims to entice the Mugiwaras back into the celebration.
XXX
Jiru slowly pulled out of her random-flash-scene dreams, her consciousness surfacing from deep-sleep, like an air bubble in water. Registering the soft, cushy bed was the first thing her senses tuned in; the second that she was in a dark room on the Thousand-Sunny-Gou, the Mugiwara's ship. Her body felt the, minute ingrained motion of the gentle sea-born swaying; the salty waves pushing and rolling under the grand ship. The third immediate sense was the sharp abdominal pang telling her she had to pee.
"Uhm…hello?" She called out into the darkened room. Not hearing a response to her inquiry, she decided to go to the bathroom herself. Memories slashed back into her awareness when she swung her feet over the side of the bed. The sharp, biting agony of her left foot reminded her that she had a seriously injury.
"Jiru!" Luffy's voice responded to her groan of pain.
Turning her head back to the bed, she coughed in embarrassment. The sheets that had covered her were thrown back as a shirtless Luffy darted over the mattress to get to her.
"Are you ok? Don't move, Chopper says it'll take a couple weeks for your ankle to heal." The childish, yet well-placed concern was touching. Jiru smiled in the dark and nodded. "He says there was a bruised bone and torn muscles, or something like that."
"Uh, ok, I won't move then." She answered, making her captain smile in relief. "But….I really have to…pee. Like now."
Jumping into action, Luffy leapt over her and crouched down to carefully scoop her up into his strong, rubber-powered arms. Straightening up and rushing over to the door, using a foot to kick it open, Luffy carried her into the water closet.
She normally would have yelled at any male that dared to interrupt her private times – such as showering or relieving herself – but her half-awake system decided not to. Luffy managed to fit them both into the water closet; then he hitched up her black skirt and pulled her clean underwear to her knees. Sitting on the porcelain bowl, Jiru managed to hold back the flow until Luffy finally stepped back. Then, after relieving herself, she yawned and looked up to Luffy.
"Uh, thanks…Luffy, don't look at me like that. This is how girls pee, dummy." She threw a towel at him. "Turn around, so I can get up!"
"But, Chopper said…" the captain looked slightly concerned and embarrassed at the same time.
"I heard you the first time! I CAN float you know." Jiru muttered under a red, blushing face.
Luffy turned around, giving his treasure hunter privacy. Hearing her finish her potty break and flushing the loo, the rubbery captain then faced the girl again and crossed his arms.
"Ok, so now what?" She asked, washing her hands. She had her balance weighing on her right foot, keeping the left foot from touching the floor.
"Now you go back to bed." Luffy answered seriously.
"Ok, fine." Jiru allowed her captain to carry her back to the half-covered bed. "What time is it anyways?"
"Two a.m., Day 2. You've slept for twenty hours."
"A DAY?" Jiru looked astonished. "No wonder I had to pee-" She stopped speaking when Luffy placed her on something stiff and square. Reaching underneath her, she pulled out a small red bento box – a traveling box made for carrying a seven part mini-meal.
"Oh, that…" Luffy managed to sound guilty as he looked at the box. Jiru kept it away from him as he reached for it.
"What is a bento box doing in this bed?" The treasure hunter looked questioningly at Luffy.
"sanjimadeyouabentobox,butiateit." Luffy mumbled.
"What?"
"Sanji figured you'd be hungry when you woke up, so he left a bento box on the table." Luffy whispered louder, pointing to the bedside table.
Looking tiredly around the dark-veiled room, Jiru noticed that she was using the captain's bedroom – one Luffy rarely used since he always bunked with is nakama in the deck below. The bedside table was still within the shadow's grasp; unlike the wooden floor that caught the moonlight spilling in from the small, round window next to the door. A pair of used chopsticks sat haphazardly next to the small, unlit lamp. Looking back to Luffy's face, Jiru snickered and bit her lip. Her captain had his pout-guilty, close-lipped look firmly on his face. Jiru knew the bento box was most likely hidden from Luffy; but was most likely discovered and devoured by the rubber-man when he found it.
"You know, Sanji-kun is going to kick your ass when he finds out you ate my food."
"So." Luffy's overly-wrought guilty eyes glanced quickly at her and then away. "I was hungry."
"Luffy, when are you NOT hungry?" Jiru finally pried open the closed food box and gave a short, bubbly laugh. The only item remaining in the seven part food box was the white rice; even then, some of the rice looked delved into. "Rice, huh?"
"I was hungry, but had to leave you something." Luffy pursed his lips even more and sat down on the bed, crossing his legs.
"Well, whatever." She yawned again and closed the box, setting on the bed's empty space. "I'm going back to sleep."
"So you're not going to eat it?"
"Not at the mo-…no. You can have it." Jiru yawned again as Luffy snatched the box back and tore into the remaining rice with the chopsticks. "Luffy, don't eat on the bed!"
It was too, late as the eighteen-year old pirate was busily shoving his face with rice.
"Thanks so much, Ji-chan!" Luffy sputtered out his thanks with a few grains of rice. Carefully lying back down on the bed, Jiru snorted and held back another laugh.
"You really are hungry."
"Duh."
"…" Jiru's head touched the pillow, and she felt the sleep come back. "I was going to say something else, but I forgot."
Finishing his last bite of rice, Luffy placed the now-empty red box back on the table and threw the chopsticks into the corner of the room.
"It's ok, Jiru, you just go back to sleep and I'll be right here when you wake up." Luffy produced his trademark, beloved personal treasure, the red-banded straw-hat, and set it on her shoulder. "See, I'll have Wara-san keep you company."
"Wara-san?" Jiru giggled softly. "So now your hat has a name, huh? Cute. I wanted to call it something else…I don't know." Closing her eyes and yawning once more, she felt the relaxing comfort of the soft bed sooth her body. Hearing Luffy chuckle softly, Jiru smiled and fell back into the deep, comforting sleep her body needed.