Sorry for the delay everyone! Life's crazy busy. Thank you so much for continuing to read this.

For that one person who was like 'A summer ff in winter?' I actually started writing July and haven't finished yet. Whoops. Glad you like it.

Flamingfoxninja – hope you continue to enjoy it.

Luffy hit the water with an enormous splash and went under. He sank like a stone straight to the bottom of the pool, making no attempt to get to the surface. Ace ran to the edge of the pool in an instant, Sabo, throwing the sunscreen to Koala, was not far behind him. They stood on the edge and stared into the water where Luffy disappeared.

"Luffy!" Ace yelled frantically at the water as it began to settle. "Shit Sabo! What do we do?! That moron can't swim!"

"Fuck! Still? I thought you got that sorted out!" Sabo said, look at Ace with a look of disbelief.

"We brought floaties but obviously he's not wearing them, genius!"

"One of us is going to have to go in and grab him. How deep is this?" Sabo said, looking around for a depth indicator.

Ace got on his knees at the edge of the water trying to keep an eye on his little brother as he got further away from the top. He made a vain attempt to reach for him. "12 feet. Damn it! I can only float."

Sabo was pacing back and forth, hyperventilating. "I can't believe this is happening. Oh my god. It's totally all my fault. I should have said no when he asked to come to the pool. I should have made sure that he finally learned to swim or that he was wearing his floaties. Holy shit I'm a terrible br-"

"SABO! Get a hold of yourself, you're the only one that can actually swim! Get in there and save him!"

Out of Zoro's periphery, he could see some dramatic movement coming from next to the diving board. He looked over and saw two of the boys from before staring at the water. One of them seemed like he was trying to grab hold of something, while the other looked panicked. Huh, he thought. Maybe they dropped a phone? However, he didn't see the younger, more energetic one of the bunch around. He did a quick scan before confirming that the younger brother, Luffy?, was nowhere else around the pool before clutching his red rescue tube a little tighter. "Are you kidding me? I literally just blew the whistle! He muttered as he began to stand up in his chair. He was about to call out to them when he noticed the girl from earlier running towards him and pointing towards the brothers.

"Luffy's in trouble!"

That confirmed his suspicions. In a blink, Zoro squeezed the tube to his chest and launched himself from the lifeguard chair into the pool. In a few quick strokes, he was in the deep end of the pool. Usopp blew his whistle to get everyone out of the pool. Zoro looked to the brothers for confirmation.

"He's right down there..." Sabo gasped out, pointing to where he last saw Luffy, tears forming in his eyes. Ace, who was gripping the pool edge so hard his knuckles were turning white, nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Be ready for when I bring him up." Zoro released the strap on the rescue tube and left it behind as he gave a strong kick to push himself slightly out of the water. He took a deep breath as he came back down and allowed his momentum to drag him towards the bottom of the pool. When his descent began to slow, he turned his palms outward and swept them upward and over his head until he reached the floor. Once there, he gave a quick look around and spotted Luffy limply floating a few steps away. Zoro swam over to him and gripped him firmly from behind around his chest, then pushed off the floor of the pool and kicked them towards the surface.

Zoro broke through the surface with a gasp and immediately flipped Luffy and himself onto their backs, Zoro supporting Luffy from underneath. The red rescue tube had floated out of reach so Zoro, quickly floated them to the edge where Ace and Sabo were waiting with anxious looks on their faces. Usopp hadn't arrived with the backboard yet and there was no time to lose. "Help me get him out of the water"

Both brothers nodded, determination overtaking anxiety. "Each of you take one of his wrists with one hand and support his upper back with the other." Zoro instructed. "I'll support him from down here."

Ace and Sabo snapped into action and gripped onto one of Luffy's wrists as Zoro gently propped him up. Luffy head lolled to the side as they did.

"Support his head!" Zoro shouted, treading water frantically as the force of Luffy's body leaving the water pushed him under slightly. The older brothers complied right away. "Ok, now slowly pull him up from the water."

Wordlessly, Ace and Sabo followed Zoro's words and pulled Luffy onto the concrete. As soon as Luffy was clear from the water, Zoro hopped out of the pool and rushed to Luffy's side to begin administering CPR. "Out of the way!" He shouted to the brothers who were hovering, reasonably concerned over their little brother's head.

"Is he going to be alright?" Ace asked.

Zoro ignored the question in favor of counting chest compressions. Once at 30, he tilted Luffy's head back and blew air into Luffy's mouth.

Suddenly, Luffy took a deep rasping breath and began hacking up water. Zoro rolled him onto his side to assist him in getting all the fluid out of his lungs and gave a sigh of relief. Usopp cautiously approached with a questioning concerned look on his face, but Zoro waved him off since everything appeared to be under control.

Sabo released the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding with a huge sob. "OH THANK GOD!" He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Luffy's head. Koala ran up to the pair from where she had stood frozen, watching the events unfold by the lifeguard chair. She joined Sabo in embracing Luffy.

"Don't worry us like that again!" She said, stroking his hair.

"Shishishishishi" Luffy snickered, a big grin appearing on his face as he shifted himself into a cross-legged position. "I was so scared! I thought I was gonna die!"

Sabo and Koala pulled back and stared at him incredulously.

A floatie suddenly smacked Luffy hard in the face, knocking him backward. "You idiot!" Ace yelled. "What the hell did you do that for?! Do you have any idea how worried we all were?" Sabo and Koala scrambled out of the way as Ace threw the second floatie. "You can't swim, you moron! That's why we bring floaties!"

Now it was Zoro's turn to be shocked. "Wait… you can't swim?!"

"Nope!"

"And you just jumped right into the deep end?"

"Yup!" Luffy smiled impossibly wide.

Holy crap. Zoro thought. This guy is textbook. "Excitement or lack of knowledge may lead non-swimmers to become unknowingly careless. They might try things they would not otherwise do, or they might accidentally enter deep water." You'd think he'd be a little more concerned that he almost drowned. Those lips though. Oh man they were soft.

Zoro gruffly coughed to clear his throat and turned his head away to avoid Luffy's glittering eyes; face blushing. "Don't do that again…"

"But you'd just save me again, right?" Luffy said with a confident chuckle.

Zoro stared at the kid dumbfounded. "Yeah… I will."

"Don't ignore me then put pressure on someone like that!" Ace said, grabbing his little brother by the back of the head to force him into a slight bow. Ace turned to Zoro and bowed himself. "Thank you so much for saving him. "He's a bit of an idiot, but he's my baby brother. I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to him."

Zoro scratched his head awkwardly. "I was just doing my job."

"He's my brother. I'm supposed to protect him and I couldn't. Thank you!" Ace said, tears welling up in his eyes as his frustration at not being able to help and his relief in Luffy's safety clashed.

"Really, it's fine. I understand the feeling though. I've got a kid brother of my own, remember? You should probably get him checked out at the first aid station before doing anything else." Zoro pointed towards the lifeguard building and Ace nodded in confirmation.

"Ace, you're hurting me…" Luffy whined, trying to wiggle his head out of Ace's iron grip forcing his head down.

"Apologize to Zoro for causing trouble."

Luffy stopped struggling. "Sorry, Zoro" he said sheepishly. At his words, Ace's grip relaxed slightly and Luffy used that opportunity to duck under Ace's arm before Ace could regain a hold on him. He popped up behind Ace's back with a giggle and flashed Zoro one last smile. "Thanks!" He said as he skipped off in the direction Zoro had pointed him in.

Ace gave an exasperated sigh as he watched Luffy leave. "I should probably go with him to make sure he's okay. Thank you again." He spun on his heels and ran after his little brother leaving a confused Zoro behind.

"What a strange kid." Zoro muttered to himself with a shake of his head. "Well, I guess I better get back to my post." He gave Usopp a thumbs up across the pool to signal that everything was resolved and made his way back to the lifeguard chair.

Sabo and Koala gave each other a look of annoyed confusion. "I guess everyone forgot we were here?" Sabo said, gesturing towards the departing figures of his brothers and Zoro.

"Idiots." Koala said under her breath. "Whatever. Let's just get some nice peaceful sun-tanning in before they get back and cause another scene."

"Good idea babe!"