Hey everybody! I'm so sorry for the late update, school tends to make it harder to write with all the studying and homework... But I promise the next chapter won't take as long because I'm already half-way done with it. :D And thank you so much to my beta reader SilenceOfRain7 for looking over this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of its characters

Well, I hope you like it! ^_^

beep... beep... beep...

A high-pitched beeping penetrated his sleep, dragging him closer to awareness. The swordsman twitched, the annoying, consistent sound refusing to let him go back to sleep. He didn't want to wake up yet; he was still tired. But the sound persisted.

beep... beep... beep...

"Shut up..." he slurred, grabbing the pillow from under his head and shoving it over his ear, but it did little to muffle the sound. Then another noise joined the sound, a voice. It sounded high-pitched and strangely familiar, but where had he heard it before?

"Zoro, are you awake?" the voice repeated after he didn't answer the first time. Zoro lifted the pillow a bit at the child-like voice, blearily looking at a small fuzzy figure... Then he jolted into awareness, nearly falling out of the bed he was in when he recognized who it was.

"Ch-Chopper. Wait... what's...?" he was too confused, and tired, to even form a complete sentence. So he settled for trying to recollect his thoughts and waiting for Chopper to speak.

"We found you and Sanji," Chopper grinned, but then his expression fell. "Y-you were both doing really bad when we found you," the reindeer looked down. Zoro gazed around the room, an almost overwhelming sense of relief washing over him as he recognized the ship's familiar infirmary. Finally, they were off that island. The crew found them, as Zoro knew they would.

beep... beep... beep...

He scowled at the annoying noise that once again interrupted his thoughts, scanning the room to find its source. His gaze landed on the other bed across the room. There Sanji was, and he still didn't look very good, but at least not as bad as when Zoro last saw him. The annoying beeping noise was coming from the heart monitor the cook was hooked up to. Thankfully Zoro didn't need one; he hated being hooked up to any machine.

"Here, eat this," Chopper helped him into a sitting position and placed a bowl filled with a warm broth into his hands. His hands started to fall from the weight but Chopper caught the bowl. Zoro tried to lift his hands again but they wouldn't listen.

"Slowly," Chopper said, bringing the bowl up to Zoro's mouth. The swordsman scowled, but did as Chopper asked. It was hard to go slow as Chopper had said, so much harder than he would have thought, and it took all of Zoro's will power not to gulp down the broth as fast as he could. He was so hungry, and even the bland liquid tasted like the best meal he ever had. But every time he tried to take more than a small sip Chopper pulled the bowl away.

"If you eat too fast you'll make yourself sick," Chopper scolded. Zoro frowned, annoyed at being corrected by the young doctor, but managed to finish the rest of the meal slowly. Then he realized what Chopper had been talking about. He lay back down and closed his eyes, waiting for the sudden onslaught of nausea to pass. It took several minutes before he felt his stomach finally calming down a bit.

"Zoro," Chopper spoke up, and the swordsman could sense the little doctor standing next to his bed.

"Yeah?" he opened his eyes, looking over at the reindeer. He had a slightly nervous expression in his eyes and took a few moments before continuing.

"What happened on that island?" Chopper asked.

"Well, we didn't have any food so we were pretty hungry, and then those marines attacked us..." Zoro said.

"Something else must have happened..." Chopper frowned. "Sanji has hypothermia and pneumonia, and the island didn't feel cold enough for him to get that sick." Zoro looked away from the doctor. He knew Sanji probably didn't want anyone to know about the things that happened. If it had been Zoro, he would have wanted it to stay a secret too. But Chopper needed to know at least something about what happened, otherwise he wouldn't be able to help the idiot cook. So Zoro explained what happened, leaving out a few minor details.

"So he fell off the island?" Chopper asked. Zoro nodded his head.

"That makes sense. When the body is starving it's much weaker and prone to illnesses, and the water was probably cold..." Chopper mumbled under his breath, then walked over to a cabinet on the other side of the room to rummage around for something. Seemingly not finding it, he closed the cabinet and turned back to face Zoro.

"I need to go get some herbs from storage; will you be okay alone for a while?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah," Zoro said.

"Okay, just call if anything happens but don't move, It'll put too much of a strain on your body," Chopper said before leaving the room. And then Zoro was left alone with the unconscious cook and the annoying beeping of the heart monitor.

beep... beep... beep...

Though as annoying as the sound was, it was the only sign of life when Sanji looked so pale and thin as though he could break at any moment. Though Zoro supposed he didn't look much better himself, he was almost just as thin.

beep... beep... beep...

But Zoro was awake, and Sanji hadn't been since the swordsman dragged him from the water. The thought made Zoro wonder exactly how mentally stable the idiot cook was at the moment. He sure had been acting crazy when he'd last been awake, and Zoro wondered if he would be the same when he did wake up again. Hopefully not, he was hard enough to put up with when he was normal.

Beep beep beep

The ero-cook was always prancing around like an idiot and flirting with the girls in such an annoyingly over exaggerated way. But he was fun to spar with, and reliable in battle. And though Zoro didn't know much about fancy food, Sanji always did cook good tasting meals. So, Zoro couldn't really say he hated the cook, no matter how annoying he was. They were nakama after all.

Beep beep beep

The swordsman sighed, looking over to the infirmary door. He wondered if he could escape while Chopper was gone... Zoro really did hate being stuck in bed when he should be training. But right now, he felt too tired to even lift an arm, much less trying to walk or train. Besides, even if he did manage to get out, it wouldn't take long for the Chopper to find him. And then little doctor would probably sedate him.

Beepbeepbeepbeep

Zoro's head snapped to the side to look at the monitor which had suddenly picked up speed. He may not be a doctor, but he could tell something probably wasn't right when the heart monitor suddenly picked up speed. The swordsman frowned, a nervous feeling bubbling in his stomach as he watched the screen.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Zoro felt as if his own heart had stopped when the previously steady beat of the heart machine went into a flat line, a high-pitched whine sounding from it. He struggled to get the covers off of himself, finally managing to at least get them off of his legs. He dragged his legs off the bed, planting his feet on the floor, but the moment he tried to put weight on his legs they collapsed under him and he fell to the ground.

"Chopper!" he hollered, forcing himself up from the floor on trembling arms and then managed to get to his feet. His muscles shook with the effort as he stumbled to the infirmary door, once again calling out to their doctor. His hands fumbled with the doorknob for a few seconds, then he shoved it open. The swordsman tripped out of the room, falling back to the ground.

"Hey! Chopper!" he shouted as loud as he could, beginning to push himself up again, but his arms folded under him. The swordsman swore at his uncooperative muscles, this wasn't the time for them to suddenly give out. He shouted for the doctor once again, unable to do much more. Then Chopper came, finally, running towards him.

"Zoro, what's going on!? Why-"

"It's Sanji, the machine- he's not-" Zoro struggled, but Chopper seemed to finally hear the heart machine and dashed past Zoro into the room. Still unable to move he lay there on the floor, panting for breath and waiting for that annoying whine the machine was making to go back to a steady beeping. It didn't.

"Chopper, what's...!" he managed to struggle into a sitting position, bracing himself against the doorframe, to see the doctor in heavy point desperately trying to get Sanji's heart to start beating again.

"I-It's not w-working," Chopper cried, tears running down his furry face.