It took Zoro three days to reach the ocean. After securing the kickstand on his motorcycle, he walked down the steps of the pier, and onto the soft sand. The ocean extended endless before him. Countless shades of blue, with intensely white patches from the sun above. He took a picture with his phone, but that would never do it justice. With a sigh, he drank the last of his water. He wasn't the one who belonged on this beach. He was just about to throw his water bottle into the nearby trash can when he got an idea.
He started with a base of sand; letting it running through his loose fist and into the empty bottle. He scanned the beach, but there weren't any good shells left. Probably been taken by all the tourists. Though he did manage to find some smooth, almost shiny pebbles. He dumped that in as well. Next, he dipped the bottle into the seawater. When it came up, there were bits of algae floating inside. Zoro spied a hermit crab scuttling along the beach, but it was too big. It took half an hour of searching, but eventually Zoro found a tiny fiddler crab that he jammed into the water bottle, but not before getting pinched on his thumb.
With his treasure in hand, Zoro hopped onto his motorcycle, speeding as fast as he could down the highway.
Zoro knocked on the door before he entered. He found Luffy lying in the hospital bed, in the same condition as he'd left him. Alive. Awake. Skin pale enough to match the sheets, stretched taut over his already small frame.
"Zoro." No amount of tiredness could extinguish the excitement in his eyes. "How was it?"
"Alright," Zoro shrugged. "Wet."
Luffy gave a weak laugh, before he saw the offered bottle. He tried to take it, but his hands started to shake, so Zoro lowered it onto his lap.
"I even managed to find a crab."
"Yeah." Luffy studied the bottle in quiet wonder. He turned to Zoro with longing. "Open it for me?" After Zoro removed the bottle cap, Luffy took a whiff inside. His chin wobbled with emotion. "It smells like the ocean."
"What else could it smell like?" Zoro lightly joked. He lowered himself onto the hospital bed and placed a kiss on luffy's forehead, with the lightest of pressures. As he watched the boy continue to be entranced by his miniature ocean, Zoro could only feel grateful for small miracles. Such as how Luffy had still been alive when he got back.