️Warnings: Mentions of Blood and description of Vomiting and Spitting.

If you are sensitive to this content I would advise you to stop reading at this point.

And for those, who have no problem with it, have fun!

"ffy!"

A muffled sound reached his ears.

"ffyyy!"

There it was again. Was that a voice?

"uuffyy!"

Indeed it seemed like it, but he couldn't make out what the voice was saying nor could he assign it to anyone. It kinda sounded like it was coming from far away, as if he were underwater.

It took a while for his senses to function properly again. The raven haired heard the voice shouting once more, this time a little more clearly.

"Lufffyyyy!"

Oh, someone was calling his name. And apparently quite urgent too.

Slowly, he forced his heavy eyelids to open and saw the blurry outline of a person. He blinked a few times to clear his vision and to better recognize the person leaning over him. It took him some time to get used to the blinding sunlight, from what he could also plainly tell that it was already morning. A sudden pain in his head caused him to gasp softly, but he tried hard enough to not let it show on his face.

"Huh…U-usopp?" He finally recognized.

Surprised by his scratchy voice and burning throat, Luffy looked puzzled into the worried face of the long nosed sniper. Suddenly, the events of the last night came back to him and he remembered the reason, why he was out on the deck instead of inside in his bunk. It seemed like after his violent seizure, he must have collapsed here. At least that's what he assumed in his still somewhat disoriented state.

"Man finally, you're awake! You had me worried there for a second. You alright? Why are you even sleeping outside on the deck, huh?" Usopp tilted his head in confusion and straightened up from his crouched position, resting his arms on his hips.

The young captain sat up sluggishly from his rather uncomfortable position on the grassy floor and looked around him. His assumption from earlier was confirmed, when he realized that he was sitting not too far from the railing. Then he looked back up at Usopp, who was still waiting for an explanation.

Shit, what was Luffy supposed to tell him now? That he almost coughed up his organs last night? No, he was never allowed to know that. No one was ever allowed to find out. Who knows how much they would worry about him if it came out? As the captain, he had to stay strong for his crew and he couldn't stand to be pitied by his friends, because of an stupid illness, either. Therefore, the only option for him was to lie…again.

Something he had never been good at.

Luffy had to swallow the persistent lump in his throat for a quick moment, before he gave his friend an answer.

"Oh...um...Y-yes, nothing to worry about. Actually, I don't really know, either. All I can remember is that I got really hungry…But I was also still kinda sleepy, so…I must have fallen asleep, shishi." Unintentionally, Luffy made the face he always did, when he lied and additionally scratched the back of his head in a nervous manner. Then he decided to put on a fake wide smile, to make it more believable, while fervently hoping that this would somehow work.

Usopp chuckled in amusement at his captain's explanation. "Is there ever a time when you're not hungry?" Usopp sighed and shaked his head. "Anyway, everyone is up already, so Nami wanted me to wake you up as well. Also, breakfast should be ready soon." The sniper informed Luffy.

Although such an action was very typical of his captain, Usopp still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with this whole situation. In addition, his friend was behaving quite strangely, too.

Almost like a few days ago…

Suspiciously, the long nosed boy scanned his eyes over Luffy once more, to make sure everything was fine with him, just as he claimed. He had to admit that he looked a little paler than usual and had slight dark circles under his eyes, but other than that, he did not notice anything out of the ordinary.

Except for…

Was that…blood on his shirt?

Luffy followed Usopp's gaze and was startled to see him looking more closely at his long sleeved top or rather at the blood staining it. The exposed rubber boy quickly tried to cover the stains with his hands, but it was in vain, because the other had already noticed it for sure.

"Oi Luffy, is that-" Usopp started as he leaned closer to Luffy, however, he was abruptly interrupted by the galley door, which suddenly opened, revealing the blond cook.

"Hey, what are you two still doing there? C'mon, breakfast is almost ready!" Called Sanji over to the two boys with a lit cigarette between his lips. He took a long drag from the cancer stick and blew out a big cloud of smoke.

"Just a second Sanji, we're coming!" Came the snipers response as he looked up to the blond man in front of the kitchen door. "But hurry up! And don't forget to wash your hands beforehand!" Sanji replied and put out his cigarette, before disappearing into his kitchen again, probably to finish the preparations for breakfast.

Just as Usopp turned his attention back to Luffy, he saw how the black haired teen had already gotten up and was now moving away from his place in front of him with hurried steps. Luffy was about to reach the door to the men's quarters as Usopp reached out his hand to him and tried again.

"Wait a minute Luffy, is that blood-"

"You can go ahead, Usopp! I'll be right there!" The young captain dodged his question and thus disappeared beyond the door, leaving a completely perplexed Sniper behind.

Maybe Usopp shouldn't worry. Despite his somewhat strange behavior, Luffy seemed to be in good shape. At least he could not see any apparent wound on him, from which he could have bled. Perhaps he had only imagined the blood and instead they were splatter from his last dinner. Usopp shrugged his shoulders and decided not to think about it for now, but he thought that he should definitely keep a close eye on Luffy for a while, just in case.

The sniper now chose not to go after him and instead go to breakfast before Sanji got angry. After all, no one wished to deal with an angry Sanji in the morning.

—

Fortunately for Luffy, the others were already out of the men's room and probably currently at the breakfast table, so he could have a brief moment to himself. When the raven haired had closed the door behind him, he leaned against it for a few minutes and breathed a big sigh of relief.

"Man, that was close!"

The 19-year old couldn't believe that he almost got caught by Usopp. From now on, he had to be more cautious or otherwise…No, he would rather not imagine the consequences.

The young captain remained in this position for several more minutes, while he grabbed his sweaty forehead with his right hand and let it linger there. Luffy couldn't tell if the sweat was from the heated situation with Usopp or if it was from the restless night he had had. But what he could tell for sure was, that the buzzing pain in his head was just getting worse. Luckily his hand, which felt surprisingly cold against his overheated skin, helped him to soothed his headache a little bit.

"Nngh…" Luffy moaned from the almost unbearable throb and he let his eyes slip close for a bit.

After the pain had subsided and the rubber boy no longer felt like he was going to collapse at any moment, he moved away from the door and went directly to his locker at the other end of the room. He looked down at himself and only now noticed, how sweaty and sticky the rest of his body actually felt, which was also noticeable in his clothes. He absolutely had to take a bath later, but for now he quickly got rid of his disgusting, stinky clothes and threw them carelessly into the laundry basket next to the sink. He also could take care of them later. Next he grabbed a pair of black shorts and a matching dark blue t-shirt with a shark on it.

Freshly dressed, he looked at himself in the mirror, which was placed above the sink in the room. One could clearly tell, that his face had lost almost all its color, what made his scar under his left eye stand out even more and under his tired, sunken eyes were distinct dark circles, that also contrasted with his pale face. Not taking his eyes off his reflection, he absently reached for the tap and let the cold liquid flow. First he washed his hands, followed by his face. The chilly water let him cool down and helped him a lot to clear his head. During this process, he also drank a sip to soothe his burning dry throat.

When he thought it was enough, he closed the faucet and ran his still wet hand through his pitch black mane and at the same time a satisfied moan escaped his lips.

Suddenly, a loud, deep growl resonated throughout the room, which obviously could only come from nothing else than Luffy's stomach.

"Man, am I hungry." Whined Luffy and placed one of his hands on his belly, squeezing it a bit. No wonder he was so hungry, after losing his lunch last night, his stomach was completely empty.

He took another checking look in the mirror and calmly breathed in as deeply as he could. Unfortunately the moment he did that, he had to painfully realize, that this was a big mistake. Along with the feeling like something got stuck in his throat, he felt an unsuppressible urge to cough. His eyes widened in panic and out of reflex he pressed his hand over his mouth and with the other he held on to the small sink, in order to support himself. He thought that he was going to be violently sick, exactly like yesterday.

One wheezing cough was followed by several coughs and before he knew it he fell into another harsh coughing fit, until he suddenly began to gag. He painfully squeezed is eyes shut, since he did not want to know at all what he was vomiting out, even though he was sure there was nothing left in his stomach to puke.

However, this felt different than the last time and the burning sensation of the stomach acid was absent. Continuing to bend over the sink, Luffy slowly opened his eyes, only to see that he had not vomited but spat blood. The entire sink was covered with blood splatters. Some of the drops had even managed to land on the mirror. His eyes widened at the horrible sight.

Oh no…

Not again.

He had spit out blood again.

For how many times more?

Breathing heavily and still in shock, he weakly spat the remainings in his mouth into the mixture of blood, mucus and spit in the sink. After he was finished, he turned on the faucet to thoroughly clean and rinse everything, including his mouth and hands. He knew he had to hurry before his friends got the idea to check on him, because he was taking quite a long time.

His fear was realized when suddenly a knock was heard at the door, that completely caught him off guard.

"Luffy, are you in there? I'm coming in now." It was Zoro who spoke.

Dread filled the young captain's stomach. The rubber boy quickly checked, whether he had properly cleaned all the tracks, before turning to Zoro, who had already entered the room. Hopefully, he had seen nothing…

"Oh…hi Zoro!", Luffy croaked anxiously and promptly cleared his throat afterwards, hoping that Zoro had not noticed his failing voice.

"Luffy, what are you still doing here? We're all waiting for you. Your breakfast is already getting cold, you know." Zoro stepped closer to his captain and examined him once from top to bottom, looking for something unusual, but couldn't find anything. Nevertheless, his instinct told him, that something was very wrong.

And his instinct was almost always correct.

"Uh...well I thought I'd change quickly, since I woke up pretty sweaty this morning. Must be the temperature, shishi." Luffy responded and grinned as always. Zoro gave him a skeptical look, but he did not inquire further, because he trusted his captain. Luffy would surely let them know if he was not feeling well.

At a later time, Zoro would realize how wrong he was with this thought…

"Alright, when you're ready then-"

C'mon, let's go eat!" Luffy suddenly interrupted his first mate quite cheerfully and casually threw an arm around his shoulder to drag him out of this suffocating room.

Luffy was damn lucky that his seizure didn't end like last night. Even though he was still a little weak and his limbs felt kind of numb, he was able to cover it up to some extent, without letting Zoro notice anything.

Together they made their way to the galley.

—

Breakfast was as usual, noisy and chaotic, as every day on the Sunny. Robin and Nami sipped their tea quietly, while the older of the two read the latest newspaper. Usopp, Chopper and Franky were fighting over the last two pieces of omelet, with a grumpy Zoro suddenly involved. Then there were Jinbei and Brook, who could only laugh with amusement at all the fuss. The crew's cook, though, stayed out of it all and instead prepared a special dessert, with throbbing hearts in his eyes, for his beloved girls. And last but not least there was Luffy, who was currently too busy stuffing his mouth.

Even though it seemed like everything was fine with the rubber boy, in reality the opposite was the case. He could feel that the more he ate, the more his stomach began to protest. It was churning and aching quietly for no one to hear.

But he had been so hungry and his belly even demanded for food by growling loudly, so what was going on now? Luffy was so confused. And for a brief moment he stopped eating, drawing surprised looks from his crew.

Sudden silence occurred in the galley and the musician was the first to break it.

"Is there anything that doesn't suit you, Luffy-san?" Brook asked as he simultaneously put his teacup back on the saucer on the table.

Beads of sweat broke out on the rubber teen's forehead as he inwardly tried to suppress the uncomfortable feeling bubbling in his stomach. He turned his gaze to the half-eaten piece of meat on his plate to escape the worried looks on his friend's faces. Luffy then still insisted to put on a brave face and forced a smile on his lips for the, what felt like, umpteenth time today.

"Of course not, why do you ask?" Answered Luffy hesitantly and forced the last bit of meat down his throat.

What Luffy didn't know, though, was that the crew had been talking about their captain's strange behavior. So they all suspected that he was hiding something important from them, only they wanted to leave it up to him to tell them. After all, he was the captain they all truly trusted.

"Phew, man am I full!" Luffy patted his full and cramping tummy and got up from the table.

"You're done eating already?" Questioned Nami incredulously, her gaze following the black haired who was just heading towards the door. However, her question remained unanswered as Luffy disappeared through the galley door in the next instant with increasingly quick steps, leaving a bewildered crew behind.

"What the hell is going on with him?" Asked the orange haired navigator, aghast at the renewed odd behavior of her captain.

"If only we knew..." Chopper heaved a sigh, seemingly concerned about Luffy's health.

"Were you able to figure out anything earlier, Zoro?" Usopp wanted to know and turned to the swordsman, hoping for a positive answer.

The green haired man crossed his arms in front of his chest with a monotonous look on his face and could only shrug his shoulders in response. "Honestly, I'm not sure. He was just acting weird again, just like you had experienced from him." Zoro then added.

"I'm afraid that doesn't get us anywhere." Franky sighed disappointedly.

"I've had enough, I'm going after him! After all, I'm his doctor!" Determined, the little reindeer rose from his place at the table to run after Luffy before he was immediately stopped by Zoro.

"No Chopper, leave him alone. Sooner or later he's going to have to come clean about whatever's bothering him."

"But Zoro-" Nami interfered but was interrupted.

"Until then, neither of us is going to do anything about it!" Zoro finished his speech, which he had expressed quite seriously. Robin, who had been quiet until now, then agreed with him.

"Zoro is right, Nami. We do trust our captain, don't we?" The black haired woman looked at Nami and took a sip from her cup. After considering it for a while, the straw hats then finally agreed with their two crewmates, followed by a silence that spread throughout the kitchen.

"Let's just wait and see." Sanji now added and took a drag from his newly lit cigarette, only to slowly blow out the smoke. They all hoped that everything would turn out well.

Little did they know…

Outside the galley, Luffy was not feeling well at all. With one hand pressed to his mouth, he was trying to reach the toilet as quickly as possible. His breakfast, that he had just eaten, threatened to come back up again. Since he would attract a lot of attention outside, the raven haired decided to go to the nearest bathroom, which was in the crow's nest.

Stumbling now and then, Luffy finally reached the ladder that led up to his destination. When the pressure in his mouth became worse, he quickly extended his arm and climbed up this way. The sick boy reached the bathroom just in time and crushed hard with both knees in front of the toilet and the next moment, he violently emptied his stomach contents into the toilet bowl.

The black haired retched over and over again, until nothing but bile came up, burning his throat in the process. When his stomach was completely emptied, he was still not able to stop and began to dry heave.

During this, Luffy constantly felt his intestines contracting agonizingly, making him suffer even more. Out of pain he squeezed his eyes shut and you could see some hot tears leaking through as well. He was crying.

Please, make it stop already…it hurts!

How much longer did he have to endure this pain?

Luffy tried to gasp for air between his heaving, which he once again failed to do. It almost felt like he was suffocating slowly but painfully and his heart was pounding irregularly in his chest.

When the dry heaving finally came to a stop, the 19-year old had no strength left in his body to get up and clean himself. Instead all he could do, was to rest his head on the toilet seat. For a while, only his wheezing breath could be heard in the bathroom as he sat slumped there, his eyes closed. After this terrible attack, he felt so miserable, as if he was about to lose consciousness again.

Gradually, he started to believe that it was getting worse with each new seizure instead of getting better, as he had hoped. He spent a few more minutes in this position, before he dared to try to stand up again. His head was spinning with dizziness and his vision left him from time to time, but he managed to stand up again to some extent.

Luffy's wobbly legs instantly threatened to buckle under him again at any moment, which is why he supported himself against the wall with his sweaty hand. Luffy swallowed the rising nausea as he took one last glimpse at the mess in the toilet bowl, while quickly flushing it down. Through his already poor vision, he did not notice the traces of blood that were also mixed in it.

With languid movements the sickly captain went over to the adjacent sink to wash his hands and flushed face. And to also get rid of the disgusting taste of vomit, he rinsed his mouth a few times as well.

At some point Luffy recovered and dragged himself to the near shower in the next room. Because, if he was already here, then he could also take a shower, which he had already planned to do anyway. The 19-year old was now even more sweaty than before and felt dirty and uncomfortable like this. Even though he had already had his weekly bath this week, he could not stick around in this condition. He also hoped that a warm shower would do his aching body some good.

After getting rid of his clothes, which was not easy for him in this state, Luffy stood under the shower and enjoyed the hot water that poured on him. As expected, it helped him to relieve his discomfort a little.

—

After breakfast, the straw hats went about their usual business, but the current situation with their captain still spoiled their mood.

Zoro decided to take a bath after a short workout on the deck, which he had not done yet this week. The green haired was climbing the ladder to the crow's nest, when a sudden noise from above reached his ears. He listened closely to find out what it was and this time he could hear a loud cough.

Someone was coughing.

With nimble movements, he climbed the last rungs of the ladder and followed the sound of coughing. It led him to the bathroom, where he was surprised to find his captain.

The black haired teen sat there leaning against the bathtub, while coughing into his right hand. Luffy's eyes were closed, so he did not notice the other person entering the room.

"Luffy? Are you all right? I heard something and..." Zoro interrupted himself as Luffy suddenly raised his left hand to make him stop talking.

After the coughing stopped, the raven haired hid his blood spattered hand as inconspicuously as he could and then turned his gaze to the swordsman, who looked at him with concern.

Luffy had had another coughing fit earlier, whereupon he suffered a fainting spell and lost his balance. When he went down, he hit his head on the edge of the bathtub. But the young captain could not tell Zoro that, so he was again forced to think up a suitable lie. Slowly he got used to it, as often as he lied...

"Don't worry, I'm fine Zoro. I just slipped and hit the bathtub. Nothing serious!" Luffy grinned to assure his first mate that everything was all right.

"Okay, but why were you coughing? That didn't sound good at all." Zoro looked doubtful at the naked boy. Luffy could not think of an answer to this question so quickly and hesitated for a while.

"I-I choked on my spit when I fell." Luffy hoped that this answer was believable enough.

"You choked on your spit? Ok…whatever, but otherwise you're fine, right?" The green haired inquired. Luffy nodded silently. The swordsman was beginning to get seriously worried about his captain. Zoro knew Luffy too well that he was able to tell exactly when he was lying.
The feeling in his gut also confirmed this. But if his captain insisted that everything was fine, then it was.

"Anyway, let's take a bath together." Said Zoro and then began to undress.

This was usually something the two always did together, as Luffy didn't dare get into the bathtub alone because of his devil fruit powers.

As soon as Zoro turned his back to Luffy, the black haired teen rose from his seated position on the tiled floor, only to wash off his bloodied hand in the still running shower, before Zoro could see it. He watched as the water flowing to the floor turned red and rapidly disappeared down the drain, before the now naked Zoro turned back and made his way into the bathtub.

Luffy joined him, after he turned off the water.

After spending a long time together in the bathroom, the two crewmates decided to take a little nap on the grassy deck. Luffy was quite exhausted from all the exertion and finally from the bath, as the water absorbed all his energy. The energy that he already did not have. He was out like a light, when he lay down on the grass next to his first mate.

—

Zoro was the first to wake up when Sanji called for dinner and looked around, yawning. He saw Luffy still sleeping quietly next to him, his head tilted to the left side, as if he hadn't heard Sanji's call.

That was strange.

Luffy was never so calm, not even when he was sleeping. And especially not when it was time for dinner and the smell of meat was swirling in the air.

He bent down to Luffy, to put a hand on his shoulder and shake him awake. As Zoro leaned closer, he saw something small on Luffy's nose, that definitely didn't belong there. A small drop of crimson liquid came out of the raven haired boy's right nostril and slowly made its way across his pale face, down his cheek, until it dripped onto the grass.

Blood

"What the-" Zoro gasped.

He immediately grabbed Luffy's face and turned it to get a better look. What he saw shocked him even more and his eyes widened. A small pool of blood had formed on the grass, steadily seeping from Luffy's nose.

"Oi Luffy, wake up!" Zoro tried while shaking him.

Nothing.

"Luffy? Do you hear me, wake up!"Another desperate attempt. Cold fear spread through Zoro as his captain still gave no sign of waking up.

He shook him again, but in vain.

"Come on, wake up Luffy!"

Still nothing.

"Fuck!" Zoro cursed under his shaky breath.

The green haired man quickly put one arm under the motionless teen's legs and the other under his neck to pick him up bridal style. As he did that, Luffy's head fell back on his arm, showing that he was clearly out cold.

"Luuffyyy!"

Zoro's panicked cries caught the attention of the other straw hats.

"What's going on Zoro? Why are you yelling so loud?" Nami was the first to reach the deck, but she didn't expect to see this. The navigator froze with terror at the sight in front her.

Her captain

Unconscious

In Zoro's arms

And he was bleeding profusely from his nose.

"Quick, he does not wake up!" Zoro yelled anxiously.

"Where the hell is Chopper?!"

"CHOPPER!"

TBC

Soooo angsty hahaha! I can't believe I let Luffy suffer like this, poor boy… I'm so mean XD

How'd you like it? Please let me know :)

See you next time! 3