Heyy guys!

I hope you're all doing great!

I'm back with another chapter!
And this time I didn't think I would finish it so fast haha

Also I wanted to thank you again for all your kind words and of course for all the many kudos! I really appreciate it! Thank you so so so much for reading this story3

Anyway, I hope again that you like the new chapter! It contains a lot of angst, so be ready for it!

I know, that it's getting pretty nasty with Luffy, but he's sick soooo please bear with me, it will be better later in the story…hopefully…

️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!

One moment he had his captain safe in his arms and the next he found himself without a trace of him in the darkness of the sea. Everything happened so quickly and unexpectedly that Zoro couldn't even realize it.

The ice cold water of the sea felt like a thousand pinpricks on his skin and his lungs screamed for oxygen, but Zoro only cared about one thing right now.

Determined, the green haired fought the wild current that was simultaneously pulling him away from the Sunny and tried to dive deeper and deeper while desperately looking for Luffy. The darkness made it considerably more difficult for him to see and the panic that slowly but surely spread through his body didn't help either.

With every second that he couldn't find Luffy, he felt his heart begin to beat faster in his chest. No matter in which direction the first mate looked, Luffy was not to be found, as if he had been completely swallowed up by the sea.

Suddenly, something familiar red flitted past the corner of his eye and caught his attention. All at once, Zoro turned in that direction and saw Luffy, so near and yet so far away…

His lips were open a crack and small bubbles of air escaped his mouth and slowly made their way to the surface of the water.

His target right in front of his eyes, Zoro had to act faster now, because the air in his burning lungs was threatening to escape. Luffy sank so fast towards the rocky seabed that he could hardly keep up. The green haired man tried to reach out to his unconscious and helpless captain with his right hand, covering his mouth with the other to keep the air in. He definitely wouldn't last much longer, he thought to himself, as the first manifestations of unconsciousness appeared. Damn, Zoro was running out of time now, since he had taken too long.

There was not much separating him from Luffy, he had almost reached him.

He was so close.

The red fabric of Luffy's shirt brushed his fingers, but Zoro lacked any strength to grab it. The merciless unconsciousness had already gripped him too tightly, so that he had no chance to fight against it and the last thing he could make out in the endless darkness before his eyes slipped closed, was Luffy's peaceful looking face.

—

The first thing Zoro saw when he slowly came to was the blazing sun shining down on him green haired blinked his heavy eyelids a few times as he tried to remember what had happened.

All of a sudden his memories came flooding back like a tidal wave, exactly at the same time he felt a cold wave hit his boots and sucked into the already soaked fabric of his trouser legs. All at once, the swordsman straightened up in a panic and scanned his surroundings.

The sea.

The thin and soft sand under his body, slightly heated by the sun.

The seagulls circling above him.

The gentle wind that brushed against his skin.

No one was to be seen.

But then…

There was his captain, lying motionless not too far from him.

"Luffy!"

With hasty movements and almost stumbling, Zoro made his way to the side of the black haired boy and was once again confronted with a too calm Luffy. This sight plagued him already terribly since the last time.

No

Not again

But what was different this time were the missing breaths, which were normally noticeable with every slight up and down of his chest. At first glance, Zoro couldn't detect any signs of life and suddenly ice cold fear spread through his entire body. His captain seemed totally lifeless, as if he had actually died.

"Fuck, NO!" The green haired man cursed as he immediately bent down to press his ear to the raven haired teen's chest, fervently hoping to hear a heartbeat.

To his horror, he was greeted with dead silence - literally.

At that moment, Zoro felt as if life was playing another trick on him, but this time it was worse than ever. Fate must really hate him…

In his state of denial, the first mate reached for Luffy's cold wrist, which felt so thin and fragile in his shaky, strong hands, to feel for his pulse. But when he couldn't find it there either, he instinctively began to apply chest compressions with both hands in the next instant. Zoro had absolutely no idea what to do in such a situation, since he was not a doctor, so he proceeded exactly as he had seen Chopper do many times before.

When Zoro realized that the compressions were doing nothing but bringing out a little water over his friend's lips, he leaned down to Luffy's slightly open mouth and began desperately blowing air into his lungs. The only problem was that there was already too much water within Luffy for the air, he was blowing, to reach his lungs, so he decided to push his chest harder this time.

"C'mon Luffy, breathe!" Zoro shouted frantically between his actions.

Under normal circumstances, Luffy would have long since started coughing and smiling at the fact, that he had almost drowned.

But what was still normal?

The last few days had been the worst for the entire crew. Never before had they seen their captain in such a state and for the first time ever they had begun to lose hope. And just when they had regained hope through Luffy, everything threatened to collapse again. Zoro could not imagine how the rest of the crew must have felt now.

With all the strength he could muster, he tried to force the water out of the young captain's lungs, while praying that it was not already too late. The swordsman believed in no gods, but whatever deity was about to take his captain away from him should stop immediately.

It was still too early. They still had so much to do together. So many dreams and goals to achieve…

"Oh please, you can't have him yet, we need him...I need him!" Zoro cried out, his head turned skyward. Hot tears made their way down his face as he had meanwhile begun to pound Luffy's chest with his fists. Zoro cried very rarely in his life, as he hated to show weakness, but at that moment he lacked any restraint.

His chest ached as it tightened more and more with each second of despair. The thought of living without Luffy by his side was worse than anything and certainly not what he wanted to do.

Without him, he was nothing.

Without this rubber boy, who had come into his life that certain day out of nowhere, he would have been executed and now unable to pursue his great dream.

Without Luffy, everything was pointless. How could he become the best swordsman if he was not even able to save his captain?

Through tear blurred eyes, he looked down at Luffy's deathly pale face, hoping that he would finally get some reaction from him and end his suffering, which had been going on for what felt like an eternity. But any reaction remained absent.

In the end, it was not the stupid disease, that had appeared so suddenly, that took him away from him, but Zoro's own fault, since he had not been able to save him from drowning. How pathetic he was. He definitely didn't deserve to realize his dream, if the pirate king himself couldn't be by his side.

"LUFFYYY!"

Zoro was devastated and hit the 19-year old's chest with all his might one last time, whereupon he slumped down on Luffy's stomach, crying bitterly.

"Please Luffy..."

Suddenly His attempts at resuscitation were rewarded with the most beautiful sound he never expected to hear again.

A sudden desperate inhale followed by a wet cough was heard, startling Zoro from his position. The green haired man let out a cry of joy as he watched Luffy begin to spit out all the water in his system. However, the first mate quickly realized, that Luffy needed help not to choke on all the liquid again.

Zoro quickly wrapped his arms around him and straightened Luffy up so that he was standing in the position with his head down and on both knees. To support him, the green haired wrapped his right arm around his captain's stomach and with the other he began to lightly tap on his back.

Violent coughs shook Luffy's form as his body compellingly tried to rid itself of all the seawater. In between, he struggled for breath every now and then, only to bring forth more liquid.

This time the water was colored red, which meant that it was mixed with blood. This whole incident did nothing but further damage Luffy's already disease ridden lungs. Zoro froze in horror at the sight of blood and was concerned for the health of the rubber boy, which hadn't been in the best of shape anyway.

Luffy's cough developed into a painful sounding one that just wouldn't let up, even after he had spit out everything in his system. Zoro feared that Luffy's body was desperately trying to do something else.

The next moment his fears were realized, a gagging sound entered his ears and he could feel with his hand around Luffy's belly how the black haired boy's stomach suddenly spasmodically contracted. Next thing he knew, the undigested remains of Luffy's last meal landed in the bloody water mixture below him.

The green haired man was not in the least disgusted by the broth that his captain expelled, as most of it was just water anyway, instead, he used his hand to try to gently soothe his friend's upset stomach with circular motions.

After a painful while, he succeeded and the gagging subsided, whereupon Luffy's body slumped powerlessly as the short energy, that had overcome him to cough, now left him again. Zoro did not allow him to land with his face in the mixture he had just spat out, and leaned him toward him against his own body and placed him on his lap.

Panting and with his eyes closed, Luffy sat there and leaned his head against his first mate's right shoulder. Zoro, on the other hand, silently observed the distorted features of the obviously exhausted raven haired teen and stroked the pitch black strands of hair, that were stuck to his forehead, out of his face.

When his cold fingers came into contact with Luffy's forehead, he immediately felt the glowing heat emanating from it. Zoro had already noticed Luffy's fever on the ship, but his stay in the ice cold seawater must have worsened his health.

Luffy gasped as he felt his friend's cold fingers on his forehead and his facial muscles relaxed as it cooled his head a bit.

"Z-Zo-ro…W-where..?" Luffy croaked out, because his throat was totally irritated from all the coughing earlier and he had to swallow to get rid of the dryness. The nasty taste of the vomit still lingered on his tongue, which made him contort his face in disgust.

"Don't worry, we are stranded on an island and I think the others should be here soon. But are you alright now?" Zoro inquired worriedly, listening to Luffy's heavy breathing, which was worrisome, but at that second it made him happy that the young captain was breathing again and still among the living. He had almost lost him for good…

Luffy decided against using his voice in order to not further damage his burning throat and instead gave a slight nod in response, along with a slight smile on his lips.

"If you are well so far, let's go into the shade. It will do you good since you seem to have a high fever. C'mon buddy." Zoro suggested to his captain, then hoisted him up in his arms bridal style and carried him toward the jungle that seemed to stretch across the entire island.

To keep an eye out for the other straw hats, Zoro decided to settle them both at the edge of the jungle. Gently he set the feverish boy down on the sandy floor and then started to take off his red shirt, since it was still somewhat wet and it could not be good for him to be clothed with it. Luffy helped him with this action and stretched his arms backwards towards him. After that was done, the green haired folded it roughly to use it as a pillow for his captain.

Luffy, who didn't even have the strength to sit anymore, dropped backwards onto the converted shirt, whereupon Zoro knelt down to check Luffy's fever again with his right hand. The swordsman hissed with a serious expression when he noticed that the fever was rising steadily.

If Chopper and the others didn't find them soon, the consequences would be fatal. Although Luffy had just barely escaped death.

"Zo-ro...w-water." Luffy rasped as his raw dry throat became unbearable and at the same moment he nestled his forehead against Zoro's cooling hand.

"And...it's…ssso hooot..." The raven haired wheezed.

Zoro gave Luffy a worried look as he strained to figure out how he could temporarily ease Luffy's suffering until help would arrive. The green haired man really had no idea, so he just decided to follow his instincts. He would never let his captain down like that again.

"It's not that hot Luffy, your high fever makes you feel that way. I'll go and find some clean water. Stay here and rest until then, okay?"

Luffy didn't like Zoro's plan at all. It wasn't that he didn't trust him, but he still didn't want him to explore the island without him. With sluggish movements he tried to stand up, only to be abruptly stopped by his first mate's hand on his bare chest.

"Where are you going in your condition? I know how excited you can get when it comes to exploring new islands, but you'll only make yourself worse." Zoro tried to convince Luffy not to go with him. With his captain's stubborn head, that had never been particularly easy.

"But Zoro!" Luffy pouted, which somehow gave a cute childish look together with his cheeks reddened from the fever.

"Just stay here and wait for the others, I'll be right back!" He replied with a sigh, ignoring the black haired teen's childish behaviour. He then rose from his kneeling position and, with one last look at his captain, set off.

Even though Luffy still didn't agree, he didn't have the strength to go along anyway, let alone lift a finger. He felt the pain in his entire body was getting stronger and stronger and moreover, his head was buzzing like crazy. He was sure that the seawater had drastically worsened his condition. Furthermore, his chest felt so heavy that it made it difficult for him to breathe, and the additional fever did not make it any better.

On the whole, he felt miserable, but that would be nothing new anyway.

Luffy now decided to let his tired eyes fall shut as he waited patiently for Zoro's return.

~Meanwhile on the Thousand Sunny~

"We're almost there guys, I can see the island already!" Nami called out to the others as she stood next to Jinbei at the steering wheel.

"Do you really think they could be there, Nami?" Usopp asked uncertainly as he joined his two crewmates from behind.

Nami just shrugged her shoulders.

"This is the closest island of them all. If they made it through the storm, they should be there. At least, that's my hope." The navigator explained, biting her lower lip.

"If they made it…" Usopp swallowed heavily.

Last night, none of them had slept, because they were so worried about their two comrades who had been lost in the storm. The crazy hurricane had simply not made it possible for the rest of the crew to look for them and help. They were just barely able to save themselves and the ship from the storm.

Since the incident, the straw hats had retreated to their occupations and had hardly spoken to each other. No one could believe what had happened. Just when they had found new hope, the next stroke of fate hit them. As if the difficult situation with Luffy's illness wasn't enough.

Despite the fact that the straw hats were going through a very difficult time, they refused to give up so easily this time.

As long as they stuck together, they would overcome this hurdle.

—

Zoro went deeper into the jungle, still looking for a clean water source. He should've been wandering around for about 10 minutes now, but the search didn't seem to be as easy as he had thought at the beginning. Besides, he had to cope without his three beloved swords, which he had left behind on the ship last night.

Zoro didn't like to admit it, but he himself knew that his sense of direction was not the best. He was almost sure that he had already passed the same trees at least 4 times.

This couldn't end well. He had to hurry, after all, the feverish Luffy was waiting for him.

The jungle seemed to be uninhabited except for a few harmless wild animals. Of course, they were very lucky again and had to land on such a deserted and undeveloped island.

Zoro didn't know much about herbs and plants or Chopper's job as a doctor in general, but what struck him were the many different kinds of plants he had never seen before in his life. Maybe there were some of them that could be useful for Chopper.

After about another 10 minutes, he finally came to a small pond, where a few little monkeys had gathered and were drinking water. Since the animals were able to drink the water, then it must be clean enough, at least that's what Zoro thought.

The swordsman's problem now was a missing container into which he could fill the water to carry it to Luffy. Looking around searchingly, his eyes fell on the large coconuts the monkeys were carrying.

If only he could have one of those…

Since he was in a hurry and didn't want to mess with the animals, he looked for a nearby coconut palm and shook it vigorously. The next moment, some of them fell to the ground. He quickly picked one, split it into two parts and hollowed it out with a sharp flat stone. When that was done, he filled both halves with the fresh, yet quite cool water and headed back to his captain.

This was not as easy as thought, as Zoro had to find out, because suddenly a loud growl was heard behind him. The growl scared away the small monkeys, which climbed with great panic on the trees and thus disappeared.

Zoro carefully put down the two coconut shells before turning to face the animal that was obviously out to get him. It was an oversized tiger with long, pointed fangs and equally large claws. This creature was the last thing he needed, and of all things he had to face it when he was missing his swords.

He had no choice but to use his fists instead.

"Well then, if you want to fight me so bad, bring it on, you big kitty!"

—

An unsuppressible urge to cough pulled Luffy, who had fallen asleep in the meantime, rudely out of his sleep. He quickly opened his eyes and sat up with a jerk.

A slight cough triggered a series of coughs and before he knew it he couldn't stop.

Wet violent coughs escaped his lips and shook his entire aching body, which only aggravated his pain. Suddenly he felt a slimy lump in his throat, which made him suddenly turn his head to the side, just as he was about to regurgitate that something that was clogging his throat.

A gush of red and green came from his lips and spread out on the sand beside him. Luffy had squeezed his eyes shut in agony and gasped a few times, when suddenly he was plagued by another coughing fit. With each compulsive cough, more blood splashed to the ground, staining the sand and part of his blue shorts.

When Luffy thought it was finally over, he spat out the sticky residue in his mouth and opened his eyes, only to be confronted with the mess he had made.

It was a mixture of blood, green phlegm and spit, whereby the green phlegm was new to him. But he knew it couldn't be anything good.

In general, the fact that he had started coughing up blood again couldn't be a good sign.

Suddenly Luffy flinched as he felt a sharp sting in his chest. His already labored breathing developed into a rapid wheezing breath. No matter how much air he took in, it seemed like he wasn't getting enough oxygen into his lungs and it started to feel like he was suffocating.

The raven haired boy held his bare chest convulsively, while his fingernails dug into the skin above his large scar, enough to draw blood.

When would his suffering finally come to an end?

The disease was eating away at him with every passing minute.

Luffy felt with every fiber in his body that he would not be able to hold out any longer…

"Z'ro…haah…wh-here…r'ya…hahh?" Luffy slurred, still wheezing.

It felt as if consciousness would leave him at any moment.

~Meanwhile with the other straw hats~

"Well guys, we're finally here!" Nami called out as they docked together on the shore of the nameless island.

"I don't really know, Nami…The island doesn't look very inviting. There must be wild animals!" Usopp shouted in a frightened voice as he couldn't take his eyes off the seemingly endless jungle and its big trees. He was horrified at the sight.

"It doesn't matter now! We are here to find our friends again! Believe me, I'm not keen on being eaten by any beasts, either. But Luffy would risk the same for any of us!" Nami spoke determinedly and this time more motivated than ever, since she usually always belonged to Usopp's anxious group.

"Also, we need to look for the 5 missing herbs for my medicine. Without them, Luffy has no chance..." Chopper added, as he put on his blue bag.

"Your lunch boxes are ready now, so we're good to go." Sanji said, as he lit his cigarette.

"What do you guys think, should we split up?" Asked Brook.

"No, that won't be necessary, the island seems small." Robin said in response.

"All right then, let's not waste any more time!" Franky was more than just ready.

"Luffy, Zoro, wait for us we're coming!"

TBC

That's it again for this chapter!
I really hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think3