Hey my dear readers! Here I am again with a new chapter!

Actually, this chapter was ready much earlier, only some work came in between, which is why I couldn't read through the chapter to post it afterwards. I hope that I haven't let you wait too long :(

When writing this chapter, I was quite unsure for some inexplicable reason. Somehow I just didn't like it, but maybe I'm too strict with myself. I hope very much that you like the continuation, even if perhaps the pacing of the chapter isn't so good or maybe it's just me I don't know haha

Anyway, I don't want to hold you up any longer with my stupid chatter. And as always, I hope you enjoy reading!

Zoro had been wandering around in the jungle for what felt like hours, after he had taken out the wild tiger, which had caused him quite a bit of trouble. He was able to defeat the animal relatively quickly, whereby he had only suffered a few measly scratches and scrapes, nothing life threatening.

Looking for the exit of the forest that would lead him back to Luffy, the disoriented swordsman took a closer look at the surroundings.

Since the huge trees and bushes of the jungle were quite densely overgrown and thus the sun's rays could hardly pass through, it was quite dark within the jungle. Some animals, which lurked behind the weird plants, were hardly to be recognized, but thanks to Zoro's haki, it was no problem for him to protect himself from another possible attack.

After a while, when Zoro turned his head to the sky and looked between the treetops, he noticed through the darkened sky that it was almost evening. The green haired man couldn't believe that he had lost so much time although he had to hurry to Luffy, who was probably even worse off than before.

As Zoro was slowly losing his mind after minutes without any success, a noise suddenly echoed through the eerie silence of the forest. From the way it sounded, it couldn't have come from far away.

He had a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Could that be...

The green haired decided to follow the sound and the closer he got the louder and clearer it became. Moreover, from the distance he could finally make out something like a clearing he could still remember, behind which seemed to be the exit of the jungle he had been looking for all this time.

Suddenly Zoro froze in horror.

His ears didn't play tricks on him and he could in fact plainly hear loud coughing, followed by several desperate, shallow gasps.

"Oh no, Luffy?!"

Zoro panicked as he began to run faster and faster, as far as the water filled coconut shells would allow him, and even almost tripped over some roots a few times.

His captain was struck by another seizure and Zoro himself wasted valuable time wandering around instead of being by Luffy's side to help him.

Why did he keep failing his captain?

The sight that met his eyes, when he finally arrived at Luffy's side, almost made him drop the shells in his hands. With eyes squeezed shut, Luffy sat slightly bent forward, one hand holding his chest with his fingertips buried in his skin and heavy gasps escaping his bloodied lips.

Next to him, a large pool of blood, mixed with some mucus, had spread and colored the white sand red-green.

"L-Luffy what's wrong with you? Are you okay?" After voicing the question, it occurred to the first mate that it had been a stupid thing to ask, because the sick boy was obviously having trouble breathing.

Noticing how Luffy was unable to answer him and how his panting was getting worse by the second, Zoro began to panic even more as he then set down the coconut shells and knelt beside his suffering captain.

"Fuck..!" The green haired muttered under his shaky breath.

Overwhelmed and not knowing what to do, he brought his hand to Luffy's back and stroked it with circular motions, hoping that it would calm and help the black haired teen a bit.

Luffy, on the other hand, who until now hadn't noticed the other's presence because he was struggling to get his breathing under control, opened his eyes a crack when he felt a hand on his back, only to catch sight of Zoro's worried face.

"Z-Z'ro…hahh…I-I cn't…b-br'th..haahh, h-heelp..haahh.." Still wheezing and therefore rather unclear, Luffy tried to pronounce the words.

"M-M…c-ch'st…haahh…h-h'rts…hahh..ssso…hahh..m-much.."

To make his pain clear to Zoro, Luffy strengthened his grip on his chest, while thin drops of blood were already coming out of the notches he made with his fingernails over his scar. If he continued like this, he would scratch open the healed wound all over again.

"Shhh, don't talk, j-just try to breathe." Said Zoro with a shaky, but as well as possible, calm voice.

Suddenly black dots appeared in front of Luffy's inner eye, while at the same time he lost his balance while sitting and threatened to fall forward in the next moment.

"O-Oi Luffy!"

Reflexively, Zoro caught Luffy and held his captain's limp torso in a hug against his own body with Luffy's chin resting on his shoulder. The swordsman could feel the black haired boy's fading, weak breath on the back of his neck, which only frightened him more.

Luffy was suffocating while Zoro felt completely useless as desperation gnawed at his nerves.

"Oi Luffy, can you hear me?" Zoro asked and the panic in his voice was clearly audible, shaking Luffy's body with the arm he had wrapped around the raven haired.

Fortunately, Luffy hadn't lost consciousness yet, but he was so close to fainting with each breath that wouldn't reach his lungs. Only with great effort did he manage to keep his heavy eyelids open.

"Haahh..nghh...y-yesss...hahh..." Luffy gasped out.

"Luffy stay with me...you need to breathe, j-just t-try to keep breathing, okay?" Zoro desperately tried to persuade his captain, because he didn't know a better way to help him in this situation. He hoped that if he didn't stop talking, Luffy would stay awake too.

Because of the close position they were in, the green haired swordsman was startled to feel Luffy's sluggish heartbeat through his chest, causing his own heart to skip a beat.

"Damn it, don't you give up now, you hear me?" Zoro shouted, his voice still unstable, whereupon he heard Luffy whisper something, which was just barely audible.

"S-So…haah…t'red…"

When Zoro perceived these words, his own breath hitched and his heart stopped for a moment.

"N-No, you…you can't sleep now Luffy! Breathe like me, come on!" Zoro instructed him now, visibly in fear, and took deep shaky breaths himself to demonstrate, hoping that it would work.

Luffy tried with all his willpower to hold on to consciousness and follow Zoro's instruction. Any normal person would have collapsed in such a case long ago and it was almost a miracle that Luffy could endure so long without proper oxygen in his lungs.

The black haired teen sucked in the air with the last of his strength, trying to slowly synchronize his breathing with Zoro's.

"That's it, keep it up just like that." The green haired man continued to encourage his sickly captain.

Zoro, noticing Luffy's efforts, was deeply relieved and at the same time felt the raven haired boy's respiratory improve. Slowly but surely it changed from panting to stable, deeper breathing, exactly in sync with his.

"Are you better now?" Zoro wanted to know after a while and received a slight nod in response on his shoulder, which brought a satisfied smile to his lips.

"Stupid captain, how many times are you going to scare me like that, huh?" Zoro asked as he hugged Luffy tighter and buried his face in Luffy's bare shoulder.

He couldn't believe that he almost lost his captain for a second time today.

"Sorry…I'm…hahh…okay now. Thank you, Zoro." Luffy put on a small tired smile as he then let his eyelids fall shut. Unfortunately, he didn't have the strength to return his first mate's hug, so exhausted was he by this whole seizure.

No matter how beautiful and relieving this moment was, Zoro could still feel the alarming warmth radiating from Luffy's body. The green haired then released the embrace by quickly placing one hand on the back of Luffy's head, supporting his back with the other. Gently, he laid the young captain down and placed his head carefully onto the makeshift pillow.

Only now did Zoro realize that Luffy might have fallen asleep from exhaustion, but fortunately his intake of air was even now, though still a little shallow.

With a bitter expression on his face, Zoro looked at Luffy's pale face, which was completely sweaty and deeply flushed from the high fever. He cupped the black haired teen's delicate face with his hand, with which he had supported Luffy's head earlier, and ran his thumb over the rough skin of his scar under his left eye. Zoro was sure that Luffy wouldn't survive another attack like that without Chopper's help.

With an uncertain feeling, he dragged his gaze to the red-green mass, which by now had half seeped into the sand.

Then the swordsman let his gaze drift away when he suddenly remembered the water he had brought with him. After removing his hand from Luffy's glowing face, Zoro set about tearing off a piece of his dark blue shirt, only to dip it into one of the two coconut shells. He then wrung it out and carefully placed the cool, soaked piece of fabric on Luffy's forehead.

Luffy's lips escaped a contented, low moan in his sleep as he felt the pleasant cold on his overheated head. A smile formed on Zoro's lips when he heard this. Then the green haired man remembered that Luffy had been thirsty before and had asked for water. And because he didn't want to wake Luffy, he decided to simply take the bowl in his left hand and slipped his other under his captain's head to lift it slightly. Zoro placed the edge of the bowl against Luffy's lips and in the next moment carefully poured the water into his mouth, hoping that his swallowing reflex would kick in.

To Zoro's relief, it did and when he thought it was enough after a few small gulps, the swordsman put the coconut shell away and placed Luffy's head back on the folded shirt.

Suddenly a slight shiver went over Luffy's half naked body as a sign that he was freezing, which was normal with his high fever. And since the evening had already fallen, the air had also cooled down a bit on the island, along with a cool wind blowing from the sea.

Since Luffy's semi-dry red shirt was still serving as a pillow, Zoro had no choice but to take off his own shirt and place it over Luffy's torso. Unfortunately, this solution wasn't really enough to warm up the sick boy, which could still be seen on his shaking body. Zoro then decided to pick up some tree sticks, that were lying around loosely in the area, to start a small campfire.

After that was also done, Zoro checked again whether Luffy was doing well. When there was nothing more he could do, he lay down exhausted on the sandy floor and folded his arms behind his head. Looking up to the sky, the swordsman inwardly hoped that their friends would finally find them. He was sure that they were already on their way, but he didn't even want to imagine what would happen if they arrived too late.

Luffy definitely wouldn't last much longer...

With these thoughts, he drifted off to sleep.

~Meanwhile with the other straw hats~

In search of their lost comrades, the remaining straw hats had already been wandering through the jungle for what felt like hours and have also had to deal with one or two attacking wild animals.

"Oh man, now we're almost across the whole island and still haven't found a trace of them." Sighed Nami disappointed and exhausted at the same time. Only the will to find their friends again drove her tired legs to go further.

"Besides, I've had enough of these ghastly beasts that must constantly attack us from every side." Usopp complained and continued on his way on shaky legs and with a torch in his hand.

"Stop crying about it! Besides, I can sense exactly two distinct presences on the island, one of which is quite weak." Sanji informed his friends, while he also looked around the area with a torch in his hand.

The faint presence could be none other than Luffy. At the thought of his sick captain, Sanji was overcome by an uneasy feeling. The fear for Luffy bothered the cook more than he let on.

"That's exactly what I can feel as well." Jinbei confirmed Sanji's statement, which gave the other crew members some hope.

"That must be Luffy and Zoro! We need to hurry, guys!" Nami shouted as she tried to get her crew to walk faster, even though most of them could use a break.

"Hm that's strange..." murmured Robin more to herself than to the others, while she seemed to be looking for something in particular. Franky, who was walking right next to her, noticed her restlessness in wonder.

"Is something wrong, Robin?" The cyborg asked.

"Have any of you seen Chopper? He seems to have disappeared." Inquired the archaeologist as she turned to face her friends.

"I haven't seen him for a while, either. He's probably out looking for useful herbs." Brook replied and looked around searchingly for the small reindeer.

"Chopper! Come here! Where are you?" Sanji yelled in all possible directions.

They then all listened in silence for an answer from the little reindeer, when suddenly Chopper spoke up from afar.

"I'm over here! You need to see this, come here!" Chopper sounded quite excited about the discovery he had made.

The straw hats looked at each other questioningly, after which they all went together in the direction from which Chopper's voice came.

What could be more important than finally finding Luffy and Zoro?

Once there, each and every one of them could hardly believe their eyes as they encountered a sight that was more than just breathtaking. It seemed like a place unlike the rest of the entire islands. Moreover, it was closed off from all sides with huge trees that must be hundreds of years old.

It was a big, wide field of a certain special looking flower that the straw hats had never seen before. Each petal was brightly colored, with a yellow fruit node growing out of the center, and bright yellow pollen spreading from the tip of the node, illuminating the entire area.

Completely astonished, they followed the upward whirring grains with their eyes and then noticed how the clear stars could already be seen in the darkened sky. Together this resulted in a dreamlike sight.

"Well, isn't it beautiful here? This flower is just what I've been looking for! It's called Exoris Monsul." The little ship's doctor exclaimed happily as he picked a whole bunch of the plants to put in his blue bag. With this find, Chopper was closer to his big dream and saving Luffy's life at the same time. The reindeer was just so happy, that even a few tears rolled out of his eyes.

Unfortunately, the straw hats didn't have any time to admire this wondrous place, because their lost friends were already waiting for them in distress.

"Chopper if you're done, we should get going now!" Sanji called to the ship's doctor while he tried to light a cigarette with a shaky hand, which just didn't work. The more time they lost, the more nervous he became. He didn't like the feeling of the dwindling presence with each passing minute.

"I'll be right there, Sanji!" Was Chopper's reply as he hurriedly closed his now stuffed bag.

"Such a beautiful place. I would like to stay here longer." Nami said, holding out her hand for the sparkling grains.

"Yeah, me too." Robin agreed with the navigator as a sad smile crept onto her delicate lips.

The orange haired girl watched as a pollen particle gingerly landed in the palm of her hand. The sparkling light it emitted reminded her of her captain.

That one little grain that lit up the darkness. Just like Luffy...

The light of the grain went out after a few seconds in her hand, as the pollen of this flower only shone so wide when they flew around freely, but as soon as they landed on a surface, their lights went out forever. Nami closed her eyes for a moment, which filled with tears.

Would Luffy's light, which guided them through the darkness, also soon go out?

It still flickered, but for how long?

Suddenly, a hand placed on her shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts. With quick movements, Nami wiped the tears that were streaming down her cheeks from her face before turning to the owner of the hand.

"Are you all right, Nami? We'll go on now." It was Jinbei, who was now looking at her with a worried expression.

"It's all right...I was just thinking. Let's move on." Sniffed the orange haired girl and put on a determined look again as best she could.

~Back with Zoro and Luffy~

Zoro opened his eyes when loud gasping reached his ears. It took him a few seconds to come to and realize where the wheezing was coming from.

All at once he sat up and hurried to Luffy's side. His captain was still lying there just as Zoro had laid him down, only he was again holding a hand to his chest with a pain-distorted face. The redness that spread across both of his cheeks now reached up to his ears. Moreover, Luffy's mouth was open a crack, and painful, ragged gasps escaped his lips.

Zoro immediately removed the already dry piece of cloth from the raven haired boy's forehead and placed his hand on it to check his temperature.

Hissing, he pulled his hand away as quickly as he had placed it on it when he was horrified to find that Luffy's fever had risen.

Without hesitation, the first mate took the piece of cloth in his hand again to soak it in water once more. After wringing it out, he placed it back on Luffy's sweaty forehead, whereupon he again received a soft moan from his captain in return.

Two heavy eyelids suddenly lifted, revealing two orbs delirious with fever. Luffy's pupils were not focused as he turned his head slightly toward Zoro.

"Z'ro...haah...w-wat'r..." Luffy uttered with a groan.

Zoro then reached for the coconut shell again, lifted Luffy's head slightly and gently poured the small amount of water that was still left into Luffy's mouth. Zoro watched the feverish black haired boy as he greedily swallowed the liquid. Luffy let out a few coughs when he finished and let his head fall back, clearly exhausted from drinking alone.

The young captain then gave Zoro a look that made the green haired realize he wanted to say something, but couldn't, due to his shortness of breath. But Zoro knew his captain far too well to know that he was worried about the rest of his crew.

Even in this state, Luffy was thinking more about his friends than about himself.

"Don't worry captain, the others will be here soon, I can feel it." The first mate reassured his sick friend, who then gave Zoro a small, weak smile. Shortly after, when all the strength left him again, Luffy fell back into a restless sleep.

Damn, Luffy was getting worse and Chopper and the others still weren't here, even though night was falling. Zoro was no doctor, but even a clueless one like him knew, that if Chopper didn't treat Luffy in time, he wouldn't survive until morning.

Sighing and with a worried expression, Zoro watched Luffy's distorted features as he ran a hand through his drenched pitch black mane. It just felt so wrong to see Luffy in such a state. He couldn't stand him like that anymore.

If Zoro already felt that way, how did Luffy feel, as a captain who always tried to remain strong? It must have been unbearable for him to be such a burden to his crew. Although his friends would never consider him a burden.

Suddenly, Zoro heard footsteps and voices behind him, when in the next moment his friends appeared from behind the bushes.

"Guys? There you are finally!" Zoro yelled in great relief, whereupon he then saw his friends rushing towards him and Luffy.

"Zoro! Luffy!" Shouted everyone together and you could clearly tell how relieved they all were. Thanks to Chopper's good nose, they were finally able to find their friends.

"We were so worried about you!" Cried Chopper as he hopped onto Zoro's lap to hug him tightly.

However, the joy of seeing each other again did not last long, as all eyes fell on Luffy's terrible looking form. The nasty sight of the half dried pool of blood next to him didn't escape them, either.

The smile on the crew's lips disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. None of them could ever get used to this sight of their usually strong captain, no matter how many times they were confronted with it.

"Luffy!"

Chopper, who had been crying with joy just a moment before, immediately switched to doctor mode and rushed to Luffy's side. All the others followed him, as they then all stood in a circle around the two with horrified looks.

The crew followed every move of Chopper in fear, who was now roughly examining the sick boy.

The reindeer's eyes widened as he placed his hoof on Luffy's forehead to take his temperature.

"How...how is he Chopper?" Nami asked hesitantly, noticing Chopper's worried look.

"Not good at all, he has a fever of 109 degrees, which is very life threatening! Organ damage could occur and he could die!" Answered Chopper frantically while he dug out a fever reducer from his bag. Bringing Luffy's fever down was the only thing the reindeer doctor could do for him out here.

Upon hearing this news, a sharp intake of breath was heard from everyone.

"Whaaat 109 degrees?! That's more than what Nami had back then! Oh no, Luffy is going to die!" Usopp screeched as he panicked.

"That's impossible, he should have..." Franky trailed off, because he was not able to say the rest of the sentence. It was just too depressing.

Now, Chopper immediately injected the fever reducer into the crook of Luffy's arm as he continued to speak.

"As far as I can tell by his high fever, severe shortness of breath, his chest pain and the mass he's been spitting out…His lungs, already affected by his illness, must have picked up an infection due to the circumstances. However, I can't say anything more specific without a proper examination." Chopper paused before taking a quick breath.

"But this infection could be…pneumonia."

"Pneumonia?!"

"But that can be..."

"Exactly...it can be quite deadly." Chopper finished the sentence for Usopp.

"And combined with his existing illness, it's most definitely fatal." Chopper added as he stared at Luffy's restless flushed face.

They had to get back to the ship in an instant, or it would be the end for their captain. Earlier, Chopper had been happy to find one of the medicinal herbs, but what was the point now if he couldn't save Luffy?

Suddenly, Luffy awoke to the many voices he could hear around him. He blinked wearily a few times, as he could see the worried faces of his entire crew somewhat blurred.

"H-Hey…hahh…g-guys…yo'r…haah…fin'lly h-here…haah..I w-was…w'rried…haah." Luffy wheezed heavily.

The sudden awakening of their captain caught the crew off guard as they all turned to look at him in the next moment. Luffy then forced a smile on his dry lips, which was an unsuccessful attempt to cheer his friends up a bit.

"Luffy, how do you feel?" Nami wanted to know and knelt down next to him to look at him more closely. She then reached out to gently stroke his hair.

"I-I'm...haah...f-fine...haah..."

"You're fine my ass! Luffy stop it already, we can all see that you're not doing well!" Sanji scolded, at a volume that made Luffy wince.

"Sanji, now don't yell at him like that!" Nami gave Sanji a venomous look, when she saw how sensitively Luffy had reacted to the blond cook's loud voice.

Sanji felt terribly ashamed after realizing that it was wrong of him to approach Luffy like that. What had gotten into him? This whole tense situation, after they had wandered through the entire island, did him no good at all and he lost his temper.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Luffy…" Sanji apologized as he averted his gaze from everyone.

"It's…haah…all-*cough* *cough*" Before Luffy could finish his sentence, he felt a terrible scratching in his throat, which sent him into a coughing fit.

Fortunately, it was only a small dry fit, but it left him powerless. Just as his eyes threatened to close again, Chopper tried to shake him. The little doctor feared that something was more than just wrong with him.

Something he couldn't yet interpret properly.

"Oi Luffy, stay with us!" Chopper shouted, but in vain. The black haired teen had lost consciousness again.

"Quick guys, we need to get him to the ship right away, where I can give him proper medical attention." Chopper gave the instruction while packing his bag.

"Now? But it's already night!" Cried the long nosed sniper, and the thought that they would have to go through the dangerous jungle again at night made him shudder.

"But we can't wait until morning, Usopp! In this condition, Luffy would die by then!" Countered Chopper, whereupon Usopp had nothing more to say. You could see him straining to pull himself together.

"All right then, let's go."

"I'll carry Luffy on my back." Zoro announced as he bent down to Luffy to remove his shirt from his captain's upper body.

"And we're supposed to trust you with that, marimo? You'll just get lost again!" Sanji retorted.

"Don't talk much and help me get him on my back, ero-cook!" The green haired swordsman replied, obviously annoyed, after he had put his shirt back on.

After Nami and Robin dressed Luffy in his red shirt, Sanji gently picked up the unconscious boy, then placed him safely on Zoro's back. A hiss escaped the blonde cook when he felt the heat coming through Luffy's clothes. It was indeed very serious.

"So is everyone ready now?" Asked Zoro, while Sanji tied the last knot with his suit jacket, which he had put around Luffy and Zoro, so that the black haired wouldn't fall off his back.

"Stop Zoro, wait a minute!" Nami suddenly spoke up. The orange haired navigator then took her sweat jacket, which she wore tied around her waist, to put it over Luffy's trembling body in the next step.

"He's shaking terribly, that should help." She said and a small smile formed on Nami's lips as she took one last look at Luffy's flushed face, whose features had relaxed a little.

"Let's go!"

The straw hats ran as fast as their legs would allow through the dark forest, which seemed even more eerie at night. Each with a torch in hand, they made their way out of the overgrown jungle. So far, everything seemed to be going well and there were no nasty surprises in sight.

The weak, ragged breath of Luffy that entered Zoro's ear together with his fast irregular heartbeats that the green haired man could feel against his back, made him sprint even faster. At the same time, he tried to be careful and not jolt his unconscious captain too much.

If they all kept up this pace together, they would arrive at the Sunny in no time. There, Chopper would stabilize the condition of their captain and everything would be fine again. Well, at least better than it was now, since Luffy's illness wouldn't be completely cured yet.

Still they had to fight with the consequences of the disease...

Zoro was completely lost in thought while all he could hear was Luffy's panting, which drowned out his own quickening loud heartbeat. Therefore, he didn't hear the loud growl of a certain creature at all.

For the rest of the straw hats, everything happened so fast that they could hardly warn Zoro, who just wouldn't hear them anyway.

And in the next moment blood spurted and an ear-splitting scream was heard.

"ZORO!"

TBC

Oops, another cliffhanger :D
Unfortunately, that's it again for this chapter! I hope you could enjoy it and if not I apologize. Let me know what you think about it! 3
So, I wish you all a good day / night depending on when you read this.

Until next time!