Hello my dear readers!

I'm terribly sorry that this chapter comes so late, but at the moment something always gets in the way, so I don't find the time to write. I hope you aren't angry with me for that…

Of course I hope, as always, that you like the further course of this story and would be very happy to receive feedback from you.

Enjoy reading!

"Cinco Fleur!"

Robin reacted just in time as she let her arms grow along the side of the ship like a rope to catch the falling Luffy.

"Jinbei I caught Luffy! Can you get a hold of him and bring him up?" Robin asked, relieved that she was able to catch her sick captain in time. Luffy would certainly not survive another fall into the sea in his current condition. It was a miracle that he even made it the first time.

Jinbei, who was closest to the railing, bent over it to grab Luffy's ankle and thus pull him up. Luffy felt like a wet sack as he carefully lifted him up and gently cradled him in his arms.

"Thank goodness, Robin you're the best." Nami said as she dropped to her knees in relief. All the other straw hats also breathed a deep sigh of relief when they now saw the unconscious Luffy in Jinbei's arms. His limbs hung limply, his entire body shook, whether from exertion or fever, and his breathing was shallow. In summary, Luffy looked terrible. Well, at least more than before.

"Shit, that was pretty close! But what was going on? How did he even get up there?" Sanji wanted to know, who couldn't understand this incident at all. When he had to take care of Luffy, the black haired boy hadn't even been able to stay awake. So with what strength had it been possible for him to get out of the sickroom? It was inexplicable, but then again it was their captain and he could make the impossible possible in such situations.

"I don't know, but he didn't recognize me, as if he had been in some kind of fever dream." Replied the fishman, not taking his eyes off his captain. Jinbei couldn't believe how fragile and small Luffy was in his arms. Only now he noticed the severe effects of the disease on Luffy's body and his heart broke into a thousand pieces.

"It doesn't matter how Sanji! In the first place, he shouldn't have made it out of bed at all! Brook why-" Suddenly, a rasping cough that shook Luffy's unconscious form interrupted Nami's rage, putting the whole crew on alert.

"Quick, we shouldn't lose any time here! His condition may have deteriorated drastically!" Chopper cried out as he then yanked open the door to the sick bay.

After Luffy was tucked back into bed, all the other straw hats were sent back out of the room by Chopper so he could take his time attending to the captain's condition.

As always, the crew gathered in the galley at the table, filled with anxiety, while a certain one of them, full of guilt, didn't know how to apologize. Brook could not look any of his friends in the eye, knowing what an unforgivable mistake he had made. How could he have let it get this far?

"Brook you were so damn lucky we found Luffy in time! He almost...Damn, how could you let that happen?!" Nami was again led by the raging anger inside her and could no longer hold back.

"That was really not super of you Brook." Franky also added and gave the skeleton a disappointed look.

"Answer me Brook! How could you fucking let Luffy leave his bed?" Repeated the orange haired navigator, pounding the table vigorously with clenched fists as she rose from her seat at the same time. Brook then winced, still looking down, and was now close to tears. He could understand how angry and disappointed everyone was, but he hadn't actually done it on purpose. It was a stupid accident...

An accident that could have cost the life of their beloved captain.

The fact that it was unintentional didn't make his action any less unforgivable. Brook's bones were still rattling from the shock and Nami's angry ranting didn't make it any better, though she had every right to be so upset. He opened his mouth to comply with the navigator's demand and his jaw trembled, but he closed it again, not knowing how to justify himself. There was nothing he had to say, so the skeleton decided to let the angry scolding pass silently. He didn't deserve it any other way.

"Nami is absolutely right Brook! You were with him, weren't you? So why couldn't you stop Luffy?" Usopp spoke up now, still in shock and it was clear to see how much he was shaking.

"That's enough! What happened, happened! Neither Brook nor we can do anything about it!" Zoro could no longer stand the shouting and had to interfere as well.

"Shut up Zoro! You know very well that it's unforgivable! All our efforts would have fallen overboard along with Luffy! And you want me to stay quiet?" Nami gritted her teeth and literally seethed with anger as she looked to the swordsman, who just sat there calmly with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"Nami is absolutely right! And besides, you moss head have no right to have a say here anyway! I also caught you falling asleep while watching Luffy!" Sanji now also defended the navigator, as he already lit his third cigarette.

"What the fuck?! Leave me out of this, asshole!" Zoro growled dangerously.

"Who're you calling asshole? You stupid…"

"I-I'm so sorry Nami-san. Please-"

"So, you're saying you're sorry? And that's supposed to be enough?!" Nami cut off Brook as he tried to apologize and stomped toward the skeleton.

"Nami, please stop-"

Before the crew knew it, they were all suddenly involved in a big fight. The shock and general tension of the situation made them all turn on each other.

Chopper, on the other hand, who was taking care of Luffy in the infirmary, could feel the situation outside escalating. But the little reindeer tried as best he could to suppress the loud shouting and the insults, as he was listening to Luffy's heart. Chopper noticed from Luffy's quickened heartbeat and erratic breathing how he could also sense the restlessness.

The sick boy gave a faint whimper and his eyelids twitched as in the next moment two orbs stared into those of Chopper.

"Luffy?"

Luffy didn't utter a word as he sat up completely unexpectedly.

"I..I have…haah…to make them stop!" Luffy muttered under his breath and, to Chopper's dismay, slowly put his feet on the ground.

"Stop, please wait Luffy! You can't get up!" Any attempt by Chopper to stop his captain from getting up was in vain and before he knew it Luffy was standing on wobbly legs in front of the door and opened it. Luffy didn't know where he got the strength to stand up at all, as the feeling of exhaustion never left him, but he knew one thing:

He had to get to his friends.

An uneasy feeling grew steadily in the pit of his stomach. Something was not right. When Luffy had fully opened the door, he propped himself against the doorframe, breathing heavily as he looked in horror at the spectacle before him. Chopper, meanwhile, had rushed next to him to support him in case he lost his balance.

"Luffy, please lie back down!" The little reindeer doctor begged the black haired teen, but he just ignored him. Luffy couldn't believe what he was seeing. His ears and perceptions had not played a trick on him after all, and his crew was actually arguing. But he didn't know that the arguments escalated as much as they did at that moment.

Were they still his friends at all?

His nakama?

The straw hat pirates who always stuck together?

None of them had ever said a word about arguing, and they all acted as if everything was fine. But this terrible sight before his eyes told him something else.

Everything was just a lie…

The rage in Luffy continued to rise while he watched his friends, who still had not noticed him, for a while. Nami had walked up to Brook, scolding him, the reason for which the captain was completely unaware, while Jinbei tried to get her away from him. Zoro, Sanji and Usopp were also arguing about something that Luffy didn't quite catch. Only Robin and Franky tried to intervene now and then to avoid worse.

Chopper didn't like the chaos either and didn't have a good feeling about it at all. The reindeer could really feel the tension in his sick captain and panicked more and more when Luffy sluggishly pushed himself off the door frame to approach his friends. Even against a Luffy who was in such a weak condition, Chopper had no chance.

"P-Please…haah…stop..." Luffy gasped, barely audible. His heart was hammering painfully in his chest and it took him an infinite amount of strength to hold himself up, despite Chopper's support.

"Hey guys, please stop fighting!" Chopper shouted anxiously, but obviously not loud enough, because no one even turned to look at them. They were all far too busy with each other to notice the two of them.

Chopper looked up at Luffy, whose eyes were covered by his bangs, but he could feel the raven haired boy clenching his fists. Luffy took a few shaky but deep breaths and what came next left the crew in shock.

"STOOOOP IIIIIT!"

All at once, everyone stopped what they were doing and all eyes turned to the young captain, who was now completely out of breath from his screaming. But the serious look in his eyes still remained.

"Luffy?!"

"Luffy, you're awake again?" Usopp asked, pretending at the same time that nothing was wrong.

No answer.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Nami inquired as she abruptly let go of Brook and stepped closer to her captain.

Again no response.

"Luffy please, you need to go back to sleep!" Chopper had grabbed Luffy's arm and tried to drag him back into the infirmary, but Luffy just roughly pulled his arm away from him. The 19-year old was trembling with exertion, but he pulled himself together in order not to fall prey to the increasing fatigue that was slowly tugging at his limbs, making them feel heavier.

"Stop...damn it..." Muttered Luffy between his gasps.

"Luffy are you-"

"STOP PRETENDING!"

Another outburst from the young captain made his friends wince and an ice-cold shiver ran down their spines, as if Luffy had unconsciously released a bit of his haki.

"Luffy I beg you to stop overexerting yourself like this! It's not good for your health!" Chopper again tried desperately to persuade his captain, but as stubborn as he was, this attempt had failed again.

"I don't give a shit about my health right now! I can't recognize my crew anymore!" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs and a few coughs escaped his lips, which left him gasping heavily after a short time.

He was met with questioning and confused looks from his crew.

Was Luffy hallucinating again?

"What do you mean by that, Luffy? It's us, your friends!" Replied Usopp slightly nervously, breaking the awkward silence.

"No, my real friends wouldn't hide anything from me or act like that!" Despite being short of breath, Luffy kept talking, glancing at each of his friends.

Ashamed, the crew looked away from their captain, not used to being confronted with such a serious Luffy. But each of them agreed with him. What had gotten into them? They were all supposed to stick together. Instead, they were acting like enemies.

Chopper couldn't stand it any longer, buried his face in his hooves and started to cry.

"We...we're so sorry Luffy…"

But Luffy didn't get to hear the apology, when suddenly a dull thud was heard in the room and the next moment Luffy was lying unconscious on the floor next to Chopper.

"Luffy!"

~3 days later~

It was quiet on the Thousand Sunny. The crew had finally docked at an inhabited island and had already gone ashore.

Well, everyone except an orange haired navigator and her sick captain.

The aforementioned navigator was sitting at Luffy's bedside, completely lost in thought, and had taken his limp hand in hers. It had been three days since Luffy had last been awake. It had been a shock to them all when their captain had suddenly collapsed without any warning.

Everyone felt guilty about it, as Luffy had to use up the last of his strength to settle their dispute. What kind of crew were they anyway? They did not deserve Luffy.

The sick boy's condition had deteriorated quite a bit because of them, but fortunately, Chopper had already been able to develop a new improved medicine that helped Luffy fight the pneumonia. Since Chopper's new examination this morning, Luffy should be on the road to recovery. Only he would still have to regain consciousness.

Nami sighed for the umpteenth time as she ran her delicate fingers over the rough surface of her sick friend's hand. She hoped to finally get a sign of life from him, except for the steady rise and fall of his chest. To her relief, Luffy's fever had finally broken last night and with it, some color returned to his pale face and actually made him look healthier after a long time.

After he was feeling much better yesterday, she and Robin decided to give their captain a nice bath to get rid of all the sweat and dirt. Nami gently stroked one hand through Luffy's pitch-black clean hair while still firmly gripping his hand with the other. Then she let her fingers, which had just been combing through the strands of his hair, slide further down and placed her hand on the left side of his face, tracing his scar with her thumb.

Suddenly she felt something wet on her face and only now realized that she had started to cry, but she did nothing to wipe it away and just let it drip freely onto the mattress. Despite the fact that she knew he had almost survived the infection, the knowledge and the worry that he was still terminally ill gnawed at her.

As so often, she wished to be in his place at that moment. It should have been her instead of Luffy. She would give anything to have his illness and to experience his suffering. Anything to make him feel better, to be by his friends' side again, to sit in his favorite spot on the figurehead, and most importantly, to eat away all their supplies.

Nami let her gaze slide from his face further over his upper body, which was covered with the blanket up to his chest. Luffy had always been of scrawny stature, but now you could clearly see that he had lost quite a bit of weight. Nami now ran her hand further over his chest and placed it over the spot where his heart is supposed to be. She felt the steady beats under her palm, which brought a slight smile to her lips.

Despite this merciless disease, Luffy's heart refused to give up and beat as strongly as ever in his chest. Before she even realized it herself, the orange haired girl had put her ear to Luffy's chest and was now listening to the regular "thump-thump" that slowly but surely lulled her to sleep along with his calming breathing.

—

Meanwhile, the rest of the straw hats had split into two teams, one consisting of Sanji, Franky and Brook, running downtown to get food and coke, and the other team consisting of Usopp, Chopper, Robin and Jinbei had run towards the forest to look for certain medicinal herbs.

Zoro also wanted to go with Sanji's team to the little town, but this fool had once again lost his way on the small forest path when entering the island.

Sanji didn't care in the least where the moss head was, though he would be happy if Zoro actually disappeared forever, and calmly got his supplies, with which he wanted to try out a lot of new recipes. Brook helped him carry the bags, while Franky had moved away from the two of them a bit to look for a drink store.

Meanwhile, the other team explored the forest, which was less tropical than on the island before, but despite this, Chopper quickly noticed that many different medicinal herbs were sprouting here as well. His friends, of course, didn't understand anything about the green stuff and were even of the opinion that the plants did not differ much from each other, which could very much lead to confusion with poisonous herbs. To prevent this, Chopper had torn them each a picture from his books, which should make their search a lot easier.

Now that they had dived deep enough into the forest, they suddenly discovered a large open field in the middle of which was a small old hut. As some smoke escaped from the chimney, the straw hats were sure that the hut must be inhabited.

"Hey, do you think it would be a good idea to knock? Maybe the person knows this area well enough and could help us out." Chopper suggested as they approached the wooden hut.

"I don't know Chopper, what if he is hostile to us? Since there's a big marine base on this island, that wouldn't be very unlikely, would it?" Usopp expressed his opinion, his knees shaking at the very thought of the navy. Now that they had a sick and incapacitated captain on board, they had to be extra careful to avoid any fights.

"Still, he could be quite helpful." Robin said, and before the straw hats could agree on whether or not to knock, the wooden door opened with a shrill creak, startling the crew.

Behind the door, a small elderly man with large glasses on his nose and a thick moustache appeared. He also wore a doctor's coat, which made it seem as if he was a doctor or professor.

"Oh I knew I heard voices! What are kids like you doing out here?" He asked, eyeing the four friends warily. Although the straw hats were already very famous, the old man didn't seem to recognize them, which of course suited the crew, since they didn't want to attract attention by revealing themselves anyway.

"Er…We…We…" Usopp stammered, not knowing what to answer.

"We are a group of researchers and we...we are looking for certain medicinal herbs here, such as the Miseo Spore." Chopper quickly finished the answer for Usopp.

"I see...Well then, come in, I want to show you something." The old man replied, turning around and giving a hand signal for them to follow him.

The straw hats followed as instructed and were astonished when they entered the hut. As small as the hut looked from the outside, you would never be able to guess what was inside. Next to a self-prepared bed and a small wood stove was a small laboratory, which consisted of a long narrow table along the right wooden wall of the hut. On it were all sorts of items from test tubes, all bubbling away with some substance, to microscopes and other preparations with which the crew, except Chopper, was unfamiliar.

"That's fantastic! Old man, are you some kind of doctor or scientist?" Chopper was absolutely fascinated by the man's house and the sight brought back old memories, because everything in the hut along with the old grandpa himself bore an incredible resemblance to his old mentor Doctor Hiluluk. Although Chopper didn't know this strange man at all, he liked him already.

"That's one way to put it. I've been engaged in research of plants and herbs all my life." The old man nodded and ran one hand over his beard. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of the island don't accept me as a doctor. Which I can somehow understand, since my medicine almost kills them every time..." The self-proclaimed doctor sighed dejectedly, muttering the last part.

"WHAT, and you call yourself a doctor?" Usopp asked incredulously, taking a certain distance from the table, because who knows what was actually in all those strange-looking vessels.

"No, it's not like that! I don't harm anyone on purpose!" Denied the old man immediately.

"It's just a medicine that I'm working on. It's supposed to cure all the diseases in the world! But after years of research, I still haven't found the right mixture." Again the man sighed.

Chopper was of course very convinced of the man and could not believe that he would find here on this island of all places a person who had the same dream as he had.

"That means we have the same dream! I bet you could teach me a few things!" Said Chopper with twinkling eyes.

"Now wait a minute Chopper! The old grandpa is just a lousy quack! He can never help us!" Usopp claimed and thus warned his gullible friend.

"You bet I can!" Said the old researcher, indignant at Usopp's statement.

"I know the Miseo Spore very well. I've been doing research with it for a long time, like this!" Explained the man and took out a jar from the shelf, which was built next to his small bed.

The straw hats stared with great interest at the bluish liquid, which seemed quite poisonous, instead of something that should be used to cure diseases.

"Then you would have to know where this particular plant is located, right? professor?" Robin asked curiously.

"Yes, of course! It grows all the way up on the biggest mountain on this island. Unfortunately, I'm already too old to climb up there, otherwise I could've given you some of it." Replied the self-proclaimed doctor apologetically.

"That's not so important! That information alone was a great help to us! Thank you old man!" The little reindeer thanked him.

"Wow, I didn't think our search would get any easier! This will save us a lot of precious time." Jinbei said at least as pleased as Chopper. They had to find the medicinal plant as soon as they could, since Nami couldn't spend all day taking care of Luffy; after all, she wasn't a doctor and couldn't help him in an emergency.

"Alright, guys! Let's get going!" Shouted Chopper, as they strode out of the hut.

"Maybe it would be a better idea if you climb the mountain together with Robin and me and Usopp collect the remaining herbs. That way we would save some time again." Jinbei suggested, which sounded very plausible to the others.

"You're right Jinbei. It would be quite unnecessary for all of us to climb the mountain. Me and Robin alone would be able to handle it, right Robin?" Said Chopper confidently, whereupon he received an approving nod from the black haired woman.

"All right, let's go quickly then, Robin! We'll meet back here later!" Said Chopper as he then transformed into his Walk Point form and then let the archaeologist sit on top of him.

"Ok, I'll see you later, and take good care of yourselves!" Jinbei called after them.

"Yeah right, watch out for the marines especially, because they could be lurking anywhere on the island!" Usopp added and hoped that his two friends would return safely.

"Roger that, we will! Thanks again old man!" Was the last thing Chopper said before he rode off the next moment.

"You're welcome!" The old grandpa waved briefly after the two before turning to the remaining two crewmates.

"And what about you two? Do you think you can handle your search on your own?" The self-proclaimed doctor inquired, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"Yes, we have pictures of the plants with us! We'll figure it out!" Answered Usopp and rummaged the somewhat crumpled picture out of his pocket.

"Well then, take care!" The man called out to them as Usopp and Jinbei set off to search.

~Meanwhile on the Thousand Sunny~

Two heavy eyelids lifted as the captain of the straw hat pirates gradually regained consciousness.

The first thing Luffy could feel was the lack of tiredness that he had not been able to get rid of for days, which had to be a good sign. And the second thing was the heavy weight on his chest.

He lifted his head slightly, only to be greeted by an orange mop of hair. Under the strands of hair that had fallen over the navigator's face, Luffy could see Nami's eyes closed, which, in conjunction with her slow and steady breathing, indicated that she had fallen asleep. The sight made Luffy grin as he then dropped his head back onto the pillow.

He let his eyes wander around the room and listened for sounds coming from outside. There was complete silence, and besides, he couldn't sense the presence of the rest of his friends, which gave him a queasy feeling. Luffy felt the urge to check on his crew, but he didn't know how to do it without waking Nami.

The raven haired carefully released his hand, which Nami still held with a surprisingly firm grip in her sleep, and placed it on her head, gently brushing the strands from her face. Fortunately for him, she seemed to be fast asleep, which might allow him to get out of this position. Carefully, Luffy lifted his other hand to slide it under Nami's head and lift her head slightly. At the same time, he slowly slid his upper body to the side to gently rest Nami's head on the mattress.

When that was done, Luffy pushed his blankets aside and then let his stiff legs dangle over the edge of the bed. He only wondered how long he had been asleep, because not only did his entire body feel stiff, but he also couldn't remember the last time he had been awake and what he had been doing. At least Luffy was very thankful that his headache had subsided, although the buzzy feeling still lingered a bit. This feeling intensified and was joined by a small dizzy spell as he stood up on his feet.

He quickly grabbed the edge of the bed to keep from falling forward. After a while the feeling disappeared and when Luffy was sure that he could stand upright again, he released his grip on the bed and turned back to Nami, who fortunately had not woken up by his movements. The position he had put her in looked quite uncomfortable and couldn't be good for her back, so Luffy decided to hoist her onto the bed and then tuck her in. His strength had somewhat returned to his limbs, which is why he was able to lay the navigator, whose weight was not really heavy anyway, on the bed.

Luffy watched her for a while and was surprised that she hadn't woken up despite everything, which indicated that she must be damn tired and exhausted. The black haired boy could already guess that all the stress and worry about him was taking its toll on her body. This thought gave him a bitter taste, as it was all because of him and the rest of his crew had to suffer similarly.

Everyone had to suffer because of him and this made his heart ache. Luffy sighed and ran his hand through his pitch-black hair, when he suddenly remembered something important:

His straw hat.

The young captain quickly looked around the room, searching, and found his precious treasure hanging on the headboard of the bed not very far from him. Grinning, he put his hat in its proper place, namely on his head, and then took one last checking glance at his navigator, only to leave the room the next moment.

Once outside on the deck, he saw that it must probably already be noon, since the blazing sun was beaming down on him. Deeply, Luffy breathed the fresh air into his lungs and marveled that it was possible at all. The persistent cough that followed was still present, but a lot milder than before, even if the stabbing pain in his lungs was still felt in the process. Nonetheless, he really had to admit that he was feeling a lot better after a long time.

After all he had to go through in the last few days, a few light cramps and aches here and there were nothing in contrast. He most likely had Chopper's medicine to thank for that, which had once again worked a miracle. Only Luffy hoped that the effect of this medicine would last longer than the last one…

It actually turned out that there was no one on the ship and only now Luffy noticed that they had docked at a new island. The spirit of adventure took hold of him and he couldn't believe that his friends were currently exploring the island without him. They had planned to go in search of the missing herbs together. That was not fair!

Without even another thought about possible consequences, he also decided to just go ashore and follow his friends.

A very stupid idea...

Luffy, being who he was, forgot, because of his excitement, that he was still very sick, and started running the moment his feet hit the ground. After a while, when Luffy finally reached a fork in the road, he came to a stop, all sweaty and exhausted. With both hands he supported himself on his knees, in order to control his breathing, which once again turned out to be not so easy.

At the same time the raven haired boy remembered Chopper's words that he should not overexert himself under any circumstances and actually realized that it was not such a good idea to run off like that. Besides, Luffy didn't even know where he got this energy from all of a sudden, since he had a hard time remembering his last meal and who knows how long ago that was.

Suddenly he could feel the presence of other people approaching him and at the same time the exciting feeling was replaced by dread filling his stomach. Luffy quickly straightened up and looked around, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Hey, come out! Who the hell are you?" Shouted Luffy with a serious face and could now feel how he was gradually surrounded by these people, who were also hostile to him. Luffy gritted his teeth. A fight was really the last thing he needed, but it seemed inevitable, since no matter who these people were, they made no pretense of being weak.

"Well, look who we have here." A male voice suddenly spoke, followed by a small laugh.

All at once, Luffy turned in the direction of the voice and caught sight of a relatively tall man in a navy uniform with a cape. At the same moment, his followers emerged from the bushes with their weapons pointed at him.

"Who are you?" Luffy hissed and got immediately into a fighting position. The young captain clenched his teeth even more in anger when the man just started laughing again.

"As you can probably tell, I am a marine officer and my name is Tetsuo! Memorize my name, because today I will go down in history as the man who captured the infamous Mugiwara no Luffy!" Tetsuo exclaimed loudly, whereupon he then gave the order to attack.

"That's what you'd like but I have to disappoint you, cause I'm not going along with your plan!" Luffy answered him cheekily and used his Gear Second without another thought.

"I'm sorry guys, but I have to do this!" Luffy mumbled to himself in thoughts of his crew.

"Well then, let's see what you've got, Mugiwara!"

~Meanwhile back on the Thousand Sunny~

Nami woke up to the tickle on her nose caused by the sun's rays coming through the back door's peephole and let her eyes wander around the room. It took a while for her mind to process where she actually was and what she had done before she fell asleep.

And suddenly the scales fell from her eyes when she realized that she was lying in Luffy's bed in the sickroom and her captain was...

Luffy was gone.

"Oh no, not again!" Nami feared the worst again, but it occurred to her relatively quickly that he couldn't have been wandering around in a fever dream again at all, since he had apparently deliberately placed her as comfortably as possible on his bed. She just hoped it wasn't too late and he hadn't already pulled a stunt. But knowing her scatterbrained captain, it was already highly likely to be the case.

Without wasting any more time, the young girl literally jumped out of bed and made her way outside onto the deck.

"Luffy?! Are you around here somewhere?" Nami shouted and looked around in all directions, hoping that the black haired teen would appear at any moment, but in vain.

She listened attentively, but it was too quiet on the Sunny, so then the orange haired gaze fell on the island.

Nami not only had the feeling, she also knew exactly that Luffy must be hanging around somewhere on the island. The navigator cursed inwardly as she then decided to run after her captain, hoping that nothing had happened to him.

Nami ran and ran as fast as her legs would allow her to, almost tripping every now and then, but she quickly pulled herself back together. Less than a few minutes later, she heard screaming and other noises that sounded very much like a fight, and her heart, which was already racing, threatened to jump out of her chest. She fervently hoped that the uneasy feeling inside her was not right and that Luffy was not involved in some kind of fight. At that very moment, Chopper's words flashed through her mind and she remembered exactly how he had mentioned the word fatal. Luffy was by no means allowed to fight let alone even get out of bed.

How could she be so careless and just fall asleep? If something were to happen to him, it would be solely Nami's fault. The young navigator had to swallow hard and bit her lower lip to suppress the tears welling up in her eyes. She could never forgive herself for this.

Nami slowly approached the sounds of battle and before she knew it she was standing in the midst of marines, all with one specific goal.

Luffy…

There stood her captain, on two wobbly legs and in his Gear Second form, which he could not really maintain and slowly began to fade. Just barely keeping it up, Luffy tried to fight fist to fist against the one who looked like a high-ranking marine officer.

And Nami knew he wouldn't last much longer…

"Luffy!"

~A while later~

"Hey Jinbei, look, it seems like marines are paying a visit to the old quack." Usopp whispered to the fishman as they both now hid behind the trees not too far from the hut. Curious, they interrupted their search for the herbs to watch and listen to what was going on.

Both friends couldn't explain what the navy would want from such an old man.

"Hey you old quack, come out of there!" Yelled one of the soldiers with a rifle in his hands.

The next moment the old man came out trembling from behind his door.

"What...what do you want from me again?" He asked and took a step back when he saw the rifles in the hands of the soldiers.

"We're here for the same reason as always! You tried to poison the citizens again! Our boss will no longer tolerate this, which is why you are now under arrest!" The other soldier explained and menacingly took a step closer to the self-proclaimed doctor, pressing the tip of the weapon to his chest.

"I...I beg you please leave me alone!" The bearded man pleaded, but didn't convince the marines in the slightest.

"Now it is too late, cause you've disregarded one warning too many, old man!" Said the other one of the three soldiers, already holding the handcuffs ready.

"Hey Usopp, shouldn't we help the old man?" Jinbei whispered to Usopp, who gave him a horrified look.

"Are you crazy? Why would we risk getting caught and thus attract attention?" Usopp just shook his head at Jinbei's question as the conversation between the old doctor and the marines caught his attention again.

"Please, I...I..." The old man thought for a moment about how to get out of this situation, when the marines moved closer to him, ready to handcuff him.

"Shut your mouth! You're coming with us now!"

"I..I c-can tell you where the straw hat pirates are right now! They were here recently!" The doctor blurted out with panic.

Usopp and Jinbei, who heard every word, opened their eyes wide in horror.

"I don't believe it, he just ratted us out like that!" The longnosed boy couldn't believe his ears, although it had been clear to him from the beginning that the man could not be trusted, which in turn didn't really surprise him. The three soldiers eyed the old doctor suspiciously at first, but then they decided to believe him.

"Oh really? That would come in handy, because we've already captured their captain and that orange haired girl." Laughed one soldier while the other pressed his gun to the old man's chest again.

"Come on, tell us, where are they?"

Meanwhile, Usopp and Jinbei were frozen in shock as the news about Luffy and Nami reached their ears.

"O-oh shit..."

~In the meantime, on a familiar ship~

A blond young man stood at the bow of the ship. With a thoughtful expression on his face, his gaze was fixed on the dangerously burning small piece of paper he held in the palm of his hand. The blond haired man closed his eyes and sighed deeply when a hand unexpectedly came to rest on his left shoulder. Without opening his eyes, he knew that the owner of the hand was his best friend and colleague.

"Don't worry so much. He will surely be fine, Sabo."

The person addressed wanted nothing more than to firmly believe in these words, but the small piece of paper in his hand, which was once twice as big, told something else.

"I hope we're not too late, Koala. I don't want to lose another brother..." Sabo spoke in a mournful voice and opened his eyes again to stare once more at the burning scrap of paper.

And with every minute it became smaller and smaller…

"Hang in there little brother, I'll be right there!"

TBC

Sooo that's it again! Hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know your thoughts on this!

Until next time!