A/N: Chapter ain't perfect, but it feels good to just say "It's good enough" and get it up before the end of the year.
Just discovered that Sphinkz should be Zphinkz, but meh.
Ch. 41 - Expecting
Negotiations with the Straw Hat Pirates did not go as Ramzez instructed. Dozing off in a chair next to his now stabilized patient, he startled awake as Lizzy appeared at his infirmary door, tears streaming down her face.
"You need to come quick, bzzz!" she cried. "The piratez have juzt woken, and Papa haz…Papa haz…"
"Juzt woken? But it'z already dawn!" he interjected groggily, "Shouldn't you have woken them hours ago?"
The tears rolled down her cheeks. Normally a level headed woman, her show of emotion immediately set alarm bells off in Ramzez' head. When she finally spat out what was going on, Ramzez left her to keep an eye on Helena and soon found himself on Sphinkz ' back, urging him to fly faster toward the Thousand Sunny.
He arrived to find things just as Lizzy had described them to him. The Straw Hats, now wide awake, surrounded the town mayor, who stood brazenly on the main deck. The rest of the bee riders and his daughters hung back, parked on the masts of other sunken ships. The tension in the air positively hummed, though the bees remained silent as the mayor continued shouting.
"Don't think I won't do it!" he cried. The normally stooped man, stockier like his oldest daughter, stood with his tailed coat thrown wide open, revealing a wired vest. "I waz going to give myzelf to that ztupid beazt if we didn't find a zacrifize in time! Your crewmate zaved uz from nothing! I waz prepared to die killing that thing, so it doezn't matter to me if I have to die killing you inztead!"
Ramzez' eyes bulged. Induztry had always been a mild mannered man, not the type for great displays. Ramzez hadn't known he'd intended to sacrifice himself to kill the Shipyard Queen. Leading the island during such a rough season had clearly taken its toll.
"We reztocked your zhip and now you muzt leave. I have zent my daughter to bring your crewmate back to you. In the meantime, if you try anything, I will blow your zhip to zmithereenz! Ah, that muzt be her now!"
Clearly he had heard Sphinkz approaching. His eyes widened when he noticed that Ramzez did not have Helena or Lizzy with him.
"I am not comfortable moving the patient, Mayor Induztry, and I really don't think theze theatricz are nezezary, bzzz bzzz," Ramzez said, dismounting his bee. "I told you all to wake them right away and tell them what happened. Did you even try to explain…?"
"I wazn't going to take the rizk," Induztry replied. "Beatrize told me what waz happening, and I told everyone to stand down until we could get them zupplied and out of our waterz, bzzz bzzz. Unfortunately one of YOUR riderz," he shot a glare at Wallaz, who didn't look at all sheepish, "Woke them up early and I had to rezort to draztic meazures. I don't care if their crewmate iz ztable. Get her down here and get them out of my waterz…"
"Well, I DO care," Ramzez shot back. "Zhe zaved Ryubokuu! Anyway, the bee power required to move them out of a Calm thiz large iz inzane! We have to wait for it to pazz, bzzz bzzz!"
"I'm not entirely sure what's going on," the Straw Hats' cook interjected. "But I heard something about our supplies being restocked. I think we'll all be a bit more civil over breakfast."
He turned to leave, and the rest of the crew started after him. So did Ramzez.
Mayor Induztry remained frozen, his vest still held wide open to show the makeshift bomb strapped to him. He nearly jumped out of his skin when one of the Straw Hats patted his shoulder with a large but gentle hand: the giant cyborg, Franky.
"It really wouldn't have gone off," he said.
"Yeah, your wiring's a mess," Usopp the sniper added, coming to the other side of him. Neither pirate seemed at all nervous to be that close to the bomb. Clearly they weren't bluffing.
The mayor gaped at them, and Ramzez' stiffled a chuckle.
"Oh, that's not to say it wouldn't have worked on something trying to eat you," Usopp went on in a would be calming tone, "I mean, a solid impact would detonate it for sure."
"I'm not sure it would do much damage to the Sunny," Franky went on, "She's superrr tough. But yeah, it probably would have killed that monster thing if it ate it. So your idea wasn't a bad one there."
"I'm sure your daughters are glad it didn't get that far though," Usopp scolded. "Anyway, you coming to breakfast?"
Ramzez left the deflated mayor in their capable hands, and went to follow the other Straw Hats' into the kitchen. He found his way impeded at the door by one Roronoa Zoro.
"I don't know what the hell just happened," the man growled. He held one of his katana point down in Ramzez' path, fully sheathed but menacing all the same. "But Helena had better be ok."
"I've taken care of her to the bezt of my abilitiez," Ramzez replied quietly. "Zhe iz ztable for now, but I want your doctor'z opinion on zomething before we prozeed with her treatment or try to move her."
"What do you mean?" Dr. Chopper interjected. He had nervously peaked his head around Zoro's katana from inside the dining area.
"You'll need to zee it to underztand," Ramzez said with a sigh, "But firzt, let me tell you all what happened."
Zoro silently listened with the others as Ramzez unfolded the tale of Helena's victory over the Shipyard Queen. Though the bee rider, and eventually the mayor and Wallaz joined them for Sanji's swiftly prepared breakfast, Zoro did not come to the table. He was too angry to sit down with the bee men, and too worried about Helena to eat.
The only word he spoke was to stop Kuina from sitting on Ramzez' lap. The trusting child had no concept of the fact that this man had drugged her and the rest of the crew. Despite hearing the reasons behind the Ryubokuuans' actions, Zoro couldn't shake his mistrust so easily.
By the end of the meal, and the explanation, the rest of the crew seemed to have regained their usual joviality. The bee people shook hands with Luffy, who openly forgave their hostility, on account that the Sunny's larders were now full again.
The mayor had remained confused and mostly dumbstruck through the whole ordeal, and when the time came, followed Ramzez out the door with his mouth hanging open. At some point he'd agreed to allow Franky and Usopp to meet with him to discuss strengthening the tree's defenses now that the Shipyard Queen was gone. He'd also agreed to have the rest of the crew come ashore while Helena received treatment
"Sounds like we were lucky Helena's been so sea sick lately," Nami pointed out. The Ryubokuuans had just left earshot of the kitchen, Chopper toddling after them to go look after Helena.
"Yeah, she really saved our butts," Usopp agreed.
"She shouldn't have had to," Zoro snarled, just loud enough to be heard. The crew fell silent.
"You don't need to be so angry at them," Nami said in a would-be calming tone, "They were just defending themselves. And anyway, it all came out ok in the end."
"It's not them I'm angry at," Zoro growled, picking up Kuina and balancing her on his side.
He strode out of the door after Chopper and the bee people, leaving the crew more somber in his wake.
Chopper stared at Helena, who lay on her side in a hospital bed, propped with pillows at her back. Now semi-conscious, she managed a soft smile back at him.
"I promise, I'm not doing it on purpose," she murmured drowsily, barely audible over the soft blip of her heart on a screen. Her heart rate was entirely too low for Chopper's liking, "Anyway, Mother would be proud. Hades said I couldn't keep it up…"
"Hush," Chopper said. He hadn't a clue what she was talking about, or even if she was fully aware of the words coming out of her mouth. Something else had his full attention: an immense black band of Haki coating her lower torso. "You're telling me she's miscarrying?" he asked Ramzez.
Chopper's lip trembled. If she miscarried, he knew what she would do next. He hadn't had enough time to work on her. To convince her to stay. Had she even told Zoro anything yet? The swordsman had been unwillingly obliged to wait outside the sick room with Kuina so Chopper could perform a full examination in peace.
"Zhe zayz zhe ztarted to," Ramzez clarified. "But that armament Haki iz keeping the baby in."
"Hades can't have him," Helena muttered.
"But Helena, if you've started to miscarry, there isn't anything you can do," Chopper told her in as gentle a voice as he could manage. "The baby is already…"
"Where's Hades?" Helena asked.
"Huh?"
"If he's not around, the baby's not dead."
Chopper couldn't help but remember treating her when she'd had Apollo's Arrow inside her. She'd been dead but not dead then, and Hades hadn't stopped lingering in the doorway until she'd had the arrow removed. Perhaps she was right.
"Do you have an ultrasound snail?" Chopper asked Ramzez all the same. The bee man shook his head.
"Uzually don't need one," he said, tapping his black goggles. "I can check on a baby eazily enough, bzzz bzzz, but that black coating ztopz my powerz."
"Helena, you're going to have to drop the Haki so he can check," Chopper instructed.
"I can't," she insisted. "I'm not doing it on purpose."
"It'z zub-conziouz," Ramzez said. " I think zhe might not be able to drop it until the baby iz fully zafe."
"But it's draining all her energy," Chopper pointed out. "If it keeps up at this rate, couldn't it kill her? She can barely move!"
"That'z why I wanted a zecond opinion. I have an idea that could work, but it might be dangerouz, bzz bzz," Ramzez explained, speaking to both of them, then turning to Helena. "The Juliet Flower we uzed to knock out your crew iz the gentlezt zedative known to man. We have it in nebulized form, and can uze it to put you in a carefully monitored coma."
"While unconscious, her body can focus on what it needs to heal and conserve energy," Chopper agreed, nodding pensively. "But there's always risk when putting someone under."
"I can't imagine zhe'd need more than a few dayz," Ramzez pointed out, "But we do have the equipment to keep her on life zupport for zeveral monthz if we have to."
"Do it," Helena asserted.
Chopper's brow furrowed.
"You were quick to agree to that. Don't you want to hear the risks?"
"I want to stop talking and sleep," Helena mumbled.
"You're not thinking clearly," Chopper chided.
She attempted to push herself upright to face him with more dignity, but her arms shook and she thought better of it. Instead she cleared her throat and spoke in as much of her diplomacy voice as she could manage, finally sounding lucid. Perhaps she had been lucid all along:
"Chopper, I've been pushed to my physical limit time and again throughout this pregnancy. Even after I was finally safe aboard the Sunny, I couldn't escape the nightmares. I'm exhausted. My body needs real rest if this baby is going to make it."
"We don't have life support on the Sunny," Chopper pointed out. "Once we put you under, we won't be able to move you."
"Then leave me behind," Helena snapped. She seemed to have used any venom she had left in that statement, and mumbled weakly in her pillow, closing her eyes, "You know I never meant to stay anyway."
Tears stung the corners of Chopper's eyes. Angry tears. He wanted to shout at her for how flippantly she referenced what he had stopped her from doing that night on the ship. For not realizing how messed up her thinking was. For not thinking about what her absence would do to Zoro and Kuina and the rest of the crew.
"Fine," he growled back, not that he had any say on when the Sunny would sail. "Just fine. Be that way, you jerk."
"There'z no need to be dramatic," Ramzez interjected quietly. "The Calm will keep you all here for a few more dayz at leazt. Maybe longer. Plenty of time for Helena to recover." He made toward the door, "Why don't you talk to your family while I get everything ready."
Helena nodded weakly, eyes still closed. "There's something Zoro needs to know."
Zoro had wordlessly sat in the waiting room of the Hospital Branch of Ryuuboku. A literal branch, as it turned out, and one of the largest branches at the base of the tree. It had been hollowed out centuries ago by the carpenter bees, further refined by human laborers, including all the amenities one would expect, like plumbing and electricity. One might have forgotten they were inside an enormous tree if not for the natural wood of the walls and floors, which had been stained to a lovely golden finish. In fact, it felt more like a nice cabin or the interior of a high class ship than a hospital.
Round windows opened out to a glorious view of the ocean on opposite walls along the many corridors. One had been cracked open in the waiting room to let in the sounds of rustling leaves and buzzing bees, as well as the smell of the sea.
Zoro may have been the picture of indifference as he sat calmly in the hand-carved waiting room chair, but he stood and strode into the sickroom as soon as Ramzez opened the door. Kuina, who had been enjoying the wooden bee toys set aside for children to amuse themselves, didn't seem interested in stopping her game until she caught sight of Chopper. The poor, adorable doctor could not avoid becoming the victim of her squealing affection.
Ignoring Chopper's choked out pleas for rescue from the little arms threatening to strangle him, Zoro immediately took to Helena's side. She smiled at him weakly.
"Saved your sorry butt again," she chuckled. "I thought it was in our marriage contract that YOU take care of all the bugs. You hurt at all?"
"Idiot," Zoro rolled his eyes. As if his minor injuries could compare with…whatever all this was. She was already hooked up to IVs and other probes, and he could see Ramzez preparing another more alarming device. Was that…a ventilator? He could see bandages around her hands, shoulder and leg, but nothing that looked bad enough for them to require life support. He went on in as even a tone as he could manage, trying to match her light humor. "I'm fine. What is all of this?"
"Don't worry, we likely won't have to intubate," Ramzez assured him, "I have it out az a precaution, becauze we've never encountered zomething like thiz before, but zhe zhould be able to breathe on her own juzt fine, bzzz."
We're putting her under so that her body can do what it needs to do," Chopper choked out from Kuina's unrelenting hugs. "It's an experimental treatment, but it should work."
"Experimental treatment?" If their words had been meant to calm him, they'd failed.
Helena shifted her shirt so he could see the band of haki around her middle.
"You managed a haki coating," Zoro smirked, "Finally."
"Problem is, it's draining all my energy," she informed him, blinking at him sleepily.
He raised an eyebrow. "So stop."
"I can't," she replied, struggling to keep her eyelids open. "My body won't let me."
In all his training, Zoro had never come across an instance where Haki wouldn't go away. If anything, Haki always took a concerted effort to maintain. He'd never contemplated the implications of such a situation, because such a situation seemed impossible.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well," she forced her eyes back open and smiled at him, inching a bandaged hand toward his. He took it, confused at her soft look of happiness. "My body is…subconsciously protecting something important." She all but whispered. "I've been trying to tell you all week now. Zoro, we're expecting."
Her eyes fluttered shut. Her face fell slack. She let out a soft snore.
Zoro stared at her.
"Expecting what?"
"So then they rushed me out of the room," Zoro said, pausing with a hammer half raised. "Said they had to start her treatment right away."
Franky stared at the swordsman. "Congrats, bro! That's superrr great!" he cried emphatically.
"What's super great?"
Franky had enlisted the swordsman's help aboard The Sunny. Truth be told he didn't need the help, but man to man, he could tell the swordsman needed something productive to do to work through some things after he'd been dropped back off at the ship.
"Well, that there's a bun in the oven!" Franky insisted.
Zoro turned from where he'd been about to hammer a board into place and furrowed his brow at Franky. "Bun in the oven?" he asked. "Who's baking what now? Isn't that the stupid cook's territory?"
"I should hope not!" Franky laughed. "Not with Helena anyway."
"Who said Helena would want to bake with the Love Cook?" Zoro snapped. "Is that supposed to be a euphemism?"
Franky raised his hands in front of himself defensively, dropping his tools. As he had his smaller pair of hands out at the same time, it put up double the wall against Zoro's anger. "Wait, bro, I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. Anyway, you brought up Sanji! I just said there's a bun in the oven"
Zoro let his glare linger a moment longer, then turned back to his work. "Helena's not much of a baker anyway," he conceded.
"I'm confused," Franky admitted, retrieving his hammer and nails.
"Welcome to the club," Zoro muttered. "What are we working on anyway? This doesn't look like damage to the ship. You building some kind of extension here?"
They had moved Nami's tangerine trees, Robin's small garden, and Usopp's factory branch for the time being. The two men knelt between neat piles of Adam wood 2x4s as a skeleton structure went up around the main mast.
Franky smiled. "Yeah, I'm raising the deck back here," he said, not turning from his work. "Building you and Helena and Kuina your own cabin. Looks like I picked a good spot too, since you're after the family way and all."
"Huh? What would location have to do with our family?"
Franky decided not to let Zoro's confusion bother him. He continued hammering as he spoke. "Well, you're close to the bathrooms for all those potty breaks. And I've got you right above the infirmary in case she needs Chopper. Not to mention the kitchen for those late night cravings. That's morning sickness she's been dealing with, huh? Hope it passes for her soon."
"She's been sick more than just in the morning," Zoro observed.
"Lucky for us, eh?"
This struck a nerve. Franky felt it though Zoro didn't say a word. The air grew uneasy between them, and for a long minute all that could be heard was the pounding of hammer on nails. Franky didn't like the tension. Choosing his words carefully, he let his hammer fall to his side and turned to his companion:
"Look, bro, I didn't mean to make light of what happened," he ventured. "We're all just glad Helena intervened, ok?"
Zoro lowered his hammer as well, but didn't turn. His back had tensed.
"I mean, you're not mad that your woman saved you, are you?" Franky prodded, his tone darkening a bit. "Cause if you can't respect a strong woman…"
"What?" Zoro snapped, turning now with real anger flashing in his storm gray eye.
"You're acting like you're mad she saved us."
"Because she shouldn't have had to!" Zoro exclaimed. "Of course she's strong enough to do it. That's not the point! She's just been through the most traumatic experience of her life, lost everything and everyone she cared about! She came to us to find safety. And within a week, we let her down."
Franky knew better than to try to interject. Zoro clearly needed to get this off of his chest. The normally sangfroid swordsman had risen to his feet, his voice growing louder with every sentence until he was shouting.
"The hell have the past two years been for?" he demanded, his volume clearly meant to draw the attention of any nearby crew members. "First thing in the New World, an island of non-combatants takes us out on our own ship? With flowers?! Is this really the crew that's going to make it to the One Piece? Is this what we've been training for?"
He turned to glare down at Luffy, who stared up at him from where he'd just poked his head out of the kitchen below.
"I could have been there for her when her kingdom burned. Maybe could have stopped it all from happening. But she sent me back here to be with you because she believed in what our Jolly Roger stands for," Zoro snapped. "She claimed there was no stronger political tie she could hope to form than with us. A lot of good we did her then, and a lot of good we're doing her now."
Luffy met his gaze steadily. "Zoro," he replied in an even tone. "Do you really think the Sword Princess came aboard the Thousand Sunny expecting it would be safe? Do you really think she'd want to sit around on her butt when there's a fight to win? Geez, I thought you knew her better than any of us. If anything could have done her good after what she's lost, isn't it winning something for once?"
"Don't you dare try and pretend that we did her some kind of favor," Zoro snarled down at him. "This is the New World, Luffy. We'd better shape up."
Luffy grinned at him and nodded. A complete acknowledgement that he'd messed up without saying a word. A moment later the captain had ducked back into the galley for a snack.
Franky let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. After all, Zoro was right. The shipwright had been afraid it might come to blows, but it seemed like the swordsman's anger was appeased for the time being.
Zoro picked up a hammer to start working again, and immediately punched a hole through the wall he'd been building.
"Oops," he deadpanned.
Maaaybe not so appeased after all.
"Ow! How about you go workout or something," Franky suggested, snatching the hammer from him. "I'll finish up here."