This little chapter was inspired by a meme a dear friend of mine sent me, nothing too serious, just something fun and I hope that you will enjoy^^

P.S.: I just added the titels of the chapters but don't worry, no chapter is missing. It's just that chapter 10 exists twice (Zoro's and Mihawk's POV) and now I corrected the missing letter 11. Everything is till there ;-)

Vitals are fine

-Mihawk-

"There you are, come quickly!"

Irritated, he raised an eyebrow as Perona did not even wait for a reaction but slid back through the walls into the interior of the castle. It was not the strangest greeting he had experienced returning to Kuraigana, but it was strange enough to make him suspicious.

He had only been gone for a few days. He had been expecting Roronoa's return, but Mr. Koumyou's call had prompted him to travel. Kanan was unwell, not deadly serious, but Mihawk had been anxious to convince himself that she would recover.

She had been terribly embarrassed, and Mihawk had to admit that he could not remember ever seeing her sick, but the truth – which he would never openly admit – was that he had not found peace until he had spoken to her himself. He had stayed there for a few days, taking care of a few organizational tasks that Kanan would otherwise have done on his behalf. But at some point, she had sent him away, and he had been only too happy to comply.

Roronoa had been gone for over a month, in one of his typical cloak-and-dagger-manner, had woken Mihawk up in the middle of the night and told him he had to go. He had not asked, had not asked Roronoa to at least take Doctor Chopper or Nico Robin along, had known Roronoa would not do that.

A week ago, the newspaper had been filled with the chaos that Roronoa, his Captain, and the Sniper had caused in the East Blue. Presumably, the Chef and the Navigator had also been there, but had not been caught on camera.

He tore open the great double gate and stepped in. Perona was not there — neither physically nor spiritually — but three of her ghosts were present, showing him the way to the stairs, and he had a bad premonition. Roronoa had probably returned home before him, probably one or two days ago.

As he descended the steps to the bedrooms, he ordered the ghosts to fetch Doctor Chopper, and they sped away, but it was not the doctor who was awaiting him downstairs, but Perona, in physical form.

"What is the matter?" he asked directly, feeling the worry inside him.

"Something's wrong with him," she said, nodding to the first door of the hallway, Roronoa's room. "Arrived yesterday, without the others, totally worn down I tell you, hardly said a word. Went to his room and hasn't come out since."

"It is not uncommon for him to sleep late after a fight," he replied, not sure why she reacted that way, she should know this, she had known Roronoa long enough after all.

"He doesn't sleep." She looked at him. "Something's wrong, I'm telling you. He's holed up inside, doesn't drink, doesn't eat, hardly reacts to me when I talk to him, totally apathetic. I'm really worried, he doesn't look badly injured now – so no worse than usual – but something is fishy."

Her description caught his attention.

"What does Doctor Chopper say to that? Did he examine him?"

"He's not here!" Now he understood her concern. "Chopper and Robin left for the Sabaody Archipelago the day before yesterday to pick up Roshan. The plan was for them to come back tomorrow with the supply ship."

No wonder she was so upset. She was quick to worry when someone was hurt and had a hard time dealing with it when she was on her own.

"Did you call him?"

He did not ask her why she had not called him. The seas had the unfortunate property of becoming cumbersome when no one could use it. Due to the winter storms of the past few days, his transponder snails had probably had no reception, even if she had tried to reach him.

"I've told him, but they won't arrive sooner, and since Zorro doesn't have any obvious injuries..." She looked at him helplessly.

"All right." He walked past her. "Calm down and get back to your tasks. I will be taking over now."

The relief was written all over her face but did not quite displace the worry before she nodded and scurried away.

He braced himself for a moment, then entered. The room was gloomy, curtains drawn, the door to the bathroom was open, but there was no light there either. Strangely, the bed seemed empty, but a glance into the bathroom showed him no one was there either, but his senses could clearly perceive Roronoa.

Then he walked around the bed and there he saw him, huddled in a corner, a blanket pulled covering him, crouched down like a dying cat. Yes, Perona's words came to his mind.

"Hello, Roronoa."

He received no response.

Slowly, he stepped closer.

He had found Roronoa huddled together a few times before, back when he had been training him. However, he had always retreated to the bathroom when Eizen had led him by the strings, and he had not known how to handle it.

Those days were long gone, and Roronoa had not behaved like that ever since.

"What are you doing down there? Perona is worried about your strange behavior."

"Leave me alone."

No, he did not behave the same way he had back then. At that time, he had mostly holed up in the bathroom, sitting there absentmindedly, thinking about whatever, but now he was cowering in this sad position, his posture under the blanket was different, huddled as if he had to protect himself from light and eyes. At that time, Roronoa had not even noticed Mihawk most of the time, had been far away in his thoughts, now he pulled the blanket around him a little tighter, turned away, literally buried his body in himself.

It made no sense. According to the newspaper, there was no evidence that Roronoa had been subjected to a dangerous fight in which he could have been seriously injured. Still, his aura was worrisome.

"Are you hurt?"

He could not really see anything, because Roronoa had completely buried himself under his blanket, like a small child who was afraid of the dark.

"No, just leave me alone."

He had a hard time believing this. Perhaps his external wounds were negligible, but something was certainly wrong. Perona was right, this was worrying. Just as he was about to tear away the blanket and force Roronoa to show himself, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a ghost of Perona, waving at him urgently.

Reluctantly, he paused in his intention; there had to be a good reason why she dared to disturb him.

"As you wish, but I will check on you again later."

After a few steps, he stopped before walking out, shaking his head. Like a beast that had crawled into its cave to die.

Perona was not waiting for him outside of Roronoa's room, so he went back up the stairs and that was when he could feel it. No sooner had he reached the entrance hall than the gate on the other side opened and Doctor Chopper entered, followed by Nico Robin and the anxious-looking Roshan. Perona came hovering behind them.

"What's the matter?" asked Doctor Chopper bluntly, hurrying up to him, a rational haste in his voice peculiar to his profession. "How bad are his injuries?"

"I cannot say," he admitted, clearing the way to the bedrooms. "At first glance he seems unharmed, but his aura worries me. Seldom has his flow of energy been as erratic and weak as it is right now."

Alarmed, Doctor Chopper paused and stared at him, both well aware of the battles Roronoa had experienced. The next moment, the ship's doctor nodded and hurried on.

For a moment, Mihawk considered following him, but decided against it. Roronoa had a special relationship with the young doctor, and perhaps he would succeed in doing what Mihawk had been denied.

His gaze drifted to Nico Robin, who had just instructed the ashen Roshan to have tea with Perona in the kitchen.

"She's terribly worried," she said, giving Mihawk a smile. "It would be a shame to lose her teacher after such a short time."

"I do not share your sense of humor," he remarked dryly.

"You do not?" Her smile grew, then she sighed. "We were very lucky. Perona's call reached us just as we were saying goodbye to Jinbei. They had not yet dived, and his fleet brought us here as quickly as possible, or we would not have arrived until tomorrow at the earliest; the sea is very stormy at the moment."

This explained why he had not noticed them. In the depths of the sea, they had probably moved much faster than he had in the middle of the storm, and the masses of water had hidden them from his senses. It was also a bad habit of this island that the senses were always a little weaker and neglected.

With a nod, he accompanied her back down the stairs.

"The articles make me doubt serious injuries," she continued. "A disease, perhaps? Maybe like back then? Maybe he hasn't transformed for too long?"

"That would explain the erratic aura, but not this weakness. Perona is right, he is downright apathetic, like a horse, stuck in the mud and giving up."

She raised an eyebrow. "What an eccentric comparison." They stopped in the hallway.

"A horse that has given up dies," she continued thoughtfully. "The heartbeat slows down, breathing weakens, strength wanes; similar to cats, they withdraw from the herd and die alone. A peaceful death, sad but gentle."

"Roronoa is not a horse, he will not die," he replied coolly.

"Oh, I wasn't the one to make the comparison."

They looked at each other, but then the door opened, and Doctor Chopper came out, dried his hooves on a towel, and exhaled deeply, shaking his head slightly.

"Doctor..."

"It's all right, he's fine."

"But..."

The young doctor looked up at him and pursed his lips briefly.

"He apparently had a contest with Sanji and now he's depressed because he lost."

"... What?"

"He's hiding right now to lick his wounds. I think tomorrow morning at the latest, he'll come crawling out and start training again. There's no need to worry, as I said, his vitals are fine."