Survivors Guilt HIATUS

Chapter 33

Luffy didn't feel well. He had gone straight to bed after talking to Whitebeard last night, so why did he feel like he hadn't slept at all? It was also really, really hot, but he felt very cold. Was the room always this dark and quiet? He tried to use his Observation Haki to see where everyone was, but that only resulted in a massive headache and some nausea.

"Luffy?" The word was slurred and jumbled in the mess of quiet in the room. Who had said that? What did they say? Were they talking to him?

"Luffy!" The word was still slurred and nearly indecipherable, but the voice was higher than the last one.

He tried opening his eyes, but the light was way too bright and caused him to groan and roll over. He didn't get too far, though, because something prevented him from turning onto his stomach from his previous position on his left side. He did, however, manage to get the suffocatingly hot off of him, but it was quickly getting too cold to not shiver.

***

Zoro knew something was wrong when he woke up. It was just past six in the morning, too early for Zoro, so the only one who would be awake was the stupid cook. So why in the world had he woken up? A pained groan followed by light panting pulled the swordsman from his thoughts. Quickly sitting up, he scanned the room. It was mostly dark and Sanji was the only other person up.

"What are you doing up so early?" the blond asked. Morning was really the only time the two were remotely civil with each other. "Have a bad dream?"

Zoro ignored the slight patronizing tone the other had and instead stood from where he lay. "No, idiot. A bad feeling." He continued to ignore Sanji as he walked closer to where Usopp and Luffy were sleeping. "And I think I just found the source."

"What was that?" Sanji came closer to where Zoro was and looked at him strangely, "What're you-" he spotted Luffy and was frozen in place for a moment.

"Go get Nami." Zoro ordered. Sanji didn't protest. Now alone, he pushed Usopp out of the hammock he'd claimed.

"What the hell?" the sniper glared up angrily, "What was that for!"

"Luffy's sick."

It took a moment for the words to sink in. "Luffy's...sick?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"I don't know. Do I look like a doctor?"

Usopp wisely didn't answer. Instead, he quickly changed his clothes and retook his place beside Zoro, allowing the green haired man to get changed as well. A few minutes later, Sanji came back with Nami in tow. She was obviously not happy with being woken up this early, but that quickly changed when she spotted Luffy.

Being the only one on the ship with at least a bit of medical knowledge under her belt, the navigator told the boys to take their captain above deck. Honestly, she would much rather they moved him into her room because they lacked a proper medical room on the ship, but that was a problem to be dealt with later. For now, proper lighting was what she needed.

On deck, the boys had set up a cot against the cabin wall. Usopp was going to put it in the kitchen, but Sanji was adamantly against that idea. Sanji said to put it up on deck like Nami had said, but Zoro shot that down and they put him in a storage room for privacy. He was near the kitchen, so someone would be near - if not in the room with him - should any problems arise.

With their captain out of commission, Zoro took charge of the ship. Nothing changed except for the atmosphere. It was somber and everyone flinched at every little out-of-place thing. They'd only been a crew for a little over a month, so why did they all feel this unyielding loyalty to Luffy? No one had an answer.