Chapter Text
The first thing Luffy awoke to was the soft glow of morning, warming his face and pulling him gently from his slumber. The sun prodded at his eyelids, way too bright to be coming through the little windows in guy’s quarters.
Something was off.
The sensations of his surroundings bombarded him all at once. Crying seagulls, crashing waves, the itch of grass underneath his skin; he was only getting more confused by the minute.
Did he sleepwalk and end up outside or something?
Luffy scrunched his face up tight, groaning at the ache that seemed to permeate his entire body. He fought a lotta people, so it made sense, but there was something else beneath the general ‘hurt’ feeling. Something hot, stirring in his veins, pressing against his skull.
“Hey, he’s waking up!”
“Is it Luffy?”
“Chopper—“
“On it!”
Luffy pushed himself off the deck to sit cross-legged, ignoring the way every bone in his body protested the action. He pouted a little. How much longer was it gonna take for him to get better anyway? To his surprise, multiple hands quickly found their way to him, holding him steady.
“Luffy!” Chopper cried, placing a cloven hoof against Luffy’s hand. He sounded really worried. He finally opened his eyes, wincing slightly as he adjusted to the light. Chopper made a soft noise when he did, but he didn’t give it too much thought.
“Hey Chopper…” Luffy began, furrowing his brow when he saw relief settle on the doctor’s face. Relieved sighs broke out from the rest of his crew at the same time, which really didn’t make the rubber man feel too much better.
Did something happen to him?
Luffy finally turned to look at everyone, only to find his crew hovering over him, matching Chopper's expression and watching him carefully. Franky was at his back with a large hand, while Robin had a hand on his shoulder.
It was like they all thought he’d fall over any minute. He opened his mouth to ask, but Chopper beat him to the punch.
“How do you feel?” Chopper questioned cautiously, taking the hoof off his hand to pull a few of his weird tools out from a bag. Normally his immediate response would be ‘hungry’, but now that he was thinking about it, it felt like he just ate. Did he sleepwalk and sleep-eat? Is that a thing?
He crossed his arms with a hard frown, closing his eyes again to try and really gauge how his body’s doing. There wasn’t too much to comment on, just the usual side effects you’d expect after taking down a strong opponent.
Then again, there was that weird feeling he couldn’t really place, like some kind of energy buzzing under his skin. It didn’t feel like anything dangerous though.
“Hmm…” Luffy hummed as he tried to find a good way to put that into words, lifting a hand to squeeze his temple between his fingers. When he touched his forehead, he winced instantly.
“Ow!”
As quickly as his fingers made contact, he pulled them back just as fast, staring at his hand like it’d just spoken to him. That wasn’t normal.
“Luffy?” Robin prodded, her hand tightening around his shoulder. He turned to look at her, then chopper, who paused when Luffy made a pained noise.
“My forehead's really hot.” He admitted, which led Chopper to panic and immediately jump onto his lap. He fought the urge to wince again as the reindeer did so. Chopper lifted a hoof to Luffy’s head, then he gasped, pulling it back quickly.
“What? What’s wrong with him?” Nami asked from his left.
“He’s got a bad fever!” The doctor basically shouted, turning back to Luffy with unshed tears in his eyes. His eyes widened in surprise.
He’s sick?
“Why didn’t you say anything!” Chopper scolded.
“A fever?” Luffy questioned slowly. Isn’t that what Nami had that one time? The word felt foreign in his mouth. “I’ve never had one of those before.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Usopp commented with a sigh, squatting into his field a view with a slight frown.
“Perhaps Nika has something to do with it?” Jinbei added. Luffy could only frown at that. Who’s Nika? Did he miss something? Why did no one wake him up?
Chopper shoved a thermometer in his mouth before he had the chance to ask. He huffed. None of this made any sense to him, and the longer he sat here, the weirder he began to feel.
“He was rather warm when I held his hand earlier. Too warm for human standards at least.”
Could someone turn the sun down a little bit? It shouldn’t be allowed to be so hot.
“Yohoho! If he truly is the Sun God, it wouldn’t be implausible!”
Water would be great too. Isn’t anyone else thirsty in this heat?
“Hey, uh, doesn’t Luffy look a little red?”
Hearing his name, Luffy blinked. Everyone felt so far away for some reason. Chopper removed the thermometer from his mouth, an action the rubber man barely registered, then shouted once he got a good look at it.
“107.1, that’s hyperpyrexia! He needs immediate medical attention!” The reindeer relayed with an uncharacteristic seriousness to his voice. “Someone carry him to the sickbay!”
“On it.” A voice answered. He vaguely recognized it as Zoro a few moments later.
“We also need to run a cold bath!”
“Consider it done!” Another voice, gruff. Jinbei?
Luffy shook his head aggressively, though the action left him reeling. He was only just starting to get better! There was no way he was going back on bedrest.
“..’m fine guys, really!” He tried to reassure, grabbing Chopper to set him down so he could stand up. He wobbled slightly to the side as he did so. He was able to stabilize himself before long.
“Woah there, Luffy-bro!” Franky said, rising with him, keeping his hands close. Luffy’s vision was swimming, but he kept himself steady as best he could. He just needed to eat something, then he’d feel better!
“Just gotta eat some meat..” He mumbled, staggering towards the kitchen. He cringed as his head started to throb and searing warmth began to flush his skin. Nami felt like this too? It really sucked.
“Idiot! Don’t push yourself!”
There was nothing to be worried about! He was almost..
“Someone catch him!”
Almost…
“Tres fleur!”
.
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.
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Light.
Everything was light, warm and bright and full. Whites and yellows filled his vision, overtaking him until he could see nothing else. It was like looking into the sun, only it didn’t hurt.
Even when he closed his eyes, it was still impossibly bright, seeping into his eyelids until the light was everything. Where was he? It felt like he was in some kind of limbo, floating aimlessly with no clear direction, unable to move.
I’m sorry…
A voice. It was loud, like they were speaking right into his head, but it wasn’t overwhelming. Strangely enough, the voice sounded eerily similar to his own voice. The sound was soothing, gentle, but carried a guilt Luffy didn’t like. What was there to be sorry for?
Without warning, an even brighter light came into his field of view, if that’s even possible. He would’ve expected it to blind him, but if anything, the light only eased Luffy’s aching body. The rubber man’s face relaxed without even realizing it was tense to begin with.
As his vision focused, he registered the light to be vaguely human-shaped. It was huge, towering over him enough to where he could only see the beings upper half. His whole body was the purest white he’d ever seen, standing out even against the brightness of the space, draped in various sheer robes with golden accents.
It was hard to tell where certain body parts began or ended on this guy. It was like he was made up of one giant cloud, wispy strands of white crashing right back against his form like the wild waves of an ocean storm. What looked like his hair cascaded upwards in a flame-like motion, and a halo-like trail of clouds enveloped his upper half.
The only color on the being fell right where his eyes would be, if he were human. Deep, swirling circles of blood red peered down at Luffy, flickering right alongside the rest of his body. Even without pupils, he could tell the being was looking right at him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He furrowed his brows, trying to mouth out words that just refused to take form. Some kind of devil fruit? But no matter how he thought about it, nothing about the light-guy screamed ‘enemy’.
You’re sick because of me…
The voice came again, guilt dripping from his words like freezing rain. The warmth of the space began to fade, leaving Luffy to shiver slightly.
What was he talking about? It wasn’t like you could make someone sick, right?
But,
The being blinked, or something similar, and suddenly the warmth returned at full force. The burning red lights curved upwards into an expression that told Luffy he was happy. He got a lot better at reading people’s expressions after Brook joined the crew.
Light-guy leaned forward towards Luffy, lifting both of his hands to gently cup his body. The fabric of his robes draped off the guy like waterfalls, ever-flowing, long enough that he couldn’t see the end of them.
He brought Luffy close to his face, and the warmth exuding from the being filled every crevice of Luffy’s body until it was all he knew. He relaxed into the touch almost instinctively, like the response had been ingrained into his body. Something like a sigh escaped the being.
I’m so glad you’re alive.
Luffy frowned at that. Why wouldn’t he be?
He couldn’t hold the expression for long, because soon enough he began to fade out of consciousness, eyelids drooping. The light only lulled him to sleep in its hold. He had so many questions, but eventually he relaxed into it without a fight.
I hope we’ll meet soon.
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.
“…part of his hair turned white!”
“There’s something else, too. His right eye is exhibiting partial heterochromia…”
“Which means what exactly?”
“Half of his iris is pink now.”
Luffy groaned, the voices of his crewmates bringing him back into the waking world. Literally everything ached, even though he wasn’t moving. The lights were too bright. The ship was too loud. Being sick was the worst.
He shuffled in place, but for some reason he was tucked so tightly into the gurney he could barely move. Luffy could feel the pool of sweat sticking uncomfortably to his skin, and yet he was shivering. Don’t they have any thicker blankets?
He turned his head slowly so it wouldn’t hurt as bad, but he still felt a kind of pressure press uncomfortably against the inside of his head. It looked like Chopper, Nami, and Zoro were in the room with him. His face softened almost instantly after seeing his friends.
Chopper turned to look at him shortly after Luffy began to stare, and nearly fell out of his seat when he noticed that the rubber man was awake. The others noticed Choppers reaction and turned just as quickly.
“Luffy!” They yelled at the same time.
The three of them immediately rushed to his side. It was a little too much happening at once for Luffy’s brain. He shut his eyes tight, trying to ease the pain, before opening it again to find them watching him carefully with furrowed brows. His lips curled into something like a frown.
“Wha’s wrong..?” He questioned. Luffy’s voice came out hoarse and somewhat breathy. He hated the way Nami winced after just hearing him talk. He didn’t wanna worry them like this. Zoro avoided his gaze, staring daggers into the floorboards.
A few seconds passed before Chopper hopped up onto a stool beside him, laying out a few tools to check up on him with.
“Your internal temperature got dangerously high, and you collapsed from hyperpyrexia. We gave you a cold bath to lower your temperature.” Chopper relayed gently. There was so much care in his voice.
Luffy smiled weakly. He really did find a good doctor. The reindeer lifted up a metal circle and pressed it against his chest, staying silent until he finished.
“You’ve been in and out of consciousness for a few hours, but this is the first time you’ve been lucid since this morning.”
That was a lot of words, and Luffy couldn’t understand half of them. He nodded slowly at the doctor like he got it completely.
“So.. it’s a mystery sickness.”
“Idiot!” Nami yelled suddenly. Her voice wavered slightly, like it usually did when she was about to cry. He looked at her questioningly, then glanced at Zoro, who was finally looking at him now. The swordsman only sighed.
“You could’ve died.” He answered solemnly, understanding the unspoken question. Luffy’s eyes widened. It was that bad?
“You’re stable now, thankfully.” Chopper said, his voice quieter now. “How are you feeling?”
He turned to Luffy with wide eyes and pursed lips, his professionalism from before abandoned in favor of his concern. He was talking to him as a friend now. Luffy laughed quietly, then proceeded to wince as the action shook his aching chest. Chopper hovered his hooves above Luffy, but he only smiled at him.
“Better now, thanks to you.”
That seemed to break the dam for the reindeer. He broke into a loud sob, gently throwing his arms around Luffy’s head. He leaned into the touch.
“We were so worried!” Hiccup. “Don’t scare us like that!”
“Got it.” He hummed softly. Talking took a lot out of him right now, more than he wanted to admit. How did it even get this bad? He furrowed his brows as he thought.
“What’s on your mind?” Nami asked. She seemed calmer now, which was good, but she was acting like he was gonna break if she pushed too hard. He frowned and mustered up the energy to ask.
“How… how did I even get sick?”
His crew shared a look with one another, which told Luffy right away that they knew something. Zoro shrugged before turning to face him. Luffy appreciated that he wasn’t keeping any secrets.
“There’s a guy possessing you. Apparently, he’s the Sun God.”
His jaw dropped. That was the last thing he expected to come out of Zoro’s mouth. Also, it didn’t really answer his question.
“…I’m possessed?” Luffy finally managed to sputter. Nami nodded from beside the swordsman. He was torn between finding that information really cool, or only kinda cool, since apparently the god possessing his body gave him this crappy fever.
“We all met him… glowing white hair and clothes, bright red eyes.”
Luffy inhaled sharply. That description. It sounded just like the light-guy from his dream! Kind of. Everything was still kinda blurry. All he could remember was that he was really bright and really warm.
“In a dream..” Luffy began before taking a moment to catch his breath. He couldn’t wait to be better so he could talk normally again, this sucked.
“I think I met him!”
“You met Nika?” Chopper asked.
Nika… that’s his name? The reindeer leaned in close, eyes twinkling as he stared at the captain. He didn’t seem very concerned about Nika, so maybe he shouldn’t be either!
“What’d he say?”
Luffy scrunched his face up as he tried to remember. It was a little too fuzzy to really make out. He was really sad at first, then really happy all of the sudden. The emotion that stuck out the most, though…
“Don’t remember... but he felt really guilty about something.”
“Probably about almost killing you.” Zoro spat. There was a venom to it that took Luffy aback.
“Zoro, I’m sure he didn’t mean to.” Nami tried to reason. Chopper nodded alongside her. Luffy tried to listen to the rest of their conversation, but exhaustion hit him like a sack of bricks, and his eyelids began to weigh heavily on him.
“You want me to blindly trust the manic ‘god’ possessing our captain?” Zoro questioned incredulously. “Yeah right. I wouldn’t rule anything out just yet.”
The room fell silent after that. It was pretty easy for Luffy to fall asleep at that point, despite the obvious tension in the room. When he finally passed out, Chopper was the first to notice.
“Luffy’s asleep…” He whispered. Nami smiled at that, stepping forward and leaning in to brush his bangs from his forehead.
“That’s good. He needs the rest.” She hummed. Zoro huffed a quiet laugh beside her, their previous tension gone as quickly as it came.
“I’m surprised he wasn’t thinking about food as soon as he woke up.”
The three of them broke into hushed laughter at that, trying their best to stay quiet so as to not wake their sleeping captain. Things felt normal again, if only for a moment.
The peace didn’t stay for long, however.
The room brightened suddenly, catching the attention of the three crewmates. They all turned to Luffy at once, only to find Nika in his place. The god sat up, pressing a hand against his forehead as white, flowing curls lapped around it.
“You!” Zoro barked.
Nika whipped his head around to face the swordsman, sheer panic written plainly across his face.
“Oh no.”