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As the thousand Sunny made her way through the increasingly dark waters, the Strawhat pirate’s mood couldn‘t be better. After all the excitement of meeting again and getting chased by marines for the first tine in two years as well as experiencing the absolutely mind blowing start of their journey under the sea, they started settling down somewhat.
It still would be a couple of hours before reaching fishman island and since they were now so deep down, daylight was getting so sparse that it wasn‘t an option to watch the ocean life any longer, they decided to just relax and catch up for a bit. It was hard to say, which craziness they would be subjected to once they reached their destination, so they decided to make the best of the few calm hours they got until then.
All of them had their own tales to share, experiences, the rest of the crew hadn‘t been part of and everyone was desperate to know about.
While Zoro was occupying his favorite spot under the main mast, dozing away like he hadn‘t been away at all, and Luffy was still busy trying to catch glimpses of fish in the eternal night that was the deep sea, the other straw hats had sat down in a small circle on the soft grass on the main deck.
For the occasion, Sanji had gotten out some drinks and small snacks while Usopp had preceded to light a couple of lanterns, placing them in their middle and creating the illusion of a small bonfire which added greatly to the cozy atmosphere one would associate with an occasion like this.
Despite the excitement of a new adventure ahead, the mood was light and happy. They all had missed the other members of their group dearly and to be able to sit like this again was a dream come true for all of them.
It felt like old times, yet somehow different. Everyone had changed visibly. New clothes, hairstyles and the simple fact that they all were older now were of course the most obvious. They all seemed to carry themselves with more confidence as well, making the entire group radiate strength, they had severely lacked two years ago.
To no one’s surprise, Usopp dove right into detailed descriptions about his adventures, undoubtedly exaggerating immensely with each sentence.
“- And there I was surrounded by all those HUGE and deadly man eating plants, fighting for my life and bravely making my way through the dense jungle-”.
It was so much like old times, it was making the others laugh. Animated by their friends colorful description of his training and how he found tons of useful stuff to make into widely creative weapons, they could clearly imagine all the different scenarios vividly. It also felt good to know that not all of their time spend separated after facing Kuma had just been pain and suffering without exception. To hear their friend tell some of the more humorous parts of his time away greatly eased some of the worry and tension they all felt despite the light atmosphere.
“-And then, I finally defeated the king of the jungle and managed to make my way back to Sabaody, just in time to meet up with all of you again!” Grinning widely with sparkling eyes, their sniper seemed to dare them to question anything they had just been told. “So? What about you guys? I bet none of you can compare with the adventures of the great Usopp!”
“Yohoho, I myself managed to get quite famous after some minor inconveniences, though I must say, I have learned quite a bit though all of that.” Sipping his tea, their musician preceded to go into further detail about his time spent in a cage and about the people he’d met. After putting down his cup, he then started to delicately pluck the strings of his violin, creating a quiet and gentle tone, only adding further to the warm comfort, all of them took from this conversation. It wasn’t a song he’d played before, so it must have been something he picked up while away.
“Hm, that must have been quite rough.”
“Certainly my dear Robin, though it was also very interesting. I did manage to meet a lot of people over the span of those two years. Do you mind me asking where you have been? I’m sure all of us want to know.” While waiting for her answer, the musician continued to play a song so softly and delicately, it caused shivers to run down their spines with the sheer beauty of it. Their Captain really had picked out one hell of a musician.
“Not at all. You see, I have spend my time away with the revolutionary army, researching and training of course. They were quite the spirited bunch, so I definitely didn’t get bored while I was there.”
Now that seemed to have peaked everyone’s interest. “Wait, isn’t Luffy’s father the leader of those guys? Did you meet him? What’s he like?”
Usopp’s excited question was only answered with a faint smile and the kind of look Robin always got when she secretly enjoyed knowing things, no one else did. “I only met Dragon briefly, so I can’t really say much about him, I’m afraid.”
“Awww, come on, you must have at least learned something! He’s the most wanted man in the world! There must have been at least some rumors about him.”
“There sure were, though without definite proof, I would prefer not to spread any gossip or potential false information.”
Sensing that this wasn’t an argument he was going to win, Usopp turned his attention to Franky. “So, what about you? From the looks of it, you have definitely gotten more upgrades then you shared earlier, right?”
Thriving in the excited attention the cyborg received, especially from Usopp and Chopper, the large man proudly showed off his upgrades while sharing parts of his expeditions through different research facilities, managing to even hold Robin’s attention throughout his retelling of the highlights of his journey.
Next up was Chopper who was positively glowing as he told them about all the new medicine he’d learned about and how he could modify it so they would perfectly fit their needs, even while taking all their physical eccentricities into account.
The small reindeer had by now attached himself to Robin’s side, being obviously happy about the fact that his friends were all back together. The straw hat’s doctor had never been comfortable with being alone. And with his mostly timid nature, being flung into a new and unknown environment without any possibility to contact the rest of the crew and without knowing if they were alright, must have been absolutely terrifying for the youngest of the straw hats.
“You did such a good job Chopper, I’m really proud of you.”
“Ahhh, stop it Robin! How dare you try complimenting me! It’s not like I did this for you!” He was cuddling into the devil child’s side even more now, unable to suppress his happy smile as he did so while Robin gently petted his head.
After Sanji’s very short “I was in hell.” in terms of explanations, no one dared to question him about it. Something about his tone made it clear that he wouldn’t be sharing anything else.
Now, Nami was the only one left in their circle, who hadn’t told her story yet. When everyone stared at her expectantly, she sighed fondly and began her tale on how she’d landed among old meteorologists and had maxed out her knowledge about anything weather related after finally gaining their trust and respect, pride shining in her eyes as she recounted what she’d learned.
They continued like that for a little longer, each of them sharing more small details and funny stories as well as information about what they could do now, compared to two years ago.
The whole thing was having all of them feeling warm and comfortable, finally able to start closing the gaping holes that had formed in their hearts caused by their separation, their new experiences slowly but surely taking the place of uncertainty and worry, making them start to feel like those horribly long two years were now nothing more then a bad memory.
However, when most of the drinks had been emptied, it was remembered that two people still hadn’t partaken in the conversation.
“Oi, mosshead?! Did you manage to do anything productive over the last couple of years? Or have you just been been sleeping and drinking like you normally do?”
Knowing how the chef and the swordsman interacted, no one questioned Sanji’s wording on the matter. However when Zoro turned his head into their direction, the glare he shot the blond would have put a lesser man right into his grave.
“I was training, just as our Captain asked us to.”
Taken aback for a moment, Sanji needed a few seconds to find his voice again. “Eh? That’s all you’re gonna share? Useless as ever, apparently, some things never change.”
“Well, I didn’t hear you saying more then that either. Also, I’ll give that ‘Useless’ part right back to all of you.”
“WHAT?!” The good mood was now definitely ruined, as almost the entire crew stared at their swordsman with varying looks of hurt and outrage.
Finally moving, Zoro got up and walked over to their merry little group, a solemn look on his face, and for once not continuing to argue with Sanji, being completely serious. “We’ve all been fucking useless. We left our Captain to fend for himself during a damn war. So I will definitely not sit here and be proud of myself for that.”
Dead silence fell over the crew, their good mood completely gone. None of them had brought that up yet and to have it thrown into their faces like this hurt. The self loathing Zoro’s voice had carried was something, they all had become painfully familiar with over the last two years.
“We… we know but-…” Nami had gone pale and tears were shining in her eyes as she clenched her fists tightly in her lap.
Before she could say anything else, laughter could be heard, the sound striking them like a beam of sunshine on a rainy day. Apparently, Luffy had found something, he enjoyed enough to cause a reaction like that
“We will never fail him like that again.” Sanji was biting down on his cigarette harshly.
The entire group nodded, looking just as serious.
“So… you think he’s okay?” Usopp’s question was one, they had all asked themselves ever since news about Marineford had reached them after the war. “I mean, he seems okay and he’s still our Luffy, so he can’t be doing too bad, right?” The hope in his voice reminded them that even if two years had passed, some of them were still barely adults.
“You really think that?”
“Zoro, I-”
“He’s changed.”
“Huh?”
“You guys seriously haven’t noticed?”
“Well, he’s grown a bit and seems at least a little bit more mature, but that can be said about all of us. I haven’t noticed much of anything else, really.”
“I’m not talking about that. It’s just… his eyes are different. Also, don’t you think it’s weird that you’ve been sitting here, talking, laughing and eating without him being right in the middle of it? Have you ever known our Captain to ignore food or turn down company? I mean, we all only know more or less what’s been said in the newspapers about the war, right? And even from only that, it’s clear that it was absolute hell. What happened two years ago… I just don’t think that’s something one just gets over, you know? Even for someone like Luffy, there’s a breaking point.”
“You think we should talk to him about it?” Franky scratched his chin after a moment of silence, an unsure expression on his face. “I wouldn’t even know how to start that conversation. I don’t really want to remind him of all that, you know? Not SUPER at all”
“Franky is right. Since I have lost my fair share of comrades many years ago, I am painfully aware how hurtful it can be to relive memories like that. And since I never got to meet our dear Captain’s brother, I would probably be at a loss about what to say at all.”
“Yeah. Not exactly a topic to just drop randomly. Also, do we even have the right to ask about details? As mosshead already pointed out, we haven’t been there. We’ve failed our Captain and as such, have definitely no right to demand answers before he’s ready to share.”
Now, Nami looked more pissed then sad. “So you’re saying that because we weren’t there back then, we’re not allowed to be there for him if he needs something now? He’s not just our Captain, he’s our friend! And regardless of us thinking we wouldn’t need help, he’s still been there for all of us through everything we’ve been through so far. He’s never backed down, no matter how much we tried pushing him away. Not being there for him now is, in my opinion, just as bad as us not helping him with Ace two years ago.”
“You don’t think he’s mad at us, do you?” Tears were wetting Choppers fur as his shaking voice showed his uncertainty.
Surprisingly, it was Zoro who stepped in to reassure him. “Nah, it’s Luffy. He probably doesn’t even consider the possibility of putting any blame on us at all. He’s way to good of a person to do that.”
“But you do, don’t you, Zoro.” This wasn’t even formulated as a question, Robin was just stating the facts, as usual.
Rearranging his swords slightly, Zoro sat down, now facing them instead of watching their Captain. “We’ve all been weak. Too weak to handle ourselves and as such leaving Luffy to fend for himself through everything. I blame all of us. Not just you, not just me. Something like this can simply never happen again. If we fail him a second time like that, we won’t deserve our spot on this ship any longer.”
They all nodded, determination gleaming in their eyes strongly. Nothing more was said about the matter. There was no need, nothing more to be discussed about this. It was simply something they all agreed on.
“Hey guy’s, check this out!”
Suddenly, the cheerful voice of their Captain rang out loud and clear, drawing their attention like moths to a flame, completely lighting up the subdued mood, Zoro’s words had caused just now.
Behind Luffy, there was a large swarm of bio-luminescent jellyfish, lazily flowing through the inky waters. “Aren’t they cool? They’re so pretty!”
With a wide grin, Luffy was waving his arms in an effort to show off his find, his limbs bending and twisting inhumanly, looking every bit the childish Captain, they had all sworn their loyalty to back at the beginning of their journey. In this moment, it was hard to imagine that something bad had ever happened to him.
“They are definitely quite something, Captain.” Gracefully rising to her feet, Robin walked over to the excited pirate, starting an explanation about why they were glowing like that and how the animals of the deep sea were different from the ones living further up, closer to actual daylight.
Luffy would probably not understand even half of what she was telling him, but he still listened attentively, the smile never leaving his face. This was something that hadn’t changed at all. Their archaeologist's calm temperament worked well in balancing out Luffy’s lively nature. Sometimes, she would read to him and he would simply wind down and listen to her smooth voice, being more calm then at any other time during the day.
Robin was special like that. Even Zoro and Nami, who’d known Luffy the longest only got that subdued side of their captain when said pirate chose to take a nap while cuddling up to them, which happened very rarely. But with the devil child, Luffy seemed to find some sort of inner peace. She was able to explain things to him in a way, he would understand and even made time to entertain all his curiosity, whenever she could. It was really endearing to see the two of them like this, even though it made all the other straw hats quite jealous more often then not.
Once she was done, Robin gently took Luffy’s hand and moved back towards the group, leading him along as well.
“Why don’t you come and sit down with us, Captain? We were just catching up a bit. After all, it has been quite some time since we all have been together like this.”
“Sure, sounds fun! I’ve really missed all of you!” Luffy still smiled like the sun itself. His voice still held excitement beyond measure for even the smallest of things and his restless energy was still there. But now, the others actually paid closer attention and saw, whatever had freaked Zoro out about their Captain. Despite the sparkling happiness in his dark brown eyes, there were definitely shadows present that hadn’t been there before, carefully hidden, but not completely out of sight. Also, something about their leader seemed… more tense somehow, more alert, even while relaxed and fooling around.
Their Captain had definitely lost a large part of his childish views on the world, had learned caution through consequence in the most horrible way possible and generally seemed to carry himself differently. It was a real miracle, Zoro had been the only one who’d noticed right away. Because now, it was glaringly obvious, that Luffy had turned from a childish teen into a young adult who had learned the worlds horrors through pain and loss.
“How nice. So, we were just busy talking about, what we’ve been up to over the last two years. Do you have anything you want to share?”
And there it was. The thing Zoro had pointed out, the question they were all too afraid to ask.
For just a second, Luffy’s smile seemed to freeze somehow, a dark shadow passing through his eyes. Quickly, their Captain pulled his hat over his face, hiding his expression from view Then, he seemed to shake himself out of whatever that had been, his smile broadening, if possible, even more.
“Oh yeah! After I met Hammock and her friends, I went with old man Rayligh to train and he taught me lots of awesome stuff! And then I got to play with all those giant animals and eat a bunch of meat and when I got back to that bubble island we were all supposed to meet, there were those weird guys in costumes and I got to fight some marines, which was really fun as well!”
While Luffy continued to talk about giant tigers and Monkeys and so on, the crew was distracted by that giant scar now adorning their Captain’s chest. They’d of course seen it earlier already, with the way their leader was displaying it openly, but now, they had time to actually look for the first time ever since meeting up again.
It also hadn’t escaped them that Luffy had basically completely skipped everything that happened between their separation and before his training had started.
Out of all of them, Chopper, as their doctor, was most invested in examining that scar. The young reindeer seemed to completely ignore the ongoing conversation, his wide eyes roaming over the mutilated flesh in front of them, his face growing more and more serious with each passing second.
However, he managed to keep his mouth shut and his hooves to himself for the time being. Though once Luffy had finished his rather chaotic retelling of his training, he stepped into the middle of the group, clearing his throat in order to get everyone’s attention.
“Listen, everyone. I know we’re about to reach fishman island in a bit and there is still things to talk about, but as your doctor, I would very much like to go on and examine every one of you thoroughly. Two years is a long time and I need to know about any injuries or illnesses that might have occurred while we were separated in case any problems might arise from those in the future. And knowing all of you, I’ll probably have my work cut out for me. Also, I would like to get started right now so we can be done before reaching our destination.”
Ignoring the groans of his crew mates, Chopper mentioned for Nami to accompany him.
With her, Robin, Usopp and Brook, the exams went pretty quickly. Of course, they all did have at least a couple of small scars that definitely had not been there before, but at least, nothing hinted at any life threatening conditions, the straw hat’s doctor hadn’t been there to treat himself.
When Franky’s turn came up, Chopper needed a lot more time in order to catalogue every new modification in detail. Since he wasn’t a mechanic, he needed the cyborg to explain certain things to him in minuscule detail in order to make sure that he wouldn’t accidentally short circuit anything during treatment in case of emergency. He added all the new information to his chart on their shipwright, determined to draw up a detailed diagram of every cable and wire going through that large body for quick and easy referencing at a later date.
Once this was all done, Sanji was up next. The reindeer paid extra attention to the chef’s legs, which obviously had been through quite a bit over the last couple of years, though nothing that would hint at any chronic problems so far. The blond’s hands were, as always, in pristine condition as well, which was a great relief. Sanji prided himself on his skills as a chef and a severe injury to those elegant fingers would definitely make it that much harder to do his duty on the Sunny.
With Zoro, there were quite a few new scars to catalogue, especially the one over his eye was getting special attention. However when asked, Zoro refused to share any detail about the injury, just informing Chopper that it had happened during training and that he wasn’t bothered by it. And since after some tests, it was determined that their swordsman was still fully functional with only one eye, Chopper chose to leave the topic alone.
Collectively, there wasn’t much to report besides new scars and the occasional fracture that had long since healed. The entire crew seemed to be in to top fighting condition.
Finally calling over their Captain, who was the only one still left, Chopper could feel the other’s gazes boring into his back as he led their leader into the infirmary. Apparently, they were just as eager for information as he was.
The infirmary was relatively bare right now. He didn’t have much time to restock much of anything before their departure and he really hoped that what little supplies he had right now would suffice until he had a chance to produce new medicine and buy anything that may have expired ever since their forced separation.
“So, Chopper, how is everyone else doing? They’re all okay?”
For once, Luffy wasn’t smiling or fooling around. His face held a serious expression and right now, he looked every bit the Captain he was.
“Don’t worry, Luffy. They are okay. A couple of smaller scars for most of them, but nothing serious. Zoro’s eye was definitely the worst, bur since he doesn’t seem to have any difficulties with only one eye left, he should be fine. Whoever treated the original injury did a great job.”
Luffy seemed to relax slightly upon hearing this.
“Now, please take off your hat, your sandals and your shirt. I really should take a closer look at that scar of yours, but let’s do a general check up first, okay?”
After a short moment of hesitation, his current patient did as he was told before sitting on the edge of the infirmary cot and swinging his bare feet back and forth like a little kid.
“Good. Now I will do some standard tests, check your heart and lungs as well as your height and weight and take a closer look at anything else that might be of concern.”
Hopping onto the bed, his stethoscope clutched in between his hooves, he preceded to examine his Captain. On first glance, he could tell that there were definitely more scars, though nothing nearly as severe as the one on Luffy’s chest. Claw marks and spots where it looked like the young man had been impaled at some point were the worst of it. Of course there were more, bur those were only superficial ones that weren’t of much concern. He documented everything anyways. The most interesting ones he found were located on his Captain’s sides. It was difficult to tell what exactly had caused them and at first, Chopper had though it’d been an animal, but upon closer inspection, the clean, small punctures were way to symmetrical for that. Neat rows of four small white dots nestled right under Luffy’s ribs. If he didn’t know better, he’d say those looked like injection marks, through from a bunch of absurdly large needles.
There was obviously a lot, Luffy hadn’t told them.
Shaking off that thought for the time being, Chopper continued his exam by instructing Luffy to sit up straight and breathe deeply end evenly. Now putting on the stethoscope and gently placing the end on Luffy’s back, he concentrated first on the young pirate’s breathing.
“Okay Luffy, I want you to take deep and even breaths and move around as little as possible please.”
Generally, things sounded fine, even though there was something a little off. Usually, Luffy’s lungs expanded very easily and a bit further then humanly possible due to Luffy’s devil fruit, making his breathing pattern deeper and slower then their shipmate’s. Now though, things sounded closer to what a normal human’s breathing would sound like.
At this point, Chopper’s best guess was that the scar tissue on their Captain’s chest was causing some stiffness around Luffy’s lungs, making it harder to expand them beyond normal human limits. Writing this down, he moved in front of the future pirate king and placed the cold piece of metal right in the center of Luffy’s chest, on top of his heart. Strangely enough, he could feel the other tense up at that, almost flinching away from his touch.
This was worrisome. Luffy was normally a very tactile person. For him to show discomfort while touched was completely unheard of outside of a fight.
Gathering his thoughts and quieting them, the doctor now turned his attention to his captain’s heart. To his great relief, the organ was beating strongly end evenly. That relief however was short lived when he noticed that the rhythm, although healthy, had changed a bit as well. Putting his equipment to the side, Chopper wrote this down as well and made a decision.
“Luffy, can you please lay down on your back? I want to check something.”
“Okay.” The rubber man was being awfully quiet and cooperative, even though it was painfully obvious how uncomfortable this exam seemed to make him. His face lacked it’s usual carefree smile, he was flinching slightly whenever something touched his chest unexpectedly and a tenseness run through his whole body, completely unnatural for someone with his abilities.
Flopping down onto his back like only a rubber person could, Luffy made himself comfortable before looking up at Chopper expectantly.
“Everything good?” The smile now on Luffy’s face was the least sincere one, Chopper had ever seen on his Captain.
“Yes! I just want to check something. You see, your breathing and heartbeat are fine, though somehow a bit off from what they used to be so I need to make sure that all that scar tissue you have is not severely interfering with how your organs work.”
“Oh, no need for that, I’m fine!”
Shaking his head at his Captain’s blind optimism, the small doctor hopped onto Luffy’s stomach on order to get better access to that scar as well as to make sure Luffy didn’t try to make an escape before he was done.. “You’re probably right, I just need to make sure we’re not missing anything long term. Also, I’m going to have to touch your scar in order to examine you properly, so please tell me if anything hurts or feels off.”
With scar tissue like this, it was almost guaranteed to be either very sensitive, painful, or worst case, completely numb due to severe nerve damage.
After receiving an affirmative nod, Chopper started to carefully press his hooves into different spots on Luffy’s chest, trying to gently feel how deep exactly that scar ran. Starting at the edges, he slowly worked his way to the center, getting more and more horrified by the second. He’d expected the scarring to run deep, but not to this extend!
From what he could gather from his examination, basically the entire tissue lying underneath that x shaped mark was all scarring at least down to Luffy’s ribs and sternum in the least affected areas, with the worse ones, it ran even deeper, though with his rubber body, it was pretty difficult to discern the slightly tougher scar tissue and the flexible bones underneath, so he really couldn’t be certain how deep exactly just from this kind of exam. There also most definitely had been severe organ damage. With the placement and depth of the scar alone, that much was certain.
This however prompted another thing to think about. For scarring like this to form, the original injury must have been absolutely horrific. From the texture alone, he could tell that it had definitely been some sort of burn, though it was impossible to guess what had caused it exactly. But one thing was certain. Whatever it had been must have been worse then boiling liquid or normal flames. Those wouldn’t have gone this deep. He didn’t even want to imagine how much pain something like this must have caused.
He really didn’t want to cry right now, but he just couldn’t help the dampness spreading through the soft fur covering his face. He really hoped his captain didn’t notice, but no luck there. Luffy had always been super attuned to his friend’s emotions and now was no exception.
“I promise, I’m okay.” Gentle hands took his shaking hooves gently and held them steady before changing position and pulling the small reindeer onto a scarred chest, enveloping him in a warm hug.
“B-but I… those scars-.”
“That happened two years ago, it’s in the past. Someone took care of me back then, I’m still here and nothing will change that.”
Those words were reassurance as well as a request to let the topic be. Though, as a doctor, Chopper still needed to ask a few questions about it.
“Does it still hurt? Scars like this can be a bit difficult sometimes.”
“Nah, I’m good.” Now, Luffy’s signature smile was back.
“Does the scar give you any trouble with breathing or while using your devil fruit?”
“Hmmm, not anymore, no.”
“Okay, if you’re sure, then I will accept that. However, I do want you to tell me immediately, should that change. Also…” The next part was exactly what the others had discussed earlier. “If you… if you ever want or need to you know,…. Talk about what happened two years ago, I just want you to know that whatever you tell me will stay between you and me. Also, I’m sure the other’s wouldn’t mind listening either. “
With a gently pat on his head, Luffy smiled at him, though this time, it looked to be slightly forced again. “Sure! I know I can count on all of you. But like I said, I’m really doing great, so stop worrying!”
Accepting his loss for now, Chopper nodded. “Okay.”
“Anyways, are we done yet? I think I smell food and I’m really hungry! Sanji’s food is just the best and it’s been two years! I really can’t wait!”
“Ah, sorry, but I’m not done yet. I still need to take your height and weight.”
“Aww, but I’m hungry!”
Now smiling again, Chopper nodded. He was just relieved to see Luffy acting like himself again. “I’ll be quick about it, I promise.”
As promised, he hurried through the few tests still left, positively surprised with his findings. Luffy had gained a couple of centimeters and his weight was definitely better then expected. He’d also gained quite some defined muscles as well, making him look far more healthy then he’d done at any other point in their jurney. Apparently, Luffy had definitely been well cared for during the last couple of years. His captain was still lean, but not to a point where it got unhealthy, which always was a valid concern since that weird rubber body of his burned though calories at a rate that defied every logic there was.
“Okay, now we’re done, so you can go and bother Sanji for food.”
With the speed Luffy left the infirmary, Chopper could have sworn he’d teleported. Now left alone, the young reindeer felt absolutely drained. His imagination was running wild with scenarios and possibilities how each and every new scar on his crew mate's bodies had come to be, especially with their two strongest ones. He also realized that for all that Luffy was a terrible liar, he’d still managed to evade all questions concerning whatever had happened to him two years ago. Usually, Luffy wouldn’t hide things from them. Their captain was straight forward and wore his heart on his sleeve but apparently, this had changed. Luffy now held secrets he wasn’t willing to share with them, had lived through horrors, they couldn’t even imagine. And it wasn’t like the times they had found out something the young captain had simply forgotten to mention about himself. No. Luffy was actually hiding his thoughts and emotions from them and Chopper really didn’t like this at all.
Zoro had definitely been right. Luffy had changed. And probably more then any of them had thought possible up until now.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he barely noticed the knock on the still open door.
When he looked up, he was met by a single eye staring at him expectantly.
“Zoro, can I do anything for you?”
“Luffy doing okay?”
Taking a calming breath, Chopper hopped off the bed and walked towards the swordsman. “Yeah, he seems well enough. And that is all I can share, as you are well aware.”
Zoro obviously didn’t like that at all. “Oi, I ‘m not asking you to share anything personal, but with that scar, it is very unlikely that there isn’t anything wrong at all. Also, your face is wet, so you’ve been crying, haven’t ya? So just spill. I won’t tell the others.”
“Sh-shut up! I wasn’t crying, I was just… washing my face!”
“Whatever, just tell me.”
“Fine, but really, Luffy’s okay. It’s just… with that scar of his, I was just wondering about the original injury. I can only guess, but even if I do that optimistically, that injury must have very nearly killed him. He just mentioned that it’s fine since someone took care of it and that it was all in the past now, so I didn’t think it would have made a difference if I had asked anything else. I can’t even imagine how much an Injury like that must have hurt and that I wasn’t there to treat it feels absolutely horrible. I don’t even think I could have kept him alive through that at all, even if I had been there. Whoever treated that mess must be one amazing doctor.”
Zoro just looked at him, a strange expression in his eye. It was hard to tell if he was imagining his revenge on the one who’d hurt their Captain, or if he was planning how to eventually thank the one who’d saved him.
“Also… I offered to talk if he needed to and he just said that he was fine but… I think he was evading my questions and hiding things and he seemed almost scared when I touched his chest earlier and I just… why won’t he let me help?”
Now, he could once again feel moisture soaking his fur.
“You were right earlier, you know? He… he really is different from before. Even if he tries to hide it.”
Nodding, Zoro seemed to take a deep, calming breath. “Yeah, but we’ll figure things out. Also, I think he hasn’t changed where it really matters. Now, wash your face and let’s go eat.”
“O-okay. I guess we’ll just have to keep an eye on him, won’t we?”
“Yeah. Like I said earlier, we won’t fail him again.”