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Since today was a very mild and calm evening, it had been easily decided that there would be barbecue for dinner.
Sanji had set up a grill on the Sunny‘s lawn and everyone was now waiting for the coals to reach the right temperature to start preparing food over. Everyone besides the blond chef was scattered all over the deck, doing a variety of different activities. Nami was caring for her mikan trees, Robin was, to no one‘s surprise, reading. Franky was contempt with sitting on the grass and tinkering around with some screws and pieces of Metal. Brook was merrily playing one song after the other on his violin, Zoro was Napping a little ways of, Law had decided to do the same, although with far less success since he was still not used to the level of noise and movement constantly present onboard Monkey D. Luffy‘s ship.
Said pirate was currently busy playing a particularly wild game of tag with Usopp and Chopper, Using his devil fruit in order to move and jump around at definitely unsafe speeds, considering he couldn‘t swim and they were on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Seriously, one unexpectedly large wave or strong gust of wind and they’d need to fish their Captain out of the water again.
“Hey you three! If you manage to topple over the grill, I will roast you for dinner!“ Sanji was obviously not happy about his cooking being threatened as Luffy rocketed past the space e he‘d set everything up, way to close for comfort.
“Sorry Sanji!” With a wild giggle, their Captain swung himself up into the rafters, now munching on a piece of raw meat he’d snatched off their chef as he flew by just now
“Damn it, Luffy! How often do I need to tell you not to eat my ingredients?! Raw meat isn’t meant for human consumption!”
Unfazed by this, Luffy just grinned and swallowed his snack, before extending one arm and catapulting himself over to the other side of the ship in order to avoid Usopp, who now had started shooting harmless little projectiles at him in order to get him down so they could continue to play.
“Hey, no fair, Luffy! No devil fruit, while we play tag!”
“Sorry, can’t hear ya!”
“”Come on, I’ll even help you steal more food if you come down?!”
At that, Luffy stalled his movements for a moment, contemplating Usopp’s offer.
However, before he could say anything, the sound of a ladle hitting a head could be heard as Sanji made his displeasure at his supplies being used as a bargaining chip known. “No way in hell! Stop enabling him, you idiot!”
“S-sorry, Sanji.”
Now somewhat subdued, Usopp jogged a safe distance away from the angry blond, afraid he’d get hit again. However, when something fluffy tackled him to the ground, he started laughing again because of the tickling sensation Chopper’s fur caused all over his body.
Robin now laughed openly as well, putting down her book in order to be able to see her crew mate’s antics a bit better. She’d of course never openly participate in their childish games, but on some rare occasions had a randomly grown body part around the Sunny caused some surprising tuns in the younger crew member’s various games and activities.
She wasn’t a Strawhat for nothing after all. And enjoying to cause at least some mayhem once in a while was something the entire crew enjoyed, even though some of them would never admit this out loudly.
Nami had joined her by now, sitting in the lawn chair next to hers, watching their younger friends fooling around with a fond expression as well. In the background, Brook had now switched to his guitar playing a merry song, adding to the pleasant atmosphere even further.
Things continued like this for almost half an hour, before the grill was deemed ready to cook on.
Everyone cheered as the first large chunks of meet met the griddle with a satisfying sizzle and the heavenly aroma of spices and cooking meat filled the air.
By now, the guys had taken a break from their game of tag from hell, all three of them panting slightly while chugging water in order to properly re hydrate after running around for so long.
Franky had started putting something together that looked like a medium sized engine with some sort of spinning fan like thing on top. Except for the cyborg himself, none of them could even begin to understand what this particular device would be used for.
Everything was calm, nice and fun. Until it wasn’t.
Luffy, ever curious as he was, had laid down on the lawn next to Franky, fascinated with watching the large man’s set of tiny hands deftly put together another couple of bolts and pieces of scrap metal into a shape that looked like some kind of flower. Handing the finished piece over to their Captain with a smile, Franky looked absolutely contempt as Luffy rolled onto his back and held the small ornament into the air to inspect it with the same kind of concentration Nami had on her face when evaluating treasure.
“That’s awesome, Franky! It looks so sparkly.”
“Thanks bro, you can keep it if you’d like.”
“For real?”
“Sure man, I can even make you more once I have some left over material again.”
Laughing while further marveling at the delicate, yet sturdy piece of craftsmanship in his hands, Luffy nodded, basking in the presence of those he held dear. “Thanks!”
Walking backwards in order to get out of their dancing musician’s way, Usopp wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings as his feet caught on some wayward tool, Franky had lost sight of. For a second, it looked like all that was going to happen would be their sniper landing on his ass, giving everyone another reason to laugh. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
With a startled yelp, Usopp tried to hold onto anything that might break his fall, widely swiping his arms around like he was trying to imitate a windmill. And when he caught something, it was the most inadequate thing he could have grabbed on to.
With a loud crash, the grill was toppled faster then anyone had the chance to react.
All hell broke loose. Sanji cursed very colorfully, Zoro snapped awake from his nap, Franky jumped to his feet, as did Robin and Nami. Brook’s guitar screeched to a halt and Law and Chopper were both casting worried glances at the sniper, their medical training telling them to inspect for potential injuries rather sooner then later.
By now, parts of the lawn were on fire, where hot coal had met the relatively dry grass. The unpleasant smell of charred meat filled the air as barely grilled steaks were submerged in burning embers.
“HEY, we need water ASAP!” Franky was the first one to reach the railing with a bucket and a rope in order to draw seawater. That fire needed to be put out right away. Soon, Sanji and Brook were right beside him, all doing their best to haul excessive amounts of water over the railing and dumping them onto the decently sized fire that was still eating away at their formerly green and healthy patch of vegetation.
Thankfully, their efforts were rewarded rather quickly and they managed to put out the flames swiftly enough.
By now, Chopper had pulled Usopp a couple of meters away from it all and was frantically examining the sniper’s hand that had made contact with the grill earlier. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be burned too badly.
“You need to be more careful!”
“I know, I know. Sorry Chopper, everyone, I didn’t mean to ruin dinner like that.”
“Well, at least, your hand isn’t burned too badly. Give it a couple of days and it’ll be good as new again. I’ll give you some ointment and bandage it up.” Chopper’s fur was still ruffled from the scare he’d just gotten.
“Oi, Captain?”
It wasn’t Zoro calling out to Luffy that had everyone’s attention, but rather the urgent and slightly panicked tone, the swordsman had used. There was rarely anything, that could make Zoro this uneasy.
In all the chaos, they had totally lost sight of their leader.
Luffy was kneeling on the soaked and still smoking lawn, slightly curled into himself and unusually still.
“Luffy? Come on, say something!” Zoro was standing in front of the younger, having a firm grip on his shoulders and shaking him slightly in order to get some sort of reaction.
Everyone, even Law, moved towards the pair, definitely worried now, Usopp’s slightly burned palm momentarily forgotten.
Once gathered behind Zoro, they could clearly see why the man was close to panicking.
Luffy looked… definitely not right. He was protectively curled around his middle, face white as a sheet with sweat beating on his brow. The young pirate was breathing forcefully and way to quickly to be normal. The strong odor of burned rubber hung around Luffy like a dark cloud, piercing and nauseating. How none of them had noticed up until now was a mystery.
Moving his hand from his shoulders and instead grabbing at Luffy’s arms tightly, Zoro knelt down in front of him. “Here, let me see, I’m sure it’s nothing too bad and-”
The second his hand made contact even remotely close to Luffy’s torso, the younger man threw himself backwards with wild eyes, his breathing picking up even further before curling up even more tight, a desperate sound leaving his throat.
The swordsman looked now almost as panicked as their Captain.
“Zoro, what happened?!” Chopper’s gaze switched between Luffy and Zoro, trying to make sense of the situation.
Zoro looked almost terrified as he shook his head. “Fuck, I don’t know! After the fire was more or less put out, I found him like that!”
“Luffy?” Now Nami was slowly walking towards the clearly distressed pirate. “Hey, it’s okay. Just tell us what happened. Are you hurt?” She was just as scared as everyone else, but at least, the navigator managed to keep her voice soft and calm. Kneeling down in front of him, she gently reached out to touch him, just as Zoro had done. This time, Luffy didn’t react at all as she gently started stroking his arm. “Hey, look at me please?”
He didn’t. Instead, he just started shaking violently.
It was obvious how much this hurt Nami. Everyone knew that Luffy was like a younger brother to her and seeing him like this absolutely broke her heart.
When Zoro moved to follow her example and rejoin the effort of getting Luffy out of whatever was happening, he was suddenly stopped by a surprisingly strong grip on his shoulder.
Snarling and with a deadly glare in his eye, the swordsman stared at Law, who was looking at him wholly unimpressed. “What?!”
“Stay back, you’re not helping.”
“Piss of, I-”
“Navigator-ya as well, don’t touch him and stay back.”
“Whahh...He clearly needs help! I won’t leave him like this!” Nami sounded absolutely furious. Her entire posture indicating that she was moments away from charging at the other Captain.
Law, calm as ever, nodded, impatience gleaming in his steely eyes. “That’s exactly why you need to back off. What you’re doing isn’t helping.”
“Oh? And you know what to do?” Her voice might as well have bee poison itself with how dangerous she sounded right now, kneeling in front of their Captain, ready to strike whoever might want to hurt him, momentarily forgetting their alliance.
“In fact, I do. I have seen him like this before and know what to do to help. This isn’t healthy for him and we need to calm him down rather sooner then later, before he hurts himself.”
Not waiting for a reply, the heart pirate’s Captain moved past both swordsman and navigator, who’d reluctantly moved away from Luffy enough for the allied pirate to get close.
The strawhats watched with baited breath as Law sat down in front of their friend, laying down his sword on the deck next to them, before starting to speak calmly and quietly to Luffy, surprising the others with how gentle he sounded.
“Luffy-ya?” Right now, he wasn’t a pirate Captain talking to another, but a doctor trying to calm his panicking patient. “Zoro-ya and Nami-ya are worried, so are the others. Can you please let me know what’s happening?”
Instead of an answer, Luffy seemed to curl in on himself even further while clawing at his chest desperately.
Taking his sword, Law used one ‘room’ in order to quickly scan his fellow Captain, quickly finding what had caused this unexpected thing.
Cursing, Law dropped his powers and turned to Chopper. “Tony-ya? Do you have an anesthetic strong enough to knock him out quickly?“
Startled, Chopper bristled as the sheer suggestion of drugging his Captain. “WHAT? You said you knew how to help! And now you suggest drugging him?!”
“He’s panicking because his scar got hit with a couple of burning coals from that grill! He-”
“T-tora-o…?”
Just by looking at him, it was clear that Luffy still wasn’t back in the present. His eyes were looking at something, only he could see, wide with terror and pain.
“Luffy-ya?” turning back to the other Captain, Law quickly resumed his position in front of the Strawhat.
“Whe-ere is… A-”
“Shshhh, Luffy-ya, none of that, please look at me. Just relax and follow my voice. It’s okay, you’re on the Sunny, I am here, so is your crew. You’re safe and everyone else is too.”
He continued like this until Luffy’s eyes seemed to at least register him somewhat, sluggishly following his movements while his breathing slowly but surely started to go back to a somewhat normal rhythm again.
“That’s right, you’re doing good. Can you move? Just give me your hands.” For a moment, they feared that it wouldn’t work, that Luffy would stay in whatever nightmare he was trapped in right now. But to everyone’s great relief, heavily shaking hands were slowly pulled away from scarred and now freshly burned skin before being placed into Law’s slightly larger ones.
“You’re doing great, now try to slow down your breathing a bit more for me, okay? Just follow my example.” Breathing deeply and slowly while simultaneously rubbing slow circles into Luffy’s palms with his thumbs, he didn’t say anything else for a couple of minutes, only focusing on getting his patient’s breathing back to normal. While he was at it, he focused his eyes on the cause for all of this.
On Luffy’s scarred chest, there were multiple spots that looked like second and third degree burns, undoubtedly caused by pieces of burning coal that had rained down on the unsuspecting pirate Captain, certainly triggering some kind of flashback episode to the time he’d been wounded in the war.
“Luffy-ya?”
“Hmmh”
Well, better then before, but not quite there yet.”Can you tell me where you are right now?”
After a moment of silence… “Ship?”
“Right, we are on your ship.”
“...Mine? Not yours, Torao?”
“Yes, yours. Just listen. You can hear the waves and the wind, can’t you? There was an accident and you got hurt. Your crew is here as well and they are worried about you.”
“Home?” Now, Luffy seemed to actively listen to him.
“Yes, yes you’re home.”
Finally, some on the tension seemed to leave Luffy’s back as the rubber man uncurled himself a bit, looking around himself, still pale and with an unsure expression on his face, as if he still wasn’t convinced fully.
When he finally laid eyes on his friends, reality seemed to finally sink in. Zoro and Nami were still standing close by, while the others were clomped together and watching them wearily, unsure if they could do anything at all.
“I… I see, thanks Torao, I’m okay now.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I...-” However, before Luffy could continue, a small gust of wind brought over the scent of burned meat, sharp and bitter, unpleasant and impossible to miss.
Without much warning. Luffy quickly twisted around, before starting to retch violently onto the deck, vomiting up the bits of food, he’d manged to snag from Sanji earlier.
“Luffy!”
“Captain?!”
“Fuck, what’s wrong with him?”
Now, everyone was advancing on their position, threatening to crown around the ailing young man as he desperately gasped for breath, one hand again clutching at his burns tightly, undoubtedly causing more pain then anything else like that.
“Hey, stop that, You’re hurting yourself!”
This time, Law didn’t manage to send the straw heats away, Zoro and Nami were already on either side of their Captain, while Franky and Usopp hovered over them nervously. Brook and Robin were the only two, who seemed to understand that giving their Captain space right now was the best thing to do for the time being.
“I-I’m fine guys, really, I just need a moment…”
“Are you sure Captain? You look ready to fall over.”
“Zoro’s right Luffy, you’re really pale. Do you still feel sick?”
“Really, I’m okay Nami, I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“Don’t scare us like that, shitty Captain.”
“Sorry Sanji.”
“Just don’t do it again.”
They were all tense, none of them really understanding what had just happened, but reacting to their hurting Captain none the less in a very protective manner.
It didn’t escape anyone, that Luffy still shied away from being touched and that the smile he now had forced onto his face looked more like a pained grimace than anything else.
On shaky legs, the young Captain used the nearest railing to pull himself up onto his feet, swaying slightly, before stumbling his way towards the door that lead into the bowels of the ship.
“Wha… Luffy, wait! I need to treat those burns!” Scrambling after the retreating form of their leader, Chopper continued to fret over Luffy, rambling on about slaves and ointment and so on.
When both were gone, silence fell over the Sunny’s deck. The remaining pirate crew looked at Law, silently demanding answers.
The heart Pirate’s Captain sighed, resigning himself to the upcoming conversation since at this point, it would be unavoidable.
“So, Torao-san, why don’t you tell us what all this was about?” For all her elegance, it was still very obvious, why Nico Robin was called a demon child out of all things. “If there is something wrong with our Captain, we’d really appreciate some information.”
The green haired swordsman nodded, grip tightening around the hilt of one of his weapons. “Talk.”
“Fine. But I won’t give you any details since this isn’t really my story to tell, now is it?” His voice had turned into an annoyed hiss. “Your Captain wasn’t particularly well after the war, as you are aware by now. My theory is that what just happened triggered the memories of getting injured back then, resulting in him basically thinking he was back there for a moment, thus ending in a panic attack. I’m sure the smell of burning meat wasn’t very helpful either.”
Getting up and turning away, Law decided that this would have to suffice for now. He was a doctor first and foremost and saying more wouldn’t be right. “Just make sure to keep him away from fire in the future.”
With those parting words, he went to the room Luffy had so generously allowed him to use, leaving the rival pirate crew looking even more confused then before. Those idiots. Had they really though that Luffy had only gotten away with that famous scar of his? Something like this didn’t happen without some sort of trauma attached.
Flopping down onto the bed after making sure the door was locked, Law started to wonder. Even though this certainly had been very unlucky and unlikely circumstances, he now had definite proof that his current partner wasn’t as well as he’d claimed to be a couple of days prior.
Now, the only question that remained was, what else Luffy was hiding. Was getting burned the only thing they needed to watch out for or were there other triggers that could potentially endanger their mission? If something like earlier happened in the middle of battle, they’d be screwed.
He’d need to keep an even closer eye on the younger man. It would be absolutely disastrous, if he missed something here.
Also, deep down, he had to accept the fact that he really wanted to help his partner and hated seeing the lively pirate reduced to a shaking and whimpering mess because of some minor thing.