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RUMBLE!	By : TreeStar Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 7990 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 11
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- 13
RUMBLE!

12

Because We�re Bad Guys�

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The rather specific request by Luffy to visit the ship�s doctor was a little too convenient to be overlooked, and Zoro had to ask, �We can visit Chopper, sure. Is there a particular reason why?�

Luffy now leaned his head against Zoro�s imprisoned digit. �Last night, I felt the attack coming.�

Zoro nodded to show he was following.

Luffy took the encouragement. �And then this morning I had an attack again, but it wasn�t a bad one. Zoro, have you seen me have an attack in my sleep?�

Zoro shrugged, �No. You�ve slept pretty deep these last couple nights.�

Luffy nodded, then said, �What if that�s changing?�

Zoro closed his eyes. Tell me this isn�t happening. If he can�t even sleep soundly anymore, he�ll never get a break. Out loud he said, �What makes you think it�s changing?�

�I�m pretty sure that the attack is what woke me up this morning. Usually when I wake up, I�m really awake. But this time I was still tired and my eyes started hurting almost right away. What if my body can feel them coming when I sleep and it wakes me up?�

Zoro sighed and rested his hand on it�s side next to his captain, who crawled inside the little curl and leaned back into the palm while he waited for his best friend�s thoughts on the matter. Zoro looked at the vulnerable little sailor. He had so hoped that this wouldn�t happen. Luffy�s constant state of change made him so tired and emotional that, with each passing day, Luffy had naturally needed more rest for his body to manage.

After a moment, Zoro spoke his feelings on the subject. �Luffy� We�ve known this might happen for a while, but I hope your wrong.� His captain nodded with an expression that clearly said that he hoped the same thing. Zoro frowned a little and confirmed, �Still, I guess we�d better go tell Chopper now. After all, you know best, captain.� He smiled as best he could given the new circumstances, and swooped his hand a little so that Luffy fell backward into the palm he�d been leaning on. �C�mon, you.�

Luffy laughed and got comfortable as Zoro swung out of the hammock and headed up top.

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The tiniest pirate was a little thrown when Zoro moved straight for the storage room when they got up top instead of even try to see if the furry doctor could be anyplace else. �Where are we going?� he asked innocently.

Zoro gave him a slightly stern look, �You need to get cleaned up first before you let your crew see you, Captain.�

Blink blink. �Why?�

Now Zoro smiled a little, �You�ll see when you get in front of the mirror.� He entered without knocking, realizing his mistake in hindsight. Luckily, Nami wasn�t in the room at the time. Her cartography materials were spread across the entire big desk, though, as a giveaway that she could only be taking a break to let a layer of ink dry or something. The little table on the opposite side fo the room now held all of Chopper�s medicines that were �in the works�. There was a bowl of Rumbleballs covered in plastic wrap on said table. Zoro made a face at them as he walked.

Luffy frowned a little as Zoro crossed the crowded storage room, heading for the restroom at the other end of all the clutter. �But I wanna visit the others!�

�Luffy, trust me on this, okay? It won�t take long.� Zoro answered as he knocked on the bathroom door. No answer.

He pushed it open, closed it behind him, and set Luffy down on the countertop whereupon he began to right away try to stretch his head to see himself in the mirror.

Zoro watched his friend humorously. Luffy looked really weird. Like a bottle of Yoohoo or something. Luffy seemed to realize that he wasn�t getting a very good view of himself. Leastways, not good enough to see what Zoro was seeing. Plus his eyes were still a little blurry.

At least that was what Zoro assumed might have been a couple reasons that prompted Luffy to do what he did next, but honestly the little thing was so spastic that he might have �just felt like it� for no other reason than that.

Zoro watched as Luffy sort of tried to fly up to the mirror-rim like some kind of flying squirrel or something. He didn�t even rocket off anything. Just� jumped, with a little �HUP� noise. He almost made it, too. Luffy had never had a problem with undershooting his goals. If anything, he tended to soar about 100 yards past them.

So maybe he didn�t realize that he didn�t have the strength in his legs that he thought he had at the moment of decision, or perhaps the mirror�s reflection had morphed his distance-judgment, but Zoro had to catch him before he slammed into the sink nozzle.

Luffy smiled as he was boosted a little to his goal, �Thanks Zoro!�

Zoro thought nothing more of it. After all, miscalculations were usually the cause of Luffy�s fell-in-the-sea-again adventures, and Zoro supposed they could go both ways.

Luffy turned to see his reflection and saw right away what Zoro had been talking about. His eyes and a large area around both of them was very red and a little puffy. Streams of tears had left tracks that weren�t too dark, because he was pretty clean, but they were still noticeable to anyone who looked. His face felt hot, but he hadn�t realized�

He understood Zoro�s motive now as he heard his first mate turn on the sink below him. If any of the others had seen their captain like this, it would have discouraged them. All of those who hadn�t seen would have heard about it within minutes, and the results would have been predictable.

First results would be that they would all become, well, pissed that Zoro had done something wrong, probably. Then they would have assumed �attack� and become sympathetic and sad. That would last until dinner, where all those emotions would be directed at Luffy through their looks and worried suggestions to help.

A captain couldn�t appear weak like that in front of those who followed him. The first mate could barely be the only exception. Again, Luffy was so glad to have Zoro watching out for him like this.

The swordsman watched as Luffy looked at himself, smile fading. Luffy didn�t move for the longest time�

Finally he bit his lip and looked down at his feet for a moment, before turning to Zoro and saying, �Thank you.�

Zoro nodded and held his hand up to help a now more-serious Luffy down next to the sink that he�d filled. �Sure.�

The young captain slid out of Zoro�s palm and got down on his knees beside the sink. He dipped his hands into the cold water and splashed his face several times. The water ran down his arms and dripped off his face, down onto the front of his white hanky and red string.

�Zoro!�

Zoro looked down to see Luffy give him that mischievous smile, and suddenly his arms and shirt were splattered with water droplets.

Luffy laughed gaily and continued to splash Zoro. �Haha! I got you!�

Zoro looked at the munchkin who looked like he just had it made down there beside the water, and snorted. He slowly dipped two of his fingers in the water. Luffy giggled and started splashing Zoro�s hand like crazy. Zoro let him go to town like this for a couple seconds, then suddenly flicked his two fingers up out of the water.

The resulting wave was nothing impressive by our standards, but as Luffy stood there frozen, dripping wet from top to bottom, Zoro knew he�d gotten the job done.

�That wasn�t fair, Zoro!� Luffy proclaimed indignantly.

Zoro gave him a weird look, �Why not? I only used two fingers one time. You were using your whole arms over and over! Not fair my ass��

Luffy continued to look infuriated, �SO?�

Zoro ignored the little one�s protest, and picked him up unexpectedly.

�Woah, Zoro what- MURMPH!� Luffy testified as he was engulfed into a large towel and rolled in it to dry.

Zoro pretended to be very professional as he rolled Luffy around in the towel. It only took a few moments to get the small pirate laughing inanely. Once he had achieved his intent (which was not to get Luffy dry at all), he opened to towel to lift out the giggling imp and set him back on the wet counter to look him over.

�Your clothes are soaked,� Zoro observed.

�Not my fault!� Luffy laughed.

Zoro ignored this. �Hopefully you won�t get sick. That�s all you need right now.�

Luffy found this comment funny. �I never get sick, Zoro!�

�Not normally, you mean.� Zoro corrected, draining the sink.

�I�ll be fine,� Luffy wisely insisted, smile never fading. �I�ve decided.�

Zoro rolled his eyes and moved over to shift though the closet for a smaller towel. Can�t be helped, he thought to himself, He�s like this. Grabbing a thin towel that would have to suffice, the swordsman turned back to the counter, where Luffy was humming a tune and relieving himself in the sink.

He finished and Zoro dropped the towel on top of him. Luffy laughed as he crawled his way out and started to dry off as best he could.

Once he decided it was good enough, he smiled at Zoro. �Do we see Chopper now?�

�Yep.� The older of the two scooped up the younger and sat him on his shoulder to ride out of the bathroom where they were quite abruptly accosted by Nami.

�Where you two having fun in there, Luffy?�

Luffy kicked his feet out, �Yeah!�

Nami nodded, �Sounded like it. I hope for his sake that Zoro cleaned up the water you probably got everywhere.�

Zoro adopted and incredulous expression, �It wasn�t that bad! Damn��

�Nami?� Luffy called, inadvertently gaining her attention before she could ream out Zoro for leaving another mess around the ship for her to clean up because he seemed to hold some sort of belief that women were made to clean up after men and it ticked her off�

�What?� she asked, patiently.

Luffy started trying to stand up on Zoro�s shoulder to see better. �Is that the map your making?�

Nami nodded distractedly, watching in humor as Zoro tried not to instinctively reach up to help Luffy balance while in front of her. �Mm-hm.�

She watched Luffy sort of hop from one foot to the other a little bit, and smiled before she reached up without a word and scooped Luffy off of Zoro�s shoulder.

Zoro was surprised at the sudden move toward him and therefore did nothing to stop the motion. Luffy laughed and held onto her thumb as he got ready to ride with her over to the big desk.

Nami, however, paused. �Luffy, you�re soaked! Why are you so w- Did you fall in the toilet?� She held her captain away from herself a little, choosing to err on the side of caution.

Zoro snickered. �He�s fine, Nami.�

�Yeah,� Luffy fumed in outrage at the accusation that he was clumsy, �I didn�t fall into anything! Zoro splashed me for no reason at all.�

Now both Nami and Zoro were looking skeptically at him. �It�s true!�

Nami started laughing. She couldn�t help it! He was just so small and when he got all annoyed and bossy it was so cute!

Luffy pouted. �not fair. But he felt better as soon as Nami continued her way to the big desk.

She began to set him down on the wood. Once his feet touched, he got a short �Don�t run anywhere,� and was set free.

To say the map was big was an understatement. It was ginormously hugantic! Luffy took a couple steps toward it and stopped at the edge. �What is it?�

Nami looked at him offended, �It�s a MAP!�

�Of what?�

�It�s my fourth Grand Line map.�

Now Luffy looked up at her like she was totally in the dark. �Nami. Are you dumb? Why do you need so many of the same thing? It�s a waste of time!�

Zoro sat down against the wall. Wrong thing to say, Luffy.

Nami had to strongly refrain from slamming the irritating figurine into the desk upon which he pranced. �They aren�t the same map! This particular map is part of a chain voyage map. They all cover different parts of the Grand line. Different islands that we�ve been to. See?� She pointed at what looked to Luffy like a scribbly doodle, �That�s Long-Ring-Long Land. And all those dotted lines leaving it are where the Merry has sailed so far.�

Luffy bobbed around the map, interested. �Where are the other islands?�

Nami shrugged, �We haven�t been to them yet, right?�

�Oh. Right. When will we get to another island?�

Nami walked a few steps to the side and grabbed Buggy�s map, which she spread out and held to hover over her own. �Well, captain. This is about where we are now.� she pointed, �And THAT is the next island.�

�Woohoo!� Luffy cheered. �We�re really close, na Nami?�

Zoro had risen when she got out the map and was now looking at it as well. �Will we reach it before tonight, d�ya think?�

�I actually wanted to discuss that with you. We don�t have a super high chance of getting there before dark. I mean, if we�re gonna go for it anyway, I hope we get there early. It�ll be kind of a bother to have to weigh anchor right after it comes into view.�

Now Luffy looked up curiously again, �What do you mean �go for it anyway�? Why would that be a bother?�

�Well, we can�t sail at night. It�s not safe-�

�I know that.� Luffy interrupted, �But why would it be a bother to stay at sea another night? We have supplies.�

Nami rolled her eyes at her captain�s lack of knowledge. �Zoro, pass.�

Zoro picked up the answer. �When a foreign ship, especially one sporting a famous pirate mark, shows up on the horizon just before dark and stops there, what do you think the people that live on that island are going to think?�

Luffy held his chin in his deep thought pose, �Hmmmm. We would be inconvenienced. But I guess it can�t be helped, because we�re bad guys��

�Right,� Zoro continued upon seeing that Luffy was coming along, slowly but surely.

Nami came back in again, �I don�t know if the next island is inhabited or not, but it�s best to approach an island with caution with you being shrunk right now. We have enough supplies to last, yes, but our Log Pose needs to set. If they don�t let us dock, or worse, call in the marines, we�ll be in some trouble.�

�So�� Luffy was thinking hard now. �What do we do?�

Nami sat down in her chair. �You�re the captain, Captain.�

�Hmmm.� Luffy made his thinking sound again. �Let�s sail until we get there and not stop!�

Nami got a little exasperated, �Luffy, you just agreed that we can�t sail all night!�

�Yeah, but we don�t know! We might get there before night.�

�Luffy, I doubt it. The winds haven�t been on our side. So what if it doesn�t work?�

�There�s no guarantee that they�ll think we�re hostile, and you guys can still fight! I trust you all!�

Zoro smirked. �We know, Luffy. That�s not the problem. What I think Nami�s worried about is that the others might be tired by nightfall, and we don�t know what kind of welcome we�d receive.�

Luffy frowned a little at this. �What do you think, Zoro?�

Zoro shrugged, �I personally don�t care. It might be exciting to get attacked at night. Hasn�t happened for a while.�

�Yeah!� Luffy crowed.

�--But if we were to get attacked, we would all be up top. Sanji and I might even have to board another ship to fight. You wouldn�t be able to come with us, so it wouldn�t be fun for you.�

Luffy picked up on the implications in his friend�s tone. We might be separated for a long time. �Hmmmm.� Luffy noised again.

Zoro and Nami shared a quick smile. Luffy was acting as captain-y as he ever did on a good day, and both could tell it was genuine.

�We�ll drop early!�

Zoro and Nami looked back down at the sudden proclamation. �What?�

�Well,� Luffy started, �we know we�re close to the island, right? So we�ll just drop anchor early today and get there tomorrow for sure.�

Zoro nodded. Nami smiled, �Sounds like a good idea to me.�

Luffy nodded once. �Alright. I�ve decided.� That said, he turned toward his first mate and reached his arms up to grab Zoro�s shirt and slingshot himself back up to his shoulder.

�You guys going to see if lunch is ready?� Nami asked as Zoro headed toward the door again.

�We�re going to play with Chopper!� Luffy called back.

�He wants a check-up,� Zoro clarified as he reached up to help Luffy slide down against him.

�Have fun,� Nami said passively as she got her quill out to continue working before lunch was announced. �Tell Sanji-kun not to come down after me today. I�ll be up after I finish my work here.�

�Yeah,� Zoro answered.

�You�re map is pretty, Nami!� Luffy shouted back at her.

Nami put a hand on her hip and gave him a haughty expression. �Damn straight,� she returned the words he�d spoken to her in her village so long ago.

Luffy laughed, and Zoro closed the door behind them. I have the best navigator in the world!

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Not seeing Chopper anywhere in plain view, Zoro headed toward the galley to check for the furry doctor in there. He stopped outside the door when they both heard a foreign clunky sound.

Luffy turned to look at the door curiously. He could easily make out Usopp and Sanji�s voices being thrown back and forth inside.

�Luffy said it was okay for me to bring it in here!�

�That�s fine, but wait until after I finish lunch to work on it, then the galley will be all yours!�

�But this is an all-day thing and I want to start it now!�

�I can�t make food with that paint smell all over the place!�

�Sencho no meidei da!�

�Oh, nonono! First of all, the captain didn�t ORDER you specifically to take over the galley ten minutes into my making lunch. I was there, remember? So don�t you try to play a �captain�s orders� card on me. Secondly, this kitchen is still mine until Luffy does specifically say otherwise, and if I go and tell him that you�re Weird Thing is interfering with the preparation of HIS food, you know who�s side he�ll take.�

�I�m not in your way! I�m way over here, how am I in your way?�

�Usopp, I don�t care that you have it in here until you start working on it. I only mind that you�re trying to work on it right now, all over the galley, when I�ve designated it meal-making time.�

�When did you do that?�

�TEN months ago, where the hell have you been?�

�Okay okay! Geez, you�re pissy. I�ll be real quiet.�

�USOPP!�

Zoro looked down at Luffy. �Let�s look for Chopper in other places first.�

Luffy nodded, �Kay.�

The pair went to Aft deck and found Chopper laying on his tummy in the sun. Robin was petting him from where she sat at the table, enjoying her cup of coffee. The little reindeer looked to be in heaven.

�Hey Chopper,� Zoro said, walking up beside him. �Hate to interrupt, but Luffy wants a check-up.�

The little reindeer made one more happy noise before Robin let him go. Then he pushed himself up a little. �Right here?� he asked skeptically.

Zoro looked at Luffy questioningly. There was almost no wind today, but when if it picked up, Aft always felt it first. The captain hesitated.

�We can use my room,� Robin offered. Zoro didn�t need to ask how she just knew that every other room that Luffy could enter was taken.

�Okay.� Chopper led the way.

Robin had knocked on the door to warn Nami of their upcoming intrusion before the little Xoan was even down the steps, and they all came in together.

Nami didn�t look up when Chopper entered. He had to be able to get to his medical supplies with Luffy sick right now. She wasn�t phased when Robin entered behind him, no doubt going to get a book from their room. But when Zoro and Luffy followed her, she spoke up. �Woah, what�s going on? Is the whole ship coming in here, or what? You guys all know I�m working.�

Robin kept her answer simple and to the point, just like every other answer she ever gave. �Sencho-san needs Sen-san to look at him, so we�re going into our room.�

Nami didn�t see the sense here. �Why our room?�

�He needs to be inside doesn�t he? Cook-san and Nagahana-kun are fighting in the kitchen, and our bedroom is more comfortable than theirs.�

Nami promptly became exasperated and put her quill down to march for the door. She wasn�t upset at anyone in the room, they soon learned. �We agreed to a truce on his ship! I know he can�t smoke and we need to be patient, but he needs to stop picking fights with everyone who walks through the kitchen door!�

With no further explanation for her departure, Nami stomped out of the room with an obvious mission. This left the remainders to do as they liked, so Zoro raised the floor hatch and they continued downstairs to the girls� room.

Everyone got situated. Chopper sat on the floor, Robin in her chair with her mug (obviously content to listen in), and Zoro sat beside the bed. He put Luffy on the mattress, but much like on the first day, Luffy backed up until he felt himself bump Zoro�s arm, and then climbed over it to hide there.

It�s a new place to him, Zoro remembered, and quickly pulled his arm and Luffy in closer to himself before anyone noticed. He saw right away that Robin had openly observed their captain�s reaction, but Chopper was still getting seated and had not.

Once he was nice and close again, Luffy was casual again and took an authoritative stance.

�So what�s happened?� Chopper got the ball rolling.

�When is this gonna end?� Luffy totally disregarded his doctor�s inquiry with one of his own.

The fuzzy one looked a little troubled. �I did some calculations using the dosage amount and your normal body weight, and got it worked down to a total sum of hours. Then I divided that by your current estimated weight based on your size change to recalculate the cycle period in a normal human being of your stature. I got that figured to about 110 hours, 10 hours shy five full days. You�ve been in Rumble now for approximately 50 hours, so not even half the full grant.

�Here�s where I encounter the problem, though. Because you�re a Paramecia, who might I add has an extreme susceptibility to drugs of any kind in the first place, I�m positive that the Rumbeballs will stay in effect for longer than that. I just don�t know how much time that will be. If I had to estimate based on notations of your response time to medication prior to this, I would be willing to grant your particular case up to as much as an extra 50 hours.�

Zoro and Robin nodded in grim, but thoughtful understanding. In Luffy�s mind, crickets chirruped. �So when is this gonna end?� he repeated.

Chopper summarized grimly, �I can say that you have at least 60 more hours for sure. Beyond that, it�s anywhere from 1 to 50 more.�

Luffy stared blankly. �So when is this gonna end?�

Chopper appeared confused, and then annoyed after a moment, so Robin answered for him. �You�ll be in Rumble for at least three more days. Maybe even two days more after that.�

�That much longer?!� Luffy asked in shock, having done his math in no time.

Though he had expected Luffy�s reaction, Chopper looked more disappointed in himself after he�d gotten it. The little captain�s jaw was on the mattress beneath him. No one could blame him. That had to be a long time to someone so small. All the same, it wasn�t something to take blame for.

�That�s great work, Chopper.� Zoro nodded in his direction.

Chopper nodded, unconvinced. If only he could do more�

Robin tried to regain Luffy�s attention. �Sencho-san, was there something else you wanted to talk about?�

Luffy sagged in defeat for a moment, before he got into his thoughtful position (which rarely yielded usable results�), while Zoro grumbled �You didn�t have to come,� at Robin in the background.

�Will it keep getting worse until it ends?� Luffy spoke.

Chopper appeared confused by Luffy�s wording. �Keep getting worse? I don�t--� he sighed and decided to answer the question before asking his own again. �Okay, �worse� isn�t the right word to describe the condition in general. The strength of attacks will vary throughout the entire course, so some of those will be worse than others. But the only reason the whole condition would be feeling �worse� is if you�re starting to tune in on what the Rumbleballs are starting to do before they do it, because that would make it feel like they�re going deeper into your system. Then the effects will feel stronger. The same feelings came over me every time I learned each of my four other Points. Especially Brain Point. That one made me sick the first few times. So really the question here is: how has it felt stronger so far? Did you have another attack since last night?�

Luffy disregarded the second question. �I think I started to have an attack in my sleep.�

Chopper missed the dodge. Robin didn�t, but Zoro met her eyes and shook his head. She didn�t ask questions.

The baby Xoan nodded. �I had a feeling that was coming. I expected it before now, actually. You�re lucky it took so long.�

Zoro spoke up, �Is it caused by anything specific?�

Chopper shook his head. �It�s only the Rumbleballs going deeper into his system. I still don�t expect him to have as many problems when he�s sleeping because of his low activity level and BP, but they�ll strike after enough time between them passes, irregardless.�

Robin spoke up now, �Can anything be done about it?�

Chopper turned to her. �Well, all this really means is that he won�t be able to sleep for several hours at a time anymore. I might have to prescribe a different sleeping schedule than a simple �days and nights� layout. I don�t know what he would be best off with, though, because I don�t know enough about his condition��

Luffy regained the room�s focus. �I don�t want a different schedule. I want to sleep at the same time as everyone else so that I can be awake with them!�

Chopper tried to reason with him. �You don�t know how bad it could get, though. So let�s not rule it out yet, okay?�

Luffy pouted, arms akimbo. �Chopper, I�ll sleep when I get tired, and I�ll be awake when I�m not! That should be good enough.�

Chopper knew this conversation was getting them nowhere. �Alright. That was what I was going to suggest to begin with anyway.�

Luffy nodded, looking slightly more cheerful at hearing this.

Chopper nodded back, �But you really have to sleep when you get tired. You can�t force yourself to stay awake, okay, Luffy?�

Luffy smiled, �Okay!� �And Zoro knew that Luffy would struggle to stay up to the best of his ability just he had been so far. The only thing out of this talk that would stick with the rubber boy was that Chopper had agreed that Luffy�s current setup was okay. Which meant that Zoro was still going to have to fight tooth and nail to convince the little monkey to rest after his attacks.

Chopper was just starting to say that if things continued to get �worse� as Luffy called it, let him know the tomorrow at his daily check-up.

Nami opened the bedroom hatch to call down, �Lunch time, guys!�

This earned her a variety of acknowledgements ranging from grunts and nods to exuberant cheers. Chopper finished what he was saying and ran after Nami out of the room.

Everyone looked after where he had vanished for a moment, then Luffy heaved a sigh. �I don�t care what he says, it FEELS worse,� he grumbled. �There�s too many attacks, and the Rumbleballs make my brain hurt.� Sagging in defeat, he turned around to trudge five steps and flop face-first against Zoro�s shoulder. �Five days� That�s soooo long!�

Zoro couldn�t help but smile at the little one�s dramatics as he reached up to rub his back. �I don�t know what you expected. That�s not as bad as it could have been, though.�

�Mrmph.� Luffy noised his disagreement before plopping off of the large shoulder to roll on the bed. �He talks about �removing the problem� but the problem is that I ate a bunch of Rumbleballs. If he could remove that problem, he�d have done it my now. I don�t get what he�s looking for in all this.�

�Is that the reason you�re so hesitant to give Sen-san details?�

Luffy shrugged and rolled on his back to stare at the ceiling. �Chopper wants to know everything he can about every kind of attack I�ve had, but he can�t do anything to help me. Every time he learns something new, he gets his notes and asks questions. I don�t want to talk about any of those things he asked. I don�t have any answers. I just want this to be over with.�

Zoro was looking down at the floor. He hadn�t realized that Luffy had figured out Chopper�s real motive. But if it was making Luffy uncomfortable, then he would have to do something about it. He just hoped it wouldn�t make things difficult where Luffy was concerned.

Robin set her coffee cup down. �He�s too clinical, you mean?� she assisted.

Luffy propped himself up to at her, bewildered. �What?�

Robin smiled and changed subjects. �Is being in Rumble only interfering with you physically?� she asked.

��Huh?� Luffy said again.

�Since this happened, have you had a hard time focusing on decisions or sorting out your emotions?� she persisted, taking a chance at getting turned away by what she knew was an over-protective Zoro.

Said Zoro frowned, but Luffy just resettled on his back. He considered this, and his mind went back to the thought that had pestered him the night before.

There was a deeper reason that he had insisted on having Zoro with him so much. One that Zoro did not yet understand, though, and only Luffy was aware of it: He wanted it. Luffy wanted to be so close to someone that he was never out of their sight. He had a constant desire to be held and comforted from EVERTHING that was hurting him so much all the time. He wanted to need someone to this degree, and not just anyone would do. When Zoro held him -everything became so much better. And he craved the feeling that being close to Zoro gave him� which made him think that such a feeling meant that he craved his helplessness. His thoughts had become jumbled, and he didn�t understand why all his puzzle pieces didn�t fit if they had all come out of the same box. ��Sometimes.� he admitted.

Zoro�s protest stopped short at this answer. Luffy knew that his emotions were on the fritz? This was odd, because most people who were having emotional problems didn�t realize it. �What have you been thinking about that�s needed sorting out?� he asked, curiously.

Luffy bit his lip, and then rolled onto his side. It took Zoro a moment to figure out that his captain was actually blushing.

Why the hell would Luffy be blushing at something Robin said? The implications bothered him. Who the hell was this woman to show up on board without and invitation and mess around with his captain?! Luffy was obviously confused right now, and she had no right to mess with his mind when he was so fragile! Didn�t she have ANY respect for the chain of command? If Luffy had something to admit, it wouldn�t be to her. Zoro would make damn sure of that!

�C�mon, Luffy.� he said, as he gently helped Luffy get into his comfy position. �Let�s get food.�

Luffy was quiet for a moment upon climbing into Zoro�s hand, but upon meeting his swordsman�s smile, he sighed happily and hugged the big thumb for warmth. He could think his confusing thoughts later. For now they were going to eat! J

Zoro climbed the stairs out of the room.

Trailing behind them, Robin smiled mysteriously.

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RUMBLE!