In which I write a long one-shot at midnight.

Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any related characters)

The first thing that comes to Luffy's senses is the rough sensation rubbing against every bare section of skin on him. The second thing is that there is a lot of bare skin. His shorts and shirt as far as he can feel are tattered and ripped and yet he can't will himself to actually look .

His head is pounding. Face burning. Lungs struggling. Entire body feeling like it's a thousand pounds heavier than normal.

He can't remember what happened. Can't recall why he is here instead of... there . Yet he can't quite think of what there is. What is his there and why does he feel restless to get back to it.

Every memory— every part of himself—every instinct seems to have vanished along with any desire to move.

So he just lays where he is, fading back off into darkness.

Maybe it was the adrenaline from the battle, or maybe it was the anger coursing through his veins. Whichever— Usopp held his aim directly at the pirate's head as he seethed with fury at what he was witnessing.

Luffy's energy had been worn thin— as it always is after battling a tough opponent, and one of the few weak stragglers that had managed to avoid Sanji and Zoro's rampage on the deck of their ship took advantage of that like a coward. He had their captain in a neck hold; knife pressed against his throat hard enough to draw blood.

He was a weak enemy, but Luffy was already weakened and struggled to simply stay on his feet.

Usopp found his captain's gaze and held it firmly. If Luffy was a normal person living a normal life with normal people, then maybe the young captain would have enough sense to possibly look a bit scared. Usopp wouldn't blame him for being scared, but this was Luffy…

And as Luffy, the only thing Usopp gets as a sign is a nodding of the head in his direction. Not a wink of fear laces Luffy's eyes, and not a bit of worry as he calmly watches Usopp prepare to fire.

Just an inch to the right of Luffy's head— that small space. No room for errors.

Usopp fires with with two types of ammunition.

A small, sharp pebble that will more than finish the job.

And Luffy's trust.

"Usopp, move!" Luffy shouts just as he stretches his arm and knocks away two of the ruffians who had tried to attack the sniper from behind.

No one else can spare the act any glances as they're overcome with their own enemies— and that's precisely why one of their opponents successfully get behind Luffy during his efforts to rescue Usopp.

The next and last thing Luffy can can recall is every color being smashed out of his sight with such force that he is forced to succumb to the dizziness and fall to his knees. His head feels like it's trying to split in two and he knows that this should be more concerning considering what he's physically made out of. But he doesn't think of that.

He only listens to the screams and startled cries from people he knows he should recognize the voices of. The distraught anger in them is enough to tell him how close he must be with their owners.

But he doesn't.

He only lets them glide over him like the air does when he falls.

He never hits the ground. Just more air— air all around him. Air— and then none as it's consumed by water and he's consumed by blackness.

The memory comes back to him with full force. The voices. The sensations. Everything.

Yet, he finds himself unable to think of much more after that.

He had wanted to make some sort of side-cannon for the ship. Something on deck that could be fired easily if they were being approached from the side.

Simple. Something that should've taken him an hour at the most. And then they were attacked, and the jerk of the haul at the impact of the enemy vessel making contact with Sunny messed everything up and Franky knew that it'd be a pain to fix.

He helped finish with the enemy pirates quickly before going back down to see the damage. As he had figured, the interior became twisted and malformed under the sudden jerk of his welding instruments moments before.

Franky growled, dragging the cannon up to the deck.

He burst through the door, sunlight reflecting off of his various metal parts, "Usopp-bro, you wanna do anything with this?"

Usopp's gaze drifted towards him from where he sat next to Luffy on the railing— fishing lines in place. It took Luffy only a moment after to look over to the canon himself.

The young captain's eyes immediately turned to stars, face splitting into a gawking smile as he left his fishing pole behind and came to investigate. Franky paid him no heed as Luffy poked and prodded at the failed creation.

"You could use it for scrap metal or whatever," Franky tried again, but Usopp only shrugged with an unsure grimace in place.

"Wait," Luffy cried from where he was staring into the muzzle of the canon and looked up into Franky's eyes, "You're destroying it?"

Franky didn't even have time to explain why before Luffy took to pouting on the floor of the deck, "But, it's so cool…"

Franky's baffled, glancing at the twisted and useless creation laid out by his feet. Looking at it and then looking at his previously excited captain suddenly had Franky changing his plans.

"I guess I could try to fix it, but it might not—"

"Whatever you make will be perfect— as always!" Luffy cried happily, becoming distracted at the sight of his fishing pole beginning to get tugged over the railing. He abandoned the conversation to take care of the monster on the other end of his fishing line, but left an awestruck Franky behind in the dust.

A flustered smile spread across his face before he's dragging the broken canon back down to his workshop without another word.

Franky had pride in most everything he created. Even messed up things such as what had been sitting in front of him. But, by now, Franky figured, he should understand the very simple rule about his captain:

Luffy's pride in everything his nakama did had no competition.

Rain falls down on him like bullets. They clatter against his abused head and tear apart at his sunburnt flesh.

He realizes that his legs feel like their inside something other than air. Something cold and something that only partially protects him against the sharp rain cutting into him.

He shivers.

He waits.

For what, he's unsure. All he knows is that his only intact instinct is knowing that something will come for him.

And so he waits.

"No!'

Everyone couldn't help but smirk at Sanji's rage, glancing between him and Usopp as they were going over the plan. It had been four days since they docked, had been typically disgusted with the atmosphere of the World Government's presence on the island, and decided to act on their distaste. Four days of planning. Four days of piecing the plan together perfectly.

Usopp blinked at the unexpected outburst, seeing in the distance the chance of all their hard work on planning crumbling beneath their feet, "Sanji, Robin's the best choice to go in! She can silently knock out anyone who sees her. We need stealth—"

"Robin-chwan is not going in there alone, you idiot!"

Robin smiled in mild humor, watching the interaction continue with Sanji becoming more exuberant with his outrage. Usopp didn't back down though and before any of them knew it, there was a light scuffle occurring.

Robin chuckled lightly at their antics.

"Don't worry, Robin!"

She became startled at the sudden voice beside her, blinking as Luffy's smile became the focal point of her attention. He gestured carelessly at Sanji choking Usopp on the ground, "I'll protect you if anything happens."

Robin stared with all the calmness she had, not surprised by her captain's announcement, "I know."

And she does. Just as the wind blows and the grass is green— her captain will keep her safe.

The rain stops eventually, calming into a blazing sun that couples with the previously fallen rain to create a humidity like no other.

He's hot and cold at the exact same time, shivering but sweating fervently into the roughness against his back. He wants to curl up— wants to sprawl out in an awkward position and snore and fade away into nothingness again. But, despite his sapped energy— despite the eyes that are forced shut by the unbearably bright sun— , he can't help but stay awake.

The squeel probably could have been heard from every building in the entire town.

It wasn't uncommon for people to react oddly when they saw Chopper. Devil Fruits, despite what their crew saw constantly, were not common by any means. They were things of legend and many didn't even believe of their existence.

So seeing Chopper, an unrecognizable creature that can speak perfectly, suddenly walk into a small shop elicited profound reactions from the townspeople inside.

"What is that thing?" The woman screamed, scooting herself frantically up onto the clerk's checkout counter. The attention of every other customer in the shop was caught, and all their eyes were suddenly locked onto Chopper's feeble form. They gaped in frightened shock.

Chopper silently reached over to hold onto Luffy's leg, peering downward in embarrassment or overwhelming uneasiness— or maybe a mix of the two.

Sanji grumbled some profantic mockeries about the shoppers before heading to gather the supplies they needed. The sooner they got out of there, he figured, the sooner the townspeople could stop gawking at their young doctor.

Luffy watched the reactions with squinted and uncertain eyes, mumbling out a confused, "Heh?"

The lady that had started the mayhem in the store spoke, " That ," she said, waving an accusing finger at Chopper, "What is it?"

Luffy followed her motions and smiled proudly, setting his hands on his hips, "That's Chopper."

"Chopper?" A man near to where Sanji was vehemently inspecting some fresh produce mumbled, "What's a 'Chopper'?"

"He's my doctor," Luffy said simply.

The customers murmured amongst themselves, gaze still glued to Chopper's cowering form and hushed voices laced with venom.

Luffy snapped his fingers unexpectedly, gathering the other shoppers' attention again, "Oh! And he's my nakama!"

The townspeople gaped even wider and said nothing else.

Even after Sanji explained to Luffy what had been happening in the store because of his daftness towards such simple things, Luffy didn't seem very bothered by the whole thing, "Well, now they know."

They did know, Chopper smiled warmly, that Luffy's blind acceptance was unrecognizable in itself to most people.

The humidity goes away and he's left with dry and miserable heat. He can feel the sunlight burning away at his face and arms and chest but can't do anything about it. His lips become hard and chapped and when he tries to moisten them he notes how there's the coppery taste of blood.

He isn't sure what to do with that information— isn't sure of the source of the blood. His lips? A wound?

Isn't sure if it matters in the end.

Food had been short for weeks prior to when Sanji's panic officially set in.

He had been slowly decreasing the size of meals— especially for their bottomless-pit of a captain— as to not elicit any concern for his nakama. At the time he started doing so, he felt there was no reason to cause concern.

Now, he wasn't so sure.

Every now and again, an issue like this would arise: Food shortage— and sometimes the crew would notice while other times they wouldn't. Nothing was ever brought up about it to Sanji during these times regardless. Zoro would even leave the cook alone for a few days.

Sanji found this particular food shortage to be the worst thus far. He had decreased the meals per day to a single one. A normal sized meal for everyone— one time a day. He could already see everyone getting a little more lethargic per day— and, because his eyes loved to play sick tricks on him, he would sometimes imagine his nakama resembling skeletons (not including Brook) when seeing them out of the corner of his eye. They were hungry, and yet...

No complaints.

No comments.

No questioning glares.

And it was driving Sanji crazy.

Luffy stayed after one evening, and Sanji found himself both worried and thankful for some normalcy. He just wanted his captain to beg him for food again. One time— even if he has to reject his pleas it would do wonders for his conscience.

Luffy didn't say anything, though. He sat at the table as the rest of their nakama left with questing glances at the young boy. But, even then, no words left Luffy from where he sat.

Sanji went to do the dishes and broke the silence himself after it went on for far too long, "I know , Luffy. I know you're hungry and I know the food's quality isn't that great but I'm trying . That's no excuse, but I promise, once we get to that island in the next few days like Nami-san said we would, I'm going to stock up and cook something big . I promise. I won't disappoint..."

Sanji sets down the plate he had been scouring in the dish rack with an unsteady hand and waits for his captain to respond. After far too long in the silence once again, Sanji wonders if maybe Luffy had left at some point during his rambling.

He turns, and feels like he could be blinded by the ernest smile splitting Luffy's face. Sanji gapes at the sight— completely and utterly confused.

"Neh, Sanji," Luffy starts, standing from the chair quickly, "just wanted to say the food was good!"

And then he's gone.

And yet, as Sanji stares at where he was previously sitting, his given reassurance remains.

There's a dull ache in his stomach.

His brain does backflips when he tries to move and he figures that he hasn't recovered any strength at all. He's sure he's been there for hours— if not days.

The exhaustion he feels says enough, but it's the hunger that proves it completely. He's peckish often— that he remembers— but Sanji feeds him enough that he's never hungry.

Sanji …

The name— it gets jumbled in his mind too easily but he finds comfort in the simple unrecognizable person so he repeats it to himself.

Sanji …

Sanji...

The marine base was very, very quiet.

Luffy hadn't been in very many marine prisons, but the few times he had managed to be stuck in one he remembered them always being much more lively. Filled with many more people than just himself and a single nakama of his.

He also remembered the other prisons being brighter . Not pitch black. He couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face.

"Ugh, Brook," Luffy groaned, shoving his face against the ground where he had chosen to sprawl across— if not for the kairoseki bars, he would have broken out immediately, "How long do you think it's gonna take them? I'm hungry!"

Brook was abnormally quiet in his cell on the opposite side of the room. Luffy hadn't been paying that fact very much attention until he realized that the only other sound in the room, other than himself, was the insistent water drops falling from the ceiling.

He pushed himself to sit upright, staring off into the blackness as though he could see if he really tried, "Neh, Brook?"

No response.

"You alright?"

A pause.

"Luffy-san?"

Brook's voice was too quiet and was devoid of his usual jubilance. Luffy was immediately on edge the moment he heard the familiar voice.

"What's wrong? What happened?" He reached for the kairoseki bars, maintain his hold on them despite their tiring effects, "Hang on, I'm gonna—"

"Can I ask you something?"

Luffy stopped his vicious efforts of getting out of the cage, blinking into the darkness. He settled back on the ground. It's cold, but Luffy felt warmer with his musician speaking with him, "Of course."

"Do you ever worry about losing your crew? Losing us?"

Luffy faltered only a moment.

"Sometimes…" he answered truthfully, "Not as much anymore, though. You're all stronger."

Brooks voice came moments later, a hushed husk of what it normally was, "I do."

Luffy doesn't understand the implications of this. Doesn't fully fathom the feeling of an ancient crew torn away and lost in what felt like moments. Doesn't know the coldness of a ship devoid of any and all life. Doesn't understand the gloom— the darkness .

Brook shuddered, though Luffy couldn't see it.

"It feels something like this place…" Brook mumbles, "Lonely."

Luffy inhaled sharply, staring off into the blackness and wished more than he had earlier that the others would hurry up and kick the marines' asses so they could get out of the cages.

"I'm here," Luffy tried and continued to say those words every few seconds until he could feel the rumbling deep in the marines' base. He smiled as the ceiling came crumbling away in a pile between him and Brook, revealing sunlight and the wonderful faces of their nakama.

"We're here," Luffy says in finality, "We're all here."

Brook subtly wondered, without Luffy's company, if he'd have wandered further into his path to madness down there in the cells.

The silence around him seems unnatural.

The wind ruffles his hair and Luffy takes it as another chance to try and peek up at the sky. It's another failure. He squints— slamming his eyelids shut once more.

More names have come to him by now. Ones he tries to place beside a face.

Zoro was the first name to come to mind. Next was Nami and Usopp . Franky, Brook, Robin and Chopper rushed into his head moments later as he forced himself to dig for any of the information he had lost with the impact of whatever hit him.

Stars could still be seen in the darkness behind his eyelids. The twinkled and flickered mockingly as he tried to think and move at the same time. It was as though his determination wouldn't simply let him rest despite every other part of his body telling him to give in to the overwhelming exhaustion and pain encompassing his every breath.

The silence of wherever he is is only interrupted by the sound of water, birds, and wind.

It makes him uneasy.

He feels isolated. He feels lonely.

"Would you knock it off !"

Nami's voice was the most clear out of all of them. She was like a loud siren alerting everyone in the area of an upcoming storm— except she was also the storm.

She comes thundering over to Luffy's form. He was laying in the sand— arms and legs strewn around him carelessly with Zoro to his left looking indifferent to his previous task. Both of them were soaked.

"We hadn't even docked yet, Luffy," Nami says as she sets her knuckles ruefully on her hips, "Could you not have waited, like, another minute before throwing yourself overboard?"

Luffy sits up, sand clinging to his waterlogged hair, "Aw, Nami, that's no fun!"

"You know what's no fun?" she points an aggressive finger at the waves crashing against the shore only feet away from them, "Rushing into the water to keep you from drowning . That's what's not fun!"

Sanji had begun setting up the grill and Franky was setting up the table for Robin and Nami in the distance— neither of them paying Luffy getting reprimanded any heed. It was a normal enough occurrence. Usopp, Brook and Chopper cowered close by while Robin merely smiled in mild humor at the whole situation.

Nami sighed tiredly, dropping a hand from her hip, "Aren't you ever afraid of the water? For crying out loud, Luffy, you can't swim!"

"But, I have all of you!"

Nami choked on her upcoming words, blinking sporadically, "What?"

And, just as he always has done, Luffy smiled brightly, "With my nakama around, I have no reason to be afraid of the water!"

As always, his faith in them astounded Nami to no end.

There's shouts somewhere in the distance.

They're too quiet— or too far away— to actually make out what is being said but he recognizes the tone clearly. It's excitement. It's fear.

It's restlessness.

And the many voices together, shouting and calling for someone and each other seems to be just another interruption of the never ending silence. The never ending hunger and heat and pain.

Yet, this time he feels at ease.

Like a sixth sense was telling him that those voices are what he had been waiting for the entire time. He feels himself truly relax into the rough ground for the first time since waking so long ago.

They weren't

lost.

The others just had to have kept moving the ship away from them— something he was planning on killing them all for once he and Luffy got back to them.

"Nami said that, if we get lost, to just look for the mystery tree," Luffy said exuberantly, poking the ground in front of him with a stick as he gazed up at the canopies of trees, "The one with the purple leaves!"

Zoro squinted at him, "When did she say that?"

"When you were napping before I rocketed us here."

Zoro grimaced, following his gaze up to the canopies as well. He saw nothing special about them and assumed the witch gave them the wrong information. He knew the way to the ship, after all. They had been there already— so the ship just had to have been moved.

"Let's just go this way, Luffy. The ship was right in front of the sun when we left this morning, so if we follow the sun we'll find it again."

Zoro began wandering off as Luffy pondered his logic and then began following with a resounding, "Oh! That makes sense!"

They wandered for maybe ten minutes more before Luffy exclaimed excitedly, "Look, Zoro! The mystery tree!"

When the green haired swordsman turned to look as told, he saw shimmering purple leaves towering over the normal green and yellow ones of the rest of the forest. The tree couldn't have been mistaken, and Zoro grimaced when he realized that the tree was in the complete opposite direction from where they were going.

He turned to his captain, "You sure Nami said—"

"Yep! C'mon!"

And he was already running back to where they came from.

The sun was low on the horizon when Zoro and Luffy made it back to Sunny. Nami was screaming at them from where she was leaning over the railing while Usopp, Franky, Brook and Chopper waved gleefully from beside her. Luffy simply jumped back on board without a care in the world.

Luffy's guidance, despite him truthfully not needing it, was always nice to have— and that stayed true even through the rest of the crews' taunts and mockeries.

He's first alerted to an approaching presence by the quick scuffling of cloth and the sporadic sound of crushing sand.

The sun is still too bright, his brain is still a mess, and he's not sure about really anything— but as soon as he feels the sand beside his head quake due to the knees suddenly crashing into the ground and registers a calloused hand touching his neck and face and hair, and hears the relieved sigh burst gruffly from whoever it is, he's sure everything might just be alright.

"Oh my God," the faint voice is tight and breathless and is accompanied by multiple more pairs of feet. Before he knows it, the same voice is very suddenly booming in his ears from where it has gotten closer, "I knew we'd find you. I— I knew —"

Luffy smells the familiar scent of citrus and steel and has the immediate urge to see who was fussing about him. The pairs of hands gripping his face and touching the tender flesh of his temple and holding his hand have owners and he longs to see who they are. When he opens his eyes, Luffy catches the slightest hint of orange and green looming attentively over him before another form crashes into the picture and the sun becomes too much for his eyes to bear.

"He's Luffy, of course he'd make it out of that mess!"

This voice is squeaky— more uptight and nervous. Things that hurt his ears yet makes him feel better entirely. His words strike him as odd, though. They say one thing while the overall tone say another— confidence vs. concern.

More movement to his side and all around him. More footfalls. More voices.

One comes right in front of his face, poking and prodding him instead of gently caressing him. He grimaces and tries to lift his arm to push them away to no avail.

"Zoro," the owner of the prodding... hooves(?) ... draws the called person's attention. Their voice is young and squeaking yet reeks of focus at that moment, "We need to pull him out of the water. Even if it's just his calves…"

The young voice doesn't have time to finish before two strong arms lock underneath his armpits and pull him roughly away from the water he hadn't even known he was in. He feels himself moan. Feels himself being listed into someone's hold— the same one who had pulled him from the water.

He tries to open his eyes again. He manages only slightly longer, catching sight of a abnormally skinny form, metallic textures, fur and calm, light blue eyes. Then they're closed again.

"Mild to severe…"

"...Concussion?"

"...how…rubber!"

"Haki infused?"

The words wash over him and he feels himself sag into the hold around his shoulders. Something walks into the light shining down on him and the tension from his brows and shoulders eases.

"We're here, Luffy-san."

Brook?

The name automatically connects and Luffy forces himself to open his eyes. The sun isn't there assaulting his attempt at seeing his surroundings. Two forms stand in its way— Brook's and the metallic form.

Franky.

He looks at them in wonder as the voices start to hush around him.

"Luffy, can you look at me please?"

He does, more out of the need to see... Chopper . The reindeer peers into his eyes with the same focus as his voice implied him to have. He seems none too happy with what he sees, but says nothing.

"You gave us quite the scare, captain," a woman's voice says, and Luffy squints over to her, Robin , who has a thankful smile lacing her expression. He stares before his gaze automatically drifts away towards the others.

Usopp is sat right by his legs, busily using some random cloth to wipe away the water that remains on them from the ocean mere feet away and the sand that sticks relentlessly to his skin.

Sanji hovers overhead, smiling only when Luffy catches his gaze. He looks like he wants to say something but swallows his words as he focuses on Usopp's handiwork.

"You big idiot…" The grip that had returned to his hand tightens ever so slightly, a single digit rubbing against his battered knuckles, " You… "

Luffy turns groggily, fighting to focus on the orange haired girl who sits so close, close enough her stray hairs tickle his face, he wonders how he hadn't recognized her immediately.

" Na—mi ," The name croaks from his throat, but it's worth it to him in the end. Her face splits in two and a single tear streams down her cheek. Her reaction elicites the same thing from at least half the crew.

Chopper bursts into tears, hugging Luffy's midsection with professionalism lost to the wind. Franky does similarly, standing like a pillar of strength to keep the sun from ruining the moment. Brook practically keels over in the sand while Usopp mumbles with false anger as he fights the oncoming tears.

Somewhere through it all, Luffy feels the grip around his shoulders loosen ever so slightly and he turns to find their owner. When he does, he knows that he would never have felt completely at ease without seeing the leveled gaze staring back at him, a small smile on the owner's face.

Luffy takes the moment to finally smile— lips cracking all over again and eyes shutting with the magnitude of the smile. It doesn't matter though. The last thing he sees is Zoro staring back at him.

Every muscle eases into his exhaustion, ever fiber in his being relinquishing the anxiousness he'd had for the time he'd been on that beach.

So he just smiles.

"Hi guys."

And, even when he begins fading back into sleep and the sun sets— even when he'd picked up in strong arms and feels the swaying of steps being taken through loose sand— he knows he's safe.

With the trust and faith of Usopp and Nami as they searched for him through countless miles of sea, with Chopper's acceptance of the condition they might find him in, Sanji's gaze of reassurance and Robin's of him being safe, Franky's proud stance as he challenged the very sun and Brook'scompany— Luffy knew he was back.

And so he lets Zoro guide him home

.