As a general rule, I like to keep my stories on a USB. It's because of this that I am able to post this whole story today! Today is my post date for One Piece Big Bang, and although I wrote this chapter back in December and it's not the best, I'm proud to say that I finished my first One Piece multi-chapter fic! For someone who has only done one-shots for One Piece and has trouble prioritizing, it's a pretty big deal.

Read and Review!

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of One Piece

Chopper woke from his fitful rest when he heard the door to his office creak open. "Luffy?" Chopper asked tentatively, looking at the newcomer in surprise. The doctor sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He had been working on a new remedy and must have dozed off. One glance at the clock told the reindeer that it hadn't been for more than a few minutes.

The captain was pale and trembling, eyes wide and unseeing, which was so unlike Luffy. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Luffy slowly shook his head and, for the first time in Chopper's entire time knowing him, Luffy seemed to be at a loss for words.

The small blue-nosed reindeer ran over to Luffy and tugged on his captain's shorts, panic starting to overtake him at Luffy's silence. What could have caused the captain to act so unlike himself? Luffy just gaped, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, no words making it past his lips.

"Luffy!" the reindeer cried. "What's wrong?!"

"Z-Zoro...he..."

Chopper was surprised the teen even managed a full word, let alone two. Luffy was in some sort of shock, and he needed someone to help him calm down. Who better than a doctor? At least, that's what Chopper's rational side was telling him. But before he could help Luffy, he had to stop himself from panicking.

"Okay Luffy," Chopper placated, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. He shifted into his heavy point and knelt down in front of his captain, looking into those wide eyes. "I need you to breathe. Take a deep breath, and then tell me what's wrong."

Luffy complied, sucking in a ridiculous amount of oxygen into his rubber lungs. It caused him to inflate just like a balloon. After a few seconds, the teen let the air out, returning to normal.

Chopper sometimes forgot how much Luffy used his powers. They were used in everything the captain did. Bouncing here, stretching there, sling-shotting himself everywhere else—they all utilized Luffy's devil fruit powers in some way or another. Chopper could only imagine how draining it must be. No wonder he ate so much food!

"Better?"

Luffy nodded, greedily inhaling air. Finally, Luffy seemed to be ready to speak. Taking another deep gulp of air, Luffy quickly began to explain, but his words were so slurred together that Chopper couldn't even begin to comprehend what the captain was saying.

"Zoro'sawakeandsomethingweirdishappening!"

"What about a zebra?" Chopper wondered aloud.

Luffy perked up, his earlier attitude completely forgotten. "There's a zebra?! That's so cool! I wanna ride it!"

Chopper was beyond confused now. "Weren't you the one who was talking about a zebra?"

"No," Luffy said, like it should be obvious or something. "I was talking about Zoro."

Chopper twitched in agitation, but continued on as if the zebra had never been mentioned. Once Luffy got distracted, it could possibly take hours to get the captain back on track.

"What about Zoro?" he asked cautiously.

Chopper had just been tending to Zoro not half an hour before, and the swordsman hadn't looked at all ready to be out of bed. With his pale face and feverish skin, Zoro had seemed closer to dead than alive. And putting together the fact Luffy came in running with a shocked expression and Zoro's latest condition, Chopper feared the worst.

It was no secret Luffy valued his crew mates' lives, so when Luffy had come to him, Chopper knew something had happened-good or bad, only Luffy knew. Though, the captain would be laughing if anything remotely good had happened. Right? Or maybe not. Luffy was hard to predict, so Chopper supposed this could just be another thing he had to accept.

"R-Right," Luffy said, remembering the reason he had come to the doctor in the first place. "Zoro, he...something weird is going on with him."

"Weird in what way? And why were you with Zoro?"

Luffy's eyes widened as he recalled the last few minutes. "It was so weird! One minute, I'm on the deck alone and the next, he's coming out of the cabin complaining about wanting a nap!"

"Did he look okay?" Chopper asked.

"I dunno," Luffy shrugged. "But I was wondering why he wanted a nap when he just woke up."

Chopper sighed. The only weird part about Luffy's story was Zoro seemingly well enough to be up and around when he had been practically laying on his death bed just an hour ago. Actually, now that Chopper thought about it, Zoro pushing himself and refusing to stay in bed, even when in danger of dying, was not strange at all.

"So Zoro's feeling well enough to walk around?"

"That's what I thought, too!" Luffy exclaimed. "But then when I told him about having a party to celebrate, he told me he would only agree as long as there wasn't any alcohol!"

Chopper's jaw dropped to the ground. Zoro had refused alcohol? Zoro, the heaviest drinker the Sunny carried, wanted to have a party without any booze. The idea was completely and totally absurd!

"M-Maybe he's not as well as you think," Chopper suggested after a stunned silence. "I mean, just because he was the first to get sick doesn't mean he's going to be the first one to get better."

"Why not?" Luffy demanded. "If he gets sick first he should get better first!"

Chopper, despite the conversation, felt nothing but relief. He hadn't heard Luffy-logic in a couple of days. As irrational as Luffy's thinking sometimes was, Chopper had still missed talking to his usual playmate. He had been too busy caring for the crew to hold an actual conversation with the teen lately. He was glad that he was getting a chance now.

"That's not how illnesses work, Luffy," Chopper tried to explain rationally. "Different people fight diseases off at different rates."

"But Zoro's strong," Luffy pointed out. "So he can get better in no time."

"I'm not sure a week is no time," Chopper said. "And besides, what about Sanji? Isn't he strong, too?"

The cook wasn't the last to fall ill, but he wasn't among the first. Still, it hadn't been much of a surprise when Sanji had caught the disease. Sanji had spent a lot of time helping Chopper take care of the crew (really just Nami and Robin; the cook refused to even come near Zoro, afraid of the swordsman spreading his "germs"). It was one reason why Chopper had refused to let Luffy do anything to help him care for his crew. Chopper didn't want Luffy to fall ill as well.

"But Zoro was first," Luffy emphasized, crossing his arms defiantly. Chopper signed. He was fighting a losing battle trying to convince Luffy to see any way but his own way of thinking. Sometimes Luffy could be assertive about the things he was passionate about, like meat and being the Pirate King.

"Okay," Chopper gave in, unwilling to indulge in this pointless argument any longer. "So, where is Zoro now?"

"Right here."

Once again Chopper's office door opened-more like slammed into the wall-and in walked Zoro. Except, it didn't look like Zoro. The pale face, the shadows under the eyes, the scars, they all made him look like a...

"Ah!" Chopper screamed, switching back into Brain Point and scurrying to hide behind Luffy. Although, hide was a relative term seeing as the bottom half of the little reindeer stuck out from behind the captain. He had gotten so frightened he had reverted back to his old habits of hiding the wrong way. "Why is Zoro a zombie?!"

Luffy looked bewildered at Chopper's outburst and looked the Zoro-zombie over. Hitting his fist to his palm, Luffy had a sudden epiphany. "He kind of looks like that old man with really bad injuries!"

Zoro hit Luffy over the head. "Why are you comparing me to that old geezer?!"

Luffy just laughed, not at all affected by the punch that just bounced off his rubber head. He waved the swordsman off, chuckling. "Just be thankful you're not a zebra!"

"How the hell is that supposed to make me feel any better?" Zoro growled out. "And what do zebras have to do with any of this?"

"They don't."

"Then why the hell did you bring it up?!"

Chopper smiled softly at the bickering pair, but he couldn't help but worry. Zoro, despite not being bedridden anymore, still looked absolutely horrible. His breaths rattled slightly in his chest, he was sweating, and he looked like he could collapse at any given moment. How could Chopper not be worried when the swordsman looked so bad?

Another thing he was worried about was Luffy's health. He didn't know whether the illness was contagious or not, so, despite Luffy's strong immune system, Chopper had ordered Luffy to stay away from his sick friends, even going so far as to make him sleep in the rarely used captain's quarters. Luffy hadn't gotten sick yet, but that may have been because of the doctor's orders of staying away.

"But I want some meat!"

Chopper snapped back to reality, realizing he had zoned out and missed part of the conversation.

"Not my problem."

"Why not?" Luffy whined.

Zoro snorted and crossed his arms, refusing to look at Luffy in fear of the kicked puppy dog look getting to him.

"Why would I make you food when you damn well know Sanji has leftovers in the fridge?" Zoro asked, sounding exasperated.

Luffy's head jerked up in the middle of Zoro's statement, but, unlike what Chopper had been expecting, it wasn't in excitement. Rather, Luffy seemed rather puzzled.

"Did you just say Sanji?!" Luffy choked out.

Chopper's brow furrowed in confusion while Zoro just looked plain annoyed.

"Yeah? That's the cook's name, isn't it?"

Chopper had to agree with Zoro on this one. Sanji—tall, blond hair covering one eye, curly eyebrows—was their cook, so why was Luffy so freaked out about Zoro saying...oh. Oh. It made sense now, why Luffy was so shocked. Zoro had said Sanji, not "love cook" or "eyebrow". The swordsman had voluntarily said his rival's name.

If Chopper hadn't believed Luffy about Zoro's strange behavior before, he sure did now. No alcohol and willingly calling Sanji by name? Maybe Zoro really had gotten replaced by a zombie.

"Zoro," Chopper called out shyly, taking a few baby steps towards the swordsman. Zoro looked his way, his annoyance at Luffy's reaction still very much prominent on his face. Chopper squeaked a little, but didn't back down. This was something that Chopper couldn't let pass, for everyone's sakes. "I need to check you over, to see if you're still sick."

"I'm fine Chopper," Zoro said, waving the reindeer off. "I just need a nap."

Like hell. Zoro looked like he would pass out and die at any second. There was no way that Chopper would let Zoro's stubbornness slide this time. Not with Luffy in potential danger as well.

Chopper looked over to the captain, but if he had been looking for anything in particular he would have been sorely disappointed. All Luffy was doing was giving Zoro a blank stare.

"Zoro," Chopper pleaded, feeling rather uncomfortable with what he was about to say. Ordering people around wasn't really Chopper's thing. "I know you have this pride thing, but as your doctor I am ordering you to sit down so I can give you a proper check up."

He was sweating with nervousness by the time he finished, unsure of how Zoro would react to his impromptu and rather assertive—at least for Chopper—orders. Would he agree? Disagree? Would Chopper get sliced up for yelling? Chopper gulped, even though he knew he was probably overreacting.

Zoro snorted and complied, sitting down on the edge of the medical bed.

When Chopper made to examine Zoro, Luffy finally blinked, although it seemed to be lethargically. Luffy made his way over to Chopper's office chair, plopping down into it the wrong way and propping his chin onto the back. Chopper made a mental note to check Luffy over later.

"You're an idiot, Zoro," Luffy said in a bored tone, as if he was just commenting on the nice weather. "You should just listen to Chopper. He is the doctor."

"Oh, that's rich coming from you," Zoro snapped. "Since when do you ever listen to anyone?"

"Hey! I listen!"

"Like you did when I told you to stay away from the railing last month?"

"That was just-"

"Or how about when Nami—your navigator—told you it was too dangerous to sail to that island?"

Chopper wasn't sure if this ire was stemming from Zoro's illness or something else, but he did know he had to stop this argument in its tracks before it got the chance to escalate. Nothing good would come from a melancholy Luffy and an irritated Zoro.

"Hey guys, that's enough," Chopper said as sternly as he could manage, effectively cutting Luffy off from saying something he might regret later. The reindeer turned to Luffy, an apologetic smile upon his face. He knew how much Luffy wanted to spend time with Zoro, but there was just no way to make this work while Lufffy was like this. "Luffy? Could you run to the kitchen and grab a glass of water and some food for Zoro? His body is lacking in nutrients since he's been sick so long. I don't want him to relapse.

Luffy got up without another word, Chopper and Zoro watching with bated breaths. After the captain had left the room, Chopper exhaled loudly before continuing his examination of Zoro, his mind not really focused on his task.

"Chopper?"

"Hmm?"

"That's the third time you've taken my temperature."

Chopper paused, silently cursing himself. Now wasn't the time to be preoccupied with Luffy's behavioral change. He was supposed to be checking Zoro's health, not concerning himself with Luffy. Luffy would come right after, he promised himself, hoping this time he meant it.

Soon enough, Chopper had finished checking over Zoro, coming to a very odd conclusion. Zoro hadn't miraculously recovered, but he seemed to be on the mend, suddenly more healthy than sick.

"Hey Chopper," Zoro called out quietly, not sounding at all like his usual, gruff self. "What's wrong with Luffy?"

Chopper sighed. Straight to the point, huh? It was good to know most of Zoro's personality hadn't been affected by the illness. The only thing the doctor worried about now was the refusal of alcohol and calling of Sanji by his actual name.

"It's complicated. Luffy hasn't really been himself these past few days," Chopper said.

Zoro raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. "Since when has Luffy ever been complicated?"

"Since all of you got sick," Chopper said fully, trying to focus on putting his medical equipment back into their proper places.

"All of us?"

Chopper nodded, wondering how Zoro didn't notice Sanji and Usopp sick on their bunks. Also, this was a conversation he wasn't really eager to have. Not only was he going to have to explain all of the complicated details about their unknown illness, but he would also have to give the horrible experience that was dealing with the stranger that was Luffy.

"You were the first, so I don't expect you to know about the others, but it was you, then Nami, then Robin, the Usopp, Sanji, Franky, and lastly Brook."

How a cyborg and a skeleton could even get sick, Chopper didn't know, but the doctor was just as responsible for their care as he was everyone else's. Chopper was a doctor who would refuse no patient, even if they shouldn't have gotten sick. Chopper would still treat them to the best of his abilities.

"So is it contagious or something?" Zoro asked.

Chopper shrugged helplessly, feeling a little downtrodden at his own uselessness. "I have no clue. But Luffy and I are the only ones who haven't gotten sick so far."

"Luffy sure didn't seem all that well to me."

Chopper, catching onto Zoro's real meaning, shook his head. Sometimes he wished Luffy had gotten sick over being so mentally affected. At least he could treat a physical ailment. But he couldn't tell Zoro that. The swordsman would start to treat Luffy like he was as fragile as glass, and the last thing the captain needed was singing his first mate acting as docile as a kitten when around him. No, Chopper could tell that Luffy really needed some sense of normalcy to battle against this distress.

"What's gotten into Luffy?" Zoro rephrased, fed up with Chopper's silence.

"It's complicated," Chopper repeated.

"How?"

"It just is, Zoro!" Chopper yelled suddenly, taking the swordsman off guard.

Zoro's gaze softened and he relaxed when he saw how stressed the reindeer seemed. Chopper knew that Zoro was no longer going to press the doctor for answers.

Besides protecting Luffy's sense of normality, Chopper couldn't really bear to put that kind of burden upon the swordsman, too. Luffy was an emotional roller coaster, happy one minute, depressed the next. Chopper knew that he himself wasn't helping anything, being unable to properly spend time with the teen. He wanted to help Luffy out to the best of his abilities. Instead, the doctor had been too busy either trying to find a cure or making sure the crew was still alive to combat this new illness and its many symptoms.

Wait.

"That's it!" Chopper yelled out enthusiastically, startling Zoro. "I figured it out!"

The reindeer ran to his stores and began to rummage through the herbs and medicine, looking for the right one. Dammit! He hadn't used the last one on Zoro, did he?

Zoro hopped off the edge of the bed and calmly walked towards the frantic doctor, an eyebrow raised. Chopper barely noticed, though, too preoccupied with trying to find his supply of roots and herbs. A cry of joy escaped Choper as he dug through the neat bundles of medicines. A sense of dread soon filled the doctor when he finished sorting through them. He had found it, but there wasn't enough here. The root was too small to make another remedy.

"What's that?" Zoro asked, eyeing the root distrustfully.

"It's called Kudzu," Chopper explained, holding up something that looked like a cross between ginger and a potato. It was small, maybe just barely the size of Chopper's hoof. It wouldn't do any good if Chopper tried to use the root now, seeing as there just wasn't enough of it. "I'm not sure why this particular root worked against the illness, but if I compare the symptoms to the...yeah. That could work, but I would need some more of-"

A crash and a yell sounded from the kitchen and both Chopper and Zoro wasted no time in dropping what they were doing and sprinting towards the mess Luffy had probably made.

And indeed, Chopper and Zoro did find a mess in the kitchen. Pots and pans were scatter around the floor, food strewn everywhere. Sanji was going to be pissed if they didn't clean this up.

There was one thing missing, though, now that Chopper thought about it. Something he had forgotten to check for.

"Where's Luffy?" Zoro asked.

"Luffy?" Chopper called out, walking a few more steps into the catastrophe that was the kitchen. "Are you in here?"

"Yeah?" Luffy asked, popping out from behind the counter and scaring the poor doctor half to death. Zoro, for his part, stayed perfectly stoic, not even fazed by Luffy's Jack in the box stunt.

"What are you doing?" Chopper asked.

Luffy gave Chopper a confused look, like he didn't understand what he was doing that was so wrong—he probably didn't, the rubber-headed idiot.

"What do you mean?"

"He means," Zoro cut in, "why are you on the floor and why the hell is this place such a freaking mess?"

"Zoro!" Luffy yelled, jumping over the countertop and dashing over to the swordsman in excitement. "You're all better, right?"

Luffy was back to his happy-go-lucky self. The week had worn on the teen, and often times Luffy had found himself alone. It hadn't done anything but cause Luffy heartache, pain, and eventually, depression.

And Chopper cursed himself in every way he knew when those moments shower. It was an odd way to deal with it, but sometimes it was like a switch was suddenly turned on. Luffy's personality would do a complete one-eighty and his depression would show through. As a doctor, Chopper should have caught on earlier, but he had been too busy running himself ragged to notice anything.

With Zoro on the mend, though, maybe Luffy would finally start to be happier. Truly happy, not the pretending Luffy did so Chopper wouldn't worry. Maybe things would finally be able to go back to normal.

He knew it was wishful thinking. But still, if Chopper didn't have hope, what did he have? He was just going to have to believe in Luffy, like usual. Luffy could face any adversity and get through it without too much damage.

"I'm fine, Luffy."

That's right. They had been talking about Luffy's latest mess. Chopper mentally scolded himself for getting so distracted when he had this problem in front of him.

"That's good!" Luffy chattered joyously, not a trace of that earlier depression left. "I know you like to take naps and stuff but you've been sleeping forever! I wanna play!"

Somehow Luffy's tone went from happy to needy in no time flat. Yep, this was definitely the usual Luffy.

Zoro scoffed. "Like hell. Just answer the damn question Luffy."

"What was the question?" Luffy asked, folding his arms across his chest and tilting his head to the side, his "I'm trying to think but it's too hard"expression in place; not to be confused from his "give me meat" expression.

"Why the hell does it look like a tornado passed through here?" Zoro didn't really sound like he particularly cared. The swordsman probably wasn't too fond of the kitchen anyways, since it was kind of like Sanji's territory. Though, the table was most likely free game.

"Oh," Luffy said, putting a hand to his hat. "That."

"Yeah, 'that.'"

"It's kind of a cool story," Luffy admitted, chuckling. Luffy explained his troubles with finding the right ingredients for a sandwich when he had tripped and hit the stove, sending pots and pans flying over the place. Then, when he had gotten up, he made the sandwich-with a lot of difficulty-before tripping again and crashing to the floor with the pots and pans.

Zoro started to laugh while Chopper fussed over Luffy, making sure the teen was alright. Sure it was no mysterious disease, but he'd sooner die than let anyone go untreated under his watch.

"Oh yeah," Luffy, catching the other two's attention. "We're about to reach another island."

"What?!" Chopper exclaimed. "Since when?"

After Nami had fallen ill, the duty of navigating had fallen to Chopper for some unknown reason. Maybe because the others believed he would be the only one to avoid catching the illness? Well, they were partly right, but Chopper didn't really trust Luffy at the helm. The captain could be just as directionally challenged as Zoro sometimes.

But Chopper hadn't remembered anything about an island being so close. If he had read the map correctly, they weren't supposed to reach the next island for another three days.

"Yeah," Luffy confirmed. "I saw it earlier when I was on watch."

Being this early in the morning (about eight), it was probably an hour or two before Zoro had shown up above deck feeling better.

Chopper and Luffy, with the rest of the crew being too ill to help out, had set up a sort of schedule. Luffy took night watch while Chopper slept and regained his energy so he could treat the crew during the day, which was when Luffy usually slept. Although, lately, Luffy had been staying up more during the day. Chopper was awed at how Luffy managed it—and the captain did. Chopper had gotten up the night before and Luffy was dutifully doing his part.

"And you're sure it was an island?" Chopper asked.

Luffy nodded seriously. "My captain senses were definitely tingling."

"And what were your tingling senses trying to tell you?" Zoro asked, choking back a snort.

"That there's an adventure, of course!"

"Of course," Zoro nodded, playing along with his captain's antics.

Wait a minute. An island? Either Chopper was way more tired than he had first thought or he was incredibly stupid. This was the perfect opportunity, especially if the island had lots of plant life. Maybe his wasn't so hopeless after all.

"Luffy! Zoro!" Chopper called out excitedly, causing the two pirates to look over at the doctor. "If we can dock at this island, do you know what it'll mean?"

"We get to see some cool bugs?" Luffy guessed.

"You idiot," Zoro said, crossing his arms. "That's obviously not what Choper's talking about."

Chopper just shook his head, a huge grin on his face as he bounced up and down in anticipation and excitement. If they could pull this off, they could save everyone.

"It means that we'll be able to save everyone!"

Immediately after the words left Chopper's mouth, a spark that the reindeer hadn't even noticed was missing appeared in Luffy's face. It almost seemed as if an invisible weight had been taken off his shoulders. The path to the know how to deal with all of this was slowly opening up.

"You mean with that Kusku thing?" Zoro asked.

"Kudzu," Chopper corrected. "But yeah. I might just be able to cure everyone. The only problem will be finding the stuff."

"How're we supposed to find the stuff anyways?" Zoro asked.

"I can give you the Kudzu root I already have," Chopper offered. "The only thing is, if I do give it to you, then you have to be quick about this. I'm not sure how much longer the crew will be able to last without an antidote."

"I did it," Zoro said.

Chopper bit back a retort at that. Being nearly dead for almost three days was not what the doctor would call lasting. It took all of Chopper's skills to keep the swordsman alive.

"So all we have to do is get the mystery-medicine back here within the next few days and everyone will get better?" Luffy asked, his eyes shadowed by his hat. For some reason, Chopper shivered a little when he heard Luffy's serious tone. Sometimes it was easy to forget that their captain had a four million beri bounty on his head. After all, Even if Luffy was oblivious and playful most of the time, the captain still had the bounty for a reason. He had to be strong to achieve a bounty like that.

"Sounds easy," Zoro chimed in. "If we sick today we can be back by tomorrow."

Luffy grinned, his personality turning around completely. "Right! Then let's get ready to dock!"

"Aye, captain!" Chopper and Zoro chorused.

Chopper felt rather giddy now that he had found the breakthrough he had been looking for the past week. He just hoped nothing went wrong.