Quite a long one. This was a scenario I've been wanting to write forever. It has a bit of angst and swearing, and takes things away from the usual light-hearted tone in this story, but hey! Everyone likes a bit of serious drama here and there ^^

Sunny and Merry hope you enjoy it C:
btw, all editing is done by me, so small errors can be ignored. Thank you and have a nice day now.

Zoro was lying in a field of grass, staring at the thick clouds drifting about above him. His crew were up there, all laughing and bouncing on the thick pillowy masses. They were all playing, running and floating about, strangely enough. The sight was oddly reminiscent of Skypeia, and Zoro recognised that somewhere deep in his self-conscious. It filled him with a sense of nostalgic content.

Kuina was up there with them, and she looked down to Zoro and poked her tongue out with a wave and a laugh. Zoro rolled his eyes but was unable to stop the grin coming through as he lifted a hand back up to her.

The cloud Luffy was on drifted down to Zoro and his laughing lover held his hand out. 'Come on, Zoro!' he called, his voice most distorted but still bright and loud. 'This won't last forever!' There was no sun, but light seemed to shine from Luffy anyway and at that moment he looked simply angelic. Zoro smiled lazily at Luffy, taking a moment to enjoy the moment. It was perfect.

As he started to reach towards Luffy the sky started to darken. Kuina gave a brisk warning shout, 'Too late, Zoro!' ...and glared accusingly at him.

The whole atmosphere dropped, the melodious blue sky fading like the gates of the sky had broken open to reveal a dark thundering night that had cold biting at Zoro's flesh.

Zoro gaped as Kuina started to fade away, her accusing scowl drilling into him. The sky rumbled ominously and a short scream sounded. Zoro looked around in confusion to see each of his cremates simply disappear into thin air without warning. Eyes growing wide, Zoro dived for the hand Luffy still held out as his young captain stared at him with fear in his eyes.

'Zoro! Please!' he called, reaching.

Zoro had the short sensation of grasping Luffy's warm hand before it vanished and he let out a short enraged howl. Everything shifted around him quickly and Zoro was suddenly standing in one of Sunny's halls, feeling as if he had just free fell through the ground. He took a moment just to stand in shock and gather his bearings, feeling despair wash over him heavily and suddenly. Everything was so quiet and unfocused that deep in his mind Zoro had no delusions that he was sleeping. The thing was, he couldn't tell at that exact moment, as you never could during a dream.

Trying to look around, he fought at the dazed cloud that had settled in his consciousness and started walking, calling out to everyone in the odd silence. 'Hello? Oi, anyone there! Where'd you guys go? Luffy!'

Lilted voices called to him from deep within Sunny's underbelly and obediently Zoro followed. As he travelled deeper through the corridor that had definitely been lengthened within his mind to a worrying length, the muffled voices grew louder and louder, transforming into short yells. Zoro fingered his swords, feeling wholly uneasy.

His pace quickened, the corridor stretched and the voices suddenly fell silent. Then, the wail began.

It reverberated throughout the walls and positively screamed of a hollow, desperate pain. He felt like his skull would crack from the sheer pressure. A feeling of dread crept into him, seizing him. Zoro started running, calling frantically. The Sunny creaked and shifted around him in panicky movements. The floorboards behind him kicked up at his heels, urging him on.

He burst into the aquarium lounge and everything suddenly just…stopped. Like a climatic story cut off. He skidded to a stop and stood for a moment panting. He scanned the area slowly, at first seeing nothing. Everything seemed so blurred. But one area wasn't. His gaze was drawn to the aquarium, which was oddly devoid of life. Dark and still, there was only one thing in the aquarium. A body.

Zoro felt as if all the blood had drained from his body in an instant. He gulped, struggling not to dry heave but at the same time unable to move.

Luffy's head lolled limply in the water, his skin bone-white and slightly bloated. He had been in there a while. Under Zoro's horrified gaze his body twitched, and slowly, his head rose so his dead eyes could pin Zoro in their empty glare. His lips moved. Zoro couldn't make out the sound, but a voice that seemed composed of everyone he had ever known echoed hauntingly throughout the ship. The words shook Zoro to his very core.

This won't last forever.

LUFFY!

Zoro literally shoot off the sofa and rolled, grappling for his swords. By the time he grasped Wadou a sudden calm washed over him as he realised quickly that it- all of it- had been a horrible, nasty, disturbing dream. He slowly let go and slumped back onto the floor. Leaning on the sofa, he buried his face in his hands and shivered in the horrible aftermath. He was bathed in sweat, and the stifling images that were flashing through his head at an impossible rate were not helping. Just a dream. Just a dream.

Just a dream.

There were a few obligatory grumbled curses and pelted pillows from around the room but they were quickly quelled by the interest in sleep at this hour. Zoro didn't blame them. He sighed with one last shudder and stood. He figured he would get right back into joining them and putting this behind him as quickly as humanely possible. Blinking blearily, he grabbed at his pillows and sheets, throwing them back on the sofa forcefully.

Something made him pause. Luffy… he needed to make sure. Was it Luffy's turn on watch? He couldn't recall.

A traitorous part of him (the brain cells that managed the 'sleeping' part, which happened to be a rather large percent) whispered Go back to sleep. You're exhausted. He stubbornly scanned the room, slowly. Franky, Usopp, Brook, Chopper, dumbass…

A stifling dread crept up on him. Luffy…Where's Luffy?!

Before he could even reason Luffy's disappearance for a midnight food run or a watch the nighttime quiet of the ship erupted with a piercing shriek. Everything shook, cupboards were flung open and innards deposited, and the mass of wood flexed around him like a distorted hall of mirrors. Zoro's whole body locked up for one twenty-fifth of a second.

That wail was the exact same from his dream.

As his cremates jerked up in bed yelling around him, Zoro grabbed Wadou and tore out. The door was thrown off it's hinges in a hurricane of splinters as Zoro beat it out of the way and bolted down the hall. He barrelled into the lounge room as the wailing around him continued like a broken alarm. His gaze leapt wildly to the aquarium and spotted a familiar figure drifting amongst the colourful spots of marine life. A figure so familiar to him Zoro could have mapped out every dimple, ticklish spot and perfect imperferfection on it.

There was nothing to think about. He leapt. And he sliced.

The aquarium shattered. Icy cold water and tiny fish among giant fish among flopping squid poured into the room and rushed through the doors, generating a powerful roar. Zoro dived to the side to avoid the worst of the flow and targeted the pale figure within the rush. Gulping air, Zoro quickly dived for Luffy and grabbed him. He was taken along with the flow for a moment before he could roll out of the oppressive gush and to the side, clutching the limp person tightly to his chest.

Yells and worried shouts sounded down the hall and the wailing had stopped, but Zoro paid no heed to them; he was focused on the person that was in his arms, cold, unmoving and not breathing.

Zoro's wet fingers slipped and shook over Luffy's body. Luffy was so white and cold, like a corpse. Zoro's teeth bit into his lip so hard blood dripped onto Luffy's face. At that moment, all he knew was that Luffy wasn't breathing and was going to die if he didn't do anything, and that Luffy could already be-

Zoro's brain shut down and blind, unforgivable instinct took over in a numb and terrifying rush. He dropped to the wet floor and started pumping furiously at Luffy's chest. His breath came in short, painful gasps as he continued, stopping every now and then to press his lips to Luffy's and urgently blow.

Was it twenty or forty compressions? Thirty?! Godamnit, breathe!

Thick salty drops started hitting Luffy's strangely calm face. Zoro didn't even register they were coming from him. He just kept pumping, and blowing, and pumping, and pumping. He fell into a rhythm, disbelieving that this was even real. Time discontinued it's existence as Zoro numbly worked. He could have been at this for hours, or merely two minutes. If you were to ask him, he wouldn't know.

Everything in his life seemed to have lead to this. Every little minute, every large day and every life experience just funnelled into this horrible task. Keep pumping, don't give up, make him breathe.

It was as if he were the one dead.

'Luffy, come on, oh god, oh god, oh god, please…' For the first time in his life, Roronoa Zoro was praying. It was getting harder to face the truth; Luffy still wasn't breathing. He had no clue how long it had been, but none of that mattered, because Luffy wasn't responding. Luffy… his whole life included Luffy in some way.

His flat-palmed pumping morphed into desperate punching.

To even think that it might end here…

The full reality of the situation suddenly crushed him like he was nothing more than an infant.

-Luffy-

'You… Luffy… Lu-…' tears pooled in his eyes and blurred his vision of them splashing on Luffy's cheeks. 'COME ON!' He suddenly roared. He started sobbing, hardly even noticing it was him making all the noise. He shoved his lips onto those of his usually lively partner and blew obsessively once, twice, three times. He pulled back, hands cradling Luffy's face desperately. He hadn't moved.

'YOU LIAR! HOW CAN YOU BECOME THE PIRATE KING IF YOU'RE DEAD?!' He clasped his hands high above his head. 'WHAT ABOUT US?! WHAT ABOUT ME?! YOU STILL HAVE YOUR DREAM!'

Haki surged from his body as he slammed his hands onto Luffy's chest with bone shattering force. Luffy's body jerked and his own haki spiked in reaction. His mouth opened wide in a sudden heaving choke and water gushed out.

Zoro's mind seemed to shut down again, struggling to catch up with its flesh and blood counterpart as Zoro worked on autopilot, tipping Luffy onto his side and holding his face down. Water flowed freely from Luffy's mouth as the boy coughed and hacked savagely.

Zoro was aware that some of their cremates had started to filter in- heck, someone could have been standing right over him the whole time and he wouldn't have been the wiser- but at the moment they were still just background noise.

'That's it, breathe, Luffy, breathe,' he chanted quietly. He had slipped onto his knees, and now that Luffy seemed to have hacked out the worst of it, he slumped back, pulling Luffy into his lap.

Urgently blurred voices were sounding from all around him. He held Luffy tightly to him, staring as he stoked Luffy's face. Slowly, his forehead touched Luffy's, and he slowly coached himself to breathe normally, because Luffy was breathing.

Hands guided him up, and a gentle voice ushered him forward. Zoro slowly recognised Chopper's voice as he was led like a child back through the familiar halls, their destination was most likely the medbay.

He stopped cold at the sharp realisation, shrugged the kind hands off him, lifted his chin up and nodded jerkily to Chopper. Then, with his head held high, he escorted his captain to the medbay, where he would refuse to leave until Luffy was able too himself.

Later that night as he lay in resolved vigil aside Luffy in the medbay he finally had a chance to revisit what he remembered. While he was, in part, still a little unable to muddle through directly what had happened or the direct order, he knew a terrible, terrible calamity had passed. It had just missed them by the very skin of their fingernails. It was and always had been… Zoro's darkest fear, and something that would grip him hauntingly for months to come.

He exhaled roughly as Chopper snorted softly in his sleep nearby and pressed his lips against Luffy's warm forehead again, as he had been doing every minute.

Luffy was going to be alright, but he also could have very easily NOT, if it weren't for one of their precious friends.

The Thousand Sunny had saved their captain.

He could hear the wood shift slightly around them, creaking and cooing gently to all the precious passengers she carried within her hold. People she knew and loved from a lifetime ago, the memories of carrying them from the East Blue to Water 7 ingrained into her from the very wood that was salvaged from her predecessor, the small boat within her hold. She now lived in this new vessel, the promised one.

Her sails flapped dutifully in the breeze as she continued to watch over her crew, as she would until the day she joined her forefathers in passing.

Within the medbay, Zoro smiled, eyes closed as he felt Luffy's smaller body inhale and exhale against him.

'Thank you, Sunny...' he whispered calmly. He pressed his face to Luffy's hair, feeling his captain's cool breath play across his neck. 'What I owe you… is more than life itself.' His eyes followed the span of the room, from Franky's massive bulk propped against the wall, snoring loudly, with Robin, Usopp and Chopper snuggled around him, and Nami wrapped in a blanket on the chair. Sanji was outside, on a restless watch, unable to rest himself after what had almost conspired.

He breathed out again, finally allowing himself a small, relieved smile.

We owe you... everything.

After the incident Zoro had developed an almost unhealthy habit of dragging Luffy to bed with him every night, something Luffy sometimes found hotly endearing, and others wholly annoyed. He was a free spirit after all, and if he sometimes felt like he wanted to stre-e--tch out in his own hammock or cuddle and wrestle with Chopper and Usopp, then nothing would -usually- stop him. The only thing that steadied him now was because of what had actually happened.

After his own experiences, his heart sniffled and cried for Zoro in understanding.

He hadn't meant to, of course! It was just… he was just being himself. Alone out on watch and quite bored with the calm dutiful rounds, he heard a few splashes coming from the aquarium lid. It had been closed, in hindsight avoidance of exactly what happened, but that hadn't stopped him. He had lifted it up and observed the nocturnal glowing jellies for a few amazed moments, before losing interest and trotting back to the side. He completely forgot about closing the lid. And low and behold, as he was walking to the other side a few minutes later the Thousand Sunny had hit a small rough patch, and with a quick slip on the dewy grass, he had pitched straight into the tank.

It had been truly terrifying for him, a very sobering moment. At one point he completely accepted that this might have been the end, that he would never complete his dream. There was no disappointment, nor anger, merely love for his cremates and what they had already achieved. Fondness at what they shared. And a final small wish he could have seen them all, held them, and laughed with them, one last time.

Then there was Zoro. Like a breaking wave Zoro had swept in on Luffy's dark shores and pulled him back from that dark beckoning void.

Luffy could hardly remember much of the actual incident, but he certainly recalled waking up to his crew in Zoro's arms in the medbay with their smiling, relieved and angry faces swimming around him, completely alive. 'Well,' he had weakly laughed as he had dropped his face into Zoro's neck (a favourite spot of his). 'I guess it wasn't my time yet!'

Zoro had been with him the whole time, and though he returned to his semi-normal cheery state, no-one was fooled; he had clung to Zoro like a lost and drowned kitten. Everyone had simply crowded around, offering support, hugs, and scolding words.

Luffy had felt his fears melt away like rich chocolate under their warmth. But, days later, some deep dark primal part of him still hadn't forgotten.

It was then no real surprise to him that a few nights later, on the eve of the Florian Triangle, Luffy found himself awake in mild panic, struggling against the water that had surrounded him. With an abashed air of blanketed fear, he roused Zoro, padded over to Sanji and pawed at his face. Grumbling awake, one look at Luffy's face had him swinging his legs out without a word.

Thus the monster trio found themselves in the warmly lit kitchen at 2:03 in the morning, Sanji serving up the biggest hot chocolate (with the works) he could muster for their bedraggled and definitely needing captain. Luffy dug straight into the mess of cream, milk and chocolate, stopping for a moment to grin at his cook. Sanji smiled back, feeling a bit of his tension ease away. Straightening his shoulders, he poured some tea for himself and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

Zoro had followed Luffy out like a grass-headed zombie and plonked himself into a light snooze as soon as they were seated. Snickering now, Sanji dropped the beer and pitched it at Zoro as hard as he dared this time of night (no need to wake dear Nami-swan~ actually, he should make a coffee for dear Robin now, her watch had just started-) only to have the swordsman deftly grab it midair, hardly moving.

'What a weak try, shitty cook,' he grumbled. 'I bet Nami could kick better than that.'

'I don't doubt it ~!' Sanji exclaimed gleefully as he put the coffee pot on and joined them at the table with his tea. He then snarled at Zoro. 'But I could kick your nuts in now, and then we'll see how hard I can kick!'

Zoro grunted, popped his beer roughly against the table and started to chug. Sanji scowled in his direction, taking a few calming gulps. He transferred his gaze to Luffy, whom was finishing off his hot chocolate, cup tilted vertically as he sucked eagerly at the rim for those last precious drops. Sanji felt himself slowly untense at the sight, easing out. There were few things that truly hurt Sanji in this world, and one of them was the fact he hadn't been there for Luffy when (he felt) he should have. Zoro had, and he could secretly be thankful for that while also feeling the sting worse.

'Alright there now, Luffy?' Sanji asked brusquely just in case. For his troubles he received a bright grin. 'It was delicious Sanji!' Luffy said. 'So warm and chocolatey… Yum! Can I have another?' Sanji nodded proudly but stopped when Luffy demanded more, turning to kick out the chair from under his captain, who clattered to the floor laughing. 'What kind of operation do you think this is, you greedy bastard?' Sanji grumbled in annoyance, a hand digging in his pocket for a cigarette. When it came up empty (these were his sleeping clothes) his mouth formed a thin line and he gulped more tea.

'Pleaaaa~sssee?' As Luffy whined from the floor, Zoro smiled. He scrounged a hand around under the table blindly and managed to drag Luffy up, pulling his captain into his lap. Luffy snuggled in and poked his tongue out from the relative safety of his moss-man shield. Sanji leant back, unable to stop the small smile slip through at the pure and familiar normality of the situation. His turned his head away quickly (heaven forbid those losers actually see his smile), but continued to fondly watch the two relax together out of the corner of his eye as they shoved, pushed, snugged and nuzzled.

His mind however, quickly wandered to darker matters that still hovered on the edge of his vision like a black cloud. 'That night…' he asked, the other two stilling. 'That scream.. was it who I thought it was?'

Zoro scoffed patronisingly. 'What, you didn't hear it? Stupid cook, probably too out of it dreaming about pulling up ladies' skirts…'

'Well, we were all asleep when it happened!' Sanji snapped, flushing, both with anger and the thought of what was up certain ladies' skirts. 'I only caught the end of it! It could have just been a seagull or a storm…' he stopped, realising he was talking pure rubbish; the truth was clear. It couldn't have been more obvious. He had acutely felt Merry's despair when Luffy and Usopp clashed violently over her. He had witnessed the Merry fight the seas and her own looming demise to reach them. He had been there when she had spoke her final heartbreaking words to them.

Luffy and Zoro remained silent as Sanji turned his gaze on the room around them and suddenly chuckled, rubbing at the fresh table affectionately. 'That didn't take long though, did it?' he thoughtfully murmured.

Their attention was drawn to the comforting creaking of the ship, which seemed to increase then. Luffy grinned brightly while Zoro let loose a small smirk. 'It seems Merry followed us in more ways then one, I think,' the swordsman said quietly back. His grip tightened around his captain as his gaze surrounded the room slowly with reverence. 'And we owe her more than ever.'

'I would have died if Sunny hadn't helped,' Luffy stated wisely. His tone offered no argument, but as both of his cremate smiled at him and the ship seemed to swell happily around them, none would ever be forthcoming. 'Isn't that right, Sunny?' He rubbed at the wood affectionately, and the three men that night could practically hear their new ship coo around them. She may have been new in body, but in spirit she had travelled a lifetime of seas with this crew. And she would continue to do so until the end.

Yep, I truly believe Merry pretty much immediately settles her spirit in Sunny. Franky pretty much says it himself around the end of Enies Lobby, and it just seems so very likely. I can't wait for Sunny herself to start having her own close encounters with the crew; it has to happen sometime!

But, yes, the moment we met the Sunny and she was introduced and oh, wow, an aquarium, my immediate reaction was this scenario within my head. I mean, with Luffy being Luffy and all. So I was really worried when I started off with Sunny, cause I kept expecting something of the sort to happen. Been wanting to write it for a while and it just slotted so perfectly in here for Merry and Sunny. So, hope you guys enjoyed :)

Now onward! To Thriller Bark!