After removing the urinary catheter valve from the catheter tip, once more, Zoro handed the small object to the Captain and told him to wait patiently for him to return with a syringe.
However, the thought of being left alone in a bathroom in his current state was highly unfavorable for Luffy, at the moment.
"But... What if someone walks in when you leave?"
He whispered at the Swordsman.
"Don't worry about it, I'm gonna lock the door before I leave. You'll be safe."
The Swordsman responded, using a quiet tone as well.
"How will you get back in, then?"
"I'll..."
Putting some thought into the Captain's question, Zoro decided not to lock the door after all, promising to return as soon as possible, before anyone else could enter the restroom.
"I'll leave it unlocked then. But if someone tries coming in, let 'em know you're in here. For now, stay here and don't move from that spot."
He instructed the young Captain, for the sake of his own safety.
"Will do. Never had the option to move in the first place."
Luffy spoke, leaving the second verse in his sentence as a thought in his mind while he watched Zoro quietly exit the bathroom.
"Please, hurry back..."
~A few minutes later~
With Zoro gone, Luffy remembered just how vulnerable he was without anyone around him, especially after he had to shout out to let two of his crewmates know that he was in the restroom.
The first crew mate who opened the bathroom door halfway was Usopp, and the last one who tried walking in was Chopper.
Afterwards, Zoro returned and locked the door behind him, allowing his Captain's unsettled mind to relax.
"I'm back."
He announced in a casual tone of voice, turning at the faucet of the bathroom sink to wash his hands again, before he could lay a finger on the Captain's body.
"Chopper and Usopp almost came in. I had to shout for them to hear my voice, all the way over here."
Luffy chuckled, feeling more at ease, now that the Swordsman was beside him.
"No wonder Chopper wasn't in his office. That made grabbing one of these babies so much easier."
Zoro smirked, walking over towards Luffy.
Guiding a sterile, single-use syringe towards Luffy's catheter tip, the Swordsman was about to insert the pointed end into it when his Captain's hands stopped him.
"Wait, wait..."
He stared up at his Captain, waiting for him to give him an explanation for his sudden resistance against him inserting the syringe.
"What if you can't take it out, afterwards?"
"Huh??"
Zoro was about to question his Captain when he noticed the scars on his hips as his vision drifted off to his legs.
Seeing how gruesome and visible the scars were, and how they extended from his lower back, to his inner thighs, the Swordsman held back on giving Luffy any sarcastic answers as he normally does, out of respect for how much the young man has been through.
"I have to twist it out, see? Just like this."
He twisted the syringe in his hand, giving the young man a quick demonstration.
