A Stupid Way to Die

Part 2

The next morning, Luffy was brought a bowl of applesauce for breakfast from Robin when he woke up. As she fed him, she had a feeling that there was no way he'd be full by the applesauce, but Luffy surprised her by getting full before he even finished the bowl. He was given a bottle of water so he didn't spill anything on himself again. Chopper had been sleeping from the time Luffy had fallen asleep to a half hour before the sick captain awoke and was now in the kitchen. Nami and Usopp walked in, having wanted to see him for what felt like a long time, trading places with Robin.

Usopp was happy Luffy's eyes lit up when he saw him, only to have his mood plummet when Luffy said hi to him as Ace.

"Ace. I missed you," he slurred and reached for his hand. Usopp looked at Nami with pain across his face, wondering what he should do. She moved her head towards Luffy, so Usopp took his hand. Nami didn't take it personally that Luffy didn't acknowledge her once he saw "Ace".

"How's - cough - the old man?" Usopp and Nami had no idea who "old man" was supposed to be. Usopp asked who it was, causing Luffy to frown. Ace didn't know who old man was? It was obvious.

"Whitebeard," he said, his eyes starting to close but he forced them open again. Nami was surprised he mentioned Whitebeard. Did he meet him? But Whitebeard was dead... he died at the War of the Best.

"Why'd you - cough - sto- stop running?" Luffy asked Usopp, who was now thoroughly confused. Suddenly Luffy looked extremely confused and pulled his hand away from Usopp.

"Where'd Ace go?" he asked, looking around the room. Usopp looked at him heartbreakingly. Luffy continued to look around the room, moving his head slowly. He didn't look like Luffy while he was like this. Luffy was strong. Now he was weaker than weak, and not just in physical strength. Everything about him from his eyes to his posture were weak.

"He had to go see Whitebeard," Usopp lied softly, trying harder to make it more believable than any lie he'd ever told.

"Oh ok," Luffy said and leaned back against the pillow. He had started to ask where Chopper was when in the middle of the sentence he began to seize. Nami cried out in panic as Luffy's body shook, rattling the whole bed. Usopp ran out of the door, almost tripping on his way out, to get Chopper, who was in the kitchen eating with Sanji at the counter while the others of the crew sat quietly against the wall, or in Zoro's case, hunched over sitting at the table with his head in his hands, absolutely miserable.

Surprisingly, Sanji hadn't picked a fight with Zoro yet. It felt wrong for them to do their usual squabbles when Luffy was sleeping.

"Chopper, Luffy is shaking!" Usopp shouted in a panic. Chopper put his napkin down and looked at the table.

"There's nothing I can do to help him," he said miserably. "I'm supposed to cure every disease in the world and I can't even help him with a stupid mushroom."

Sanji spoke from the kitchen. "Did Doctrine say there was no cure?"

Chopper froze for a moment. "Well, yes," he answered.

"Isn't she an amazing doctor? Better than you? If she said there was no cure, then there is no cure as of now. Maybe if we had gotten a sample of the mushroom, you could have, but we didn't. So please stop beating yourself up. You're doing the best you can right? You're helping him with the pain. That's more than enough right now," Sanji finished, his words making Chopper feel a little less useless.

"So, can you go help him right now?" Usopp demanded, a little frustrated and irritated that no one seemed to care. Chopper nodded and the two ran back to where Luffy was.