theme: loss 💔

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✦ ZORO ✦

Zoro didn’t register Chopper’s voice at first.

He only heard fragments—too fast, too sharp. “No heartbeat—” “I’m trying—” “three minutes—” and then nothing made sense anymore except the sight of you lying still on the ground like the world had simply decided to stop holding you.

His hand stayed on his sword, but he wasn’t fighting anymore. Not the enemy. Not the war. Just the unbearable idea that the last time he’d spoken to you might’ve been the last time you ever heard him.

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✦ SANJI ✦

Sanji was already moving before he realized it.

One second he was kicking someone across the field, the next he was on his knees beside you, blood on his gloves, hands shaking as Chopper yelled for space. The battlefield noise collapsed into something distant and unreal.

All he could hear was the absence of you. No breath. No reaction. Nothing. And the worst part wasn’t the silence—it was remembering the last thing he said to you before everything went wrong. Something sharp. Something panicked. Something he would’ve taken back a thousand times if he’d known there wouldn’t be a next moment.

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✦ LUFFY ✦

Luffy didn’t understand what “no pulse” meant.

Not until he saw Chopper’s face. Not until he saw everyone freeze. Not until he grabbed your shoulder and shook you once—then again—then harder, like sheer force of will could restart something the world had already taken away.

“Hey,” he said, voice too quiet for someone like him. “Stop joking.”

But you didn’t. And for the first time, Luffy just… stopped moving too. Like if he stayed still enough, you’d decide to come back on your own.

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✦ LAW ✦

Law didn’t panic easily.

He had seen death too many times to waste emotion on it. That was what he told himself—until he was the one checking your pulse and finding nothing but wrongness under his fingers.

“Again,” he ordered, voice flat. Controlled.

He tried again. Nothing changed.

And for a brief, terrifying moment, Law understood something he hated: knowledge didn’t protect him from fear. It just made it sharper. Because he already knew what three minutes meant. And he knew most people never came back from it.

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✦ ACE ✦

Ace laughed at first.

Not because it was funny—but because his brain refused to accept what his eyes were seeing. “That’s not—hey, that’s not funny,” he muttered, stepping closer, grin cracking at the edges.

Then he saw Marco’s hands. Saw the stillness. Saw the way nobody was breathing with you anymore.

And the laugh died in his throat so completely it felt like something was ripping out of him. Because for three minutes, Ace Portgas D. Ace believed he had lost someone again—and this time, he wasn’t sure he’d survive it.

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✦ SABO ✦

Sabo arrived late.

That was the first thing he thought when he saw the crowd. Then he saw you. And suddenly time didn’t feel like something moving forward anymore—it felt like something collapsing in on itself.

He dropped to his knees beside you, calling your name once. Then again. Quieter the second time. Like saying it softly enough might fix it.

But there was no answer. Just silence stretching too long, too heavy, too final—until Koala finally said the words that made his breath stop too: “I got it back… I got a pulse.”

And Sabo realized he had been holding his breath like you were already gone.

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✦ YOU ✦

You don’t see it.

Not the screaming. Not the shaking hands. Not the way someone almost broke down right beside you while fighting to bring you back.

All you know is darkness—then noise—then air tearing into your lungs like punishment.

And when you finally open your eyes, everyone looks like they’ve been holding their breath for a lifetime…

like three minutes nearly became forever.

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