#opshipweek

“Chopper, are you okay?” Sanji whispered.

“Nooo, I don't feel good, and I don't wanna throw up, I'm dizzy, and my head hurts too,” Chopper listed off his symptoms.

“Sounds like seasickness,” Sanji slid his hands under the small doctor, lifting him up into his arms, rubbing a soothing hand down his back. “Let's get you some crackers,”

“Seasickness? That wasn't in any of my books,”

“Hmm maybe it was under a different term. You can look in the morning when you feel better,” Sanji climbed the ladder from the men's bunk room and onto the deck.

The sea wasn't too bad tonight, but this must be Chopper's first night on the sea. The moon hung in the sky, a waning gibbous only half full. There was nary a cloud in the sky. The stars shone brightly, blanketing the sky in little lights. The moon and sea went hand in hand, and the moon controlled the tides.

Sanji stepped inside the galley with Chopper on his hip. The reindeers little hooves clutched his shit tightly as he buried his small face into Sanji's chest. He opened a cupboard and grabbed the carkerks he kept inside. Usopp had gotten sea sick once or twice when the waves were particularly strong. He handed one to Chopper.

“Here this should help with the nausea,” As Chopper took the carker and began to nibble on it. Sanji carried the young doctor outside and stood at the bow of their ship. He pointed up at the moon. “Watch the moon chopper, watch the horizon, it will help,”

<>

Zoro heard the door to the men's bunk room open. He glanced down, expecting to see Luffy crawl up and try to get into the kitchen for a midnight snack. Instead, he spotted a blonde head of hair, Zoro huffed and was tempted to head down and bug the annoying blond unfairly pretty cook until he saw who was in his arms. Zoro watched as they headed to the kitchen. He at least got one part, right? He turned his attention back to the horizon until he heard them leave.

“Watch the moon Chopper, watch the horizon, it will help,” Curly spoke softly in a way Zoor had never heard before. Zoro began to climb down from the corws nest just as the cook began to sing.

“Loin sous les marées roulantes

Là où les rayons du soleil ne peuvent pas aller

Branchies et écailles avec des yeux sans vue”

Zoro didn't understand a word the blond sung, but it was soft and sweet. A lullaby, Zoro could only vaguely remember his own mother singing him to sleep before she died. His chest ached at the memory of her soft hands brushing back his hair as she sang above him, her eyes warm and loving. He couldn't recall her face. He didn't even know that he had remembered that about her. He came to stand next to Sanji and Chopper.

“Monstres en bas

Tapi dans les profondeurs glacées

Où la mer est noire comme de l'encre

Les horreurs de la natation dorment”

He watched as Chopper drifted asleep, the half eaten cracker in his hoof falling to the deck. Zoro picked it up and finished it off before Sanji could. There's no sense in wasting perfectly good food.

“Seasick?” Zoro asked, keeping his voice low.

“Mmhmm,” Sanji hmm in response.

“I was his age when I left home, my first night on the boat wasn't too bad, I thought I'd be fine. That seasickness was for the weak until the water began to rock and jerk the boat about. Until I nearly drowned in a storm, I was so sick and scared I was sure that I would die and my dreams would be for not,” Zoro wasn't sure why he was talking about this but it felt right as he watched Sanji stare up at the moon.

“I was eight, I ran from where I was born. I stowed away on a cruise ship called the Orbit. They found me because I was seasick, I couldn't keep the vomiting quiet. I was so sure that they would toss me overboard and leave me to the mercy of the sea. Instead, they put me to work as a chore boy. That lasted for two years until Zeff attacked the ship. Everyone drowned in the storm save the two of us,”

They stood together watching the moon fall and the sun rise, the sunrise bathed everyone in gold. Zoro couldn't help but stare at the man standing next to him. He had never seen someone look so beautiful before.

“Here, let me take him. I'll put him back to bed, and you can start on breakfast before Luffy wakes,“ Zoro swallowed down the stirring of feelings as he held out his hands to take Chopper.