Imagines III | ZoLu 🥀🔥

Last Mate | 5 💔

Being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance that one of the many shocked bystanders called for him, Zoro was currently lying down unconscious on top of a stretcher.

Over his face there was an oxygen mask, supporting his weak lungs that could barely provide even a simple breath for him at the moment.

Next to him was Luffy who was also being treated for minor injuries he sustained which he refused to be mended for.

"Please, help him first! Don't- I don't need this!! Stop!"

"We understand that you feel concerned about him right now, young man. But you have to relax. Take a few deep breaths with me-" The paramedic jolted when Luffy slapped his hand away with anger.

"HOW COULD I FOCUS ON BREATHING WHEN ZORO'S FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE RIGHT NOW?" He cried out, struggling to not start a war in between him and the paramedics who were only trying their best to save Zoro.

"I'm.... Sorry." Lowering his head down, Luffy reached down, tempted to hold onto Zoro's hand when one of the machines he was hooked onto started going off.

"What does it mean? What's happening?!"

Watching the paramedics push him aside immediately and block his view of Zoro's body alerted Luffy and petrified him.

The sounds that were emitting from the machine couldn't be taken lightly by anyone, especially not by the paramedics that deal with these type of situations on a daily basis.

They knew that the statistics shown on Zoro's heart monitor were dangerously low and risky.

Luffy stared in shock as the crew huddled up in a tight space he couldn't fit through, in order to stabilize the condition Zoro was in.

The rest of the ride to the hospital, the younger boy could barely feel his lips.

His entire body was beginning to shut down when the fear of losing Zoro settled into his stomach and caused him to become immobilized.

When the ambulance came to a stop at its destination, its double doors pried open as Luffy moved to the back, giving the paramedics enough space to bring Zoro outside as soon as they possibly could.

He ran beside the stretcher, desperately hanging onto the metal handles that were hanging from it on either end.

"Hey you're gonna be okay, right, Zoro? Aren't you?"

Despite knowing he wouldn't get a response from Zoro, Luffy still asked him many different questions, to keep himself from going insane with the amount of negative thoughts that were infiltrating his mind in that moment.

"WHAT GIVES?! LET ME IN!" He shouted as one of the doctors was forced to escort Luffy immediately away from another set of intimidating double doors they had taken Zoro into.

"You can't make it passed this point on, young man. I'll return when we have updates on the patient, okay?"

Luffy's eyes were threatening to deceive him once more and shed tears he was still holding back, but instead of crying, he inhaled deeply, letting out a shaky breath that turned into a sob by the time he nodded at the doctor.

He then proceeded to stand outside of the location Zoro was taken into, looking through the glass for as long as he could before he was told to take a seat in the waiting room, given that it was a violation to stand in front of the double doors that lead the medics to an operating room.

"Why did you do it. Zoro, if something happens to you... I'll never forgive you for this!! Don't you dare die!"

~2:00 p.m.~

~4:00 p.m.~

~5:00 p.m.~

Luffy's eyes lit up with anticipation as he saw a familiar looking man walking towards him with a pair of blue gloves covering his hands.

"We had to preform many different procedures on your friend, buddy. After a couple of hours, we were finally able to stabilize his breathing back to normal just when we were convinced that his lungs would collapse at any minute."

Luffy carefully listened to the doctor with close attention he never knew he managed to have within him.

"Thank you so much for saving him!" The brunette boy was just about to celebrate Zoro's victory when the older  man gave him a serious look, shaking his head.

"Now hold on a minute," the man spoke above, crushing Luffy's spirits from deep down inside.

"Just because we managed to help him recover from one thing, doesn't mean he's been rescued." The doctor went on.

"Four of his ribs are fractured, which also gave him a harder time breathing on his own since the wind was knocked out of him from the impact of the vehicle.

He's awake now, but his breathing was still very slow and dense when he first woke up from the surgery.

We need to make sure he could start breathing on his own before we could consider sending him home or leaving him here overnight."

The man concluded, leaving Luffy with a few things on his head:

How would Zoro's well-being remain while he was in the hospital?

What if the Swordsman worsened instead of recovering?

Would he need to spend the night at the hospital if he couldn't manage to breathe on his own?

And lastly:

"Zoro, what home will you return to. The Sunny would feel so empty without you...

And so would I."

~~~