"It can't be..."
Irrelevant thoughts surrounded Zoro as he paced down the ship's corridors, walking back towards an intersection that partially connected the living room to the kitchen.
His presence was intuitively perceived by the remaining crewmates that appeared to be enjoying their time watching television.
No one could ignore the heaviness of such a bothersome demeanor the Swordsman had, darkening his aura.
"Is he still sleeping?"
One of the members within the Pirate crew asked him, speaking on behalf of the rest who were yearning to obtain a much-needed answer from Zoro.
To that, the man could only give them one response by physically shaking his head before finding the right words to address the current situation he found himself in.
"Nami, are you certain the Captain told you he was going to sleep in his bedroom?"
The man asked in a formal manner, desperate to receive an answer in return.
"That's what Luffy told us, right?"
Nami focused her attention on Usopp given that the Captain had mentioned he was going to sleep before, in front of both of them.
After Usopp confirmed that the information she distributed to Zoro was proven right, everyone grew quiet, waiting for his reply, especially when he was the last person to exit the Captain's headquarters.
"I can't find him there. He wasn't in his bathroom or in the other one near Franky's room... And from what I can tell, he isn't around here either."
The Swordsman explained with dread, plaguing everyone else with his worry.
By now, he managed to alarm the others enough to set out to search for Luffy themselves, but Zoro insisted he simply needed to gather ideas of where else he could be to not cause a commotion, right away.
In the midst of the many suggestions he received from his friends, Sanji told Zoro about a very particular part of the ship that urged him to head there first, of all the other places he could go to.
Meanwhile, the others parted ways: Each travelling to a different location in search of Luffy as well.
Though Zoro was an expert in getting lost, even if he lived within the Sunny for so long, this was one of the rare times that the man didn't struggle to find his way to where he intended on going to.
Perhaps it was that he was finally starting to memorize every room in the ship, or maybe it was out of sheer instinct, but Zoro successfully found the wine cellar Sanji directed him towards.
"It makes perfect sense. That Cook might not know it, but Luffy and I fell asleep in here not too long ago... He's here. I know he is."
Zoro thought to himself with a prideful look on his face and a positive attitude in the back of his mind.
A numbing sensation culminated from his feet, to the tip of the man's fingers that were firmly clutched around the brass door handle, the second he paused to turn the doorknob.
This incurable feeling that was taking over his body and feeding him with irrepressible haste suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving Zoro hollowed out from within as a result of the room being... Completely empty.
Bearing the brunt of this anticlimactic moment lead the man to believing he had nowhere else to find his Captain except for the seemingly infinite Ocean that surrounded the ship with water.
The images that appeared to him on plain sight terrorized Zoro so terribly, he couldn't think of anything else other than the vision of Luffy's body plummeting to the bottom of whatever could lie beneath the aphotic, dark blue sea that was absent of luminance even in broad daylight.
Overwhelming conclusions such as these were what drove him to insanity, despite his attempt to remain calm.
To contribute to his ongoing desperation, the Sunny was shook violently enough to cause him and the others aboard to take a tumble to the ground, as a consequence of their imbalanced ship.
"What was that?!"
Near the bottom left of the cellar was a small, round window. From afar, Zoro witnessed something disturbing the peaceful waves.
The bubbles floating atop the water signalled that buried deep within the bottomless sea, there was something or 'someone' begging to come back out.
"Is everyone alright?" Robin asked with caution.
Heads from all around her nodded as everyone stood up from the floor they had collided against.
Not long after the partial shock was over for the Straw Hats, they were stunned to see Zoro coming back up from the cellar located in the basement.
"Zoro, we- ZORO!?"
Seconds later, the crewmates were left in an even bigger shock when hearing a loud splash as Zoro dived directly into the Ocean with no fear or hesitation whatsoever.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
They questioned as he swam around frantically, a motionless expression tattooed permanently across his face, hiding the ear-piercing screams he truly wanted to let out within the Ocean.
His patience was running as thin as the amount of oxygen he had left inside of his lungs that were hanging by a thread, the longer he continued to hold in his breath, swimming barbarously throughout the Ocean, being indelicate towards the sea creatures while he swerved his arms at one final attempt in finding Luffy.
Unfortunately, his lungs reached their limit and forced him to evacuate back to the surface of the sea, gasping for air.
"I see him! ZORO, YOU IDIOT!! DON'T BE SO RECKLESS NEXT TIME!" Nami shouted, helping the Swordsman get back to the Sunny.
"I couldn't... Find.. Luffy."
He coughed in between each sentence his mouth tried to conjure, apologizing halfway through.
Nami whacked the man over the head, urging him to look to his side.
There, standing right before him, he saw a dark haired boy with a scar on the lower left corner of his cheek.
"Luffy.." He walked past everyone standing near him, as if they didn't exist at all.
Nami was about to explain something to Zoro when they saw the Swordsman drop to his knees, embracing Luffy like never before.
His embrace was alarming to the boy at first, and his wet clothing didn't help bring the younger comfort, but soon, he wrapped his long arms around Zoro's back, realizing it was Zoro in the first place.
"Say Zoro, why're you shaking?"
The boy asked as Zoro buried his face into the center of his chest, holding onto him for dear life.
"I'm cold. Very cold, Luffy."
He lied to not stress the younger who was already under enough tension after being found by Nami and startled by his crewmates.
In that moment, all that Zoro could do was insist on being cold to continue holding onto the Captain he was more relieved than ever to be reunited with.
"Of all people, it's a relief that Luffy is the only one who can't see me cry."
Zoro thought to himself, feeling tears descend helplessly from his reddened eye as he tightened his grip around Luffy's waist, unable to let him go.
"Lying is easier when the person you love is blind..."
~~~
YOU ARE READING
Love Is Blind | ZoLu
Fanfiction"Straw Hat Luffy... Will no longer be able to see again." A tragedy struck the Straw Hats when their Captain falls victim to Blackbeard's powers, while fighting against him. Because of this, Luffy ends up losing his eyesight, and goes on a rampage...
