His Fault | Monster Trio

16

The sound of an old wooden door creaking wide open alerted a young boy who was lying down on his bed, facing the oppose direction towards the entrance of his bedroom.

He rose from the bed, undoing the position he had when he was lying down.

The bedroom was clean yet he was a mess, carrying large eye bags that weighed relentlessly beneath his eyes.

"Hey..." A raspy voice spoke, its tone making the short brunette grow agitated.

"I'm not apologizing! I've already made up my mind." The boy defended himself before Zoro could even get the chance to say another word to him.

Not that he was going to say anything against his Captain's decision, after all... Or so Luffy thought at that moment, that is.

But oh, he was wrong. And Zoro was about to prove it to him, placing his swords aside in an unorganized manner.

Shortly after the shimmering silver chalice blades grew silent, the Swordsman raised his voice, loud enough to gain the younger man's close attention.

"When you look at me, what do you see?" The older man asked, threading his fingers on either side of his hands, leaving them enclasped.

"H-huh? Why are you asking?" Luffy spoke, tilting his head.

"All I need is an answer, Captain. Please, If you will."

Luffy's face softened. The crease in between his eyebrows created by his remorseful memory of what happened in the kitchen, slowly vanished, leaving him with a blank expression.

"You. That's all." The Captain responded with no hesitation.

"And Chopper? Usopp? What about them?"

"Those two are like everyone else on this ship! My crewmates, my friends."

As the Swordsman continued to ask Luffy questions, the younger grew bored and started to walk around his bedroom.

"Hold on a sec, we aren't done yet." Zoro held onto the boy's shoulder, encouraging him to sit back down, even for just a little longer.

"You think of everyone as your friend, but what you did to him back in the kitchen? That wasn't too friendly, Luffy." Luffy went deadly silent, his heart started jittering with anxiety.

"He wouldn't leave me alone..."

"You want him to leave you alone for good? Because that's what you'll end up getting when he packs up his things and leaves the ship." Hearing this, Luffy gave Zoro a rather angered look.

"I don't want that at all! He's my friend!" The boy continuously insisted.

"Luffy, get a grip! You can't keep thinking about what happened." His first mate spoke, using common sense to get his message across the Captain.

But the man came off as rather insensitive towards Luffy instead.

Even he himself admitted to feeling guilty for the way he handled the situation.

"You're acting as if it happened to me a month ago."

"Days, months, years. People heal from this, Luffy." The men continued to argue in a low tone of voice, adding to the tension they felt.

"Not when you have a constant reminder of what happened to you."

The Captain was beginning to lose his patience with Zoro.

"Even so... You have to get over this. You need to try, Luffy. Don't let it torment you this way."

Zoro stretched his arms out to hold onto the young man, but his embrace was declined.

"You say it like that because it wasn't you."

"If it would have been me, I would be handling it differently."

The older man moved away from the younger, giving him space to breathe, and leaving space so that he too could relax the tension he felt.

"I'm not you."

"The Cook cut his skin because of the plate you broke." Zoro confessed, changing the subject before Luffy could continue talking about it.

Luffy's eyes widened, but his mind remained closed.

Yes, he felt worried and guilty beyond his own imagination, but that didn't soften his stubborn attitude, so the chances of him apologizing to Sanji were slim.

"He shoulda let me carry the plate then. Geez."

"You need to control yourself a little more the next time, Luffy. You know that working in the kitchen is his job, regardless of what he does in it."

"I was trying to do him a favor, so that..." Luffy
toned his voice down, becoming silent for a while.

"That way, he won't be so close."

"The further you try and push someone away, the closer they get." Zoro stated.

"Did you ever wonder why he's been acting like that? It's because you're constantly making up excuses to not be around."

The longer Luffy listened to the older man, he came to realize how right he truly was.

"Not just him, but everyone notices this, Luffy. You spend more time hiding in this room than hanging out with everyone in the ship."

The shorter boy held Zoro's hand as they both stood up.

"Let's get out of here and go somewhere! What happened to becoming the King of Pirates, huh?" Zoro felt proud of himself when seeing a bright smile appear on Luffy's face.

"Nami said we would get to Jupiter Island soon. No no, Jupit... Jupit.. Ah, Juniper! Juniper Island." He smiled, half heartedly.

"Unless Franky turns the Sunny into a Rockeyship, It'd take a year's worth of Cola and a lot of "Coup de Burst" blasts to get us to Jupiter."

"Shut it!" Luffy jokingly smacked the side of Zoro's arm. To that, his lover started to play with his hair, messing it up.

"Are you just gonna stay cooped up in here?"

Noticing how visibly silent Luffy became after he asked him such an obvious question he's been avoiding, Zoro placed his hand over his shoulder.

"Not on my watch."

"What watch? You can't even read the time on a watch. Nishishishi!!" Luffy's cheeks turned red as he laughed.

"Neither can you, what're you talkin' about? Huh? Huh?" The man dragged his hand onto Luffy's torso, tickling him.

"ZORO, STO-! HAA!!" Luffy held onto the older man's arms, feeling his belly jiggle every time he let out his laughter.

A sweet smile was then drawn across Zoro's face as he continued to enjoy such a tender moment with Luffy.

Effortlessly combing his fingertips through the relaxed strands of Luffy's smoky black hair, the Swordsman thought to himself:

"If I could restore his smile with my hands, he'll definitely be able to forget about his bad thoughts when we make it to the new island."

Soon, Nami would announce their much awaited arrival at Juniper Island, where Luffy was sure to find peace and comfort within...

Or so, he had hoped. But Juniper Island had different plans for the Straw Hat crew and their Captain.

~~~