His Fault | Monster Trio

29

~Present Time~

"Zoro won't hear us, he's still standing over there."

"Maybe he won't, but they will."

"They can hear us!?"

"They can see us too... It's over, Sanji."

Using his peripheral vision to eye Zoro, Sanji could sense that the Swordsman was beginning to suspect of their silent mumbling.

The blonde man took one last glance at Luffy's palm and told him to keep his fist closed by using his body Language.

"Now that I know my Nami San isn't in any danger, I'll leave you two alone- Oh, Luffy!" Before leaving, something stopped the man's footsteps, once more.

"Speaking of Nami San, she said that we might be sailing to a nearby Island soon. That's all for now." The elegant man then took his leave.

Zoro approached Luffy closely, looking over at his facial expressions that had changed drastically, from worried to joyful, in just seconds.

"What're your thoughts on the Island?"

"I wanna go!" The boy smiled as bright as possible.

"I wonder if they have good meat there."

"Or booze. The bar could sure use some more alcohol... I get anxiety when we start running out of it." A crooked smile popped up on Luffy's face as Zoro held his chest with worry.

"What if the next island doesn't have any alcohol?"

"WHAT!?" Zoro's dragon eyes squinted and started to twitch.

"Hey hey, c'mon... Don't do that to me, Luffy." He held his chest, exaggerating his breathing patterns.

"I get the feeling you're getting scared over there, Swordy. Aren't cha?" The boy teased, taking advantage of this wholesome moment.

Because deep down inside... Luffy wasn't sure what would be happening to him from now on, now that he was being tracked down by a criminal he knew nothing of.

And the scariest part wasn't that he didn't know anything about them, what really scared Luffy was that they knew everything about him, and his family and friends as well.

He felt unsafe, exposed, undone... But most of all, he continued to let his mind possess his body with a crippling rage that ceased to let the boy be at ease.

"Luffy, that's a strong grip you got there." Zoro chuckled lightly as Luffy apologized for holding onto him so tightly.

His grip left the dent of his nails pressed against the older man's arms when he unknowingly dug them deep into his skin when being consumed with anger, momentarily.

He quickly opened his arms, undoing the hug he gave the Swordsman.

Zoro then started to cough.

"I didn't realize I was hugging you that tight, s-sorry! Nishishi!!" The boy nervously laughed.

"Don't sweat it, my ribs are still intact. We're all good!" The couple shared a long laugh together, giving each other a lighter embrace.

Soon, a heavy wind gust invaded the still waters, causing a disturbance in the Ocean.

"Woah-ah!" Luffy and Zoro tumbled on top of one another after the Sunny hit an unexpected turbulence due to a large passing wave.

Watching Luffy descend to the ground, Zoro immediately extended his arms to cradle the younger before he could fall.

Landing on top of the older man, his Captain thanked the Swordsman, smiling gently at him.

"Whew! That was close. What the heck's going on out there?" The Swordsman subconsciously asked himself, looking upwards.

The smell of the old wood invaded Luffy's nostrils as he lifted his head up from the ground, getting used to another scent.

"Luffy? What's up?" Zoro hummed, feeling a ticklish sensation emitting throughout his upper body.

"Ahaha! Are you sniffing me? What do I smell like?"

"Drunk."

"Like drunk? What type of scent is that, Captain?" The Swordsman teased, carefully placing his hand on top of Luffy's head.

While the feeling was unexpected to him, it wasn't unknown. Luffy took no time to find comfort within Zoro's touch.

Truth be told, he was starting to miss the man caressing him the way he used to do, often more frequent than not.

"You smell like.. Let's see..." Tilting his lover's head back, Zoro placed a kiss on his neckline, tracing his lips from his chin, all the way up to his forehead.

For a second, the younger felt his body tense up when his lover slid the side of his shirt down, revealing his right shoulder.

"Zoro..." His heart wanted to feel one thing, but his corrupted state of mind prevented the boy from basking in this tender moment.

While part of him was ready to wind down and allow himself to be spoiled by his first mate who loved him so dearly, another side of the Captain told him that he was in a dangerous situation.

"What happened?" Luffy asked, curious about the sudden look of worry in Zoro's hypnotic eyes.

The man was left speechless for awhile, taking a closer glance at the features that he hasn't noticed on his Captain from far away.

"Are you okay?"

The Swordsman inquired, raising his eyebrow at the younger man as his straw hat fell to the ground when they tumbled together.

"Yeah! Why?" Luffy responded, picking his hat up from the floor.

"Can Zoro tell how nervous I am right now?"

Before he put it back on, Zoro wrapped his hand around the boy's neck with one hand and tossed his hat aside with the other, finding something buried underneath Luffy's dark locks of hair.

"What are you... What are you doing?" Luffy asked, covering the back of his neck.

By doing this, he only alarmed the older man, furthermore.

"Hold on, take your hand out."

"Why? I don't get it." After their hands fought for awhile, Zoro gently grabbed ahold of both of Luffy's wrists, holding them inside of one of his hands.

"What the hell is this?" Zoro gulped upon finding a bald spot hidden in the back of Luffy's neck.

"Luffy? How did you get this?"

"Get what?"

"You're missing a big chunk of hair back here. More than one chunk, actually." Luffy shook Zoro's hand away, brushing his hair back down.

"It must've been while I was fighting him off. He had a tight grip on my neck."

The young man's lie was bringing him back unpleasant memories, but he had to bear with it for now until he made sure that Zoro would believe him.

"I'm glad you took care of that already, but I wouldn't mind having an encounter of my own with that lowlife bastard." The anger in Zoro's eyes mirrored Luffy's own hatred towards his rapist.

"I'm glad it's over too." The boy raised his hand up, placing it on top of Zoro's chest while hiding his face into the hem of his shirt.

"If only I could believe my own lies the way you do, Zoro..."

~~~