In which an ex-pirate turned bar maid, with the most beautiful voice in the East Blue, meets Straw Hat captain, Monkey D. Luffy, and finds herself a pirate yet again. Sailing the vast seas in search of the One Piece, Ren finds the family she never h...
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________________________________ XV. \\ TETHERED // ________________________________
REN WASN'T one to be paralyzed by fear. She always found it easy to push it back. Whether it was in battles, trying new things, or facing chaos and peril, Ren fought, she didn't fear. She fought like hell, no matter what because of the simple fact of that was who she was, who she had been raised to be.
But for the first time in a long time, she was frozen while everything moved around her. Her eyes were locked on Zoro, who was laid on the long kitchen table, eyes closed and skin pale. The huge gash across his chest continued to bleed with no sign of stopping. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think about anything but Zoro being hurt and she was just...standing there.
"Where's the first aid kit?" Usopp asked frantically.
Nami exasperated, "Do we even have a first aid kit?"
They frantically moved around the kitchen. Tears rested in the brims of Ren's eyes and she internally cursing herself to move. She couldn't be this useless. Zoro was bleeding out on the table and she couldn't even bring herself to take a step towards the table he was laying on.
"Luffy?" Nami looked over at him, "Luffy!"
Ren looked over, not having realize Luffy had been standing a few feet away from her, just as paralyzed as she had been. He looked at Nami, snapping out of it.
"Someone needs to go back to Baratie." Nami told him.
Luffy looked back at her unsurely, "Um, I'm really not hungry right now, Nami."
"Not for food!" She exasperated, "Maybe one of the customers is a ship's doctor."
"Right," Luffy nodded, "We need a doctor."
He walked past Ren, leaving the room and going to Baratie. All the while, Ren stood still frozen in place, her eyes on Zoro and trying to find a way to breathe, or move, or get her heart to stop feeling like it was going to crack to pieces inside her chest.
"Ren," Nami called to get her attention.
She looked away from Zoro, a tear slipping down her cheek as she met Nami's eyes. She was showing all of her fear in that moment and Nami's eyes softened when she saw just how scared Ren really was. Nami walked over to her, putting her hands on either arms.
"I know you're scared," She said softly, "But I need your help. Zoro needs your help, okay?"
Ren looked up at Nami, letting her words settle in and bring her back down. She let out a slow breath, starting to push that fear down. She needed to fight it, because Nami was right and Zoro needed them to fight for him if he was going to have any chance of fighting for his life.
