Love Is Blind | ZoLu

38

"One minute I was on top of the world, now I feel like I'm sinking underneath it.

I can't tell the difference in between what's night and day anymore... It's always night to me now, isn't that nice? I'm every owl's dream."

Zoro's heart ached as he heard a sniffle followed by a broken chuckle emitting from the boy's voice.

"My friends don't understand it yet. There are things I can't do anymore.

Like joining them at the dinner table because of how tense I feel, thinking I might creep someone out by constantly staring at them.

Or being fed by one of them. Even if they fed me, it's no use. I can't ingest my food properly, wanna know why?

My stomach is always tense now. I WANT to eat it! Food is everything, isn't it?

Especially when it comes from Sanji. He always makes me the tastiest things ever, I love his food.

But the moment I start eating, my head starts spinning... Then it makes my body feel like I'm spinning as well.

And 'watching' movies? Kind of ironic for Usopp to say that, isn't it? Heh."

Getting a closer listen to the recording, the Swordsman couldn't feel a single part of his body, apart from the tears that were threatening to slip out of his eye at any second.

There was no emotion in the Captain's words at all, he sounded heartless and completely defeated by the weight he had been carrying on his shoulders, without letting anyone else know about it.

Zoro took a moment to stay composed while his Captain continued speaking.

"Then I see that black smoke...

The shadows won't let me eat, I feel them on me whenever I have a fork up to my face.

It sounds crazy, but they even alter the way my food tastes.

Sometimes I wonder if the dark clouds are abstract illusions from my mind, or if they are concrete entities that live inside of me now.

I also see them in my dreams. They're all I ever dream with.

That's all I see whether my eyes are open, or shut.

I'm not alone, but I can't get close to my friends anymore.

Even to Zoro. He knows me too well."

By the time the first recording was over, Zoro immediately moved onto the second one, losing track of the time he was spending in the Captain's room, let alone what could be happening to Luffy while he was so far away from him.

But nothing was stopping the Swordsman from listening to every last one of Luffy's voice recordings.

"I can tell that they worry about me. But I know that they pity me as well... And that frustrates me.

Friend's don't pity each other or feel bad for whatever I do right or wrong.

I hear the doubt in their voices whenever I try to complete something on my own.

They tell me that they are sorry, but they shouldn't have to apologize for something I failed at doing right.

I don't need their pity or their apologies either. That won't get us anywhere.

I need them to pull themselves together, so that I could encourage myself to do the same thing..."

"Out of everything Luffy's said, this has had the most logic for me, so far. He's right."

Zoro thought to himself, remaining silent to not miss out on anything that his Captain was saying.

"You can't fight an enemy you can't see, even if you sense their presence is nearby.

If I can't pour myself a glass of water, I'll end up drowning in an Ocean when I'm met face-to-face with that man.

I'm just a puppet on his strings now.

... "Die in darkness", didn't make sense to me at the time, but now I realized that it wasn't just a theory or a metaphor of his.

Blackbeard. That person wasn't lying when they said those words to me before this happened.

I really do feel like I'm slowly dying with so much darkness that surrounds me..."

A concerning silence was left lingering on the other end of the recording, and Zoro began to wonder what went wrong.

It couldn't have ended there, because he could still sense that the young man hadn't left yet.

"Hey, you in there, Zoro?"

After a while of silence, the sound of Franky's voice from the other side of Luffy's bedroom door startled the Swordsman to the extent of making him drop the small hand-held device against the hardwood floor.

"The box! I hope it didn't break..."

As he opened the door to receive Franky, the Swordsman left the small device behind in the Captain's room.

"Is it Luffy? Is he okay?"

Was the first inquiry Zoro made, upon seeing the Sunny's Shipwright standing in front of him.

"Slow your roll there, my guy! I gotta ask you that question first: Are you alright? You don't look so good."

Although Zoro appreciated Franky's concern for his well-being, he wasn't satisfied by the answer that the older man had given him.

"I'm- Yes, I'm alright. What's happening right now with our Captain?" The Swordsman asked, hoping to receive a positive answer in return.

"That's what I came back here for, Zoro."

"What..."

An unpleasant sensation stirred up inside of Zoro's body as he felt Franky place his arm around his shoulder, as if preparing him for the worst.

"..."

"Details, Franky. Give me details."

Franky nodded at Zoro, appearing to understand his desperation, all the while keeping his own hidden from the man's view.

The last thing that he needed to do was worry the man, before giving him a proper answer.

"Alright," the Cyborg breathed in and let out a loud sigh, staring back at Zoro.

"Torao's waiting for you in his office-"

"The surgery, what happened with it?" The Swordsman nearly shouted, interrupting Franky's speech.

"The transfusion was a huge success!"

"I'm not the type to thank someone I don't believe in... But thank God... Oh, that's an extra weight off my chest, now." The neon haired male relaxed himself for a second.

"Take me there. But I wanna see Luffy first, if possible."

"In order for you to see him, you need to talk to Torao first... And Chopper. He'll be there too. I just wanted to let you know, beforehand."

The sound of the men's footsteps running throughout the Sunny came to a halt as they took a dive into the sea to get to Law's  submarine.

During this time, many things were going through Zoro's mind... But the main issue lingering on his head was in what conditions Luffy and Jimbei were in.

"I get Law, but if Chopper's waiting too, then something definitely happened. Hopefully it's good news... I don't know if I'll be able to handle more downfalls in this pirate crew. Especially from my Captain."

~~~