Love Is Blind | ZoLu

41

"Luffy-Kun..."

Waking up to the sound of a heart monitor, Luffy slowly opened his eyes, startled by the strange new ambience he was in, being unable to see where he was.

He took a steep breath in, tempted to get up from the hospital bed after feeling a numbing sensation in his legs.

"Can't feel... Why can't I feel my- My legs?"

Running his hands down to reach his legs, the boy felt a fleece cover wrapped around his lower waist, keeping his body from getting cold.

Witnessing how stressed out the younger was becoming, the deep voice that had spoken to him before had gotten closer to him.

"You have a few too many of these on you, don't you? Don't fret, it's completely normal.
Wait until someone else comes to see you, they'll explain everything. For now, you must rest."

Recognizing the voice of a Fish Man he became good friends with back in Marine Ford, Luffy reached to touch him, wanting to confirm that the voice he was hearing wasn't an illusion his mind was conjuring.

"Jimbei...?"

He silently questioned, unsure if he was talking to the Fish Man, or someone else, as a result of the remaining effects of the anesthesia he was under.

"It's been a while, Luffy-Kun." Jimbei gently placed his hand over Luffy's shoulder, giving it a soft rub.

This action of his and the way he spoke to the Captain was what made him realize that the person he was speaking to, was in fact, one of his very own, precious friends.

For a second, Luffy set his questions aside and made room for his mind to process that Jimbei was standing beside him.

The Captain's body reacted to this exciting moment by latching his long arms around the tall Fish Man's wide waist, giving him a long embrace that helped sooth his busy mind.

"Long time no see!! Literally, in my case! Uwahaha!!"

The boy mindlessly spoke while high on the effects of the anesthesia, coming up with a dark joke that went through Jimbei's mind, since he was unaware of the boy's condition.

He simply laughed along with him, standing by his side, intrigued by the young man's behavior towards him, and why he continued to grab onto him, every now and then.

"Luffy-Kun, I'm not going anywhere. You can rest easy now. Do you need anything?"

Though Law made it clear to Jimbei that no matter what, he was not to get up from bed, and that if it were necessary, for him to request help from him or another crew mate of his through a remote that was left next to him on his bed, the Fish Man didn't mind disobeying the Surgeon's orders, if it meant that he could be there for his Captain.

"Luffy-Kun?"

Relying on his auditory system to perceive the sound of Jimbei's voice, Luffy turned his face towards the Fish Man, and shook his head at him.

"No, I'm good!"

Luffy smiled at him, but Jimbei didn't return the friendly gesture.

He wasn't intentionally ignoring the brunette boy, that's something Jimbei would never do, even if he was paid a certain amount of money to do so.

The Helmsman's residual reticence lasted long enough to raise concern in Luffy's weary mind, in spite of him being less conscious than Jimbei was, Luffy was aware that the words he had jokingly preached before, were now the cause of his silence.

To make up for it, Luffy slowly repositioned himself against the hospital bed until he felt comfortable.

Later on, he parted his lips and initiated a serious conversation with the Fish Man, earning his full attention.

"Jimbei... I can't see anymore."

Though his voice sounded calm, having to explain that he was now blind to Jimbei, felt surreal to the Captain.

So much that it robbed him of his confidence for a second, before he was able to finish his statement.

Having put together the last piece of evidence, Luffy's words were the confirmation that Jimbei needed, to prove to himself that his own assumptions were real.

As much as he wanted his theory to remain nothing more than just a theory or turn out to be a false claim, Jimbei was met with a terrifying fate: The Captain was undoubtedly blind.

"How did this happen to you?"

Was the first question on the Helmsman's mind, and the only thing that he could think of asking Luffy.

The younger man could tell that the undisturbed ambience had changed and was slowly transitioning into a barely breathable, confined space that he created, just by explaining his traumatic experience to Jimbei.

Regardless of the questions he would be faced with, Luffy started to narrate his harrowing backstory to his friend, having to mentally relive the moment he lost his vision.

A brief moment afterwards, Luffy was able to tell his story from start to finish, excluding a few details that were too personal to include, and would make him feel insecure to admit.

In response to his story, something felt very out of place for Jimbei, so he decided to question Luffy on the matter, once he was given the chance.

"Pardon my ignorance in this case, but why did the fight lead up to you losing your vision in the first place?" The Fish Man asked.

"That was because of..."

While recollecting old memories from his past, Luffy remembered the exact moment his war against Blackbeard broke out.

~Flashback~

"What more do you have left, Straw Hat! You call yourself a pirate? A real pirate would fight to the death using swords, not coward away.

Looks like you take after Fire Fist Ace, none of you ever learn to-"

~~~

"The moment he mentioned Ace... I got really mad. I launched myself at him..."

Shutting his eyes, the boy could almost visualize the rest of the incident so clearly, he didn't need his vision to remember what happened to him on that day.

~Flashback~

"MOVE AWAY, ZORO. I'll handle him."

"Don't try to be heroic now, GET DOWN!"

From the way his Swordsman intervened, at an attempt to rid Luffy of the imminent harm that awaited him...

"What are you-"

To the point where he couldn't free himself from the paranormal cloud of smoke that invaded his body.

"LUFFY!"

Luffy remembered it all.

~End of flashback~

"Then a big cloud of dark smoke went right through me. It felt weird at first, as if someone had put a blindfold over my eyes. I could still see, but by the time I woke up in the Sunny... My vision was long gone. I've been getting weird nightmares too."

Apart from heartbreaking, Luffy's story had a supernatural perspective to Jimbei.

Though he didn't want to admit it to the younger man to not alarm him, the Fish Man knew that Luffy wasn't dealing with a regular group of pirates.

"That Warlord's objective wasn't to blind Luffy-Kun... It was to possess him."

~~~