A Smile So Contagious | Zolu

14, I'll Always Be There For You!

Margaret (feat. Bleachers) - Lana del Ray, Bleachers

Once we landed on this new island, everybody's been relaxing and acting all comfortable like this is their home. Nami was spending loads of money here too—well, can't complain since this island basically has everything you need. High quality swords, loads of candy, unhealthy amount of junk food, music instruments, mechanic shit, books, clothes, and jewelry. Everything's basically here, and they're real nice, too. Well, it's basically a merchant island, so of course you got loads of shit here.

Since Nami gave everyone a surprisingly generous amount of berries to spend for each of us, we've been working hard to spend every single penny of it. We were walking around the streets full of crowds, checking out all the stores and restaurants. "We all can go our separate ways, just meet up back at the entrance of the island." Nami said, she then headed for a clothing shop and left us all. Everybody then went their own ways, some of them went together, some went alone. Me and Luffy stayed together, though.

"Luffy, where do you wanna head?" I tried to hide the excitement I had since I was basically going on a date with Luffy. "Mm, let's go get food!" He yelled as he grinned widely and went to find some restaurants that piqued his interest. Luffy finally picked a restaurant and once we entered, we sat down on a table for two people. After a few minutes, a waitress came to get our order and pulled out a small notebook, "What can I get for you guys?" She asked. "One of everything, please!" Luffy replied, the waitress did an awkward smile and slowly walked away.

"You really gonna eat all that by yourself?" I asked as I grinned, "Wha—of course not! Some of them are for you!" He yelled, pouting. "Some?" I joked, we both chuckled as we waited for the waitress to get back with our food. Somebody came with our eleven appetizers and Luffy gobbled most of them up, leaving me with three, which I was grateful for. Normally, when he eats with everyone, he doesn't leave them anything and even eats their food. After like, twenty minutes, the whole table, including three other tables which needed to connect to ours, were covered with food.

Luffy ate half, and I ate the rest of the food. "I'm stuffed!" Luffy yelled, sighing in satisfaction. He looked mad cute, I'm not even gonna lie. "What else do you wanna do, Luffy?" I asked, he did a thinking pose where he looked up at the ceiling and put his fist under his chin as he pouted. "Dunno, let's just walk around to see what we wanna do!" He suggested, I nodded, I was gonna say that too since I didn't know what else to do.

We paid the bill which was somehow less than a hundred thousand berries, I honestly thought it was gonna be a million considering how much food we ordered. We both walked out of the restaurant and Luffy's hand started twitching which I batted an eye on. It made me wanna hold his hand honestly, so I did it. I reached for his hand and our fingers intertwined together as we walked around the city. His hand is so warm, I can't bring myself to let go.

"The sun's setting already." I pointed out, Luffy's eyes looked for the sun and his eyes started to sparkle and gleam while he was looking at it. The sun was reflecting off of Luffy's eyes which was making his eyes look like it was glowing and it made his eyes the color of a bright shade of orange. "You're so pretty..." I honestly said that before I was thinking so I don't think I would've said it out loud all of a sudden otherwise. "Oh, thank you!" Luffy said, I have a feeling he was used to it already. Now that I think about it, I do compliment him a lot without knowing I do.

Whatever, I thought, didn't matter. Luffy started to talk about random stuff, like what he always wanted to try, what he wanted to drink, what dessert he wanted to eat, all food related. Until, all of a sudden, when he was looking around as he talked to me, he stopped in his tracks, making me stop talking, as well. "Luffy?" I asked, my attention was purely on him now, well, not like it wasn't. "A...A—" he mumbled.

His breath seemed to have gotten cut off. He clenched his chest and he started to shake and tremble. Before I knew it, he fell on his knees. "Luffy? Hey, Luffy. Look at me." I started to shake him a little, and when I saw his face, my heart sank. His eyes were dilated, he was tearing up, and he was breathing heavily, as if he didn't have any air.

No, wait, he was trembling, he seemed like he couldn't breathe—was he having a panic attack? "Alright, Luffy, focus on me, okay?" I cupped his cheeks with both my hands and made him look at me, "Zo...ro. He..." he sniffled and inhaled for breath but it didn't seem to work. "Don't mind the crowds. Focus on me. Don't think about anything else." I told him. I didn't really know how to stop someone from...this, but, I wanted to try. I needed to help Luffy.

"Copy my breathing, okay? Breathe in...and out." I started to slowly breathe and Luffy started to copy me, making his breathing steady. I put my hand on his chest gently and tried to feel his heartbeat, it was starting to slow down into a normal heartbeat. "You're good, Luf. You're good." He started to collapse into my arms as he rested his head on my chest. "Let's go somewhere else, okay?" I stood up and carried him in my arms bridal style. While his face was now buried in my shoulder, I glared at the people who were staring at us while I carried him.

I rushed to the Thousand Sunny, if Chopper arrives here, he might help Luffy better than I did. I felt Luffy squirm in my arms and I placed him on a bed so he could be more comfortable. Shit—what even caused Luffy to start having a panic attack? I don't think he's ever had one before, unless I don't know of it. I saw Luffy's eyes flutter awake, I squeezed his hand as he opened his eyes.

"Luffy, you okay?" I asked, he nodded silently, giving me a faint smile. "Sorry... I just..." he trailed off and didn't continue. "What happened there?" I asked, "If you don't wanna tell me, don't need to." Of course, respect his boundaries first. I need to remember that. "I...thought I saw Ace," he sat up and rested his back on the wall.

"I then saw a flash of...that fucker punching a hole through him. The thought I couldn't save him, it—it hit me. Then I..." he stared at his hands. I knew what he was thinking, it was clear as day. I sat on the bed and got his hand and squeezed it, not that hard, of course. "It's...not your fault." I mumbled to him, he gave me a grin and then I heard the door creak open. "Luffy! Zoro!" Nami, Chopper, Sanji, and Robin walked in the room.

I called the others with a Transponder Snail a while ago to tell what happened about Luffy and how he got a panic attack. "Luffy, are you okay?" Chopper rushed over to Luffy and jumped on the bed as he asked him. "Yup!" He tried to sound...well, fine, but he had a hint of sadness in his voice. Nami and the others were standing outside the door as I just waited for Luffy on the bed beside Luffy's. "What did you feel a while ago?"

"Uhm...I couldn't breathe. My heart was pounding, like, crazy. My...body felt kinda weak and tense." He explained. My hands started to fidget, the sight of Luffy crying a while ago, I never wanted to feel the emotion I felt when I saw it ever again. I wanted to fucking slash and rip that Akainu guy to pieces until he was turned into just guts. I'll leave that to Luffy, though. After a few minutes, Chopper nodded and left to talk to the others and Luffy got up from the bed and went to me.

"Whatcha thinking?" Luffy asked, "Nothing." I replied. I ruffled his hair and he giggled, "Come to think of it...Did you call me Luf a while ago?" I wish I can sew my mouth shut. "Doesn't ring a bell, dude." I lied, I kinda wanted to call him that since forever. "Don't lie! I know you said it!" He playfully punched me, "I heard you say that to me like, twice already though. I don't think you noticed." He said. I should really think before I talk at this point.

"You good now?" I asked, "Yeah, genuinely!" He replied. I leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. He smiled and wrapped his arms around me, "Thanks for helping me." I stared at him, thanking me for that minor thing, I'm not used to it. "Always," I said. "I'll always be there for you."