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EPISODE 8 : WORST IN THE EAST ( Shedding Selfish Skin )
THEY DON'T TALK about it. More accurately, they don't have time to talk about it, because Luffy barrels through the front door of the house, and Zoro and Estrella are suddenly a few feet of distance apart, staring at each other with wide eyes and the beginnings of slightly bruised lips.
Night falls on them quickly, enveloping the two in stardust and minuscule remains of broken constellations amongst a moonlit sky. Zoro stares at Estrella and shadows flicker against his face, half-coated in darkness. The only light refractions are from the gloss of his eyes and lips.
( They don't talk about it. He wishes they had ).
Estrella tears a jagged rip through the skin of her lips, eyes lowered to the ground and fingers curled around her own arms. She can still hear her crazed heartbeat in her throat, begging to be spit out and silenced. She takes a deep breath.
( They don't talk about it. She doesn't know whether that makes her happy or afraid ).
Heavy limbs rise from behind the house, and with all the energies that remain in their bodies, muster up the strength to run after Luffy.
From a distance, Estrella can spot a head of blonde hair and the crisp suit belonging to their chef, as well as the bandana and childish suspenders belonging to Usopp.
They run in silence, until that loud, ringing silence becomes the furious screams of a woman wailing out a cursed name — "ARLONG!" Nami cries as she digs the knife deeper into her arm, carving out her wretched tattoo that acts as a brand — And then they run faster, urging their legs to move closer to the scene.
Nami is a limp ball of tears by the time Estrella and Zoro make it. Her eyes are cloudy, dark against the harsh hues of nightfall. Luffy's prized straw hat lies atop her head, acting as a cocoon that hides her sorrows away from the rest of the world.
Something in the bounty hunter twists sourly, seeing such a proud woman so feeble, so defeated. She frowns. Perhaps the Nami she has never gotten the chance to know beneath all the lies and false faces is different from the one she wants to be seen as.
"What's that?" Usopp points to the distance. The duo is now close enough to hear the worry in their voices.
Everyone turns in the direction his finger lands on, and Estrella's eyes are consumed by bright explosions of red and yellow flames licking the sky and pulling the color out of it. Smoke envelops the crisp night air, muddling the blues and whites of the heavens into a dark grey.
