Stolen // One Piece

chapter two

Zoro did not even attempt to sleep. He stayed in the crows nest and kept an eye out for other ships. He knew that trying to sleep would be fruitless, and that if he did manage to fall asleep, he would only be awoken by nightmares of Luffy's death.

"I didn't want you to feel even more responsible for me."

Luffy's words rattled around in Zoro's skull.

It hurt him to know that the reason Luffy didn't tell anyone he was hurting was that he felt like it would only trouble the crew. Not that he wasn't ready to talk about it, but that he was certain that the crew wasn't.

Zoro sighed as the sun peeked over the horizon. The clouds turned a pale pink, and the sky a soft rose. It was pretty, he decided. He slowly climbed down the rope ladder and onto the deck. As his feet touched the deck, Sanji appeared, lighting a cigarette.

"Mornin', Marimo."

"Love cook," Zoro greeted. The two leaned against the deck's railing.

"What're we going to do about Luffy?" Zoro turned his head towards the sunrise.

"I don't know yet. We obviously have to keep an eye on him, but I don't know how we're going to keep eyes on him all the time." Sanji puffed a cloud of smoke and offered his cigarette to Zoro, who, after a short period of hesitation, finally accepted. He took a deep breath, and released his cloud of smoke into the air. "I doubt he'll try something like what he did yesterday again, but you can't be sure with him, I guess. I just—," he took another drag and released, "—don't know what goes on in his mind, sometimes." Zoro returned the cigarette to his crew mate and waited for his thoughts.

"I think... he's just been through a lot. Like, his childhood finally caught up with him, and it's hurting. Or maybe, it's been consuming his brain since Ace set out, and when he died, it finally destroyed him." Zoro nodded.

The questions he wanted to ask got stuck in his throat.

"I think he'll be fine," Robin's voice appeared beside them. She, too, leaned against the railing. Zoro nodded again.