Love Between the Living and Dead

Zoro's House

Luffy walked away from the park entrance when Zoro left to go home and went to his cave. He was nervous about tomorrow. He hadn't left this place in a half a century. It was weird to think of it that way. He didn't really know Zoro, but he had no one else in the world to talk to or be around, and Zoro seemed to genuinely be interested with him and enjoyed his company. Luffy hoped he wasn't just thinking overly optimistic.

He wondered what Zoro's house was going to be like. He didn't remember his own house, or what it looked like. He wondered what Zoro was going to show him. He wanted to get a better look at the "inturnet".

Honestly, he didn't know how he felt about Zoro "looking up" Luffy's tragic death. He saw Luffy's bloody body, something Luffy never wanted anyone to see. Did Zoro pity him now? Sure, it made sense to feel bad for him, alone and invisible to everyone for fifty one years, but seeing something like that... it was a different case. Luffy wondered if Zoro saw him bloody and dead when he looked at him. Well, he was dead, but that was also a different case.

Luffy couldn't stop seeing how amazed Zoro was in that cave. It was really one of the only things Luffy liked about glowing. He also liked that he would light up the area around him at night, making his body his own personal and permanent lantern.

Luffy sat down in his cave and doodled on the wall with his light coming from the tip of his fingers. The images didn't stay long and faded, just to make more room for Luffy to draw some more. He didn't draw anything in particular for a while, just patterns. But then he started drawing the massive trees, covering one whole side of the cave.

Luffy then wandered around the rest of the night, excited for tomorrow.

Zoro got up pretty early; he didn't want to make Luffy wait. He put on a shirt and a light jacket, since it was still early and chilly, and left the house, locking the door behind him this time. His parents were both at work today, so he and Luffy wouldn't be bothered. Well, more like his parents wouldn't be concerned about Zoro's mental state, talking to a ghost no one else could see.

He was surprised to see Luffy wasn't on the lawn of the park entrance. Zoro thought he might have not expected Zoro to come so early. There weren't many people, and most of them were going into the park on runs since it was still cold.

He finally saw Luffy as he exited a trail and walked onto the main road, not really paying attention and getting run through by a runner. He gasped in pain and clutched his chest, grimacing. It looked like it really hurt. Zoro ran over to him.

"Hey, are you ok?" Zoro asked, concerned.

"Zoro!" Luffy said happily, seeming to forget his pain. "Oh, I'm ok. It hurts when I touch people. I'm ok now though," he said, brushing the topic off. Zoro decided he would try his best not to touch Luffy on accident and definitely not on purpose.

"Did you still want to come to my house?" Zoro asked seriously, prepared to be declined, but Luffy just beamed and said he still wanted to go. Zoro felt a strange surge of relief. "Ok good," he said, wearing a small smile.

Zoro led Luffy to his new house, not speaking as Luffy looked around in wonder. The houses were huge and fancy. Finally Zoro stopped at the driveway for a large, two-story house. It had a large tree in the lawn, and double doors with glass planes on the side.

"Are you rich or something?" Luffy asked curiously. He didn't know much about how expensive houses were these days, but he knew it must have cost a lot of money.

"Kinda. My dad has a good paying job. Do you remember what your house was like?" Zoro asked curiously. Did he really not remember anything about his life when he was alive? Luffy thought for a moment, but couldn't come up with a suitable answer.