Author's note: This was recently- I guess the right word is INFLICTED- on my tumblr followers. If the beginning is choppy and paced funny, it's because I didn't feel like writing another 5000 words and wanted to get directly to the hurty part so I could stop thinking about it.
WARNINGS: Blood potentially bordering on squick, character death, copious amounts of painful feels. No beta; he read it, but we didn't really bother going too in-depth with editing.
xxx
It was an accident- just a stupid accident, Usopp later explains in a high voice bordering on hysteria when they're seated in stunned silence around the dining room table and struggling to overcome a sense of loss so deep that it renders the rest of them - what's left of them - incapable of responding to the sniper's desperate attempts to reassure himself that no one could have foreseen the tragedy.
xxx
That day had started like any other:
Sanji out of bed first, heading directly to the kitchen to start the coffee brewing for when the ladies emerged from their quarters. Zoro abandoning the sofa after extricating his arm from Luffy's firm grasp and slobbering jaws, thumping the still-slumbering rubber man on the head before collecting his katana and leaving for the gym.
...
The captain, accompanied by Usopp and Chopper, tumbling into the dining hall long enough to lay disastrous waste to breakfast and then racing right back out the door to start an impromptu game of tag.
...
Robin reading on the lawn deck while Nami sits studying the log pose beside her, glancing up periodically when Brook and Zoro's playful sparring draws near enough to cast their shadows over the foot of her chair.
...
Black smoke and panicked shouts when Franky and Usopp's latest joint project bursts spontaneously into flame and sends them scrambling for a bucket to douse the inferno.
...
Chopper's shout from the upper deck that there's a battleship heading for Sunny's portside at a steady clip.
...
The attack itself is also fairly typical. After standard cannon-fire fails, repelled by scorching kicks, flashing blades and rubber sling shots along with a few Strong Right punches for good measure, the Marines bring their vessel alongside and a few overly enthusiastic recruits with a eye for glory spring across the gap, and the fighting falls mostly to hand-to-hand.
Disembodied hands grab and snap, and isolated thunderclouds project some very effective bolts of lightning, their low rumbles accompanied by the clash of swords and the beat of hooves on Adam wood.
Some brave but stupid soul aims a rifle at Luffy, but he flings the bullets away, laughing, and the unlucky marksman's promptly taken out of the game by a well-placed star from Usopp's Kabuto which knocks him off the bow.
Eventually the fighting dies down and the Marines limp off, licking their wounds.
Sanji, who's scowling down at the broad scuff marks on his shoes and wondering how much polish he's got left in the almost empty tin he keeps tucked in his locker, sees movement from the corner of his eye and glances up to find Zoro shrugging back into his coat, which the swordsman had left flapping loosely around his waist during the fight, and making a beeline for the dining hall door. "Oi, where the hell you think you're going?"
"I'm thirsty," the swordsman snaps back at him, hesitating only to cinch his sash tighter around his waist.
"You stay the hell out of my kitchen- I still haven't replaced the last bottles you swiped, shitty Marimo! Now get your ass over here and help me."
Grumbling softly under his breath, Zoro stalks over to join him, and they start clearing the deck of debris, dropping spent cannon balls and broken cutlasses over the side.
"Look what I found!" Luffy shouts gleefully, thumping down on the deck beside them and brandishing a weapon that's managed to escape the onslaught mostly unscathed. "This one's got a really weird-"
"Is that mother of pearl?" Nami demands, reaching out to snatch the ivory-handled saber from their grinning captain's hand. "Oh, don't throw that one overboard- it might actually be worth something!"
Luffy lets her take it without a quarrel. His brows have furrowed slightly and he's staring at Zoro, who's paused to wipe sweat off his forehead with one sleeve after heaving yet another cannonball over the railing.
"If you guys see any other swords like this one, don't- what? What's-?"
"Let me see."
"See what? I don't know what the hell you're talking-" The swordsman flinches as he's grabbed by one lapel, and there's a sudden hush as the other Straw Hats stop what they're doing, sensing that something's not quite right. Chopper, nostrils flaring suddenly, throws down the mop he's been using to swab the deck and hurries towards them.
Hands bunching in the fabric, the captain yanks Zoro's coat open- and immediately takes a stumbling step backwards.
"Fuck," the swordsman mumbles, swiping clumsily at the moisture beading at his temple. "Now I'm never gonna get that damn drink."
"Oh my god..." There's a thump and rattle as the saber falls from Nami's limp fingers.
"Somebody- somebody get my b-bag from the infirmary," the doctor says in a low strangled voice, and Sanji takes one backwards step and then two, and then he turns and bolts for the door.
The hole- Chopper feels icy fingers flickering down his back, because he can't call that powder burn-edged wound anything else- the hole just below their nakama's ribcage is fresh and raw and horribly red, leaking startlingly bright blood down his abdominal muscles. The haramaki around his waist is slowly soaking through, sagging with the accumulated weight.
Calm, the reindeer reminds himself, he needs to stay calm.
The others have joined them now, forming a tense little semi-circle around swordsman and captain and doctor.
Usopp's eyes are wide and full of terror. It's taken him a matter of seconds to mentally examine the necessary angles of projection, deduct the scenario, and his hand is trembling where it's clapped firmly over his mouth.
"Zoro, I need you to-"
The swordsman sways and then suddenly sits down hard, a muffled gasp escaping him when his rear connects with the deck and jars his injured torso. The force of impact sends a heavy gout of crimson cascading over the front of his trousers onto the deck.
Luffy makes a stifled noise of dismay and disbelief.
"BAG, NOW." Chopper shrieks at Sanji, who's just emerged from the dining hall, and the cook doesn't stop to ask questions, just flings it into the doctor's outstretched hands.
Bandages, forceps- now that he's got them, he doesn't know what to do with them. The waning and ebbing of that continuous flow can only mean one thing: considerable internal damage. Too much damage, judging by the pool collecting on the deck beneath them. Not enough time and too few resources.
Not possible, it's not possible. Just a few minutes ago, the man had been exchanging insults with their cook. Just an hour ago, they'd been gathered on the portside, awaiting the oncoming Marines.
So fast. He never knew it could happen so fast. He doesn't think any of them even suspected it would take so short a time for the life to drain out of-
"-'m fine," Zoro insists, voice slurring, and Usopp bites the inside of his mouth, vision greying, because there's now blood staining their nakama's teeth and the older pirate is staring directly at him, ignoring the captain who's dropped down beside him and the shaking fingers fumbling his sodden clothing aside.
That gaze is challenging, promising a world of hurt if the sniper doesn't keep what he knows to himself, but he doesn't care. Nothing matters right now except the way the color is slowly but steadily draining out of the swordsman's face.
"Why didn't you say something?" Nami demands, her voice shrill and combative. "Where the hell were you going- to the infirmary, to dig the damn thing out yourself?"
"Not sure anybody can-" He coughs brokenly. Turns his head and spits, only it's not saliva that spatters to the ground. "-dig it out, I mean."
"Don't be stupid," Sanji barks furiously as he rejoins them, but beside him, Robin holds her tongue and Franky is surprisingly quiet despite his size.
Chopper's enormous, tear-filled eyes and panic-stricken expression tell them everything they need and don't want to know.
"Think I- think I might take a nap," Zoro tells them groggily. He's starting to slouch sideways, and Chopper eases him down. It's a simple gesture, yet there's a finality to it that no one's able to overlook, no matter how much they wish it.
"Zoro-" The tone of Luffy's voice with that one softly spoken word holds all the pain and distress in the world.
Brook, who's been watching in grave silence, takes several steps backwards, shaking his head with increasingly frantic rejection of the scene before him. Franky reaches out and grabs the skeleton by the arm, although it's not clear whether he means to reassure him or merely find something solid to hold onto.
"Sencho-" With overwhelming exhaustion and regret that sends Nami to her knees, hands covering her face. "Luffy. Sorry."
Their hands have unconsciously found one another, and Luffy feels the swordsman's fingers give one firm squeeze before relaxing in his grasp.
In that moment, no one breathes.
Luffy raises one trembling hand to his head. Removes his hat. Lays it down with infinite gentleness, obscuring their nakama's slackened face and open yet sightless eye.
Usopp feels his heart give one painful resounding THUD and then he's on his hands and knees beside Nami, retching and struggling for air through the tears and snot clogging his nose and throat.
Later, he'll try to console himself that he didn't know- he couldn't have known- and his head knows this is right, but his heart tells him otherwise. That he should have suspected, because - despite his easygoing, carefree nature - their captain is sometimes too intuitive for his own good.
If the sniper had followed his heart, his mind might not be replaying that same awful sound over and over and over.
The ringing scrape of steel sliding free as Wado's pulled free from its sheath.
Because Luffy's always- always kept his word.