Oh man, it really has been forever since I last posted a story… sorry about that!

Anyway, I promise that this isn't a death fic, although it certainly seems like one… I came up with this strange little idea last semester and decided to try and write it out. There are no pairings for this story, but (as with many things in life) you can read into it however you want.

Note: this is going to be a rather short little fic, only five chapters, and although it could be longer if I wanted it to be… I don't.

"Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"—Hamlet, Act V Scene II

Good Night

An eerie silence had settled over the Thousand Sunny that morning. No one had noticed, at first, that the ship was unusually quiet. The cook had risen first, as always, to prepare a meal that had never been finished. Nami arose around the same time Usopp did when the sharpshooter slammed a door and, as a result, set her off. According to her, it was much too early for that kind of noise—though she was being much louder.

Her shrieking had woken all of the other crew members. One by one the other members went to go about their business, and none thought it odd that the ship lacked it usual loud and boisterous yelling.

With the last finishing touches, Sanji served up two plates of breakfast for the ladies and carried the rest over to the table for the guys to serve themselves.

"Oi, time to eat!" he yelled, placing one plate in front of their archeologist, who was already at the table drinking a cup of coffee. She nodded her thanks just as Usopp and Chopper burst into the dining room, followed closely by the rest of the crew.

Sanji frowned when he noticed two missing members. He understood the Marimo not showing up—he slept in all the time—but Luffy was usually in the kitchen long before it was actually time to eat.

He turned to Usopp. "Hey, go get Luffy and the Marimo." The sharp shooter, having sat down literally two seconds earlier, frowned and looked ready to protest, but the idea was quickly quelled by the threat of a boot to the face. With a sigh he rose from the table and pointed at his food.

"This better be here when I get back." The rest dismissed the statement and continued eating as Usopp left the room. He had a feeling that he'd be eating light this morning.

Zoro groaned inwardly when the door to the men's quarter's slammed open and Usopp came in, none to quietly. He glared at the beam of light coming in through the door.

"Time to eat." Usopp stated flatly, before slamming the door shut again—plunging the room into darkness once more. Zoro sighed and rolled out of his hammock, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes as he grabbed a shirt and pulled it on. He paused at his captain's hammock. The teen was still asleep, totally undisturbed by the intrusion.

"Hey, Luffy, it's time to eat." When he didn't get a response, the swordsman scoffed and reached out to shake the boy. "Come on, you're not that tired…" When he placed a hand on the rubber boy's arm it felt cold. A frown creased his forehead, and he grabbed the captain by the shoulders and gave him a shake. With every moment the increasing pound of his heart grew louder in his ears.

"Not funny Luffy, get the hell up." It was hard to hide the panic in his voice as he laid a hand on Luffy's cheek. It was cold as well. "Luffy!" He yelled, shaking him more violently this time. His lead lulled listlessly to one side, and the straw hat slid onto the floor, but Zoro hadn't noticed.

He scooped the boy up. He was totally limp—dead weight—and he wasn't breathing. The swordsman heard the sound of yelling but was too focused on his captain to realize that it was his own.

"Chopper!"

---

He'd been fine. The swordsman stared blankly at the wall, remembering Luffy's own void expression. A few hours ago he'd been sitting on the figurehead with Zoro, talking about what they planned to do on the next island, and now he was dead. He'd been the last one to talk to him, and he hadn't noticed anything strange. There wasn't anything strange to notice! And yet, the swordsman couldn't help but blame himself.

A few hours ago, everything was totally fine and now he was gone. It seemed somewhat surreal. None of them had expected it. Who would had thought that Luffy—their captain, the unstoppable force—would die in his sleep? He hadn't even died of something. His heart had simply stopped pumping, and not even Chopper could figure out why.

It seemed unfair. Cowardly, and unfair. Zoro almost refused to accept it. If he hadn't been the one to find him, the swordsman probably wouldn't believe it at all. Even now he was expecting Luffy to come running out of the infirmary, demanding that everyone stop being so gloomy.

But he wouldn't, and even if Zoro wanted to believe that his captain was fine, he wasn't going to lie to himself, either. That would just make matters worse. And although none of them wanted to face the future, they didn't really have a choice, either.

What was to come of the crew? Zoro was the first mate, so technically he was in charge, but would the other follow him? Would he want them to? He wasn't sure.

And even more daunting: When should they hold the funeral, and where?

The others seemed to be considering these questions as well. They were all gathered in the kitchen, just one wall separating them from their late captain. Zoro sat with his head in his arms, but he still felt the eyes of his crewmembers on him.

He couldn't tell if they were looking to him for advice or feeling sorry for him—after all, he'd been the one to find Luffy that morning, and he was inarguably the closest to their captain.

No matter what their motive, he wasn't comfortable with their stares.

The silence was pressing down on the room though, surprisingly, no one was crying. They just sat in shocked silence until their navigator finally, hesitantly, spoke up.

"We should have the…" She paused, not wanting to say the word funeral, "…have it soon. It's not healthy, having…"She broke off again as tears threatened her voice.

"…having the body on board." Robin finished for her, "We should have the funeral as soon as possible. Today, perhaps." Nami nodded, burying her face into her arms. Sanji placed a hand on her back, drawing small circles with his thumb. She did nothing to stop him, but seemed to draw comfort from it instead. She gave him a weak smile while the cook absently stubbed out his third cigarette in the past fifteen minutes and placed another between his lips to light up with his free hand.

There was another bout of silence, which was broken by Usopp this time. He cleared his throat and rubbed an arm over his eyes, but it was impossible to hide the redness there.

"I… I don't know about you guys, but… I don't want to stop... This." Robin nodded.

"I have no where else to go." The rest of the crew nodded reluctantly.

"Luffy… wouldn't want us to stop, either." Chopper sniffed, trying to keep his voice steady, "I know he wouldn't."

"I don't know about you guys, but I still have a dream to achieve." Sanji said, turning to look at their swordsman, who had yet to add any input. "So, what do we do now, Captain?"

The minute the word left Sanji's lips, Zoro's head snapped up, and he brought two fists forcefully down on the table.

"I am not you captain!" He shouted, stunning the room into silence. There was another long bout of silence, but this one was different. Zoro's brows furrowed as the anger from before slowly slipped into frustration, then confusion.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys!" He snapped, but still no one responded. They just stared at him with the same shocked expressions frozen on their faces.

"They can't hear you." A calm voice from behind assured him, and the swordsman whirled around. He saw nothing, and turned quickly back. He recognized that voice, having heard it once before, just after his fight with Mihawk. The room was unusually cold, and he recognized that, too. It was always the same. Despite Zoro's refusal to show any semblance of fear, the sound of it sent chills down his spine.

Before him stood a shadowed figure of black. He knew it well, having run into him multiple times in his life, but this time was different. Only once had it actually communicated with him, and that was out of sheer frustration with the swordsman and his stubborn refusal to die, yet he was speaking with him now.

There was one other difference, however, which Zoro intended to do something about it.

He wasn't here for Zoro, this time.

"You!" Death nodded slightly and held up a shrouded hand in an attempt to quell the swordsman's anger, but it only served to infuriate him more.

"Sit down, Roronoa." The hooded figure demanded when the swordsman reached for the swords at his side and pushed up from the table. "I'm here to talk."

"Give me my captain back, and I won't kill you."

"I'm here to talk." The statement was quiet, seeming to come not from the figure, but from the back of Zoro's mind. "And you can't kill Death."

"We are talking! I'm telling you to give him back!" He drew one sword, holding it out towards the figure, who seemed utterly unfazed. "I told you already, my crew is off limits! Especially him!"

"Your captain isn't dead," The words echoed with as cryptic an air as the being that spoke them, and Zoro stopped in his tracks before he had the chance to attack their uninvited guest, "And I didn't take his soul, but I will tell you how to get it back."

"Why the hell would I trust you?" Zoro snapped. Though the being before him was nothing but a black shadow, he could feel the smug air it put off.

"Because you want your captain back, and you know as well as I do that you would do anything to make it happen." The voice of death was calming, a trait needed to soothe those unfortunate souls that met an unexpected end, but Zoro was anything but relaxed.

"Why?" He asked, and before he even had a chance to finish the question: why would you help me, death had disappeared. The room's temperature seemed to rise considerably, but the rest of his crew still didn't move, proving that the reaper had not departed.

"You and I have a common goal. I've been waiting seventeen years for that stubborn brat's soul." Zoro didn't turn to look at the voice, knowing full and well that its source was not where it appeared to be. "I want my soul, Roronoa. And if you do not go to get it now, I can not have it later, when your captain finally decides to die. I am immortal. I do not mind waiting a few years for your stubborn asses to accomplish your goals, but I do mind when someone steals my property, and that soul is my property. Are you interested?"

"What do you mean, steal?" Zoro asked.

"I asked if you were interested." It hissed again, and the room dropped in temperature once more.

"Of course I'm interested!" Zoro snapped, trying to get more information on the situation. Although it was true that he would do anything to get his captain back, he wasn't such a fool that he would blindly trust Death to not deceive him. "How do you steal a soul?"

"Oh, it happens." Death hummed. "When a person dies in their sleep, their soul simply slides so far into their subconscious that it can be harvested. But this, this was done through other means. His soul isn't where it was supposed to be, which means he didn't die in his sleep. Something stole my soul—"

"Luffy's soul!"

"They're all my property in the end, son." Zoro glared at the being, but didn't argue the point any further.

"What took it—how do I get it back?" Zoro demanded.

Death was always irritated by this particular mortal. It was so disrespectful and annoyingly fearless. Where most mortals cowered before him, this one did not.

"These creatures, called Baku, Dream Eaters, occasionally steal away a soul, and take it with them to their lair. I'm not able to follow them there—as no magical being but the Dream Eaters themselves can enter, so these petty thefts are usually ignored. But I want your captain's soul—it is a powerful one, and it would be wasted as a Dream Eater's meal." He saw the swordsman react to the word meal, but ignored it and continued. "You simply need to go and get you captain's soul back before it is devoured." The swordsman's hand clenched into a fist, and his jaw set in determination. Seeing this, the reaper began preparing for his departure.

He'd never really liked pirates—most of them had seen enough deaths that they weren't even afraid of their own any more, and they just kept getting younger and younger, too. Soon, he feared, the audacity that came with these youngsters would be as natural as breathing.

"You may be surprised by this," Zoro gave Death a sarcastic look, "But I don't trust you. I need to know you won't cheat me."

"You have my word, and I am physically bound by it." Zoro paused, wary. A smart man didn't just blindly trust death to do the right thing. Still, Zoro felt that, at least this time, he could be trusted. This trust did not go unnoticed by Death, who was getting impatient.

"What do I have to do?"

"Go to hell." Death raised a hand, and held it out before the swordsman, but proceeded no further. "When you get there, you must seek out the Baku's lair, and get your captain back. The Dream Eaters have a very unique way of feeding. They possess the soul of the mortal on which they intend to feed and drain its energy until there is nothing left. If you don't get to your captain's soul in time, or your friends dispose of your bodies before you succeed, then both of you will die, and I'll take your soul as compensation for losing his… assuming that the Baku doesn't eat you as well."

"Our bodies?" The swordsman asked.

"Hell is not for the corporeal, son." At once the hand raised toward him seemed to gain its own gravitational pull. As the air seemed to be pulled from his lungs, his mind, too, seemed to be tearing away from the rest of him. The world grew darker as he felt his body fall away from him, discarded, and the inviting dining room of the Thousand Sunny gave way to a darker and much more dismal place.

Is Death out of character? Is that even possible? I really don't know… Anyway, be sure to review and tell me what you think.