"We're dying.." It was a statement. As much as the older man wanted to deny that, he could only agree with the teen in his lap.
"Yes, we are."
-A few days earlier-
"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" A black-haired teen asked his friend who was leading the way.
"Yes, I'm positive. Why'd you ask?" The other, lightly older male asked his companion. The other man grabbed his green-haired friend's head to turn his gaze towards a broken tree. "Because, Zoro, we have passed this tree four times now." He said.
Zoro blinked. "We have? Now come to think of it, that tree does look familier." He said. The teen beside him sighed. "We really have been walking in circles for the past hour. Why did I agree to let you lead the way?"
"What's that supposed to mean, Luffy?" Zoro glared at the other man. Luffy put his hands behind his head and started walking again. "Nothing. Just that you always get lost." He said with a teasing grin as he passed his friend to take the lead.
"You're just as bad.." The older man muttered before following the new leader. Luffy just smiled and waited for the other to catch up. "Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't have ripped the map apart." He laughed.
The two men were on a hiking trip in the mountain area. Luffy had suggested this trip a few weeks ago. The teen had never been to the mountains before, so he thought it would be a fun idea to go hiking there. He had asked his best friend Zoro to come with him because he didn't want to go alone. Zoro had refused the idea at first, not really interested in the trip, but finally gave in after hours of Luffy begging him to come. And now they were here, on a three-day hiking trip through the mountains.
Zoro and Luffy were fairly high in the mountain area. They were walking uphill which, even though they were carrying heavy backpacks on their backs, wasn't that difficult.
The two talked about random subjects as they walked. It was mostly Luffy who did the talking. It was like the teen always had something new to say. Zoro just listened to whatever his friend had to say.
They passed a few caves in the rocky walls. The caves were situated on a narrow ledge with a big drop beside it, mading it a dangerous path. There were countless of safer paths leading through the mountains, but Zoro and Luffy had decided to take this one. They liked the feeling of danger.
They were almost at the end of the path when Luffy suddenly stopped walking. He looked around like he was searching for something. Zoro stopped as well when he noticed that his friend wasn't walking next to him anymore. He looked at the other in confusion. "What's wrong? Did you lose something?"
"I thought I heard something. It sounded like rumbling or something like that." The younger man replied. Both stayed quiet for a few seconds. Luffy then shrugged when no new sounds could be heard. "Oh well, must have been my imagination." He said and began to walk again.
That's when the sound returned, but much louder.
Both men looked up in shock. The ledge they were standing on started to shake. Small stones fell down the mountain all around them. Larger rocks were making their way down at a fast speed. The rocks were on their way to crush the men on the ledge below.
"It's a rockslide! We need to get out of here!" Zoro yelled and started running, pulling his friend with him. The two of them started to run as fast as they could. The end of the ledge wasn't that far away.
Small stones began to hit the ledge and the men. They did no real damage, but it was scary nonetheless. Zoro looked up while he ran. His eyes widen. The larger rocks were right above them, ready to crush the men. They weren't going to make it!
Zoro grabbed Luffy's arm and pulled him inside one of the caves. Not a second later the ledge they had been running on was hit by large rocks. The stones started to pile up at the opening of the cave they were in. The older man pulled his friend further away from the entrance.
Both of them watched in shock as the rocks started to barricade the entrance of the cave until not even sunlight could come through. Outside, rocks continued to fall down the mountain.
After a few minutes, the rockslide finally stopped. It was pitch-dark in the cave. Both men were in shock. What the hell just happened?!
Luffy stared in the direction where he thought the entrance of the cave was. He couldn't see a thing! Neither Luffy nor Zoro spoke. Suddenly, after a few minutes, there was light. The teen blinked and looked at the source of the light. Zoro had apparently managed to find a flashlight in his bag.
The green-haired man shone his flashlight around the cave. The cave didn't seem that big and there was nothing in it. No plants, no animals, nothing. The opening of the cave was completely barricaded by stones. Some of the rocks of the rockslide had rolled far into the cave.
The men stared at the big pile of stones, not sure of what to do. The younger man let his backpack slip off his shoulders and stepped closer to the rocks. "Luffy, be careful." The other man called after his friend. The teen nodded while walking the last few feet to what used to be the opening of the cave.
The young man carefully pushed against the rocks. He didn't use too much strength because he wasn't sure if the rocks would fall and he didn't want to risk getting crushed beneath them.
The rocks didn't budge. He pushed a little harder, but still didn't manage to move them. Eventually he started to use all of his weight to push against the pile of rocks to try to get them to move, but it didn't work. Luffy stepped away from the rocks and huffed in frustration.
"I think we're stuck." The black-haired teen said. Zoro took off his own backpack and walked over to him. He handed the other his flashlight. "Hold this." The man said. The older man was stronger than his smaller companion, so maybe he would be able to move the rocks.
Zoro took his friend's place in front of the pile of rocks and tried to push them over, but they wouldn't budge. Only a few tiny stones fell down the pile. After a few minutes of useless trying, he stopped. "Yup, we're stuck here.." He breathed out. Luffy took his phone out of his bag to see if he could call anyone. Unfortunately, his phone didn't pick up any signal.
"What are we going to do now?" The teen asked. His voice didn't show any sign of fear. They weren't the type to panic after all.
Zoro walked to the stone wall of the cave and sat down against it. "We are expected to arrive at our destination in two days. If we're not there on time, they will search for us. We can't do anything about the rocks, so we'll just have to wait until they find us." The man said. His younger companion followed his example and sat down on the ground.
"We are very lucky, aren't we?" Luffy said sarcastically. Zoro made a sound of agreement, but didn't say anything. The older man put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "I'm going to take a nap." He told the other. It was already evening and they were supposed to set up their tents after they had crossed the ledge (which obviously didn't happen).
The younger man stared at him in disbelief. "What? Then I won't be able to talk to anybody! How am I going to entertain myself?" He exclaimed.
The other shrugged. Luffy sighed as he watched his friend fall asleep. He turned on his phone and checked the time. He never went to bed this early, so sleeping wasn't an option. He wished he was like Zoro. His green-haired friend could literally sleep anywhere and any time.
He finally decided to play some games on his phone. He had nothing better to do anyway.
Luffy opened his eyes. He must have fallen asleep some time ago. He noticed he was lying against Zoro's shoulder. His green-haired friend was awake and doing something on his phone. The man didn't seem bothered by the teen leaning against him.
The dark-haired male didn't really want to move. He was still tired and it was cold in the cave. Zoro was very warm. He sighed in satisfaction and tried to go back to sleep, but he didn't get the chance.
"Luffy, are you awake?" Zoro asked. The younger man hummed, but didn't move. "What time is it." His voice sounded drowsy. "Just past ten in the morning." The green-haired man answered. Luffy immediately sat up. "I slept that long?" He asked in shock. Zoro smiled. "Yeah, you slept like a baby. Look." The man showed him the screen of his phone. The photo displayed on the screen was of him sleeping against Zoro's shoulder. "It was kinda cute though." The man said.
Luffy looked away with a flushed face. "I'm not cute.." He muttered. The other laughed. "Anyway, what are you doing?" The teen asked. "Nothing important. Just fooling around with shit." The other responded.
The black-haired man watched as his friend continued to do whatever he was doing on his phone. They stayed like this for a while until Luffy spoke up again.
"I'm hungry." He said. The other looked up from his phone. "Me too. I think this is a good time for breakfast." Zoro said. He reached over to his backpack and pulled it towards himself. He took out some sandwiches and gave half of them to Luffy. He was the one who carried all the food with him because he was certain the other would eat everything by himself within a day.
They had two days worth of food with them. They didn't know how long they were going to be stuck here, so they decided to eat less to save some food for the following days to come.
The two finished the sandwiches and were once again left with nothing to do. Zoro wasn't really bothered by that, but Luffy was getting really bored of playing games on his phone. He was full of energy and really needed to do something about that.
He stood up and grabbed the flashlight, their only source of light. "I'm gonna explore the cave." The teen announced. Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Explore? There is nothing to explore in this cave." The man said. Luffy grinned. "Maybe I'll find a hidden passageway. You never know."
The older man sighed. "Keep dreaming Luffy." The dark-haired teen ignored his friend and walked further into the cave. The cave wasn't really that big, only about ten to fifteen meters long, but the two men hadn't gone that far into the cave yet. So that was exactly what Luffy was going to do.
The young man used the flashlight to see where he could step. There were stones from the rockslide everywhere and he didn't want to trip. The cave had a curved form, so when he arrived at the end of the cave he couldn't see Zoro anymore.
He shone around with the flashlight. There really wasn't anything here. He groaned. Why had they to be stuck in the most boring cave ever? Or maybe all caves were boring?
He shone the flashlight around a few more times. His eyes trailed the cracks in the stone walls. He wondered if they were here before or if they appeared during the rockslide.
He scanned the walls one last time. His eyes suddenly fell upon faint lines carved in the wall. There were a lot of them, but they were barely visible. The teen stepped closer to take a better look. After a brief inspection, he discovered that the lines were actually words and names carved into the walls.
Satisfied with his discovery, Luffy went back to his friend. Zoro looked up as the younger man approached. "And? Did you find something interesting?" The man asked. The black-haired teen nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I did! Come take a look!" He exclaimed. He pulled the older male to his feet and dragged him towards the back of the cave.
When they arrived there, Luffy let go of his best friend's hand and shone the flashlight on the walls. "Look, there are things carved in the walls!" He said. The other man examined the carvings for himself. "You're right. There are things written here."
"Look. There are names here. Those must be of people who have passed these caves." The teen said as he pointed at some of the carvings. "And there are whole sentences, too!"
The two continued to admire the weird carvings for a while. It was not like they had anything better to do here.
"Apparently, a lot of couples come here too. There are many hearts with names carved here." Zoro said. The other had noticed that too. "I would probably do that too if I had someone. It's a creative way to let the world know how much you love each other. Too bad we're both still single." The teen replied. The green-haired man grinned. "Be happy. Girls are annoying."
Luffy nodded in agreement. He didn't like most girls because they were annoying as hell. That's why he only had a few girls as friends. There was also another reason why he still didn't have a relation with a girl, but that wasn't exactly the easiest thing to talk about..
"Luffy?" The dark-haired teen snapped out of his thoughts. "What?" Zoro looked at him worriedly. "You spaced out for a second there. You okay?" He asked. Luffy was never the type to just space out randomly.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." The teen replied. The other stared at him for a few more seconds before looking back at the wall. They had now seen most, if not all, the carvings in the wall, so they decided to go back to the front of the cave.
Alright, that was about fifteen minutes of entertainment. Now Luffy only had to find something else to entertain himself with for the remaining time in this cave, which would probably be a day or two.
The teen sighed. It was going to be impossible to not get bored here.
The evening finally arrived. The two men had spent most of the day just talking and playing small, boring games to pass the time. The flashlight had been situated somewhere in the middle of the curved cave so its shine lit up most of the place.
Zoro had grabbed a small transportable cooker from his bag and was now preparing dinner for the two of them. Luffy was staring at the food with great interest. He hadn't been able to eat as much as normal today and he was very hungry.
"Is it ready yet?" The teen asked. "No Luffy, it's not ready yet." Zoro replied annoyed. The younger male had been asking this for the past ten minutes and it was starting to irritate him. You would think that he was used to this by now. He had been Luffy's best friend for many years after all.
The silence returned, but it didn't last long.
"Is it ready yet?"
Zoro let out a long sigh. "No, it's not ready yet." He said. The younger man groaned. "But I'm hungry!" He whined.
This continued until the food was finally ready. Luffy, like always, ate it at a fast speed and was finished before Zoro had even started eating. The teen stared at his empty plate with a sad expression. He had just eaten about half the amount of food he would normally eat because they had agreed to save as much food as they could to last longer in this cave. It was a good idea since neither of them wanted to starve.
That thought didn't stop him from being hungry though.
The other man saw that his younger companion had already finished his food. What surprised him, however, was that Luffy didn't complain about it. He could see that the dark-haired man was still hungry. Normally, the teen would beg for more food after he finished, but this time he kept quiet. He wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing.
The man voiced his thoughts. The dark-haired teen looked up from his plate. "Why would I ask for more food when I know we don't have much?" Luffy asked. Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Well, having less food available never stopped you from asking before, so why now? Why don't you ask for some of my food?"
"We don't have much food and we don't know when we'll get out of here. I can't go eat more than necessary and I can't let you go hungry." The younger man answered with a smile. Zoro was taken aback by those words. He hadn't expected Luffy to see the seriousness of their situation.
"Now, finished your food before I change my mind." The younger man said with a grin. His friend nodded and continued eating his meal. When there was only a little bit left, he gave the plate to Luffy. The younger man looked at him in surprise.
"Eat it. I'm full." Zoro said. To be honest, he was still hungry. He just knew his friend needed it more than he did.
"Are you sure?" Luffy asked with uncertainty. The green-haired man nodded. "Yeah, eat up. Finish the food before I change my mind." He replied with a wink and a smirk.
The red colour on the teen's face went unnoticed by the older man. Damn, Zoro was just too sexy when he looked like that. Luffy quickly began to eat the remaining food, half hiding his face behind the plate.
It was the third day. Yesterday had been nothing but boring. Zoro had spent most of his time sleeping and Luffy joined him halfway though the day. The older man didn't know what the teen had been doing before he went to sleep. He probably played games on his phone for a long while because the small device had run out of power by now.
The two men expected help to arrive soon. After all, they were expected to arrive at their destination yesterday. They had already used more than half of their food and they really didn't want to stay much longer in this cave.
Right now, they were just talking about random subjects. There really wasn't that much to talk about since they had talked about most things already in the previous two days.
"You know, I don't wanna grow up. I want to stay a kid forever." Luffy said, totally ignoring whatever story Zoro had just told him (not that the other cared). Zoro smirked. "Too bad you're almost an adult now." He said. "Not that you act like one though. And you're short too." The man added with a grin. The other pouted. "I'm not short, I'm average height. Most people are just taller than me."
The green-haired man smirked. "Sure, Luffy. Keep believing that." The younger man crossed his arms and looked away.
"You meanie.." He said with no real annoyance.
A new question suddenly popped up in the older man's mind. He had meant to ask this some time ago, but he totally forgot about it.
"By the way, why don't you have a girlfriend yet? You're handsome enough get one, but I've never seen you with a girl." Zoro asked. The teen beside him froze. Did Zoro just call him.. handsome? But that's not the point here!
"I uh.. I could ask you the same! Why don't you have one?"
"Don't ignore my question."
"I'm not!"
"You are."
"I wonder how the weather outside is."
"Don't just change the subject!"
"Okay, okay!" Luffy raised his hands in surrender. "It's just.. There are no girls I like that way. Many girls have asked me to go on a date with them, but I never felt attracted to them in any way."
Zoro watched his best friend carefully. He had never seen him like this. The teen was fidgeting with his hands while looking down at his lap. A thought then came up in the green-haired man's head and he looked at his companion in surprise.
"Then, are there perhaps guys you like?" Zoro asked. The teen looked away, cheeks red. "Maybe.." The reply was barely audible.
"You never told me, why?" The man asked. He had known the teen for a very long time. They were best friends! So.. why hadn't he told him this? And why had Zoro himself not noticed this before?
"I don't know. I haven't told anyone." Luffy confessed. "Not even your brothers?" Zoro asked in surprise. The other shook his head. "No, I didn't. They did find out themselves though. They know me too well." He said. The green-haired man had never heard the other like this. He sounded almost embarrassed.
The slightly older man gently grabbed his friend's chin and turned Luffy's head to face him. The teen looked at him with wide eyes, unsure of his best friend's reaction to this new piece of information.
"Hey, there's nothing to be ashamed of. There are a lot of people who are like you." Zoro told the other. "I won't think different of you just because you're attracted to people of the same gender and I know for certain that the rest of our friends think the same."
The man let go of the other's chin. Luffy didn't turn away. "You really think so?" The teen asked. The older man smiled. "I know so."
They both were silent for about a minute until the youngest man spoke up again. "When we get out of here, I'll tell everyone." He said with a confident look on his face. The other grinned. That's the Luffy he knew and loved.
"Great idea. It's about time a cutie like you gets a relationship." He teased with a wink. He laughed as he saw his friend's face flush bright red.
"You really enjoy making me blush, don't you?"
"Maybe."
"Stupid Zoro.."
"How does this make me stupid?"
Luffy only smiled in reply. "Thank you." He said after a short pause. Zoro looked at him with a smile. "I'm only telling the truth." The teen's smile only brightened at those words.
The fourth day came and went fairly quickly. The two men had somehow managed to get used to the boredom in the cave. They had stopped playing games on Zoro's phone (the only phone that still had some battery left) to try to preserve some power in case they still needed it for something else.
Food was getting more scarce as the days passed. They were going to run out of food if they weren't found soon. The men were now really starting to worry if people would be able to find them here. They hadn't heard anything move outside the cave, aside from birds and some other animals.
What the men were most afraid of happened on the fifth day. That day they consumed the last remaining food. They were surprised they lasted that long with only two days worth of food considering they both ate abnormally much.
They still had a few bottles of water with them, but they were sure those wouldn't last long either.
Zoro was slowly starting to lose faith on the sixth day. Were they even looking for them? They must be missing them, right? He had expected to at least hear people nearby in the past three days, even if they were just other hikers.
Luffy was trying to brighten his friend's spirit, but it was more like he was trying to stay positive himself. He kept saying that whoever was looking for them was just getting lost all the time and that it was just taking a little longer for them to come here.
But Zoro knew that the teen, too, was slowly losing faith in getting found.
It was early in the morning on the seventh day when both men were suddenly woken up by a loud sound outside. They were still groggily from the sleep, but soon recognized that sound.
"It's a helicopter!" Luffy exclaimed loudly. He jumped up from his place on the ground and ran towards the pile of rocks barricading the cave's entrance.
"Hey! We're in here! Help us!" The teen yelled at the top of his lungs. He started pounding on the rocks with his hands to try to make as much noise as possible. Zoro stood up as well, but didn't make any attempt to make any noise.
The man watched as his younger friend yelled for whoever was out there to come rescue them. Zoro, however, knew this was useless.
The teen stopped his actions momentarily to look at the other man. "Zoro, come help me! We need to get their attention!" He yelled before continuing to yell and pound on the stone barricade.
The older man shook his head. "No Luffy, stop. They can't hear you. The sound of the helicopter is too loud. It's impossible for then to hear us, even if we yelled together." He said trying to calm his friend down.
Luffy turned around and stared at him with a shocked expression. "What? But this might be our only chance at getting help! They have to know that we're here!" He yelled. Zoro's eyes widen slightly as he heard the barely noticeable panic in the teen's voice.
"I know. I want to get out of here just as much as you do, but doing this is useless. We have to wait a little longer. They have to find us without our help." The other man replied.
The younger man stood still for a short while before turning back to the huge pile of stone. Zoro sighed. "Luffy, it's not-" The other interrupted him. "I can't do nothing, Zoro! I want to get out of here!" The black-haired teen yelled at him before once again starting to pound his hands into the rocks while screaming his lungs out.
As long as Zoro had known Luffy, he had never once seen him act like this. He almost seemed.. scared. His Luffy, the Luffy who ran headfirst into all kinds of dangers, was scared?
"No, no, no, no, come back!" The youngest man suddenly yelled. Zoro, too, then noticed that the sound of the helicopter began to fade away. Luffy's screams increased volume. "No! Don't leave us here! Come back!"
The teen's fists were now slamming into the stone barricade at a fast pace, almost if the young man hoped that they would break the rocks in front of him.
The older man could do nothing but watch as his friend continued to scream for the helicopter to come back. At some point, the sound of the helicopter had vanished, but the stubborn teen didn't stop.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the screams toned down and the pounding slowed to a stop. "Please.. Don't leave us here.." Luffy's throat was raw from yelling and his voice cracked with emotion.
Zoro then noticed the red marks on the rocks barricading the entrance. Blood was splattered on the stones, Luffy's blood. The younger man had pounded the rocks so long and hard that his hands had started to bleed.
"Luffy," He stopped. He didn't really know what to say. The younger man slowly turned around, chest still heaving from exhaustion. The teen started walking, past Zoro, past their stuff, to the back of the cave. He didn't say anything as he left.
Zoro didn't follow him. He figured the black-haired teen needed some time alone. To be honest, sitting here in this cave with no way out was starting to get on his nerves too..
Luffy sat down against the far back wall of the cave. He pulled his hurting hands to his chest. He breathed deeply in and out to calm himself down. Even though he tried so hard, he couldn't stop a tear from sliding down his face.
He groaned in frustration and wiped the tear away, unconsciously spreading the fresh blood of his hand over the right side of his face. His brothers were right. After all those years, he was still a crybaby.
He could hear Zoro move near the entrance of the cave. His friend probably moved back to their spot by the wall where they had been sleeping earlier. He wondered what was going through the green-haired man's head. His friend must have thought he looked pathetic a minute ago..
The teen sighed and hugged his knees against his chest. Why had this happened to them? What had they done to deserve to be stuck in this cave?!
He felt his eyes sting again. He shut them tightly, not wanting anymore tears to escape. He hated this. He hated this so much. If someone saw him like this, they would probably think he was scared. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. The only thing he knew was that he wasn't ready to leave the world of the living yet. He still had so many things to do in his life.
Not only that, but he also felt so guilty.
He felt so goddamn guilty. He was the one who suggested taking this trip to the mountains. He was the one who convinced Zoro to come with him. He was the one who dragged his best friend into this mess. This was all his fault.
The teen's eyes wandered to the carvings in the wall. His eyes traced every single line other travelers had carved into stone. He raised one of his messed-up hands to touch one of the carvings. The young man frowned when he saw that his finger had left a bloody mark behind on the name he had just touched.
He stared at the red fingerprint on the stone wall. The colour stood out from the gray background. His eyes then scanned the wall full of cravings. He found an empty spot not far from where he was sitting. He stood up and went to stand in front of the open space between all the carvings. He raised his hand again, finger trembling, and moved his digit to the wall.
He started writing.
He wrote the names of his family and friends using his own blood. Ace, Sabo, Gramps, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Shanks, Makino, Dadan, and many, many more. Red names started covering up the empty space on the wall.
His finger started to ache from moving over the stone wall so much, but Luffy couldn't care less. He continued until he had written down every single name he could remember.
He looked at his work. These people had brought so much happiness in his life. He wanted to smile and remember all the good times he had with them, but he couldn't. He thought that seeing the names of the ones he cared about would cheer him up, but it actually made him more sad than anything. He wanted to be with them.
There was still some place left on the cave's wall. Luffy stared at the empty space for a few seconds before moving his hand again. This time he drew a figure, a heart to be exact. It was almost identical to the ones that had been carved in the wall by couples.
His finger stung like crazy, but didn't stop. He needed to do this. If he couldn't say it, he could at least write it down.His love..
He never noticed the tears that slid down his face.
Zoro had been sitting alone against the cave's wall for about half an hour. Luffy had yet to return to him. He could hear soft sounds coming from the part of the cave where the teen was, but he had no idea what he was doing.
He sighed. He wondered if the helicopter they had heard was actually looking for them or if it was just an ordinary helicopter that was passing by. He really hoped the former. Hopefully, they saw the rocks barricading the cave and would send some people to check it out.
A few more minutes passed when suddenly, without any kind of warning, everything went dark.
Zoro jumped up in shock. He waved his hands in front of his face, but he couldn't see anything. What the hell?
"Zoro, did you turn off the flashlight?" Luffy's voice echoed in the cave. The teen must be just as startled as him. The older man turned his head to where he thought the flashlight was. The light was indeed gone. "No, I didn't. It went out on its own. It must be out of power!"
It wasn't surprising. The flashlight had been used a lot these past few days. This was bound to happen sooner or later.
"I'm coming to you." Luffy's voice sounded. Footsteps slowly started to make their way through the cave. "Be careful not to trip." The green-haired man replied. "And take the flashlight with you if you come across. Maybe we can somehow repair it." He added.
The footsteps became louder as the teen came closer. They then suddenly stopped and a thunk could be heard, followed by a pain filled groan and the clinking of metal against rock.
Zoro facepalmed. Of course this would happen. "Are you alright?" He asked. Some scuffling was heard, followed by a "I'm fine" from Luffy. "I found the flashlight." The teen said. That explained the sound of metal Zoro heard a few seconds ago.
The sound of footsteps then slowly continued their way towards the older man before once again stopping. It stayed silent for a few seconds before the teen spoke up again.
"Hey Zoro, can you start talking to me? I don't really know where to go, so then I can follow your voice." He said. That actually wasn't that bad of an idea.
Zoro did what he was told and started to talk, effectively leading his friend through the dark cave. It didn't really matter what he said as long as he talked, so he just said random things. Luffy followed the other's voice while being careful not to trip again. It was difficult to keep his focus. Zoro's voice was just so nice to listen to.
God, he could listen to that voice all day.
Luffy's hand finally touched the other's shoulder. "Found you." He said before sitting down next to the other male.
"Oh, and here's the flashlight." The black-haired man said and handed the flashlight over to Zoro. The other man took it from his hand and began to try to turn it on, which didn't work. He then tried to remove the batteries from the device. It was difficult to do that because it was pitch-dark in the cave.
After somehow being able to remove the batteries from the device, he rubbed them a few times before putting them back in. He turned flashlight on, but only got a short flicker of light.
The man repeated this process a few times before giving up. "It's no use. The battery is dead." He sighed. Luffy let out a sigh of frustration. "Now we're stuck in the dark. Like being stuck in a cave wasn't enough." A loud growl echoed through the cave. The younger man groaned and clutched his belly. "And without food.."
Zoro wrapped an arm around the other's shoulders and pulled him a little closer. The younger man was slightly surprised by this since Zoro normally wasn't the type to do things like this.
"It'll be alright. Help will arrive soon." The green-haired man's voice didn't sound convincing at all, but it was better to try to stay positive. Luffy rested his head on the other man's shoulder and closed his eyes.
"I really hope so.."
The eight day passed without any improvement. The men used the light of Zoro's phone to see if they could find new batteries for the flashlight, but to no avail. They used the last of the phone's battery to see where their bottles of water were so they wouldn't have to search in the dark. Then, Zoro's phone darkened as well, not able to shine its light without any power.
The men had only two small bottles with water left, one of them half empty. Those wouldn't last more than a day.
Luffy refused to drink any of the water that was left in the bottles. He said he wanted the other man to have it all because Zoro was more important than him. His friend, of course, eventually forced the younger to drink. That almost resulted in them spilling the leftover water.
The next two days were awful. There was no food nor water left. Every once in a while their stomachs growled in need of the food that was no longer there. Luffy was by far the worst in this situation. He had never not eaten for such a long time. He had gotten a bad stomach ache and had to lie down for a while.
It hurt Zoro to hear the pain filled whimpers of his best friend. Sure, he himself was starving too, but his condition wasn't as bad as Luffy's. The young man's head was moved to Zoro's lap and the older man had his hand on the teen's head, softly stroking the dark hair in an attempt to comfort the young man.
The stomach ache passed after a short while, but it still wasn't a pleasant experience.
It was the eleventh day and both men knew their end was approaching. They felt weak with hunger and thirst. Luffy had at some point moved into his best friend's lap. He wanted to spend whatever time he had left as close as possible with one of the most important people in his life.
"We're dying.." It was a statement. As much as the older man wanted to deny that, he could only agree with the teen in his lap.
"Yes, we are."
The younger man's grip on his friend's shirt tightened. "I'm sorry, Zoro." He said. The other man barely recognized this as Luffy's voice. Those words sounded so sad and hopeless, so unlike the happy-go-lucky teen he used to know.
"What do you mean 'I'm sorry'? You have nothing to apologize for." The older man told the black-haired teen. The younger man bit his lip. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have forced you to come with me." The teen said.
Zoro sighed and wrapped his arms around the smaller form. "None of this is your fault. You couldn't have known this would happen." He told the other. "And you didn't force me to come with you. I came with you because I wanted to. I couldn't let you go on your own, could I?"
The younger man stayed silent for a few seconds before letting out a soft, sad giggle. "You know, I always thought I would die from eating something poisonous, not from eating nothing at all. How ironic can life be?" He said with a sad tone.
"This sure is a stupid way to die. We can't even fight the thing that's slowly taking our life." Zoro added. The other man let out a sound of agreement.
The silence returned to the cave. The only sounds being their breathing and the chirping of the birds outside. The men wanted to curse those birds for being outside, free to go wherever they want to go, to eat whatever they want to eat.
Zoro stared into the darkness. Closing his eyes wouldn't matter because it was just as dark with them open. Still, he wasn't able to rest in this silence. Thoughts about the outside world just kept nagging him.
"I've always loved you."
For the first time in days, the teen's voice sounded strong and certain. The older man moved his head to look down at the young man in his lap, the darkness preventing him from actually seeing the other.
"I should have told you sooner. I just.. I didn't think I was ready yet. But now it's too late." Luffy's voice cracked with emotion.
Zoro gently took the other's hands in his. The teen's hands felt raw and encrusted with blood that had once come from the wounds. His fingers brushed over the broken skin. Luffy's only response was a sharp intake of breath as the wounds still stung like crazy.
"It's okay. I understand." No more words needed to be said. The older man moved one of his hands to the other's chin and once again turned the teen's head to him. This time not only to make the younger man face him. This time, he connected their lips.
The kiss wasn't like he expected his first kiss would be. Luffy's lips were dry and chapped, as were his own, and the absence of saliva made their act less smooth. Despite this, he felt fireworks going off inside him. He never imagined a kiss to be this nice.
On Luffy's end it was like a dream come true. For a split second he thought that, maybe, Zoro was only doing this for him. But he could clearly feel the passion the other poured into this kiss. Zoro really did love him back.
Just a few days ago, Luffy had written his love in blood on the wall, surrounded by the names of the ones he cared about. Now, his love wasn't just a fantasy anymore. It felt.. complete.
After a moment they broke apart. They both just stared at where they knew the other was. They really wished they could see each other at this very moment. Zoro's hand was still holding the other's chin even though it clearly was not needed anymore.
Something wet slid down the younger male's cheek, reaching the other's hand and making a wet trail down the green-haired man's arm.
"You're crying."
Luffy sniffed. "Don't worry. I'm not sad." The happiness in his voice was something Zoro hadn't realized he had missed these past few days.
The younger man laid his head against the other's chest and closed his eyes. "At least I can die happy now." He said, and Zoro was sure one of his famous smiles was covering his face.
The older man rested his head on top of the other's black hair.
"Yeah, me too."
Loud sounds outside woke Zoro from his sleep. His mind was foggy and he was too weak to move. How many days had passed, he didn't know. He tried to focus on what was going on outside the cave, but he barely succeeded to recognize the sounds as machines.
Voices could be heard as well. They were faint and sounded far away. He could hear the rumbling of stones and concluded that whoever was out there must be moving the rocks out of the way.
They had found them.
His consciousness was quickly fading. He closed his arms around the still body in his lap before letting the darkness take him once more.
AN: Did they live? Did they die? You can decide for yourself because I'm leaving it here.
One thing I want to say is that this is the first time I wrote something that involves a romantic relationship between two characters. Please don't hate on me if it's bad. I tried! Also, I'm still not English, so I'm sorry if some things don't make sense.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Thank you so much for reading!