I wrote this quite a while ago, and just found it again. I touched it up a bit and decided to post it, because I quite like how it turned out.
Zoro's hands shook as he set up the explosives, the explosives he'd stolen from Usopp's shop, the explosives he'd oh-so-casually asked Franky to show him how to use. He could barely see what he was doing in the dim light of the small room beneath the stand. He was so familiar with the task, though, after practising it night after night since Luffy had told him what was to come, that he could probably have done it with his eyes closed.
The voices outside got louder. He heard heavy footsteps pound on the platform above him.
His blood ran cold. The execution was about to begin.
The explosives were set. He slunk out through the small door, bending down to get through the low, narrow opening. The crowd outside was thick and rowdy, shouting and jeering. Zoro had to push past loud, angry people, using elbows and fists to force his was through the crowd.
His face was stoic as always, but his mouth was dry and his tan skin had an almost greenish tinge.
When he finally saw his crew, packed into the middle of the crowd, he had to swallow hard so as not to vomit.
"Where were you?" Sanji shouted when he noticed Zoro.
"No-" Zoro coughed, trying to clear his dry throat. "Nowhere."
The cook gave Zoro a suspicious look, but didn't press the matter.
Zoro shoved his way past a few more people to come and stand next to his crew.
Nami was biting her lip, holding back tears as she stared up at her captain on the execution stage.
Usopp wasn't even making any effort to hold back. He cried loudly, a hand on Chopper's shoulder. The young doctor was bawling, looking confused and frightened.
Robin was expressionless. Her eyes were glued to the platform, though.
Franky and Brook seemed to be holding each other up, loud sobs wracking their bodies.
Sanji was taking deep drags from his cigarette, clenching his fists and giving Zoro meaningful glares every so often.
A member of this very crew was responsible for Luffy's current situation.
The crowd got louder as the prisoner was forced to his knees.
"Petty thievery. Disrupting the peace. Robbery. Arson. Murder. Rebellion against the World Government. Pirating," the executioner shouted, listing the crimes of the criminal at his feet.
Zoro's throat was tight. His hands continued to shake.
"This man has been wanted for years," the executioner continued, his voice nearly drowned out by the screaming, jeering crowd. "But today, he will receive the punishment he deserves. Because justice always prevails."
The crowd cheered as Luffy's head was forced into place below the guillotine.
Zoro had to force himself to look his captain in the face.
Luffy's expression never faltered. He was inches away from death, and yet he wasn't beaten down. A radiant smile was on his face.
Even though a member of his own crew had turned him in.
Zoro clamped his eyes shut and waited for the explosives to go off. They had to go off.
Because a life without his captain was a life that wasn't worth living.
Zoro clamped his eyes shut and waited for the bombs to go off.
"Don't try to save me," Luffy had said, a few days before. "Don't even try, Zoro."
"But… Sencho, what are you doing? We can't live without you," Zoro had protested, grabbing Luffy's arm as if he had the power to hold him back.
"Of course you can!" the captain had said, laughing. "You guys are all really strong. You don't need me to take care of you."
"We don't want to live without you," Zoro corrected himself, his voice lower.
Luffy's expression darkened, but only for a moment. Then his smile returned.
"But I want you guys to live. And this is the only way."
"No! It's not the only way! We can-" Zoro shouted, but the captain cut him off.
"It is the only way. You know it," Luffy said, his voice uncharacteristically soft as he gently pried Zoro's hand off of his arm. "The navy won't rest until they have my head. But once they do, you guys can get away easily. Go far away and… live, okay?"
"No," Zoro whispered, "Not without you."
But his mouth was already dry, his hands were already shaking.
Because Luffy had that look that meant he'd made up his mind, and he wasn't going to listen to anyone.
"I order you guys to live. You'll be the new leader, Zoro. Take my place as captain."
Zoro's voice was too dry to talk as Luffy removed his straw hat and gently placed it on Zoro's head.
"Okay?" Luffy said, with that radiant grin only he could pull off.
And Zoro could only nod his head, because in the end the captain always got what he wanted.
And then without looking back, Luffy walked through the doors and into the Navy office to turn himself in.
The captain of the crew turned himself in, in order to save the crew he loved so much.
And Zoro didn't do anything to stop him. Just stood there, numb. The straw hat on his head was still warm from the captain's body heat.
And then Zoro cried.
He cried again as he stood in the town square, tears leaking past his closed eyes as he waited for the explosives to go off.
He couldn't save the captain. The captain had said it himself, had told him not to. But Zoro couldn't live without his captain.
So they would all die. The thick, screaming, writhing crowd of pitiful people would die in an explosion like none even Usopp had ever created before. The first mate, the whole crew, would die alongside their captain.
And no one could do anything about it. Not even the captain himself.
And just before the explosives were set to go off, Zoro lifted his head, opened his eyes one last time and looked up at his captain's radiant smile.
"Live, you guys!" Luffy screamed. "Live!"
And the captain's head rolled.
The explosives didn't go off.
Zoro fell to his knees, weak and dizzy. The screaming crowd engulfed him, swallowed him up. The crew was nearby, somewhere, but Zoro was alone.
He was alive. The captain was dead. And the explosives hadn't gone off.
"What happened? What went wrong?" he screamed into his hands.
But he knew the answer. He hadn't set the explosives right. He just couldn't. He couldn't force himself to go against what the captain had ordered. I order you guys to live.
Suddenly, there were hands on his shoulders, hands under his armpits, lifting him up and leading him away from the town square.
He was aware of the crew around him. Silent, but their presences were heavier and louder than the now-satisfied crowd.
He let his tears fall.
The silence was thick and heavy in Sunny's kitchen. A few sat around the table. Sanji stood in front of the stove, not cooking, not moving. Robin leaned against a wall, her arms crossed.
Zoro sat on the floor, his head in his hands.
"He's dead," the first mate said finally, breaking the silence after what seemed like hours.
Maybe it had been hours.
"He died for us, you know," Zoro continued, not looking up. "The navy didn't capture him. He turned himself in. To protect us."
No one said a word. No one seemed surprised.
"They're coming," Robin announced, calmly, after what seemed like another eternity of silence. "The navy. They've just boarded the Sunny."
The crew just had the time to jump to their feet and grab their weapons before the door was thrown open and marines streamed in.
There was no war cry, no shouting or laughter as the crew threw themselves into the battle.
But Luffy's last words rang in everyone's minds. Live, you guys! Live!
None of them would be captured today. None of them would die.
Because the captain had ordered them to live, and the captain always got what he wanted.