I've rewritten this Chapter and in time will do others. The original edit of this bothered me so much as if there were a bunch of missing pieces. At first it was for the sake of skipping through to what I would think are the more interesting, important chapters later on. But for the sake of a good story the early chapters must be able to catch the reader's attention. Honestly I'm surprise a ton of people had latched onto this story. I feel my language skills improve each time I take a minute and just go back and edit. This is my result for Chapter 4 Reflection.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own One Piece obviously however Zoro in my story is a bit OOC. In my opinion he's never down for long, at least from knowledge of the Anime. I feel like him being flesh, human, and haven gone through such a metaphysically traumatic experience that the weight of everything, the world is sure to bring even the strongest down to his lowest. Thriller Bark, the events that'd taken place on this mysterious island had shaken the Strawhat crew, perhaps to the point of no return.
GORE WARNING for those faint of heart; what can I say, I want it to feel as real and as painful I'm sure he would have felt back then. This in mind every other character will surely be out of their element for the most part, given the situation. This is very much not cannon but interesting I'm sure to the right audience looking for a really angsty fic. Enjoy, Review, Thank you for the support and patients it means a lot. Honestly this would never being developing without you're beautiful eye's scanning across the screen :)
Several hours had passed under the peaceful rays of the sun and just as sunk below the horizon as the sky burst with beautiful tinges of red and orange that blended seamlessly against the ocean. Bright yellow frosted the cresting waves in the distance. In combination with the warm salty air it had turned into quite a lovely evening.
It was nearing the end of the day and Zoro spent it like any other, in blissful sleep. Well under the circumstances it hadn't been as rejuvenating as he'd hoped. Instead of catching up on some well deserved rest he was dealt with an insomniac dredged coma. In the past he had no issue sleeping or meditating injuries off. After all his body has always been unnaturally fast at healing. He figured a week or so and he would be decent, but even he couldn't understand why he was still so weak.
Bright bands of light cast from the setting sun shone through the railing and hit Zoro in the face. A direct path of light seemed to concentrate on the still form of the swordsman as he slowly began to stir. His features didn't seem as pained at first glance other than that he looked utterly exhausted. He gradually cracked his eyes open, blinking the sleep away from vision as he scoured the deck.
Slowly his senses returned to him and he noticed just how quiet it was around him. It felt like an unnatural easiness was present on board. It was almost like it'd been deserted. He knew better of course but it was still odd and off putting to say the least. He felt like he was in a small vacuumed space, the eerie silence and notable chill in the air seemed to pair well. Perhaps it was just his imagination and he was still paranoid from earlier.
He breathed in deeply in attempt at calming his nerves. His spinal cord cracked and realigned with his expanding lungs. He'd slowed as he reached his limited capacity set by several fractured ribs he'd suffered. Chopper had said not too move around too much until they'd properly set but that was a week ago. He hadn't trained at all from then on so that would tell you something.
He sighed to the best of his ability given his current state. Stiffness coursed through his sore muscles as he stretched his arms out, scratching the back of his head in an effort at waking himself up. He hadn't realized just how long he'd slept after that feud with the idiot cook.
Zoro listened to the gentle push and pull of the waves with his muddied senses. He was usually able to notice everything but lately he'd seemed a bit out of touch. His mind was so foggy he could hardly make out the backlash from the waves as they crashed into the wooden hull of the Sunny.
Everyone must have been eating that would explain absence of life, as well as the silence of his captain. Meaning he had to of been stuffing his face right about now. If he really concentrated he could hear muffled sounds of dinner time chatter, strengthened his hypothesis.
"Must have missed dinner; that or a certain curly cook took note not to disturb me, smart blonde." Zoro grumbled low to himself before he forced a smirk. His muscles were still sore but he had to admit he'd felt much better than he did before, or at least kid himself into thinking so. The rest did little to help his wounds but actually did wonders to clear his head.
His mind remained a blank. He found it better to be void of the disturbing memories that'd plagued him and to be replaced with nothing. He was relieved that the tyrant had finally left his sub consciousness, bringing his mind back to reality, plain and placid.
Zoro lifted a steady hand gripped the railing before hoisting himself onto his feet. He gritted his teeth together as he seemed to be solely relying on his strong arms to pull his body up. He staggered slightly before catching himself and keeping a steady hold on the rail. He panted lightly allowing his legs to build up the strength to maintain his balance. The soreness in his body was vaguely more apparent as he shifted his full weight between his two clad boots and only seemed to be spreading.
He carefully rolled his shoulder blades being mindful not to pop any of his stitches. There was a very satisfying crack as his joints shifting against each other, sounding louder than it probably should have. He rubbed his face in frustration as the sensation grew getting worse. He absentmindedly began grinding his teeth together as he looked out and around, his eyes eventually landing on the door leading to the men's barracks. He pleaded with his feet to motion, annoyed that his body was fighting him so much today.
Even after all of that accumulative rest he couldn't shake this lingering drowsiness. He shuffled to the door reaching for the handle and pushed it open. He walked carefully as if on a bed of eggshells although no one else was around, he passed the hammocks before stopping at the sofa.
He absentmindedly, paying little attention to the area around him, stripped himself of his swords and leaned them next to the arm before heading straight into the bathroom. He thought it best to splash some cold water on his face, relieve some of the tiredness. He came up close to the sink until he noticed his reflection in the mirror. He froze at the sight of himself and he could honestly say he looked like shit, not much better than he felt. His face was riddled with sweat.
He didn't understand. The weather outside was absolutely perfect, with the constant calming breeze skating across the sea it should have kept him cool. Yet it hadn't. It was like his body was on fire and the wind had just fanned the flames.
He set the back of his hand against the side of his temple wincing at the cold touch. He was burning up. His temperature was easily triple digit. The sweat caused his hand to stick awkwardly to his head until he drew it back. He glared at himself in the mirror as he ran his hand across his forehead and turned the water on. He took in a long sigh, more painful than he'd remembered and splash his face with the fresh seizing cold water.
"Definitely running a fever or something." He said to himself as his eyes wondered down his reflected image until he noticed a faint tinge of purple creeping its way up from the base of his neck. He felt the bruised area, it was tender and painfully dull to the touch. He remembered that hit he took to the shoulder. It knocked the wind out of him then and now it seemed like it was finally catching up to him.
The sight of it however didn't disturb him a bit. For someone like him who's used to being beaten up this wasn't that big of a surprise. It may be shocking for anyone else but it was normal for him. That didn't mean it didn't suck, recovery is always the worst. For a man as hardheaded and stubborn as Zoro this was a predicament. He shouldn't be feeling like this, every other time he would be up within a few days. But a week goes by and he feels just as pathetic as day one.
He ran his careful fingers over his chest, feeling the raised lines of every cut piece of skin stitched back together. He remembered touching his ribs earlier, he did so again pang of pain each time he applied pressure. Cracked ribs were never his favorite and he could definitely deal without the obnoxious wheezing that came with it. He continued to study himself in the mirror, taking in subtle details of his worn form.
He noticed a small tinge of red at his side. It'd bled through his usual white shirt just barely showing above his green haramaki. He carefully slid the tight fitted article of clothing down and that's when he noticed just how much blood had actually seeped through. His eyes widened and stomach dropped as he prepared for the very worst.
Zoro carefully peeled his soiled shirt from his injured body and easily tore it away almost in shreds. He figured no sense in keeping something that was already ruined. He was covered in thick bandages that wrapped all the way around his midsection and over both shoulders. He narrowed his brows at the sad sight of himself, it nearly made him sick to see himself this way. It was odd to see his still wearing them after this long; normally he'd tossed them already. Yet again he was far from back to normal.
There were several wounds littering his body that had barely begun to heal. Whether he'd gotten them from falling rocks or being tossed around he couldn't remember. There was one on his shoulder which explained the excessive bruising going up his neck. Two lasses on his back acquired from the flight he had with the massive Oars. Then that fight with Kuma did nothing to help his case.
The extra damage accumulated from Luffy's original fight just about destroyed his body. Which wasn't surprising considering that was Luffy's particular fighting style. But for some reason he still breathed. Even if every muscle felt as though it were being stretched out into individual strands. Plus something somewhere along the line left a huge gash on his left side which would explain where the blood was coming from.
It'd been awhile since Chopper had checked over him. He realized that perhaps this was because he'd actually been abiding by the doctor's orders to take it easy for once thus giving him some sort of freedom. It's not even like he wanted to, he would love nothing more than to climb up to the crow's nest for some much needed training. But as much as he hated to admit it he was lucky to be able to move at all. Let alone enough to parade around and fool most of the crew, most.
He sighed, thinking over his current status. Pathetic, he thought as he pushed himself to straighten and look somewhat intimidating. Alas the aching in his abdomen forced him into submission and then some. A burning sensation travelled down behind his shoulder blades into his the muscles of his stomach where it grew. The sudden sickening feeling caught him off guard and caused his breath to hitch.
Stars fired off in his head making it spin and his sight to blur as he braced the sink. The last thing he wanted was to look even more pathetic by falling onto the floor. He drew in a hard breath one after the other until his eyes hazed out and the light headedness had died down. Once regaining his composer he straightened enough to eye himself in the mirror yet again. He placed a hand over the soiled part of bandage, feeling the warm wetness transfer onto his hand. Sticky dark blood coated his palm.
It spread from the left side where the color grew to his core. The wound itself was heavily packed and tapped over. Still it did little to stop the flow of blood. He stared at it for a moment wondering if he should alert the ship's doctor. He frowned closing his hand. He figured it wasn't that big of a deal as he rummaged through the cabinet for some fresh bandages. Luckily the little doctor kept a fresh stock beneath just for situations like these.
His mind drifted back to the last thing the idiot cook had said to him. It shouldn't have bothered him as much as it had considering they'd exchanged hateful remarks between each other on a daily basis, why should today be any different? Maybe it was because he hadn't fought back with more insults and slashed his swords at him in awhile. After all that was how they communicated, everyone on board knew that, they've done it since day one. But that wasn't it. It couldn't have been as simple as not threatening one another.
It was obvious he would find out what he'd done; after all he was thought of the same thing. He was bound to find out sooner or later. It was pretty simple to piece together, Zoro would have been really surprised if he hadn't figured it out for himself by this now.
Zoro accepted that he was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the others and for his captain. Anyway it's wasn't his place to be selfless, it doesn't suit him. He wasn't as expendable as he was. Although he didn't like to admit it the crew needed Sanji, they'd probably die without a proper cook. Hopefully the others don't figure it out like he did and I'm sure he'd keep that secret to himself.
"I don't regret any of the decisions I've made. It'd better for me to be stuck in this situation rather than anyone else. If any of the others had gone through this kind of hell they would have died. It could have only been me. I don't know how but I managed to endure all of that and by some miracle survive to see another day. I knew that curly brow couldn't pull it off. That idiot could hardly stand after all." His voice trailed off into a hardened whisper as he took in a deep breath and continued.
"Luffy had already sacrificed years of his life suffering from all the damage he's taken so far. I knew I could handle this. If enduring this is all it takes to ensure the others safety than I'm willing to share the burden.."
He reminded himself over and over again each time he tended to his wounds, that didn't stop his hands from shaking. He reached out and slid open the top drawer retrieving the surgical scissors. He mentally psyched himself up as he carefully cut away the old bandages and pealed the cloth from the semi fresh wound. He'd wondered how bad his wounds had gotten since last time he allowed Chopper to take a look at them. It didn't feel like it'd healed as much as he would have wanted if any at all.
The bruising had definitely gotten worse but that was to be expected. Even so he'd never had it this bad before. His rib cage was a dark blue around the afflicted areas which faded off into a sickly shade of greenish yellow before blending into his usual tan skin tone. For the most part the stitches had held up, good news so far. As for his left side it was a flurry of deep purple discoloration; the wound itself was still covered by a dark completely saturated cotton pad.
He lightly caressed the discolored area, wincing with at the touch as he laid a hand on the small red square taped to his skin. He scratched his fingertips under the corner and quickly peeled it away. It was partially stuck to the wound by semi coagulated blood and a strange puss. The sudden tug against the semi fresh wound nearly made Zoro heave over in pain. He wasn't expecting it to feel this bad. He bit the bottom of his lip and forcing his hand to be steady as he ripped the patch all the way off.
Zoro shuddered weakly before letting out a light cough in reaction. It took a moment for him to catch his breath then he noticed something strange about the way the wound oozed. Mixed in with the dried and running blood was an odd yellowish liquid developing around the healing scar. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew exactly what it looked like, most likely the result of a developing infection.
He really didn't want to believe this was happening to him. It seemed like one thing after another and he could never catch a break. It wasn't enough to be hurt but now this shit, it was never ending. He placed a hand on one side of the gash. Thick stitches held together the two sections of flesh together, blood oozing between the bindings. He reached for a clean cloth and drenched it with alcohol and just before cleaning the area he took a massive swig of the bottle.
The instant he welcomed the burning sensation to come gliding down his throat he pressed the saturated cloth firmly against the raw flesh. He squeezed his eye's shut as his breathing hitched before it hastened it's pace. His body was quickly becoming more unpredictable as he staggered to a find a seat other than the floor before his legs gave out.
Touching the area was already horrible; the burning of antiseptic was intolerable. The shock caused him to grunt in discomfort but he'd sooner bite his tongue off then yell out. He squeezed the cloth again letting all the germs fizz away before binding his wounds again in thick white bandages.
The whole process was so utterly exhausting. By the time he'd gone around his midsection over and over again he was about ready for his arms to fall off. He panted carefully allowing his body to catch up to some degree before standing to face himself in the mirror once again. A minute of pondering later he broke eye contact and splashed some more water on his face.
He walked away from the reflective glass and reached for the nearest towel patting his face dry. He crumpled it up and tossed it in a basket to the far end of the room near the waste bin. That reminded him he'd left his bloody mess of a shirt lying on the floor for the world to see. Zoro leaned awkwardly over careful not to pull anything as he picked it up and threw it away.
He turned and searched through one of the dressers in the room where he found a thin gray jacket. He figured it'd keep him cool as well as hide his discolored skin. He slipped the article of clothing over his tightly wrapped bandages, causing him to shift his tender muscles. He let out a deep exhale to allow his body a moment to catch up and clear his head.
He took one last glance in the mirror, noting just how tired he looked before cramming his hands into his pockets and turning heel out the door behind him. He flipped the switch on the way out. He didn't get very far before he realized, man he was fucking tired, still. The exhausting lingered heavier than ever after tending to his wounds. The second he stepped out his stomach growled as the faint scent of the exquisite cuisine drifting from the kitchen. He wanted nothing more than to joining the others in the galley but he felt like he was just about to pass out again.
He took a couple more steps before he remembered his prized weapons set next to a very welcoming looking couch. He had to force himself not to yawn as he dragging himself over. He figured what the hell; he'd been absent most of the evening what could a few more hours hurt. Coming up close to the soft cushions he unceremoniously plopped long ways across the piece of furniture. A look of pain flashed his face for a moment until he settled into his new proclaimed seat.
He pulled himself onto his back, wishing he hadn't made his stupid bandages so tight. Heh guess you could call that irony or something. He let out constricted shaky breath as his tensed body seemed to relax. Zoro didn't feel up to socializing tonight anyway. He starred up at the wood grain of the ceiling as he allowing his pulsating head to wonder off away from his pain.
Little by little he managed to ease his worry long enough to doze off. His breathing evened out as Zoro dropped into a deep sleep. Although many would argue he'd blacked out. He did not see anything as his eyes rolled in the back of his head. Pitch blackness is all that welcomed him, but he didn't mind, after all the pleasantries of dreams were over rated. What did however come as a pleasant surprise was the absence of the painful memories that constantly invaded his mind.
Suddenly there was a presence at the door. It seemed hesitant to at first but after a short time the man outside turned the handle. Zoro was so out of it and over come with fatigue that he would have never noticed the cook enter the room. Even with a nauseatingly aromatic hot plate of food in one of his hands the swordsman did not stir.
Sanji didn't know what he was going to find when he came to deliver the idiots dinner. Even though the moronic ball of seaweed had an impenetrably thick skull the guy had to eat. It was his duty to make sure every mouth on board was fed. No one went hungry on his watch; even though Zoro worked so hard to avoid all the others we wouldn't allow him to miss a meal. Nutrition was a vital point to recovery and Zoro needed it now more than ever.
Sanji scurried quickly into the room searching for the lug in the dark or even a switch. With the aid of his muscle memory he managed to find the switch located to the side of the couch. He turned the notch and was startled at the slight of the man he was searching for laid across the comfortable seat. Still he couldn't help but notice how Zoro's face was riddled with sweat. He narrowed his only visible eye on the other carefully watching his movements as he set the food down on the table and came up close.
Zoro's breathing suddenly increased as the endless darkness twisted and churned into a bright flurry of red that seemed to swallow him up until he was met with an odd pair of eyes. Everything around him became dark again as he concentrated on the only source of light being an odd sclera with no face. Without warning the figure stepped up close to his inner self, he could feel the burn of the creatures stare going straight through him. It was paralyzing until it cracked a knowing smile. That was the moment he noticed its long sharp teeth and the scent of rot that came with it. It filled his nostrils as though it were real, forcing his eyes open and his body to seize.
TBC – updated 10/31/17 Happy Halloween
I will be adding chapters here and there beginning with this huge upgrade to ch4. I will be inserting new chapters after this one to better shape the storyline. As much as I try to limit the length it just kept on going.
