Here is chapter three! Initially I wanted to add a lot more things, but it would have gotten too long. So I decided to leave them for the next chapters to avoid that and delaying this chapter. This is still a bit of an introduction, but things will start moving very soon (so the relative peace going on here will end pretty soon). Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters, Oda does.
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It was well past midday when I heard some knocks on the door of Ace's and mine's- no, my apartment. Well, at least I think it was well past midday. I had no actual idea of how much time had passed since that Tra-guy had dropped me off at my apartment and then left. I did remember him telling me though that Shanks had told him that he would probably come over to my apartment after the investigation for the day was completed to talk to me. I was now sitting at a corner of my room, hugging my knees to my chest and with my eyes closed. My cheeks had been completely dry for a long time, as I had cried all that I possibly could already. Around me, my room was at complete disarray due to the tantrum that I had been throwing earlier. The rest of the house was in a similar state, with glass shattered all over the place, knocked objects and furniture and other now useless and completely destroyed things.
Tra-guy, or however his name was, had been at my apartment for the first part of it and had managed to stop me then from raging destruction after I had made a cut on my arm, which he had promptly treated. He then had left, telling me to be careful and not break anything; however his words had gone straight into and out of my mind, as almost immediately after he left I had resumed my previous activity. I really hadn't heard what he had said at all, or not truly.
This had lasted for what seemed like a short period of time to me, until I neither had the energy or the things to destroy and rage against anymore. Then again, it had been night time at some point after I had started, and it was daytime now. How much time had passed? Ace's room had remained with the door closed throughout all of it, just like he had left it before he had gone to work the day before. I hadn't even dared to touch it, feeling as if doing so would mean desecrating it and destroy the purity and holiness that it had almost seemed to attain now. Once I had calmed down I had decided to just sit at a corner of my room alone with my thoughts, not exactly daring to do anything else or even move.
I was absent, lost in memories, deep in thought despite the fact that this was one of the rarest things for me to do. I didn't usually spend too much time thinking about things. It made me do things that I then would most likely regret. It wasn't like I could do much about it though. I had been hearing some knocks on my door the night before, but I hadn't done much about it, now that I remembered. Maybe I could ignore the ones that I was hearing now as well. I didn't want to face anything anyways. It was as if I had lost a reason for living, and I didn't want to do anything about it. Sitting down neck-deep in memories was fine.
'Knock knock' I heard again. The knocks soon repeated yet again, more insistently and strongly. I was forced to look up at the direction to which the entrance to the house was due to this as soon as I heard the knocks repeat, wondering who it could be.
"Luffy! Open up, we know you are in there!" someone shouted from the other side of the door.
I tilted my head to the side, slightly annoyed by the fact that someone had interrupted the reminiscing of memories that I was doing, my knees still hugged to my chest. However, it wasn't long until I recognised the owner of that voice. It was hard not to.
"Zoro" I muttered, still not moving.
The knocks repeated then again and again, still in that same loud way. I sighed and clutched my knees more tightly. I had been sitting long enough in the exact same position so that it had already been long since I had felt completely certain parts of my body. I couldn't exactly cry anymore, having run out of tears, so this was the closest thing I could do to grieving.
"Luffy, Shanks came yesterday but told us that you didn't open the door. We just want to talk" another voice said.
"We know about what happened to your brother, Luffy. Don't worry, Rayleigh said that he understood, but he wants to speak to you. Please open up, we need to make sure that you're okay" Someone else then said, with a calmer and sweeter voice than the two that I had heard before, albeit with a certain touch of worry and nervousness in it.
I couldn't help but to smile gently as I remembered the man that they had just mentioned: Rayleigh. He had once been an incredibly important person, being the right hand man of Gol D Roger: who had been a very important 'businessman' and had had a lot of contact with the underworld. So much, in fact, that he had been even called its 'King'. After his execution Rayleigh had supposedly settled and formed a small hotel. However, many still thought that he had contact with certain people here and there, or at the very least always had information. He had offered me a job at his hotel, where I had met my group of friends.
"Sanji, Nami…" I said, chocking a sob that unwillingly came up. My friends were here. My friends were here…
It was then when I decided to get up and open the door, not really thinking about what I was doing or processing it. There were noticeable marks on both of my legs that had come from clutching them so strongly for so long, even some marks of my nails in them. A similar thing could be seen in both of my arms, although I was only half aware of it. I tumbled around a bit, feeling dizzy from getting up so suddenly after remaining in the same position for so long. There were still some bandages on an area of my arm, covering the cut that that Tra-guy had treated some unknown amount of time before. I felt blood rush to all of my body suddenly, giving me the feel of ants crawling up my body, or any insect really.
Soon I was over by the door. My friends were still speaking and telling me things, but I wasn't paying attention to them. I wasn't even fully aware of the fact that they were speaking, I was just getting the feeling that they were. I touched the lock of the door, feeling its coldness on my fingers, and I quickly moved it, effectively unlocking the door. As soon as my friends heard this they made a move the handle of the door so as to open it, but I was quicker and just opened it. Soon I had before me five of my friends, looking at me with surprised expressions which revealed that they hadn't thought that I would open the door. It was then when the smell of fresh air hit me and I became aware of how stagnated the one of my room was. How much time had it been like that?
"Luffy!" Usopp said as soon as I opened the door, however soon turning silent as he saw the state in which the house was in.
I moved a bit, inviting them to come in with this gesture, and then closing the door after they were inside the house. Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Chopper and Usopp remained silent for a small bit of time, probably scanning their surroundings and guessing how I had been feeling since I had learnt of my brother's death.
"Luffy…" Chopper said with a sad expression, looking at me.
"It's, uh, okay Chopper. I-" I started saying, but soon falling silent. Not really managing to continue saying whatever it was that I had wanted to say. I gulped, not liking the strange feeling that remained in my throat since yesterday.
"I'm sorry about your brother, Luffy" Nami suddenly said. "Just remember that you have us too. We're your friends" She said as she pulled me into a hug. I could see the other three smiling at her words, clearly feeling the same thing.
I was shocked at first, especially at the warmth of her body, but soon chocked a sob and hugged back. I remained otherwise in silence, not really wanting to say anything. After a while the hug broke. I remained in silence, still not really knowing what to say.
"I'm sorry that I didn't go to work yesterday, I should have called. I…" I started saying.
"Don't worry about it. Shank called Rayleigh and explained everything. It was all dealt with" Usopp explained.
"The old man says that he wants to see you though" Zoro added, as Usopp nodded.
"Shanks also told us that you didn't open the door yesterday, so he probably wants to see you as well" Sanji then said.
I was slightly shocked by this, not really having realised that Shanks had been knocking yesterday. It was then when Chopper suddenly noticed the bandages, now lightly stained with blood, which covered a bit of my arm. Soon he asked me what had happened to cause me to wear them.
"After I came back yesterday I accidentally cut myself on my arm, but Tra-guy was there and quickly cured it" I said as I looked at my short and brown-haired friend. He looked at me, asking me that way if he could check it again, to which I just nodded.
"Tra-guy?" Zoro asked.
"Oh, someone that Shanks asked to accompany me back here yesterday. I think he said he worked with the police or something" I just said as the bandages were taken off by Chopper, who was kneeling beside me with the bag with medical things he always carried around open. Soon, after ensuring that everything was in order, he was changing them for others as he told me to be more careful next time as it was a deep cut. "I can't remember his name though" I just said. It was true, as I only remembered his surname starting with 'Tra', but nothing else.
"Either way, Luffy. We should get out of here and go outside" Usopp suddenly said.
"…Why?" I asked, not understanding the why I should leave the apartment. I didn't feel ready to go outside.
"Journalists. They reported what happened yesterday today and will probably be following around very soon" He explained.
"Oh, okay" I said, still not feeling well enough to go outside but realising the necessity to do so. The last thing I wanted was that to happen. "I'll go now then" I said.
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We left my apartment a while later, after I had also changed at Nami's insistence. Before I locked the door and put the key in my pocked I placed my straw hat on my head, feeling as if it gave me strength to carry on. I was still sad, but the presence of my friends comforted me a lot.
We decided to go to Rayleigh's hotel first for convenience and to meet with the others. We all worked there after all. Soon we set ourselves and started walking through the streets. There wasn't any real way of avoiding groups of people, although we did our best. I felt some glazes on me, as if people knew who I was and what had happened. Some got closer to each other and whispered as I walked by. I tried to ignore them completely, but a small part of me was paying attention to what they were doing. Not too much though.
After what seemed ages we turned and went into an alley, deciding to walk to the hotel through a slightly longer path to avoid the main streets. There the street was slightly damp, as was the air. Tiny droplets of water were falling from the edges of the leaves at some or other garden of this or that house. Some were crawling down the walls of buildings. It was clear that it had been raining before. The air, quite moist, only seemed to prove this. There were a number of puddles on the dirty floor here and there, as well as fallen leaves and plants. Thankfully the wind wasn't too strong, or else the coolness of the place would have caused me to shiver, as I was wearing only my usual red shirt, trousers and sandals.
We kept walking, not noticing any of the things lying on the street or the garbage. We were used this part of town, had been for years in fact. Soon we turned at a corner again, and again and again. Arriving at the hotel where we worked fifteen minutes after starting to walk. We went in quickly, and I was relieved that I hadn't seen any journalist of any type while I was outside. I only took a couple of steps through the familiar place when I was greeted by my other friends, who had been waiting for me here. I smiled and went to greet them. From a corner of the room Rayleigh smiled at me in that fatherly way he had. Suddenly, I felt much better than before. I wouldn't be able to see Ace again, but I had my friends.