Here we go again. Not much plot line this time, just Zoro recovering slowly and Syla being stubborn.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Warnings: Still Mild Language
It was still about an hour before Zoro woke up. I had been sitting at the table, lost in thought, when he wandered into the kitchen, looking dazed. I wordlessly handed a glass of water to him along with his clothes and he headed back to the bathroom. He didn't say anything, either.
When he had changed and set the folded robe on my bed I motioned for him to follow me and went out to my car, the subdued man trailing in my wake. The silence remained for the entire drive to his apartment. Zoro got out, nodded at me once and closed the car door, turning away without so much as a 'Thanks'.
I barely noticed him leave. My mind was still reeling from earlier, the newly recognized memories swirling around in my conscience. Over the years I had known him, I had always made it a point to keep myself at a reasonable distance from the surly man. There hadn't ever been an opportunity to catch even so much as a slight whiff of his usual scent, and so I had never pieced it together before now.
I scoffed at myself and backed up into the street to head home, wondering if things like this were better left forgotten. Still, my brain just couldn't let it go.
Zoro hadn't ever said anything before about being the one on the lawn, or about talking me back down after my nightmares. No one had mentioned it at all. Maybe it had been just another dream?
No, I thought numbly. There was no doubt the person who had stayed with me that night until my uncle arrived, holding on and keeping my traumatized mind together, had been Zoro. The scent of his shirt confirmed it. Earth and metal, and something very distinctly his own. The person who had provided such a calming presence during those first few nightmares had also been the gruff, frowning man.
Now I had to figure out why neither he nor my cousins had ever told me Zoro was the one who had been there during that dark time, watching over me like some kind of angel. That thought nearly made me laugh out loud, despite the situation surrounding it. Zoro was about as far from an angel as it was possible to get and not be an axe murderer.
Back inside my apartment I showered and redressed, my mind too preoccupied to notice very much around me. Fixing a quick breakfast I heard my phone give a loud beep and turned to read the new text. It was from Tashigi.
Is he okay?
I sent a message back.
He's fine. I took him home but you should talk to him soon.
Tashigi agreed and I flipped to my contacts to call Ace. It was time to live up to the promise I had made to Luffy the day before, but I wasn't about to charge into that kind of mess without some back-up.
I picked them up outside Dragon's house less than an hour later, having had to wait for Luffy to eat about three different times before he was ready to go. This had given me the opportunity to attempt to arrange my thoughts enough to question them without sounding accusing. It didn't work.
The moment Luffy and Ace had shut the car's doors I rounded on the older of the two. "Why the hell didn't you tell me Roronoa was there the night Ryu died?"
Ace blinked slowly, clearly taken by surprise, and sat very still for a moment. It looked like he thought I might explode if he moved too suddenly. "Where is this coming from?" he asked. "What happened?"
"Nothing," I shook my head. "I just-" I cut myself off. It would sound really weird if I admitted to having sniffed Zoro's shirt while he was sleeping. Weird and creepy. "I just remembered," I finished lamely.
"You forgot?" Luffy asked from the back seat. He was looking from me to Ace, curious. "Zoro was at our house every night for weeks. He was really worried. How could you forget?"
"Luffy," Ace warned, still looking at me warily. "That's enough. I'm sorry," he said, changing his tone so I knew he was now talking to me. "I didn't realize you had no idea. I always wondered why you seemed to hate him so much, even after that."
"I don't hate him," I deflated. "I just…don't understand him." I pulled the car away from the curb and headed down the wet street. "It doesn't matter right now anyway. Luffy, where did you want to go today?"
Luffy grinned widely at me in the rear view mirror. "The park!" he shouted. "Let's go to the park!"
"The city park?" I asked. Of all the possibilities, it seemed a little tame for my exuberant cousin.
"Reverse Mountain," Ace clarified, still giving me a cautious look.
"Oh? Alright." I turned at the next light and drove in the direction of Grand Line City's biggest amusement park, avoiding the large puddles dotting the intersections as best I could.
"So," Ace started slowly. "Everything went well last night?"
I sighed, feeling a little guilty about taking my frustration out on him. "Sorry Ace. I just didn't realize… It seems so weird for him to do something like that, I never even considered it."
"It's not, really," Ace shrugged. "What's weird is, for how long you've known him, you don't actually know him."
"Why the hell would I want to?" I asked, frowning.
"Hey," Ace put his hands up in defense. "I know it's not my business, but," he shrugged, "don't you think you're being a little hard on the guy?"
"No," I answered immediately. I looked in the rear view mirror again when I heard Luffy talking to someone on his phone. "What's he up to now?" I mused.
Ace turned away to watch his brother instead, obviously glad for the distraction.
"Okay," Luffy was saying happily. "We'll be there soon. You gonna meet us at the gate?" Pause. "'Course that's fine. We'll all go in together. See ya." He hung up and looked at us. "Robin and Franky are coming, too," he said by way of explanation. "I tried to call Zoro, but he wouldn't answer. I left a message for him earlier though. Guess he doesn't wanna go."
"Not with that hangover," I snorted. Ace frowned at me and I relented. "I'm going to have to swing by my house," I told them. "Forgot my phone. I'll need it in case Ussop calls for anything." I turned and headed in the opposite direction. "It'll only take a second."
Back at my apartment I ran inside and dug through my bedroom, eventually unearthing the grey device. On my way through the living room again, something small and shiny caught my eye. I looked down toward the source and noticed a tiny picture sticking out from the cushions of the couch. Picking it up, I sighed. It was a photograph of Zoro, Kuina and Tashigi as children. The two girls were smiling from either side of the boy, arms around him and leaning in. Zoro was looking like he was trying very hard to remain expressionless. The light in his eyes was a giveaway, though. He seemed…happy.
Zoro must have been carrying this picture with him the night before, and somehow it had found it's way into my couch. No doubt he would want it back soon.
Making a mental note to call him later, I set the picture gently on the table and ran back outside.
"Kay!" Luffy shouted as soon as I had parked the car. "Let's go!" He hopped out and bounced on the balls of his feet, waiting for us to gather our belongings before we joined him.
I looked over at Ace and snickered as he grimaced toward Luffy's crazy behavior. "Still carrying a little of the Garden with you?" I asked.
"Yeah," he shrugged. "It's not too bad, though. Let's get up there before Luffy blows a gasket."
Stationing ourselves on either side of the youngest member of our group and dodging the spraying water as Luffy stomped through the puddles, we made our way across the parking lot and up to the line for admission. I noticed Franky Flam first, towering above most of the crowd and laughing loudly with one hand on Robin's shoulder. He was wearing his usual denim shorts and dark button-down work shirt with the name 'Cutty' stitched across the front pocket. He turned his head and waved as we approached.
"Hey bro," he grinned, taking Ace's hand in his own enormous one. "Been awhile."
Ace returned the shake and the grin. "Hi Franky. Just up for a visit over the weekend. How are things?"
"The shop's great," Franky began as we stepped into line. "Word's been getting around, so business is pretty super."
Franky was the owner and operator of Cutty's Garage downtown, and was the only person my family trusted to fix any of our vehicles. The man was a motor genius. He was also Robin's boyfriend, according to popular belief. The two had never said it out loud, but it was fairly obvious by the way they acted around each other. Even after being 'together' for the past two years the looks, touches and words were as if they had just started dating. It was cute, in a somewhat sickening way.
After purchasing our tickets, I paid for Luffy since it had been my idea to take him out today, although Ace refused to let me buy his as well, we made it into the gates. Ace cuffed his brother around the neck to stop him from taking off the second we were inside.
"Just a minute, Luffy," Ace pulled him back in, trying to get the energetic guy to make eye contact long enough to convey a message. "We'll need a plan, in case we get separated."
I had to admit, I was a little impressed. Although Luffy hadn't mentally aged since the time he was about fifteen, Ace seemed to have matured quite a lot in just the past year or two. That was something, at least.
"How about the south end of the food court, at around two o'clock?" Robin had stepped in to help Ace, and he gave her a grateful look. "Put your phone in your pocket," she instructed Luffy, "the one with the button so it wont fall out if you go on any rides."
Franky and I shared a smirk, thinking the same thing. Robin didn't usually display many maternal instincts so openly but something about Luffy definitely brought that out of her. Just like most people, I guessed she didn't even notice when this happened. Although Luffy was more than capable of taking care of himself on most occasions, anyone who spent a significant time around him ended up wanting to look after him.
Luffy latched on to Robin's wrist as she slipped his phone into his pocket and closed it, as she obviously didn't trust him to do it himself properly. "Will you play some games with me, Robin?" he asked, wide-eyed.
Robin shot a glance to Franky, who gave a slight nod, and smiled at Luffy. "Of course," she said. "Which games would you like to play?" She allowed Luffy to pull her off in the direction of the arcade strip, listening to his babbling with all the patience of a saint.
"Well," Ace stretched his arms over his head. "Let's go do fun stuff."
The three of us walked off in the direction of the arcade strip in a much slower pace than Luffy and Robin, taking in the sights, sounds and scents of the amusement park. My mind began to wander as Ace asked Franky about the shop's update and business flow, barely hearing a word that was being said around me. I was starting to feel a little guilty about treating the green-haired cave man so harshly the last few years, especially in light of what Ace had said in the car. I realized with another twist of guilt that I really didn't know Zoro very well.
This thought melted into a new one as we crossed through several kiosks on our way to find Luffy and Robin; if I had remembered what he had done for me before now, would I feel any differently about him? Probably. Would I act any differently toward him? Maybe not. He was still irritating as all hell when he wanted to be, and I didn't know if I could ever get along with him as well as the others seemed to do.
"Earth to Syla," Ace said, leaning around Franky's bulky frame to give me a quizzical look. "Hey, where are you right now? Still thinking about Zoro?"
"Yeah," I sighed, knowing it would be absolutely pointless to deny it. My cousin knew me too well to fall for such a lie. "Sorry."
"Maybe you should talk to him," Franky looked down at me knowingly, and I guessed Robin had filled him in on the previous night's events. "Seems like he might respond to you, given his actions last night."
That brought up the question of 'why'. I still didn't understand why Zoro had called me, why he had wanted to stay with me, and not Luffy or…well Tashigi was out of the question and apparently so was Johnny, by what the monster had said when I picked him up. Still… it had been weird.
"Yeah," I answered the big man with a shrug. "Guess I should."
Ace looked like he wanted to say something else when Franky spoke up from between us. "Hey, isn't that him right there?"
My breath hitched a little as my gaze followed the direction Franky was pointing and landed on Zoro, standing beside Robin and watching Luffy try to knock plastic milk jugs down with a foam ball. What was he doing here? He couldn't possibly feel like coming all the way to Reverse Mountain in the shape he was in. Maybe, I mused, along with his insane tolerance for alcohol, he also possessed an equally insane ability to recover from it. Wonderful.
"Shit," I scowled, ignoring the other two's raised eyebrows. "Right now?" There wasn't much time to replace my indifferent attitude as we reached them much sooner than I would have liked and Luffy handed more money over to the girl working the booth, receiving another three balls and whipping them at the jugs with no apparent aim or thought involved.
"Come on, Luffy," Ace smirked. "Thought I taught you better than that."
Robin and Zoro looked over to us as we approached and Robin sidled a little closer to Franky, smiling at him warmly. Zoro glanced at me before turning away again, hands in the pockets of his jeans as he nodded to Ace.
"Hi," Zoro greeted. "Long time."
"Hey Zoro," Ace walked up and threw an arm over Zoro's broad shoulders. "What've you been up to? Still working at the dojo?"
"Yeah," Zoro shrugged. "Part time, anyway. Got that gig at the pawn shop, too. Kind of a pain in the ass, though," he said as he watched Luffy miss the jugs yet again. "Don't think I'll stay long."
He seemed to be completely opposite of the night before, talking normally with Ace and snickering at Luffy's frustration as the younger brother moved on to the next booth, determined to win at something. It was like nothing had ever happened. I would have believed he was fine too, if not for the tightness around his mouth and the almost obvious strain of his gaze as he chatted with first Ace, then Franky.
"Syla," Luffy waved me over to the neighboring booth. "I need a partner."
Sighing inwardly, I committed myself to helping Luffy win one of the little stuffed animals hanging around the edges of the booths, doing my best to ignore the odd looks Zoro was giving me every few minutes.
By mid-afternoon we had played several games, watched Luffy take Ace and Zoro on a few rides, walked through some gift shops, lost and recovered both Luffy and Zoro more than once, and had finally made it to the food court just as Luffy began to proclaim he was about to faint from hunger. He was gesturing at the stands with one hand, the other clutching a small stuffed panda toy he had finally managed to win at one of the booths.
"Yeah, yeah," Ace put Luffy in a headlock and dragged him over to the burger stand. "I know. What do you want?"
The guys placed their orders and Robin and I bought a gyro each while Franky came back from a pizza stand with Zoro. The moss head had found a giant turkey leg somewhere along the line and was busily munching on the side of it, a thin trail of grease dripping down his chin. I tried not to stare at him and turned my attention to Robin instead as we found an empty picnic table and sat down.
"So," I started, "It's been a little crazy lately, I haven't had much chance to chat with you. How's the job?"
"It's nice," Robin shrugged, ever modest. "Can't complain. I'll be getting a new office next month, which will give me more space to document. The one I'm in now gets awfully crowded when the end of the week papers all come in at once."
"I can imagine," I nodded sympathetically, then glanced around to her other side. "Smack Ace, will you?"
Robin turned to where Ace was beginning to close his eyes, his burger in hand, and tapped him gently on the shoulder before Luffy had the chance to steal his food.
"How you ever manage to get a full meal is beyond me," I told Ace as he snapped back to attention, shaking his head to clear it. I heard Zoro chuckle and looked over at him in surprise. He was grinning at Luffy as my cousin pouted about having his vulture opportunities snatched away from him.
"Robin," Luffy whined. "Who's side are you on?"
Robin just smiled at him and he eventually settled down enough to finish his own lunch and the rest of my over-stuffed gyro.
It was getting close to evening by the time I managed to corner Zoro by the restrooms. He was standing by the water fountain, staring off into space with his arms folded as I approached.
"Better?" I asked.
He looked over at me and nodded once. "Sure," he said. "Sorry about…"
"It's fine," I waved it off and leaned against the wall beside him. Now was as good a time as any, I thought. "Look, you…ah…You left your picture at my place." Well, that wasn't really what I had been thinking but trying to bring up the scent memory thing had me panicking a little. Yes, I was a chicken.
"Oh," was all he said. "I'll get it later. Thanks."
"No problem." This was awkward. I was glad when Robin came out of the women's restroom and Luffy, Ace and Franky joined us seconds after that.
"I should probably get going," Zoro directed at Luffy, then turned to Ace. "Good to see you again, Ace."
"Yeah," Ace waved as Zoro stepped back. "Swing by tomorrow if you can. We're having a cook-out around six."
"You can, right Zoro?" Luffy looked at him hopefully. "It'll be fun, and it wont be until after your practice anyway."
Zoro agreed and disappeared into the small crowds around us. Robin and Franky left soon after, and about an hour later Ace and I finally convinced Luffy it was time for us to go home as well.
I dropped the guys off and headed back to my apartment. It had been a long day already and I was grateful for a quiet moment to myself.
Sitting on the couch I looked over the picture again, eyes moving over the features of the children grouped together and grinning happily. I turned away and picked up my phone when it gave the tell-tale beep of a new message. This time it was Ace.
I read through the message once and gasped, leaping to my feet at the words in front of me.
Zoro was in a car accident. We're headed to the hospital with Dad.
I nearly dropped the phone in my haste to collect my keys and run back out to my car, the picture still held tightly in one hand.
