Sorry for the long time between updates. I become lazy. But I am here with a longer chapter this time! So I hope all will enjoy!
Do not own One Piece things… (disclaimers are tedious…)
"So what do you think the answer could be?" I asked from my bed. I was still trying to cope with Zoro not being in the same room as me. I could have been fine if I could have been able to move, but with my injuries I was stuck to my bed while Zoro was stuck to the other room. We had been trying to talk across the door for the past few hours or so, but we had not come up with any good solution to the riddle.
"I don't know. What was the question again?" Zoro asked me from the other room.
"'Whoever makes me, sells me. He who buys me, never uses me. And he who uses me, well, they'll never know it. What am I?" I answered.
"What if it is like something like food? The person who makes it sells it," Zoro considered.
"But the person who buys it will eat it," I replied.
"What if they give it away?" Zoro added.
"Then how would they not know they are eating it?" I asked with a sigh.
"They could…" Zoro began.
"Just no. It has to make sense from every aspect. You can't add circumstances to make it work! So it can't be food," I snapped, interrupting Zoro. There was no sound from the other side of the door. I waited a few minutes for Zoro to say something. He wasn't responding. "Zoro?" I asked.
"What?" he replied, somewhat irritated.
"Why aren't you talking?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"I didn't think you wanted another answer from me," Zoro answered.
"I just didn't want that answer. We have to get the answer right in this. You haven't been punished. It isn't fun. It was terrifying. You can't blame me for trying to get rid of wrong answers," I explained.
"I know you feel that way, but you don't have to worry. I'm answering this time," Zoro replied.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because you don't need to be punished again. I will be fine with what they do to me. I don't want to get you hurt," Zoro answered. I paused. Why would he want to protect me? Wouldn't most people want to protect themselves? Why does he want to keep me safe?
"Subjects your lunch will be arriving. Dinner will arrive 4 hours afterwards. Please have the answer ready for me then," the voice said to us, "Someone will be in with your food Subject 1. Please remain seated as they are inside the room."
"Like I could move anyway," I said. The voice did not reply. "Zoro, how much food do you have in there?" I asked.
"Plenty why?" Zoro asked.
"Just wanted to make sure," I replied. I heard Zoro laugh from the other side. I rolled my eyes and heard the door click. Soon after it swung open and in walked a man in a black cloak, shielding his face and body. He had a tray of food in his hands that he set on the bed across the room. "What are you doing? I can't get to that," I said.
"Not my problem," the man said leaving the room and closing the door behind him. I looked at the door after it had closed in shock.
"Zoro," I said.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"I might have a problem with getting my food," I replied.
"Why?" Zoro asked.
"It's on your bed," I answered.
"Why did he put it there? You can't get it if you can't get out of bed without hurting yourself!" Zoro commented.
"He said it wasn't his problem," I answered.
"When I get out of here I'll make it his problem!" Zoro replied.
"I can just go get the food. It isn't too far and then I can just stay on your bed until you get out of there," I explained.
"Are you sure? If something happens I can't be there to help you right now," Zoro asked.
"I'll be fine," I replied. I looked over at the bed. It wasn't too far from me. I can do this. I slid my legs slowly across the bed to get the over the edge of the bed. I was able to not cause myself any pain for now, but the next part was getting across the room. I wasn't sure how to even start. Should I try standing? I tried to stand up with the help of my arms, but immediately felt a sharp pain in my side, yelled in pain, and fell back onto the bed.
"Luffy are you alright?" Zoro asked quickly. I moved myself back to a sitting position on the bed and tried to wait out the pain a bit.
"Yeah I'm okay. Just tried standing up is all," I replied.
"Can you crawl over there maybe?" Zoro suggested.
"I'm not sure I can lower myself to the ground," I commented, "But I'll try to." I slide my legs across the floor to get them as far out as possible. I began sliding myself to the edge of the bed. It tired to lower myself to the ground with my arms, but trying to keep by body up began hurting my side and I let myself go. I slammed down to the hard floor on my back, and let out a yell in pain. I started to breathe quickly trying to take in the pain without yelling too much.
"Luffy? What did you do?" Zoro asked with concern.
"I fell on my back," I replied, still trying to mask the pain behind my breathing.
"Don't move! I'll try to bust the door down and help you," Zoro said. I heard a thud on the door between the rooms. There was a pause, but the door thudded once again but with more force. Every time Zoro hit the door, the pound became stronger and stronger.
"Subject 2, what the hell are you doing?!" the voice asked with anger.
"Helping Luffy! That's what!" Zoro replied simply.
"Stop this instant or else!" the voice threatened. Zoro continued to hit the door, defying the voice.
"I don't care what you do! I'm helping him!" Zoro yelled back.
"If you do not stop this instant you will be in a worse hell than you are now! Do you want that Subject 2?!" the voice yelled in reply, sounding even more furious.
"Try me!" Zoro shouted back. The door finally gave way, and Zoro busted into the room. I looked in shock and happiness when I saw Zoro. He knelt down to me, and put his arms around me holding up my upper body. He then took his other arm and lifted me up into his arms. He held me close to his chest. I felt his heart beat fast, probably with adrenaline, as I looked at him. I looked into his eyes as he looked back at me. He slowly leaned his head down to mine, but stopped when we heard the door click.
He quickly set me down on the bed where the food was left, and looked at me with concern. "Listen, whatever happens do not say a word. Do not try to help me. Do worry about me. I did this to help you, and I knew the consequences. I may not come back, and if that is the case then I'm sorry. Just in case I don't come back I'll leave you with this," Zoro said quickly. He leaned his head down to mine again, but didn't stop like before. He pressed his lips against mine and kissed me passionately. My eyes darted open with confusion, but that was short lasted as he pulled away.
"Zoro…" I mumbled. The door busted open and in walked a man with long, black hair. He had a large scar extending across his face from one cheek to the other. He had his right ear pierced with a think ring. He looked over to Zoro and me and quickly moved over to the bed. He grabbed Zoro by the neck, lifted him up off the ground and moved him close to his face.
"Do you think this is a game you damn maggot?!" the man asked. He threw Zoro across the room into the wall. Zoro yelled in pain when he hit the ground. The man walked over to him and began kicking him in the torso. Zoro let out a pained yell with every powerful kick. "When I say you do something you do it!" the man added.
He picked Zoro up again, by his neck, and pinned him against the wall. Zoro let out a cough, blood coming up along with it. I looked into his eyes and they were scared. I couldn't let it go on anymore! I don't want him to leave! "Please stop!" I yelled. The man looked back to me, tightening his grip on Zoro as he did. He grinned at me.
"Why Subject 1? What is the point of having someone you barely know?" the man asked, slamming Zoro into the wall again. Zoro let out another cough, causing more blood to land on the floor.
"Because I need him!" I yelled back. Zoro's eyes widened when I said that. The man took notice to this and grinned again. He through Zoro across the room, in between the two beds, and looked at me.
"Fine. There is no need for me to kill him yet. Don't dare cross me again," the man said as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, locking it again. I quickly looked down to Zoro. He was badly hurt, and blood was trailing down his mouth. I rolled myself off the bed, landing on my stomach and cushioning my fall with my hands, and crawled next to Zoro.
"Zoro? Are you alright? Zoro?" I asked. I put my head to his chest and listened for his heart. It was still beating, but it wasn't normal, nor was his breath wasn't normal. It was choppy and shallow. I opened his eyes and looked into them. I tried to get him to respond to my hand over his face, but he wouldn't. "What do I do? What do I do?!" I asked myself. I thought for a second and realized I can give him CPR.
I knelt down to his face and plugged his nose. I put my lips over his and began breathing into him. I stopped, and began compressing his chest. I pushed thirty times, then went back to breath two times. I repeated this for a few minutes, trying to get him to respond. Finally, while I was giving him breath, he took in a breath and his eyes opened. He began coughing and I sighed in relief. I quickly turned him onto his side so if he vomited he wouldn't drown in it.
"Zoro, how do you feel?" I asked him quickly.
"Like shit," Zoro replied with a slight smile. I chuckled a bit at his lax at the situation.
"I'm sorry this happened to you," I said.
"It's not your fault," he said, "I wanted to help you. Besides some good came out of this."
"What good?" I asked him with surprise.
"A coffin," Zoro answered.
"A coffin?" I asked.
"That's the answer. Whoever makes me, sells me. He who buys me, never uses me. And he who uses me, well, they'll never know it. It's a coffin," Zoro explained.
"No use to us now though," I replied with a laugh. He began laughing too, but that was short lived, when he yelled in pain. "Are you able to move? I don't think the floor will be too comfortable. Even if it is carpet," I asked.
"No I can't really. What about you? Can you get yourself onto the bed?" he asked me.
"Probably not," I answered with a chuckle.
"Then it's the floor for both of us," Zoro commented.
"I'll get the pillows and a blanket," I said. I lifted myself up with my arms, and grabbed the pillow off my bed, then reached for Zoro's. I put the two pillows on the floor, then reached for the blanket off of my bed. I lifted up Zoro's head to put the pillow under his head. I put my pillow down, and then threw the blanket over our bodies.
"Thanks Luffy," Zoro said to me as I lied down.
"No problem," I replied. We began going to sleep on the floor next to each other. There was only silence in the room until I spoke up, "Zoro?"
"Yeah?" he replied.
"I…" I began. He turned my head to his and looked me in the eyes.
"I know Luffy. I need you too."
So that took me a couple days… Again I'm lazy! But I hope the wait was worth it! I'll try to update sooner next time around though. I understand that it's a pain to have to wait for a long time for an update… So until next time!
