And here it is, a special event in this chapter. Tee hee.
Chapter 10
Luffy, as it turned out, had a lot of things happen to him and Zolo thought it a wonder that the boy could still be so happy and energetic. The strange thing was though, when Zolo asked him how he had got that scar on his cheek, Luffy couldn't remember.
All he could remember was the pain and the blood. But, Luffy's tale was a sad one, and it tugged at Zolo's heart as he listened to that small voice, usually so loud and full of life, grow smaller and softer with each word.
It was so sad to think of Luffy, as a little boy all alone except for his brother. And the thing that troubled Zolo most, and also made him a little more, how should it be put? A little closer to Luffy, was when Luffy said that one minute he was at his brother's seventeenth birthday party, and then the rest up until he had joined up to be a dance instructor, was nothing, and as Luffy had said to the receptionist at the academy, what he could remember was all a bunch of screaming, blood and pain that tore through him like a bullet.
Zolo related to this, as he had similar feelings, but his blank sort of began with him sitting in a tree, watching his next target.
"Your next target?" Luffy asked. Zolo nodded after he had said this.
"Yeah. I used to be a bounty hunter." he muttered, drawing his unbroken leg up to his chin and then wrapping his arms around it.
"Cool." Luffy said and then smiled. Zolo looked up, his eyes narrowing and a slight smile coming to his face.
"Do you even know what a bounty hunter is?" he asked. Luffy shook his head, black hair going everywhere.
"Not a clue." the younger man replied. Zolo sighed and bent to rest his forehead against his knee.
"It's someone who hunts other people for money." Zolo explained.
"So, you hunt other people to get money from them?" Luffy asked.
Is he in stupid mode this… afternoon? Holy hell, is that late? Zolo thought as he peered at Luffy's watch which was on Luffy's wrist, which was currently resting on the boy's other shoulder. You see, Luffy was sitting on the floor, legs stretched as far as they could go and spread as wide as they could be, and his right arm was crossed over his chest, hand holding his shoulder while the other arm was resting casually on the bed behind him.
"What are you doing?" Luffy asked when he noticed Zolo watching him.
"Nothing, just checking out the time." and you. Oh, we're back to that again? I'm gonna have to tell this kid sooner or later. Might as well do it now. Zolo almost shrugged with the thought, but he managed to stop himself.
"So, you didn't answer my question." Luffy said suddenly, breaking into Zolo's thoughts, and distracting him from what he had been about to say.
"Huh? What?" Zolo asked intelligently. Luffy frowned.
"My question. You didn't answer it." he insisted. "I said, you hunt other people to get money from them, and you just ignored me."
"I did not, I was just thinking." Zolo replied, a little offended at being told what was actually true.
"So, answer now." Luffy asked, his smile coming back to his face as he adjusted the dark blue shirt he was wearing to sit more comfortably.
"No, it's where I hunt people, kill them and then get money for them." Zolo explained. No wonder he had avoided that answer, whether he had meant to or not. It was then he waited anxiously for what Luffy would say about his old profession.
"You killed people?" Luffy asked quietly, his eyes locked onto Zolo's face and almost boring through his head, telling him that to lie, would be to condemn himself.
"Yes." the swordsman replied.
"Do you still do that, now I mean."
"No. I stopped after the big blank. That was the first thing I remember doing after the blank. I just, didn't want to do it anymore. Something had changed, I don't know. And then, I ended
up being friends with Nami and Sanji and that was it."
"Then, as long as you're a good person now, I don't think the past matters so much." Luffy said tilting his head to the side, and smiling. Zolo was stunned. He had worried for so long now that something bad was going to happen to him for all the crimes he committed, but, instead something good had happened.
Luffy had happened. And Luffy had managed to ease that guilt inside him. That dark feeling that made him twist in his bed, and yell for the devil to kill him, just to be put out of the misery of seeing the faces of those he had killed, once more.
"Thankyou." Zolo said softly, an even softer smile coming to his face. Luffy paused and tilted his head.
"Well, I don't exactly know what I did, but, you're welcome!" the boy replied before the downstairs bell rang, indicating someone was at the door. Luffy jumped up and rushed out. It wasn't long before Zolo heard Luffy call out his name.
"Hey Zolo! Sanji and Nami, Usopp and Chopper have all come to visit! They brought food!" The younger man cried happily. Zolo fell back against the pillows and let out his breath with a puff. Great, just great.
That's just what he needed, Sanji and Nami to throw sly comments at him any time he even looked at Luffy the wrong way, or the right way for that matter. Pulling the pillow from under his head, he smothered his own face with it as Luffy bounded into the room again.
"Why are you trying to sru- sufro- grrr, suffocate, yourself?" Luffy finally managed to ask, tripping over the bigger word. Zolo snorted at Luffy's attempts at pronouncing it and then began to laugh. The sound was muffled by the pillow, but Luffy still picked up on it and began to laugh as well. They laughed for a while until Usopp peeked into the room and raised an eyebrow at the two men laughing.
"Why are you laughing?" Usopp asked. Luffy turned to look at him.
"I don't know, Zolo started laughing so I just laughed as well." he replied. Usopp raised his eyebrow again.
"You're both nuts." he said and then walked away. Luffy sighed and wiped a tear from his eye.
"So, what were we laughing about?" he asked. Zolo snorted and shook his head, the pillow having slipped off ages ago.
"You." he replied. Luffy tilted his head and then shrugged and smiled.
"Okay." and he walked over to get the wheelchair. Zolo sighed and sat up. He was in no way going to get used to being in a wheelchair. It was just so…gah! So… unmanly. Luffy hummed as he pushed the chair over and then helped the older man into it.
For someone so small, and seemingly fragile, Luffy was quite strong and Zolo was lost for words as Luffy easily picked him up and placed him in the chair and then pushed him out the door. The stairs were easy enough to handle as there was only four or five and Luffy carefully eased the chair down them, making the bumps as slight as possible. He was really good at taking care of Zolo, considering how bouncy and energetic he seemed to be.
Sanji was waiting in the kitchen, a smoke in his mouth. Nami was flipping through a magazine she had found on Luffy's kitchen table. Usopp and Chopper were in the lounge room, the Dragonball Z characters screaming from the television as they powered up. Nami got up as she heard the clunk of the wheelchair on the stairs and Usopp and Chopper abandoned the awesome fighting of the anime characters to come into the kitchen. As Luffy wheeled Zolo into the kitchen, everyone yelled,
"Happy Birthday!" Zolo nearly jumped out of his chair and looked around in shock.
"What- How the-? " he sputtered as Sanji set a cake down in front of him.
"Luffy thought this up. He's not as stupid as he looks and acts." Usopp said, causing Luffy to pout and then chuckle. Zolo turned to his friend and raised an eyebrow.
"How did you know today was my birthday?" he asked suspiciously. Luffy glanced at Nami.
"Nami told me." he replied. "I went out this morning to get everyone to come."
"Yeah, and woke my beautiful Nami from her sleep." Sanji cooed.
"She needs it." Usopp muttered and then got deadly glares from both Sanji and Nami. Luffy chuckled and sat down in the seat beside Zolo, his eyes watching the oven where the food was obviously waiting to be eaten. Not to mention the cake that was currently sitting in front of the swordsman. Zolo looked around as Nami chased Usopp around the kitchen, yelling that he owed her thirty bucks for insulting her and then another thirty for laughing about the comment.
His eyes came to rest on Luffy, and his smile faded as the dream he had had, came back to him. Luffy was laughing and happy and seemingly so at peace, and the slight tilt of Luffy's head when he realised he was being watched, led Zolo to believe that this party might not be such a bad idea.
Awww, especially if Luffy is the organiser. he he he!