It was unusually cold inside the medical bay. Condensation fogged the windows and it seemed like frost was forming over the glass. This was odd considering the Sunny was docked at a summer island. Even at the peak of night it should never have gotten this cold.
Zoro's body was laid out still on the table, the room encompassed in dark excluding the small sliver of moonlight that cast across the empty space, courtesy of a porthole at the far side of the room. A band of light fell over the crisp clean twin cot and fell onto the hard wood floor of the medical bay, stopping just before the corpse. There was a sheet draped over the body, it had since stained through.
A pair of luminescent red eyes lit up the dark corner. They blinked once before seeming to glare over towards the corpse on the table. They widening slightly as the silhouette of a dark figure became more apparent. It stepped closer into the stream of light.
The figure revealed to be a man who was easily in his mid 20s and taller than an average person. Nothing about him seemed out of the ordinary other than his sudden appearance. His skin was faintly pale and muscular. He was dressed neatly in a loose black suit with a simple dark button up shirt with the first few buttons from his collar undone. His dress jacket hung open as he stepped into the light.
There displayed on his chest was strange amulet with a crest carved into it. His glowing red eyes faded to a natural gray and stopped glowing. His pupils were sharp like a cat's eye. His hair was silver and messy like it'd been groomed back with his fingers. It stuck up in the front with several untamable pieces that fell over his forehead. He was very handsome.
He approached the dead pirate with a steady pace his footsteps made no noise, every movement was completely silent.
The strange man stopped in front of the swordsman. He reached his hand out to reveal black painted nails, his middle finger baring a big silver ring with a strange looking insignia on it that was hard to distinguish from far away. Black coursed through the veins in his forearm and down through his wrist and to his fingertips.
He pinched the sheet covering the corpse, pulling it slowly before whipping it off in one swift movement. It furrowed onto the ground, revealing the man beneath.
Zoro's body was the text book definition of broken. His chest was bare and ashen instead of his usual tan complexion. His signature green waist band was tattered and stained. Blood oozed from of his wounds soaking every inch.
There were cuts everywhere from the small ones that were on his face and neck to the long lacerations that cascaded across his chest. The blood that has yet to be cleaned away instead dried and hardened into a flaky brown substance and stuck to the skin. His pale flesh was decorated in grimacing purple bruises from the heavy blows. Despite the worst of it all, where it seemed like a saw drilled holes in his body. The most prominent wound, being the stab in the center of his abdomen left as a parting gift.
Some still fresh blood ran down from the injury; with the cloth sheet no longer draped over to stop and soak it up, it instead pooled along his side on the table. With the swaying of the waves, the blood ran down in streams on the steel dripping over the edge of the table onto the floor. Despite the shape of his body, the look on his face was peaceful and calm.
The stranger looked over the man and fixed his cold eyes on his face. This was their first meeting. He kept an eye on him for years. He never expected it to be along these lines when he finally stumbled across home. He had no idea what he was.
"Such a pitiful state to be in," He spoke in a deeper voice then expected from a young man.
He fiddled with his cuffs and removed his jacket. He eyed the chair by the cot, draping it over its back. As he walked back to the body, rolling up his right sleeve cuffing it behind his elbow and flexed his fingers, cracking them.
"You turned out to be the heroic type, just like her..." The muscles in his arm tensioned, forcing the veins up against the inside of his skin. His nails grew into sharp, beast-like talons. A blackish aura swarmed from around his arm to his fingertips, the gravity seeming to intensify in the small room.
"Don't throw away your second chance." He lanced his arm into the entry wound in the swordsman's abdomen and compressed his hand deep into his chest cavity.
His ribs creaked as the space within was unnaturally occupied.
Whatever reserves of blood left splattered over the room as he dug his arm in deeper. He grinned. It wasn't out of malicious or anything of the sort. He seemed almost thoughtful.
He thrust his arm deeper and about halfway in before reaching his heart. He took the fragile organ in hand puncturing it just so with his claws. The heart slowly turned dark and after a minute the stranger released his grip and Zoro's heart began to beat. It was light but as the dark aura became stronger so did he. It flowed from Zoro's heart, making his corpse flex against the table. The black fluid ran through his veins up through his neck.
He stilled again. The man slowly pulled his forearm up and out. Blood came flowing again, coating his arm. He took one of the towels left behind, cleaning himself up before soaking up some of the mess he'd made. After a couple minutes some color returned to his cold flesh when all of a sudden he took a deep breath then exhaled slowly.
"I've only sped up the process. You're lucky they didn't bury you. That could have been troublesome. Once your abilities awaken I will appear again, and explain. Until then just recover and know your life will never be the same." Unexpectedly Zoro's eyes slowly cracked open falling on the stranger, he looked puzzled at how quickly he was active.
'This soon? He should have remained dormant for at least a few hours.. What will..' He chuckled under his breath. He waited years for this. Even under the circumstances he couldn't deny his excitement.
Zoro's vision was spotty. The once deceased man looked up at the visitor, seeing only a pair of fuzzy red dots. He blinked once to clear his sight, but they were gone and so was the man. Instead of looking for a figure that was no longer there, his eyes began wonder around the room.
He knew this specific room all too well, he was in the medical bay, the place he'd be rushed to after every major wound he received from battle. Except this time it was different, could've sworn he had actually died this time and had not been rushed into immediate surgery. He'd died during that fight.
So how was he here, on the Sunny? He looked around more and his eyes falling on the bed were the light had been casted. Then it hit him, if by some miracle he had actually survived he'd be in that bed recovering instead of... Laying on a table used to haul away dead bodies.
'So if I died.. Then why.. Why am I still here?'
He grasped the side edges of the table with both hands in attempts to sit up. He heaved with whatever strength remained in his beaten form. Then it set in, the most unbearable pain flowed all throughout his body. He choked, realizing the extent of his condition. He cringed unexpectedly, drawing his legs closer to the rest of him.
But to no prevail. He held in his urge to scream by biting down on his lip. 'Shit.. I'm in really bad shape.. I.. I have to get.. To the others..' He released his grip and painted heavily. Wincing he lifted his head up as to assess the damage. What he scrutinized left him utterly speechless.
From his stomach to the base of his rib cage was more or less completely torn open. He looked like a Christmas present that an impatient child could hardly wait to tear into. The sight of it nearly made him vomit, but probably nothing would come out.
He wrapped his right arm over his stomach and gripped his side with his nails digging into his skin. He figured that would at least keep whatever blood and his organs from spilling out of his body. He held onto the edge of the table with his other hand, ignoring all the painful signals his body gave. He managed to force himself to sit up.
A powerhouse of pain flooded him from within. He slid off the table with hopes of catching himself but collapsed to his knees on the floor with a heavy thud. He panted heavily, debating whether to just lay here and bleed out again. Tears worked into his eyes as he used sheer willpower to force himself to stand.
This head pulsed. It felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his skull as he braced himself against the table. He set his hand against the steel as he steadied himself.
He could feel the cold sticky liquid coating the surface beneath as he slid against it. He glanced down his eyes still having trouble focusing. He couldn't believe how much blood covered the table.
He forced himself to straighten best he could without spilling out. He struggled to maintain his balance and staggered his way to the door.
Blood fell from his stomach in big splotches, leavening a thick trail of liquid behind him. He made it pretty far considering his legs felt like they'd snap under his weight. Thick red continued to plague the wooden planks.
He pushed himself well passed even his limitations. He stumbled over his feet about 3 feet from the door handle but caught himself. Still clutching onto his side he reached out and grabbed the handle, barely feeling the strength to turn it.
He'd come too far to give up at this point, he powered threw it and flung the door open with as much force as he could manufacture. The moonlight flooded into the once dark room and consumed the room in natural light.
Zoro, even though he had managed to maintain his composer up to this point he was slowly loosing it. His head was swimming and he felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier. His vision was beginning to betray him and his legs were finally giving out on him, they buckled and he fell forward.
He braced himself to meet the hard wood surface of the deck. He gave up on holding his eyelids open as they fell closed. He hated being this weak, it couldn't be helped. He lost so much blood during the fight and died from it but somehow his body continued to move and bleed. His skin wasn't as cold as it had been ether, it was like he was actually recuperating, that or losing feeling again. 'Shit..'
