AN: ngl I forgot to update over here on FF after I put this on AO3 last week. Also, I haven't mentioned it before but chapter 1 and this one have some guest art over there. My username is the same so it's not hard to find!
This chapter is tiny but I wrote it and it's not horrible so I'm including it. It's essentially first draft chapter 3 but I ended up digging deeper and following slightly different themes.
Moments Between
Zoro grits his teeth as the waves roll past him, out of the Arlong Park pool and into the ocean. The cacophony is large chunks of stone dropping into the pool and clashing against each other; the whole island must hear it falling.
It stops, coming to rest in its dilapidated pile, morose and hopeless, entirely quiet.
Zoro can't see it but he can feel it. Feel the pressure that sings of finality, feel the tremulous hope that breathes of salvation, feel the fear that raises horror and dread and end.
He can feel it all, the tension, the held breaths of the villagers.
They're waiting. Because Luffy isn't out yet.
Arlong isn't either but that's secondary.
After all, with Luffy there is always a chance, and that's what people look for first: a hope.
He can feel the pressure rising, the anxiety, the fear, and he almost wants to laugh. There's nothing to worry about, not really. He wouldn't follow a wimp that could die that easily. He hadn't followed one this far.
He leaves his eyes closed, tries to ignore the effort it takes to breathe and listens for the sounds of rocks shifting.
Because that will be Luffy rising from the rubble.
It will.
To her the world is silent. Lying in wait. The straw hat on her head is made of a thousand straws that broke the camel's back and it's weighing her down, weighing the whole world down.
This second that lies before her, she just has to live through it, and surely she'll see a miracle. Surely Luffy will come out on top and Arlong will have met his match and her world which has been in constant turmoil for seven years will finally reach a point of rest.
A point where she doesn't have to hold on for that one more second.
Where she can continue for whole minutes, hours, days, without hurting beneath the pressure of time passing.
But these last few seconds seem the heaviest of all.
Waiting for him to come back and take his heavy hat off her head.
Waiting for this weight she's carried for years to be lifted away.
Usopp is burnt and bloody and more than a little bruised but he's the happiest person in the entire world when that final rock shifts away and Luffy.
"Luffy!" He joins the chorus gleefully, ecstatic at the fact that his rubber-brained friend is alive! Alive. He made it, he did it! They're amazing, wow, how great?! They just saved a whole island?! And Usopp helped! He took out one of the main men, even Zoro needed help on this one but Luffy had pulled through alright.
He grins up at his captain standing at the zenith of the wreckage, his conquered castle. He looks every bit the holder of a hard earned victory, bloody and shaking with heavy breaths.
(Well, Luffy'd pulled through mostly alright.)
The man wavers for a moment before bending over, bracing his arms on his knees and coughing. The sound echoes and the crowd quiets he sits there for a moment breathing. Usopp feels dread and fear return in a wave of overwhelming worry.
Was he alright?
It takes Sanji a moment to locate his new captain because he's standing off to the side, still and quiet, his expression a little lost. Sanji frowns and takes a step forward, mind instantly going back to the moments when the guy had just woken up after his battle with Don Krieg.
Sorry, we don't have many bandages.
Don't need 'em.
It'd seemed a little weird given how injured he'd been by the battle but in all honesty, he hadn't needed all of them. Most of the wounds had scabbed over while he was sleeping and the burns from the bombs had all but disappeared.
This time there is still blood running in rivulets down his arms and Sanji recognizes the confusion on the edge of his expression as a combination of exhaustion and pain. But he still hasn't done anything to take care of his injuries.
Before he makes it much further his eye is caught by the blue-haired beauty who Nami calls her sister (what a beautiful pair of angels!) She had been standing by while Nami spoke with another villager but now she leans forward and whispers in her sister's ear. Nami jerks away from the scarred man and whips around to look straight at Luffy.
He doesn't seem to notice.
Nami laughs shortly and runs a hand through her hair, saying something to the pair before moving toward her captain with quiet steps.
Sanji turns away and lights a cigarette.
It's taken care of.
AN: Feel free to leave a review if you're so inclined : ) I mean, if you hate it don't bother but this project is very near and dear to my heart so I like to hear other's opinions on it!