A huge fist adorned in metal punched the wall heavily, deep cracks rippling out into the concrete as Krieg let out a raged roar.
"Captain Krieg,--"
One of his cronies tried to say something, but Krieg glared at him so murderously his words drowned into a squeak. Breathing heavily, he sat into a chair, narrowing his eyes at the wreckage of rusted bits of cars he had torn out in his surge of anger.
He had not calmed down since his return, and his henchmen were cowering in the corner of the garage. The garage belonged to a abandoned gas-station they used as their den, and their motorcycles were usually packed into the garage. However, at the moment, their vehicles were stacked outside the garage, scattered everywhere, and the used cars dumped behind the gas-station had been crushed and torn apart by Krieg the moment he had arrived.
He seemed to be resting for a moment, but the fire in his eyes said otherwise. His gang knew he was probably wondering what to tear up next.
Just then, his cell-phone rang, loud and clear, from Krieg's jacket pocket. He pulled it out of his clothes, and judging the way he was clenching it with his teeth gnashed together, the others cringed, waiting for him to crush it to pieces to silence the irritating ring.
But to the great surprise of his cronies, Krieg flicked the cell-phone open and pressed it to his ear.
"Yes?"
He said through clenched teeth. The gang waited in bated breath for Krieg to scream at the person on the other end. Again, they underestimated Krieg.
"Actually, Krow, you're right,"
Krieg growled,
"It's the 'swordsman' and the 'kicker', the mother@#$%ers that ruined the whole @#$%ing plan--"
Another pause, and Krieg questioned in a low growl,
"Revenge?"
His gang watched incredulously as Krieg's lips suddenly bared back to reveal his gums as he grinned widely and maliciously.
"You're right. I absolutely hate,"
He seethed through his grin,
"Letting anyone who gets in my way stay in stable condition. I'll get Gin."
With that, he shut the cell-phone and slammed it onto the table before him. The others had been waiting for him to crack the table apart, and were glad he had refrained from doing so.
"GIN!!"
He yelled. Gin emerged from the gang, the shadows beneath his eyes darker than usual.
"Yes, Captain Krieg?"
"I want you to contact someone for me,"
The way Krieg was smiling and grinning with a maniacal edge, yet speaking with a voice so full of anger, made him look somewhat more psycho than usual. An involuntary shiver ran through Krieg's gang.
"Let me this straight,"
Nami said while tapping her spoon against her temple,
"You two have never met each other, but you have memories of each other?"
Usopp and Zoro nodded.
"Maybe we met as kids or something..."
The young engineer faltered, remembering that his recollections were not of child memories, but memories of his current age.
"I definitely remember a village,"
Zoro said resolutely, and taking a bite of a hamburger, he added,
"And we were not kids."
Nami looked intently at the green-head before asking slowly,
"How about me?"
Zoro swallowed his food. He returned Nami's gaze in surprise.
"You?"
"Yeah... because I'm so sure I've met you somewhere before. Not as kids."
There was a short pause, when Zoro suddenly jerked back, as though he had been shocked.
"I remember kids,"
Zoro said, his brows furrowed. Nami and Usopp looked at him, confusedly.
He shut his eyes, feeling a pain stir deep in his chest, and when he opened his eyes, the booth the three had been sitting in had changed. It was like a faded image of a smaller booth, the table scrubbed and wooden, the clear glasses replaced with ceramic tea cups and saucers. The whole image was unsettled, the outlines of everything blurred badly and cross-hatched like a double-image.
Across him, someone was sitting, but it wasn't Usopp or Nami. He couldn't see who it was - his vision was so messed up he could barely made out a red splotch and black hair. To his right, Zoro could just see in his peripheral a blur of familiarly orange hair.
His gaze shifted to his left. His view cleared a little, and he could see something like a bar, what with the stools lined before a long table, and his eyes travelled lower to see... three small children, waving something at him. All of a sudden, his vision sharpened - air and noise rushed past his ears, and he drew in a sharp gasp - and he heard the kids cry out in unison,
"Where did you hide our Captain Usopp?!!"
Zoro sneezed, and blinking, he found himself abruptly brought back to the booth he had been at, noise and chatter surrounding him, the plastic-topped table covered with plates and glasses. He shook his head sharply, and brought himself to look at Usopp and Nami, who were staring at him in surprise.
"What's wrong?"
Nami asked. He looked at her, and to the utter bewilderment of Nami and Usopp, burst into laughter.
"Uhh... Zoro?"
Usopp prompted, watching with a sweatdrop as the green-head gripped his glass and banged it against the table with sharp clinks as he laughed. He calmed down rather quickly, and looking straight at Nami, said,
"About your captain..."
Nami looked back at him in confusion.
"What?"
Zoro grinned.
"We ate him."
He said, and chuckled.
"You're scaring me."
Usopp said, edging away from Zoro, when a jolt ran through Nami, causing her to exhale sharply, her eyes unfocusing.
"Oh, great, what is it with you two?!"
Usopp cried out in exasperation, but Nami's eyes focused again, and she actually giggled.
"Good grief,"
Usopp said in disbelief as Zoro and Nami began to laugh together.
"And they fainted. Because you said stupid stuff."
Nami said, laughing. The familiarity was enveloping her in the most warmth and comfort she had ever felt before. Usopp stared at both of them in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
He asked.
"I think it happened when we were at your village,"
Nami said thoughtfully, sifting through the images of the kids and linking their words with Usopp's dreams.
"Your little 'clan'... remember, you told me about them? They were asking for their 'captain Usopp'. And Zoro made some joke about us eating you. Plus they called me a witch..."
Oblivious to Usopp's horrified face, her eyes narrowed and she shot a glare at Zoro, who hastily continued,
"You weren't there, though, Usopp. You were over at some mansion. That blonde girl's mansion."
The words flowed out so quickly, Zoro didn't realise what he was saying until he noticed Usopp's jaw had dropped open. Zoro shook his head.
"Sorry. I did it again... I said something weird again. And I don't even know where it came from--"
"There is something seriously weird going on,"
Nami interrupted. Zoro blinked, seeing now that Usopp and Nami were looking at him very seriously and curiously. Usopp pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath before he began,
"I have dreams of something like another life. In that 'life', I've seen you two in them - but you two are pretty different in my dreams... for example, Nami, you look a bit different, and Zoro, you're a swordsman or something..."
Zoro's eyes widened.
Swordsman...?!!
Split-second flashes of wooden floor-boards, swinging bokkens, pounding feet and a flurry of petals in a wind rushed past Zoro's eyes.
"Stupid swordsman!"
He sucked in his breath sharply, and he stared at Usopp. Usopp had his hair in a pony-tail, but Zoro could see a faded overlaid image of him with a 'kerchief tied over loose hair, like the first time he had seen him, and in place of glasses a pair of goggles.
The engineer continued, having not noticed Zoro's shock at his words.
"I always thought it was some sort of crazy imagination my sub-concious managed to cook up... but take a look at the situation. Zoro knows who I am. And if that isn't weird enough, he knows the content of my dreams!
"Nami, well, I've always known you since the primary school, haven't I? So you've always known me. And you know my dreams - I always tell you about them. But... okay, I sort of hate to bring this up, but remember when I told you about-- Arlong?"
Nami bit her lip, nodded. Zoro noticed her hand suddenly grip her spoon tightly. He tried racking his memory for the name, but not to much avail.
"You had a huge reaction to that. Remember? Your glass cracking and everything?"
Nami nodded again. At the farthest corner of her mind, she could hear laughter. She could recognise it, but it wasn't the welcoming familiarity she felt from those currently around her, but something uneasy and unsettling, something almost painful. Her hand started to shake violently, much to the surprise of the green-head across her.
She started when Zoro put a hand onto hers abruptly, and slid the spoon out of her grasp.
"Calm down."
He said, an eyebrow arched. She pressed her hands to her head, massaging her temples.
"I'm starting to get a headache,"
She muttered. Usopp looked at her concernedly.
"Is this really too much to think about?"
He asked worriedly. He received a knock on the head in response.
"It's not that, moron,"
She said, rolling her eyes, and went back to gently rubbing at her temples, adding,
"Go on."
"It's just that... well, if Zoro knows his part in my dreams, and you recognise your role as well, then doesn't this mean something? Like... maybe..."
He hesitated. Nami noticed he was looking a little abashed
"Like maybe what?"
Zoro prodded. Usopp rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly.
"Uhh... this sounds really far-fetched, but..."
His heart thumped loudly in his chest as he walked across the pink granite, so loud the little boy should hear it in his ears.
"It's not that exciting,"
He muttered, but the only response was a faster heartbeat. He rolled his eyes, and jumped up a few steps before entering the main foyer. A young woman with large spectacles and purple lipstick smiled kindly at the young child, and she leaned down to talk to the boy. He pressed his fingers onto the glass of the front desk, opening his eyes widely.
"How may I help you, dear? Looking for your older sibling?"
The lady asked, obviously taken by his little kid appearance. He smiled sweetly, stopping himself from wrinkling his nose from the strong white-musk perfume he could smell from the lady, and asked innocently,
"Yes, I am. Is there a Zoro Roronoah here? Spelt Z-O-R-O R-O-R-O-N-O-A-H."
The lady smiled.
"I'll take a moment, darling,"
Her long fingers tapped sharply against each key of her computer. He waited, pasting the sweet smile on his face, and as the minutes ticked by, he inwardly whined about how long it was taking. The lady finally turned to smile sympathetically at the small boy.
"I'm sorry dear, there isn't any 'Zoro Roronoah' here."
His smile nearly dropped off his face, but he managed to turn it into a childish pout.
"Oh... Thank you very much, miss."
She waved, her smile bright as he skipped off and out of the university. Once he was out, he let out a very aggravated sigh. He pulled out a notebook from his pocket, a pen dangling from a string tied to the binder. He flipped over several pages before he crossed out from the list of universities 'Redwood University' with four deep and hard strokes of the pen.
Stuffing the notebook back into his pocket, he grumbled,
"Damn it, they're not here, either!"
He felt depression stir in his chest, and groaned.
"Look, I'm going to go to the next university. Stop getting all sad on me."
He snapped. Satisfied when the depression perked back to expectant, he set for for the next university on the list.
A/N: I am sooo sorry I made it so confusing. T_T Believe it or not, I demolished my storyboard because I found out something - everything after the dinner-dance sucked. So I reconstructed an extremely vague storyboard, but because it's not really in detail, I'm going along with what the characters do when the situation arises. So I no longer can really say how long the whole thing will be, but please bear with me like you've done until now, you wonderful people. ^^* Thanks! (And, haha, please drop off a review... just to see who's still reading.)
::note:: Zoro remembered a scene from the third volume of the manga of OP. ^_^; You can see a scanslation somewhere on my site, yes, shameless plugging, bwahahaha... XD