Chapter 9: I failed…

Zolo and Shanks walked side by side into the darker parts of town. Zolo remembered this place from when Luffy and him had accidentally wandered in here. It was still as dark and creepy and spooky as it had been then.

"Red hair Shanks has returned." a voice said beside them. Once again, Zolo was greeted by the sight of Chaser coming out of the shadows, followed by Kuro. The two seemed awfully smug.

"I have your money." Shanks said standing up to them pretty easily. Kuro and Chaser paused and then Kuro held out a long sworded hand. Shanks pulled out the money Zolo had given him, hesitated a second and then handed it over. Kuro was momentarily stunned and then he smiled.

"Thankyou." he said and began to slip back into the shadows.

"So, that's it? Is Luffy able to come through here without fear of getting hurt by you two now?" Shanks asked quickly. Chaser stopped and turned back.

"Of course. We were only harassing him so you would give us the money we wanted. Goodbye red hair, it has been a pleasure." and with that the smoking man disappeared.

"Well, that was easy." Shanks said as they walked back towards Zolo's house. Zolo didn't answer, only nodded. Something felt wrong, strange, like something was missing. He hurried his steps, causing Shanks to quicken his pace to keep up.

"What's wrong?" the older man asked.

"I don't know, but I think we should get home as quick as we can." he said and began to jog. The house came into sight and by that time they were practically running flat out. They ran up the stairs and Zolo let out a slight sigh at the sight of the closed door. Then he went to put his key in but the door fell in at the slightest touch. This was bad, really bad. Zolo hurried in, Shanks on his heels.

"Luffy!" he called. There was no reply.

"You go search upstairs and I'll search down here." Shanks said. Zolo raced up the stairs two at a time and then ran to Luffy's room. This door was smashed in as well and Zolo's heart tightened as he reached it. What he saw inside almost made him sick. The whole room was a mess, books littered the floor, papers were ripped up and the bed was overturned. Luffy's desk chair had been broken in two and so had the desk. Luffy's bags were ripped open and his clothes were spilling out of them.

This was bad, really really bad. And on the wall, something that made him choke. Written on the wall was a message in what looked like blood. Monkey D Luffy is mine and he will die. Was the message and Zolo sank to his knees. Shanks came barrelling in, stopping shocked at the message on the wall. He walked over and gently touched a finger to the surface of the letters. He let out a sigh.

"It's not blood. It's just ink." he said to Zolo who almostfainted with relief. But then another thought occurred to him and he couldn't keep it inside.

"I failed." he said quietly.

"You didn't fail. Crocodile took the opportune moment and now we have to make an opportune moment of our own." Shanks said thinking. Zolo looked up, his eyes swimming.

"I failed him. Trace entrusted him to me and ...I couldn't stop that guy from hurting him."

"Crocodile hasn't hurt him yet but if we don't hurry and make a plan, he will have." Shanks demanded. Zolo's head snapped up and his eyes darkened.

"You're right. Let's get this bastard back." Zolo said and stood up. The two men got to work on what they hoped would be the plan to save their friend.

There ya go. What did ya think?