AN: so, this is apparently back, for now at least, no guarantees about when any chapters after this will be finished.
Family part two
Zoro looked over at Luffy's brothers as all three of them watched silently while two of the new comers continued to harass Luffy, and silently congratulated their self-control. Despite how young they all were, despite how mature Ace and Sabo could be, and regardless of the fact that they had not yet set out to sea, Zoro really did take his role as first mate quite seriously, and he would ensure that all members of the crew followed their Captains orders, regardless of any family status they might have.
Sometimes this role was all he could hold onto when the world seemed determined to pitch and role like stormy waves beneath his feet.
Some things Zoro just knew, and had for as long as could remember, and had let his feelings guide that knowledge for the same amount of time, like when he saved his sister and then left to find what was on the other end of a connection he didn't understand. He was different to the two brothers (he didn't know about Law) in that his actually memory wasn't much clearer than the occasional dream, but his ability to know was all he really needed so he didn't much care. It helped that the longer he was around Luffy the more he understood, and the clearer what he did know was.
Like he knew that Luffy could handle himself against these teenagers that thought they were so strong but were really pathetically weak. Like he knew that Luffy had a strange code of honour and his own understanding that meant that he could be viewed as a coward or stupid and yet retain all of his dignity. Like he knew that Luffy's order the night before had had more to do with his brothers than it had had to do with the five people Garp had dropped off.
Zoro lived in a world were North and South traded places at the drop of a hat whenever he was trying to get somewhere. He had had to get used to knowing things he had no right knowing, contradicted what everything else was telling him, and which didn't make sense. He was part of a crew where the captain was, and would likely always be, one of the youngest members and had inherited his grandfather's sanity, or lack thereof. He knew that their world was divided by two lines that had never heard of logic and had murdered common sense, and that at least one of those lines was their destination and where he had every intension of spending the rest of his life.
Zoro lived in a world that he knew would insist on trying to destroy any ground he found to stand on, and change the location of any place he wanted to go. And Zoro knew that the only way to keep his balance was to hold on tight to his position next to the only guiding light he would ever be able to trust while he let go of absolutely everything else rational to be swept away by the wave of chaos that said light seemed to bring.
And so, Zoro would make sure that all of his captain's orders were followed, by brother or crew mate alike, no matter how insane, or their current location. And that was why he gripped his sword tighter with wary eyes as Ace and Sabo lost their battle with self-restraint and started stalking closer to their prey that hadn't even realised just how fucked it was yet.
After all, he would step in only when Ace was in danger of harming future family members, or Sabo looked like he was going to deal out very thinly veiled threats to friends. He didn't need to act as if he didn't trust them as they walked over to their little brother, who they might have a legitimate reason for talking to, by attacking first without proof.
And if those disrespectful little bastards were to get the fright of their lives when Ace acted aggressively, or Zoro was forced to violently intervene, well, that would just serve them right.
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Penguin and Shachi laughed at the stupid little kid after making another comment about his lack of intelligence, not at all deterred by his lack of reaction. They did startle slightly as two of the other boys from the night before seemed to materialize from the jungle around them, but tried to make sure that it wasn't too obvious.
'Making friends, Luffy?' the one that had introduced himself as Ace asked, the worlds and tone casual but with a glint in his eyes that made the two bullies suddenly second guess their intensions towards the other.
Unfortunately, neither had ever really been the smartest of the lot, despite what they had just been saying to the eight-year-old kid, otherwise they would have been hastily apologising and running for cover as fast as their legs could carry them.
Luffy, on the other hand, ignored the growing tension rolling off his brothers and shrugged. 'They keep laughing even though nothing they say is that funny, I don't think they're that smart,' the kid said.
Penguin started spluttering, 'you really can't talk.' Luffy just tilted his head at his words.
'He's insulting you, Luffy, that's also why they were laughing,' the blond said. A shiver ran up their spine but, again, they refused to take the hint.
'Oh,' Luffy said in a calm voice, nodding his head but other wise not doing anything. 'Hey, is it time for lunch?'
Shachi scoffed, 'what, too much of a coward to do anything so you're just going to walk away?'
Luffy then looked at them with surprisingly blank eyes, though blank didn't seem to be quite the right word…
'The last time I over reacted just because someone said something I didn't like, someone else ended up getting their arm eaten, I know better now,' Luffy said.
Everyone else in the clearing just stood their speechless. Ace and Sabo were connecting the dots with what little they did know about Shank's missing arm, and also realising just how much they didn't know about their little brother despite all the years they had known him. Penguin and Shachi were confused and fighting hard against just about every instinct they had as said instincts screamed at them to get the hell away, now.
Instead they ignored at least half that sentence as coincidence, or exaggeration, and changed tactic on how to get the brat to react, preferable break at the idea of his own weakness.
'Well,' Penguin said as inspiration struck him, 'if you're not going to react it's boring, I guess we'll just go beat up that green haired freak instead for entertainment.'
They didn't actually see any fist flying towards them, they just remembered the supposedly weak "kid" shifting as his eyes went dark before a whole lot pain hit them almost instantaneously. Penguin thought he saw the kid's arm stretch, but that might have been a pain induced hallucination, before it was lights out for both of them.
They woke some time later to Law's scowling face above them. 'I am doctor in training, but I do not need any practice in setting bones. Please refrain from upsetting our hosts enough that they feel the need to give me more work.'
His two patients just groaned in response.
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Rocinante sent a half-hearted glare at the soup he was attempting to make. It wasn't that he was a bad cook, he would even go so far as to call himself rather decent, however those around him didn't always seem to agree. In this case, the odds for a successful meal were stacked against him, due to the lack of usable food that seemed to be available.
They had been living with the bandits and the rather strange children for a few days now, and he wasn't any closer to understanding them. They had claimed that one of them was like Law, they behaved like the children they were and then turned around and showed a maturity that even some of the experienced marines didn't have. The youngest acted so naive and friendly, but Shachi and Penguin were still recovering from their run in with him, though Rocinante was currently under the impression that they had done something to deserve their woeful state. That impression was helped by Law's refusal to give them anything strong for the pain, or fix their broken bones instantly with his fruit. Bepo had decided to try and stay as far away from everyone, other than Law, as he possibly could, and spent most of his time playing nurse to their two injured traveling companions, and the occasional bandit.
'That looks really yummy!' the sudden voice of the very person he was thinking about sounding so close to his elbow startled him, and triggered what Law would consider the expected sequence of events.
Rocinante jumped, as he went up he managed to hit the pot he was currently using to cook his soup and somehow managed to get the majority of the scalding food all over his bare skin. As he jumped around and howled in pain from his burns, he failed to notice his clothes trailing in the fire he had been cooking over, effectively catching himself alight. The fire went out, however, when he tripped on the burning material and went tumbling to the ground, managing to land on the only sloping bit of floor and rolling for several seconds before he came to stop, by which stage the flames had been smothered.
Looking back on every other time he had tried to make a meal for Law, it was probably his clumsiness and accident-prone nature that made the teenager so reluctant to let him do so, rather than any form of reflection on his talent in the kitchen.
When the world finally stopped spinning, he became aware of strange sound above the noise of the crackling flames, and looked up to see the little brat laughing his head off at his predicament.
'Mister sure is funny, but you ruined all the food!' the kid said, his smile turning into a pout before Rocinante's eyes. Part of Rocinante wanted to protest both the kid's statement that he was funny and his insinuation that the food was for him, but instincts honed from years in the service of the Marines as a spy and the memory of the two other boys with broken bones had him hesitating and deciding to proceed with caution.
'Yeah, I guess I did. My names Rocinante, and I believe your brother's said your name was Luffy, right?'
'Yep! Nice to meet you, Rocinat … Rociat … Rocky!' Rocinante had to fight to keep himself upright as Luffy butchered his name, he couldn't afford any more bruises.
'If you can't say it, feel free to call me Cora-san, like Law does,' Rocinante said.
'Okay, Cora!' it was about then that Rocinante gave up, he really could not win against the child.
Especially when he was aiming such a bright smile at him.
'Hey, hey, Cora, are you strong?' the question caught him off guard, and the child continued talking after his brief hesitation. 'It's just, people were talking about how you and Law can't swim, and Law has a Devil fruit so that's why he can't, and Law said you saved his life which means you should be strong! But if your strong and can't swim, does that mean you have a Devil Fruit? Or are you just bad at learning? My brothers say that I'm bad a learning, unless there's meat involved. I want meat! You reckon we'll get meat for dinner? I'm starving!' Luffy continued to rattle on, much to Rocinante's confusion as the child's spiralling thought process continued. When, and why, on earth had he started talking about food?
'I do have a Devil Fruit,' Rocinante eventually interrupted, stopping the child in his tracks, 'but it's not a very strong one, some people even call it rather pathetic, so I usually rely on other means in order to appear "strong" and protect the things I care about,' he explained.
And suddenly that smile was gone, and Rocinante found himself under stare that seemed to look into his very soul and judge him beyond what any other being, with the possible exception of God, could possibly hope to accomplish.
'What fruit?' Luffy asked, his normal hyper energy temporarily absent.
'The Calm-Calm fruit,' Rocinante said, a little disturbed. 'It allows me to create a bubble of silence and maintain it, as well as decide in which way sound, if any, can go in or out the bubble I create. Not a lot of use in a fight.'
Luffy continued to look, stare, are him for a while before speaking. 'I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit,' he suddenly said, shocking Rocinante as he stretched his cheek, 'and gramps said the same thing, but I decided it's useful, and I've used it to save Ace and Sabo in a fight lots of times. So, it's not about what fruit you get, it's about how you use it.'
Suddenly the kid was smiling and, after sailing with Garp for any length time, Rocinante had learned to fear that smile.
'And that means training! I'll help you,' Luffy said, before dragging Rocinante out the door before the poor man could protest.
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'I can't find Cora-san,' Law said instead of any form of greeting when he joined the other three people he suspected (knew) to be in the same predicament as him.
Over the last few days, the boys had come to an understanding regarding their new living arrangements. Law had earned several points from them when he had stated that his traveling companions got what they deserved if they picked on Luffy, and several more when he revealed his powers and that they could be useful for keep said younger brother safe and healthy. The three of them now considered him, if not a tentative friend, then at least a person that was willing and able to help them with their trouble magnet, and someone they could respect.
Law, for his part, had given up arguing between his instincts and common sense, and just decided to give in and trust these strangers, despite serval bits of evidence that should have meant the contrary. There was something about them, something that seemed to comfort him and make him feel safe, despite the fact that their so called "weakest" brother had broken several of his friends' bones and made it so that they wouldn't be leaving the bandits hut any time soon.
But, currently, he had bigger things to worry about than their rather unconventional relationship that had sprung up over only a matter of days.
'He's not at the bandit hut, where I know I left him with orders to not do anything without supervision, and there is a mess in the kitchen where he seems to have tried to cook, including what seems to be the remains of a burned cape. However, that's not what's wrong, what's wrong is that there are child sized foot prints in the dust around where he was, and I can't find Luffy either.'
The Ace and Sabo looked at each other, and then stared questioningly at Zoro, who obligingly seemed to concentrate for a while before pointing off in some random direction.
'That's … not the direction of the bandit hut,' Ace said, pointing out what his brother was thinking.
'No, no it's not, and that means that our trouble magnet of a brother has wondered off from where we left him, despite bribing him with meat not too,' Sabo replied.
'Meaning he is, most likely, somewhere out in the middle of the jungle with an adult of questionable responsibility, who is also a trouble magnet, and has the habit of setting himself on fire or falling into any available body of water, simply because he is clumsy and accident prone,' Law commented.
'So, the two worst people possible are out on Mount Colubo, by themselves, getting into all sorts of trouble, and have been for who knows how long,' Zoro said, summarising what everyone was already thinking.
The four them looked at each other, and then took off at a run into the jungle themselves in the direction in which Zoro had pointed.
I suck at writing scenes, or chapters, with lots of characters, I lose track of them all, hence why Bepo isn't in a lot of scenes so far.