Chapter 12: Chopper

Zoro paced the floor for a few minutes, Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Chopper looking up at him as he glanced at Luffy every now and again. Usopp had already asked if they should wake Luffy, but, Zoro had already denied that, saying that Luffy already knew.

Instant uproar had followed after this, ranging from shock, to horror, to downright grouchiness. Zoro sighed and sat down in a beanbag which Chopper had dragged over for him.

"A year ago, I was travelling through a little town." Zoro began, "I ended up looking for a place to stay and went to the bar in the town. I met a really nice guy there and he had a little girl with him. He worked as a bus boy. The little girl kept following me and I told her to go away but, she insisted that she thought I was cool and that she wanted to see my swords." and Zoro paused.

He hadn't told Luffy the full story, but, he really didn't feel that Luffy would judge him for it, and he didn't feel that he had needed to. Luffy seemed to understand him so well. The swordsman glanced at the now sleeping boy on the table before continuing, "So, she finally went away and I was sitting at my table when I heard a scream. I looked around and the little girl was running back towards me."

Flashback

Zoro looked up as the girl that had been bugging him earlier ran past and Zoro raised an eyebrow before a larger man came barging through, expensive purple suit dripping with spilt wine.

"You little brat!" the man yelled and Zoro, casually leaning back in his chair, stuck a leg out and tripped the man up, making him fall flat on his face beside the table. Zoro raised an eyebrow again and took another drink from his bottle. The man slowly pulled himself up off the floor, and got to his feet, blonde hair messed around his rather snobby looking face.

"You…" the man hissed, "I'll tell my father on you!"

"Whoopee." Zoro returned before taking another swig. The man paused.

"My father is the head of the police force!" the man cried proudly. Zoro scrambled in his front pocket for a minute and then pulled out two twenty cent coins.

"Here's forty cents, go find a payphone, and call someone who cares." the swordsman said before getting up. The blonde man's jaw dropped as Zoro walked casually past and towards the door.

He was about to walk out onto the path, after dropping a ten on the bar to pay for his drinks, when something crashed into his knees. Looking down, Zoro saw that it was the girl from before. He sighed.

"Look, I'm not going to show you my swords little girl. Now, will you please leave me alone?" he asked. The girl looked up and smiled.

"No! You saved me from that bully!" she squeaked and then her father walked up.

"I hear you're looking for a place to stay tonight. You are welcome to stay at our house tonight, if you wish." he said, balancing a tray on his arm. Zoro blinked.

"Uh… thanks." he responded. He usually wasn't one to take others up on their offers, but the chance to stay at a house rather than a damp alleyway was a little tempting. Okay, so it was a lot tempting. You try sleeping in a gutter with cats crawling all over you and mice nibbling at your feet. It's not pretty.

"Miki, would you take the kind sir home? I'll be back late tonight." the father said and then hurried off.

"Come on!" the little girl cried, tugging at his hand. Zoro blinked and then followed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zoro rolled over on the bed that the little girl had shown him to. He yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he did so. Something felt… wrong though. Strange. Getting up, he grabbed his swords off the floor and tied them around his waist before walking to the door, giving his hair a scruff as he did so.

Opening the door, he looked out into the corridor. An eerie silence had settled over the house and Zoro narrowed his eyes before stepping cautiously out into the hallway.

"Hello?" he said as he walked along towards the end of the corridor where the door to Miki's room was. Still silence. He gently knocked on the door. Still quiet. He gently opened the door, and what he saw, utterly sickened him.

Both the little girl and her father lay side by side on the floor, gigantic rips through the cloth of their shirts and chests. Blood surrounded both of them, and it looked as though they had been trying to reach for each other's hands when they had died.

Zoro backed out of the room, his breathing shallow before he spun as he heard a police siren. Running down the stairs and to the door, he opened it to see a group of police men aiming guns at him.

"Roronoa Zoro, you are under arrest for the murder of Trent and Miki Power. Come quietly, and you will not be harmed." the policeman at the lead of the group ordered.

"I didn't do anything!" Zoro returned. The policeman cocked his gun.

Uh oh Zoro thought before slamming the door and running back up the stairs.

End Flashback

"So, you ran away?" Sanji asked from where he was leaning against the wall. Zoro ignored him, eyes focused solidly on the ground.

"Sanji." Nami snapped. The blonde paused.

"Sorry." he mumbled.

"So… how did the police know you'd killed them if you'd only just found out yourself?" Usopp asked, his eyes wide and a pillow hugged to his chest. Zoro shook his head.

"I have a suspicion as to who killed them, and if I'm correct, then, I know how. But, it's a long shot." he replied, finally looking up.

"Who do you think?" Nami asked.

"The guy I tripped. He said he was the son of the head of the police force. But that doesn't explain what you said about the ones after me, not being policeman. That's what doesn't click." Zoro replied. Nami nodded.

"We'll have to figure this out, but for now, I think we should get some sleep." Nami said as Usopp's head lolled onto her shoulder. She winced and pushed it off, making Usopp fall the other way and bang into the wall. He glared at Nami momentarily, and then fell asleep where he was. Sanji slid down the wall and Chopper hurried over to the wall, and turned off the light.

Zoro blinked in the darkness, and his eyes wandered over to where he knew Luffy was sleeping. Leaning back against the wall, and stretching his legs out, he began to think. It was a hard mystery of why everything was back to front.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luffy didn't wake until the next morning, which, seeing as it was about midnight when Nami had actually caught up with the three, and about one in the morning when the operation had occurred, which in turn meant that Luffy had only slept for a few hours. No one was in the room when he had woken.

Chopper had gone out to buy some medical supplies, Nami, Usopp and Sanji had decided they were going to sneak out and try and buy some food. Of course, they changed how they looked.

Sanji had slicked his hair back, revealing both eyes and Zoro had nearly laughed himself silly when he had seen it, causing the chef to just about throttle the swordsman then and there.

Nami had done her hair up in an elaborate sort of design that actually looked rather nice and Sanji had gone off his head, telling the woman how beautiful she looked and that he would be glad to escort her anywhere she wished to go.

Usopp, had let his hair out, meaning it went everywhere and fell across his face, but, the look itself was actually quite affective. Their clothes had been changed as well. Chopper, out of the kindness of his little reindeer heart, had run out and bought them some new clothes.

Usopp had a pinstriped shirt and light yellow pants, Sanji had a weird shirt that had orange polka dots on it and once again, Zoro had nearly laughed himself silly...again. Sanji had cursed and swore at him for nearly half an hour after that and had continued to do so until Nami hit him over the back of the head. He also wore a pair of khaki pants.

Nami had a light blue skirt instead of a yellow one, a dark blue T-shirt and a light purple, short sleeved button-up shirt over that. Chopper had also bought new clothes for Zoro, as his white shirt had blood stains on it, and for Luffy, whose shirt had a hole in the shoulder and also had blood stains on it.

Zoro's shirt was plain black, but the sleeves went down to just past his elbows and Chopper had also bought a leather jacket to go with it. The jacket was dark blue and Zoro liked it… a lot. Luffy's shirt was a chequered shirt with long red sleeves. Zoro had silently wondered what Luffy would think of it when he woke up.

Probably would love the damn thing.

When Luffy woke, the first thing he noticed was, he was in a weird place. The boy sat up immediately and scrutinised the area with narrowed eyes.

"Nope, never been in this place before." he said with a smile. It didn't really phase Luffy that he was in a weird place, just as long as Zoro… was there? He looked around and saw the room was empty. He blinked and looked around some more.

"Zoro?" he said aloud. Luffy winced when his shoulder gave a particularly sharp throb of pain. "Owie." he said and then tried to twist his head around so he could see. "Stupid bullet." he muttered, giving the bandage around his shoulder a poke. He continued looking around the room and wondering where everyone could have gone. It was then that he began to panic.

They're all gone. Maybe… maybe Zoro didn't want to have to deal with me seeing as I was shot and he took off. But, I didn't mean to get shot, I was trying to get away and … but Zoro probably doesn't know that and he decided it would be easier without me and decided he would go. But, I don't want Zoro to go. I'm not going to slow him down. Luffy thought desperately, his thoughts growing more frenzied every moment he was alone.

Luffy's lip quivered and he jumped off the bed, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and the sudden warmth that began making his shoulder feel sticky under the bandage. He began making his way toward the door and paused when it began to open. Zoro walked in and then stopped at seeing Luffy standing before him.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a sigh. Luffy's lip trembled.

"I'm sorry!" he cried and launched himself at the swordsman, wrapping his arms around the man's waist and hugging him. Zoro paused, momentarily shocked.

"Luffy, what?" he asked.

"You were gone, and I didn't mean to get shot, and I don't want you to go. I wanna stay with Zoro." Luffy sobbed, his voice muffled against Zoro's chest. The swordsman blinked, a mite confused, and then his brain began figuring it out.

Luffy had woken alone, and he thought Zoro had left him because he had gotten shot. Zoro smiled and gently brought a hand up to lay against Luffy's back. He waited until Luffy's sobs had subsided before speaking.

"Why would I leave? I haven't left you behind before." Zoro said. Luffy leaned back to look up at Zoro, his face still slightly pink from crying. The swordsman smiled.

"Promise you won't leave Zoro?" Luffy asked.

"…Luffy, I, can't promise that. Anything could happen." Zoro replied, turning his head slightly away. Luffy frowned and took a step back from Zoro.

"Right. Anything could happen." Luffy said with a determined expression on his face, "That's why you should promise that you'll never leave me. Because then, if something does happen, I'll know you at least tried to stay with me." Zoro blinked. He had never figured it like that.

"Alright, I promise." he said. Luffy grinned.

"Yay! Zoro promised!" he cried before attempting a war dance and then giving a sharp yelp when he moved too much and jostled his wound.

"Right, now I want you to make a promise. Get to bed, and stay there. Chopper said you have to stay still for a few days at least." Zoro ordered. Luffy tilted his head.

"Who's Chopper?" he asked. Zoro sighed.

"Bed. Then I'll tell you." he replied. Luffy hurried over to the bed and jumped on it. Zoro could see the blood seeping into the bandage and he sighed. He had to figure out a way to make Luffy stay in that bed until the wound healed a bit. So, in other words, he had to stay by Luffy's side day and night.

That's not so bad. Zoro thought as he grabbed a chair and swung it around so the back was facing Luffy. Zoro sat down, legs on either side as he crossed his arms on the back of the chair and rested his chin upon them.

"Chopper is the doctor who fixed up your shoulder. He's a talking reindeer." the swordsman explained. Luffy paused a moment and then a broad smile spread across his boyish features.

"Cooooooool!" he cried. Zoro smiled.

"Though you'd like that." he said.

"How do reindeers talk?"

"How the hell do I know? Every time someone asks him how he can talk, he just dips his head and says he doesn't want to talk about it."

"Ohhhh. Still cool. When do I meet him?"

"I don't know. He's out with Nami, Usopp and dartboard at the moment." Zoro replied uninterestedly. Luffy blinked.

"How did they go out? They'll be seen." Luffy said. Zoro shrugged.

"I don't know. I just hope they don't get caught."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nami pulled out her wallet and handed a fifty dollar note over to the cashier, who took it, thanked her, and handed her the receipt and five dollars change. Sanji picked up the bag from the counter, one hand in his pocket and an uninterested look on his face.

"So, what did you buy Nami?" Usopp asked. Nami smiled.

"Stuff." she replied.

"What kind of stuff?" Usopp asked. Nami frowned.

"Stuff stuff, now leave me alone." she replied a little nastily. Sanji sighed.

"Nami is so wonderful when she is telling people to leave her alone." he cooed.

"Thankyou Sanji." Nami replied, now only saying those words out of reflex. Sanji's eyes turned into hearts.

"Quit it Sanji. You're gonna draw unwanted attention toward us." Usopp hissed. Sanji frowned.

"I will not." the chef replied before looking over and seeing a grocery store. "We should get some food."

"Good idea Sanji." Nami replied giving the cook a smile which made Sanji smile in return and his eyes turn into hearts before the three walked over to the grocer.

"Has anyone seen Chopper?" Usopp asked while he was pushing the trolley, Sanji and Nami walking a step behind him. Nami shrugged.

"No." she replied as Sanji stopped for a second to inspect some items on a shelf. Usopp paused.

"Wonder where he went." the long nose muttered.

"He said he was going to get some medical supplies. No big surprise there."

"Why?" Usopp asked.

"He's a doctor, duh." and she gave Usopp a light slap across the back of the head. Sanji dropped a few things into the trolley and then continued forward, hands stuffed in his pockets.

"So, what do you think of Zoro's story?" the chef asked. Nami shrugged.

"I don't know. It's a little strange." she replied.

"You don't think he was lying?" Usopp asked. Nami blinked and then frowned.

"No." she replied.

"How can we trust him though? He is a swordsman, and we don't know that much about him." Sanji muttered. He didn't like not having the bang over his eye. It felt cold without his hair over his face. Nami sighed and replied with a simple,

"Luffy." and when the men stared at her, she decided it would be best to elaborate on her assumption, "Well, we know what Luffy's like. He tends to know who is a bad person, and who isn't. As soon as he saw the guys in the park, attacking us. He was there. He knew. I don't think he realises it though."

"Hey yeah! Like when I first met him. He saved me from those bullies in my home town. But, what has that got to do with Zoro lying or not?" Usopp asked. Nami sighed and shook her head.

"If Luffy trusts Zoro, then don't you think it means Zoro is a good guy?"

"Shhh." Sanji said suddenly. Nami looked at him and the chef pointed towards two people standing nearby. They weren't talking and their heads were slightly turned back towards them.

"We should get home." he whispered and ushered the three towards the cashier.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luffy yawned and rested his head back against the wall.

"This is boring." he said. Zoro, who was trying to get some sleep beside the wall on the other side of the room, cracked an eye open.

"Sleep. It's a cure for boredom." he replied. Luffy raised an eyebrow, and grabbed onto his hat and began spinning it around on his finger.

"Don't want to sleep." he said. Zoro sighed.

"You haven't got much choice."

"I do. You could play with me."

"Nothing we can play."

"Yes there is, there's loads of things!"

"Like what?"

"…"

"Exactly." and Zoro closed his eye again.

"But, Zorooooo. Come on. I wanna do something. Ow." Luffy gasped as he shifted his position and his shoulder throbbed. Zoro's eyes snapped open, and a look of concern flashed across his face.

"Stop moving, or you're going to hurt yourself even more." Zoro berated the younger boy. Luffy pouted and was about to reply when Nami burst through the door, Usopp, Sanji and Chopper piling in behind her before she slammed it shut again. Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell's wrong with you lot?" he asked as they gasped. Sanji reached up and used his fingers to comb his bang back over his eye.

"We were chased by a few of your friends. We have to get out of here… now. I think we were followed." Nami gasped. Zoro sat up and Luffy looked around and then spotted the reindeer. He blinked for a minute before Chopper looked back at him and he squeaked.

"You're awake!" the little reindeer cried and Luffy's eyes widened.

"You were followed?" Zoro and Nami were now having an all out argument.

"You talked!" Luffy cried causing Chopper to jump and his eyes to dip. "Coooooool!" and Chopper looked back up again.

"I am not cool!" Chopper cried, but he was grinning like an idiot.

"Everyone, shut. Up!" Usopp yelled. Sanji, who had just began defending Nami's honour by calling Zoro a sexist pig, looked around at the long nose. Zoro and Nami paused mid yell to look at the liar and Luffy and Chopper were watching the boy intently. Usopp smiled a little nervously.

"Shouldn't we be discussing how we are going to escape?" he asked. "I mean, we don't have a car anymore and those guys will be back soon with friends." and the group blinked.

"Uh…I-I have a car. But I can't drive it." Chopper said quietly.

"Well why didn't you say so?" Nami, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp cried causing the little reindeer to jump back.

"Get your stuff Chopper." Nami commanded as she hurried around, grabbing her old clothes and wrapping them up in a bundle in her arms. The rest of the group did the same thing, but when Luffy went to move, Zoro stopped him and ordered him to stay still until the swordsman could get their clothes.

He handed Luffy the chequered shirt and the boy looked at it for a second.

"Don't argue Luffy. This is not the time." Zoro commanded. Chopper blinked after Nami's statement.

"I can't leave!" he cried. Everyone paused. "This house belonged to my father."

"Chopper, if those men find you, they'll kill you. They've seen you with us. You have to come with us." Nami explained. Chopper shook his head and something weird began to happen.

"They won't." he said and then he squeezed his eyes tightly shut, "They can't!" and then he transformed into a massive beast. Usopp screamed.

"Monster!" he screamed and ran around in circles.

"What…what are you?" Sanji asked. Chopper looked at him and then shrunk down again. His eyes were dark.

"They will come Chopper." Nami whispered, looking very frightened but managing to still be understanding. Luffy looked at Chopper and began to move off the bed, despite Zoro's warnings. He hobbled over to Chopper and kneeled down in front of the little reindeer.

"Come with us. It'll be fun." he said, with the deepest sincerity that only Luffy was able to accomplish. Chopper looked up, his eyes watering.

"But… I don't want to leave." he replied.

"Please Chopper. You fixed me, and I don't want you to die." Luffy explained. Chopper paused a moment, everything in the room silent. The reindeer blinked at Luffy and then he slowly nodded.

"Alright." he said and Luffy grinned. Zoro smiled.

He really is the most caring person I have ever met. Zoro thought and then began grabbing up anything he could find along with the rest of the group, who was now another member up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, Chopper is now a part of the gang. Zoro's reason for being a fugitive is now revealed, and giant monkey's are rampaging through my house... not really.