Okay, one thing I'd like to add that I forgot to is that this takes place in the "modern day", so things like cellphones, laptops, cars, and the like exist (but mostly in the Human Realm). That's all I have to say, so enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of One Piece's characters mentioned in this fic.
Warning: This is AU. Basically, all that remains are their names, faces, and a few personality traits, but other than that, the characters in this story are mostly OOC.
Re-uploaded: June 4, 2015
Previously...
"Oh my god." Perona gasped out shakily, her hand moving to cover her mouth in shock.
"What the…what the hell?!" Zoro exclaimed harshly, eye wide in confusion. "Who the fuck are these people?!"
Laying in front of them, under the disbelieving stares of Zoro and Perona, were five figures—three young men, one young lady, and what looked to be a large, furry animal with…were those antlers? Zoro moved next to Wadō before dropping down into a squat to get a closer look at them, though it was hard with the lack of visibility the rain caused. What he could discern, between flashes of lightning, was that none of them were dressed in any coats or hats or protection one would usually procure with a huge storm happening. It didn't even look like they had umbrellas! Perona edged a little closer, standing right behind Zoro.
"Are th-they…" Perona swallowed down the tremor before asking again, "Are they still alive?"
Zoro reached a hand out to the closest figure he could make out and placed two fingers on what he thought was the neck; after feeling the steady thumping under his touch, he nodded, causing Perona to let out a relieved breath. Zoro reached over to the other shapes scattered around and also felt the steady thrumming of pulses going, signaling they were all alive. Soaked to the bone and unconscious, yes, but still alive.
Now, they were at a loss as to what they should do.
"Should we call someone?" Perona finally asked quietly, leaning over Zoro's shoulder to try and get a closer look.
"How?" Zoro asked back, looking at her. "We didn't exactly bring our cellphones with us." He sighed out. "And even if we did, I doubt we'd be able to get a signal out here…or be able to use them in the rain."
They looked at each other as they thought over their possibilities coupled with the facts at hand, and didn't like the outcomes they came up with. The easiest solution would be to go back and get their phones, maybe call an ambulance, but leaving these strangers out here in the storm didn't seem smart, or safe. Not to mention that the closest hospital to them was a little ways a way, two towns over, and who knew if an ambulance could even make it in this storm. And using their truck was out, since there was no room to fit all of them, or even make it out to the ravine they were in through the forest.
"Where the hell did these guys even come from?" Zoro asked, laying a hand on Wadō's back.
Perona ran a hand through her drenched hair, completely lost. "Could they be campers?" But that option didn't seem likely, seeing as there were no campsites anywhere around here, nor did they even look like they're dressed for a camping trip or have any of the equipment.
"Camping in weather like this would be suicidal." Zoro commented, pushing himself into a standing position. "Even if there was a campsite near here, no one would have rented it out. This storm has been a few days in the making, so it wasn't a sudden occurrence. Everyone around here knew that."
They were out of options, minus one obvious one. But he wasn't comfortable with it. Something was niggling at him that something was off about this whole situation, the same feeling he felt earlier when he was running, and yet… He looked at Perona and could tell she was thinking the same thing as him.
Perona hugged herself as she stated, "We can't leave them out here like this. Not in this weather. They'll just get worse, and maybe even die."
Zoro rubbed a hand over his face, considering his options. Bringing them back would be the humane option, right? He could tell Perona already made up her mind, but probably because she's the one who could see the spirits, had heard the sad stories they carried with them, and the thought of letting people die who she could have easily saved didn't sit well with her. He sighed out. Well, if they decided to start trouble, he's confident enough he could protect himself and Perona. Plus, they had Wadō and Kumashi. They'd never let anyone harm them…and it was them who led the two of them to these strangers in the first place. Something tells Zoro that wasn't a coincidence.
"Okay." Zoro said, looking at the pink-haired girl. "We'll bring them back to the house. But how to do that is the question."
He, himself, could likely handle two of them, and, despite her appearance, Perona was rather strong, so she could probably grab one of them…but that still leaves one unaccounted for. And not to mention the deer thing.
Wadō and Kumashi moved out of the way some as Zoro walked closer to the strangers, bending down to grab the closest one to him. Perona moved up next to him, staring down at the group as well, biting her lower-lip.
"I could try to handle two of them?" Perona said uncertainly, looking over at Zoro.
"Not for the amount of distance we'd have to cover." Zoro answered automatically, still thinking through options in his head.
Before they could come to any solution, however, one of the members of the group started moving. The two of them startled and Perona jumped back some as they watched the large deer start to move, unsteadily getting up onto its legs. Once it, he—it did have rather large, branched-out antlers, so it must be male—looked like he found his balance, he moved his head up and eyed the two of them. Zoro's muscles instantly tensed when he felt his nerves go on-edge; he didn't know if this animal was a pet or wild, but it didn't matter either way. Him and Perona were strangers, and that made the deer dangerous.
Zoro suddenly blinked when he saw something almost shimmer around the deer's form, but before he could examine that any closer, Perona was hitting his arm.
"What do we do now?" Perona whispered, staying still so she didn't accidentally spook the deer.
The deer let out an angry sound, stomping his front hoof, but Zoro noticed it wasn't them he was staring at, but at the person Zoro held in his arms. He looked down at the form, the stranger still only a faint outline in the rainy night, before back up at the deer.
Perona noticed it as well. "Zoro, put him down." She laid a hand on his shoulder, gripping harshly. "The deer—" the two jumped when the deer let out another angry sound, but Perona continued, "—he seems protective, so put him down. Now."
But Zoro was nothing if not stubborn. "Why should I? We're trying to help them. If we leave them, they'll probably die, right? So whether he likes it or not, these guys are coming with us." Zoro didn't know where that came from, but he's sticking to it. It felt right. His instincts were telling him not to back down here, that he needed to help these strangers, and he always trusted his instincts—they'd been honed over the years, from his time on his own and then through strict training.
The deer, apparently, didn't like that statement because he let out an angry snort and started pawing the ground again, shaking his head around and waving those wicked-looking antlers. He was probably a second away from charging.
Perona's hand clamped down harder on Zoro's shoulder, frightened, but they didn't need to worry for long. Faster than a streak of lightning, both Wadō and Kumashi planted themselves in front of Zoro and Perona, respectively, crouched down and made low, growling noises. Wadō and the deer were roughly the same size while Kumashi was just a little smaller than both, so they weren't in any real danger but Perona made a surprised noise anyways.
"Kumashi!" Perona exclaimed, looking ready to move forward.
"Don't." Zoro hissed out, shaking his head. "Look."
They watched, in amazement, as the combined force of Wadō and Kumashi actually caused the deer to back up a few unsteady steps, looking warily at the two other animals. Zoro and Perona waited a few more seconds, but the deer did nothing more than glance from side to side and paw the ground, not making any more aggressive actions.
Zoro smiled with pride. "Good job, Wadō." The Hellhound looked behind her and let out a happy woof.
Perona dropped to a crouch next to Kumashi and scratched his head. "Thanks, Kumashi." The Hellcat rubbed his head into Perona's touch happily.
"Well, now that he doesn't look ready to attack, let's grab the others." Zoro said, looking over at Perona. "We need to get them out of this rain."
She nodded, moving forward some and searched for the slimmest-looking form before sliding one arm underneath a pair of shoulders and her other underneath the knees. Once she spread her feet, Perona pushed up and steadied herself before nodding at Zoro that she was okay. Looking down, she felt long hair trailing against her side and saw the faint outline of curves, so she surmised that she grabbed the female stranger.
"I can get one more of them, but I don't know what to do about the last one." Zoro said, glancing down at the forms still laying on the floor.
They then watched, in bemusement, as the deer shuffled forward some before nudging one of the forms on the ground and then looked up at Zoro. He repeated the gesture several times before Zoro finally got what he was doing.
"He wants to carry one of them." Zoro said and the deer gave a nod, giving Zoro a look that seemed to call him an idiot; ignoring that (how could a deer even make that expression?), he placed the one he was holding back on the ground and shuffled forward carefully, still wary, before lifting up the form the deer was nudging and placing it on his back. "There you go."
"Well, that takes care of that problem." Perona stated, rearranging the woman in her arms again.
"That it does." Zoro grunted as he reached down to pick up the remaining two forms, slinging the both of them over his shoulders like sacks of potatoes, but it worked. "Now, the only problem left is how the hell to get out of here."
Just then, Wadō came running back to them, barking happily and wagging her tail before turning and taking off in, what looked like, a random direction, Kumashi right behind her.
"Seems Wadō has our way home." Perona said, letting out a sigh. "Let's just follow her. I want to get out of this damn rain."
Zoro nodded in agreement and, with one last look around the ravine, the two of them, plus the deer and their cargo, followed after the Hellhound, neither noticing how the colors they saw earlier started flashing wildly before blinking out completely.
To say Zoro and Perona were exhausted would be a massive understatement of epic proportions—Perona had long since lost feeling in her arms and both of Zoro's shoulders were sorer than they had ever been before. The only good thing to happen was that the storm started dying out, the heavy downpour turning into a light rain shower that cleared up some of the clouds, allowing the moon to finally shine through and illuminate their path. It took longer to get back than it did to get there, but when they finally exited the forest and saw the back of their house, they let out loud sounds of relief.
Wadō nudged open the already partially-open back door and the other two gratefully made their way to it, heading through the covered porch and into the great room. Perona deposited the one in her arms onto the long sofa while Zoro slid the two from his shoulders onto the ground, the two shaking out their sore muscles immediately after, stretching some. Perona then called out that she was going to go get them some towels and dry clothes before leaving the room, Kumashi following behind her, while Zoro looked behind him, not at all surprised to see that the deer followed them in and was now looking at him. Not in the mood for words, he walked over to the deer, too tired to be cautious, and grabbed the one from his back and laid it down next to the others.
The floors were sopping wet now, but he could not of cared less; they're just lucky Mihawk was out of town or he'd be livid about the state of things. After giving the deer a stern look that conveyed don't destroy anything, he walked into the kitchen before dropping down into one of the bar stools lining the octagonal island. Wadō made a questioning noise in the back of her throat before sitting and resting her head on Zoro's lap, Zoro moving his hand to run through her fur, but still stayed quiet. Maybe ten minutes passed by, Zoro almost falling asleep where he sat, before he heard the sound of Perona making her way down the stairs, and then, a second later, fabric was being thrown at his face.
"Get out of those clothes before you catch a cold." Perona ordered, herself already in dry red sweatpants and a black tee. "I'm going to go check on our guests."
"Guests." Zoro snorted before doing what Perona said, pulling off his sopping sweatshirt and throwing it on the ground, then shucking off his boots and sleep pants. He then pulled on the gray sweatpants Perona grabbed followed by the white t-shirt and, he had to admit, being in dry clothes did improve his mood slightly.
"Feel better now?" Perona asked a few minutes later when she walked into the room, heading over to the stove and grabbing the kettle. After she filled it up with water, she set it back down and turned on the stove, allowing the water to boil.
"Fan-fucking-tastic." Zoro grumped out, flickering his glance over to Kumashi when he jumped up onto the island. "How are they?" He ran a lazy hand down the Hellcat's back, noticing that his fur was also a lot drier, so he figured Perona gave the Hellcat a rubdown with a towel.
Perona turned and leaned against the counter. "I dried what I could and by what I can see, none of them are severely hurt." She crossed her arms. "We won't know more until they wake up."
Zoro nodded and they lapsed into silence, Zoro staring out the window at the dwindling storm while Perona contemplated her nails. Several minutes later, the tea kettle started whistling, jolting the two out of their thoughts as Perona turned off the stove and picked up the kettle, placing it off to the side. She then reached up into the cabinets above and pulled down two mugs, followed by two teabags; grabbing the kettle again, she poured the boiling water over it and then placed it back before grabbing the mugs and placing one in front of Zoro. He started some at the noise before nodding his thanks, waiting for the tea leaves to steep.
"I wonder what they were doing out there." Perona said, seemingly to herself, as she drank her tea and stroked Kumashi, staring at nothing.
"Nothing normal, that's for sure." Zoro muttered anyways, taking a sip of tea and letting out a pleased noise because the tea was really warm and felt good.
"Here, I brought these down too." Perona said, gesturing to the blankets she placed at the end of the counter. "I figured we weren't going to leave this area."
Zoro snorted but nodded in agreement. After finishing his tea, he headed to the master bedroom (Mihawk's room) and grabbed one of the large armchairs from the sitting area, dragging it to the corner of the great room, next to the loveseat that was already there.
"I'll take this." Zoro said, plopping down onto it and grabbing the blanket Perona offered to him.
"This wasn't some weird dream, was it?" Perona asked quietly, dropping down onto the loveseat and wrapping her own blanket around her. Kumashi jumped up a second later and onto the back cushions, stretching out above her.
"As much as I want it to be, no." Zoro answered around a yawn, head already resting on the back of the chair. "Go to sleep. We'll see what happens in the morning." Wadō twirled herself around before settling in front of the armchair, right at Zoro's feet.
"'Kay." Perona said, yawning as well. "Night."
Zoro just grunted back, already feeling his consciousness fading away. His last thought was of the weird flashes he'd seen surrounding the strangers as they carried them back before sleep finally claimed him.
And, that's a wrap. Let me know what you think! There's really nothing for me to explain in this one, soooo...yeah. Until next time! XD