A/N: Hello, everyone! Thanks for waiting for the next chapter. This time, we actually had to rewrite it for various reasons, so we hope you enjoy it. A special thanks goes out to Griever for beta-ing it!
-Quatrina and Karaleyn
Chapter Four
The man merely hoisted Luffy up from the ground, slinging him over his shoulder. "Come along, son," he stated simply, striding back towards the clinic while a crowd of people stared. The orange-haired girl watched the interactions with dark, shrewd eyes. Her expression was hard to read, though if anything she looked contemplative, and a bit cold. A merchant woman wandered to her side, attracted by the noise and commotion. She glanced over, and started when she recognized the girl. "Nami! Haven't seen you in awhile... Back in these parts again?"
Nami barely glanced over, recognizing the woman as someone she had worked with in the past. She nodded as she turned back to the spectacle. "I just arrived this morning."
The woman smiled to herself, darkly amused. "That doesn't bode well for the rich in the area, does it?" She chuckled quietly, but when Nami only smirked to herself the woman cocked her head toward the commotion. "So. What's going on?" She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms idly as she watched the struggle.
Nami shrugged unconcernedly. "Some guy got caught stealing," she said a bit absently. "I think he's insane. He keeps saying he didn't know he needed to pay, and, I quote, he didn't 'want punishment' and didn't 'like punishment.' He said he refused."
The woman looked sharply over at Nami at the comment then burst out laughing. "Is he a simpleton?" she asked rhetorically, then tilted her head and continued, "He's being sent to the square, I assume?"
"Mm, no," Nami said, her arms crossed as she intently watched the boy struggling. "That's the interesting part. Someone came to take the punishment for him."
The woman raised her eyebrows, looking darkly impressed. "Must be some idiot heroic friend he's got to do that."
Nami nodded, thinking to herself, 'Or something...' She had lied, in a sense. While someone taking the punishment for another was interesting, the most intriguing part so far was the boy's claims of a vault. She had immediately listened closer and had noticed the strange comment by his friend about him not being nobility. An odd thing to say to someone... unless they were nobility, in poor disguise. Nami watched as the boy almost wrenched himself away, only to be more firmly held back. This could prove to be rather profitable... She made certain she memorized his and his friend's faces; she could smell the scent of money on that boy from a mile away, and his strange behavior had only deepened her suspicions.
He was hiding something. And she intended to find out eventually exactly what that something was, and just how much beli it was worth...
"Hey!" Luffy yelled loudlyin the distance, hitting the man and squirming violently to get away. "Let me go immediately or I'll have you sent to prison!"
The moments seemed to rush by before a group of doctors pulled Luffy from the officer's arms. "A crazy one, eh?" he asked as the doctors gave their thanks.
Luffy barely waited until his feet touched the ground before he lunged violently away from the doctors and officer and sprinted back the way he came. If anyone got in his way he simply shoved them roughly aside; he didn't have time for delays. A light-haired man fell to the side, a dark-haired woman was pushed away... Luffy slammed into an orange-haired girl as she started to dodge, not even bothering to glance at her as she growled something angrily in his wake. Luffy was beyond paying attention to the outside world; his attention was zeroed down to one fact: Zoro was in trouble and he needed help.
Several hands reached out to grab him, snatching at his arms, his legs, his side, his injured shoulder--
"Fool! What do you think you're doing?"
"Eeek! He's crazy! Get away from him!"
"Someone tackle him!" Several officers caught up, forcefully pulling him to the ground.
Luffy went down hard, but he wasn't small and surprisingly strong for nothing. He wriggled and squirmed and shoved roughly at them, trying to jump back to his feet so he could get to the square. He saw an opening and dove for it, but at that moment, something hit his head from behind -- hard and heavy.
Luffy saw spots, his ability to function severely hampered for a few precious seconds. Although he slumped against the ground, reeling from the hit, he refused to lose consciousness or give up. He clung to the feeling of the dust beneath his hands, of the aching pain in his injured shoulder, and struggled to continue on his way. Dust caught in his throat, making him cough and jarring his shoulder.
A woman's arms suddenly encircled him from behind, firm but gentle. "Luffy-sama," whispered a vaguely familiar voice. "Please come back."
Nami shifted closer to the two, not even noticing that her companion had disappeared after the crazy boy was tackled. She absently rubbed at her arm where he had shoved her; annoyed that he had not even glanced over for apology, she watched the woman's arrival with narrowed eyes. Interesting... how had she gotten involved?
Twisting to see who held him, Luffy blinked at the sight of a woman about his age, blond hair pale and falling slightly into her warm brown eyes. She was looking at him almost sadly, and though he had never seen her before, she still seemed so familiar that he found himself relaxing slightly. "Who--?"
"My name is Kaya," she said, smiling when she saw that he had calmed down. "I'm the doctor who helped you at the clinic, even if you weren't awake. Please, you have to come back with me. You'll only harm yourself more out here."
He stared at her for a moment then suddenly shook his head, looking in the direction Zoro had disappeared with a serious expression. The guards had backed away when the doctor arrived but hovered around in case they were needed. Luffy pulled away from her, firmly but not so suddenly he would hurt her, and regarded her with intense, dark eyes. "Then you know I was with someone, and I won't let them take him away."
Kaya's eyes widened slightly as Luffy regarded her with that chillingly determined expression. Eyebrows furrowing with concern, she took a step toward the prince. "I think you need to come inside and rest. They'll bring your friend back. Trust me; I'll make sure they do."
Luffy glared, frustrated that even the people who were supposedly on his side weren't helping. "So I should just abandon him for now? Forget it! I'll rest once I find him." He turned resolutely and strode in the direction he had last seen Zoro.
Suddenly running after him, Kaya desperately grabbed at his arm. "Wait! You can't!"
He paused just long enough to pull at his arm. "Yes, I can."
"But you'll just be in the way," Kaya explained, looking positively alarmed now. "He might get hurt even more!"
"I won't know 'till I--" Luffy stopped, turning to her with a startled frown, his voice raising a bit in volume. "Wait, what? Hurt more? What're they doing to him anyway? Everyone just said 'punishment' but didn't say what."
Kaya suddenly placed a hand over her mouth, as if she had regretted mentioning that piece of information. "Please don't get upset. He'll be all right, but you must stay out of the way."
Luffy stared at her, his eyes narrowing and expression darkening, and without even answering he took off running toward where he had last seen Zoro's familiar green hair standing out in the crowd. What was wrong with these people, anyway? And why did people keep expecting him to abandon Zoro the moment things went even the slightest bit wrong? Hadn't anyone ever heard of loyalty outside of Anchor?
Kaya's cry for him to stop was lost amidst the sudden shouts that seemed to surround Luffy. Several of the guards who had lingered around immediately noticed his flight. Without wasting any time, they bolted after him, shoving through whoever happened to get in their way. "Oi! Stop! Stop!"
Ignoring the commotion behind him, Luffy burst into a cross street and looked around quickly. He had no idea which way they had turned, but some of the people to the right were staring at him and some were in a crowd growing near the far corner. Skidding to a halt, he pivoted and started running in that direction.
"Hey! Stop that guy!"
A group of several large, burly men sprung out from the crowd, tackling Luffy from the side.
Staggering against the sudden attack, Luffy tried to keep running but was thrown off balance. Despite his best efforts, he still crashed to his side under so much sudden weight. Irritated, he unconsciously reverted to his martial arts training and all the times he had sparred with Ace. He knew how to handle people larger than him, but it was harder with several at once.
"Get off me!" he yelled angrily, struggling so much that he almost twisted out of their hands. Someone got a good grip on his shoulder, probably not realizing it was injured when they shoved him to the ground by it. He drew in a sharp breath and connected a solid punch against the man's cheek, while kicking at someone else. A hand grasped one of his ankles and he ripped the leg away in a kick. Two people flipped him over, maybe thinking he would be easier to control with his face against the dirt if they could get his arms behind his back. But while someone held onto his lower right arm, he got his left hand beneath him and heaved himself up enough to get one knee against the ground.
There was yelling and the startled scream of a woman when he almost scrabbled under someone's arm, but hands gripped the back of his shirt and yanked so hard the fabric almost ripped. Two hands each pulled back on his arms and a leg appeared behind his knees to knock him off balance. When he fell to the ground with a whump, a large hand shoved roughly down at the middle of his chest and firmly held him there while the others got a better hold on his arms and legs. Coughing, Luffy glared up at the angry faces hovering over him. "Let me go, you idiots!" He furiously tried to shake off their grip.
"Keep holding him down!" a man shouted from behind the guards, and soon a male doctor had eased his way in. There was a flurry of movement as Luffy almost broke from their grasp, and the newcomer promptly produced a syringe.
"--I don't know if that's really necessary!" cried Kaya, a hand flying over her mouth again as she watched in horror. "You might hurt him!"
But before anything else could be said, the sharp needle pierced Luffy's shoulder.
Trying to twist away from the intrusion, Luffy's struggling just made the hands push him down harder and someone grip his shoulder fiercely. Luffy yelled something with a mixture of pain and anger, but within a few moments, the commotion around him became a confused blur and he found his eyes drooping despite all his efforts to keep them open. He mumbled something that sounded like a protest, but the words started to slur and he slumped against the ground, eyes sliding closed.
At times, it seemed like he had actually died from his wounds, and this trek through the desert was just some hell that had come to swallow him whole. The dark sky rolled out for what seemed to be forever, and the sand was starting to sting at Zoro's eyes as they traveled straight into a wind gust. They'd barely been out on the move for eight hours, and they'd already been attacked and injured. He wasn't sure how long it had been since then, only that he needed to steer the horse and keep the prince's body from flopping around against his chest like a limp rag doll with every step the animal took.
He wasn't going to lie to himself - he had no idea where they were going or what was going to happen to them. The wounds on his back ached and throbbed, and the swordsman could feel his own consciousness threaten to ebb away. All he knew was to press forward, get to Syrup Village, find a woman named Kaya...
Then, at last - something glistened in the distance. A town, calling to him. Either fate or luck was on their side, and Zoro urged the horse to go as fast as he could without upsetting Luffy's position. Exhaustion plagued his eyes; he was like an empty shell as he entered what he faintly hoped was Syrup Village. Drifting up to a lone drunk that was staggering down one of the deserted streets, Zoro felt himself speak.
"...Benevelene Clinic...?"
When the stranger gave him a funny look, Zoro's stomach went cold at the thought of being off course. But then, he was pointed in the right direction, and the horse sprinted off accordingly. Soon, he halted in front of a two-story building with glowing windows that was clearly marked "BENEVELENE." Breathing heavily now, he slid off the steed, gathered the injured Prince into his arms, and staggered toward the front porch. His foot had barely hit the rug before his broad shoulder slammed against the door, calling for someone - anyone - to let them inside.
There was a flurry of confusing motion and suddenly the door was yanked open, several hands reaching out to steady the swordsman when he almost toppled over. Words fell over each other as several people spoke at once in a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"What's wrong--?"
"They're both covered in blood! Someone get a stretcher!"
"Get one of the doctors--"
"I know, I know--who's in?"
Faintly aware of the people around him, Zoro took in a sharp breath. "Kaya," he said hoarsely. "Get me Kaya."
An echo of his words passed through the gathered crowd as one of the nurses tried to get Luffy out of Zoro's arms, murmuring that everything would be fine. When he only held the prince tighter, she relented instead of exacerbating their injuries by forcing it.
A woman in a white lab coat appeared across the room, blond hair mussed and expression startled when she saw the two near the door. The taller one looked like he was dead on his feet, and the one in his arms hardly looked any better. Their clothing was ripped and covered in blood and dirt, and for a brief moment she could only stare before she could kick herself into motion.
"It's alright," she said soothingly, if a little frazzled, as she approached them quickly. She spoke to keep him awake and let him know what was happening. "I'm Kaya... They said you asked for me." Laying a gentle hand on the green-haired man's upper arm, she placed her other on the other man's neck to check his heartbeat, her dark eyes concerned but professional as she looked them both over for injuries.
Zoro's bloodshot eyes looked up from the prince's prone form, calmly meeting Kaya's gaze. "I'm Roronoa Zoro. Ace sent me here."
Her eyes widened considerably at the words, her hand on his arm tightening as she looked sharply at the unconscious man in her arms. "My God," she whispered to herself, then suddenly stepped back and was ordering those into motion around her. Information passed quickly around them--which rooms were open, what to have ready there, who would help lead the two there.
Two male nurses appeared at Zoro's side, one steadying him with a hand on the elbow and the other reaching for Luffy, saying, "Here, let me help."
"I can carry him myself," Zoro muttered gruffly.
The man frowned but Kaya's voice carried from across the room as she strode off, "It's alright, Jim. Just leave him be. Roronoa-san, please go with them. I will be right there after I get some things together."
Jim backed off at her words and, exchanging a glance with the other nurse, reached for Zoro's other elbow to help support him.
The bodyguard allowed them to at least do that, and the two men escorted him to a small examination room of sorts. It was brightly lit, with two comfortable looking beds and a table. An ornate rug was sprawled across the floor, giving it a much cozier feel than a regular doctor's office. After being led to one of the beds, Zoro finally agreed to put Luffy down onto the covers before sitting down on the other one.
The nurses hovered just inside the room for the few minutes it took for Kaya to reappear again. She smiled at the nurses, one hand unconsciously pulling her hair behind her ear as she distractedly looked Zoro and Luffy over. "Thank you," she said to the nurses, setting a bag and tray on the table, "I'll ring the bell if I need assistance. I think I will be fine, but could you please be sure we are not disturbed? They're old acquaintances, and I think we'd like some privacy." Nodding, the two backed out of the room and shut the door firmly.
Kaya glanced briefly at the door before walking swiftly to Luffy's side, leaning over him with her hair falling down to cover her features. Pulling his shirt from his shoulder as gently as she could, Kaya peered at the revealed wound with narrowed eyes. "This looks like a gunshot wound," she said, and though she did not form it as a question it was clear she wanted Zoro to verify.
"Yeah." Zoro nodded. "We were attacked by a group of bandits or something."
"Hmm." She reached down and cranked something by the bed, causing the head of it to rise a few inches until Luffy's torso was at an incline. She pulled him forward just enough to see the exit wound in back and make a soft noise. Without speaking at first, Kaya immediately began cleaning his wound, reaching for items on the tray. Her body covered most of what she was doing from Zoro's angle, and Luffy remained unconscious.
Zoro watched her warily. "What are you doing?"
Glancing over her shoulder, she looked a little sheepish. "Oh, I'm so sorry! You must be very concerned and I haven't even..." She stopped, smiling at him and turning back to Luffy as she started over. "First I had to clean the wound to get rid of anything that may cause complications later. He's covered in dirt and blood, but his clothing did a fair job of keeping a lot out. It's a good thing you didn't try taking his shirt off; a clean cloth would have been much better, but at least the shirt helped encourage clotting." She reached behind herself and dropped a dirty wad of cloth onto the tray, reaching for a clean cloth.
"I know some people don't like details, but somehow I think you... Well, he seems to be in surprisingly good condition, considering. You two must have been traveling quite a bit? Even so, with enough bleeding..." She paused, reached for another few cloths and turning back to Luffy again. "I don't see signs of an infection but I needed to elevate his wound above his heart to slow the bleeding some. You must have been doing that on your own or he would have been in critical condition by now." Another bloody cloth, another clean one. "He'll be weak for awhile and will probably sleep quite a bit, but once I irrigate and suture--"
Distractedly, she dropped another cloth on the table and reached for a bottle of clear liquid. "Umm, clean and stitch him up--he should be alright. I'll need to put bacitracin--that is, an antibiotic--over the wound along with a moist dressing for twenty-four hours, and he should keep it elevated for forty-eight hours at which point we'll redress his shoulder." She stopped talking and smiled reassuringly at Zoro over her shoulder. "It will be fine. As soon as I have him stabilized I'll look at you. Were you also injured by the bandits?"
Zoro probably only understood about a third of what she said, but he visibly relaxed as soon as she said that Luffy would heal. "No, but I was injured from an explosion awhile back..."
Kaya continued her work without explaining anymore, but she looked over her shoulder with raised eyebrows. "An explosion?"
Zoro nodded. "Yeah. A...bomb...set off at Anchor Palace, and we had to leave a lot sooner than anticipated." He glanced toward the burning lantern. "Ace told me about you and this place after he lined me up for this job and before he disappeared. Said that you were one of the only medics who really knew who Luffy was. We were gonna stop by here anyway, but I'd been hoping it'd be under better circumstances."
Kaya nodded. "My parents are the personal doctors of Luffy-sama's parents, though no one knows that here. He mentioned the new bodyguard may come, but I had hoped it would be less distressful." She smiled a little wryly to herself and, stepping away from Luffy, approached Zoro. "I was told to look for Ace but I haven't seen him yet. Have you heard from him at all since he left?"
Zoro shook his head. "No one expected him to disappear. I initially thought he'd recommended me for the position so I could help him out sometimes, but now I'm beginning to wonder if the whole thing was planned so he could leave." Pausing, he glanced toward Luffy. "The King and Queen are frantic because they're afraid that something might have happened to him."
Kaya sighed and nodded as if she had expected that answer. "When he went out of his way to tell me of you and warned that you may stop by, I had wondered if he was planning something. I wonder where he may be..." She moved to the other side of the bed so she could see his back and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "This will hurt but I need to remove your shirt."
Zoro lightly tensed beneath her touch. "You're finished with Luffy?"
Kaya smiled, though he could not see it. "Yes. We'll let him to rest for now." She waited to remove his shirt until she had his permission, though.
"I see," he said, stiffly moving to shrug off his shirt.
Kaya helped him, wincing when the material stuck to his skin and caked blood. "I'll get you painkillers as soon as I can," she said apologetically, "but first we need to clean this and slow the blood. Could you face the other way so I can reach the table, please?"
Shifting some, Zoro silently complied to where his back was facing Kaya. "I don't need any painkillers, so take your time."
She was silent a moment as she reached for the second water bin and carefully cleaned his back. "You must have a very high pain tolerance, Roronoa-san, to have come so far with such wounds. I can't imagine what would have happened had you run into any of the factions as well as those bandits. I understand that the King and Queen must have been in a hurry, but weren't you worried?"
"We would have made it," Zoro replied simply. "Besides, I didn't think any factions would really know of our whereabouts."
"Likely not, but if there was an explosion in the palace then there must be a traitor somewhere in the castle, and who knows what information was leaked? Not to mention the prophecy recently being released to the public..." She trailed off with a sigh, shaking her head. "It's a bad time for Merriana, but worse for the royalty. Before, at least Luffy-sama had some sense of anonymity, but now anyone who's read the prophecy need only look at his back to know who he is."
"Wait, what?" Zoro suppressed a wince as Kaya worked on his wounds. "You mean all that prophecy stuff that was printed in the newspapers wasn't fake?"
"Oh, do people think it is?" She sounded surprised and relieved. "As far as I know, it's true. I've only seen bits, mostly what's been in the papers, but I know for sure the part about a mark appearing on the Crown Prince is true. My parents said that Luffy-sama did not develop the mark on his lower back until he was four, when the King and Queen removed him from public eye."
"Ace told me they were concerned about any rumors getting out about their son and that people started acting up once the 'prophecy' leaked out and was published," Zoro muttered. "He told me Luffy doesn't know much about it 'cause everyone just wanted him to be a kid, but I think that was the dumbest mistake anyone could have made. He's so ridiculously sheltered."
She blinked, a bit taken aback by his bluntness. "Well... The Queen can never have children again, and Luffy-sama is the only heir for Merriana. There are already enough problems with those factions demanding that Merriana and Arabasta become one country again. If something happens to him, his family has no future and the country's stability is completely ruined."
Zoro blinked slightly. "Ace didn't mention that detail to me," he muttered. "Still, though...you'd think he'd know a bit more than he does. It's not like they never let him outside of the walls. Ace said that he'd walk with him through the city a few times a month so Luffy wouldn't get bored and run off by himself."
Kaya shrugged, finishing cleaning his back and moving to tending the wounds as best she could. "I don't really know much about that, except that all pictures and descriptions of him were removed from the public when he was younger. I'm sure Ace-san mentioned that no one really knows what he looks like now."
"Yeah, I guess they didn't parade around the fact that he's the Crown Prince whenever they had their 'outings,'" snorted Zoro. "I guess it works to his advantage in a situation like this."
"Yes, it does. They may have known this day would come far before any of us did."
Zoro's breath lightly hitched as Kaya tended to a particularly tender spot. "We probably shouldn't stay here too long, though."
Kaya bit her lip thoughtfully. "Benevelene is sanctuary for as long as you need it, Roronoa-san, and at least I need to insist that you two rest for a day or two. But... I'll admit I'm afraid that too long a stay will let the assassins find you both."
"I'll just have to stay on the lookout while we recuperate," Zoro muttered, his eyes narrowing some. He wished that they had been able to leave in a more planned and orderly way; it would have made this part of their trip a lot less painful. "Thanks for keeping us here."
She leaned toward him with widened, concerned eyes, even if he could not see her expression. "I will always help you both, but if you leave too soon you'll risk infection!"
Sensing her gaze on him, Zoro smirked a little. "As muddled as Ace's explanations were, he was right about one thing. You really are a reliable doctor."
Kaya retreated with a blush, dropping her hands from his back as she finished her work. She busied herself with putting everything away in its proper place. "Thank you, Roronoa-san," she said, still blushing and not looking in his direction, "but really, I am just doing what any doctor would. The truly reliable one is you, for keeping Luffy-sama safe through all that trouble already."
"You give me too much credit," Zoro muttered, but he left it at that as he turned to watch Luffy's unconscious form.
She smiled to herself but said nothing back, her gaze straying to the prince as well. He looked completely at peace with his mouth wide and expression free of discomfort. Closing her bag, she backed toward the door and bowed her head slightly. "When you are ready, please allow Jim to bring you to the room we've prepared for you. Once there, just ring the bell for any assistance, including if you're hungry."
Zoro watched her carefully for a moment before nodding. "Sure. Thanks a lot."
Kaya's smile widened. "You're very welcome, Roronoa-san. Please rest well tonight." She closed the door behind her and left the two alone until they could be moved to more comfortable quarters.
There was a faint buzzing in his head as his mind tried to swim back into wakefulness. He could feel the dim lighting try to penetrate his closed lids, and his strong arms soon moved to pull a pillow over his head. It was a move his body soon regretted, however, as a sharp, sickening pain shot down his back and deep into his muscles. It was enough to send Roronoa Zoro's eyes flying open, a strangled choke barely escaping his throat.
As soon as the pain began to subside, the green-haired man gazed around himself. He was flat on his stomach; the familiar sterile walls of the clinic once again greeted him.
Pieces of his earlier encounter began to flood his mind. Being led away from Luffy -- the scaffold -- his hands being bound -- the crack of the whip --
But where was Luffy?
Immediately, the bodyguard sat up, swallowing the bile that rose in the back of his throat as his gaze darted around the room.
There was a bed to his right that he had not noticed before, set just within reaching distance if he were to lean over with his arm extended. Pale tan caught his eye, and just as he recognized Luffy's straw hat resting on the side of the bed, the mound of covers beside it stirred.
Tousled dark hair appeared from beneath the blanket as Luffy sat up slightly and peered around. "Huh? Zoro..?" He sounded groggy and confused, but otherwise fine.
Zoro watched him carefully a moment before easing himself back down against the bed. Luffy seemed to have just been sleeping, which meant that he'd done his job as a bodyguard by keeping him away from harm.
Pushing himself up with a bit more effort than would normally be used, Luffy blinked in his bodyguard's direction. "Hey..." He trailed off a moment, staring at him, as if he had briefly forgotten what he was going to say. "Hey, you're back."
Zoro only grunted in response.
Luffy frowned slightly, more a distracted expression to himself than anything. He felt confused somehow, but at first couldn't remember why. It took a few seconds, but memories of being shoved to the ground and the pierce of a needle filtered through. That's right.. Zoro was taken and he was trying... He blinked slowly, feeling a little subdued, as if the range of his emotions and reflexes was still trying to escape the fog of drugged dreams.
Pushing the covers down, he twisted until his legs dangled off the side of the bed so he could lean against his arms. Distractedly, he noted that his hands looked clean enough and his clothing only showed minimal wear. Kaya must have cleaned him up before he slept, which was good. The last thing he wanted was Zoro upset about his fight while he was trying to recover.
At the thought, Luffy searched what he could see of the man, but nothing immediately caught his attention to give him an idea what the punishment had been. He had all his limbs that he could tell, and although he looked unhappy, Luffy couldn't see any wounds. Mind finally catching up to the present, Luffy watched his bodyguard carefully.
"Are you okay?" he asked after a brief moment of silence, sounding truly concerned.
Zoro was quiet for a moment, his dark eyes settling onto the prince. His gaze bore heavily into him until he answered, "I'm alive, aren't I?"
Luffy blinked, caught between curious and confused. "...Well, yeah, I can see that, and I'm glad. But what happened? Are you really okay, 'cause it sounded like they were gonna do something terrible..." He watched him, finding Zoro's intensely serious stare impossible to turn from.
"About what you'd expect," Zoro snorted faintly. "Their laws say that a thief receives thirty lashes with a whip, so..." He trailed off for a moment, his gaze averting from Luffy's face for a moment.
Luffy stared, surprised. "Thir... What? They--?" He leaned forward, voice and expression heated. "How could they do that!"
Zoro stiffly waved a hand in dismissal. "It's over. There's no use in crying about it now."
"But it's stupid!" Luffy seethed, standing so he could come closer to Zoro's bed. "And you weren't even the one who took the food! What kind of--?" He broke off, glaring, words apparently failing him.
"It was my choice to do it," Zoro grumbled. "As your bodyguard, I couldn't let you be in that position." He took a heavy breath and shifted painfully beneath his sheets. Meeting Luffy's gaze again, Zoro's lips pressed into a thin line. "You lied to me."
Those four words stopped any anger Luffy may have built in his head. He completely stilled, staring at Zoro for a moment with the grave comment hanging in the air. Guilt welled up, and he broke eye contact so he could kneel beside the bed, staring at the floor.
"I'm... so sorry, Zoro," he said softly, complete sincerity and regret in his tone. "I know it's not enough, but..." He leaned forward, his forehead touching the ground, his voice muffled. "I was wrong and stupid and I'm really, really sorry."
Zoro watched Luffy carefully, a soft frown pulling on his mouth. He was a man who took his promises seriously, and it deeply bothered him to see that the prince had wandered away so casually. Dishonesty was a trait that the bodyguard had difficulty tolerating, but seeing Luffy bowing before him, of all people, was a moving gesture of apology in of itself. Even so, Zoro didn't feel right in immediately extending his forgiveness.
"It will take me a long time to ever trust you again," he said instead.
Something twisted in Luffy's stomach and after a moment he straightened his back but stayed kneeling, unable to meet Zoro's gaze yet. "I know," he said softly, the weight of his unthinking actions only now fully occurring to him. He felt like he should explain, so Zoro didn't think he took him too lightly, didn't care what happened.
"...I just got so caught up in the adventure. I wanted some food... look around the clinic. But you needed sleep and..." He looked up finally, staring at Zoro with quiet, penitent eyes. "I saw the market and... I just wanted to go. I'm sorry."
"You realize that this means that I won't let you wander around on your own for awhile," Zoro muttered. His face slightly softened, however. "But I'm glad you're safe."
Luffy scowled, feeling sullen and angry along with relieved. "It still shouldn't've happened! I don't get it... In Windmill I took food all the time and no one cared there. It's not like they knew I'm the prince or anything since that's just the village. I mean, Anchor Palace they know, of course, but I don't pay there either. Since when did that change?"
Zoro barely suppressed a sigh. "Look, I don't know what happened with all of that, but I think there's a whole lot of other stuff you don't know. And not because you're a prince, either. I think people have been deliberately hiding things from you."
"...What?" Luffy stared. "The merchant people did? Why would they do that? What sort of things?"
Shaking his head slightly, Zoro's eyebrows furrowed. "No, even deeper than that. I think there're a lot of things that your family or Ace never told you."
"My family?" Luffy echoed, taken aback. "Like what? Why?"
Noting that he was only succeeding in getting Luffy riled up, Zoro continued to speak calmly. "I think I should start from the beginning so there won't be any confusion. First of all, I wasn't found as a replacement for Ace exactly. Actually, he noticed that I was in need of a bit of money and asked if I'd be interested in a job, which leads me to wonder if he intended to disappear from the very start." Pausing, the green-haired fellow lightly shook his head. "But that's beside the point. Either way, what I'm about to tell you is everything he told me. This is all stuff that Ace said you didn't know, but I'm gonna sit here and explain it to you clearly 'cause I can already tell there's going to be a lot of problems if you don't realize just how bad this situation is."
Staring, Luffy nodded. "Alright. But... you think Ace knew he was leaving? Why wouldn't he just tell me or someone?"
"That's something only Ace can answer," Zoro stated simply. "I can only tell you what I know for sure."
Pushing himself up, Luffy sat on the edge of his bed and leaned against his hands. "Okay. What'd he tell you, then?"
"That your parents are scared to death of losing you, for one," Zoro stated. "Apparently they can't have anymore children, so they feel like your family's future is banking on you living. Haven't you noticed that no one seems to recognize your face even though you're Crown Prince of Merriana?"
"Well... Yeah, I guess. But it's probably like that for most princes, isn't it? I never really thought about it." He had no idea his parents couldn't have any more children, either. How odd that a stranger would learn such a personal fact before he did.
"Are you kidding?" Zoro snorted. "Most people know what royalty looks like through public speeches or portraits or whatever. Your parents started making sure you stayed out of the public eye when you were about four. The only reason Ace let you walk around the city of Windmill as much as he did was because he knew you'd try and run away if you were kept inside all the time."
"Oh." Luffy frowned thoughtfully. It was true, he probably would have. "I guess that's why they always told me not to say I was the prince in Windmill. But even if they can't have any more kids, why'd they keep me from the public? What's so different about me? I bet other kings and queens have only one kid too."
Zoro was quiet for a moment. "Ace told me that you have a mark on your back."
Luffy blinked, startled by the change in topic. "Huh? Yeah, I do. It's just a birthmark. Why, do you wanna see it?" He started to pull his shirt up and twist in case the answer was yes.
"Ace kinda told me about it," Zoro cut him off before Luffy could fully show him the mark. "Anyway, I found out that mark of yours...sort of marks you as a person." He paused a moment as if considering how to word what he was about to say next. Deciding that bluntness would probably be the best method for a complex situation, Zoro plunged onward.
"There's a prophecy out there that predicts your death and the collapse of the monarchy. I always thought it sounded like crap, but evidently a lot of people really believe it's true."
Dropping his shirt down and turning back to Zoro, Luffy's eyes widened in surprise. "...Oh." He paused, thinking about this. So many little things over his life started to make more sense, like how protective his parents had been, and how Ace always seemed to turn up at his side when he was in trouble. Even earlier...
Shaking his head slightly to bring himself back to the present, he cocked his head and stared at Zoro with a serious expression. "So it's just... when I die, the country is in danger? Or does it say... how I die?" Or when, he wondered, but didn't say aloud.
"I don't know the prophecy off hand," Zoro replied simply. "But your parents were pretty upset when they found that mark on your back. After that, only friends of the royal family were allowed to see you. Mostly nobility and servants within the castle. As for the general public, they were forbidden to learn anything about you while you were growing up. Everyone knows your name, but nobody knows what you look like."
Luffy was quiet a moment before he started thinking aloud. "They always laughed when I told them my name in Windmill. Maybe they thought I was pretending to be the prince." He paused, and frowned. "They thought hiding me away would save me?"
Zoro stared up at the floor for a moment as if thinking. "Evidently. And if you didn't know all that stuff, I doubt you're aware of the latest political crap that's been going on that's been making all this worse."
Shaking his head, Luffy brought his legs up to sit more comfortably. "Just that there were bandits I wasn't expecting… What is it?"
"Well, I'm sure you at least knew that Merriana used to be joined with Arabasta, right?" Zoro asked. "About a hundred years ago or something. I don't know the exact details, but a lot of Merrianians resented the fact that the country was split in two. Especially since Arabasta just established a parliamentary system that Merriana hasn't even considered yet. A lot of people want to have more 'voice' in the government, I guess."
"Yeah, I knew that. The Nefertaris are my distant cousins... Our ancestors were twins or something, even though Vivi and I don't look alike at all." He leaned back, playing with the tip of his shirt idly. "So my parents just aren't listening to the people, and now they're mad. And, what? Since the prophecy says something about me dying and the monarchy falling, they think it's easier to kill me than to just stage their own revolution? Isn't that sort of... lazy?"
Zoro snorted. "I guess. But, that's the way it stands right now. Your parents were starting to suspect that some of their inner circle had turned against them, and the bomb that went off during lunch the other day proved that. And so, here we are."
Luffy made a soft noise somewhere between a snort and a chuckle. He watched Zoro contemplatively for a moment, something like respect showing in his expression. "Thanks for telling me, Zoro. It couldn't have been that hard, right? Did they just expect me to die not knowing anything?" His tone was somewhere between frustrated and confused.
"I think they wanted you to just be a kid and let everyone else worry about the complicated stuff," Zoro replied simply. "Maybe they thought it was unfair to place such a heavy burden on someone so young when you didn't even ask for it in the first place."
"Hmm." Luffy thought about that a moment, then nodded decisively and smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right."
Zoro watched Luffy with slightly narrowed eyes. "So, there shouldn't be anymore misunderstandings between us now."
"None," Luffy agreed, the smile widening.
"Good." The swordsman grunted some as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position. "The stakes are too high for you not to know what's going on." Maybe he'd crossed a huge line in telling the prince all of this when everyone had gone through great pains not to, but Zoro knew it was for the best that Luffy understand the gravity of the situation.
"Yeah. Not like I had a death wish or anything before, but now I really know not to die," Luffy said with a laugh that faded to a grin. "But now I know everything so it's alright."
The green-haired man's dark gaze settled carefully onto the prince despite the throbbing pain that lanced through his back. "You're taking it pretty well."
Luffy shrugged. "Getting upset won't change anything... I only was before 'cause I didn't know what was happening. At least now I know what to expect." He paused, his expression turning more serious. "I wanna see the prophecy sometime though."
Zoro frowned some. "We can't go hunting for that now."
"I'm sure we'll find it along the way," Luffy answered unconcernedly. "I want a copy when we do."
"In the meantime, we need to decide where we're supposed to go from here," Zoro muttered. "Your parents told me we'd find out what to do next, but no one's been able to tell us anything since we arrived. And we can't stay at the clinic forever."
"We can just see where we end up, as long as it's not Arabasta or here." Luffy brightened. "But the sea would be really cool!"
Frowning some, Zoro lightly rolled his eyes. "That's easy enough for you to say." He paused and settled against the pillows in exhaustion. "I'll have to think about that later."
"The sea, Zoro, the sea!" Luffy insisted, getting himself excited now. "It's somewhere to the right of us, I think, and it'd be great!"
"'To the right?'" echoed Zoro. "You've barely been outside of that cushy palace of yours. Since when were you a navigator?"
"I saw a picture once," Luffy said indignantly. He blinked after a second, scrunching up his face and looking to the side thoughtfully. "Or wait, was it to the left...?"
"You don't travel left or right," snorted Zoro. "It's east and west." He narrowed his eyes as if thinking about it was making his head hurt. "I think."
"East and west is for country names, stupid," Luffy said easily without any bite. "Like... East Moracia and West Serin, you know? On pictures it's always up, down, right and left. Otherwise how would anyone draw it? You don't draw from west to east on paper!"
Blinking slightly, Zoro moved to scratch his chin, but winced at the pain that shot through his back. Instead, his limbs settled neatly at his side, and he conceded to Luffy's logic. "I guess...that makes sense."
Luffy nodded decisively, proud of his skills. "Right. So we'll go..." He waved a dismissive hand, "...left or something when we leave. It can't be too hard."
"Hmm, I guess," Zoro murmured. His dark eyes slid out of focus as he began to drift off into sleep, but he quickly caught himself and jerked himself into wakefulness.
Dark eyes watched Zoro closely as he struggled against sleep. He didn't look very comfortable, with exhaustion clearly pulling at him and his head twisted so he could lie on his stomach. Guilt briefly pulsed through Luffy again, so when he frowned and spoke, his voice was a little more intense than usual. "What're you doing?"
"Nothing," grunted Zoro.
"Why don't you just go to sleep? You look really tired."
The bodyguard gave him a pointed stare. "I'm not falling for that again."
"Wh—" Luffy looked surprised, then almost hurt. He stared back, eyes dark and subdued, his voice softer than usual. "...I said I was sorry. Don't you believe me? I won't do it again. I'll stay right here, but you really should sleep or you won't get better."
Zoro shook his head. "I can't trust myself to go to sleep."
Luffy frowned, confused by the answer. "Can't trust yourself? Why not?"
"I'm your bodyguard," Zoro stated simply.
"But we're in a perfectly safe building, Kaya knows about us, so she'll make sure we're ok, and no one even knows we're here," Luffy said, perplexed. "If it's not safe to sleep now, when will it ever be?"
Zoro watched Luffy carefully for a moment before a frown pulled at his face. As easy as it had been to blame Luffy's lack of common sense on the food crisis earlier, Zoro knew that it was ultimately his own responsibility. That didn't change even if Luffy knew a few extra details. "I've slept long enough," he grumbled.
Luffy rolled his eyes. "That's not true... You're just afraid I'll leave."
Looking quite determined, he stood and walked the few steps to Zoro's bed, gently pushed him over just enough to squeeze on his side on the edge of the bed, and tangled Zoro's nearest hand in a loose section of his shirt. He was quick about it, the whole thing over within a few seconds. Giving Zoro a rather pointed look, he tried to get more comfortable in his awkward position. "There. Now you'll know if I go somewhere or someone tries to abduct me. So go to sleep."
Flushing at the sudden close proximity, Zoro shifted uncomfortably. "O-oi..."
Luffy stared at him determinedly for a moment before smiling in amusement. "Just go to sleep, Zoro," he said lightly, closing his eyes and putting an arm under his head for a pillow. "I won't even move an inch, I swear."
Blinking heavily, Zoro barely protested as he finally felt his eyes slide shut and his face nestled against the prince's shoulder. Within moments, he had slipped into darkness and was enveloped in a warm blanket of sleep.
Smile quirking to himself, Luffy relaxed and tried to fall asleep as well. His uninjured shoulder was off the bed, thankfully, but the position he had to be in to avoid touching Zoro's back was rather uncomfortable and he was still bruised from the fight earlier, making it difficult. Sighing softly, he focused on the warmth against his shoulder and the weight pulling on his shirt, and before long he was able to sleep as well.
Outside the window, Nami pushed herself from the wall and casually walked away. She smiled to herself, and she brushed a few strands of orange hair from her face. A babied prince running away from a crazy prophecy, hm? she thought to herself. Briefly pausing near the clinic, she made sure to slip into the afternoon crowd as easily as she could. The cogs in her sharp mind turned furiously, and the beginnings of a plan began to form.
She had suspected that following the pair would be beneficial, but had not realized how much until now.
"Those two have just made me rich, and they don't even know it yet," she murmured with a satisfied smile.
To be continued...