Disclaimer: I still do not own One piece, even if it has been a while since my last update. (sorry about that)
"What am I suppose to do? Sanji is his best friend, not me!" Luffy said frantically. Kuina had come to their apartment with a startled expression. Sabo was sitting at the counter, deep in thoughts and Ace was trying to follow the conversation even if it was hard since he couldn't see or hear Kuina clearly.
"I don't know, Zoro's parents fought a lot before, but they never hit him! This has been going on for too long!" Luffy looked at the ground.
"Maybe he doesn't want any help..." The blue-haired spirit gave the medium a dirty look.
"Of course he needs help! He is not happy in this situation." Luffy sighed.
"What I mean is that he didn't reach out for any of us for help, he probably wants to deal with this himself!" The girl rolled her eyes.
"Of course he won't reach out for help, that idiot has too much pride to do that, unless he is about to die and can't do anything about it because he is incapacitated or tied up, he will not get help, that is why I am asking you!" Sabo stood.
"Maybe if you start trusting them, they will trust you back." Luffy shook his head, eyes wide.
"I can't... they'll... hate me." He bit his lips. He hadn't felt that kind of fear since he had started thinking about telling Ace about his ability. The fear of being rejected by someone... some people you care deeply about. He had taken a chance by telling his brother, but he had believed Ace wouldn't leave him alone. He couldn't take such a risk with his friends, he already knew Sanji would leave him. Zoro might not care really, but seeing him and Sanji were close friends even if they fought sometimes, he would leave too. Usopp would be scared of him from now on. Nami wouldn't believe him and start treating him as a liar or a crazy person. Vivi would probably try to be friendly and see it from his perspective, make everyone stay friends and try to be sure everyone is alright, but she wouldn't be able to fix the psychic boy's heart.
"But, if they don't start hating you, your friendship will only become stronger. That is how it went for me." Sabo smiled warmly at the young medium and then looked up at his best friend. Ace chuckled.
"It's true, Sabo and I were always there for each other after that..." His face darkened. "...Except once..." He muttered. The blond spirit tensed, even if he pretended he hadn't heard the last two words the eldest had spoken.
"Ace was like a brother to me, more than my 'real brother' Stelly ever was, I bet your friends would be the same." Luffy shook his head again.
"You both can be wrong sometimes and I can't go through that again!" The temperature in the room dropped suddenly, making Ace shiver as he was standing in the house without a shirt on. Luffy didn't even seem to notice.
"What if... What if they reject me?" The lights in the house started to give out one at a time.
"Worse, what if they are like my father?!" A lightbulb exploded right over the boys head. Ace sprinted to Luffy's side and took the boy in his arms.
"It's okay... Don't worry... We'll make sure they understand well." The youngest boy's stiff muscles relaxed until he hugged his brother back. The temperature in the room got back to normal and Sabo chuckled nervously.
"Sorry to break the moment but you have a bunch of light bulbs to change, better start now. You should try and understand how to control your outbursts or your friends are going to find out without you telling them." The blond spirit walked up to the two of them and sighed.
"Just... Consider it as one of the solutions we could use to that problem. You don't have to tell your friends today or tomorrow, but they deserve to know. It will happen, even if you don't want it to."
Ace nodded and headed took a box out of a closet in the entrance. The first time Luffy had started making the lights flicker a few weeks prior, Ace had gone to the store to buy a big supply of light bulbs in case Luffy started losing control. It didn't happen often, but Luffy had some abandonment and trust issues for numerous reasons since he was young and when approaching those touchy subjects, he tended to react badly.
The young medium looked down at the floor then at Kuina. "I'll get Zoro to talk to me or Sanji at least." The blue haired spirit smiled and nodded. It was a sad smile and she still seemed really worried, but it was better than before.
"Hi, guys!" The little group always came early in the morning to school to have some time to hang out. Luffy waltzed past the front gate to join his friends who were sitting on a bench under a leafless tree They were all huddled up, trying to stay warm.
"Hey, Luffy! We were waiting for you to come so we could wait inside." Usopp said as he adjusted his scarf around his neck. Luffy giggled.
"You guys are so sensitive to cold! 2 degrees isn't that bad!" (A.N.: I am talking about celsius) Zoro huffed.
"I am not cold." Vivi started shaking.
"Well, I think we should go inside, we didn't dress properly for the weather, there is a lot of wind too." Sanji looked at the girls shaking form and took off his vest to put it on her shoulders.
"Are you alright like this?" Vivi smiled and Nami rolled her eyes.
"Don't complain if you get sick."While Nami said this, Zoro smirked.
"Yeah, we wouldn't have to see your annoying face at school for a while." Sanji laughed quietly.
"Yeah, and I wouldn't have to see yours."
"Would you two stop? We are going inside and, for the record, we all know you would miss each other too much so you better not get sick Sanji!" Nami said in an annoyed tone as she dragged the two inside, followed closely by Vivi, Usopp and Luffy. Luffy looked back and his gazed locked with Kuina's, who had stayed with the group since Zoro had arrived. His smile fell slightly and transformed into a determined expression. He nodded his head to the spirit and ran back to join his friends in the school's cafeteria.
As he came closer to his friends, he smiled. Vivi took a mildly large thermos out of her bag and six cups and put them on the table. She always thought about everyone when she would do... well... anything really. This morning, seeing it was a cold November day, she had prepared hot chocolate for the group. She would often bring things to eat or drink in the morning before school, Sanji would do it too, once in a while. The blond had found out his green-haired friend often skipped breakfast before going to school and had seemed outraged after hearing it. Actually, Zoro didn't leave his room in the morning until he left the house since his father would be hungover in the morning and he simply didn't want to breathe the same air as him and seeing him when he was like that. The young teen preferred his solitude after he woke up.
"Luffy, do you want some?" To boy smiled widely and nodded, taking the cup Vivi offered him. As he drank, the medium gazed at Zoro. He looked like he always did, except the fact that he wore long sleeves. Even on the coldest days, Zoro would wear the short sleeved uniform or at least roll them up, but right now, they were covering his arms and wrists. This only confirmed what Kuina said the night before and he didn't like it at all. Finishing his cup, Luffy walked to the green-haired boy.
"Can I talk to you alone for a second please?" That sentence took everyone's attention. It wasn't often that any of them felt the need to talk to anyone else in the group in private. Maybe Vivi and Nami would sometimes do so to talk about 'girl stuff' as they dubbed it or Usopp would pull Luffy aside to talk about Kaya a bit, but aside from that, it was really rare. Nami had already noticed Sanji was always suspicious of Luffy's behavior, and she had started asking herself questions about the onyx-haired boy after the events with Arlong.
"Okay." The two boys left the cafeteria and walked into the boy's bathroom. There wasn't anyone else, it was still early, so the two could talk without anyone around.
"What is it?" Luffy looked at Zoro in the eyes and gripped his forearm with one hand, making Zoro wince.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Without saying anything, Luffy pushed up Zoro's sleeve, revealing dark spots on his skin. The two didn't move, looking at each other with a hard glare straight in the eyes.
"What do you want me to say?" Zoro finally said as he unrolled his sleeve to cover the bruises, his voice devoid of any emotion. Luffy didn't flinch.
"I want you to talk about this." Zoro's eyes narrowed.
"You don't tell anyone about yourself, why would I tell you anything?" Zoro's words hit the medium like a punch, but he still didn't waver. He had known the green-haired teen would say this.
"I will tell you one thing about me and you promise to talk to Sanji about those marks." Zoro's eyes widened slightly and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Why Sanji? You don't want me to tell you?"
"I know you won't tell me and Sanji is your best friend." Zoro looked down at his sleeve, then back at Luffy. This was something none of them had the occasion to do yet. Learn about him. They had asked a few times about unspecific things, but the raven never answered truthfully, most of the time, he would change the subjects.
"So?" Zoro sighed.
"I will talk to Sanji."
"Okay. What do you want to know?"
"Tell me, tell me about your parents? You and Ace are always alone in your apartment." Zoro asked curiously. He knew this could easily be a touchy subject, maybe they were dead or worst, but he didn't really care. Luffy wasn't the kind of person who would break out in tears because of his parent's absence, hell, Luffy got shot and he was still idiotically happy afterward.
"They left, well, my parents did. Ace's parents died and my father adopted him into our family when I was a baby. They come by the house a few times a year, but they never stay for long. My father can't really be around me without wanting to puke I think. My mother mostly just follows him around the world." The air around them started getting cold. Zoro shivered. Luffy's eyes seemed almost... Dead.
"I bet he wouldn't care if I died. Actually, he would probably be relieved. He already told me he would've preferred if I had drowned when I was young... but it doesn't really matter." Luffy regained a fake smile and the room came back to a normal temperature. "So, you are going to talk to Sanji now or after class?"
Zoro was frozen in place. He looked at Luffy and knew he said the truth, which only made his words even harder to listen to. He thought he had it hard with his family before, but after seeing Nami's situation and hearing Luffy's, he couldn't help but think he had nothing to complain about.
"I'll... talk to him soon."
Sanji had seen Zoro looked startled for a few minute when he had come back from his talk with Luffy. Nevertheless, Zoro quickly went back to being himself. The blond couldn't help being really curious about what Luffy had said, however, he wouldn't pray on the two of them to know since it was a private conversation.
The little group went to their classes as usual and reunited at lunch time in the cafeteria. After they had eaten, Zoro pulled Sanji aside.
" Can I talk to you?" The two teens weren't the most touchy-feely people and Sanji would've mocked his friend for such a request if it wasn't for Zoro's serious expression plastered on his face. He seemed in a hurry to get something off his chest too.
"Yeah sure."
When they were alone, Zoro rolled up his sleeves, showing the horrid marks on his skin. Sanji stayed quiet as he inspected them.
"Your father?" Zoro didn't say anything, but he looked into Sanji's eyes with a questioning glance.
"Of course I know it's him. I've seen him enough times to know he's an ass and drunk all the time." Zoro shook his head with a silent huff.
"This is ridiculous... I feel so weak." He chuckled lightly.
"At least I am happy you aren't keeping this to yourself... When did it start?"
"A few days ago... But he hits harder every time. It's not too bad for now. I don't have it half as bad as some other people."
"Well, Nami is fine now, her uncle is a good person." Zoro shook his head.
"I am not talking about her, I am talking about you and Luffy dumbass." Sanji froze. Zoro knew about his problem with his family but...
"Luffy actually opened up to you?" That was surprising.
"Yeah, but only if I talked to you about my situation. I won't tell you though, it's his secret to tell, not mine."
"I know, but what about you, what are you going to do about your father?" Zoro shrugged.
Zoro shrugged. "I don't know yet. I just think it's strange how Luffy knew about it right away, I don't think I was that obvious about it and he never met my father, he could've assumed I just fought with a random guy."
"Yeah... He's... perspective, I guess." Sanji said slowly.
"I think he is just trying to help in his own way."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, talking to someone about our troubles... It's just making things... a little better." Sanji smiled.
"We should get back to the others and talk more about it later. Let's go."
The two boys returned to the group and the rest of the day went by smoothly. They all went back home with a smile on their face, would it be a fake or a real smile depends on each of them individually. Zoro entered his house followed by Kuina, only to be immediately immersed by the smell of alcohol and smoke residing in the air. He slowly made his way to his room, trying to not wake up the man sitting on the couch of the living room, but failed as the floor creaked with every step he made.
The man grunted and stood, his bottle of beer still in his hand.
"I'm out of booze," He said as he turned the bottle upside down and only a single drop came out of it. He turned around toward the kitchen where a Zoro's mother was doing the dishes.
"Woman! Go get some more booze!" He turned back to Zoro, who had started making his way to his room and took him by the collar of his shirt. He didn't flinch, his expression only changed to one of disgust as he was brought close enough to his father's face to smell his breath.
"And you stay here, I got some stress to release." The man put Zoro down and smashed the bottom of his bottle against the table. Zoro stepped back and took a defensive pose. He wasn't exactly scared, but he would be lying if he would say he was completely relaxed. He wasn't the best in hand combat and he couldn't really fight back against his father, consequently making his heart beat go faster.
"I have had enough of this." Fury raged through Kuina's eyes as she stood between Zoro and the man you could hardly consider as his father. The dark blue haired spirit wanted to scream and shout out at this man, curse him to end his days miserable and alone and to be sent to hell afterward. She took the katana she always wore at the waist and raised it in front of her eyes. Her fury against the man rang through her whole body until, for not more than two or three seconds, she was visible to the man's and Zoro's eyes. Just as she did, she lunged at him and slashed at the drunk man's torso. Zoro froze as the man slumped back in pain. Zoro's mother entered the room and shrieked in horror before running straight for the phone at the sight of the blood. The cut wasn't too deep, but the man was grunting in pain on the floor as he tried to understand what had just happened while
Zoro froze as the man slumped back in pain. Zoro's mother entered the room and shrieked in horror before running straight for the phone to call an ambulance at the sight of the blood. The cut wasn't too deep, but the man was grunting in pain on the floor as he tried to understand what had just happened while he tried to stop the blood by putting pressure on his stomach with his hands, even if it wasn't very effective.
As she got off the phone, Zoro's mother turned to the teen.
"What happened?"
"He... He was about to... attack me, but... he stumbled and... hurt himself." Zoro's eyes were still wide and he wasn't sure what he had witnessed. The teen really wanted to believe what he had just said was the truth. If not...
'Kuina...'
I really like writing this story, I hope you are enjoying it as much as I do!
My chapters are all around 3k words, I am going to try and write a longer one for the next one since I have an important chapter coming up next!
For those who are also reading Headache, I am having a hard time writing the chapter since I am not the best at writing fight scenes and it will probably take a little while longer so sorry about that.
Until next time!