Chapter 13

The day of the festival arrived and the whole town was buzzing about getting ready before nightfall.

Luffy was among the busy bodies, helping Usopp place the designs that the young artist has been working on for a month and few weeks.

Sanji was cooking up a storm in his own space in the kitchen as well as barking orders for the volunteer chefs for things that will be needed for the banquet.

Ace arrived to help his brother as well as talk to him.

"Luffy? Need help here?"

Luffy looked up to see his brother and smiled as he said that he does need help.

They were setting up the decorations along the street and the eldest thought it was a good time to talk.

"I'm so sorry Luffy… If I wasn't so impatient."

"It's okay Onii-san." Luffy said with such a calm voice that it took his brother by surprise. "The both of us figured out a plan for tonight."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"We talked about that too, mostly he did, but…" He smiled a rare, grown up smile. "It's something to go by at least."

Ace felt like crying, not because Luffy acted older, but that he thought that his brother was going to risk life to help his friend over just trying to fake sick and be a coward. "You're an idiot." He said.

"So are you and look where it got us."

Ace knew that his brother didn't mean it to hurt him, but he hasn't forgiven himself. "I know…"

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"Yeah…"

"My friend, the one I always tell you about but never show you."

"Yeah?"

"He's really important to me, like you are but at a different level. If this plan doesn't work and I don't make it… Take care of him, please."

Ace didn't know what to say.

"He lives in the cove at the pathway between where I go to school and home. The plants there make it hard to go through, but once you get there you have to call out loudly so he could hear you."

"That's enough Luffy. Nothing's going to happen. He'll make sure of that." He said, putting his hope on Zoro's shoulders that this night will not end in tragedy.

Zoro, in his cove home, was thinking along the same lines as he sneezed. He thought of the plan over and over in his mind, questioning his own reasoning of the pros and cons of it and whether if he could do it. He agreed to the plan the day before, but that was when he had a horrible dream.

"My, my…" Old tentacles said. "You looked like you got all the seas on your shoulders."

"More like a life of my friends."

"Ah! So tell me, I heard you being so restless last night."

"It was just a dream."

"Dreams have a way to communicate what has yet to come."

He sighed as he explained about his dream.

"It started out as sunny in this area… I was a kid in the dream, so was Luffy. He was showing me the first time he danced. It started really normal until everything became dark. The only thing that was glowing was Luffy, but he was the same age as he is now, and was surrounded by sharks as he continued to dance. For a moment, I started to panic and I swam up to him. When I went up to him, he immediately changed into the kid version of me… but… I was dead… Then I heard Luffy call out my name. I turned and I saw him as a kid, then he just grew up the farther away he was. He was running, but I guess I was moving farther from him. Then I felt like I was trapped when I couldn't see him anymore. I swam around in the dark, but I couldn't find an exit. Then I heard a man's laugh. I turned to see Crocodile, along with other faces I couldn't see, laughing to the point that it drove me insane. Then I saw Luffy again… He was different though…"

"Different?"

"He… He wore something that a bride from some foreign land would wear. It was red, his favorite color, and he reached his hand out towards me. He said something… But I couldn't make it out. That's when I saw a knife, or something really sharp, behind him as it went down…. Then I woke up."

"It's sounds like a very serious message."

"I don't know what it's about. But I hope it doesn't mean that he'll be hurt… I can't live with myself if he got himself hurt because of me."

"Why not talk to that one woman? The one you go to whenever there's something wrong."

"Robin?" He thought about it and decided that it wouldn't hurt to talk to the woman.

When he arrived, however, she was gone.

"She must've turned herself into a human or gone to get more supplies." He said as he swam back, only to bump into Nami. "You again?"

"It's nice to see you to." Nami said. "How are things in the surface?"

"Terrible." He responded as he filled her in on the latest twist.

"No!" She said, surprised to hear the news. "What are you going to do?"

"He and I talked about it."

"And?"

"I hope it works… Since I'm the one who's going to be watched to see if I did the job right."

She felt sorry for the sharkman and sighed. "You're just really unlucky, aren't you?"

"Being found by Luffy was the luckiest day of my life." He said. "But yeah… this time it wasn't my fault."

"You're mother's death wasn't your fault."

"But my existence was."

"You don't know that."

"Doesn't matter now. I'm more worried about Luffy than the crappy past."

"You really do care about him, don't you." She said, not as a question.

"He's my friend."

"It's more than that."

"That's really none of your business."

"Can't help it! It's woman's intuition."

"Intuition my tail!"

"Face it Zoro! He's not just some kid who saved and befriended you anymore! He's someone that's close to being a man and that you care for him far more than a brother would."

"SHUT UP!" He shouted, surprising himself and the mermaid.

"You're in denial… You have to let go the fact that the feelings you have for him are no longer between two friends."

"Don't you think I know that?"

"What's stopping you?"

He chuckled dryly. "My best friend is an idiot. Naïve, carefree and an innocent fool."

She realized what he was saying and sighed. "You don't want to scare him off…"

"You know…" He looked at her. "I had this horrible nightmare, and there's something about me being killed as a kid. Of course it was impossible because I'm here. But now I know what it means. I've seen humans mate on the beaches while I was growing up. I learned more about things than Luffy could have at school about how humans attract and how they go about with that attraction… It was my innocent mind of thinking of 'just friends' being killed off in my dream. Thanks for clearing that up for me." He said as he swam off.

Nami just floated there, completely unsure what the hell he was talking about. "You're welcome?"