Luffy walked away from the park entrance when Zoro left to go home and went to his cave. He was nervous about tomorrow. He hadn't left this place in a half a century. It was weird to think of it that way. He didn't really know Zoro, but he had no one else in the world to talk to or be around, and Zoro seemed to genuinely be interested with him and enjoyed his company. Luffy hoped he wasn't just thinking overly optimistic.
He wondered what Zoro's house was going to be like. He didn't remember his own house, or what it looked like. He wondered what Zoro was going to show him. He wanted to get a better look at the "inturnet".
Honestly, he didn't know how he felt about Zoro "looking up" Luffy's tragic death. He saw Luffy's bloody body, something Luffy never wanted anyone to see. Did Zoro pity him now? Sure, it made sense to feel bad for him, alone and invisible to everyone for fifty one years, but seeing something like that… it was a different case. Luffy wondered if Zoro saw him bloody and dead when he looked at him. Well, he was dead, but that was also a different case.
Luffy couldn't stop seeing how amazed Zoro was in that cave. It was really one of the only things Luffy liked about glowing. He also liked that he would light up the area around him at night, making his body his own personal and permanent lantern.
Luffy sat down in his cave and doodled on the wall with his light coming from the tip of his fingers. The images didn't stay long and faded, just to make more room for Luffy to draw some more. He didn't draw anything in particular for a while, just patterns. But then he started drawing the massive trees, covering one whole side of the cave.
Luffy then wandered around the rest of the night, excited for tomorrow.
Zoro got up pretty early; he didn't want to make Luffy wait. He put on a shirt and a light jacket, since it was still early and chilly, and left the house, locking the door behind him this time. His parents were both at work today, so he and Luffy wouldn't be bothered. Well, more like his parents wouldn't be concerned about Zoro's mental state, talking to a ghost no one else could see.
He was surprised to see Luffy wasn't on the lawn of the park entrance. Zoro thought he might have not expected Zoro to come so early. There weren't many people, and most of them were going into the park on runs since it was still cold.
He finally saw Luffy as he exited a trail and walked onto the main road, not really paying attention and getting run through by a runner. He gasped in pain and clutched his chest, grimacing. It looked like it really hurt. Zoro ran over to him.
"Hey, are you ok?" Zoro asked, concerned.
"Zoro!" Luffy said happily, seeming to forget his pain. "Oh, I'm ok. It hurts when I touch people. I'm ok now though," he said, brushing the topic off. Zoro decided he would try his best not to touch Luffy on accident and definitely not on purpose.
"Did you still want to come to my house?" Zoro asked seriously, prepared to be declined, but Luffy just beamed and said he still wanted to go. Zoro felt a strange surge of relief. "Ok good," he said, wearing a small smile.
Zoro led Luffy to his new house, not speaking as Luffy looked around in wonder. The houses were huge and fancy. Finally Zoro stopped at the driveway for a large, two-story house. It had a large tree in the lawn, and double doors with glass planes on the side.
"Are you rich or something?" Luffy asked curiously. He didn't know much about how expensive houses were these days, but he knew it must have cost a lot of money.
"Kinda. My dad has a good paying job. Do you remember what your house was like?" Zoro asked curiously. Did he really not remember anything about his life when he was alive? Luffy thought for a moment, but couldn't come up with a suitable answer.
"I don't remember, but we must not have been well off. That car was crappy even before it crashed," Luffy answered casually, causing Zoro to laugh at the bluntness about the topic of what happened in that crash. Well, around Zoro, but he didn't know that.
"My parents aren't supposed to be home, so I can talk to you without sounding crazy," Zoro said as he lead Luffy up the steps and unlocked the door.
"Do you ever think you are? Like, you're crazy and hallucinating that you met a glowing dead kid?" Luffy asked as he entered the house and looked around in awe. It was even fancier on the inside. There were boxes everywhere, indicating they just moved here. It was a bit dim in the entrance, since the windows above the tall door had curtains closed. Luffy's glow reflected off the tile underneath him.
"If I was imagining all this, then I must be on some hardcore drugs," Zoro replied. He watched Luffy's glow illuminate the area. He couldn't get over how amazing and just beautiful it was. "When was the last time you were in a building?" he asked while taking off his shoes. Luffy couldn't take off his flip flops. They were a strange choice when he was living. He didn't dress like everyone else and never combed his hair like all the other guys. His black hair was messy and unruly. Not quite like bedhead, but definitely not nice and fixed up. Luffy couldn't take off his clothes or shoes even if he wanted to.
"Not in a very long time. I don't really even remember the last time I was inside a house. Probably the day I died, but I can't remember. Though I assume it wasn't as fancy as here."
Zoro's dog, Chopper came barreling into the entrance hall and ran right through Luffy, who hadn't seen the little terrier in time and hissed in pain. He hated that! He usually did a good job making sure not to touch anyone, but twice in one day was ridiculous. His legs tingled for a moment after the stinging pain faded. Zoro wanted to scold Chopper, but really he didn't even know Luffy was there. Zoro wanted to try something.
He picked Chopper up under the front legs and held him right up to Luffy, who had turned around and asked curiously what Zoro was doing. He didn't say anything as he waited for Chopper to sense Luffy, but it didn't happen. He frowned a bit and put Chopper down, who ran off right away and didn't come back. "Animals can't see me either," Luffy told him, somewhat sadly.
"That's weird. In all those movies and stories animals can sense ghosts or spirits."
"Those are just movies, though. They sure sound more interesting than just wandering around for fifty years," Luffy replied.
"Mostly scaring, killing and haunting people," Zoro pointed out. Luffy nodded in response. He hadn't seen a movie in forever. Or read a book. He thinks he used to like reading, but didn't know what genre.
"Can I see the internet now?" Luffy asked suddenly and eagerly.
"Yeah let's go to my room," Zoro replied as he walked up the carpet stair case. Luffy was surprised when his foot sunk into the stair like it was mud. He yanked it out before Zoro could notice and tried walking up the next step. He growled in irritation as he sunk into the second step. What the hell? Zoro heard him growl behind him and turned around to see both of Luffy's feet stuck in the steps.
"What the hell?" Zoro asked. Luffy yanked both feet up and clung to the railing and stood up on it, not sinking on the wood. He walked upwards on the railing, making Zoro stare in awe and surprise. He walked up the steps next to Luffy, who looked thoroughly irritated. Sinking into the steps hadn't been pleasant. Not only was it frustrating, but it felt like tremendous pressure was pressing against his legs. It had been a long time since he felt pain or discomfort not including walking through the living.
He sat down on the railing that surrounded the walkway separating two part of the house. Luffy wanted to explore it, but that would be rude to go wandering around someone else's house. He hesitantly put one foot on the carpet and was glad when he didn't sink.
"Gah that was annoying!" Luffy exclaimed as he jumped once on the floor to make sure he wouldn't sink. "That's never happened before."
"When was the last time you climbed stairs? There aren't any in the park, right? But you did fine climbing the rocks…" Zoro pondered. Another interesting occurrence with Luffy.
"No there aren't any stairs and I don't remember. I honestly have no idea why that happened. I'll just jump down or slide down the banister," Luffy said decidedly.
"Hmm…" Zoro said as he lead Luffy down the hall and into his room. Luffy walked in, taking in the surroundings. Zoro closed the door behind them and was somewhat uncharacteristically uncomfortable with Luffy looking around his room and didn't know why. Luffy walked right through the only box left. He was too distracted looking at everything he'd never seen before. A bunk of techy junk on a stand and a bunch of books just thrown around on a shelf.
"I thought you couldn't walk through stationary things," Zoro said as he watched Luffy's legs pass through the cardboard and its contents smoothly.
"How long has it been here?" Luffy asked, finally looking from the room back to Zoro. Zoro replied "not long" so Luffy explained that he'd noticed he can walk through stationary objects if they hadn't been there for a while. "Can you show me the internet now?" Luffy questioned, beaming from the prospect of seeing something new.
"Yeah," Zoro said as he reached to the desk to get to his laptop and sat on the bed. Without thinking, Luffy sat down only to sink right through it, looking like he had his head cut off and sitting on the bed. He huffed irritatedly and stood up. Zoro tried not to laugh at Luffy's angry face as he sat down on the floor, motioning for Luffy to do the same. Luffy carefully sat down right next to Zoro, making sure not to bump into him - well, through him.
Zoro spent the next two hours going through websites like YouTube and Facebook and other ones. Luffy asked him to go to Google, enthralled with everything he was seeing. He proceeded to ask Zoro to search random facts about anything and everything that just popped into his mind. Eventually, Luffy's attention strayed from the computer.
He looked around again and his gaze fell to the skinny screen on the wooden stand. "Is that a TV?" he asked curiously, leaning back on his hands. Like the phone, Luffy remembered what a TV was, though this one was much thinner.
"Yeah. It's actually pretty small compared to the one downstairs."
"Oo can we go see it?" the ghost boy asked excitedly. Zoro nodded, suddenly slightly irritated Luffy wanted to leave his room. He felt weird today. Zoro agreed and stood up, closing and putting his laptop on the bed, and left the room.
"Wait, I wanna see something," Zoro said, turning back around and closing the bedroom door. Luffy looked at him with his eyebrows raised, waiting for the question. "Can you walk through the door?"
Luffy honestly didn't know, but was now curious as well. He walked forward and put his hand on the door, somewhat expecting it to be solid, but it just passed right through the wood. The rest of his body followed. Zoro grinned, just not being able to get over how amazing it was that Luffy could just fluidly slide through objects. Luffy passed back through into the room before pressing the same hand against the wall. He didn't move through it.
"See, stationary objects are solid to me but the door moves so I guess that's why I was able to walk through it." Zoro nodded, opening the door again so he could go out. Luffy didn't want to sink into the steps mysteriously so he jumped off the platform, making no noise when his feet touched the tiled floor, reflecting his glow again. Zoro quickly walked down the stairs.
Luffy made sure to pay attention to where he was walking since he didn't want to sink into the floor again. He still couldn't figure out was caused it. Secretly it unnerved him greatly. Would he have gotten stuck? He didn't notice Zoro had been talking until he stopped.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Luffy had been so excited about going to see the giant TV, but now he was frowning and looking at his feet.
Luffy looked up quickly. He hadn't even noticed what was around him as he followed Zoro. "What?"
"You're being really quiet and frowning."
"Oh, I'm just thinking about sinking in the stairs. It was scary. What if I had gotten stuck? There's no way you could pull me out. I'm never climbing stairs again," Luffy said forcefully with a single nod, like he'd made a momentous decision. Zoro smirked.
"Good luck with that," he said as he turned around and entered the kitchen. Luffy followed and tried sitting on one of the stools at the counter, only to slide down and land on his butt. He scowled and sat on top of the counter, which had obviously been there a while, and watched Zoro make some sort of food. It was cereal, so thankfully he couldn't smell it.
Zoro walked around the room with his bowl of cereal as he set up the giant TV. He put on an animted movie he'd think Luffy would like and they spent the next few hours watching the movie. Luffy's face was full of wonder through the whole thing. Zoro found it quite entertaining. Luffy had to sit on the floor because he was tired of seeing Zoro try to hide his laughter when he'd sink through the furniture. Well, it would be hard to watch a movie with half your head is into a couch. He couldn't really feel it, so he didn't mind sitting on the floor.
By the time the movie was over, it was getting dark outside. Darker than usual at this time. Luffy went to the window and saw it was raining. It wasn't surprising considering how cold it was in the morning. Well, to Zoro. Luffy didn't get hot or cold.
"It's getting dark, I should go back," he said happily. Zoro didn't miss the happiness and relief in his voice. Zoro understood that it must have been difficult to be somewhere else for a whole day when he hadn't left said place in half a century.
"But it's raining," Zoro said obviously. It was also pretty windy.
"That's fine. I don't get wet, remember?" Luffy said as he went to the front door. He turned around to see Zoro still lounging on the couch. "Do you want to hang out tomorrow?" Luffy asked, a bit hesitant. Zoro nodded, causing Luffy to beam. "I'll be at the entrance again," he said as he walked through the door.