Title: Plummet
Theme: #17: Gravity
Claim: Zoro
(Words:) 988
Rating: PG
Warnings: Liddle bit of blood, liddle bit of language...nothing major.
Disclaimer(s): I do not own, or pretend to own, One Piece or any of its subsequent characters, plots or other ideas. That right belongs solely to Eiichiro Oda. I do not own the prompts either—those are assigned by 30_OnePiece.

He was falling.

He was plummeting from thousands of feet up, with the ocean rushing up towards him, faster and faster, darker and darker, waves crashing on jagged rocks like sharp fangs, white foam swilling wildly like from the jaws of something rabid. If he hit he would die. If he hit he would die violently. If he hit there probably wouldn't be any pieces left.

But he knew he wouldn't. Things might be rushing up at him with alarming quickness, but he knew he would never touch those rocks.

He wasn't afraid. There was no reason to be. They'd never touch him. He just had to wait.

The wind whipped past him, stung his eyes, razored at his face, sharp, scratching, insistent, and he could hear it whistling in his ears like a banshee. Almost he was inclined to think he could hear words in it, a wild screaming that insisted over and over and over that he was going to die.

You're going to die. You're going to smash on the rocks, be torn to bits, dashed to pieces, impaled like when the cook skewers meat. You're going to die. You're dying already. You're dead.

He ignored it. It was lying. He wasn't afraid. He wouldn't die. He just had to wait.

He could see the sheer rocks just off to the side, tauntingly out of reach and too smooth to catch, a flat stone face that would never let anyone save anyone else, much less themselves. The stone was red: warm red, red like blood, indistinguishable from the splatters he left on it as he plummeted, left the splashes behind, so far above.

But he was fine. He didn't need to save himself. He didn't have to worry about those spatters. He wasn't afraid; he just had to wait.

He was aware of the presence tumbling alongside him, a body, a man, shrieking frantically, writhing desperately, trying to claw its way to the useless cliff wall to save itself. Pointless, really. But then, he had very little sympathy for the man; the bastard had tried to kill his nakama, after all. The man deserved to be afraid.

As for himself, he wasn't afraid. Unlike the man, he had no reason to be. He'd be fine. He just had to wait.

His thoughts drifted idly above, so far above now, as his body fell further and further below. They were fine. They were definitely fine. He'd never call himself a believer, but he had faith in his nakama. He knew they could handle it, even without him. He'd gotten rid of the real danger, anyway. That was why they were falling together, down towards the jagged, hungry rocks below, still further but coming up fast now, faster than before.

They were taking a damned long time, but he wasn't worried. He just had to wait.

A more pressing concern was his swords. There was no real reason to worry; he didn't see them falling with him, he could only assume they'd been grabbed before he went over. He trusted his nakama well enough to look after them for his few minutes of falling, but he'd be much more reassured when he had their comforting weight at his hip again. He knew that he could handle things with them there, that he'd be fine—

But what was he worried about? He'd be fine anyway. He just had to wait.

Not that it wasn't obnoxious, to be plummeting like this, faster and faster with the wind screaming obscenities and the man screaming prayers, and only have the option of crossing his arms and waiting. If he'd had his swords he could handle this by himself—

But if he'd had his swords it'd mean their navigator would also be dead, because the bastard tumbling alongside him would have had her, so he supposes it's a good thing he doesn't, after all. Besides, that's what being on a crew was about, wasn't it—give and take, not ever having to handle everything by yourself.

It was fine. He'd be fine. He just had to wait.

But those jagged rocks were coming up fast now, far, far too fast, wet, glittering fangs in the moonlight as he plummeted through the darkness; and even if they didn't tear him to pieces, he'd heard in the past that after a certain height even falling onto open water was fatal, effectively like smashing into concrete. There wouldn't be anything left of him, not anything recognizable anyway, not after he hit—

He closed his eyes, breathed out once, opened them again. Calm. Relaxed. No fear. No worry. He wasn't going to hit. He just had to wait.

As if in answer to his patience he felt something warm and elastic wrapping suddenly around his waist, shoulders, arms, felt himself slowing, heard the other man go tumbling past him, still screaming, scratching frantically for aid. Then he was rocking away from those hungry, stony jaws and the white, rabid foam beneath him, shooting up and up again, and the wind wasn't screaming and clawing at him anymore, couldn't whisper obscenities, promise him death, because it wasn't true any longer.

Only he knew it had never been truth to begin with.

He shot over the rise, high up, snapped back at the pull of the elastic wrappings around him, and smashed into his captain, flattening him (for once) into the stone. He rolled off, lay on his back, breathed deep. He was alive, exactly like he knew he'd be.

"Sorry," Luffy said cheerfully. "These guys were more stubborn than we thought! It took longer than I figured to beat'em so I could grab you." His grin grew wider, and he taunted, "You weren't scared, were you?"

Zoro snorted, collected his swords from where they'd been placed carefully on the ground, re-sheathed by his nakama from when they'd been scattered, and said truthfully, "Not for a second, captain."

I wanted to try writing something short-ish at least once, to try and force myself down to simplicity. I can never seem to write anything short. It didn't quite work like I wanted it to (it still doesn't really qualify as a drabble) but it is under 1,000 words, so that's a start I guess...

This would have been up a few hours ago, only the site was being picky and not letting me upload.

~VelkynKarma