hi. this is my longest chapter. i've also started school so sorry if updates are even MORE later than already orz. i'LL TRY TO GET BETTER WITH MY UPDATES BUT ENJOY THIS LONG CHPATER

It was when Luffy was sitting on Zoro's couch with a towel wrapped around his shoulders, wearing oversized clothes that weren't his, that Luffy realized Sabo was probably going to kill him.

Zoro was milling around the kitchen behind the living room, grabbing them something to drink and eat while they waited out this storm, turned his head when he heard Luffy flop sideways on the couch and groan loudly.

"…Something wrong?"

"I'm gonna die."

Zoro paused, blinking. "…How?"

Luffy sat up and turned to look at him, his eyes wide and stressed. "My big brother! He's a total worrywart, he's way overprotective of me and my future and how I act, even moreso sometimes than my GRAMPS, and if this storm keeps lasting like this, I'll be dead because I won't get home! Then when I DO get home, he'll kill me!" He exclaimed, waving his arms for good measure.

Zoro tossed him a can of soda and walked over to the living room, sitting next to Luffy on the couch with a bag of chips in his hand. Holding out the bag, he offered some to Luffy, who gladly shoveled in three fistfuls of chips before going on to explain more.

"To make it even worse, I didn't even tell him I was going out, and he's already so busy with his job and his weird friend group and the tests he has to go through…He's been through a lot and I just didn't want to worry him today, but look what I'm doing now. I sat in the rain for three hours and then now I'm sitting in some guy's house wearing his clothes and—" Luffy paused to grab more chips, "—Eating all his chips! …You have more, right?"

Zoro snorted, "Yes, I have more. But you mentioned something about worrying him today, is it something specific?" He wondered, before continuing, "You kind of looked like you were crying earlier when I found you."

Luffy pulled his knees up, wrapping his arms around them. He noticed for a moment that the sleeves of the sweatshirt fell over his hands, letting his fingers the only thing be shown. And how the shorts he wore currently had to be rolled three times before they didn't slide down his waist and sat comfortably.

"…Luffy?" Zoro prodded, and Luffy shook his head to focus once more.

"Right! Sorry. Let's see…" Luffy fell sideways once more, this time toward Zoro so his head was almost touching his leg. "About a year ago, me and my family got into a car accident. Some road rage driver hit us straight on. It was me, my gramps, and my two brothers." Luffy explained, "It was really scary and really fast. Gramps was perfectly fine, he's kind of like a human steel wall, and Sabo was hit in the eye with some glass stuff and got pretty scarred up there. I was…hurt really badly." Luffy's hand drifted up to his chest and gripped the material of the sweatshirt tightly.

"If…you don't want to continue telling me, it's fine." Zoro immediately said when he saw this, "If. It's too hard for you to explain, I mean."

Luffy shook his head, a little smile gracing his face. "No, I'm fine, don't worry. I bounce back from things quickly!" He nodded at Zoro, before laying on his back and looking at the ceiling. "Anyway…I got hurt really badly and had to be operated on quickly, cuz I was dying, but it didn't really matter to me in the moment when the car accident happened. The only thing that mattered to me is that I could hear, and I could hear that my brother Ace wasn't answering any of us."

Zoro felt like there was a rock in his stomach. He knew where this was probably headed.

"Gramps had pulled me and Sabo out of the car, I remember that. The bastard who hit us had just run away…But Ace…He wasn't in the car. He had flown out. He had gotten impaled pretty badly by something from the car, I can't remember what, I just remember blurry vision and a LOT of screaming." Luffy's voice was somewhat shaky now, his breath uneven. "He was the worst out of all of us. He was literally on the brink of death, I had some time, but he…Everyone thought he was dead. The ambulances came, people helped us out, and now here we are. I've a giant scar on my chest, Sabo's blind in one eye and Ace…Well, he's alive, but he lives with some friends instead of us. He's not doing well…He's still trying to heal from that day…but he's alive, at least." Luffy raised his hands up, seeing them shake as he made a valiant attempt to calm himself down.

Things were getting blurred again, he felt nervous and paranoid now, and like there was still blood on his hands from the whole accident…His scar ached and he felt dizzy, like he was in the situation again and—

There was a strong grip on his hands. Luffy blinked, his vision clearing up and tilted his head up to see Zoro leaning over him slightly and holding his hands. Zoro had a serious set to his eyes, which Luffy now noticed were a sharp blue color.

"Zoro?"

Zoro looked down at him, then quickly averted his eyes. "Sorry. You looked like you were about to freak, so I just…kind of did something my sister used to do for me when I was always about to get like that." Zoro pulled his hands away from Luffy's, as Luffy sat up and faced him.

"Your sister…Wait, did something happen to you, too?" Luffy looked stunned, Zoro nodding slowly.

"It was a long time ago. I had a friend who I'd practice my swordsmanship against, she was the best one I've ever met. She died the night of our final duel, putting the sword I asked her to use away. She fell down and broke her neck." Zoro clarified. "But…Not only that, but years later, Just about a year and a half ago, I also got a scar on my chest. It was an accident, completely. I was training with my Father, I slipped up, and got a giant slice right across my chest. I lived, as you can see, but he was really upset about it. After that, whenever I'd start freaking out about either of those things, my little sister, Perona, would come over to me and hold my hands." He shrugged. "It just kind of…grounded me."

"You're a swordsman?! With REAL swords?!" Luffy gasped. "That's amazing!"

"Not THAT amazing," Zoro shook his head, glad the subject was getting lighter. "I still have a long ways to go until I'm as good as Father, or someone like Ryuma."

"You said your Dad sliced your chest open? And you had a scar, right?" Luffy looked like he was about to fly off the couch with excitement. "Can I see? Preeetty please? Unless it bothers you, but it sounds really really cool looking! I've always loved swordsmen and seeing them battle and seeing like, the scars and stuff, because it's amazing how tough they can be!"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm pretty much over what happened anyway. I saw it as something to make me stronger." Zoro wasn't about to question the strangeness of being asked to show his chest to someone he JUST met, he's seen Sanji have weirder experiences at clubs, so he tugged off his shirt without a moments hesitation.

As soon as Luffy stared in wonder at it, Zoro realized how awkward this would be if someone had walked in, Luffy's hand hovering over his chest, over the scar.

Luffy, meanwhile, was thrilled to be able to see such a thing. The scar a clean cut, direct slice from Zoro's shoulder to his waist, all raised and sharp looking. He could only imagine the battle that happened to get this, the trials Zoro had to go through..! Swordsmanship was always such an exciting topic for Luffy, as he grew up around one certain red-haired swordsman himself. Just as Luffy was about to ask if he could touch the scar…

"Hey, Marimo, I'm back. The rain was fucking killer, hope you caught a cold."

Zoro's shoulders tensed as he quickly whipped his shirt back on and turned to face the shocked face of Sanji, who looked at Zoro and then darted his eyes to Luffy, then back to Zoro.

"No. No fucking way. Impossible." Sanji began, taking off his raincoat slowly. "This is impossible."

"This isn't what it looks like." Zoro countered, "He was stuck in the rain. I was being nice. I took him in."

"Really? Because from here it looked like you were having another round in the rain with this shortie who's wearing things that I know can't be his, because they're like 80 sizes too big, Roronoa." Sanji put a hand on Zoro's shoulder, shaking his head. "I can't believe it…You finally got with someone…You got with someone before I got with someone! That just isn't right!"

"He's wearing my clothes because his were wet, Sanji. That's IT. I barely even know him. The most we did was eat your stash of chips."

Luffy tilted his head, running that name by him again. Sanji? Where had he heard that before? Leaning slightly so he could see past the tree that is Roronoa Zoro, he made a loud noise of shock, causing Zoro to jump and turn to look at him, pissed off, and Sanji to look confused.

"It's Mr. Curly, from culinary class!" Luffy declared, and Sanji took a step back.

"Monkey D. Luffy?! The kid who eats ALL the leftovers AND fails at cooking ANYTHING?!" Sanji pointed at him, then looked at Zoro. "You got with the guy who kept sleeping behind the building?!"

"I didn't get with him—"

"You're friends with Mr. Curly, Zoro?! He's so weird in class, he gets so angry all the time!"

"What do you mean Mr. Curly?!"

Zoro growled, pissed off now, turning on his heel and looking out the window. The rain had stopped. It was clearing up. Zoro briskly walked down the hall into his room where he had put Luffy's clothes in a bag, and where Luffy's phone was charging (After being dead) on his clock. Bringing all these things back into the living room, he dumped them into Luffy's hands. "Here." He grunted. "You don't want to keep your brother waiting. He's probably worried, like you said."

Luffy turned on his phone, hesitant to leave, only to be greeted by 12 missed calls and multiple angry text messages. He let out a big sigh, standing up with his clothes in hand. "You're right. I'll call him back and have him pick me up from here…" Luffy mumbled. He really wanted to hang out some more…

Zoro opened his door for Luffy, "Sorry about what happened, by the way."

"Mm?" Luffy tilted his head, then remembered. "Oh! Thanks. No worries though, It'll end up fine!" He nodded happily. "I'll be seeing you later, then! Thank you for having me! Sorry about your chips, Mr. Curly." Luffy laughed as he stepped out, waving to the both of them.

"Try not to sit in the rain again for three hours." Zoro replied before shutting the door once Luffy had made it half way down the apartment halls.

Luffy hummed to himself after he had finished calling Sabo, feeling a lot better than he did earlier. The rain was cleared, the sun was coming back out, and he had met someone new! Not to mention, Sabo wasn't that angry once he explained the situation.

There was only one thing left to do.

(5:57 P.M.)

Sorry for never replying, mystery guy! I got caught up in a lot of stuff like life, and then I met someone really nice and we hung out and stuff. My phone also died.

(5:58 P.M.)

That's fine. I met someone as well.

(5:58 P.M.)

Really? That's good! What were they like?

(5:58 P.M)

…Really nice. And Loud. They reminded me of you, in a way.

Luffy smiled, locking his phone for the time being. There was a strange happiness that Mystery-guy was reminded of him when he met other people. But this conversation brought another topic to his mind…

"I wonder when I'll actually be able to meet mystery-phone-guy?"