[voice] action to Straw Hats

[yourotherleft]

[if he sounds groggy, like he just woke up, spoilers - he did. He's been asleep for nearly two days.]

Book's empty. Oi...everybody alive?

We got the bastard, at least. Dunno about the rest.

I'm hungry.

[and grateful to whoever wrapped him up and left him in his hammock to sleep off his blood loss. But he is rather swaddled in bandages (again) and wondering what he missed while he slept]

Comments

voice;

[seakingbait]

I'm okay... more worried about you.

Can I bring you anything? Some stew? More medicine?

[Please stay in bed.]

voice;

[yourotherleft]

Keimi. [he's happy to hear her sounding well]

Don't need medicine, but I'm hungry. That'd be nice.

voice > action;

[seakingbait]

[She's bringing you medicine whether you like it or not.]

I'll warm some up. Be there in a few minutes.

[And so she does. She knocks politely and pokes her head into the room.]

Zoro-chin? Are you still awake?

[She'd almost prefer if you went back to bed. Get some damn rest.]

action;

[yourotherleft]

[fortunately the men's cabin is pretty quiet, except for him and an impatient bald kitten in his adorable sweater. Blue is pretty annoyed that he can't climb into the hammock to be with Zoro, but he sure is trying. Zoro just keeps batting him away with a gentle hand.]

Oh, hey. That was quick. It's all right.

action;

[seakingbait]

[She smiles, pushing open the door. She's bandaged up pretty well, herself, but she does her best to keep it covered under a larger-than-usual shirt. Next to Zoro, she sets a tray with a bowl of warm beef stew and some pain ointment.]

You doing okay?

action;

[yourotherleft]

Yeah.

[ooh beef stew. That immediately distracts Blue. Zoro shifts to sit up and take the food.]

I could sleep another twelve hours, but eh. Food's good, too. Thanks.

[seakingbait]

D-don't push yourself! If you need to rest, then rest!

[yourotherleft]

I'm fine, really.

[he will insist until the day he dies, probably literally.]

How're you doing? I lost track of you in the fog, you okay?

[seakingbait]

[And she will continue to insist he should relax.]

I'll be okay.

[She was just chased around by nightmare slavers and man-eating fish. No big.]

I broke one of those altars, at least.

[yourotherleft]

Oh? [looks up with interest with the spoon halfway to his lips] Good job. Knew you had it in you.

...piss off, Blue, this is my lunch. Dinner. What time is it, anyway?

[seakingbait]

Midnight.

[Said as she bends down to scratch Blue behind the ear. Hey, kitty, no food for you.]

So it's like dinner-breakfast?

[yourotherleft]

[munches quietly for a moment, and then looks around the men's cabin. Somebody's on watch for him, then. The others? Cook is probably in the galley...]

Where's Luffy?

[seakingbait]

I'm not sure. Sleeping somewhere, probably.

[meatthefuture]

[he's exhausted and sleeps deep and when he wakes up, he wakes up alone in the cabin. Bepo is gone. Usopp is gone. Sanji has disappeared--

and suddenly he wonders if Zoro is gone, too. He falls out of his hammock as he tries to get out of it and croaks out]

Zoro! Oii! [though he can't get his voice very high. He was yelling a lot those days]

[yourotherleft]

[Not to worry, Luffy, Zoro is still in his hammock. Less asleep than he was, but not moving very far. So, not as alone as you thought.]

Mm? I'm right here, Luffy.

[meatthefuture]

[Oh. Luffy rubs the heel of his hand against his eye. Why are you hiding, Zoro. He grabs the blanket from his hammock and drags it and himself over to where Zoro is before flopping on his swordsman's chest and pulling the blanket over his own head.]

'm tired.

[yourotherleft]

sssssssssshit Luffy!

[he's not too sore as long as he doesn't move much, but Luffy flopping on top of his bandaged parts definitely counts as moving too much.

It's over quickly, though, and then he just heaves a big huff]

Yeah, so am I. What, can't sleep?

[meatthefuture]

[oh yeah sorry about those. He wiggles so he doesn't put too much pressure on them and sighs]

Don't wanna anymore. [he keeps having bad dreams] It's gonna be hard.

[yourotherleft]

[yes good much better. Zoro squints at the top of his head sticking out from the blankets]

Don't wanna, huh. Guess it's a good thing I'm awake, too. We can both be awake.

[and, you know, hang or whatever. The men's cabin sure is quiet.]

[meatthefuture]

But you need to sleep so you can heal. [but it was probably really hard for Zoro, too. Luffy heaves a huge sigh] Today I wanna go home....

[yourotherleft]

I slept a lot already. [he swears! totally!] I'll be fine. You get banged up or what?

[he didn't notice, as Luffy suddenly appeared on top of him. The admission makes him sigh again; he feels the same, and has done his share of moping and fighting with Sanji about it. Knowing the cook is gone again just makes it all raw and fresh.]

...me too, Luffy. Dunno why the big jerk didn't send us home when we attacked him.

[meatthefuture]

[he can feel it though a little. Zoro's rawness. There's nothing to help it, though. Except to wait. He snakes out a hand to push away from the wall and set the hammock swinging gently before ducking it back in again to the warmth under the blanket.]

We're gonna have to keep being strong even if everyone goes. [he doesn't like it. he's afraid of that more than anything but--he won't let that fear make him stand still anymore. He had to keep going forward somehow]


But you and Sanji will be okay.

[no matter where they were. Or for how long]

[yourotherleft]

[That makes him turn his face away, briefly. He isn't worried about that at all, but the feelings knotted in his chest are so weird and he doesn't know what to do with them. He can't even give them names.]

I know. I'm not...

It's like you say. We have to be strong. No matter what happens to us, or who doesn't come back. We have to get back to them.

[meatthefuture]

Yeah... [curls up even more because he misses people so much. Some people he feels he hasn't seen in forever. They are waiting for them but not seeing them is so hard]

We have to remember who is waiting for us. [like what Jimbe said.] It's cuz you guys were waiting that I could train back then.

[back when he was lonelier than this]

[yourotherleft]

Yeah?

[he can't help the little tiny huff of a laugh] And here I was always thinking about how you were waiting for us to catch up to you.