Fic post: Absence, chapter 8, part 2
Sep. 26th, 2010 07:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainsometimesTitle: Absence, chapter 8. Part two.
Continued from Chapter 8, part 1. For disclaimer, warning and more info, see that part.
It was late in the afternoon and getting on towards dinner when Zoro took a break from training, leaving his spot on the third deck next to the tangerine trees. Usually he’d train up in the big crow’s nest, but Luffy had turned up there after lunch, doing nothing but watching the horizon with a dull, grey look. He didn’t look as if he wanted much to do with anyone, including first mates who didn’t treat him like a captain anymore. Zoro had climbed down without comment, bringing a couple of weights with him to do lifting and go through his forms down below instead. There was plenty of room beside Nami’s tangerine trees, Robin’s flowerbeds and the little work bench that nobody used. He’d trained, meditated, then trained some more for about five hours, now.
He felt grimly satisfied that he’d continued for as long as he usually did, not stopping earlier as he had yesterday. He still felt more worn out and tired than normal, though.
Zoro was well aware that they were getting ever closer to the island; already seakings and other monsters from the depths were becoming more numerous, and once they arrived, they might well encounter human threats again, too. He couldn’t keep going as he had for a long time now, feeling wrapped up in cotton, weighed down, distant. He needed his senses sharp, his attention awake and ready; he needed to be fully aware of his surroundings if he wanted to hear the voice of everything so that his swords could cut true.
But the intent alone didn't make it so. Every time he tried to push his mind to open up, to listen closer and focus outward, he felt raw and exposed, like tender skin being battered by a fierce hailstorm. It hurt, and he'd feel as if he were slowly choked. His mind shied away again, going back into retreat.
It disturbed and frustrated him: he didn’t usually back away from anything just because it was painful. Still, he just couldn't seem to find the right way to push through.
The sounds of guitar and violin tunes had drifted on and off through the air as he’d trained, the melodies starting and then stopping again, as if Brook couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted to play. But maybe he was just practising. Now, however, the tunes had stopped, and it was only a smooth, sweepy noise that met Zoro as he walked down to the Lawn Deck, intending to find himself a place in the shade to take a nap in.
Brook was sitting on the bench around one of the two big trees. His guitar and his violin had both been put aside, and he was sharpening his sword on a whetstone, humming something faintly under his breath as he worked.
“Ah – Mr Zoro. Please, do sit down.” Brook made an expansive, sweeping gesture towards their surroundings, as if all of Lawn Deck belonged to him. Zoro thought it over, glancing at a spot by the wall, but then sat down under the tree as well. There was plenty of room on the bench.
They sat quietly for a while, Zoro resting with his hands behind his head and Brook keeping on humming and sharpening his sword.
Finally, Brook put the whetstone aside with a very neat and precise movement. He sheathed his sword, took out an old tattered handkerchief from his coat pocket and threw it into the air. Metal flashing, he drew lightning-quick and split the handkerchief clean down the middle. The cloth fell to the ground in two pieces.
“There!” pronounced Brook with satisfaction, bending down to picks them up. “True, I could have been faster,” he noted, “but at least the edge appears to be sharp enough, for the moment. I must say, I’m pleased I was able to follow the old cut exactly. Not one thread askew.” He grinned widely – actually, Zoro supposed Brook technically always grinned, but he’d gotten used to reading the angles of Brook’s ‘face’ by now, and his mouth seemed particularly grin-like at the moment.
“You do that a lot?” said Zoro.
“Oh yes,” said Brook, nodding vigorously. “An excellent method for testing the edge. But handkerchiefs do not grow on trees, alas! Or so our lovely, stingy navigator tells me, when it comes to the question of pocket-money. No matter! I came prepared.”
He fished out needle, thread and scissors, then sat down and began to sew up the handkerchief again. After a few stitches (and one “ouch!” when he pricked his bony finger on the needle), Brook lifted his head a tiny bit and tilted it towards Zoro.
“I gather we are likely to arrive at our destination quite soon,” he said "Perhaps tomorrow, Miss Nami believes.”
Zoro nodded. “Okay. Got it.” He fingered Shushui's hilt briefly: for his part, his arms felt heavier than his swords did, lately.
Having finished his sewing, Brook picked up his violin again, and started to play another tentative string of notes.
“I should probable practice more,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s a pity our styles are so different, Mr Zoro. It would be difficult to find a sparring technique that would suit us both.”
Zoro wasn't sure about that, actually, but before he had the chance to say so, Brook had already continued, “Do you anticipate much trouble for us over there?”
“Could be,” said Zoro neutrally. “Doesn't hurt to be prepared. Not the main issue, though.” He gave Brook a considering look. Well. Whether this pain could be worked through or not, there was still something he needed to tell others in the crew. He’d prefer to talk to everyone, but he didn’t think all of them were ready to hear it, yet.
“Brook. Listen,” he said.
“Hm?” Brook angled his head attentively toward Zoro, the melody winding down.
“This is what I think,” said Zoro, his words slow, measured. He shifted position, sitting up a bit straighter, looking at a blade of grass in his hand. “We need a sniper.”
Brook stilled, the melody ceasing entirely. He put the violin in his lap, not saying anything.
Zoro went on, his voice steady now that he had finally started. “We need someone who can shoot accurately from a long way off. Who can use the ship’s cannons to their full potential. There are several of us with long-range attacks, but that’s not enough. We need precision, range, reliability....” Superhuman aim would be great; as would a great deal of flexibility in terms of ammunition, but Zoro realised those things would be unrealistic to hope for. “...We need someone who’s good at hitting their target under all kinds of conditions.”
He turned his head and gave Brook a sharp look. “We’ve come all this way, fighting together, either teaming up or taking care of different opponents one-on-one.” He heard his voice getting harder, his jaw tightening. “The longer we’ve sailed, the harder it’s been, each island tougher than the last. And... Well. There’s been few battles where we didn’t need absolutely everybody who was there just to survive, let alone win.” He turned away again, slumping. There were way too many memories in his head. Setting his teeth, he waited a few moments until the largest waves of them had receded.
Taking a deep breath, he let out a long sigh. “I don’t see why we’d magically get weaker opponents from now on. Especially here in the New World. It would make no sense, thinking that.”
Brrok hmm-ed in a drawn-out, melodious way. “No-o, that wouldn’t make much sense,” he agreed. His fingers were idly plucking the violin strings. “Ah... Has this been much on your mind lately, Mr Zoro?”
Zoro nodded. “Even getting Luffy back to his senses... it’s not enough. We’re not enough, like this.” He leaned forward, massaging his forehead tiredly. “I don’t want to get another sniper,” he admitted. “It would be weird for whoever we got… I don’t know if I could get past them being a… a replacement. I don’t want a replacement. But...” he went on reluctantly, “what I want doesn't matter much. 'Cause I think if we don’t, we might not survive the next big battle we’re in.”
“Ah,” said Brook again, even more quietly this time.
In a way, Zoro thought, resting his head against his knuckles, it was both easier and harder to talk about this with Brook than he thought it would be with anyone else. Brook hadn’t been there, back in Water 7. He didn’t know.
But Zoro knew better than anyone just how much he’d gambled with the crew’s survival back then, when he made the ultimatum about Usopp’s rejoining conditions to Luffy. If Usopp hadn’t turned up when they were forced to sail early, if he’d failed to get the right words out, their journey would very likely have stopped at Thriller Bark, just as they wouldn’t have made it from Enies Lobby without him there, either.
It still felt like the right thing to do. A crew needed to be whole. Fully committed. And it wasn’t as if he’d been in any doubt as to what the outcome would be.
But now... now, he’d never be able to tell Usopp how much he trusted him, in a fight or otherwise. Stuff like that was better to convey without words, but... there would still never be a way to say them.
His hands were trembling, just a little bit. He straightened up and let them rest on his thighs, willing them to be still.
Brook coughed and cleared his throat. “Well... There lies much in what you say,” he observed, as he adjusted the screws on his violin. “However, in the time I have known him, Mr Luffy hasn’t struck me as someone who would try to recruit every strong, skilled person he sees. Else our crew would be quite a bit bigger, I daresay.”
“I know,” mumbled Zoro, looking away. In his mind’s eye, there was Luffy the way he’d first seen him, some dumb kid peeking over a stone wall, who just wouldn't give up and go away like a sensible person. - And then there was Luffy from the other day, his face all gray and lifeless once it sank in that he couldn’t make them listen and turn around.
Brook coughed, plucking the strings again. “It may be that we shall simply have to muddle along, then. To put our faith in destiny, as it were.” He lifted his head, eyeholes directed upwards to the billowing main sails, or maybe to the blue sky beyond it.
’Trust in fate’. Zoro could remember saying that, once, when the crew was about to do something reckless but necessary.
He didn’t believe in gods – afterlife, yes; gods, no – and even if they existed he wouldn’t bow down to one. But he did believe in something you might call fate. There was a pattern of things, a way they were meant to turn out. He couldn’t refuse any fight even if the opponent seemed much stronger: that was due to a promise, and to pride, but also from a sense that if he died in that battle, then he simply wasn’t meant to go any further.
But there wasn't any ‘meant to be’ about this. It was like Sanji had bursted out during the crew council – this wasn’t supposed to happen. Usopp couldn’t be dead. It was so far outside the pale that it seemed almost ridiculous. And very deeply wrong – not in the sense of being bad or unjust (though he thought so, too), but simply extremely incongruous. Like the sun turning bright green, or people growing second heads.
So he couldn’t trust fate anymore.
He stared into the air blankly, barely registering Brook’s throwaway remarks about the weather. Kuina – hadn’t been fate either, or maybe it had, he’d been too little then to think of it like that – her death was beyond those terms.
What he did know was that this time, there was no promise to cling to, no unfulfilled dream to join to his. But there was the same aching, disbelieving knowledge of lost potential, once so brightly shining, never to be fully realised now.
He couldn’t think of anything more to say.
Brook drew his bow across the strings a couple of times, then stopped again. He sighed. “My pardons, Mr Zoro,” he said. He put the violin aside again. “I don’t seem to be able to do anything with this.”
Zoro raised an eyebrow and glanced at the skeleton. “Like what?”
Brook drummed his fingers on the wooden bench, crossing his legs. “The melodies won’t stay, today... I simply cannot seem to find the right one.”
“Right for what?”
“Oh... well... For today, I suppose... this moment...” Fidgeting on his seat, he clearly wasn’t looking at Zoro, and his demeanour seemed downright nervous.
Zoro gave him a flat look. “Brook.”
“Ah- eh -Mr. Zoro?”
“You sound embarrassed.” And Brook normally didn’t do embarrassment. “What gives?” He prodded Brook on the side of his skull with Wadou’s hilt.
“I...” Brook sighed again, something going out from him. In a resigned tone, he went on, “There is a matter I would like to talk about. It’s... I’ve thought about it some time now.”
Zoro tensed but tried not to show it, just giving Brook a shrug. “Then talk.”
“Well...” said Brook, spinning his cane slowly, “it’s something that...” He turned his head, looking out at the waves. Turned still. “I’m afraid it happened on that day,” he said almost tonelessly, with a very faint stress on 'that'.
Zoro made a movement as if trying to grab something, though there was only air. He clenched one hand into a fist; the impression of having heavy weights pressing down on him had just increased again, and there was a thin but noteworthy flash of pain.
“Go on,” he said with forced calm once he realised Brook was keeping silent, waiting for a go-ahead. His voice sounded thicker than normal to him. He stared at his hands, forcing himself to breathe calmly.
“Yes...” Brook still had unusually little expression in his voice. As he went on, he mostly sounded calm but with a careful, studied distance covering the underlying tension. “It was not long after their first ambush surprised us, driving us back. I had caught Mr Sanji’s call for us to meet up on the hill where we’d first entered that little valley, and was trying my best to do so, but I’d found myself in an awfully tricky spot of the island.” With a slightly steadier voice, he added, “Not that the whole place wasn’t full of such tricky spots, as I recall it!”
He sat back more comfortably against the tree and turned his head back again, though his movements were still more quiet and deliberate than usual.
*
Brook still felt that it would have been much easier if he could have found the right tune to play when talking about this, but there was no melody in his head for this stretch of memory. Only smells, noises, confusion and curiosity.
He had fought hard during that first ambush, but like the others he had been surprised and overwhelmed by their numbers. In addition to being so numerous, these Marines were also tough, determined and had something starved and wild in their eyes that Brook had seen before in warriors that proved hard to beat. Mr Sanji’s call for retreat to the hill, approved of by Mr Luffy straight away, had made good sense to Brook and he’d quickly broken free and jumped into a clump of trees that seemed like a good shortcut.
But he hadn't counted on that stretch of forest being so very densely grown as proved the case. In that place, the undergrowth had shot up in what seemed like every inch of ground, and every direction you took only turned up more thorny thickets, more snaking roots to make you trip, and marshy puddles opening up under him without warning. Thin though he was, Brook found few spaces he could just slip through, and the effort to push away, mow down or jump around every single obstructive piece of greenery slowed him down a lot. It was hard to keep the direction straight in his head, too, to make sure he was not turned around in the utter absence of landmarks and overview. He panted from the effort, forced to slow down to an unsteady jog instead of running at full speed.
His sword-cane was only moderately effective at keeping the plants away from him, so though it pained him to use his blade in such a manner, he soon felt forced to unsheathe it, hacking and slashing at branches, bushes and twisting roots in his way.
He could still hear the din of the battle he'd retreated from, but close by there were few sounds disturbing the thick, oppressive, still air of the wood – few sounds except the thrashing and disgruntled mutters he made himself, and the noises from birds and animals that would suddenly appear unexpectedly. So when he thought he heard a familiar voice off to his right side he perked up, trying to come closer to pick out the words and make sure.
And the next time, he did hear words, if not very well.
“Oi, Luffy, wait up!” A pause, as if the speaker was trying to catch his breath. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine! But we gotta – gotta get back and join up with everybody!”
Brook took a leap of joy. That was very clearly Mr Usopp’s and Mr Luffy’s voices! He raised his sword to slash at the thick green-black wall of thorn-bushes taller than him to his right and opened his mouth to call out to his crewmates – only, right then a young crocodile suddenly appeared lying in his path, and opened its impressive mouth to snap at him. With a little yelp of surprise, Brook jumped out of the way, waving at the beast to make it stop.
“I know!” Mr Usopp’s voice again, evidently not having caught the noise. “But don’t run that fast! I can’t keep up, and you could fall into quicksand again or something else just as dangerous!”
“It’ll be okay! Just hurry up! I need to see where everyone went so I can go beat up that Lizard-guy bastard!”
“Lizard-guy? Who’s that?” asked Usopp, as Brook was once again tearing through vines and tripping on roots of another gigantic shrubbery. He noted that he couldn’t hear as many thrashing, tearing noises from the other two – just because they were further away, or was their path smoother than his?
“Yeah, he’s got a big chin and I think he’s their boss, and he turns into a lizard – aaugh! Stupid bushes!”
“Oh, that Commander guy... so he had a Zoan fruit? I didn’t catch that – Luffy, you’re bleeding!”
Oh, dear! Again, Brook drew himself up and prepared to call out and storm himself through the bushes, only to stumble and fall into a knee-deep hole in the ground, fill of marshy water.
“Really!” he muttered to himself, getting up again rather unsteadily. Then he froze, noting sounds and movement to his left side now, too. He tried to keep close attention while still listening to his crewmates’ conversation.
“Oh,” said Luffy, surprised. “Yeah.” Going by the noises or absence of them, he seemed to have stopped now as well.
“Wait, I’ll tie that up....”
Brook was becoming more and more certain there was either a big animal or a group of Marines some distance off to his left, on quite a bit of higher ground but quite possibly still in the same clump of forest. Through tiny gaps in the foliage and undergrowth he spotted what might just be human legs. What more was, they appeared to be moving mostly in Brook’s and his crewmates' direction, yet more diagonal. Had they spotted him or the other two, and were preparing to cut them off in another ambush?
*
At this point, Brook broke off his narration, glancing over at Mr Zoro, who was listening with an intent gaze but otherwise quite still face.
“Are you following this, Mr Zoro?” he asked, pointing with his swordcane at a spot in the grass. “I was right here, going this way,” he drew a long line forward, “while those two were over here, also going this way” – he lifted his cane and pointed at a spot to the right, then drew another line from it – “and I spotted a cluster of Marines over here, moving as if they were going to cut us off, although that might just have been by chance. But if Mr Luffy and Mr Usopp were moving in a more open space than I was – and it did seem to me as if they were – the Marines in question might well have spotted them, but not me.” He paused to give his crewmate what would have been an expectant look, if he’d had any eyes.
Mr Zoro nodded. “Oh, sure. I get it.”
“Really?” Brook said dubiously, and would have pursed his lips if he'd had any. Still, even if Mr Zoro didn't quite grasp the locational set-up, he seemed to follow the basic situation, at least. “Well, anyway!" he continued brightly. "My point is, I wasn’t sure whether to raise the alarm and let my crewmates know about the Marines, or to keep quiet and keep an eye on them so I could be the one to surprise them instead, once they got near.” He sketched out the imagined confrontation in the grass, as the slash of the Marines’ movement met his own.
“But...” Zoro cleared his throat, “they’d just stopped, right? Luffy and Usopp, I mean.”
“Yes... and the thing is, the movement to the left seemed to have stopped at around the same time they did. This made me further suspect I was right and they had spotted them. So I stood there not being sure what to do.”
Zoro nodded. “I understand,” he said in a low tone. “Go on.”
*
“Sheesh, you idiot,” said Mr Usopp’s voice now, while Brook was still trudging about on the spot uncertainly, “when are you going to learn to avoid bladed weapons?”
“But I do!” Mr Luffy objected. “I dodge those all the time!”
“Except when you don’t,” the other pointed out.
Brook could hear no reply to this. He started to try to walk through a cluster of thorny bushes instead, telling himself they wouldn’t really hurt him, as he had no skin for that. Right now, he had just decided he’d rejoin his comrades, but without crying out first – if he was wrong and the Marine group to the left truly hadn’t spotted them, it might be better not to let them know he was there. Most likely they’d be no match for Mr Luffy, but 'most likely' didn’t cover all circumstances, and he rather thought his captain needed to save his strength for later.
After an entanglement with a rather hostile bat, Brook heard Usopp’s voice again, coming from further away. They’d started to move again, evidently. Faced with the sheer intransigence of those thorn-bushes, he had to change his trajectory again, running parallel to them once more while trying to peek at the hidden Marines to the left.
“So he was that guy with the whistle, huh.... Seems like the bastard could just make monsters appear on his command. And he hid among his own troops as well.”
“Yep,” said Luffy tensely.
Usopp went on, “I guess maybe we should try to separate him from the rest or else he’ll just hide among his soldiers again. Uh... how are we going to do that... maybe we could sneak around and start a rock slide?”
“Okay,” said Luffy. “I’m gonna try to punch him in the face and smash his whistle, too, but if I can’t right away, you should hit it.”
“I – yeah, you’re right. I should do that.” There was a short pause in which Brook had to stave off an angry porcupine, which had dropped onto his afro from an overhead branch. “Uh. He’s pretty powerful, yeah?”
“It’ll be okay!”
By now, Brook had practically fallen into a rhythm of looking to his left and right while listening to both places, trying to keep track and calculate. But at the same time, he’d almost forgotten he was actually eavesdropping on his crewmates: their talk was almost like a story to him, now.
After a few minutes when nothing was said much and everyone was busy trying to make their way through the small jungle, Brook heard Mr Usopp’s voice again. It was closer now but in a lower tone than before, sounding thoughtful.
“Luffy... maybe you shouldn’t....”
“Huh?”
“...Those guys who attacked me just now.... I could have handled them myself. I just panicked. Shouldn’t have cried out so much. If I do that again, maybe you should just ignore it.”
Brook slowed down, noting absentmindedly sounds of explosions further away.
“...No.” Luffy’s voice was short and terse.
“Oi! I didn’t mean if I really need help!” Usopp protested, raising his voice. “But you shouldn’t – ” He faltered and stopped talking for a moment. Did he stop moving, too? When he next spoke, his voice had fallen down to where Brook almost couldn’t catch it; “You shouldn’t come running and get yourself cut up just ‘cause I get a little scared. I can’t – I can’t get stronger if I always get help, when it’s like that. – Hey, don’t just walk away like that!”
“We’ve gotta get back to meet the others,” Luffy said in the same tone as before.
“I know that, but – listen – Luffy, sometimes I need to not be protected, okay?”
Usopp's voice kept talking, but to Brook what he next said was drowned out by the noise of another, bigger explosion that sent Brook rocking to his feet. When he next turned around in confusion, he couldn’t see any sign of the Marine group any more.
“But that’s not - !” Luffy cried out, then cut himself off. “There’s no point in being the Pirate King if you guys aren’t with me!” he went on.
“But don’t you see?” Usopp’s voice was tired, pleading. “Of course a captain’s gotta take care of his crew, but you gotta let us take care of you, too! You usually get that.... We want to be good enough to shine beside you!”
“That’s just dumb!” said Luffy, almost angrily. “You already are!”
“Well – still – better!” exclaimed Usopp. “And – and sometimes I’m too, I dunno, I forget what I actually can do, and... I mean,” he paused, as if taking a deep breath, “we might be going to Elbaf soon, and before that, I – I want to get stronger.”
It was right about then that Brook finally saw the trees thin out in front of him, and saw the meeting-point clearly, less than one hundred metres away. But he still couldn’t see the Marines. Perhaps that explosion had signalled a distraction in some manner?
The growth to his right thinned out as well, and the next thing he knew, his crewmates were clearly visible just ten metres away, calling out his name in surprise and relief. He hailed them with his swordcane. “Ahoy! Are you in good health?” They seemed so, from what he could tell. Mr Luffy did have a fresh bandage on one arm, but his eyes and his skin looked all right, while Mr Usopp just seemed a little bruised. They raced the final short bit together to the hill, finding Miss Robin, Mr Sanji and Mr Franky already there, waiting for them.
*
“And that is all,” finished Brook, looking down as he spun his swordcane slowly.
“Ah,” said Zoro. There was an odd weight to that single brief sound.
“Mm.” Brook was looking out towards the sea again, noting that the shadows had moved. “Oh dear, I do think I prefer sitting in the shade right now, no offense, Mr Sun,” he mumbled, getting up from his seat and, rather than sitting further away on the bench, instead chose a shaded spot on the lawn. He brought the violin with him. “So, er, I simply... I simply had a wish to share that, Mr Zoro,” he added, “even though I don’t suppose it’s very...” He couldn’t find the right word, so he trailed off.
“No. It’s a good thing you told someone.” Zoro sounded quite definite on this. After a long pause where Brook thought he wouldn’t say anything more, he nevertheless went on to add quietly, “It makes good sense. I was talking to the cook last week, and... it fits. With Luffy.” His voice grew hoarse at the end: he coughed to clear his throat, then said, “I don’t know what will happen at the island either.”
“I suppose... we shall simply have to be prepared for everything,” said Brook mildly. He grabbed his violin once more.
Starting on a lullaby remembered from childhood, this time he played it through straight to the end, the small, simple melody staying in his head and not escaping as all the others seemed to do these days. Around them, the shadows grew longer and the air grew slightly cooler, until Mr Sanji stuck out his head from the galley and yelled that dinner was ready.
***
They saw the island early in the morning, getting close to it around noon. On their way there, they encountered four seakings, none of which gave them any serious trouble – two of them were focused on battling each other, the third was slow and easily distracted; and the fourth didn’t attack anyone but kept riding around in circles and making convulsive movements with its neck, as if it was sick.
This time around, they circled Turnweed Isle first before making a landing, spying on it with binoculars. None of them could see any sign of humans. There was much evidence of destruction– trees split and torn apart, rocks that had been thrown around, many piles of rock and stones from slides; holes in the ground everywhere – and most obviously, a fire had raged across a lot of the island, taking away many trees and leaving ash and dead, sooty skeletons. That seemed to be primarily on the external areas close to the shores, though. On the inner parts of the island, there still seemed to be plenty of thick, green vegetation.
They did see, in one bay, several wrecked and burnt-out ships – some were still in the water, some tossed up on land. That must have been the Marine ships the deserters had told them about, set on fire by the retreating officers to prevent their rebellious men from leaving.
Nami stared with the others at the burnt ships for a while, then suggested tentatively that they land right next to where they were. The others listened to her argument and agreed - her reason being that if there still were Marines on the island after all, they'd probably be close to the old base. And in that case, the Strawhats would be able to confront them right away, getting it over with.
Thus they set their course and sailed closer, the ship slow in the calm, nearly windless sea. But deep within the green heart of the island, too far, still and hidden for any roving binoculars to find them, two pairs of eyes may have been watching.
***
End of Chapter 8
Author's Notes: I know, the circumstances of Brook’s eavesdropping are rather contorted. It was the best I was able to come up with...
--To be Continued in Chapter Nine
Continued from Chapter 8, part 1. For disclaimer, warning and more info, see that part.
It was late in the afternoon and getting on towards dinner when Zoro took a break from training, leaving his spot on the third deck next to the tangerine trees. Usually he’d train up in the big crow’s nest, but Luffy had turned up there after lunch, doing nothing but watching the horizon with a dull, grey look. He didn’t look as if he wanted much to do with anyone, including first mates who didn’t treat him like a captain anymore. Zoro had climbed down without comment, bringing a couple of weights with him to do lifting and go through his forms down below instead. There was plenty of room beside Nami’s tangerine trees, Robin’s flowerbeds and the little work bench that nobody used. He’d trained, meditated, then trained some more for about five hours, now.
He felt grimly satisfied that he’d continued for as long as he usually did, not stopping earlier as he had yesterday. He still felt more worn out and tired than normal, though.
Zoro was well aware that they were getting ever closer to the island; already seakings and other monsters from the depths were becoming more numerous, and once they arrived, they might well encounter human threats again, too. He couldn’t keep going as he had for a long time now, feeling wrapped up in cotton, weighed down, distant. He needed his senses sharp, his attention awake and ready; he needed to be fully aware of his surroundings if he wanted to hear the voice of everything so that his swords could cut true.
But the intent alone didn't make it so. Every time he tried to push his mind to open up, to listen closer and focus outward, he felt raw and exposed, like tender skin being battered by a fierce hailstorm. It hurt, and he'd feel as if he were slowly choked. His mind shied away again, going back into retreat.
It disturbed and frustrated him: he didn’t usually back away from anything just because it was painful. Still, he just couldn't seem to find the right way to push through.
The sounds of guitar and violin tunes had drifted on and off through the air as he’d trained, the melodies starting and then stopping again, as if Brook couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted to play. But maybe he was just practising. Now, however, the tunes had stopped, and it was only a smooth, sweepy noise that met Zoro as he walked down to the Lawn Deck, intending to find himself a place in the shade to take a nap in.
Brook was sitting on the bench around one of the two big trees. His guitar and his violin had both been put aside, and he was sharpening his sword on a whetstone, humming something faintly under his breath as he worked.
“Ah – Mr Zoro. Please, do sit down.” Brook made an expansive, sweeping gesture towards their surroundings, as if all of Lawn Deck belonged to him. Zoro thought it over, glancing at a spot by the wall, but then sat down under the tree as well. There was plenty of room on the bench.
They sat quietly for a while, Zoro resting with his hands behind his head and Brook keeping on humming and sharpening his sword.
Finally, Brook put the whetstone aside with a very neat and precise movement. He sheathed his sword, took out an old tattered handkerchief from his coat pocket and threw it into the air. Metal flashing, he drew lightning-quick and split the handkerchief clean down the middle. The cloth fell to the ground in two pieces.
“There!” pronounced Brook with satisfaction, bending down to picks them up. “True, I could have been faster,” he noted, “but at least the edge appears to be sharp enough, for the moment. I must say, I’m pleased I was able to follow the old cut exactly. Not one thread askew.” He grinned widely – actually, Zoro supposed Brook technically always grinned, but he’d gotten used to reading the angles of Brook’s ‘face’ by now, and his mouth seemed particularly grin-like at the moment.
“You do that a lot?” said Zoro.
“Oh yes,” said Brook, nodding vigorously. “An excellent method for testing the edge. But handkerchiefs do not grow on trees, alas! Or so our lovely, stingy navigator tells me, when it comes to the question of pocket-money. No matter! I came prepared.”
He fished out needle, thread and scissors, then sat down and began to sew up the handkerchief again. After a few stitches (and one “ouch!” when he pricked his bony finger on the needle), Brook lifted his head a tiny bit and tilted it towards Zoro.
“I gather we are likely to arrive at our destination quite soon,” he said "Perhaps tomorrow, Miss Nami believes.”
Zoro nodded. “Okay. Got it.” He fingered Shushui's hilt briefly: for his part, his arms felt heavier than his swords did, lately.
Having finished his sewing, Brook picked up his violin again, and started to play another tentative string of notes.
“I should probable practice more,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s a pity our styles are so different, Mr Zoro. It would be difficult to find a sparring technique that would suit us both.”
Zoro wasn't sure about that, actually, but before he had the chance to say so, Brook had already continued, “Do you anticipate much trouble for us over there?”
“Could be,” said Zoro neutrally. “Doesn't hurt to be prepared. Not the main issue, though.” He gave Brook a considering look. Well. Whether this pain could be worked through or not, there was still something he needed to tell others in the crew. He’d prefer to talk to everyone, but he didn’t think all of them were ready to hear it, yet.
“Brook. Listen,” he said.
“Hm?” Brook angled his head attentively toward Zoro, the melody winding down.
“This is what I think,” said Zoro, his words slow, measured. He shifted position, sitting up a bit straighter, looking at a blade of grass in his hand. “We need a sniper.”
Brook stilled, the melody ceasing entirely. He put the violin in his lap, not saying anything.
Zoro went on, his voice steady now that he had finally started. “We need someone who can shoot accurately from a long way off. Who can use the ship’s cannons to their full potential. There are several of us with long-range attacks, but that’s not enough. We need precision, range, reliability....” Superhuman aim would be great; as would a great deal of flexibility in terms of ammunition, but Zoro realised those things would be unrealistic to hope for. “...We need someone who’s good at hitting their target under all kinds of conditions.”
He turned his head and gave Brook a sharp look. “We’ve come all this way, fighting together, either teaming up or taking care of different opponents one-on-one.” He heard his voice getting harder, his jaw tightening. “The longer we’ve sailed, the harder it’s been, each island tougher than the last. And... Well. There’s been few battles where we didn’t need absolutely everybody who was there just to survive, let alone win.” He turned away again, slumping. There were way too many memories in his head. Setting his teeth, he waited a few moments until the largest waves of them had receded.
Taking a deep breath, he let out a long sigh. “I don’t see why we’d magically get weaker opponents from now on. Especially here in the New World. It would make no sense, thinking that.”
Brrok hmm-ed in a drawn-out, melodious way. “No-o, that wouldn’t make much sense,” he agreed. His fingers were idly plucking the violin strings. “Ah... Has this been much on your mind lately, Mr Zoro?”
Zoro nodded. “Even getting Luffy back to his senses... it’s not enough. We’re not enough, like this.” He leaned forward, massaging his forehead tiredly. “I don’t want to get another sniper,” he admitted. “It would be weird for whoever we got… I don’t know if I could get past them being a… a replacement. I don’t want a replacement. But...” he went on reluctantly, “what I want doesn't matter much. 'Cause I think if we don’t, we might not survive the next big battle we’re in.”
“Ah,” said Brook again, even more quietly this time.
In a way, Zoro thought, resting his head against his knuckles, it was both easier and harder to talk about this with Brook than he thought it would be with anyone else. Brook hadn’t been there, back in Water 7. He didn’t know.
But Zoro knew better than anyone just how much he’d gambled with the crew’s survival back then, when he made the ultimatum about Usopp’s rejoining conditions to Luffy. If Usopp hadn’t turned up when they were forced to sail early, if he’d failed to get the right words out, their journey would very likely have stopped at Thriller Bark, just as they wouldn’t have made it from Enies Lobby without him there, either.
It still felt like the right thing to do. A crew needed to be whole. Fully committed. And it wasn’t as if he’d been in any doubt as to what the outcome would be.
But now... now, he’d never be able to tell Usopp how much he trusted him, in a fight or otherwise. Stuff like that was better to convey without words, but... there would still never be a way to say them.
His hands were trembling, just a little bit. He straightened up and let them rest on his thighs, willing them to be still.
Brook coughed and cleared his throat. “Well... There lies much in what you say,” he observed, as he adjusted the screws on his violin. “However, in the time I have known him, Mr Luffy hasn’t struck me as someone who would try to recruit every strong, skilled person he sees. Else our crew would be quite a bit bigger, I daresay.”
“I know,” mumbled Zoro, looking away. In his mind’s eye, there was Luffy the way he’d first seen him, some dumb kid peeking over a stone wall, who just wouldn't give up and go away like a sensible person. - And then there was Luffy from the other day, his face all gray and lifeless once it sank in that he couldn’t make them listen and turn around.
Brook coughed, plucking the strings again. “It may be that we shall simply have to muddle along, then. To put our faith in destiny, as it were.” He lifted his head, eyeholes directed upwards to the billowing main sails, or maybe to the blue sky beyond it.
’Trust in fate’. Zoro could remember saying that, once, when the crew was about to do something reckless but necessary.
He didn’t believe in gods – afterlife, yes; gods, no – and even if they existed he wouldn’t bow down to one. But he did believe in something you might call fate. There was a pattern of things, a way they were meant to turn out. He couldn’t refuse any fight even if the opponent seemed much stronger: that was due to a promise, and to pride, but also from a sense that if he died in that battle, then he simply wasn’t meant to go any further.
But there wasn't any ‘meant to be’ about this. It was like Sanji had bursted out during the crew council – this wasn’t supposed to happen. Usopp couldn’t be dead. It was so far outside the pale that it seemed almost ridiculous. And very deeply wrong – not in the sense of being bad or unjust (though he thought so, too), but simply extremely incongruous. Like the sun turning bright green, or people growing second heads.
So he couldn’t trust fate anymore.
He stared into the air blankly, barely registering Brook’s throwaway remarks about the weather. Kuina – hadn’t been fate either, or maybe it had, he’d been too little then to think of it like that – her death was beyond those terms.
What he did know was that this time, there was no promise to cling to, no unfulfilled dream to join to his. But there was the same aching, disbelieving knowledge of lost potential, once so brightly shining, never to be fully realised now.
He couldn’t think of anything more to say.
Brook drew his bow across the strings a couple of times, then stopped again. He sighed. “My pardons, Mr Zoro,” he said. He put the violin aside again. “I don’t seem to be able to do anything with this.”
Zoro raised an eyebrow and glanced at the skeleton. “Like what?”
Brook drummed his fingers on the wooden bench, crossing his legs. “The melodies won’t stay, today... I simply cannot seem to find the right one.”
“Right for what?”
“Oh... well... For today, I suppose... this moment...” Fidgeting on his seat, he clearly wasn’t looking at Zoro, and his demeanour seemed downright nervous.
Zoro gave him a flat look. “Brook.”
“Ah- eh -Mr. Zoro?”
“You sound embarrassed.” And Brook normally didn’t do embarrassment. “What gives?” He prodded Brook on the side of his skull with Wadou’s hilt.
“I...” Brook sighed again, something going out from him. In a resigned tone, he went on, “There is a matter I would like to talk about. It’s... I’ve thought about it some time now.”
Zoro tensed but tried not to show it, just giving Brook a shrug. “Then talk.”
“Well...” said Brook, spinning his cane slowly, “it’s something that...” He turned his head, looking out at the waves. Turned still. “I’m afraid it happened on that day,” he said almost tonelessly, with a very faint stress on 'that'.
Zoro made a movement as if trying to grab something, though there was only air. He clenched one hand into a fist; the impression of having heavy weights pressing down on him had just increased again, and there was a thin but noteworthy flash of pain.
“Go on,” he said with forced calm once he realised Brook was keeping silent, waiting for a go-ahead. His voice sounded thicker than normal to him. He stared at his hands, forcing himself to breathe calmly.
“Yes...” Brook still had unusually little expression in his voice. As he went on, he mostly sounded calm but with a careful, studied distance covering the underlying tension. “It was not long after their first ambush surprised us, driving us back. I had caught Mr Sanji’s call for us to meet up on the hill where we’d first entered that little valley, and was trying my best to do so, but I’d found myself in an awfully tricky spot of the island.” With a slightly steadier voice, he added, “Not that the whole place wasn’t full of such tricky spots, as I recall it!”
He sat back more comfortably against the tree and turned his head back again, though his movements were still more quiet and deliberate than usual.
*
Brook still felt that it would have been much easier if he could have found the right tune to play when talking about this, but there was no melody in his head for this stretch of memory. Only smells, noises, confusion and curiosity.
He had fought hard during that first ambush, but like the others he had been surprised and overwhelmed by their numbers. In addition to being so numerous, these Marines were also tough, determined and had something starved and wild in their eyes that Brook had seen before in warriors that proved hard to beat. Mr Sanji’s call for retreat to the hill, approved of by Mr Luffy straight away, had made good sense to Brook and he’d quickly broken free and jumped into a clump of trees that seemed like a good shortcut.
But he hadn't counted on that stretch of forest being so very densely grown as proved the case. In that place, the undergrowth had shot up in what seemed like every inch of ground, and every direction you took only turned up more thorny thickets, more snaking roots to make you trip, and marshy puddles opening up under him without warning. Thin though he was, Brook found few spaces he could just slip through, and the effort to push away, mow down or jump around every single obstructive piece of greenery slowed him down a lot. It was hard to keep the direction straight in his head, too, to make sure he was not turned around in the utter absence of landmarks and overview. He panted from the effort, forced to slow down to an unsteady jog instead of running at full speed.
His sword-cane was only moderately effective at keeping the plants away from him, so though it pained him to use his blade in such a manner, he soon felt forced to unsheathe it, hacking and slashing at branches, bushes and twisting roots in his way.
He could still hear the din of the battle he'd retreated from, but close by there were few sounds disturbing the thick, oppressive, still air of the wood – few sounds except the thrashing and disgruntled mutters he made himself, and the noises from birds and animals that would suddenly appear unexpectedly. So when he thought he heard a familiar voice off to his right side he perked up, trying to come closer to pick out the words and make sure.
And the next time, he did hear words, if not very well.
“Oi, Luffy, wait up!” A pause, as if the speaker was trying to catch his breath. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine! But we gotta – gotta get back and join up with everybody!”
Brook took a leap of joy. That was very clearly Mr Usopp’s and Mr Luffy’s voices! He raised his sword to slash at the thick green-black wall of thorn-bushes taller than him to his right and opened his mouth to call out to his crewmates – only, right then a young crocodile suddenly appeared lying in his path, and opened its impressive mouth to snap at him. With a little yelp of surprise, Brook jumped out of the way, waving at the beast to make it stop.
“I know!” Mr Usopp’s voice again, evidently not having caught the noise. “But don’t run that fast! I can’t keep up, and you could fall into quicksand again or something else just as dangerous!”
“It’ll be okay! Just hurry up! I need to see where everyone went so I can go beat up that Lizard-guy bastard!”
“Lizard-guy? Who’s that?” asked Usopp, as Brook was once again tearing through vines and tripping on roots of another gigantic shrubbery. He noted that he couldn’t hear as many thrashing, tearing noises from the other two – just because they were further away, or was their path smoother than his?
“Yeah, he’s got a big chin and I think he’s their boss, and he turns into a lizard – aaugh! Stupid bushes!”
“Oh, that Commander guy... so he had a Zoan fruit? I didn’t catch that – Luffy, you’re bleeding!”
Oh, dear! Again, Brook drew himself up and prepared to call out and storm himself through the bushes, only to stumble and fall into a knee-deep hole in the ground, fill of marshy water.
“Really!” he muttered to himself, getting up again rather unsteadily. Then he froze, noting sounds and movement to his left side now, too. He tried to keep close attention while still listening to his crewmates’ conversation.
“Oh,” said Luffy, surprised. “Yeah.” Going by the noises or absence of them, he seemed to have stopped now as well.
“Wait, I’ll tie that up....”
Brook was becoming more and more certain there was either a big animal or a group of Marines some distance off to his left, on quite a bit of higher ground but quite possibly still in the same clump of forest. Through tiny gaps in the foliage and undergrowth he spotted what might just be human legs. What more was, they appeared to be moving mostly in Brook’s and his crewmates' direction, yet more diagonal. Had they spotted him or the other two, and were preparing to cut them off in another ambush?
*
At this point, Brook broke off his narration, glancing over at Mr Zoro, who was listening with an intent gaze but otherwise quite still face.
“Are you following this, Mr Zoro?” he asked, pointing with his swordcane at a spot in the grass. “I was right here, going this way,” he drew a long line forward, “while those two were over here, also going this way” – he lifted his cane and pointed at a spot to the right, then drew another line from it – “and I spotted a cluster of Marines over here, moving as if they were going to cut us off, although that might just have been by chance. But if Mr Luffy and Mr Usopp were moving in a more open space than I was – and it did seem to me as if they were – the Marines in question might well have spotted them, but not me.” He paused to give his crewmate what would have been an expectant look, if he’d had any eyes.
Mr Zoro nodded. “Oh, sure. I get it.”
“Really?” Brook said dubiously, and would have pursed his lips if he'd had any. Still, even if Mr Zoro didn't quite grasp the locational set-up, he seemed to follow the basic situation, at least. “Well, anyway!" he continued brightly. "My point is, I wasn’t sure whether to raise the alarm and let my crewmates know about the Marines, or to keep quiet and keep an eye on them so I could be the one to surprise them instead, once they got near.” He sketched out the imagined confrontation in the grass, as the slash of the Marines’ movement met his own.
“But...” Zoro cleared his throat, “they’d just stopped, right? Luffy and Usopp, I mean.”
“Yes... and the thing is, the movement to the left seemed to have stopped at around the same time they did. This made me further suspect I was right and they had spotted them. So I stood there not being sure what to do.”
Zoro nodded. “I understand,” he said in a low tone. “Go on.”
*
“Sheesh, you idiot,” said Mr Usopp’s voice now, while Brook was still trudging about on the spot uncertainly, “when are you going to learn to avoid bladed weapons?”
“But I do!” Mr Luffy objected. “I dodge those all the time!”
“Except when you don’t,” the other pointed out.
Brook could hear no reply to this. He started to try to walk through a cluster of thorny bushes instead, telling himself they wouldn’t really hurt him, as he had no skin for that. Right now, he had just decided he’d rejoin his comrades, but without crying out first – if he was wrong and the Marine group to the left truly hadn’t spotted them, it might be better not to let them know he was there. Most likely they’d be no match for Mr Luffy, but 'most likely' didn’t cover all circumstances, and he rather thought his captain needed to save his strength for later.
After an entanglement with a rather hostile bat, Brook heard Usopp’s voice again, coming from further away. They’d started to move again, evidently. Faced with the sheer intransigence of those thorn-bushes, he had to change his trajectory again, running parallel to them once more while trying to peek at the hidden Marines to the left.
“So he was that guy with the whistle, huh.... Seems like the bastard could just make monsters appear on his command. And he hid among his own troops as well.”
“Yep,” said Luffy tensely.
Usopp went on, “I guess maybe we should try to separate him from the rest or else he’ll just hide among his soldiers again. Uh... how are we going to do that... maybe we could sneak around and start a rock slide?”
“Okay,” said Luffy. “I’m gonna try to punch him in the face and smash his whistle, too, but if I can’t right away, you should hit it.”
“I – yeah, you’re right. I should do that.” There was a short pause in which Brook had to stave off an angry porcupine, which had dropped onto his afro from an overhead branch. “Uh. He’s pretty powerful, yeah?”
“It’ll be okay!”
By now, Brook had practically fallen into a rhythm of looking to his left and right while listening to both places, trying to keep track and calculate. But at the same time, he’d almost forgotten he was actually eavesdropping on his crewmates: their talk was almost like a story to him, now.
After a few minutes when nothing was said much and everyone was busy trying to make their way through the small jungle, Brook heard Mr Usopp’s voice again. It was closer now but in a lower tone than before, sounding thoughtful.
“Luffy... maybe you shouldn’t....”
“Huh?”
“...Those guys who attacked me just now.... I could have handled them myself. I just panicked. Shouldn’t have cried out so much. If I do that again, maybe you should just ignore it.”
Brook slowed down, noting absentmindedly sounds of explosions further away.
“...No.” Luffy’s voice was short and terse.
“Oi! I didn’t mean if I really need help!” Usopp protested, raising his voice. “But you shouldn’t – ” He faltered and stopped talking for a moment. Did he stop moving, too? When he next spoke, his voice had fallen down to where Brook almost couldn’t catch it; “You shouldn’t come running and get yourself cut up just ‘cause I get a little scared. I can’t – I can’t get stronger if I always get help, when it’s like that. – Hey, don’t just walk away like that!”
“We’ve gotta get back to meet the others,” Luffy said in the same tone as before.
“I know that, but – listen – Luffy, sometimes I need to not be protected, okay?”
Usopp's voice kept talking, but to Brook what he next said was drowned out by the noise of another, bigger explosion that sent Brook rocking to his feet. When he next turned around in confusion, he couldn’t see any sign of the Marine group any more.
“But that’s not - !” Luffy cried out, then cut himself off. “There’s no point in being the Pirate King if you guys aren’t with me!” he went on.
“But don’t you see?” Usopp’s voice was tired, pleading. “Of course a captain’s gotta take care of his crew, but you gotta let us take care of you, too! You usually get that.... We want to be good enough to shine beside you!”
“That’s just dumb!” said Luffy, almost angrily. “You already are!”
“Well – still – better!” exclaimed Usopp. “And – and sometimes I’m too, I dunno, I forget what I actually can do, and... I mean,” he paused, as if taking a deep breath, “we might be going to Elbaf soon, and before that, I – I want to get stronger.”
It was right about then that Brook finally saw the trees thin out in front of him, and saw the meeting-point clearly, less than one hundred metres away. But he still couldn’t see the Marines. Perhaps that explosion had signalled a distraction in some manner?
The growth to his right thinned out as well, and the next thing he knew, his crewmates were clearly visible just ten metres away, calling out his name in surprise and relief. He hailed them with his swordcane. “Ahoy! Are you in good health?” They seemed so, from what he could tell. Mr Luffy did have a fresh bandage on one arm, but his eyes and his skin looked all right, while Mr Usopp just seemed a little bruised. They raced the final short bit together to the hill, finding Miss Robin, Mr Sanji and Mr Franky already there, waiting for them.
*
“And that is all,” finished Brook, looking down as he spun his swordcane slowly.
“Ah,” said Zoro. There was an odd weight to that single brief sound.
“Mm.” Brook was looking out towards the sea again, noting that the shadows had moved. “Oh dear, I do think I prefer sitting in the shade right now, no offense, Mr Sun,” he mumbled, getting up from his seat and, rather than sitting further away on the bench, instead chose a shaded spot on the lawn. He brought the violin with him. “So, er, I simply... I simply had a wish to share that, Mr Zoro,” he added, “even though I don’t suppose it’s very...” He couldn’t find the right word, so he trailed off.
“No. It’s a good thing you told someone.” Zoro sounded quite definite on this. After a long pause where Brook thought he wouldn’t say anything more, he nevertheless went on to add quietly, “It makes good sense. I was talking to the cook last week, and... it fits. With Luffy.” His voice grew hoarse at the end: he coughed to clear his throat, then said, “I don’t know what will happen at the island either.”
“I suppose... we shall simply have to be prepared for everything,” said Brook mildly. He grabbed his violin once more.
Starting on a lullaby remembered from childhood, this time he played it through straight to the end, the small, simple melody staying in his head and not escaping as all the others seemed to do these days. Around them, the shadows grew longer and the air grew slightly cooler, until Mr Sanji stuck out his head from the galley and yelled that dinner was ready.
***
They saw the island early in the morning, getting close to it around noon. On their way there, they encountered four seakings, none of which gave them any serious trouble – two of them were focused on battling each other, the third was slow and easily distracted; and the fourth didn’t attack anyone but kept riding around in circles and making convulsive movements with its neck, as if it was sick.
This time around, they circled Turnweed Isle first before making a landing, spying on it with binoculars. None of them could see any sign of humans. There was much evidence of destruction– trees split and torn apart, rocks that had been thrown around, many piles of rock and stones from slides; holes in the ground everywhere – and most obviously, a fire had raged across a lot of the island, taking away many trees and leaving ash and dead, sooty skeletons. That seemed to be primarily on the external areas close to the shores, though. On the inner parts of the island, there still seemed to be plenty of thick, green vegetation.
They did see, in one bay, several wrecked and burnt-out ships – some were still in the water, some tossed up on land. That must have been the Marine ships the deserters had told them about, set on fire by the retreating officers to prevent their rebellious men from leaving.
Nami stared with the others at the burnt ships for a while, then suggested tentatively that they land right next to where they were. The others listened to her argument and agreed - her reason being that if there still were Marines on the island after all, they'd probably be close to the old base. And in that case, the Strawhats would be able to confront them right away, getting it over with.
Thus they set their course and sailed closer, the ship slow in the calm, nearly windless sea. But deep within the green heart of the island, too far, still and hidden for any roving binoculars to find them, two pairs of eyes may have been watching.
***
End of Chapter 8
Author's Notes: I know, the circumstances of Brook’s eavesdropping are rather contorted. It was the best I was able to come up with...
--To be Continued in Chapter Nine
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-27 06:09 am (UTC)Now that they're finally there and you've thrown us a few morsels of hope, it's going to be really hard to wait for the next chapter.
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Date: 2010-09-28 05:53 pm (UTC)It helps a lot knowing there are readers impatient to read more! ♥
And the porcupine falling down on him was all
(May I ask if you had any qualms about Zoro in this chapter?)
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Date: 2010-09-27 08:53 pm (UTC)Awesome, as always!
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Date: 2010-09-28 05:55 pm (UTC)