Buried

Finally!! Another chapter up!! Hurray hurray!! Sorry for the long wait everybody!! YAY! Zoro’s finally in here!! Enjoy everybody!!

{blah blah blah}= thoughts


Buried
Chapter 3


It was a bright morning the next day and it greeted the crew of the Going Merry with no worries. Except for the one that concerned their captain. When they had reached port that day their captain had sped off like he usually did so they were not worried at the least. Now it was the next day and the thought that something had happened nagged at the back of their brains. Especially Zoro‘s.

The green-haired swordsman let out a great yawn while scrubbing his head. He had not slept much the night before due to his worry, which in itself was a great feat.

He had gotten up in the wee hours of the morning and sat on the roof of the inn staring at the sunrise.

Zoro scrubbed his head again as he thought back to the early morn. He watched the sun rise and as he did he felt some click. And all he could think was that the sunrise would have been a thousand times more beautiful if his captain was right next to him.

Letting out another yawn Zoro stumbled into his clothes and stepped down the stairs for the new day. And hopefully that day had the arrival of his captain in store.

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Nami looked up from her breakfast as she spotted Zoro coming down the stairs. Sighing into her cup of coffee she looked over to the over crewmates. Sanji was busy criticizing thed ind in front of him, Usopp and Chopper were scarfing down said food, and Robin was reading a book with one hand and her other hand wrapped around a cup of tea.

She watched Zoro sit down at the table silently and start eating his own breakfast. Nami sighed softly again.

“Nami-san? What’s wrong?! It’s nightight for you to sound so sad!!” Sanji wailed.

Rolling her eyes she looked back down to her coffee.

“It’s nothing…..I guess I’m a little worried about Luffy though.”

“BAH! Why worry about that nincompoop, Nami-san?! He’s an annoying nuisance who when he runs away he always comes back!”

“But,” Nami cut him off, “This time, something feels wrong….it’s just a feeling I guess.”

She was jolted out of her thoughts as Zoro abruptly stood up from the table. A thick silence hung in the air as Zoro stood still and as quick as he had stood he was out the door.

Sanji snorted.

“Baka.”

Nami sighed sadly again. Maybe she shout hat had said what she did. She knew Zoro cared for Luffy in a way more than friendship. Nami mentally scolded herself and went back to her coffee and her worries.


------------


“BAKA!! You were out for hours, kusoharamaki!!!!”

Zoro ducked as Sanji started throwing all sorts of paraphernalia at him. Nami chuckled.

“I swear, you two act like an old married couple.”

A dead silence hung in the air as the rest of the crew stared at Nami.

“NAMI-SAAAAAAAN!!! HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL?!!!”

Zoro sighed and flopped himself down in a chair. He was tired, sore and worn out. He had searched all day for his captain and had not seen him what-so-ever. It wasn’t even a big island so he was afraid that Nami was right, and that something had happened to Luffy. Now the sun had set for a second time and it was a cold night out. He worried if Luffy was wearing enough warm clothing . He didn’t want the captain to get sick.

Luffy.

thi thinking that name made him shiver. That silky black hair, his pouty lips, those big doe eyes. Zoro shivered in his seat, not knowing Chopper was staring at him.

“Zoro? Are you cold?”

He sharply turned to the small elk and let a smile melt on his face.

“Don’t worry about me, Chopper. I’m fine.”

“Well it would be horrible if you got a cold and all. I mean, to lay around all day and eat nothing but soup and have Luffy constantly trying to help out, and-”

Zoro didn’t hear the end of Chopper’s sentence as he remembered the last time he had gotten a cold. It was just a small cold that required a bit of bed rest, but Luffy was always at his side asking if he was warm enough, if he was hungry, thirsty, needed his pillow fluffed and so forth. He had even stayed up all night with him and wouldn’t fall asleep until Zoro was perfectly content. During that time, he wished he could have told his captain that the one thing that would have made him feel better was to have him stay by his side. Zoro was suddenly shot out of his thoughts and onto his feet as a large group of people barged through the door, shouting and calling for beer and other forms of booze.

Zoro buried his head in his hands. Pirates. No denying it. Those men were definitely pirates.

“Tuh. Look at those slovenly pigs, Nami-san. Such rudeness and vulgarity I couldn’t even comprehend.”

“Oh, don’t be such a stick in the mud! When you’ve been at sea for a long time when you finally get to shore, there’s not much you can do but have a good time!”

“Ah, Nami-san!! You’re so caring and wise!!”

Zoro rolled his eyes at the love cookdisgdisgust. All he did was swoon and sigh and make food. He didn’t mind the food part, but all the rest was crap.

Zoro was once more startled from his thoughts as Usopp stood abruptly, knocking his chair over and causing quite a commotion. Some of the pirates at the bar looked over in interest. One of them dropped their mug of beer on the ground.

Zoro looked between the two and his jaw dropped. No….fucking….way!

“DADDY!!”

“USOPP!!”

Usopp and Yasopp flew at each other in a massive hug and a large ‘AWWWWWW’ rang through the room, only to be broken by a chuckle.

“So this is Yasopp’s famous son? I can see the resemblance!”

“Yes, Captain! This is my boy!!”

“WOW! Finally I get to meet the great Captain Shanks!”

Zoro’s eyes widened.

“SHANKS?!”

The pirate crew looked over at Zoro in interest. Shanks moved out of the crowd to face Zoro.

“Yes…I am Captain Shanks of the Red Haired Pirates…..and who might you be?”

“……I am first mate of the Going Merry….under the command of my captain…you might know him.”

Shanks chuckled once again gav gave a kind smile.

“I bet I might. What’s his name?”

“……Monkey D. Luffy.”

Zoro couldn’t help but grin at the surprised expression of Shanks and his crew.

“That’s right!! I’m also a great pirate of the Going Merry!” Usopp shouted.

Robin let out a laugh at the rest of the crews antics. Nami sighed and grabbed herself a sandwich.

------------------

Hours passed and it was well past midnight as both pirate crews were still drinking, telling stories, andt plt plain being silly.

Zoro stepped out of the inn, taking in the cold air of the night. As he exhaled he could see his breath in front of him.

“Aren’t you cold?”

The green haired swordsman whipped his head around to come face to face with Shanks’ first mate, Ben Beckman. Zoro shrugged.

“Not really.”

Ben nodded and walked up to stand next to Zoro.

“So…..where is Luffy?”

The silence that hung in the air was thick and awkward.

“I…I don’t know.”

Ben raised and eyebrow.

“Come again?”

“I..I don’t know where Luffy is. Two days ago he ran off, but that’s normal of him so we weren’t worried…”

“..All except for you that is.”

“What?”

Ben flicked his cigarette and lit up another one.

“Lemme give you some advice, one first mate to another. When it comes to your captain, never stop worrying about him. Get it?”

The information sunk into Zoro’s head and he grinned, nodding to Shanks’ first mate. Ben clapped a hand on Zoro’s shoulder.

“Come on. Let’s take a walk. It’s too loud in there and I don’t really wanna see Yasopp and his kid do another polka on the table top.”

Zoro barked out a laugh and followed Ben’s lead.

-------

The night had gotten colder as Zoro and Ben walked around the town. Zoro was grateful to Ben for taking his mind off of Luffy. They had exchanged stories of their captains, their crew, and life in general. Both of their cheeks were a rosy pink from the cold but neither of them cared. Neither of them noticed either that they were coming up to the islands graveyard.

Zoro laughed out as Ben finished yet another hilarious story.

Clop clop clop.

Zoro raised an eyebrow.

The wind blew a little harder and the sound of straw scraping against cement caught both of their ears.

Straw?

Zoro looked up ahead as something caught his eye. Something was rolling around in the wind. It was too far away to identify the culprit of the sound. It rolled around in the wind and Zoro noted that it had come from the cemetery. Possibly an item that a loved one had left for a departed family member Zoro thought.

It rolled to a stop in the lamplight finally revealing itself. Zoro’s stomach dropped.

Luffy’s hat.

Zoro darted toward the straw hat on the ground and snatched it up. He shivered, gripping the hat in his hands.

“Luffy’s hat…..he would never leave this behind! It’s his most treasured item!!”

Ben had caught up with Zoro and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Then why wouldn’t it be with him?”

Zoro shook his head and suddenly darted up.

The cemetery…it had come from the graveyard….Zoro sprinted past the iron gates, dodging tombstones and flowers left for the dead. He ignored Ben’s cries for him to stop until a certain tombstone caught his eye. It had recently been dug up.

“Jesus Christ!! Would you calm down?!”

“Ben, Luffy’s here somewhere…I have to find him!!”

Ben let out a sigh. It hitched in his throat.

“Is that blood?”

Zoro looked down onto where Ben was looking. A dried pool of blood was caked to the side of a tombstone. Zoro paled. His breath hitched as he looked at the tomb that was recently dug up.

“Ben…look at that tombstone….”

“Paulhulthultz[1]….so what?”

“No!! Look at it!! This grave has just been recently dug up!!”

“So this Schultz person must have recently died, Zoro! Stop making such a fuss!”

“The date, Ben!!!!”

Ben looked down at the date and finally understood what Zoro was going on about. This grave had been recently dug up, appearing that Paula Schultz had recently passed. But the date on the tombstone stated that she had been dead for at least ten years.

“Ben…I think Luffy’s down there.”

Ben was shook from his thoughts.

“Zoro, that’s not possible. You’re not thinking rationally!”

“DAMMIT BEN!! HE COULD BE DIEING RIGHT NOW!! I HAVE TO KNOW!!”

Zoro flung himself onto the upraised earth, raking his hands into it flinging dirt this way and that. Ben just stared in awe at the green haired first mate. Zoro turned back to him.

“ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME OR NOT?!!”

Ben just stood there.

“…….Let me go find some shovels.”

Zoro ignored the sound of Ben retreating out of the graveyard as he continued to dig with his hands.

{Oh God, Luffy, please be alive!! I don’t know what I’d do if you’re dead!!!!}

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A thick silence hung in the air as Ben smashed open the door of the inn. Shanks excused himself from his conversation with Robin and went to his first mate.

“Ben…what’s wrong…where’s Zoro? Wasn’t he with you?”

Ben continued to pant, sweat dripping from his brow.

“Captain….I think…”

“Ben?”

“…….I think Luffy’s in trouble.”

------------------------------------------

Zoro sobbed as he continually struck dirt. He was filthy, covered with dirt and tears. He raked his hands yet again. He needed help. He had barely made a scratch on the grave.

“ZORO!”

He spun around to see the rest of the Going Merry crew and all of Shanks’ running up to him with shovels. Ben lifted him to his feet.

“Come on, let the other take care of it.”

“But-but Luffy!!” He wailed.

Robin smacked Zoro across the face.

“Get ahold of yourself! Going to pieces won’t help!”

Shanks’ crew were already digging. Nami pulled out a handkerchief and started wiping off Zoro’s face.

“It’s gunna be ok Zoro.”

“You don’t know that Nami…there..there was blood…Luffy’s hurt, I know it.”

Nami choked back a bit, holding in her tears.

“Listen, this is Luffy we’re talking about. Practically nothing can hurt him.”

THUNK!

“We’ve hit something!!”

“Pull it up!”

Zoro stumbled up as they pulled the poorly made coffin up onto the grass with a “THUD”.

Shanks stared at it icily.

“Open it.”

No one moved.

“Er…Captain…what if iallyally is a corpse?”

“Then we say our respects and put it back in the earth. Now open it!”

The pirates jumped. Shanks was normally a cool headed, laid back guy. It wasn’t very often he got edged or worked up. A crow bar was pulled out and shoved into the coffin and with a deafening “CRACK!” the lid was thrown off followed by a unanimous gasp.

“LUFFY!!!”

Zoro dashed over to his captain’s frozen body, taking him into his arms. He looked over to Chopper for help.

“We have to get him back to the inn, Zoro,” mutter the small elk. His voice wavered indicating that the little doctor was on the verge of tears.

Zoro nodded hastily and rose with his captain in his arms, heading back to the inn where they were staying. Zoro pressed his ear against Luffy’s chest.

{Thank God. He’s still alive! But who did this to him?}

Luffy’s body was light and his skin was pale, his cheeks tear stained and his eyes puffy. Zoro growled.

{Who ever did this……they’ll live to pay!!}

He carried his captain’s body carefully as the rest followed behind silently. The wind struck his back and he shivered. All were silent all the way back to the inn, in the inn, and when Zoro brought Luffy up to his room. He tucked him into the bed and stood. Chopper pulled on his pant leg.

“Uhm…uh…I’m going to need some time to examine him, Zoro…”

The green haired swordsman nodded.

“I’ll be waiting when your finished,” he answered.

Closing the door to his room he slid to the floor in a heap, not making a noise and not saying a word as the rest of the Going Merry stared at him. Nami sat down next to him and lowered Zoro’s head onto her shoulder, rubbing his head.

“Luffy’s going to be ok….I know he will….”

Zoro gulped. His heart raced in fear. He couldn’t wait for the door to open, but he was scared for it to open too. He bit his lip and buried his head in Nami’s shoulder, awaiting for the worst to happen.


TBC!!!

[1] If you’ve seen Kill Bill 2 you’ll know that the grave that the Bride was buried in was under the name Paula Schultz.

I’ll update as soon as I can!!! Thanks to all who have given their input so far!!

~~Yaoi Lady