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RUMBLE!	By : TreeStar Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 7990 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
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RUMBLE!

10

Touch

~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~

Zoro laid back in his hammock like he had that afternoon, and gently made to put Luffy down. The boy had very little motor control at all, and Zoro used his two finger grip to move Luffy from his hand to his chest.

Though his mind was blurry, Luffy was mostly conscious of what was happening to him now. As soon as he felt himself fully lowered to Zoro�s chest, he maneuvered as best he could to reposition himself over that large heartbeat. It was just comforting to be there. He smiled when Zoro lowered a hand over him just because. Zoro always knew what to do.

In truth, Zoro was merely putting on a good show of not being worried again for anyone who could be watching. This couldn�t keep happening. These attacks kept getting worse, first fainting then crying in pain and now seizing� He had hoped that the attacks would sort of trade off in intensity instead of compiling. According to Chopper they still would, but the swordsman hadn�t seen any sign of these things backing off yet. But he had to keep hoping! He had to.

He was hoping also that once Luffy became a little more coherent, the captain would speak to him before he fell asleep. Of course, if he conked out before he became more coherent then that was that. And he�d have Zoro waking up every half hour to check on him� That didn�t sound like fun. He really hoped Luffy came �round before he fell asleep. But he wouldn�t push. As Luffy had never responded well to being forced into anything, the first mate had decided early on not to push Luffy too hard if he could help it. Unless the smaller boy was dying or something; then Zoro would definitely have something to say.

Luffy kept his eyes closed and relaxed his body as best he could until his head cleared up some more. His thoughts were still a little foggy, but when weren�t they? He didn�t need to raise his head to see in order to know that Zoro was waiting on him.

He shivered, and Zoro closed his hand over him completely. �Zoro?�

�Yeah?�

�Are you okay?�

Zoro almost laughed. �Bakayarou, I get to ask you that question.�

Luffy smiled again. �I asked you first.�

Zoro was confused as to why Luffy was pushing this, but didn�t want in to drag on. �I�m fine. Are you okay?�

Luffy was quiet for a moment� before opening his eyes for the first time to meet his best friend�s squarely. �You don�t have to worry anymore. I�m okay.�

Zoro snorted, �Who�s worried?�

Luffy�s gaze stayed even. Sometimes he wondered who Zoro thought he was fooling. Then he broke into a smile, �Good!�

And Zoro took that moment to switch subjects on the boy. �Do you remember it?�

Luffy paused, but his smile didn�t fade a bit, �Not really.� He rolled over onto his back again, reaching to hold one of Zoro�s larger fingers with his own.

End of discussion. Zoro thought with a frown before deciding that was fine. It�s late, anyway. He slightly repositioned his hand and slowly rolled out of the hammock.

Luffy sunk down his front and into his palm with the motion, and was overtaken with a new bought of shivering. It was so cold now. Not like earlier, but Zoro�s movement had brought goosebumps and shivers and the whole shebang with it. Zoro crossed the room to the couch and laid back on it, prepared to put himself and his captain to bed for the night.

When he moved his hand away in order to pick Luffy up, he saw that Luffy had tensed up tightly again and was curling as close to Zoro as he could for warmth. The freezing captain was trying to pull at a crumple in Zoro�s shirt over himself with one hand while the rest of him seemed to be tensing up tighter involuntarily.

Not willing to let a repeat of his last attack happen, Zoro promptly pulled the blanket on the back of the couch down over them both, tucking it down around his middle to cover Luffy securely.

When more than a minute had passed and Luffy didn�t speak, Zoro was almost ready to call for Chopper. But just as he had decided, his captain finally took a few deep breaths� and looked up at him.

Zoro�s concern must have been vivid on his face, because the first words out of Luffy�s mouth were, �I�m okay, Zoro.�

Remembering to keep his voice to a whisper only because he didn�t want everyone crowding around them, or the cook throwing a shoe at him, Zoro snorted unbelievingly, �Yeah, you�re fine. In fact, your having to huddle into my shirt to keep from freezing to death shows me just how vigorous you are��

Luffy laid his head down on Zoro�s chest again. ��I know.�

Zoro closed his eyes and laid his head back. Crap. That had come out a lot more snappish than he had meant for it to, but it was so hard to watch this happen to his best friend, and be unable to stop it in any way. �Luffy, I�m sorry.�

�I know.�

�I�m just�� he sighed, �I don�t know what I am�� he whispered more to himself than Luffy.

��I know.�

Zoro knit his eyebrows together (closer than they were normally). �Do you have anything else to say, Sencho?�

Luffy raised his head and smiled, �Neehee!�

Zoro opened his mouth to reprimand� and then just shook his head and sighed with a smile. His captain had done that on purpose� And if Luffy was feeling that much better� �You�re gonna get it now!� he whispered, slowly moving in for the kill.

As Zoro�s fingers closed in on him, Luffy began to fidget a little and giggle in anticipation� He shrieked a little when Zoro suddenly pulled the blanket back, and then he finally burst into laughter as Zoro quickly flipped him onto his back, found his tummy with his pointer finger, and started tickling him wildly.

Zoro went mercilessly on his tummy and around his ribs for about half a minute before his captain finally got out a �No more!�, at which point he let his fingers rest in place for a moment. He let Luffy have a short breather, before asking, �Do you surrender, captain?�

Luffy smiled cheekily at him and shook his head defiantly. Zoro recommenced the tickle attack as Luffy laughed and tried unsuccessfully to bat him away. The sword fighter smiled. Playing with Luffy like this really was fun, and his captain obviously enjoyed it. It was kind of a shame that he�d never been able to bring himself to do this when Luffy was bigger, but great swordsmen did not roll around on the deck tickling little boys. Also Luffy would be substantially harder to control at full size. Some of the tricks the boy was trying now to get rid of the tickling fingers were pretty desperate, and probably would have thrown Zoro across the deck had they both been normal sized� But for now� it was okay. For now.

Luffy finally gave in again, crying out for a break. Zoro granted it to him, this time pulling his hands away, much to Luffy�s disappointment. He liked this game� �Zoro?�

�No more tonight. It�s time to sleep now. Ready?� Zoro made to pick the boy up, but Luffy stretched for the blanket and pulled it completely over himself, rolling onto his own tummy and huddling in a little ball to look, from the outside, like a little bump that had grown on Zoro�s front. �Not tired��

Zoro�s hand dropped. He didn�t want to get exasperated, but he didn�t want to play anymore, either. He was really tired. His nap schedule wasn�t actually existent for the time being and it was making him irritable� worrying about Luffy nonstop for days on end was exhausting. �Luffy, you need sleep. C�mon.� He gently moved for the tiniest pirate again, pulling the blanket back again and reaching in to wrap two fingers around the small middle and hoist him up, but Luffy slumped against him stubbornly and the fingers didn�t have room.

Zoro tried not to laugh, despite himself. His captain was such a complete BABY sometimes! The traditional method clearly wasn�t going to get him anywhere tonight. �Luffy, I�m tired. So if you stay up, you�ll be the only one doing it.� He could see his captain�s stubbornness wane somewhat here. A baby, yes, but a softy, too.

Zoro sighed a little, but smiled. It didn�t really matter if Luffy gave in now or not. The wiser side in him (the one that knew that no amount of paranoia was too much when it came to his captain) couldn�t put Luffy to bed without knowing that he would go right to sleep. If he was awake he was much more likely to have an attack, and get himself into an astounding amount of trouble.

There was no way around it. Zoro had wound the excitable pirate up before bedtime (clever him), and now he�d have to wind him back down. He found that he really didn�t mind the idea of doing this once in a while with any of the three youngest; helping them get to sleep, that is. And it was really no biggie now. After all, Luffy was actually incredibly easy to manipulate if you knew what buttons to push.

Zoro had learned most of those buttons before the two had even met Nami. Floating together in a dinghy for days on end did bring people together like that� Perhaps that was why Zoro did know Luffy so well; he�d spent more one-on-one time with the boy than the rest could imagine.

Now that Luffy was a little �out of whack�, those buttons weren�t AS reliable, but there was one thing Zoro could think of that had worked very well at calming the boy since all this had started. So Zoro figured that maybe if he had managed to get Luffy to the brink of hysteria with two fingers� he could get him to the brink of sleep the same way. Luffy already had his back exposed, so he was unwittingly all set.

Zoro brought down two fingers again, and pressed them both against his captain�s back before he began moving them over him in the most soothing way he could figure out (You know, considering that he had restraints on techniques now�).

Luffy tensed in expectation when the fingers came down again, but began to unwillingly relax little by little as Zoro moved over him.

Zoro smirked a little in pride. No one else could get Luffy to do this� Why the hell he was so damn proud of that he had no idea, but there it was. Zoro knew he was a little conceited about most of the things he did, but he usually had a right to be.

Honestly, though, Zoro highly doubted that Luffy had ever consciously held still for long enough in his whole life to receive a rub-down. And this wasn�t even a real rub-down. It was just improvisation with two fingers, and his fingers were a little big to maneuver together on the smallest pirate�s back. He still knew the musculature of the human body, though, and this let him improve pretty well, he thought. Had Luffy only been bigger, Zoro would have really shown him something. The swordsman knew how to give good massages. Seriously. He�d picked up quite a few tricks at the dojo over the years. (Mostly because he was always getting hurt and Sensei would have to fix him up a bit, but that part wasn�t important!).

Luffy was melting under Zoro�s massage. His swordsman really knew what he was doing! Instead of a lighter rub down, his touches were penetrating deeper now. Zoro kept his two fingers alternating at different pressures in just the right way on his tense muscles, and it felt sooo good. His sensitivity only made it better, and Luffy didn�t even realize he was sprawling out and arching his back into Zoro�s touch.

Zoro smiled softly. The future pirate king laid there willingly splayed out now, letting his first mate learn how to touch him, subconsciously cueing him to what was really good and what was only so-so with his motions and breathing.

The older teen was surprised at how good it felt to bring pleasure to the boy in his care, and was, again, amazed to be given so much trust. Luffy was strong and prideful; he had a temper to rival his own and was every inch as strong as Zoro in battle� and he was allowing his first mate to lull him into complete helplessness. Altering his method slightly to move slowly up and down the boy�s back, Zoro was now able to elicit small noises from him that he had never heard Luffy make before. Noises that told Zoro volumes more than words ever could.

He likes this�

Zoro could sense that the younger pirate�s defenses were completely down as he let his first mate learn just how to touch him, and he suspected that Luffy wasn�t even completely aware of where he was anymore, surrendering to the sensations that were compiling upon him under Zoro�s care. Surrendering, bit-by-bit, to sleep.

The two stayed like this for some time; relaxing in the quiet stillness, enjoying each other�s presence. Zoro taking care of Luffy and Luffy enjoying how Zoro was taking care of him, figuring out what he liked and then giving it to him.

Watching the boy drop every defense and submit to the sensations, the swordsman was amazed still how responsive Luffy was. But then, he was always like this. Responsiveness was no new thing for the captain. So how was it that Zoro had never before noticed the extent to which Luffy enjoyed being touched? He needs this� the comfort and contact� I never thought about it before, but he really needs this�

Zoro finally constrained his motions to a simple, constant up and down stroke, which proved to be his victim�s undoing.

Luffy was so far gone now, he was almost beyond the point of rousing anymore. Which was why, to the world�s tiniest (and most simple) pirate, his first mate�s noticeable switch to a repetitive, hypnotic massage at his critical moment was basically the sandman�s invitation to do his worst.

Luffy heard Zoro whisper something to him that he couldn�t make out� and then he knew no more.

~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~

It was painfully bright. GAH! Why was is so bright? There should have been some kind of� badness rule about the brightness of the morning that made it not okay.

Thus went the mind-rambling of Monkey D. Luffy as he returned to the entirely-too-bright world of consciousness. He normally loved the sun, but this was a bit much, and he buried his face in his purple pillow. When did morning happen, anyway? How dare it.

To make the morning better, he heard a certain somebody laughing at his malcontent morning-pout scenario. Luffy made a grumbly sound, before lifting his head to call out irately, �Keep laughing, Zoro. That�s right.�

Zoro�s chuckles of mirth died down. �Morning, captain.�

Luffy dropped his head back into his pillow, letting it rest there for a moment, before rolling onto his back, letting out a huge yawn, and answering, �It�s too bright. Tell the sun to go back down!� He still hadn�t opened his eyes.

Zoro raised one eyebrow. �Yeah, I�ll get right on that after I finish learning to move things with the power of my mind.�

Luffy either didn�t get it (surprise surprise), or was too miserable to be awed in shock. �Tell the sun to go down first, okay?� He STILL hadn�t opened his eyes.

Zoro became a little concerned. �Captain, you okay?�

�Eyes hurt. Really bad.� the smallest pirate brought his hands up to cover them. �Ow! Zoro, they really sting!�

Watching his captain, Zoro�s expression changed. �The hatch is open. Just hold on for a second.� The first mate moved across the room quickly to close the hatch to the otherwise-unoccupied bedroom, then was back at Luffy�s side again in less than half a minute. �That any better?�

Luffy was curled into a ball under the covers that he had pulled over his head. �Maybe, thanks. I just need a minute.� Then he sniffed, blowing his cover.

�Luffy, are you having an attack?�

Luffy sniffed again. �I think so. Just� it�s not too bad, just hurts. I can�t open my eyes.� He wasn�t crying, but his raw eyes were watering in pain, making his nose run. �Hey Zoro? Stay close?�

Zoro, who was sitting on the couch again, loathing that there was nothing he could do but wait out another attack AGAIN, dawned a sarcastic tone. He couldn�t help it. �Nah, Luffy, I was just leaving.�

�NONONONONOOO!� Luffy, totally not picking up on the obvious, kicked his blankets off in hysteria, holding his hands over his eyes as streams of tears flowed over his hands and face. �OWWW!!� He immediately relapsed into his curled position in pain.

Zoro had his hands domed around the boy to block out what light they could as Luffy called out for him, �Zoro it hurts!�

�I know, Buddy. I�m right here. I�m not leaving, promise.� Note to self: Never do that again. Of course he wouldn�t get sarcasm. He rarely got it when he was healthy!

Luffy continued to shake in his ball, waiting for the pain to stop. This pain still wasn�t as bad as the noise attack yesterday had been. The one where he had feared Zoro to not want him anymore, but it had spiked severely when Zoro had made his remark. The pain in his eyes hadn�t let him zoom in on the worried incredulity behind his friend�s remark. The next thing that Luffy sensed, however, was those warm hands closing around him as a familiar scent dominated all the others in his bed, and his hysteria quelled immediately.

As his emotions calmed, so did the severity of his attack. He could actually pick up on it now. Maybe he was starting to understand a little about these attack things, like how Chopper said. He concentrated on thinking about Zoro�s scent, because it was something he liked and it was better than the pain, and after about a minute, he was able to take his hands away from his still-closed eyes to reach out and touch the fingers he sensed where so near. �Zoro�� he breathed as the shaking and the pain finally began to really disappear.

Zoro didn�t hear his name whispered, but felt Luffy�s touch against his own. Very hesitantly the sword fighter opened the top of his hands a little to see the status of who was inside. Luffy was lying calmly on his side now, eyes still closed, as if sleeping.

�Oi, Sencho?� Zoro called softly.

Luffy still wouldn�t open his eyes, but his hand rubbed up and down slightly over the larger finger it was resting against. �I think it�s over now.�

�Can you open your eyes yet? Or do they still hurt?�

Luffy still didn�t change position from laying still on one side. His breathing was deep and tired. Zoro was starting to suspect that it might be good for the tiny boy to just go back to sleep for a while. Luffy answered after a second of consideration, �They still burn a little, but it�ll pass. Is Sanji cooking?�

�He might be, but you�re not going upstairs until the pain passes.� Zoro said, folding his arms in finality.

Luffy immediately pushed himself into a sitting position and tried his best to open his eyes and give his first mate a believable I�m-all-better smile. What Zoro saw was a pair of quickly-blinking red eyes squinting at him with blurred vision, tear tracks, a cringing almost-half smile, and panting shoulders from the effort.

�Nice try Luffy, but don�t do that again.� Luffy�s shoulders slumped, his eyes closing as Zoro gently pressed him back down on the bed saying, �You�ll hurt your eyes worse if you open them before they�re ready.�

Luffy relaxed with a sigh. Zoro tried to pull the blanket back over him, but Luffy didn�t want any of that. He wanted to eat.

Zoro tried a different track. �You know pirates are superstitious, right?�

Luffy sounded a little happy now that they were on one of his favorite subjects (which consisted of piracy, nakama, and food), but kept his eyes shut. �Of course!�

Zoro smiled when his captain did, and tried to tell him �This morning hasn�t� waking up and having an attack right away isn�t a good sign. Maybe you should sleep in today.�

Luffy considered these words for about five seconds, before turning his face with his still-closed eyes to his first mate confusion, �But you�re not superstitious�?�

�That�s true. But I�m not stupid, either.�

��Meaning?�

�Meaning, Luffy, that something this obvious shouldn�t be ignored.�

Blank expression. �Obvious as what?�

Zoro stared that the wall across the room and sighed in response to his captain�s inability to follow conversations. �You need to stay in bed for a while longer.�

�What?! WHY?!� Luffy opened his eyes in surprise, and Zoro was glad to see that he was able to keep them open a little if he blinked a lot.

�Because I said so.�

Knowing from a long history that Nami-logic couldn�t be argued with, Luffy pouted at the unfairness of it all and rolled onto his side in silent protest of Zoro�s decision that he could do nothing about.

Zoro let Luffy carry on his act, saying nothing� and within a few minutes Luffy was asleep again. Zoro smiled fondly and covered his captain up again, then rose as quietly as he could and headed for the ladder. He felt a little worried about leaving Luffy alone like this, if even for a couple minutes, but he had to go to the restroom, and on the way back he�d swing by the kitchen to get some food for his captain�s wounded ego.

~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~

Zoro entered the kitchen to see his nakama either lounging around the breakfast table, or in one case, hovering around the stove�wearing a purple suit that had holes cut out of the back that it�s owner had obviously missed when getting dressed in the dawn lack-of-light. From Usopp and Chopper�s purposefully diverted eyes, neither had been brave enough to mention that they had both most recently seen the missing fabric someplace else. Robin glanced first at Sanji�s back, and then at Zoro in unspoken amusement, and Nami didn�t care one way or another what Sanji was wearing.

�Took you two long enough to get up this morning,� a nicotine-deprived voice greeted Zoro. Sanji didn�t sound royally pissed off, though, so that meant Zoro was still in the clear. No one had mentioned to the cook that the jacket he�d put on that morning was full of multi-shaped holes in the back that showed off the big pink stain in the blue, pin-stripped shirt that he was �hiding�.

�Yeah, well. Luffy�s still in bed. He woke up and was wasn�t feeling well so he went back to sleep for a while.� Zoro trailed off as every face in the kitchen was fixed on his in shock. �Did I miss something?�

�He�s missing breakfast?� Chopper asked, �On purpose?�

�No, he�s missing breakfast because he�s sick and he�s exhausted. Is there something wrong with that?� Zoro asked, then kicked himself.

�No. Nothing.� Everyone said at once, averting their eyes to look where they had been before. �Except for Sanji. �Are you saying that you left him alone, Prickhead?�

Zoro stared at him like he was an idiot, because hey! Who would argue with him? �except for maybe Luffy, but Luffy was insane, so his testimony was moot. �Sanji, you�re observational skills never fail to blow me away.�

Sanji gritted his teeth that did not have the usual cigarette in between them, so it looked real classy. �Likewise with your stupidity. Does he even know you�re up here? Nooo. Because if he did, he�d be here with you.�

Zoro waved him off, �I won�t be long. Just remember that the longer it takes you to make up a couple plates of food, the longer he�ll be alone.�

Sanji, believe it or not, smirked. �Alright.� He agreed, easily enough. �You know how sad he�s going to be that you just deserted him? He�s going to wake up all by himself, sick and alone, and there won�t be anyone there for him to confide in. Luffy, our captain who�s never been anything but good to you� and you betray that trust and leave him all alone in the WHOLE WORLD!�

Zoro�s eyebrow twitched. �He�s not ALL alone in the world.� He stared at Sanji practically.

Sanji shrugged, �That�s what it�s going to feel like to him, though.�

Zoro figited a little. Sanji noticed and continued, �He could already be awake, and where the hell are you? He�s going to be allll by himself. You know that�s just going to send him on a hunt to find somebody. He�s going to be exposed and alone while he�s sick, and could have an attack at any moment.�

�ALRIGHT!� Zoro growled. �Send someone down with it, then.�

Sanji smiled, �Like who?�

Wha�? Suddenly getting it, Zoro spun around quickly to see that he and the chef were the only two in the room. �Where�d everyone go?�

Sanji turned back to the stove, �Oh, they all left to visit Luffy ages ago.�

Zoro�s fist was blocked with Sanji�s foot in a heartbeat, and the two proceeded to have a gladiator-battle-to-the-death right there, mutually pausing only every three minutes so Sanji could flip the pancakes or pour on more batter. It was a brutal fight that created cut lips and bloody noses on the spot and would leave plenty of bruises later, and it was ABOUT DAMN TIME! The testosterone-induced need to beat the living crap out of each other hadn�t been filled in days, and frankly it was more than overdue.

The fight wasn�t especially coordinated on Zoro�s part because he lacked a blade, though, and after a while the inevitable end came with Sanji flattening him to the ground with his shoe, and turning back to stack the pancakes and load the previously-scrambled eggs onto two impressively-filled plates. Otherwise the fight would have gone on for another hour, easy.

Sanji grabbed a couple rags, tossed one on top of Zoro�s head, and proceeded to clean himself up a bit. That asshole had scuffed up his sleeves, and this was his favorite suit, too!

�Hey,� the victor said to the loser who had risen off the floor and clean up a bit, himself, �Grab the rest of the plates and the syrup, will ya?� Then he left Zoro to follow him, because it seemed they would be eating in the boy�s cabin that morning.

Zoro was about to ignore his orders and head down to Luffy, the hell with the cook� but changed his mind as he watched the blond�s back disappear around the corner, and proceeded to do as requested.

~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~

Zoro climbed down the ladder to the boy�s room with one hand, as he was getting so good at it. He was surprised to note that everyone was keeping their voices low and beheld the scene around the table as he approached it.

Luffy was sitting on Nami�s lap, where she was letting him look at her climatact as she no doubt believed that the current circumstances were the only ones under which he couldn�t break it. Luffy kept poking his head into one of the three tubes to call out his own name and hear it echo back at him.

Zoro sighed. They just couldn�t resist, could they. �You guys, why�d you wake him up? I told you he wasn�t feeling well.�

Luffy pulled his head out upon hearing Zoro�s voice and looked at him with betrayed eyes, which he averted after a moment, but not before Zoro saw it. There was no cheerful, �Zoro!� with audible smiley-faces and candy canes in it. No rocketing hug of relief that he was back by Luffy�s side� Somehow Zoro had come to expect it�

And suddenly Zoro knew why Luffy was acting as he was.

Confirming his thoughts, Nami frowned at him. �We didn�t wake him up. When we got down here, he was already awake and shouting for you. Another minute and he�d probably have been on the ladder. Good job, Mr. First-Mate.�

Oh shit� Zoro hadn�t taken his eyes off Luffy, who had a little too purposefully thrust his head back into the climatact, but wasn�t calling anymore. What could he say? What if something had happened to Luffy when he was alone? What if something did? Would he even be willing to tell Zoro now if it had? Luffy was very forgiving� when he wasn�t so sick, unpredictable and emotional because of eating a plate of freak magic-medicine balls too dangerous for Paramecia consumption�

Well, whatever the future between them held, it would be resolved in private. Luffy clearly didn�t want to discuss it in public.

Zoro passed the plates around the table as Sanji loaded them up with pancakes and eggs. Usopp quickly moved the straw hat out of sight on the floor so that they would have room to eat.

After a moment, in an effort to look like nothing was wrong, Luffy shot over next to Sanji and smiled in awe at the food. �The hugest pancakes in the world�� he said, with only slightly real amazement and a huge grin accompanied with sparkling eyes that were probably believable to anyone in the room who wasn�t Zoro right then.

�Easy, Sencho.� Sanji admonished. �Wait your turn.�

Luffy pouted for real, �But I�m hungry, Sanjiiii!�

�Then you�ll still be hungry in a second, Luffyyyy!� Sanji returned the whine to make a point.

Luffy only pouted deeper, but he didn�t answer. Because of his good behavior, his plate was the next made, and set down in front of him by Sanji personally. Then his jaw dropped in outrage. �Sanji! Everyone else got chocolate chips in theirs! Why didn�t I get chocolate chips?!�

Sanji didn�t pause his work as he answered blankly, �Do you remember what happened the last time you ate chocolate?�

Luffy appeared confused. What could Sanji possibly be referring to? After a moment, his frown deepened. The captain folded his arms authoritatively and nodded once, �Sanji, I do not want chocolate chips in my pancakes. I�ve decided.�

Sanji passed a plate to Chopper. �Glad to hear it.�

Zoro was the last to get his breakfast, and found that he wasn�t especially hungry. He ate, because he didn�t want to arouse suspicion that he felt neglected because of his captain�s complete lack of interest in coming to eat by him. That untimely feeling of possessiveness hit Zoro again as he watched Luffy visit with everyone that was not him. It was that inappropriate feeling, like everyone was interfering with something they had no rights to be, even though they did.

Luffy sat in between Nami and Robin�s plates, eating with them. He smiled, laughed, tossed his food into the air and stretched his neck to aid himself to catch it in his mouth. His behavior, in fact, was now perfectly normal, almost as if he were healthy� and Zoro knew it was hard on him to do this. Keeping up appearances wasn�t something Luffy was good at. He wasn�t a fake person, and he didn�t know how to act like someone he was not. Luffy acted on his feelings.

So what was he feeling as he smiled and laughed and put on a show for everyone? Zoro knew this display was only intended for him, really. And it hurt. Luffy was acting against his feelings, Zoro was sure of it. He thought he was getting better at it because he had been pretending that nothing was wrong in front of the rest of his crew for days now, but this was Zoro. His confidant. The one whom had seen Luffy burst into tears, and tucked him in at night, and didn�t stare at him like a funhouse attraction at breakfast the day before. And now Luffy was trying to put on a mask in front of his first mate, too.

It�s like he�s grouped me up with the rest of-- At the sudden realization, Zoro stopped eating. Luffy wasn�t so much giving him the cold shoulder as he was simply not looking at Zoro with the adoration the swordsman had become so used to seeing in those eyes when they drew to him. He was treating Zoro like he treated the rest of the crew. It hurt in a way he couldn�t describe. It became a little harder to breath, and his appetite was stolen in an instant. He wasn�t special anymore. He didn�t stand out in Luffy�s eyes, and it left him feeling empty. Of course these feelings were completely unjustified, but there they were.

Zoro understood why this was happening: he�d told Luffy that he wouldn�t leave, and then he stepped out of the room, effectively leaving the promised boy to wake up alone and abandoned, and according to Nami, calling out for him for God-only-knew how long. But if he could just get the chance to explain himself, he was sure he could convince Luffy to take him back!

Convince him to take me back? Zoro closed his eyes and sighed. I must be losing my mind.

�Yoohoo!� Usopp waved a hand in front of Zoro�s face, bringing the slightly-in-shock weight trainer back to the reality of being surrounded by everyone on the ship.

�What?� he asked.

Usopp gave him a weird look, �You okay? You�re all day-dreamy.�

�He�ll be fine, Usopp,� Sanji finished his eggs, �He�s just realized that he�s lost all lap dog privileges with the captain.�

Zoro turned a peculiar shade of red. Luffy promptly called out to get Robin�s attention to show off the miniature pancakes he had made out of his bigger one.

Usopp seemed more confused. �But wouldn�t it be reversed, since Luffy�s the one who�s been curling up in Zoro�s lap?�

Sanji smirked. �You�d think so, wouldn�t you?�

Zoro tried to make his face cool down. �Sanji. That�s a nice suit.�

Sanji leaned back, �Why thank you, Zoro,� he smiled patronizingly.

Zoro returned the smile, just as fake. �Any time.�

Then Chopper got up with a �thanks for the food�, and headed toward the ladder. Now that he was back mentally, Zoro was mildly surprised to see that breakfast was pretty much over with. Robin followed after Chopper, and Usopp after her.

�Hey, Christmas Tree,� Sanji addressed Zoro, standing up, �Help carry up the dishes.�

Zoro looked back over at Luffy, who was still by Nami, who appeared to be taking a minute to relax on the couch. �Make Nami help.�

Sanji kicked him in the head, �Don�t be so impolite, grunt. He�ll be fine for two minutes. Besides, it�s not the first time you�ve ditched him.�

Zoro, in all fairness, couldn�t argue with that. Not in answer to the pain he saw flash through Luffy�s eyes at the claim. Zoro�s shoulders slumped in defeat. That irrational feeling he�d been having finally left him alone, only to be replaced with an uncalled for sense of loss. He wished more than anything right then that he knew what Luffy was feeling, because personally, Zoro would have never in a million years believed that Luffy�s not saying anything to keep him here would feel so much like a door being slammed in his face.

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RUMBLE!