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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
- 20
- 21
- 22
RUMBLE!

21

Empty Nest

Luffy couldn�t even cry out as the rush of wind made his head spin. He had no idea where he was, just that he was being moved.

I�ve been stolen! he thought in panic. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn�t hit the bird in mid-flight, because he couldn�t see straight.

The air was thin. The talons were sharp and strong and squeezing him painfully. Where was Zoro? What was even happening? He couldn�t put more than a three word thought together, and even they didn�t make sense. The pain was blocking out everything. Luffy couldn�t even be scared. In the back of his mind, it occurred to him that this was nothing. On a normal day this bird would have been toast and Luffy would have laughed as he rode him through the sky like a giant kite.

�So how could anything so simple� how could what was NOTHING before be SO MUCH now?! The world spun as colors blurred and darkened. Then the whatchamacallit carrying him let out a piercing shriek. Flashes of color whooshed across Luffy�s mind, and then everything was black, the attack too severe to undergo consciously.

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

He�d frozen up.

Zoro was shoving through the jungle as fast as he could, which was disgustingly slow due to all the vines and roots and small bushes in his way. The stupid bird just had to have flown in the direction (if his ears were working right) that was the most blockaded. It was taking him into the thickest and most dangerous part of the whole jungle.

The last place on earth Luffy can calmly handle being right now�

And it was his fault. He�d been relieved and had dropped his guard, and the SECOND he did so, his world as he knew it had been torn away from him by a toucan. That�s right. A medium-sized black bird with a long striped beak; a TOUCAN had taken away his captain. And in the first few seconds after it had happened, Zoro had frozen in total shock. Luffy was there and then Luffy wasn�t. His brain had forgotten how to think. His body had forgotten how to move. And he�d lost time because of it. Only a couple seconds, but they mattered, and now he was racing (at an awkward stumbling, slow pace) to keep up with the bird flying overhead.

When the toucan disappeared from sight, its calls kept Zoro heading in the right direction� until they finally stopped, too.

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

�Where?

Luffy painfully came to awareness in a hard, uncomfortable place. Things were poking at him from different angles and it was really cold. It hadn�t been this cold before�

�Zoro�?� Luffy called, incoherently.

When no answer came, he rubbed his eyes and blinked. It was shady, but he was outside. Was he in a shady place on the deck�?

Suddenly Luffy sat up, wide-eyed. His breathing increased as he looked around. He was in a nest of sticks and leaves. He was surprised to find it empty aside from himself, the bird apparently having left.

It must think I�m dead� He couldn�t manage to be relieved about this, though.

Luffy pulled himself to the edge of the nest and looked over. HOLY HELL, he was high up. He wasn�t in the highest branch of the tallest tree or anything so insane as that, but he was still in the upper branches of a tree that was tall, and as far as Luffy was concerned, that was practically soaring. He had to be twenty feet up! The breeze that blew through the branches up there with him was much colder than the air pocket down below near the ground that was sheltered by all the flora, and near the surface of the warm ground.

�And he didn�t see Zoro anywhere. His breathing began to speed up. He was alone.

What could he do?! How would he find Zoro again? He didn�t know how far he�d come or in what direction. He didn�t know if Zoro had seen which way the bird went. Would Zoro come? The swordsman had NO sense of direction. What if he couldn�t find him?

What should he do? He couldn�t go though the woods! Half the spiders on the island were bigger than he was� and then there was the whole thing he hadn�t actually told anyone about yet regarding his rubber powers and strength sort of not always working as well as other times. He would have loved to believe that it was just a random thing that happened once by freak chance� but it wasn�t. There were some things he knew with certainty about his body even in this condition, and his Akuma no Mi curse was one of them. His failsafe wasn�t working--his weapon unreliable.

��Why does it have to be this way?� he whimpered. Being small was okay, being weak was sort of okay, having everything about his body rebelling was barely tolerable, being separated from Zoro for a short time was terrifying, but THIS was WAY more than he could take. He couldn�t do this. He didn�t even know where to start.

�Zoro��

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

Okay, the bird had to have stopped in this area, because this is about where its cries had abruptly stopped.

Zoro was afraid to move away from this general area for fear of never finding it again, or at least not finding it any time soon, which was just as inexcusable.

Did toucan�s have nests? Zoro stood, put his head in his hands and tried to think. This was the Grand Line and nothing was normal here, so there was no positive way to know without finding it or not finding it.

He began looking up into the tree branches, both high and low, moving forward slowly and planning to move in a progressively larger loop. If he saw the bird, a nest, or any other sign of his captain, he would pursue it.

�What if he�s already�? No, Zoro shook his head fiercely. He�s fine. He�s stronger than he thinks� he can do this. He�ll be okay. Just until I find him, he can hold on that long, he can!

...But could he? When he was alone like this?

If anything happened to Luffy� No, even if Luffy was fine, Zoro would never forgive himself. And the others were going to kill him.

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

Calm down and think.

After panicking for several minutes, Luffy had finally put his head between his knees to regain focus. His vision had gotten spotty and he�d collapsed uselessly back into the nest a little while ago, back at square one. He didn�t have time to keep starting over like this, but he also knew he wasn't supposed to be in this situation at all. Zoro's name was a mantra in his mind. Zoro would be on the ground somewhere, so he had to get down there, too. He also had to move before the bird got back, leaving him possibly very little time.

Breath regained, Luffy looked over the edge of the nest to the ground far below him, and took a deep breath. It was cold outside the nest. The nest (which rested wedged between two heavier of the top branches away from the trunk) acted as a shield from the wind, of which there was much more up here than there was closer to the ground where it was naturally warmer anyway.

�All the more reason to get down low,� Luffy encouraged himself, and slowly crossed the nest to the side that was over the branch leading to the trunk. The trunk of the tree wasn�t too terribly far way, and he told himself that things could have been worse, and that this was the shaky evidence for it.

"It's not that you're small, the jungle is unnatually big..." he spoke to himself, just to hear a familiar sound in this unfamiliar place. Unfortunately, the voice that was screaming 'OH MY GOD!' in his mind was much louder.

Pulling himself out of the nest and dropping low, Luffy clung closely to the branch and just stayed still for a few moments, trying again to refocus. ��Sokay, �sokay, �sokay,� he began whispering to himself over and over, breath shaky. It was a whitish-gray tree, and smooth without the chunky bark that an oak had. Luffy�s small fingers found grooves okay, but it was still hard to grasp hold of the wood as well as he�d have liked to. Being exposed like this was terrifying, and Luffy couldn't control his shaking as he sniffled and pulled himself forward on his frontside.

He wished he blended in with the wood better, not thrilled to be a red spot sticking out on a white tree branch as he reached above him and slowly towed himself forward toward the trunk of the tree. He repeated this process several times, taking a few regrouping breaths in between each tow. He sniffled and hummed to try and distract himself from the reality of what was happening, but it didn't make the process easier. He didn�t dare try to stand. He felt sick and dizzy and knew he wouldn�t have been able to balance without the wind. As it was, the wind was there and he only felt three-quarters conscious having only gotten six scootches across the branch.

He was still struggling to hum shakily even as the cold started to cause his chest to lock slightly between breaths. He was shivering so hard that his arms were almost having a painful time stretching up to pull him along; a thing he hadn�t experienced since climbing the mountain in Drum.

But when he heard the familiar call of a returning bird, his thoughts on distracting himself flew out the window, and he began towing himself faster so he wouldn�t have to later, his exceptional hearing telling him that the bird was still a good distance away. He made it four more scootches before the bird flapped up to the branch and Luffy knew he was out of time.

The bird noticed right away that its meal was missing and saw it creeping away almost instantly. Luffy rolled over and propped himself onto his elbows. He couldn�t see very well with his eyes watering, but he knew that if he didn�t at least try to defend himself, there would be nothing for Zoro to find.

The stripey-beak (for that�s what it was, Luffy recognized) walked one foot over the other toward its prey as Luffy forced himself to sit up more, liberating his arms. Once it was in distance, the toucan snapped forward quickly with its long beak and missed the boy, who quickly shot back out of reach.

One second later the beak was back, snapping. It grabbed his ankle and Luffy cried out in pain as he was yanked across the branch harshly before the bird let go of his ankle only to get a better grip around his right calf. He felt the beak pierce the skin and a searing pain hit him that shouldn�t have ever been so bad over such a simple wound. Luffy kicked with his other foot hard a couple times, and the bird finally released his leg, only to make another grab for it.

Luffy pulled it harshly and painfully out of the stripey-beak�s reach, but the toucan was undeterred. It took a step forward and grabbed his right leg again, pulling him closer. This time Luffy punched the beak hard, making the bird drop his leg onto the branch again.

It let out a loud, irritated squawk that made Luffy grab his ears and clench his eyes shut with a grunt of pain before the bird grabbed onto one of the aforementioned arms and twisted his beak sharply. Luffy cried out as his right hand was pulled away from his ear and the sharp tip of the beak tore a long, jagged gash all down the length of his arm. The animal hadn�t expected the limb to stretch when it grabbed hold, however, and began pulling on it and swinging its beak in a thrashing motion, trying to either take the arm off or swing its lunch around until he died. But Luffy�s body didn�t follow the thrashing of his arm, and as the gash opened wider, he screamed in pain.

Luffy felt his blood spill freely from the wound, and what didn�t get soaked into the sleeve that Nami and Robin had made him formed thin lines of crimson going in all directions around the circumference of his arm until instinct kicked in and Luffy�s leg swung out on its own accord and knocked the bird�s feet out from under it.

His arm snapped back and he screamed again as the stripey-beak let out a squawk of surprise and fell from the tree. Not being the most graceful of birds, it was almost to the ground before regaining its flight, and immediately used it to get away from there for a while. Luffy didn�t taste that great, and there had to be easier meals.

Luffy fell limp on the branch, heaving for air and shuddering in pain and cold. He carefully raised his trembling right arm to grip it in his left hand, folding his sleeve back over the wound so that he could press and stop the bleeding, but applying pressure made his see spots in his tear-filled vision. The wound was too deep and long to try and take care of on his own. It would only make him pass out to try. The pain flared again and Luffy�s back arched with it as he heaved air between clenched teeth.

The wave passed and the young pirate slumped onto the branch again, vision black and white until his eyes finally fell closed. This respite, if it could be called that, only lasted a moment before the first wave of pain was followed by another that made his body seize in the same fashion. Luffy�s muscles tensed furiously, sweat dripping from his flushed body. This happened several more times before the waves gradually lost their intensity and the attack passed.

Luffy could brush any wound off as nothing when he needed to, but he knew when an injury was serious versus when it was a flesh wound. But perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps the amplified pain only made the wound seem serious when, in fact, it wasn�t.

Either way, he hadn�t forgotten his objective. He needed Zoro, and Zoro was on the ground somewhere. Taking only a moment more to try to catch his breath, Luffy slowly and staggeringly rolled back onto his front and began trying yet again to tow himself to the trunk that was just right there. He knew he wouldn�t be able to use his right arm again for a while, or at least until Chopper was able to heal it, but it wasn�t until he tried to push himself forward with his legs to aid his left arm in its mission that he hissed and squeezed his eyes shut in pain again.

Squinting down toward his leg from his not-the-most-convenient-of-positions, Luffy could make out his leg still bleeding, but not badly. He tried to move it again and found that it only hurt when he tried to support himself with it, then a pain would shoot through his calf that made the muscle tense like a rock, which made it hurt more. It was a little odd, for Luffy wouldn�t have guessed that the wound in his leg would have debilitated the limb like this. The wound had been deep, but it had been, for the most part, like a puncture to a rubber band. Ergo, when his leg had snapped back in place, it had put pressure on itself.

How was he going to climb down a tree using only the left half of his body?

This is gonna be hard, Luffy sniffled to himself. Why couldn�t he catch a break?

His vision spun again and Luffy finally had to stop kidding himself. It was going to be physically impossible for him to get down this tree while barely conscious, and Zoro couldn�t find anything. He wouldn�t even be able to lead the others back to the quicksand as a reference point.

Hope all but gone, Luffy broke down began to sob hard and loud.

He didn�t know how long he�d been crying for when he heard a scraping sound near the base of his tree. At this point he couldn�t see whether it was night or day anymore, though common sense answered the question, and there was no way he could have moved around the branch anymore to look anyway. But he heard something large struggling its way up the tree, nonetheless.

Now I�m going to be eaten by a bear! Luffy sobbed to himself. Having nothing left to lose and everything to gain, he cried harder, shouting Zoro�s name in between sobs, his only remaining hope being that Zoro was still nearby and would hear him.

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

Zoro had come running when he�d heard the distressed and awkward cry of a toucan falling out of a tree quite suddenly, but he never saw a bird, and had no idea where to go from there. He looked up around him for a nest that might not even have existed, and circled the white tree he�d stopped at, listening hard for anything, but he heard nothing. He tried to quell his rising panic. The toucan was gone, he was sure of it, so now what would lead him to his captain? He didn�t have time to sit still, but neither did he have time to freak out and run haphazardly through the jungle, shouting.

He was just feeling the prickle of something foreign to him in his eyes, when he froze suddenly and became very still. He wasn�t sure, but he thought he�d heard a little noise. A noise that stood out despite being so quiet because he had never heard it before on the island. A moment later the noise came again, sounding like a little animal. A very scared, very tiny animal.

Zoro spun around and peered carefully through the branches of the white tree again. When his eyes made out what was probably a nest, he wasted no time in scrambling and scratching his way up the smooth three that had no holds on it until he reached a bottom branch and hauled himself higher.

As he climbed, the sound became clearer, and relief began to fill his chest.

He�s alive! The thought filled his mind and shoved out any others as he pulled himself up to Luffy�s branch.

Then his heart broke and dropped into his feet.

Luffy was alive, alright, and bleeding to prove it. The boy was absolutely hysterical, screaming his name and choking on his own sobs and tears. He was white as a sheet and shaking, completely incoherent to his surroundings anymore, and desperate for something to happen that would end his limbo of waiting.

�Luffy,� Zoro choked out a whisper.

Luffy curled in on himself and sobbed harder.

�Luffy, it�s me. It�s Zoro,� Zoro whispered, knowing that fear made everything seem like an enemy. He reached down and touched his captain�s back very gently, making a tiny cooing noise that before today he�d have sooner died than let anyone hear.

Luffy jolted at the touch, then shouted out and did his best to hold his right arm to his torso. Was Luffy hurt there, too? Zoro had only seen the leg�

This is bad, he informed himself silently. Luffy still hadn�t responded to Zoro�s voice. He needs a doctor right now.

�Luffy? Buddy? Can you hear me?� Zoro asked just a little louder. He couldn�t just grab the little pirate and take him by surprise, it would be too shocking for him right now. He held his fingers to Luffy and applied just a little bit of pressure, which he held steady until Luffy realized that he was not, in fact, being attacked by a wild animal.

�ZORO!� the littlest one sobbed out loudly with hope and hysteria. He started trying to twist around to see his swordsman, but that involved him rolling onto his right side and crying out in pain again.

�Don�t move,� Zoro eased quickly, �It�s alright now, I�ll get you.�

He very carefully maneuvered Luffy into his hand where the boy latched with one arm onto Zoro�s two middle fingers and proceeded to try to make himself one with Zoro�s hand as the first mate made himself focus on getting Luffy back down to where the air was warm near the ground.

As soon as he was on the jungle floor again, he was moving to hold Luffy close again as the littlest pirate shifted and clawed to be held harder; to hide from everything that was not Zoro. And that was when Zoro was able to really realize what Luffy had been put through.

For a moment he could only watch and listen - frozen in shock at the sounds he was hearing. Because NO living creature should EVER have a right to make these sounds, least of all his captain. Luffy sobbed so piteously in fear and exhaustion that Zoro could practically feel these emotions soaking into his hand. But what was the most heartbreaking to Zoro were the cries of pain that Luffy didn�t even bother disguising, and the moans of agony from the whole situation caused a lance of actual physical pain to shoot through Zoro�s chest.

When Zoro was able to, he made little soothing sounds in response, trying his best to stay still and keep Luffy�s world from moving around him without permission. Luffy continued to seize and have his attack of god-knew-what-sort (Zoro wasn�t even sure that this was a RumbleBall attack and Luffy hadn�t just spun himself into this hysterical situation on his own).

Within a minute, Luffy�d begun to fade in and out of awareness and consciousness, which inadvertently helped his body to relax and stop seizing and using up all its energy. He was far to anxious for even the RumbleBalls and his injury to make him pass out fully, though. Zoro was partially grateful for this, because he had to know how badly Luffy was hurt.

Luffy was holding onto his fingers, but still favoring his right arm immensely, and Zoro could feel the warm stickiness of what could only be blood pooling into his hand. He was really scared. His captain was all torn up, and there was nothing he could do, nothing he had done to stop it. And now Luffy was too upset to even breathe normally.

�Luffy,� he called quietly, voice breaking.

Luffy squeezed his fingers harder and continued to moan his name piteously. Zoro had to get him calmed down to a point where they could talk to each other. He held the boy flat to his chest as tightly as he dared to keep him from thrashing and hurting himself further.

�Luffy��

Something in his voice must have carried his pain, because Luffy stopped shaking, took several deep breaths to collect himself, and then did his best to roll over and look up at his first mate�s face.

What Luffy found there shocked him. Zoro looked like he was suffering more than he was. He looked like he didn�t know what to do, and he was trembling so much�

But Zoro wasn�t hurt, and he always knew what to do� The pain became less distracting and his mind was finally able to focus mostly on one thing as he reached up toward Zoro with his left hand in silent askance and confusion.

When Zoro couldn�t seem to say anything, Luffy regained his voice. �Z-Zoro�?�

��Luffy, I�m so sorry,� Zoro whispered.

Luffy�s eyes, still so full of amazement, widened in understanding. ��Zoro, this isn�t your fault,� he said, still hiccupping from his tears.

Zoro choked incredulously, but then clenched his eyes shut and shook his head to regain focus. He didn�t have time to make this about him. Luffy was hurt and he had to take care of him. �Show me your arm,� Zoro requested when he opened his eyes again.

Luffy hesitated as the throbbing pain in his arm flared back to his attention with a vengeance, then nodded, and using his left hand, Luffy undid the sash at his waist and very gently let the fabric fall from his shoulder and down his right arm, sliding his hand out and exposing it to the open air. He cradled it to himself before carefully moving it away from his body and letting them both see it as Zoro raised him higher to get a better look.

The fabric from his sleeve had formed a loose bandage over his skin that had diminished the bleeding considerably. The gash itself was long, running from mid-bicep to nearly his wrist along the outer side, but they were surprised to find that it wasn�t really as bad as they�d feared.

Luffy was shocked. He could have sworn he�d seen the toucan do worse than this, and it had only been a few minutes ago� Suddenly Luffy had a suspicion about the RumbleBalls, but he couldn�t tell Zoro until he was sure.

So Luffy - with his still-shaky voice and shuddering shoulders - looked up at Zoro with red-rimmed eyes, and tried to play it off. �See? It�s not so bad. In a day or two I won�t even have a mark.�

Painfully, Zoro took in his captain as a whole; arm and leg covered in streams of partially-dried blood, skin pale and covered in a sheen of cold sweat, chest heaving, eyes and cheeks wet.

�We need to find Chopper,� he told Luffy as stably as he could. �Put your clothes back on and keep pressure on it,� he said gently but firmly before starting off in a direction through the jungle, which mercifully led them out of the thicker foliage to the safer area they�d been in before.

Luffy followed orders, but was getting very nervous. His first mate was keeping the spotlight on him and away from himself. Zoro hadn�t said anything yet about what had happened on his own end, and it was odd.

Still, Zoro�s eyes were pained and full of something that Luffy knew boded poorly for him; something he had to squash right now, so he forced his mouth to work. �Zoro-�

�I just let you be taken,� Zoro said self-punishingly as he continued to push through the jungle in search of help. �I promised to keep you with me today, and I let you be taken away.�

Luffy wished he could shake his head fiercely without passing out, but as it was, all he could do was raise his voice. �You almost died, Zoro!� Luffy reminded, stubbornly, and then had to catch his breath before continuing. He�d been crying hard, and he�d had a serious, drawn out anxiety attack, and now catching his breath was proving difficult. �Neither of us saw it coming, and there was nothing we could have done right at that second. No one LET anything happen. Don�t be stupid.�

Luffy�s outburst gained Zoro�s attention, but it had also hurt him, for he held his arm closer and fell back into Zoro�s palm, looking exhausted. He swallowed and forced his gaze to focus again. Zoro�s eyes met Luffy�s again, the misplaced fear of rejection he saw in those brown eyes made him slow his pace and sigh. How could he ever explain�? Would he really need to?

�Luffy�� Zoro whispered, �You�re my� and for this to� I didn�t��

Luffy�s bottom lip trembled and he began to shake his head from side to side. �Zoro, don�t do this to yourself� please��

�Never again,� Zoro said suddenly, looking confidently at his captain, who blinked in surprise. �I promise I won�t ever let anything like this happen again.�

Luffy sniffled and then actually laughed tiredly a couple times. �Zoro, don�t be ridiculous. What did I just finish telling you? This is part of being a pirate, and you know it. You can�t stop it, and I don�t want you to try. �I just want you to be near me. That�s more than enough. That�s everything,� he finished with a sigh, his eyes falling closed.

Zoro didn�t answer. That wasn�t enough, not for him, and not for Luffy. He didn�t know how he would make this up to him, but he knew that -for starters - he was going to have to start being more responsible. If he hadn�t been zoning out and walked into quicksand, this wouldn�t have happened in the first place.

But even then - even if he watched Luffy to the point of blinking cessation - trouble and Luffy were each the other�s forte, and the two would find each other no matter what. That was simply the way the fabric of the universe was woven.

�You get into more trouble than anyone I�ve ever met in my life, captain,� Zoro finally sighed.

Upon hearing that, Luffy smiled widely. It looked tired, but it was genuine and carefree. �Yeah, guess so�� he admitted sheepishly.

Zoro once again picked up the pace and began listening for any trace of his nakama or the beach.

�How did you find me?� Luffy asked, because he was dying to know.

��Destiny,� Zoro finally answered.

�Destiny?� Luffy slurred.

�Aa. Destiny. I�m going to be the Daikenshin, and you�re going to be the Kaizoku-ou, and we�re destined to do it together. That�s the reason we met in the first place. It was destiny, and that�s why nothing can ever make us stay separated for long. I found you because I was supposed to.�

Luffy smiled sleepily and closed his eyes. Destiny. He liked that.

�How did you get rid of the bird?� Zoro asked curiously.

Luffy�s eyes stayed closed as he answered, �I kicked its feet out from under it. Then it left, I think. I don�t remember that well.�

�Did it hurt you anywhere else?�

Luffy was quiet for a moment, and Zoro thought he might have passed out, but then he said, �I think just my arm and leg are hurt. It squeezed me hard, but I�m a rebounder. It was really loud, though. The last thing I remember was you, and then the empty nest it left me in. �Why did it have to be my right arm and leg? That�s not fair,� he ended with a pouty mumble.

All this stuff happens to him and THAT�s what he gets flustered over. It was almost endearing, and Zoro could only look skyward and thank whoever was listening that Luffy was Luffy.

�Hey, Zoro?�

Zoro looked down at his palms again.

�I-I really hurt right now.�

Zoro bit his lip, closed his eyes, and sighed. �I know, buddy. Are you feeling sick at all?�

�A little,� Luffy admitted, �but I don�t think there�s enough in me to get sick on right now.�

Zoro nodded. �As soon as we get you home, I�ll make sure you get some food if you think you can handle it, okay?�

Luffy�s answer was a tired sigh that sounded like �kay�, and after that he was still. Dizziness had claimed him, and he�d finally relaxed enough to pass out.

Zoro walked for a long, long time (like twenty minutes) before his ability to wander in a circle and not get anywhere came through for him in a good way, and he sighed as salvation came into view. It wasn�t Chopper, but it would do just fine. Plus, it had food in it. He grimaced slightly at the thoughts of what was in for him now, but then he looked down at his captain, who was sleeping on his left side, clutching his arm and also wearing a grimace of pain. Heaving a sigh, Zoro blocked Luffy from the wind and headed for the ship that was sitting on the sandy beach.
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