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Homecoming Hill	By : TreeStar Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 2656 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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
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Homecoming Hill

5

Two Warnings

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�Because most of what he knew about this silent someone else was simply that it was present in the house, he thought of it as �the Presence.� Of course, that the bag and its contents had been moved was all the proof he had of the Presence�s existence. That seemed proof enough. The presence had shifted Mark�s things, believing that he would find them in their new hiding place, which mean�. that it wanted him to know he wasn�t alone.�

-- Lost boy Lost girl by Peter Straub

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

Kuina was quiet on the way back at first.

After a minute of silence or so, she finally leaned forward. �Hey, do you think maybe these beads belonged to that priest that disappeared?�

Sanji groaned and Zoro threw his head back. She didn�t actually BUY that guy�s mumbo jumbo, did she?

�Kuina, that wacko just told us that Greek gods in Oregon have made our new house eat a hundred people. The guy is obviously disturbed.� Sanji drove up the drive path slowly and turned off the motor at the top. There was a nice place to put the car, but no one wanted to bother with it today. Maybe even not ever. It depended on how cluttered it ended up being when they finally opened it.

Kuina still sounded unsure. �Yeah, but� the beads��

Zoro opened his door and started moving for his bags still on the outer threshhold while Syd ran under his feet. �Sprite, those were probably left over from a funeral a long time ago. Someone lost them in the garden is all. Lots of people pray with rosaries in cemeteries, so it�s not just priests that have them.�

Kuina sat looking at the beads for another couple minutes before nodding reluctantly and getting out to follow the boys.

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

Sanji went to start on dinner right away in a kitchen while the remainders hefted the bags into the house.

Because Zoro actually wanted to spend some time in his room unpacking before dinner, he flung Sanji�s crap into his room first, mindful of all the paintings.

Sanji had found a room near the end of the same floor of the East Wing on the opposite side of the hall from Zoro and Kuina�s. It seemed to have belonged to an artist that had lived here, though they hadn�t been able to find any signatures or dates.

There were sketches and paintings and little sculptures all over the room. Even Zoro had to admit that these were good, and wondered if this man had a private studio in the wing below them with more stuff or if he�d just crammed it all in here.

But then he had to have some type of studio if he did carpentry, because the furniture was more fantastical than anything Zoro had seen outside of an art gallery, that was for sure. It was somewhat of a case of the-eye-of-the-beholder, because the first word that came to Kuina�s mind was �Dr. Suess�, and personally Zoro just thought they were an eyesore. He actually had to walk over and open the bureau drawer to see whether it was functional, or just for display. Either way, Zoro was baffled as to why anyone would intentionally leave a young lifetime�s worth of work to rot in a house (despite the fact that nothing in this house showed any signs of even aging, let alone rotting).

But Sanji loved the art. He loved everything about the room. He said it felt �homey�, which was a weird word to hear coming from Sanji�s mouth, but whatever made the elf happy was fine, Zoro reflected as he trudged back down the stairs to get his own luggage. In truth, Sanji�s room had felt comfortable to him, as well.

A few minutes later, Zoro had his bags and was approaching his own room carefully. He set down one bag to open the door, and then carried his stuff into the dark room. He set it down beside the bed and turned on one of the lamps before taking in the room again. It really was a nice room. It was open. Zoro liked open space.

He walked over to the wardrobe and opened the doors, not surprised when it was already full. He had no idea where the logic was in the waste, but rich people had an odd habit of leaving their stuff around when they left a home because they could just buy more. They didn�t even donate. Not everyone was like this, but Zoro had met his fair share of them.

Still, as he lifted out a white shirt with buttons down the front, ruffled sleeves, and a frilly collar, he couldn�t understand how boys had worn this in the past. It was so feminine! Of course back then the girls were all in dresses, so it was just a more effeminate world, he guessed. He also got a feel from the size and design of the wardrobe that it belonged to an average, typical teenage boy.

There were trousers, belts that were probably worth a small fortune apiece, black shoes that bucked with brass in the front, and then some more dressy black clothes. Zoro guessed the latter were for church or smart dinners with important people. Maybe even classy parties based on the value and look of some. There had to be three tuxedoes in here, and a few ties.

Upfront was the casual dress -undershirts, holed up trousers and sandals. Several casual T-shirts and home-stitched clothes had kind of been thrown in carelessly.

Whomever had stayed in here last hadn�t done so since probably about World War II, based on the styles of the clothes alone.

To test his estimate, Zoro went over to the bookshelf.

As he�d guessed, all of the books on the shelves were pre-WWII, and looked used. They hadn�t been for wealthy show. Zoro got the feeling this kid hadn�t been much into impressing people with his class rank. These books had been read, and as he flipped through Jules Verne and Alexander Dumas and Charles Dickens, he also noticed that they were marked up. Doodled in or had margin notes. �And art and music books. Texts that Zoro would have to call Humanities criteria, agriculture, and naturally, viticulture (the study of wine-making).

Now it made more sense. This boy had likely studied at home with a tutor. The education offered by this town was probably none too educational. Or maybe it was because the townsfolk had believed the Hill to be haunted even back then, and this boy hadn�t fit in too well. Or maybe his parents had just been really finicky.

And he was learning material Zoro hadn�t seen until college, which was very typical of a rich boy pre-WWII. Especially if his parents wanted him to go to college soon. This kid had to have been at least seventeen. Sixteen at the youngest. But comparing the number of doodles to real notes kind of gave Zoro the feeling that his poor tutor had been wasting his efforts. This was a boy who had probably snuck out of lessons and made faces behind his tutor�s back.

Zoro walked over to the window and opened the drapes to find that it was not just a window at all, but glass doors that opened outward with turning knobs, and that he had a balcony that overlooked the grapevines. It was a comfortable balcony, but it was always in the shade of the house. He doubted the sun�s bright rays ever came shining through the window to light the room.

As Zoro went back to his bags to trade those in the wardrobe with his own, an idle thought that there was no dust settled, or even aging of the old books or fading in the dark blue comforter on the bed that barely fit into the décor because it was so dark.

Then, as Zoro was moving to heft his bags onto the bed where they would be easily in reach, his eyes fell on the sunny yellow straw hat with the red ribbon that was not sitting in the middle of the mattress�where he wanted to put his bags down.

Had that been there before?

He couldn�t remember. Drat.

Oh well. It must have been there, right? Because seriously, it wasn�t like things just moved themselves.

Zoro reached over to grab the hat and move it when something that had been observing dormantly -something Zoro hadn�t even suspected was there- suddenly made itself known when a force the likes of which Zoro had never known hit him, lifting him off the ground and over the bed to slam hard into the far wall, feet several inches above the floor.

It felt like a blanket of sheer G force was pressing his body there, almost half way up the wall, but Zoro could make out hands with defined fingers -that he couldn�t see but where very much solid- holding both his wrists separately.

The real power that overtook him, however, wasn�t so much the physical feeling of the force as it was the knowledge that came into him. Like he was channeling emotion through that touch. It was an amazing feeling, but a terrible one because of the raw emotional pain that the presence was in.

Perhaps it was that a human soul with no body had nothing to keep its emotion hidden inside --everything was exposed and raw and real-- but Zoro knew that this being did not want Its feelings known by him. That was why It hadn�t touched him before now, even though It was curious.

This was not the presence from earlier. This presence had not shown him this room.

This presence was confused and angry and sad and lonely. And It missed someone terribly. So badly that the pain was almost overwhelming. Yet there was the barest glimmer of hope that It clung to.

Hope for what, Zoro didn�t know. That It would have that person back again perhaps? That It�s unfinished business would end, if It even had anything left to do at all?

Isn�t that what psychic crack-pots always said? That disturbed beings waited for someone for so long that they forgot how to leave, or they felt like they had something left to do?

This one could be waiting for someone. Or maybe It was just lost.

It felt lost.

But the painful emotions and sheer sorrow combined with the fact that It reacted to protect an object that could have no possible value to anyone other than a sentimental being were what convinced Zoro firmly that what he was in physical contact was couldn�t be a demon or a �something else�, but that it HAD to have been human once. Possibly It felt It still was. Zoro didn�t know.

But It was human at heart. It felt pain and loss so strongly because It felt love so dearly. This presence was full of love and compassion. So It suffered.

It was poetry in motion, just like a living garden of death. To exist at all in this world was to be a conundrum. The more you love, the more you hurt. This being was full of hurt.

Zoro also somehow had the knowledge that It could feel his emotions just the same way; that the link worked two ways.

The two stayed touching like that for nearly a minute before Zoro spoke.

�I�m sorry. I didn�t know it was special. I won�t touch it again.�

The grip gently let up and lowered him to the ground. Then It was away from him. He didn�t know where exactly. It felt like it was everywhere he wasn�t, but he was sure It was localized somewhere.

Zoro could still feel It there. It didn�t seem to be trying to hide anymore, if It had even been doing that in the first place. And Zoro couldn�t feel the emotions. The stream cut as soon as It had let go.

Feeling oddly accepting of this turn of events, and certainly not wishing to scare the Thing that was much stronger than him, Zoro boggled over how the people in horror movies tore through houses screaming whenever they came into contact with something they did not understand. This Thing that had just touched Zoro had been able to reason and compromise. It was intelligent, not a monster.

Zoro wondered for a moment if he was the strange one.

He was able to make his things and the things in the wardrobe trade places without a hitch after that.

The second presence he had felt since entering the house itself must have left sometime in the middle of this trade off, because when Zoro tried to focus on It again after he�d finished, It was gone.

-----------

The kitchen they were eating in was a decent size. Sanji seemed to like it, anyway. According to him, it was the only one that hadn�t been built big enough for fifty chefs to be working all at once. This one was more of a family set up. Personal. Intimate.

And for some stupid reason the electricity wasn�t running to the appliances.

�Crap-thing!� Sanji shouted at the microwave again. They had a gas stove, but whatever the weird French dish he�d been making was, he seemed to want to use the convection oven for it.

He�d made do, and now they were sitting around in a big dining room enjoying the food, but Sanji wasn�t satisfied with it. The other two thought it tasted fine.

�Sanji, it�s good, okay? Don�t worry about it so much.� Zoro tried to sound convincing, but he wasn�t really good at complimenting people. Well, not without putting it in code, so it came out like �This sucks� or �What the hell is this trash?�.

Sanji huffed and puffed in his chair. �I know it�s fine! It�s just� if it is the wiring then we should get a technician out here this week to scout the house out and make sure nothing�s dangerous. I mean, maybe a fuse is blown or something.�

Kuina said something now. �I don�t know. The lights in my room worked the first time I went in, and then they didn�t work the second time, and then they suddenly came on by themselves right before I came down for dinner so I had to turn them off.�

This reminded Zoro of the light that had flooded his own room when he first opened the door. The light that came from no identifiable single point, but was brilliant, and everywhere at once. And then vanished when the other two had come.

He twisted his napkin and tossed in the table. �Maybe the house doesn�t have the electricity hooked up at all yet.�

Sanji and Kuina looked at him confused. �Then what do you think it�s running on, Zoro? Sheer will?�

Zoro�s eyebrows creased and he looked up at the dining room light above them thoughtfully.

Sanji rolled his eyes. �Well, if it is, then our will is defective.�

On the floor, Sydian started barking excitedly. He suddenly shot away from his food and chased nothing across the room, jumping up and down beside the wall while the rest kept eating.

Zoro got up and towed him by the collar back to his food, saying �Maybe there�s an old generator in operation or something. It would explain why the power�s been so unpredictable.�

Sanji took his last bite of food and nodded.

Zoro finished up with, �We�ll call someone in the morning if you can�t wait.�

Sanji sat back, food finished. �That�s another thing I noticed today. This hill has no land lines, right?�

Zoro shrugged. �We knew that.�

�There aren�t any cell phone towers nearby, either.�

Now Zoro sat up. �What?�

�You heard me. We have no telephone access up here. At all.�

Zoro fell back and ran a hand over his face. �Okay�� he sighed. �We�ll do things one at a time. Tomorrow we�ll go down into the town and make a call to have a phone put in and talk to the electricity company.�

Sanji raised an eyebrow. �You realize that it will take time for the wires and such to be run through the walls to install a phone up here? And until it�s finished, if anything happens to one of us, someone will have to get off the Hill, maybe in the middle of the night, and find someone willing to let us use their phone.� He shook his head. �It�s a bad setup, Zoro.�

�I know that! Geez� Maybe we can call around at the store tomorrow and find a place that sells satellite phones and have one shipped overnight.�

�Yeah right. Because those are so common.� Sanji shook his head.

�Is there a hospital in town?� Kuina asked as she collected the plates.

Sanji took a second for his mind to suddenly change gears. �Um� Yeah. Well, there�s a Medical Outreach Center. I�m sure they can handle whatever we might bring them. They probably get a lot of injury accidents, what with the viticulture and animal rearing they do here.�

Kuina nodded and started to leave.

�You can leave the dishes, Sprite. I�ll do them in the morning. Why don�t you go to bed?�

Kuina pouted, �But it�s still early!�

�It�s almost nine. Besides we traveled all day.�

�I slept in the car! And on the plane!�

�You�re gonna get jetlag and become nocturnal if you don�t sleep tonight.�

Kuina frowned at him.

�Go on, Kuina.� Sanji said, standing up. �We�re going to bed, too. Isn�t that right, Zoro?�

Zoro lazily pushed himself up after a moment. �Yeah, yeah.�

Kuina got a disappointed look and then left to put the dishes in the sink.

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

�Has Luffy become aware of him yet?�

�I don�t know. I don�t understand it, Ace. What are you trying to do with him? You know what could happen if he starts to see too much!�

��I need to give Luffy something real to believe in.�

�I thought he had that hat?�

�But in the end, that hat can�t comfort him at night. He�s spent too many nights in tears.�

�We all have.�

�Not like him.�

For a moment in Nami�s room, it was quiet.

�Ace, have you ever stopped to consider that� that he might be broken? That after so much time-�

�He can come back.�

�What if he can�t? The things he�s been forced to do� a heart can only take so much.�

It was quiet for another pause.

�� No, Nami. This place can�t be allowed to take him any further away from us. He�s still Luffy, somewhere in there. He just needs something real to remind him of that.�

�Do you really think this new boy is going to be willing to comfort him? Will he even understand what Luffy is?�

Ace didn�t answer, but he sincerely hoped this �Zoro� would do exactly that.

He had to.

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

Kuina caught up with the boys two minutes later on the stairs. �Sanji, you left the burners on. All of them.�

Zoro laughed mockingly. �Great job, ya idiot.�

Sanji looked like he was being wrongfully persecuted. �No I didn�t! I swear! Maybe they have pilot lights that started because I had one of the burners lit earlier.�

�I actually had to turn them off. Pilot lights don�t turn off manually.� Kuina insisted.

Sanji looked totally confused, and turned after a moment to continue up the stairs, mumbling more to himself then his cousins, �Huh. But I didn�t even need all of them in the first place��

�Maybe it�s broken.� Kuina hopped up the steps on one foot with Zoro standing right behind her.

�Maybe. But if we�re running on gas we�ll have to find the propane tank tomorrow.�

Sanji nodded. �Yeah. We�ll check out a lot of stuff tomorrow. Tomorrow is when we have to start taking notes on damages and repairs that need to be made, and figure out a budget. �Which I�ll probably be doing most of because you have no mind for math or estimates.�

Zoro grinned.

Sanji grumbled in mock-agitation. He really didn�t mind too much. Zoro always helped out more than he said he would. Sometimes just by staying out of the way. Sanji knew the business would be split down the middle with him when Zoro inherited it.

They reached their Wing, and Sanji went into his room with a good night and a �Don�t wake me up early�.

Zoro had walked Kuina into her room and said goodnight next. He was a little wary about leaving her alone in here after what had happened to him earlier, but she hadn�t indicated noticing anything strange, and the room did have a rather accepting feel to it. Nothing strange, anyway.

Besides, Syd was going to be staying with her tonight. If anything happened, he�d let them all know.

Once she was in bed, Zoro continued to his own room, father down the wing. As he did so, he reflected that staying in a room that seemed to center around at least two testy ghosts was probably not the greatest setup in the world. But this was a nice room� and if there were other Presences in this house, as Zoro suspected there probably were, then maybe the other rooms they�d been in had been a preview to their personalities.

He remembered the baseball room that had been clawed apart with all the mirrors smashed, and realized that this room still felt comparatively safe, as long as he didn�t step out of line or touch the straw hat.

Of course the baseball room hadn�t felt like there was anything else in it already�

But then neither had this one before he was thrown into a wall. Zoro had to wonder, with growing unrest, what might have happened if he�d touched one of the pictures in the baseball room.

He knocked twice before entering, because it was polite, and he wasn�t stupid enough to assume that it would be empty now just because he�d left it that way.

But upon going in he was met with quiet darkness.

The first thing he noticed upon turning on the light was that they straw hat had been moved from the bed to one of the tables beside it.

He got changed into something he could sleep in, but he didn�t dare just jump into bed afterward.

So he just stood there for a minute before slowly pulling back the covers. �Is this okay?�

Nothing.

Maybe he really was alone now.

Well, that was a comforting thought. So long as something that he hadn�t already met didn�t come in, it would probably be fine.

And because he was so tired, not even thoughts of ghosts in the garden of having a roommate he couldn�t see kept him from falling quickly to sleep.

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

Zoro awoke sharply. It was in the pitch of night.

At first he was confused as to where he was. It took him a moment to remember, and then another to figure out what had awoken him.

Crying.

There was a baby crying nearby in the manor. Whether out in the hall or in another room of the Wing, Zoro couldn�t tell. But it was there.

There was a baby crying in the night, in a place where he KNEW there couldn�t possibly be a baby.

Zoro pushed himself slowly out of bed. He had to get to his sister. He had to check on her.

If this place was coming to life for not only him, but her and Sanji too, then he had to get to them before they freaked out.

He reached for the light to turn it on, only to find that it wouldn�t work.

Well, he couldn�t let that stop him. He�d just have to feel his way slowly and pray to God that nothing else found Kuina before him. Maybe there were some candles and matches in the desk over there. It was a long shot, but not totally unlikely in a place like this where the power was so unpredictable.

He felt his way along the bed and waded through the darkness to desk.

His efforts proved fruitful when he uncovered a handful of small, old candlesticks and a box of matches that he could tell were practically antiques by themselves. By feel alone, Zoro tried to strike them, but the wood wouldn�t hold up under the pressure and broke.

Unwilling to spend any more time messing around, Zoro pushed away from the desk and turned to the door, and stopped.

There was already someone by the door. A teenage boy.

Except he wasn�t.

He wasn�t a featureless ball of light by a long shot, or one of those blips of motion that paranormal scientists had captured images of in blurry photographs. But he wasn�t visibly solid, either. And Zoro knew he wasn�t a living human being.

He had color, but it was washed out. Faded to an extreme. And he had a little bit of illumination that seemed to radiate from his form and glow slightly.

He had dark hair, a scar under one eye, and old fashioned red and white sleeping clothes. Red shirt with white baggy sleeves, and tan pants that were loose in the legs and bunched at the feet. Zoro could barely make out the colors, but this kid was in his pajamas.

What stood out to Zoro the most, however, and probably would to anyone, were his eyes. This boy had deep blue eyes that somehow looked so lost that Zoro almost felt sorrow just looking into them. They were the only thing that retained their color with vivid clarity.

If it was even was a boy. Movies and books had told Zoro more than once that intangible beings could take whatever form they wanted, or whatever form seemed the least threatening to the beholder.

It occurred to Zoro that he didn�t actually know anything about this being at all, other than it was in the room, and it was staring at him.

Zoro hoped he didn�t make it mad, but he couldn�t bring himself to look away.

The boy stared back, apparently just as captivated as Zoro was.

They both stood frozen for almost a full minute.

�You can see me,� the boy finally said. It wasn�t a question, but he sounded surprised.

Zoro was startled when it spoke. He hoped he hadn�t pissed it off. �Sorry.�

�It�s okay. I was watching you, too.�

Zoro didn�t know what to say to that. He finally settled on, �Why?�

The boy hinted a mirthless smile. �Because you�re in my bed. And I�m curious.�

Zoro was curious too, but he wouldn�t say anything. He was breathing easier now. Whatever-- whoever his boy was, he didn�t seem hostile at the moment.

The boy looked like he was trying to figure out why Zoro was so quiet for a moment, and then seemed to realize the problem, because the next thing he said was, �You don�t have to be afraid of me. I won�t hurt you.�

And Zoro relaxed a little more. He couldn�t believe this was really happening to him. He was inclined to believe he was dreaming, and he couldn�t decide yet if he wanted that to be the case or not. Which was really strange, actually.

�Are you the one I met in here before?�

The boy looked down and nodded. He looked slightly guilty, but he wasn�t apologizing.

�Well� we didn�t exactly get the chance to exchange names then. I�m Zoro.�

The boy looked up again, a degree of wonder in his face. It was several seconds before he answered. �My name is Luffy.�

Zoro was suddenly wondering how long this poor boy had been here with no one to talk to. He looked over Luffy�s old clothes again, and remembered the ages of the books on the shelf. Had there ever been anyone who hadn�t run away? Had anyone every spoken to him the way Zoro was now?

But he didn�t know how to word such questions, and wouldn�t until he got to know this boy better; something he was surprised to realize he very much wanted to do.

�The hat is yours?�

Now Luffy shook his head. �I�m taking care of it for someone.�

Zoro processed this and nodded. That seemed kind of an odd form of �unfinished business�, but then what did he know. �Is that why you�re still here?�

Now the boy looked confused. But after only a moment, that confusion dissolved and sorrow set into those eyes again. �No,� he whispered.

The room suddenly felt a little colder to Zoro.

Okay, apparently the whole �unfinished business� theory had been a stupid assumption to make.

Still, he couldn�t believe that all that pain and sorrow that he had felt earlier when he�d been pinned to the wall had come from this boy. How could anyone so small suffer so greatly?

He wasn�t sure what could make the situation better, so he just asked a question he really wanted to know the answer to. �Do you mind? That I�m in here, I mean? This is your room, right?�

Now the boy looked back up. �Aye. This is my room, but I guess it�s your room too, now. If you stay.�

�That didn�t actually answer my question, Zoro thought, but he wasn�t stupid enough to press it.

The baby�s cries sounded out in the hall again, and Zoro lurched toward the door automatically, freezing after only a step.

Luffy was unfazed by the cries, but took a step toward Zoro to meet him. �It�s alright. Kobe cries at night. His mother will take care of him.�

Zoro wasn�t assuaged, and remembered why he�d risen in the first place. But this ghost boy was between him and his way out. �I need to check on my sister. She�s just down the hall.� He took another step forward.

So did Luffy. �Not tonight. The house is waking up. Some are angry.�

�Angry?� This made him want to go see Kuina more. And maybe Sanji too�

�Not angry I guess, but bitter. Violent sometimes.�

�But not you�?�

The boy smiled a little sadly. �Not on purpose. Not anymore.�

�There was another answer that Zoro wasn�t quite sure what to make of.

Luffy turned slightly to look toward the door. �It�s not their fault. It�s very lonely. It hurts them. Because some of us have been here for a long long time.�

�You miss your families.�

Luffy looked back in surprise and nodded after a moment. �Some. Some of us have family here.�

Honestly Luffy was amazed. This person had come into his room and been thrown into a wall almost right away, yet he wasn�t running away from him. He wasn�t even acting scared, like Usopp had so long ago.

He was acting empathetic. He was trying to be understanding. He wanted to understand.

It felt� It had been a long time since an Outsider had stayed near him voluntarily. It was wonderful. And that was the problem. Luffy had hardly forgotten what might happen to both of them if he got too close.

He wouldn�t let that happen again. He couldn�t risk another one.

The baby began to cry again, and Zoro again took a step forward. �I really need to get to Kuina.�

This time when Luffy began walking toward him, he didn�t stop. �She�s with Nami. Don�t worry about her. Nami will keep her safe.�

Zoro was a little unnerved that Luffy was approaching him steadily now. �Nami? Like that character on the wall? That was a name?�

�It�s a coincidence. It�s not how her name is spelled, or it wouldn�t be there. But yes, Nami is nice. That�s her room your sister is in, and she�ll be safe there.�

He stopped in front of Zoro. �You should sleep now.�

�W-what about you?�

�I�ll stay here. They have no real reason to come in my room, but if they do, I�ll be here. And you should be sleeping.�

�But-�

�Sleep.� Luffy commanded, lifting one hand and pressing his solidly to Zoro�s chest.

An overwhelming exhaustion suddenly took Zoro�s body by surprise, and Zoro had a sudden revelation.

Ghosts and specters couldn�t touch anything physically. A poltergeist could, but it was only ever interested in hurting people and destroying things. And no apparition that he had EVER heard of had been described as being so characteristically clear to the naked eye as this boy was.

So if this boy wasn�t any of those things, what was he?

These were Zoro�s last thoughts before he hit the floor in a deep sleep.

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

When Zoro awoke later on, he was in Luffy�s bed and the sun had been up for a couple hours already.

He called out for Luffy, but no answer came.

He was alone.
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Homecoming Hill