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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
- 6
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Homecoming Hill

7

Everlastings and Dwellers

Zoro watched in a strange sort of misplaced fascination as Luffy smiled shyly. The younger boy (for that was something Zoro felt comfortable thinking of him as, no matter how much longer than he Luffy had existed for) seemed so much more approachable than last night. Had Luffy�s closed off expression been influenced by the fact that it had been nighttime?

And were ghosts supposed to look this cute? Oh, but then he had already established that Luffy was probably not a ghost in the dictionary context.

Ace and Luffy were definitely brothers, though. Their smiles were very alike. The resemblance became much more clear with its appearance.

�You were out with your family,� Luffy asked as a statement, and Zoro realized he�d been staring.

He shook himself out of it. �No, I uh- I went for a walk in the Manor, actually. I went over to see the gym.�

This news seemed to really grab Luffy�s interest. He sat up a little more. �You went into the west wing?�

�Yeah,� and then before Luffy could tell him what he�d already heard, �I know now that was a bad idea. I met your brother and he told me that it can be dangerous over there.�

Luffy�s posture relaxed some. He began flipping the hat around in his fingers. �So Ace went to find you� What did you talk about?�

Zoro decided to approach the bed now, slowly, in case the boy before him decided he wanted to keep a wide �personal space� ring around him, but Luffy didn�t tense at Zoro�s approach. On the contrary, he scooted back further on the mattress to make room. Taking this to be the invitation it was, Zoro climbed on and sat cross-legged, mirroring the posture of the boy who sat facing him three feet away.

Then Luffy did the most amazing thing. Well, there was nothing amazing in the act itself, but at the same time Zoro found himself feeling amazed. Setting his hat down beside him and out of Zoro�s reach (not that Zoro would be stupid enough to touch it again), Luffy leaned over a little and reached to grab a pillow from the head of his side of the bed and pull it back to the middle of the mattress where they were sitting. And then the transparent boy was hugging the pillow to his chest. It was the most bizarre visual, but he acted so natural holding it that it made Zoro feel more at ease talking to him. Luffy had never looked threatening to Zoro as of yet, though he had acted indifferent before. Now that he had appeared to settle on the bed, starting a conversation was easier.

Zoro felt himself start to smile a little at the behavior and answered, �We talked about how he was sort of the Peacekeeper for the East Wing, and that you sometimes help him��

Luffy made a half shrug, �Ace mostly does it by himself now. Some others help him, like Nami and Usopp--and Robin when she�s around. I don�t anymore.�

�Why did you stop?� After he asked it, Zoro realized that might have been too personal.

�Reasons.�

Slam. Ouch. Obviously a touchy subject.

�That�s not all you talked about,� the boy stated his question after a moment.

Zoro quirked an eyebrow at his tone and answered dryly, �Then he shut down all the lights and made me hover in the air while he made a mirror explode at me and fire dance in midair. Then he fixed it all like nothing happened to give me �a glimpse� of why I should stay out of the west wing.�

Luffy snorted. �Ace is much stronger than anyone else in the manor. Don�t expect any others to do that to you. Still, his point is clear. It�s dangerous.�

�He said there was one other person as strong as him.�

Luffy looked down at the bedspread and fiddled with his pillowcase. �Did he?�

Zoro noticed the attitude change, and had his answer. It was strange, but Luffy seemed modest about it. ��I should have guessed. You are brothers, after all.�

Luffy shook his head and replied, �There is a reason for it, but it has naught to do with our family bond.�

�So you can do everything Ace can do?�

Luffy paused before answering, �Our strength is equal, but I don�t use my powers like him��

�But you can?� Zoro pressed.

Luffy hesitated, but he nodded after a moment. �I can.�

That was fortunate. Zoro only personally knew two�ghost-things in the manor, and they both outshined all the other ghost-things in strength substantially.

This thought brought up his next question, and he really hoped this wasn�t going to lead to another denial, but he was ready for it if one came.

�Is� is there something that I can call you?�

Former subject forgotten, Luffy quirked an eyebrow. �You can call me Luffy.�

Zoro shook his head, he wasn�t saying this right. �Yes, Luffy, but I mean� what do you in the manor refer to yourselves as?�

�We refer to ourselves by name,� Luffy answered.

Zoro sighed in frustration, but wasn�t sure if Luffy was answering him to the best of his knowledge or if he just didn�t understand Zoro�s unclear question. After all, if they saw themselves as individuals, as Luffy was indicating they did (and why not?), then perhaps Luffy didn�t want to be classified into rank or category as humans did to themselves for everything from ethnicity to religion.

He was trying to figure out how to reword the question and ask one more time when he noticed that Luffy was trying not to smirk at him.

Zoro must have adopted a weird expression when he realized this, because Luffy�s smile grew before he quickly schooled it -though Zoro wasn�t sure why; Luffy had a nice smile- and said, �I�m an Everlasting. We call ourselves Everlastings if we�re in the manor. But I�m Luffy most importantly. The ones outside in the vineyard are Dwellers. That�s what we call them. Don�t know what they call themselves.�

�Why not?�

�Because we�re separated. They�re outside. We�re inside. Everlastings and Vineyard Dwellers.�

�You�re trapped in here� You can�t interact with them at all?�

Luffy looked down at the comforter on the bed and shook his head. �We can see them sometimes when they walk in the vineyard sometimes, but we cannot talk to them.�

�That�s kind of sad��

Luffy shrugged, his expression distant, but his hands worried the pillow, and suddenly Zoro understood the real purpose it served, and why Luffy had picked it up and hugged it from the start. It was a physical barrier between the two of them. After all that pain he had unwittingly channeled to Zoro the day before, Luffy was trying to hide what was inside of himself without being obvious about it. Like a separation of self and soul, what Luffy felt on the inside was carefully trained to stay away from the surface.

Yesterday must have been a terrible slip for him.

So much passion in such a small boy.

Deciding to push past this for Luffy�s sake, Zoro asked, �Have you always been an Everlasting?�

He was nervous about asking this question too, but Luffy was still here and acting somewhat social, and Zoro wanted to take advantage of it. He wanted to know exactly what Luffy was, but he wasn�t stupid. It was uncommon, but Ace had implied that they had been seen and even spoken to before. If it was as simple as asking to figure out what was happening up here, then the town wouldn�t have been alluded to it for the last hundred years. Did Luffy have a tombstone in the garden? Did Ace? Or this Nami girl that was watching Kuina at night?

Luffy didn�t answer, his expression now thoughtful. Finally he said, �You�ve figured out that I�m not a ghost.�

There was a certain directness to how Luffy spoke. He didn�t ask questions to which he already knew the answers. He simply stated what he thought Zoro�s answer to such a question would most likely have been, and then waited to see if he would be corrected. But he was also amazingly elusive. Either by accident or design, he tended to avoid answering Zoro�s questions outright.

Still, in a way, Luffy had offered some information, so he answered in turn. �I figured it out yesterday when we touched. I don�t think ghosts are so corporeal.�

Luffy nodded a little with a small smile, and was quiet for a few moments before nodding to himself as if making some big decision and saying, �Nay. I was not always an Everlasting.�

Zoro nodded and then decided to change the subject for fear of leading into something else that Luffy would probably refuse to talk about. �So why did Ace become a peacekeeper?�

Luffy shrugged. �Someone had to do it. It�s not like a position or a rank. He just started breaking up fights, and kept on doing it, and became viewed as a type of moderator eventually. He tries to be fair, and does his best to keep everyone here coexisting in a state somewhat relative to peace.� He frowned a little in irritation, and Zoro suspected that Ace�s job was not an easy one. Maybe that had something to do with the reason Luffy no longer did it.

�Does it get really crazy over here?� Zoro was starting to seriously wonder what kind of a place he was living in, and whether it would be safe to keep Kuina here. Even though he had been all but told even by those who inhabited the manor that it wasn�t, he wanted to think it was okay. He didn�t want to leave. Something had happened here, and kept happening here, to make all those people vanish and no doubt become Everlastings and Dwellers. There was history here and he had to figure it out.

Luffy pursed his lips a moment. �Some of us have been bored enough to start reading every book in the library. There just isn�t much to do. So we have nothing to do all day but play games or fight. Either of those can get wild. Thus are the East and West Wings usually divided.�

�Usually?�

Luffy�s usually bright blue eyes dimmed a little. �Let�s talk about something else.�

Okay, so that was another dead end. Zoro scrambled to think of something else to ask. There were so many questions, but so few things he would actually feel comfortable asking. Neither Ace nor Luffy seemed overly eager to give small details, sticking to broad and general subjects that weren�t very personal. Luffy especially avoided personal questions. What he really wanted to know was why this house was full of transparent people similar to ghosts, but he didn�t dare ask something so invasive.

Was the only difference between a ghost and an Everlasting that Everlastings were more corporeal? In that case where they just a different kind of ghost that sci-fi nuts hadn�t learned about yet, so these spirit-beings didn�t know what to call themselves? Because to say that this place was not haunted was just ridiculous. Zoro was convinced that he was living in the most haunted house in the world. After all, who were these people if not the remains of those who had been lost here over the century? And just how many people HAD been lost here? No one in town was sure, but Zoro was aware that the graveyard outside did not indicate a small number, and according to Tweedle-dum down in the store, the headstones apparently didn�t account of even half of those lost.

�May I ask you how many Everlastings there are? I mean, you and your brother both seem to know about most of what goes on here.�

Luffy laid back on the mattress and looked at the ceiling. �You can ask, but I can�t answer, because I�m actually not sure. None of the Everlastings have ever known how many are in the vineyard, but I don�t think any of us even know how many are inside the manor anymore. I�d bet that the Vineyard Dwellers are in the same situation we are, but there are more Dwellers than Everlastings. But I can tell you that there are more of us in here than you think, and that you must never wander around the manor by yourself without one of us with you to warn you of things you will NEVER see coming otherwise.�

Zoro wasn�t quite understanding all of Luffy�s vague explanations, but one thing was clear after all this: he really did not want to meet anything from the West Wing.

It was also very evident now that this place truly did exist in a world of its own, separated from everything else. Ace had said that time had no meaning here, and the lack of aging to anything in this manor attested to that. How could that be? Zoro decided to make it his goal to find out.

Suddenly Luffy shot up and looked at the door with no warning, much in the way Ace had while they were in the gym earlier. It unnerved Zoro greatly until he heard the sound of running in the hallway outside his door and identified his sister�s gallop easily.

�Just my sister.�

Luffy nodded and relaxed, reaching for the pillow on the bed beside him. �Aye. �Never mind, then.�

Then Kuina burst through the door with a loud, �Zoro! Look what I got while we were down the hill!� and emptied her bag of CDs out all over the bed next to him. �Can I put �em on your laptop and transfer them to my iPod?�

Zoro sat stunned. Kuina was acting as though Luffy wasn�t right there on the bed, watching her interact with her brother with a growing smile of curious interest. The little Everlasting didn�t seem to expect a reaction from her, though, and so Zoro forced himself to answer her smoothly. Except he was terrible at it, and kept looking at Luffy -who was sitting across the bed and observing Zoro�s situation passively- rather than looking at Kuina, which finally prompted her to ask if he was alright, and �what he was staring at?�.

He said �Yes! Nothing!� so fast that both of the others in the room raised an eyebrow at him. Well, better letting family think he was distracted than insane. Besides, if these beings couldn�t make themselves known to just anyone, then they were supposed to be a secret from those people. Right now Luffy and the others were his secret, just his, and Zoro was surprised to find that as exciting as all this mystery was, he didn�t want to share it with anyone. This was his puzzle. It was meant for him, somehow, he knew it.

Kuina had gotten over his distracted behavior quickly and was now talking a mile a minute about all of the things that she had seen in town (mostly the horses).

Zoro wasn�t really listening. As his sister prattled on, he was drawn to watching Luffy pretend not to be interested in the colorful plastic cases that held CDs in them. Zoro didn�t know if Luffy knew what a CD was; perhaps it was just that there was something curious about having something new to look at sitting on your bed for the first time in at least seventy years. Either way there was something endearing in the way Luffy�s expression became more childlike little by little and his blue eyes brightened up. Finally Luffy just stopped pretending altogether and crawled slowly across the bedspread to look.

Zoro�s father had used to say that every person came into this world with a certain task to fulfill, and when the time to start that task arrived, he would just know it. At some point in his life, every man would find himself in a the right place at the right time that would call for talents that only he had.

Here Zoro had just had to unexpectedly travel across the country to stay in a house that turned out to be haunted only to discover that he had the unique talent of being able to talk to dead people. Coincidence? He thought not. He was here for something or for someone. Zoro smiled at how Luffy�s hands itched to touch the CD cases, but he kept drawing them back so as not to alert Kuina to his presence. Or maybe for both, he thought to himself.

�Anyway, it�s lunch time, and then Sanji says we�ve got to go look at some of the other rooms in his place and start giving a damage akessment.�

Zoro snorted, attention back on her. �A �damage akessment�? Really?� he said, trying unsuccessfully to hold back a smile.

Kuina grinned and nodded with certainty. The situation was made only funnier when Luffy asked beside him, �Akessment?�

�Assessment!� Zoro laughed.

Luffy folded his arms and pouted, actually pouted, at him. It was the cutest thing he�d ever seen.

Kuina, who�d only heard half of the exchange, stuck her tongue out. �You say it your way, I�ll say it mine. Now come on, I�m hungry!� She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door.

�What about your stuff?�

�I�ll get it la-- What�s that?�

Zoro turned to look at the bed. �Uh� What�s what?� His heart almost stopped. Did she see Luffy?

Luffy didn�t seem to think so. He had his eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

Kuina pointed at the bed. �The hat. Was it in here before?�

When she looked at Zoro to ask her question, Luffy dove for the hat and closed a hand over the top before hugging it to his chest. He shook his head frantically. �Pretend you don�t see it!�

Confused but not in a position to question, Zoro said, �What hat?�

Kuina looked back at the bed, and then slumped in open confusion. �The hat that was just there��

Zoro shook his head. �You�re seeing things, Sprite.�

�But-- but there was one right there��

Zoro put his hand on her head. �Obviously you�re delusional from hunger. Let�s go get food, and I won�t tell Sanji you�re losing your mind.�

�Oh, like you can talk!� Kuina swatted his tummy, before turning to lead the way back out of the room. �Let�s go! I�ll race ya!�

Zoro threw his head back. �Puh! You couldn�t beat me with a head start!�

�Bet you!�

Zoro raised a finger to his chin. �Hmmm� Bet me what?�

�Tonight�s desert,� she bet, guessing that Zoro would forget even if he did win.

�You�re on!�

Just like that she was out the door, laughing.

Zoro turned back to the bed to say something to Luffy, but there was no form on the bed anymore. There was no form, but his presence was still here, dispersed throughout the room and seemingly everywhere at once, so Zoro grinned at the room from the doorway. �See you later, Luffy.�

He waited a second for an answer.

�Zoro, come on!� Kuina shouted from down the hall where she was jogging in place.

Zoro�s smile was fading slightly in disappointment when heard a voice filled with renewed wonder but definitely not unfriendly say, �Okay.�

Well, it was a start.

Zoro�s grin grew and he let his hand slide off the doorframe as he took a couple steps backwards into the hall before turning to dart after his sister, who screamed and took off at top speed through the Wing.

On his way down the hall he saw a small Everlasting, a pretty and delicate-looking little blond girl, step out of the room to the right of Sanji�s. He faltered slightly, not knowing how to greet her without being obvious to Kuina, but the girl seemed to be interested in their race, and she smiled and bowed to him before waving him on to continue. Not wanting to be rude to the beings that were letting them live in their home, he gave her a smile and a nod as he ran past, saying �Good day, Miss� in a way that he heard Sanji do so many times. She laughed a little before he darted past her and around the corner. What a sweet-seeming girl!

***

Seeing Luffy come out of his room after the Outsider had disappeared, the girl walked up to him with a smile.

Luffy was watching after the Outsider�s trail. �Later, then,� he whispered, seemingly to no one. His eyes were filled with a curious amazement that the girl had not seen there in the entire time she�d known him.

She observed his daze for a moment before placing a hand on his arm gently to snap him out of it. �Have you met him? What do you think?�

Turning a smile on her, Luffy nodded. �Aye, I talked with him a bit. I think he�s� nice. I like him. I can�t believe he can see and hear us already. Most never do. Even Ace didn�t��

�Well, you know how practical Ace can be. That inhibited him, I�m sure. Usopp says he gained the Sense right away.�

Luffy quirked an eyebrow and smirked at her. �Usopp says a lot of things.�

She giggled, then took his arm and smiled. �Well, I�m glad you like him. We all hoped you would. Especially Ace.�

�You all hoped I would? When did you all see him?�

�Yesterday, of course. That�s when Ace showed him your room.�

Luffy groaned and rolled his eyes at the ceiling. �I should have known he didn�t choose it on his own��

Kaya smiled softly. �It�s just because he�ll be safe there.�

Luffy�s responding laugh held no humor in it. �Safe, aye. With me.�

Kaya looked sad. �Luffy,� she started softly, but Luffy turned from her sharply and she allowed him to cut her off. She recognized defeat when it was staring at her, and Luffy had been beaten hard.

They turned and drifted down the hall.

�Anyway,� Luffy added quietly, �I don�t know if he really gained the Sense at all. I know you�re the newest one here and haven�t gotten to see any Outsiders move in, and I don�t know all of what you�ve heard, but what�s happening now is unusual. The sense is never so broad as what he has. Usually one or two of them will feel us first if any of them even gain an awareness of us at all, and then sometimes much later they can see a few of us or hear a few of us, but I�ve never known any to have known all three at once.�

The girl was puzzled. �Then maybe they just developed fast for some reason. Could it be because of the Shifting?�

Luffy shook his head slowly. �I doubt it. It�s like� everyone else�s was born during their stay, but Zoro just has it in its entirety. He had it when he got here.�

Kaya stopped drifting for a moment. �You mean�?�

Luffy nodded. �I do. And it could change everything.�

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

Zoro beat his sister to the kitchen. Then he proceeded to rub it in with big-bellied laughter and lots of pointing while she fumed and did her best to step on his feet.

By the counter, Sanji rolled his eyes. Meathead had such a sister complex. He was everything the overprotective older brother should be, and he showed his adoration of her by inciting violence and competition and then teasing her mercilessly.

�HAHAHA! I get your desert tonight! Silly Sprite, thinking you could beat me! HAHAHA!�

�Grab your food, Oat brains.�

�Sanji! Zoro�s trying to steal my desert!�

�I am not! I won it fair and square! You shouldn�t have bet it!�

�Won it how?� Sanji looked between the two of them. �I didn�t see you win anything. Did you, Kuina?�

Kuina covered her mouth with her hands trying to stifle her giggles. �No. Zoro�s so stingy.�

And so it always went.

The siblings helped Sanji move the food into the dinning room, and they started in on their sub sandwiches. Seriously, they ate well every day with Sanji around. When he was gone, the other two were reduced to eating applesauce out of jars.

�So we can�t get phone lines up here,� Sanji got right down to business. �The guy at the phone company said that they�ve tried to hook up landlines in the past, but they won�t work. The signal won�t carry no matter what they do, and they don�t know why. And of course there are no satellite phones in town, so that�s where we stand until cell phone towers go up, whenever that happens.�

Zoro nodded. He�d expected as much, and it wasn�t good. �So we have to be careful and stay close while we�re in the house. No wandering.� He looked at Kuina pointedly.

Sanji nodded. �It�s all we can do. We�ll call Dad from the town, I guess. He�s not gonna like this. We�re going to have to do something about phones before we open this place up.�

�We�ll worry about it later,� Zoro said, unwilling to worry about something for an opening that was never going to be allowed to happen.

�So get this,� Sanji changed the subject. �Because the idea of Greek gods cursing the land is ridiculous, a lady on the side walk today informed me of how this land used to be full of Iroquois who buried their dead by the stream nearby, so now the ancestors have decided that when they are lonely they can just suck someone up to join them. Now isn�t that the perfect explanation? I sure feel enlightened.� Sanji rolled his eyes and snickered.

Zoro sighed. �Iroquois in Oregon. Don�t any of these people read?�

Sanji stared at him. Trust cucumber head to find the least disturbing thing about the information and get stuck on it.

�Why�s that weird?� Kuina asked.

�Because the Iroquois tribe was part of the five great nations back before the French and Indian War. They�re northeastern Native Americans who never came anywhere near this far west to bury their dead before Homecoming Hill was established into a winery. Also, why would Native American ancestors decide to start making non-Native American�s vanish to join them?�

Sanji continued to stare. �Why would they decide-? Zoro, they can�t! They�re dead.�

Kuina frowned. �That�s just silly,� she nodded.

Zoro�s mouth gaped like a fish for a moment, and then, �I-I know that! I was just saying��

�You were just saying that you have Native American blood in you and so you defend them and their weird impractical beliefs every chance you get. Zoro, they can�t come back from the next life and handpick people to join them so that they have more people to play Indian poker with.�

Having nothing to follow that, Zoro shook his head, and the other two started talking about people they�d met in town and guessing which ones might have done what for a living.

Not being able to participate in this, Zoro began looking around at the walls and the chandelier on the ceiling. It was at that time that became aware of the other presence in the room. The temperature had dropped just slightly, nothing significant, but that aura of eyes watching was accompanying it. Zoro searched the room with his eyes, but there was nothing to see, or even a central point on which to focus. As he tuned out the voices of his family, the dining room became scarily quiet. Zoro could not hear his family anymore when he tried.

Sydian, who until now had been chewing contentedly on a bone under the table, darted out barking and began to run laps around the table. Zoro could see it happening, see his cousin calling after him, but he heard nothing.

Glancing toward the kitchen door, Zoro now saw a woman with long blonde hair, long legs, rectangular eyeglasses, and hard eyes scrutinizing his family from where she was standing near the wall. Her arms were crossed and her expression exuded strength and independence. She appeared to be in her late twenties somewhere. She was sexy, yes, but she also looked like a very dangerous woman. Like Ace, she was much less translucent than Luffy. The yellow-painted wall behind her was giving her color a slight tinge, but certainly not washing her natural color out like what happened to Luffy when he stood at a certain angle.

She did not try to speak. She just observed him, her eyes looking him up and down as if searching for something in him. She did notice quickly that she was being observed by Zoro in return, because her eyes narrowed at him. Her posture remained unchanged until she decided she was finished with her scrutinizing, and faded from sight.

Sound came rushing back again just in time for Zoro to get an earful of Sanji�s voice yelling at him to snap out of it and help them.

Whoever she had been, she was gone now. Zoro wasn�t sure if her look had been a threat of some kind or not.
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Homecoming Hill