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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.

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RU MBLE!

8

The ART of SHARING

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

It wasn�t so much painful as it was a shock that something so simple could effect him so. As it was, the wind was completely knocked out of him, but he was more surprised than anything else. It wasn�t all THAT painful. If he could just have a minute to pull it all together, it would be- WOAH�

That was when the utter dizziness set in. Much like the dizziness that morning, it made him a little nauseas� a little sick� his head hurt now. It still wasn�t as bad as earlier, but his equilibrium was so askew that he didn�t dare open his eyes to see the world that he felt was spinning around him. He laid on his side, hands resting on the floor in front of his face, eyes closed and breathing shaky. Cold sweat ran down his forehead.

Luffy�s feeling of displacement in not knowing up from down lessened considerably when he felt Zoro gently touching him, grounding him. They didn�t lift him, though. The touches were a little hesitant, as if Zoro were trying to see if it was safe to move him. He could hear Sanji saying something. He sounding rather serious, which everyone knew meant that he was concerned. Luffy groaned to show Zoro he was still awake, hoping that his friend would take this to be a positive sign and take him off this hard, cold floor.

He did, and Luffy let the warmth from those large hands fold around him like a blanket as he rolled onto his front to relax in one large, open palm. He felt Zoro�s thumb rubbing his back, steadily quelling the nausea. Even now it felt good, and Luffy slowly formed a small smile.

He heard Zoro talking to him now. He could make out some of the words okay, but declined from giving them meaning in favor trying to stabilize his brain and stomach.

It didn�t take all that long, thank goodness, and after only a couple minutes, he was rolling back onto his back to look tiredly up at three of his anxious looking nakama. The relief on their faces was readable to the young captain.

He was glad that Usopp hadn�t freaked and run to fetch Chopper. Having everyone in here acting paranoid when he hadn�t even had an attack would be a little bothersome.

�You okay?� Zoro asked for probably the sixth time.

This time, however, Luffy smiled tiredly at him. �Yeah. I�m fine.�

He was even sure that he could summon another wind if he could just have a little break from action to re-gather his energy.

That wouldn�t be happening, however, because no sooner were the words out of his mouth than Usopp folded his arms and nodded, almost as though he felt he had figured out something astounding that had for decades eluded the rest of the world. �Then you�re good to play still.� The sniper abandoned his pose of wisdom and darted out the door. �I�ll go get the stuff!�

-----------

As soon as Usopp was out of the room, though not by design, Luffy sighed and rubbed his eyes. Zoro and Sanji both saw it.

The cook began to gather the paper plates in a very deliberate fashion to give the impression that, rather than telling Mosshead to take Luffy to a quiet place, he was instead making a suggestion based on NO evidence whatsoEVER� �Hey assholes. I want both of you out of my kitchen before I count to ten so that I can hear myself think again. If you�re still here when Usopp gets back with all his noise and mess-making abilities, then -truce be damned-, I�m kicking both of your asses.�

It was a blatantly empty threat.

Zoro began to walk out leisurely before Sanji was even finished with it, so that the cook wouldn�t think that he had attributed anything at all to Zoro�s decision leave the kitchen. Luffy laid in his palm, relaxed and uncaring about where they were going. He reached for Zoro�s thumb and began to trace his thumbprint with his own tiny finger. That might have felt kind of funny had Zoro�s thumbs not been so calloused from all the swordplay he did.

He walked across the deck, hearing a bunch of clattering from the storage room. Usopp was obviously on a quest for something, and Nami wasn�t thrilled with his presence while she was trying to work. She�d put a note on the door and everything. Zoro wondered why she didn�t just move her work out of the storage room. She had been wanting to for a while because the boys were always sneaking food and Chopper had his medicinal supplies in there, and Robin used to go in there to make coffee and also the bathroom was in the back, so people always had to either cut through to it, or pee off the side of the boat (Luffy preferred this method of evacuation, but Nami was adamant about his use of the indoor plumbing their ship featured. When he tried to explain to her that he �liked the breeze� she only became more insistent.).

In any case� Usopp�s insane. Zoro thought fleetingly without breaking his gait. Poor kid. Nothing could make the swordsman go in there. Not a thing.

�Zoro, I gotta pee.�

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

Zoro was back down in the bedroom again before long. He so longed to stay out in the sun and nap, and Luffy may even have been all for it� But then, Luffy, who took the characteristic of being a �kid� to heart, had the self-preservation instinct of a baby goat. He couldn�t take prolonged exposure outside like that, and the first mate knew it.

Zoro walked across the room and plopped down on his couch, laying Luffy down on his thigh, where Luffy almost immediately began to hum softly to himself as he drew finger-circles on Zoro�s pants; a definite warning sign that exhaustion was starting to set in. Usually food cured that, but Luffy had gone through three or four (or something) winds that day already, and it was only a matter of time before a person�s �git up and go� goes up and gets.

Zoro wouldn�t say anything to Usopp, though. It was Luffy�s decision if he felt he had the energy and wanted to try to do� whatever it was Usopp had planned.

Personally Zoro felt that the boy needed to rest like a Codine addict, so that was when Usopp started clambering loudly down the ladder with his impeccable timing. �You guys left!� he whined, �I had to lug this stuff all the way up the stairs so that Sanji could tell me to lug it back down them again, and now *heave* I have to get it down here�� He was grumbling now, sounding like it was more to himself than to the other two in the room.

Luffy sat up a little on his swordsman�s thigh to watch Usopp make his rather clunky entrance carrying his whachamacallit under his skinny arm.

Zoro didn�t know what the sniper was complaining about. The� whatever-the-heck-that-thing-was wasn�t really that big. It was only about the size and shape of two throw-pillows stacked on top of each other, so about the size of a small crate. It was rather whiteish-cream colored, but it was wrapped in lots of bronzy cellophane, so Zoro didn�t put it past it to be sheer white when the wrapping was gone. It looked pretty sturdy and unbreakable, too, so why he didn�t just drop it down the hole and onto the bedroom floor, Zoro had no clue. But then, Usopp was such a drama queen.

At least someone seemed to appreciate the� thing�s not-so-big size. �WOW!� Luffy said in awe as he watched Usopp make a much bigger deal than he had to about getting it across the room to them. �That�s GINORMOUS!�

�I know!� Usopp said impressively, even though Zoro still thought that it wasn�t, and the person he was talking to wasn�t so big, himself. He set it on the table as gently as he could; with a low *THUD* that made Luffy cover his ears and cringe for a moment.

But as soon as it was down, Luffy was sitting up a little more and looking like he wanted to rocket over to see it closer. But he still had a little of that drained feeling that he wasn�t used to getting in the middle of the day. His arms and legs were heavy and he couldn�t seem to gain the energy to stretch, let alone fly two feet to the table. He sighed angrily at himself. He really hated feeling this way when he wasn�t even injured or anything� but his limbs were just so heavy�

Zoro�s attention was drawn away from watching Usopp try to get all the cellophane from around the block by his captain�s sigh of frustration. Luffy was starting to get cranky. But he still hadn�t said anything to postpone he and Usopp�s play-time.

Zoro bitterly decided that that was just fine, and who was Zoro to interrupt? He was a little mad at the smallest pirate for being so -in his opinion- ignorant of his own needs. If he wants to push himself to go longer than he can, let him. If he would rather play with Usopp than spend time napping with me, even when he�s so tired, then that�s just fine, too. �I don�t care.

He looked pointedly back at the slab of something on the table. Zoro had feeling he knew now what it was, though he didn�t know where the Sniper could have obtained it.

Luffy took a deep breath and let it out, before asking, �What is it?�

And Zoro�s suspicions were confirmed when the sniper answered excitedly, �It�s clay!�

�We have clay?!� Luffy was surprised at this new information, �I didn�t know we had clay!� he met Usopp�s eyes in bafflement. �When did we get clay?�

�Silly Luffy,� The long-nose started in his Mr. Superior voice, �this isn�t just any clay. It�s Skypiean clay. I traded with one of the guerilla kids that knew Aisa after you stopped the war, Captain.�

Usopp stood over his finally-unwrapped clay block with a smile, and rubbed his handsome nose. Luffy seemed to like his idea, and the marksman could tell that even though he was tired, he wanted to play with it very much.

When he had first seen Luffy curled up with Zoro, Usopp had considered putting the whole thing off, but if Luffy wasn�t going to say anything to indicate he wanted to postpone their fun, then the sniper wasn�t going to say anything that might be taken as hurtful, like �Luffy, you are obviously much too weak and frail to play with something that even a three year old can handle.�

Of course, he wouldn�t say it like that� but the underlying message would still be there. Even though he didn�t act like it, Luffy picked up on those things now and again. Usopp didn�t want to hurt his feelings�

He also didn�t want to act paranoid about him like they all had at breakfast. He wanted Luffy to know that he still had the utmost confidence in him. �Even though he kinda was worried still about the fall Luffy had taken minutes ago, which was something he had never had to worry about from Rubber-boy before�

�What�s the difference?� Zoro asked, bringing Usopp out of his reverie as Luffy nodded with a smile, wordlessly seconding the question.

The sniper smiled mysteriously as he jumped onto the unoccupied couch to retrieve one of the bean-bag chairs from behind it. �Well, for one thing, it�s made out of a type of cloud. And that means,� he started as he dropped the giant bag unceremoniously next to the table, �It�s softer and easier to shape. Here, check it out.�

He scooped his hand right into it as though it were a block of firm-ish pie dough. His hand slid through the corner pretty easily, and once he had a decent handful of it, he pulled it away from the rest of the block. It stretched a little before letting go, again, just like a big ball of dough.

Once in had hand, he easily crafted a perfect sphere and then mashed it down flat like a Frisbee to show the other two how easy it was to manipulate.

Luffy sat, ogling Usopp�s every move with stars in his eyes and his mouth hanging open. Zoro closed his eyes. His eyebrow twitched. Luffy didn�t notice a thing, so fixated was he on Usopp.

Usopp plopped down in his bean bag. �So, wanna play?�

�Yeah!� Luffy cheered, a big smile on his face. He sounded so energetic. Emotionally he was! But physically� That table was just a little out of reach right now. This was a dilemma that he hadn�t encountered since he was six and Ace had put the cookie jar ON TOP of the refrigerator! He still pouted a little when he thought about that� J
Oh well J
�See if Ace ever got away with THAT again! ©
©

Usopp began to concentrate on making something on the tabletop, figuring that Luffy would shoot up when he was ready, and that he was just continuing to watch him in order to get ideas on what to make.

When he didn�t hear his captain speak, or the small weight shift from his thigh, Zoro finally conceded to open his eyes and check on the little thing. There he was, still half-laying, half-propped up on Zoro�s leg. Still looking longingly at the block of Cloud Clay. Still looking angry at his own exhaustion. And still too stubborn to speak up about it.

Well, that was still just fine with Zoro, because he still didn�t care�

Luffy�s bottom lip began to tremble.

. . .

Tired tears of exhaustion and frustrated anger at himself appeared in the corner of his tiny eyes.

. . .

He took a shaky breath and lowered his head.

. . .

His hands clenched into fists as his shoulders began to shake almost imperceptibly.

�And the façade that Zoro had been holding crumbled like stone. He leaned over and pulled off a bit of Cloud Clay (it really was soft!), and held it a few inches from Luffy. �Hey, buddy,� he smiled softly at his captain.

Zoro (who was still toootally in charge of the situation) was all ready to tell the kid that he would have to first put him on the table before he could play, because no way was that Smurf getting Oreo innards all over his nice, green pants� and he couldn�t do it.

When he had leaned forward, Luffy had looked up to see what was going on. Now, as Zoro held the object of his desire before him, Luffy dawned the sweetest little smile. Itty bitty Luffy raised both hands up to receive Zoro�s gift, looking first at it, and then into the swordsman�s eyes with such an expression of hopeful joy�

And big, tough Zoro folded like a flower petal. �Try not to be too messy, okay?�

Luffy�s smile was full of wonder as he was carefully handed the Cloud Clay, �Thank you, Zoro!�

Zoro blushed and tried to look away� but damn it all, Luffy was just so� CUTE!

Usopp quickly pretended to be working again. That had certainly been something. Zoro had blushed and everything. Wait�ll I tell Sanji�

Then again, though, it wasn�t exactly a secret that Zoro was surprisingly easy to fluster for such a �tough guy�� Who cared? Wait�ll I tell Sanji!

�Like it?� he smiled at his captain, remembering to keep his own voice soft. It was easier to remember with Zoro almost whispering. There was just something about one person whispering that made everyone else whisper, too.

Luffy grinned back and spoke at his own full volume, because with his hearing, no one ever really whispered, �It�s so soft! And it takes shape so easy� Can we make things and have them stay that way for good, like with normal clay?�

Zoro cut in, �You�ve modeled clay a few times, then?�

Luffy paused in making a� ummm� Luffy paused in his clay-molding, and smiled up at Zoro again. �Yep! Back in Fuchsia, Ace and I had a huge bucket of clay. It was a lot more firm than this type, but we would sometimes make things out of it, and if they were good enough, Makino would cook him in the stove at the Party�s Bar so they stayed that way, and then sometimes she would get out her paints and let us paint them! It was fun!�

�Who�s Makino?� Zoro asked over Usopp�s questioning mumble of �You hung out at bars when you were little?�

Luffy only laughed at Usopp�s mutterings, and answered Zoro, �Makino ran the only tavern in Fuchsia Village. She was always really nice to me and Ace. She gave us free food, and saw both of us off when we left home to find One Piece.� He finished, smiled, and went back to making his� art.

Zoro watched him work nimbly to craft his piece. So far it looked like a snake. A bendy one. But that wasn�t what captivated the first mate, anyway.

Luffy was so tiny� it was amazing how small he was, all his limbs held close to his body (probably to preserve energy). He remembered Luffy�s earlier smile as he watched him now. The bitty little thing had looked so grateful and full of innocence� It made Zoro warm to know that he was the one who�d put that smile there.

Well, he and Usopp. Without the amazing new material of discovery, Luffy wouldn�t be having a good time with his distraction. It looked like he had forgotten his previous frustration, and was happily enjoying himself, worry-free. Although Zoro knew that part of his mood swing was because he was tired, and Zoro knew that he still needed to break� but this looked like it was doing the job for now.

And it wouldn�t be happening if Usopp hadn�t come in to play with him. If Luffy had just gone to sleep when they got here, which is what Zoro had been hoping he would do, then he probably would have had a troubled sleep full of unhappy dreams. Instead, Usopp had come along and given him the opportunity to cheer up first.

Luffy would get a nice sleep eventually, but for now� it was comfortable with the three of them. Zoro hadn�t been keen on the idea at first, but it seemed that Luffy had known what was best for all of them. Again.

Usopp, seemingly noticing for just the first time that Zoro wasn�t modeling with clay, offered him some. �You know, Zoro, you can make something out of clay too, if you want. There�s plenty of it.�

�No thanks,� the first mate responded, eyes never leaving his captain, �I like watching him.�

Luffy smiled up at Zoro and laughed, �Neehee!� Zoro likes to spend time with me like this! He was so happy as he went back to his project, which was nearing completion now.

Usopp was finishing up his own masterpiece on the table. It was a beautiful mermaid, sitting on a coral stone. Her young face and long locks were obviously modeled after a certain someone in Syrup Village. He paused to look at it adoringly, and sighed.

Zoro smiled as he watched Usopp fawn over the memory of his girl back home, and then turned back to watch his own favorite person play in his lap. Luffy seemed to have either forgotten he was tired or summoned up one last wind, for he seemed a little bouncier and his smile wasn�t as tired as it had been. Now the captain started to sing a little nursery rhyme to himself that he had obviously just made up on the spot as he crafted�

�Ohhh I like my pillow and I like my bed

And I like the softness of Sanji�s bread,

And one more thing that makes my day

Is Usopp�s Skypiean clay!

Part 2!

Zoro lets me soak when the water�s hot

And he saves me when the ocean�s not,

And I like it when he lets me play

With Usopp�s Skypiean clay!

Part 3!

Merry�s floating to a new island

Where the beaches will be full of sand

And the clouds will white and happy stay

Like Usopp�s Skypiean clay!�

Zoro snorted with laughter when he glanced up from his happy companion to see that Luffy�s chipper tune had finally yanked Usopp rudely from his trip down Memory Lane, and the aggravated sniper had his face all scrunched up in their captain�s general direction.

If Luffy noticed this, he pretended not to as he merrily continued to sing and mold with a big smile on his face and his eyes closed. . . Which was probably the best explanation for the shape of the clay in his hands.

�Part 4!

When the sun goes down and the night is free

And I spend time with my family,

I�ll show them what I made today

From Usopp�s Skypiean clay!

Part fi-�

�How�s it coming, Luffy?� Zoro took advantage of a break in the song to bring Luffy back to the present so that Usopp wouldn�t plan some form of discrete revenge later. Not that he probably would, but�

Luffy looked up, distracted from his song and curious as to why. �How�s coming what?�

Zoro indicated to his creation, �How�s your sculpture coming?�

Usopp looked at the thing in Luffy�s hands. It was too small to really look like anything, and Usopp doubted it looked like much to anyone Luffy�s size, either. The only one who could ever really appreciate Luffy�s art was the artist himself.

He watched Luffy smile up at Zoro, eyes bright. �It�s all finished! Can you tell what it is?�

Usopp snickered.

�It�s a giraffe.�

�YEAH!�

Usopp�s jaw hit the table. How had Zoro�?

Luffy was in rapture now, �Do you like it? Is it good?�

Zoro leaned back and relaxed, �Hm,� he grunted as uncaringly as he could.

Luffy rocked from side to side, laughing. �Zoro LOVES it!�

Not really caring how Luffy had come to his latest conclusion, Usopp looked harder at the thing in his hands. No matter how he squinted, he could barely make out that Luffy was holding anything at all, let alone what it was.

�You can tell?�

Zoro looked at him in surprise. �You mean you can�t?�

Usopp sputtered for a moment before choosing a way to phrase his question without hurting Luffy�s feelings, �But-- it�s so small, how could you make it out?� Then he noticed that Zoro was trying not to laugh, and he scowled. Zoro�s picking on me� I have half a mind to tell Nami on him�

He continued to scowl and said irately, �For real this time.�

�Giraffes are his favorite animal right now,� Zoro answered, knowing that Luffy was too pleased with his �identifiable art� to be following their conversation anymore.

Ahhh! So it had been an educated guess. Well, that appeased Usopp. Still, Luffy�s favorite animal changed all the time. How on earth did Zoro keep up?

�Usopp?�

The sniper looked down at his best friend, who was now looking at him with a hopeful expression as he raised his miniature work of art up for his own friend�s inspection. �Do you like it?�

Usopp looked that the pale blob that could barely even be made out, and then at Luffy�s innocent expression� and he was reminded again of why they all loved him so.

He remembered his captain curled up on the table in pain, and then again on the floor of the kitchen, all but unconscious� The same captain who was usually so strong and brave and happy� Luffy didn�t deserve to be put through this for nothing.

But what amazed Usopp the most was that this had to be so hard on Luffy� yet there he sat, happily on Zoro�s thigh, smiling as though he had no idea that there was still so much more suffering to come. Usopp�s heart was fixated by his captain�s sweet smile, and felt tears well up in his eyes as he hoped that someday, he would be as strong as his captain.

�Yeah, Luffy,� he smiled kind of sadly, �It�s really great.�

Luffy laughed and looked happily at his creation again before running up Zoro�s leg to tug on his shirt.

That�s when Usopp noticed that Zoro was looking not at Luffy, but at him. His own wet eyes found the swordsman�s to be met with a somewhat proud smile and a slight nod of approval. Then Zoro looked back down at the imp that was trying so hard to reclaim his attention, leaving Usopp to bask in the unspoken praise.

�Zoro! Zoro! Usopp likes it, t-� Luffy broke off into a huge yawn.

Zoro had been glad to see that Luffy was energetic enough to sing before, but it seemed that his last vestiges of energy were wearing off. Maybe now he could get the boy to sleep. �Yeah, I heard. Yokatta?� he answered in a bored way to sound like he didn�t actually care.

�Yeah�� Luffy nodded sleepily, relaxing against Zoro�s tummy. He felt his last wind dying down off fast and knew that he wasn�t gonna last much longer anymore. And there�s no more reason to try, he smiled.

Still holding his masterpiece, he took a couple steps down Zoro�s leg and curled up again as he had been before.

Zoro smiled as the boy snuggled against him without anyone�s suggestion, and Usopp took this to be his dismissal. �Luffy? Want me to cook your giraffe? The kids taught me how to do it with a flame dial. It could be ready by dinner, I think.�

Luffy looked up to nod and handed laid his work in his sniper�s hand. �Arigatou, Usopp.� he thanked sleepily.

Zoro held his finger to his lips when Usopp started to ask something else, and Usopp nodded in understanding. Luffy needed break time now. What an unusual concept for him. Usopp quickly re-wrapped the remaining clay. There was quite a bit.

Now laying comfortably on his side with his knees half way to his chest, Luffy looked through tired eyes at Usopp�s sculpture, noting the similarity to Kaya that he would never mention. Usopp lifted his mermaid and headed up the ladder without putting on another show like the one he had put on coming in. He closed the door behind him.

Luffy shivered at the draft the closing hatch had created, curling up tighter.

Then he felt Zoro�s finger�s just gently running back and forth over his back. It was hypnotic and had Luffy on the brink of sleep in no time flat. How does Zoro know I like that so much? I didn�t even know it until yesterday� He found himself wishing that Zoro would rub a little harder and give him a massage like earlier. That had felt sooo good. But he couldn�t ask, because what if Zoro decided not to and then stopped rubbing him? This was doing the job, anyway. That is, if Zoro�s intent really was to get him to sleep, as Luffy suspected.

He barely registered it when Zoro gently wrapped two fingers around his middle to lift him into his other palm, or when he was laid gently in his boshi. But the unmistakable wonderful scent of his new bed made him snuggle on top of it.

Zoro smiled fondly when he had gently moved the boy over to his bed, which Luffy snuggled on contact in exactly the place where Zoro had laid him, making no effort at all to move the covers that Zoro had moved back just before placing him on the bed. Looks like his finally run out of juice, he thought to himself.

Unwilling to let his captain freeze, Zoro lifted the miniature blankie and tucked it securely around his captain. At least this action wasn�t new to the first mate. He had tucked Luffy in dozens of times before when the captain had kicked off his blanket, though he didn�t think Luffy had ever noticed.

Luffy moved only slightly while he was tucked in to keep his head outside the covers. Just as Zoro was pulling away again, he heard a mumbled almost-word come from the hat. He smiled, ��Night, Sencho,� but Luffy was already fast asleep.

~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~
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RUMBLE!