Last minute entry!
Title: Campfire
Rating: G
Media: Fic
Characters: Zoro, Luffy
Word Count: 282
Prompt: Fire
A/N: Is it sad that my main concern following current events is Luffy's mental well-being? Anyway, I need reassurance that he's gonna be okay. I think he will be, though; he IS Luffy. As for this, I hope he didn't come off as being disaffected or uncaring...
Luffy was watching the fire. He’d been doing that a lot since they reunited, so of course Zoro would pick up on it.
He walked over and sat down next to the boy, offering him the steaming mug of hot chocolate loaded with marshmallows that the cook had given him. He knew Sanji didn’t like to see Luffy like this. Hell, none of them did.
Luffy smiled and took the cup, sipping on it immediately. “Ow! Hot!”
“Of course it’s hot, idiot. You have to let it cool down first.”
He didn’t take the swordsman’s advice, instead chasing around the marshmallows around with his tongue. The fire crackled and spit, and he plucked one out and tossed it in among the embers.
“That’s for Ace,” he explained when Zoro gave him a look.
Zoro blinked and studied his captain closer. Was he having some sort of post-traumatic delusion?
Luffy was staring into the fire again. “I know he’s dead,” he said, seeming to sense Zoro’s worries.
Zoro nodded in relieved satisfaction.
“…Oi, Zoro. When people die, do they leave completely?”
The swordsman flinched. He wasn’t sure he was the one to have this conversation. But he had to answer, so… “I don’t know. I don’t know about religion.”
Luffy smiled, just a little one. “I don’t think they do. I think, if they had nakama, and people who care about them, that they’re still here. Like, invisible.”
Zoro’s hand ran unconsciously over Wado’s hilt. “Maybe so.”
Luffy stared at the fire, serious again, and Zoro didn’t know what to say to comfort him. Then…
“Wish I could turn invisible.”
“…Are you ever serious?”
Luffy laughed and threw another marshmallow into the fire.