In progress ~ Closed

[scimmiadigomma]

WHO: Luffy D. Monkey, Roronoa Zoro
WHAT: Zoro is not amused.
WHERE: Zoro and Luffy's apartment
WHEN: Day 87, after Luffy gets out of the hospital

Comments

[resolute_edge]

The first time Luffy got into trouble, Zoro paid no mind to it--he didn't care, as long as Luffy came back in one piece, and it really wasn't any of his business. Zoro didn't care what the hell was going on in anybody else's lives, not really. But then, when the boy seemed to be getting hurt more often than Zoro, the swordsman-slash-mercenary was, some,/i> sort of shit was happening, and Zoro fully intended to find out what the hell was going on. After all, if the mob was going to come knocking on their poor, battered, apartment door, Zoro had every right to know. And to keep his swords even closer to him than normal.

Zoro walked out of his room (closing his dysfunctional laptop while he was at it), and into the main room. "Luffy," he said, putting down his swords onto the bench. "What's happening?"

[scimmiadigomma]

Zoro's swords stood between Luffy and his precious straw hat. Somehow, Luffy new well enough by Zoro's tone to leave the hat where it was for now.

".....I- I just did something stupid. ...I went after this guy because I didnt know he was stronger than me, and because I was angry he killed someone" Luffy said, sitting down on the floor.

*cringe* sorry for the HTML failure

[resolute_edge]

Zoro leaned against the wall, brow furrowed. There were plenty of people stronger than Luffy out there, and it seemed that most assholes in this city have killed at least one person. Zoro knew he had. "Who?" He asked, not one for asking bullshit questions when he could ask the ones that got straight to the point. "And who'd he kill?"

Re: *cringe* sorry for the HTML failure

[scimmiadigomma]

"A doctor by the river, Muraki something, I think" Luffy replied. "He killed an innocent girl who goes to school near here. For no real reason, either" Luffy shook his head like he was trying to expel the bad thoughts thinking about it caused.

[resolute_edge]

Zoro was silent for a moment, trying to recall the name 'Muraki'. He could have sworn he had heard it somewhere... but Zoro never did pay much attention to doctors. He hated hospitals; they stripped you down, made you feel weak, assigned medication for wounds you should be able to get over on your own.

But who the guy was had no significance on the event (despite Zoro wanting to kick the shit outta the guy for hurting the kid who Zoro had, quite reluctantly, grown fond of). The main point was that Luffy decided to go out and do something. Going out and doing something, at this time, in this place, was one of the most stupid damn things a guy could do. "Luffy," Zoro replied, leaning against the bench, looking nonchalant, but the atmosphere he provided was anything but. "There are people all over the city, killing other people with no reason."

Such as himself, but Zoro wasn't about to voice that thought out loud. Instead, what he said was, "You can't go beat up every one."

[scimmiadigomma]

Luffy's shoulders dropped even more as he looked down at the floorboards.

"Maybe, but I can go after this one before he hurts another 15 year old girl and enjoys it. But I'm not strong enough right now"

Those last words hurt Luffy more than anything else in the world could right now. To have to admit to weakness and actually realize it was crushing.

[resolute_edge]

Zoro witheld a sigh as Luffy replied. Not being strong enough was a frustrating sentiment that he held often, but the fact that it was the sole reason Luffy wasn't going after every maniac in this city was a worrying one. "Look," Zoro said, matter of fact, "as I already said, there's a lot of bastards in here killing people off. Look at the videos of the murders that are spreading around

[scimmiadigomma]

The videos were awful too... But somehow the fact they were cops made Luffy feel like the police could take care of their own, for now, at least.

"I will, I promise" Luffy said, putting his hand on top of Zoro's. He knew Zoro's sword meant the world to him, Luffy thought it might be like the way Luffy felt about his hat. "Thank you, Zoro. I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to do enough to pay you back for this" He said, quite seriously.

Luffy felt like he was starting to have a team. Maybe even if he wasn't strong enough to fight by himself, if his friends came together... They could win easily.

The rubber boy was confident about that because he knew he had the best friends in the world.

[resolute_edge]

Putting Wadou at its rightful place at his hip, Zoro picked the hat up off the bench and pushed it onto Luffy's head. "You'll repay me but not getting yourself killed," he grunted, looking a bit more comfortable after Luffy's promise. If a man's word wasn't worth anything, Zoro figured he wasn't a man at all--and Luffy, although still a boy, was certainly going to turn into a man someday. This was the best time to start.

"Besides," he added on, voice straining as he stretched, looking all for the world ready for another nap, "I didn't move in here long ago. Don't feel like getting kicked out 'cause I'm missing a roommate."

[scimmiadigomma]

"I wont, I promise" Luffy said, pulling the hat down tighter over his head with both hands.

He was relived Zoro was stretching for a nap, signaling that serious conservation time was over. Luffy was going to raid the fridge the curl up in his hammock for the rest of the day.

[resolute_edge]

"Fine," Zoro replied, blinking a bit blearily on his way down to the kitchen where he was making his specialty--big-hunk-of-meat-with-some-vegetables-thrown-in-because-they-were-supposed-to-be-healthy-even-if-Zoro-never-peeled-them-properly.

After seeing with delight that it was indeed ready (meaning not red in the middle or black on the outside), he took it out of the oven and all but slammed it on what he and Luffy used as a kitchen table.

"Luffy," he called. "Meat."

Then, as Luffy was distracted with meat (he hoped), Zoro seized the opportunity to ask casually, "Is there anything else you know about this Muraki guy?"

After all, Zoro reasoned, there couldn't be any harm in...paying him a visit. Or at least looking him up.

[scimmiadigomma]

Luffy was by Zoro's side before he finished saying his name all the way through.

Of course, he'd been watching Zoro like a hawk from his hammock the entire time. He was even more voracious than usual.

"Muraki? I know where he lives. He has a clinic down by the river" Luffy replied, more excited about the prospect of a roast than anything else in the world.

[resolute_edge]

"Hands off!" Zoro whacked Luffy's hands, none too gently; he knew the kid to take it. "I made this for me."

That was a lie. Zoro would never make this much for himself--he enjoyed food just as much as the next guy, and was quite happy stuffing his face, but Luffy was... exceptional. Nevertheless, he took out a knife and sliced the thing in half with ease and slid it over to Luffy. (With the knife. Using your fingers to touch meat when Luffy's mouth was within a foot's distance was suicide.) After a moment of thought, he also slid the sad looking vegetables over in the tray, poking at his own with little enthusiasm.

Taking a large bite out of his half, he nodded. After swallowing (with a little difficulty; how the hell could Luffy manage to put twice the amount of food into his mouth and not choke to death?), he said, "Clinic by the river. Got it."

The river was down the hill, he mused to himself. And Luffy said down. That meant all he'd have to do was take whatever road went down.

[scimmiadigomma]

Luffy nursed his hand with a groan, then his eyes lit up again as he was given half. He started digging in right away.

Maybe having rubber body parts let him eat like this, hopefully that was it. "Yup. But if you go down there, watch out. He's really fast and even when you hit him, he recovers super-fast. He can't be normal. I bet he's some kind of freak" Luffy replied, stretching his arm out to the fridge several feet away to get the juice without having to move away from his meat.

[resolute_edge]

Zoro watched warily as Luffy's hand zipped through the air, fished through the fridge and grabbed juice without there even being a lull in the rate that Luffy ate.

...Freaky. Zoro wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to that. But hey, why not make use of it? "Grab me a beer, will you?" Zoro chewed on his half thoughtfully. He could probably deal with somebody fast, he figured. He was a man who was able to take plenty of physical punishment, and some fast guy who he'd have troubles catching wasn't about to take him down. Despite this thought, the recovery process that the man reportedly went through was worrisome.

"Is he strong?" He asked.

It'd be good to have as much information on the guy as possible. After all, Zoro wasn't the best man with a blade in the world yet, so he had to be careful. Until he got there, that was.

[scimmiadigomma]

Luffy nodded, and fished out one of Zoro's beers in a similar fashion, setting the bottle on the table.

"He's pretty strong, but I havent figured out how. He really knows what he's doing when it comes to fighting. I underestimated him" Luffy replied, between bites. "I think Caiman decimated him pretty quickly though. You might be able to ask him more about it, I was out cold by then" Luffy added. You could see his mind follow that thought out and he shuddered before consoling himself with more meat and Juice.