All That Glitters (One Piece\Zolo) 127

Quick Recap: Usopp woke up and Luffy told him about getting a new ship. He didn't take it well, and declared that he was leaving the crew but that he wanted to fight Luffy for the ship. Usopp put up a good fight, but in the end Luffy won. Zolo said it was time to leave the ship.
START THE QUIZ
You walked quickly through the empty streets of the city in your quest. Your quest to find a place for the crew to stay for the night. At Zolo's suggestion, you were leaving the Merry Go behind. It was of no more use to you, and now it only held painful memories. Zolo'd sent you ahead of them to find a place for you to stay while the others packed up everything. It'd make things a lot easier (and safer) if you could go straight to your rooms with your stuff instead of wandering around the city at night with all of your belongings. Once you booked some rooms, you head back and help them carry everything.
Although you tried not to think about it, the dark, empty streets fit your mood perfectly. Most of the windows were dark, so the only light came from the moon and the odd street lamp. Everything was silent, save for the soft trickling of the water canals and the light scuffing of your boots on the pavement. You walked a little faster than normal, hands stuffing in your pockets, gazing from one side of the canal to the other in a very detached manner. But given what you'd just been through, you had every right to be morose. You were just glad you had Zolo around to step in and take charge of the situation. Luffy was certainly in no shape to be giving orders, so Zolo stepped in without having to be told to. He was the first mate, it was his job to look after the crew in the captain's absence. And while Luffy might be there, your captain wasn't. The others were also in no condition to go against Zolo's orders, either. Even Sanji didn't bother to protest when Zolo told him what to do. A sort of numb depression had descended upon the Straw Hat Crew.
`Now is not the time to dwell on such things,` you scolded yourself, shaking such depressing thoughts from your mind. You had other things to concentrate on right now. Only once you were safely in a room for the night, away from the eyes and ears of the others, then perhaps you could attempt to seek solace. Right now, the wellbeing of the others was your primary concern. You'd already been to two hotels, but they were both completely booked. Thanks to that festival in Sun Faturo, there were a lot of people staying overnight in Water Seven until the sea train tomorrow. You doubted many hotels would still have vacancies at this late hour. Nevertheless, you continued to diligently search for any place to stay.
You came to a sudden stop when you spotted a promising prospect. In the alleyway beside you, up a short flight of stairs, a single lantern lit a beat up old sign that read simply "INN." The place looked out of the way enough that it probably didn't have many occupants. Batting a canter fly away, you opened the door. Light flooded out into the desolate alley as you stepped inside. It felt cold inside, especially when compared to the late spring-like weather outside. To the left of you, right when you entered, was the front desk, with an open door leading back into the employees only section. Directly behind you were two French-style double doors leading into the living room, sparsely furnished with a few sofas and tables. Just ahead of you was the hallway leading to the rooms.
You stepped up to the front desk. You couldn't see or hear anyone about, but surely someone was still on duty. They wouldn't leave the door unlocked like that unless they had someone manning the front desk. Placing your hands on the wood counter, you leaned over the desk to try to look inside the doorway to see if you could find anyone. When you still couldn't find anyone, you contemplated calling out. However, you spotted the service bell, so you hit that twice instead. The "ding-ding" sounded incredibly loud in the quiet room, almost making you wince.
From inside the employee room, you heard what sounded like someone dropping a box. You must've startled them. A few seconds later, a small, elderly man emerged. "Oh! Good evening!" he greeted politely while wiping the dust off his hands. Coming to stand directly across from you behind the counter, he asked, "What can I do for you, young lady?"
"I need to rent a couple rooms."
"Ah, of course. Of course." The man opened a large book resting on the desk. It was a record of all the rooms in the inn and whether or not they were full. Flipping to a few empty pages, he asked you, "And how many rooms will you be needing?"
You paused, thinking about it. "Exactly how large are the rooms?" you asked after a moment.
"All of our rooms are the same size, but the beds aren't. Half of our rooms have full-sized beds, and the other half have queen-sized beds. And of course all of them come with a bathroom."
You pondered this. There were only six of you now, and you could easily fit two people in a queen-sized bed, meaning you'd be able to rent three rooms. But what about the room itself? Could you fit everything you were bringing with you into three rooms? "We kind of have a lot of luggage..." you thought aloud.
"Oh, don't worry about that," the man replied. "Our rooms are very spacious. Besides, if you find that you don't have enough space, you can always rent another room. We're almost completely vacant tonight. I guess we're sort of out of the way for the other tourists."
"Then I guess put me down for three queen-sized rooms," you told the man.
The man smiled at you. "Yes ma'am." He flipped through the book with one hand while using the other to pull up a pair of circular, wire-framed glasses hanging around his neck by a thin gold chain. He made a light humming noise as he adjusted his glasses. "How about I put you on the eighth floor? You'll be the only ones on that floor, so if you need to rent more rooms, there won't be a problem." You simply nodded. It didn't matter all that much to you. You just wanted to get the rooms and get back. "Alright, then. I'll put you down for rooms 808, 809, and 810. They're all at the end of the hallway, so you'll be together." He paused with a pencil in the air. "Um... what name do I put you down as?" You didn't miss the fact that he asked you what name to put you down as, not what your name was. No doubt he'd seen his share of pirates and other unscrupulous characters, and sometimes they preferred to go unnoticed.
His question gave you pause. You'd used false names in the past, when you didn't want anyone knowing you'd been somewhere. Anonymity could be a very good thing. However, at the moment you didn't have the energy to bother with such details. It'd only confuse the others, and you didn't really expect anyone to be searching for you. Sure, Lucci was here, but he didn't seem all that concerned with you at the moment. If he really wanted to take care of you, he wouldn't have let you go. Besides, he could find you no matter what name you used. So you opted to simply register under the name Cruz. The man scribbled the name down and then handed you three keys. With a quick "thank you," you exited back into the dark streets and headed for the ship.
Time to head back
By the time you made it back, it looked like most of the packing was finished. There were cases and bags of clothing and other personal items lying on the ground in front of the ship. You noticed that most of it was Nami's stuff. Now all that was left was the big stuff, mainly Nami's tangerine trees. Yeah, those were coming too. All three of the great gangly things. That was mainly what had you so concerned with the space problem. Could you even get those things through the door? Well, you were going to have to try, because Nami wasn't about to leave them on the ship. Nojiko'd given them to her way back when the crew saved Coco Village. From what you understood, Nami's adopted mother kept a tangerine orchard, so you imagined those trees were very important to her.
Speaking of the navigator, as you approached the ship you found her climbing down the ladder with a large sack over her shoulder. You always found it strange how she was able to carry massive bags of treasure, even though she wasn't a fighter. Maybe her love for it gave her strength? Anyways, she moved slowly down the rope ladder, the extra weight threatening to make her fall. But she didn't, and she reached to ground safely. As she set the sack down with a huff, she noticed you standing there. "Vaughn! Did you find a hotel?"
"Yeah."
"Good." Nami glanced over her shoulder at the ship. "We've almost got everything. You should get your stuff packed up while the guys finish getting the trees down. That way we can leave sooner." You heard the anxiousness in her voice, though you weren't sure if it was from wanting to get away from the ship and the memories of what'd happened or fear of that very thing. Regardless, you climbed up the ladder and headed for your room. It shouldn't take you long. You didn't have nearly as much stuff as Nami. As you entered the storage room, you saw the guys replanting one of the trees into a large pot and shoveling dirt into it.
Below deck was so quiet. You ran your hand along the splintered doorframe as you entered your room for the last time. The lock was still broken from when Zolo used his sword to gain entry into your room on Lily Hill Island. Stupid thing still wouldn't shut properly. You knelt down beside your bed and reached underneath it, pulling out two suitcases. You sat them both on the bed and deftly opened them. You then went about packing all of your belongings. You began by folding up your clothes, staring with pants and jackets first, then shirts, then underwear. Then you packed all of your personal items and equipment. Though you did leave your books behind. You'd already read them all, and you never took any books with you when you left somewhere. They were easily replaceable. You did all of this without thinking, moving blindly from years of practice. You'd moved several times, so you could now do it without consciously thinking about it. You also had a lot of experience packing a lot of stuff in a small space, so you managed to fit everything you owned into the two suitcases. It might've helped that you didn't own a whole lot of things. In your line of work, clothing was often destroyed, and save for a few articles that you really liked, you gave no thought to replacing them.
The thing that brought your back to conscious thought was the Oboro. If you had to carry the two suitcases, your hands wouldn't be free to carry it as well. A quickly survey of the room yielded a solution: using your tetsugin, you cut a long, thick strip of cover and tied it to the sheath like a handle, then slid it over your head and left arm so the sword rested across your back, the handle sticking up over your right shoulder. A quick tug reassured you that the makeshift handle was secure and that the sword wouldn't fall. You briefly noted that the white cloth really stood out against the black lacquered wood of the sheath.
Satisfied that you had everything worth taking, you closed the suitcases and headed for the door. Before leaving, you paused in the doorway and looked back over your shoulder to see your room for the final time. Like when you first got the ship all those months ago, the room was empty, with no personality. But unlike then, when you'd seen only possibility, now the room felt like a tomb. Something dying. But in spite of the gloom, you couldn't deny that you had some happy memories of this place. It'd been the first time in a long time you'd truly felt safe. At the risk of sounding trite, the Merry Go would forever live in your memories, the way she'd once been. Although hard, you were glad to leave her here. You didn't want your last memories to be of her sinking into the depths. You brought a hand up to stroke the doorframe affectionately. "Good-bye, Merry."
Good-bye forever
The guys were lowering the last tangerine tree when you made it topside. It had to be a concerted effort, with Sanji and Chopper on the deck lowering the tree and Zolo and Luffy on the ground catching it. Sanji took a moment to catch his breath after all the lifting and loading and carrying. Feats of upper body strength were not his strong point. But that didn't stop him from offering to carry your things when he spotted you. For once, you partially obliged him, letting him carry one since you couldn't climb down the ladder with no hands (you weren't Robin).
With everyone gathered, Nami began, "I think that's the last of it. I went ahead and packed Robin's stuff, too."
"Did you find a hotel?" Zolo asked, repeating Nami's earlier question.
"Yeah," you replied, pulling out the three keys. "I got us three rooms, but the man said we could rent more if we needed the space."
"So..." Sanji drawled, looking down at all the stuff. "How're we gonna do this?"
Everyone was silent as you tried to think of the best way to carry everything. It was obvious to everyone you'd have to make more than one trip. Tapping your chin, you observed, "I don't think we can carry more than one tree at a time. It'll take half of us just to carry it, and probably all of use to get it inside." So there was at least three trips.
"I can carry a lot of the luggage and stuff," Chopper volunteered, already in his Walk Point.
"I say we start with the luggage before we worry with those shrubs," Zolo commented. It wasn't like anyone would be out here to steal a tree. But you shouldn't leave all your clothes and stuff unattended. Normally, Zolo's callous comment would've prompted Sanji to yell something to the extent of "how dare you say that about Nami's precious tangerines!" but at the moment he just didn't have the energy. So everyone agreed to load Chopper down with the majority of the luggage while you carried the rest on your own.
Nami suddenly noticed you were one short. Well, shorter, anyways. Looking around, she spotted the missing crewmate a little ways off. "Luffy?" she asked, almost too quietly to hear.
Her question caught your attention and you looked up to see Luffy standing over Usopp's still unconscious form. You all looked on silently as he bent down and hoisted Usopp onto his shoulder as carefully as he could, not wanting to agitate the injuries he'd caused. Without a word to anyone, Luffy walked right passed you and climbed the ladder. You could see him stop at the bow. He knelt down and laid Usopp down on the deck before returning to you. You understood what Luffy was doing. The ship was Usopp's now, even though he'd lost the fight. This way, when Usopp woke up and saw himself on the ship with nothing else on it, except for his own things, he'd know what'd happened. `For what it's worth, Usopp, good luck,` you thought.
None of you mentioned the scene to the still depressed captain as you picked up your stuff and headed into the city. Chopper carried most of it, but he didn't seem affected by it. Reindeer made quite handy pack animals. The rest of you divided up the luggage, though Zolo had the most and you made sure Luffy had the least. You didn't want to give your captain anything more to do than he had to. This whole thing affected him the most, and you knew he'd need the most time to heal. You led the way through the streets to the inn in the alley. Somehow the trip seemed longer when you were carrying something. Or that might've been due to the fact that you hadn't really been paying enough attention to notice how far you'd gone. Either way, you eventually made it back. The man working the counter was gone again, and you suspected he slept back in that room. Although Chopper got stuck a few times in the narrow stairway, requiring you to push and pull and get him unstuck, you managed to get all the luggage up to the eighth floor.
"I think this is good," you announced. "You guys should go back and get the trees. We'll deal with getting all this stuff in the rooms. There's no one else on this floor, so it should be fine while we're moving it." Everyone dropped what they were carrying with a massive sigh of relief, especially Chopper.
"I'm coming with you three to make sure you don't hurt my trees... or get lost," Nami told them. Zolo just sort of shrugged while Sanji was more than happy to have his lovely Nami accompanying them -- though you couldn't help noticing he was a bit more subdued than usual. The four left, leaving you and Luffy to move all of the luggage.
You walked down to the other end of the hallway and unlocked the three rooms. Two were directly side by side while the other one was across the hall. You entered one of the rooms to put your stuff down, while you saw Luffy enter the room across the hall from you. The room looked like any other hotel room. The carpet was dark blue with a subtle diamond print, and the walls were off-white. As you came through the door, there was a small alcove to your left with some hangers for coats and dressed, then a countertop with a sink and mirror on the left and the bathroom to the right. From there, the room opened up to the main area. Down the left wall was a full-length mirror hanging on the wall above an upholstered bench, a dresser, and a desk. Down the right side of the room a lone chair sat in the corner by the bathroom, a small bedside table with a clock, then the queen-sized bed. The bed had crisp white linens on it. At the very end of the room a plate glass window peered outwards, shielded by thick, beige curtains.
You sat your luggage down on the bench so it'd be out of the way when you started moving everything else in. Looking around the room, you found that the man had been right about the size. The room was very open, and much larger than most hotel rooms. By the looks of things, you should be able to fit all of your stuff in the three rooms. And if you were judging the size correctly, a tangerine tree should fit in the empty corner between the bathroom wall and bed. `Assuming we can get it in the door...` you thought dryly.
Deciding you'd stood around enough, you went back out in the hallway to start moving. You tried to spread the luggage out so it was sort of evenly distributed in each room. One set in 808, then the next set in 809, then 810. You didn't worry about making sure the right luggage was in each room. In the first place, you didn't know which room the boys would take, though you assumed Zolo would room with Luffy and then Sanji and Chopper'd take the other room. You figured that if anyone wanted something, they'd go and find it.
You had to do everything by yourself because Luffy hadn't come out of his room since he first went in. But you'd expected that, and you didn't mind. You were actually grateful to have something to do to keep your mind occupied. Everyone was busy right now, so no one had really had the time to sit around the think about things. The hard part would come later tonight, when you tried to sleep. You already knew you wouldn't be getting much sleep.
It's gonna be a looong night
As you carried some bags into the room across the hall from yours, you discovered Luffy'd moved the chair that originally sat at the desk over to the window, where he sat cross-legged on it, looking out the window at the city below. At the eighth floor, it had quite a nice view. Your eyes remained on the sad sight as you set the bags down. You wished there was something you could do for Luffy, but you knew nothing you could say would help. This was probably the first time Luffy'd had a fight like that with a friend. It was always hard to deal with that feeling of loss... sometimes even betrayal. The first time was always the hardest. Time was what Luffy needed. As cliche as it might sound, you knew that time heals all wounds. Just like physical wounds, emotional wounds needed rest. They could also leave scars or not heal properly due to improper treatment. You prayed this didn't leave Luffy with any scars.
You stood there a little longer, unsure. You felt the need to do something... to reassure him somehow. But what could you say? You knew words wouldn't help. `But who said I have to say anything,` you questioned yourself. Speaking wasn't the only way of communicating, and something it was the worst. With that in mind, you quietly moved forward until you stood directly behind Luffy. You gently placed your hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. A useless gesture, perhaps, but not an empty one. It was like a mother throwing her arms around a child to shield it from bullets; it wouldn't save the child's life but that didn't make it any less meaningful.
Luffy's eyes met yours through the window's reflection. For a long moment, no one said anything. Then, slowly, tentatively, a hand came up to rest on yours, returning the light squeeze. You understood the gesture even if there were no words behind it. `Thank you. For being here when I need you.` You gave Luffy a small smile, which he tried to return, before leaving him once again to his own thoughts.
When you got back out in the hallway, a thud coming from the stairs drew your attention. You looked up in time to see Nami coming up the stairs, followed by a walking... tree? The sight was actually rather laughable. All you could see of the guys carrying the tree were their legs sticking out of the bottom. The branches obscured everything else. Based on their legs, you could tell that Zolo was in front, supporting most of the tree's weight. He had the base of the tree, including the pot. He carried the pot, tilting the tree back over his shoulder at an angle. Sanji and Chopper stood behind him, arms above their heads to help support the rest of the tree. Nami walked ahead of them, telling them which direction to go since the branches blocked their vision. An image of the three walking down the street like that came to your mind, and you couldn't help but smile.
"Alright, you can set it down now," Nami finally said once she reached where you were standing. The guys quickly complied, struggling a bit to get the tree upright again. Giving the boys a chance to rest, Nami turned to examine the doorway. Resting her chin in her palm, she mused aloud, "How are we going to get it through there...?"
"I think the easiest way would be to push it forward so the pot slides along the floor," you suggested. Opening the door, you explained what you were thinking. "If we start with getting the smallest part of the tree through first, it should go easier. We can push the top down so it'll fit, then push the larger sections through." Tangerine tree branches were fairly flexible, so you should have no problems manipulating them around.
Going over the plan in her head, Nami concluded, "That might work... It'll break too many branches if we try to pull it straight through."
So that's what you did. You and Nami worked together to push the tree through the door to your room. You pulled while she pushed. You angled the top down so it slid under the doorframe. Once you got that part in, it was simply a matter of Nami pushing the thin branches around so they slid passed the doorframe. It worked quite well. You didn't break any branches, though a few tangerines did fall off when the hit the frame. Nami quickly picked them up. She'd intended to do some pruning anyway. Once you got the tree passed the bathroom, it was substantially easier. Just as you'd calculated, the tree fit quite nicely in the empty corner of the room. Dusting your hands off, you commented, "That looks good. But I don't think we can get anymore trees in here."
Nami nodded. "One tree per room. Alright, guys. Two more to go." You heard a faint muttering from Zolo, but the four of them headed back out again to retrieve the other two trees.
What to do now?
Since you'd already moved all the luggage into the rooms, and the others were taking care of the remaining two trees, you had nothing to do now. So you decided to take a shower. After leaving the keys to the other two rooms on the sink and grabbing your soap and shampoo, you closed both the room and bathroom door, but you only locked the bathroom door. Like all hotel bathrooms, this one was pretty sparse. Just a toilet, towel rack, and a shower. You undressed and placed your clothes on the toilet seat lid. The tile floor felt so cold on your feet. Stepping into the shower, you pulled the shower curtain closed and turned the water on. You turned the water on full blast, almost to the point of scalding. You didn't usually shower in such hot water, but for some reason you felt like it.
You didn't focus on anything except working the shampoo into your scalp. A simple task that didn't require such concentration, but perhaps you avoiding dealing with your thoughts right now. You washed the shampoo from your hair, running your fingers through your sopping wet hair to push it back out of your face before going for the body wash. As you worked the body wash into a thick lather, the light pear scent helped sooth you, if only a little. By now, steam rose from the top of the shower, making the walls and floor slightly dewy. You briefly noticed that the hot water was turning your skin pink, but you didn't lower the temperature.
It didn't take you long to finish showering, but you still didn't want to get out. Not just yet. So instead, you rested your hands on the shower wall above you, allowing your body to slouch forward, your head sagging to your chest. The shower spray hit the back of your neck, pouring water down your body. For the first time that night, you allowed yourself to examine your own feelings about your situation. And you had to say, they weren't what most people would've expected. If you were going to be completely honest with yourself, you had to admit that you weren't too upset about Usopp being gone. It might be a sad thing to say, but you'd grown accustomed to leaving people and being left. Not always in a bad way, either. For instance, you'd left behind your friends at the Academy, and you left your coworkers, some of which you'd grown attached to. It happened. And you'd never been particularly close to Usopp, you were just too different. But because of that, you felt bad that you didn't feel as bad as you thought you should. Did that make sense? You were more upset about the way Usopp chose to leave than his actual departure from the crew. `He's so stupid,` you thought, brows furrowing slightly. `Picking a ship over his friends... And for what? He'll try to fix it and it'll just sink like they said. Then he'll realize what a big mistake he made, but it'll be too late. He'll be shipless and crewless.`
You paused in your thoughts when you noticed it was very hard to breathe in the steamy room. Reaching for the shower knobs, you turned the hot water off and turned the cold on. Ice cold water came down and hit your skin, sending a shock through your system as it just adjusted to the hot temperature. Ignoring the shiver that ran down your spine, you continued with your evaluation. You came to the startling realization that you were actually angry with Usopp. `Because of his stupidity, he's hurting the others.` Watching Luffy, Nami and Chopper cry had almost killed you. It was in your nature to want to protect those closest to you and eliminate the cause of their pain. And the cause, in this case, was Usopp. You found yourself almost wishing you could be there to see the look on his face when the ship sank and he realized that Luffy'd been right. You quickly shook your head, as if to dislodge such thoughts. `You're as vindictive as ever, Vaughn,` you told yourself.
Figuring you'd done enough soul searching for one day, and generally not liking what you'd found, you turned the shower off. Changing back into the clothes you'd been wearing, because you knew you wouldn't be sleeping much, you dropped the wet towel on the sink and went over to you suitcases. You put your soap and shampoo back and pulled out a deck of cards. Sitting on the bed, you took the deck out of the pack. You studied the cards for a moment. The deck was old and worn with use. They felt soft in your hands. A professional poker deck. They'd been a birthday present from Sol. You'd taken to card games quite well, not long after joining the Academy. You found them an excellent way to... escape from reality for a while. Sometimes it was healthy to force yourself to forget about a problem for a while. Too much stress was bad, and often times when you left a problem and came back later, the answer became obvious. Cards had been your escape when dealing with the loss of your family became too much. You remembered playing many a' game of solitaire on your bed. Sol'd seen this and encouraged it. He bought you a pack of professional poker cards for you first birthday at the Academy.
Deciding that you could use a little escaping, you set out a game of solitaire. As you played, you heard the door open. You didn't bother to look up. You the person entered your periphery vision, you discovered it to be Zolo. He stood at the foot of the bed for a moment, watching you play cards, before grabbing one of the sacks and sitting on the bed. He rummaged through it, so you assumed it was one of his and he was looking for something.
Card game instantly forgotten, you moved forward until you were sitting right behind Zolo. If he noticed the shifting of the bed, he didn't show it. But he did tense up when you unexpectedly wrapped your arms around his chest, resting your head against his right shoulder. You locked your arms around Zolo's chest as you leaned against him. You felt his muscles tense at your unexpected contact, but he slowly relaxed and leaned back into your embrace, supporting you at the same time. Forgetting what it was he'd just been searching for, one of Zolo's hands came up to idly tangle with your own. Zolo could feel your damp hair clinging to the side of his neck. Neither of you said anything, although you knew exactly what the other was thinking, because it was what you were thinking. You weren't sure why, you just felt the need to do this. You might not be a touchy-feely person, but even you sometimes needed the comfort found in physical contact. And Zolo certainly wasn't about to push you away.
Out in the hallway, Nami headed for the room she'd be sharing with you, now that she was satisfied that the trees were alright. The door wasn't closed all the way, so she started to push it open. But before she even got it open halfway, Nami came to an abrupt halt. She blinked for a moment in shock, not sure she believed what she was seeing. You were seated on the bed behind Zolo, your arms wrapped around his chest. And Zolo seemed quite content, although it was often hard to tell with the swordsman. It suddenly dawned on Nami that there was far more going on between you and Zolo than even she suspected. She'd noticed how well you got along, but she never thought it'd escalated this far.
Normally, Nami would've burst through the door and threw it in your faces to try to get some money out of you, or at least hold you in her debt. Maybe it was because of the whole atmosphere tonight, but Nami just felt like she couldn't. This was rough on all of you, and you could all use a little solace. If Zolo was willing to offer you that, then who was she to interfere? So instead, Nami silently closed the door and decided she'd go check on the others. `Later,` she promised herself. Later she'd confront you with her finding.
Wow, Nami must be feeling bad
As you sat in silence, Zolo fiddled with your hand. Turning it over, Zolo suddenly discovered that you had numerous thin, tiny scars on your fingers, particularly on the pads of your fingers. `Must be from when Vaughn was learning to use the tetsugin,` Zolo thought. He had a hard time picturing a younger you fumbling around with your weapon, cutting yourself on the sharp wire as your hands developed calluses to protect them. You used the tetsugin with such ease that it was tempting to imagine you'd always been that good. But Zolo knew better. Just as he hadn't always been as good with a sword, the same applied to you.
You turned your head to watch Zolo messing with your hands. His fascination with your scars was amusing. Though your hands were smaller than the swordsman's, they showed the wear and tear of almost a lifetime spent fighting. Finally, you spoke. "Did you get everything in?"
You sudden question drew Zolo's attention away from your hands. Looking at the floor, since he couldn't turn his head far enough to look at you, he replied. "Yeah. How're you holding up?"
"I'm alright. I'm not so sure about the others, though." Zolo nodded solemnly. You sighed, lowering your head again to Zolo's shoulder. "What a suckin' day. The money's gone, the ship's gone, Usopp's gone, Nico's gone..."
"There's not much we can do about it now," Zolo told you.
"Yeah, I know." Another long silence engulfed you. You wanted to ask Zolo something, but you weren't sure if you wanted to. You suspected you already knew the answer. "Hey, Zolo?" Zolo made a noise indicating he was listening. After a moment's hesitation, you asked, "... would you ever do what Usopp did?"
This caught Zolo off guard. For a moment, he wasn't even sure exactly what you were referring to. Usopp did a lot of things today. But... "You mean leave?" You nodded. Zolo honestly considered it for a minute. Would he just up and leave the crew? It didn't take him long to reach the answer. "No," he replied at length. "Not like that, anyway. But... if it meant becoming the world's greatest swordsman..." Zolo trailed off, but you understood what he was saying. He wouldn't leave because he got in a fight with one of you. Hell, if that were the case, he'd have already left. But if it meant pursuing his dream, then he would. He'd already told Luffy that when you first met and Luffy recruited him. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly what you wanted to hear, though it was what you expected. And you couldn't fault Zolo for that. If it meant going after his lifelong dream, you wouldn't stop him. You'd planned to the do the same thing before you fought Victor, saying you'd leave if you had to. "What about you?"
Now it was your turn to be caught off guard. "I don't know..." you answered slowly. "I mean, I don't plan on it, but who knows what the future holds?" You really had no reason to leave now, but predicting the future was not your job.
"If I, ya' know, left... would you come with me?"
Zolo's hesitant, barely audible question surprised you. You hadn't seen that one coming. It was so unexpected that you had to actually ponder for an answer. `Would I go with him...?` you thought. After giving it some thought, the best you could come up with was, "... I don't know. I mean, I'd want to go with you, but I couldn't just abandon Luffy. And I think you'd feel the same way if I left." You doubted Zolo'd leave Luffy. As idiotic as he could be at times, Luffy was the glue that held you together, in spite of all your differences.
"You're right," Zolo agreed. "But you know, I'd come back."
You smiled lightly. "So would I." There may come a time that you had to leave, but you'd come back. Even if you were separated for a little while, at least Zolo'd be back. Good thing you were patient.
You felt a little bit better now that you'd had a little talk with Zolo. All you could do now was see to your crewmates, make sure they were alright, and do what you knew was best for the crew. If leaving behind one was in the grand scheme of things better for everyone else, then that was just what you had to do. Keep moving forward, just like Luffy'd said. Reluctantly, you pulled away from Zolo and said, "I think you should go check on Luffy." Zolo stood up wordlessly, but you didn't miss the barely noticeably sour look on his face. Perhaps the swordsman wanted to stay? Didn't matter. You had a feeling Luffy needed Zolo more than you did. Taking the key to the room across the hall, Zolo left. When he closed the door behind him, you got off the bed and put out the lanterns hanging on the walls, dousing the room in darkness. You climbed onto the bed, laying on your back on top of the covers, and closed your eyes. However, you knew none of you would get much sleep tonight.
REST OF QUIZ IN RESULTS
Just as you predicted, you didn't really get much sleep that night. You dozed off and on all night, until you saw the sun starting to peak over the horizon through the window and figured you might as well get up. Nami came in a little after you went to bed. Based on her tossing during the night, she didn't get much sleep either. You thought you heard her making a slight sniffling noise several times during the night, but you made no mention of it. Nami was a prideful woman.
With nothing better to do, you decided to go up onto the roof of the inn. When you opened the door to go to the roof, you weren't really all that surprised to see Luffy and Zolo already there. Zolo sat with his back against the small belfry, and Luffy was on the roof of a steeple a couple yards away, his knees bent to his chest and staring out at nothing. Zolo barely nodded to you as you walked across the roof, more interested in keeping an eye on Luffy at the moment. You didn't say anything as you sat cross-legged on the railing, facing out to the city. Eventually, Chopper joined you, saying Sanji'd already left the room, but he wasn't sure where he'd gone. You suspected he'd gone back to the ship to see if Robin showed up. Nami came up as well for a while before going out into the city. There seemed to be a commotion going on, though you couldn't tell what it was about from way up on the roof.
You heard the door to the roof open, prompting you to look over your shoulder. It was Sanji. "There you are," he greeted. Mumbling more to himself than you, you heard him say, "We paid for rooms and no one's in there. Guess they can't sleep... or something..." Sticking his hands in his pockets, Sanji walked towards you and asked, "Where's Luffy?" Without saying anything, you pointed up at Luffy. He didn't acknowledge Sanji, though you were sure he'd heard him. A frown pulled at his lips as Sanji silently observed Luffy.
Sanji stood beside you, leaning his back against the railing. Fortunately, he stood so that the wind blew his cigarette smoke away from you. "Where'd you go Sanji?" Chopper asked.
"I was keeping watch at the peninsula," Sanji replied, confirming your suspicions. "I thought maybe... Robin would come back." But obviously she hadn't. Sanji stared out at the clear sky, not bothering to hide his concern about why the missing archeologist had been gone for so long. Robin liked to keep to herself, but it wasn't like her to up and disappear. "Wonder where she went without saying a word... I think I'll search around on the streets today. If anything happens, we'll regroup in the hotel room."
"I'll go too!!" Chopper suddenly and adamantly volunteered, causing you, Sanji and Zolo to look at him. "To search!!"
"Okay... sure," Sanji agreed. Chopper's nose would really come in handy. Personally, you thought that maybe Chopper felt a little responsible for Robin's disappearance, since she'd been with him when she disappeared.
"Luffy!!" You jumped as the door slammed open and Nami came barreling out. Luckily it wasn't enough for you to fall from your perch. You raised an eyebrow when you saw the frenzied state your navigator was in. Her eyes shone with disbelief, she was panting and sweating like she'd ran all the way up the stairs, and her voice was higher pitched than normal.
Just by her expression, you knew this wasn't good news. `Great... What else can go wrong?` you thought cynically.
"Nami?" Sanji asked.
"Big news, guys! Everyone in the city is talking about it!! Luffy!!" Luffy finally looked around at Nami, her tone indicating this was important. "Last night, Mr. Iceberg was shot!!!"
Your eyes widened in shock. Iceberg shot? Why? By who? Who'd want to shoot the hero of the city? "Are you serious, Nami?" you asked, not sure if you believed it.
"Yeah! The whole city's in an uproar! It's in the newspaper and everything!"
"Let me see," you said, holding your hand out so you could read the paper yourself. Nami handed the paper over to you. Sure enough, it was right there on the front page. Iceberg's picture was there, under a headline claiming it was an assassination attempt. As you read the article, which was the only thing the paper reported, the ongoing conversation echoed in the background.
"He's unconscious right now!" Nami said.
"Who's that, Nami?" Sanji asked, not having been around when you met the man.
Nami replied, "The guy who took care of us the other day at the shipyard. He's the president of the company and the mayor of Water Seven."
"Wow! He must be one important guy," Sanji commented.
"It's said to be the greatest catastrophe to ever happen in this city," Nami added.
For the first time since the fight with Usopp, Luffy finally spoke. "That guy... he's respected by so many people... I'll go look." Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Luffy jump down from the steeple.
"Wait, Luffy! I'll go too," Nami called before running back towards the stairs.
"Then we'll go to search for Robin," Sanji announced. Looking at Zolo, he asked, "You coming?"
"No," Zolo replied after a second. He leaned back in his original position with his hands folded behind his head. Looking out over the city, Zolo drawled rather cryptically, "I'll wait and see what happens next..."
Sanji gave Zolo a strange look, unsure of what that was supposed to mean. But he dropped the issue. "What about you, Vaughn?" he tried rather hopefully. You were quite good at finding things. Sanji raised an eyebrow when you didn't respond. "Vaughn?"
Zolo glanced over at you as well. You had your head down so you could read the paper, so your hair fell over your face, obscuring it. However, Zolo could see the deep frown of your mouth. Whatever the paper said, you weren't happy about it. Zolo just shrugged it off, since he hadn't been there when you met this Iceberg man, so he wasn't sure what to think about the attack. Whatever it was, you were apparently too engrossed in the paper to hear Sanji. Or you were just ignoring him, but Zolo doubted that.
Seeing that he wasn't going to get your attention, Sanji let out a sigh, puffing out some smoke. "Let's go, Chopper," he said, leaving the roof with the reindeer in tow.
Truthfully, you'd heard Sanji, at least you'd heard his voice, but you were too focused on what the paper had to say to process the words. Or it might've been the fact that the gears in your brain were working so fast they couldn't process anything else. Had the others been able to see your face, they would've been surprised at the way you glared at the paper as if you wanted it to burst into flames. After reading the article and the information about Iceberg's attack, it didn't take you long to figure out exactly what was going on. It was a simple matter of deductive reasoning. In a fit of anger, you crumpled the paper together in your hands. You turned your angry glare to the city skyline and thought vehemently, `Nico Robin!!`