Survivors Guilt

Chapter 19

The party thrown for the crew was one that Luffy was going to call short this time. After he got either a bit or the recipe for that raw melon ham stuff he missed out on the first time. He was hoping to get both, but he wasn't sure if he would. That having been said, though, he wasn't going to stop looking. Though, he did make time to visit Nami's mother's grave. After all, he needed to pay his respects to the woman. He wasn't alone in his thoughts.

"Hey, old man." Luffy said quietly as he joined the older gentleman.

"Brat." was his response.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say at the present moment. So, they shared food and drink with the spirit of the grave they sat in front of.

"Thank you," the old man spoke up after a few moments, "for saving us."

"I didn't do it for you." Luffy clarified, "I did it for Nami. If she hadn't asked for help, then we wouldn't have even stopped by this island." It was true.

The old man smirked and stood up, "I thought it was something like that." He started to walk away from the grave and the boy-captain. Half way down the hill, he stopped and turned around. "If you do anything to take away her smile..." he left the threat hanging in the air and left to rejoin the party.

"Trust me, I'll do everything in my power to keep my whole crew smiling." Now alone, he sent one last prayer to his Navigator's mother before leaving. He didn't rejoin the party, though. Instead, he snuck through and made his way to the docks where the Going Merry was left. He boarded and went to where he kept his things. He had made sure to keep a Captain's Log this time. It was mostly for himself, but he also wanted his future crewmates to have a recount of adventures they weren't a part of. Part of him also wanted to share this with his older brothers whenever they're able to see each other again. Sure, Nami had kept a Ship's Log, but there were things she hadn't gotten to write down last time. Though, the lack of a proper notebook would have to change very soon.

"So this is where you ran off to?" he heard Zoro come in just after he'd put his things away.

"Yeah."

"Everyone's been looking for you."

"Really?" he honestly thought no one would be looking for him. There was a party going on, after all!

"Yeah, you've been gone for a while." The swordsman took a seat beside him, leaning against the wall.

That's weird. He'd only been gone for an hour at most! That's not a cause for alarm, is it? "How long have I been gone?"

Zoro, who had gotten comfortable and closed his eyes, opened his left eye in slight concern. "No one's seen you for almost three hours. Didn't you realize the time?"

"Three hours..?" Suddenly, Luffy didn't feel so good. It couldn't have been more than an hour since he boarded the ship! He would've known! He had a great sense of time! Sanji always told him that, so it had to be true, right?

"Luffy?" Zoro sat up with both of his eyes now opened. It had been a few minutes and his captain had been very quiet, which was strange. The only times when his captain was quiet were times he was either angry or hiding something. This, however, felt starkly different from any other time. "Are you okay?"

That's when Luffy started mumbling. At first, it was unintelligible nonsense, but then it started to get clearer and clearer what was happening.

"Luffy," Zoro didn't know what to do in this kind of situation, he was never good with anything other than fighting, but he knew that his captain wouldn't want anyone to see him like this. So, he was determined to try his best. From what old Dojo masters he'd trained under - however briefly - had taught him, sudden physical contact was probably a bad idea. Instead, he made lots of noise as he moved himself into Luffy's direct line of sight. "Hey! Can you hear me?" No response. 'Damn,' he thought, 'We really need to get a doctor on board. Or at least someone who knows how to deal with this kind of stuff!' Shaking his head to bring himself back to the situation, Zoro moved as close as he could without touching the raven haired boy. He had moved mostly so Luffy could grab onto him if needed, but also just in case the boy fell over. An injury would not make this any better.