𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Hina's POV - Part 2/2

A series of knocks broke Hina out of her reverie, resounding loudly in the dark room.

She tripped over her blanket as she attempted to make her way through the mess on the floor, falling before she managed to push herself up and open the door. "What?" Her voice was hoarse and sharp.

"... You're a mess," Smoker commented, glancing beyond her at the messy room, taking in the heaps of tissues, and overturned clothes and stuff.

"So what?" Hina bit back, rubbing her eyes to awaken some senses back into her. She knew her eyes were probably swollen and reddish but she didn't find it in herself to care.

"Not going to invite me in?" He asked, pointedly glancing at the empty corridors. They were both still under suspicion for their relationship with the Traitor.

Hina groaned before opening the door further, implicitly inviting him in. "Mind your steps."

Smoker nodded, making his way over to the window to open the blinds. "Don't know how you can manage in the total dark."

She didn't answer, though a bitter 'I don't manage' remained on the tip of her tongue. She let herself fall down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "What are you doing here?"

"Wanted to see how you were doing." Smoker leaned against the window sill, choosing not to comment on the heaps of cigarette buds beside him—she had picked up smoking again it seemed. "You haven't gone out of this room for the past two weeks, save for the mandatory interrogations."

Hina muffled her frustration into the pillow before sitting up, "What the fuck am I supposed to do?"

Smoker wisely didn't answer, he knew she was just venting and there was no point in fanning the flames, no matter how conflicted he felt about the situation.

But she didn't wait for his answer before continuing, "I still can't fully understand what happened," she curled up on herself, clenching and unclenching her jaw, "I don't know!" She cursed under her breath before jumping up from the bed and pacing the room. "That's Nanko we're talking about! He has always been a bit secretive, always drawing a clear line between us, but... I don't know, I just didn't think it was that kind of secret."

"What kind of secret did you think it was?" There was a bitter edge to his voice. He had had some suspicions in the past, but had always disregarded them out of fondness for his junior—probably a severe oversight on his part.

"Anything other than that." Hina stopped to stare at Smoker, "I knew that for all his grandiose gestures and mannerisms, Nanko remained a very calm and measured person, if a bit melancholic at times... I just... I wonder how much was real and how much was just artifice, trickery to fool us."

"He is just a cunning bastard that had us in the palm of his hand for the last decade," Smoker gritted his teeth, his thumb rubbing the handle of his Jitte. There was no point in wondering about which was true or false when the end result was the same, he had betrayed and lied to them.

Hina sighed with a frown, "I'm beyond pissed at myself for falling for his lies, how could I be so stupid?" But even as she said that, she knew that there was no way she could have guessed, he felt too real, too sincere in his recklessness, too kind in his gentleness. That person had been her best friend for the last decade and how the fuck does one grieve a friendship they thought would last a lifetime?

How does one just forget and move on? Was she just supposed to forget the person she had spent the last decade laughing and crying with? The one who probably knew her better than she knew herself, the one she had spent countless hours talking about everything and nothing with. Who was she supposed to scold when he caused problems, drink with when she felt frustrated, talk to when something annoyed her, stargaze with on clear nights?

How does one grieve their better half? How does one mourn a living person?

She still had a pack of snacks she had bought for him, for after the war, stored in his cupboard, in the room they had been sharing. His favorite kind. If that wasn't a lie too. Maybe it was a lie and he enjoyed watching her foolishly grin as she bought him snacks he didn't truly like. Maybe it was a game for him, maybe he found pleasure in watching them run after a fake friendship, thinking they knew each other well when it was only a facade.

Smoker spoke up when he saw her spiral into her thoughts, "We should just drag his ass into a jail, and then talk."

"Right..." They both didn't believe he died, as if they would believe the blatant propaganda spread around by the Marine in an attempt to salvage what little reputation they still had left after the whole fiasco.

Though they did cut off the cameras before executing their sly plans of cornering the Whitebeard Pirates and making them turn on themselves, no one had predicted Masked Truth to broadcast the whole war. No matter how much they searched for the cameras, they couldn't stop the live show. So the whole world had watched from beginning to end the war. The shameful and the gritty bits, unable to turn their eyes away from the reality of a war that would change everything for them.

The aftermath of the war spread like a shockwave. The Marine came out weakened while the strongest crew in the world was disbanded... islands were left without protection, at the mercy of any power-hungry fool that came around. It was a mess all around.

"By the way, I heard talks of Garp retiring," Smoker commented, remembering the whispers running around.

"Wouldn't be surprised," Hina mumbled, lighting another cigarette, "He nearly lost two of his grandsons, and with what happened with Nanko, he probably wants to take a long break..."

The silence dragged on for a while, as both dived into their own thoughts.

After a long while, Hina finally spoke again, with some reluctance, "Did you receive a letter too?"

Like he had been waiting for this question, Smoker snorted, "Took you long enough to ask..." He took out a thin envelope from his pocket. "Yes I did." He twirled the paper in his hand before sighing. It was crumpled and folded in all the wrong places, wearing out in the corners. It showed signs of countless re-reads.

Hina groaned, rubbing her temples with the palm of her hand before taking out a very similar letter. "The first time he wrote us a letter and it's for this..."

"The little bastard at least had the guts to apologize."

She nodded, before putting out her cigarette, "'I won't appear in your sight again-' as if he could just disappear and call it quits, he's just a coward."

"Well as it just so happens, our job is catching fleeing pirates, ain't that awfully convenient..."

"Though I doubt he is in any state to be fleeing right now..." Hina mumbled, remembering the state he was in at the end of the war, charred arms, blood covering him fully, unconscious and looking awfully close to a cadaver.

At that thought they both fell silent.

"He won't really die, right?" Smoker ruffled his hair with a wince, "That bastard's not that weak..." It sounded weak even to his own ears.

Hina nodded somewhat hesitantly, "I'm sure he's just fine, he wouldn't die that easily."

"He better not. He still owes us some explanations, and I won't be satisfied until I punch him squarely in the face."

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Alright, hope y'all enjoyed this little insight on Hina's POV :D