His Fault | Monster Trio

37

Shutting the door behind him with his back, Luffy's demeanor started to shift as the feeling of remorse kicked in, just seconds after dropping hints about his own dark past to his friends, through the experiences of the younger children.

His act of impulse was taking his confidence away and leaving him with a bittersweet taste in his mouth.

He found it nearly impossible to believe that even young children could end up with the same fate as his... And still make it out alive.

This type of information the boy received today, has kept his mind busy, from the moment he woke up.

All that he could think of was: How? How did they survive?

Was it their will to stay alive and to find a way to escape their prison cell?

Or was it because they were forced to continue living, in spite of the horrible life they had to get used to.

No matter which way Luffy viewed it, the results were always the same: Live or die, life will never be the same for those children, from now on.

And right now, the young man didn't entirely know how to feel.

Was it a sense of hatred that he was being possessed by?

To him, that couldn't be the case, since he burned off most of his rage during the fight.

Truth be told, Luffy didn't know why he was feeling so strange.

There was an emotion trapped inside of him.

One that he didn't know how to express or control.

His body was growing colder, his heart was racing, as if it was trying to erupt from the barrier that kept it inside of his body. A barrier created by his chest.

The tighter his chest became, the longer it took for the young man to collect fresh air.

He felt as if his body was shutting down.

"Luffy, you alright?" A knock against the door he was still standing behind made the brunette jolt.

He recognized that voice from a mile away: It belonged to Zoro.

"I'm good. Just needed to wash... My face..." Luffy clenched his jaw, unsure if his lie seemed too fake for the Swordsman to believe.

His heartbeat grew more aggressive and demanding towards the Captain: The feeling was almost talking to him, telling him that he was in danger.

Knowing this, the young man placed his right hand against the left side of his chest and attempted to slow his breathing down.

But oppose to doing that, he ended up hyperventilating instead.

"Haah..hh... Hhh... What's.. Hh... Happening... To me? I.. I have to go."

He quickly reached for the doorknob, trying to leave the restroom as fast as possible, the longer the feeling would last in his system.

The thoughts on his head were causing the boy to develop a severe jittering in his heart.

His situation was so distracting, that the disturbance made him forget how to open the bathroom door.

Instead of pushing it inwards towards him, he kept on pushing outwards, wondering if something was wrong with the door, or if he was locked in with no way out.

And after about fifteen more seconds of trying, the Captain managed to work his way outside, greeting Zoro along the way.

"H-hi!! Did you need to use the bathroom?" He asked, wearing a gentle smile on his face.

Seeing him smile made Zoro genuinely happy.

A wave of relief washed over him when realizing that Luffy wasn't as mentally unstable as he was when he first saw him after his fight was over.

"Luffy..."

Though he was uncertain of how he felt at the moment, Luffy's mind and body couldn't move when he found himself being reeled into a liberating embrace.

This was a much-needed action that helped the young brunette man recover from the unfortunate events he's been frequently tormented by, in such a short amount of time.

"What you said back there... That wasn't really the brightest idea you've had, Luffy."

Luffy's face turned red with anger and embarrassment while he clenched his fists, nodding at the Swordsman, all the while avoiding eye contact with him.

"But you really needed it. Didn't you, Captain?"

Before Luffy could be too quick to judge Zoro for misunderstanding his feelings... The Swordsman ended up understanding Luffy better than he understood himself.

This sparked a ray of hope in Luffy's soul, lighting him up from within as he swallowed deeply, agreeing with his lover.

"Zoro, can I tell you something?"

"Of course. Anything." Zoro watched the light surrounding his Captain slowly burn out, the closer he stood beside him.

"What am I?"

Luffy offered the older man a slanted smile that was getting soaked by the tears that were escaping his eyes, having no other place to go, given that his heart was already sinking in more than enough problems.

"Am I... Am I allowed to feel human anymore?"

His voice trembled with fear, but his mind allowed the young man to let out what little he could express without going overboard with his own intrusive thoughts.

Knowing that he was the only person his Captain could count on, Zoro provided Luffy a safe place where he could release all of his emotions, not having to worry who would hear him or who would see him.

This was because no one would be doing either.

The Swordsman buried Luffy's face into his chest, allowing him to let out all of the internal pain he had been bottling up, ever since his deadly battle against Orpheus.

When the dryness of his eyestrain made the boy's eyes swell up, a sense of severe drowsiness overpowered him.

He gave in to what was happening to his body, trusting himself to fall asleep against the Swordsman's body.

Subsequently after carrying him to their shared bed, Zoro tossed a blanket over both of them, holding Luffy in a position that gave him the safety he needed to feel, in order to not fear going to sleep.

"What ever you tell yourself to fall so easily into the darkness, I won't let you be consumed by it. One day... You'll see the sun shine again, Luffy."

~~~