The Curse of the Sword

Smoke

One day, two days. One week, two weeks. One month, two months. The time was passing. Two months passed after the strange dream Zoro had that night. The only thing that was in his head after what happened in the dream was: "It's a matter of time." Only this line without explanation. He was repeating it every day. 'Matter of time for what? Solve the problem with the sword?' Zoro was laying on the grass outside under the warmth of the sun. 'What was he talking about?' The boy thought and opened his eyes looking around him. Nami and Robin were sitting on a little table under the umbrella reading the books they bought from the last island. The girls searched something about cursed weapons especially swords. But till now they were at a dead end. 'Well it's a matter of time...' When he realized that he just used the sentence he cursed. "Fuck it that line."

"What is it Zoro?" Nami asked looking up from the book. Her brown eyes glazed at him as if trying to make him tell her everything that he was hiding away from the crew.

"Nothing. Don't mind me." Zoro said, stood up and walked next to the guardrail. Then he removed his katanas and his shirt and climbed over the parapet.

"Hey Zoro, what do you think you're doing?" Ussop said behind him. Such a bother.

"Committing suicide." He said and watched how pale Ussop's face got. "Just kidding. I wanna cool my head a little." And after that he jumped of the ship in the sea. That moment when he fall into the water it swallowed him. All the worry fade away from the freezing water, and them came back because of the pressure of the sea. He swimmed under the ship and stopped before the well known place. Zoro took out a knife from his boot. Then he carefully stabbed it and started to gnawing something on the wood. The first thing that showed was the number 1, followed by 3 then number 6. Yeah it have passed exactly 136 days. He didn't remembered why he started counting those painful days. But it was something that he needed to do. He craved it there to remember it, the fucking pain. To remember him. 'It's a matter of time dammit.' This line was driving him crazy. It was sick. Loosing his breath he turned and started swimming toward the surface. When he reached it Zoro took a deep breath. After that he bit the blade of the knife and climbed on the ladder. When he stepped on the board the swordsman split the knife which fell and stabbed his peak on the ground. He felt a taste of blood in his mouth and a sharp pain in the left corner of his mouth.

"Hey Zoro you're bleeding." Zoro heard a familiar voice that haven't talked to him with months. The swordsman turned his head toward his Captain and answered careful not to open his mouth very much. "Don't mind it Luffy, it's nothing."

"I don't think so swordsman-san. It looks pretty deep. The cut is more than 3 centimeters" Robin added. Zoro let out a sigh.

"I'll go to Chopper then." He answered and headed toward the infirmary.

xXx

When he went inside the infirmary the first thing that caught his attention was that all the bandages on Sanji were gone. But that was revealing a horrible sight. He had lost so many weight that his bones started to be visible. His body was starving but they couldn't feed him, he never swallowed the food. The sistems were giving him enough to keep him alive. Zoro sat next to him and rest his forehead on Sanji's. He could feel the weak air that was escaping from the cook. A few drops of blood fell from Zoro's wound on the blonds face. The swordsman placed a slight kiss on Sanji's lips. His heart throbbed painfully. When he pulled away his eyes caught the cooks coat. The boy stood up and took it, then reached out and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the pocket. It was full, only one cigarette was missing. Zoro sat on the chair next to the infirmary bed. He pulled one of them and lit it inhailing deeply the hot bitter smoke that made his throat burn. Then he slowly released the smoke. He needed to keep his mouth buisy. That was when he remembered the first time that he asked Sanji why he was smoking so much. And the cook answered "I need to keep my mouth buisy." Zoro look at the pack and then put it in his pocket. "This is sick." He mumbled biting the end of the cigarette.

xXx

After a half an hour Chopper showed in the infirmary. "Ah Zoro what are you doing here." The doctor asked.

"I cut my mouth and I was hoping that you'll treat it." Zoro said pointing to the wound. Chopper let out a sight.

"The wound is not that serious but it could get infected. I'll sew it but it might leave a scar." The doctor said and pulled out a needle. "Now open your mouth a little." Chopper approached the swordsman and then felt the scent of cigarettes. " Oh, Zoro, your mouth stinks. Don't tell me that you're smoking too."

Zoro rolled his eyes. He shouldn't have done this before the treating. "Well I smoke generally, but there was a pause for about 3 years, so that's why you guys don't know about this."

"God are you trying to kill yourself."

Zoro looked at his friend. "Chopper, we're pirates, we can die any moment." The swordsman felt his trembling voice. He swallowed and continued. "These cigarettes are the last problem." Chopper shook his head disapprovingly. "Promise me that you won't tell the others. "

"Promise."

"Fucker." Said the raspy voice.