A Sad One Piece Story Idea...
Well, it’s a One Piece story idea….
*note: my OC, Asami, is featured in this story, too, but this story is not about her, so no worries. I guess the only thing you need to know about her is that she is just a passenger, not a crewmember, Ussop adopted her as his little sister and she’s 18. If you want to see what she looks like, you can find her right here: https://kittmouri.deviantart.com/art/Revisiting-Asami-664172310 …and without further ado…
In some unnamed battle, Zoro gets cut up and his blood spills onto a seed that had fallen to the ground. After the bad guy is defeated, the villain notices the seed covered in blood not his own. He laughs and tells the crew that the seed is their problem, now! And with that, he disappears into nothingness.
The crew has no idea what to make of this, but decides to take the seed bank with them just in case. Chopper and Robin keep an eye on it and it starts to grow and sprout into something that looks like a melon. After a few more days, the melon cracks open and a little teeny, tiny Zoro baby pops out.( I say baby, but he’s actually closer to a toddler.)
Obviously, Sanji, Luffy and Ussop think this is hilarious. Meanwhile, Robin and Chopper try to figure out what the hell is going on. Luffy surmises that since it came from a melon, they can eat it. Sanji jokingly agrees and Asami is horrified and grabs the child. She takes him into her care and away from dangerous hands.
Chopper is the one that helps her out the most with its care, adopting the role of big brother…which doesn’t make him happy at all, not even a little bit. ❤ They do things like play and take baths and go to bed together. The little one, who they’ve named Rory, learns quickly and can do things like walk, run and hide, but he hasn’t grasped the handle of speaking actual words.
It isn’t long before the rest of the grew become acclimated to the tiny moss-headed child-clone’s presence. Even Sanji gets used to him and he, Rory and Chopper bake cookies and things together. Luffy is finally made to understand that this kid isn’t food and plays with him, too. Their favorite game is hide-and-seek. Ussop, who had assumed the role of elder brother to Asami, takes his role as uncle very seriously and teaches the baby how to use tools and tells him stories and such.
All the while, Zoro wants nothing to do with any of this, despite encouragement from the crew. (…he was actually team “Eat the Kid”.)
It isn’t long before Robin finally figures out what the child actually is and tells Ussop.
It’s called a Conqueror’s Egg, a seed used by barbarians during wartime. When a warrior’s enemy falls, you take that person and water the seed with the blood of your enemy. Once the seed sprouts and the child emerges, it was consumed as a high protein source of food. They are a rarity and were thought to have all been erased from time. But, the villain they faced obviously had one. Since it was Zoro’s blood that watered the seed, the child emerged looking like him.
But, there was one other thing.
Just as with any fruit borne from and picked from a plant, the time of expiration was very short. In this case, the seed child was only viable for 30 days after emerging from the melon encasing. On the 30th day when the child laid down to sleep for the night, once it slipped into slumber, its body would turn to sand.
Ussop is mortified. Robin suggests that they inform the rest of the crew, but he advises against it. He says that if they knew what Rory’s fate was, then their time spent with him now would be painful and sorrowful. Since the others had already grown fond of the child, it’s better to let them enjoy their time with him as they are now, oblivious and happy. They would tell them on the eve of the 30th day.
So, the days continue as they had filled with laughter and hi-jinks.
One day, Rory approaches Zoro (for the millionth time). The swordsman is sitting by himself cleaning his swords. Rory sits down in front of him and watches for a bit. Zoro is annoyed, but continues at his task. Rory is fascinated by what he’s doing and walks over to one of the other swords and plops down beside it. He takes the handle and tries to pull it from its sheath, but it’s too big and too awkward. He falls over backward, but gets up and tries again. Honestly, Zoro had expected the youngster to cry and give up, but was surprised to see him get up and try again.
Rory tried again to remove the sword but, once again, fell over haplessly. Still, he got back up and tried again and when he fell over a third time, Zoro caught him and kept him from hitting the ground. He sighs and pulls the boy onto his lap. He takes the sword from its holding and gently hands it to Rory. Surprisingly, the child knows, without instruction, how the sword is supposed to be held. It made sense, he realized, since he was born of his own blood and swordsmanship was in his blood.
Rory takes a few slow swings, but the sword is far too big. Carefully, Zoro shows the boy how to compensate for the difference in size and he starts to get it. All the while, Asami is watching them interact and just smiles. Zoro eventually notices her presence and is a little startled…and embarrassed. Asami promises not to tell Sanji if he gives Rory his bath.
It’s a start, at least, but he is beginning to warm up to the idea of a little version of himself running about the ship.
The 29th day arrives and Ussop takes Asami, Chopper and Zoro aside and explains Rory’s condition. Chopper asks if there is some way to stop it and, of course, there is none. He cries uncontrollably while Asami just seems to be in shock as, for the past 29 days, she had served as this child’s mother. The news was devastating. Zoro, for his part, absorbed the information, but showed no signs of distress or even concern. Asami asks Ussop to tell the others.
The rest of the crew is saddened by the news. Even Robin is a bit somber. As heartbroken as she is, Asami doesn’t want her last hours she spends with her baby to be sorrowful. She asks Sanji if there is enough food to throw a little going away celebration. He smiles and says that he understands and to leave everything to him.
The next day, the crew tries to enjoy their last moments with Rory as joyously as they could. Luffy and the baby play one last game of hide and seek, Ussop tells him one last story, Nami shows him the world one more time and he, Chopper and Sanji bake one final batch of cookies.
The time for the celebration comes and it’s a real feast. Sanji really outdid himself. Everyone eats and laughs and take turns holding and playing with Rory. But, after a while, the baby begins to yawn and shows signs of fatigue.
…it’s time.
Asami gathers the little one and starts to head off, but she stops and turns to the crew. “Let’s put him to bed, together.” she says.
They go to the deck and spread a blanket out. She lays him down in the center of it and the crew says their final farewell. It doesn’t escape her notice that one member of the crew is pointedly absent.
“I’ll let you wear my hat, just this once."Luffy says and puts his straw hat on the little one’s head. Rory giggles and laughs, sleepily. He’d always tried to get the coveted hat, but the captain was always too quick.
The night air was warm so they didn’t need to cover him. Asami sits with the babe and hums a little tune. She holds his hand and rubs his hair, gently. Tears stream down Chopper and Ussop’s faces and Nami chokes on a sob. Asami doesn’t shed a tear.
As the moments pass by, and the child’s breathing slows to a comfortable pace, his heart slows to a whisper. Asami gives a start as the tiny hand she held onto starts to slip through her fingers. She looks down to see the baby she loved, is now a heap of baby clothes, dust and a straw hat. It was a quick and painless end and for that, at least, she was grateful.
She heard Chopper and Ussop’s baleful wails and glanced up to see Nami’s gentle whimpers hidden behind hands that covered her face. As he often did, Sanji had positioned his body so that the side of his face that was concealed by his hair was all that one could see of his expression. And though her expression was bare, there was a glisten of sadness and moisture in Robin’s eyes.
With unsteady legs Asami climbed to her feet. In her hands she held Rory’s tiny clothes and Luffy’s straw hat. She walked over to the captain and gently, yet snuggly placed it on his head. His gaze was downcast and seemingly fixated on some invisible something that was on the ground. Wearily, she pressed her forehead to his shoulder and rested there for a moment.
"San-chan, Luffy, give me a hand, okay?” she called, her voice barely more than a whisper.
The three walked over to the blanket where Rory’s sandy ashes lay. Gently, the boys gathered the ends of the blanket and raised it off the ground. They carried it a few paces to the back of the boat. Asami whispered a quiet prayer and blew a kiss, then she raised one end of the blanket and let the sands drift gently out to sea. “His whole life was spent on the ocean.” she said. “It’s to the ocean that he should return.”
Chopper and Ussop hadn’t been able to silence their uncontrollable sorrow. Quietly, she knelt down and beckoned for Chopper to come to her. Without hesitation, the tiny reindeer leapt into her arms. It was only now that the girl gave into her crippling grief and cried, freely. She called out for her big brother and Ussop came, dutifully and wrapped the two in his arms. Nami came down and joined them, adding her pain to the pool of sorrow.
Sanji watched quietly. He glanced over at Luffy who had shoved his hat down over his eyes. Even so, tears cascaded down his cheeks. He turned to Robin whose gaze was transfixed on the wide open sea. He looked down at the blanket that only he had come to hold.
“It gets cold out at sea…” he whispered to himself and released the portion of cloth to the wind where it sailed gently for a moment before fluttering down to spread its warmth across the dancing ocean waves.
In the cook’s experience, love, time and tea were among the world’s greatest healers. Although he had no power over the influence of time, love was a thing he offered freely…at least to the ladies. As for tea, he knew the perfect blend to set heavy hearts on the mend.
He turned and started for the kitchen, fishing a cigarette out of his pocket as he did. He fumbled for his lighter, finding it handily enough. But, as he tried to ignite his smokes, a sudden movement caught his attention. He looked up just in time to see a mossy green head saunter off and out of sight.
He smiled, fondly and shook his blonde head lightly. “…that idiot.” he murmured, then continued his trek to the kitchen.
END.
...I'm not crying, you're crying! This was pretty sad.
