False Pretense 18— The Aftermath

Three Months Later

"Tanner, package for you. I'll leave it here by the door." The landlord's daughter was a kind lady, unlike her dad, who absolutely hated Tanner Hawley—aka, Monkey D. Luffy— just because he happened to be a little late on his rent payment… okay really late, but regardless! Money is no reason to be mean. Luffy pulled open the door and kicked the package inside, because his hands were full (can't leave our lunch on the table for the slightest amount of time, lest something happens to it) and it wasn't labeled fragile anyway.

He kicked it across the room, and it came to rest next to the bed, where Thomas Jacobsen—aka, Roronoa Zoro— was laying, watching television. They had both assumed the most common names they could think of, so as to make it harder to track them. They weren't sure who would be tracking them, but they weren't sure last time, either. Zoro slid a hand under the package and propped it up so that he could read the return address.

"It's a package from… Usopp. Hmm, it's probably that article he wrote about Bananawa. I wonder why it's so thick. How many rough copies did he write… no, better, how much of it is true?" Luffy laughed. For the last three months, after Zoro was released from the hospital, the two had been living under false names in the largest apartment complex they could find. Ace had recommended it to them after they had refused his offer to stay at the new, re-established HQ, which now housed almost half the people who had been freed three months ago. The rest, along with Zero and his most faithful followers, had utterly vanished, and hadn't been heard from since. Bananawani HQ burned down about an hour after the last of them had escaped, Ace swore on his own grave that it wasn't him, and there was reason to believe that Crocodile had done it in order to attempt to cover up his own tracks. It certainly didn't work out as planned, thanks to Usopp.

Usopp, who can't write a story without extreme action and drama (whether it be truth or fiction) was perfect to cover this story, although he had left out any and all parts relating to Luffy and Zoro—much to his dismay— because it would cause more hurt to them than good. Still, exposing the county's largest research lab to be testing on humans was dramatic enough, and his intimate knowledge (given to him from a direct source) had gotten him a promotion and the nice office he always wanted. And, it ensure that Zero would never be able to work openly again, considering he had committed 'heinous crimes against humanity' as Usopp wrote it.

Luffy walked over to lie down next to Zoro, now that he had finished his lunch. To him, it felt like it was years ago that they confronted Crocodile. Of course, it wasn't over. He was still out there, somewhere. Whether he was plotting or not, Luffy couldn't know, but he had a feeling that, for now, everything would be all right. Of course, when you're living in a world of false pretense, its best to expect the unexpected and enjoy what little time you have.

Man, corny ending. Sorry bout that, it's just that we sort of want to give some other stories a try. That and, this seems like it is a good-ish place to stop for now at least. We could do a sequel with it all cliffy-ish like this, but that'd be on request soooo one final review, just for us? Tell us if you want us to continue. If not, that's cool, we might do one anyway…