Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters.
Boundless Waves
written by: Leiyoi
Dedicated to Laboon! Ah, I just love whales...
"Oi, Zoro. Get over here! We've got a big one on shore this time." A long nosed boy gestured to me from the doorway. Honestly, I had no idea what I was expecting. All I heard was that 'a big one' was on the shore. What did that mean anyway? I went out everyday, fishing with everyone else. What the hell could 'a big one' suggest? A big oyster? A big fish? A big shark? Whatever I was thinking, at the moment I stepped out of my door, I never would've expected for my life to change so much…
The sun was just setting. I had to raise my hand to block out the blood red light bouncing off of the waves. In the distance, a large black mountain laid lifelessly on the shores. Fishermen were swarming around, poking at the mountain. At a closer look, I would've noticed that the black mountain wasn't actually a mountain, but that didn't matter much at the time. I was irritated. Usopp, the long nosed boy, had woken me up just to look at some mountain that had appeared on the beach? Whatever. My sleep was a hell lot more precious. There was still more fishing to do in the morning.
"That bastard won't let us get close…" A frustrated voice came from my side. That was Sanji, one of our most famous cooks in town. His fishing skills will never match up to mine and I really hate his smug voice, but now, curiosity was more prevalent in my mind than hatred. As I walked closer to the black mountain, I realized that it was in fact a whale! An enormous whale, lying on the sands, seemingly in pain. I could see the fear in its eyes.
"That's a really big whale…" I said stupidly, not really knowing what else to say. It was a whale. Stranded on the beach. And…did one of the fishermen just fly through the air, away from the whale? What was going on? Maybe I was imagining things…
"Hnhnn." An orange haired woman smirked and bounced towards me. "If we can get rid of the boy, the whale will be enough to feed our town for years! Sanji, you have to get your hands on it." This was Nami, another person I deeply disliked purely because of her tendency to deceive others. Not to mention, she had quite a one-track mind. It was always money, money, money for her.
"Now hold on…we're eating that whale?" I raised my eyebrow. How would we preserve all of the meat for all those years? And how were we going to cut it down to eatable portions? It would be like digging up a mountain!
"Of course! Our town would be famous for its year-long whale meat." I swear Nami's eyes almost turned into money symbols…and she still ranted on. "Imagine all the profit we would make and the tourists who would come. Don't you understand how much of a delicacy whale meat is?"
"Whatever." I shrugged. Another fisherman flew over my head and now I was sure that I hadn't imagined that first fisherman flying away from the whale. What was going on there? I noticed the orange haired girl's lips fall back into an angry scowl.
"If only we could lock up that annoying kid. He keeps fighting back the fishermen. Even Sanji's had some trouble against him."
The blonde haired cook with crazy kicking skills was having trouble against a random boy who was protecting the whale? I was starting to feel a little excited. What can I say? It would be nice if there was another strong person to fight against in the village. Pushing through the crowd of nervous looking fishermen, I finally reached an area where the fishermen would go no further. A black haired boy seemed to appear out of nowhere with a feral look on his face. He was growling. Almost like a wolf in a rage. I could only blink in astonishment as he glared at me. The boy looked so wild, with torn up blue jeans and an unbuttoned red vest flapping in the wind. His face was stained with dirt and his arms and legs were covered in sand. Some blood was dripping from his legs but the boy didn't seem to care at all.
"Damn kid. Go to hell!" Sanji ran past me and jumped, aiming a kick at him. The boy dodged and punched the blonde in the stomach, sending him back into the crowd of fishermen. Then, he disappeared around the head of the whale. It was incredible, the way this boy fought. He was able to keep so many fishermen away with a mere glance.
"Zoro, do something!" I snapped out of my trance as I heard Usopp's voice come from behind me. The boy was incredible, but did he have as much strength as I did? I stepped forward, sending him a challenge.
And then he appeared right in front of me.
Now that we were closer, I noticed that if the boy relaxed and took a nice bath, he would look like any other normal boy. But, he was tense and he seemed to be fighting purely on instinct. As if he were trapped and he could do nothing else but lash out at anything that moved. For a moment we just stood there, facing off. I could hear the breath catch in all the fishermen and I knew what they were thinking. If I were to lose, no one else would have a chance to defeat the boy.
"Stay away…" He finally spoke in a low growl. I admit, it was quite intimidating. And there was a desperation in his voice that seemed to register in my mind. As if he was willing to put his life on the line to protect the humongous whale. Like hell I would let such a strong person die here. I moved a finger. In a flash, the boy charged at me, ready to throw a punch. As if that would do anything against me. I caught his fist firmly in mine and smirked. I was stronger.
Suddenly, the boy twisted and flung out a leg, catching me by surprise. For a moment, I could only feel the pain tingling in my side. The boy was good. Fast and flexible. A formidable opponent. But I didn't let go of him and pinned the boy to the ground. He wouldn't be able to move now. I could feel the boy struggling desperately beneath me. A stampeding of feet started and I looked up to see the fishermen running towards the humongous whale.
"NO!" The boy beneath me shouted, twisting his head to watch in horror as the people stormed past us. When I saw the fear in his eyes, I realized that I had done something very wrong. "No! No! Don't touch him!" The voice cracked and ripped at my heart. It was a voice I would remember for a long time. The voice of someone losing the most precious part of their soul. "LABOON!" That must've been the first time I had felt the nauseating feeling of guilt.
I looked up and watched as the fishermen laughed together and patted the whale's body, as if sizing it up, ready to sell it on the market.
"Get away from the whale!" I shouted angrily, still holding down the thrashing boy. "It's mine." It was, wasn't it? I had been the one who caught the boy, giving access to the whale. The fishermen froze all at once and turned to stare at me in surprise. I could understand their shock. Even I was a little surprised at myself. I wasn't a really possessive person…so why did I suddenly want the whale so bad?
Nami walked towards me with a sly look on her face. "Would you like to make a deal with me? I'll clear all your debt if you give me the whale."
"No. It's mine." I heard myself grunt again and Nami frowned in annoyance before backing off. The black haired boy beneath me seemed to finally stop moving. I looked down at him and watched as his spirit seemed to disappear from his eyes. He was already at his limits, wasn't he?
"Nice, Zoro! Now you can pay back all of your debt and strike it rich!"
"Shut up, Usopp." I was feeling a little irritated by all the comments everyone had been making. This boy was fighting against all of them with his life on his line just to protect the whale. Obviously, the whale was precious to him. I wasn't about to cut it up and sell it for money. "I'm going back. Don't any of you dare touch that whale. Got it?" I had to protect something that was precious to such a great opponent. It felt like my responsibility as a fighter and a person.
The boy was light in my arms. He was no longer moving. Only unconscious and breathing at a slow pace. I inspected him over. It looked like he had been in the sun for long amounts of time. His skin was peeling from his face and his legs were seriously scraped and torn from rocks. The boy really needed some medical treatment…
The crowd of fishermen dispersed, the excitement of the day finally over. Back to their houses and normal lives. They would wake up in the morning and go fishing, just like any other day. I, on the other hand, would be taking care of this boy and his whale.
Nursing a person back to health wasn't something I was very good at. I normally didn't even have anyone in my home at all. But, I cleaned out the scrapes along the boy's legs and wrapped them with clean cloth. Hopefully, it would do some good for him. He was still sleeping as I wiped his face clean of all the dirt and sand. He had a very boyish face and his expression was so peaceful that the feral look from before seemed almost unreal. Then, the boy's eyes snapped open, looking into mine with confusion. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. When he had woken up, I nearly leapt back from the bed he was lying on. Why the hell did he wake up all of a sudden? Didn't he just pass out from exhaustion a few minutes ago?
Almost immediately, the boy's eyes narrowed and he pushed me away roughly. What was his problem? I saved his whale, didn't I? But maybe he didn't know that yet… The boy glanced around the room nervously, backing away from me. I watched him jump in fright as his back hit the wall of the room.
"Your whale is safe. He's outside." Maybe if I said that, it would calm him down? What was wrong with him anyway? He looked as if he had never seen the inside of a house.
The boy turned his sharp eyes on me and spoke in a shaky voice."Laboon?"
"He's still onshore." I tried to reassure him. The boy jumped off of the bed and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt.
"Take me back there." He growled in a low threatening tone. I might've been intimidated the first time, but now I knew I had more strength than he did and I could pin him down again if need be. Now, I was more curious about the boy than anything else. I had never seen him around town or on the fishing boats. Who was he?
"Where did you come from?" I asked in my most stern voice I could muster. The boy growled again and his face contorted in anger.
"Take me back to Laboon!"
"Not until you tell me where you came from."
His eyes seemed to lose its ferociousness and he let go of me, slumping in an exhausted pile. Perhaps he finally decided that I wasn't dangerous? He lifted his head and stared at me with a distant look in his eyes.
"Out there."
"First, tell me where you came from." I was starting to get annoyed by the boy's repetitiveness. But the boy's eyes hardened and stared at me angrily.
"Out there! Out there!" He pointed randomly at the walls. Out there? What did he mean?
"You come from out there?" It was a strange sentence to say…
"Yes!" The boy nodded in frustration. "Now take me to Laboon!"
"Wait, so out there means…?"
"Out there!" The boy groaned.
"Where, dammit?!" Why couldn't he just say where he came from?!
"The blue!"
The blue? The only thing that looked blue around here was…the ocean. He didn't mean to tell me that he actually lived in the ocean, did he?
"So you live…out there?"
"Yes! Now, Laboon!" The boy seethed in irritation. I sighed. So he really did live in the ocean. It was hard to believe but…the dried and peeling skin on his face and the scrapes all over his legs all seemed to point towards the possibility of him living in the sea. No wonder he was protecting the whale. Maybe it was his friend. I opened the door for him and when the boy noticed the sea breeze wafting in, he bolted outside faster than a falcon. He was racing across the sands, towards the humongous whale who was glowing red from the setting sun. The boy stumbled once but picked himself up quickly before leaping and latching onto the side of the whale happily. I had to grin at that. He looked so content, hugging onto the rubbery skin of the whale. The smile on his face now suited him a hell lot more than the previous wildness I had witnessed.
"So his name's Laboon?" I asked him when I came close enough. The boy nodded, rubbing his face against the whale affectionately. Why was he so close to the whale anyway? Was it his best friend? I found myself wondering why he had been living in the ocean in the first place. And how had he learned how to speak?
Suddenly, the boy froze and I watched as his look of contentment shifted quickly to one of fear. He ran towards the head of the whale so that he could look into Laboon's eyes. I followed after him quickly. What went wrong?
"No!" I heard him shout and his hands clenched into fists. "No, Laboon! We're going back, I promise!" He had been communicating with the whale that entire time? The boy raced towards the head of Laboon and pressed his palms against the skin of the whale. I watched as he futilely pushed at Laboon, trying to get him to the water's edge, just a few meters away. I had to do something to help him. Somehow, during the short time we had met, the boy had grown on me. I stepped forward and stared at the skin of the whale. It looked too dry…and that must be a bad thing, right? I didn't know much about whales but if it lived in water then it had a reason for staying wet. He needed to pour water on it. Maybe whales needed to drink the water or else it would get dehydrated and die?
"Oi, stop that. You're not strong enough to push it into the ocean."
"Then what? What am I supposed to do?!" The black haired boy shouted angrily, pushing at the head of the whale with all of his might. "Laboon says he's going to die!"
"He won't." I tried to assure the hysterical boy.
"I know! I know he won't die. Because I'm getting him back out there!" The boy slapped the head of the whale angrily, hoping that somehow he could get Laboon back into water. His fists clenched together and he laid his forehead against the whale's skin. I could see the boy's torn heart in his face. "Come on, Laboon. Fight! You can make it back to the blue alive. Please…"
The mouth of the whale opened slightly and a low moaning noise echoed out, bouncing over the sands of the beach. I winced slightly. It was loud even though that was barely even a bellow! Suddenly, Laboon's eyes hardened and I watched, frozen to my spot, as the whale threw its enormous head out towards the ocean. It fell back to the ground with a mighty crash and I swear the entire town shook as the rest of its body landed lifelessly on the beach. That whale sure had some strength there…!
"Laboon!" The black haired boy shouted as the whale looked wearily back at him. "Hold on, I'll get you back to water right now!" He pushed at the whale again. I shook my head. He already tried last time and that attempt had proven useless. Why would doing it again this time do anything? The boy sucked in a deep breath and pushed at the whale's body. The sand under his feet slid back. Was he stupid? He had already tried it once. It wouldn't work! But then, the whale's body slid a few centimeters in the sand, towards the waves lapping up against Laboon's side. He did it! The boy actually managed to move Laboon a little. I raced towards him and smirked when he looked at me in confusion.
"I'll help you." And that was when he gave me a beautiful smile. It threw me off for a few seconds. The boy had actually smiled at me. And not at the whale. Maybe we were becoming friends?
I pushed at the whale's body as hard as I could. The sand under my feet kept on slipping and Laboon seemed like a wall that I couldn't break past. Everything seemed so pointless but I kept pushing at the whale. To an outsider, we must've looked so stupid. So small in comparison to the humongous whale under our fingertips. But, only we could see the miracle we were working here. Laboon was moving towards the ocean little by little. Millimeter by millimeter. I heard the boy next to me grunt with the effort of pushing his whale. But I knew that despite the difficulty he seemed to be expressing, in his heart, he must have been feeling so entirely happy to know that he could save his best friend. It must be such a relieving feeling.
Finally, somehow, we managed to push Laboon into the calming waves of the dark ocean. The boy sighed and leaned against the whale's side so that he could rest. I stood next to him, a little tired myself. After all, I would usually be sleeping during this time. The boy grinned widely and then laughed as the whale's fin flapped at the water contently. What joyful laughter. It was careless and free… I never heard anything like it in town.
The boy looked straight at me now. Curiously. What did he want?
"Who are you?"
What a late question. He should've asked me a long time ago…
"I'm a fisherman. My name's Roronoa Zoro."
"Zoro…" I grinned as my name rolled off his lips testily. He gave a small smile back.
"I'm Luffy."
Laboon shifted a little and flung himself out into the ocean with his remaining strength. His head broke the surface of the ocean, sending a great wave that completely enveloped Luffy and I in salt water. I spit out the salt water from my mouth and stared accusingly at the floating whale swimming around in the deeper area of water. Laboon seemed to look back at me with laughing eyes and Luffy giggled cheerily. Somehow I seemed to have made new friends…
Luffy dove into the water and I watched him swim gracefully towards the large whale looming in the deeper parts of the ocean. He broke through the surface and sent a smile at me.
"We're leaving then. And thanks a lot, Zoro…we'll remember you!"
What? They were leaving? Wasn't he tired or even a little exhausted from being out at sea all the time? As I watched them turn, I made a decision.
"Wait, Luffy!" The boy turned around expectantly. I stared at him. There was still so much about the boy I wanted to know. And they were leaving already? I wanted to ask him if he could talk to other marine animals. Or how he lived in the ocean. Or what it felt like to have the boundless sea right out in front of you and know that you could go in any direction you wished? I wanted to know! "Can I come with you…?" I heard my voice cross over the waves lapping up against the shore to the ears of the black haired boy.
He blinked for a second. Was that hesitation? He still didn't trust me, did he… But then, a bright smile spread across his lips and he swam towards me in a matter of seconds. I felt his wet hands hold onto my arms and then, he pulled me towards Laboon.
"Of course, you can! We're all friends, right?" He grinned. The humongous whale opened his mouth and bellowed a booming cry of happiness. I was joining their family. I would be free from my repetitive life of fishing. Instead of sitting idly in my boat, contemplating the vastness of the ocean, I would finally be able to explore the world. Unrestricted. A never-ending adventure with my friends.
END.
How was my first attempt at this kind of first person style? Weird, eh? Please tell me how I can improve on this piece.
Oh, and if you find any stranded whales, call for help because the whales can't flop back into the ocean by themselves for a reason... They don't have Laboon's super strength!! Yeah...and make sure that you pour water on it (not into it's blow hole or else it'll drown!) to cool the whale down so that it doesn't overheat itself.