TITLE: The Devil's Messiah

PART: Zero

AUTHOR: Simply Kim

WORD COUNT: 521 words

CHARACTERS: Mugiwara Pirates.

GENRE: Continuation/AU/Angst/Drama/ (A bit of) Humour

DISCLAIMER/S: Such masterpiece is given only to the one who has enough brain cells to create it. Besides, I absolutely lack the ability to make something thoroughly amusing, so no, I don't own One Piece. ^o^;

NOTE#1: Blah or Blah is for emphasis. /Blah/is for conversations over the phone or flashbacks (if any). /Blah/ is for the conscience or whatever inner voice there is talking. Blah is for thoughts or random Japanese words.

NOTE#2: This is my first One Piece multi-chapter fic. I'd like to explore on the different dimensions of the crew as they set sail out of Enies Lobby, so you might find everything in here strange. Also, I, and you guys too, I think, have developed certain insights about the characters that are very much unlike those rooted in the fandom, so what you might see in here transcends fanon, meaning, Zoro, although he speaks sharply, doesn't curse with the same intensity as Sanji, and Luffy is not a babbling idiot. XD

NOTE#3: This is a filler fic – and a 'what if?' one to boot, which means it doesn't follow the entire One Piece time line after Water 7. This fic also assumes that the thing with Brook and those other creepy zombies did not occur, and will not until later… probably. Erm.

NOTE#4: Also I gather, from the rating I'm going to include this in, readers would be asked to keep an open mind, resisting gag reflexes on certain issues pertaining to blood, gore, and yes, homosexuality. Slight, almost inscrutable, but still something resembling it. Consider yourselves warned.

Enjoy! :)

THE DEVIL'S MESSIAH 00

KOKYUU: BREATH

/I'm sorry… I wanted to carry you a little bit further… I wanted to go on more adventures with you…/

He stared at the sea, his eyes flicking over to the direction where the entire crew had given Going Merry a Viking's Funeral. He remembered hearing that soft, melancholic voice, like a dying melody echoing in his ears. He knew about it, and he knew such thing did not only happen to ships but to all inanimate objects.

Because everything had a life force.

He blinked, turning away as he felt the burgeoning tears invading his eyes, tickling the insides of his nose, as if asking for permission to create endless waterfalls that would show suppressed emotion. He fought it and won.

Of course he loved Merry. It was the first ship he had been on that he had ever taken care of. It was his home, and he didn't want to see it die. At least this death was nothing short of a symbol of adoration – of respect.

Back in his home town, rotting shrines were treated with that same respect. In fact, he could still remember the same distinct voice whispering in his ear when the shrine inside his ancestral home was taken down to be renovated after surviving a hundred years.

We loved that shrine. He mused, a small idle smile tugging at his lips in memory. Merry's no different.

/But I was happy…/

It was a blatant lie in some aspects, what Merry had said. Yes, he was happy, but there may be that dim sense of sadness while they were at Skypiea. Merry ended up terribly injured on top of the historic sacrificial altar. He could sense it.

What Usopp told me was real after all.. and I was not just pitying the ship's state. Back then, Merry was crying. I should have listened more.

/Thank you for taking care of me 'til now…/

Then, during the funeral, he heard that same painful cry.

Was that how everything would end for him and everyone else? Surely, there would be an end to all of this. In fact, the way he saw it, Merry was the luckiest among them, with his life ending the earliest and his dream of adventure fulfilled. The happiness he might be talking about was the fact that despite not being able to withhold until the very end, he had lived a full and happy life. That and he had died an honourable death, witnessed by people whom he cared about the most.

/I was really happy./

As if attuned to the sorrow he was trying to put up with, his swords seemingly shuddered in answer. Touching them gently, he turned away and started walking back to Galley-La – or at least, where he remembered Galley-La was, careful of the jutting rocks slippery from the foamy waters of the sea.

"Ne, kimi…" Roronoa Zoro started, grinning up at the sky as his feet finally touched shore. "We have to live for our nakama… and for Merry."

A whisper caressed his ear as if in reply.

And it was enough.

TSUZUKU

A/N: Feedbacks are greatly appreciated! ^_^