Midnight Musings

A One Piece one-shot by Cameco aka. SerenePhenix

The snow was drifting lazily towards the ground of the wild and flourishing jungle, blanketing it, making it look like a forest frozen in time. The wind was for once barely perceptible as it carried the white flocks towards a small clearing.

The light of a small camp-fire was illuminating it instead of the moons that one would usually see, were the skies not covered by thick clouds. Two shadows were stretching towards the darker edges of the forest where hungry but very frightened beasts roamed - unable to go any closer for one of the two people occupying the open space was emitting a threatening aura to hold them at bay.

Dark King Rayleigh took another swig from the canteen he'd taken with him on the otherwise uninhabited island. The rum was soothing and helped his mind occupy with something else by drumming his long calloused fingers on its container.

He gave it a dismayed look as he pondered whether to save some of the alcohol for later or simply enjoy it fully for this one moment, knowing that it would take a long time until he could return to some place where he could get it. His piercing eyes twitched the faintest amount but he decided not to screw it shut and instead deposited it beside him.

He had a certain feeling that he might need some more of it tonight. He was in one of these moods where he was not entirely sure he could cope with the thoughts swirling through his head. He let his gaze wander back to the bundle next to him and felt his shoulders slump a little.

They had been here barely a week and in that short amount of time the weather had taken a turn for the worst as if it was dead set to test the resilience of its two new dwellers against the extreme elements - just like it had done with the strong civilization that had once built the center of their culture underneath the huge crowns of the trees. First it had been scorching hot, so much that even the stronger predators had taken shelter in the shadows of the foliage.

Next, rain and hail came pouring down like the oceans had been sucked up in the clouds only to be replaced with the thick snowflakes that were now falling. The temperature had dropped immensely – Rayleigh's guess was that the difference was around thirty degrees or something – making the rocky hillsides they called their training grounds impossible to walk on without running the risk of slipping towards a very painful death.

Just his luck that his pupil was made out of rubber, otherwise the boy would have died a few times today. Though, as Rayleigh looked carefully at the raven-haired teenager, he could not blame him entirely.

True to his word he hadn't gone easy on the bearer of the straw hat – his late captain's straw hat none the less – and had begun his arduous training the very first day they had arrived. Both he and Luffy had done so, to the stoic protest of the doctor and super rookie Law who had patched up the beaten up captain.

Now that he thought about it, he recalled the supernova's silent outrage as they discussed the different ways of stirring up the now destroyed Marine Headquarters so that Luffy could get his message across to his crew. But Law had been well aware of his position and had known that whatever objections he could bring up would be ignored.

Instead he had left quietly – he was done with his business and if Strawhat decided he wanted to risk dying because he opened the wounds he had acquired during the War of the Best than he would not try to stop him.

Still, he had given one last warning before he disappeared inside the yellow submarine he and his crew occupied – a warning that involved the scar tissue that was still healing.

Instantly, instinctively, Rayleigh's hands found their way towards the rum and he quickly downed some of it. He had seen the burn that Akainu had inflicted upon his pupil and he had to admit that it was one of the nastiest wounds he had come across. Considering how long he had traveled the seas that had to say something.

It was clear that the whitened and hardened flesh would scar, leaving a physical mark to add to the mental ones the boy must have suffered on that day. But instead of healing properly like he had expected, since the boy was a Paramecia after all and Paramecia always recovered fast from whatever ordeal they had endured, it had become infected. Rayleigh fortunately possessed enough resources to take measures against the boy's ailment but for the fever it had already been too late.

It was carelessness on both his and Luffy's part but sometimes it was just too easy to forget that even people with boundless energy like Luffy were just humans in the end. Humans that could get hurt, that could get sick. He chuckled darkly. Roger had been a monster too and yet just like Whitebeard his body had betrayed his boundless will.

It was quite ironic how the people with the greatest ambitions and the matching will almost always seemed to be stuck with bodies that were wrecked or dysfunctional beyond help.

Some specks of ashes flew up in the air as the burning wood finally collapsed, sending sparks every way. Rayleigh watched it without really seeing it. Instead he saw two faces that supposedly should have looked very much alike but weren't in the least bit.

Being reminded of his old captain he couldn't help but wonder what had driven Roger to give his child to his arch-enemy and not his trusted first-mate. Until a month ago he had not even been aware of the boy's existence. That wasn't to say that he had never had a certain suspicion. Their prolonged stay in Baterilla and the way Captain and Rouge had interacted should have been indication enough. Yet, at the same time he had been convinced that it was a passionate love Roger would soon outgrow. He even felt vindicated when they suddenly set sail, the sun barely shining down on the port they had set anchor in for nearly six months.

He never would have guessed even in his wildest dreams that what his captain had left behind that day was not only the first and only woman that had caught his interest but his legacy too. Honestly spoken, he felt like an utter and betrayed fool. Had he known… he might have done something even if that meant getting on the bad side of the strongest and now late man in these seas.

He couldn't help a sly grin as he thought it was silly to think he would get on Whitebeard's bad list for doing something of the sort: he had already been on that list for as long as he could remember.

His musings came to a sudden halt as the boy beside him emitted a groan of discomfort. The wind had picked up while he had been unraveling one of the many mysteries revolving about the man that had enriched his life – for better or for worse. It tore harshly at both their forms but Rayleigh barely took notice of while his charge probably was freezing with the fever he was running. Unconsciously, Luffy's hand went to his torso, ready to scratch at the offending and itching wound on his chest. Swiftly, Rayleigh intercepted the limb by grabbing Luffy by his wrist.

He could feel the shivers run up and down the boy's body as he held on tightly since the youngster would not give up in his attempt to inflict more harm on himself – even when not awake. Slowly his eyelids parted, revealing bleary eyes that did not recognize their surroundings. Rayleigh felt one of those weak and rare stabs of sympathy – there had been one time when he and Roger had just set sail and had gotten involved in a fight between two bands of pirates. Roger had also been left in a less than perfect shape, running a fever because of his reckless attempt of saving a future crewmember's life by jumping in the ocean…

Which had been beyond freezing cold at the time.

Now that he saw the boy in the very same shape he had seen his former captain in once before, he couldn't help but question if maybe the world had been mistaken all along concerning the origins of the two not-blood-related brothers. He left the thought at that.

Roger was dead, as was his legacy. No matter how much he wished it was not that way, it would not change reality. The boy had a spirit akin to Roger's but that was all he was going to get, although maybe that was already enough.

He was back in the clearing when Luffy's hand tightened around his wrist. He blinked down at the boy, who was trying to focus his gaze on him but Rayleigh could see it was a lost cause with how glazed over those dark eyes were.

"Zoro…?", he croaked before he shut his eyes tightly as though opening them alone had already caused him immense qualms. The hand slackened a little as though the action ate up a majority of the boy's energy.

Stunned at first, the Pirate King's first mate chuckled lightly before he did something he hadn't done since Shanks had left the crew years ago – he reached out and ruffled the boy's hair.

"No. Just an old man trying to beat some sense into you."

Luffy, too exhausted to get the joke simply gave a tiny nod as though having gotten some confirmation about something that had been on his mind before drifting off to sleep, still shaking from the cold and his general condition.

He smiled in good humor. So it was a safe guess, that the green haired swordsman was the boy's first mate. Rayleigh had already wondered about it and yet he had also felt that bond between the two men- it was something you could not fake. He knew it from experience.

He took another swig of his canteen before putting the lid on it, noting that there still was enough alcohol left to last for a few more weeks (months even, if he watched his consumption carefully). He loosened the knot on his cape, shaking off some excessive snow, before putting it over the boy like a blanket. He was not in the least bit cold and for Luffy to get better it would probably be immensely helpful if he did not freeze and get his bandages soaked through.

Dropping his Haki barrier just the tiniest bit, he allowed one of the friendlier creatures to approach them. Rayleigh felt rather pleased when he recognized it to be one of the smaller breeds of the tigers that lived in the forest- they never attacked and were generally very intent on getting petted. Either driven by instinct or some knowing power the animal settled next to the young captain, who promptly snuggled into the offered warmth.

Silvers grinned as he looked up towards the sky which was beginning to clear. The next era had begun and he intended to see with his own eyes just how far this boy would go in it.

An OS that wouldn't let me sleep and that I absolutely had to write down- it was interfering with SotW. I just love the mentor-pupil-relationship Luffy and Rayleigh share.