One piece (Zolu)
A AU ZoLu fic I'm thinking of continuing,....maybe. If my insperation doens't dry up...
The Road Less Travled
Driving
You never pick up a hitch hiker. It’s a golden rule of the road. You just don’t do it. For one thing, you don’t know where they’ve been, only where they’re going. For another thing, human beings aren’t nice, especially strange ones. It’s just that simple. And if the person hitching a ride is nice…well…you have no way of knowing that, do you? Always assume everyone is a mass murderer.
Hitchhiking
Never give out information about yourself, and always carry something that can be used as a weapon. It’s one of hitchhiking’s most useful rules. After all, you never know who’s picking you up. They could be an axe murderer, or something. If asked for any personal information, lie like a rug. That, and if you’re carrying something weapon-ish, always keep it well hidden. They find it, and you’re out of a ride, or, if you get the wrong car, your life.
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
The rules of road and transportation are just that simple, and there are many of them. Stick to the rules, and 94% of the time you’ll come out fine. After all, they were made by people much more experienced in the ways of road-life than we, the younger generation.
But sometimes the rules just don’t apply. Not matter how hard you may try to follow them, sometimes it’s just better to stray from the safe path and onto the road covered in thorns and rusty tire puncturing nails. Sometimes it’s just safer that way. Sometimes, it’s more dangerous, but much more rewarding.
Sometimes. Not often. Most of the time, it’s just better to stick to the rules.
+++++++++++++++++
+++ /////////++++
++++++//////+++++
+++++///// ++++++ Prolouge
++++//////////+++
+++++++++++++++++
Zoro had never really been a fan of long trips. For one thing, there was the cost of gas, and for another thing, there was the fact that all of the driving meant no time or possibilities for naps.
Then of course, there was also the fact that his sense of direction was completely non-existent. (though you would never get him to admit it, even under pain of death.)
So, a long distance, multi-state road trip to pick up his cousin because said cousin quote “Couldn’t be bothered to ride in a carp-plane with all of the noisy crap-people and their crap-food.” Unquote, was completely out of the question, right?
Not when said cousin’s money grubbing fiancé was living with him. That witch had only been sharing a house with him for a month or two,(since Sanji had insisted his wonderful ‘Nami-swan’ should be with someone he trusted to take care of her while he was in Louisiana on business) and he had already racked up a debt with her for about three or four hundred dollars. She had threatened to charge him another five hundred if he didn’t get his ass in gear and pick up her soon to be husband.
Damn that Sanji and his taste in women.
So, there he was, trying to read a map (and understand it) and drive at the same time. Needless to say, it wasn’t working very well.
Growling in frustration, he wadded the map up and tossed it into the small back seat of his old, beat up looking teal Ford pickup truck. It landed somewhere near his luggage, which was stuffed haphazardly into the confined area. The only things that looked like they hadn’t just been tossed back there by the irate man were the long, slender black cases that housed his katanas. They were his most prized possessions, and as such, they were propped against the back window with loving care.
He glared at the long, deserted stretch of desert highway ahead. At his last road stop at a gas station somewhere in some small, backwater town, he had learned that he was somewhere in South West New Mexico, which meant that he was at least on the right track. At least he hadn’t ended up in Northern California, like Nami had said he was most likely going to.
Take that, bitch!
Sighing, he resigned himself to just going straight until he spotted some kind of sign that would point him in the right direction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour of monotonous driving and one nearly-ghost town later and that sign was still MIA. Zoro was starting to get very irritated, not to mention exceedingly drowsy.
“Damnit…Sanji is going to pay for this when I get there…” he grumbled to himself, half leaning on his window, though he honestly knew that he would have done this anyway, even if Nami hadn’t been there, just as Sanji would have done the same for him.
Didn’t mean he couldn’t complain about it though. He glanced lazily to the side of the road, half hoping there would be a sign there that he had somehow missed due to the shimmering heat rolling off of the sand and the blacktop.
There was no road sign, but he did see something that made him sit up a little straighter and look again.
There was a figure walking along the side of the road ahead of him, a figure which, as he drew closer, Zoro was able to distinguish as a teenage boy with a hat, a rather large blue backpack, and a canvas bag.
Zoro blinked and rubbed his eyes to assure himself it wasn’t a mirage. The last town (the near-ghost one) had been a good half hour drive. On foot, Zoro could only imagine how long it would have taken to walk. Plus, this was the fucking New Mexican desert. Who the hell walked around in the fucking desert down a deserted highway in the middle of the day?
He hadn’t recalled seeing an abandoned car or anything. Not that he had been looking, but still, he thought he would have at least noticed something like that.
The boy, who had up until then had his back to the oncoming truck, had turned to look curiously over his shoulder. Upon spotting the truck behind him, he had immediately stuck out his hand to hail the vehicle.
A hitchhiker.
Now, Zoro had a strict policy about picking up hitchhikers.
He didn’t.
But something in the back of his mind nagged at him, telling him that this kid was in the middle of the desert in the scorching summer heat, and that surly it wouldn’t be to much trouble for Zoro to give him a lift at least until they got to the nearest decent town. Besides, the small voice in his cranium said in a sing song voice that reminded him oddly of Nami, this kid was walking, which meant he knew where he was going. Maybe he could give him directions.
Besides, he was only a kid. He could make an exception just this once.
By the time Zoro had reached this conclusion, he had already gone right past the kid. Realizing this, he ended up hitting his breaks a little harder than he had intended to. Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw the kid perk up and give some kind of cheer before racing over to his passenger side door and practically flinging it open, tossing his bags carelessly into the back seat to join Zoro’s things.
“Whoohoo! A ride! Finally!” Zoro blinked at the loud voice that accompanied his impromptu passenger as he jumped into the truck, a huge grin on his face, and slammed the door shut, immediately putting on his seatbelt.
Ooookkkk…
“Where are you headed kid?” he asked as he put his foot back on the gas pedal. The kid, who was looking out the window and bouncing slightly in his seat, laughed.
“Dunno. Wherever.”
Zoro blinked at him. “Wherever?” He repeated. The kid nodded, turning his wide, dark eyes back to Zoro.
“Yeah, wherever. I’m not really picky.” he said, giggling as if it were some kind of private joke that Zoro wasn’t privy to. Zoro felt a pang of annoyance, but did his best to ignore it. After all, it wasn’t like he could just dump the kid back on the side of the road.
“I see….” Silence fell in the car for a few minuets, though the kid didn’t stop his insistent wiggling. Zoro took this opportunity to study his passenger out of the corner of his eye.
The kid looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. He was very slender, tin even, and was dressed in a simple red tank and blue jean shorts and sandals on his bare feet. (Zoro took a moment to note that the boy was sitting cross-legged in the seat.) His out fit was completed by a yellow straw hat perched firmly on top of his head. His hair was dark and unkempt, falling haphazardly into the equally dark, wide eyes that were set in a pale, slightly tanned face.
Or at least, that’s what Zoro thought his face looked like. It was rather hard to tell his coloring through all of the sweat streaked dust and grime covering the majority of his exposed skin. That, and the fact that not even the large amount of dirt could hide the fact that the boy had a very bad sunburn over his neck, arms, legs and cheeks. Even his feet had a light pink tint to them, and his lips were dry, cracked and dust coated. He also noted that the kid smelled a little ripe.
“How long were you out there?” he couldn’t help but ask. The kid looked up, his expression slightly surprised, as if he hadn’t really been expecting Zoro to say something to him.
“Oh I don’t know. A few hours? How long has the sun been up?” Zoro arched an eyebrow at this response, but answered the boy’s question curiously.
“Five or six hours?” he said. The boy nodded.
“That’s how long I’ve been walking then.” He said cheerfully, wide grin back in place. Zoro blinked at the road ahead of him.
“Did you stay at the little town back there?” he asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the boy shake his head.
“No, but a nice old lady there did give me something to eat an hour or two ago…” there was a slight pause and then the boy added “Which reminds me….I’m hungry…do you have anything to eat?”
Zoro glanced at him. The boy was giving him a wide eyed look that could only be described as ‘puppy eyes.’ he smirked.
“Sorry, I don’t have anything to feed you kid.” he answered honestly. The boy scowled at him.
“I’m not a kid!” he protested, sticking out his lower lip in what could only be rightfully called a pout. Zoro couldn’t help but laugh, making the boy pout harder.
“So if I can’t call you kid, then what do I call you?” not that he cared since he would be getting rid of the kid the moment they hit the next large town. The boy just gave him another large smile.
“Luffy.”
Zoro arched an eyebrow. Luffy? It sounded made up. Who in their right mind would call a kid ’Luffy?’
“What’s your name?” Zoro ‘hmmmed’ a moment, debating on whether or not to give the kid a made up name too or not. Finally he shrugged, deciding that honesty couldn’t hurt as long as he only gave his first name.
“Zoro.” the boy giggled.
“Zoro? As in the movie?” Zoro rolled his eye. If he had a dime for all of the times he had heard that before…
“Sure kid, as in the movie…”
“Hey! I’m not a kid!”
“Sure. Right, Luffy.”
“You sure you don’t have any food?”
This was going to be a long car ride.
The Road Less Travled
Driving
You never pick up a hitch hiker. It’s a golden rule of the road. You just don’t do it. For one thing, you don’t know where they’ve been, only where they’re going. For another thing, human beings aren’t nice, especially strange ones. It’s just that simple. And if the person hitching a ride is nice…well…you have no way of knowing that, do you? Always assume everyone is a mass murderer.
Hitchhiking
Never give out information about yourself, and always carry something that can be used as a weapon. It’s one of hitchhiking’s most useful rules. After all, you never know who’s picking you up. They could be an axe murderer, or something. If asked for any personal information, lie like a rug. That, and if you’re carrying something weapon-ish, always keep it well hidden. They find it, and you’re out of a ride, or, if you get the wrong car, your life.
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
The rules of road and transportation are just that simple, and there are many of them. Stick to the rules, and 94% of the time you’ll come out fine. After all, they were made by people much more experienced in the ways of road-life than we, the younger generation.
But sometimes the rules just don’t apply. Not matter how hard you may try to follow them, sometimes it’s just better to stray from the safe path and onto the road covered in thorns and rusty tire puncturing nails. Sometimes it’s just safer that way. Sometimes, it’s more dangerous, but much more rewarding.
Sometimes. Not often. Most of the time, it’s just better to stick to the rules.
+++++++++++++++++
+++ /////////++++
++++++//////+++++
+++++///// ++++++ Prolouge
++++//////////+++
+++++++++++++++++
Zoro had never really been a fan of long trips. For one thing, there was the cost of gas, and for another thing, there was the fact that all of the driving meant no time or possibilities for naps.
Then of course, there was also the fact that his sense of direction was completely non-existent. (though you would never get him to admit it, even under pain of death.)
So, a long distance, multi-state road trip to pick up his cousin because said cousin quote “Couldn’t be bothered to ride in a carp-plane with all of the noisy crap-people and their crap-food.” Unquote, was completely out of the question, right?
Not when said cousin’s money grubbing fiancé was living with him. That witch had only been sharing a house with him for a month or two,(since Sanji had insisted his wonderful ‘Nami-swan’ should be with someone he trusted to take care of her while he was in Louisiana on business) and he had already racked up a debt with her for about three or four hundred dollars. She had threatened to charge him another five hundred if he didn’t get his ass in gear and pick up her soon to be husband.
Damn that Sanji and his taste in women.
So, there he was, trying to read a map (and understand it) and drive at the same time. Needless to say, it wasn’t working very well.
Growling in frustration, he wadded the map up and tossed it into the small back seat of his old, beat up looking teal Ford pickup truck. It landed somewhere near his luggage, which was stuffed haphazardly into the confined area. The only things that looked like they hadn’t just been tossed back there by the irate man were the long, slender black cases that housed his katanas. They were his most prized possessions, and as such, they were propped against the back window with loving care.
He glared at the long, deserted stretch of desert highway ahead. At his last road stop at a gas station somewhere in some small, backwater town, he had learned that he was somewhere in South West New Mexico, which meant that he was at least on the right track. At least he hadn’t ended up in Northern California, like Nami had said he was most likely going to.
Take that, bitch!
Sighing, he resigned himself to just going straight until he spotted some kind of sign that would point him in the right direction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour of monotonous driving and one nearly-ghost town later and that sign was still MIA. Zoro was starting to get very irritated, not to mention exceedingly drowsy.
“Damnit…Sanji is going to pay for this when I get there…” he grumbled to himself, half leaning on his window, though he honestly knew that he would have done this anyway, even if Nami hadn’t been there, just as Sanji would have done the same for him.
Didn’t mean he couldn’t complain about it though. He glanced lazily to the side of the road, half hoping there would be a sign there that he had somehow missed due to the shimmering heat rolling off of the sand and the blacktop.
There was no road sign, but he did see something that made him sit up a little straighter and look again.
There was a figure walking along the side of the road ahead of him, a figure which, as he drew closer, Zoro was able to distinguish as a teenage boy with a hat, a rather large blue backpack, and a canvas bag.
Zoro blinked and rubbed his eyes to assure himself it wasn’t a mirage. The last town (the near-ghost one) had been a good half hour drive. On foot, Zoro could only imagine how long it would have taken to walk. Plus, this was the fucking New Mexican desert. Who the hell walked around in the fucking desert down a deserted highway in the middle of the day?
He hadn’t recalled seeing an abandoned car or anything. Not that he had been looking, but still, he thought he would have at least noticed something like that.
The boy, who had up until then had his back to the oncoming truck, had turned to look curiously over his shoulder. Upon spotting the truck behind him, he had immediately stuck out his hand to hail the vehicle.
A hitchhiker.
Now, Zoro had a strict policy about picking up hitchhikers.
He didn’t.
But something in the back of his mind nagged at him, telling him that this kid was in the middle of the desert in the scorching summer heat, and that surly it wouldn’t be to much trouble for Zoro to give him a lift at least until they got to the nearest decent town. Besides, the small voice in his cranium said in a sing song voice that reminded him oddly of Nami, this kid was walking, which meant he knew where he was going. Maybe he could give him directions.
Besides, he was only a kid. He could make an exception just this once.
By the time Zoro had reached this conclusion, he had already gone right past the kid. Realizing this, he ended up hitting his breaks a little harder than he had intended to. Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw the kid perk up and give some kind of cheer before racing over to his passenger side door and practically flinging it open, tossing his bags carelessly into the back seat to join Zoro’s things.
“Whoohoo! A ride! Finally!” Zoro blinked at the loud voice that accompanied his impromptu passenger as he jumped into the truck, a huge grin on his face, and slammed the door shut, immediately putting on his seatbelt.
Ooookkkk…
“Where are you headed kid?” he asked as he put his foot back on the gas pedal. The kid, who was looking out the window and bouncing slightly in his seat, laughed.
“Dunno. Wherever.”
Zoro blinked at him. “Wherever?” He repeated. The kid nodded, turning his wide, dark eyes back to Zoro.
“Yeah, wherever. I’m not really picky.” he said, giggling as if it were some kind of private joke that Zoro wasn’t privy to. Zoro felt a pang of annoyance, but did his best to ignore it. After all, it wasn’t like he could just dump the kid back on the side of the road.
“I see….” Silence fell in the car for a few minuets, though the kid didn’t stop his insistent wiggling. Zoro took this opportunity to study his passenger out of the corner of his eye.
The kid looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. He was very slender, tin even, and was dressed in a simple red tank and blue jean shorts and sandals on his bare feet. (Zoro took a moment to note that the boy was sitting cross-legged in the seat.) His out fit was completed by a yellow straw hat perched firmly on top of his head. His hair was dark and unkempt, falling haphazardly into the equally dark, wide eyes that were set in a pale, slightly tanned face.
Or at least, that’s what Zoro thought his face looked like. It was rather hard to tell his coloring through all of the sweat streaked dust and grime covering the majority of his exposed skin. That, and the fact that not even the large amount of dirt could hide the fact that the boy had a very bad sunburn over his neck, arms, legs and cheeks. Even his feet had a light pink tint to them, and his lips were dry, cracked and dust coated. He also noted that the kid smelled a little ripe.
“How long were you out there?” he couldn’t help but ask. The kid looked up, his expression slightly surprised, as if he hadn’t really been expecting Zoro to say something to him.
“Oh I don’t know. A few hours? How long has the sun been up?” Zoro arched an eyebrow at this response, but answered the boy’s question curiously.
“Five or six hours?” he said. The boy nodded.
“That’s how long I’ve been walking then.” He said cheerfully, wide grin back in place. Zoro blinked at the road ahead of him.
“Did you stay at the little town back there?” he asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the boy shake his head.
“No, but a nice old lady there did give me something to eat an hour or two ago…” there was a slight pause and then the boy added “Which reminds me….I’m hungry…do you have anything to eat?”
Zoro glanced at him. The boy was giving him a wide eyed look that could only be described as ‘puppy eyes.’ he smirked.
“Sorry, I don’t have anything to feed you kid.” he answered honestly. The boy scowled at him.
“I’m not a kid!” he protested, sticking out his lower lip in what could only be rightfully called a pout. Zoro couldn’t help but laugh, making the boy pout harder.
“So if I can’t call you kid, then what do I call you?” not that he cared since he would be getting rid of the kid the moment they hit the next large town. The boy just gave him another large smile.
“Luffy.”
Zoro arched an eyebrow. Luffy? It sounded made up. Who in their right mind would call a kid ’Luffy?’
“What’s your name?” Zoro ‘hmmmed’ a moment, debating on whether or not to give the kid a made up name too or not. Finally he shrugged, deciding that honesty couldn’t hurt as long as he only gave his first name.
“Zoro.” the boy giggled.
“Zoro? As in the movie?” Zoro rolled his eye. If he had a dime for all of the times he had heard that before…
“Sure kid, as in the movie…”
“Hey! I’m not a kid!”
“Sure. Right, Luffy.”
“You sure you don’t have any food?”
This was going to be a long car ride.