Ameliorate ✦ One Piece

27

Akira sat on a small wooden stool by the bed in which Zoro lay, his eyes still closed and not responding to anything any of them said or did. She was alone in the room for a moment, happy to have found a small chance when no one was inside. "I'm gonna keep my promise, you know?" She said in a quiet voice. "To kill you when you wake up. So, I'm gonna need you to do that."

Her eyes watched the light dancing from her fingertips and towards the skin at his wrist, sinking in and disappearing beneath the surface. She didn't give away too much, not letting herself grow as exhausted as before. But she still felt the need to do something, to give him at least a little more energy so he could fight to wake up on his own.

"Can you tell if it's helping?" Luffy's voice at the door had Akira's concentration disappearing, last remnants of the light dissipating into the air as she turned to look at him walking towards the other side of the bed.

"In a way..." She said vaguely, pausing as she searched for the right words to explain it all. "I can feel the energy, what keeps us healthy, alive... He has some of his own too, and it's growing. Slowly but it's there. I'm just helping it along."

"That's pretty amazing." Luffy said with a small smile as he looked down at Zoro, happy to hear at least a little bit of good news.

"I'm sorry for not telling you." Akira's words, however, had his eyes looking over to her again. "I just... needed time. To be sure." She explained, knowing it wasn't much of an excuse in the grand scheme of things, but as the smile spread over Luffy's face, she hoped it didn't matter as much as she feared it would.

"It's okay." He said lightly. "You told us when it mattered." His supportive view of it had a smile appearing on Akira's own face. "Maybe that's what you're supposed to be? A healer and a doctor? You can be ours. Or help other people." He suggested, going back to his most frequent topic of dreams, and reminding Akira of the promise he'd made her to help find her own.

But she knew enough to know that wasn't it as she shook her head. "What I can do... I'm... I'm more than willing to use it for the crew when I can and when someone needs it." She started to explain. "But out there... Too many people have betrayed and used me because of it. I don't want it to be what defines me." She said honestly, Luffy patiently listening to every word as she spoke. "I don't want it to be what shapes my future when it's already ruined my past."

"Well, then it's going to be something else. You'll find it. I'm sure." Luffy said optimistically, making Akira smile as she let him fuel some of her own optimism on the matter too. "And we'll help you. Won't we Zoro?"

"You should talk to him." Akira said softly, knowing he was struggling with it and the worry being in here was making him feel. "It does help." She added on.

"I don't know what to say." Luffy pointed out, his voice now growing somewhat dejected as Akira walked over to his side, her hand settling down on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"It doesn't matter what you say." She pointed out. "Just that he knows you're there." She didn't think there was any wrong or right thing he could talk about. Although, as she thought it over, she did get one idea. Leaning down closer, she whispered in Zoro's ear.

"Luffy's been calling your sword the Waddy Itchy Monkey." She announced, knowing if anything had the power to wake Zoro up it would be someone disrespecting his beloved sword. Not that she expected it would in the moment, but it was worth a try. Sparing him one last glance, Akira moved past Luffy as she spoke. "I'll give you some time with him." She told him before walking through the door of the room.

Quietly, she made her way back to the kitchen and galley, curiously looking around the halls as she passed them, wondering where the rest of the crew was. And once she reached her destination, she only found Sanji, still in the kitchen as he washed the last of the dishes they'd used for his meal.