It's hard to breathe.

He tries anyway.

That Bear-guy is turning away, and in his freaking blank gaze, he holds Luffy.

His Captain.

The Future Pirate King.

His…

He won't go there. Not now. Not with so much at risk.

"Why… must you take Luffy's head?"

"That is already my best offer."

"I see."

He remembers a look of disdain flitting over that childish grin when he says – so you're just a bad guy huh? – feels the hunger gnawing at his spine, and fatigue creeps down his legs. He tastes the salty tang of a poorly bad rice ball, but savours it anyway, the tip of his fingers just brushing against the hand that holds it out for him.

He remembers hauling the cage up onto his back, the ache of the wound in his side, blood dribbling. He can feel the throb now in his side, the first wound that he had taken for his Captain.

He remembers cold nights in the crow's nest – a sudden grin that looms before him. The memory of the weight of a fluffy blanket settles around his shoulders, and the nostalgia for the warm bundle burrowing into his side on nights like those ripples in his mind. Those nights that are long gone since the arrival of new crew member after another, even before this very moment in which he kneels – kneels willingly for the first time - he has never imagined that he could, and this surprises him.

"Fine. Take the head."

He breathes through the mist that fogs up his eyes, fights the tremble that sinks into his arms.

"However…"

The Bear-guy is not interested, and Zoro can hear Luffy's lungs groan with the wheeze effort of trying to inhale.

"Let mine substitute his!"

The Bear-guy doesn't understand; of course not. How could he? How could he when he has never known Luffy's smile, Luffy's tears, Luffy's ambition. He asks, "Why?"

"Luffy must be the man who becomes the Pirate King!"

The Bear-guy raises a finger, and grips Luffy's limp body with the other hand. He extends a bubble.

Zoro looks at the scar beneath Luffy's left eye, closes his eyes and recalls the whisper of breath in his ear early in the morning when his Captain wakes up restless and cranky. He remembers the ratted texture of the straw hat pressing against his shoulder when Luffy clings to his arm and doesn't let go.

The Bear-guy nods.

"I am eternally grateful."

The Shibukai scoffs at his statement but Zoro doesn't care.

The bubble shoots towards him.

Zoro takes another breath.

And falls.