Hi. So, uh, I was very, very hesitant about putting this here. Don't ask me why, I don't really know. This was started months before 'Alternative', but I finished it during the summer, and it's been sitting patiently in my computer since. I wanted to test if I still could write angst like I used to when I was younger, and then this was born. If it's any good, well, it's each's own opinion. 'U'

My main inspirational music was 'Fallen Tears' from Brunuhville, do listen if you feel like it. And as usual, I'm happy to be corrected, especially on grammar and typos since Word isn't the most reliable corrector out there.

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

"Zoro. I'm dying."

Zoro raised his eyes from the glass he was holding in his hand and looked at Luffy. His eyebrows had furrowed a little but he didn't say a word. Luffy had spoken in a matter-of-factly-way. He wasn't afraid, he wasn't sad, and maybe that's why Zoro knew Luffy wasn't lying.

"Back then, I wanted to protect everyone. Now I'm paying the price." The Pirate King leaned back on his chair in the small bar with no one else but him, Zoro and the owner inside. Luffy was far from old, and he should've had more time left than he now had. He smiled a little. "I guess I now understand why Roger did it."

"Gave up and surrendered?" Zoro asked.

Luffy shook his head. "He didn't give up. He did surrender, but didn't give up. You see, if he had never let the Marines have him, no one would've known of One Piece. No adventures, no pirates. Well, not as much as now, anyway. No meetings." Luffy looked at the swordsman who was listening carefully. "Maybe we would've never met. And many others are the same. If he hadn't said those words the world wouldn't be the same." Luffy could tell Zoro knew what he meant, and the swordsman –the best in the world- seemed to have a hunch on where this was going. He also didn't seem to like that but he wouldn't protest for now. The words needed to be said aloud. "I want to give the same chance that was given to us to the next generation."

Zoro leaned forward and looked at Luffy seriously. Though Luffy hadn't voiced that certain sentence, he knew what he was saying "You think we would just stand by and watch you get executed?"

"I don't think so. I know you will. That's because it is captain's orders, and you have to obey your captain."

At the moment Zoro would've been thankful if someone else had been there with him to talk sense to their captain, tell him it wasn't that easy. There weren't many Straw Hats on the island they had docked their ship last night. They had separated along the years –not all of them, but less of them were present now than when Luffy had become the Pirate King. Sanji had found his All Blue and now lived there. His restaurant was well known amongst some, but for now the Marines didn't know where the Black Leg had disappeared to. Chopper had passed away some years ago –it had been natural, but that hadn't made the pain following his death any less bearable. Robin had gone her own ways soon after they had left Raftel. She had said she was seeking even more information because what she had found out back then just hadn't seemed complete. She had wanted to do that alone, no matter how hard the others had protested. They hadn't heard much of her since but she was still alive. Their instincts told them this.

Usopp had returned to East Blue, but he would visit the Thousand Sunny every now and then. He was the brave warrior he had wanted to become so badly, and the reason he had returned home was to protect it. East Blue had turned restless during the years. Syrup had remained relatively peaceful thanks to the sharpshooter and the fact he was part of Luffy's crew. By now everyone knew what would follow were they to harm anyone Luffy cared about. Not many were willing to take the risk.

The rest had remained by their captain's side. They were sailing the seas, going through adventures and meeting new and old friends and enemies alike, visiting places that weren't supposed to even exist, that were just good-night stories. But now all that would come to an end, Zoro realized in the back of his head. No more saving of the rubbery ass, no more demands of meat and jumping after him in the sea. Though he would keep saying he wouldn't let Luffy get killed he knew as well as the rest of his nakama that what Luffy wanted Luffy got.

"You know the rest won't like your decision, either."

"I know."

"Then just leave it. Keep living as you always do."

"Sorry, Zoro, but this time I can't. My time really is up."

Zoro looked down. He really wanted to tell him his time was not up. He had fought death so many times and always defeated it in the end. It was so hard to believe this time he wouldn't win, that this time death would claim him and never give him back. And he decided not to believe. He raised his eyes to Luffy again. No, he didn't look like he was dying or getting ready to surrender. He looked just the same as always, ready for another adventure. He ignored the more tired look in his dark eyes, ignored the form that was barely noticeably more slumped than usual, he decided not to see the way he seemed to be in some sort of pain than had not been there before. He ignored this all because he didn't want it to be there for he knew he could do nothing about it, only watch, and that didn't suit him. He had always taken his friends pain for them so they wouldn't suffer, but now he couldn't do that. This time he wouldn't be able to offer his head so that Luffy could live on. But he would ignore that because Luffy wasn't dying, though he had known from the very beginning of this conversation he was.

By the time the left the bar it was pitch dark outside. The night wind was quite strong and chilly but neither Luffy nor Zoro cared. They had remained quiet after their conversation simply because there was nothing else to say. Zoro knew he wouldn't be able to change his captain's mind. They stood on the high grassy hill the lonely bar was located on, and the single sturdy tree right next to it shook its green leaves into the wind. The two watched down to the sea where the waves were getting higher and louder. Somewhere there stood their ship, waiting for them to arrive and take off towards yet another adventure.

Luffy turned his head to look at his first crewmate he had found on his long journey. The look in his eyes was knowing, of course he knew what his nakama was thinking. He turned his gaze back to the distant horizon and reached for his straw hat. It had been there all this time, even after they had met Shanks. He took it off and turned it around in his hands. "Zoro," Luffy started, "I have one other thing to say." Zoro replied with silence and Luffy turned fully to face him. They watched each other in the eyes. Luffy stretched his hands – and his important treasure – towards his swordsman. "Find the one this hat fits the best. I know you can do it since I can't. I meant to do it myself but I guess I don't have time for that."

Zoro hesitated to reach out and take that hat, but Luffy's smile gave him the courage. If he wasn't afraid, why would he be? He took the straw hat and nodded. "I will, captain."

Luffy's smile grew wider. They stood like that for another minute, face to face, and then the younger one turned around. Hands on his hips he said: "I should be going, then," he said. "Bye, Zoro. And look after the others."

"I will."

And so he left, the King of the Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, and he never thought of turning or looking back because that was the man he was. And Roronoa Zoro, the best swordsman in the world, the First Mate of the said man, stood there and would never admit he cried because that was the man he was.

"Why didn't you stop him?!" Sanji shouted, grabbing the front of Zoro's clothes. "Why didn't you tell him not to do it, you shitty swordsman?!"

"I tried," Zoro said unusually calmly regardless the fact that his rival's face was only an inch away from his.

"Well obviously you didn't try hard enough or he would still be alive!"

"Please, Sanji-kun…" Nami pleaded in a tearful voice, "just – just stop."

Sanji tsk'd and pushed Zoro away. The latter had known the cook would most likely react violently upon hearing the news and he hadn't been wrong. The newspaper had reached him first, but Zoro and the others hadn't come far behind. The swordsman would've preferred the blonde hearing the news from one of his nakama but this was how it had turned out. He hadn't had any clue unlike the ones who had remained on the Sunny all these years, and even they had heard of Luffy's plan days after he had first explained it to Zoro. At that point he hadn't been able to hide it anymore, not when it was only the matter of time before the news of the execution would reach each corner of the world. So he had told them where Luffy was and why they would now sail in a ship with no captain. Sanji wasn't the first to ask him why he hadn't stopped Luffy. The others had as well, and even now Zoro asked it from himself, again and again and again. He knew he had tried and he knew his captain well enough to know that no words would've turned his head. Yet he asked the question from himself because maybe, if he had tried enough, then perhaps Luffy would still be with them.

Sanji sat down by one of the tables of his restaurant that sailed the waters of All Blue. He pressed his palms against his forehead and cursed. Zoro turned and walked away like Luffy had done that night. Only, he had regrets.

Sabaody Archipelago had been touched by the years. Old buildings were no more and new ones rose in their stead. Yet one place remained: the bar at the 13th Grove. Its keeper Shakky didn't seem much older than she had been before the events that had separated the Straw Hats for two years. Lot had happened since those days, and even more after the day when the Straw Hats ceased to be for the rest of the eternity. The crew still met each other every now and then, but those meetings were growing rare. They were all being chased, or those who were still left anyway. The World Government had started to believe that both Black Leg Sanji and Devil's Child Nico Robin had long since passed away, but they still kept their eyes and ears open, just in case. Zoro couldn't tell if they were doing that in vain. He didn't know where Robin was and he hadn't heard of Sanji ever since that day years ago. Maybe they were dead, or maybe they were just hiding somewhere, leading a quiet life. The rest were out there somewhere. Franky had been helping out the most super kids on the New Generation that Luffy had sent out to the sea with his last words, and Usopp still lived in the Syrup Village. Zoro had no idea how the sharpshooter had managed to stay in one place without being found, but maybe the village stuck together, protecting their very own hero. Brook had found his new home from the Twin Capes. There he kept company to Laboon, and there Laboon kept company to him. Many had heard the stories of the living skeleton and the mountain-sized whale that welcomed anyone who passed the mountain to the Grand Line. Marines weren't one of those many – or they just didn't believe the rumors - and the afro skeleton had been living relatively safe.

Zoro drank his cup empty and Shakky filled it once again, like she had done countless times before. The door to the murky place opened, and someone came in. Zoro looked over his shoulder to see a young man, a boy, followed by eight other. The boy looked around and then at Zoro, and the former Straw Hat Pirate thought he might've recognized the face from the newspaper. That belonged to one of the trouble makers of this age, and the moment their eyes met Zoro was reminded of Luffy. The boy obviously knew who Zoro was and was very excited to meet a living legend like him. He told he was after One Piece, and he wanted to hear stories of the times Luffy had still led his crew. He wouldn't stop smiling, and before Zoro himself knew what he was doing he got up. The swordsman left, and when the boy asked Shakky why, Shakky only shrugged. When Zoro returned, he had something with him, an old treasure. Instinct was something Straw Hats had often followed on their days, and it was instinct that told Zoro that this one here was the one he had been waiting for.

The boy promised to take good care of the straw hat, and Zoro knew he would.

The lonely island stood high and mostly bare. Footsteps took the man higher towards the top. He lit himself a cigarette and blew out smoke that rose towards the red-dyed sky. On the top he stopped and looked down at the ground. The grave marks were still there, every single one of them. This place was well hid and mostly untouched. Now only he knew how to come here, and soon there would be no one to tell the story behind the grave marks and the mementos that had been placed by them.

The man sat down and took a deep breath. He had felt lonely for so long, but now the feeling eased. He was with his nakama again. His eyes trailed among the graves as memories flooded in his head so strongly it could've all happened just yesterday even if it had been years ago. Those days he treasured so much, and he felt he didn't have regrets.

Except for one. His eyes returned to the grave in front of him, and he took the cigarette from his mouth and stubbed it out and threw it away. Once again he took a deep breath. His voice trembled as he spoke the words he should've had the courage to speak long ago. "I know you tried. I'm sorry." He leaned forwards, hiding his eyes behind his palms, and cried. And if anyone would ever ask, he would say he regretted these tears. He regretted them for they should've never been shed.