gomugomunowin | [004 - video/action for the Hardy] and that icon does not properly show his horror

[An extremely serious faced Luffy appears on the screen. There may be a hint of anger in his expression, as well. He's definitely not trying to hide it, that's for sure.]

Oi, has anyone else seen dead bodies around? Earlier, a fri-- [He immediately stops talking, as he's distracted by something. He looks away from the camera, and a grin comes on his face. He runs over to...somewhere, and calls out. You can see a head of long, orange hair sitting nearby] Oi, Nami! When the hell did you get here? And on the ship, too! Listen, listen! There's som--

[He freezes when he gets in front of her. There's dozens of cuts and large wounds on her body, blood all over her. Luffy's face has nothing but horror on it. He takes a step toward her, and reaches his hand out.] N.......Na.....Nami?

[He turns around to see if anyone can help him. After looking around, his expression changes to slight relief. He walks over, closer to the front of the ship. Someone was laying down, looking as though they were taking a nap. He had green hair, so it was easy to make him out.] Z-Zoro! You gotta help! Nami's really hurt, a--

[He froze again. Zoro's face was almost impossible to identify, disfigured by cuts and holes. His torso was hard hard to look at it was so bloody and injured. Luff let out a gasp of shock. He backed away, but then tripped and dropped his comm. He raised himself up, turned to look at what he tripped over, and let out a small scream. A boy with dark skin and a long nose had bullet holes in his face, his nose bent completely out of joint. Luffy stood up and trembled.] U....Usopp? Oi, Usopp, stop kidding around, this isn't funny...... [But the body didn't even budge. Luffy was shaking, and his his expression was terror. As he backed away, he kicked the comm to a different viewpoint. He looked toward it, and saw a girl with tan skin, and long black hair. Same as the others, bloody, cut up, and dead.] Robin! Robin, get up! The others........

[He clutched his head with his hands, and looked away. No, no no no no no. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't fucking be happening. He decided to look up to avoid seeing anymore horrifying scenes.

But what he saw there was worse. Four bodies were hanging from the mast. A reindeer, a skeleton with a majority of its bones crushed, a tall man with blonde hair, and a large cyborg.

All were hanging by their necks. Cuts went all down their bodies, antlers broken, machines parts out of place. Luffy couldn't take it anymore. He stood frozen before screaming.] NO! NO NO NO NO! THIS IS WHAT THOSE TWO YEARS WERE FOR! TO STOP THIS! I WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! [He fell to his knees, hands still holding his head, and pounded his head against the floor. He couldn't do anything to help anyone.

Again.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

bauhinia

[ Okay, he can try raising his voice. ]

Luffy. Listen to me.

I wish Japan really had figured out how to shock people remotely.

From:

straw_hat

[You need to scream to get his attention.]

WHAT THE HELL WERE THOSE TWO YEARS FOR, THEN!?!!? JUST TO HAVE THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!

From:

bauhinia

[ Hong Kong kind of. Doesn't scream. Fine, Luffy won't listen? Then he'll stop talking for now and just let him say what he has to say. He'll do the listening. And possibly contemplate a little as to what this means. ]

From:

straw_hat

[Hope you know that Luffy has no clue the comm's on. He's kinda....forgot about it. He just....pounds his head against the floor, and screams.

His head's probably bleeding by now.] I DON'T EVEN HAVE MY NAKAMA TO HELP ME ANYMORE!!! WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO NOW!?!??!?

From:

bauhinia

[ Well, if there's a moment of quiet, Hong Kong may try to interrupt again. As it is, what can he say? It's obvious Luffy's gone through something horrible and seeing the bodies of his friends... it's different than it might be for Hong Kong and some others. Hong Kong mostly because he's already decided everything's an illusion and he's just doing his best to ignore it. Because it probably still hasn't fully sunk in — in spite of what Japan and others have told him — that nations can die just as easily as anyone else here.

Additionally, it's not possible for Hong Kong to be there in person.

Or else he might try to smack some sense into Luffy. ]

From:

straw_hat

[No one's told him it's an illusion or anything. He can't do much else than scream.

Except that he's losing his voice. He coughs.] Why is this happening!?!??!

From:

bauhinia

[ Not that it helps, but Hong Kong shakes his head at his communicator. He doesn't know why and he doesn't like it. He cocks his head at the machine for a moment when it sounds like Luffy might be winding down. Again, in a slightly raised tone of voice: ] Hey, can you hear me yet?

From:

straw_hat

[He coughs more, and glances at the comm.

He's not giving many fucks about anything else now.] What.

From:

bauhinia

Oh, so you are listening now. I don't know what all that means, but it's an illusion. It's this place. It didn't really happen.

[ He sounds more serious than usual, if that says anything. ]

From:

straw_hat

How the hell can it not be real? I felt them, I could touch them!

From:

bauhinia

Because it just isn't. It's happened here too. Listen to me, okay?

From:

straw_hat

[He coughed and went silent.

Yeah, just talk.]

From:

bauhinia

Those things you're seeing, whatever it is, they'll probably vanish soon. They might reappear after that though. I don't know why, I just know it keeps happening.