onepiece_300 | What is a crutch? (Reply)

Title: What is a crutch?
Word Count: 299
Character(s): Straw-hats, Bentham aka Bon-chan
Topic: Crutch
Media: fic
Spoiler(s): After the crew reunion
Rating: G

Luffy suddenly looked away, looked between the headstones, looked far over the horizon at the sinking sun.

"Oh wow, is it really that late already? Sorry, Ace, but I gotta go now! I'll come back soon and tell you some more stories!"

The young man - older, wiser, but still blissfully young - made to bounce upright from his crouch.

Only to fall back to the earth, screaming; his legs, unresponsive.

"Oi, easy on the ears, Luffy!" Zoro groused as he steadied himself behind the young man and caught his stumbling frame by the shoulders. Sanji materialized on the left side of his captain, already tilting him upright as Usopp scrambled to help on the right side.

"I've got the chair, lean him into it," Franky rumbled as Chopper dropped off of Zoro's shoulder and gently hoisted Luffy's bloodless, cramped legs.

"C'mon, I'll steer him back," Nami sighed as she released the brakes on the wheelchair while Robin's multitude of hands slowly and carefully massaged feeling back into Luffy's stiff limbs.

"How about a song to keep us marching right along, yohohoho?" Brook suggested, even as he surreptitiously handed his large, brightly-coloured silk handkerchief over to his captain.

"I'll take a light and prep the Sun~ny!" Bentham sang aloud as he jumped ahead a few feet, a large lantern springing to life just as the sun slipped beneath the waves.

And if that light just happened to reflect the tears of a man who'd spent a week in the same position, seeking forgiveness from a dead brother who could never give it to him and finding the will to continue in the crew around him - well, it didn't really matter anyway.

They just tipped his old straw-hat down over his eyes so he could let it out and heal just a little bit quicker.