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The night Zoro met Luffy, he dreamt of oranges.
It was a messy affair, the way Luffy ate them. It must have been from the residual shock of seeing his new captain eat for the first time in Shells Town. He ate like an animal, driven mad from starvation eating more than his weight in gold, bronze and silver. Half the time, he hadn't even peeled them before eating them and the juices dripped down his hands and his wrists and his arms.
The scent of oranges wafted through the air and Zoro swallowed the saliva that built up in his mouth without his knowing.
"What normal person eats this much?" Dream Zoro had asked, morbidly fascinated. Social convention told him he should be at least vaguely disgusted yet he couldn't bring himself to mind it.
Dream Luffy was unperturbed, laughing all the while as his mouth was full. "It's normal to eat this much if you're going to be the King of the Pirates," he snickered as if it was obvious, biting voraciously into his next orange.
It was an answer that made the corner of Zoro's lips curl. "This is the appetite of a king, huh?"
Luffy nodded, grinning as brightly as the sun beaming down on him. The juices on his arm became hard and sticky but the future Pirate King paid it to mind. "Here," the slice he held in his rubbery fingers were mangled, pulled apart from the main fruit haphazardly. "Zoro, you have some too."
"I'm not in the mood for oranges," Zoro yawned, waving his captain's words off with a sweep of his hand.
Luffy stared, unblinking. "Zoro," his tone held a weight unknowing, dark brown eyes as unknowable. "Eat."
Zoro's jaw went slack before he could think twice and Luffy fed him, the carpel sliding across his tongue. The Zoro of that dream didn't remember even chewing. "Chew this time," Luffy said as he rose another slice to Zoro's lips.
That slice had seeds, he noted vaguely. Yet Zoro chewed dutifully, over and over again as Luffy fed him again and again.
He hadn't waste a single piece, eating whatever Luffy gave him.
The seeds, the pith, the peel and the flesh.
When he finished, the lower half of Zoro's face had been a mess and Luffy smiled again. "Tastes good, right?"
Zoro didn't get a chance to answer before he woke up, the vague taste of oranges on his tongue and his ears hot. How ironic they met a a red-haired thief obsessed oranges not long after ー but if you asked her, oranges and tangerines were not the same fruit.
The night Luffy leaves Zou, grinning ear to ear and arms filled with their crew and Pedro, Zoro dreams something similar.
Only this time, Luffy eats all the fruit himself.
Before waking up after their successful raid on Onigashima and the defeat of Kaido, Zoro has the same dream.
.
"Oi, oi, what the hell happened on Whole Cake Island?"
They gossip when they think Zoro is sleeping.
Even with his eye closed, Zoro can perfectly picture the sniper's face as he asks Nami this question incredulously. He's leaning forward, brow furrowed and eyes squinting in disbelief as he recounts his most recent encounter with Luffy that set him over the edge. "And he says," Usopp clears his throat before raising the pitch of his voice. "'Sanji likes when I smell like soap!' What?!"
Nami chuckles, something equal parts soft, exasperated and amused. "What didn't happen on Whole Cake Island, that's the real question." The navigator's voice is distant, recalling memories none of them are privy too. "I guess you can say it's love."
"Love?"
"Love," Nami sighs, voice distant, before taking a light sip of her drink. There's a pause, like she is nowhere to be found on this veranda the three of them are resting. Wherever she is, it is far away from the soft confines of the Flower Capital nestled deeply in the heart of Big Mom's territory. "Try to act like you haven't noticed, will you? The two of them think they're being subtle. Sanji-kun probably asked Luffy to tone it down for a while but…" she trails off, sounding expectant and exasperated.
"Luffy and Sanji are a thing now; wow," Usopp practically whispers, in awe. "I did not see that coming at all."
There's a snort that comes from Nami's person. "Trust me, I was just as surprised as you were. But," another pause, the longest Nami's has yet and Zoro knows. Whatever the hell happened on Whole Cake Island, Luffy and Sanji's relationship couldn't return to what it had been. "Everything just made sense. This was probably a long time coming and we all missed some very obvious signs. You really had to have been there."
Zoro hadn't been there, however. Yet somehow he knows he didn't need to be.
Zoro hadn't missed a single thing.
.
Cooks were a dime a dozen; it didn't matter who they got as long as the food was edible. As far as Zoro was concerned, any cook on the Baratie's line would have sufficed.
When they met the man who would become their cook, Zoro wasn't impressed.
Luffy was enraptured.
"It's him, he's our cook," Luffy told Zoro their first night into his indentured servitude after taking ownership of the incident with the fancy marine. He really is an idiot, but the green-haired swordsman couldn't fight back the fondness as he looked above at a back clothed in red resting in a netted hammock. But he's an honest idiot.
Idiot he might have been, Luffy would always have his respect. "The geezer whose leg you mangled?"
Luffy turned around adamantly, "his leg was already like that before the canon hit the place!"
Zoro laughed boisterously, Usopp chiming in from his own place of rest.
"And I wasn't talk about the old man, I'm talking about Sanji. Sanji!" Even with the emphasis, the name didn't bring a face to Zoro's memory. "The nice cook with the swirly eyebrows!"
Zoro and Usopp shared a look of mutual, deadpanned disbelief. "Nice," the repeated in unison.
In spite of their response, Luffy's shoulders shook with his laughter. "He's super nice," Luffy rested his chin on his hands. He was facing Zoro but his brown eyes were staring off elsewhere, wherever he went, Zoro had no idea. It's nighttime, the room barely visible due to his acclimating to the night yet Zoro can see Luffy clearly.
When he's like this, he's like the calm of the setting sun.
"I'm not sure I'd call a guy who beats up a marine over soup nice," Usopp coughed.
Zoro closed his eyes, making himself comfortable once more. "He's certainly nice to Nami at least."
A flirt in a suit, Zoro didn't see the appeal.
Usopp makes a disgruntled sound of agreement, suddenly recalling how Nami was gifted a fruit macedonia and a cocktail with the promise of a fully comped meal. "And he made me eat those stupid mushrooms too."
"I want him," Luffy blinked, eyes peering endlessly at the two of them.
"Well does he cook good?" Usopp asked what was truly likely the most important question.
"I dunno."
"You don't know!?"
"WILL YOU MORONS GO TO SLEEP!?"
"I don't want anyone but her as our navigator," Luffy pouted a few days later, cheeks puffed out childishly and brow narrowed.
It's the same as that situation then, Zoro had told himself, nursing himself with a drink despite the town doctor's advice. The vibrant energy of Cocoyashi was contagious as Usopp led the townspeople in a chorus he barely knew the words of. Nami was somewhere, probably taking a good look at her orange field. ("Tangerine field!" Zoro swore the money-hungry witch was snapping from a distance.)
Once Luffy made up his mind, that was that.
Zoro tells himself part of the fuzziness he feels is because of the alcohol. That's the decisiveness a captain should have, Zoro nodded to himself in satisfaction. The decisiveness of a king.
Zoro only saw it falter once.
At Water 7 when the Merry couldn't sail anymore and Usopp left the crew. All that was left between them was hurt, anger and regret and Luffy faltered. "It hurts," Luffy grounded out, hiccupping between his teeth.
"That's what it means to be a captain," Zoro whispered solemnly.
Zoro found the cook that night in cooking in the middle of the kitchen of their rented abode on his way to the bathroom. They had more rooms than they'd grown accustomed to, all of the boys fitted with their own room. Zoro didn't let it slip that it was strange to sleep without the sound of everyone else breathing around him.
All of that chaos and there the cook was… cooking.
"Must be your natural habitat," Zoro said, not unkindly.
From the heavy smell of smoke in the room, Zoro could guess the cook was on more than his first or second cigarette of the night. "I figured he'd want something to eat, considering all," the cook trails off, frowning.
"After everything he already ate?"
"He didn't eat it all the same," the cook snaps but it lacks his usual sting. He's cutting the onions in a peculiar way and the amount of rice frying in his pan was too much for the average person. Frankly, it was too much for even the amount of people on their crew. "He wasn't eating the same way he normally did so I'm making him a midnight snack. Make something for yourself if you want something."
The chainsmoker was likely cooking for himself just as much as he felt the need to cook for their captain.
"I don't want any," Zoro grumbled, finally heading to his intended destination. There was a pause. "Luffy's strong, you know."
"I know."
When Zoro came back from relieving himself, the cook is gone but a plate of octopus fried rice is waiting for him on the table wrapped in saran wrap.
He was still upset, but Luffy was in a considerably better mood the following morning. The cook looked relieved, blue eyes trailing after him while fretting about the kitchen.
Luffy's portions are bigger than usual, Zoro failed to point out at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
"Sanji's mine," Luffy said out of nowhere a few days after Franky's joined the crew and Robin and Usopp have made a home among them once again. Even though he was talking to his swordsman, Luffy's eyes were following the cook in everywhere like he was the most fascinating creature in all of the Blues.
The Sunny wasn't the Merry but she a was a sturdy ship, well-designed. It was nice to finally have a room to train in so Nami no longer complaints about him throwing his weights around. When Luffy yoinked himself into the little nest of sorts, the last thing Zoro had been expecting was Sanji talk.
"We're all yours," irritation spiked through Zoro's body. A cook is a dime a dozen, he thought not for the first time. They could've grabbed anyone, even a random cook from that pub in Shells Town. Zoro watched as smoke hearts seemingly flowed from the cook's cigarette, fawning over every little thing Nami did as she dutifully picked her oranges ー "tangerines" ー from her orchard.
Luffy could have any cook but this was the person he chose.
Black eyes looked at brown sharply, further annoyed. "We're all yours," he said once again. "We're your crew."
Shishishi. Luffy's laugh was light and airy but the captain denied nothing. "That's true," Luffy's shoulders were relaxed and the wind tussled his hair like a familiar companion. "You're all mine."
But.
Zoro's throat clenches. Even if Luffy doesn't say it, he knows there's a 'but'.
.
It had been a few days since the crew bid farewell to Nami's hometown, Arlong and his band of goons defeated. "What made you change your mind?"
"Huh?"
"What made you change your mind about joining the crew?" Zoro repeated himself, staring out at the star-freckled sky. "Last time I'd seen you, you were telling Luffy to stop adding you to the count. So you can't blame me for being surprised that you're suddenly here being all buddy. You're the one," Zoro's chest aches with the phantom pain of being struck by Mihawk's blade. His eyes remember the hot flow of tears falling from them. "Who said it's easier to give up on your ambition, aren't you?"
The cook makes a noise a cross between sheepish and embarrassed, "that…" He trails off.
Zoro listens to how the cook fidgets and shifts from where he sat, "I don't care if you changed your mind but I don't want anyone with flimsy commitment skills on the crew. Luffy's the man who will become King of the Pirates." He said it resolutely, slowly like honey was stuck on his tongue.
Luffy's an idiot who will put the discarded teeth of a fishman in his mouth as a weapon,
an idiot who will demand a navigator and a cook who have spurned him return to his side.
He's an idiot but he will become King. Zoro chest burned something fierce that didn't come from his healing wound. He's an idiot but he's my…
The cook's voice pulled Zoro out of his thoughts and back into reality. "I was inspired by a dumbass who blew a hole into my old man's restaurant," he gruffed. "Nothing more, nothing less. If he was going to do all that, I might as well look for the All Blue now. I guess."
"That's dumb," the cook's hackles rose almost immediately, whipping his head around the mast to bark back. Seeing the amused smirk on Zoro's face, he halted. "Guys like you die before anyone else, making short-sighted plans like that."
Déjà vu crosses the blond's face and he scowls, but it's considerably light-hearted compared to moments before. "Since it was my decision, the only one who can call me stupid is me. Stupid, Marimo."
"Get an original line, love cook."
"Look who's talking!"
.
"They certainly have a cute excuse," Robin chuckles fondly into her tea.
"'Cute' is a funny way of saying 'convenient'," Nami shakes her head but her lips are curled upwards and her brown eyes are mirthful. "They're terrible at hiding it."
Chopper covers his mouth with his hooves in his realization, "they're going on a date?!"
Nami winks, holding a finger to her lips. "It's been their go to excuse for a while," she says in a loud whisper, a useless secret when the whole crew is aware of it. "They've been using it since before we got to Wano." Now that they've left it, it hasn't gone out of style.
"Sanji and I are going grocery shopping!" Luffy announced only ten minutes prior, crossing his arms firmly when Chopper tried to invite himself. "No! Only me and Sanji!"
The back of the cook's neck burned red but he didn't try to sway their captain otherwise. "Next time, Chopper," he said while patting Chopper's head.
If a skeleton could smile, Zoro's certain Brook would be grinning from ear to ear. "It certainly makes my heart skip with excitement to see all of this young love on the ship!" Without missing a beat, Brook places his hands on his chest. "Not that I have a heart!"
"Damn it," Franky sniffs and Robin giggles, giving his metallic arm a few gentle pats. "I just wished I could've been there to see it happen! Those two deserve to be happy!" Blowing into a tissue a third hand that sprouted from his wrist reached to give him, Franky looks at the crew who were present in Big Mom's territory. "Was it romantic? Tell me it was romantic!"
Nami shakes her head at the display but she's amused, pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "It was pretty romantic, I'll give Luffy that."
Jinbei's belly laugh is familiar. "In the East Blue you all say love is a hurricane, yes? That's certainly an accurate description!"
"I don't see how Luffy can be so romantic but then they both expect it to be a secret," Usopp murmurs thoughtfully. Still Luffy and the cook operate ー or at the very least, they try to operate ー as discreetly as possible.
They're not great at it.
("Here, Luffy," the cook all but whispered right before lunch was ready to serve. His blue eyes were soft and his voice even softer as he held his mamezara over his shoulder.
Luffy yelped in anticipation, making his way to the cook faster than one could blink. Even so, he wrapped his arms around the cook's waist once, twice, thrice, like he was holding glass. Whatever he sampled, Luffy wasted no time in his praises. "It's good, it's good!"
Luffy's portion was bigger than it usually was. Not that that was worth noting; the cook had been increasing Luffy's portions since before they left Wano. Not that anyone else had noticed.)
Suddenly, Nami's arms are stretched above her like she can't contain the energy in her body anymore. "Now I wish I was there at the Baratie, that's where it totally all started! Now look at them, them and their 'grocery shopping'," she says with exaggerated air quotes.
"Maybe we should start using that excuse," the raven-haired woman suggests playfully.
Franky's chest puffs like a proud parrot. "Yow!" The cyborg practically purrs, smitten. "A woman after my own heart!"
Robin has an expression to match, placing her book on the table neatly. Contrast to the woman they met years ago in Whiskey Peaks, she carries herself much lighter. More saccharine. All of her elegance has never changed, a stark contrast to the vibrant mania Franky offers. Somehow they meld together perfectly. "Then if you all don't mind, my partner and I are also going 'grocery shopping'. We'll be sure to avoid wherever those two may be."
The only other couple of the Straw Hat Crew promptly made their exodus from the Sunny.
Brook guffaws, feeling inspired. "I have just the song to compose for such a fluttery feeling!" The musician excuses him, humming a tune he's just made for himself.
Jinbei rises to his feet, geta clacking rhythmically against the wooden floor of the galley. "I'll join you, believe it or not my time as part of Big Mom's fleet nursed a newfound appreciation of music."
Usopp plops himself at the table, sketchbook in hand while Chopper indulges himself in watching the sniper draw. "I'm letting you know now," he squints at their navigator. "I'll upgrade the Clima Takt again but you're definitely paying me next time."
Nami lets out a whimsical hum that means nothing good. Finally she looks at Zoro, "you're awfully quiet today," there's a playful but inquisitive itch in her voice.
Zoro shrugs, "I like to think from time to time."
"You, think? Careful now. Usopp, we're in trouble!" Nami gasps.
Usopp shudders, "we're all about to come down with colds!"
Chopper's earnest reaction is somehow the most annoying, "don't worry, Zoro, I'll make a medicine that cures helplessness soon!"
"Oh piss off," Zoro's eye twitches as the three of them erupt into laughter. He relaxes into the wall he's sitting closest to.
"What made you change your mind?"
Luffy.
Zoro always knew the answer was Luffy.
It's the same answer for all of them.
Like the sun lit up the sky and compelled the microorganisms to life with its warmth, so to did Luffy invoke feelings of certainty into those he'd chosen.
What sort of face did you make back then. Face obscured by the direction he faced, finely dressed, prim and proper.
Nami's words echo in his mind and he loosely imagines the fish-shaped restaurant he'd encountered two years prior. What was the Luffy the cook saw that compelled him forward? What had Luffy seen in the cook?
"Pass me an orange," Zoro holds up a hand expectantly.
"It's a tangerine!" Nami tosses the fruit aggressively, Zoro catching it with ease. "I've said it over and over, haven't I!? It's a tangerine! Say it with me now, tan-ger-ine!"
Zoro takes a bite ー peel, pith, fruit and all ー with a sharp brow raised, "it's the same difference, isn't it?"
Nami looks at the motion, aghast before shaking her head murmuring something along the lines of 'I shouldn't even be surprised anymore'. Taking a page out of Zoro's book, Nami begins to peel a tangerine of her own. "They're in the same family but no, they're not the same," she holds up a slice as if it holds the secrets to the universe. "Tangerines are smaller, they're usually sweeter too," she takes a bite with a pleasant sigh, relishing the taste. "Think of it that way. Similar but not the same."
Zoro grimaces.
Without the peel, it's too sweet.
.
Zoro's sure he noticed before the cook did.
He fawned over women left and right but Luffy had the cook's heart on a silver platter long before he realized it.
He's a cook, a dime a dozen but he's the cook Luffy chose.
An overly emotional love maniac Luffy said was kind even if Zoro believed that kindness to be superficial at worst and conditional at best.
Then the cook tries to die for him, proclaiming he'd become a much more concerning threat for the marines.
Proclaiming Zoro's ambitions were more important.
It pissed Zoro off to know it, as much as it pissed Zoro off he wanted to rush ahead on the sea train to rescue Robin. As much as it pissed Zoro off that Luffy's trust in the cook was resolute.
The trust that it would be alright, that the cook wouldn't need anybody because nothing would go wrong.
Human beings are fragile creatures, especially the cook Luffy cherished so much.
The cook Luffy was especially happy to see even though two years had passed since he'd seen him in person last. When the dust had settled in Fishman Island and they had their celebrations, the dinner the cook made their captain had to be the biggest portion he'd received yet.
.
Two nights after the Polar Tang disembarked for Wano, Zoro dreamt about a King.
He was a King, Zoro was sure of it.
A King that was a whitened silhouette, His form to sacred to be seen by anyone but He had all the power of the sun and eyes that burned red. Zoro prostrated himself before Him immediately. There they waited in silence on a beach with sandy grain as black as the night.
Not a word passed between them until Zoro heard movement and when he looked up, his King was heading towards the depths as murky as the sand that surrounds them.
Zoro made to move but he couldn't, his kneels held firmly in place in one spot. "You can't," the swordsman cried out, panicked. The sea is no place for the Sun! "You'll die!"
Eyes unblinking, the red-eyed King ー God? ー looked at him. "wonk i," He said. He was smiling, even with no face Zoro could tell He was smiling from how His part of His eyes were covered like cheeks pulled towards them. Red eyes were reverent in the joy of Their own demise. "mih ni nword ot tnaw i. srwolf ni mih etacoffus ot nrob saw i." Then He walked and walked until He was completely submerged, the red of His blood coloring the surface for only a moment.
Then the sea turned blue and Zoro woke up.
Sanji's really strong, he'll be great help! He's worth a thousand people!
I'm worth two thousand!
Zoro closed his eye, disgruntled as he waved away the memory and the the irritated sting that accompanied it. It was irrational, he knew. Big Mom's lackey had explained everything in full but the vexation remained.
The cook left and Luffy ran right after him, any alliance predating the desertion forfeit until he brought him back.
I stayed, didn't I? I'm here.
Luffy would do the same for you, another, more rational part of Zoro whispered.
But.
There was always a 'but'.
Sleep didn't find him again easily but when it did, Zoro was thankful it was dreamless.
.
Zoro isn't sure what makes him say it. He doesn't normally stall by the galley, originally intending to steal a bottle of the Sunny's finest before seeing the cook taking inventory of their stock. "Everyone knows." The cook looks over his shoulder, curled eyebrow raised curiously. "About you and Luffy. You're doing a terrible job at hiding it."
Blue eyes widen and the cook's face is rose red as he drops his pencil and notepad.
With the cook frozen in shock, Zoro walks right over to where the alcohol is kept nonchalantly. "Don't know why you're bothering to keep it a secret in the first place," it sounds rougher than he intended. No, part of Zoro knows it's not as rough as he wants it to be. "Are you ashamed you're dating him?"
Ashamed of being in love with Luffy?
Who in their right mind would want to hide being the one Luffy treasures most?
Those words bring the cook back to where they stand in his galley. "I'm not ashamed of anything!" Blue and black glare at each other fiercely, the cook's gaze unrelenting. Zoro refuses to yield first. "I just," the blond trails off again, face warm. "wanted it to myself a while."
"You're doing a bad job hiding it," Zoro tells him again and the cook's gaze finds something else to look at, face as red as the fabric around Luffy's hat.
"I heard you the first time," he scowls, covering his face. "Quit reminding me. I can't help it," he mumbles into his hands; the hands Luffy treasures so much. The hands that Luffy holds in a way that's precious because to him, the cook is so precious. "He's perfect. He's an idiot but he's perfect," the love cook babbles like a train with no conductor. "He's an idiot but he's my idiot. I can't believe it took so long to notice."
The green in Zoro's stomach churns miserably and hot. "Gross," He was my idiot first. "tell Luffy your sweet nothings not me." He ignores the flustered swearing of the cook in favor for drinking his favorite sake right from the bottle, which only served to vex the cook more. "Just hurry up and tell everyone you're dating so we can act surprised already. I'm tired of Franky crying every time you go grocery shopping."
Zoro hadn't been there at Whole Cake Island.
Yet somehow he knows he didn't need to be.
.
The next time Zoro sees Luffy, it is in the amalgamation they call a training room and crows nest. His eyes are wide and so is his smile, all of his teeth glinting in the rays of sunlight peering through the room. "Sanji and I got married!"
"Married?" The cook and Luffy having completely different labels slapped onto their newly acquired relationship shouldn't surprise him. Luffy is as unstoppable as that out of control sea train they rode a couple years back. "When did that happen?"
"Before we crashed the wedding," Luffy grins as he slaps the soles of his sandals together. "We're gonna tell everyone today but Sanji said I could tell one person first."
The thorn in Zoro's chest aches painfully sweet. "So you picked me?"
Luffy nods, enthusiastically.
"Everyone knows already, y'know."
"They do!?"
Zoro swats Luffy's head lightly, in pure disbelief. They're so stupid! Apparently, their different brands of stupid melded together perfectly. "You actually thought you were doing a good job?! You've been all over each other since before we left Wano!"
Luffy sulks, shoulders up to his ears. "I thought we were doing a good job," he halts his gleeful sole slapping. His pouting doesn't last for long, however. Within seconds, the newly crowned Emperor of the Sea is smiling peacefully as he inhales the brine of the sea breeze. "Sanji's really into romantic stuff," he tells Zoro unnecessarily, eyes radiant and his voice has an uncharacteristic serenity to it that Zoro's never heard before. "So we'll have a proper one soon. We'll get rings too, Sanji wants those too. Oh but don't tell him I said that, it's gonna be a surprise."
Gently, he tells Zoro all of the little plans and fantasies he's cooked up.
Dadan will love Sanji! Oh that's right you don't know her, Dadan's the lady who raised me. She's a mountain bandit but I like her a lot anyways. I have to introduce Sanji to her!
The old man is gonna be so surprised when we tell him!
I'll take Sanji to meet Ace again. I want to tell Ace and Sabo too.
Sanji,
Sanji,
Sanji.
"Oi, Luffy," Zoro's right and left hands hold up an index finger each. "King of the Pirates or the cook?"
"Sanji," Luffy says as quickly, unperturbed and without a millisecond of hesitation.
Despite himself, Zoro's lips curl into an exasperated smirk as he shakes his head bemused. "So the Pirate King found his Queen, huh?"
"Sanji'll be mad if he hears you say that," but despite those words, Luffy is nodding and fidgeting barely able to contain his excitement. The pink of his cheeks is akin to the dawn painting the sky hues of pink and indigo. The decisiveness of a king; as long as Luffy has it, Zoro will follow him anywhere. Brown eyes sparkle warmly, "but don't worry, Zoro, I'm gonna have both. I have to have Sanji if I'm going to be King of the Pirates, otherwise it's no good."
It was an answer that made the corner of Zoro's lips curl. "This is the appetite of a king, huh? Pretty selfish of you."
Luffy nodded, grinning as brightly as the sun beaming down on him. "We're pirates, we're supposed to be selfish," he laughs before his face suddenly goes alert with alarm. "Sanji's mine, you know! I get to be selfish with him!"
That's what you got from what I said? Zoro rolls his eyes, letting Wado's hilt tap the side of his captain's head. "Trust me, he's all yours."
With those words, Luffy is grinning again spouting off his agreements between chuckles. "That's right, he's all mine." A beat passes and Luffy's eyebrows knit in concern. "Zoro, what's wrong?"
"What do you mean?" Zoro cocks his head to the side, looking at Luffy as if he's grown a second head.
Luffy hums thoughtfully before quickly shoving his hat atop Zoro's head, Zoro squawking in surprise. "You can wear that until you're feeling better." Even without seeing his face, Zoro knows the expression is warm and kind. With that, Luffy leaves as promptly as he'd appeared, feet heading in the direction of the galley.
.
.
.
"Asshole," only a maelstrom like Luffy would up and do something like this, disturbing what little peace Zoro had in his person. "Just when I resolved to let it all go without any regrets or resentments."
There's no point in getting sad now, Zoro tells himself.
You knew this was bound to happen forever ago.
They make each other happy, that's all that matters.
Zoro curses silently, the corners of his eyes hot and he sinks Luffy's hat further down his face.
.
When Zoro dreams that night, Luffy and Sanji are eating tangerines.