Work Text:
Don't Eat Unidentified Fruits
The sound of waves lapping against the ship were the first thing Zoro heard as he woke up. Disoriented and unsure of where exactly he was. Groaning as he brought his hand to his eyes to block the sunlight and hopefully alleviate the throbbing in his head. The last thing he remembered was the uninhabited island they came across. Squinting his eyes open he looked around and noticed he was back on the ship, but it was different. For one he was in a bedroom. With a bed. A bed he was currently laying in.
“What happened to me?” He thought to himself.
Trying to remember, he kept replaying the events leading to where he currently lays.
We came across the island with the weird plants. I remember going off to find food and fresh water to bring back to the ship. Chopper and Usopp had stayed on the ship saying they both had stuff to work on. Nami and Sanji had decided to look for any signs of life while Robin had mentioned going to admire the fauna. Luffy. What had Luffy wanted to do?
Zoro could only feel more throbbing in his head the more he tried to remember. The feeling of someone moving next to him brought him back into the present. Looking down the swordsman saw a mop of black hair on his chest almost nuzzling into him.
“Captain?”
There was groaned response.
“Too loud Zooorroo!”
Luffy dug his head further into the swordsmans chest as if trying to hide from the sound and light coming in through the porthole in the room. The sheer white curtains not doing much to block said light.
“Are you still mad at me about last night? I only drank a little bit Zorooo!” Luffy muttered, more to himself it seems than to his pillow.
“What are you talking about? What happened last night?” Confusion in his voice.
Luffy looked up at see why he was being woken up so early and at the sound of Zoro’s confusion.
“Ne Zoro… Did we go to hard last night?” Luffy giggles while poking the man.
“What are you talking about? What happened last night? Where are we?”
Zoro sits up further in bed causing Luffy to slide off his torso. Checking for his swords which lay against the left side table with Luffys’ hat resting on Wado. He let out a breath seeing something familiar in their current surroundings. Within the room there is the bed which he and his captain are currently in, there’s two tables on both sides of said bed and a dresser against the wall across from the bed. There’s a porthole above the bed letting in sunlight and a breeze playing with the curtains. The side tables are cluttered with photos and random bits and bops that he couldn’t care to look at too closely. As Zoro’s eyes continued their sweep of the room the floor jumped out at him. Mainly what was crumpled up on the floor.
His hands jump to the blanket around his waist, checking under the blanket to see that he’s currently naked.
“Luffy, are you dressed?”
Luffy, confused by his first mates’ questions, starts laughing.
“Of course not, after last night I was too tired to do anything but fall asleep! Also, we don’t normally sleep in clothes these days!”
Luffy looks to Zoro to see the uncertainty in his eyes. He holds his left hand up to check his temperature.
“Are you feeling oka- “
Luffy was unable to finish his question due to his hand being pulled away and examined.
“What is this on your finger!?”
Zoro, now holding Luffy’s hand, was looking at the simple gold band on his captain’s ring finger. Unsure how to feel at the fact that his captain is somehow now married and that he doesn’t know who or when it happened. This is HIS captain, he should know when HIS captain is dating someone let alone has gotten married to said person! Feeling anger at this, he looks up to see confusion in Luffy’s eyes.
“Zoro what are you talking about? It’s our wedding rings!”
Holding his and Zoro’s left hands to show the matching wedding rings on their hands. Grinning wide at him, pride shinning brightly in that smile.
“Did you drink so much last night that you forgot our wedding?”
“Our? Wedding? Luffy what are you saying?”
Zoro, while looking at their hands and seeing the gold bands on both their fingers, a slight feeling of excitement goes through him, knowing now that he’s supposedly the one married to the man in front of him. But it doesn’t make sense, they hadn’t even started dating. Sure, he had realized he had feelings for his captain, but he hadn’t even thought about confessing.
“When did we even start dating Luffy?” Zoro questioned.
Luffy, now very confused at Zoro’s questions, sits up and really looks at his husband. Feeling concerned, he's finally able to hold his hand to his head to check for a fever. Not feeling anything out of normal, he holds his face between his hands, looking deep into his eyes.
“Zoro we’ve been together a while now. We confessed after Robin came back. What’s going on? Should I go get Chopper to check if everything is okay?”
Zoro, now very confused, blinks at his captain.
“Robin just joined our crew what are you saying?”
The shocked look on Luffy’s face tells him all he needs to know. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
“CHOPPER!” Luffy yells, jumping off the bed to put some clothes on and go find the reindeer. Throwing clothes at Zoro as he runs out the door to their bedroom.
Zoro, in his confusion, hears Luffy running in search of the ship’s doctor. Putting his pants on he sighs and sits on the side of the bed with his hands on his head.
“I must be dreaming. There’s no way I’m married to Luffy. I must’ve hit my head or something on that weird island. That’s it! I’m probably passed out and everyone is probably looking for me! I just need to wake up and get off the island!”
Lightly slapping his face to help wake himself up, only stopping when he feels the coldness of the wedding band on his finger. He stares down at the ring, taking it off to examine it, he sees it’s a simple golden band, matching the one that was on Luffy’s hand. It was engraved with a date and his captain’s name. The thought of marrying him brings a small smile to his face. Shaking his head he tries to remember what happened.
Chopper and Luffy come running back into the room and right away he’s instructed to lay back down. Luffy stands off to the side looking worried as he watches as the doctor checks over Zoro.
“What is the last thing you can remember Zoro?” Chopper asks.
As Zoro goes on to explain the island with the weird plants and how he had gone off on his own, he thinks, in search of food and how his next memory is waking up here. Chopper asks him to describe the weird plants, thinking that maybe it could have something to do with the current predicament.
“There were these trees that had this weird looking fruit on them, like an apple but also shaped like a bell pepper. When they were open, they had this shiny black orb looking thing.”
“Did you eat the fruit!?” Chopper asked aggressively.
“Please tell me you didn’t eat the fruit!”
“I might’ve, I really can’t remember. Why? Would eating them have caused this!?”
“I need to check one of my books! I’ll be right back!”
Zoro watches as Chopper runs out of the room to grab one of his medical books. Yelling about time traveling plants and amnesia.
Looking over at his captain who has been oddly quiet this whole time. Luffy looks back at him and moves in to sit at his bedside grabbing his hand.
“Just stay here, we’ll figure this out. I promise.”
Zoro looking up at his captain, rubs his fingers lightly over Luffy’s knuckles.
“I’m sorry.” he whispered.
“This isn’t your fault, it isn’t anyone fault! Don’t blame yourself. Please.” Luffy said gripping his hand tighter.
“You’ve matured a lot captain.”
Laughing, Luffy gave him one of his wide smiles. Something about this smile looked different. There was so much emotion it and it was like it was reserved only for him.
“One of us had too!”
Chopper came running back in, book in hand. Slamming said book on the bed he flipped a few pages and turned it around to show Luffy and Zoro.
“Was this the plant you saw!”
Zoro took a moment to really look at the drawing in the book, realizing that it was in fact the plant. Nodding to Chopper.
“This plant, when touched can cause amnesia, people report missing days’ worth of memories. It’s a rare plant so most people don’t recognize it! It can only grow on one island; most people can’t even find it! There isn’t much research on it and even the information we do have is from an author that people thought was crazy because he said he woke up in the future after arriving at the island. I think this is what has happened to you Zoro!” Chopper was left panting after his explanation.
“There are so many things I want to ask you now! When did you come up on this island!? If you’re from the past, why don’t we remember going to this island!? How long were we there!?”
“Chopper, stop!” Luffy jumped up trying to calm the small reindeer.
“Sorry!”
“So, what does this mean? Am I stuck here in the future? What about the me from this time?” Zoro asked.
“I think you’ll just go back, no one really knows how it happens, the original author said he returned to his time but that he doesn’t remember many of the details. Plus, most people think he’d made it up.”
Luffy looks at Zoro as he’s trying to process this new information. Seeing the pained look on the man’s face he turns to Chopper. Placing his hands on his shoulders, he pushes the younger one out of the room.
“I think it’s best if we give Zoro some time to think on this. I’ll come get you if anything changes or if any help is needed!” Luffy said as he closed the door on the reindeer.
Turning to look at the man on the bed and seeing the confusion on his face. Luffy walks over and sits beside him.
“This must be a lot to process, would you like me to leave you alone or get you anything to eat? I can get you some booze!” he asked the older man, tilting his head and giving him his full grin.
Zoro looks at Luffy, really looking at him for the first time since they woke up. He can see something is different about the man in front of him. The way he looks older, his eyes, while happier, look aged. Like he has gone through something. He wanted to ask what had happened from his time to now, knowing he shouldn’t. He wouldn’t though, wanting to keep the future a surprise. Bringing his hand up to Luffy’s cheek, rubbing the scar under his eye, briefly looking down at his lips and then back up to meet the man’s eyes.
“So, we really are married?”
A full-bodied loud laugh escapes Luffy, closing his eyes as he grips the hand caressing his cheek.
“Yes, we are!” He responds, using his other hand to grip the back of Zoro’s neck, pulling him closer to bring their lips together.
The kiss is rough and almost impatient, exactly what Zoro expects from his captain. The way Luffy licks at his lips, asking permission to explore further and once granted it gives him the feeling that he’s another sea for his caption to capture. Kissing back with as much force as he can, he grips the younger boy’s waist to bring him closer. Thinking he might as well enjoy this while he can if there’s a possibility he’ll forget it.
Zoro wakes up squinting to see his crew mates worried faces over him. Groaning he blocks the sunlight from his eyes.
“What the hell are you guys doing?” He groans out.
“You ate one of the local fruits and then passed out.” Robin responded.
“We thought you had died!” Chopper cried while hugging him.
Sitting up he looks around to see the fruit on the ground next to him.
“I think I had a weird dream where I was married t- “ Unable to finish his sentence as the dream quickly leaves his memory.
“Never mind, I don’t remember anymore. I think we should leave this island though and not touch anymore of the fruit.”
As he stood up to head back to the ship he looked over at Luffy who was watching him with worry in his eyes.
“Zoro okay?” Luffy asked
“I’m fine captain.” he grunted out.
Luffy smacked him on the back, laughing as he took off running towards the ship. Zoro watched his captain so full of joy. Feeling like something was missing he looks down at his left hand, it felt lighter than it should. Shaking his head, grinning and laughing, he ran after his captain and to his future.
Back in the future, Luffy wakes up and turns to his husband. Brushing his hand over the sleeping man’s face he wonders if his Zoro will wake up or if it’ll be the past Zoro again. While he’ll love him no matter what he did miss HIS Zoro. Feeling laughter coming from the man beside him, he looks over while holding his breath.
“Good morning my captain!” The sleeping man said with a smile on his face, eyes still closed. His arm wrapping around Luffy, bringing him closer.
“Zoro!” Luffy launched into his husband, wrapping his arms around the man, laughing with tears of joy spilling from his eyes.