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Roronoa Zoro.
A man known to many as the Pirate Hunter, the demon of the east blue, a man well on his way to become the world's greatest swordsman. Someone acknowledged by "Hawk eyes" Dracule Mihawk. The first mate of the Strawhat pirates. A man, whose green hair seemed to be the most natural thing about him.
A man who is 180 cm of pure muscle, with bronze skin covered in scars, and a flawless back. Scars ranging from the small dagger wounds from buggy, shallow incisions from a life before joining his captain, swirled scars from alabasta, deep cuts on his ankles from little garden, lightning marks from skypiea, sword marks from enies lobby, remainders of thriller bark and finally, the most obvious, a gaping scar running diagonally across his chest from the world's greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk .
A man, who looks more gorgeous and terrifying than any woman.
The sole user of santoryuu, a style that should not be physically possible to achieve, but this is the grand line, where such miracles are common. Three legendary swords, and three gold earrings on his left ear. A shallow cut on his left eye that seemed not to cause any actual harm to his eye, but no one had ever seen him open it. A glare that can send chills down the spine of anyone, (like student, like teacher) a demonic smirk and the constant bloodlust that leaks out of him.
Truly, he is a formidable man, a demon amongst demons, even amongst the monsters of the grand line. And his unwavering loyalty to his captain, make him even more dangerous, a demon lord sealed by a contract, by will.
At a first glance, he seems to be unfeeling, cold and emotionless, much less that he would be able to love someone romantically. But the grand line knows otherwise, and the strongest pirates on the grand line know otherwise as well.
Zoro didn't do commitment. He was fine with anyone, so he said. But they had to be nearly equal or stronger than him. That seemed obvious.
It was a mystery how many people the green haired swordsman had slept with, but of course one knew. His captain always knew. He was the first mate and Luffy was the captain. They trusted each other implicitly.
But other than that, no one knew what it meant. Or why he slept with them. Nami and Robin sometimes joked that he had slept with more men than them, and zoro just shrugged it off.
However, it couldn't be denied that zoro always attracted the powerful ones, sometimes too powerful. It was certainly surprising when they found out some of his previous "acquaintances" and it always spawned some interesting bets.
Yet the question prevailed. Why did he sleep with them? Especially if some of them were previous enemies.
And if there was one who he could spend his whole life with.
To zoro, it was really obvious. I mean, it was extremely clear, wasn't it?
In the case of Luffy it was undoubtedly loyalty. Love, but not the romantic kind.
In the case of Sanji it was more like implicit trust, a rivalry used as a farce, to hide the fact that they would lay down their lives for each other.
For Ace, It was like a handing a baton of trust to take care of Luffy, in case Ace no longer remained. (Something that Zoro would do regardless), but it was also fierce burning admiration.
Rayleigh seemed surprising, but it was zoro after all. It was in this case, a mutual respect and understanding as first mates of a ambitious and powerful captain. And perhaps even bonding over the fact that their captains were rather reckless.
Law was recent, but something that everyone expected to happen. Perhaps a mutual acknowledgement of sorts?
But the last case, was something no one knew the reason to, or how it came about. It was surprising to many, except Rayleigh who simply said that it seemed so.
The case of Roronoa Zoro and Dracule Mihawk. Why two rivals had such a relationship was unexplained, and no one tried to press. Normally, if it was any other person, the would think that it meant that he wouldn't go forward with challenging mihawk. But that wasn't it. They both had promised to fight against each other again, at full power at the top. And they both were men of their word.
Their relationship was obviously different. It was a fiery dance of passion, the same way their blades sung, but it was much deeper. A thirst for each other, as if destroying each other was their only way of showing love. But they knew, the way their eyes betrayed their real feelings, the way Mihawk and zoro look at each other, the way their eyes shine when they think or talk about each other. They will never admit it, obviously, because swordsmen are prideful, and you can't change that.
But this...
This was different. This was love.