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Demon of the East Blue.
This is the moniker he’s given, when he becomes a bounty hunter. When he hears it for the first time, he can only think one thing.
Yeah, something like that.
He’s able to masquerade himself pretty well. He can walk among most people undetected. A change of clothes, careful hiding of a sword or two, something to cover his hair, and he’ll be hard pressed to find someone to pick him out. Remove his sarashi and it’ll be even harder. But he doesn’t, because his swords and his clothes are the only thing that shows where he came from, what he is.
When Luffy frees him from the post where he’s strung up and crucified, he’s not as shocked as he should be at the betrayal of the marine brat. He supposes the boy must’ve figured out he doesn’t need to eat.
Maybe he doesn’t look as human as he thought.
He eats the onigiri anyways– even though it’s filled with dirt and made with sugar. He eats.
To show love.
Rika feels it.
He does it later, too, when they have a cook who hates wasting food and always makes sure no one misses a meal.
Because for all the shit he gives the cook, he really does.
Love him, that is.
He needs to fight. It’s in his nature, to throw himself into brawls and duels, with the blades that were meant for him. This is the only time he is ever really seen for what he really is.
Something demonic. Twisted. Inhuman.
A beast.
He can count on one hand the number of living people who actually know this.
Kaku is one. He knows for a fact he saw it.
Exactly how he saw it, he’s not sure, but there's no doubt in his mind that Kaku knew he wasn't human.
Zoro wonders what he saw.
Luffy is another, probably. He never told him, never showed him, but Luffy had a way of just knowing things. Call it haki, call it insight, call it whatever– Zoro doesn't care.
He’s pretty sure he felt it when he thinks Luffy noticed. After they left Arlong Park. The two of them were sitting on the deck, silently. Zoro had stretched his arms and groaned, the gash across his chest sore and aching with the motion.
He ignored it, as it was merely a physical pain.
Luffy had looked at him, face unreadable, and that’s when he felt it. A wave of understanding and acknowledgment cloaked him like a blanket.
It changed nothing.
Mihawk realized as well. He must have. If not because of being Zoro’s teacher for two years, then because Zoro made no effort to hide it.
Mihawk was stronger than a human.
Zoro had to kill any last remnants of his human form to survive.
When he saw he would lose his eye, he rammed his face into the blade.
There was no point in avoiding fate, so he’d prefer to meet it on his own terms.
As an entity from a higher plane, he must meet his destiny with no holds barred.
In Wano, he shows himself to two more. Even if he dies, he can not fail. The world’s future is in his palms. He can’t afford to let Luffy die. He must reveal himself again. He has come too far not to.
Kaido speaks to him of conqueror’s haki.
Ha. Like his nature could be summed up so simply.
Though, isn't it fitting that it is the King of Beasts who he spends the last of his energy to cut?
Beast fighting beast. Like it’s supposed to be.
They saw him. He knows it. Law. Kaido.
He wonders how they saw him.
He hopes they saw his teeth.