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It’s under the scalding sun and the harsh sea that Zoro gets his first taste of how vast the world is. And, through the burning sensation of salt stinging at his wounds, he cries an oath - Upon the same sword he always carries with him, Zoro promises anew.
I will never lose again.
It’s under the scalding sun - hanging just a hand out of reach, yet so high into the sky - that Zoro breaks said oath.
Among the pure white clouds of an island soaring through the lands of heaven, Zoro is forced to face the grounding reality of his predicament; He picked a fight with a self-proclaimed God and lost.
Until the day I win against him and become the world's greatest swordsman…
It doesn’t really matter if Enel isn't a swordsman.
It doesn’t really matter if Zoro never stood a chance fighting against the living personification of lightning; To excuse his failures with hollow pretext is to make his word worthless and his promises empty.
I will - definitely - never lose again.
And, more than anything else, Zoro is a man of his word.
Zoro makes his way into the storage room of the Going Merry with calculated steps. On his shoulder hangs a terribly wrapped bag filled with treasure, the golden antiques chiming against each other as he moves. The swordsman thoughtfully lifts the bag, pulling it off his shoulder to place it on the floor next to the entrance into the women's quarters - where Nami hoards everything and anything valuable.
There’s a scowl on his face, a permanent one that hasn’t left for the past few days - not even the good sake brewed in the sky was enough to unsour his mood. To top it all off, he had drunk a little bit too much in the past few days. A lame attempt to drown his thoughts, feelings, and insecurities with the familiar burn of alcohol running down his throat.
Not that anyone had noticed. Other than Zoro himself, who now has a nightmarish headache to deal with.
He sighs, realizing he had been standing there, immobile by the corner of the room, next to the wooden trap-door.
"Oh- Zoro,"
The sound of Luffy’s voice hits him like lightning, coursing through his spine like tiny but sharp needles. The swordsman turns around, drawn by the siren call of his captain.
Luffy stands in front of the open door to the storage room, carrying a poorly wrapped bag of gold on his shoulders. "You got to the ship first," he mumbles, seeming somehow impressed to find Zoro already there - which is stupid.
I left before anyone else, idiot!
Instead of saying that - instead of complaining about how he had left first, so of course he would arrive first - Zoro simply keeps his face as neutral as he can.
Surprisingly or not, this is the first time he is alone with Luffy since their battle ended. Not that Zoro was - or is - avoiding Luffy’s presence, not really. He simply needed time to think and decide with which expression he should face his captain.
How he is going to tell him how he failed - Not once, but twice. Maybe thrice.
Chopper drenched in his own blood;
Robin electrocuted in front of his eyes;
Nami taken after he was knocked out;
Zoro lost a fight he picked and allowed harm to come to the crew he was entrusted to protect. He failed to make justice to his vow, helplessly unable to even meet the bare minimum of Luffy’s expectations.
"Zoro? Did something happen?" Luffy enquires. His grey eyes silently ask a thousand more questions. Zoro hears them, but he doesn’t answer. Luffy’s eyes persist, stubborn; Following his every move, staring, studying, watching the tension on Zoro’s muscles and the strain of his clenched jaw.
Zoro holds his ground without saying anything. For the first time in what feels like days, he doesn’t run away. Instead, he stares back, facing Luffy head-on. When their eyes finally meet, he does his best not to waver.
Not to show-
You’re weak, Zoro.
"Zo-ro-?" Luffy’s voice chases the ghost away, "You’re still acting weird."
So he noticed - of course, he did - Luffy understands him too well.
"Something did happen." He places the bagged treasure on the deck, walking inside the room with a pout on his lips. Zoro feels like a deer in headlights, staring at the approaching crisis, unable to escape. "Tell me what's wrong?" His words are a breathless whisper, a shared secret no one else needs to hear.
Zoro’s hands close into fists, fingers clenched until his knuckles turn white. "I broke it." Zoro feebly admits, unable to deny his captain’s request.
Luffy frowns, confusion written all over his face. He doesn’t have a clue - not even the remotest idea of what Zoro is talking about.
Worse than the rift between them, Luffy’s confusion means Zoro will have to spell it out. Luffy is going to make him spell it out.
The swordsman takes a deep breath, and the movement draws Luffy’s observing gaze to him. Their eyes meet, equal opposing forces. Zoro holds stronger than he feels, refusing to waver. He can’t allow himself to continue to be so weak.
"Zoro, what’re-"
"My promise to you, The oath I made." He interrupts, desperate to finally let it out - get it out. He grits his teeth, ignoring the bottomless pit forming on his stomach, ignoring how warm his neck is, even as a cold shiver runs down his spine. "I lost a fight."
The words are painful to say, to finally admit them - loud and clear - to himself, to Luffy. But it’s the silence that follows that truly hurts.
Luffy is a creature of noise, even in his sleep, the rubber captain mumbles incoherent sentences no one dares try to understand. Silence feels like a bad omen, a confirmation of what Zoro feared. He isn’t-
"Zoro? Are you an idiot?"
Zoro looks up - at Luffy - unsure when he had ever looked down. There’s a sneer painted over Luffy’s lips; Like he's trying to hold in a laugh.
"What?" Zoro whispers, perplexed, finding his voice along with the word, "Luffy, I’m serious- I broke-"
"No," Luffy says, cutting him off. And its strength and conviction.
"No?" Uncertainty and fear.
"No," Luffy repeats, firmer this time. His face brightens, and it feels like the wind blew the clouds away to let the sun shine in the blue sky. "You didn't lose. We won in the end."
Zoro looks at him, eyes wide and mouth agape. For once, maybe even for the first time since they met, Zoro isn't even remotely sure what Luffy is trying to say - What he means.
Luffy laughs, so heartfelt it's a painful chime. His grin burns, a scalding sun on its own. "Zoro really is an idiot."
"Luf-"
"No-" He interrupts, cutting the swordsman off before he can say anything else. Luffy’s hands find their way to Zoro’s checks, sandwiching his face in between them. "If it wasn't for you, I couldn't have done it," Luffy says simply, beaming proudly without letting go.
It leaves Zoro baffled. - The words or the brightness? He doesn't know. But does it matter?
"So? Do you get it now?"
Zoro stares at Luffy, bewildered enough to lose himself in his logic.
Still, he recalls Luffy's crazy plan - cut the giant jack - and how he hadn't hesitated to follow it, knowing every second they faltered was a needed second Luffy lost.
"We only won because of you."
That sounds like much more credit than he can take.
"I didn't cut it alone,"
"And?" Luffy asks, almost like he was expecting those exact words. "I didn't finish it off alone either.
"Nami helped me do it," he explains, "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to reach."
Zoro smiles; The words, their meaning, finally make sense. He didn’t lose because they won.
"So we all did it. We won. You and me, and Nami! We kicked earlobes’ ass and won!"
"Robin too, and the guerrilla guy." They helped, they made their victory possible. And, the more Zoro thinks about it, the more he realizes that maybe, they all did.
Luffy smiles, and Zoro finds himself matching his grin. His hand comes to rest on top of Luffy’s, rubbing his thumb over the warm skin. He grabs Luffy’s hand, pulling it away from his face. "Thanks, Luffy." Neither let go.
"What for?"
Zoro shakes his head, smiling to himself, "Hmm hmm,"
He’s not sure either, something silly - certainly.
Usopp and Sanji sound just around the corner, their voices echo in shared conversation, accompanied by the rhythmic stomps of their feet. "AHh- Looks like they both made it!" Usopp declares, relieved to see them both on the ship.
Only now do Luffy’s fingers detangle themselves from Zoro’s, sliding away as he dashes towards Usopp.
"Nami said we’re good to leave whenever," Luffy nods, dashing out of the door, already excited for the new adventure that is to come.
As Zoro watches him go, Luffy’s warmth stays with him. And when Zoro walks back into the main deck to wave goodbye to Skypiea, he finds it impossible to hide the smile flourishing on his lips.