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The first time Luffy dreams, he is a young boy snuggled under the covers in a tree house. He dreams of the sea and pirates and adventures, yet this dream feels like nothing of his own. The dark blue haired girl dances, or fights, Luffy realizes after a moment; the moonlight shining off of her snow white sword. She is a feather, a flower petal escaping his every slice even though Luffy wields the sword like never before, like his body suddenly remembered he had been a swordsman all along.
“I won’t lose against you, Kuina!” The voice is not his own, but Luffy shares the feeling all the same, wanting to wipe that confident smirk off her face.
..
He fights and eats and laughs with his brothers and the next time he sees her in his dreams, her face is pale, eyes closed as she lays on the cold floor, and Luffy can do nothing about the tears that roll down his cheeks. He clutches the sword in his hands tighter, the scabbard indenting his fingers as his chest burns with the weight of a promise.
..
Sometimes when Zoro closes his eyes, he sees two young boys. Cheeks splashed with freckles or a face framed by golden locks and as they run around a forest, straw scratching his neck, he wants to ask, ‘Where are you going?’
..
When Luffy lays eyes on him for the first time he sees the pure, snow white sword and the ambition in his eyes, and so he asks,
“Are you really that strong?”
Zoro looks at the strawhat, the smile brighter than the sun and the sunkissed tan and replies instead, lips stretched in a dangerous smile,
“Are you?”
He wields the sword like Kuina did, graceful and powerful, and Luffy grins wider than ever.
..
The first time Nami suspects the two idiots are more than just the two pirates they claim to be, they are faced with a crew of pirates – of clowns, really – and a cannon, and Luffy tells Zoro to run but somehow he hears fire the cannon. They speak in shared looks and secret smiles in a way nobody who have been sailing around together for only a few weeks ever should, and Nami knows not what to make of it. Even so, they are powerful, and she finds herself relaxing as she accepts to sail with them.
..
Sanji watches Zoro get almost torn in half for his dream, Luffy dig his nails into his palms until they bleed to stop himself from interfering, and both of them cry as Zoro makes a new promise to his captain – and he thinks he gets it.
..
The winds and waves in Loguetown are unbelievable, and so is the lightning strike that saves the strawhat captain’s life. And although pirates have never been ones to question their luck, Sanji looks at Zoro’s wide eyes and shaky hands and asks,
“Do you believe in God?”
..
Luffy won’t listen to him; Luffy’s mad and throwing punches and he won’t listen to him so Zoro draws his swords on his captain for the first time – and for the last time, he hopes – and lets all his frustration flow to his blades. The panic he felt in Loguetown and Luffy’s carefree attitude, the annoyance of fighting a hundred bounty hunters but not a single skilled one and the look of betrayal in Luffy’s eyes; Zoro’s anger focuses until it pounds in his ears, until all he wants to do is cut.
Nami interrupts them with some well-deserved punches to the head. Zoro’s never been quite as happy to see her. Her eyes flash with anger but also bewilderment, and Zoro wants to tell her I don’t know either.
Luffy laughs it off like it was funny, and Zoro feels something break.
..
“Geez, just talk to him,” Nami huffs as she finds the swordsman brooding in the farthest corner of the ship.
“He doesn’t think anything’s wrong,” Zoro says, eyes closed and nose turned up.
Nami looks over her shoulder at Luffy and Usopp fishing and singing without a care in the world.
“Well, if you don’t know what’s going through his head, then nobody does,” Nami sighs. Zoro quirks an eyebrow at her. “So all you can do is ask him, okay?” She says with a rare, encouraging smile.
Zoro is nothing if not stubborn and so by nightfall he is still sitting in a corner pretending to nap. Instead, it is Luffy who finds him, grinning like always as he slides against the railing to sit beside his swordsman.
“What’s up?” He asks casually. Zoro’s eyebrow twitches.
“Nothing much, just realised my captain doesn’t trust me,” Zoro says and there’s hurt in his voice but he’s too pissed to care.
Luffy’s face goes through three phases – confusion, realisation and more confusion – and he tilts his head to the side.
“Ah, about the fight? I just thought you turned into a demon or something.”
Zoro’s head snaps around to look at him.
“A demon,” he repeats.
“Yeah well, they call you the Demon of the East Blue, right? So I thought you lost control or something.”
Luffy’s face is open and honest and Zoro wants to punch himself, and maybe also Luffy.
“I’m not a demon,” Zoro says slowly as though he can’t believe he has to say it out loud.
“Well, that’s great then! I was relieved when Nami said those guys were bounty hunters,” Luffy laughs.
“You really thought-” Zoro wipes a hand across his face. “Why did you ask me to join you if you thought I was a demon?”
“Because you’re strong,” Luffy says simply, and then he’s leaning forward, trapping Zoro in place with his dark eyes. “And because I trust you.”
Those eyes hold him and in that moment Zoro has two realisations – his captain is batshit insane and Zoro would probably do anything he asked of him.
..
Zoro recognises Whitebeard’s jolly roger but even before that Zoro recognises the face of the young man bearing it, and he stares at his freckled face and cheeky grin.
Later that night when they are walking through the desert, Ace falls back behind the group. Zoro slows his pace as well, falling in to step with him.
“You didn’t look surprised that Luffy has a brother,” Ace says casually, but his eyes are observing him carefully.
“It's not that rare to have a brother, is it?”
“Luffy used to say someone was waiting for him out at sea,” Ace says as he looks at Zoro from the corner of his eye. “Sabo and I just laughed it off as Luffy being Luffy,” he says with a smile, “but maybe there was more to it.”
“We have a… connection,” Zoro says after a while, eyes locked on Luffy’s form bouncing around the front of the group.
“Hmm, something romantic like soulmates?” Ace says teasingly.
“Why does it need to be romantic?!” Zoro objects as Ace laughs.
“Well he can be quite charming, no?” Ace teases as Zoro grumbles, face red, and Ace laughs and claps him on the shoulder, hard enough to make him almost fall face first into the sand.
“In any case, take care of him for me, okay?” Ace smiles warmly and then he’s gone, jogging to catch up to his brother and leaving Zoro to collect his emotions. He sighs and looks up at the stars twinkling above endlessly.
..
It is in Jaya that Nami puts the pieces together. The captain only says ‘don’t fight them Zoro’ yet Zoro’s shoulders square in acceptance and determination. They get cut and bruised for some ideal Nami doesn’t understand, by people they could’ve easily beaten.
“At least worry about each other if you don’t care about yourselves,” she grumbles as she stomps away, leaving the two bloodied forms lying in front of the bar.
..
“There’s an interesting story from the Blues,” Robin says as she sips her coffee. “About people born on different seas but under the same star.”
Chopper makes a questioning noise beside her, flipping through his own book.
“I believe they’re called soulmates.”
“Oh, are you thinking about Luffy and Zoro?” Nami asks distractedly, tongue between her lips as she draws her contour map.
Usopp chokes on his coffee. “Luffy and Zo- soulmates?!” he shrieks, looking around at his crewmates, all too calm for his comfort.
Sanji turns the stove off and takes a drag of his cigarette. “So that’s what it was.”
“Someone could’ve told me!” Usopp complains, eyes flicking from one crewmate to another.
“It’s kinda obvious, really,” Nami says, eyes still on her map.
“How so?!”
“It does seem like they always know what the other is thinking,” Robin smiles.
At that moment the door opens and Luffy steps in, Zoro closely behind him and shaking the rain from his hair like a dog.
“Hm?” Luffy makes a questioning noise as the crew observes them silently.
“Are you two really soulmates ?” Usopp asks, the word coming out hushed.
Zoro groans, not interested in having this conversation, and goes to grab a beer from the fridge.
“I don’t know, are we Zoro?” Luffy asks in a sing-song voice as he looks at him over his shoulder with a lopsided grin.
“I don’t think it’s any of their business,” Zoro grumbles as he opens his beer by tapping the cap on the edge of the counter.
“I told you to stop ruining my kitchen,” Sanji seethes beside him.
“Always so dramatic,” Zoro rolls his eyes.
“Use a bottle opener like normal people, you brute,” the chef complains, fingers sliding over the counter.
“How did you find out?” Chopper asks them, interested in this human phenomenon.
Luffy smiles at him. “I’ve had these dreams, ever since I was little.” He grins at Zoro and takes a sip of the offered beer. “I think they’re Zoro’s dreams.”
“I do have those as well,” Zoro answers the question he sees in Luffy’s eyes.
“How interesting,” Robin says, holding her chin elegantly in her palm.
“So can you use like… telepathy?” Usopp asks in a hushed voice as his hands make round motions around his head.
“Ugh, no,” Zoro sweatdrops.
“I’m Luffy and Zoro’s Zoro, that’s all there really is to it,” Luffy concludes, simple as ever, and the others gradually return to their tasks.
..
In Thriller Bark, Zoro learns the price of devotion.
(His life.)
..
Pink blurs his vision.
“...-ffy?”
“Fy? Oh Luffy? He’s fine! Yeah, he’s okay! Let me go get him!” The reindeer babbles, jumping off his chair. A snore floats to his ears and Chopper turns back to find the swordsman already asleep.
“You just wanted to know?” Chopper sniffles sadly. He turns back to the door and enters the dining room quietly.
“Chopper-bro, what’s up?” Franky asks loudly as he sees the reindeer drag his feet.
“Well,” Chopper wriggles his hooves. “Zoro woke up,” he quickly raises his hooves as the crew moves to stand with hopeful expressions, “but he’s gone again.”
“Did he say anything?” Robin asks observingly.
“He-,” Chopper glances at Luffy nervously. “He asked about Luffy.”
“Sanji,” Luffy says and his voice is calm but his frame is tight, hiding a storm. The cook stiffens nervously.
“Tell me what happened.”
Sanji hunches his shoulders defensively, looking anywhere but at his captain. “You know I can’t. Zoro’s gonna have my head if I do.”
“Don’t worry about that. Sounds like I’ll be having his first.”
Usopp shakes nervously in his seat and glances around for an escape route as Chopper inches towards Robin’s lap, who picks him up gently. Nami holds her breath.
The cook taps the point of his shoe on the floor and lits a cigarette as slowly as possible. “Luffy… First of all, before you get angry, I know you would’ve done the same thing for him.”
“Which is?”
Sanji leans his head back and puffs a cloud of smoke and watches it dissipate.
“Give your life,” he glances at the empty glass in Luffy’s hand. “In exchange for his.”
Sanji is fully prepared for the sound of glass shattering. The others, not so much, and Usopp squeaks as he jumps out of his seat. Out of habit, he runs to hide behind Sanji but realizes that Luffy’s anger is mostly aimed at him, and instead runs to hide behind Franky’s bulky form at the other end of the table.
“Luffy-san,” Brook tries to calm him down uncertainly, not yet used to his place on the crew. “Zoro-san was cornered…”
“That Kuma guy wanted my head, didn’t he?”
“Of course Zoro couldn’t just let him have you,” Nami whispered, hand hiding her mouth.
“I need a minute,” Luffy says quietly as he rushes past the table and out on the deck.
“Wait, Luffy- your hand!” Chopper calls after noticing the red-stained shards of glass.
That night Luffy sits on the figurehead of the Sunny, letting the salty wind card through his hair as Sanji’s words echo in his mind. Luffy wants to be mad at Zoro. He wants to shake him and yell at him for daring to do something like that, but deep down Luffy understands. He closes his eyes and tries to find a connection, anything, but all he finds is silence.
..
Zoro blinks his eyes open slowly. He’s met with the familiar ceiling of the infirmary and the sound of the IV dripping. He notices Chopper’s hat on the desk and antlers peeking from behind the desk chair.
“Hey Doc.” His voice is quiet and raspy but the little reindeer is overjoyed at seeing him awake.
“Zoro! How are you feeling?” The reindeer fusses over him.
“Not too bad,” Zoro says and it isn’t a lie, he realizes, as he manages to sit up.
Once Chopper is satisfied with his check up, he nods proudly. “Let me go tell the others!”
At the news, the crew crowd the door of the infirmary. Sanji fills a glass of water, which Luffy grabs from him and he steps past the others into the room.
“Ah- Luffy, don’t stress him out, he’s still recovering,” Chopper says as he looks up at Luffy.
“Don’t worry, I just wanna talk,” Luffy smiles at him.
The door closes softly and Luffy leans back against it, thumb drawing patterns on the cold surface of the glass.
Zoro looks at him from the corner of his eye and sighs. “He told you didn’t he, that bastard.”
“I forced him to.”
Luffy offers him the glass as he sits in the chair in front of the bed.
“You’re angry,” Zoro says and it’s an observation, not a question.
“At myself, mostly,” Luffy sighs. “If I wasn't so weak, you wouldn’t have had to deal with things after I passed out.”
“Hey, don’t be dumb. No one would expect you to be able to beat two Shichibukai in a row.”
“Well clearly I should be able to,” Luffy mutters as he looks at Zoro’s bandaged form.
Zoro puts his hand on Luffy’s knee comfortingly and says, after a while, “I’m sorry. I-” He looks up at his captain and Luffy sees the determination in his eyes.
“I’ll get stronger.”
Luffy puts his hand on top of Zoro’s and a small smile tugs at his lips. “I know you will. And so will I.”
Zoro feels something prick his hand. He turns Luffy’s hand in his and gasps at what he sees. Luffy’s palm is covered in dry blood, a few glass shards peeking out. “Wha- Luffy,” Zoro scolds as he spreads Luffy’s fingers with his to examine the wound.
“Ah- I forgot about that.”
“How can you- Chopper!” Zoro calls.
The reindeer peeks into the room, hiding the wrong way.
“You have another patient,” Zoro says, showing him Luffy’s hand.
“Ah- that’s right!” He scurries over and jumps on Zoro’s lap to examine the wound, tweezers at the ready.
“Doesn’t it hurt?” Chopper asks, surprised.
“Well, now that you mention it, it kinda does.”
“You’re so dumb,” Zoro sighs.
“Hey!” Luffy complains. “Not as dumb as you,” he says as he sticks his tongue out.
Zoro rolls his eyes but doesn’t let go of Luffy’s hand as Chopper disinfects it.
..
Sabaody is a mess; bloodlust and pirates and marines all hiding behind a happy facade, and Luffy understands way too late just the kind of mess they’re in.
The bear of a man swipes the air and suddenly there where Zoro was is only silence, and the ground tilts as Luffy loses his balance, knees hitting the grass hard. He bites his lip hard enough to bleed as he forces out the words he knows he needs to say,
“For now, everyone run! We’ll think about Zoro later!”
Even that doesn’t save his crew, and Luffy’s heart breaks as he watches them disappear one by one. Loss and defeat heavy in his chest, he cries.
..
Ace is gone, gone forever and Luffy screams as his fists hit the ground, bloodied and bruised.
..
Luffy has gone from having two brothers to zero and Zoro can’t sit still, nails digging in the skin over his heart. The nightmares stretch across their bond and soon Ace’s bloody, fading smile is etched into his mind.
Zoro is miles away on an island he has no idea where it is even located, but that’s hardly going to stop him from trying to help his captain. The following night, he stubbornly thinks of their home; the smell of Sanji’s food, Brook’s melodies, Chopper’s hooves scurrying across the floorboards, the swish of Robin’s books, Nami’s and Franky's loud voices, the lull of Usopp’s stories. But most of all he thinks about Luffy, smiling and carefree as he lies across his special seat, eyes turned towards the blue heavens.
..
A seagull flies by, diving in the waves to catch a fish. Luffy blinks and he has to grab the railing to stop himself from falling as the waves rock him. He sits up and looks at his surroundings. The Merry Go glides over the waves, sails flapping loudly in the wind.
“Merry,” Luffy whispers and his voice breaks a little as his hand smooths over the ram’s horn.
“And then! The Great Usopp-sama told him: ‘You’re not hurting my friends!’”
Luffy looks up in surprise and a short incredulous laugh escapes him as he notices his crew sitting around on the deck.
“And then what happened?” Chopper asks with stars in his eyes, leaning forward on his hooves.
“Guys,” Luffy says as he steps on the deck, throat tight.
“What’s up, Captain?” Nami asks as she turns the page of the newspaper she’s reading.
Luffy looks around at them, his crew, his family, and the home he lost, and his lips wobble. Suddenly Zoro’s standing over him, expression unreadable.
“Luffy? Are you there?”
An odd question, but Luffy’s eyes widen under the searching gaze. He is- there; conscious and aware.
“Zoro?” Luffy whispers, eyes wide and Zoro grabs him, crushing him against his chest. ‘I’m sorry’ he repeats, over and over, and Luffy can only blink the tears away.
“This is your dream,” Luffy realises as he grabs a tight hold on Zoro's t-shirt. “It’s really you.”
And Zoro, strong Zoro crumbles completely at the sight of Luffy’s tears.
“I should have been there,” Zoro says, voice full of guilt like never before and Luffy shakes his head against Zoro’s chest.
“I could’ve lost you too…”
“Where are you now?” Zoro asks.
“Amazon Lily,” Luffy whispers. “It’s- safe. Rayleigh’s here. You?”
“Kuraigana.”
Luffy nods, though he’s never heard the name before. He tells Zoro about Rayleigh’s idea – the tattoo, the separation, the wait.
“Two years,” Zoro whispers, his hold tightening on the other, and then he breathes in deeply. “He’s right. As we are now, we wouldn’t survive the New World.” Luffy nods and Zoro wipes a tear away along Luffy’s scar.
“I’ll be here when you close your eyes.”
..
They fight, bleed and fall, but every time they rise stronger than before.
During the day they train and at night they lie together, looking up at the stars on the floorboards of the Merry, or the grass of the Sunny, or deserted beaches. They talk about the crew, what each member might be doing, and how they’ll have changed.
And sometimes, as they sit by the waves, Luffy’s caught in the sight of him - throat bared and gold pendants reflecting sunlight - and he realises maybe there’s more to loyalty and devotion.
“It’s a dream,” Zoro tells him one time. “Do whatever you want.”
Luffy has the feeling Zoro’s trying to tell him something important, but for once he doesn’t understand the look in Zoro’s eyes. He settles with leaning his head on Zoro’s shoulder, hand resting over his heartbeat.
Two years pass in the blink of an eye.
..
It’s just his luck that the first person Zoro runs into is the shit cook. They bicker like they used to but Zoro notices the sheer confidence in Sanji’s posture and all Zoro can feel is relief.
The best way to find the strawhat captain is to head where the ruckus is and sure enough they find the flaming red vest at the center of the crowd, surrounded by both marines and pirates.
And then Luffy’s jumping, catching the swordsman in a bone-crushing hug and burying his face in Zoro’s neck and Sanji has to look away at the intimacy of it. Then with a happy shout of 'Sanji!’ the captain hugs him as well and Sanji pats him on the back.
They get back to the ship and Luffy looks at the happy faces of his crewmates, the playful bickering and claps on the back and his chest swells with pride and the feeling of belonging, maybe a little euphoria. Things are finally falling back into place - his family is back together and they’re stronger than ever, ready to take on whatever the seas can throw at them.
He catches Zoro looking at him, in that way he sometimes does, and Luffy’s body moves on its own.
In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t the best of times.
Luffy steps into his personal space and lays his hand at the base of Zoro’s neck. As he pulls him down, Zoro thinks holy shit and then Luffy’s kissing him, soft and sweet and Zoro swears he could fly, body light and heart fluttering in his chest, if not for the burning stares of his crewmates he can feel on his neck.
And then Luffy blinks at the chaos he created - Zoro’s flaming face and his crewmates trying to pick up their jaws off the floorboards - and it starts as a quiet shishi bubbling up in his chest, until he’s laughing at the heavens, head thrown back to the wind.
If Mihawk doesn’t end up killing him then Luffy certainly will, Zoro thinks as he scrubs a hand across his face, trying to calm his pulse.
Nami’s the first to recover, and then she stands, palm open in front of her crewmates and a devilish smile on her face. “Pay up.” After a collective groan, coins and Berry bills fall into her hand.
“What the hell,” Zoro says, horrified at the exchange.
“Did you really think we didn’t notice?” Nami winks at him. “These guys were sure you would make the first move though,” she says as she counts the bills.
“Uh,” Zoro says intelligently and Luffy’s still laughing at his side, Franky’s crying and claiming he’s not crying, Brook is laughing like a maniac and strumming his guitar, Usopp has that look of betrayal of someone who’s best friend was keeping a huge secret and Sanji’s loudly proclaiming Nami is beautiful even when she is profiting off of other people’s happiness.
Zoro sighs at it all and then looks at his captain. “So, Fishman Island?”
Luffy snickers and throws his hands into the air,
“Set sail!”