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Zoro blinked awake as the winds changed a bit. “Huh?” He sat up and looked around. On the horizon was an impossible island at the end of the world. “Laugh Tale.”
“Indeed.”
Zoro looked over to Mihawk and Perona, the latter beaming at him, excited. “We’ll be there in a couple hours.”
“We will,” Mihawk looked as indifferent as he ever did to anything. “In time for the anniversary party in fact.”
“What party?” Zoro tried to will the winds to fill their sails.
“Dummy, the one year anniversary! Luffy being king?” Perona swatted him. “Nami sent out invitations to everyone. A grand masquerade party to celebrate a year of rule.”
“Luffy would hate that.” No way was Luffy on board with that. Unless Nami had bribed him with a big party spread of food. “I don’t care about a party, I just want to be home.”
“You will be, soon enough. And you will care about the party, because your friends do. And do not fret, we assumed you would be ill prepared, so Perona has created an acceptable costume for you.”
She was giggling, and that wasn’t terrifying at all.
“Here.” Mihawk handed him paper that felt different than any he had touched before. Fancy ass shit. And it said Pirates come fete your king, come as you aren’t, a night of magic and pretend blah blah blah. “It should be an interesting night. There are significant prizes for costumes that truly hide who you are. Indeed there is a challenge, when your identity is guessed, you leave the first party and go to the second.”
“Why is Nami parting with this much money? What is going on?” Zoro knew the crew, his nakama, and this meant something.
“I could hardly guess at the workings of your motley crew, Roronoa Zoro. Perhaps it is something, perhaps it is just a party. Only going will answer.”
“Yeah.” Zoro could understand that. “Well, we’ll just get me guessed early and then-“
“Excuse you, our family doesn’t throw a challenge like this!” Perona screeched. “We are winning.” A finger and three negative hollows were in his face. “One of the three of us will make it to the top! I want the prize.”
“Indeed. I dislike losing, and having done so once recently, I do not intend to do so again. We will put our best foot forward, Zoro, is that clear?”
Zoro wanted to argue but Mihawk raised that stupid brow and Perona was pouting and he was the reason that Mihawk had suffered his first defeat in decades. So fine, they’d do the stupid thing. He nodded and got a hug from Perona, a faint smile from Mihawk. “Suppose it will be a hell of a way to tell everyone I did it.”
“It will at that.”
They arrived at Laugh Tale a couple hours later, and Zoro was shocked at the amount of ships there. It seemed every pirate had come out for this party.
“Mihawk, look even Red Force is here,” Perona pointed. “You can see Shanks.”
“Perhaps.” There was a small smile on his face, which was the same as other idiots shouting declarations of love from rooftops. They moored their small caravel, and showed their invitation.
They decided to change on their boat and all stripped down together with ease of once having been the only people living together for two years. He laughed as wigs were brought out, a blonde one put on Perona, red on Mihawk and she approached him with plain brown. “They’ll figure me out quick, Perona.” He gestured to his eye, “Kinda easy to spot.”
“Trust me,” she said and of course in this sort of stuff he did. Fuck, Mihawk was even shaving for this. They were taking it seriously. By the end Perona looked like a fairy princess, the one from the story about the missing shoe, and Mihawk looked like a cowboy. “Sit,” he was told and Perona had a palette of paints. A brush pressed gently against sewn skin, as an eye was painted there. “With the mask on it will give enough of an illusion of an eye.”
He was put in clothes that sort of matched Perona but not, there were a few odd angles, and gears. He put it together, he was a clockwork toy. He thought of Soldier and smiled. There were worse costumes. The mask was attached to a bit of a stupid hat, sorta like Mihawk's usual. It was put on him and the mask slid over most of his face.
“Excellent,” Mihawk said and strapped guns to his hips. Zoro doubted that they were fake. They headed up the steps that took forever to the top of Laugh Tale. There was no grand palace for the king, just a series of huts not dissimilar to Zou, and a huge field that was full of pirates playing pretend.
It was all sorts of absurd and amazing. He could see lights a bit in the distance, he assumed the second party you went to if you identity was guessed. “It’s so cute,” Perona whispered. “Don’t blow it,” she glared at him. “You blow it, I’ll kick your ass. Remember to change your voice a bit. Both of you.” She started to float away and he hissed at her a bit, because fine dammit maybe he wanted to win too. Just to be able to stick it to Nami.
Perona started walking and looked a bit awkward doing it, so used to floating everywhere.
“Behave,” he was told by Mihawk, and then he was gone too.
Zoro made a beeline for the bar. He was served a mug of ale and it was cold and perfect and then he smelled Sanji’s cooking. Zoro went to the table and breathed it in. Five months without it, and he had missed it desperately. He shoved a few pieces in his mouth and then observed the crowd.
It seemed everyone had taken the costuming seriously. He didn’t recognize anybody. Which meant anybody could be there. He reached for the swords that weren’t there because they would have given him away in an instant. Fuck that. The navy could be in this crowd for Luffy and like fuck they’d get near the king. He was getting them.
Or he wasn’t because Mihawk was there in front of him. “Perona has hidden all our weapons under that table there. Use your observation haki, to keep open to threat. But relax and enjoy the party. Dance with someone.” There was a smirk at that.
“Fuck off and go find Shanks.”
“You’re Trafalgar Law!” They heard shouted and turned.
“No shit, thank you. I didn’t want to do this. Room.” And Law was gone to the other party. Shit, Zoro wished he could get away with that, but Perona would kill him. And he didn’t want her sad. Stupid family crap.
Mihawk nudged him and he wandered around. Refilled his glass a few times, and he supposed for this kind of thing it was decent. But it was a lot and he just wanted his nakama.
He just wanted his king.
Zoro found himself on the edges of the party, next to a person a bit shorter than him, though it was hard to tell because their dinosaur costume was kinda big and awkward. “How do you even move in that?” he had to ask.
“Not well,” the person said. “But I look cool. Roar.” He said it, instead of actually roaring and Zoro laughed. “Hey, do I know you?” The voice was a bit familiar, but not because the person was clearly trying to make themselves sound different.
“Maybe, lots of people know each other here.”
That was a fair point.
“The food smells so good,” the man said.
Since it wasn’t likely to get back to shit cook, Zoro had no problems praising his crewmate. “Sanji would have prepped it all. The pirate king has the best chef there ever has been.”
“Heard he was good.”
Excuse me, was someone not giving the correct praise to his nakama?
Zoro turned and glared and the dinosaur. “He is the best cook there ever fucking was, or ever will be. The pirate king, only has the best of the best on his crew. Best doctor, best navigator, best cook. Best everyone.”
“Guess they must be if they made Luffy pirate king. You ever meet him?”
“Yeah,” was all Zoro said.
“Heard he’s an idiot.”
Zoro snorted a bit. “He’s absolutely an idiot. What I love about him.” Wait, he did not just say that to this stranger. “I need another drink.” He hurried away, because what the fuck was that? Zoro got a drink and he drained it. He needed help. He looked around and fuck Perona was dancing with someone. Well he was fairly certain you could interrupt people on the dance floor. He shoved the other man away and realized well fuck, he’d actually have to dance now.
Fine. He swept Perona into his arms and began to waltz because Mihawk had insisted he know this shit. “I told a stranger I love Luffy.”
“Yeah? And?” Perona rolled her eyes a bit. “What’s the big deal?”
“I didn’t know I loved Luffy.”
“Huh?” Perona actually stumbled for a moment. “You didn’t? We knew. Everyone knows you love him.”
“No, not like my captain, my king, like how Mihawk loves Shanks.”
“Yeah? You seriously didn’t clue in that dying a few times for the guy might be a bit more than just he’s a nifty captain?”
“Why would I think in those terms?”
“That’s true, you are emotionally stunted. Well, I guess congratulations for figuring out what the rest of the world did years ago?” Perona pat his head. “There there, sweetie.”
“Kiss my ass.”
“Hey now that you’ve figured that out, you should tell Luffy and he’ll maybe actually kiss your ass. He seems like he’d be all over your ass.”
“I hate you,” Zoro declared and spun her away until the arms of a woman dressed like a mermaid, and stomped back to the bar for another drink.
“Mihawk, you look so hot dressed like that! You need to put me up against a tree and -“
“Shanks, thank you for ruining our chances at the prize,” Mihawk sighed. Zoro noticed he didn’t look like he objected to that tree idea though. A servant guided them away and Zoro realized that the crowd had thinned a bit as people began to get really invested in guessing who everyone was.
He also saw that dinosaur trying to get at food but the costume blocking his way. He needed to talk to that guy, make sure word didn’t go around about what he had said. “Need help eating?”
There was a long sigh. “No, only way to eat would be to take off the costume and can’t do that unless anyone guess me. And no one has. Wait, you could guess who I am and then I would be free from this stupid party.”
Look, Zoro thought it was a stupid party too, but also it was for Luffy’s anniversary as pirate king and he couldn’t let the insult stand. “Oi, this is for Luffy, it isn’t stupid. He deserves everything.”
“Because you love him.”
“Yeah? And because he is freaking Luffy. He is impossible, an impossible creature and just…shut up, the party is fine.” Zoro felt awkward. “Look don’t tell anyone about what I said, alright?”
“Sure, you going to tell Luffy?”
Zoro laughed. “Fuck no, would never tell him that.”
“Because you are a stranger with a crush?”
Smart, the guy was trying to figure it out. “Sorry, not answering that. My sister will murder me if I don’t try my all to win this shindig, and our dad is already out.”
“Well you just told me you have a sister and a father here, so that will help narrow it down. I’m going to figure out who you are! Then I’ll help you tell Luffy how you feel.”
“Why the fuck would we do that?”
“Because everyone should know they are loved.”
That was a fair point. But still Zoro shrugged. “Whatever.”
“You sure I don’t know you?”
“How the fuck would we know without the reveal?” He heard a few more calls and they were down to about thirty people. People were getting intense about sussing it out. “Look, maybe I’ll tell him. I just figured it out tonight so give me a break.”
“Okay! Bye!” The dinosaur toddled off and managed to guess a few pirates.
He heard Perona’s distinct giggle and a shout, “Hey you’re that ghost girl!”
“Yeah, well you are Usopp!”
“What are you doing here?”
“I was invited!” She was in his face. “And I wanted to win and you ruined it.” Her hollows slammed through Usopp and since he had developed confidence over the years, it took him down. Servants escorted or carried them both away. Perona turned her head and glared at him. He understood. Win or deal with her.
He started moving through the crowd and using observation haki and figured out half a dozen people. He could tell others were doing the same. Some were easy thanks to their general height, though he was impressed it took them as long as it did to recognize Katakuri.
Eventually there were five of them left. One of which was the dinosaur. And one an old woman who kept looking at a treasure chest that supposedly held the prize. There was a gleam in her eye, and Zoro damn well knew that gleam. “Nami, if you create the prize money you cannot win the prize money,” he called out.
“Dammit!” She cursed and glared at him. “Fine, everyone come on, this is down to enough now that prizes can be awarded and you get the pleasure of revealing yourself.”
They all trailed behind Nami and Zoro helped the dinosaur who tripped a couple times. Most people had ditched parts of their costumes and they moved through the crowd which parted for them and they climbed a dais.
“Thank you, everyone for coming to Luffy’s party! One year as the pirate king!” There were roars and cheers from the crowd, and Zoro was pleased that everyone understood the value of Luffy. The dinosaur stepped forward and ripped away the costume.
Revealing Luffy.
Fuck.
Zoro started to ease away, but the other two who hadn’t been guessed were blocking the path down. He could take them out, run away, it was an option. But he stayed put.
“Shishishi, this was fun! I thought it was stupid when Nami suggested it, but it was great! In a second we will hand out treasure to these winners, but first, Nami didn’t know, but I had another reason for agreeing to this party.” Luffy put his hat on his head and gave the look.
Everyone gathered there knew the look.
Zoro reached for his swords that weren’t at his side. He looked around the crowd and caught Perona’s gaze. She nodded, and he saw her ghost flying to collect all their weapons.
“Luffy?” Nami sounded nervous. “What’s going on?”
“Zoro.” Luffy’s voice was low and dark. “My Zoro has been gone for five months now. Your pirate king demands that if he is lost, you find him and bring him to me. And if he is dead, fifty million berries to the person who brings me Mihawk’s head for killing my queen.”
“Queen?” at least thirty people shouted.
“Well I love him and he is supposed to be next to me, so what else do I call him beside queen?” Luffy’s dark determination left and he was just Luffy again.
Sanji from beside the buffet began to laugh. “Yes, queen. Absolutely call him queen.”
“You love Zoro?” Nami was taking off the costume, clearly Kin’emon work. “You actually figured out you love him?”
“Yeah! Three months ago! All by myself! Don’t feel this sad when someone isn’t there unless you love them.” Luffy nodded. “And if Mihawk killed him, he will pay.”
Zoro groaned a bit.
“Let me reassure you, Pirate King, that I did no such thing.” Mihawk stepped out from under Shanks’s arm. “He in fact defeated me, after an unending four day battle. Roronoa Zoro is the world’s best swordsman.” Mihawk gave a bit of a bow to the stunned pirates. “And he is not lost. I guaranteed his safe return, and if he is not in the crowd unmasked that would mean…” Mihawk was clearly waiting for Luffy to put it together.
Luffy was not going to put it together.
“He’s one of the people on the stage, you moron,” Nami shouted.
Luffy’s gaze snapped to them. “It ain’t me,” a mask pulled off revealed Bartolomeo, “And let me just say, Mister Luffy, it is an honour to be here when you officially declared your love for Zoro that we all knew you were carrying in your heart.”
“Well, you come in third, by doing that, here,” Nami handed him a small treasure chest. Zoro could feel Nami staring between him and the other person, and she smiled. “You better have figured it out, idiot, or I’ll kick your ass for hurting him.”
Zoro gave just the faintest smile but that seemed to be enough. Nami was shoved not too delicately out of the way and hit Luffy up the head in response. Everyone there quieted and Luffy looked up at him. Not a lot, Luffy wasn’t that much shorter than him, but just enough.
“You said you loved Luffy.”
“I did.” Zoro grinned. Perona’s hollows dropped his swords on the dais and he took the stupid frock coat off and put his swords on. “I love him a lot. Always. Can realize it now, because I’m the world’s best, finally the pirate king’s equal.”
“That’s stupid. Zoro was always the best.” Hands reached up. “This really better be Zoro under here.” Hands pulled. “The mask isn’t coming off.”
“Up, attached to the hat.”
“Oh that’s neat. You said you had a sister and father.”
“Perona and Mihawk are my family now.” The mask came off and he smiled at Luffy. “Captain.”
There was no response, just Luffy’s arms around him and kissing.
“Aha, I am the last standing, I win the costume prize!” Cavendish called out.
“Fuck sake’s, Cabbage, not the fucking time!” Bartolomeo yelled and tackled him. “Don’t you see that Mister Luffy and Mister Zoro are having the moment we’ve all dreamed of seeing?”
“You maybe, I care about winning. Which I did.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Nami dropped the large treasure chest next to his head. “Well sorry, no one needs to find Zoro, he’s here. Drink, eat, party, everyone!”
There were cheers and Brook started playing music and Luffy and Zoro didn’t notice any of it.
They only noticed each other.