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Every time the Strawhats get a new crewmember, even the less observant people have noted, fairly quickly, that Zoro was the original crewmate. It isn't hard to put together, really, not with how the rest of the crew, in moments of genuine umportance, defer to Zoro when Luffy is not there. Not with how they never seem to be far from the other, getting lost together with low grumbles and loud guffaws, or Zoro napping at the base of the figurehead that Luffy is perched upon, staring out at the ocean before them, the wildlife and clouds and future.
They orbit each other, two great suns endlessly drawn close.
Admittedly, it seems like everyone is drawn in by Luffy's sheer brilliance, his uncomplicated attitude and his warmth and his optimism; his moments of stark insight, where he sees right to the very core of a person and finds them nothing short of everything that they need to be. It isn't hard to like Luffy, unless you're an unmitigated arsehole who thinks everyone else is beneath you.
But his connection with Zoro is something special. Perhaps it was born in those first days of drifting on a small rowboat together, or in welcoming (in fighting for, tooth and nail, stretched limb and sword-) every member of their nakama since those days, or something more innate, their similar priorities or personalities. Maybe they made some pledge to each other that the rest of the crew are unaware of.
It doesn't matter. Not to Zoro and Luffy, and not to the crew; the pair are themselves, unapologetically so, never any more or less, and it's as simple as that.
There is no thought behind passing each other favourite dishes and drinks at a banquet, before deciding which direction to head in upon arriving on a new island, nor before moving to stand shoulder to shoulder, ready to protect others, each picking an opponent without any need for consultation. They talk silently. With glances and grins and little shifts of the shoulder, they don't need a single word before making a decision, before bursting forwards, Luffy's punches swinging high and wide, Zoro cutting down those directly in front of them.
It's a normal thing to watch, for the rest of the crew, how the two dance around each other in a fight, grinning and teasing and making bets on who could take out more, or debating what they should eat for dinner. Zoro doesn't even need to speak around his sword half the time.
Sometimes, of course, there are battles that aren't all-out brawls. There are individual fights, personal vendettas, times where they are separated. And whilst Luffy hates to leave a fight alone, too busy getting excited over being able to throw himself into battle, he sometimes leaves things to Zoro, when the swordsman asks for it, or when someone challenges Zoro directly.
It's always fun to watch Luffy sit back, legs crossed, elbows braced on his knees, laughing raucously as someone attempts to attack Zoro, calling out, completely casual about the technically very real chance of his First Mate dying.
His lack of worry, his utter, unfailing confidence in his Zoro, overrides even his own love for a fight. There's something impressive to that, honestly.
(His crew all know that the only thing that he prioritises above a good battle is them. What is a pirate captain without his nakama, after all? An independent, crew-scorning war lord is not destined to be the Pirate King; he is fated for death, at the hands of his own or of others, not for the One Piece.
Luffy will undeniably be the Pirate King, they are all certain.)
To be fair, Luffy is incredibly confident in all of them, often before they have confidence in themselves. And when he isn't there to spur them forwards for whatever reason, when the crew have split up or taken different routes around an island or been forced against different opponents, it is Zoro who will snarl a 'just fucking attack already, you'll be fine', will nudge his shoulders against theirs, will glance back at them until they can confirm that they're okay now. His faith is often shown differently to Luffy's, yet it's just as certain.
They are a formidable pair, both oh-so similar and notably different. On any given day, any normal one, Luffy is loud and bright, fierce and outgoing; Zoro is insular and sedate, low-toned and even-keeled.
But at their very cores, in their sun-fierce hearts, they are very similar indeed, from their solid convictions to their feral edges, with their kind hands that they don't hesitate to bloody the knuckles of to protect themselves, each other, even total strangers. They are good. Not soft per se, not often at least, not obviously so, but good all the same.
Not everyone understands them. That much is very, very clear. However, that isn't a problem, not for them, they don't need to have outsiders' opinions or approvals. No, they'll get competitive, teasing, over their rising bounties, or sometimes get outraged at wildly incorrect assumptions about them, but they never change their truest selves, never allow themselves to be swayed from their dreams.
There is a connection between them both, innate, right down to their very bones, entrenched in their marrow. Their gazes draw together. Their attentions slip naturally to each other. Sitting together, they will be knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder. Luffy, animated as always, swings his arms around, fidgets, rocks into his laughter and stories. Yet he never moves far enough that the arm over his shoulder is dislodged.
No, he always remains tucked neatly under Zoro's arm. And he smiles the entire time.
(Their crew would have to be blind, dumb, and deaf to miss how the rest of the world talk about Captain Monkey D Luffy and his First Mate, Roronoa Zoro. How their names are never far from each other, spilling over people's lips in tandem; their wanted posters are always tacked up next to each other, the awe and terror with which they are spoken about tangible.
It is rare, more than, for one to be mentioned without the other. The half-feral demons, monsters who fighting one of will only earn you the wrath of the other. And, well, Luffy has a reputation for flipping out on anyone who attacks one of his nakama, for tearing apart anything that tries to hurt them, but there is something specific about when Zoro actually gets injured, rare though it is for that to be significant. Something about his rage, his terror, his implacability.
About his ruthlessness, when standing over his hurt First Mate with his entire ocean-ferocity brought to bear.
Luffy is a god, a demon, a human who loves his nakama with every piece of his gold-threaded heart, and none moreso than his First Mate, his swordsman, his Zoro.)
The crew do not mind the peculiar, specific closeness between the two. They know that Luffy and Zoro care for them all fiercely, deeply, irrevocably, that the pair's particular relationship does not detriment their own lives. Not at all.
And well, Luffy and Zoro are the only ones who could handle the other's chaos to that degree of intensity, they reckon.