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"Man, what a damn pain," Zoro sighs as he slumps into the couch next to his captain.
It hadn't been very long since they arrived on this futuristic government island before trouble began. He had been surprised to find himself face-to-face with that giraffe guy again, but that quickly resolved itself and turned into a bunch of other complicated things. Before he knew it, the crew had decided to set sail as soon as possible with old Vegapunk on board. Once they were able to locate him, that is. He thought it would have been faster if he helped them search, but for whatever reason they were very insistent on him staying put with Luffy.
Waiting here was kind of a pain, but he supposed, "Well, they're just forming a search party, so I guess they'll be fine."
He crosses his legs into a more relaxed posture and turns his attention to Luffy, who is fully collapsed into the couch beside him, attempting to catch his breath with exaggerated pants. "Anyway," Zoro changes the subject, "You must've been running all out, huh?" Apparently before he and Brook had met up with the rest of the crew, Luffy had been running wild throughout the entire place trying to look for the old man and that pirate woman.
"Bleh!" Luffy huffs out between breaths, "I always... go all out... for everything..."
Zoro eyes the two unconscious forms of pigeon and giraffe guy at their feet, "Can't believe we bumped into these guys again." Fighting all of those Zoan fruit users made him feel like he was in some sort of zoo. So much had changed since those times. "Takes me back to Water 7," he says, recalling memories he hasn't thought about in ages.
Robin, Usopp and Luffy, Merry —
Interrupting Zoro's train of thought, and apparently his own exhaustion, Luffy wonders aloud, "I wonder how ice-boss is doing." He turns and beams brightly at Zoro, "Everything is probably fixed up now after that storm. I bet Franky will be really happy to see everyone again. Man, there are so many people we have to go back and visit after I become pirate king!"
An uncontrollable smile spreads across Zoro's face at his captain's earnestness. He didn't often think too far into the future, after Luffy was pirate king and he was his greatest swordsman. But all of them had their dreams and he would follow Luffy to the ends of the earth until they all became reality, and further if he let him. "Yeah," He agrees simply.
The conversation fades into comfortable silence, save for the various whirring fans and humming gadgets in the room around them. Among these noises, Zoro also hears muffled, indiscernible voices coming out of Luffy's headset. Luffy seems to be listening to them as well, cocking his head slightly and pressing the headset into his ear. It seemed like almost everyone else had one of those headsets too, Zoro had noticed. How come his outfit didn't come with one? Not that he cared.
Still, curiosity getting the better of him, Zoro asks, "What do you hear?"
"Mmm," Luffy answers, "I hear everyone talking, but nobody is saying anything funny."
Zoro didn't have much interest in new technology. Still, he had to admit it was pretty convenient to be connected to everyone without a bunch of transponder snails. He and Luffy would be able to know right away if anything bad happened. But if Luffy could hear everyone talking, it made Zoro wonder, "Can they hear us too?"
"Oh!" Luffy exclaimed, like that hadn't occurred to him, "I don't know. Let's see!" Luffy clears his throat and pretends to put on the most serious and official voice he can muster, "Hello Usopp, come in Usopp. This is your captain speaking." He waits a brief moment, but after receiving no reply, he starts again, "Chopper! Chopper! Come in Chopper, can you read me?"
Again, there is no response. Luffy grumbles in frustration. Zoro can't help but smirk and shake his head at his idiot captain.
Never possessing more than an ounce of patience, Luffy drops the act and shouts into his headset, "OI, EVERYONE! THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN, DO YOU READ ME? SANJI, NAMI, FRANKY...'' He pointlessly continues hollering into his headset, calling out for one straw hat member after the other.
"They obviously can't hear you, idiot!" Zoro shouts over him, hoping to break Luffy out of his bothersome screaming.
Finally giving up, Luffy whines, "How come they all get to talk and I can't? Maybe I gotta push something on it to talk." He starts to feel around and fidget with the device.
Zoro shrugs, "Probably gave you one that couldn't talk because they knew you'd annoy everyone with it."
"How rude!" Luffy exasperates, "Why would I annoy everyone?"
Well, trying to scream into everyone's ears while they're out forming a search party is one way. However, Zoro decides against arguing the fact that Luffy was trying to do just that.
Luffy doesn't actually press the matter though, quickly moving on to a new subject. "I'm bored," he moans, "And hungry. All of that running made me tired."
Zoro huffs out a laugh, "When aren't you?"
Luffy turns his body to face him, eyes bright and hopeful, "Do you have anything with you?"
"Do I have what with me? Food?" The stupid question makes Zoro furrow his brow. "Why would I be carrying food with me?"
As if it was obvious, Luffy retorts, "Well, you got those big pockets in that jacket!" He reaches out to pat them down, possibly checking their contents, as he seemed disappointed to find them empty.
It's always stuff like this that makes him question how he ended up following such a strange captain. Amused nevertheless, Zoro replies, "Only you would be weird enough to carry around food like that."
"How's that weird? That way you can eat anywhere!" Luffy defends. Then his eyes light up as if he has remembered something. "Zoro, did you see the food machine?" he asks, grabbing Zoro by the arm and shaking him in excitement, "You can make any food you want and you don't even have to wait! It's so cool! I bet it would make Sanji mad though."
Despite being jostled around, Zoro finds himself smiling fondly at Luffy's enthusiasm. "I haven't seen it yet," he answers. Although, seeing the cook's reaction to something like that might also be amusing.
"I'll show you later unless we gotta run away really fast," Luffy decides. "Man, I wish we could spend a lot more time here. There's so much cool stuff. Too bad I broke my hover boots from running around so much. Zoro, don't tell the old man punk I broke them! These clothes are still cool though, so nice and light!" He grins, admiring his outfit.
Zoro finds himself eyeing up Luffy as well. He wasn't sure he'd describe what Luffy was wearing as "cool". Some sort of long, bright red and yellow jacket that he didn't think he pull off himself, but in a weird way it suited Luffy. Actually, he would even say it made him look kind of cute, but never out loud.
"Oi, Zoro," Luffy's voice breaks Zoro out of that cringey train of thought.
With the attention now on him, Luffy's breaks into a mischievous grin. He continues in a low voice, "Wanna see what I'm wearing under it?"
Wait, wanna see what now? Zoro's brain short circuits and he wonders if he really heard what he thought he just heard. "U-under...?" He splutters, as heat begins to feel the heat creeping up his neck. Under it? Is he not —? What the fuck? Right now? Wait!
Before Zoro could form a coherent response, Luffy reaches for the hem of his jacket and slowly inches it up one of his thighs to reveal —
"My shorts!" Luffy starts cackling and Zoro lets go of the breath he didn't even know he was holding.
"God damn it, Luffy!" Zoro shouts, still red in the face. He retaliates by throwing a hard punch into his captain's bicep.
His outburst seems to only make Luffy laugh even harder, completely unbothered by his first mate's act of violence. "Did I trick you into thinking I was not wearing anything under this?"
Flustered and feeling like an idiot, Zoro retorts, "How should I know? You're the one who brought that weird stuff up!"
Obviously pleased with this reaction, his laughs continue to echo around them. His eyes squint shut as tears threaten to fall from his uncontrollable laughter. Zoro shoves him and Luffy lets himself collapse and flop onto his side.
Zoro involuntarily reaches to rub the back of his neck, "Idiot. Why do you always gotta trick me like that?"
"It's funny!" Luffy snickers, like that's any sort of good reason. He sits back up and eyes Zoro, "Ever since I found out that Zoro like-likes me," wiggling his brows in a teasing manner as he speaks.
"Yeah well, don't make me regret telling you that," Zoro says, averting his gaze. Not that he really ever planned to tell him in the first place. He never wanted to complicate things. It just so happened that it was impossible to act normal when Luffy decided to start climbing all over him. Ever since Luffy's fight with Kaido, he's been in better spirits than ever, saying something about how he's now able to be his most free. Zoro still wasn't quite sure what that meant by that yet, but it's definitely made Luffy extra playful and clingy. He tried telling Luffy that it wasn't a good idea for him to be all up on him, which Luffy curiously questioned, and Zoro refused to explain further.
So then of course, whenever Luffy doesn't quite get what someone means, he visits Robin about the matter and the damn perceptive woman straight-up tells him.
The strange thing was, after Luffy confronted Zoro about his feelings he started being even more touchy and now he's saying weird stuff like this, like it's some sort of game to him. He knows Luffy's poking and prodding is to get some sort of reaction out of him, but can't tell if he has any intentions beyond that and certainly isn't willing to ask. But despite Luffy's persistent antics, Zoro still struggles to grasp the reality that his habitual suppression of these feelings was no longer necessary. And although it was uncomfortable to now have his affections on display, the cork finally being pried off his bottle of his emotions was also a bit of a relief. Luckily, Luffy seemed unbothered by the whole ordeal, but for Zoro couldn't help feeling apprehensive about wandering into this uncharted territory, having no idea how anything would progress from here. He had told Luffy nothing had to change, but maybe change was inevitable.
"Come on, Zoro, don't be mad," Luffy chuckles, jovially patting him on the back.
It was all just too much to think about and a damn pain. And also —
His eyes wander to the unconscious bodies still on the floor in front of them, "Whatever. Just don't be saying that kind of stuff when those guys are right there."
Luffy smirks at that, "Why's that matter? Not like they can hear us."
Well, true, but, "Still, it's weird."
"Zoro's no fun!" Luffy exclaims, apparently not caring.
Zoro clicks his tongue, not knowing what else to say and wanting to be done thinking about all of this. He meets Luffy's gaze, who is still staring with bright eyes and that stupid, impish grin.
"I'm bored!" Luffy loudly proclaims, "I wanna play with Zoro."
Deciding he's had more than enough of his captains troublesome antics for the time being, Zoro sighs, "Idiot, we're not kids anymore."
Yet Luffy just snickers at that, "Not that kind of play, stupid." He scoots closer and wraps his arm around Zoro's shoulder, smiling at him intently.
The close proximity makes Zoro tense. He averts his gaze as he feels the heat creeping up his face again. Well, that answered his question about Luffy's intentions but also made him think up several more. "What the hell are you on about all of a sudden?" He stammers, "Thought you didn't care about that stuff."
Luffy counters with, "But Zoro likes it right? I never tried it before."
He wasn't really sure what has gotten into Luffy today, but when he got an idea in his head he tended to get tunnel vision.
"Well," Zoro stutters. As amazing as it sounded to let Luffy try whatever the hell he wanted with him, everything was happening way too fast and this was certainly not the right place for it. He leans back, overwhelmed Luffy's grasp. "Only when it's just you and me."
"That's true," Luffy considers, seeming unhurt by Zoro's reluctance. "I guess if you got a boner in that stretchy suit everyone would see it."
An ungodly sound escapes Zoro's mouth as he groans in embarrassment and slaps a hand over Luffy's mouth to prevent anything else from spilling out., "God, Luffy, just shut up for once!"
Even with his mouth contained, Luffy's his playful eyes still beam at him. His muffled laugh vibrates against Zoro's palm. He attempts to speak, but after he realizes he's unable to form audible words, he tries to pry Zoro's arm off his face.
Zoro stands firm, "I'm not letting go until you promise to stop saying shit like that."
Luffy continues to laugh in his hand but, deciding it was time to stop, nods his head in agreement.
As soon as Zoro releases him, Luffy lets out an exaggerated gasp. He opens his mouth like he is about to add something else, but quickly snaps it shut in realization. He squirms around in his seat and begins to bounce his leg at a rapid pace. "Sorry, Zoro, it's hard!"
Zoro shakes his head at his wild fidgeting, "God Luffy, what the hell is with you today?"
"I thought you would like it since you have a crush on me." However, Luffy sometimes didn't realize when he crossed the line between joking and aggravating. "Are you mad?"
Zoro sighs, never being good at explaining himself in these situations. He gently nudges his hand against Luffy's resting next to him. The gesture feels unnatural and makes him avoid Luffy's eyes. "No. Guess I'm confused," He admits, "I told you nothing had to change between us."
"Mmm." Luffy considers for a moment, "I don't really want to think about all of that stuff. I just want us to have fun."
To Luffy, it was always just as simple as that. Zoro never was good when it came to feelings and that sort of stuff, but Luffy didn't need him to be. He lets his eyes meet Luffy's, who was staring back at him with that unreadable expression.
"Zoro is stupid." He says bluntly.
Zoro huffs out a laugh, "I have to be to follow such a stupid captain."
At that, Luffy bursts out, "Hey!" and shoves his shoulder playfully into Zoro.
Zoro grins. It was too much of a pain to think about all of this stuff too hard. He forcefully shoves back.
Pleased with the turn of events, Luffy bursts out laughing as they continue to playfully shove at each other.
Then, sensing an opening, Luffy grabs Zoro's forearm and yanks it towards his mouth, with intention to sink his teeth in.
"Oi!" Zoro shouts, using his other hand to push back against Luffy's forehead. Luffy giggles as he struggles to push his head forward towards Zoro's arm.
Zoro manages to rip his arm free of Luffy's firm hold and grabs him by the face, cheeks slightly squishing between his grip. "That's it," Zoro declares through clenched teeth, "Now you're asking for it."
Luffy's eyes are wide in playful anticipation, daring him to try whatever he intended to do next. Zoro gazes upon that wild smile, the one he refuses to lose for, the one he could do the unthinkable for, the one has swallowed his pride for, the one he would have died for.
Pent-up sentiments threaten to pour out as Zoro admired the treasure he held in his hands.
Luffy's smile changed from playful to curious, "Zoro?"
Maybe that was fine though, unconscious pigeon and giraffe guy be damned. Softening his grip, Zoro cups Luffy's cheeks, and lets himself slowly lean in to —
Suddenly, Luffy's face scrunches in confusion and surprise. He leaps off the couch in alarm.
"What's up, Luffy?" Zoro is concerned by his sudden shift in demeanor.
"Hush!" Luffy hisses, pressing his headset into his ear. "Hey, Helmet," He shouts to the other room, "What happened? I can't hear any of their voices in my ear anymore."
And the next minute he's rushing into the next room screaming, "Hey, Helmet! What's going on?"
Well, maybe another time.
