Chapter Text
The sun was shining brightly in the sky, its light enveloping the island in a soft hue of warm orange on this early morning. Luffy was looking out of the window, admiring the sea, visible from his school, an infinite vastness of possibilities almost at his reach.
He couldn't wait to go out there one day with his own sailboat, traveling around the world, and discovering new things along the way. It was his biggest dream and every day he was getting closer to achieve his goal.
Luffy had chosen this school specifically because it was close to the coast and most importantly, for their sailing club. Last year, the upperclassmen had graduated, and left the club to Luffy who had become the new president. He had promised them that he would find new members and keep the club alive despite the fact the coach had retired and the lack of applicants.
It was really important to him as he had never been able to participate in competitions before, usually reserved to second-year and third-year students. The only time he could have competed he was only a substitute. But now, it was finally his time to shine.
Luckily, he had found three people willing to join and they had become great friends already. It wasn't enough, however. They were missing one last member to complete the club and save it.
The teacher suddenly stopped his lecture to introduce a new student. It was rare to have someone coming several weeks after the beginning of the school year. It piqued Luffy's interest.
"Everyone, this is your new classmate," the teacher said. "Come on, introduce yourself."
The boy had green hair, three piercings on his left ear and looked really stoic. "Hi, I'm Roronoa Zoro from Shimotsuki. Nice to meet you," he announced nonchalantly.
"Can you tell us more about yourself?" The teacher encouraged him to speak more, but the new kid didn’t really seem interested.
"There’s nothing more to say." Zoro shrugged, readjusting the straps of his bag over his shoulder.
Luffy's eyes widened at the sight. He arrived just at the right time like a hero. He was perfect! The club didn't have to close after all, he had found their new member!
"Well, that’s fine," the teacher finally told him with a light chuckle. "You can go find a seat."
Luffy waved at Zoro to get his attention and pointed at the empty table behind him.
When the bell rang and ended their English class, Luffy ran to catch up to Zoro who had immediately left the class the second it was over.
"Hey, Zoro!" Luffy shouted, following him in the halls.
"No." The boy with green hair answered without giving him the time to say more.
"I didn't ask anything yet!"
"It's already a no."
Luffy pouted in frustration. They just needed one more member in their club, just one more!
All morning Luffy had tried to ask him to join his club, but Zoro clearly avoided him.
"Please, dude, hear me out!" Luffy tried again, a little out of breath after running after him.
"Can you stop following me?" The new guy replied, annoyed.
When the teacher had introduced him this morning, Luffy was really excited. A new student meant that he didn't have a club yet. Perfect timing!
Zoro kept walking, not caring one bit, but Luffy continued to follow him around the halls in the hope that he would listen to him.
"I'm the president of the sailing club and we need one more member or the club will be shut down!" Luffy shouted, rapidly catching up.
Zoro stopped and turned to face him. "Uh? What makes you think I want to join your stupid club?"
"It would be fun, I swear," Luffy assured him, still optimistic.
"I don't know anything about sailing, I was trained in martial arts. If I had to join a club, I would rather join the kendo club instead." Zoro retorted, irritated.
"Would you?"
"No."
"So, join my club, then?"
Zoro frowned. "Are you stupid or something? Did you just hear what I said?"
"You have to choose a club, though. It's mandatory at this school." Luffy informed him.
"For real?" Zoro exclaimed and then pinched the bridge of his nose. Luffy could see that he was getting even more annoyed but ignored it.
"Yep," he added with a shrug. "They didn't tell you?"
"Shit…"
"Our club is on the third floor! Come see for yourself!" Luffy tried to persuade him. "We don't have any funds for our club’s activities because we need more members. But we have a boat, well, sort of." He added, hoping this last piece of information would convince the other boy.
Zoro didn't seem to care about everything he had said and walked away, ignoring him.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Luffy asked him, intrigued to see him go in the opposite direction. He wanted to talk more about his club with him, but maybe he shouldn't. He couldn't force him, anyway.
"It's lunch time, I'm going to the cafeteria." Zoro kept walking without even turning to look at him.
Luffy was confused. "It's the other way, though."
Zoro turned on his heels and then walked past Luffy as if nothing had happened.
"Ok, thanks…" he had still casually muttered.
And then he was gone. Luffy sighed. He did his best but now it was up to Zoro. His hands were tied. He hoped the boy would change his mind, however…
At least he had found someone! He needed to inform his friends immediately about the news, so he took his phone out of his pocket to type a quick message in their group chat.
guys i found the perfect candidate for our club!
Kingusopp : seriously?? 🥺
Namiii : ok cool but we still have no funds and no boat for practice
ChefuSanji : we don't actually need to practice 🤷🏼
Kingusopp : right
Kingusopp: honestly I'm fine doing nothing
Namiii : are you two serious?
ChefuSanji : i only joined because the cooking club was full, i never said i was interested in sailing
Namiii : why did you join then you dummy?
ChefuSanji : luffy needed more people and i wanted to help that's all
ChefuSanji: and plus, i can still cook for you guys so it's one win i guess
yes, thank you sanji 🥰
but anyway, with him we won't have to close the club!
Kingusopp : hooray! 😃
After class, Zoro stopped at the kendo club outside the school building. If he had to take part in a club, then it had to be something he was good at. He had learned this art martial when he was a kid and had immediately fallen in love with it. He had won many prizes and even came in first at the Junior Nationals.
At 13 years old, all he had wanted was to become the best kendōka and beat his master who had taught him everything he knew. But now he wasn't so sure. A stupid injury had completely ruined his plans and he hadn't touched a shinai in a while.
This was a bad idea. And from what he just saw, applications were closed, and the club was already full, anyway. He arrived too late. But what did he expect? He came here way after the start of the school year…
"Hey, Zoro!"
Zoro groaned. He'd recognized this voice anywhere. It was the guy who had kept bothering him this morning.
"What do you want?" He grumbled, hands in his pockets.
"So have you thought about my proposition?" The guy asked energetically, already tiring him.
Zoro sighed. "No? Why would I? I don't care about your sailing club." And then he realized when he looked at him properly that a straw hat was proudly placed on his head. "The fuck is this?"
"Oh? My lucky hat! I'm wearing it after class when I go to the boat," He explained. "It's my captain hat!"
"Aren't you a little bit too old to play pirates?" Zoro replied with judging eyes. This guy was really weird and seemed too obsessed with this sailing thing. What is this, comic con? Or whatever those nerds called this.
While observing him more closely, he noticed that the boy wore his uniform in a strange way. His pants were cuffed to his knees, and he was only wearing his shirt. Zoro didn't wear his vest all the time and sometimes took off his tie, but this was on another level. He was surprised the teachers hadn’t said anything.
"My friend's girlfriend has a sailboat," the boy with the hat told him enthusiastically. "Well, her family has a lot of boats, but this one is an old one like in the movies! It's really cool, you should come and see!"
"No." Zoro mumbled really not interested.
There was an awkward pause but not for long. "Why don't you join the kendo club if you really want to?" He said pointing at the dojo with his thumb.
"It's none of your business," Zoro retorted. "The club's full anyway, I'm too late."
"Oh, that's too bad, sorry…" the guy sympathized and then he was grinning like an idiot. "Look, I understand it's not what you wanted but come see the boat with me next time and you'll see how fun our club is!"
He didn't have time to protest, the ball of energy snatched his phone off his hand and typed something really fast.
"I've added my number! You can text me if you change your mind." He beamed. "See you later, Zoro!" And he ran off without a minute to waste, holding his hat to keep it still.
Zoro was too stunned to say something. He stayed in front of the dojo, staring at his phone with wide eyes. The new contact with the name "Luffy" was looking right back at him.