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Floating lanterns fill the sky of Wano again. Luffy tugs sticky dumplings from a stick with their teeth. There is snow in the air and on the ground but the food from the festival is hot and sweet. They twirl the stick about their fingers and then stab it into the carton of dumplings to skewer a mouthful more.
Snow settles on the rooftop around them. Luffy is snug beneath a yukata and the delicate work of Chopper’s bandages, although their feet are in their notorious flip-flops, and a little cold. They wiggle their toes, jostling the pile of dumplings in their lap. The one on the top goes bouncing off the lip of the roof and splats into the quick stretch of Luffy’s hand.
They gobble it up. The townspeople down below celebrate oblivious to this near-miss - but not so oblivious to the near-miss of Kaido obliterating the capital. Wano is free now, and the only dragon in the sky is a pink one. As far as the people of the Flower Capital are concerned, the mysterious Joy Boy has come and gone, and the Straw Hat pirates were simply witnesses to “his” return.
They’re down in the streets of the capital celebrating, Luffy’s crew. They’ve hardly had a break since entering the New World, although Luffy wouldn’t wish the adventures and misadventures away, not for anything. Still, it’s just been one thing after another, as Nami would put it, since they bumped into Traffy on that weird fire-ice island, and the festivities are well-earned.
Putting it that way, Traffy’s the one to blame for all of the crazy fun they’ve had since then: Dressrosa, Zou, and the tangent to Whole Cake island. Luffy never would have split up their crew if flamingo-guy hadn’t been a great big pain in the ass.
Of course, if Traffy’s to blame for all of that, then Luffy’s to blame for all of that-that, because they were the one who invited him to tag along. But they had owed Traffy a favour. And as Luffy pulls another row of dumplings off the stick, they like to think that favour’s been paid twice-over now.
Not that they care about that sort of thing. But Traffy probably does, which might be a problem. And the allied crews from Dressrosa certainly do, which means Luffy’s got a lot of people owing them one now, and that stinks.
Their own crew would disagree. Well, except maybe Zoro, who also hates the idea of anyone owing him anything. He’s cut and dried like that. Like meat!
Luffy’s mouth waters. They stuff it full of dumplings to stop themself from imagining a Zoro-sized serving of ribeye steak, complete with a herby garnish like his mop of green hair.
“Oi, Luffy.”
Luffy blinks. Their daydream is calling to them. Now it sounds like Zoro too!
“Luffy,” comes the call again - and it’s not from Luffy’s imagination but somewhere in the crowd. They peer down over the roof to see Zoro in the street, one hand cupped to his mouth and the other keeping warm under his haramaki. People drift and dodge around him, many of them drunk on alcohol and cheer.
”Zoro! There you are!”
”Huh? There you are. You’re the one who wandered off.”
”I was hungry!” Luffy says, gesturing Zoro up to the roof with a wave of the skewer. “I found some dumplings but then I couldn’t find anyone so I came up here to wait for someone to find me. And now Zoro’s found me!”
“Yeah, I did.” He hops up onto the rooftop and then flops down next to Luffy, snow crunching beneath him. His butt must get all wet and cold because he pulls a funny face. Or maybe he’s just deliberating making Luffy laugh because he swipes a handful of dumplings while they’re distracted.
”Hey!”
”Hey,” Zoro parrots, cheeks round with food. He grins and lunges for the carton but Luffy is faster. They hold it high, high, high up out of reach at the tip of their elongated arm, and Zoro laughs, “Cheater!”
Luffy sticks out their tongue. ”Stealing is cheating!”
”It’s not. Cheating is cheating.”
”Zoro’s cheating!”
”You’re cheating! You’re the rubberman! Gimme.”
They tussle for a moment, slipping on the icy tiles and rolling in the snow. Luffy’s feet get cold again so they shove them into Zoro’s yukata, making him squawk. He retaliates by slumping his entire snow-covered body over Luffy’s, flattening them both under the strings of garland, the floating lights, and the sparkle of fireworks in the sky.
Boom.
The first firework explodes like a red sun. The second pounds in Luffy’s chest. The third makes the crowd cry out in awe and delight as yellow-pink flowers shatter over the city, and then all at once the dark night is bright with Wano’s new-found freedom and Luffy watches it burst, feeling strange.
They threw Kaido up into that sky. They tossed him about and coiled him up and flung him into that sky. Luffy pulled lightning from the air and made it bounce like rubber, and they could do the same to these fireworks, if they wanted, if they stretched their arms up high enough or trampolined off the ground.
Bo-boom, bo-boom, bo-boom.
Zoro rolls over. He glances up at the fireworks disinterestedly and then gets to reeling Luffy’s arm in like a rope. Soon, the dumplings are freed from their floppy, lax hand, but Zoro throws one into his mouth before dropping the box back into Luffy's lap. He says nothing, but his silence is loud.
Luffy reels their arm in the rest of the way, avoiding the unasked question. They don’t want to talk about it - or think about it. They want to eat and relax and ignore the drumming of something beneath their skin.
They don't like it, this feeling. Their skin shouldn't feel weird. It's been rubber for as long as they can remember and it should stay that way, it doesn't need to change. Too many things have changed already. Jinbe said change was a good thing - and Rayleigh said they should grasp it with both hands and make it their own, but some things are fine just the way they are.
Some things are not fine - like the puppets on Dressrosa, and Big Mom stealing their crewmate, and O-Tama going hungry in a bountiful land. And those things, Luffy changes. There's no use waiting around for somebody else to. Ace and Sabo never waited, for good or bad.
Luffy made their crew wait two years. Maybe that's why things are different. Everything has been different since Ace died.
The world is so much bigger. Like Ace was a gate keeping all the bad things out.
“You're not gonna finish those?” Zoro asks, nudging Luffy's knee with his own. He is sprawled on his back across the tiles, arms crossed behind his head. Fresh snow has settled on his clothes. His legs are crossed, white-capped like mountaintops.
Luffy starts. They'd almost forgotten the dumplings! They tip the rest into their mouth. The soft chew reminds them of O-Tama's dango; how good it had tasted but how unfilling it had been. Luffy should have known better than to complain about it because then she had given them her bowl of rice: all she had.
That's not true anymore. O-Tama can eat as much as she likes, whenever she likes. And anyone who tries to take that away from her will meet the same swift end as Kaido and Big Mom. That's the kind of change Luffy likes. That’s the kind of change they’ll tell the world to change around them for.
More fireworks shatter in the sky. They hope their crew is enjoying them. Chopper loves celebrations like this. Sanji's probably sampling all the food. Franky might find some inspiration to design a new rocket to make the Sunny even cooler than before. Nami will be shopping, maybe with Robin, herding Usopp along. If Luffy listens hard enough, they think they can hear Brook’s music somewhere far away, and Jinbe’s hearty laugh.
“You gonna tell me what's eating you or just let it?” Zoro asks. He’s not down there celebrating, but of course he’s not. Even in a land practically made for him, he’s come and sought Luffy out instead.
Luffy pouts. “Nothing's eating me.”
“If you say so.”
No more words are said for a short while, until Luffy starts grumbling at the weight of Zoro's gaze looking pointedly away from their back. Neither of them do subtlety, and there's nothing subtle about Luffy picking distractedly at the remnants of the sticky glaze in the bottom of the carton. It’s cool, now, and stiff beneath their fingertips. They roll a small ball of it between their finger and thumb.
”Does Zoro think I’ve changed?”
Zoro hums. He doesn’t move - but he doesn’t need to. His full attention is already on Luffy, even with the fireworks reflecting in his gaze. “Since when? Sabaody?”
He means their first visit - back when Luffy thought they were ready to take on the world. Despite the dire outcome of their visit there, they can’t help but smile at the memory of rescuing Camie from the auction house. Then they shake their head.
Zoro puffs a snowflake away from his mouth. “Your Devil Fruit? Can’t say I get what you were doing with Kaido, but you’re always doing weird things with it, so what’s the issue?”
That’s true. Luffy’s been pushing the limits of their Devil Fruit since the get go, throwing punches into imaginary foes on Dawn Island’s orange sands. But as strange as their powers may seem to the others, they’ve always felt right to Luffy - or at least, they’ve never made Luffy feel wrong.
No, that’s not the right word. There’s nothing wrong with their Devil Fruit, it’s just…
”I woke it,” Luffy explains. “That’s what Kaido said. I didn’t get it before.”
”Your powers?”
”The Fruit,” they say - and they mean that. The Fruit. It’s not theirs anymore; it never has been. It’s always been its own thing. It has secrets, and desires, and a will. And now Luffy’s gone and woken it, for good or bad.
”So what?” says Zoro. “You gonna start sprouting leaves or something?”
Luffy tilts their head. They hope not. “That’s Zoro’s job.”
He huffs at the old joke and turns onto his side. The way he props his head up is relaxed and easy, intimate, and he brushes snow from Luffy’s yukata before worming his hand into one of the pockets. There’s nothing in there but a few Flower Capital coins which he toys with idly.
”Nami give you spending money?”
”No,” Luffy says, sticking their tongue out. They know better than to ask Nami for money but that doesn’t stop them from asking anyway. “She shouted at me. Yamato gave me a bunch after.”
”Kaido’s son? See, nothing’s changed,” Zoro says. “You always attract the weird ones.”
Luffy smiles. Zoro says it so matter-of-factly, there’s really nothing to do but believe him. “I guess so! Everyone here’s real cool. I bet we’ll meet them on the sea one day.”
”You think? It’s all crybabies and idiots with you, and the New World don’t go easy on anyone. They’re all a bit green, don’t you think?”
“We were green once; Zoro’s still green! Remember that dinghy we had leaving Shells Town?”
”Like I could forget,” Zoro says, pinching Luffy’s waist. That’s either retaliation for the joke or the start of some roughhousing-turned-foreplay, it can be hard to tell. They are outside though, which has never stopped them before, although the crowd certainly might. “You wanna go find the others?”
Ah, it was retaliation. Luffy doesn’t mind either way, as long as Zoro doesn’t mind.
”Okay! Wanna race?”
Zoro gets to his feet and gathers his swords. ”Sure. Where to?”
Luffy thinks, and looks, and sniffs the air. It smells faintly of gunpowder and spices and snow - and of something else, like burning, like something’s just caught alight and is never going to stop. Ba-boom, it goes, that thing aflame. Ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom.
They look up to that sky. The tallest tower of Wano came crashing down with Kaido, but its ruins are still there, pointing eastward, to the morning sun. It hasn’t risen yet and won’t for some time, but it will.
”To there,” Luffy says - and on the count of three, they go.