Chapter Text
Zoro never believed in god(s). Not singular and definitely not plural! The only thing he believes in are the swords in his hands and his friends guarding his back. They are real and reliable and deadly. Not fictions of someone's imagination. An enemy sneaks through his guard? Usopp's already shot him. A projectile ricochets oddly towards him? Franky catches it in the air. An opponent is too strong for him? Luffy's unending trust makes him go above and beyond his limits to take him down.
Gods were just an excuse for those not willing to put in the effort of becoming stronger. A wall to crawl behind, to cry at, to plead to, without getting a reply of the 'it's your own fault' kind, by getting no reply at all. Nothing can't tell you to 'get off your ass and fight'. Nothing can't make you step in front of an army and protect your loved ones.
Yes, he doesn't believe in almighty beings watching over them from heaven, or some other divine place of the kind. But he believes in strength and determination, in what you can achieve with it, when you motivate yourself to. In his Captain most of all.
Ever since Wano Kuni, ever since Luffy has reached the absolute peak of his power, Gear 5, and took Kaido, a fucking Emperor of the Sea, down, laughing all the while. Ever since then - even before but especially since then - has Zoro the feeling, if there is a god in this world, a single one, it would be Luffy. It would be this God of the Sun. This sunshine incarnate, born with a smile on his face and with dreams under his skin. Unable to be hold back by anyone, because he's freedom. But not as Nika, no. He's Luffy, not Nika. Nika is past, part of Robin's beloved history. A being from the lost century. Someone that should have been remembered, but was denied the honor by the World Government. Luffy is now. He's future. He's going to be king, not god. Because gods don't exist! Kings do!
But one part is right. Luffy is the Sun. Their sun. Their shining light in the dark. Their center of gravity. They are caught in his orbit, never to leave again, until they all go down in a blazing supernova. Because there's no other way Luffy would leave this world. It's going to be a death remembered for centuries, even greater then the previous Pirat King. And with this new form of his, radiating light with every single giggle, every laugh... It makes it even more true. So yes, others attaching the title of Sungod to their captain feels right, even if none of the crew see him as an actual god.
Of course they do their fair share of teasing, to their captain's chagrin. It's part of being a Strawhat. And Luffy might pout as much as he likes, they all know he's kind of having his own fun with it too. He's even started to attach references to the sun to his attack-names while in Gear 5. That is whenever he gets the chance to use it. Most enemies aren't worth their captain's full strength. Not enough Kaido level pirates run around the Grand Line, even here in the New World, for the Sungod to make a regular appearance. They have even less fights with Luffy being a Yonko now. Most ships turn around the moment they see the straw hat wearing skull on the horizon.
Which makes the exceptions, mostly Marines, even more special.
What a waste of time. Zoro thinks, a lazy swing with Kitetsu takes out the whole group of Marines gunning for him. He could be sleeping right now, instead of dealing with these weaklings, because it is the middle of the night and they only just went to bed after a long party. Which means he's in a bad mood anyway and with these guys being quantity, not quality, he can't even enjoy a good fight. Then there is the love-cook close by, stomping in faces while throwing insults at him, so he's in an even worse mood, without any kind of real outlet.
He doesn't even get the strategy behind this attack. The Marines should know, they can't take a Yonko crew with these guys. That's like trying to fish for a Sea King with a stick, just with less casualties – cause no matter what, Luffy doesn't kill. Lets them live with the shame instead.
Luckily they are on an island, so Zoro doesn't have to angle his attacks away from Sunny, which Franky brought to safety as soon as everyone was awake and off-board. It also means they have more space to deal with a larger number of enemies at the same time and can get back to sleep sooner. After having gained some distance between themselves and that particular island of course. They aren't that stupid.
Casually taking out another wave of oncoming Marines, eye strays to their current light source. It's funny. They know their captain glows, when he uses the awakened form of his Devil Fruit. It's part of his theme. But now, with new moon taking away the only light spending object in the sky, Luffy takes being the sun a little too serious, covering the whole battle field with his blinding white glow, making it seem like - although a little cloudy – daytime. Which isn't a problem in itself, with him floating in the sky, distributing it evenly. But he's also fighting someone up there, the reason he had to go into Gear 5 at all. So he's constantly moving, sometimes closer, sometimes farther away and the constant change of light made Zoro jump more than once already, expecting it to be an enemy somehow able to get around his Haki. Another reason he's not in a good mood.
The fight is taking way longer then usual too. The Vice Admiral their captain is going against is a Devil Fruit user with some kind of flying ability, but also a long ranged attack he has used to disturb various Strawhats in their fights. Of course Luffy, as the only one able to fly among the crew - except for Robin, but she'd be in a serious disadvantage and the love-cook, who doesn't want to leave 'the ladies' – took it upon himself to take him out. With nothing to turn into rubber around him, except air, and nothing to grab onto to fling himself around, their captain has to rely solely on his punches. Nothing to worry about. Just taking its time. Flying types are always agile and fast. Luffy will take care of it. He always does.
Zoro returns his attention to his own battle. Enma swings in a wide arc, slices through bodies like air, sings with the blood it tastes. At least he gets one thing out of this. His sword has demanded some for some time now, with them having less encounters than usual. It should get its fill here.
The crack of a gun disturbs the air, loud even with the battle cries all around him. His head shoots up, single eye tracking his friends for any sign of the shooter's aim having been true. They are all okay, mirroring his actions with turning heads. Just on a hunch, an ill feeling deep down in his stomach, because it can't be that no one saw where the bullet went, he looks up.
His heart skips a beat. There's something around the radiating form of his captain. Glinting red in the unnatural light. Blood! Supplies his brain. It's sprayed into the air as a mist, breaks the light, turns it orange, like when the sun sets. Then it dims, the figure at its center beginning to fall first slowly, then faster. Like Sunfall! It's only seconds before the whole battlefield is plunged into darkness. For Zoro it's ages. He sees the way white turns red, as divine power is coloured by the essence of life, before it's too dark to distinguish anything. He'll never look at the way the sun dives into the ocean how he used to. Always having this picture of Luffy in its stead burned into mind.
He moves before anyone else, not even noticing the sudden silence surrounding him. His heart beats too loudly in his ears, replaces the drums that have fallen silent. He follows his Haki, like so often when his sight isn't enough. The signature of his captain, more familiar than everything else, calls to him, begs for his presence, his strength. His most trusted Nakama. His First. And it's fading fast. It's a clear enough sign, that Luffy is hurt. Somehow. Even though he is rubber and a bullet shouldn't have pierced his skin. …but Kairoseki Bullets are a thing. They can hurt him even in Gear 5, when most attacks only tickle a laugh out of him. When he should be free of the worries of mortality. And most importantly, they can kill with one lucky hit.
So Zoro runs and he pleads and he begs the non-existing gods, the ones he doesn't believe in, to find his captain well. Hurt maybe, because their luck isn't that infinite, but not dying. Please not dying! He doesn't want to loose his sun!