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For a long time, Luffy believed he was destined to be alone. His early life was a blur of grayish colors, hard to recall even now. Besides red and white hair and the memory of a very tall man he called grandfather, he couldn't remember being acknowledged by anyone for longer than a child could bear. By the age of nine, Luffy already felt an inexplicable emptiness in his heart. After witnessing a black and red sail get away, he thought this fleeting moment of happiness was all he was ever meant to have. It was the only thing his small heart could contain, as nothing else seemed to fit.
And so, Luffy built an invisible bubble that merged with his soul, sealing away any intention of longing. He decided he would live his life fending for himself, getting ahead alone.
That was his plan until a freckle-faced boy appeared, shattering all the concepts Luffy’s tender mind had formed. From that moment on, a ray of hope seeped through the bubble.
Though those years were short, they were good. Something unexpected left an indelible mark on his heart—a family. That's why, as a teenager, when Luffy once again watched a black sail getting away, he began to contemplate the idea of feeling again. To feel new things, to open himself up to sensations he hadn’t yet known, because with his new body, there would no longer be any limitations. Then he realized the only place to find those feelings was the sea.
So, he set sail. Three years later, with a promise to someone still living and a wound from someone he thought he had lost forever, Luffy took a simple boat and embarked on a journey, unknowingly heading straight toward his happiness.
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The first time Monkey D. Luffy heard the name, he was in a peculiar situation. He had just hidden inside a barrel to avoid sinking like an anchor in the East blue, and ended up in the hands of a big pirate who woman with a strong voice prattled on about being the queen of the seas.
"You brought me a bounty hunter! Did you intend to betray me like that, Koby? I hope it's not the pirate hunter, that guy..."
As he searched his pocket for something to eat without any success, he overheard,
"...Roronoa Zoro."
And there it was. Luffy had never heard that name before, but a jolt of electricity surged through his entire body. It was as if his instincts told him he had to find this person. It wasn't rational—it was an impulse, as if his unconscious mind had already recognized that name, that person. His soul knew him, and that was enough for Luffy.
Luffy decided then and there that he would find this person. He would experience this new emotion—though he hadn’t yet fully identified it—and as he savored that name on his tongue, he set sail for the nearest island with his new friend, the aspiring sailor.
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"...And they say he’s killed more than ten men in a single move, and leaves no bounty unclaimed. He's ruthless, Mr. Luffy, cold-blooded, and he hates pirates. He’s not going to become one."
The pink-haired boy hadn’t stopped talking since Luffy mentioned he wanted to find the pirate hunter. As they ate, he panicked and started listing all the reasons why this encounter was a bad idea.
But as expected, Luffy didn’t listen. He was often stubborn, always going at his own pace. He had never followed rules or warnings, and he wasn’t about to start now. So, half eating, half listening to the rumors from other tables, he set out for the courtyard of the naval base established on that island. It took him a while to get there, but in the end, none of that mattered. When he stretched over the wall and took a look, there he was: a green-haired man, his eyes downcast, arms outstretched and tied to a post behind him.
Though he was a blur from Luffy’s perspective, he knew this was the man he had been looking for.
He was about to make his entrance when a girl suddenly appeared with a couple of rice balls, offering them to the man tied to the post despite the odds. Luffy couldn’t hear what they were saying, but then a blond man with a disgusting haircut crushed the girl’s food, throwing her out of the enclosure.
Luffy waited a moment until the man was alone before jumping down, ignoring Koby’s protests. He landed in front of the man, ready to introduce himself, when the man —Zoro—said something unexpected.
"Give me that." At Luffy's confusion, Zoro pointed to the shapeless mass beneath his feet—the rice balls. "That girl made them for me. Give them to me; I'll eat them."
And just like that, the bubble burst. Like a soap bubble rising into the sky, like a liner tearing through a ship, puncturing his shield with holes. It was as if all those barriers inside him crumbled, something he couldn’t control.
As Luffy watched that man swallow the rice, despite its foul taste, he felt an overwhelming urge to bring him along on his adventure. He needed to untie him, to get him out of that hell. Zoro’s actions stirred something deep within him, and even if he didn’t understand it yet, he knew he wanted to be by his side for a long time.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy. I'll be the king of pirates, and If I find your weapons and get you out of here, you’ll be my mate." Luffy couldn’t interpret Zoro's dismayed expression, so he ignored it and did what he did best. unleash chaos.
In the end, Zoro agreed. He didn’t know why, but he was completely certain he could trust his life to this boy with the bright smile, and that he would never let it fall.
During the fight, even though they had just met, Zoro felt a connection that coordinated them with such precision that anyone watching would think they had trained together for years. But no—they were just two old souls in young bodies meeting again. Still, neither of them was fully aware of the pull they felt every time their gazes crossed, as they dodged attacks and combined their efforts. The bond was undeniable.
Luffy could think of nothing else but taking this person with him. He watched Zoro fighting across the arena, fending off the soldiers with his bloodied swords, and all he could think was, "Help him. Help him."
Once the crisis was over (after completely destroying the naval base, thanks to one of Luffy’s mega kicks), they were finally face to face and ready to go. At first, neither of them said anything—it was all new to them—but as they wandered the vast, aimless ocean, a bond began to form. A bond that had no name yet, but would soon become something immense—the overflowing manifestation of the most beautiful feeling Luffy could ever experience, and a treasure more valuable than anything hidden in the waves of the five seas.