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In general, Luffy hated slow days. He hated it when the wind that blew their ship along was nonexistent and he hated it when boring days stretched together into a blur. He wanted action. Adventure. Excitement. Not sitting on Sunny's figurehead and staring out at boring ocean waves. Or staring up at the blue expanse of sky above. Or staring at anything else there might be to stare at. It just wasn’t enough to curb his boredom.
It was because of that that Nami had agreed to the small diversion from their course to Fishman Island to investigate the thing they saw rising above the ocean in the distance. She knew what could happen if they had a bored Luffy and with Zoro still supposed to be resting, it meant it would be up to her and the rest of the crew to entertain him. That is to say, it hadn't been hard to convince her. And it had been a breeze to convince her to stop when they realized the weird thing was actually a spa island, Nami hardly able to get off their ship fast enough.
The island offered all sorts of amenities that Luffy was told were common in spas. There were hot tubs, massages, steam rooms, pools, a food bar, and a whole host of other things that Luffy didn't pay attention to because he was gone at the mention of food. He could explore later. Food was always more important.
It took an hour before Luffy went looking for the rest of his crew after his detour, finally having declared his satisfaction with his snack. The staff had looked absolutely horrified about that but he wasn't sure why that was. It wasn't important anyway. What was important was finding his crew and, after a few minutes and a lot of wrong turns, Luffy finally found some of his crew, Usopp and Chopper splashing around in the shallow end of a pool. Usopp waved him over as soon as he spotted him, eyes lighting up as he jumped up and down like Luffy didn't see him.
“Come join us, Luffy!” Chopper yelled as Luffy made his way towards them, also waving his hooves in the air. “The water is so fun!”
The water seemed to shimmer beneath the midday sun, the cool surface a siren's song. One that Luffy happily listened to, running across the concrete ground and kicking his shoes off, leaving them to land where ever they had flown to.
Chopper laughed as Luffy splashed towards them, the water only faintly tugging away his strength. It was such a foreign feeling to Luffy after so many years of being unable to touch the ocean's surface, of being unable to do anything but sink beneath her waves and surrender his capabilities. Sure this wasn't quite the same as when Luffy had swam as a child since the water only came up to his knees, but it still was an amazing feeling and he was going to savor it as much as he could.
“Isn't this place so cool?” Chopper asked with big eyes when Luffy reached them, little arm floaties carefully wrapped around his upper arms. “The tour guide said the water is really filtered so even devil fruit users can play in it without issue!”
“Without too much issue,” Usopp corrected, sending a small wave of water towards the reindeer with his hands. “He did say that they will tire out faster than most people and that they shouldn't go anywhere they can't easily touch.”
All Luffy heard was he could splash to his heart's content and that was what he was going to do.
Usopp shrieked when Luffy swept a whole bunch of water towards him, using both of his hands so that it splashed up to the sniper's face. Brown eyes narrowed in his direction and he just smiled back, daring his friend to get him back for it. He got exactly three seconds before Usopp advanced on him and Luffy took off with a cackle, the cool water splashing up his legs as he moved.
They stayed as close to the zero entry shore as they could so that Chopper wouldn't accidentally drown, even if Luffy did stray out deeper a few times in his attempts to either avoid Usopp or catch him. After several unsuccessful attacks, Usopp changed his tactic and grabbed Chopper, hoisting their doctor onto his shoulders and handing him something that looked like a long, foam noodle.
“What-” Luffy began to ask, slowing to a stop to look at the new object, only to get a face full of water as it shot out the the end of the noodle. The water burned as it got up his nose, making him cough and grimace. Several steps away he could hear his crewmates laughing at him, Chopper gleefully telling Usopp to do it again. Apparently Usopp's new tactic was to cheat.
An hour later and their fun came to an abrupt end when one of Luffy's waves knocked Usopp backwards and sent Chopper tumbling into the water that was too deep for him to touch the bottom of. He was quickly saved by said sniper, of course, who immediately grabbed him as he came back up for air, but the scene had been witnessed by Nami as she walked by and she ordered Luffy and Chopper out lest she double their debt.
“You're no fun, Nami,” Luffy whined as he trudged to the shore, Usopp carrying their now water logged reindeer. “We were having fun and being careful and-”
“Throwing another devil fruit user into deep water is not being careful,” she cut in, ignoring his pout. “We haven't come all this way just for one of you to drown by being an idiot.”
Luffy wouldn't drown. For one, he refused to die before he became the Pirate King. And two, Zoro always fished him out before he did.
“Stay out of the water you dumbasses,” Nami continued as she continued on to where ever she had been heading. “There's an actual splash area that only has a few shallow pools in it. Go over there.”
Rude. Who was the captain around here?
Not that Luffy was going to challenge her. She was scary.
Turning to his two other crewmates, Luffy gave them a sheepish smile. Usopp gave him an unimpressed look in return as he set Chopper down on the ground, their doctor suddenly looking utterly exhausted.
“I'm gonna go check out the massage place,” Usopp said as he started to turn away. “You want to come with Luffy?”
That sounded boring. Well, everything other than the water on this island sounded boring. He looked down hopefully at Chopper only to see him yawn and shake his head. He muttered something about a nap before meandering off, aiming towards a handful of lounge chairs situated around the edge of the pool.
Well then. Apparently it was up to Luffy to find something fun to do on his own.
Luffy wandered through the spa, poking his head in at random at the various rooms he came across. He found Sanji at the bar going heart-eyed over all the women and promptly decided not to stick around. Franky and Brook were occupying one of the steam rooms and Luffy made a hasty exit after Franky had accidentally flashed him mid-conversation. Usopp was enjoying a massage next to Robin and Nami and it looked just as boring as it sounded so he didn't hang around there either. And Chopper was still asleep in his lounge chair when Luffy wandered by again and sure naps could be fun but it had already been a whole hour!
Apparently none of his crew knew how to have any fun. Boring people the lot of them. Though.....there was one crewmember Luffy had yet to see. And while the rest of them might be boring and enjoy sitting around and doing nothing, there was one person who was always willing to entertain Luffy. Well, always willing might be a stretch. It was more like he always would do so, even if it took a bit—a lot—of pestering and pleading.
It took a few minutes but Luffy found his swordsman without too much trouble, stopping short and snickering when he finally spotted him. He was in the designated splash area that Nami had mentioned earlier, though he wasn't splashing in the water. He was asleep, arms crossed over his chest and back pressed up against a tree that was growing in the center of the area. Beads of water were dripping down onto his head, darkening one patch of hair as they trailed down his neck and chest before disappearing either into the waistband of his shorts or onto the mossy ground below.
Luffy approached Zoro quietly, stopping in front of him and watching him for a moment. They all knew the swordsman could nap anywhere and at anytime, but he felt like this was taking it to another level. There were constant showers of water around them, droplets spraying out into the air in a fine mist. Larger ones fell not only from the tree above, but from each of its leaves and branches, cascading down around them like a light summer rain.
“Hey, Zoro?” Luffy whispered as he crouched down in front of him, one hand landing on his shoulder. There was a quiet snuffle but otherwise the other didn't move, his head just lolling a little more to the side. It made Luffy snicker again, especially when a large drop of water landed on his sleeping cheek. Not that that woke the other up either.
While most days Luffy would either shake him awake or poke him repeatedly until he woke up, he decided to be nice today and not do that. Sure he was bored and wanted Zoro to entertain him, but the other looked so peaceful right now that he just didn't have the heart to shatter that. It was the first time he'd looked like that asleep since they had left Thriller Bark just over a week ago and Luffy wanted him to stay like that.
Moving carefully, Luffy sat down next to him but at a slight distance. Stretching his arms out, he gently coiled them around the sleeping swordsman several times before slowly inching him towards him, one of his hands cradling his jaw. With painstakingly slow movements, Luffy lowered Zoro until his head was in his lap, carefully untangling his arms as he rolled him slightly so that he was laying on his back.
Several soft sounds left Zoro, making Luffy freeze out of fear that he had woken him. He remained tense for a long moment before the deep breaths evened out again, a soft snore slipping out afterwards.
“Silly Zoro,” Luffy whispered to him, carding his fingers through the soft green hair. “You fell asleep in such a silly place.”
Zoro didn't respond, of course, his head just rolling slightly until his face could press up against Luffy's belly. Soft breaths warmed the skin there, each exhale a reminder that he was still alive, that Luffy hadn't lost him.
He still had no idea what had happened back on that ghostly island, what had occurred to injure his indestructible swordsman. But since his every attempt to ask was interrupted, shut down, or ignored, he had finally stopped asking, forcing himself to accept the reality that he might never know. It hurt, in an odd sort of way. There had never been any secrets between the two of them, Luffy always more than happy to answer whatever Zoro wanted to ask and Zoro always doing the same—even if it took a little more prodding. So to now have one, and have such a heavy one, he didn't like it.
Honestly, Luffy had never really liked secrets in general. He had never really seen the point of them. Sure he could kind of understand the logic of not telling your enemies where you were going to go or what you were going to do, but even then he felt like it was pointless. One, because secrets always seemed to be discovered, and two, most things couldn't stay secret anyway. If you told someone you were one place but were actually another, it was only a matter of time before they realized where you were.
Also, they felt pointless. Who cared if people did or didn't know things? Why did it matter?
It had been Zoro, ironically, that had tried to explain the reasoning of it all to Luffy several months ago, right before they had reached Alabasta. Luffy hadn't understood it then and he still didn't understand it now. Neither had he understood it when Ace had tried to explain it to him many years ago when they were children. Well, okay maybe that wasn't entirely true. He kind of understood Ace's reasoning. Or at least, he sort of understood it when it came to Ace's specific secret. He still thought it was stupid but he could also see the logic for why Ace wouldn't want that shared.
Regardless, secrets were stupid and Luffy wanted to know what had happened to his swordsman. And it hurt that he didn't know and that he wasn't being told. It also hurt that whatever had happened had hurt Zoro so bad that even almost two weeks later he still wasn't recovered.
Zoro grunted softly in his sleep, drawing Luffy's gaze back down to him. His brows had pitched downwards as he slept, another small grumble leaving him. It made Luffy frown a bit to see the sereneness that had been occupying his swordsman leaving, to see it fading away with every tiny twitch of his body. Luffy wanted him to keep looking peaceful.
Luffy's fingers caught on a few knots when he started running them through Zoro's hair again, making him do his best to disentangle the snags without pulling hair out or waking the other. His other hand he let trail across his sleeping face, fingers brushing over his features. They moved gently over closed eyelids and across smooth cheeks, curling along the underside of a damp jaw and up to soft, slightly parted lips.
He kind of wanted to kiss him.
“Silly Zoro,” Luffy whispered again, stretching his neck out so that their faces were close to each other. “Looking so kissable when he's sleeping. I want a hundred kisses when you wake up. No, a thousand. Or a million!” Honestly, he wanted to kiss Zoro until he was all better.
Luffy might hate sitting still and he might hate when things were boring, but he sat there the rest of the afternoon to let Zoro sleep. His eyes roamed all over that sleeping face, making sure that every tiny detail of it was committed to memory. He already knew his swordsman like the back of his own hand, but it didn't hurt to reaffirm it, to make sure that nothing had slipped through the cracks. To make sure that he would always know and remember his face no matter what.
And sure when sunset finally came and Nami came to find them, she stopped short at the sight of them, at Luffy sitting remarkably still with Zoro asleep in his lap. Not that she did anything but smile, her steps nearly silent against the mossy ground as she approached.
“Is this where you have been all afternoon?” she asked quietly as she crouched down in front of them, eyes flicking over Zoro. She had been doing that a lot lately like Luffy had, like she too was reaffirming to herself that he was still there.
“Of course. Zoro was napping and he needed to nap.” No it wasn't the most fun way to pass the time but everything was a little less boring when Zoro was involved. Even if he was sleeping.
Nami rolled her eyes a little, even as her smile grew a bit. “Of course,” she agreed. “Our swordsman certainly needs all the sleep he can get.” Her smile sharpened a bit and amusement began to dance in her eyes. “Though, doesn't he look just right at home right here? With all this moss and whatnot, he blends right in.”
Luffy giggled at that, his giggles turning into full blown laughter when Zoro finally stirred against him with a grumble and a sleep-slurred retort of, “Fuck off, witch.”
“Yeah, yeah. It just had to be said since Sanji wasn't here to say it.” Nami stood back up, even as her eyes remained fond. “Come on, boys. We're heading back to the ship. Sanji is already there getting dinner ready and everyone else is already over there as well.”
The mention of food, as always, made Luffy want to go running and launch himself towards the ship so that he could be the first to get it. He restrained himself, though, since Zoro was still laying in his lap and hadn't done anything but roll onto his back so that he could look over at their navigator.
“Come on, Zoro,” Luffy urged when he still didn't move, shaking his shoulder a little. “Food!”
“Food that both of you are going to eat since someone didn't eat any at lunch.” Sharp eyes flicked over to Luffy. “And that means, Luffy, don't steal his fucking food.”
It tasted better when it came from Zoro's plate though.
“Oh shut up,” Zoro grumbled, finally sitting up. He ran a hand through his hair, frowning a bit at Nami. “He can do what he wants. He's the captain.”
“He only does it because you enable him.”
“Well yeah. He's the captain.”
“And you're the only one he listens to so tell him to knock it off.”
Zoro grumbled again and Luffy snickered. Like Zoro would ever tell him no. Well, like he would ever tell him no and actually mean it.
“Just get up you two,” Nami finally said around a sigh, turning away from them and starting to walk off. “Dinner is in ten minutes so if you want any you'd better be there by then.”
They would be. Luffy would never miss a meal and he wasn't going to let Zoro miss one either. Though, he had a very important question he needed to ask his still sleepy swordsman first. “Did you have a nice nap?”
Still bleary eyes looked at Luffy, affection curling through them and clearing them up bit by bit. “Of course, captain.” Zoro paused for a second before asking, “Though, how long have you been sitting here? Nami made it sound like you've been here all afternoon.”
“I have been.” At Zoro's incredulous look Luffy laughed and patted him on the head, already standing up. “I came to find Zoro to go do something fun but he was asleep so I decided I'd sit with him until he woke up. And then you slept all afternoon!”
“You sat with me....all afternoon?” Brows furrowed at Luffy, Zoro's eyes narrowing a tiny bit. “Why didn't you just wake me up? We could have gone and done something.”
“Yeah but you looked happy asleep and I like that look on you so I decided to stay and let you sleep so I could keep seeing it.”
There was still incredulousness in Zoro's gaze but there was also something soft creeping into them. “Just wake me up next time,” Zoro said, standing up as well. Not that that softness went away, seeming to grow and grow the longer he looked at Luffy.
Luffy smiled at him but didn't promise to. Sure he likely would since adventures were more fun when Zoro was by his side, but it had still been oddly comforting to watch him sleep. Luffy kind of wanted to watch him do it some more.
“Come on, Zoro. Let's go to dinner!”
He kept those thoughts to himself, though, tucking them away into the back of his mind and storing them where he kept the rest of his Zoro memories. He had a lot of Zoro memories. And all of them were his favorite. And he could always do with a few more. It never felt like he had enough of them.