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Chapter Text

Shakky watched from behind her bar as the members of the Straw Hat Pirates slowly returned to Sabaody Archipelago. It had been two years since the crew was last on the island of trees and six of them made it through the entrance of Shakky’s Rip-off Bar over the span of ten days. 

The first to arrive was Franky, the shipwright, who sported a new mechanically modified body, but the same passionate spirit. 

The second to arrive was Nami, the navigator, whose knowledge of the weather had been impressive two years ago and had now grown to even greater heights. 

The third was Usopp, the sniper, whose newfound confidence and strength would have made him unrecognizable, if he hadn’t maintained his propensity for story telling. 

The fourth was Chopper, the doctor, whose hat had grown bigger as a reflection of how his brain had grown bigger with new medical knowledge. 

The fifth was Sanji, the cook, who had progressed in his fighting power, but regressed in his social skills. 

The sixth was Brook, the musician, wrapped in new clothes and filled with new songs for their journey ahead. He never made it into Shakky’s bar, but he landed on the Thousand Sunny when the time was right. 

The seventh was Robin, the archaeologist, who was equipped with new knowledge of the world and revolutionary connections. 

The eighth, and final, Straw Hat to reach Sabaody Archipelago was the captain, Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy had grown in strength and power, although his penchant for causing trouble hadn’t changed a bit and his return to the pirate world was kicked off with a bang. 

The ninth Straw Hat crew member, the swordsman Roronoa Zoro, never returned to Sabaody. 

Giant Robot Man. 

Franky was now a Giant Robot Man. 

Technically, he had been a Giant Robot Man before, but now he was even bigger. And cooler. With new hair. And new arms. And small hands inside his large hands which was all awesome. Luffy had always been amazed by his crew, but seeing Franky's updates (and being told the Sunny got updates as well), Luffy was blown away. Picking up the shipwright at Water Seven was one of the best things that could have happened to his crew (other best things included acquiring the best navigator, cook, story teller, doctor, archeologist, and musician he could find, and having the future world’s greatest swordsman by his side for all of it). Franky was just so cool. 

Luffy felt a tug on his arm and turned to find his navigator complaining about his inattention. Her anger made sense, this was the first time in two years that the crew had been all together again and Luffy was only focusing on their cyborg. With reluctance he resolved to stop admiring Franky's robot updates (for now), and instead focus on admiring Nami's non-robot updates. She looked the exact same from what he could remember, but there was something about her that seemed more…confident? Self-assured? He wasn't sure, but he was proud of her. He was proud of his entire crew. He didn't know where everyone had been these past two years, but he really hoped they all had ended up somewhere fun.

“Are you even listening to me?” Nami complained and Luffy was unashamed to admit he hadn't been. She huffed a sigh and repeated her complaints, “We don’t have time for this, Luffy! The Navy’s on their way and there’s a warship approaching!” 

A warship? That sounded like fun. The captain was already warmed up after his earlier fight with Sentomaru and the Pacifistas, now he was ready to really show his strength. Even better, this time it wouldn’t be only Sanji fighting by the captain’s side—after two long years, Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro would finally be fighting together again. He couldn’t wait to see how much stronger his swordsman had grown. 

The anticipation bubbled out of his chest in the form of laughter and his eyes started sweeping the deck, scanning for the signature green hair or the distinct white line of Zoro’s favorite sword. He had to check twice before realizing the swordsman wasn’t there, or at least wasn’t at any of the visible spots on deck. 

“Hey, where’s Zoro?” Luffy asked. 

Nami was the one to reply, “Rayleigh didn’t tell you? He’s not on the island yet.” 

“Still?” complained Sanji, “That shitty Marimo! What, is he as bad at telling time as he is at telling directions?” 

The cook was lying on the ground and being attended to by Chopper. Luffy wasn't entirely sure what had happened, Sanji had been fine a few minutes ago when Chopper’s bird friend had dropped them off on the Sunny, but now there were two tracks of blood running down from his nose and he looked unusually pale. He sounded just fine, and their doctor was there, so Luffy let that mystery go and focused back on the search for Zoro. 

With the control he'd cultivated over the past two years, he released his Observation Haki. He imagined it pouring out across the entire island, touching every living soul it could find. He didn’t know what Zoro’s presence felt like, but he was confident he’d recognize it. Obviously it would be strong, like Sanji’s or Rayleigh’s. He also guessed it would feel cold, like when you stepped into a refreshing pond on a summer’s day, since Zoro was all disciplined and collected when he fought. Or maybe it would feel hot, like the flames that sometimes coated his blades. 

Of all the people Luffy could feel on the archipelago, none of them reminded the captain of his swordsman and he was forced to accept Nami’s words. His smile dropped by a fraction, but then he remembered that Zoro thought “up” was north and “west” was to his left, and his swordsman was probably just lost. He wasn’t here right now, but he would be. No matter how lost he got, Zoro always showed up where Luffy needed him to be, and right now Luffy needed him to be by the captain’s side. 

“One of the Seven Warlords?! She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen!”

Luffy's thoughts were interrupted by Usopp’s excited yell. There was something different about his sniper, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. Maybe his nose had grown bigger? 

All of the crew moved towards the railing to marvel at the presence of the Kuja Pirates and their empress captain. Boa Hancock’s ship was stationed in front of the warship Nami had mentioned, effectively blocking its attack. Even from this distance, they could hear her yelling at the Navy, asserting that they were the ones in the Kuja Pirates’ way and should therefore leave. 

“Hey, it’s Hancock!” Luffy exclaimed and ignored the wink the empress sent his way. She was always making passes at him, but most of her attempts were shy and awkward enough that they could be easily ignored. Luffy wasn’t uncomfortable with her affection, just uninterested. 

The Kuja’s help was unnecessary, but the idea of fighting the Navy was suddenly less appealing than it had been before. Luffy would still fight if needed, and he'd probably still enjoy it too, but now he was okay with sitting back and letting his friends handle it instead. 

“Alright!” Luffy called out, turning to the others, “Once Zoro gets here, we can set sail!” 

Most of the crew was too busy freaking out over the most beautiful woman in the world having winked at their captain to listen to his words, but there was one person who was focused solely on him. Robin called Luffy’s name and her voice held a serious note that drew his attention. 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to wait for Mr. Swordsman,” Robin faltered on saying Zoro’s name and opted to use his title instead, as if masking the name would help mask the feelings it invoked. “Rayleigh mentioned that we should sail ahead and he would meet us at Fishman Island when...” 

She didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t want to lie to her captain, but she didn’t believe it was a question of “when” Zoro arrived, but “if.” She would need to share what information she had with Luffy soon, but not yet, not until they were safely on their way. 

“Robin’s right!” Nami declared. She started sharing orders to inflate the ship’s bubble coating and the rest of the crew scrambled to obey. Franky jumped in the water and opened the airbag valve, kicking off the inflation process. Usopp and Chopper freaked out as the jelly-like coating began to expand, rising up their bodies without breaking to form a protective barrier around the entire ship. Sanji and Brook, meanwhile, were busy crying and dealing with feelings from seeing the most beautiful woman in the world.

Luffy was less inclined to listen to the archaeologist. He couldn’t leave nakama behind, especially not when that nakama was Zoro. He frowned, ready to order that they stay, but then he got a good look at Robin. Beyond her calm exterior he could see a sadness in her gaze and she quietly begged him, “Please, Luffy.” 

He swallowed his anger and desire for rebellion. He wanted to stay somewhere he knew Zoro could find him, but he also had faith that the swordsman could find him anywhere. It was a disappointment that they wouldn’t reunite today, but a few more days of waiting wouldn’t matter when they were going to spend forever together. 

Zoro better hurry up though, Luffy was going to kick his ass if he took too long. 

The ship’s coating finished filling. Luckily the marines on land had not made it to the Straw Hats yet, having been held off by some insanely large bugs, very unfortunate weather, and lovely okamas. The sails were set, the buoyancy pouches removed, and the Thousand Sunny was ready to submerge. 

The crew gathered with the captain as he stood on the bench surrounding the main sail. “Are we getting underway, Nami?” Luffy checked, arms crossed. When Nami confirmed, he gave his Captain’s Speech, “Alright guys! There’s a whole lot of stuff I’d like to say to you! But never mind! I just want to thank you for going along with my selfish request for the last two years!” 

His speech was met with smiles and reassurance. In his loudest voice he shouted, “SET SAIL!!” 

The crew cheered in response. “Let’s go to Fishman Island!” 

Chapter Text

The Straw Hats’ travels underwater were nothing short of mesmerizing. Schools of fish both big and small passed by them on either side, while the soft filtered light of the sun danced on everything it reached. They were deep enough that everything took on a blue or greenish tint. Large columns of tree roots acted as an ancient forest, reducing the Thousand Sunny to a small bug flying between gigantic trunks. 

Luffy could practically taste all the delicious food swimming by. He clung to the side of the coating, ready to jump out and grab them when Robin called to him, “Captain, may I speak with you?” 

The archaeologist’s voice was calm, but the tension in her shoulders betrayed her nerves. She was good at hiding her emotions, especially ones like anxiety and fear, but Luffy knew his crew. 

“Sure,” he replied easily. He would have given her a reassuring smile, but her concern was affecting him and he didn’t want to show his own apprehension. 

The rest of the crew stayed on deck, catching up and enjoying their reunion as Luffy followed Robin into the aquarium lounge. A few fish inhabited the indoor tank, although the sight was significantly less impressive than the view outside. Someone must have restocked on Sabaody, these fish wouldn’t have survived on their own for two whole years. Luffy was stronger than anything in that tank and he had barely survived the past two years on his own. If it wasn’t for Rayleigh and the others, Luffy would have succumbed to loneliness a long time ago. 

As he waited for Robin to start, he watched one of the smaller fish zip from one side of the enclosure to the other. Robin was having trouble with her words, he could tell, but that was fine, he could wait. She didn’t usually struggle with words (she was too smart for that) so whatever it was must be important. 

“I spent the last two years with the Revolutionary Army,” she started. He wasn’t sure what was important about that, he didn’t even know what the Revolutionary Army was, but kept listening. “Your father, Dragon, is in charge of the army.” 

Was that why she was nervous, because she wanted to talk about his “father”? Luffy knew parents could be a sore subject for most people, especially this crew, but he really didn’t think about Dragon like that. He barely knew the guy and, frankly, he didn’t care about him. The term “father” didn’t mean much to Luffy; Makino had once joked that Shanks was like a father to Luffy, and Luffy didn’t really get it but he liked the association. 

“The Army has a lot of connections,” she went on to explain, “They understand that knowledge is power and they keep tabs on many events happening in the world. Early on in my time with them I...” she hesitated here for a brief second then pushed forward, “I asked them for help. With locating the crew.” 

She stared at him with significance, hoping he’d understand what she needed to tell him without having to voice the words herself. And he thought he understood, could see where this was going, but he wasn’t sure and he needed her to explain because he didn’t trust his thoughts. 

“They were able to locate most of the crew.” She was looking down, unable or unwilling to meet his eyes. This was the bad part, the part that made her nervous. “I-I’m sorry Luffy, they weren’t able to find Zoro.” She had tears in her eyes when she finally looked up.

Luffy’s mind had been replaced with static. A static that if someone zoomed in on, they’d see it was actually the words “no”, “lies”, and “Zoro”, repeated over and over enough times that they drowned out to white noise. 

“Some members were hard to find—Usopp took several months to track down. I had hoped by the time I left for Sabaody that there would be some news, but there wasn’t,” Robin continued. He couldn’t tell if she was trying to reassure him or herself or just filling the silence because it was too quiet. Luffy was too quiet. 

“I’m sorry, Luffy.” Her voice was full of regret and sadness. 

He understood. She thought Zoro was gone. She stopped believing in Zoro.

“No,” Luffy stated, “It’s Zoro.” 

That should be enough explanation; It’s Zoro, he’s strong, he’s a fighter, he’s fine. Luffy wasn’t going to stop believing in him just because some stupid army couldn’t find him. Zoro got lost all the time! He was probably trying to get back to Sabaody and got lost and that was why Robin’s people never found him, because he kept moving around. Maybe he didn’t even get Luffy’s message about two years! Zoro could be really dumb sometimes, especially without the smart crew members to explain things, like Robin or Nami or Chopper. 

Luffy didn’t realize he was speaking all these thoughts out loud and Robin didn’t interrupt him. Didn’t point out the fact that Zoro had a vivre card. That even he could follow the card without getting lost for two whole years. 

She didn’t mention that the Army had found the island Zoro was sent to—a haunted place that was solely inhabited by Warlord of the Sea and Zoro’s number one adversary, Dracule “Hawk-eyes” Mihawk. By the time they found it, there was no trace of the Straw Hats’ swordsman. They even went to extreme measures and asked the Warlord for information, although that was as successful as could be expected. At least Hawk-eyes only harmed the Revolutionary scouts and didn’t outright kill them. 

The Army continued to watch the island, even if most members didn’t think anything would come of it. The search was expanded to surrounding islands. Everything became both easier and harder as the rest of the crew was located—easier because the Army’s resources were getting freed up and could be partially redirected to the search for Zoro, harder because the disappointing news became more frequent.

By the time Robin had set off for Sabaody, there had been only one scout still looking for Zoro. The final report was the same as all the others—no new information, no crewmate suddenly found. She was sure that the scout had been reassigned by now since Robin was no longer there to advocate. 

Her captain didn’t need to know this information right then. She wanted to share it, but Luffy was not the one to tell, not how he was currently. She didn’t want to upset him more and it wasn’t like this would sway his conviction in his swordsman. Luffy and Zoro had always held a blind trust in each other that defied all logic. Even though Robin had seen both of them pull off the impossible, she could never have the same level of faith in them that they had in each other. 

She didn’t want to leave the captain but she didn’t know how to help, so she sat with him in silence until he was ready to go. He bounced back quicker than she had expected; it took only a minute for him to get back to, well, not quite smiling, but not looking noticeably upset. When he confirmed there was nothing else she wanted to talk about, he left and she could hear him on deck yelling about going fishing as the door swung shut. 

A minute later, she followed him outside and climbed up to the second level platform, preferring to watch over the crew for right now. Luffy didn’t seem affected by their conversation and Robin wasn’t sure if she should be worried that he was being naive. A selfish part of her wanted to cling to his optimism and ignore the dark thoughts whispering in the back of her head. 

“Hey beautiful, something on your mind?” Franky called out as he approached her vantage point. She took a moment to enjoy the height advantage she had being on the upper floor. She was naturally tall but had always been dwarfed when standing near the cyborg. His new upgrades had made him even taller, so the current reversed perspective was nice. 

With a tight smile she greeted him back, “Hey Franky, nice hair.” His hair was spiked up into two triangles. By her count, it was the fifth hairstyle he’d had that day and she knew he would revert it back soon enough. 

“Thanks, glad you like it,” Franky said and smiled, “So what’s going on? I saw you pull Luffy-bro aside, any issues?” 

Robin sighed. Of all the crewmates on board, Franky was her best option to confide in with her concerns. Sanji couldn’t speak to women right now, Chopper was too close to Zoro, and Brook had already experienced enough loss that she didn’t want him to grieve before he had to. She was not sure about the newly confident Usopp, but the old Usopp would have required more comfort after hearing the information than what she was able to provide right now. Nami was a good second option, but the two East Blue crewmates shared a friendship that made Robin worry the news would hit the navigator hard. 

She didn’t want to upset any of her nakama, not when she had no concrete evidence that their swordsman was not okay. She definitely didn’t want to destroy the current happiness of their reunion. The captain didn’t think this was an issue that needed to be discussed, and the archeologist wanted to follow his lead.

But at the same time, the lonely little girl in Robin could use a bit of comfort right then. And for once in her life, she could ask for that comfort and actually receive it. 

“It’s about our swordsman,” she murmured, keeping her voice low so as to not draw attention. The rest of the crew was on the other side of the lawn and distracted, which gave enough privacy for their conversation.

Franky tried to match her hushed tone. His voice was still louder than hers, but he didn’t project as he said, “Oh, yeah, I’m actually surprised Zoro-bro didn’t get here in time.” He climbed up and took a seat on the railing beside her. “Maybe we should invest in a vivre card so at least we can find him when he gets lost.” 

Franky chuckled like it was a joke, but Robin’s response was serious when she said, “Yes, that would be good. Then we would know if he’s alive as well.” 

He gave her an appraising look. “What do you mean by ‘if’?” 

So Robin told him about the Revolutionary Army’s spy network and their inability to locate the swordsman over the past two years. She told him everything, including the details she had opted to keep from Luffy. Franky cursed when her story came to an end and they both settled into silence. 

Using his miniature robo-hand designed for fine tasks, the cyborg reached over and began to pat her head. Some strands of hair got caught in the joints, but Robin appreciated the comforting gesture anyway and gave him a small smile in return. 

“The fact the Army found nothing could be a good sign, maybe he escaped the island and got caught up in some super adventure,” Franky reasoned. 

“You mean like breaking into a government prison and freeing a bunch of old enemies?” she suggested.  

“Exactly. Who knows, maybe he’ll show up on Sabaody with some crazy story to tell.” He walked a fine line between reassuring and realistic when he continued, “Zoro-bro’s not invincible, but he is strong. We don’t know anything for certain.” We don’t need to mourn yet, went unsaid. 

“Yes, you’re right,” she said softly, keeping her voice steady, “Thank you for listening, I…I guess I just needed to talk to someone about it.” 

“You mentioned all this to Luffy-bro, right?” 

She exhaled and frowned, “Yes, but he didn’t give it much weight.” 

“Yeah, that tracks with our captain, he’s always got faith in our first mate.” They exchanged knowing smiles. Officially the Straw Hats did not have a first mate, or any sort of hierarchy outside of captain/crew; Unofficially, everyone both outside and within the crew recognized Roronoa Zoro as Luffy’s second-in-command.

Robin thanked him again before they were pulled back in with the rest of the crew’s shenanigans. As was normal for any Straw Hat adventure, chaos appeared quickly, this time in the form of a rival pirate ship, followed by a run-in with a mighty sea kraken, and a fall down an underwater waterfall. The first issue was easily dealt with, the second issue caused a split in the crew as the captain and cook went off to befriend and fight the beast, and the third issue was scary, but ultimately harmless. Eventually they all made their way back together and into the highly anticipated Fishman Island. 

Chapter Text

~ 2 years prior ~

A few days after the Summit War of Marineford, the Red Hair Pirates had a surprise visit from a coffin-shaped sailboat carrying a certain Warlord of the Sea. 

“What’d you bring me?” Shanks, the Red Hair captain, called out as the Warlord strolled across the deck of the Red Force. 

Dracule Mihawk stepped to the side, fully revealing the two young adults that had followed him onboard. One was a woman with pink hair and dark, frilly clothes, while the other was a green-haired man who was wrapped in an absurd amount of bandages and carried three swords.  

“Hawky!” Shanks yelled in surprise, “I know we’ve talked about having children-” Mihawk snorted, they most certainly had not talked about such things “-but I was hoping you’d involve me much sooner in the process!” 

Shanks flashed him a cheeky grin and Mihawk rolled his eyes. Perona and Zoro looked both confused and mildly disgusted while the rest of the Red Hair pirates didn’t react - they were used to their captain’s antics by now. 

“Well, they are cute, I’ll give you that,” Shanks amended and turned his smile on the two “cute children.” 

Mihawk didn’t dignify the man’s rambling with a response and instead explained, “This is Perona, the ghost devil fruit user from Gecko Moria’s crew. And this is Roronoa Zoro.” 

Shanks’ smile dropped at the man’s name. Mihawk didn’t specify what crew he was on, but Red Hair already knew. He kept track of all news of his Anchor, so of course he knew Roronoa Zoro, the swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates and First Mate to Monkey D. Luffy. 

Zoro wasn’t speaking, so Shanks turned his questioning gaze to Mihawk. The Warlord obliged the unvoiced request, “Bartholomew Kuma sent these two to Kuraigana. I can’t tell you what his intentions were, nor what he expected me to do with them, so I’m bringing them to you so that they can be your problem.” Several protests rose up at that statement, Zoro and Perona saying they didn’t need to be taken care of and the Red Hair crew saying they didn’t do charity work (which was a lie, but they’d never admit to it since they were fierce pirates and all). 

Something wasn’t sitting right with Shanks - he knew Mihawk liked his solitude and he wasn’t a kind man by any means, so it wasn’t surprising that he’d want the two young pirates off his island. But he hadn’t just kicked them off the island, he had brought them all the way here, to the Red Hair Pirates, for Shanks to take care of them. 

“What’re you hiding from me, Hawky?” 

“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” Mihawk sneered and Shanks resisted the urge to laugh; Of the two of them, Shanks was not the dramatic one (if asked, the Red Hair Pirates would disagree and claim that they are both exceedingly theatrical). Mihawk then explained, “Roronoa has lost his memories of Straw Hat and his crew.” 

Oh no, that’s bad, Shanks thought. Roronoa was one of the strongest members of the Straw Hat Pirates. Red Hair had come to depend on him to keep Luffy safe. Luffy was strong on his own, but even the strongest pirate needed help sometimes - just look at how often Beck saved Shanks’ ass. 

“Hey, don’t just go telling people that!” Zoro complained, and was promptly ignored. 

“Why didn’t you bring him to Luffy?” Shanks asked. 

“I don’t know where your boy is, and considering recent events…” Mihawk hesitated slightly before finishing, “I’ve brought him here instead.” 

Marineford. Luffy just watched his brother die in his arms. It would have been cruel to make Luffy care for a Zoro who didn’t remember him - who could potentially never remember him. It would be losing two of his most important people in under a week. 

Shanks was suddenly glad Mihawk had a heart. It was a shriveled and dark thing, but it was present enough for him to choose not to hurt Luffy more. 

Zoro spoke up again, “Look, I’ve already told you, I don’t know who this Luffy guy is, and I don’t care. Drop me off at the nearest island and once I recover, I’ll come find you and kick your ass, training be damned.” 

Shanks took a closer look at the young man and for the first time noticed the bandages wrapped all along his body, the slight lean in his stance, and the way his breathing was just a touch heavy. A small pulse of observation haki told him that the Straw Hat’s injuries were severe, but not new.

“Training?” the captain asked, focusing on the last part of Zoro’s speech. 

“Roronoa is hoping to become the world’s greatest swordsman. While, of course, you could never train him to defeat me, he could still learn a thing or two from you.” Mihawk’s voice and expression were harsh and stoic, but Shanks knew the other man well enough to see the small hints of embarrassment he displayed whenever he asked for a favor. He also understood that the last sentence was a huge compliment in Hawk-eyes’ language.

Shanks smiled at his grumpy swordsman, then smiled at his new grumpy swordsman. He walked over to Zoro and put his arm around the young man’s shoulders, ignoring any protests. “Beck! Show Zoro to his bunk! Hongo, you go too!” The first mate and doctor agreed then proceeded to drag their newest member away. 

“Hey, watch the bandages, I did those myself!” the pink-haired girl protested. Hongo muttered something about “bandages being shit anyway,” but Shanks ignored it and focused on Hawky’s other ward. 

“So are you taking me to look for Master Moria now?” Perona whined and Shanks was reminded of Uta when she was 4 years old. 

The two older pirates exchanged a look. The rumors of Moria’s crew weren’t good, especially in regards to their treatment of women. Of course, they were pirates, so they were not expected to be good people, but still Shanks was hesitant to take the young woman back to that crew. Not to mention that he hadn’t heard confirmation the onion man was still alive, even though the news article about his death had been highly suspicious. He could tell Mihawk’s thoughts had followed the same path. 

“Why don’t you sail around with us for a bit?” Shanks offered. “You can help Hongo take care of Zoro and keep an eye out for Moria.” 

“Gross, I don’t want to take care of anyone, I’m the one who should be taken care of!” She instantly complained, crossing her arms and pouting for emphasis. It only took a few seconds before she turned back and sighed, “Ugh, fine! I guess I can stay with your gross crew until I hear from Master Moria. At least your ship is cute.” 

Shanks frowned at that, after all the Red Force was not “cute.” It was fierce and scary. Scary dragon boat. 

For the next two years, the grumpy green-haired swordsman and the pink-haired princess sailed with the Red Hair Pirates.

Zoro’s presence on the ship was a secret from the rest of the world. Shanks didn’t want to be the one to reveal that the Straw Hat crew was still alive, not before Luffy was ready to announce it himself. As an Emperor he had some control over what information was shared about his crew, mainly because no one could spy on him without his knowledge and would earn his ire if they tried. As Zoro’s teacher, he managed to wrestle some amount of control over when and how the swordsman fought, mostly by asserting his requests were for training. Zoro would wield only one or two blades for most fights, and switch to three when the situation ensured they wouldn’t need to worry about witnesses. He also wore a hood, which he believed was an extension of his observation training as it restricted his field of vision. Really it was just Shanks’ method of hiding his extremely obvious hair color, but Zoro didn’t need to know that. 

Overall it was a lot more work than the captain ever wanted to do, but he put up with it (and with Zoro’s many, many complaints) all so that Luffy and the Straw Hats could one day return.

Chapter Text

The Straw Hats had arrived at Fishman Island at the perfect time. Or the worst time, depending on your perspective. 

On the one hand, tension between fishmen and humans was at an all-time high and the arrival of the mostly-human pirate crew was not a welcome sight. On the other hand, Monkey D. Luffy possessed an almost supernatural ability to unite groups of people, and Fishman Island needed some unity right then. 

Of course, it didn’t help that the pirates had entered the land illegally, crashing straight through the bubble coating without getting proper permission for entry. It also didn’t help that the crew then started asking for a blood donation, which was a taboo subject for the fishmen, all because one of the crew members kept getting nosebleeds every time he looked at a mermaid (and refused to stop looking at mermaids despite his medical condition). 

But then it turned out that these humans had actually saved Princess Shirahoshi’s beloved pet shark Megalo during their journey to the island, so maybe the humans weren’t all bad. King Neptune even traveled to the mainland just to thank the crew in person and invite them to the palace. 

Then mermaids started going missing and the fortune teller, Madame Shyarly, predicted Luffy would destroy Fishman Island, so maybe the humans actually were all bad. 

~~~

“What did you do? We’re supposed to be running away!” Usopp shouted, gesturing around the destroyed entry hall and the 50 or so palace guards that had been tied up or incapacitated.

“I was trying to run away,” Brook argued, “but they just kept attacking!” 

“That doesn’t mean you should take them hostage!” Usopp complained, completely freaking out over the situation they were in. 

The Straw Hats had been at the palace for less than an hour, and already trouble had found them. Almost as soon as they walked in the door, escorted by King Neptune himself, the ministers and soldiers called for the pirates’ arrest, claiming something about kidnapped mermaids and a prophecy of doom. The charges were ridiculous and the crew reacted as such by refusing to be captured. Usopp’s plan had been to fight their way to the door and escape, but nooo, they couldn’t do such a simple and obvious thing - no, they had to stick around and fight everyone. They had to stay and chain up all of the guards, as well as the King himself! Luffy wasn’t even here, (he had wandered off before any arrests were attempted) and still the Straw Hat crew was choosing the worst course of action.  

“You were tying them up too!” Brook yelled back. 

“Well, that’s only because they kept attacking us and you guys wouldn’t run away!” Usopp defended. He was not taking responsibility for this, no way. 

“Would you two quit it?” Nami said, determined to be the voice of reason. “It’s too late, there’s only one thing we can do now.” She leaned over the nearest guard and grabbed his face in both hands. With the biggest puppy-dog eyes she could muster, she implored him, “Where do you keep the palace treasures?” 

“Now’s not the time for that!” Usopp shouted, acting as the actual voice of reason. “Look, we need to find Luffy and get out of here!” 

“Don’t worry, Usopp! Here, maybe a song will cheer everyone up!” Brook assured, then started improvising a simple song about how everything would be okay and even if it wasn’t, everyone would eventually die anyway. Usopp did not appreciate the song. 

“Okay guys, we can’t stay on Fishman Island anymore.” Usopp paced as he talked. He paused, then made an unhappy face when he remembered that their ship was still missing and even if they found it, it needed a new bubble coating anyway. 

He expressed his concerns and Nami added her own concerns about the logpose since it still hadn’t settled. One of the ministers sneered at her and said the logpose would be useless in the New World, but refused to explain more while he was tied up. Before the argument could escalate a loud ding-dong sound filled the room. The source of the noise was traced back to a transponder snail which Brook opted to answer before Usopp could stop him. 

“Hello, Soul King Brook speaking, may I see your panties?” 

“What?” The voice on the other end of the line responded, “Who is this? I am Prince Fukaboshi, what’s happening over there?” Yelling could be heard in the background on both sides of the call. “Bring down the connecting hallway and open all the palace gates this instant!” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, we can’t do that,” Brook responded, sounding genuinely apologetic. 

“Uh, can you tie me and Camie up too so they don’t confuse us for accomplices?” the starfish Pappag requested, and was easily ignored. 

“Which one of the Straw Hats are you?” demanded Prince Fukaboshi.

“Fukaboshi, he is the Straw Hats’ Skeleton, Soul King Broom!” King Neptune replied, voice loud to ensure the transmitter would pick it up. 

“Actually, it’s Brook,” Brook corrected.  

“Father!” the prince yelled, “Are you alright?”

“Your father is fine! For now...” replied Brook, deepening his voice to enhance the effectiveness of his threat, “If you want him to stay that way, then you’ll need to give us some things. First of all, our ship, Sunny, needs a new coating. Then we’ll need our remaining crew - Robin, Chopper, Franky, and Sanji. Lastly, we will need to see some mermaid panties.”

“No!” Nami took over the transmitter while Brook nursed the new bump on his head. “Forget that last request, what Brook meant to say is that we’ll need one billion berris.” 

“Knock it off!” Usopp yelled, then said into the transponder snail, “Forget the berri too, just the ship and the crew is all.” 

“You’re terrible at negotiations,” Nami hissed at Usopp. 

“We understand your demands,” Prince Fukaboshi replied, “We will arrange for you and your crew to leave this island as soon as possible. In exchange, you must guarantee the safety of the hostages.”

Usopp easily agreed, already daydreaming about them successfully getting out of this crazy place. 

“One last thing, Straw Hats,” the prince continued, “I’m reluctant to do this now, but I must keep a promise I made. The former Warlord, Jinbei, First Son of the Sea left two messages for Straw Hat Luffy.”

The Straw Hats looked at each other in confusion, what would a Warlord want with Luffy? 

“That’s right,” Brook recalled, “Luffy said he was friends with Jinbei.” 

“Even though he’s a pirate, Jinbei is trusted and respected throughout the island,” Pappag explained. 

Nami took charge of the transmitter again, “Luffy isn’t here, but I’ll give him your message.”

“First, ‘do not fight Hody’.” The message was ominous, especially since they didn’t even know who or what “Hody” was. “And second, ‘I await you in the forest of the sea’. Those are the two messages.” Oh good, both messages were ominous. 

Nami confirmed that she understood and the line went dead. Now the crew just had to wait around and occupy the palace until they had their ship back and could successfully get away. 

Usopp hoped the wait would be short and uneventful. 

Usopp may have jinxed them by hoping for such things. 

Only a few minutes after the call ended, a strange whooping sound could be heard and the king demanded someone go check on his daughter, the mermaid princess Shirahoshi. Brook volunteered and raced off down the hallway before anyone could stop him, determined to see the mermaid princess (and maybe her panties). 

Unfortunately, when he arrived at the tower, the princess was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Brook found Luffy who, for whatever reason, was riding away from the castle on the head of an extremely obese shark. 

~~~

“Let’s go take that walk!” Luffy yelled as he stood proudly atop Megalo’s head. The large shark successfully hid the mermaid princess within its mouth as all three escaped the palace, although it was obvious the poor fish was struggling. Luffy and Shirahoshi didn’t notice, so Megalo kept going, determined to prove his worth as Shirahoshi’s best friend, no matter the (very painful) cost!

“Oh no, there’s people yelling down there,” the princess muttered, her voice on the edge of tears. She wouldn’t cry because Luffy didn’t like it when she cried, even though this whole adventure was really scary. 

Luffy looked back at the palace and noticed Brook waving at them. Luffy cheerily waved back and reassured the mermaid, “Oh, that’s just Brook, he’s part of my crew.” 

“Oh!” she perked up, glad that it was one of Luffy’s friends and not some castle guards scolding her. “Are they a good crew?” she asked. 

“Yes!” he confirmed, laughing at the absurdity of her question. “They’re the best crew out there! We have the best musician and navigator and cook and cyborg and reindeer doctor and liar and Robin, and my swordsman is going to be the best swordsman in the world!” 

Shirahoshi wasn’t sure why humans would need a doctor for reindeers, or a crew would need a liar, or what a Robin even was, but she assumed it was all basic knowledge from the surface world. She didn’t ask in case it made her seem stupid and made Luffy dislike her more.

“Your swordsman?” she asked instead, confused by the possessiveness of the phrase. 

“Duh, Zoro! He’s awesome, even though he’s kind of an idiot,” Luffy snickered, missing her meaning. She was about to ask another question when he started speaking again, “Zoro’s always getting lost, we’ve met birds who’re better with directions than Zoro. And he’s so easy to get mad, him and Sanji spend all their time fighting, it’s funny. And he sleeps all the time, he’s slept through hurricanes and sea king attacks! But he’s also cool, he fights with three swords and one of them is in his mouth.”

“In his mouth?” she questioned. 

Luffy laughed and replied, “Yeah, like this.” He leaned over the top of Megalo’s head so Shirahoshi could see his face as he pantomimed placing and holding a sword between his teeth. The mermaid giggled at the display, it was so silly that there was no way the actual thing could look scary. She told Luffy as much and he launched into an explanation about how Zoro could look super scary and people even called him a demon, but really he was a good person. 

Luffy continued talking about the swordsman, his words spilling out with no inclination to stop. The mermaid princess smiled as he talked, taken in by his passion for his friend. She wished she had more close friends like that. When Luffy stopped to catch his breath, she excitedly asked, “Can I meet him?” 

His smile dropped and his voice was notably more subdued when he replied, “Zoro’s not with us right now.” He gave a humorless laugh. “He got a bit lost. But Rayleigh’s gonna bring him here soon. When he gets here you can meet him! Just don’t cry, he’ll get mad.” When Luffy laughed again, it was closer to normal. 

“Oh, okay. What about your other crew members?” she asked. She was worried now that the scary swordsman would get mad at her, but Luffy also said he was nice so it might not be too bad. 

“Well there’s Brook, he’s my musician and he’s a skeleton!” Luffy exclaimed then started bragging about all the remaining members of the crew. She noticed that he didn’t talk about the others as much as he talked about Zoro, but she didn’t think much of it. She also made a mental note to avoid “Brook” since meeting a moving skeleton sounded way too scary for her. 

~~~

The crew taking King Neptune hostage and Luffy kidnapping Princess Shirashoshi did not help to prove to the fishmen that humans weren’t evil. The entire island was turned against the human pirates, and something big would need to happen in order to change their minds. 

As fate would have it, something big did happen that day, in the form of an even greater threat rising up from the Fish-Man District. Hody Jones and his crew launched a series of attacks with the explicit goal of taking over Fishman Island and killing King Neptune, along with anyone else who got in their way. Hody and his men had been raised in a culture of hate that nurtured a desire for violence, even without just cause, and their dream now was to spread that violence to all humans and human-sympathizers. Hody’s multifaceted attack plan included forcing ordinary citizens to bow to his will, attacking Ryugu Palace, and unleashing another fishman pirate, Vander Decken, on Princess Shirahoshi. 

Needless to say, the presence of the Straw Hat crew threw an unexpected wrench in Hody’s plans. At every step he was met with Straw Hat rebellion, which accumulated into an all-out war at Gyoncorde Plaza between Hody’s supporters (his officers, fishmen of the Fish-Man District, and dozens of enslaved human pirates) and Neptune’s supporters (the Straw Hats, the royal family, and ex-Warlord Jinbei). 

At least this series of events provided the Straw Hats an opportunity to redeem themselves to the island’s inhabitants. 

Chapter Text

Brave Captain Usopp stood tall as he gazed out upon the roaring battlefield. The fight had been going on for a while now, raging fiercely all across the open plain, but Usopp was unafraid. His time on the Bowin Islands had shaped him into a strong and courageous warrior who could conquer any threat; Hody’s army of fishmen and enslaved pirates was no match for the new and improved Usopp! There might be thousands of enemies, and those enemies might be insanely strong (and possibly on some type of performance enhancing drugs which made them even stronger and crazier)…but even so! If Brave Captain Usopp wanted to, he could take on this entire army by himself!

Easily!

With one hand tied behind his back!

No doubt.

…

Of course, that was if Brave Captain Usopp wanted to defeat them all on his own, which, at the current moment, he did not, in fact, want to… 

Well, he wanted them to be defeated, of course, it was just that, in this particular instance, he didn’t exactly feel like taking on everyone, everyone. 

He definitely could! 

But these fishmen really were very strong, and Usopp had missed lunch so he wasn't fighting at 100%, and besides his friends were here so he didn’t have to be the sole hero of the day. He could hold his own and show off his new skills, but he didn't need to go over the top and steal the spotlight like some crew members wanted to. Nope, for this particular battle, Usopp was perfectly content with taking a step back and letting everyone else flex the strength that they had gained in their two years apart. 

So far the crew had been doing exactly that, using their new skills to bring the 100,000 enemy count down so that only a few thousand remained. Usopp, for his part, had done most of his fighting from within Franky's new Brachio-Tank 5. He expertly steered the tank while Nami and Chopper took charge of the navigation and missiles respectively. Everything was going well until a giant pit opened up beneath them and swallowed the tank whole (which was not Usopp's fault, the ground had definitely been there when he had initially driven the tank to that area). Instead of restoring the vehicle to the field, Franky took it back and somehow used the parts to form his cool, super-robot mecha-suite. It was a bit rude that the cyborg had designed the bullet-proof suit to fit only one person, but Brave Captain Usopp was able to forgive him since General Franky was definitely the coolest thing the sniper had ever seen.

Now left on his own, Usopp was back to relying on his trusty Kabuto to hold out against their enemies while waiting for Chopper to connect all the tunnels Hody’s cookie-cutter fishman had been digging below the battleground. It was Plan Alabasta all over again - once Chopper was done, Usopp would fire one of his explosive pop greens into the underground maze, successfully drawing the annoying burrowing enemy out into the open. Unfortunately this time around there was a much larger number of above-ground opponents for Usopp to contend with while Chopper worked. At least this time none of them were fruit-eating weapons (as far as he could tell). 

Brave Captain Usopp didn’t have time to count his enemies, but he would have guessed the group approaching him contained at least a hundred (Robin would have guessed more along the lines of ten). With a not-at-all-scared war cry, Usopp launched a pop green that fractured into tiny seeds as soon as it left the slingshot’s cradle. The seeds dispersed around the land at the soldiers' feet and started rapidly growing into a wall of spiky vines. Several soldiers were caught in the initial growth, while the rest were stuck behind the leafy barrier. With a self-satisfied smirk, Usopp took advantage of the pause in fighting to assess how the rest of the crew was faring. 

Luffy had already left the battle in order to deal with the gigantic island-crushing boat that was slowly heading their way (Usopp was doing his best to not look up or think about that too much). Nami was managing against a group of fishmen that acted a lot less confident after seeing the electrical damage she could bring with her newest clima-tact. Robin was in a similar position, her extension of hands easily taking down enemies by the dozens. Sanji and Jinbei were–

“Stop it! Don’t! Someone, help!” sudden shouts interrupted Usopp’s assessment, drawing his attention to a group of enemies that were quickly being torn apart. Usopp couldn’t get a good look at who was causing the damage, but he saw lots of swords and what appeared to be spotted tentacles. 

As he watched, an octopus swordsman made a bee-line towards Robin. Someone needed to step in - even if Robin tried to stop him with her powers, the fishman’s momentum and sharp blades were sure to do severe damage. They needed someone who could stop a rampaging swordsman...

Sanji! Sanji would never let Robin get hurt. He’d step in and save the day, no problem! 

…except Sanji and Jinbei were busy fighting the unreasonably large pufferfish man and Sanji’s back was turned to the current situation so he probably didn’t even realize Robin was in danger. Usopp could see a small plume of smoke drift lazily up from the cook’s cigarette. Now’s really not the time for a smoke-break, Sanji! Usopp scolded in his mind then turned to see who else could help…

Brook! Brook was a swordsman! He was also a skeleton, so he had a much higher resistance to swords. Brook could definitely help Robin.

…except Usopp couldn’t find Brook anywhere close to them. He might have heard a distinct “yohoho” call from the other side of the battlefield, but it was way too far away to be of any help right now. 

Who was left? Nami? No, not for speed, not for this. Who else? Usopp knew Franky was far away, Chopper was busy, and the only other ally left was…Usopp. 

Shit.  

There was no choice, Brave Captain Usopp would need to save the day! 

He really wished there was another choice. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest. The pressure was almost unbearable as he raised his Kabuto and took aim. Despite his panic, he forced himself to breathe, giving a deep exhale as he released the band to ensure the pop green flew true. He knew he aimed correctly, but there was always a moment of doubt every time he released a shot where his brain flooded with worry. Maybe this would be the shot he missed, maybe he didn’t account for the wind correctly, maybe he misjudged his strength, maybe he had actually forgotten how to shoot a slingshot and was now about to completely embarrass himself and definitely get Robin injured and he’ll have to stop being the crew’s sniper because a sniper that misses isn’t a sniper and even if he spent two years getting better still what if he wasn’t– 

Success! Just in time, the seed hit its mark perfectly, striking into the side of the swordsman’s face. There was enough weight in the projectile to shove the octopus man off his path, forcing him to crash to the ground a few feet to Robin’s left. The seed had exploded on impact, releasing a highly sticky substance that quickly coated half the man’s body and just as quickly dried into a cement-like paste that Usopp knew from experience would take days to get free from. Half of his tentacle limbs as well as one arm became useless, his motion severely reduced. Usopp’s shot landed just as he imagined and he spent a moment relishing in the victory before being forced to turn back to his own battle, where the group of soldiers had finally cut their way through his vines. He wanted to make sure the swordsman was finished, but it was difficult with his own fight now demanding attention. Luckily Robin stepped in; Moving to block his view of the swordsman, she sent Usopp a quick wink before turning to the octopus man in a clear unspoken message of, “Thanks for the help, I’ve got it now.” 

Despite his new impairment, Hyouzou, the fishman, refused to stay down. As Robin watched, she could tell there was something off about him. He was slurring and shouting his words like he was in a drunken haze and he didn’t even seem to notice that half his body was unusable. He dragged himself back towards Robin, all the while continuing to swing his swords at every living thing in sight and cutting down several of his own crew along the way. He couldn’t do any fine motor movements, but four of his blades were sticking out of the cement in a way that could still be used if he swept his entire body around like a scythe. Robin sprouted arms around the swordsman’s neck and tried to twist his head enough to snap, but it didn’t work. The fishman was strong, stronger than expected, and the crazed look in his eyes confirmed her suspicions something unnatural was going on. 

Before she could even blink, he slashed at her replicated arm, drawing blood in a deep gash. She released her powers and cradled the injury to her chest. She’d need to be smart to overcome this one. Her eyes swept the battlefield, assessing what tools she had at her disposal. Everyone else was tied up in their own battles with Hody’s officers, but if she could just secure this enemy until one of the others was free to finish him off...

“Jinbei!” She called as she ran closer to the ex-Warlord, “Do you think you could blast that guy away from here?” 

Jinbei followed where she had been pointing, still maintaining his own attacks against the numerous enemies charging him. With an affirmative grunt, he sent a quick blast in the swordsman’s direction, throwing him nearly 50 feet in the air and to the outskirts of the fray. 

Since Hyouzou could only use half his body, his speed was significantly reduced. Robin estimated it would take him ten minutes to return to the center of the battle, which was plenty of time for her nakama to complete their fights and be available to finish him off. She turned her attention back to the less annoying group of soldiers that was now in front of her. 

As predicted, nine minutes and 53 seconds after being blasted away, the octopus swordsman made a sweeping path back to Robin. By this point several fights had completed, leaving Franky, Chopper, and Nami free to deal with the returned enemy. Robin was tied up dealing with a fishman who looked more like a dinosaur than any fish she’d ever seen, but she wasn’t concerned. She had confidence the others could handle the new arrival.

Robin’s confidence was not misplaced, although the fight was fierce and no one got out completely unscathed. Hyouzou didn’t know when to quit (or maybe was incapable of quitting), so despite the many life-threatening injuries he gained, he never stopped his assault. The Straw Hats’ attacks changed based on the situation, but in general the pattern was Nami would electrocute the octopus to stun him, Chopper would use his large horns to throw him in the air (avoiding the many blades as best he could), and Franky would blast him back down to the ground using either firepower or a good old-fashioned punch to the face. Eventually, like all of Hody’s officers, the octopus man went down and stayed down. 

The crew was victorious and with a mighty roar, Luffy won his battle too. Hody and all his fishmen were defeated and the island was saved. Strangely enough, the captain’s victory was aided by a group of sea kings who swam in at the last second and stopped the mighty ship Noah from completing its crash course towards Fishman Island. 

After a very long day, Hody was arrested and the Straw Hat pirates were forgiven. The missing mermaids were found and the true kidnapper, the vicious pirate Wet-Haired Caribou, was eventually captured by Jinbei. Madame Shyarly’s prophecy was still a concern, but seeing as Luffy had saved the island, the citizens were willing to ignore the grim prediction for now. The crew’s willingness to fight on the island’s behalf, and their strength to actually win that fight, turned them into heroes in everyone’s eyes. The captain protested the claim, explaining that heroes were obligated to share their food (and Luffy never wanted to share) but his complaints were ignored. The royal family threw a grand feast in their honor and everyone partied the night away.

Chapter Text

By the time the fishmen and Straw Hat celebration was over, there was still no word from Rayleigh or the crew’s missing swordsman. They couldn’t leave without Zoro, so when Princess Shirahoshi asked them to stay, they accepted. King Neptune was gracious enough to give them guest quarters in Ryugu Palace and provided any meals they desired, despite his minister’s concerns for the food stock. 

The crew passed the time exploring the various districts of Fishman Island or meeting with friends like Hatchi, Camie, and Pappag. It was not the worst way to spend their time, but this particular group of pirates had never been good at being idle. Especially not when they were so close to the adventure that they had been dreaming about for years. 

~~~

“Where the fuck is the stupid Moss-for-brains?” Sanji complained.

“Sanji,” Usopp whined, trying to stop the cook’s rant before it began. Despite Sanji’s insistence that he didn’t care about the swordsman, he still spent nearly half his time complaining that the man wasn’t there. Usopp would have joked that Sanji sounded like an anxious boyfriend, if he hadn’t already made that joke the first 10 times Sanji fumed about Zoro’s absence. At this point the joke wasn’t funny.

In fact, none of the jokes were funny anymore. They didn’t laugh when someone mentioned Zoro being lost in one of the Blues or having found Laughtale on his own. Usopp would describe Rayleigh and Zoro swimming to Fishman Island while sharing a bubble and all he would get were pitying smiles, not even a snort or a fake chuckle. 

Zoro’s absence was a weight on the crew’s shoulders that was growing too heavy to ignore. Even the captain was affected, although his reaction was still very Luffy. He whined and complained and talked about kicking Zoro’s butt when the swordsman arrived, but he never doubted his arrival. He never questioned if Zoro was safe. Out of all the crew members, the captain was the only one who didn’t show signs of worry for the first mate. 

When asked about his conviction in Zoro’s well-being, Luffy would reply with “it’s Zoro!” The crew inferred this to mean “It’s Zoro, he’s strong, he can take care of himself! ” 

When asked about Zoro possibly being held hostage or otherwise unable to rejoin them, Luffy’s rebuttal was that he’d know if anything had happened to the swordsman. He couldn’t explain how he’d know, and pushing for more explanation just made the captain angry. Usopp and Chopper guessed that Luffy and Zoro had somehow developed a psychic connection (which would honestly explain some things), but Robin had a feeling Luffy’s response was mostly wishful thinking; It would be too cruel of the world to take away Zoro and not tell Luffy. 

Sometimes when Luffy was alone, he’d forget how to smile. If he was alone too long, he’d start to hear the voices of his brothers, calling him a crybaby and telling him to stop being stupid.

On one particularly nasty night, he heard Zoro’s voice. When he realized it was just his imagination, his throat closed up. His breath abandoned him in the same way the people he loved tended to abandon him and he crawled into bed with Usopp in order to stop being alone. He distracted himself by counting the sniper’s snores. The highest count was 82, but it would have been higher if his thoughts had stopped drifting. He didn’t sleep at all that night and from then on he tried extra hard to never be alone. 

~~~

On the sixth day of their stay at Fishman Island, the Straw Hats’ breakfast was interrupted by one of the many Ryugu Palace staff. It wasn’t clear from his attire what exactly the fishman did at the palace, but he looked very official as he rushed into the room and announced, “Straw Hats, you have a call from someone named ‘Ray’.”

Before his sentence even finished, Luffy was leaping over the dining table, sending plates and glasses flying. He crashed straight into the messenger, forcing them both to the ground with Luffy sitting on top of the other man’s chest. He grabbed the fishman’s face and yelled, “Where? ” 

“Ri-right here,” the messenger said, shakily holding up a transponder snail. The snail had wireframe glasses and Rayleigh’s signature beard. 

Without moving from his position on top of the fishman, Luffy shouted into the snail’s transmitter, “Rayleigh! Do you have Zoro?!” 

His heart was pounding so loud he was afraid he’d miss the Dark King’s answer. Fortunately his ears still worked well enough to understand Rayleigh’s response, but the response wasn’t good. 

“Hey kid, I’m sorry but your swordsman still isn’t here yet…” 

“But–” Luffy automatically started to protest and was quickly cut off as Rayleigh kept speaking. 

“Look, I know you all are waiting down there at Fishman, but I’ve been thinking. You know, it’s actually a lot easier for me to meet up with you guys in the New World than to get 10,000 meters under water. I have my own ways of crossing the Red Line, so if you guys go ahead to the other side, me and your swordsman can meet you wherever you end up.” 

“Ha! You still think you’re going to see him again? Don’t be stupid, kid,” the memory from Dawn Island came to Luffy unbidden. He was seven and Sabo had returned to his parents the day before and now a pirate in Grey Terminal was telling Luffy that he’d never see his brother again. The pirate said he was better off without Luffy and Ace, and Luffy should give up the idea of their reunion. Young Luffy had hated that pirate. His stupid words invoked a feeling of loneliness and Luffy was going to make sure his prediction never came true. He believed in Sabo, and their brotherhood, and he knew, he knew that they would meet again. That Sabo would be fine on his own. That one day they’d reunite. He knew. 

But he had been wrong.

Luffy’s belief hadn’t been stronger than a Celestial Dragon’s cannon, and Sabo had died before Luffy could see him again.

He had died and Luffy had been wrong. 

Luffy wasn’t even there when he died. He wasn’t there when Sabo went through whatever it was that drove the ten year old out to sea. He wasn’t there when the cannons fired and the ship sank and Luffy didn’t even know it had happened until hours later. Until Dogura returned and shared the news and Luffy was crushed by his grief. He didn’t know, and he had been wrong, and Sabo had died. 

But those events had absolutely nothing to do with the current situation and he didn’t know why his stupid brain was even bringing it up. 

Zoro wasn’t Sabo. 

Zoro was alive and he was on his way.

Luffy would see Zoro again. He wasn’t going to get a message one day that his swordsman was dead because Luffy wasn’t wrong this time. 

Luffy wasn’t wrong and Zoro wouldn’t die and he knew, he knew that they would meet again. 

They had to. 

Luffy ordered his brain to shut up and focus on something useful instead, like what to do with Rayleigh’s suggestion. His swordsman wasn’t going to magically appear on Fishman Island, not if Rayleigh didn’t bring him here. And if Rayleigh wasn't going to bring him here, then once again the Straw Hats would have to leave the place where Zoro was supposed to meet them and continue on their journey to the New World. At least it would be easier for him to find them on the surface, less dimensions to get lost in, or something. 

Luffy stood, dropping the snail and releasing the messenger on the way. He told the crew of the plan. Or he thinks he told the crew of the plan, he wasn’t paying enough attention to his own words to know exactly what was said. His mind didn’t want to be there right now. 

Whatever he had said, the crew agreed and the captain left. Several members tried to follow him, but he wanted to be alone, and soon enough no one could find him.

~~~

It took the crew five hours to prepare the ship for departure. Luffy returned right when everything was finished with no explanation for his disappearance. His attitude was normal; He was back to his usual carefree self as he smiled and joked with their fishmen friends. He talked about choosing their next island (the one that caused the logpose to freak out the most, obviously) and he never showed any apprehension at continuing their journey still one swordsman short. 

There was one notable difference in Luffy’s appearance - he now wore a black band around the upper portion of his left arm. At first it seemed like a random piece of cloth, but on closer inspection Robin realized it was one of Zoro’s bandanas. She knew the swordsman had a few stashed away on the Sunny, although she wasn’t sure when the captain had grabbed this particular one. 

Luffy didn’t draw attention to the new accessory and the crewmates that noticed it had opted not to comment. Overall the crew was avoiding any mention of their green-haired nakama. They had updated their fishmen friends of the situation before the captain’s arrival, and everyone was polite enough to avoid the topic as well…at least until Shirohoshi good-naturedly decided to wish them luck with finding Zoro.

Everyone froze for a second, all eyes turning to Luffy to gauge his reaction. Despite his behavior at breakfast, the captain was able to smile now and his voice was steady when he assured her that Zoro would find them “soon.” The crew wasn't entirely sure if they should be worried or reassured by this response, but they weren't going to pursue the topic right then. 

A final round of goodbyes was exchanged, and with a promise to meet again, the Straw Hats set sail for the New World. 

Chapter Text

As the Thousand Sunny slowly ascended from the depths that held Fishman Island, Robin took in a fortifying breath. 

It was time to tell the crew.

They were now officially heading to the New World sans Zoro and she couldn’t keep the knowledge to herself any longer. Most of the crew already suspected something was wrong, and while Robin couldn’t give answers to all their questions, she could at least give them something.

Franky agreed with her decision. He’d actually been campaigning for her to share since their second day at Ryugu Palace, but she had been holding out hope that their swordsman would still appear. That hope had dwindled by the day and was finally crushed when they got the call from Rayleigh. 

Luffy also agreed with her decision, which had been a shock to her at first and a worry to her now. When she broached the subject with the captain she had expected him to protest with his usual optimism on Zoro’s wellbeing, but he didn’t. She asked him if she could tell the crew and he said “okay” and that was that. He didn’t look at her, he didn’t show a reaction, and later on when the crew gathered in the dining room, he didn’t appear. 

“Where’s Luffy?” Chopper asked once everyone was seated around the table.

Nami gave an annoyed sigh and commanded Usopp to go get him. 

Usopp started to complain but Robin stopped him, “It’s alright. Luffy knows what we’re going to talk about. He has decided not to join for this discussion.” 

Her voice was steady, but sad. It wasn’t strange for Luffy to ignore important discussions, but typically he was at least in the room when they happened. 

“I wanted to speak to you all because I have some information I wish to share.” Robin continued, pausing for a moment before clarifying, “About Zoro.” 

She had their full attention. Franky, who was sitting on her right, raised his arm and placed it on the back of her chair. It was a small assurance that he was there for her and she appreciated it greatly. 

In the calmest voice she could manage, she began to explain, “I spent our two years apart with the Revolutionary Army. The army has a lot of connections...” 

She proceeded to tell them the full story like she was a teacher giving a history lesson, the information important but impersonal. Of course, in this case, the lesson was the opposite of impersonal, but Robin tried her best to keep her emotions in check while she talked. Right now she needed to be strong to support the crew as they dealt with their own reactions to her news. 

“...The last report I received before heading to Sabaody had no new information. I haven’t heard anything since, and when I talked to Rayleigh, he hadn’t heard anything either. At this point, I doubt the Army is still searching,” she concluded. 

There was silence around the table, the only sounds coming from Chopper, who was sniffling, and Sanji, who was pulling on a cigarette he had taken out early in the story. 

“How do these Revolutionary guys know Moss ended up on Hawk-eyes’ island?” Sanji asked. He wasn’t trying to question Robin, but he had to question something so that the obvious conclusion wasn’t true; Zoro couldn’t be gone. He was too stubborn to die, Thriller Bark had proven that. 

(Thriller Bark had also proven that if Zoro was alive, he would have made it back to the crew already, regardless of what state he was in.)

Robin explained, “They have multiple surveillance snails monitoring Sabaody at all times due to the importance of the island and its location. Around the time we were facing Kuma, those snails were able to capture footage of nine large flying objects leaving the island at a high velocity. That was us. From the footage, the army was able to determine everyone’s speed and direction, and from there they could estimate where we all landed. Search parties were then sent to confirm.” 

“Wait, but I was on a sky island, how’d they find me?” Nami questioned. 

“They are familiar with the sky islands and took their paths into account as well. They actually have a contact on Weatheria who helps with that tracking.” 

“I didn’t notice any search party…” Usopp muttered, arms crossed. He would have appreciated some more human contact over the past two years. Master Heracles was great, but having only one person to talk to had gotten old real quick. 

“They are very good at being discreet.” Robin gave him an apologetic smile. “I understand if you’re angry that they did not reach out or offer any support. It wasn’t an option I was given; they only agreed to check on everyone, and so long as no one was in any mortal peril-” both Sanji and Usopp scoffed at this, “-they refused to intervene.”

Nami redirected them back on topic, “But how did they know Zoro was on that island if they didn’t find him there?” 

“Each landing was marked with a paw print-shaped crater, and on Kuraigana they were able to find the crater that most likely belonged to Zoro.” 

“Well, how do they know it’s Zoro’s paw print and not someone else’s?” Nami countered, trying to poke holes in the Revolutionary Army story so that her hope for Zoro’s safety had more room to breathe. “I mean we obviously don’t know anything about Kuma or his intentions, who’s to say he doesn’t send people flying all the time?” 

Robin nodded along, “That’s a fair point, they mentioned that they had actually found two paw prints on that island, which proves Kuma has used his powers on more than just our crew. The Army has no way of knowing everyone Kuma has vanished, so there is a chance that the Kuraigana paw print belonged to someone else,” Her face twitched into a frown before settling back to neutral, “but the fact that their analysis worked for 8 out of 9 instances is not in our favor.” 

“What did Luffy say?” Chopper asked, his voice wobbly. A couple of tears had escaped his eyes but he was quick to wipe them away before anyone noticed. “You told him about this, right?” 

Nami snorted and answered before Robin could, “Let me guess, he said ‘it’s Zoro! He’s fine’.” Her imitation was mocking, clearly showing her agitation at the captain’s recent attitude. 

Robin gave her a slight nod of confirmation. “I apologize for not saying anything sooner. I had hoped Zoro would appear and my fears would prove to be unfounded, but...” Franky gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. It was a touch too strong, but she liked that, the small ache helping to ground her. 

A screech sounded from Sanji’s chair as he abruptly stood. “I’m going to go get our idiot captain,” he announced. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do next, right?” He looked to Robin and once he had her confirmation, he left the room. 

Brook was the next to stand up, offering to make a pot of tea. Music wasn’t appropriate right now, but tea was a comfort the skeleton could provide. He had a lot of experience with grief. Even if each loss was different, there were certain comforts he had found that he could share with the crew now. 

While Brook heated the water, Franky made his own attempts at reassurance. “Now, this doesn’t mean he’s dead...” The cyborg let his sentence hang when he realized he didn’t have any follow-up. 

“It just means he’s probably dead,” Usopp stated, earning looks from the rest of the crew. “What? Are we just going to pretend that’s not what this means? He landed on Hawk-eyes’ island. You know, Hawk-eyes? The crazy Warlord with a giant sword who likes to kill people? Who is also, let me check my notes,” he pantomimed flipping through a notebook, “oh right, Zoro’s number one rival? The guy Zoro decided he’s gotta fight no matter what? The guy who cut him in half the first time they met? You’ve all seen the scar, but only a few of us were there to actually watch as people had to shove Zoro’s guts back into his body and then stitch him back together like some sort of scary, bloody, murdery doll! I mean–” 

“Usopp!” Robin scolded, placing a hand on Chopper’s head. The reindeer was fully crying now and not even bothering to hide it. 

“Oh sure, you get to make morbid predictions all the time and it’s fine, but when I point out the obvious...” the sniper grumbled. 

“It’s not helping, Bro,” asserted Franky.

The door swung open before the argument could continue. Luffy walked into the tense atmosphere with a smile on his face, calling out a greeting as if nothing was wrong. Despite the casualness of his actions, there was something subdued about him that suggested he wasn’t completely unaffected. His smile wasn’t as bright as usual.

No one replied to the captain’s greeting and the silence stretched until Franky took charge, “We need your opinion, Captain. We want to know what you want to do about the Zoro-bro situation.” 

Luffy’s relaxed expression didn’t change, but Robin saw him reach for the bandana on his arm. He chuckled a bit before questioning, “What do you mean?” 

“Well, things ain’t looking too super for the swordsman, y’know?” Franky said as delicately as he could. Luffy didn’t react to the words, so he continued, “I guess we’re just wondering what you wanna do about it?” 

Luffy remained silent. 

“What can we do?” Nami asked. 

“Well we know where he was,” Sanji reasoned, “We could start there.” 

“So you want to go there and let Hawk-eyes kill us too?” Usopp protested. 

“What?” Luffy asked, whipping his head between Robin, Sanji, and Usopp. 

“I believe Zoro was sent to the island where the Warlord Hawk-eyes resides,” Robin explained. She felt a pang of regret for not having given Luffy this detail sooner, but their last conversation had ended so badly she had truly thought it better to wait. 

“Then we go back,” Luffy asserted, “Get Hawk-guy to tell us where’s Zoro.” 

“That’s back across the Red Line, we’ll have to turn around now to get to Fishman Island again,” Nami pointed out, not necessarily disagreeing. There was also a question of how they would even find the island without an Eternal Logpose, but that could be resolved later. 

“We don’t need to go back,” Robin stated, matching Luffy’s stare, “Hawk-eyes is currently in the New World.”

Robin wasn’t surprised at Luffy’s response - after all, the only reason she knew Hawk-eyes’ location was that she had been entertaining her own ideas of tracking him down. Had the Warlord still been on the Paradise side of the Red Line, then she wouldn’t have encouraged their travel to Fishman Island. As it was, the journey to the depths was necessary and gave Zoro a bit more time to miraculously appear and prove Robin’s fears unfounded. 

 “I checked with the Army before we left Sabaody,” she continued, “Once we surface, I’ll reach out to them again. They can help to give us a location, although we should expect the actual confrontation to be on our own.” 

“Okay, then that’s what we’ll do,” Luffy confirmed, voice neutral but expression set in a seriousness that indicated his enemies should be very, very afraid. “Continue to the New World, find Hawk-guy, then kick his ass ’til he gives us Zoro back.’’ 

There was no arguing with the captain’s order, but that didn’t matter in this case; Luffy wasn’t the only Straw Hat willing to go to war for nakama. 

Sanji exhaled a puff of smoke and commented, “Well, it’s not like it’d be our first time kicking a Warlord’s ass.”

Chopper sniffed and agreed, “Yeah! Plus he’s alone right? It’s all of us versus him?” 

“It will still be a tough fight. But if he hurt our swordsman, then I’d recommend we tear him apart limb by limb,” Robin supplied, a dangerous smile emphasizing her harsh words. 

Luffy nodded once and the matter was settled. 

Chapter Text

~ 6 Days Prior ~

A whistle pierced the air of the Red Force. The crew on deck visibly flinched and sent glares at the source of the noise. 

Shanks was unbothered by the looks as he continued walking towards the bow, Mihawk at his side. The captain was focused solely on one person as he called out, “Roronoa!”

“‘Zoro’,” the green-haired swordsman corrected. Typically the Red Hair Pirates called him by his first name but whenever Mihawk was visiting, Shanks would switch to “Roronoa.” Zoro wasn’t sure if he was trying to imitate Hawk-eyes, or to impress him with his ability to say a word that was more than three syllables. Either way, it annoyed the youngest member of the Emperor’s crew. 

Hawk-eyes watched him with an intense gaze and Zoro felt unease start to grow in his chest. His captain was waving a newspaper and smiling like a maniac. 

“We found them!” Shanks announced, throwing his arm out wide in celebration. 

“Found who?” Zoro asked, apprehension clear in his voice. 

“Your crew!” If this was the part Zoro was supposed to get excited over, then Red Hair would be disappointed. 

“This is my crew,” he responded flatly.

It was an old argument that the two men had had plenty of times. Zoro had been sailing on the Red Force for two years now and every single member of the ship had recognized him as a crewmate at one point or another. Even Shanks himself had admitted it, although he had quickly added a disclaimer that Zoro was also a part of the Straw Hats. Red Hair called him a “multi-crew pirate,” which was not a real type of pirate (no matter how much Shanks insisted it was). 

Zoro didn’t consider himself a Straw Hat. He accepted that at one point in the past he had been a part of that crew, but now he didn’t remember that past. He didn’t remember any of the crew or their adventures. He couldn’t recall why he had received his first bounty, or the second. He didn’t even know why he had joined them and become a pirate in the first place. There was nothing tying him to this other crew except for everyone else’s insistence that he belonged there.

Roronoa Zoro didn’t believe in doing something just because someone else insisted he should. He forged his own path in life and if his mind decided to forget where he was, then he would take that as a sign to move on. 

“Yes, yes,” Shanks responded, dismissing Zoro’s protest entirely, “and we love you too. But this is Luffy! We finally have news of the Straw Hats!” 

Zoro continued to frown at his captain, so the red-haired man kept talking, “They showed up a few days ago at Sabaody Archipelago. The whole crew was spotted, minus you of course, and gave the Navy hell!”  Shanks laughed with pride as he said the last part.

Everyone was well aware of his fondness for his “Anchor.” The captain was always telling stories about Luffy, and Zoro had been the most common victim of having to listen to these stories because of his past, regardless of how many times Zoro had insisted that he didn’t care. Eventually Shanks had started to speak louder every time Zoro protested and the green-haired man had had to resign himself to his fate. 

“Fine. What do you want?” Zoro’s response was curt, his mood having soured as the captain grew happier. 

Shanks gave him an appraising look. With a half smile, he calmed down and said, “Sorry kid”- Zoro growled at the designation -“I know you don’t like this, but I gotta take you back to the Straw Hats. You don’t remember them, but they remember you. Luffy’s probably worried sick.” 

He didn’t respond and after a moment Shanks continued, “Look, just meet with them, okay? Let them know you’re alive and if you don’t want to stay with them, then you can keep sailing with us. They’re probably at Fishman Island right now, so we’ll go meet them when they get to this side of the Red Line. I have a pretty good idea which island Luffy’s going to choose.” Mihawk snorted at that, also fully aware that Red Hair’s protégé would choose the land with the strongest logpose reaction. If he recalled correctly, it should be a lightning infested island named “Raijin,” or something. 

“Fine,” Zoro accepted. He knew he couldn’t convince the captain that this whole trip was a waste of time, even if his mind was already made up to stay with his crew. He shifted his gaze to Hawk-eyes, “You leaving?” 

Mihawk raised a single perfectly trimmed eyebrow and answered, “No, I am staying. I will join for this endeavor.” 

Shanks grew visibly happy at this. Before they had come out on deck, he had asked Mihawk to stay and help with the reunion. Shanks didn’t want to see Luffy until Luffy sought him out, so he would need someone to act as intermediary with the Straw Hat crew. Inside the ship Mihawk had laughed at the request, but now somewhere in his black heart he had apparently changed his mind and decided to help his favorite one-armed captain. 

“Wanna train?” Zoro asked, face split in a feral grin. 

Mihawk gave an equally sinister look in response and suggested, “Try not to lose an eye this time.” 

Chapter Text

When the Straw Hats reached the New World their arrival was heralded by a large family of island whales, reminiscent of how their time in Paradise was preceded by their meeting of Laboon. Everyone’s heart swelled with joy at the sight, and they had to take a moment to appreciate how truly incredible this all was. 

They had made it. 

They were here, in the New World, alive and (mostly) together. 

When they began there were only five of them - Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji. Now, despite all odds, the East Blue crew had not only survived traveling halfway around the world through an ocean lovingly nicknamed “The Pirates’ Graveyard,” they had even doubled their crew, adding new friends Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, and, soon, Jinbei. They had been through so many fights, celebrations, and adventures, and now they were finally here, at the last stretch on their journey to the One Piece. 

Without a doubt, this was the crew of the future Pirate King and they all knew it. 

~~~

Unfortunately the crew’s feelings of pride and joy did not last long. Unease came for all of them eventually, whether it was nervousness about the dangers that lay ahead, concern for their missing crewmate, or the normal day-to-day anxiety certain crew members felt about being a pirate on the Grand Line in general. 

After they surfaced, Robin split off from the group to reach out to the Revolutionaries, taking Nami and Franky with her. She would need the cyborg to help set up the secure line of communication, and she’d need the navigator’s help in figuring out their course afterwards. She estimated the whole process would take several hours, but hopefully Franky’s ingenuity and Nami’s skills could reduce that time. 

The rest of the crew went about their own business. Brook stayed on deck and played every song he could think of, just in case any of the island whales were still within earshot. Sanji returned to the kitchen to start prepping for their next meal. Chopper returned to his medical bay to work on “doctor things” and Usopp said something similar about his workshop. Luffy sat on Sunny’s figurehead and watched the sea of the New World.

~~~

“Fuck!” Sanji shouted down at the vegetables on his cutting board. His focus had slipped, which usually wasn’t a big deal as holding a kitchen knife was second nature to him, but today the inattention resulted in an inch long gash traversing the side of his index finger. He cursed again and stuck the finger in his mouth, then began to search for the first aid kit. 

“You okay, Sanji?” Usopp’s voice startled him; Sanji had been so lost in thought, he hadn't even noticed when the other man arrived. He cursed for a third time, this one aimed in Usopp’s direction. 

Usopp frowned and grabbed the med kit out of the correct cabinet. He offered his rudimentary medical knowledge to help with the wound and Sanji reluctantly agreed. 

As he got to work, Usopp started on a story about a time when he had almost cut his own finger off after mistaking it for one of the carrots he had been dicing. Sanji pretended to pay attention, but when Usopp paused in the middle of the tale, he abruptly redirected the conversation with, “What the fuck is Mosshead thinking?” 

Usopp shut his mouth and opened it again, trying to catch up to Sanji’s train of thought. He wasn’t offended that his story had been cut short; It wasn’t one of his better tales and he was mostly speaking to fill the silence. 

“Uh, I’m not sure he thought about…going missing,” or dying. After the conversation with Robin, Usopp avoided sharing - or even thinking about - his true beliefs on Zoro’s current state of being. The crew wasn’t ready to confront the truth, and Usopp wasn’t about to force it on them, not yet at least.

“Exactly. He’s not thinking. He needs to get his head out of his ass and come back to the crew,” Sanji complained. 

“I don’t think that’s how that works–” he started to point out, but was cut-off by a snort of laughter. 

“Please,” Sanji challenged, “you really think someone would be able to kidnap Zoro and hold on to him for two whole years?”

“Well, he’d been pretty badly injured on Sabaody,” Usopp reasoned. That day had been one of the scariest of his life; The memory of Kizaru standing over Zoro as he lay helpless on the ground was often featured in the sniper’s nightmares, typically followed by the admiral turning to him and saying “You’re next.”  

“So? The Mosshead’s strong, it’s not like a few little injuries could stop him.” Usopp didn’t know what to make of the guilt he heard in Sanji’s voice. The other man refused to look him in the eye, and his hands shook as he pulled out a cigarette. It took a few tries to get the thing lit but once it was, Sanji continued, “It’s not like he’d die. He’s too stupid for that! Even if he got killed, he’d just get lost on the way to Death’s door and survive.” 

“Sanji...” He wasn’t sure what to say. He couldn’t tell if Sanji was trying to convince himself or Usopp of Zoro’s survival, and he didn’t know how to help. Luckily Sanji spoke again before he had to figure it out. 

“No, Usopp, you don’t understand.” Sanji seemed angry at first, but it quickly dissolved into resignation. “He can’t just die. Not now…not when we’re here. He can’t. I can’t…” He pulled on the cigarette like a lifeline and when he continued, his speech was slow, his words broken up with pauses, “I can’t do it on my own, I’m not…I mean, fuck, I’ve trained for two years and I’m still not strong enough.” 

“What do you mean, Sanji?” Usopp asked softly, careful not to upset his nakama more. He politely ignored the water gathering in Sanji’s eyes and the way he struggled to blink it away. 

Sanji didn’t respond until the cigarette was done and his breathing was slightly more even, but not fully returned to normal. He focused on stubbing the butt into the cigarette tray, giving his hands something to do and his eyes somewhere to look as he explained, “If Zoro doesn’t come back, then it’ll be my job to step up and protect the crew.” Usopp wanted to point out that the crew could take care of themselves, that the pressure of Zoro’s absence didn’t have to fall solely on one person, but Sanji kept talking, “It’ll be on me to clear the way so that when Luffy goes off to fight a Warlord, or an Admiral, or a fucking Emporeror, he doesn't have to worry.” 

His gaze was now fixed on the door of the galley and Usopp wasn’t sure if he meant to look towards Luffy or towards the future that the Sunny, and the Straw Hat crew, was heading. 

“I’m strong, we all are, but the New World’s no joke. I don’t know if I can do my job and his. I don’t know if…,” his voice dropped to a whisper, quiet enough that Usopp wasn’t sure he was meant to hear the end of the confession, “if I can make Luffy King on my own.”

Usopp let the words hang in the air between them for a few seconds, before pointing out the obvious, “Well, you’re not alone.”

Sanji’s head whipped towards him in surprise and he hastily apologized, “Shit, Usopp, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean–”

“Yeah, yeah,” Usopp cut him off, waving a hand dismissively, “I know what you meant, ‘Wings of the Pirate King’ and all. Less effective with only one, right?”

“Wings of the..?” Sanji questioned. He had never heard this phrase before since it was mostly used in Usopp’s head and occasionally said as a joke between the cowardly trio. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Usopp assured, adopting his most confident persona as he continued, “Now, this may surprise you to learn, but I have, on occasion, doubted my own strength”– He held up a hand and rushed to say –“I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but it’s true.” 

Sanji gave a small smirk in response and Usopp took that as encouragement to continue, growing more sincere as he continued with his advice, “And as someone who has, on occasion, felt like that… I think you need to step back and try to focus on one thing at a time. Take it day by day, or even just minute by minute. We got through Fishman Island by working together, and we’ll keep supporting each other just like that.” He stared at Sanji as he said this last part, imploring the blond to believe him. “It’s not all on you, Sanji.” 

Sanji broke eye contact first, looking away and taking in a big inhale. He wiped his hand across his face, clearing the moisture from his eyes. The tears must have been a delayed reaction from chopping onions. He said as much to Usopp, and the liar agreed it was the vegetable’s fault.

With that, the two settled back into a companionable silence, each returning to their own tasks. Sanji’s finger was done being wrapped, but rather than go back to prep work, the cook decided to take a break and mix some nice drinks for the ladies. When he was done, he wordlessly placed one of the fruity concoctions in front of the sniper and exited the room.

Chapter Text

Sanji stepped out of the galley and into the middle of an argument. Luffy, Nami, and Robin were in the center of the lawn, loudly discussing something, while Franky and Brook watched from the sidelines. 

It was unusually hot outside, hot enough that Sanji could imagine seeing flames on the water, although no one else seemed to notice the strange weather. As he strode across the deck, he caught the tail end of Luffy’s words, “...direction? We have to do something!” 

“You know that’s not how that works, Luffy!” Nami scolded, arms already crossed and a scowl on her beautiful face, “We can’t just pick randomly, he could be anywhere!” 

Refusing to interrupt whatever spectacular point Nami was trying to make, Sanji approached Robin first. “Robin! You’re looking lovely as always, would you like a drink?” he asked, holding out the proffered beverage. 

Robin accepted it with a dazzling smile, gifting him only a quick glance before turning back to Nami and Luffy. Sanji also looked at the other two. Nami was yelling, and her ferocity just made her even more beautiful (especially when that anger wasn’t directed at the cook). Luffy had his determined face on, which was never a good sign and usually resulted in the ladies (and the rest of the crew) being put in a dangerous situation. 

Sanji pulled out a cigarette with one hand, his other still occupied by Nami’s drink, then leaned towards Robin and asked, “What’s going on?” 

“Hawk-eyes is still in the New World, but we don’t know where,” she replied, taking a sip of her drink. She complimented the flavor and Sanji tried to hold back his giddiness at the praise. “They believe he’s traveling with Red Hair Shanks, who is notoriously difficult to track,” she added.

“How so?” he asked. 

She gave a slight smile and explained, “The Emperor likes his privacy. He’ll scare off anyone who gets too close, and the Army would rather not make such a powerful enemy. Apparently it was luck that they managed to discover Hawk-eyes was with him in the first place.”

Sanji frowned. Red Hair Shanks might be strong, but surely it wasn’t that hard to keep track of one measly ship? He didn’t want to insult Robin’s friends, but he was really starting to doubt their competency. “Then what do we do?” 

“For now, all we can do is wait as the Revolutionaries try to pinpoint the exact location of the Red Force.” Robin gave a sad smile and tilted her head in Nami and Luffy’s direction, “Luffy doesn’t like that plan.” 

“-follow the birds?” Luffy was suggesting with a yell, arms waving vaguely towards the sky. 

“What the hell do seagulls have to do with anything?!” Nami countered.

“Because he’s a bird guy, duh–” 

“Pwoh, hoh, hoh, pwoh, hoh, hoh.” 

Luffy’s response was cut short by a mournful noise that rang out across the deck from Franky’s direction. The cyborg looked surprised, then opened a compartment in the metallic part of his arm and pulled out the ship’s transponder snail. The snail was sobbing, large alligator tears running down its face and snot pouring from its nose holes. For some reason, the creature was wearing two large party hats made of tinfoil, one on top of its head and the other on top of its shell. 

“What’s that?” Luffy asked, temporarily distracted from his previous point. “Why’s it crying?” 

“That’s an emergency alert, someone’s put out an S.O.S.,” Sanji explained.

“Wait, Luffy!” Robin yelled as the captain walked over and started reaching for the transmitter. “The majority of alerts can’t be trusted! It’s probably a trap from the Marines - If you pick it up and they trace the signal, then they’ll know where we are.”

Unfortunately, Robin’s words could not stop the force of nature that was Monkey D. Luffy. Before she had even finished her explanation, he had answered the call with a yelled, “Hello?! This is Luffy, future Pirate King!” 

“It-it’s so…cold! Boss, is-is that you?” the snail stuttered out. 

“No, I ain’t your boss,” Luffy replied. 

“All m-my people…cut down…one af-after another,” the snail continued, its despair evident even with the stuttering, “We’re being ki-killed…by a samurai!”

“Hey, what’s your name?!” Luffy yelled, “Where are you?!” 

“Some-some one, help! We-we’re trapped on…Punk Hazard!”

The distress call then cut off with an eardrum splitting wail that heavily implied the caller was not okay. 

“We should go rescue those guys!” Luffy instantly shouted, eyes alight with glee. As quick as his excitement rose, it fell, reminded that their goal right now was not adventure, but Zoro. Flashes of frustration, guilt, and concern ran across the captain’s face, before it settled into a solemn mask that was harder to look at than all the previous expressions combined. 

Robin sighed, still suspicious of the caller, but noted anyway, “If the call was from a mini transponder snail, then the island can’t be far away.”

“You mean like that fiery island over there?” Franky said, indicating with his chin a patch of ocean that appeared to be on fire. Glimpses of land could just barely be seen between the flickering flames. 

“When did that get there?!” Nami shrieked, staring between her logpose and the island in surprise. She must have been too caught up in her discussion with Luffy to notice their ship approaching such obvious danger. 

“We’ve been drifting towards it for a while now. Didn’t point it out ’cause I didn’t want to interrupt your talk,” Franky explained, earning a glare from the navigator. Moving towards an island of fire was something that definitely warranted an interruption. 

“This does explain the temperature,” Robin commented mildly. 

“Weird, it doesn’t seem to be connected to any of the log poses,” Nami said. She shook her head and continued, “That’s definitely not a good sign.” 

Sanji had been keeping an eye on Luffy throughout the whole exchange. He saw the way the captain’s eyes had darkened when he first looked at the fire island, and the way his mouth dropped into a slight frown at Nami’s words. He couldn’t tell what exactly Luffy was thinking, but the captain’s continued stillness was unnerving. 

“The call was probably a trap anyway, either by the Navy or other pirates,” Robin added. 

“Yeah, we’re not going right?” asked Usopp. He and Chopper had joined the rest of the crew on deck at some point during the distress call. “I mean whoever called definitely died, and that island is literally on fire, so…” 

The sniper moved to stand next to Sanji, still holding onto the fruity drink he had been given earlier. Sanji noted with satisfaction that the contents were almost completely gone. With the reminder, he gracefully presented Nami’s drink to her, before moving back to Usopp’s side. 

“Did you guys find Hawk-eyes?” asked Chopper. 

“No,” Nami stated bitterly, “We know he’s in the New World, but we just don’t know where. Our only option is to wait around for the Revolutionaries to figure it out.”

Luffy continued to watch the island, giving no more reaction to the crew’s conversation. He looked so serious, so un-Luffy like, that Sanji wanted to reach out and make sure it was still him, that he hadn’t been turned into a statue, or switched with a double, or something. 

Sanji hated it. He hated that look on Luffy’s face. He hated that the stupid Mosshead caused it and wasn’t here to fix it. He hated that the stupid Revolutionaries were so incredibly ineffective, and he hated that the stupid, condescending, asshole of a Warlord caused this whole mess and couldn’t be found. 

On top of all that, he hated himself for having no idea how to fix it. How to cheer Luffy up. Once again, Zoro’s absence was making him feel inadequate, and that was just stupid since Sanji was so much better than the Mosshead in every way. 

A soft murmur from Usopp pulled him out of his irritation. The sniper’s voice was low, so low that only Sanji was able to hear it, and even then just barely. He ignored the rest of the crew’s discussion and focused on Usopp’s words, which resolved to something along the lines of, “Noooo. Nope. Definitely not.

“I am not doing that,” Usopp continued, still speaking only to himself, “I will regret it.” His arms were crossed in clear displeasure, yet as Sanji watched, the resolve on his face slowly crumbled; Whatever thought the man was fighting against, he appeared to be losing. 

Sanji cleared his throat and when he got Usopp’s attention, he raised his single visible eyebrow in question. 

Usopp hesitated before replying in a whispered rush that rolled all the words into one, “What-if-we-went-to-the-island?” As soon as the question was out, he looked around as if to confirm no one else had overheard. 

Sanji stared at the scaredy-cat sniper in surprise. Usopp, the captain of the cowardly trio and proud carrier of the I-can’t-go-to-any-scary-islands disease, was suggesting they go to the island of fire? Usopp? The man who was always running and hiding behind the stronger crewmates, that Usopp? 

Sanji could barely believe the words. “You…want to?” he asked.

“No!” Usopp immediately squeaked, unintentionally drawing Robin and Franky’s attention. “Of course I don’t want to!” he whispered harshly at Sanji. His eyes cut quickly to Luffy, then back and Sanji thought he understood. Usopp didn’t want to, but it was obvious Luffy did. Or, more accurately, that Luffy would, if circumstances were different.

The crew couldn’t do anything for Zoro right then, but they could go answer that distress call. Even if it was stupid and definitely a trap, it was also a chance at cheering their captain up. 

“Hey Luffy,” Sanji called, “why don’t we go explore that island? Maybe save those people?” 

“Sanji!” Nami protested. 

“Yeah?” Luffy replied, confused. 

“Yeah,” Sanji smirked at the sniper and explained, “Usopp really wants to.” 

Usopp shook his head and glared at Sanji, while Chopper questioned, “Usopp does?” 

Now all eyes were on the sniper, which he enjoyed in certain circumstances, but not this one. He quickly replied, “No! Absolutely no-” His protest died on his lips as he got another look at Luffy’s face. Giving the most world-weary sigh he could manage, Usopp continued, “I mean, yeah, go…go to the island…” The words were said in the most unenthusiastic tone Usopp had ever used, but he did manage to say them. In a much more spirited tone, he added, “Or not! We can also just keep going, find the next log pose or whatever!” 

The Straw Hats stared at their sniper in open-mouthed shock. Nami was the first to recover and, strangely enough, decided to add to Usopp’s pro-island standpoint, “If the Navy is there…then they could have useful information for us. I mean, Hawk-eyes is a Warlord, right? So the Navy might know his whereabouts…or maybe even what happened to Zoro.” 

She locked eyes with Luffy and for a second something akin to hope passed between the two. The captain started nodding slowly, before agreeing, “Yeah…yeah, okay, let’s go.” Finally his smile returned, although it was only a small fraction of its usual brightness, and he commanded, “Sanji, get the pirate lunches ready!” 

~~~

I knew it. I knew I would regret this, Usopp thought as he glared down at the noticeably short stick in his hand. They had drawn straws to decide who would be part of Luffy’s scouting party, and by some sick twist of fate, or bad luck, or karma, Usopp was chosen to go to the fiery island of death. 

He did not want to be in the scouting party. He did not want to go to the island. Heck, even standing on the deck of the Sunny was scary right now with the sea of flames right next to them. He knew asking to go to Punk Hazard had been a bad idea as soon as the stupid thought had entered his mind, that was why he had tried so hard to deny it. But then stupid Sanji had to go and overhear his conversation with himself - eavesdropping is rude, Sanji! - and now he was in this mess. 

“At least you’re not searching for Hawk-eyes,” rationalized the evil part of his brain that first had the bad idea. 

“Yeah, instead we’re searching for the Marines,” grumbled good-ideas-Usopp.

“Still better than Hawk-eyes the ‘Marine-Hunter’,” bad-ideas-Usopp countered, “You and I both know we have a greater chance of survival facing whatever is on that dumb island.”

“But we weren’t supposed to be on that dumb island!” argued good-ideas-Usopp.

“Yeah, you didn’t think that one through,” bad-ideas-Usopp thought, and good-ideas-Usopp scoffed in indignation at the accusation.

He had thought it through - he figured Luffy and some of the other strong fighters would go and deal with whatever the samurai was, while Brave Captain Usopp stayed behind on the ship. Usopp was willing to live with the temporary discomfort of watching over the Sunny if it meant distracting Luffy from his quest to get them all killed by Hawk-eyes. Even better if it helped Luffy learn how to…how to live without Zoro. 

See, Usopp had a number of skills - shooting, storytelling, leading (only applicable to non-scary situations), building weapons that doubled as excellent party tricks, the list goes on and on. But there was one skill Usopp had that he, thankfully, had not needed to employ yet for the Straw Hat crew. He had first developed it as a child (self-taught, he might add) then really perfected it with the people of Syrup Village, and one Miss Kaya in particular; Usopp was good with grief. Not accepting it, necessarily, but getting past it; Helping people to move on and focus on other things, do other things, instead of being crushed into stillness by the overwhelming force of loss. Wallowing in grief didn’t stop the passage of time (no matter how much you might wish it would), and refusing to participate in life only left you with regrets. 

So Usopp became an expert at living - or more precisely, at distracting - and encouraging others to live (or at least be distracted enough that they could forget their sadness, even just for a little while). And he fully planned to use this skill now to help his crew, because while everyone else refused to see it, the darkest parts of Usopp’s mind understood that the search for their swordsman was a wild goose chase. 

Even if they all managed to survive a confrontation with Hawk-eyes (and that was a big “if”), Usopp couldn't imagine that they would end up getting good news. There was no way the bloodthirsty Warlord would say “Oh, you have defeated me, here’s your swordsman back,” then pull Zoro out of his coffin boat like some kind of sack of flour (sack of moss?) that the Warlord had been carting around with him for the past two years. What would that even mean for Zoro? That he had chosen to stay with his greatest enemy rather than rejoining the crew? No. Usopp had a big imagination, but even he couldn’t picture that kind of outcome. There was no way this was going to end happily, and the Straw Hats needed to figure out how to live with that. How to continue with that. How to still go on adventures, still be the Straw Hat Pirates, still be the crew of the future Pirate King without one particular green-haired crewmate…

Great, and now Usopp was crying. He had been doing so well at ignoring his own feelings, squashing his sadness down to the very bottom of his heart where he didn’t have to deal with it. But now he was thinking too much - about the details, and Zoro, and mourning, and everything - and he didn’t have time to address all that because he had much more pressing issues to worry about now – namely the end of his own life, which was definitely about to happen on Punk Hazard. 

Out loud, Usopp groaned and walked forlornly up to Sanji who was passing out everyone’s packed lunches. He didn’t try to wipe the tears from his face; they'd help emphasize just how scared and reluctant he was to be a part of the scouting party. 

“Sanji,” he whined, stretching out the cook’s name, “I don’t want to go, please trade places with me.” Maybe if he pouted enough, Sanji would agree to switch…

Sanji huffed a laugh and easily replied, “Nope. Should have thought of that before.” 

...or maybe Sanji was too much of a heartless bastard. 

“Sanji!” Usopp scolded, “You know, technically this is all your fault!” 

“Pretty sure it was your idea, I just voiced it,” he countered with a shrug and handed over a lunch box which contained what Usopp assumed would be his final meal. 

“It was my stupid idea that you were supposed to say ‘no’ to! And it’s not like I ever expected to be part of the group that actually goes on the island! I’m not immune to fire!” He glared at Sanji’s leg for emphasis. 

“I’ll be sure to give you a warrior’s funeral,” the cook replied, and laid a hand on Usopp’s shoulder that somehow felt more condescending than comforting. 

Usopp groaned again. His imminent death was not funny. Sure, Usopp thought that he could die for Luffy, but he had always wanted to keep that in more of a philosophical or poetic setting, not actual application.

“You’re the worst,” Usopp grumbled and was rewarded with a bark of laughter from the other man. He gave Usopp’s arm a reassuring squeeze then let go as Luffy bounded over to start dragging the sniper away. The captain’s bright enthusiasm did not make up for the fiery death Usopp was sure they would find as soon as they stepped foot on that island. 

Chapter Text

There was a dragon. A real, live, fire-breathing, flying-in-the-air dragon. With wings and teeth and claws and a butt. Not just its own butt, it had a second butt that was a human butt in addition to its dragon’s butt. It was awesome. 

Luffy never imagined he could find something this cool on the fiery island of Punk Hazard. He was currently fighting it alone, Robin and Usopp offering backup from the sidelines. Usopp often forgot that he could defend himself just fine and Robin knew she could fight, she just didn’t care to. It didn’t drive her in the way it drove Luffy or Zoro or Sanji or Franky. She fought when she needed to, and she had needed to fight a lot in her life, so Luffy would rather give her the choice when he could. 

Luffy didn’t mind fighting alone, the exercise was a good way of avoiding any thoughts about stupid swordsmen. This encounter was also great because he really, really wanted to punch something (if Luffy had cared to think about it, he would have realized his frustration started after Robin’s call with the Revolutionaries when he had learned that there was nothing they could do to find Zoro or Hawk-guy).

The dragon roared and snapped its head forward, trying to chomp down on Luffy’s extended arm. He pulled the limb back in and jumped, successfully evading the attack, and countered with a swift kick to the side of the dragon’s face. Using the momentum from the kick, he flew high into the air and announced his shift into Gear 3. 

“Let’s see how confident the lizard is after he gets a taste of a Giant Bazooka,” Luffy thought, eagerly waiting for both his arms to grow bigger.

It was taking longer than expected, the muscles in his left refusing to inflate. He took a second to check the issue and found Zoro’s bandana as the source of the problem. The piece of cloth was straining at the numerous knots that tied it in place, but held well enough to prevent the muscle growth. When Luffy had first put it on, he had made sure to tie enough knots that he would never have to worry about taking it off. But now he needed to take it off since it was preventing him from fighting; Zoro was preventing him from fighting and it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t Luffy’s fault that the swordsman was missing this chance to fight a dragon, Zoro shouldn’t be messing up the fight too. 

Luffy reached over to remove the restraint, but the distraction cost him. His rubber skin started to heat as dragon’s fire started to rain down in his peripheral vision. Luffy barely managed to roll to the side and avoid the brunt of the attack. 

The bandana came off and as he re-tied it around his neck, he could hear Zoro scolding him, “Pay attention Luffy! The New World starts here, it’s no time to goof off!”

Luffy scowled at the imagined voice and replied out loud, “Wouldn’t need to worry about that if you! Were! HERE!” 

He shouted the last three words as he charged the beast. His anger took over the punch and before he knew it, the dragon was down, quickly killed by a one-hit K.O.

Luffy didn’t even get to enjoy his first fight with a dragon. He blamed Zoro for spoiling the fun and added it to his list of reasons to kick the swordsman’s ass when they found him. 

“That was awesome! You really showed that dragon who’s boss!” Usopp praised as he and Robin joined Luffy by the downed reptile. “Did you say something at the end there?” 

Luffy thought about it for a second, then understanding lit up his face. With a shrug he replied, “I was talking to Zoro.”

Usopp squeaked and turned wide-eyed to Robin, who was looking at Luffy with what could have been pity. Luffy wasn’t paying attention to their reactions though, already dreaming about the great meal they were about to eat, once they figured out how to cook the beast. 

“Uh, right, right,” Usopp nervously stuttered, “Anyway, let’s get this thing cooked. Right? Let’s focus on doing that.” He continued to repeat the sentiment, occasionally adding in an encouraging, “we got this,” or an exaggerated story about all the other times he’d cooked dragon meat on a fire island. 

Luffy listened to the rambling, delighted to see his liar enjoying their adventure. 

~~~

Roronoa Zoro did not meet them at Punk Hazard either. It was hard to say how the events of the island would have changed with the swordsman’s presence, although it was safe to assume the fights ended up being either more complex, less fun, or a truly unfortunate combination of both. 

If Zoro had been there, maybe he would have been part of the initial scouting team and fought the dragon alongside Luffy. Or, maybe he would have been part of the team that was captured by Caesar Clown’s men, then eventually had their personalities switched by Trafalgar Law. Maybe his personality would have ended up in Nami’s body (which Nami would have preferred over perverted Sanji) or in Chopper’s body (which Robin would have preferred over crass Franky) or, in a funny twist of fate, in Sanji’s body (ideally with Sanji ending up in Zoro’s body and giving a new definition to the phrase “fighting with yourself”).

If Zoro was there, maybe Caesar would have been defeated early, and the poison gas creature, Smiley, would have never been released. Maybe Luffy, Franky, Smoker, Law, and Tashigi wouldn’t have been captured by Caesar, while Robin, Brook, and Sanji-in-Nami’s-body wouldn’t have had to face Smiley after rescuing the samurai Kin’emon. 

Maybe they could have saved all the children and rescued the samurai without the added stress of racing against Caesar’s cloud of deadly smoke which turned people to stone. Maybe the Marines would have stayed enemies instead of becoming reluctant allies in order to leave the lab alive. 

Maybe the escape would have been easier and their enemies defeated before they could cause any severe wounds. The Straw Hats ended up mostly okay, nothing Chopper couldn’t fix, but some of the marines ended up worse for wear; Captain Tashigi, for one, left the island in critical condition thanks to the bird-woman Monet. At least Monet still ended up defeated, thanks to Law’s clever planning and organ management.

Or, maybe if Zoro was there, he would have gotten lost and ended up making the entire ordeal more difficult. 

There was no way to know, but however the events might have changed, the results would have probably remained the same - the Straw Hats won. The children were saved and given to the Marines to bring back home. Unfortunately, despite their brief friendliness, the Marines were unable, or unwilling, to offer any insight into Hawk-eyes’ whereabouts and quickly scattered any time one of the crew mentioned the subject. 

Kin’emon and his son, Momonosuke, were rescued and joined the Straw Hats on the Thousand Sunny. Law also joined the Straw Hats’ ship, having formed an alliance with Luffy to take down Kaido (and necessarily destroy Doflamingo on the way). Kidnapping Caesar had been Step 1 of Law’s plan, while Step 2 involved destroying the S.A.D. production on Punk Hazard, and Step 3 involved demanding that Doflamingo step down as Warlord of the Sea. The Straw Hats and company were now on Step 4 - travel to Dressrosa. 

~~~

“Nico-ya,” Law called out as Nico Robin walked by. He had been staring at the Straw Hats’ captain, but moved his gaze to the archeologist when he got her attention. She didn’t respond verbally but gave him a polite smile to go on. “I was under the impression your crew had 9 members.” 

Robin hummed and moved to see where their guest had previously been looking. Luffy was turned so that the arm that wore Zoro’s black bandana was prominently displayed. Robin was familiar with the practice of using a black armband to signify loss, so she easily followed the other captain’s train of thought - the crew was missing one member and Luffy wore a sigil of mourning, it was an easy conclusion to reach. 

“Actually, we have 10,” she responded calmly, including both Zoro and Jinbei in her count.

Law made a noise of surprise and assessed her expression. So far the archaeologist had been a helpful ally, but the Heart pirate got the feeling he was toeing a line into information she’d rather not share. 

He wondered idly if this had anything to do with the caveat Straw Hat had inserted into their alliance. He hadn’t given any details, just mentioned that he was waiting on news for something that would take priority over Kaido. It was one of the rare moments Straw Hat had actually looked serious about something, and Law had been forced to accept the condition. He wasn’t too concerned about it, assuming that he could argue against it later, should any issues arise; After all, it was not like they could actually stop their plans now that they had Caesar captured and Doflamingo threatened. 

Careful of his words, Law asked, “Should I account for 10 members in my plans for Dressrosa?”

Robin smiled and Law felt like he had read the woman correctly. She answered mildly, “That should not be an issue. Continue your plans as they are and we can adapt as needed.” 

With one last smile, she walked away and Law’s jaw clenched. He wasn’t a fan of improvising. The end to Punk Hazard and Caesar’s lab had been crazier than he had hoped for, in large part due to the Straw Hats’ reckless behavior. He really didn’t need any more variables in the equation. He glared at the other captain’s armband and hoped that if Roronoa Zoro (and the mysterious 10th member of the crew) did show up, that the man would at least be good at following orders. 

Chapter Text

~ 1 Day Prior ~

“Is that Navy Vice Admiral Smoker?” Shanks called out in delight as the Red Force slowly approached the Navy warship. The two ships were situated off the shore of Raijin, one of the first islands located on the New World side of the Grand Line and which just so happened to have the craziest logpose reading of all the lands directly after Fishman Island. 

Shanks had no reservations about appearing next to, and even talking with, the Marines. These men were no match for the Emperor’s crew and Shanks knew they had protocols in place to avoid any foolhardy attempts. Worst case: the Marines would attack, Shanks would sink their ship, and his goal of getting rid of the sailors would be accomplished. Best case: Shanks could talk them into leaving without any loss of life.

“Emperor Red Hair Shanks,” Smoker greeted, exhaling the smoke from his two lit cigars. “What brings you here?” he asked gruffly. 

“Oh, we were just in the area. Good time of year and all,” the pirate lied easily. 

Smoker snorted. “Oh, yeah? Nothing to do with Straw Hat Luffy leaving Sabaody Archipelago a few days ago?” 

Shanks laughed, “Well, it is always nice to see old friends.”

Suddenly Smoker’s companion (Navy Captain Tashigi, if Shanks remembered correctly) gasped and exclaimed, “Wait, is...is that Roronoa Zoro?” 

Shanks looked disapprovingly to his left where the green-haired swordsman had indeed stepped out on deck. Zoro was supposed to be down below in order to not alert the Marines to his presence, but that wasn’t working out too well as he stood at the railing making eye contact with the Navy Captain. At least Mihawk was still below deck, Shanks didn’t need to deal with both of them being discovered right now. 

“What the– who the hell are you?” Zoro shouted, “Why do you have Kuina’s face?!” He looked like he had seen a ghost, but for some reason instead of being scared he was very angry about it. 

“Kuina…” Tashigi muttered in confusion, then yelled, “Are you talking about your friend? We’ve been over this before, I’m not her!” 

“We have not!” he shouted back and Shanks covered his mouth to hide his laughter. 

“Huh, so you aren’t dead,” Smoker commented, “What happened? Get lost on the way back to the Straw Hats? Gotta say joining an Emperor’s crew is a step, but I don’t know if it’s in the right direction.” 

“I don’t get lost!” Zoro complained, “Who the hell are you anyway?” 

“Who am– what, you don’t remember the good times we had in Alabasta? …or Loguetown?” Smoker grew suspicious as the Straw Hat showed no recollection towards the places he named. “What’s wrong with you?” 

Shanks decided it was time to step in, “Well, on that note, don’t you think it’s time for you guys to get going?” 

Smoker squinted at the pirate captain. “If you’re trying to bring Roronoa back to his crew, you know I can’t allow that.” 

“And you know you can’t stop me,” Shanks returned the threat in kind, unleashing a miniscule amount of his Conqueror’s Haki for emphasis. Several of Smoker’s men hit the deck unconscious and Shanks winced. He hadn’t meant to knock anyone out, but he had also expected G-5 soldiers to be more resilient. Oh well. 

Before Smoker could respond, one of his soldiers ran out on deck and yelled for the captain and the vice admiral’s attention. The soldier was holding a black transponder snail that the Marines typically used for wire tapping. Shanks could see the snail’s mouth moving, but couldn’t distinguish the words from where he stood. 

Smoker walked over to the recruit, motioning for him to stay back in order to keep the Red Force out of earshot. Tashigi followed close behind, giving Zoro a few confused glares as she went.

“Friends of yours?” Shanks asked Zoro, smiling at his responding scowl. With Zoro’s memory issues, Shanks probably knew more about his connection to Smoker than Zoro did, although that wasn’t saying much. Every pirate from the East Blue going through Reverse Mountain stops by Loguetown, and Shanks had heard some rumors about Smoker’s big victory at Alabasta actually being attributed to the Straw Hats, so it was no surprise that the two had met before. 

Suddenly a commotion rose up on the deck of the Navy ship. Shanks still couldn’t hear anything the snail said, but he did hear when one of the G-5 men shouted, “Punk Hazard? But I thought that place was uninhabitable!” 

“Idiot!” Smoker yelled at the man. Red Hair’s smile confirmed the Emperor had heard the location, despite the vice admiral’s efforts to keep it secret. At least the recruit didn’t mention who was at Punk Hazard. Before someone could divulge that piece of information, Smoker started calling orders for the crew to set sail. 

Shanks put on his friendliest face as he intently watched the Marines sail away. Zoro stood by his side and served as a contrast, looking threatening but not actually caring about their departure. Shanks listened as quiet footfalls brought a different swordsman to his other side. 

“Where are they going in such a rush?” Mihawk asked idly. He sounded uninterested, but the glint in his eyes when he met Shanks’ gaze proved Mihawk saw the same importance in their departure that the red-haired captain did. Something big must have happened to draw the vice admiral away from his stakeout of Straw Hat Luffy. Either that, or his stakeout didn’t matter anymore...

“Punk Hazard,” Shanks replied, wishing he had been able to hear more of that call. Mihawk made a noise of recognition and didn’t ask anything more. Leaving the subject for now, Shanks turned to his crew and announced, “Alright! Now that they’re gone, everyone get to work! You know the plan!” 

“Wait, we’re actually doing that?” Yassop yelled back, several crewmates nodding in agreement. 

Mihawk gave Shanks a suspicious look, unaware of what exactly this “plan” was and apprehensive at how excited Red was about it. 

“Of course!” Shanks replied, “Captain’s orders!”

Benn Beckman rolled his eyes and let out a puff of smoke from his cigarette without removing it from his lips. He shouted at the crew, “Just do it, you know he’ll whine until you do.” 

Benn was one of the more sensible pirates of the Red Hair crew, even if he was a Shanks-enabler. His exasperation told Mihawk that the swordsman was correct to worry about whatever idea the captain was currently pursuing. Given their history, he felt safe in assuming that he had been left out of this plan on purpose, and Shanks probably wanted nothing more than for the Warlord to ask about it. While he didn’t wish to concede to Shanks’ desires, he also didn’t want to get wrapped up in whatever stupid idea was causing the crew to start pulling out tarps, large wooden panels, cloths, and various tools from below deck. 

Choosing what was hopefully the lesser of the two evils, Mihawk asked, “And what exactly is this plan?”

Shanks smiled triumphantly, confirming Mihawk’s assumptions, and stayed silent. Loud banging sounds filled the air as some of the crew started nailing the wooden panels to the figurehead. 

Mihawk closed his eyes and with a world-weary sigh said, “Red.” 

“Mhm?” Shanks hummed his response. 

“What exactly is your crew doing?” 

Shanks laughed and easily replied, “Disguising the ship so Luffy doesn’t know it’s us.” 

Mihawk’s eyes snapped open and he stared at the red-haired man. He glanced over at the work on the figurehead, then glanced back. Shanks continued to smile at him, his expression open and innocent, as if he found no fault at all in the idea of trying to use a couple of wood planks to disguise an entire ship in order to prevent a Haki-user from recognizing the people that were on the ship. 

Mihawk knew his partner could be an idiot, but surely he wasn’t this stupid. 

No, there was no way. 

This had to be a joke. 

Voice dripping with sarcasm, all he could bring himself to say was, “Really?”

“Eh, Luffy probably won’t notice,” Shanks shrugged, his smile growing bigger at the Warlord’s obvious suffering. Mihawk couldn’t argue with that, Straw Hat wasn’t exactly the brightest of the bunch. 

“Are you going to at least change your flag?” he questioned.

The captain gasped in a mockery of offense and declared, “Never! A pirate’s flag is sacred!” 

“I detest you,” Mihawk stated. If Shanks’ exaggerated performance hadn’t already shown that this was all a farce, then the cackle he let out at Mihawk’s words would have. “Are you going to stop them now?” 

Shanks gave a questioning look in response, acting as if he could keep up the charade even though he had already broken character. 

Mihawk sighed and called his bluff, “You did this to annoy me, yes? You can stop now. I am aware you are not this dumb.” 

“Hey!” Shanks complained, but there was laughter underlying his tone. “I’ll have you know this was Limejuice’s brilliant idea, and it was definitely our backup plan if you had not agreed to help.” 

Mihawk could do nothing but stare in abject horror at Shanks’ back as the captain walked away. 

~~~

A few hours later, the Red Force was not in any way disguised and the crew was only slightly upset that their captain had made them start on the stupid plan just to get a rise out of his vampire companion. At least they could take some satisfaction in seeing Hawk-eyes’ normally smug demeanor be replaced with a look of total exasperation.

Mihawk had a high tolerance for Shanks’ nonsense, but the Red Hair captain had an even greater knack for getting under the Warlord’s skin. It was unclear to the crew why they both elected to maintain their relationship, but whatever the reason, Mihawk kept visiting the Red Force, Shanks kept visiting Kuraigana, and the crew kept having to deal with both of them. 

Eventually the midday peace was interrupted by the Red Hair Pirates’ shipwright, Oli, calling out for the captain’s attention. Without going into details, the pirate directed Shanks into the galley with an explanation of “I think you’ll want to see this.” 

The inside of the room was dark, the only source of light coming from a transponder snail which was setup to project its video feed against the back wall. The picture was hard to see, even with the curtains closed and blocking sunlight as best they could, yet as Shanks’ eyes adjusted he was able to make out what looked like four humans running through a blizzard being chased by…something. Something big, slimy, and purple that seemed to have a mouth and two eyes, although the features weren’t well defined and continually moved in a way that suggested the thing was made of a viscous liquid rather than solid muscles and bones.

It was hard to look away from the creature, but then the shot changed and a close-up of the humans took over the screen. For the few seconds they were shown, Shanks was able to get a good look and realize that they were familiar - if he wasn’t mistaken, the dark-haired woman was Nico Robin, the skeletal man was Soul King Brook, and the orange-haired woman looked a lot like Cat Burglar Nami. He didn’t recognize the fourth figure, but the person's height, attire, and dual katana reminded Shanks of the samurai he knew from Wano. 

“What’s going on? Are those Straw Hats?” the captain demanded. 

“Some mad scientist is trying to sell a poison gas weapon,” the shipwright explained, “This is the demonstration.” 

Shanks frowned at the screen. This couldn’t be Fishman Island and it certainly wasn’t Raijin…“Where?” 

“Hard to say...” The video feed suddenly changed. Instead of showing the open snowy field with the creature, it was now showing what looked like a cage. 

Inside the cage were five figures – Navy Vice Admiral Smoker, Navy Captain Tashigi, Surgeon of Death Trafalgar Law, Cyborg Franky, and Straw Hat Luffy. 

“Well, that answers that question,” Shanks said with a grin, “Set course to Punk Hazard.” 

Chapter Text

The Thousand Sunny was an hour out from Punk Hazard when a speck appeared on the horizon that quickly revealed itself to be another ship. The vessel was tiny compared to the Sunny, but moved fast and headed directly toward them. Panic set in as the crew became alerted to its presence. 

“That’s him, that’s gotta be Doflamingo!” Usopp yelled, “He found us!” The Straw Hats’ sniper and doctor started cowering, begging Kin’emon to give them a set of armor, even though Law knew (and had already tried to explain to them) that the armor would do nothing against Doflamingo’s strings. 

“But we’ve been taking detours and avoiding the straight path, how’d he find us?” Nami asked. She didn’t look afraid, but Law noted that she had moved to stand behind some of the crew’s stronger fighters. 

Law took a good look at the approaching ship. He knew the Warlord wasn’t likely to approach them on a sea vessel, not when he could use his Devil Fruit powers to fly above the ocean. Perhaps it was someone else from the family? Someone besides Baby 5 and Buffalo, seeing as those two had already been defeated by the Straw Hats’ cyborg at Punk Hazard. He shook his head and called out to the others, “That’s not him, I don’t recognize that ship.” 

“Oh, yeah? And you have all of his ships memorized, huh?” Usopp demanded. Law could tell his questioning came from fear, but he still didn’t appreciate the tone as the man continued, “He owns an entire island, I think he can have a new ship made whenever he –” 

“Uh, guys?” Brook called out, interrupting Usopp’s complaints. He was standing at the rail with a spyglass in hand. There was a distinct note of fear in his voice as he said, “I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I think we may have another Warlord on our hands!” 

“What?!” The crew shrieked back, responses raging from confusion to terror. 

Everyone crowded the railing and tried to get a good look at the new arrival. Sure enough, while only some of the crew were able to recognize the coffin-shaped boat, everyone could identify the imposing man sitting in the vessel’s only seat. 

“It’s Hawk-eyes!” Chopper yelled. 

“Well, that’s…” Franky started. 

“…convenient?” Robin finished, and Franky nodded in confirmation. 

The word choice didn’t make sense, but Law didn’t have time to ponder it as the Warlord was rapidly approaching. It was clear their meeting was no coincidence; Hawk-eyes had intentionally hunted them down, although the reason why was a mystery. 

Law didn’t like it. He couldn’t recall Doflamingo having ties to the World’s Greatest Swordsman, but they were both Warlords – they would have had opportunities to get in contact. He suspected a trap, but the coffin boat was so fast that the Sunny and its crew could do nothing to avoid it. 

The Straw Hats’ captain jumped up on the rail. He was radiating anger and Law assumed he had come to the same conclusion about this being a set-up. The Heart Pirate was glad the other man seemed to be taking the threat seriously for once, maybe he wasn’t as stupid and reckless as he seemed...

“Hawk-guy, I’m gonna kick your ass!” 

…or maybe not.

~~~

“Hawk-guy, I’m gonna kick your ass!” Luffy yelled, eyes dark and serious as he stared down the man who took his Zoro away. 

Hawk-eyes was unimpressed by the threat, his only reaction to raise one eyebrow and icily respond, “Right. Well before that, I have a –” 

He was cut off by a large crash from underneath his ship. Suddenly the hatch connecting the deck to the interior of the vessel burst open and a green-haired man forcefully climbed out, shouting “–don’t give a damn about dramatic timing!”

A pink-haired woman floated out after him and responded that he was “no fun.” 

Hawk-eyes glared at the two interruptions and finished his declaration, “...a gift for you.” He flourished his hand in the green-haired man’s direction. 

Luffy had stopped paying attention to the Warlord because there, standing on the deck, less than twenty feet away from Luffy, stood Roronoa Zoro. Swordsman and the first member of the Straw Hat Pirates, Roronoa Zoro, Luffy’s Roronoa Zoro, was right there. 

Unchecked Conqueror’s haki swept through the area as Luffy screeched Zoro’s name and flung his entire body towards the swordsman. The Straw Hat Captain didn’t mean to unleash the haki, but he needed Zoro right now and the force of his desire ignited his power in a way that he couldn’t be bothered to hold back. 

As quick as Luffy launched at him, Zoro side-stepped and lifted one of his swords, blade still sheathed, to create a physical barrier between them. 

Luffy ignored the weapon and stretched his arms out, intent on wrapping Zoro close, holding on to him like he should have held on to him before they were separated. This wasn’t like Sabaody with the impostor Zoro, this was the real Zoro. He didn’t question why Zoro was pushing him away because Zoro was here and Zoro needed to understand exactly how much Luffy had missed him. 

The swordsman brought up his free hand and one leg to try and combat the captain’s octopus reaching. “Hey, quit it!” he yelled to no avail. 

Luffy managed to get his arms and legs completely around Zoro’s torso and pulled him in close. Then he wrapped the appendages around a few more times, securing them tight for good measure. His breathing was heavy as he tried to yell, “Zoro! I missed you!” but something in his throat caused the shout to come out like a pained whisper instead. 

“Get…off…of…me!” Zoro couldn’t move his arms, but he still struggled against the hold as he objected, “Look, I don’t know you, okay?” 

Luffy froze and moved his head back to look at Zoro’s face, noting as he did that at some point his swordsman had lost an eye. He chuckled and explained, “Stupid Zoro, I’m Luffy. I don’t think I’ve changed that much.” 

“No, I don’t remember you, alright? Now would you let me go.” Taking advantage of the space the captain had created, Zoro moved his arms up to push against the rubber man’s shoulders. 

Luffy followed his direction, unwrapping and placing one foot at a time on the ground until he was standing on his own. His confusion wiped the smile from his face and he scolded, “That’s not a good joke, Zoro.”

“It’s not a damn joke,” Zoro grumbled and Luffy could see it in his eye – he was serious. He wasn’t looking at Luffy the way that Zoro looked at Luffy. 

“I don’t get it.” Luffy’s hand moved to unconsciously grip the black bandana tied around his bicep. It had been a source of comfort ever since Fishman Island, since they had lost Zoro. 

But now Zoro wasn’t lost – He was here. He was right here, right in front of Luffy. 

And he was Zoro, but he wasn’t Luffy’s Zoro. 

That was not how Zoro looked at Luffy, and it was so wrong it hurt. 

“Amnesia,” Zoro-but-not-Luffy’s-Zoro responded gruffly, “So I don’t remember you, I’m not a part of your crew, and the only reason I’m here is because of my captain’s orders.” 

Luffy perked up at the term ‘my captain’, but fell when he realized Zoro wasn’t referring to him. “Captain...?”

“Red Hair Shanks.” 

Zoro, his Zoro, was calling someone else “Captain.” Was calling someone other than Luffy, “Captain.” Even if it was Shanks and Shanks was amazing, it still wasn’t right, he couldn’t be called “Captain.” 

No one could, that was Luffy. 

But now Zoro was saying someone else was Captain and someone else was crew and Zoro didn’t remember Luffy, even though Luffy had done nothing but remember Zoro over these past two years. Every time he had woken up or gone to bed, or seen green that was the same color as his hair, or seen clouds that were the same color as his eyes, or heard a sharp snapping sound that could have been similar to blades clashing if you didn’t focus on it too much, he remembered. 

Luffy remembered Zoro a lot and Zoro didn’t remember Luffy at all. 

Didn’t miss Luffy. 

Didn’t call Luffy, “Captain.” 

He felt a break in his heart and looked down to check if the wound was physical. It should have been. The pain felt real in a way that emotions didn’t always seem real because you couldn’t see them. But this hurt enough that it should have been visible. 

Maybe people could hear it. Luffy tried to focus and see if he could hear the cracking in his chest, but honestly all he could hear were his memories of Zoro. Zoro laughing, snickering, growling, shouting, breathing, calling Luffy “Captain”, now calling Shanks “Captain”, and now Luffy couldn’t breathe.

“Tactful as ever, Roronoa,” Hawk-eyes sneered.

Luffy barely registered the words. A vicious part of his head was yelling how it would all be memories now – he would never get his Zoro back and it was all because Luffy abandoned him in the first place; Because Luffy didn't protect him, because Luffy assumed he didn't need help, because Luffy took so damn long to find him, because –

He tried to shove the thoughts into the box where he usually locked his doubts away, but it was hard. They were so loud and so insistent and they told him that he would lose Zoro and it was all his fault, the same way he had lost Ace and that was all his fault too. 

He wanted the thoughts to stop, he wanted everything to stop. He wanted to scream at the world and demand that it get back in order, demand that it go back in time and make sure his crew was okay like they were supposed to be okay when they got separated on that stupid island two years ago.

“Shut it! Don’t pretend you know what emotions are,” Zoro snapped back at the Warlord. The sound of his voice helped draw Luffy’s attention back to the present. 

It wasn’t too late, not yet.

He could fix this. 

He would fix this.

Hawk-eyes looked up in exasperation, but he didn’t have time to respond before Luffy demanded, “Join my crew.” 

He hoped it sounded as fierce as he meant it, that the desperation he felt hadn’t snaked its way into his voice. 

“Why?” Zoro was quick to respond, voice flat. “I already have a crew and it’s an Emperor’s crew, why would I need yours?” Luffy heard, even if Zoro didn’t say the words out loud. He couldn’t tell if it was his instincts or his insecurities that read the subtext in Zoro’s question.

Luffy wasn’t used to fighting with words, but he would do whatever was needed in order to get Zoro back on his ship. He’d give him anything – if Zoro asked for the moon, then Luffy would rip it out of the sky with his bare teeth – but he wouldn’t let Zoro leave. His generosity didn’t extend that far. Luffy was the future Pirate King, and the Pirate King took whatever he wanted. 

And what Luffy wanted was Zoro, so he’d get Zoro. 

The rest of the Straw Hat crew was pressed to the rails of the Sunny, listening intently into the conversation. There wasn’t enough room for them all to climb aboard Hawk-eyes’ ship, even though all of them wished to get as close to their returned crewmate as possible. Each member was going through their own rounds of happiness and heartbreak at this reunion without reconciliation. 

Zoro-but-not-his-Zoro continued to stare at him, waiting for the captain’s response. 

“You want to be the Greatest Swordsman in the World,” Luffy stated, knowing it wasn’t a question, “You can’t do that on Shanks’ crew.” 

“Oh, yeah?” he challenged, “What makes you think that?” 

“You still haven’t beaten him, right?” Luffy tilted his head towards Hawk-eyes as he asked this. “Two years and you’re not strong enough?” 

Some of his crew protested Luffy’s question, not understanding how antagonizing Zoro could possibly help the situation. Zoro, in turn, glared at the captain, clearly pissed off.

“We’re going to beat up ’Mingo. After that we’re going to take down all the Emperors.” Luffy’s gaze was intense. He made this declaration with the same attitude as announcing the current weather, like it was a foregone conclusion, rather than a lofty goal. “Fight with us and you’ll get stronger. Shanks won’t fight the other Emperors, right? But I will.” 

Hawk-eyes let out a small huff of amusement, but Zoro wasn’t laughing. Luffy could tell he had captured his interest, but he wasn’t fully convinced, not yet at least. 

Luffy sweetened the pot. “You’ll be First Mate.” 

There were surprised murmurs from the onlookers who were able to recognize the significance of the proposal; The Straw Hats had never had an official First Mate. 

“Obviously,” Zoro replied easily. 

Luffy clenched his jaw. He didn’t believe in hierarchy on his ship (aside from him being Captain), but he knew Zoro had often filled the role of his second-in-command. Those outside the crew, including the Marines, labeled the swordsman as Luffy’s First Mate, but the Straw Hats had never made it official. Luffy offering it now was a meaningful gesture on his part, and the fact that the green-haired man didn’t understand the significance was another reminder that this wasn’t his Zoro. It was another stab at his heart, but the organ was already in shreds, so what did it matter if he received one more?

Before he could offer something else, Zoro-not-his-Zoro asked, “What if I want to fight Doflamingo on my own?”

The question caught Luffy off guard. “No, Mingo’s Torao’s and if Torao needs help, then he’s mine.” 

Zoro didn’t seem surprised by the response. As captain, Luffy had dibs on all the most powerful fighters and Zoro would know that. Still he insisted, “But if I want to fight him on my own?” 

Luffy recognized the challenge in his expression, but had trouble connecting it to the words. It was a dumb question – if Zoro wanted the fight, he could have it. But there was something off here; Zoro was looking for something, but Luffy had no idea what it was.

Was the fight really such a big deal? Was there a reason Zoro wanted to fight Mingo? Did Mingo do something to Zoro? If he had, Luffy was going to rip the bird man to shreds… 

But, no, looking at Zoro, he could tell this wasn’t about Mingo’s fight, not really. This was about Luffy. 

This was about Luffy as the Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. 

This was Zoro, as crew, questioning if Luffy, as captain, would give in to his demands. Would follow Zoro’s whims over Luffy’s own. 

A small part of him whispered that he would. 

But that wasn’t what Zoro wanted – that wasn’t what he needed. They had been through this lesson before, back on Water Seven, and Luffy knew the answer that would keep the swordsman here. Roronoa Zoro wouldn’t follow a weak captain, and Luffy had no intention to be one. 

“No. Mingo’s mine or Torao’s,” he declared. “You can help, and you can take on whoever else you want, but you don’t get him to yourself. And you have to keep the crew safe too.” The last part sounded like an afterthought, but it felt like a weight in his throat. It was a command that Luffy had never had to give Zoro, because it was a command that Zoro had always known, in the way that Zoro had always known what Luffy needed without the words being voiced out loud. 

At least the response was the right answer. Zoro-not-his-Zoro didn’t walk away, but stayed and tilted his head in contemplation. He was almost there, Luffy could see it. Luffy almost had his swordsman back. 

After a few seconds of silence, he used the last ace up his sleeve. It might be cheating to use information from a conversation Zoro didn’t remember, but Luffy had used dirty tricks to get the man onto his crew before, he didn’t feel bad using them now. 

“You can kill me,” he stated calmly, “If I ever get in the way of your dream, you can kill me.” 

Once again the Straw Hat crew was shocked by the captain, and even Hawk-eyes had been surprised enough to let out a curious “oh?”. The crew didn’t understand where Luffy’s offer came from – why would he think that Zoro, of all people, would want to kill him? They knew a few things about Luffy and Zoro’s first meeting, but no one was aware of the promise that had been between the two men all this time. 

Zoro assessed him for another few seconds (which felt to Luffy like hours), before nodding his head once. “Fine,” he agreed, “I’ll sail with your crew. For now, at least.” 

He didn’t say he’d join the crew. 

He didn’t say he’d stay forever. 

But Luffy was too fucking ecstatic to care about the details right then. His heart soared at Zoro’s words. It was like all of his past victories had combined into one big ball of happiness and pride and he was now sitting on top of that ball. He felt so light, he wouldn’t be surprised if his body started floating. 

The wide stretch of his smile caused his cheeks to hurt, matching the dull ache that was still in his chest. He was exhausted and relieved and happy, and he just really needed to get Zoro back on the Sunny before the swordsman did something stupid like get lost and forget Luffy again. 

Finally, Roronoa Zoro returned to the Straw Hat Pirates.

Chapter Text

Even after meeting in person, Zoro didn’t remember Luffy. The captain, the crew, the ship – none of it caused even the smallest hint of recollection. Those months where they had supposedly traveled together remained just as much of a blur as ever. 

Zoro wasn’t disappointed, exactly, he just…he had assumed that if there was any way to revive those memories, then this was it. And it didn’t work, and that was fine. 

He didn’t need his memories. It was all in the past, so it wasn’t like they mattered anymore. Zoro still remembered the important things – he remembered Kuina, their promise to each other, and his goal in life. He didn’t remember how he got the two additional blades that now joined Wado on his hip, but he remembered enough about swords to recognize them as Sandai Kitetsu and the Black Blade Shusui. He remembered how to fight, and his training with Shanks had improved his skills enough that even if some of his moves had been lost, they wouldn’t be comparable to what he could do now.

So Zoro wasn’t disappointed. Even if the emotion flashed across his mind, it had been quickly replaced by surprise at the reality of Monkey D. Luffy.

Based on the Wanted poster, the Straw Hat Captain hadn’t looked like much – a gangly kid with a too-bright smile who seemed too naive to survive Paradise, let alone the New World. Shanks had told tales of the Straw Hats’ accomplishments, but all that knowledge was second-hand and Zoro couldn’t be certain how much was true (and, given the captain’s bias, how much was exaggerated). He had briefly wondered if the Straw Hats were a “captain is weak, crew is strong” situation, like with a certain blue-haired clown that Shanks would occasionally mention, but he had quickly dismissed the idea; Zoro knew that he would never follow anyone weaker than himself.

Still, he had held some doubts going into this meeting – doubts that were quickly swept away as soon as Straw Hat appeared, threatening the World’s Greatest Swordsman in one breath, then completely ignoring him in the next. 

Luffy was confident enough to not only board Mihawk’s ship, but ignore the man while he was doing it, and that level of arrogance certainly rivaled any given New World pirate. The guy was strong, deceptively so, but there was something else to him too, some intangible thing that gave Zoro pause. The claims he made were outrageous – defeating Doflamingo, taking down all the Emperors, helping Zoro accomplish his goal – yet when Luffy said them, they sounded true. He made them sound real and accomplishable, and most likely the young captain was just an idiot that couldn't understand the magnitude of his words, but maybe…maybe there was more to it.

Maybe Luffy understood the type of ambition that Zoro had been following his whole life. 

Maybe he could understand Zoro's drive to always take on the next challenge, to fight the undefeatable, to become the Greatest.

Maybe. 

Or, maybe not, and the guy was just an idiot saying crazy things. Either way, Zoro agreed to sail with him. He was still wary of whatever had made him forget the Straw Hat crew in the first place, but he could put that concern aside for right now, for the promise of a good fight and the chance to get stronger.

“Fine,” Zoro agreed, “I’ll sail with your crew. For now, at least.”

He could practically feel the happiness radiating from Straw Hat, but he ignored it and turned to face his lifelong rival instead. The two had built up an almost friendly relationship over the past two years, Mihawk having been a frequent visitor to the Red Force and often helping with the younger swordsman’s training. The Warlord would complain, but it was clear he’d rather deal with Zoro than the rest of Shanks’ rowdy crew. He had earned a respectful good-bye from Zoro, and the green-haired man bowed to give him such. 

Mihawk gave the younger swordsman a respectful nod in return. They both knew that the next time they saw each other would be their final fight for the title of World’s Greatest. 

Zoro then threw away all formality and rose with a cheeky smirk, saying, “Good luck consoling Red.” 

Mihawk snorted and replied, “Truthfully, I think he’d be worse if you had rejected your crew and come back.” He dismissed Zoro’s answering glare with a wave and an eye roll, “Yes, yes, not your crew. Either way, good luck with the Straw Hats,” he gave a clear look at the captain, the ship, and the direction they were heading in, “...you’ll need it.” 

Zoro ignored the Warlord’s contempt and instead replied, “Tell Captain, ‘thanks for everything.’”

“Did you not already tell him this yourself?” Mihawk inquired. 

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “but I owe him a lot. Plus he’ll enjoy hearing you say it.” 

Mihawk returned his smirk with an unimpressed glare. “Stay out of my relationship, Roronoa,” he reprimanded, then as an afterthought added, “Oh, and don’t die. We have an engagement.”

“You too, Hawky.” Zoro then turned towards the last occupant of the coffin boat.

Perona was back in her actual body, having retrieved it along with a large black bag from the hold below. Without preamble, she shoved the bag into his chest and declared, “You’re still not cute, and I won’t miss you.” 

Zoro accepted the provisions and grunted in agreement. She then threw her arms around him in a quick hug that lasted less than a second. Before he could say anything else, (not that Zoro had anything else that he wanted to say to the spoiled princess) (except maybe that she had better still be with the Red Force when he eventually rejoins the crew, otherwise he’d hunt down that creepy ex-captain of hers and drag her back himself) something snaked around his waist and sent him flying. It took less than a second to realize that the thing crushing his midsection was Luffy’s arm and that the captain’s other arm was pulling on the sail of the Straw Hats’ ship’s main mast, causing both of them to catapult through the air. 

Straw Hat’s abilities were weird and the unexpected flight caused Zoro to let out a string of profanities that continued until they landed on the deck of the larger vessel. Luffy laughed through an apology and set Zoro down carefully on his feet, taking the bag from him as he did so. As soon as the swordsman was released, he stepped away from the captain and turned a wary eye toward the rest of the crew. 

The Straw Hat crew, much like their leader, decided that the best way to greet Zoro was to throw themselves at him, regardless of his protests or their knowledge of his memory-less state. Before he could dodge, the long-nosed one, the pet, and the one with orange hair had him wrapped up in an embrace. 

The long nose was at his front, arms around his waist and head shoved into the left side of Zoro’s chest. The man was loudly crying and Zoro could feel a large wet patch starting to form on his robe. 

The pet had somehow managed to jump onto Zoro’s shoulder and was sobbing loudly into his ear. It was a good thing Zoro had been looking to the side when the reindeer attacked, otherwise he’d probably be suffocating right now with how tightly the creature held on. 

The orange-haired girl was on his right, her face pressed to his bicep and her arms clenched around his shoulders. Her grip was so strong that he wondered if she was using a type of undetectable haki. She was tensed as if to try and hide her tears, but Zoro could still feel the spots of water forming on his sleeve.

After the initial attack, the other crew members quickly joined in the embrace, at least to some degree. Someone placed their hand on his right shoulder, but they were standing out of his line of sight, so he couldn’t see who it was. From his peripheral vision, the hand looked extremely pale and much too skinny to belong to a normal person. 

The black-haired woman, who he immediately recognized as Nico Robin, gave him an apologetic smile before joining long-nose in holding Zoro from the front, placing her head next to Zoro’s in the space not occupied by the reindeer.

One of the crew was making a sound that could best be described as a loud wail. Zoro’s face was unexpectedly shadowed as he felt a cold, heavy something drop down on top of his head. 

Someone else stood at his back, identifiable by a distinct smell of cigarette smoke. They stood perpendicular to Zoro, and for a second their shoulder brushed the top of the swordsman’s back. Aside from the brief contact, that Straw Hat made no other attempts to touch him. 

The last person to join the impromptu embrace was the captain. He stood on Zoro’s unoccupied left and stretched his arms out to hug everyone else in closer. For a second, they were all squished together, the space between them blurred by the therapeutic mix of friendship and love. 

Well, “therapeutic” for the Straw Hats; the Red Hair Pirate found the excessive physical affection to be more akin to torture – strangers were confining him on all sides, unknowns stood at his back, and the swell of tears and emotions directed his way was more than Zoro had ever wanted to be subjected to. The whole scenario made his hackles rise and his hands subconsciously move to the hilts of his swords. He stayed still only because his instincts, for whatever reason, weren’t actively protesting the potential threat, but he would need to make it clear to the crew that this type of contact shouldn't become a habit (not if they wanted to keep all their limbs intact). 

Zoro gave them two seconds before saying in the most sinister voice he could manage, “Get the fuck off of me.”

It took another two seconds for any of them to actually obey, which was infuriating. Everyone outside of his crew was terrified of his threatening voice – some opponents had even gone so far as to piss themselves upon hearing it – yet the Straw Hat crew only seemed mildly affected.

The hand on his shoulder and the object on his head were the first to retreat, followed soon after by the captain, Nico Robin, and the cigarette smoker at his back, in that order. They all stayed close, they just weren’t touching him, which was a compromise he would have to live with since they refused to stand down at his glare. The orange-haired girl cleared her throat as she stepped back and tried to discreetly wipe her face. The long nose and the pet were the last to leave and required a shove from Zoro first. They both continued to cry and started holding onto each other instead. 

Once he was released (and covered in a hodgepodge of tears and snot), he spun in a slow circle, giving each stranger an assessing look. The weight of their expectations coated Zoro like a second skin and for a brief second he doubted his decision to sail with the crew. If Shanks had been annoying about Zoro’s lost memories, how bad would this group be? His captain had only heard stories of Zoro before, but the people standing before him now would claim to actually know him. They would have expectations of him. How he reacted, what he knew, who he was – these people would make their own assumptions of him, and when those assumptions proved to be wrong, they would blame him for it. Already they looked at him with an unearned fondness that just made him uneasy in its familiarity.

He could tell that this was going to be a pain, but he wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge. Threat clear in his voice, he announced to all of them at once, “Look, I don’t remember any of you; I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. Got it?”

It took a moment for the crew to respond, and when they did, it was Nico Robin who spoke. “Understood,” she said calmly. Her expression was unreadable, but she was at least able to meet and hold his gaze. “Shall we introduce ourselves then?” 

The other Straw Hats wore their hearts on their sleeves. Their swirling mix of happiness, sadness, confusion, and concern were easy enough to see, if he bothered to look at them long enough to read it. Zoro shrugged and replied to Nico Robin’s question, “I know your names, Devil Child Nico Robin.” 

A flash of something like hurt crossed her face. He didn’t know this, but it was the first time Zoro had ever called Robin a Devil Child without it being a joke. He went on to explain, “Captain keeps a copy of all your Wanted posters in the galley.” 

“Captain?” The long-nosed crew member asked. Maybe he had missed when Zoro mentioned Shanks while on Mihawk’s ship (or maybe the man didn’t like hearing him calling someone other than Luffy “Captain”). 

“Red Hair Shanks, …Sogeking?” Zoro hesitated before the name. Sogeking’s Wanted poster was mostly a mask, but the man’s long nose, curly hair, and goggles matched what Zoro could remember. There was an unmistakable look of Yasopp in the man’s face, which further confirmed Zoro’s guess (and also confirmed Yasopp’s long held belief that the masked Straw Hat was actually his son).

“Oh, no, that’s Usopp,” the crew’s small pet replied.

“I’m telling you, Red, it’s my kid! It’s my Usopp!” Yasopp’s excited voice rose up from the swordsman’s memories, “He’s got his mother’s nose and his father’s skills! Who else from the East Blue could have made that shot at Enies Lobby?” 

Zoro dismissed the memory easily, unbothered by the revelation. “Your reindeer can talk,” he noted, more curious than surprised. It wasn’t that weird considering what else was on the Grand Line. 

“I’m not a racc–” the pet started to complain, before realizing Zoro had guessed its species correctly, “Oh, I mean, yes, I am a reindeer. You remember that I’m a reindeer?”

“Well, you have antlers,” he pointed out. 

“Yes, I do!” it agreed then started flailing its arms in what could be considered a dance. Zoro wasn’t sure what to do with that, but the rest of the crew didn’t seem concerned or surprised, so he assumed it must be normal for the animal. 

“If you know us by our Wanted posters, then you may be misinformed about a few things. Mainly, you should know that Chopper here is our doctor, not our pet,” Nico Robin explained and Zoro was only slightly unnerved that she had guessed the direction of his thoughts. 

“Okay,” he shrugged. This crew already had a number of odd individuals, why not have a reindeer doctor? 

“You should also know that I’m Sanji,” the blond crewmate said. 

Zoro gave the man a quick once over. “Obviously.” 

“What do you mean ‘obviously’?” Blondie complained, “I look nothing like my poster!” 

Dumb curly eyebrow, cigarette, blond hair - from what he could recall, the poster matched the man in front of him exactly. Even the facial features and hairstyle were the same. Zoro squinted and asked, “You’re joking, right?”

Blondie gaped at him for a second before his irritation gave way to a startled laugh. The noise was unexpected, to the blond and to the rest of the crew, but it managed to break the tension in the air. Soon enough the whole crew started laughing, reacting as if the small squabble was the funniest joke in the world.

It was an overreaction, but it was also a necessary catharsis after the roller coaster of emotions they had just been put through. The crew’s sadness, concern, and pure relief escaped into the breeze with each chuckle. 

Zoro didn’t join in. He didn’t need Observation Haki to tell him that they wanted to hug him again, but luckily this time they maintained their senses enough to stay away. 

“Wow, lost all your memories but still an asshole, huh?” Blondie said once the laughter had mostly died down. Despite the words, there was no harshness to his tone. He didn’t wait for Zoro’s response before turning to the rest of the crew and asking, “Alright, who’s hungry?” 

The group responded positively to the question. A large man and/or machine announced, “Yow! While you get a super-meal prepared, I’ll take Zoro-bro on a tour of the Sunny.” The blue hair and sunglasses were an easy giveaway that this was Cyborg Franky, however Zoro hadn’t expected the “Cyborg” part to be so obvious, or for the man to be so large. Addressing Zoro specifically, the cyborg continued, “Get ready, ’cause the Thousand Sunny is the coolest ship sailing on the Grand Line.” 

“Are you sure that’s going to be helpful?” orange-hair teased, earning a frown from the swordsman. Even though her Wanted poster didn’t show her full face, her orange hair made it easy to identify the woman as Cat Burglar Nami. 

“Uh, shouldn’t we be asking questions?” Usopp/Sogeking pointed out. 

“You definitely should be.” A new voice rose up, belonging to a dark haired man with tattoos and a sheathed nodachi resting in a casual threat on his shoulder. Two additional people could be spotted behind the newcomer, a tall man and a small boy, both sporting peculiar hairstyles.

The tattooed swordsman projected an aura of power and a promise of violence in his cool gaze. Unlike everyone else on board, he seemed to recognize and respond appropriately to Zoro’s presence as a stranger on this ship and therefore a potential threat to the crew. “So, you must be Roronoa Zoro,” the pirate stated.

Zoro racked his brain to figure out if he was missing a Straw Hat. Something about the man seemed familiar, but his mind was slow to supply any useful information. He assumed that if the man was a Straw Hat, then he was a new one. Maybe a replacement swordsman? 

“Who’re you supposed to be? New Straw Hat?” Zoro asked, one eyebrow raised questioningly. 

“No!” the man replied quickly, his cold facade breaking easily at the accusation. He cleared his throat and, in a calmer voice, explained, “Name’s Trafalgar Law, Captain of the Heart Pirates.” 

 Zoro made a noise of recognition and said in a knowing manner, “Creepy Surgeon.” 

Law’s jaw clenched. “Actually, it’s ‘Surgeon of Death’,” he corrected. 

“Don’t think so,” Zoro replied, squinting at Law in confusion. He was pretty sure that he had it right, and even if he was wrong, the annoyed twitch in Creepy Surgeon’s jaw solidified the nickname in Zoro’s mind. 

Luffy’s laugh preceded him as he stepped over and threw an arm around Law’s shoulders. “This is Torao!” he explained and Zoro recognized the name from their earlier conversation. “And that’s Kin and that’s Momo,” he continued pointing to each person in turn. No one bothered to introduce Caesar, who was currently gagged and bound to one of the ship’s masts. 

Zoro didn’t respond to the introductions, but he did note that Luffy was still holding onto his bag. He reached over to grab it, but the captain refused, pulling the item closer to his chest.

If Luffy thought the bag held treasure, he was going to be disappointed. Zoro didn’t know what Perona had packed for him, but he knew that anything of value he owned, he kept on his person. All three of his swords were strapped to his hip and wouldn’t be leaving his side anytime soon. The vivre card that would lead him back to his crew was tucked into the inner pocket Perona had insisted on adding to his haramaki. He supposed his earrings could count as valuable, but he had no idea on their worth and, again, those were on his person, not in the bag. 

Zoro shrugged off the weird interaction and started to turn back toward Cyborg Franky, but Creepy Surgeon called for his attention first. Expression revealing nothing, he asked, “So, you’re a member of the Red Hair Pirates, Roronoa-ya?” 

The question was a splash of cold water for the Straw Hats, effortlessly returning tension back to the crew and making the air feel thinner, despite the open ocean and soft breeze. Zoro’s response was steadfast, unbothered by the feelings of the people surrounding him, “Yes.”

“And how the hell did that happen?” demanded Cat Burglar. 

Zoro just gave her a confused stare, so Nico Robin clarified, “How did you end up sailing with Red Hair Shanks? We were under the impression you had landed on Hawk-eyes’ island.” 

“Yeah, and why were you with Hawk-eyes just now?” the doctor-pet added. 

Zoro ran a hand through his hair as he answered, “I was on Kuraigana. Then Mihawk showed up saying something about that guy”– he tilted his head towards Luffy –“and being part of your crew. I challenged him to a duel, he said we’d already fought before and that it was ‘beneath him to fight an invalid’– which was bullshit ’cause I wasn’t hurt that bad,” he frowned, knowing that the last part wasn’t exactly true. It was the most injured Zoro had ever been, at least from what he could remember.

He couldn't be sure what exactly happened in the time that he forgot, but there were new scars on his body now that suggested he had been through a lot, not even including whatever had left him in that near-death state on Kuraigana. Mihawk was able to claim the largest scar, the one that ran diagonal across his chest, but there were others – deep, angry lines across his shins and smaller slices all along the rest of his body – that he had no explanation for. 

“Mihawk brought me and Perona to Red and we’ve been sailing with him ever since,” he concluded with a shrug, before remembering the last question asked. He looked at Luffy as he added, “Captain said he couldn’t see you, something about you having to go to him first. He asked Hawky to bring me here.”

Luffy gave a nod, “Yeah, told him I’d bring his hat back once I’m a great pirate.” 

“So Hawk-eyes gave you a ride to our ship on Red Hair’s behalf?” Nico Robin inquired. Zoro nodded and she followed up with, “And what exactly is the relationship between the Warlord and the Emperor?” 

Zoro surprised the crew with a bark of laughter, the first expression he had shown that was within the realm of positivity. With an eye roll he replied, “Who knows,” and left it at that. 

The crew wasn’t sure what to make of the response. Rather than continuing with the discussion, it was quickly agreed to hold off on additional questions until after the tour so that Zoro had time to “settle in.” Chopper and Soul King Brook asked to join Franky, while Blondie volunteered to prepare some food. Straw Hat wanted to join Zoro’s group too, but was overruled by Creepy Surgeon who insisted the two captains needed to talk. Cat Burglar Nami and Nico Robin chose to pass on the tour, focusing instead on getting the ship back on path to Dressrosa.

~~~

“Straw Hat, we need to talk,” Torao complained, his voice full of exasperation as he continued to hold Luffy back from joining the tour group. Without waiting for a response, he continued, “What you said to Roronoa-ya – you know we’re not confronting Doflamingo directly, right? Were you even listening when we went over the plan?” 

No, Luffy hadn’t been listening then, and he wasn’t listening now. Torao’s words were just background noise as Luffy’s attention focused solely on the retreating figure of his swordsman. He watched until Zoro was out of sight, then continued to watch the door he had gone through, afraid that if he moved his eyes away for a second, the swordsman would vanish (or, worse, choose to leave). 

He didn't need to worry – after all, Brook and Franky and Chopper were there, they’d make sure Zoro stayed – but he couldn’t help the unease that constricted his body and made him clutch Zoro’s belongings tighter to his chest. He wasn’t sure what was in the bag, but he let himself believe that Zoro couldn’t leave without it, whatever it was. 

Chapter Text

“So you really are a skeleton, huh?” Zoro asked, watching the way Brook’s bones moved without any muscles to direct them. It was an interesting sight to say the least, and Zoro couldn’t help but wonder at how the lack of body would help in a fight. It didn’t matter if bones got cut, right? Not like flesh (which got slick with blood) or muscles (which could stop working if they were cut just right). Maybe it would be an issue if the bone got cut in half, but in that case would the limb, or whatever, fall off when it was cut or would the invisible power that kept all the disconnected bones together, keep the two halves of the bone together too? It’d be a good experiment to try out, if the Soul King was interested.

“Yes, I am! I ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, so after I died, I came back, and now I’m just bones, yohoho!” Brook replied happily.

Zoro accepted the explanation and idly noted, “Huh, I thought it was just a costume.”

“Oh.” Brook stared at the swordsman. Zoro wasn’t sure if the look was assessing or surprised, or if the man was even actually looking at Zoro, given that he had no face and no eyes. Whatever the expression was meant to convey, Brook continued in a hesitant tone, “...are you, perhaps, familiar with my work?”

“Soul King Brook? ’course, Lucky Roux’s a big fan,” Zoro confirmed.

The skeleton paused for a moment before putting a hand over his rib cage and exclaiming, “Oh my! I am honored. To have a fan on an Emperor’s crew…Wow. You didn’t happen to go to any of my concerts, did you?” If Brook had had a heart, it would have been racing in his chest.

Zoro scrunched his face up in thought, then slowly replied, “Yeah...yeah, we did.”

Brook swooned at the confirmation. His entire body hit the floor and he took a few seconds to just stare at the ceiling.

Before he had met the Straw Hat crew, Brook had been alone in the dark for a very, very long time. And then, suddenly, he wasn’t; His loneliness had been completely swept away on the tide of Straw Hat nakama, and for the first time in a long time, the skeleton had found true happiness. But just as quick as it was there, it was gone, and Brook had, again, been left on his own. He had not been alone in the dark that time (in fact he had been surrounded by people and crowned in light) but at his core he had still been so deeply, bitterly alone. His only solace through those two long years had been in imagining that his crew had been there, hidden amongst the crowd of cheering fans. It hadn’t been a realistic dream, but it had helped the time pass by.

He enjoyed being Soul King Brook, he truly did — getting a chance to work on his passion and having his art appreciated by so many was a gift that the musician cherished. But being ‘Straw Hat Brook’ was better. The warmth of the company, the presence of people who wished to be with him as himself and nothing else — that was a different type of gift. A treasure, one could say.

So now to be told that his fantasies had actually held some truth, that his nakama had been there, nestled in amongst the crowd? Brook couldn’t help the rush of joy that rose in his soul and knocked him off his feet.

“Brook! Are you okay?” Chopper squeaked, frantically running to the skeleton’s side and getting ready to call for a doctor.

“Oh, yes, I’m fine,” he reassured, “It’s just, to think at one point I had a nakama so close and didn’t even recognize it… It warms my heart to know you saw my show, Zoro, although I don’t have a heart, yohoho.” Brooks’ laugh was more subdued than usual, but his happiness was still clear in his tone.

“Gotta say, I wouldn’t expect an Emperor’s crew to do something like go to a concert, y’know?” Franky noted.

“Wasn’t the crew, just me, Roux, and Perona,” Zoro explained, thinking back on that night. He was meant to be the bodyguard for Roux and Perona, which hadn’t really been necessary, since both of them could hold their own in a fight, but Shanks had insisted that Zoro to go with. As the captain had explained, this was a good chance for him to train his Observation Haki and the very real threat of someone recognizing him would just help to hone his skills even more.

( What Zoro didn’t know, and never found out, was that there had been a rumor circulating at the time that Soul King Brook was actually a member of the Straw Hat Pirates. Shanks had hoped that going to the concert would jog some of Zoro’s forgotten memories, but, unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way and Zoro never figured out why the captain had been so disappointed when everyone returned to the ship that night.)

“How was it?” Chopper asked, referring to the concert.

Zoro thought over his response before replying, “Fun. Good music.” He smiled slightly at the memory. He had had a good time, despite only being allowed one sword and being forced to wear some ridiculous gothic ensemble Perona had put together. He remembered downing at least five bottles of high-alcohol, low-cost sake and getting into at least three fights before the night was over. There was also one song that the Soul King had played towards the end of the night that Zoro had really enjoyed — Bink’s Snack, or Bank’s Brew, or something like that.

Brook started to sit up, but the praise in Zoro’s response knocked him back to the ground. Franky took over the conversation, passing the time by sharing details on the mechanics behind their Super Aquarium Lounge (the room they currently occupied), in order to give the musician more time to compose himself. Once he was ready, the group continued on their tour.

In the galley, Sanji breathed a sigh of relief.

Mosshead was back. Fucking finally. The guy sure took his damn time. Yeah, maybe he didn’t remember them, but he still should have gotten there sooner, not freaked out the ladies (and the rest of the crew) so much.

He had to admit that the whole “losing his memories” thing was hard for him to believe. Forgetting the crew? Okay, sure, Zoro was an idiot, his head had probably just gotten so full of rocks that it spat out memories of the crew to make room. But forgetting Luffy? That was hard to comprehend. Sanji couldn’t imagine anyone who had ever met the rubber man would be able to forget him — especially not any of the crew, and especially not the first of the crew. With the impact Luffy had had on all of their lives… There was just no way. It didn’t make sense; Any Straw Hat being able to forget the captain was absolutely impossible.

Besides, Zoro was acting like the same asshole he had always been, so maybe the jerk was just faking it so that he wouldn’t have to admit that he had actually just been lost this entire time. It’d be a pretty shitty thing to fake, even for Zoro, but it made more sense than the supposed “truth”.

Well, whatever was going on, Mosshead was back and Sanji was relieved (though he would never admit that to Zoro himself). He started running a list of ingredients through his mind, figuring out how to best use what he had to make everyone’s favorites, without putting a strain on their current supply. He’d have to get creative for Franky’s burger, but Robin’s sandwich and Nami’s tarte à l’orange should be easy enough, along with Brook’s curry, and Luffy’s meat. There was a fish in the aquarium that Sanji had been eyeing for a few days now; He had ideas on a spice blend that would pair well with it for Sanji’s own favorite pasta dish, plus there should be enough filet left to fulfill Usopp’s preference for fresh fish. The uglier cuts of meat could easily be filling for Mosshead’s onigiri, leaving only the samurai and Torao to be fed…

Sanji was so caught up in his thoughts, he barely registered Usopp entering the kitchen behind him. He might not have noticed the other man at all, if Usopp hadn’t stumbled directly into one of the dining chairs, causing both the man and the furniture to clamor to the ground. Sanji was in a good mood so he didn’t outright laugh at the sight, although a small snort of amusement might have escaped without his permission.

“You alri—” he began to ask as he moved closer, hand outstretched, but cut himself off in surprise. Usopp was bent over, clutching at his shin, but Sanji’s alarm was directed more at the abundance of tears in his eyes when he looked up. “Oh shit, Usopp, you okay?”

Usopp quickly looked away and scrambled to his feet, ignoring Sanji’s offer of help. He dusted off his pants, wincing slightly, and gave a small laugh that was clearly forced. Still refusing to meet Sanji’s eyes, the liar declared, “I’m fine! Wow, that hurt, but I’m all good.” He stuck his own hands out as if that was somehow proof of his words.

It wasn’t and Sanji stepped closer, ducking slightly to try and get a better glimpse of his face. The tears had started to spill over and Usopp wiped ineffectively at his cheeks. He rambled on, “Perfectly fine. Chairs these days, why’d Franky have to make them so heavy? Felt like running into a wall —”

“Usopp,” Sanji tried, and failed, to interrupt.

“—I mean, it's not like something stupid like a wall could defeat Captain Usopp, or a chair, but still —”

“Usopp!” Sanji said louder, successful this time in getting the other man’s attention. He waited until Usopp looked at him before asking again, “You okay?”

Usopp struggled to meet his gaze, but managed it enough to say with confidence, “Yeah, of course I’m fine.” His voice broke on the last word.

“You’re crying,” Sanji pointed out.

“Oh, that?” Usopp laughed, the sound coming out more like a wheeze. He tried to put on his storyteller bravado, but his voice was still shaky at best and Sanji, like most Straw Hats, could see through it easily enough. “Ha ha, that’s…that’s nothing…it’s just…well they just won’t seem to stop, y’know?” He said the last part like it was a joke, but Sanji didn’t laugh. He had no response and Usopp attempted to explain again, “I don’t know! It didn’t even hurt that bad, but I can’t get them to stop.” He ran a hand roughly across his cheeks. In a small voice, he confessed, “You know, I really didn’t think…”

“Didn’t think what?” Sanji prompted when Usopp didn’t continue. He felt stupid for asking the question, but he felt even more stupid that he had no idea on the answer.

Usopp tried to give another wobbly smile and a shrug, but gave up the pretense as his breathing grew rougher. He looked away from Sanji and admitted, “I really thought he died.”

Now the tears kicked up with a vengeance, Usopp’s eyes squeezing shut just a moment before his hands came up to cover his face. They weren’t the exaggerated performer’s tears the liar would sometimes use to get his way, nor were they his this-is-way-too-scary-for-me tears; Usopp was crying-crying and Sanji wasn’t really good at handling men crying. (Honestly he wasn’t that great at handling women crying either; Truly his personality only shone when it involved women being happy.) He froze, unsure what to do and frantically trying to come up with useful ideas on how to handle this.

Unfortunately, the only response his brain supplied was a long forgotten memory that should have remained buried in his past. The salty taste of remembered tears coated his tongue as he could practically hear the vicious voice of Vinsmoke Judge whispered to him, “You cryin’ boy?”

A shiver ran up Sanji’s spine. He knew the pain that accompanied that threat, he had been forced to learn that lesson too many times: Warriors don’t cry — Men don’t cry. Judge had literally tried to beat that lesson into Sanji’s skull, and now here it was, ringing in his head again. Men don’t cry; Men shouldn’t cry. This man in front of him was weak for his tears and Sanji had to fight that thought because the truth was that it was bullshit. It was bullshit, Sanji knew it was bullshit, he had learned that lesson, he knew that now. Men can cry and there was nothing wrong with that.

Sanji knew that, he knew, and yet he still found himself frozen in front of Usopp, still remembering Judge’s words. The Vinsmoke’s teachings were blades that had always worked hard to shred Sanji’s soul, but Sanji had grown stronger than that. He had gotten far away from his birth family, both physically and mentally, and they didn’t deserve another second of his thoughts. He wasn’t a Vinsmoke and as if to prove it, he forced himself to move. He wrapped one arm around Usopp, giving the crying man the comfort Sanji had always longed for in his youth.

Despite his resolve, he couldn’t bring himself to move his other arm and fully hold his nakama, a foundation of “this is wrong, only women deserve this kindness” taking hold of his limbs and freezing him in the half embrace. Usopp didn’t seem to notice the discomfort and threw himself into Sanji’s chest, arms wrapping tightly around his back. His crying kicked up into full-on sobs.

Sanji noted that he would need to change his shirt, but didn’t pull away. He tried to imagine what Usopp was going through. He hadn’t noticed any strange behavior from the other man over these last few days, but he had also been pretty wrapped up in his own worries, so maybe he just hadn’t paid enough attention? Was Sanji such a terrible friend that he couldn’t tell when Usopp was going through something?

Maybe. But thinking back on the last few days, Sanji really hadn’t seen any signs. If one of them were to die, truly die, then he kind of expected Usopp to be more...freaked out? Vocal? He couldn’t picture Usopp being normal about it.

“What are we going to do? He’s dead!” (obviously even in this hypothetical scenario, Sanji wouldn’t allow one of the women to be deceased) “We — we can’t go on! I won’t go on! Nope. Nope, I’m done. I’m done being a pirate. I’m done with the ocean. I’m done with fighting. I’m done with all of it. No thank you, good bye.”

Yeah, that was more along the lines of what he expected — not this silently suffering Usopp that apparently he had been the past few days. The man had even comforted Sanji the other day, how shitty must that have been?

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he couldn’t help but ask when Usopp’s sniffling started to die down.

“Wha?” the sniper mumbled back. He stepped away and started running his hands down his face to clean up.

“What you thought about Zoro. Why didn’t you say anything?” During their conversation the other day, or at any point in time? Sanji knew he prioritized the girls, but he was there for the men of the Sunny too, if they ever really, actually, truly needed him (and weren’t just being idiots). If Usopp ever needed to talk to someone, Sanji was there for him, and he hoped that his friend knew that.

Usopp blinked at him in surprise, then stammered out, “I, well, I didn’t think... I mean I...” He paused and, sighing, admitted in a tired voice, “I don’t know, Sanji. It wasn’t fun to think about, and no one else wanted to talk about it and, I don’t know.”

He wanted to push the subject more, but right then Usopp noticed the large wet spot on Sanji’s shirt and started freaking out, apologizing profusely and offering to grab the cook another one.

“It’s fine,” Sanji dismissed his concern. He would accept the sniper’s non-answer (for now) and made a resolution to himself that he would be a better nakama going forward.

“I’ll just go—”

Usopp started, but Sanji cut him off, demanding, “Grab an apron.” At his confused look, Sanji explained, “You’re helping me cook. Grab an apron and a knife, I need three onions diced.”

Back on the upper deck, Nami and Robin had retreated to the Sunny’s helm.

The ship was back on course to Dressrosa, but Nami’s thoughts were still stuck on the events of the day. Zoro was back, but he wasn’t, and she was still trying to wrap her head around what that meant. “There was no recognition in his eyes,” she said softly.

Robin gave a sympathetic hum, herself still feeling the sting of being called a Devil Child by one of her nakama. Out loud she replied, “I know. It’s not ideal, but at least he is alive.”

“Yeah,” Nami agreed. She huffed out a breath before continuing, “I know they call him a demon, and I’ve seen how he looks at his enemies, but I’ve never… He’s never looked at me like that. Not even when we first met and I sold Luffy out to Buggy” — Robin gave an inquisitive noise at this, but Nami dismissed it with a wave — “but now…” She let her sentence drop, unsure how exactly to put into words all the hurt Zoro’s actions had caused.

It wasn’t his fault, she knew, but she still wanted to blame him. She wanted to be mad at him and yell at him for forgetting them; For being so stupid that he couldn’t even remember his crew, his friends. Maybe if she got angry enough, she wouldn’t feel so incredibly guilty for not trying to find him sooner. He had been the most injured before Kuma had made everyone disappear, she should have guessed that he would need help. Any normal person would have needed help in that situation (although Zoro didn’t exactly fit the definition of “normal person” by any means).

“It’s quite unsettling, although I’ve had some experience with it before,” Robin supplied, giving Nami a sad but reassuring smile.

“Oh, when we first met?” she asked, “I almost forgot about that...” They had been friends for so long, and gone through so much, it was easy to forget that Robin had originally appeared as an enemy to the crew.

“Back then, I knew he was wary of me, and it’s similar to now, but it’s different too,” Robin spoke slowly, as if thinking through the words while she said them, “I wonder if…since Luffy agreed to let me on the ship, maybe Zoro had some faith in me — or, more accurately, faith in Luffy’s judgment — to allow me on the crew. It may be harder this time to convince him that we’re nakama.”

“Ugh,” Nami groaned, “Can’t anything ever be simple?”

Robin laughed cheerlessly in agreement. “I’m starting to suspect that answer is no.”

They exchanged tired grins before agreeing to return to the rest of the crew. On their way, they passed by all the guests of the Sunny who were decidedly keeping to themselves and away from the crew’s unrest. Luffy was no longer among them, apparently having escaped from whatever lecture Torao wanted to give him.

The tour group found their captain in the men’s quarters, sitting on the bunk that was Zoro’s bed with the swordsman’s bag in his lap. When they entered, Luffy startled as if he somehow hadn’t heard all the commotion the tour had been making along the way. He gave them all a bright smile then yelled louder than necessary, “Hey Zoro!”

“Luffy!” Chopper called back gleefully, “Zoro went to one of Brook’s concerts!”

“What?” the captain instantly replied in amazement. He could see the joy on his musician’s face, and it made joy rise in his chest too; Luffy always loved to see his crew happy.

But this time, there was something else that joined in with the happiness, some underlying feeling that made its way through Luffy as he fully digested the words. The emotion was darker than joy, but not as infuriating as anger — he seemed to be upset that Zoro saw Brook.

But that didn’t make sense, Luffy wasn’t upset, not in the slightest — he loved the fact that his crewmates got to see each other while they were all separated. It was good that Zoro sought out Brook and didn’t try to find Luffy. Obviously, Luffy had been on an island by himself and wasn’t supposed to see anyone, so, of course, Zoro didn’t look for him.

Luffy didn’t expect him to.

And this was Zoro-not-his-Zoro who didn’t even remember who Luffy and Brook were, so it wasn’t like Zoro was seeking Brook out specifically. Which meant Luffy wasn’t upset.

“Yup, apparently a couple people on Red Hair’s crew are big fans of our super musician,” Franky added as the whole group walked further into the room. Brook chuckled in response while Zoro didn’t react, clearly more focused on the room than the conversation.

The mention of the Red Hair crew — which Luffy would really rather they stopped mentioning — reminded him. “Zoro,” he called. When the swordsman met his gaze, Luffy frowned and told him, “No spoilers. Don’t tell us anything about the New World or Shanks, we gotta find everything out on our own.”

Zoro blinked at him in surprise, then easily agreed, “’Kay.”

“Great,” Luffy declared with a bright smile.“This one’s your bunk,” he explained, pointing down at the one he was currently sitting on, “and that one’s mine,” he pointed up at the one above his head, “If you get lost, you can just look for me.”

“I don’t get lost!” Zoro’s complaint was drowned out by everyone’s snickering.

The crew pointed out a few other highlights of the room — the lockers, the hatch that led to the storage area below, the doors on the sides which gave access to a few of the Sunny’s cannons — before wrapping up and heading back toward the galley to meet up with everyone else. The men’s quarters had been the last stop on the tour, having already covered almost everything else of interest aside from the women’s quarters (which Franky and Brook knew in no uncertain terms were off-limits) and the fully decked-out galley and dining area. The med bay, which connected to the galley, was also skipped, but Franky (rightly) assumed that Zoro was going to be dragging into that room soon enough, so it wasn’t necessary to see right now.

As the group crossed the deck, they gathered the remaining strays — Torao, Kin’emon, and Momo. Robin and Nami had been ahead of the procession, already well settled in their seats at the table as the rest walked in.

Chapter Text

Robin watched with interest as the rest of the Straw Hats and their guests filed into the galley (Zoro was, of course, counted as part of the remaining Straw Hats in Robin’s mind, even though she recognized at this point he would probably classify himself more as “guest” than “crew”). Each person moved to fill the various seats around the dining area. The table was slightly too small to fit everyone (which Franky offered to rectify, but was resolutely shot down by Sanji who did not want any construction debris ruining his cooking), so the samurai opted to sit on the side bench that ran along the wall. Torao and Brook took the spots at the table adjacent to Nami and Robin, the four of them making up one side. Zoro attempted to join the bench group, but was forced into the seat across from Torao, squishing in between Chopper and Luffy. Franky and Usopp took up the two ends of the table, leaving one open spot for Sanji, once he was done serving and could join them.

“So what’d you think of Sunny, Zoro?” Chopper asked as drinks were passed out.

“Be careful how you answer, Bro,” Franky warned, pointing with a fork for emphasis.

“It’s fine,” Zoro replied, and was instantly accosted with protests at what he had thought was a perfectly reasonable response.

“What?” gasped Franky, clutching his chest, “‘Fine’? Just ‘fine’? This is the greatest ship sailing the seas today! What do you mean ‘it’s fine’?”

“It’s just a ship!” the swordsman complained, effectively making the situation worse.

“Just a ship?!” the shipwright wailed, as several other crewmates shook their heads in Zoro’s direction. “The Sunny’s more than a ship!” He turned to Robin and whined, “Robin, Zoro called Sunny ‘just a ship’.”

Robin gave him a consoling smile and used her Devil Fruit powers to sprout a hand on his arm. Gently patting his shoulder with the extra limb, she reassured, “I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”

“Would you call the Red Force just a ship?” Usopp demanded in the Sunny’s defense.

“Wha— yes! ’cause it is!” Zoro complained.

Usopp tsked and shook his head in clear disapproval.

“It is a fine vessel, Sir Shipwright,” Kin’emon added, Momo at his side giving a firm nod of agreement.

“Not better than the ’Tang,” Torao muttered and Robin could tell by his subsequent frown that he hadn’t actually meant to say that out loud. The Heart Captain hadn’t been traveling with the Straw Hats for long, but Robin noted with some satisfaction that his stoic nature kept slipping away as he got swept up in the crew’s nonsense.

“What was that?” Franky asked, his previous whining tone now replaced with something darker. While his tease to Zoro had clearly been a joke, his words to Torao landed a bit more on the threatening side of things.

Undeterred by the large cyborg, Torao held his ground as he stated, “My ship’s better.”

It was at that moment that Sanji presented Robin her plate, giving food to the women of the crew first, as was his nature. Robin smiled her thanks, then started in on the delicious meal. She only half listened to Franky’s rebuttal, focusing more on enjoying the food and keeping a watchful eye out for any thieving rubber hands. Despite how long the crew had spent apart, she found the practice of guarding her food to be an easy habit to re-establish after their reunion.

Ah. Right. She should probably warn their newest — and at the same time oldest — member of the crew of this meal time ritual, lest he end up hungry.

She looked over just in time as Luffy’s hand crept towards Zoro’s mostly full plate of onigiri. Robin started to lift her arms to sprout a hand in his defense, but before the action could complete, Zoro’s fist slammed down on the table, stabbing a knife into the wood less than an inch from the captain’s fingers. Luffy snickered and pulled back, and Zoro continued his meal, seemingly unperturbed by the antics.

The rest of the crew didn’t appear to notice the interaction, or if they did, they didn’t react to it. In fairness, there had been nothing unusual in the exchange; This was completely normal behavior for a Straw Hat meal — except for the fact that Zoro had no memories of this crew, and therefore should have had no frame of reference for what was considered normal here. He, at the very least, should have had some sort of reaction to Luffy's antics, maybe some mild surprise or anger, but really the swordsman seemed unfazed like he almost expected this kind of behavior. Robin wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

Maybe this meant that their swordsman wasn’t as lost as they feared? Or maybe it meant that Luffy’s atrocious eating habits were not a natural trait, but something learned from the Red Hair crew? Either way, she resolved to keep a closer eye on Zoro (literally, if needed).

As the crew ate, they continued to talk, and occasionally argue, about unimportant things. Robin watched Zoro, and Zoro occasionally met her stare with a look of his own. Beyond that, he didn’t interact much with the conversation, keeping mostly to himself and sometimes muttering at Luffy to quit grabbing for his food. Robin couldn’t be sure, but it seemed as if the captain was more interested in grabbing at the swordsman’s food than in eating his own, even if his mouth remained full the entire time.

Towards the end of the meal, the atmosphere shifted and Nami finally asked the question that had been on all of their minds, “So, what do you remember?”

Everyone turned to Zoro, whose face dropped into an irritated scowl. “I already told you, I don’t—” he started, but Nami interrupted with her own annoyed response.

“You don’t remember us, yeah, I know, I got it.” Her voice was harsh, but calmed down slightly as she clarified, “But your memories have to start somewhere, right? Do you remember leaving your hometown? Growing up? Anything before Hawk-eyes and the Red Force?”

“I remember plenty,” he snapped, “Hometown, growing up, whatever, I know all of that. Far as I can tell, the only thing I forgot was—” Nami slammed her hand on the table and he didn’t bother finishing his sentence as he met her glare. When he started speaking again, his tone held annoyance and what Robin hoped was a trace of guilt, “Whatever. Last I remember, I was traveling with a couple of bounty hunters in the East Blue.”

“Oh, Johnny and Yosaku?” Usopp asked.

“Yeah, you know ’em?” Zoro replied, blinking in surprise.

“Yeah, Usopp shot them with a cannon,” Luffy supplied helpfully.

“Wha— I did not!” Usopp exclaimed, then retracted, “I mean, not on purpose! And you were shooting it too!”

“Yeah, but I missed,” Luffy pointed out.

“Usopp, you shot someone with a cannon?” Chopper asked in childish wonder and only slight doctorly concern.

“Well,” Usopp cleared his throat and switched gears into his best storyteller mode. “I can’t help that I’m a good shot, can I? You see, we had just gotten Merry and both I and Luffy were testing out the cannons. Way, way off in the distance there was an outcropping of rock — clearly uninhabited, even though it was so far away it was basically just a speck on the horizon...”

Usopp continued the tale, explaining how the rock had been their target and despite the great distance, and all the sea kings that kept jumping into the way, and the fact that they were in the middle of a hurricane, and the boat was rocking unpredictably, and they were being attacked by pirates (“Pirates?!” “Pirates.” “I don’t remember there being pirates.”), Brave Captain Usopp was able to make a miraculous shot and hit the rock dead center! He calmed down a bit when explaining the next part, where they figured out that the rock wasn’t actually as uninhabited as they had originally thought, and how Zoro’s friends had been definitely very upset about almost being blown to bits.

“The fierce bounty hunters raised their swords at us,” Usopp cried, “and just as they were about to start their attack, they spotted Zoro and stopped! It turns out Zoro was their big brother!”

Chopper gasped and Nami rolled her eyes at the exaggeration. Sanji commented dryly, “That must have been a shock, who would have guessed the Mosshead had friends.”

“So I wasn’t with them, huh?” Zoro questioned. The words themselves sounded vulnerable, but his tone and expression suggested indifference.

Zoro had been hard to read before they had been separated, but now, with this closed-off version of their nakama, his thoughts were nearly impossible to tell. Robin wasn’t sure if he even cared for an answer to his question, but Luffy gave one anyway. “Nope,” the captain stated simply, “they helped us with Arlong, then decided to become clowns or something?”

“Clowns?” Zoro asked.

“They decided to stay and help the town,” Nami explained, “I don’t know where Luffy got clowns from, but according to Nojiko, they still claim to be bounty hunters, even though they mostly just hang out and help the fishermen in Cocoyasi.”

Zoro nodded in response, just a quick dip of his head to show he understood but didn’t intend to ask more.

“What happened next?” Momo asked quietly, then frowned and turned away as if to look uninterested in the answer. Proper samurai did not engage with childish stories, no matter how cool they sounded.

Usopp smiled and picked up where he left off, explaining how Yosaku suddenly collapsed and they could see the grim reaper reaching down— “Did he have scurvy?” Chopper interrupted and Nami answered before Usopp with a simple, “Yup, the idiot had scurvy.” The small exchange cut a full minute out of Usopp’s tale, but he persevered despite the heckling.

He went on to explain how Brave Captain Usopp (thanks to Nami’s suggestion) saved Yosaku’s life and the Straw Hat crew realized how important it was to have proper meals at sea. This easily led into prompting about all the other Straw Hat adventures, like getting a cook to make sure they were properly fed, getting a doctor for obvious reasons, almost getting a princess, then getting an archaeologist instead, sailing up a mountain, falling down from the sky, making new friends and new enemies in almost equal measure, fighting and feasting and being unconditionally free.

The guests were all clearly fascinated by the tales, Momo staring wide-eyed at Usopp and being the loudest to voice questions (before remembering such shouting was unbecoming of a samurai). Even Torao and Kin’emon would pipe in with their own inquiries, helping to drive the stories forward and boosting Usopp’s showmanship with their interest.

The crew was also heavily engaged, making their own commentary or taking over the role of narrator for various parts. Even though they had already lived through everything, it was still fun to hear each other’s perspectives. It was also understood, without needing to say it, that this trip through their memories was, in part, a rescue mission. This was an attempt to find their Zoro in the past and bring him back to their present.

They spent the full day, and part of the night, tied up in memories; Highlighting the good, glossing over the sad, and exaggerating the scary of each story in a way that could only be done when the events themselves were far away and far behind.

Of all the Straw Hat stories, there were many events they skipped over and things that didn’t need to be said or shared. Zoro had a right to learn those parts, but the crew had the right to not say them, and not say them in front of guests especially. Anything before Syrup village went unmentioned, and the events of Water Seven had been condensed down to the barest bones. While they talked at length about meeting Brook, the connection with Laboon, the Giant Luffy-Oz, and the various zombies, most of the events of Thriller Bark left a bad taste in their mouths and were simply skipped. For similar reasons, the events of Sabaody were also left to their minimum, as well as the two year separation of the crew.

The only person who wasn’t engaged with the tales, was the person this was all for. Zoro didn’t ask a single question or show any reaction stronger than an occasional furrowed brow. As far as Robin could tell, he wasn’t even listening to, let alone caring about, their conversation. In some ways that made sense — Zoro had never been one to care for personal histories — but Robin had assumed that he would care for this one; After all, it was his own history they were going over. But his continued silence suggested that her assumption had been wrong. 

Although, perhaps it had been less of an assumption, and more of a hope on her part? This wasn’t just Zoro’s history, this was their history — this was the story of them, as a crew, as nakama, and taking an interest in their shared past would have suggested that he was interested in them.

It would have been a reassurance that he didn’t intend to be a stranger for long.

But no, Robin could see no intrigue in his face and she tried to set aside her disappointment. At least he was there the whole time (even if he did try to leave at a few points) and he never fell asleep (although if he was simply tuning them out, she couldn’t tell). Luffy made sure that his cup of sake never ran dry.

It was several hours, another meal and multiple breaks before the crew decided to wrap up their stories and call it a night. The sun had set a while ago and everyone was clearly exhausted — most sentences were punctuated by yawns, Usopp’s voice was completely shot, and Momo couldn’t keep his eyes open (not that anyone else was doing much better). The watch rotations were quickly decided with Kin’emon taking the start of the night, Franky the middle, and Usopp the early morning.

As they all shuffled out of the galley, Nami stopped Zoro at the doorway, pulling him aside for a quick chat. Luffy looked like he wanted to stay too, but then seemed to think better of it and grabbed a hold of Chopper as he walked out the door.

Nami crossed her arms as she began, “So, you don’t remember all the berri you owe me?”

“What’re you talking about?” Zoro questioned, looking at her like she was crazy. It was better than the indifference he had shown her all day, but not by much.

“You borrowed money and never paid me back, so now you have a debt. A large debt, which you have conveniently forgotten about,” she accused, matching his glare with her own.

“That doesn’t sound like me.” His arms were now crossed, their stances mirrored in challenge.

“I lent you 100,000 berri back in Loguetown to get those swords of yours.” She used her chin to indicate the swords at his hip.

His glare turned into a look of disbelief as he protested, “There’s no way I got these swords for 100,000!”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” she replied, “What matters is, you only paid me back 100,000.”

“So I did pay you back!” The shock on his face was priceless, his mouth open and eyebrows scrunched in clear confusion. She wished she could have enjoyed the moment more, but she was making a point here and she wasn’t about to undercut the seriousness of the situation with laughter.

“No,” she corrected, “I lent you 100,000 with a 300% interest rate — you still owe me 300,000 berri.” He started sputtering in outrage, but she ignored it and continued, “There’s also a late fee since it’s been years since the original loan. And, of course, this is just the first debt you owe me, you collected even more while we traveled.”

“Yeah, right!” he shouted. One hand was now gripping Wado’s hilt, but she was pretty sure it was an unconscious reaction and not a purposeful threat. Her nakama wouldn’t threaten her like that. And Zoro was her nakama, whether he remembered that or not. “Why would I ever ask for money from you again?” he demanded.

“Oh, the additional debts weren’t money loans,” she reassured, lifting up a hand and counting with her fingers all the various ways he owed her, “It was things like medical expenses from all the times I had to bandage your wounds, rental fees from when I let you use any of my stuff, damages from when you—”

“Alright, alright, I got it, Witch, what’s your point?” he interrupted.

The familiar nickname caught her off-guard and she had to take a moment to collect herself before she could respond. She cleared her throat and told him, “Just reminding you that you owe me and you’re not allowed to leave this crew until you pay up.”

Her voice was only slightly unsteady, in a way that she was pretty sure the old Zoro would have noticed before, and was just hoping memoryless-Zoro wouldn’t be able to notice now.

Ignoring the muttered complaints he threw at her back, she turned and left without waiting for a response. She was halfway across the deck when she paused, debating if she should go back and help him find the men’s quarters. Ultimately, she decided to let him try to remember the path on his own — he needed the practice for both his memory and his navigation skills.

Chapter Text

Zoro had had a long day. The type of long day that created an exhaustion so deep that the thought of doing anything, even sleep, was unappealing. He needed to relax and, for the love of a non-existent god, be alone for more than five minutes. Zoro was used to a rowdy crew, but the Straw Hat Pirates had been relentless, refusing to let him out of their sights for even a second. He didn’t understand why they wanted him to be there for their happy little trip down memory lane — it wasn’t like he could remember any of it anyway — yet every time he had tried to leave, he had been forced back into his seat by either the blond cook’s angry yelling, the doctor-pet’s puppy-dog eyes, a disembodied female hand, or some threats from the cat burglar about owing her something.

(Come to think of it, those threats might have been related to the debt thing she had approached him about earlier. Zoro was pretty sure he didn’t actually owe her anything; This deal sounded more like those types of “debts” seedy loan sharks from big islands used to scam people and he knew that you didn’t actually have to repay those, not if you were strong enough.)

(Not that he expected to need to use strength against the Straw Hat’s navigator. The Witch might be greedy, but it was also obvious that she didn’t want to do him any actual harm. She acted tough, but Zoro could see through it. There was an underlying vulnerability in her request that she would probably steadfastly deny if he ever bothered to call her out on it.)

After the chat with the Witch, Zoro had debated making his way to his bunk (which he could definitely find on his own) before the cool nighttime air and quiet murmur of the sea had convinced him to stay outside a while longer. Largely unfamiliar with the ship, and determined to avoid whomever was on watch, he had made his way to the highest point he could reach — the roof above the crow’s nest. Now he sat with his back against the mast and his arm propped up by his bent knee, his drink held loosely in hand. It would be his last bottle for the night, considering he didn’t know where the cook kept them and everyone else had long since gone to bed. The wind was making him cold, but the alcohol was making him warm, and he enjoyed existing in the balance in between.

He had originally found it strange that the crow’s nest on this ship was enclosed, but it had a pretty impressive array of gym equipment inside, so he wasn’t going to complain. He chose to sit on the roof for now, but maybe tomorrow he could spend more of his time inside, see how this new equipment could fit into his training.

“And Zoro, our always fearless swordsman, walked right up to the Warlord and demanded a duel!”

The memory of the liar’s voice popped up unbidden. Zoro was trying his best to avoid thoughts of the Straw Hats, but scenes from the day kept replaying in his mind without his permission. He could hear their words echoing in his head, even though he had spent most of the day trying to to ignore them, letting the sounds roll over him without trying to keep up with their meaning. It wasn’t a big deal, he just didn’t particularly care about the experiences of people he didn’t know and adventures he couldn’t remember. Maybe he should have cared, maybe he should have thought it was important since he had technically been there for all of it, but he just didn’t. He couldn’t. It was so far in the past, it really didn’t matter anymore, not to him.

And more than that, there was something deeply uncomfortable about hearing people talk of things he had said and done that he himself couldn’t remember saying or doing. He could accept some of the stuff, but there were a lot of things mentioned that just didn’t make sense, or didn’t sound real, or didn’t sound like him. He didn't… He couldn't… He just… He had trouble accepting it. So he ignored instead, as best he could, and focused on drinking his sake.

It was a nice sake too, the label looking like the manufacturer had actually cared about it, unlike most of the alcohol the swordsman typically consumed. He took another swig to try and drown out the memory of Usopp’s story, but then Mihawk’s voice joined in, sneering at him all the way from their time on Kuraigana.

“You challenged me to a duel. It was almost laughable really, the difference in our strength, yet you thought that you could win. You hadn’t even been aware of Haki.”

“Haki?” Zoro had asked and received a look full of contempt in response.

“You have much to learn, Roronoa.”

Looking back, Zoro could admit that Mihawk had been right, although he still didn’t appreciate the Warlord’s condescending tone.

“And then you were all — pow! Woosh! Shing! Three-sword style! Yah!” Usopp’s story continued, having been mostly reduced to sounds and hand gestures as he tried to describe one of the most important duels of Zoro’s life. “And Hawk-eyes was all, ‘You’re nothing but a rabbit.’”

“He called Zoro a rabbit?” Chopper had asked.

“Close enough,” the cook had piped up, “He said, ‘I don’t hunt rabbits with a cannon,’ then pulled out the tiniest knife you can imagine and completely blocked Mosshead’s attack, no problem.”

Mihawk’s voice again, “I defeated you, obviously, but then you did something interesting.”

Usopp’s voice this time, “So Zoro turned around and bravely faced Hawk-eyes, declaring —”

“Scars on the back are a swordsman’s shame.” This part was said by both memories in sync, their wording matching so perfectly it was eerie.

“That sounds so cool, Zoro!” Chopper had exclaimed.

“It is a good sentiment, but the conviction to actually carry out those words… Well, only those who could be truly great could manage that. So I gave you this,” Mihawk had indicated to Zoro’s largest scar, the one that ran diagonal across his chest, “with Yoru’s blade, and spared your life.”

“It was...terrifying.” This had been one of the few times the Liar’s voice had dropped its theatrical quality. “There was blood everywhere and I think I saw your guts? And you were still awake and —” Usopp cut himself off and looked to Luffy for permission.

“You declared loyalty for Straw Hat then passed out from your wounds and I left,” Mihawk had finished with a slight shrug, like declaring loyalty while bleeding to death was normal for Zoro.

As far as he could remember, it wasn’t.

Zoro knew what loyalty was. There were things he had found in his life that he had devoted himself to completely — swordsmanship being the obvious one, and tied with it a commitment to Kuina, her dream and her ghost. But the thought had never occurred to him that there would be — that there could be — something else in this world that would earn his devotion. He didn’t think about the future much, but he generally assumed that swordsmanship would own his entire heart and soul until the day someone stronger managed to strike him down.

And so far that assumption wasn’t wrong — Zoro had been a part of the Red Hair Pirates for two whole years and while he was loyal to Shanks, he wouldn’t call himself “devoted” to the captain, not in a declare-loyalty-then-pass-out-from-wounds kind of way. He had enjoyed his time with the crew, and he cared about them still, but his dream was always more important; Important enough that he could walk away from them with no regrets when he found a new path that brought him closer to his goal.

Luffy had smiled at Usopp’s questioning gaze and finished the story for him, “Zoro said some cool stuff then almost died. Then Sanji sewed a fish to his chest.”

“It was medicinal!” The cook had defended himself against the onslaught of disgusted looks.

There had been a sharpness in Luffy’s gaze that had made Zoro wonder if the captain actually remembered more than what he had said. His final sentence had knocked the discussion completely off track, and Zoro couldn’t tell if that was on purpose.

He took another sip and cracked his neck side to side in an attempt to clear his head. He reminded himself that he was trying to relax from the day, not relive it.

The wind kicked up, running a cool breeze along the exposed skin of his torso, his hands, and the small strips of his calves where his pants had ridden up. This time the memory started out with his own voice, “I didn’t try to cut off my legs!”

“Yes, you did!” Nami had accused.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because we were trapped and you thought you could cut off your legs and still be able to fight!” she had replied, her words sounding more like a complaint than an explanation.

“Of course I would still be able to fight,” he refuted.

“NO, YOU WOULDN’T, YOU IDIOT!” Nami, Chopper, and Creepy Surgeon all yelled in unison.

“Would too,” he replied now to the cold night air. He had let the argument drop while they were in the galley, but Zoro knew he was right. He knew his body better than they did and given the situation, it sounded like a perfectly reasonable solution. Sure, if they were in that situation now, it wouldn’t be necessary, considering Zoro’s long range attacks and Haki, but for his power level at the time…

“That was a smart idea,” Creepy Surgeon reluctantly acknowledged from a different memory. They had moved on to the Alabasta adventure, and Law’s praise was directed at some double deception plan the Straw Hats had developed to deal with the Clone-Clone Fruit user, Bon Clay.

“It was Zoro’s idea,” Chopper had said proudly.

“I forgot you could be smart sometimes,” Nami had added.

“It’s an anomaly best not trusted, my Nami dear,” said Blondie, “Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice…Unless you are in control of it, of course!”

The cook’s eyes had turned into literal hearts while looking at the Cat Burglar and Zoro knew then that at some point in time, he would have to slice the idiot up. He would go easy on him, of course, it wasn’t like he would actually try to kill the stupid love-cook — just teach him not to be so incredibly annoying. The rest of the crew would probably thank him for it too. Not to mention, a fight would be good training for Blondie — the guy’s bounty was only 77 million, so going against a 120 million berri pirate like Zoro would do the man some good.

Yeah, really it was best for everyone if Zoro taught Blondie a lesson or two. Maybe if he was lucky, the guy would prove to be a half decent sparing partner. According to the liar’s stories, the whole crew could fight, and fight decently well if they were able to take down two Warlords, survive a buster call, and defeat whatever other pirates they ran into along the way.

If Zoro was being honest with himself, he would admit that there were a few parts of the stories that he wished he could remember. Things like dueling the Sword-Sword Fruit user, fighting the Arlong asshole, battling “god”, defeating CP9 (although the giraffe guy sounded pretty lame), standing his ground against a giant zombie warrior, stuff like that. Maybe a few parties too, but mostly he wished he could remember all the fights he had apparently been through.

“And then Luffy and Zoro fought,” Usopp said from another point in the day, the liar strangely succinct after his over-the-top retelling of Zoro’s fight against the Baroque Works’ Millions.

Zoro had looked at Luffy, and Luffy had shrugged in response, and that had been the end of that conversation. He took another drink.

In a different part of the ship, Luffy awoke with a start. The remnants of his dream caused his heart to race while the actual details quietly slipped away before he could remember what they were. Still lying in his bunk, he unleashed his Observation Haki, scanning the room quickly to confirm that everyone was still in their beds, safe and sound like they were all supposed to be.

Nothing was out of order — his crew was here and the nighttime chorus of the room remained the same as every other night on the Sunny: gentle snores from Usopp and Chopper, a slight mechanical whirl from Franky, the subtle clack of Brook’s bones as he shifted in his sleep, Sanji’s almost silent huffs of breath, and, beneath it all, the ever-present sound of waves gently lapping at Sunny’s hull. The atmosphere was peaceful in the dead of night and would have lulled Luffy back to sleep, if it wasn’t for some small detail that seemed to be nagging his subconscious to stay awake. There was something wrong here, something was missing.

No, wait, not something — someone.

Zoro was missing.

But Zoro was supposed to be missing; He hadn’t met up with them at Sabaody, so he wasn’t with them now. He’d meet up with them soon, or Luffy would find him, whichever happened first.

And it would be Zoro this time, not Zoro-not-Luffy’s-Zoro. Because Zoro-not-Luffy’s-Zoro was just a bad dream. In fact, that was probably what had woken him up — a bad dream where Luffy was forgotten and Zoro didn’t want to be on his crew.

A nightmare.

But not reality.

…

Except that it wasn’t a dream, and even in his half asleep state, Luffy couldn’t fully convince himself that the last day wasn’t real. Zoro had come back, which was great, but it wasn’t all of Zoro, which wasn’t that great at all. And now the swordsman wasn’t in his bunk, and he better not have left the ship, otherwise Luffy was going to seriously kick his butt (after, once again, forcing him back onto the crew).

Luffy extended his Observation Haki out once more, stretching it further this time so that it covered all of Sunny’s edges. He felt Robin and Nami in their room, Law and Momo in the aquarium lounge, Kin and Caesar on deck, but still no Zoro. A panic started to grow in his chest as he found nothing, nothing, nothing, until — there.

Of course.

From the crow’s nest at the top of the Sunny, a powerful presence called to Luffy like a moth to a flame. He'd never felt it before, but he didn't need to; Luffy would recognize his swordsman anywhere.

And maybe it was his swordsman this time, maybe Zoro had finally remembered. It had been hours since they had reunited, he should definitely have remembered everything by now. Chopper had even said that the crew was doing everything right to bring back his memories — “Well, I can’t say for sure, since I haven’t given him an exam yet, and I really need to brush up my knowledge of amnesia, but I imagine doing things to jog his memories could only help. As long as he doesn’t get a headache or anything from it, then I think it’s good to keep telling Zoro stories, or repeat conversations, or show him stuff that he used to care about.”

That meant Zoro was probably okay by now. Usopp had told him all the stories, and Sanji had given him his favorite onigiri, and Luffy had given him his favorite sake, and Nami had teased him like she always did, and Robin had reminded him of things he had said, and Brook had played songs, and Franky had shown him the Sunny, and Chopper was Chopper (Zoro loved Chopper) — so, yes, their swordsman had to be back by now. He was even in the crow’s nest — Zoro’s favorite spot — because he was Zoro again and he remembered!

Luffy’s excitement drove him out of his bunk and across the deck. He maintained the Observation Haki the whole way, enjoying the warm press of Zoro’s presence against his power. It reminded him of dancing by the bonfire on Skypiea, or napping in the sunlight on Sunny’s figurehead. There was a heat in his power, like the fire of a forge — a controlled but fierce flame ready to bend even the strongest of metals to its will. Luffy wondered what it would be like in a fight, if the rush of action would stoke it into a wildfire, or if it would still maintain the controlled burn. They’d get to Dressrosa soon (Nami had said it would only be another day or so), then Luffy could really see how much his swordsman had grown.

Zoro, as it turned out, was not within the crow’s nest, but on top of it, resting against the flagpole at the flat portion of its peak. A steady breeze held their Jolly Roger upright above his head and for the first time that day, Zoro looked relaxed. His one working eye was shut and the tension was gone from his shoulders. He held a bottle of sake loosely in one hand (maybe the same one Luffy had stashed in his bunk earlier) which he brought to his lips when he heard the captain’s approach.

Despite his excitement, Luffy managed to land softly, his best attempt at not disturbing Zoro’s peace. He turned to his swordsman, large grin already stretched wide across his face. The smile dropped slightly when Zoro’s posture stiffened, then dropped completely as their eyes met. There was a wariness in Zoro’s gaze and Luffy knew immediately that he still didn’t remember.

Even though they had spent the entire day explaining, Zoro still hadn’t returned.

Stupid Zoro, Luffy thought bitterly as he crossed to take a seat on the same side as Zoro’s good eye. It’s been hours, how long was this going to take?

They had important stuff to do, like go on adventures and defeat the Emperors and eat good food. Luffy was pretty sure that they could still do all of that stuff without Zoro’s memories, but they couldn’t do it while Zoro still looked at Luffy like that. His apprehension was annoying; This was Luffy and Zoro, they were supposed to be LuffyandZoro, not whatever distant strangers Zoro thought they were right now.

It was another item on the captain’s list of reasons to kick the swordsman’s butt, but he knew he couldn’t act on that list any time soon. For one thing, it could cause Zoro to want to leave, which Luffy wouldn’t let happen. For another, Chopper had said it was important to be careful with Zoro. Luffy had had the brilliant idea of knocking his memories back into place, but according to the doctor that wouldn’t help and could actually make things worse. At first Luffy hadn’t understood how things could get any worse, but then Chopper had said that it could make it so that Zoro never remembered, and Luffy had realized that there was worse.

He stayed silent as he settled down at the swordsman's side. He kept a distance between them that he knew was less than what this Zoro wanted, but was more than what Luffy wanted, and he figured this was a good compromise. He pulled his legs into his chest, resting his arms on top of his knees with his hand unconsciously gripping the black bandana that remained tied around his bicep. One day, Zoro would recognize that it was his and yell at Luffy to take it off.

“Can’t sleep?” Zoro asked, breaking the silence between them. His voice was calm, the guarded quality it had held all day temporarily suspended.

“Had a bad dream,” Luffy replied and Zoro only hummed in response.

It had been two years since they had last sat together like this, staring out to sea and watching the moon paint waves on the ocean. More than two years, if Luffy remembered correctly — he knew that they had sat together on the rooftops in Water Seven (after the first time they had lost Merry, and the second, more permanent, time), but they hadn’t done this any time after Thriller Bark. Luffy had sought Zoro out, but the swordsman had always been too busy, either with training or with sleeping.

He hadn’t understood Zoro’s change in behavior back then. Sure, Thriller Bark had been hard, but they had gotten through it okay. There was no reason to start spending all of his time on training — at least, that was what Luffy had thought. But then the crew had lost (lost badly) back on Sabaody, and Luffy had wondered if maybe Zoro had just figured out early the thing that Luffy had been forced to learn the hard way — that their crew hadn’t been strong enough.

As the quiet settled back around them, he could see the tension in Zoro’s shoulders start to ease, the swordsman beginning to relax again. It was simple then, in the darkness, to zone out and let the lines between this Zoro and his Zoro blur, their edges becoming indistinguishable in the moonlight.

“Sorry,” Luffy muttered to both the swordsman at his side and the one in his memories. His eyes stayed trained ahead as he felt Zoro’s questioning gaze. “I wasn’t strong enough to protect you. Back then.” He frowned, still looking forward, and after a pause, added, “I’m the reason we didn’t find you sooner. Was my selfish choice to stay apart for so long.”

Luffy imagined the admission like an anchor, dragging him down to the bottom of the sea. He pictured himself getting stuck in the sand on the ocean floor, the pressure steadily crushing him as the current slowly dragged through his hair and clothes.

Zoro’s gruff voice was the line that pulled him out. “Two years ago,” he said, but stopped before following up with anything more.

Luffy tilted his head to show he was listening, but continued to look out at the sea, away from the nakama he had failed.

“If this crew had entered the New World two years ago, would you have made it this far?” Zoro’s voice was low and Luffy found it soothing, even though the question itself was anything but. “Fishman Island, Punk Hazard, whatever, would your crew have been strong enough?”

Now Luffy looked at Zoro. He knew the answer, and he could tell by the look in Zoro’s eye that the swordsman did too. He shook his head in response.

Zoro nodded, took another swig of his drink, and said calmly, “Then you made the right choice.”

Luffy frowned. “But you—”

“Was it your choice to send me to Hawk-eyes’ island?” Zoro interrupted.

“No.”

Zoro shrugged and looked back out at sea. “I don’t think it would have changed anything. Having my memories. Mihawk would have dropped me and Perona off with Red no matter what,” Zoro huffed a laugh, “It’s not like the three of us would have lived together on Kuraigana for two years. So I would have sailed with Red anyway. Maybe I would have joined you guys sooner, but who knows.”

You would have, Luffy didn’t say, You’d have been on Sabaody. Maybe not the first to arrive, but definitely not the last.

Luffy could picture it then — their reunion on Sabaody, Zoro standing at the rails of the Sunny, watching for his captain (or, even better, Zoro on the island fighting the Marines with Luffy and Sanji); Their trip down to Fishman Island, Zoro going fishing with Luffy despite Nami and Usopp’s complaints; Zoro telling Luffy all about his time with Hawk-guy and Shanks, but leaving out the spoilers he knew Luffy wouldn’t want to hear (Zoro still wouldn’t have defeated Hawk-guy, but only because he would know that Luffy wanted to be there when his swordsman claimed his title); Zoro showing off his new skills (which Luffy still hadn’t seen, but assumed were amazing) during the fight for Fishman Island; Luffy and Zoro fighting a dragon; Luffy and Zoro fighting Caesar; Luffy and Zoro being LuffyandZoro.

“You missed some awesome fights,” he said out loud instead, his gaze following Zoro’s back out to the ocean.

“Yeah?”

Luffy nodded. With a smug grin, he bragged, “I fought a dragon.”

Zoro looked impressed for a second before his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion and he asked, “Like Kaido?”

Luffy’s head whipped over and his jaw dropped. “Wha—”

“Think I heard something about that...” Zoro muttered, rubbing his chin.

“Zoro!” Luffy scolded, “Spoilers!”

“You’re the one that brought it up!” he defended.

“I wasn’t talking about him!” Luffy didn’t even know Kaido was a dragon. “I meant the dragon on Gas-guy’s island!”

“Who?”

“The guy we have tied up down there,” Luffy said casually while pointing to the bottom of the mast they were currently leaning against. Caesar was at the bottom, somehow able to fall asleep despite his restraints.

“Ah, yeah, was wondering about him,” Zoro replied, just as casually, having forgotten about the Straw Hat’s prisoner until now. “Why’s he tied to the mast?”

“He’s our prisoner,” Luffy explained, his tone implying that Zoro was an idiot.

“Obviously!” Zoro snapped, “I meant, why do you have a prisoner?”

“Eh, something about using him for Mingo? Or against Mingo or something, not sure. It’s Torao’s plan, he’ll probably explain it eventually.” At this point Torao had, in fact, already explained the plan to Luffy. Multiple times.

“Huh,” Zoro accepted the explanation without further question. After a brief paused he asked, “So how big was this dragon?”

Luffy grinned, then launched into an overly excited retelling of the fight, followed by a rather confusing explanation of how Kin’emon’s butt had been attached to the beast and then attached to Luffy (in the opposite way in which Franky’s legs could sometimes be split apart but still be attached). Zoro didn’t really get the last part, but he liked the part about the fighting.

For the first time, the swordsman showed interest in a Straw Hat story, an interest which had been sorely missed all day. Zoro didn’t like to talk about the things he couldn’t remember, Luffy could tell (or he thinks he could tell; This wasn’t his Zoro, so he could be wrong, but he was pretty sure that Zoro didn’t like to talk about it). Luffy could understand that though. The stories they had told Zoro were stories of a version of Zoro (Luffy’s version of him), but not necessarily this version, and Luffy could understand not being interested in that. He wouldn’t be interested in a different version of himself either.

“...so then we cut it up and cooked it,” Luffy’s story continued, now explaining what had happened after the dragon was defeated and he got his second (temporary) pair of legs. “Turns out Usopp knows a lot about barbeque.”

“How was it?” Zoro asked, genuinely curious.

“Really good,” Luffy raved, already salivating slightly at the memory, “like a smokey, chewy, desert lizard.”

“Huh,” Zoro rubbed his chin, “Don’t think I’ve had desert lizard before. But I did eat an octocroc once.” Zoro smirked, his tone and the tilt of his head indicating that this was a rather impressive feat.

“Otto-croc?” Luffy hadn’t heard of the animal before.

“Imagine a giant octopus with a crocodile growing out of its head, ’bout the size of this ship.”

“No way,” Luffy replied, impressed. His imagination supplied an image that was nothing at all like what Zoro described, and even less like what the actual animal looked like, but was impressive all the same. “Was it good?”

“Best takoyaki I’ve ever had,” Zoro confirmed.

Luffy laughed. “We should find one and have Sanji cook it up!”

“Yeah, I think it was somewhere around here,” Zoro replied with a confidence the statement did not deserve.

“Perfect, then we’ll go fishing tomorrow,” Luffy declared. He smiled at Zoro, and Zoro, this Zoro, smiled back. Actually smiled back. At Luffy. And it was a good smile too, one of Luffy’s favorites. It was the smile he gave Luffy when the two of them were about to do something fun (or as Robin described it, “unfathomable mischief and chaos”).

Luffy loved that smile. He wanted to keep staring at it, but his body had different ideas, his exhaustion forcing a sudden yawn that squeezed his eyes shut. By the time he was done, Zoro’s smile was gone, his own expression replaced by a similar yawn.

“Time for bed, huh?” Zoro asked, checking the contents of his sake bottle to confirm it was all done. Luffy didn’t want this time together to end, but he didn’t have much choice as Zoro stood.

At least they would be going back together, Zoro once again sleeping close to Luffy like he was always supposed to.

Chapter Text

“Alright, need to dice potatoes, peppers, …mushrooms? Yeah, mushrooms, just leave it out of Usopp’s. Meat prep next, then pan heated with oil. Start the water boiling— no, wait, start water first. Water is for coffee, coffee first— then…” Sanji’s thoughts were sluggish, still going through the process of waking up even as his feet deposited him at the entrance of the galley. It was early morning, the sun still just a thought on the horizon. Sanji was typically awake by now and well into his breakfast routine, but on this particular morning he was struggling, the events of yesterday taking their toll and leaving him more exhausted than usual. He blamed this exhaustion as the reason he made it halfway to the fridge before realizing that he wasn't alone in his kitchen— Zoro stood at the counter, knife in hand and eyes focused down on the worktop in front of him.

The sight jolted Sanji fully awake, his fatigue instantly replaced with familiar outrage at whatever stupid training the Mosshead was attempting to do in Sanji’s kitchen. He marched over, ready to demand that Zoro explain himself, but was once again caught off-guard when he started taking in more details of the scene before him. Zoro was surrounded by …vegetables? The knife he wielded was being used to cut up …potatoes? The hell kind of training…

Maybe it was a prank? Zoro was messing with Sanji’s supplies as a whole new way of being a jerk?

“Mosshead, what the hell—”

The swordsman looked up to meet his gaze and Sanji’s protest died in his throat as he realized that this wasn’t Mosshead; This wasn't the Zoro that Sanji knew. This version had only one eye, and that one eye held no emotion when he looked at Sanji. No aggression, or amusement, or even mischief was apparent. Whatever this Zoro was doing, it clearly wasn’t meant as an act against him.

He swallowed his anger and something else that felt almost like disappointment. In as calm a voice as he could manage for having to deal with anyone during pre-dawn hours, he asked, “Why are you here?”

“Didn’t have watch duty,” Zoro replied gruffly then went back to his chopping.

Sanji wasn’t sure what to make of the response. Yes, the crew had collectively decided to not assign Zoro any watch rotation last night. Although he seemed fully healthy now, his sudden return and the knowledge of his memory issues had made the rest of the crew (not Sanji) want to take care of him, even if the Mosshead didn’t appreciate their efforts.

But that decision had nothing to do with Sanji’s current question, so he asked again, “Right, so why are you dicing potatoes in my kitchen?”

Zoro gave him a look like he was an idiot. “What does it look like?”

After a quick glance at the assorted bowls filled with cut-up ingredients, he replied, “Well, it looks like you’re helping prep breakfast, but that’s not something you do”—Zoro’s knife slammed into the wooden cutting board, harder than his previous cuts—“so, again, why are you here?”

Zoro glared at him and yanked the knife out of the board with an unnecessary amount of force. Through clenched teeth he explained, “I didn’t help with watch, so I’m helping with this. If you’re going to be an asshole about it, then I’ll leave.”

Sanji blinked. Then blinked again. Then pinched himself to check that he was actually awake and not just in some weird dreamland where Zoro, Idiot Mosshead Zoro, wanted to help Sanji with cooking. The quick spike of pain in his arm confirmed that the current circumstances were indeed real and Sanji would, in fact, have to deal with them.

He was heavily tempted to go ahead and kick Zoro out, just to simplify the matter. Ultimately, though, he decided against it; Zoro’s offer of help seemed sincere and while Sanji typically had no problem being an asshole to men (and to this man in particular), he found that in this particular instance, kicking Zoro out seemed almost… mean? Like doing that would somehow make Sanji the Biggest Asshole, which was a title he never wanted to take away from Mosshead, even temporarily.

Zoro wasn’t technically doing anything wrong, he was just going against every established rule of Sanji and Zoro’s nakamaship. It was definitely disturbing, but Sanji could also admit, reluctantly, that the swordsman wasn’t doing the worst job. The cut pieces were all mostly the same size and close enough to what the chef himself had planned for them.

So, fine, Zoro could stay and help. For now. Maybe if he kept his mouth shut, they would even be able to get along for more than five minutes.

“Whatever,” Sanji responded as way of acceptance. He moved around the counter and started setting up the kettle and various pots over the stove. He surveyed Zoro’s work again, then gave some instruction on what else needed to be cut before turning back to his own tasks.

For the next while, the two men continued to work in mostly silence, only occasionally exchanging a few words about what else needed to be done. Zoro was only allowed to help with the chopping, while the chef took control of everything else.

Eventually his curiosity got the better of him and Sanji had to ask, “So, you did this before?”

Zoro gave him a blank stare, so he gestured to all the ingredients and clarified, “Prep.”

“Yeah,” Zoro replied, turning back to his work.

Sanji stared, waiting for him to give more of a response, maybe an answer to the obvious underlying inquiry. When he didn’t, Sanji began debating how exactly Mosshead had managed to survive this long without being able to hold even a basic conversation.

“What?” Zoro asked defensively, sensing the chef’s frustration.

Sanji rolled his eyes and asked, “When?”

“Before,” Zoro stated, like it was obvious and wasn’t a stupid answer. Before Sanji could yell at him, he continued, “Lucky Roux wasn’t a fan of waking up early, so someone always helped with prep. Whenever I wasn’t on watch, it’d be me.”

Sanji had figured that Zoro’s behavior had something to do with his time on the Red Force, but it was still strange to have it confirmed. It was weird thinking of Zoro being on another crew and acting differently. Would he have helped Sanji cook in the past, if the two of them had gotten along from the beginning?

No. Sanji cared too much about his cooking to allow it, and he was pretty sure Zoro would only have done it if Luffy had forced him to.

So was that what this was? Shanks’ influence? An actual pirate captain and an actual pirate crew that had been sailing for however many years and probably had had to figure out how to operate correctly somewhere along the line? The Straw Hats were a pirate crew, but they weren’t exactly conventional and Sanji couldn’t help but think that the only reason that they worked so well was because Luffy had somehow managed to collect all the right people. Even Mosshead, despite his atrocious personality, had his role here; He was the crew’s protector, their idiot muscle-head who helped them get through whatever bad idea they were currently pursuing (when he wasn’t lost) and who would sometimes, occasionally, very rarely, help Luffy step up to be a better captain. That was the Zoro they knew —the Zoro Sanji knew— but now he had to wonder, who was Zoro to the Red Hair crew?

It was a while before the silence in the kitchen was broken again, this time by two newcomers.

“Good morning, Sanji,” Robin greeted warmly as she walked in, then had to do a double-take when she realized the cook wasn’t alone in the kitchen. “Good morning, Zoro,” she added, glancing curiously between the two men as she moved towards the table. Their swordsman wasn’t typically part of the early-riser crew.

“Zoro, you’re awake!” Chopper exclaimed in surprise, following behind Robin to take a seat at the table. No one else was up yet, or at least not up enough to come to breakfast.

“Good morning, lovely Robin! Would you like a cup of coffee?” Sanji replied, heart-eyes on full display.

“That would be wonderful,” she replied sweetly.

“Coming right up!” He dropped his voice back down to its normal range before saying, “Morning Chopper, you want some juice?”

“Yes, please, orange if you have it.”

“Can do.” Sanji turned back to the kitchen. He grabbed a bowl out of Zoro’s hands and set it gently on the table as he grumbled, “Alright Moss, I got it from here. You go join Robin and Chopper at the table.” He was about to walk away when he turned back and added, “And be nice to Robin.”

“My, you two look like you’re getting along,” Robin commented, mostly watching Sanji to see if she could tell his thoughts on the matter.

Instead of some quip or protest, Sanji just gave a noncommittal hum. Zoro didn’t reply at all as he walked over to the dining side of the room.

“Zoro, you’ll let me give you a check-up today, right?” Chopper asked hopefully. Zoro didn’t like check-ups, but they were important and Chopper was pretty sure that Sanji and Robin would help him wrangle Zoro into the med bay if the swordsman refused.

Zoro froze mid-way through taking his seat (one of the ones at the opposite end of the table from Robin and Chopper). In a calm voice he said, “Ah, right,” then swiftly turned around and left the galley.

The three occupants stared after his retreat. “Did he just run away?” asked Chopper.

“Unclear,” Robin replied lightly. Her face grew serious as she turned to look at Sanji. With obvious concern, she asked, “Sanji, did something happen?”

“Zoro helped make breakfast,” he answered, not meeting her gaze. “Apparently it’s something he did with the other crew.” His voice held no inflection to convey his feelings about the action, although that in itself showed how unsettled he was by it.

“That’s… nice. Right?” Chopper asked, uncertain.

“It’s weird,” he replied, “And annoying. Maybe I could kick some sense back into him?”

“No!” Chopper yelled instantly, standing on his chair to get closer to Sanji’s eye-level. “Why do you all think that’s the solution?! Giving Zoro another head injury won’t fix him, it could potentially make him worse! We don’t know if there’s any chance he can still get his memories back, but if there is, then punching or kicking him is definitely not going to help!”

Sanji blinked in surprise, then quickly placated, “Sorry, Chopper, I was just joking, I wasn’t actually going to do that.” He hadn’t been joking, but Chopper and beautiful Robin did not need to know that.

“Punching?” Robin inquired.

Chopper huffed, “Yeah, Luffy asked me the same thing last night—if he punched Zoro hard enough, would that make the memories go back in place?”

“I see,” Robin replied, managing to stay solemn for a beat before her amusement broke out across her face. She couldn’t suppress her chuckles as she said fondly, “Sounds like our captain.”

Chopper’s anger quickly melted and he joined in with his own giggles.

Before they could talk any more on their swordsman’s early morning volunteerism, Zoro returned carrying a stack of papers that were only barely held together by a string which wrapped tightly around the bundle from all sides.

Robin was already looking towards the door as he reentered. She had been keeping a literal eye on him the whole way and therefore knew exactly when he was approaching. It wasn’t that she was distrustful of their returned crewmate (despite his now closed-off nature), more that she understood the level of his directional skills and figured that he was going to need a hand at some point along the way. Curiously enough, he hadn’t; Zoro had managed to walk to the men’s quarters then returned straight back to the galley without getting lost even once. For any normal person, that wouldn’t be much of an accomplishment—after all, the door to one room could be seen from the doorway to the other—but for their resident broken compass, it was quite an impressive feat. The type of feat Zoro had really only been able to manage somewhere between Thriller Bark and Sabaody, after several weeks of living on the Sunny full-time.

Paying no mind to Robin's contemplative gaze, Zoro approached and laid the stack of papers in front of Chopper, grunting out a “here” as he did so. He took a seat back at the other end of the table as Chopper pulled the papers closer and started to undo their binding.

“Oh! It’s your medical charts! This is very helpful, thank you, Zoro!” Chopper exclaimed.

Zoro might have responded, but Chopper was too busy skimming over the pages to hear it. They were wonderfully detailed and thorough reports, giving information on everything the Red Hair Pirate’s doctor, Hongo, had done to check and maintain Zoro’s health, including the progression of the healing on his injured eye, theories on his memories, various tests and vaccines administered—everything the Straw Hat doctor could have wished for.

“This has good information, ideas on your memory, details on your eye,” Chopper muttered, mostly to himself, as he gushed over the treasure trove of information. Zoro was a horrible patient, Chopper knew that first-hand, so he could only imagine the trouble Dr. Hongo had had to go through to collect all of this. He couldn’t stop himself from giggling at one particularly strongly worded note about the patient’s inability to wear bandages.

“Find something interesting, Chopper?” Robin asked warmly as she took a sip from her coffee. He had been so distracted, he hadn’t even noticed Sanji setting down their beverages in front of them.

Chopper stopped giggling and replied, “Oh, no. I mean, yes, but…” He tried, but failed, to completely suppress his smile as he explained, “It’s just that I usually avoid adding curse words in my notes, however I can understand why Dr.Hongo did that for this patient.” Another small laugh escaped him and Robin let out her own chuckle in turn.

Zoro looked at the two with suspicion, unclear on the reindeer’s meaning, but understanding that their laughter was at his expense. “Hongo just likes cussing,” he defended.

“I’m sure he does,” Robin confirmed, still smiling.

“Hey Zoro, what does this part mean?” Chopper asked before Zoro could form another protest. “It says it’s your alcohol tolerance, although I haven’t seen these units of measurement before— B.A.C.?”

“He actually wrote that down?” Zoro replied, laughing slightly, “Don’t worry, you can just ignore it.”

“Oh, you don’t remember this, but I want to become a great doctor that can cure all diseases. So if there’s anything I don’t know about medicine, I’d like to learn.”

Chopper gave Zoro a pleading look that seemed to pierce right through the swordsman’s stone cold armor. Zoro’s expression could almost be described as soft as he gruffly explained, “Hongo made it up. When I first joined the crew, Red went a bit crazy, concerned I’d somehow just fall over dead. He made Hongo check a bunch of stuff, including how much I could drink, as if it’s possible to die from drinking.” He scoffed at the thought.

“It is possible to die from drinking, that’s what alcohol poisoning is,” Chopper pointed out, concerned but not exactly surprised Zoro didn’t know that. Did he know it before? Someone must have taught him that at some point, right?

“Right,” Zoro replied, clearly not convinced.

“No, Zoro, that’s—” The door to the galley swung open, interrupting Chopper’s attempt at education and letting in letting in Franky, Brook, and Usopp.

Chopper decided to let the conversation drop, figuring that teaching Zoro about alcohol was an uphill battle that didn’t need to be fought right then. Instead, he turned back to the medical records, flipping back to the first page so he could go through all the reports again, this time reading each line carefully and thoroughly, instead of giving just a brief skim.

The new arrivals called out greetings with various degrees of enthusiasm as they moved to join everyone else. Usopp started pulling out a chair to take a seat next to Zoro, but a look from the swordsman had him reconsidering. It wasn’t clear if Zoro meant to seem intimidating, or if that was just his default now, but either way it was too early in the morning for the resident coward to deal with.

As Usopp scurried to a seat at the other end of the table, Robin decided to change her own seat as well. She picked up her cup of coffee and took the spot the sniper had abandoned, volunteering to sit on Zoro’s right. Zoro gave her a confused look and she smiled politely in response before taking a sip of her drink.

The coffee was perfectly brewed, the rich and nutty flavors standing out well and without any of the harsh acrid aftertaste that came with overly-roasted beans. While Robin preferred her coffee black, her current position did give her an opportunity for what should hopefully be a rather harmless test. With Zoro’s attention still partially directed her way, she sprouted hands along the dining table to where a small carton of cream was sat next to the jar of sugar. She directed the extra limbs to help pass the carton her way in a show of power that was larger than any she had done in front of Zoro since his return.

She was curious to see how he would react to her strength and strangeness. Or maybe it was more apt to say that she felt apprehensive? Wary? She wasn't naive enough to expect a positive reception, but she did hope that his reaction would be different from the way people typically responded to her powers—with clear disgust and horror. There was a chance he would misinterpret the action as a threat and go on the defensive, which would be unfortunate but still better than the alternative. Either way, she wanted to get this experiment done now so she could address any issues or concerns before they made it to Dressrosa.

As expected, Zoro’s full attention was pulled towards the extra hands. His expression was indecipherable, but he made no other movements and his stillness gave her some reassurance. She let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding and, as calmly as she could, gave a curious hum to prompt him for his thoughts.

“Nothing,” he muttered, looking quickly at her face, then looking away, then back to her extra hands. She waved the one he was looking at, and he added impassively, “Seems useful.”

She…was not expecting that. Her smile turned more genuine as she affirmed, “Yes, they can be.” With a needless flourish that was maybe, partially, showing off, she disappeared her extra hands all at once in a flutter of petals. When he didn’t respond, she added, “Especially in a fight.”

“Yeah?” He turned to look at her now, a clear spark of interest in his eye. He tilted his head to the side and asked, “Can you make them on other people?”

“Yes, I can,” she replied, “Would you like to try?”

She could practically see his thoughts, ideas of 5, 10, 20-sword styles dancing through his mind. She had to hold back a laugh, delighted that for all that he had changed, Zoro still remained the same.

“Any time,” she replied to his unasked request, “Although I have to tell you, it might not work as you imagine. While the arms can be attached to you, they are still under my control.”

“That's fine, as long as you keep the angle—” he cut himself off, expression dropping from curiosity to suspicion. Before she could ask what was wrong, he demanded, “Have we tried this before?”

She tilted her head, not sure what to make of the anger she heard in his question. Answering truthfully, she confirmed, “Yes.”

It was something they had tried before, back on Water Seven when they were waiting for Franky to finish building the Sunny. The Straw Hats had had plenty of time to kill and Robin had found herself bouncing between crewmates in an unconscious attempt at… apologizing? Re-connecting? Showing gratitude? She couldn’t say for sure, but whatever the feeling had been, she had followed it, finding herself alone with each member of the crew at one point or another. On Zoro's turn, she had caught him while the swordsman was training.

It had been Robin's idea to try the 10-sword-style, having been heavily influenced by what she had heard of Zoro and Usopp's unconventional “teamwork” at Enies Lobby. Zoro's excitement back then had been much more obvious than it was now and the two had spent an entire afternoon work-shopping the idea and execution. By the end of it, they had developed a style that couldn't be considered fully successful (there was always some amount of difference between what Zoro meant to do with the extra blades and what actually happened), but was a passable battle technique, should they ever get desperate enough (or bored enough) to use it.

Robin smiled at the memory. After everything that had happened with CP-9, there were various moments where Robin came to the realization that her friends cared for her just as much as she cared for them, and that afternoon with Zoro had been one such moment. The two didn’t have any deep, meaningful conversations about their feelings, but they did laugh together and spend time together and Robin could recognize the nakamaship between them without having to call it out by name.

“Nevermind.” Zoro's gruff dismal shocked her out of her thoughts. In the present day, the swordsman was scowling, his previous interest gone. He pointedly looked away from Robin and she found the strange rejection almost as hurtful as it was confusing.

Before she could ask more, Luffy arrived, collapsing into the empty seat on Zoro's other side. At some point in their conversation, the rest of the crew had made their way into the galley, settling into seats and grabbing for morning beverages as Sanji finished plating up their meal. Everyone else seemed to be caught up in their own various conversations, but Robin didn't miss the way Franky’s ear was pointed in her direction and how Usopp’s story was made up of more “um”s than actual words. Nami didn't even bother pretending that she hadn't been eavesdropping, making unashamed eye contact with Robin when she looked that way.

“Morning, Zoro,” Luffy mumbled, head resting on the table. “How'd you sleep?”

“Fine,” he replied.

“I had a dream.” Luffy frowned and scrunched his eyebrows up in thought, “There was a bunch of meat with swords, and I had to...” The captain’s voice was loud enough for everyone at the table to hear, but it was clear his words were directed at Zoro as he continued to describe his dream.

Unexpectedly, Zoro seemed to be listening; He didn’t respond, but he did occasionally glance Luffy’s way. The reaction wasn’t strong enough to describe as interest but it was not a clear dismissal, which, at the very least, was progress.

Chapter Text

“Chopper, eat your food,” Sanji reprimanded as he finally settled at the table for breakfast. Everyone else had already been served, some glutinous captains well into their second plate by the time the cook managed to sit down.

“Right, sorry,” Chopper responded distractedly, mindlessly grabbing something from his plate and placing it in his mouth, all while keeping his eyes turned down to the papers in his lap.

“Whatcha got there, Chopper?” Franky asked around his mouthful of eggs and bacon.

“It’s Zoro’s medical notes,” the doctor replied excitedly as he once again abandoned his food in order to scribble down some thoughts on the corner of a mostly empty page.

Franky looked over his shoulder for a second before getting quickly bored by all the terminology he didn’t understand. He knew a good amount about human physiology (knowledge which was required for the whole being-a-cyborg thing), but he had always found doctor-talk to be unnecessarily complicated. Why not call a leg a leg, why did it need so many specialized terms like “femur” and “tibia” and “fibula”? What the heck even was a “orbicularis oculi muscle”?

Usopp followed Franky’s lead, then immediately regretted it, rearing back in horror as soon as he looked down at the page. With undisguised disgust, he accused, “Was that an eye? What happened to it? How could you read that while eating?”

Chopper looked up at him and shrugged innocently. “Guess I got used to it?” He took another bite of food while Usopp resolutely pushed his own plate away.

Sanji resolutely pushed the plate back and glared at him until Usopp, reluctantly, picked up his fork and returned to his meal.

“Does it say what’s wrong with him?” Nami asked.

“There’s nothing wrong with me!” complained Zoro.

Luffy patted his shoulder consolingly. Zoro shook him off, but not before the captain had managed to successfully snag a piece of bacon from the swordsman’s plate.

Chopper’s mouth twisted to the side in disappointment as he pulled a specific page to the top of the stack. “Unfortunately, no,” he answered Nami, unable to keep the dejection out of his voice, “Seems like Dr.Hongo—”

“Just ‘Hongo’,” Zoro muttered in correction.

“— did all the tests I would think to try, but wasn’t able to reach any definitive conclusions.”

An unexpected voice spoke up from the side of the room. In an almost casual tone, Trafalgar Law volunteered, “I can take a look…but it’ll cost you.”

Law punctuated the offer with a smile, an expression that he guessed was falling closer to “evil grin” than “trustworthy ally,” but he doubted the Straw Hat’s captain would be able to tell the difference anyway. He didn’t have any particular price in mind, but he wasn’t stupid enough to let this opportunity go to waste. Sure, the Straw Hats were already his allies and helping him with his plans for Dolflamingo, but having them in his debt would probably prove useful somewhere down the line.

Ignoring the suspicious looks from the rest of the room, he focused on the other captain. Luffy met his gaze and without hesitation replied, “Do it.”

“Not going to ask the price?” Law asked, making sure to keep his voice neutral. It wasn’t that he was necessarily surprised that Luffy agreed, more that he was not expecting him to agree so…easily. Plenty of captains on the Grand Line didn’t recognize the importantance of their crews, and the fact that Straw Hat clearly did was an unexpected point in his favor.

Luffy took a moment to stare at Law before answering, an assessing look that made it seem as if he had more than two brain cells rattling around in his head. Before Law could figure out what the look meant, or if he had possibly misunderstood something, Luffy smiled brightly. Casually, like it didn’t matter at all, he confirmed, “Nah.”

“Hey, wait a—” Zoro started to protest.

“Alright,” Law agreed, then stood and turned to Zoro, hand raising to call on his powers.

“Hold on, don’t I get a say in this?!” Zoro complained, also getting to his feet.

“No,” the rest of the Straw Hats in the room called out in unison.

“Please Zoro?” Chopper added.

“Don’t be scared, Roronoa-ya,” Law reassured, purposefully deepening his voice to sound more intimidating as he stalked toward his patient, “My procedures can be painless... if I let them.”

Zoro started drawing Kitetsu, “Now wait just a—”

“Wait!” Chopper yelled, “Shouldn’t we go to the med bay? Or someplace sterile?”

“Room,” Law called, blue light quickly engulfing the entire galley, amnesic swordsman included. Just as fast, armament haki coated up Zoro’s drawn blade. “Scan.”

Frantic yells emerged from around the room as everyone shifted to either stop Law from whatever he was doing to Zoro, stop Zoro from hurting Law, prevent both of them from starting a fight in the enclosed space, or run away before both of them started a fight in the enclosed space.

Before things could devolve that far, the Scan completed, offering up the imagining Law wanted directly to his mind. It was a strange effect, somewhere between reading and remembering something he had seen a hundred times but also knew he had never seen before. He was used to the behavior by now, but it had definitely been disorienting when he had first started learning his powers.

Law withdrew the Room and turned away from the still-tensed Zoro. Addressing Dr. Chopper only, he reported, “Seems to be damage to the temporal lobe, partially healed, but rather extensive and extending to the medial temporal cortex and limbic lobe. It’s not something I can fix with my powers, not without running the risk of changing or clearing the connections that were there before.”

Chopper looked stricken by the information, so Nami was the one to respond. “What does that mean?”

“He hurt his brain,” Law over-simplified, earning a glare from the navigator.

“And why can’t you fix it?” Sanji snapped, barely able to hold back from calling the man an asshole for the way he had spoken to Nami. Actually, on second thought, “Asshole.”

“I can,” Law corrected, “as long as you don’t care whether or not he gets those memories back.” He lifted his hand up again. “Want me to do it now?”

“No!” Chopper, Robin, and a few others shouted. Chopper continued, “If we leave it alone, will it heal and return the memories?”

“Hard to tell. There’s signs of healing, I’m guessing this injury—or multiple injuries, more likely—was a lot worse when he first got it. But I’d need to know the full extent of the original damage to guess at the rate of repair.” Returning to his seat, Law finished off with a shrug, “It’s unlikely, but possible.”

The rest of the room took a few seconds to process that diagnosis. It was more information than they had had before, but it still left them in the same position—having to wait and see.

“Okay, Zoro and I are going fishing,” Luffy declared to no one in particular and left the galley. Zoro followed, turning and giving Law one last threatening look before exiting the room.

Luffy and Zoro did not go fishing. Nami quickly, and loudly, nipped that idea in the bud by reminding the two that they were currently avoiding being caught by Doflamingo and did not have time to slow down and fish. Luffy wasn’t exactly happy about the argument, but he had no choice in the matter. Zoro seemed about as grumpy as usual.

Now, sometime later, Nami was alone at the helm, unconcerned and uncaring about the location of the rest of the crew as she carefully maintained course and avoided cloud cover. She panicked only slightly when she spotted something flying towards them from their starboard side, but soon enough recognized the coloring and funny hat that denoted a News-Coo messenger. She signaled the bird to land on their ship and then, once she could read the sign around its neck, promptly complained, “What do you mean it’s 15 berris?”

The bird only squawked in response and stepped away as the pirate tried to grab for the paper in its specially designed bird messenger bag.

“It was only 14 berris last time! You’re not trying to scam me, are you?” She glared at it, putting as much threat into her voice as she was able.

The messenger shrank back slightly, but stood its ground, still refusing to give up its precious cargo until it was paid the proper amount. The stare-off lasted for several minutes (much longer than was reasonable) before Nami reluctantly gave in, fishing out another 1 berri coin and placing it in the News-Coo’s coin purse. The bird squawked its thanks, handed her a paper, then flew off, quickly disappearing before the crazy redhead could complain about anything else or try to get a refund. It was not paid enough to deal with these scenarios.

The sting of losing money, even such a small amount, faded quickly as Nami unfolded the paper and got a good look at the front page news. Doflamingo had…

Torao needed to see this.

As if in a trance, she set the switch on the helm to keep their course then walked down to the main deck. Once there, she was greeted with the typical amount of Straw Hat chaos—

“Thief!” Kin’emon yelled, swing his blade toward Zoro.

Zoro easily blocked the strike, then pushed back, yelling, “I told you, I’m not a thief!”

Kin’emon went in for another strike, this time from the side, as he replied, “Then explain how you have acquired an ancient sword of Wano, Thief!”

“I already told you”—Zoro side stepped the next strike—“I don’t know!”

“Speak not such lies!” Kin’emon snapped, stopping for a second to point at Zoro accusingly, “I clearly recognize that blade on your waist as Shushui, the Great Sword of Ryuma.”

“Uh, I know where Zoro got the sword—NoO DON’T ATTACK ME TOO.” Brook tried to interject but soon found himself the object of the samurai’s swing. The next part of the conversation was drowned out by the sound of swords clashing.

Eventually Kin’emon was calmed enough to pause and demand, “Alright, Sir Skeleton, speak. What do you know?”

“Right,” Brook said as he straightened out of his defensive position. He sheathed his blade and wiped some dust off his suit as he explained, “Well, remember how we talked about that one Warlord of the Sea, Gecko Moria, with the army of corpses?”

Kin’emon, horrified, showed no recollection at the story from the previous day. “What black witchcraft do you speak of?”

“Sir Skeleton, I believe my father may have fallen asleep for that part,” added Momo, who was watching the fight from the railing. Robin and Usopp stood next to him while Luffy and Law watched from the forward upper landing.

“What?! No, Momonosuke, such a thing would be rude. Perhaps you saw me resting my eyes; Of course I remember this talk of… corpses.” The look on his face made it clear that the samurai was bluffing, although that could have already been determined easily enough by the tone of his voice.

“Yeah, it was pretty gross,” Brook agreed while picking at his non-existent nose, then explained, “Anyway, one of them was a legendary swordsman from Wano who wielded the black blade.”

“You have stolen his corpse too?” Kin’emon accused, launching once again at Zoro.

“I ain’t Moria!” Zoro defended, verbally and physically.

Brook continued, “Zoro fought this legendary swordsman on my behalf. It was a truly spectacular battle and when Zoro won, the samurai gave him his blade.”

Both Zoro and Kin’emon looked at him in confusion, neither one of them having been aware of these events until now.

“You expect me to believe this man defeated the Great Ryuma?”

“Well, he was a corpse at the time and being controlled by my shadow, so I couldn’t say how his skills stacked up to his real life, but it was an amazing battle to watch. I had tried and failed many times against that foe.”

Luffy’s laugh broke in as he called out, “Yeah, it was definitely a tough fight, Zoro slept for days after!”

Zoro frowned at that reveal.

Brook coughed and added, “Oh, uh—yes, right, well that wasn’t all from the samurai fight.” He gave a nervous laugh. “After all, we also fought the giant zombie Oars and yeah…” More nervous chuckles, accompanied by fidgeting.

“Well, if that’s all settled…” Nami strode to the middle of the deck, near Caesar. Looking up at Law, she held up the newspaper and declared, “You need to see this.”

Law Shambled down to the deck, switching places with Usopp who gave a loud protest at the unexpected trip. He grabbed the proffered paper and read through the headline once, giving a solemn nod in response.

“Well?” Robin prompted, having approached along with the rest of the crew.

Law tossed the paper down so it landed face-up in the middle of the Straw Hat-Samurai circle.

“Don Quixote Doflamingo,” Chopper read out loud, “leaves the Seven Warlords and abandons the royal throne of Dressrosa?!” His voice rose with panic and surprise at each revelation.

“I can’t believe he actually quit!” Usopp exclaimed.

“R-royal throne? He was a king?” Brook stuttered.

“King?” Luffy asked doubtfully, “King of what, the Land of Birds?”

“Y’know, that worked out so well, it’s kind of eerie,” Franky noted.

“No, it’s exactly how it should be,” Law argued, “He didn’t have any other choice.”

“Joker…! You did all this for me?” Caesar cried out and was promptly ignored as Luffy drew everyone’s attention back to the pages.

“So why are our faces in the paper too?”

As it turned out, Doflamingo’s strange behavior was not the only noteworthy piece of news. Word had gotten out of Law’s alliance with the Straw Hats Pirates, while another alliance had apparently formed among other Worst Generation Pirates —Eustass Kid, Basil Hawkins, and Scratchmen Apoo had united as well.

“We need to focus on Doflamingo,” Law commanded, drawing their conversation back to more immediate concerns, “Now do you understand how important this deal was? All we did was kidnap Caesar, and Doflamingo was willing to give up the royal throne he’s had for the past ten years, plus government approval to do whatever he sees fit, just so that he could get Caesar back. This is his answer; He’s playing it exactly as I suspected and now we need to finish off the rest of the plan.”

The Heart captain’s grave look was met by a blank stare from the Straw Hat captain. With a rapidly forming headache and a heavily put-upon sigh, Law clarified, “Fine. We’ll go over the plan one more time…”

Chapter Text

Step 1. Get to Dressrosa.

“WE’VE MADE IT!” Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs as soon as they landed on the empty coast of the island.

“I told you not to yell like that, Luffy!” Usopp yelled back, just as loud, while ducking his head and cowering behind the Sunny’s rails. “We’re in enemy territory now!”

“Yow, I’m feeling super!” Franky added. “I’m so ready to find me some factories and blow ’em to smithereens!”

Step 2. Divide into groups.

Caesar Delivery Team: Law, Caesar, Nico, and Long Nose.
Thousand Sunny Guard Team: Navigator, Skeleton, Tony, Momonosuke—

Law paused, frowning at the ship guards he had selected. “Blackleg-ya should stay back to...Where’d he go?”

“Sanji?” Chopper asked, looking around the beach.

“What happened to the others?!” Law demanded, noting that not only was Sanji gone, but several others as well—Luffy, Zoro, Franky, and Kin’emon were nowhere to be seen. “They’re vital for this plan!”

Robin gave a small chuckle. “I believe they’ve gone on ahead.”

“But who’s going to protect us?!” Chopper asked, aghast.

Thousand Sunny Guard Team: Navigator, Skeleton, Tony, Momonosuke, and Blackleg.
Factory Destruction and Samurai Rescue Team: Straw Hat, Roronoa, Cyborg, Kin’emon, and Blackleg.

Step 3. Factory team searches for the SMILE factory and does NOT draw attention to themselves.

“But I’m hungry,” Luffy whined, stretching out the final syllable as he walked toward the restaurant that was just begging for his patronage.

“It is not the time to eat, we must hasten to rescue Kanjuro!” Kin’emon protested, even as he followed along.

“Eh, it’s not a bad idea to stop and gather some info on the place,” Franky pointed out, “Although we probably should put on some disguises before we keep going.”

Kin’emon and Sanji straightened up in shock at the realization. The group had been so excited by the smells of the country’s gourmet cooking, the passionate dances of the female performers, and the truly bizarre sight of the living toys, that they hadn’t even noticed they were walking around the port city in their normal clothes. Kin’emon quickly ushered them all into a nondescript alley and used his powers to redress them into more appropriate, identity concealing, attire—bowler hats, suits, and white facial hair.

“Whoa, not bad Kin’emon,” Sanji complimented, checking himself out as best he could without a mirror.

“Thank you, Sir Sanji,” Kin’emon replied, stroking his artificial beard.

Luffy laughed and, pointing at Zoro, commented, “Zoro looks funny!”

“I do not!” He puffed up in indignation. “At least I don’t look like a creepy old man!”

“Hey, I don’t look creepy!” Luffy rebuked.

“You both look like idiots,” Sanji interjected, “Now, let’s go get some food and maybe catch another look at the beautiful dancing ladies…”

“You mean gather some info on the factory?”

“Sure, that,” Sanji replied to Franky’s question, successfully managing to herd the group into the restaurant before they could draw any more attention to themselves.

Step 3.a. Zoro’s sword gets stolen.

—Wait, was that part of Law’s plan?

“Stupid Mosshead, get back here!” Sanji yelled, panting as he swerved through the crowd to try and keep up with the runaway swordsman.

“Sanji, don’t lose Zoro!”

Sanji already knew that, he didn’t need Luffy’s command to remind him of what a terrible idea it would be to let Zoro run off on his own. There was no way to tell how long it would take them to find the Mosshead if he got lost and considering how their plan relied on escaping the island before Doflamingo wised up to their actions, that was time they couldn’t afford to waste.

Suddenly out of the corner of Sanji’s eye, a flash of bright colors called to his attention. He could practically hear angels singing as the most beautiful woman in the world turned and met his glance. She was gorgeous, she was heaven, she was—

No. No. He couldn’t be distracted, not right now, he needed to—

But she was so beautiful—

But—

“Hey, stop it!” Zoro commanded, his yell invoking a wave of nausea that Sanji was barely able to suppress. The order hadn’t been directed at him, but he still felt the impact of it in a way that was eerily similar to what he had felt at Fishman Island, when Luffy had felled a thousand enemies with just the sound of his voice. With a growing sense of dread, Sanji realized Zoro had just used—

“Oh no, she’s fainted!” a man’s voice shouted from off to Sanji’s right. All his thoughts on Zoro stopped as he looked towards the woman—the goddess—who had previously caught his eye. She was collapsed on the ground (along with a few others in the area) and held up by some ugly man that did not deserve to touch such a divine being. Sanji immediately raced to her aid, pulling her free from the scoundrel and began asking if she was okay, all the while showering her with compliments and declarations of his love.

Step 3.b. Sanji falls in love.

This wasn’t originally a step in Law’s plan, but if he had been with the Straw Hats for longer, he would have known to include it.

Step 3.c. Luffy joins a tournament at the Corrida Coliseum.

…

At least Franky was still working on finding the factory.

(Kin’emon, by this point, had lost track of Zoro and was currently being ambushed by a group of Doflamingo’s soldiers.)

Step 4. Caesar’ Delivery Team make it to the island of Greenbit—

“You’re a Warlord of the Sea, why are you making me fight off these stupid fish?” Long Nose complained.

“My powers sap my stamina the more I use them,” Law explained as they all ran from the hoard of Fighting Fish currently destroying the bridge they were standing on. “I need to conserve my strength in case things go south with Doflamingo.”

“Seems like it’s already going south!” Long nose continued to complain, but Law ignored him.

—with only slight complications.

Step 5. A Navy ship appears at Greenbit, ready to arrest any pirates up to no good (like the now Ex-Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo).

“You have a wicked look on your face,” Robin noted.

“It’s sheer coincidence,” Law responded unperturbed, thinking back on a particular conversation he had had with Navy Captain Smoker back on Punk Hazard. “How would I be able to control the Navy?”

Step 6. Robin and Usopp retreat into the surrounding forest to act as backup as Caesar and Law wait on the beach for Doflamingo.

It would be hard to pinpoint the exact moment when Law’s plan had started to go wrong (if it had ever been going right in the first place), but the call he received two minutes before the scheduled drop-off time would be a good place to start.

“Law! It’s Sanji! Look—”

“Blackleg-ya, have you found the factory?” Law interrupted, hope rising in his chest. If the Straw Hats had managed to complete their part of the mission already…

“We’ve got bigger problems!”—What? What did that mean, the factory was the most important— “Listen, you need to get out of there! Now!”

“What are you talking about? We’re about to hand Caesar over.”

“Doflamingo never quit the Warlords!” Sanji screamed, “There’s nothing we’re getting from handing over Caesar, the whole thing’s a setup!”

No, no, it can’t be…

“I don’t understand, what do you mean?”

The snail gave a frustrated sigh, “I’ll explain later, just get the hell off that island!”

On Law’s left, the sound of Doflamingo’s grating laugh proceeded his arrival. On his right, Navy Admiral Fujitora could be heard, commanding his troops to move out.

“Now, Law!” Sanji shouted, but it was too late.

Meanwhile, Franky had made a friend…

This Dressrosa place was pretty messed up. If everything that one-legged solider dude-toy-thing had said was true, then this might be the most messed up place Franky had ever seen, and he’d lived in the slums of Water Seven for decades. For all the beauty that his hometown had had to offer, there had been an equal amount of darkness lurking in its corners and side streets. Something about the transient atmosphere had seemed to fuel folks’ inhibitions; Crime felt less like crime when you committed it far away from home, y’know?

So yeah, Franky had seen a lot of bad stuff in his time. He couldn’t outright dismiss the toy soldier’s wild claims when he himself knew just how much bad people were actually capable of. And it was a hell of a lot of bad too— people being turned into toys, forgotten by their loved ones, then forced to interact with them as if nothing was wrong? Watching the ones you love live on without you, all while pretending to be just a toy to avoid being taken away? That was fucked up.

Once there had been a low point in Franky’s life when he would have actually wanted that—wanted to be forgotten by everyone who knew him and knew the bad, horrible things he had done. Wanted people to stop caring about the no-good, worthless sack of shit that he was...but he was past that now, mostly. He’d learned not to listen to that voice, to enjoy the care he received and to make sure to show his own love in turn. He had people that he wanted to remember him, no matter what happened or what stupid things he did. Especially after these last few days where Franky has been confronted with the actuality of being forgotten and had realized just how much that completely sucked…

Yeah, he’d never wish that on anyone. (Well, maybe a couple Navy bastards, but still.)

Here in Dressrosa, Doflamingo was doing that to everyone—parents, siblings, partners, friends. The amount of people walking the streets was equal to the amount of toys, and how messed up was that?

There was no way Franky could let things in this country continue as-is. He knew Torao’s plan only involved them destroying the factory and getting the hell out of there, but that would need to change, pronto. If there was a way to help these people, then Franky’s manly pride (and his soft heart) demanded he help out.

He’d bring it up to the captain when he next got the chance. For now, he should focus back on Soldier, who was opening the door at the bottom of the secret staircase the two had been climbing down for the past few minutes. The passage they were in was in the middle of some huge flower field—or more accurately, directly below the huge flower field. The entrance had been well-hidden, but the toy soldier had known the way and had hopped onward without hesitation.

The room they walked into now was large, tall enough for Franky to stand fully upright and spacious enough to hold several trees, tables, and a small stream with a waterwheel. The room was also badly infested with at least a hundred squirrels wearing hats.

Or wait, not squirrels.

Tiny…people? Huh, didn’t see that everyday. Maybe they were an offshoot of the people-turned-toys?

“Allow me to introduce you,” said Soldier from right next to Franky’s ear, having climbed up onto his shoulders to be heard over the shouts of the small squirrel-toy-people. “These are our allies in the fight, the Little People of the Tontatta Kingdom!”

“Little People?” Franky asked for confirmation.

“Trust me, their strength is equal to yours,” Soldier assured, “They move faster than the eye can follow, and the people here call them Fairies.”

“Oh!” Franky gasped, “Then Zoro’s sword thief was actually....”

“Hurry! Didn’tcha need to get back to your ship?” The word “ship” snagged at Franky’s attention and he turned to look at where the high-pitched voice had originated from. A small curly-haired Tontatta was pulling on the ear of a rather familiar looking head of green hair.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zoro muttered, swiping absently at the Tontatta while keeping his whole focus on the projection in front of him.

Luffy’s coliseum fight against Don Chinjao was being displayed, their exhibition of clashing Conqueror’s haki just starting to fizzle out as Franky walked up. Zoro was so focused on the fight, he didn’t even notice Franky calling his name.

There was this look that was pretty common to find on the faces of Straw Hats and Straw Hat Allies whenever they saw Luffy fight (really fight) for the first time. It was a mix of awe and astonishment; A surprise that someone so dangerous inhibited such an unassuming body and, at the same time, a sense of hope that the underdog could finally win. Luffy fighting was so Luffy, but also so unexpected, and it was always fun to see how people reacted to the captain.

Zoro didn’t wear that look now, but he wore something like it. The surprise was missing but the awe was there, a sharp-eyed fascination like he was watching something great, something epic, something otherworldly. He looked like he was watching the Future King of the Pirates.

“See Robin?” Franky thought to himself, “It’ll all work out.”

He remembered the conversation the two of them had had earlier that morning, before the Sunny reached the shores of Dressrosa—

Everyone was caught up in their own shenanigans, so Franky thought it would be the best time to have a little tête-à-tête with the most beautiful woman on the Thousand Sunny.

(No offense to Nami, she was beautiful too, but something about Robin’s mysterious-morbid-smartness drew Franky in like a moth to a flame, so he had no problems calling her the most beautiful on the ship. Of course, this contest did not include the Sunny herself—now that would be a difficult choice, one that he did not want to try to make.)

“I guess you were right,” Robin said as means of greeting while he took a seat next to her on the couch in the library.

“Eh?” he asked, “How so?”

“Our swordsman came back to us with a crazy story as explanation.” She gave a gentle smile, as if it was a joke.

Franky gave a humorless laugh, “Yeah, gotta admit, this ain’t exactly what I had in mind.”

Robin chuckled. “Agreed.”

“How’re you holding up?”

She thought about it for a second before responding, “I’m glad he’s back…but I wish his memories would come back too.”

“You can say that again. Zoro-bro’s got a super glare, but can’t say I like having it turned on me.”

Robin nodded. “He was like this when we first met.”

“Really?” Franky’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

Robin gave a light shrug. “I was the unknown enemy. The first time we met, I was working for Crocodile; The second time, I wasn’t working for anyone, but I stowed away on their boat and invited myself onto Luffy’s crew. Naturally, Zoro was distrustful of me. He was the only crew I couldn’t bribe over.”

“How’d you bribe the others?”

“Luffy agreed easily. Chopper and Usopp found my powers amusing,” Robin smiled, unable to hide the joy from her voice at the memory.

(Robin could never explain how incredibly endearing it had been for the younger crew members to enjoy her powers rather than fear them. The memory of them laughing at her extra limbs was a balm that helped soothe the pain from all the many times her powers had earned her scorn.)

“Nami appreciated the jewels I had stolen from my previous employer,” she continued, “and Sanji...”

“Would never kick such a beautiful woman off his ship,” he finished for her.

She nodded agreement.

“So then how’d you get Zoro on your side the first time?”

“I can’t say for sure, but the situation was different from what we’re facing now. Back then Zoro trusted Luffy’s decision to let me stay on the crew, so that gave me some leeway. Then when I showed I was not a danger to anyone else and would in fact help them with their goals, he accepted me more. A part of me believes I became nakama in his eyes after I tried to sacrifice myself to CP-9…” She let her sentence drop, unsure where to go with it.

“Nah,” Franky dismissed easily, “You’re so lovable, I’m sure he was won over within the first day!”

Robin’s face became a lovely shade of red as she protested, “Franky!”

Franky laughed and added, “I mean look at me— I was his enemy too and I’m a loud freak, but Zoro-bro still accepted me super quick! We’ll win him over in no time!”

Finally, Robin’s smile grew genuine. Optimism was infectious, and Franky had plenty of it to go around.

Chapter Text

Law’s plan had gone off the rails, but it was still salvageable as long as Franky’s team was able to find and destroy the SMILE factory. With that hope in mind, Law continued to face off against Doflamingo and Navy Admiral Fujitora, knowing that every second he kept them here was a benefit to his allies. It didn’t matter what happened to him—as long as the factory went down, Kaido would make sure Doflamingo got what he deserved (even if the bastard had turned out to be a Celestial Dragon with the Navy at his beck and call).

On the other side of Dressrosa, Franky, Robin, and Usopp were reunited below the flower field as the Tontatta army came together to launch their final big attack against the worst person ever (who wasn’t Princess Mansherry) — Donquixote Doflamingo. Usoland, the proud and brave hero, was all set to lead the troops into battle!

Above ground, Sanji, along with the love of his life and definitely future bride Violet, raced off to go save the Sunny, leaving Zoro and Kin’emon behind to contact Luffy.

And Luffy, at the time, was rushing through the coliseum…

Pretty sure that viewing room was right… around… here! With an unnecessary amount of force, Luffy threw the door open, revealing what was yet another hallway and not the warrior’s viewing balcony he had been searching for. Rebecca’s fight was ongoing and he really wanted to get to a good spot so that he could continue to watch, but the darn coliseum had turned into a maze. He probably should have paid more attention to the path Rebecca had taken when she had brought him down to the cells earlier, but he had been so hungry and the lunch she had bought him had smelled so good and he wasn’t Zoro, so it wasn’t like he was going to get lost within a single building…

Except now Luffy was kind of lost. Not super lost—he was pretty sure he just had to keep finding the paths that would take him up—but still not entirely sure where each doorway would lead.

Stepping in the direction of his next guess, his path was unexpectedly cut off by a blubbering mess of a man. The guy seemed kind of familiar, but Luffy couldn’t recognize where from. Maybe it was just ’cause he had green hair?

“Mis-mista L-L-Luffy!” The man stuttered, drawing out what Luffy guessed was his name so that it sounded more like “Lufay” than “Luffy.”

Now that the man was fully facing him, Luffy realized he definitely had no idea who this guy was. His face was awash with tears, heavy eye make-up was running down his cheeks, his teeth were shaped like elongated fangs, and he had prominent facial piercings; But more noticeable than all of that was the fact that his hairstyle was similar to that of the backside of a rooster. Luffy dubbed him “Rooster-head” in his mind, then sidestepped to get out of his way.

(The idea that this was actually Bartolomeo, the winner of the Block B fight and therefore Luffy’s next opponent, never crossed his mind.)

Rooster-head flopped down to once again block Luffy’s path, so he took one more step to the side and kept walking. It seemed like there might be some stairs behind that doorway over there…

“Mista Luffy! Mista Zo-ro!” Rooster-head stuttered again, this time getting Luffy to actually stop and pay attention.

“Did you say Zoro?”

“Uh-huh.” The pirate gave an exaggerated nod and wiped his face on his sleeve. “Mista Zoro’s outside! S-s-says he wants to talk to yas!” Rooster-head seemed to have trouble both talking to and looking at Luffy at the same time, so he kept squirming around.

Luffy paid the weird behavior no mind. “Zoro’s here?! Where?” He started turning in place as if he could see through the walls to where his swordsman was waiting.

“I’ll show ya!” Rooster-head volunteered, jumping to his feet.

“’Kay,” he replied and started following as the pirate rushed off.

It was a short walk, although Bartolomeo still managed to stumble into three walls and botch five different conversation starters. Mostly the pirate’s babbling was too incoherent to be understood and he would lose any train of thought as soon as Mister Luffy looked his way.

Of course, anyone would have reacted that way upon meeting their hero/god and, in fact, some gangsters-turned-pirates would even argue that Barto’s behavior was better than that of most people and anyone who said otherwise could shove it.

Soon enough though, the two arrived at an empty hallway which overlooked a side entrance to the coliseum. Luffy couldn’t tell if this was the same entrance he had originally entered from or a different one, but it didn’t matter. He pressed his face close to the bars of the nearest window and looked out, noticing the group of poorly hidden Navy soldiers before his eyes landed on their actual target.

“Zoro!” he started yelling before seeing that Kin’emon was also standing there, both of them in full mustachioed glory. “Kin!”

“Sir Luffy, you must be discrete!” Kin’emon protested, making “shush” gestures with his hand and mouth.

“Straw Hat!” Zoro called back, ignoring Kin’emon’s fretting. “That guy—green hair, looks like a chicken—you know him?”

“Rooster-head? No…?” Luffy replied, confused. Was he supposed to? Why would Zoro ask… Oh. “Nah, we don’t know him,” he assured and the tension in Zoro’s stance eased slightly with the confirmation that this was just another stranger and not someone else he had forgotten.

“Sir Luffy, Sir Zoro, please take this seriously! There are Navy men here!” Kin’emon whisper-shouted, pointing in the direction of the soldiers as if that would not draw more attention to them.

“Sorry,” Luffy called, lowering his volume only slightly before raising it again to ask, “Zoro, did you see me fight?”

“Yeah,” he replied, nodding once in approval. “You’re doing good.”

He added on something else about wanting to be in the tournament himself (and wouldn’t that have been fun?), but Luffy was suddenly too preoccupied to hear it. Heat was rushing to his face which made no sense because there was nothing for him to be blushing about; Luffy knew that he was doing good. In fact, he knew that he was going to win, so it shouldn’t have mattered that Zoro had pointed it out.

Except that he had. Except that Zoro had been watching. Except that Zoro had been watching and he thought Luffy was doing good and he said so. And it wasn’t just Zoro who was watching and approving and telling Luffy, it was Zoro-not-his-Zoro, which somehow made it better, made it sweeter, as if the requirements were harder, but Luffy still managed them. Zoro wouldn’t lie to him and Zoro-not-his-Zoro definitely wouldn’t bother giving him false praise, so this…

Luffy smiled. Then he thought about it some more, then he smiled some more, then he couldn’t stop thinking and he couldn’t stop smiling and Luffy was a smiley person anyway so it wasn’t like anyone would notice that he couldn’t control his face.

“…Luffy?” The sound of his name pulled him out of his thoughts. Still smiling, he looked back down at Kin’emon and Zoro who were focused on a miniature transponder snail that the samurai was holding. The snail was awake in the way that suggested a call was connected, but Luffy couldn’t see the details enough to figure out who was on the other end.

“Yes, he is here,” Kin’emon replied to whoever had asked.

“Usopp speaking!” the snail added, its voice sounding strangely muffled. Its form shifted to a bad rendition of Usopp’s hair and a comically long nose, looking almost as if the snail had been told secondhand what Usopp looked like, rather than seeing the man itself.

“Alright, that should be everyone but Law. All teams, status report,” Sanji commanded, his voice coming through much clearer than Usopp’s had been.

“Franky here! I’m with Usopp and Robin and we’ve teamed up with the Riku Royal Army, a.k.a. this kingdom’s anti-Doflamingo forces!”

“An army?” Sanji asked.

“Of little guys,” Franky clarified, giving no further explanation.

“Little guys?” Luffy asked, excited.

Franky laughed and replied, “Luffy! Remember that funky solider we met outside the coliseum?”

“Yeah!” Luffy replied instantly, “What little guys?!” For some reason the mention of a toy soldier was nagging at him…

“Well, turns out he was the captain of this army!” Surprised exclamations could be heard from the Thousand Sunny group as Franky continued, “Yeah, and they wanna take down Doflamingo! Like, today!”

Toy soldier…toy soldier…

“The Toy Soldier told me that he was leading his army against Doflamingo today in order to save us, once and for all. He wants to give up his life to bring this country to its knees—so I’m going to do it before he can! I’m tired of being the one getting helped; This time I want to protect him!”

“Oh, that’s him! He’s the one Rebecca wants to stop,” Luffy realized out loud, remembering her tearful declaration from earlier when she had explained why she was so desperate to win the competition and get Ace’s Flame-Flame fruit. “Hey, Franky! Stop that army!”

There was a buzz down the line, then Franky shouted, “Are you crazy? I’m saying the opposite! Did you talk to Rebecca?”

“Yeah, and she’s super nice!” Luffy confirmed, “She used all her money to buy me three lunches! The people of this island really hate her for some reason, but she doesn't seem like a bad guy!”

“She’s not, they just don't have the full story! Look, I get Torao’s plan—we bust the factory and leave Doflamingo intact so we can use him. But then what happens to the people trying to overthrow Doflamingo today? What about the people like Rebecca who've already suffered enough under his rule? Are we really just going to sit back and let him win?”

Memories of other voices from the coliseum started running through Luffy’s head—

“We fight until the day we’re killed…all because we looked at the Doflamingo family the wrong way…”

“Doflamingo separates everyone into the obedient winners and the rebellious losers…”

“To him the losers are nothing but trash and what else do you do with trash? Throw it out, so the rest of the place looks nicer...”

“I don’t care what you say, Luffy!” Franky declared, “I’m doing this! There’s a deep, deep darkness beneath this fun little country and I’m not about to step aside and let this brave and tiny army be defeated! Not when they stand so bold and tall against such a great evil!”

Through the snail, a muffled conversation could be heard as the Thousand Sunny crew agreed to go against Torao’s wishes and sail back to the island. Outside the coliseum, Zoro was watching him and Luffy matched his gaze but he mostly saw Rebecca’s crying face as she sobbed, “The Toy Soldier’s…going to die…”

“Franky!” Luffy shouted. Looking at the snail, he commanded, “Give ’em your worst! We’ll be right there!”

“Yeah! Thanks pal!” Franky replied happily. “We’ll—”

Franky’s response cut off as the ground started shaking, strong enough to make Luffy grab onto the window’s bars for balance. The action cost him, the bars having been made of sea prism stone and forcing Luffy to his knees faster than the surprise earthquake. A rumbling roar spilled through the air as he climbed slowly back to his feet. He was barely able to make out what looked like smoke and flying debris in the skyline to the coliseum’s right.

“What’s going on?” Usopp’s frantic shout called out through the snail. That was good, that meant whatever the trouble was, it wasn’t there with that portion of Luffy’s crew.

“Something’s happening in the town,” Zoro replied, him and Kin’emon turned in the direct Luffy was trying to to see. If he could only press his face in a little more without touching the stupid bars…

Suddenly the world turned dark, momentarily blinding him as all light disappeared before slowly coming back in a haze. Dust filled the air and dived directly for his lungs, bringing with it the smell of dirt and an inability to breathe. As Luffy coughed his body back into working order he realized the world sounded weird, somehow muffled and high pitched all at once. He shook his head to clear out the sensation, simultaneously blinking his eyes open (when had they closed?) and trying to take in the scene before him. The pathway outside the arena was replaced with a crater, large chunks of walkway broken up and lying in all sorts of positions. At the center of the wreckage stood Doflamingo.

At his feet lay a body that Luffy recognized as Law.

But that wasn’t right, Torao wasn’t going to fight Mingo; He had said that that was a bad idea, that this should all be done without direct conflict…

“Torao, what’s going on?” Luffy shouted, sure that the other captain would hear him and respond. Torao only looked dead, he couldn't actually be…

Donquixote Doflamingo stood over Trafalgar Law and shot him three times at point blank range.

“TORAO!”

Chapter Text

Law wasn’t dead.

Probably.

Well, he could be by now. But he had definitely still been alive when Doflamingo had taken off with him. Zoro hadn’t been able to stop the Warlord—hadn’t even had a chance to land a scratch on the feathery asshole, all thanks to that blind Navy bastard who had shown up out of nowhere. The three men were gone now, having flown (literally flown) off to Doflamingo’s palace, and Zoro was stuck running after them by foot since he, Kin’emon, and Luffy didn’t exactly have their own method of flying. Straw Hat’s stretching ability could probably be used to do that somehow, but Kin’emon had insisted that they be discrete, saying something or other about needing to avoid unnecessary fights with the Navy.

They were following Luffy’s plan now: Step 1. Rescue Torao and Step 2. Kick Mingo’s ass, not necessarily in that order. It was short and simple (exactly the way plans should be) and would be possible as long as Law did his part and survived the whole gunshot-wounds situation (plus whatever other torture Doflamingo had in mind, the guy seemed like the type to be into torture). They would be there to rescue him soon enough; Zoro could see the gleaming palace walls when he angled the massive costume on his head just right, so their destination couldn’t be that far away.

Zoro couldn’t say for sure what exactly he looked like in the outfit Kin’emon had created—the samurai had mentioned something about a cat—but Zoro felt like he was in a giant bean, or maybe a pillow. The costume was large and awkward and jiggled slightly with his every step, but he was still able to run in it and that was good enough for now. He could always shatter the illusion if he needed more range of motion.

Or maybe he would keep it on as a challenge, something to help warm up his muscles before they got into—

An unexpected noise pulled him out of his thoughts, some weird sort of wet and rhythmic sound that was hard to recognize. He turned his head, scanning to place the source and identify if it was a threat or indication of immediate attack. He couldn’t figure out… where exactly…

No, wait… it was…. it was Luffy?

Yes, definitely, it was Straw Hat, the noise clearly coming out from the mouth of the large fish costume running on Zoro’s left. And now that he knew what (who) it was coming from, he could identify the sound as—“Are you crying?”

He couldn’t help shouting the question because, really, what?

“No,” Luffy denied, but the raw sound of his voice coupled with a few obvious sniffles made the denial meaningless.

Not for the first time, Zoro found himself questioning what the hell (in general) and what the hell (in terms of Luffy). He continued to stare at the fish and after a few seconds it turned to meet his gaze. Luffy’s face was streaked with tears, his mouth was set in a pout, and the only explanation Zoro received was “Sabo” before the captain burst into a new round of sobs and faced forward.

Well, Zoro had no idea what that meant, but he wasn’t going to waste his time trying to figure it out. The captain didn’t seem worried so he’d trust that whatever this was, he could deal with it when it became relevant.

The three continued their sprint in mostly silence, Luffy and Kin’emon occasionally redirecting Zoro towards what he knew was the wrong direction but still somehow managing to get them closer to their destination. Luffy’s crying didn’t stop so much as Zoro got better at ignoring him and, as such, was caught completely off guard when a piece of paper suddenly appeared in front of his face. The object was held aloft by a hand stretching out of the Luffy-fish’s mouth and Zoro only faltered for a single moment before smoothly ripping the paper away and stepping back into pace with the other two. “What—”

“Zoro. Look at it,” Luffy commanded, cutting off his complaint. The arm retracted so that Luffy’s face could now stick out and meet Zoro’s questioning gaze. The severity in his look caused Zoro to bite back on his own response.

He glanced down at the sheet of paper—sheets of paper, there were two—and found one to be an old newspaper that Zoro had already seen before which detailed the events of the Summit War at Marineford and the death of Fire Fist Ace. The other was Fire Fist’s Wanted poster, a 550 berri bounty to his name.

Obviously, Zoro had never met Fire Fist, and the newspaper in his hand was not only old, but also a reminder that that pirate was dead, so he wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to get from this. There wasn’t any extra writing, like a note scribbled in the margins or on the backs of the pages, and he couldn’t find anything tucked in between the sheets for him to pay attention to. Maybe there was some relevant information in this issue of the news, something about Dressrosa? But if Luffy thought Zoro was going spend his time trying to read a newspaper right now—a newspaper that came out years ago—then the guy was an even bigger idiot than he acted.

Luffy’s gaze continued to be heavy on him and Zoro couldn’t help but snap, “What?”

Apparently that wasn’t the response he had been looking for and Zoro saw a flash of disappoint cross the captain’s face before he turned away. “Never mind,” Luffy muttered and, really, what was his problem? If he wanted Zoro to know something, he should just directly tell him, not give him some cryptic clue-paper-thing. Zoro wasn’t a mind reader, it wasn’t his fault he didn’t understand whatever the guy had been hoping for.

“I believe we should take this left,” Kin’emon called, drawing Zoro and Luffy’s attention back to their sprint. The three turned into the alleyway on their right and continued on in silence, focusing back on the potential dangers of their surroundings rather than on each other.

The next time it happened, Zoro was not able to avoid getting smacked in the face by the object that appeared in front of him out of nowhere. This time, instead of some stupid papers presented by Straw Hat, the object was the small bug creature that had stolen Zoro’s swords earlier.

“Zoroland!” the bug, Wicca, called, voice as high pitched and annoying as he remembered. Her accent made the word sound more like “Zowowand,” but Zoro was pretty certain that it was supposed to be the weird nickname Sogeking had made up.

“Wha—what are you doing here?” he replied, holding the small creature up and away from his face by pinching the back of her shirt.

Luffy and Kin’emon stopped and turned toward them. It was their first time actually seeing one of the Tontattas and they were both instantly amazed, Luffy’s eyes going wide and Kin’emon’s mouth dropping open.

Wicca thrashed against his grip and explained, “I got a message for you from the Captain and from Usoland! You’re going to the palace, right? I’m here to help you get there and let you know about the secret tunnels!”

“Secret tunnels?” Zoro asked. He switched his grip, dropping her down to sit on his palm instead of holding her suspended.

“Yeah,” Wicca confirmed. “The palace, the House of Toys, and the factory are all connected by tunnels. Usoland and the army are heading to the factory now to defeat Sugar and rescue all our friends!”

“I cannot believe my eyes,” Kin’emon commented. “Such a tiny human!”

“She’s like a toy, it’s awesome!” Luffy added.

Wicca crossed her arms in indignation. “I’m not a toy! I’m Tontatta! Usually we don’t show ourselves to any big people outside of the Royal Family, but Usolander’s Straw Hats are different!”

“Usolander’s…?” Kin’emon muttered in confusion.

Wicca continued, “The Captain’s Operation S.O.P. has already begun! Now we need to get to the palace so after all toys turn back, we can help him fight Doflamingo! There’s a lift to the palace over there”—She pointed to a large track that ran vertically up the side of the mesa the palace was built on—“but you need to show the guards a pass to use it.” She frowned as if this information was a pitfall she hadn’t been expecting in the plan.

“That’s fine,” Luffy reassured, “We can just beat ’em up.”

“No! You can’t do that,” Wicca protested. “That’ll cause a scene and even more enemies will show up!”

Zoro didn’t think that would actually be an issue, but their conversation was interrupted before he could point it out. Easily recognizing the group despite their supposedly “great” costumes, a new voice called out, “You must be Straw Hat Luffy!”

“Who’re you? Another enemy?” Luffy called back. It was slight, but Zoro noted the way his stance shifted, ready to launch an attack at the newcomer if needed.

“I have been looking for you,” the stranger announced, their voice lightly accented so their words sounded crisp. They sat atop a life-sized horse toy, their face and body completely covered by a nondescript brown cloak. Directing the toy closer, they explained, “I want to help get you into the palace. I do have a pass for that lift, however I would not recommend going that route; If the guards suspected anything, they could stop the lift and then it would all be over. And considering how you are all dressed…”

Fish-Luffy, Cat-Zoro, and Frog-Kin’emon tilted their heads in confusion.

“It is suspicious,” the stranger concluded. Now that they were closer, Zoro could see under the hood and recognize this as the woman the Straw Hat’s cook had run off with earlier.

“Madam, I am offended,” Kin’emon declared.

What followed was a tearful reunion between the Tontatta-bug and the newcomer who was actually the princess of Dressrosa. Or she used to be the princess. Or she was pretending to be the princess under Doflamingo’s orders and now she was betraying him, or had always been betraying him, or something along that line. Zoro wasn’t entirely sure, there was a lot of information that was shared all at once and none of it seemed particularly useful for the current circumstances; They already knew Doflamingo was bad and had planned to defeat him. The only thing new to the situation was this Viola/Violet/whoever person being on their side which, yes, obviously she was. The Straw Hats’ cook definitely had some screws loose, but surely the guy wasn’t stupid enough to run off with an enemy. Plus the bug liked her too, and considering Wicca hadn’t betrayed him so far, that was another point in the maybe-princess’s favor.

So the group followed Viola and listened to her story on the island’s background and Doflamingo’s rise to power. She lead them down a side path, hitting a switch on a rampart that caused the stone to fall back and reveal a hidden staircase. As they descended into a long-abandoned tunnel, Viola explained that they were in the hidden escape tunnels of the Riku Dynasty, infrastructure so secret that even Doflamingo had no idea of its existence. Using this path, they could move all the way up to the top of the mesa and the front entrance to the palace. From the top, the plan was to go through a side gate then sneak—or Luffy would just punch his way through the front gate as soon as he saw it, before Viola even had the chance to finish telling them where the side door was.

As far as entrances went, it wasn’t the most discrete (and definitely did not go unnoticed), but it did mean that they made it into the palace, so Luffy’s plan was still on track.

As soldiers started flooding the entryway, Zoro couldn’t help but think that this was what he had signed up for. Not Creepy Surgeon’s overly complicated strategies, or Kin’emon’s silly disguises, or Viola’s secret routes—just a good, direct fight. No talking, no sneaking, no sad backstories, just a test of strength versus strength. There had to be at least twenty soldiers lining up before them and while none of them seemed overly strong, they also weren’t weak and there was enough of them to pose some amount of challenge. It was a perfect chance to warm up before they got to the heart of Doflamingo’s nest.

Zoro grinned in anticipation and threw a quick glance over to his companions, giving the captain a chance to say something before the swordsman demolished the whole group by himself.

Luffy’s excitement seemed a twin to Zoro’s own and he didn’t say a word when Zoro looked over. His eyes flicked briefly to the ceiling before moving back down and that was all Zoro needed to understand that Luffy planned to go high.

So Zoro went low.

Crouching down and drawing two blades, he kicked off from the floor and flew forward, aiming for the enemies’ legs and midsections. He didn’t see Luffy move, but his laughter could be heard rising towards the ceiling before suddenly dropping back down. Shouts of pain and the clamor of weapons falling to the ground rose up in a chorus from the area where the laughter ended.

Zoro’s own victims fell to the floor, one by one in a tight staccato. He flicked the blood from his blades and made his next attack at the men still standing to his right. As the swing completed, another man was thrown in his direction, a whistle of air the only warning he got—but it was also all the warning he needed. Altered swing and quick pivot, Zoro was able to sidestep the body and redirect it to slam into his opponents, bringing the men down in another loud cacophony.

“Zoro,” Luffy called. His voice was calm and controlled, unlike the panicked gasps the princess had been making the entire time. Zoro heard the captain’s unspoken, “That one’s yours,” as he looked at the man Luffy threw his way.

The guy was dressed different than the rest, probably the leader of the group, but his position would make no difference to his inevitable defeat. Zoro charged forward, aiming at the obvious break in his defense. True to his station, the guy turned out to be better than the rest, managing to barely miss Zoro’s slash and quickly moving to make his own attack. Zoro defended easily and moved again to strike. As his blade connected to flesh, he could feel the intent of a different soldier sneaking up behind his back, targeting a cheap shot that someone less skilled than Zoro wouldn’t be able to defend against. As it was, he had no issue using the momentum from his current attack to turn on his heel, preparing to give the coward what he deserved for such a spineless attack.

Yet by the time his rotation finished, he found the threat already dealt with, Luffy’s stretched arm retreating back from where it had punched the soldier, knocking him both off-path and unconscious in one move. Zoro paused for a second to watch as the arm contracted back to its normal size; Those abilities were weird, but clearly Luffy knew how to use them.

Luffy flashed him a smile, then was off to the next fight and Zoro followed suit. He could feel his own blood-thirsty grin tugging at his cheeks, the fun of combat reminding him of why he had left his home island in the first place, all those years ago.

Soon enough the fight was over, the first group of soldiers laying unconscious or dead at their feet. Kin’emon was gone, having taken advantage of the fray to break off in search of Kanjuro and leaving Zoro, Luffy, Viola, and Wicca alone in the entrance. Shouting from the next group of enemies could be heard echoing down from various hallways and Zoro found himself almost wishing that they’d hurry up. He was having fun—Fighting with Luffy was fun.

Zoro could have defeated those guys on his own, but fighting together like that was like…like getting a sharper sword and now being able to do what he could do before only better, easier. Of course, the sharpness of his swords didn’t actually matter anymore since he could control Haki, but it was like before—back when he could only rely on the make of his blade—like that. Working in tandem with Straw Hat made his weapons seem sharper, or stronger, or whatever; Zoro didn’t need to describe it more than that it worked. They worked well together.

Maybe Zoro actually was a mind reader, or maybe Luffy just wasn’t a total idiot. Zoro had fought with people before, but he’d never fought with someone whose understanding for battle aligned so well with his own, who could match his steps so easily without any talking or months of practice between them. For every part of that battle, Luffy was where he needed to be and Zoro was where he needed to be and they stayed like that, continually moving around each other as if it had been choreographed.

It was fun.

“Come on, we must go quickly,” Viola called out, racing up the large set of stairs that dominated most of the entryway. It felt like the wrong path to go, but Zoro hadn’t been in the palace before, so he would defer to the princess’s judgment. The stairs led to a grand hallway, the area spacious enough to qualify more as a room than a passageway. Framed portraits hung on the walls and the center pathway was covered in a dark red carpet that marked the entire path ahead. 

“Whoa, what the heck is that?” Luffy called out and Zoro followed his gaze to the one of the side walls where something started pushing out from the brick and mortar. As they watched, the stone itself seemed to bend, forming into shapes that walls should not be able to create on their own. A cross emerged, then a face, then shoulders, a torso, arms and legs—a full stone man somehow emerged from the wall and glared down at the intruders.

“Oh, no, Pica!” Viola shouted, fear lowering the pitch of her voice. The ground was shaking, a low rumble emanating from the stone man’s movements. “He is one of the Family’s Supreme Officers, a stone-assimilation man with the power of the Stone-Stone Fruit!”

“Wait, so he’s not just made of stone?” Zoro asked, blades already drawn from the previous match. The shaking all around them kicked up and they watched as Pica reached across the hall and threw his arm into the opposite wall, as if the material was no more dense than water. He hadn’t attacked them directly, yet, but he was clearly scheming something.

“His body becomes one with any stone he touches,” Viola explained, “Which means—” Pica pulled his arms in, causing the ground to collapse as the walls closed in on both sides “—this stone palace is completely under his control.”

Zoro nodded his understanding then calmly wiped his blades against his pants, preparing himself for this new foe. The guy looked like he’d put up a good fight, but they didn’t have time to mess around; Law still needed to be rescued and they really needed to get to Doflamingo before anyone else got there and tried to do something stupid, like take over the fight.

“Luffy,” he called, “Take the princess on ahead. I got this guy.”

“Okay!” Luffy quickly agreed, smiling at him as if he could read Zoro’s thoughts. He picked up Viola and started racing off down the steadily narrowing hallway.

“Wait, are you sure,” Viola asked, concern clear in her voice, “Pica is strong…”

Zoro could barely hear the captain’s response before the two were finally out of earshot, “Don’t worry, Zoro’s got this.”

Chapter Text

“People of Dressrosa and uninvited guests in our land, let us be honest here, for a moment. In my years as your King, I have been more than fair; I have allowed you all to prosper! To grow! We all know I could have ruled this place with an iron fist from the start, but I didn’t.” Doflamingo’s announcement resounded through the city square, the entire island able to hear his voice and see the projection that appeared in the sky, seemingly out of nowhere. Above the projection, the entire island was encased in a dome of string, something that Law had called “The Birdcage.”

“And yet, despite my kindness, I am sure that most of you now wish to kill me, in some misguided attempt at revenge for turning your loved ones into toys.” His voice was mocking, as if the idea of revenge was a childish fantasy. Or maybe it was the idea of caring about others that caused his ridicule. “So, how about this—let’s make it a game. A game where the objective is to kill me. I am in the Palace and I am not going anywhere. No running or hiding. Make it to me and take my life and this game will end—or, you can work for a different victory…

“I will give you a list of names. If you can manage to bring to me all of the people on my list, then you win! Each person will have a considerable bounty on their head; Bring me the person and you get the bounty!” Doflamingo laughed, head thrown back like the madman he was. “It’s kill or be killed, Dressrosa! Every man, woman, and child is now a bounty hunter, and the only way to survive is to seize yourself a bounty!” His grin was manic, his ever-present sunglasses serving to make him look even more inhuman.

“Oh, and one more thing—You should know that no one is coming to help you. No one can escape from this Birdcage and signals to the outside world will not work from inside, so you cannot call out for help. Even if those around you were to, say, start indiscriminately harming all in their vicinity, whether they be family…or friend…or someone they had sworn to protect…” Shouts and the sound of gunfire started rising as Doflamingo’s words—his threat—became real. Random citizens of the island lost control of their bodies, attacking anyone and everyone they could while also begging to be stopped. Doflamingo continued, “Run and hide if you wish, but you will find no safety in this cage. The only way to end this is to end our little game…before you all die, that is.”

“Luffy!”

Wiping some blood off his forehead, Luffy turned in the direction of the shout, easily tuning out from the next set of Mingo’s words. It seemed to mostly be the same things he had said before, various threats, talk of whatever bounty system, Mingo is king, blah, blah, blah. The Warlord’s words weren’t that important to Luffy; He knew where the bird man was and what he had to do, and, if anything, hearing his words just served to make Luffy even angrier. He wasn’t worried about the bounty game thing, but Mingo’s senseless torture of innocent civilians put a time crunch on the whole situation. Luffy needed to get to him now before too many people got hurt.

“Zoro!” Luffy called back once he recognized the swordsman running his way. Zoro had been battling Stone Guy, but Stone Guy had been the one to shove Luffy’s group out of the palace after they had made it to Mingo, so he had briefly wondered what had happened to Zoro if Zoro’s enemy was still standing. From what he could see, Zoro wasn’t injured and Luffy was probably correct in his assumption that the Stone Guy had just run off before their fight could finish. Coward.

“What happened?” Zoro asked, stopping a few feet from Luffy and scanning the captain for injuries. Finding nothing, he turned to the rest of the assembled group—Law, covered in blood and sitting on the ground beside Luffy with his nodachi laying at his feet, King Riku, also sitting on the ground, and Viola, looking over her father’s injuries.

Luffy’s face scrunched up in displeasure. “Stone guy showed up—” Zoro cursed “—and knocked us off the cliff. Rebecca’s dad managed to cut Mingo’s head off, but it didn’t work.”

“Hah?”

“He was using a double,” Law explained, not bothering to look up as he continued, “Doflamingo wasn’t really there, not at first. It was just a doll made from his strings.”

“Hah?”

Law rolled his eyes at the repeated response, then winced in pain from the slight movement. “He’s got devil fruit powers, the String-String Fruit. Apparently he figured out how to use it to make a copy of himself, similar to Nico-ya.”

Zoro nodded his understanding, then gave Law a quick once-over. He looked worse for wear, but was still alive and that was something. “You good?”

“Be a lot better if I had these cuffs off,” he replied, indicating the sea prism stone handcuffs keeping his arms tied behind his back and his powers inaccessible.

“Stupid Mingo,” Luffy muttered, staring up at the images of his crew and his friends that Mingo had put a bounty on. Even his brother was up there, earning the same 300 million berri bounty that Luffy and Law had themselves (the only one with a higher bounty was Usopp, who Doflamingo had decided was a god for some reason).

Law followed his gaze, not wanting to know what Doflamingo was doing, but realizing he had to. His face immediately scrunched in confusion, scattering the mask of resignation he had been wearing since Luffy had first found him in the palace. “Why’s Long Nose-ya there?”

“Yeah, it’s not fair!” Luffy complained, “I’m the captain, I should have the higher bounty!”

“That’s your issue?” Law yelled, once again caught off guard by Straw Hat’s sheer stupidity. Or maybe it wasn’t stupidity, maybe he was just focusing on this one minor thing to distract from the fact that none of them were leaving this island alive.

Luffy gave him a blank look at the question and, yeah, okay, Straw Hat was just an idiot. Law shouldn’t have expected any different. Before either could say more, Robin’s voice called out from a mini transponder snail Zoro had pulled out of his pocket, “Zoro?”

“Yeah,” Zoro confirmed as Luffy stepped closer.

Law stopped paying attention to the Straw Hat’s conversation, focusing instead on maintaining his breathing and pretending that his entire body wasn’t in pain. The bullet wounds hurt and there was nothing he could do about it thanks to the sea prism stone cutting off his access to his healing. The lethargy that also came from said handcuffs didn’t help his situation, nor did the headache that seemed to grow worse every time Luffy said or did something against Law’s wishes. The Heart Captain had done his best to provide the Straw Hats with everything they needed to complete the one task they had been assigned, yet instead of seizing the opportunities he had sacrificed to provide, Luffy had wasted time on something as stupid as rescuing him from Doflamingo. Sure, Law was glad to still be alive, but this mission—his revenge—was much more important than his life. And now that Doflamingo had created the Birdcage, they were all going to die.

At this point, it was mostly stubbornness getting him by—stubbornness and maybe the smallest trace of hope that he could get one more shot at Doflamingo. Luffy was ridiculous for asserting that he could crush the Warlord, Law knew that, and yet as he repeated it once again into the transponder snail, Law couldn’t help the small sliver of hope that grew in his chest. No one left the Birdcage alive, but maybe, just this once, they could. Luffy was strong and Law could still fight if someone would take off these goddamned handcuffs. Together, maybe, they could take Doflamingo down.

It would be satisfying, it would be so satisfying—Law finally getting his revenge and getting to take it with his own hands. It would feel so good to see Doffy’s look of defeat as Law finally, finally got payback for Cora’s death.

At the same time, it would be jumping from the frying pan directly into the fire. Law’s plans were already in play, even if this part hadn’t gone how he had wanted. The question now wasn’t can they win, it was whether they were going to die today because of Doflamingo, or tomorrow because of the Emperor they had intentionally been pissing off.

“Do you get the picture, Straw Hat?” Law asked once the call had ended. Luffy and Zoro looked his way. “The plan was to leave Doflamingo alive so he would wind up clashing with Kaido. If you take down Doflamingo now, then Kaido’s rage at losing his SMILE fruit will be directed at us instead.”

The Straw Hats continued to look at him, their conviction clearly unchanged. Law frowned at the lack of response and clarified, “We’ll be up against a furious Emperor!”

“We can talk about the future later,” Luffy asserted, as if he knew they’d have one. He gestured towards the rest of the town where screams and gunshots could still be heard. “Just look at this place—how could I stop now?!”

Fine. Choose the way you want to die, see if I care. Law stayed silent.

“Alright, now that that’s settled, let’s go,” Luffy declared. He threw his arms out, expanding them to wrap several times around both Zoro and Law, before contracting them back in so the two swordsmen were yanked to his side.

Zoro let out a sound that was similar to a yelp as Law threatened, “Straw Hat…”

Luffy started running.

“Luffy, let me down! I can run on my own!” Zoro protested, while Law complained, “At least take my cuffs off first!”

“Ugh, both of you shut up!” Luffy yelled back while maintaining his sprint towards the cliff’s edge. The two ignored his command, continuing their complaints and beginning to complain louder as the edge came closer.

There was nothing ahead of them but open air and a large plummet to the rubble that used to be a town below. Viola’s voice could faintly be heard calling after them and as the three launched into the abyss, Luffy declared, “Just you wait, Mingo!”

It wasn’t long before they had to split up once again, Luffy and Law moving on to reach Doflamingo at the palace’s peak while Zoro stayed back to finally finish off squaky-voiced Stone Guy. All around Dressrosa different fights were fought as the Tontattas, the remaining Straw Hat crew, and most of the coliseum’s contestants (a.k.a. the beneficiaries to God Usopp’s benevolence) worked to defeat all those still loyal to the Warlord.

One by one members of the Doflamingo Family fell, until there was only one remaining. It was unfortunate, then, that the one remaining was the sadistic bastard who’d rather kill an entire island of innocents than fight his battles head-on. The Birdcage started constricting in on itself, slicing through the streets and destroying anything and anyone in its way. According to Doflamingo, there were only three minutes left before the entire island was reduced to shreds.

It was too bad that the island’s only hope, Straw Hat Luffy, needed more time than that to defeat him.

“I ask you, People of Dressrosa—Find a way to survive! There is still hope, this is not the end!” King Riku’s announcement rang throughout the rumble that was once his home. That was once the place where his people had lived and laughed and loved. That was once the place where his people had suffered. “Do not give up, Dressrosa!”

Too much had occurred in too small a place in too short a time, and the end of it all was near, in one way or the other. But the old King had hope—there was a happy ending here, he could see it. If his people held on for just a little longer, if they all worked together, if they all ran, if they all tried…well, victory was not guaranteed, but Riku was willing to place whatever bets he had left on Straw Hat Luffy.

He continued to shout, his encouragements standing in stark contrast to the previous broadcast that had been sent throughout the land. Doflamingo’s message had been one of hate, while Riku’s was one of love. Of hope. Of reaching out and helping each other because this nightmare might not be over yet, but it would be soon. There was sunlight on the horizon, the people of Dressrosa just needed to survive long enough to see it.

“Sir Zoro, I don’t understand,” Kin’emon shouted at another point in the battlefield, close to the ever approaching edge of the Birdcage.

Zoro continued his steady pace. As soon as he was close enough, he drew two of his blades, coating them in Haki so they appeared black, and explained, “He needs more time!”

Kin’emon watched, horrified, as the weapons connected with the makeshift wall of string. It proved unable to cut through the blades, although that seemed to be only a matter of time. Still confused, he asked again, “What?”

“Luffy needs more time, so I’m giving him more time.” The look in Zoro’s eye brokered no argument. Despite the impossibility of the task—this Birdcage was no ordinary string, this wasn’t something meant to be fought against—his resolve made any counter argument useless. There was no way this could work, but what if it did…

Samurai blades took their place beside Zoro’s own. Further down, the sea prism stone walls of the destroyed SMILE factory joined the effort, then the barrier of the Barrier-Barrier fruit, the cane of a man on the side of justice, and the weapons of soldiers who had now seen true evil and could recognized that this—saving the town, helping pirates, helping people—this wasn’t it.

One more announcement rang out that day, brightening the streets of what remained like sunshine after too many long months of rain.

“And the winner is…LUCY!”

It was one of the few times in history where a city was able to celebrate its own destruction.

Chapter Text

Luffy’s win did not come without cost. The captain was severely injured and while he did recover, it took multiple days for him to do so. It was during one of those days when he was asleep in Kyros’ log cabin that a stranger came to visit.

Zoro watched the stranger approach from his post outside their makeshift hideaway, waiting for him to show his intentions. The stranger smiled and as soon as he was within a reasonable speaking distance, called out, “You’re Zoro, right?”

Zoro was unhurried as he pulled the bottle of wine away from his lips, not planning on replying before he had more information. The man was unfamiliar, but Zoro was pretty sure he had seen that top hat somewhere before.

Unbothered by the assessing gaze, the stranger stuck out his hand and explained, “I’m Sabo.”

Zoro nodded, recognizing the name as the one Luffy had cried about earlier, though he never did learn why. He didn’t shake the offered hand, but he didn’t draw his blade, and considering the amount of power he could feel from this Sabo person, that meant the same thing.

“I’m Luffy’s brother,” Sabo added, still persisting to keep his hand out.

“Didn’t know he had another one,” Zoro commented mildly.

“Neither did he.” Sabo smiled like it was a joke. Despite their differences in appearance, Zoro could see the resemblance to the straw-hatted captain. “I have something for you,” he declared, finally putting his arm away so he could dig into an inner pocket of his jacket. Zoro noted the way the fabric stretched, allowing the man full range of motion opposite the way most of those fancy suits behaved. It would make it easier to fight, while also potentially catching off guard anyone who was too stupid to notice. That plus the large pipe strapped to his back suggested the man was definitely a fighter.

“Here,” Sabo announced triumphantly, holding out a folded stack of papers to Zoro.

Zoro took the bundle and unfolded it, revealing two items—an old newspaper detailing the events of the Summit War and a Wanted Poster for Fire Fist Ace. Zoro barely skimmed the pages before exclaiming, “What the hell?”

“Remind you of...anything?” Sabo asked with an expectant eyebrow raise.

Zoro glanced over the papers again, trying in vein to see what he was missing. He was starting to feel like an idiot for not getting whatever message these brothers were trying to convey, but no, that wasn’t right, Zoro definitely wasn’t the idiot here. If Luffy and Sabo were brothers, then their stupidity must be genetic.

“No,” Zoro replied, exasperated, “The hell is this supposed to mean? Straw Hat gave me the same thing!”

“Oh.” Sabo blinked in surprise. “And it didn’t work? Huh.” His face scrunched up in thought.

“What didn’t work?” Zoro growled.

“Your memory didn’t come back,” Sabo replied as if the answer were obvious.

“Hah?!”

“Two years ago when I looked at these pages, my memory came flooding back.” The explanation was stated easily, Sabo’s attention clearly more focused on the papers and what could have possibly gone wrong with his grand solution. “I had an accident,” he gestured lightly to the side of his face that was mostly scar tissue, “and forgot about my brothers, but seeing Ace...it all came back.”

“Why the hell would that work for me? I don’t know Fire Fist!” Zoro complained. He looked down at the Wanted poster once more, wondering if this brother had been as idiotic as the other two. Ace’s smirk suggested he was.

“Huh, fair point,” Sabo conceded before shrugging and swiftly snatching the papers back from Zoro’s hand. He tucked them back into their previous spot and added, “Well, it was worth a shot. I’ll go see Luffy now.”

“He’s still asleep.”

“I figured, but that’s fine.” Sabo gave a sad smile, looking toward the door that separated him from his brother. “The Luffy I knew wasn’t good with goodbyes. I don’t know if he’s grown out of it, but I haven’t. It’ll be easier this way.” He stepped up to the door, but stopped before opening it. Looking back, he added, “And Zoro? Take care of him for me. If you don’t...” His voice and face seemed pleasant enough, but the doorknob made an audible crunch beneath his fingers, articulating the underlying threat in his words.

Zoro wasn’t going to respond, but he didn’t need to as Sabo swiftly opened the door and disappeared inside, tiny metal pieces falling to the ground in his wake.

For reasons no one bothered to explain, the Navy left the pirates in peace. Even though they knew they were still on the island and could safely assume the Straw Hats were still recovering from their injuries, Fujitora and his crew stayed at the port while Luffy slept peacefully in the cabin. It wasn’t until the third day that the Navy Admiral decided to take action and started leading his soldiers, plus some newly arrived back-ups, through the slowly rebuilding streets.

As soon as the people of Dressrosa caught wind of his approach, they banded together to help get the Straw Hats, and any other remaining pirates crews, out to safety. By all accounts, Fujitora put up a good fight and definitely would have captured everyone if it wasn’t for all of the citizens getting in his way. The fact that some of his actions did inadvertently serve to help in the pirates’ escape was a complete coincidence outside the range of his control. It was definitely not an act of gratitude for the Straw Hats helping to defeat another unscrupulous Warlord and clean up the Navy’s mess, as Fujitora would go on to explain later during his report of the incident.

Once all the crews managed to escape, they were able to move on to more important matters of business: Everyone from the coliseum owed the Straw Hats a debt that needed to be repaid.

Without God Usopp, most of the pirates would have had to live out the rest of their days as forgotten toys forced to do Doflamingo’s bidding. Without Straw Hat Luffy, they would not have made it off that island alive. So they all owed the Straw Hats a debt and how they were going to repay that debt had been the main topic of conversations over the last few days. Many ideas were discussed and ultimately thrown out as either being too little, too bothersome, definitely impossible, or completely stupid. There was one idea, however, that proved to not only be plausible, but also a fair repayment of the life debt owed and wouldn’t be too annoying for all the different captains to achieve. It was collectively agreed then that the various crews would go along with that idea and formalize their bonds to each other by engaging in the sacred practice of Father-Son Cups.

Of course, no one actually mentioned this plan to any of the Straw Hat crew (or asked their opinions on it) until after everything was already in place, all the captains gathered together on the deck of the Yonta Maria and all the cups distributed with the best sake the pirates could steal. Naturally Luffy was given the biggest cup (one large enough to be considered a serving plate rather than a beverage container), seeing as he would be the “Father” in this scenario.

Bartolomeo, the self-appointed leader of the ceremony, gave a rousing speech explaining everyone’s gratitude and desire to come together as a grand fleet sailing under the flag of Straw Hat Luffy.

Luffy looked out upon all his possible future-sons and easily declared, “Nah, I’m not drinking this.”

“What?!” exclaimed several of the captains at once.

“I don’t really like alcohol anyway,” he added.

“It’s not for the taste!” one pirate called out as Barto took a few steps forward and started to explain, “Listen Mista Luffy, ’cause of what happened on that island, some pretty big players are gonna be chasing after yous. And since ya saved our lives, well, we owe ya a debt, see?”

Luffy scrunched up his nose. “But if I drink this, I have to be the captain of this entire fleet, don’t I?”

“Exactly!” Barto exclaimed, throwing his hands out, “With all these ships sailin’ under your flag, you’d be one of the greatest pirates on the seas! It ain’t enough to conquer the whole world just yet, but since ya gonna be the King o’ the Pirates, ya gotta start somewhere.”

“Nah,” Luffy maintained, face scrunched up in a pout.

Zoro had to hold back his laugh at the outrage the continued rejection caused. He knew most pirates would have jumped at the opportunity for such power, yet Luffy rejecting it now seemed strangely fitting. Straw Hat wasn’t like most pirates and having him take control of such a large fleet—5,600 sailors spread across seven different crews—didn’t really seem like his style.

Well, if he wasn’t going to drink it…

Zoro reached for the cup as Luffy complained, “Listen! I just want to be King of the Pirates, that’s it! I don’t want to be some kind of big shot!”

At that, Zoro did laugh. He could kind of understand it, his own goal of being the greatest had nothing to do with the fame, but it was clear from their reactions that no one else understood.

He started lifting the large cup to his face, the enormity of it making the sake slosh. The container’s weight shifted with the motion, but Zoro’s hold was steady enough to allow for the movement without any spilling over.

“Well, we’re gonna do it anyway!” Barto yelled, the rest of the pirate captains shouting out in agreement. In a more solemn tone, he began to recite, “With these Son’s Cups, we drink—”

Zoro began to drink, the sake surprisingly smooth and refreshing.

“—and pledge ourselves to you, Mista Straw Hat Luffy—”

Zoro wasn’t part of that.

“—We swear to be both the shield and the spear of yous—”

That wasn’t what this was, that wasn’t what he was doing.

“—In recognition of our debts, we seven give to you our loyalties—”

Zoro wasn’t swearing himself to anyone, he was just having a drink.

It was just sake, just drinking sake.

It’d be a waste if he didn’t.

“—and our lives.”

Zoro moved the cup down, unintentionally syncing up with the movement of the Son’s Cups. It wasn’t on purpose, it wasn’t, it was just that… Zoro could kind of understand it.

Kind of.

He could kind of see now why he had agreed to sail with Luffy in the first place. Why even when the guy didn’t have a crew, Zoro had joined him. He didn’t get the full picture, not why he’d go against the Navy and become a pirate in the first place, but he could see why he had stuck around. Why he had maybe, at some point, eventually, devoted himself to the man. Kind of.

But if anyone was stupid enough to think that Zoro stealing this drink now was him joining in this declaration of brotherhood, then that was on them for being wrong. Each person was free to do what they wanted and if they wanted to follow Luffy, then they could do that on their own. Drinking the sake didn’t matter and even if that pledge had been Zoro’s intention, a promise like that was meaningless without action anyway. People can’t just declare loyalty, they have to act on it.

Zoro frowned and moved the cup back up. An incessant tapping on his shoulder stopped him before he took another swig and he glared over in the direction of the interruption. Sogeking was at his side, his hand still poking into Zoro as the man himself was focused more on scanning their surrounds. Everyone else was distracted.

When Sogeking realized he had Zoro’s attention, he started making quick circular gestures at him. Zoro didn’t react and Usopp sighed before slowly pointing at the drink, pointing at himself, then holding his hands out as if to carry it. It only took one repeat for Zoro to get the message and hand over the cup, unfortunately spilling a few drops. The sniper gave him a conspiratorial grin before raising the edge to his lips. When he lowered it, a good portion of the drink was gone and Zoro gave a nod of respect at his drinking abilities while he took the cup back (he would only later realize that Usopp’s ability to drink was much higher than his ability to actually handle his drink). Zoro finished off the rest then set the empty container back down on top of the barrel he had originally grabbed it from.

It wasn’t long after that that the captains’ discussion ended and Luffy noticed his cup in the ceremony was empty. He started looking around, searching for the thief before making eye contact with Zoro. It wasn’t clear if Luffy figured out it was him, but he didn’t call Zoro out. Instead the captain looked down at the cup, pouted, then picked it up and tilted it over his head. His mouth was open to catch any remaining drops, but of course there was nothing left—Zoro and Usopp had been thorough. When no sake fell out, Luffy frowned and, for reasons Zoro couldn’t guess, licked the bottom of the bowl. Maybe Straw Hat had wanted a taste after all.

Luffy had meant what he had said about not wanting the Father’s Cup. He wasn’t looking for an armada, or any crew he hadn’t chosen himself. He didn’t want to commit to these other captains, not like this; They could be friends, but he wasn’t going to lead their fleet.

But then Zoro drank the sake. He drank the cup Luffy was supposed to drink, not because he wanted the fleet but because he liked sake, and Luffy still wasn’t going to be part of Barto’s pledge, but he was going to drink the sake too. He had to; Zoro drank it and it wouldn’t count unless Luffy drank it too, that was what Ace and Sabo had said.

So Luffy tipped the cup back and waited to feel a drop land on his tongue. When that didn’t work, he licked the stupid thing instead because there was no way that wouldn’t count.

After that, they partied. 

The entire fleet, dozens of ships, sailed together and away from Dressrosa’s Navy-infested shores. All the while shouts and music could be heard rising up from every deck. The captains continued to stay on the Yonta Maria for the entire day, celebrating, drinking, eating, arguing, and testing the bonds they had just forged.

The Straw Hats joined in the festivities with enthusiasm. Even though they missed the rest of their crew, their hard-won victories deserved a good celebration (and hopefully Nami and them were celebrating their own escape from Big Mom and Dressrosa too). They were already heading in the direction of Zou and soon enough they would transfer to Barto’s ship, who would take them the rest of the way. In the meantime, they partied.

Luffy jumped on Zoro’s back, a giant fighting-fish steak hanging out of his mouth as he held two more in each hand. It was three-steak-style fighting-fish technique and he hoped that Zoro appreciated the homage, even if Luffy hadn’t originally meant for it. Zoro protested the hold, but didn’t actually throw Luffy off and even took a few bites of steak when offered.

Afterwards, Franky invited Zoro to try his newest invention, a drink which he had aptly named a “Rum and Cola.” Zoro thought it could use more rum; Franky thought it could use more cola. 

For a little while, Zoro and Law drank together, the Heart Captain still in a state of shock that the revenge he had been planning for years had finally happened, and happened quicker than he could have hoped. Even if Law had briefly lost an arm and almost died multiple times, everything was worth it now that Doflamingo was on his way to rot in the depths of Impel Down.

For an even longer while, Zoro and Usopp drank together, Usopp going over the entire events and history of Dressrosa from the beginning as soon as he realized Zoro hadn’t really paid attention to any of the backstory at all. Even after spending days in Kyros’ cabin, the swordsman still hadn’t known exactly who Rebecca was, let alone all the details necessary to appreciate Usopp becoming a god (including the fact that the toys had originally been people).

At one point, Zoro had to explain to several ally pirates that he wasn’t a hero and had no interest in becoming one; Heroes had to share their alcohol and Zoro had no intention of doing that.

At another point, the musicians started playing a song which everyone who had ever spent any amount of time on the Grand Line had to be aware of. The song had a particular dance that accompanied it, something simple that was repeated throughout every verse and attracted large groups to dance together in sync. While being widely popular (often played at weddings and other events), it was also a type of experience that was hard to participate in while still maintaining one’s dignity. Franky and Usopp naturally joined in as soon as the first chords rang out. Franky then looked to Robin in open invitation and Robin’s response was to look away and pretend she hadn’t noticed. He turned to Zoro, and the swordsman’s response was much the same. Zoro and Robin then went to go refill their drinks together instead. 

By mid-afternoon, it was nap time. Law sat on the deck with his back resting against the wall of the aft cabin, either asleep or pretending to be to get some peace. Zoro was stretched out next to him, parallel with the wall, his left foot almost touching Law’s thigh as his right foot was drawn in, bent leg propped up. Luffy’s head was near Zoro’s, but he was sprawled in the other direction, all four limbs spreading out like a starfish. Usopp was wrapped around Luffy’s leg, using it as a pillow in a way that would have been impossible if he hadn’t been made of rubber. Franky was also laid out, but he was on his stomach, leaving his back exposed for Robin to use as a pillow since it was softer and warmer than the cyborg’s belly. Between Franky and Luffy, there was just enough space for Robin to curl up, completing their pile.

The events of that day, and all the events of Dressrosa, had helped to stitch back together the fabric of friendship that had always made the Straw Hat crew so strong. It was the events of that night that would rip them all apart once more.

Chapter Text

If asked, Luffy wouldn't have been able to explain anything about the card game they were playing and he was winning. He had initially come into the galley to look for a snack and had ended up joining a group of Barto Pirates for a few rounds of whatever this was. At first they had tried to teach him the rules, but Luffy hadn’t listened and instead would throw down whatever card he felt like whenever it was his turn. This strategy ended up working surprisingly well as Luffy won five out of six of the previous rounds, to both the frustration and awe of his fellow players.

It was sometime past midnight, most of the pirates on board now asleep with some having even made it all the way down to their bunks. The Straw Hats were on Barto’s ship, which was named the “Going Luffy” and looked more like it belonged to the Straw Hat Pirates than their actual Thousand Sunny vessel; The figurehead was undoubtedly modeled after Luffy (stretched-limbs and all), one of the cabins was shaped like Merry the lamb, there was a grove of orange trees, and the entire back of the ship looked like Chopper’s head (hat included). The Barto Club pirates had been downright ecstatic to have the Straw Hats on board, offering whatever food or drink or anything else that they could desire, and more than once feinting due to the other crew’s “overwhelming presence.”

(Barto’s crew had been significantly less excited about Trafalgar Law being there, but he had the vivre card that would take them to the next island, so they had all agreed to put up with him.)

Despite having partied all day, the revelry did not stop when they boarded the new ship. Alcohol flowed, music played, and dances were danced. It wasn't until now, several hours later, that things were starting to wind down, the atmosphere tipping more towards calm than chaos.

Luffy drew another card, but paused before playing anything, his attention grabbed by the opening of the galley’s door. Zoro stumbled in, his clothes rumpled and hair disheveled despite its shortness. He didn’t seem to notice there were others in the room until Luffy called out to him, cheerfully, “Hey, Zoro!”

At the sound of his voice Zoro froze, his body growing tense before he turned his head, slowly, to look at Luffy. Their eyes locked and Zoro’s gaze was wild. He seemed to curse, but the sound was too low for Luffy to hear and he wasn’t sure he was meant to hear it anyway. It didn’t matter as Zoro’s expression quickly shifted, the disconcerted look dropping down to something darker, something harsher. Zoro glared at Luffy, the type of glare that was achingly familiar but typically reserved for enemies—not for friends, not for Luffy. In a voice tied directly to rage, Zoro growled out, “Stay away from me.”

Luffy didn’t…he didn’t know what that meant. He…what?

Before he could ask, Zoro turned and left the room, abandoning whatever task had made him enter in the first place. Luffy chased after his swordsman (of course he chased after his swordsman), calling out as he did, “Zoro? Hey, wait—Zoro! Zoro, what’s wrong?”

Zoro kept walking, refusing to look at him and using observation haki to easily evade his grabs. “I said stay away, Straw Hat.”

Luffy frowned. Outsiders called him that, not Zoro, not now. They were past that. “I don’t get it, why?”

“For fuck’s sake, go away!” Zoro yelled, finally turning on him, one hand tensed around the hilt of his sword in clear threat.

“No!” Luffy instantly protested as he met Zoro’s gaze. There was something there, something bad. Something was wrong—Luffy could tell something was wrong, even if Zoro’s actions hadn’t already been screaming it—but Luffy couldn’t tell what. Zoro was tense and angry and upset, his shoulders tight, his stance shifted for either fight or flight, but his face said nothing. He was closed-off, his gaze more like Zoro-not-Luffy’s-Zoro than the Zoro he actually was, which sucked because they had made so much progress. Zoro had stopped looking at Luffy like that, had stopped pushing Luffy away, but now it was different, now it was worse—Zoro was shoving Luffy away from him and it didn't make sense.

Luffy wanted to shove back, but then Zoro drew Wado and pointed her at Luffy’s throat and the world stopped for a second.

There was a tremble. It was slight, small enough to hide beneath the rocking of the ship, but Luffy saw it anyway. Zoro’s eye flickered between Luffy and the blade, then his hand clenched tighter and the weapon stilled.

“Fine,” Luffy yielded, the word feeling like a knife being pulled out from between his teeth. Luffy wasn’t afraid of the blade, but he recognized that it was Wado and he recognized that that meant that this was serious. Luffy wanted to help. Zoro needed him to listen. To do as he asked. To stay away.

But staying away sucked.

But Zoro was holding Wado, so Luffy could give him space. For now.

As soon as he agreed, Zoro started moving again, turning around and taking the nearest set of stairs which lead to the aft deck. His blade was still drawn, his hand still clenched around the hilt tight enough to turn the knuckles white. Beyond Zoro’s shoulder, Luffy could see Torao watching their interaction.

Torao wasn’t surprised by Zoro’s anger.

Torao knew something.

Torao did something?

As soon as Zoro was out of eye sight, Luffy stomped up to other captain. Law met his glare with an impassive look as he demanded, “Torao, what did you do to Zoro?”

“Nothing, Straw Hat-ya,” he stated calmly.

Unfortunately, Luffy found he believed him. Frowning, he demanded instead, “Then why’s he so mad?”

Law looked in the direction Zoro had left. He seemed to debate his next words, before settling on, “He’s having a bad night.” He looked at Luffy and lightly suggested, “Leave him alone.”

“Why would I listen to you? You don’t know him, you don’t know what he needs,” Luffy practically spat the words. Torao didn’t know Zoro, not the way that Luffy knew Zoro, memories or not. He had no say, he couldn’t tell Luffy what to do. He had only just met Zoro, how would he know if Zoro was having a bad night, huh?

Anger flashed across Law’s face for a second before he managed to swallow it. In an infuriatingly calm voice, he replied, “Just a suggestion.”

“A stupid suggestion,” Luffy started to rant, but Law was gone, Shambled away before he had even finished the second word. Luffy growled and punched the wall where the other captain had just been. Stupid Torao and stupid Zoro and stupid whatever had happened that night.

Despite his protest, Luffy did follow Law’s suggestion to stay away from Zoro—not because it was Law’s suggestion, but because it was what Luffy had decided to do anyway. Luffy knew Zoro and therefore knew when Zoro needed to be left alone. Sometimes he got lost in his own head and sometimes Luffy could get him out, but sometimes it was better to let him find his own way instead. Like when he had been angry at Nami for stealing the Going Merry, or trying to forgive Usopp after Water Seven; Sometimes Zoro just needed to think on his own. He was having a bad night, but they’d figure it out in the morning, either by attacking whoever Zoro needed to be attacked, or by talking it out, or by never talking about it again. Whatever he needed, Luffy would help him get it and then everything would be fine again. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow came and went and everything was still not fine. Zoro was still not fine. Or maybe he was, and Luffy didn’t know because Zoro was avoiding him. Every time he looked for him, every time he sought him out or called his name, Zoro disappeared. Luffy could only catch flashes of him, and even then he wasn’t sure it wasn’t just his imagination. For the past two days they had been like that, a near constant cat-and-mouse that somehow Luffy kept losing. It was frustrating, infuriatingly so, but he didn’t know what else to do.

They had been good, so good, back in Dressrosa, laughing and fighting together. They had been getting back to where they had been before, back to being them, but then something had happened and Zoro had yelled at him and now he hadn’t seen the swordsman since. They were supposed to make up, but they hadn’t. Luffy hadn’t seen Zoro, hadn’t talked with him or fought with him or anything and he didn’t even know why; Why was Zoro so upset, why was he avoiding him, why’d this happen now?

It all just served to piss Luffy off, but there was nothing he could do about it. So now he was here, sulking in the best spot on Barto’s ship, the top of the figurehead. He still hadn’t decided whether or not he liked the effigy, but he couldn’t deny that sitting on top of his own head seemed like the type of thing a Pirate King would do. He had always wanted a statue of himself (although it would have been better if it was bronze)(and if it was on the Sunny instead).

He stared out at the water, trying to let his mind drift with the waves. He didn’t have energy to think right then, not after two nights of sleep that was more tossing and turning than actual rest. He brain kept plaguing him with thoughts of being a failure and Zoro hating him and the weight of it all crushed down on his chest even when he was sitting up. He could feel tears forming in the back of his throat, but he spit the annoying things out before they could escape any other way. As the drop of saliva fell, he watched it go, fully expecting some of his stupid feelings to go down with it. It raced towards the ocean and as a wave popped up to swallow it whole, a thought came to Luffy’s mind unbidden—what if Luffy fell into the water right then?

He knew from experience that this wasn’t a thought he should follow. It wouldn’t end well and he should definitely let the whim go, except, well, what was the worst that could happen even if he did go in? It would suck, the salt water was always awful, and someone would need to rescue him…

Would Zoro still rescue him even if he was mad?

He’d never be that mad at Luffy, right?

Luffy stood up. The ship was barely moving due to a temporary lack of wind, so it wasn’t like he would go far even if he did jump…

But Zoro would get mad at him for willfully putting himself in danger.

…but Zoro was already mad and not talking to him, so it wasn’t like things could get worse. Plus there were plenty of other people here who would save him, it wasn’t like he’d actually be in any real danger; Every second he was on this ship he could feel the admiring eyes of at least one Barto crew pirate, so there was no chance Luffy’s impromptu swim would go unnoticed.

He put his hands on his hips and scrunched his face up in thought. This really wasn’t a good idea, but it was not the worst idea he’d ever had…

As he debated, a sudden swell appeared in the ocean waves, causing the ship to rock violently. Caught off guard, Luffy was falling through the air before he even realized what had happened. Instinctively his arms stretched out to grab a handhold on the ship but right before making contact, he hesitated. It was a brief hesitation, a fleeting pause he didn’t even do on purpose, but it was enough to cost him—Luffy hit the water before he could save himself, before he could even fully recognize what he had done. As the ocean swallowed him whole, all he could think was, “It was an accident.”

His head submerged and instantly demanded he take a nap, to give up and fall asleep and waste no more energy on this world. He was barely able to refuse it, barely able to think through the haze enough to do something as simple as keep his eyes open. He hated being in the ocean, he really did.

There was no way to keep track of time, his mind was too foggy to process anything correctly, so it felt like he’d been sinking for at least an hour before a strong arm wrapped around his torso. He hardly noticed as his body began to be propelled upwards and it wasn't until he finally broke the surface that some of his energy returned. Not enough to regain control of his body, but enough to realize what was happening and loll his head back to see his savior. His chest hurt, but it probably had something to do with the sea water, and he smiled wide despite his lack of strength. Through a wheezing cough, he managed to gasp out, “Zoro!”

“You idiot, what were you thinking?” Zoro scolded. The swordsman was clearly upset, but he still held on to Luffy tight as he swam them back to the ship.

Luffy couldn’t stop smiling as he defended, “’s not my fault! Was accident.”

Zoro frowned at him and their eyes met for a brief second. It was the first time Zoro had looked directly at him since he had yelled at him that night and Luffy relished in the attention. Even if Zoro was still mad, at least he was here, talking and looking at Luffy.

“Sorry, Zoro!” Luffy said and laughed. They had made it to the ship and Zoro was hoisting them both up the rope ladder that the Barto crew had thrown down. Above them on the ladder, a waterlogged Bartolomeo was also being lifted back on deck by one of his crewmates. The other captain had panicked, forgotten about his own weakness to water, and jumped in after the Straw Hat captain, resulting in the need for a double rescue.

Zoro dragged them up the last few rungs then unceremoniously dumped Luffy on the deck. He walked away, not even pausing as Luffy shouted thanks at his retreating back.

Well, that could have gone better. But it also could have gone way worse, so Luffy took the small interaction as a win.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, that was the only “win” Luffy received for the rest of their voyage to Zou. Zoro continued to avoid him and on the rare occasions when he couldn’t, he would ignore him, refusing to look at or even acknowledge Luffy’s existence. Even worse, Zoro seemed to be spending most of his time with Torao which annoyed the hell out of Luffy for no discernible reason. Luffy suspected Torao even went so far as to help Zoro avoid him; One time Luffy had chased Zoro down to a storage closet, but when he had opened the door, the green-haired man had vanished as if Shambled away.

Well, Zoro couldn’t avoid him any longer. They were on the deck of the Sunny and Zoro had nowhere else to go because the only way to go was up on the back of Kanjuro’s dragon-worm-creature-thing. They had reached the land of Zou, now they just had to make it to the top of what must be the largest and oldest elephant in the world.

“Hold on, are you telling me we’re using that thing to go all the way up there?” Usopp asked in disbelief after watching Kanjuro’s dragon drawing struggle to overcome the very short height of the Sunny’s rails. 

“Have no fear, Sir Sniper. I hold every confidence that Ryunosuke will be able to bring us to the top safely,” Kanjuro reassured. Ryunosuke snorted in agreement, although its face appeared a lot more uncertain than it sounded. Maybe that was just a limitation of the drawing, perhaps the creature was incapable of showing any emotions beyond the fear and concern it was showing right now. Although, it had smiled earlier when Robin had called it cute, so okay, yes, maybe they should all rethink this plan…

Luffy, however, wasn’t worried about the drawing; Either the thing would get them all the way to the top or they’d have to climb up or they’d fall and he’d catch everyone and make sure they all landed safely. Whatever way it turned out, it would be fine. And since that was settled...

Luffy’s arm snaked out, his hand grabbing onto the back of Zoro’s shirt with an iron fist. Zoro started protesting, but he didn’t have a choice; He was going with them to Zou, he had to. The Sunny could look after herself, so Zoro wasn’t going to stay behind. And since he wasn’t going to stay, he might as well sit behind Luffy since Zoro belonged next to Luffy as much as he belonged on this adventure.

“Straw Hat—”

“Thank you, Zoro,” Robin called out, cutting off Zoro’s rising protest, “For volunteering to watch Luffy. He gets distracted easily and we wouldn’t want him to fall off.”

Zoro turned his glare on Robin and the atmosphere between them grew tense. They stared at each other and Luffy tried to figure out what it meant, but he couldn’t. 

Luckily Franky intervened, placing a large hand on Zoro’s shoulder and consoling, “Don’t worry Bro, you got this.” 

Zoro rolled his shoulder to knock off Franky’s hand, then reached back and started tugging Luffy’s wrist. Luffy didn’t give up until Zoro finally gave in, cursing and declaring, “Fine, whatever.”

Luffy didn’t let him go as they climbed onto the drawing’s back. Zoro stopped protesting the hold, so Luffy took advantage of his powers to keep them connected until everyone had settled and they started moving. As captain, he naturally got the front seat, then behind him was Zoro, followed by Usopp, Robin, Torao, Franky, and the two samurai in the back.

Ryunosuke was confident as they started out, although the feeling deteriorated quickly. The initial jump from the ship’s rails to the elephant’s leg was a lot longer than it had seemed and once that was complete there was the whole vertical incline left to scale. The surface was textured enough to give some amount of grip, but nowhere near enough for the task to be easy and he was already panting by the time they reached the same height as the Sunny’s mast. Yet, despite the impossibility of the the task—and the fact that the end was nowhere in sight—Ryunosuke kept going! Determined to succeed, he continued putting one foot in front of the other as they slowly, slowly ascended the very, very large leg.

Once they were far enough up, Luffy turned around, his legs staying forward as his torso twisted in a way that only he could do. He stared at Zoro.

Zoro-not-his-Zoro stared back.

Keeping it simple, Luffy asked the one question that had been drilling holes in his brain for days, “Why?” Why was he mad? Why was he avoiding him? Why didn’t he trust him? Why wouldn’t he let Luffy help?

“Why what?” Zoro asked back.

Luffy frowned. “You know what. What happened on Barto’s ship?” 

“Nothing happened.”

“Then why are you mad?”

Now Zoro looked away. He crossed his arms before saying, “Look, Straw H—”

“Luffy,” Luffy corrected angrily. He was getting really sick of that nickname. 

Zoro didn’t say his name back. After a moment he continued, “Look, this was a trial, alright? I tried being on your crew and it just…it doesn’t work for me.”

“What are you saying?” Instead of coming out harsh like he meant, Luffy’s voice came out small. He was searching Zoro’s face for a clue to the thoughts behind the words, but Zoro was being stubborn, keeping his thoughts to himself and his posture too tense to reveal anything. 

“I’m saying I made a decision.” Zoro looked him in the eyes as he declared, “I’m not joining your crew.”

No. “No.” Luffy’s response was instant and contained more command than protest.

“Yes,” Zoro asserted, “I’ll help you fight Kaido, then I’m gone.” 

“No,” Luffy repeated. Zoro couldn’t leave, he wasn’t allowed to leave. 

He shouldn’t want to leave. 

Zoro protested, “You can’t say no.” 

“Yes, I can, I’m the captain.” 

“It’s my decision to make.”  

“Well I don’t like it,” Luffy argued.  

“Doesn’t matter, it’s my choice,” Zoro argued right back.  

“Why are you still here then?” Luffy shouted, his anger flaring bright, “If you’re gonna leave, just go!” He threw his arms out, gesturing at the whole expanse of the world Zoro could reach if being here with Luffy was really so bad.

“I would!” Zoro shouted back. Luffy’s heart stopped. Zoro continued, “But I’m already involved in Law’s stupid plan, so if you guys fail, Kaido will just come after me.”

“We won’t fail.” Luffy wasn’t sure what emotion was in his voice, if there was any at all. He hoped it was anger, he felt anger, but he also wasn’t sure that he was feeling anything at all right then. Zoro wanted to leave. But he would stay because he didn’t believe that Luffy could win, which Luffy knew that he could, but Zoro didn’t believe it and that...just...

Luffy knew, even if the stranger next to him didn’t. He turned back to the front as the swordsman replied, “I’m going with to make sure you don’t.” It wasn’t reassuring.

Things got worse. 

It took Luffy a while to calm down after their talk, but the climb up the elephant’s leg was long so he had the time. Then Kin’emon and Kanjuro fell off. They were okay, but Zoro said not to turn back to go get them and Luffy’s anger had erupted to the surface once more. Of course they should go get their friends, that was what friends do. The two started arguing. Then they realized Ryunosuke wasn’t able to climb down and back up, so the conflict was resolved and the group left the samurai to find their own way.

When they reached the top, Zoro didn’t thank the poor dragon-worm-creature that had worked so hard to get them up there. Normally Luffy wouldn’t think twice about it, but that was not what was happening then and they got into a fight about that too. Or not a fight, really, but Luffy told Zoro to be nice to Ryunosuke and Zoro told Luffy to shut it and neither one was happy. 

“So, uh, did I miss something?” Usopp asked to no one in particular. Thinking back on it, he hadn’t seen much of Luffy and Zoro interacting on Barto’s ship—hadn’t seen much of Zoro at all—but Usopp hadn’t thought anything of it until now. New-Zoro was kind of like a startled cat that was slowly warming up to them and needed space to learn to trust (not that Usopp would ever admit to such a thought out loud—he preferred being alive and not stabbed, thank you very much). They had seemed kind of tense on the Sunny, but whatever conversation they had had on Ryunosuke had been snatched away by the wind before Usopp could catch it.

No one answered the question. Franky made a hum that was somewhere between agreement and confusion as he eyed the captain and first mate, while Robin and Law stayed silent.

The fighting didn’t stop as they walked inland. Robin asked if they should wait for the samurai and when Zoro said no, Luffy argued that they should, despite already standing at the entrance gate himself. Then Zoro said that they should split up and Luffy said friends stick together and Zoro asked what that had to do with anything and Luffy got mad. That was the first time the group had to separate the two. It wasn’t the last.

They bickered as they walked down the path, leaving the samurai behind since no one knew how long Kanjuro’s next creature would take. The whole island seemed to have gone through some major disaster, possibly an earthquake (if giant elephants could quake). The road was split up in large chunks and the gate at the entrance had been torn off its hinges. Luffy and Zoro argued about what had happened to the island. They argued about why there were no guards (although they were being so loud and annoying Usopp wasn’t sure if the people of the island weren’t just avoiding the group). They argued about what had happened to the rest of the crew.

At some point it became clear that the two didn’t know, or even care about, the things they sniped at each other over. Luffy would disagree with anything that came out of Zoro’s mouth, and Zoro would say things just to contradict Luffy. They had to be separated from each other twice, once by Law and once by Franky and Robin, and every time Usopp felt utterly useless because how in the world was he supposed to stop Zoro and Luffy fighting? For as long as he’d known them, the two had shared a brain cell; He’d never seen them fight about anything before!

Alright, that wasn’t entirely true; Recent reunion aside, there had been a couple of heated game nights that had happened during their travels, the occasional debate about what to do when they found a new island, and, of course, the whole Whiskey Peak debacle, but none of that was like this. Usopp wasn’t prepared for this. He understood that this whole memory issues thing would take time to resolve, but he had also been hoping that toppling a Warlord together would at least get them past the fighting stage, if not all the way to friendship. Zoro had seemed to be getting along with everyone back in Dressrosa; He had shared a drink with Usopp and ate food with Luffy and talked and hadn’t called anyone a Devil Child or a Liar or anything. Usopp didn’t remember him even glaring at anyone during the victory party (although Usopp’s memory of that time was, admittedly, a bit fuzzy).

On the voyage to Zou, Usopp hadn’t noticed any problems, but he had also been pretty distracted. While the Barto Club crew was an excellent audience for all of his many tales, they were also completely useless at being pirates. He had spent a majority of his time helping Franky fix Barto’s ship so that they wouldn’t all die before making it to Zou. Despite many, many close calls (including the past few hours which Usopp was actively trying to repress), they had made it, proving his efforts to not be in vain.

Still! He should have noticed sooner because this was Zoro and Luffy arguing and it was almost—no, it was definitely worse than it had been when Zoro had first come back to them. Zoro wasn’t pouting, he was fighting and for whatever reason Luffy was fighting him back. With all the bickering, it almost felt as if Sanji was here. 

Wait.

Sanji.

What if that was it? What if Zoro just had some personality disease where he always had to be fighting with someone and they had never noticed it because Sanji was always around? And now that Sanji wasn’t around, Zoro needed someone to fight with and that someone just so happened to be Luffy and all of this would go away as soon as they found Sanji again! 

Yes, yes that made sense! Sanji had been with them since the beginning, he totally could have been a lightning rod for Zoro’s issues and no one would have known because that was just their thing.

Usopp tried to think way back to the week between when he had joined the crew and Sanji had joined. At the time, he hadn’t noticed anything like this about his crewmate, but he’d also been pretty preoccupied with the whole “leaving behind everything he’d ever known to become a pirate after dealing with one of the greatest threats his home island had ever seen” thing. Plus he might have, also, at the time, been slightly terrified of Zoro and his three sharp swords and ability to cut down dozens of people at once.

Zoro and Luffy hadn’t fought back then, he could remember that; The two had been on their own wavelength since he had met them. But Zoro and Nami on the other hand...they probably fought. Yes, thinking back on it, Usopp could definitely remember some yelling and eye-rolling with two eyes, so yes, his diagnosis must be correct. Doctor Usopp cracked the case. Everything would be fixed as soon as they found Sanji. 

Until then, they would just have to survive and hope the bickering didn’t escalate too far. Usopp was almost glad when their small group got attacked and the new distraction managed to stop the hostilities for a little while. Almost glad.

Chapter Text

Nearly an hour into their trek through Zou the group found themselves in a clearing on the outskirts of a destroyed city. The road here was no better than it had been within the jungle, although now it was littered with additional debris, the tops of trees and parts of buildings scattered about as if tossed by an angry toddler. Usopp wasn’t sure at what point something would be classified as “ruins,” but this town had to be close to it.

He had barely taken a step out of the tree line when something in the air shifted, giving advanced warning of an impending attack, although the warning didn’t specify what the attack was, where it was coming from, or why Usopp had chosen to walk into the freshly destroyed city instead of staying someplace safe like the Sunny. Bringing his arms up, he only had enough time to bravely shield his face before the attacker appeared, leaping across the clearing and towards their group at a speed that was much too fast for any reasonable person’s comfort.

It was hard to make out the details, but the person seemed to be wearing large bunny ears on top of their head—her head, if the dress was anything to go by—and gloves that made the her hands look like giant paws. The paws sparked with what could only be lightning, which Usopp was not happy to see; He had done enough work on Nami’s climatact to know that he did not need to experience that type of shock again today, or ever. Luckily the strange bunny-woman’s attacks were focused on Luffy and Zoro, either not noticing or not caring about the other major threat in this group that was God Usopp. (Usopp was perfectly fine with it staying that way.)

A cascade of branches snapping suddenly rang out from the forest to the right, followed shortly after by a shout of, “Stop, Carrot!” Out of the trees came a giant obese alligator, ridden by a woman—no, wait a…dog-woman? Deer-woman? Maybe some kind of sheep? Whatever she was, she was clearly in charge as the bunny-woman stopped her next attack. Looking down at Luffy and the others, the leader called out, “You-teia are Straw Hat Luffy, correct?”

“Who are you?” Usopp yelled out bravely and without his voice squeaking in fear, “And why do you have Nami’s clothes?!”

The dog-woman was wearing the bikini top that Nami had definitely been wearing just the other day, along with her jeans and her…was that Nami’s cape?! Did Nami wear a cape? Usopp couldn’t remember.

She didn’t answer the questions, instead indicating to the back of the alligator and commanding, “Hop on. I will explain on the way.”

Now that was exactly what a dog-woman who wanted to kidnap a bunch of pirates would say, and Usopp was not about to fall for such obvious bait. Luffy, on the other hand, had no issues strolling right into the trap. And where Luffy strolled, the rest, unfortunately, had to follow. 

This time when they all climbed onto the back of an obnoxiously large creature, Zoro and Luffy sat far apart; Luffy was at one end, Zoro was at the other, and everyone else sat in-between.

The alligator ride was long, bumpy, and, at one point, wet thanks to the giant elephant, Zunesha, deciding it was time for an impromptu bath. Along the way, Wanda (the leader woman who was in fact a mink, which was a whole species Usopp had obviously known about, he had just temporarily forgotten was all) gave them some background on the island.

According to her (and as interpreted by the Great Storyteller Usopp), the Mokomo Dukedom was full of brave warriors who had been living in peace and prosperity on the back of Zunesha for centuries. But everything changed when the Beast Pirates attacked. One thousand—no, fifty thousand—beasts attacked the minks! In their own home!

(Was is weird to call them “beasts” when the minks themselves were part animal? Wanda had said it, so it was probably fine?)

Anyway, the minks fought bravely, calling upon all the powers of lightning and the forest creatures to come to their aid!

(Could minks talk to non-mink animals like how Chopper could? Usopp wasn’t sure, but it definitely sounded better than the minks fighting with normal weapons.)

With their powers combined they could keep the pirates away, although the fearsome Jack, captain of the pirate crew, was a whole other beast.

(Literally, he had a devil fruit that turned him into a giant Woolly Mammoth which Usopp was pretty sure didn’t actually exist in real life.)

Jack was strong and more than that he was unafraid to cheat! Instead of using just their strength in a true match of warrior versus warrior, the pirates released a deadly poison into the air, nearly wiping out the entire mink population in one fell swoop! It was only thanks to Brave Warrior Usopp’s mighty crewmates, Chopper, Nami, Sanji, and Brook, that the citizens were able to be saved. Somehow the Thousand Sunny team was able to not only clear out the poison, but also create an antidote and save the day just minutes before it was all too late! Now the minks were indebted to the Straw Hats and totally weren’t going to eat them, even if Wanda still refused to elaborate on where the rest of the crew was and why she was wearing Nami’s clothes of all things.

While the story itself was riveting (and Usopp would definitely use it for inspiration later), one of the best parts about it was the fact that Luffy and Zoro didn’t bicker during it. They were seated far apart which made it more difficult to argue, but Usopp also believed in their ability to yell; Distance couldn’t have been the only thing keeping them civil. But distance plus a good story plus whatever Zoro was muttering with Torao—wait, why was Zoro muttering something with Torao?

He wasn’t talking to Luffy but he was talking to Creepy Surgeon Death Guy?

Like, sure, Law was their friend at this point, but he wasn’t their friend-friend; He wasn’t nakama. So why was Zoro-cat warming up to him of all people?

Usopp leaned over to see if he could catch snippets of their conversation, but the swordmen’s voices proved to be too low. Ultimately it didn’t matter, by the time Usopp noticed the issue, the alligator was already starting to slow, its heavy footsteps thunking to the ground in a rhythm that was becoming more and more haphazard. They were still surrounded by trees, but the spacing between the trees grew larger and strange house-like structures started appearing high up in the massive branches.

Wanda called out and suddenly the Straw Hats were surrounded, every variety of animal-human hybrid appearing out of various nooks and crannies to completely circle the newcomers, blocking off all escapes. The minks were all shouting, laughing and yelling and pointing, their long fangs on clear display, their sharp claws reaching towards them, ready to grab and maul and then…and then Chopper was there! And Nami! And the shouting started to sound more like cheering and the reaching was more a friendly greeting, and there were calls for a feast and, okay, maybe the minks actually were grateful to the Straw Hats and weren’t planning on roasting and eating them for dinner (which Usopp had known all along, obviously, he was a good judge of character.)

Nami ran up to them, wearing some ridiculously expensive looking dress that she had to have stolen. Chopper was also decked out in jewels and Usopp was just so happy to see them and see that they hadn’t been turned into human-animal chow. Nami, the big softy that she secretly was, was clearly happy to see them too, tears shining in her eyes as she held Luffy close.

Within minutes, large platters of food came out and drinks were shoved into the Straw Hat’s hands. The crew reunited with their typical amount of Straw Hat yelling and hugging, then sat together with the new mink friends and started sharing stories of their different adventures. Brook and Sanji remained missing, but that was remedied soon enough when a familiar voice sang out, “Friends!”

“Brook!” the Straw Hats all happily replied.

Brook was looking…well, “ragged” would be the best description. Even though he was also sporting newer, fancier clothes, his were dirty and torn, his bones showing through in several spots. He seemed happy enough to see them, but there was also a slight manic feel about his smile and he kept looking over his shoulder as if watching for something. Instead of sitting down, he motioned for the rest to quickly gather together into a huddle, hiding their conversation from any prying ears.

“How happy I am to see you all!” Brook announced, before dropping his voice to a whisper and adding, “Where are the samurai?”

Uh oh, whispering wasn’t good, what was wrong with the samurai? 

Brook straightened a little. “Wait, and where’s Zoro?”

Looking around now, they all realized their Straw Hat circle was more incomplete than previously thought.

“Did he get lost already?” Nami complained.

With a frown, Franky admitted, “Think I saw him walk off with Torao.”

“Torao went to go find his crew,” Luffy replied, sounding unaffected.  

“Then why would Zoro—” Chopper began to ask, but Luffy cut him off.

“It’s fine.” He didn’t explain more and he didn’t smile to make the statement seem reassuring. Usopp probably shouldn’t have been surprised by the response, considering the way that they had been acting in the forest, but he was.

“Oh...okay,” Chopper replied hesitantly as Nami demanded, “What?”

Usopp put a hand on Nami’s arm to get her attention and subtly shook his head not to ask. 

“What happened with the samurai, Brook?” Luffy asked, his voice a bit too loud considering Brook’s initial insistence on quiet. Nami, Chopper, and Brook did a double take as Luffy—gets-distracted-by-everything Luffy—was the one to try to steer them back on track.

“Oh, that is—AH!” Brook cut himself off as a group of canine-minks arrived at the party. The group sniffed the air then started calling out for “Sir Corpse” and Brook went running before his explanation could complete. 

Nami picked up where he left off, quickly clarifying, “It’s a sore subject for the minks, so pretend you don’t know any samurai and we’ll need to keep the others hidden until we leave. Now, what’s going on with Zoro?” 

They all turned to Luffy, who stayed silent, unable or unwilling to admit to the conversation he had had on Ryunosuke. Nami looked at Robin when Luffy didn’t answer, but she stayed silent too.

Usopp cleared his throat before whispering in Nami’s direction, “Luffy and Zoro are fighting.”

“Still?” Nami whispered back, although they were all close enough that everyone easily heard the exchange. Luffy didn’t say anything, but his head was bowed and his hands were clenched into fists.

“Does Zoro still hate us?” Chopper asked. His voice shook.

Usopp frowned. He wanted to say no, but he honestly wasn’t sure at this point. Zoro had mainly been arguing with Luffy, he hadn’t snapped at Usopp, Robin, or Franky the way he had snapped at the captain, but it wasn’t really clear where they all stood. 

In the silence that followed the question, Luffy turned and walked away. Robin tried to call him back and Nami stepped forward as if to follow, but he disappeared into the crowd before she could.

Franky sighed and added, “It’s worse than before.”

“What do you mean?” Nami asked.

Franky frowned. “Something’s pissed Zoro-bro off. Hard to say what though.”

“Maybe he misses his other crew?” Chopper whispered, sympathetic even though the words were clearly hard for him to say.

There was a pause, then Franky scoffed, “Tch, we’re better than them anyway.” He didn’t outright deny the theory.

“Yeah,” Chopper agreed, giving Franky a small smile, and Usopp added his own “Of course!” Neither one sounded particularly convincing. Robin didn’t respond.

“Well, what are we supposed to do about that?” Nami complained, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Usopp’s brilliant theory about Zoro’s personality issues came back to mind. “Say, where’s Sanji?”

They lost Sanji. Temporarily (hopefully), but, uh, yeah, that wasn’t great for Usopp’s Grand Plan to Solve Zoro’s Grumpiness. Or good for the crew’s morale in general. Or their chances of beating Kaido.

Sanji had left a note (while being kidnapped) saying that he would be back, but he was also heading into an Emperor’s territory. Not only that, he was marrying said Emperor’s daughter, and that just didn’t sound like something Sanji could easily walk away from. Especially if the daughter turned out to be beautiful, then chances were Sanji wouldn’t want to come back, even if he could.

No, that wasn’t true—Usopp knew firsthand how hard it was to leave this crew and not come back. He couldn’t do it and he doubted Sanji could, even if the woman he married turned out to be as beautiful as Boa Hancock. Sanji would want to be back, he wouldn’t abandon them, he was their nakama. The idea of him leaving, actually leaving the crew, forever…It was too sad to think about.

Damn, was this what everyone else had felt like when Usopp had left? He should apologize to them again. Not directly—he did not want to bring that topic back up from the grave—but, like, sing them a song or something. Remind them that he cared and would never do something stupid like that ever again.

“Feel like an idiot yet?” Sanji had asked after Water Seven and Usopp’s Great Big Mistake. At that point Luffy had forgiven him, so had Robin and Chopper, but everyone else… Usopp had rejoined the crew, but the crew had deserved more than that. They had deserved difficult conversations that Usopp hadn’t wanted to have because he was a coward and because, honestly, he hadn’t been sure he had even deserved their forgiveness.

Sanji had forgiven him. They didn’t have a difficult conversation, just Usopp agreeing he had been an idiot and Sanji replying, “Good. Don’t do it again,” and that had been enough for the chef. Sanji was Usopp’s friend and had been there for him when he had messed up, and Usopp would be there for Sanji too, no matter how this all worked out (even though he did wish Sanji had learned enough from Usopp’s mistakes to not repeat them. Or Robin’s, Robin was the perfect example of not trying to leave the crew even when threatened).

“Does Zoro still hate us?”

Zoro could never hate Chopper. But Zoro could never hate Luffy, and now Zoro did hate Luffy, so what was the answer now? Did Zoro hate Chopper now? Hate all of them? Want to leave all of them?

Or just leave Luffy?

Luffy didn’t know. He had no idea what the swordsman, his swordsman, no-longer-his swordsman, was thinking. He couldn’t answer Chopper’s question or any of their questions because he just didn’t know.

Zoro didn’t hate Torao, that much was clear.

Luffy may hate Torao now. But that didn’t make sense because the jerk hadn’t actually done anything for Luffy to hate him over. He had helped keep Zoro away, but that was because Zoro wanted to stay away, and he shouldn’t hate Torao for helping Zoro. But maybe he could hate him anyway.