Chapter Text
Preoccupied with his own battle, Zoro didn’t personally witness Luffy’s struggle against Crocodile. However, from the wounds that covered Luffy from head to toe, even a blind man could tell it had been a grueling clash between equally powered titans.
The word being passed around was that Crocodile is a mid-level Persuasion-grade alpha, whose grip over his dominion was strengthened by a vexingly overpowered Logia-type Devil Fruit. Fortunately for them all, Luffy somehow stumbled upon the Fruit’s weakness. Otherwise, all of Alabasta would be singing a different tune by now.
Two days after Crocodile’s downfall, Luffy was still comatose. Vivi had set aside the grandest guest suite in the royal palace for his recovery, and she had tended to him personally for a day and a night, until Nami chided her for daring to feel guilty and tugged her away to make up for several missed meals.
Naturally, Zoro took up watch by Luffy’s bedside. It felt right. Chopper’s skills and his naturally speedy healing had worked flawlessly in tandem, and by the second day, Zoro was already mostly back to himself. What else was he meant to do?
He dozed lightly on a soft sofa by Luffy’s bed but stirred every time someone came to check on them. Usopp had jokes and Nami hid her concern behind an impatience to get going. King Cobra was bursting with questions while Ingram bothered him with nervous chatter. Nobody stayed for long once they’d gotten a good look at Zoro’s crossed arms and tense shoulders.
After sunset on the second night, Sanji wheeled in a cart full of food. “Just in case,” he said. But Zoro heard the fear and hope in his voice.
Once Sanji left, Zoro leaned over and really looked over Luffy’s wounds: Raw knuckles, broken ribs, torn tendons, and a hole in his side — how did Luffy even survive?
Could he continue to survive the unforgiving Grand Line?
The sudden swelling of doubt was quickly tempered. Zoro was disgusted with himself. He whispered an apology to his sleeping captain, untied his swords from his side, and climbed into bed beside him.
Careful not to jostle Luffy more than necessary, Zoro gingerly rearranged him so he could cradle Luffy’s neck with his left arm and tuck his head beneath his chin. He was only trying to offer comfort, Zoro told himself. Eyes closed, Zoro breathed in antiseptic and the rose-scented shampoo the palace servants used to wash Luffy’s blood-stained hair.
“You’re the strongest man I know, Captain. Come back to me,” he pleaded over and over.
He had never seen Luffy so close to death.
The next time he was aware, sunlight was streaming in through the room’s tall windows and threatening to blind him. In his arms, Luffy had burrowed completely into his embrace. Their legs entwined like ancient vines while Luffy’s bandaged hands gripped the back of Zoro’s shirt like a vise. At his neck, he felt the unmistakable impression of a warm nose and slightly damp lips.
Despite being wide awake now, Zoro couldn’t find the strength to pull away.
Luffy must have sensed Zoro’s sudden alertness, because he shifted and sighed and wiggled closer, until no space remained between their bodies.
“Luffy,” Zoro whispered. The gentlemanly response would be to extricate himself or wake Luffy up at once.
He did no such thing. He did not move at all, though he ached with a want to run his fingers through Luffy’s curls and stroke a steady line down Luffy’s back.
At his neck, the source of all his temptations breathed a satisfied sigh.
“Don’t move. ‘M comfy.”
Luffy’s sleepy demand jostled a flustered Zoro into action. “Luffy, you’re awake! Sorry. I got tired.” He made to get up and out of Luffy’s bed, only to be tugged back by rubbery arms with the strength of iron.
“No,” Luffy was whiny but resolute. He dug his nose into Zoro’s clavicle and exhaled. “Don’t go. I like Zoro here. Zoro smells good.”
“Luffy, I really shouldn’t…”
“Zoro smells like bamboo and steel.”
Zoro’s next breath was caught in his throat. A blinding flash of light momentarily overwhelmed his vision, and when it went away, Luffy was still smiling.
Hearing such an impossible declaration stalled Zoro for precisely ten seconds. His body was slow to inform his brain that the lips on his neck did indeed move in time to those words. And when his eyes scanned the room for something — anything — to ground himself upon, the sight of the now empty food cart from last night put an end to the last of his self doubt.
Luffy had woken up at some point to eat. Luffy had willingly climbed back into bed with him.
Luffy declared a claim on him.
He pulled away to search his captain’s eyes, the eyes that could never tell a lie, but Luffy burrowed his face again and wouldn’t look at him.
“Luffy…” Zoro felt himself breaking. His hand could not be gentle when he gripped Luffy’s chin and forced him to meet his gaze. “I thought you couldn’t… Are you sure you… No, I mean, why now? No, don’t answer that. You can’t take it back. I won’t allow you to take it back. You realize that, don’t you?”
Despite Luffy’s new aversion to eye contact, his legs remained entangled with Zoro’s, and his absentminded fingers played a distracting concerto upon Zoro’s shoulder blades.
To Zoro’s rambling embarrassment, Luffy merely nodded. It answered everything yet nothing. The only solid assurance Zoro had was seeing Luffy’s composure betrayed by a growing smirk that was at once proud and mischievous.
In the eyes of society and the law, Luffy’s claim meant absolutely nothing. There was no way for him to scent Zoro, and no biological imperative bound them together.
Zoro cared for none of that. He had Luffy’s nod, and Luffy had his everything. That was enough. That had to be enough.
He finally sank his fingers into Luffy’s curls, and so pulling none too gently, guided their lips together.
Luffy tasted like blood, and sleep, and the food he ate during the night, and the sea, and the roving home they accidentally made. Zoro was aware he was too rough, too inexperienced, and was moving too fast. But Luffy was pliant beneath him. And every time Zoro paused for air, Luffy would sigh a little sigh that sounded too close to a moan and Zoro would lose control again.
He’d never kissed anyone before — never had a desire to try. He couldn’t explain how he knew to lick into Luffy’s mouth to entice the exact pitch of a whimper he was desperate to hear, or how he could coax Luffy into nibbling on his bottom lip by tilting his head slightly to the right. Or perhaps those were lessons he’d learn after the fact, because time was nonsensical when he was kissing Luffy, as though he was feeling all the kisses they’d go on to share in their lifetime, and each one would forever feel as electrifying as the first time.
Zoro didn’t want to let up; Luffy had no intention of stopping him. At some point, he’d covered Luffy’s body completely with his own, and his lips swept down to bite Luffy’s chin and bruise Luffy’s neck, while his stuttering fingers felt around for the folds of Luffy’s robe.
They ran into rolls and rolls of medicined cotton that Chopper had wrapped around Luffy’s torso. A tiny tincture of reason returned him to his senses.
Panting, Zoro sat up. “Fuck. Luffy, you’re bleeding again.”
Under him, his captain was glassy-eyed. He didn’t seem to care that the stitches along his abdomen had reopened. Lazily, Luffy licked his swollen, crimson lips, and Zoro could do nothing except dive into his mouth once more.
“What you do to me…” he groaned into what little air was left between them.
Bandaged fingers gripped his hair, sending tingles down Zoro’s entire body.
“Zoro,” Luffy gasped between breaths, his voice ragged. “My Zoro. You’re mine. My own.”
“Yes,” Zoro affirmed with a guttural heat. Between kisses, he vowed, “I’m yours. Always yours. Your first mate. Your sword. Your weapon.”
Those fingers tightened in demand of Zoro’s absolute attention. “My omega.”
“Of course. Your omega.” Zoro smiled indulgently. He wanted to chuckle at the hilarity of it all. Leave it to him to play an owned omega to a null-scent.
To his surprise, Luffy got quiet at that. He put some distance between them and studied Zoro’s smile with a stern frown. Zoro would’ve done anything to avoid being examined so thoroughly in the midst of intimacy; therefore, he set about to kissing his captain with purpose.
Luffy dodged aside. “I mean it, Zoro.”
Zoro couldn’t focus on anything else. He could only agree, dumbly but sincerely, “I know, Luffy. I know. Yours, and no one else’s.”
Luffy stroked the sides of his face and didn’t seem placated in the least. Zoro thought he saw a little pout forming on Luffy’s face, but he couldn’t imagine what there was to be irritated about.
One thing was for sure, the moment was effectively over. Luffy was still bleeding and needed medical attention, and Zoro needed to screw his head on straight.
“Are you… hungry?” he tried.
Luffy blinked a few times, and the displeasure disappeared. He was all aglow at the thought of food, yelling into Zoro’s face, “Oh man, I’m starving!”
Zoro reluctantly climbed off him but kept a hand on Luffy’s arm. Leaving Luffy’s side took more willpower than he was capable of sparing, but at the moment, it wasn’t really up to him. He said reluctantly, “I’ll get the cook. Chopper will want to rewrap your bandages too.”
Luffy nodded so enthusiastically that Zoro was afraid his head would bob right off. Like the constantly distracted ape he was, Luffy suddenly looked around him in a frantic, demanding, “Hey, where’s my hat?”
Zoro was relieved. Luffy was still the same old Luffy. Before he went to call the others, he kissed Luffy again for good measure, and to reassure himself it hadn’t all been a waking dream.
Grinning, Luffy met his lips carefully; there were stars in his eyes. Zoro’s heart settled into a steady staccato of joy. With nary an inch between them — Zoro noted absentmindedly — he still smelled absolutely nothing.
***
Saying goodbye to Vivi felt like cutting off a limb. Not wanting to show such outward attachment to an alpha, Zoro kept up a stoic facade while the others fell apart at the seams. Nami, in particular, was inconsolable for days.
She was momentarily distracted when Nico Robin invited herself to join the roster. A Persuasion-grade pain in their ass throughout Alabasta, Nico Robin surprisingly exuded zero hostility. She kept her subtle charcoal and orchid close to her person, and when she declared her intention to travel with them, Luffy happily agreed.
Nami went along with Luffy’s decision, partly due to her faith in their captain’s judgment of character, and while she would never admit it, Zoro knew she desperately needed another woman’s companionship, alpha or not.
She only really voiced displeasure when Robin took over the cabin previously belonging to Vivi, but Zoro thought it was an efficient solution to quickly override Vivi’s scent.
“Probably better this way; like ripping off a bandage,” he commented casually when the crew, sans Robin, gathered in the bathroom for an impromptu meeting.
Sanji would have kicked him over the head if they had enough room to maneuver. He settled for yelling, “You heartless bastard! You’ve forgotten Vivi already, haven’t you?”
“I’m not going to be insulted by the idiot who folded like a wet newspaper just because a woman smiled at him,” Zoro fired back.
He didn’t rag on Sanji too much for his attraction to Robin. It was uncommon but not unheard of for two alphas to shack up together. The cook continued to surprise Zoro with his utter indifference to the laws of biology. But then again, Zoro didn’t exactly have a leg to stand on in that regard.
“Why are we squished together in the bathroom?” Chopper asked from atop Luffy’s head.
“Because it’s raining outside, Robin’s drinking coffee in the galley, and this is the only neutral ground left for us all,” Usopp explained.
Nami groaned at them and bodily shoved Sanji and Zoro aside in order to escape the huddle. That was the first and last time they convened to discuss Nico Robin’s induction into the crew.
Zoro remained cautious while everyone else quickly acclimated to Robin’s presence. Not wanting to burst their bubble, Zoro kept his suspicions of her close to his chest. If no one else could stay guarded against her, he alone would stand as the last pillar of defense.
What Zoro didn’t expect was the addition of the Devil Child getting in the way of his alone time with Luffy. Wary of the Devil Fruit that empowered her to see or hear anything she wanted at any given moment, Zoro suppressed his searing desire to drag Luffy into the storage room at night. He settled for fleeting moments in the bathroom, up in the crow's nest, behind Merry’s patchwork main mast while the others’ attentions were diverted. But their ship was small and opportunities were frustratingly scarce.
Having the ability to hold and kiss Luffy at his leisure was a freedom Zoro didn’t know he could become addicted to. And for all of Luffy’s talks of possession, he was docile and yielded beautifully to Zoro’s fervor. They learned quickly together how to kiss each other breathless. Every time they met alone, Zoro’s hands strayed farther and farther from propriety. Romantic explorations with Luffy inevitably left him lost and aching, and he knew his true scent — bamboo and steel, ain’t that something — had to be out of control.
Finally, one day, Usopp confronted him about it. Zoro had a feeling Usopp picked the short straw, and he endeavored not to give the man a hard time.
“Yeah, so, buddy…” There was no comfortable way to start such a conversation. “We, um, you see, we…”
“Fuck’s sake. Just say it, Usopp.”
“Ugh, fine. Look. I miss Kaya, okay? I miss her a lot. And you… with this thing… it’s not helping, is what I’m saying.”
Zoro scratched his forehead. “Is it that bad?”
“Oh, pfft!” Usopp started gesticulating wildly with his arms; Zoro backed away two steps for safety. “You know it’s not you, right? Like, not really. Because, buddy, never in a million years would I try to, you know, with you.”
“Right. Because I’d slice your dick to pieces.”
“Fair! That’s fair! But like, when you get… like that, and we can all smell it, it is so distracting! And it’s so not fair because Kaya is on the other side of the freaking Red Line, okay? I’m dying here! And have you noticed? Robin has just been hiding in her room. And Sanji! Poor Sanji is about to throw himself overboard to get away from you!”
Zoro had the cognizance to blush, but he also couldn’t help adding, “He is welcome to do that any time.”
Usopp covered his face with both hands and let out a groan from the depth of his stomach. “Zoro. Zoro. Buddy. Pal. As a group of alphas who care for your wellbeing and our own peace of mind, we’d like to humbly suggest, perhaps the next time we make land, you could, I don’t know, go to a bar and find a, er, friend? Get yourself an alpha who doesn’t instantly irritate the crap out of you, and just… let loose a bit, yeah?”
“What?”
“Yeah, you know. Get into some stranger danger — the fun kind. But maybe don’t let them talk, because I feel like you’ll want to cut them up if they try to talk to you.”
Zoro had been thoroughly and expertly trained on dispelling alpha compulsion, but he had to admit, sensei wasn’t the best teacher when it came to basic biology lessons. It sounded like Usopp knew what he was talking about, though, which made him the best person to ask, “What makes you think I haven’t been letting loose?”
A parade of colorful commentary flitted across Usopp’s face before it settled on an emphatically sympathetic “…Dude.”
Zoro put a hand on Sandai Kitetsu.
“Okay, chill out!” It was Usopp’s turn to jump out of the way. “Look, we’re not stupid. You’ve been like this since before we dropped anchor at Alabasta, and we see how you look at him. But Zoro, man, Luffy is not like everyone else. He’s not an alpha. He’s not even an omega, in which case you could at least try to scent each other that way. He doesn’t feel the same instincts we do. We just don’t want to see you pine forever.”
“I’m not pining!”
“Sure, sure! And you know and we know Luffy loves you, in ways he can. But we all need something more physical from time to time. I totally get it. It’s not like Luffy will care if you, ya know. So, think about it, ‘kay?”
Biting back a pained chortle, Zoro agreed just to make Usopp go away. If Usopp dragged out the conversation any longer, Zoro would have spat out that Luffy would care, he’d care very much, and Zoro knew better than anyone that instincts or not, true scent or not, Luffy felt something when they were together.
Once the indignation faded, however, Zoro fell sullen at the implications of Usopp’s words. If he reeked of unfulfilled desire despite the deep-hearted happiness he felt these last few days, it could only mean that being with Luffy satisfied none of Zoro’s basic omega urges. What did that imply for him and Luffy’s future? Would it always be so? Would his body eventually decide it needed an alpha after all?
Before he could ponder the issue further, another startling realization sank in: Usopp hadn’t smelled him on Luffy. And if the crew gossiped as much as he expected them to, the only explanation for their lack of nosiness was that nobody had managed to smell him on Luffy. Nobody had even noticed. He had left no mark whatsoever on Luffy’s scent-null body.
Zoro felt blindsided. He’d known all along Luffy could never mark him, and it didn’t bother him because Luffy had made Zoro his own in all the ways that truly mattered. But if he was honest, he had hoped to leave some traces of himself on his captain.
In the days to follow, Zoro became increasingly ill-at-ease over this realization. He stopped caring about Robin or Usopp or any of the others. He stopped choosing blind spots and ungodly hours. Zoro cornered Luffy whenever he could find the time, pushing up on his captain against doors and railings and masts and tangerine trees with his mouth parched and his hands frenetic.
The restlessness that overwhelmed Zoro was new and intolerable. He was distracted in a manner he hadn’t been since childhood. Even when he practiced his sword forms, routines that had long sunken into his bones, his movements stuttered embarrassingly.
This could not go on, Zoro told himself day after day. But when each day began anew and Luffy still smelled of nothing, the beast within him would roar in discontent.
He could tell Luffy sensed something was amiss because Luffy indulged him like never before, letting Zoro monopolize his time and attention without question. When they were alone and Zoro burned too hot too fast, Luffy would put a palm on his scarred chest in order to gaze into his eyes, then he’d pull him close and squeeze until Zoro’s breathing slowed.
Days went on, and Zoro could not climb out of the hole he’d dug for himself.
He remained stuck when they arrived at Jaya with promises of an island in the sky, and their attention had to turn to adventure, because danger lurked in even the smallest ports.
Mock Town was filled to the brim with wannabe hotshots who waved their alpha scents around like banners of war. Plenty of omega scents swirled in equal measure, loud and purposefully alluring. The further they went, the more blatantly provocative the omegas became, hanging halfway out windows beckoning passerby or lounging on porches in what could only constitute as negligees.
During their three-member reconnaissance mission in Mock Town, they met an omega with an affinity for cherry pies; he would haunt Zoro’s nightmares for years to come. In that moment inside the pub, the stranger they’d later call Blackbeard left only an unsettling impression. Craggly, grimy, and reeking of rosemary and oil paint, the man was possibly the worst candidate for an omega Zoro had ever seen, worse than even himself.
Something about the omega set off alarms in Zoro’s head, and he might have been more concerned if the argument between the man and Luffy over food wasn’t the most idiotic thing Zoro had heard in a while. He didn’t get the chance to dwell on the potential threat. The omega caused no trouble and didn’t stay for long. Their attention was immediately diverted by the appearance of Bellamy the Hyena.
In the grand scheme of things, their encounter with Bellamy was but a small blip, something to forget about an hour later. But Zoro had been wound up for days, running furious circles inside his own head, getting pissed off at biology and nature and everything he couldn’t do anything about.
Then in walked Bellamy — Permeation-grade, high-level — and it was immediately clear that he was there to pick a fight. If Zoro didn’t spend every day around a monster like Sanji or had recently befriended Ace, he might have been on guard. As it was, he merely chugged the cold tankard of ale the bartender set down before him, irritation growing like an infection.
Bellamy was polite at first, asked for Luffy’s name and even bought him a drink. Within seconds, however, he abruptly slammed Luffy’s head into the bar. The suddenness surprised even Zoro, though his reaction was anything but slow.
Sandai Kitetsu was at Bellamy’s throat before Luffy hit the ground. Zoro’s shitty week just got shittier.
Unaware of the brewing storm, Bellamy grinned, “What do you think you’re doing, omega?”
“I’d ask you the same, but I don’t expect any answers from trash. Apologize to my captain. Now.”
“Your captain?” The Hyena laughed. The once-over he gave Zoro made his skin crawl. “An omega like you is wasted on a defect like him. How about you join my crew? I’ll be sure to treat you nice.”
Behind him, Nami was beseeching them to not start a fight, which unfortunately meant Bellamy noticed her next. His appreciative scrutiny turned lecherous as he shifted his attention to her.
“Two omegas? Your freak of a captain isn’t very smart for bringing you to town like this. There might be alphas with bad intentions.”
Luffy was up and dusting off the wooden splinters that had rained upon him when the bar shattered. He stood between Bellamy and Zoro and calmly demanded, “You trying to take me on?”
Bellamy didn’t acknowledge him. Still eyeing Zoro and Nami, his gaze turned more and more manic as the seconds ticked by. Zoro restrained himself. He wanted to wait for Luffy’s lead since it was Luffy who had been insulted initially, but Bellamy had to reopen his big mouth.
“I gotta say, it really grinds my gears to see two top-notch omegas wandering the seas without proper protection. Seeing as you’re unclaimed, I think I’ll take you. How about it, you two? Want me to show you a good time?”
Unlike Zoro, most people couldn’t read Luffy’s bubbling anger. His unimposing stature and perpetual cheerfulness belied the dangers masked by his silence. If they knew, they might not goad him nearly as much.
A man in a fur coat and a woman with yellow hair flanked Bellamy. More members of the Hyena’s crew convened at the ready. Bolstered by their presence, Bellamy sidestepped Luffy completely. He brazenly got into Zoro’s personal space and made a point to sniff the air.
Bellamy announced to his leering crew, “Guys, I’ve taken a liking to these two. Let’s escort our new friends to the ship. But be careful of this omega. He smells… wild.”
Zoro flinched but did not move, for he was shielding Nami behind himself. He couldn’t control the shudder of disgust that ran down his back. Now that he knew his own true scent — because Luffy laid a claim on him — Bellamy’s choice of words sounded overtly deliberate. It was provocation, harassment, and humiliation rolled into one. Once upon a time, Zoro would not have cared, but as with many things in his life, Luffy changed that.
The thought of someone else, someone like Bellamy, laying a challenging claim on him was unacceptable.
Luffy must have sensed the anger churning within him. Somehow, Zoro’s growing displeasure seemed to have neutralized his own. He was almost calm when he said, “Zoro, this one is yours.”
Mindful of the pub, Zoro had the good manners to take the fight outside. Luffy ran double duty keeping Nami safe while barring Bellamy’s crew from assisting their captain.
The fight itself was one-sided and anticlimactic. Bellamy had a Devil Fruit, but Zoro had just learned how to cut steel, and he was particularly motivated. Drawing only Wado, Zoro executed a singular iai that stopped a bouncing Bellamy in his tracks. The bout was over so fast Bellamy had no chance to scent-compel him.
In the end, they didn’t get any useful information about the sky island from their trip into town. Torn between fury at Bellamy’s insinuations and their own lack of success, Nami stomped ahead back to the Merry.
Luffy and Zoro walked back in silence. Zoro had won the fight and defended his own honor and the honor of his captain, but he felt no happier for it. By the look on Luffy’s face, he was equally troubled.
“Zoro,” Luffy asked once they’d cleared the perimeter of the town, his voice small and sad, “do you wish I could scent you, like an alpha?”
The ale Zoro drank churned in his stomach. “Of course not, Luffy! I don’t care about that.”
It wasn’t anyone’s fault that he couldn’t leave a part of himself on Luffy. He couldn’t even blame Bellamy for thinking he was unclaimed. Nothing he or Luffy could ever do would be enough to legitimize their bond in the eyes of society. As a pirate, he shouldn’t care one bit.
But he did. He cared a lot more than he’d expected to.
Zoro was mired in a helplessness that felt aggravatingly familiar. It reminded him too much of sensei, with tear tracks on his face, consoling him about dwelling over things neither of them could change.
So no, he did not begrudge Luffy’s biology. He would rather take the blame entirely unto himself. Luffy shouldn’t be made to feel responsible for Zoro’s own insecurities.
Steeling himself for a lie he did not want to tell, Zoro stroked Luffy’s cheek and said, “I promise it’s not that, Luffy. I just have something on my mind. I’ll get over it soon. I swear.”
Luffy looked at him again — in that dissecting way he did these days — and did not push any further. But gullible as he was, Luffy showed no indication of whether he believed Zoro’s lie. He only offered patience, and it shamed Zoro like never before.
***
Their brief conversation at Jaya never saw a conclusion. As Zoro and every Straw Hat had come to learn, Luffy preferred action over long-winded heart-to-hearts. After they made their way skyward and new threats charged from all sides, Zoro proved his loyalty in the only way he knew how: by cutting down Luffy’s enemies.
In many ways, Skypiea turned out to be a necessary and much appreciated detour. The island existed as a space outside of time. Beyond the reaches of the World Government and shrouded in mysticism, it was easy for Zoro to believe their adventures on the sky island were as illusory as the clouds it sat on.
Like fishmen, the residents of Skypiea have no secondary genders. Up there, Zoro could forget for a while the direction fate seemed so keen to push him toward. He felt lighter, like the burdens he kept placing upon himself could be forgotten if he so wished. Up there, a sword was a sword and his life was his own.
The thinner atmosphere also meant smells were fainter and true scents dissipated into the air a lot more easily. Without intensely strong alpha scents whirling about, Zoro’s long overworked instincts found a temporary respite. A new tranquility embraced him, and in just a few days, Zoro began to see the world on brighter terms.
He and Sanji fought a little less; Nico Robin’s already unobtrusive charcoal and orchid became downright difficult to detect at times. Up there, Zoro was forced to see his crew as they were, and while he’d never acknowledge it, their relationship became all the better for it.
When Luffy toppled a god to save yet another civilization from ruin, the echoes of the golden bell of Shandora rang for what felt like weeks inside Zoro’s head. With every reverberation, Zoro climbed a little higher out of the quagmire of self-doubt.
At the celebratory banquet, Zoro’s vision had never been clearer. While the victors danced, firelight pranced about Luffy’s person, framing him in a golden nimbus. To Zoro, he was at once a reclaimed treasure and an unattainable dream. Zoro got drunk to the sight of him.
After the party drew to a reluctant close and everyone passed out where they lay, Zoro was overwhelmed with a desire to crawl to his sleeping captain. They hadn’t shared an intimate moment since Jaya. There had been too much violence and not enough honesty. But Zoro still couldn’t make himself move.
He excused his inaction on the fact Chopper had fallen asleep on his folded legs, and Chopper was a furry ball of warmth he didn’t want to set down. Zoro nursed the jar of distilled liquor Wiper had thrown at him. He felt drunker than he had in a very long time.
A slim figure sat down next to him. A breeze of charcoal and orchid came and went. “I’d call it a night if I were you,” Robin advised. “At high altitudes, it’s much easier to get drunk.”
Zoro grunted. “This liquor isn’t bad. Who knows when I’ll get to taste it again.”
“I guess I never imagined you of all people would require a dose of liquid courage.”
Zoro could hear the smirk in her voice. He didn’t deny it. But he wondered how much she knew. Surely no one could see into his heart, see the shame and the guilt.
The ringing of the golden bell refused to leave Zoro alone.
“And I never imagined you for small talk,” he deflected.
“I am merely trying to thank you for saving my life.”
Zoro didn’t know what to do with that. Everyone on the crew had saved one another plenty of times, but no one was expected to express gratitude; it was just what they did.
“…Is this how you say thanks? By ragging on me about my drinking?”
Robin laughed. She reached over to scratch behind Chopper’s left antler; the young doctor twitched.
“You'll have to excuse me. For those of us unfamiliar with self-expression, feelings like concern and apprehension can be difficult to convey. I sometimes worry that others may mistake them for disdain.”
Zoro put down his drink and didn’t say a word.
When Robin smiled, her eyes were tired but free from shadows. That freedom was probably what emboldened her to say, “Now then, may I have Chopper, please? I think you would be much happier holding someone else for the night."
His hands effectively forced, Zoro scowled at her but passed over the sleeping reindeer nonetheless.
Under Robin’s watchful eyes, Zoro could go nowhere else but to his captain’s side. Luffy had passed out spread-eagle next to Usopp, with Nami’s shin thrown haphazardly across his face.
The alcohol blurred Zoro’s eyes and brain. He looked back and saw Robin was still tracking him diligently, so he moved Nami and Usopp aside and made a space for himself. Then he lay down and pulled his captain close.
Surrounded by allies and friends — family — Zoro breathed in and tried to let go. There was Luffy in his arms, alive and safe and resolute like a truth immutable. He reminded himself that there were certain things in life he could not change, but as always, he must fight tooth and nail for the few precious people he cared about.
Luffy was the single best thing to ever happen to him. Should his omega instinct ever clamor for more, he would need to find a way to cut it out like a tumor and drown it in the sea. Nothing could tear him away from Luffy, least of all himself.
Assured in the strength of his own vow, Zoro could rest at last. Just before he surrendered to dreams with Luffy’s tresses tickling his nose, he saw Nico Robin had finally fallen asleep.