Chapter Text
“…Ro!” A distant boyish voice rings out. It reaches its intended's ears. Finally. “Hey, Zoro! Did’ya hear me? Wait. Zoro, you’re leaking!”
Blearily, Zoro blinks and wipes the stream of booze trailing from his mouth to chin, dripping on the wooden bar slab. Plink. Plink. Plink.
Slowly lifting his head as the setting sun shines into his eyes, he’s blinded. Against the fading sun’s haze, he can only see the striking view of a brown and red straw hat gleaming like a halo around its owner’s head. Red frills and blue shorts materialize next as two full-chest scars forming a thick, keloid X impress upon his gaze.
A cross.
As his vision clears, two doe-brown eyes curiously blink back at him, causing something deep and soulful to stir and melt within him.
“Huh?” Zoro grunts a bit dazedly. He’s unsure if he drifted off into his own inner world or if he was just drunk.
“I said…” the loud, raspy voice drawled, “I want you to top me.”
Pushing the straw hat off his crown, the dark-haired man casually repeats his proposal like he’d only requested something as inconsequential as a pirate-hunting swordsman being the first mate on his pirate ship.
Okay, so it wasn’t just the quality Wano saké he’d been guzzling all evening messing with his hearing.
Zoro had heard his captain right the first time. “Huh?” he repeats, dumbfounded— even for him.
“I don’t know what you’re not getting?” the spry guy frowns and makes a circle with one hand and raises his index finger with the other, gesturing his desired action with his fingers. “I want you to stick your di-“
Zoro sputters out the rest of the alcohol in his gullet. “Oi! Luffy! Okay, I get it! Stop!” he scolds his oversharing best friend, a hair above a whisper. Zoro didn't know why, though; no one could hear them way up here.
They're in the Thousand Sunny’s crow’s nest, Zoro's private lair in the sky when they were at sea. It's just twilight, and the sky is kaleidoscopic watercolors of pinks, oranges, yellows, and blues. That meant the rest of the crew was in their own corners of the ship doing whatever it was they did for alone time.
Jinbe stayed at the helm day and night.
Brook was yodeling at breakfast about a new Soul King song he needed out of his skull. So, he was probably off doing that in the Aquarium Bar.
Franky had been banging away in his Weapons Development room, tinkering with something or the other all day.
Robin's reading another thick book on the deck. (Zoro could see her from way up here.)
Chopper had been locked away in his lab since lunch, too excited to finish eating, developing the new medicines he had been itching to restock.
Shitty Cook was definitely in the kitchen, where he belonged. Zoro's stomach won’t stop grumbling from the smells of dinner wafting from below.
Usopp's probably...well, Zoro didn't really know where Usopp was or what he did in his free time. (Besides inventing sniper stars or whatever he called them in Usopp's Factory, he guessed.)
Nami's catty ass started taking long, hot baths just before dinner in the private bath she sweet-talked Franky into making when she happened upon the crow’s nest’s second-floor schematics. Hopefully, scrubbing off all that witchery and greed that clung to her like sand and sea salt.
And then there’s...
Luffy laughs.
His cheerful tone clings to Zoro’s reddening ears like warm earmuffs. "Zoro's squeamish!" Zoro frowns at that, his cheeks tinting rouge just a bit. Luffy never fails to leave the guarded swordsman feeling so exposed under his observant gaze--which, in Zoro's embarrassed opinion, happened a lot. Maybe Luffy was secretly using his Observation Haki on Zoro.
Yeah.
He shoots Luffy a sharp glare. "I am not!" he rebuffs through knit eyebrows, refilling his wooden mug with the half-empty saké bottle on the bar counter. The red tint in his ears has now flushed down his entire face. He averts his gaze to the three swords leaning on their hilts beside the free weights rack on his right, hoping Luffy won't notice.
“Zoro’s blushing,” Luffy playfully sings.
“I am not!” But he can’t bring himself to meet Luffy’s all-knowing eyes. His focus is instead drawn to the polished wood beam floors. He could still smell the fresh scent of the Adam Tree bark. Franky had done a hell of a job constructing a second-floor dojo studio space with a fully stocked minibar just for the swordsman.
Luffy snickers through his teeth. " Shishishi," his boyish rasp punctuating the wide open space that was Zoro’s personal man cave. Well— and Luffy’s.
Wherever Zoro was, so would Luffy be.
"Yeah, yeah," Luffy dismisses Zoro's fib with a cheeky grin, much to Zoro's chagrin. The younger man never takes his anger seriously, especially not when it’s because Luffy’s flirting flusters him. Zoro didn’t like that Luffy liked to poke at him in ways that rattled Zoro's brain when he finally stopped. It was so annoying. But also... not?
Luffy's frontside is pressed against the tall windowpane, in his favorite spot in the crow's nest, staring through the unobstructed view of the open seas all around, overlooking Sunny's bow. Always looking forward, Luffy was. Always seeking the next adventure beyond the horizon. It was why Zoro enjoyed following him. With Luffy, all that mattered was the present and the future. With Luffy, Zoro could leave the past behind without fear of tomorrow.
When Zoro was with Luffy, he was free.
Luffy looks back at Zoro like a child marveling at his favorite toy, his under-eye scar scrunching ever so adorably against his smooth face. His sunkissed complexion glistened in Zoro’s dull gray eyes, its radiance competing against the orange-dipped sun and the wide, shimmering blue sea— and Luffy was winning.
To Zoro, Luffy always looks beautiful. Against the sunlight. Under the moonlight. At all times.
Luffy’s clear, round gaze holds Zoro’s face with youthful expectation. That sparkle in his eyes that he gets when he’s just discovered a new adventure seizes the air in Zoro’s lungs and squeezes something swollen beneath his rib cage.
Luffy stretches his tanned, rubber arms across the large room to reach around Zoro’s broad shoulders. Not many people could wrap him up like that. After two years apart, Zoro was no longer a lean guy like his captain, but the gesture... It makes him feel wanted. It's weird.
But, also…it’s not?
Zoro found Luffy’s to be the most comforting touch imaginable. Strong. Warm. Caring.
“S’kay?” he quietly, longingly asks. Why he wants this so badly, Zoro has no clue, but it’s the tone in his voice, how it turned down low and rumbled with excitement, and it’s the mix of emotions sending Zoro's belly swirling with all the alcohol he's consumed. That’s right. It’s the alcohol that’s making him seasick, that makes him wonder how he could possibly resist the man standing in front of him like a king.
“Luffy.” It’s all he can breathe. The name that changed his life. The name that saved him from an unspeakable death. The name that he called for recognition, reassurance, and respect. Luffy. The last prayer Zoro made before he slipped into drunken slumber at night, sometimes with Luffy already snoring in his arms, but especially during all those lonely, brutal, and beaten nights on Kuraigana Island when he missed his captain so much it made losing his eye hurt much less.
Luffy.
Zoro downs the entire mug in one shot to the head, mulling over the patiently waiting man’s unexpected solicitation.
Topping Luffy? Huh… that just didn’t sound like a good idea. Though, Zoro can’t say he’s ever given it much thought before now. Sure, it crossed his mind when he met the nosy rascal while tied to a cross, awaiting certain execution on Shell Island. It’s not every day an independent guy meets a short king who’s not overcompensating for a goddamn thing. But it's been four years since his savior unbound him from his death sentence. Since then, he’s learned much about his captain and closest friend.
Like how Luffy is the only man that Zoro couldn’t dominate, and that’s what Zoro liked so much about the short man and his lucky straw hat. They'd fought and sparred over the years, but never as a true power struggle. Just as a test of strength and will— iron sharpening iron.
Yet, Zoro couldn’t deny that there was always something alluring about Luffy. So much so that he was the only man Zoro never wanted to beat. He couldn’t imagine overpowering his captain, even as strong as he had become for the smaller man. He'd gotten stronger to protect Luffy, not to best him. Luffy was his north star, and being the moon in Luffy’s world was more than enough for Zoro. If he compared it to anything else in his life?
It's everything.
Besides, he’s grown to prefer it this way, being Luffy’s number two. It's become his life’s greatest honor. He knew his training was all in preparation to be the King of the Pirate's Lord Commander. Zoro had all the time to take charge and power to be the strongest swordsman on the battlefield in front of their enemies after Luffy told him the plans. He would lay down his life protecting Luffy.
Being Luffy’s number two wasn’t submissive then.
So when they started having sex, Zoro was more than satisfied receiving his captain, allowing Luffy to take the lead as usual, even when the latter had no clue what he was doing. It was fine to him because Luffy was a fast learner when he had a purpose, and Zoro liked his enthusiasm whenever he found his rhythm when trying new things. He always does. Zoro had followed Luffy through more than enough harrowing events that being by his side, in battle and in bed, was as natural as breathing in the blade. For Zoro, trusting Luffy and letting go of all his fears about the risks involved was easier than breathing itself, simply because he knew who he was fighting alongside and the badass life they shared.
But Zoro enjoyed being submissive to Luffy in his bed.
In the ship's lounge,
the bathhouse,
in the crow's nest,
on the deck's lawn,
in the captain's quarters…
In Luffy’s favorite hammock.
Sex was simply another manifestation of their partnership: Luffy led, and Zoro followed, willfully obeying his captain’s orders even when they were just best friends fucking around. Time well spent when bored or, occasionally, horny.
It's not romantic in any way, is what he told the creepy cook in exchange for five bottles of wine from the cellar. That’s not what Zoro and Luffy did with—or even wanted from—each other. It was more like a tactile stim that eased Zoro's touch-deprived body and answered a silent prayer within him for connection and intimacy. And yeah, Curly Brows might've pointed out that Zoro only wanted that from, er-he meant, with Luffy, leaving Zoro wondering for a whole day if the chef was pulling his leg or not.
That isn't romance.
But it did make sense for them. Luffy provided all that without emotional strings attached, threatening his agency or autonomy as a pirate and a swordsman. The balance was the closest thing to unconditional love Zoro had in his life, and Zoro rather reveled in how fiercely Luffy trusted him. That’s why, when they started exploring BDSM together, per Luffy’s random suggestion after their victory against Kaido, it only made sense for Zoro to agree to keep their dynamic further intact. He knew before their voyage together began that he was in it, all or nothing, but Wano solidified some things in the swordsman’s brain that made him more committed to Luffy’s leadership than ever.
Zoro prided himself on many things. Swordfighting, his astronomical alcohol tolerance, his training regiment, and how he was very good at taking orders from Luffy—and no one else. So, even if Zoro didn’t know Luffy’s reason—or where the space cadet of a sea captain even picked up the idea—from his perspective, it made sense that BDSM was another way for them to strengthen their bond. Sex was just another battlefield between bodies, wills, and minds: maintaining verbal communication, aligning positions and strategies, and reading body language. They complemented each other so well on the battlefield that it was easily the same in bed.
Or was it the other way around? If he were honest, it didn't matter either way to Zoro. All that came of their sexual relationship was the reminder that in Luffy, Zoro had both a trusted partner in piracy and bomb-ass sex. Besides, Luffy remained an eager sex partner, if not impatient, just as he was a captain, but never got too aggressive when things got rough from the thrill of whatever sparked the session. So, he never thought to ask Luffy what he thought of their friendship.
Or if he was dissatisfied with their current arrangement.
That bothered Zoro; the possibility was too astute for him to process while drunk. This was Luffy he was thinking about! Things like this were never that deep with him. They never actually spoke about their feelings. Well, Zoro didn't. Luffy was a speak-before-think kind of feeler. Maybe he took that for granted?
But when was Zoro supposed to give it more than a fleeting thought if Luffy never said so? When they were fighting enemies every other week or when they were fucking every other night? When, even though Zoro follows Luffy’s orders without a hitch, Luffy never bosses Zoro around as his captain? An order, a command, wasn't bossy. They did what they had to do beside and inside each other. Still, they were always playing their roles— captain, first mate.
But as his Dom…?
Well, Luffy became another person.
A switch flips on in Luffy that Zoro cannot explain. Still, he likes it.
Whenever Nami forces him to talk (because she's nosier than Usopp's nose concerning crew gossip) about the reason they have sex and engage in kink play, she always teases him, says it's love, and that she knew it all along, and they should make it official and blah blah blah. But no. He doesn’t buy it. So Zoro usually ends the conversation right after her first rubber sex joke. The jokes never irritated him because they were never funny. It's just what Luffy and he share feels more stable and compatible than boring, romantic love. To reduce it to that, to water down quality booze like that felt… wrong. Disrespectful to their hard-fought pact of trust and hard-won bond of friendship.
So, why did Luffy want to switch it up now? Zoro can stop himself from getting lost in his thoughts. What does this mean? He feels his heart race, and he pulls his bottom lip to keep from biting it off.
“Zoro! Zorooooo…” Luffy's playful voice snaps him back to attention. He looks to where it has traveled. Luffy leans his body against the fridge door, tearing a chunk of flesh off a monstrous drumstick. He looks puzzled but open. Always a clear cup. “Hey buddy, are you okay? You keep getting quiet,” Luffy pouts like a spoiled brat—he is a spoiled brat, Zoro huffs—pulling his rubber neck low enough to meet Zoro’s pensive gaze on the bar counter.
Zoro couldn’t raise his eyes to meet his best friend. “You’re kidding, right?” he asks through slurred, confused speech. Maybe he shouldn’t have downed that fourth bottle so fast. But the second Zoro’s brain caught up to his question, he instantly sobered up. It was a ridiculous question. Luffy never asked for things he didn’t want. It was the one constant that—apart from his unwavering loyalty to his friends—the center of their crew’s universe offered: Honesty.
Luffy’s eyebrows dipped and arched, gazing at Zoro, puzzled. Zoro knew why. “So… Is that a no, then?” Zoro could sense the disappointment threatening to coat Luffy’s tone, but when all Zoro did was slack his jaw like a fish out of water, still trying to wrap his head around Luffy’s ask, the latter rushed out, “It’s no pressure, of course! I just thought I’d ask because you’re the only one I trust to ask this of…and w are fucking each other. Oh, that came out wrong—I mean, you’re the only one I’m active with, so I-”
Luffy was blubbering. Nervous. It was cute, but—
Zoro hiccups. Since when did Luffy get nervous? And around him, at that! Zoro slowly lifts his chin. The look on Luffy’s face…
Wild, bright, and insatiably excited.
It reminds him of their reunion in Wano. Many moons ago, when Zoro saw that long-missed smile, the polluted wasteland outside of Bakura Town became a lush garden.
Still.
“It’s an…” Zoro started, hesitating to finish his sentence. A comment from Luffy robs Zoro’s attention and quiets his doubts.
You’re the only one I trust…
That’s right. Luffy trusts him. Probably as much as Zoro trusted Luffy- no. That was impossible. Zoro trusted Luffy with his life. More than life itself, actually. More than any god he didn't believe in. There was no way Luffy’s trust in him could compare to how much he trusted his captain. Zoro could not imagine that at all.
Okay…
Finally, his confidence rises, and his lips part, though a lump of anxiety rolls in his throat. “...I’ll…think about it,” Zoro said stoically. But his heart was racing a nautical mile a minute.
How bad could it be?
“Yeah?” Luffy gasps, snapping onto Zoro's back and bouncing with glee. “Shishishi!”
His joyful smile swallows half his face whole, which is now pressing against Zoro's cheek, clinking Zoro's three gold earrings together in his ear. “Zoro is the best!” He ruffles Zoro’s hair with the bone of his palm. Good thing his buzzcut had grown out. It doesn’t hurt, but Zoro winces and groans anyway to conceal his blush.
He swallows the frog forming in his throat—the sensation of Luffy's imprint pushing against Zoro's spine and the joyous laughter bubbling up from Luffy's throat is just too much for Zoro to handle. He hadn’t even said yes but by the feel of him, Luffy already knew Zoro's answer anyhow.
This is just how they worked: Luffy presses. Zoro acquiesces.
Zoro sighs in resignation, silently regretting his hasty decision. His stomach flips and then churns at a sudden but fleeting thought:
This would change everything between them, wouldn’t it?
⚔️🪢
TO BE
CONTINUED