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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months ago

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Boeing’s deliberately defective fleet of flying sky-wreckage

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (May 2) in WINNIPEG, then Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!

Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner" is manufactured far from the company's Seattle facility, in a non-union shop in Charleston, South Carolina. At that shop, there is a cage full of defective parts that have been pulled from production because they are not airworthy.

Hundreds of parts from that Material Review Segregation Area (MRSA) were secretly pulled from that cage and installed on aircraft that are currently plying the world's skies. Among them, sections 47/48 of a 787 – the last four rows of the plane, along with its galley and rear toilets. As Moe Tkacik writes in her excellent piece on Boeing's lethally corrupt culture of financialization and whistleblower intimidation, this is a big ass chunk of an airplane, and there's no way it could go missing from the MRSA cage without a lot of people knowing about it:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-04-30-whistleblower-laws-protect-lawbreakers/

More: MRSA parts are prominently emblazoned with red marks denoting them as defective and unsafe. For a plane to escape Boeing's production line and find its way to a civilian airport near you with these defective parts installed, many people will have to see and ignore this literal red flag.

The MRSA cage was a special concern of John "Swampy" Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower who is alleged to have killed himself in March. Tkacik's earlier profile of Swampy paints a picture of a fearless, stubborn engineer who refused to go along to get along, refused to allow himself to become inured to Boeing's growing culture of profits over safety:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-03-28-suicide-mission-boeing/

Boeing is America's last aviation company and its single largest exporter. After the company was allowed to merge with its rival McDonnell-Douglas in 1997, the combined company came under MDD's notoriously financially oriented management culture. MDD CEO Harry Stonecipher became Boeing's CEO in the early 2000s. Stonecipher was a protege of Jack Welch, the man who destroyed General Electric with cuts to quality and workforce and aggressive union-busting, a classic Mafia-style "bust-out" that devoured the company's seed corn and left it a barren wasteland:

https://qz.com/1776080/how-the-mcdonnell-douglas-boeing-merger-led-to-the-737-max-crisis

Post-merger, Boeing became increasingly infected with MDD's culture. The company chased cheap, less-skilled labor to other countries and to America's great onshore-offshore sacrifice zone, the "right-to-work" American south, where bosses can fire uppity workers who balked at criminal orders, without the hassle of a union grievance.

Stonecipher was succeeded by Jim "Prince Jim" McNerney, ex-3M CEO, another Jack Welch protege (Welch spawned a botnet of sociopath looters who seized control of the country's largest, most successful firms, and drove them into the ground). McNerney had a cute name for the company's senior engineers: "phenomenally talented assholes." He created a program to help his managers force these skilled workers – everyone a Boeing who knew how to build a plane – out of the company.

McNerney's big idea was to get rid of "phenomenally talented assholes" and outsource the Dreamliner's design to Boeing's suppliers, who were utterly dependent on the company and could easily be pushed around (McNerney didn't care that most of these companies lacked engineering departments). This resulted in a $80b cost overrun, and a last-minute scramble to save the 787 by shipping a "cleanup crew" from Seattle to South Carolina, in the hopes that those "phenomenally talented assholes" could save McNerney's ass.

Swampy was part of the cleanup crew. He was terrified by what he saw there. Boeing had convinced the FAA to let them company perform its own inspections, replacing independent government inspectors with Boeing employees. The company would mark its own homework, and it swore that it wouldn't cheat.

Boeing cheated. Swampy dutifully reported the legion of safety violations he witnessed and was banished to babysit the MRSA, an assignment his managers viewed as a punishment that would isolate Swampy from the criminality he refused to stop reporting. Instead, Swampy audited the MRSA, and discovered that at least 420 defective aviation components had gone missing from the cage, presumably to be installed in planes that were behind schedule. Swampy then audited the keys to the MRSA and learned that hundreds of keys were "floating around" the Charleston facility. Virtually anyone could liberate a defective part and install it into an airplane without any paper trail.

Swampy's bosses had a plan for dealing with this. They ordered Swampy to "pencil whip" the investigations of 420 missing defective components and close the cases without actually figuring out what happened to them. Swampy refused.

Instead, Swampy took his concerns to a departmental meeting where 12 managers were present and announced that "if we can’t find them, any that we can’t find, we need to report it to the FAA." The only response came from a supervisor, who said, "We’re not going to report anything to the FAA."

The thing is, Swampy wasn't just protecting the lives of the passengers in those defective aircraft – he was also protecting Boeing employees. Under Sec 38 of the US Criminal Code, it's a 15-year felony to make any "materially false writing, entry, certification, document, record, data plate, label, or electronic communication concerning any aircraft or space vehicle part."

(When Swampy told a meeting that he took this seriously because "the paperwork is just as important as the aircraft" the room erupted in laughter.)

Swampy sent his own inspectors to the factory floor, and they discovered "dozens of red-painted defective parts installed on planes."

Swampy blew the whistle. How did the 787 – and the rest of Boeing's defective flying turkeys – escape the hangar and find their way into commercial airlines' fleets? Tkacik blames a 2000 whistleblower law called AIR21 that:

creates such byzantine procedures, locates adjudication power in such an outgunned federal agency, and gives whistleblowers such a narrow chance of success that it effectively immunizes airplane manufacturers, of which there is one in the United States, from suffering any legal repercussions from the testimony of their own workers.

By his own estimation, Swampy was ordered to commit two felonies per week for six years. Tkacik explains that this kind of operation relies on a culture of ignorance – managers must not document their orders, and workers must not be made aware of the law. Whistleblowers like Swampy, who spoke the unspeakable, were sidelined (an assessment by one of Swampy's managers called him "one of the best" and finished that "leadership would give hugs and high fives all around at his departure").

Multiple whistleblowers were singled out for retaliation and forced departure. William Hobek, a quality manager who refused to "pencil whip" the missing, massive 47-48 assembly that had wandered away from the MRSA cage, was given a "weak" performance review and fired despite an HR manager admitting that it was bogus.

Another quality manager, Cynthia Kitchens, filed an ethics complaint against manager Elton Wright who responded to her persistent reporting of defects on the line by shoving her against a wall and shouting that Boeing was "a good ol’ boys’ club and you need to get on board." Kitchens was fired in 2016. She had cancer at the time.

John Woods, yet another quality engineer, was fired after he refused to sign off on a corner-cutting process to repair a fuselage – the FAA later backed up his judgment.

Then there's Sam Salehpour, the 787 quality engineer whose tearful Congressional testimony described more corner-cutting on fuselage repairs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP0xhIe1LFE

Salehpour's boss followed the Boeing playbook to the letter: Salehpour was constantly harangued and bullied, and he was isolated from colleagues who might concur with his assessment. When Salehpour announced that he would give Congressional testimony, his car was sabotaged under mysterious circumstances.

It's a playbook. Salehpour's experience isn't unusual at Boeing. Two other engineers, working on the 787 Organization Designation Authorization, held up production by insisting that the company fix the planes' onboard navigation computers. Their boss gave them a terrible performance review, admitting that top management was furious at the delays and had ordered him to punish the engineers. The engineers' union grievance failed, with Boeing concluding that this conduct – which they admitted to – didn't rise to the level of retaliation.

As Tkacik points out, these engineers and managers that Boeing targeted for intimidation and retaliation are the very same staff who are supposed to be performing inspections of behalf of the FAA. In other words, Boeing has spent years attacking its own regulator, with total impunity.

But it's not just the FAA who've failed to take action – it's also the DOJ, who have consistently declined to bring prosecutions in most cases, and who settled the rare case they did bring with "deferred prosecution agreements." This pattern was true under Trump's DOJ and continued under Biden's tenure. Biden's prosecutors have been so lackluster that a federal judge "publicly rebuked the DOJ for failing to take seriously the reputational damage its conduct throughout the Boeing case was inflicting on the agency."

Meanwhile, there's the AIR21 rule, a "whistleblower" rule that actually protects Boeing from whistleblowers. Under AIR21, an aviation whistleblower who is retaliated against by their employer must first try to resolve their problem internally. If that fails, the whistleblower has only one course of action: file an OSHA complaint within 90 days (if HR takes more than 90 days to resolve your internal complaint, you can no have no further recourse). If you manage to raise a complaint with OSHA, it is heard by a secret tribunal that has no subpoena power and routinely takes five years to rule on cases, and rules against whistleblowers 97% of the time.

Boeing whistleblowers who missed the 90-day cutoff have filled the South Carolina courts with last-ditch attempts to hold the company to account. When they lose these cases – as is routine, given Boeing's enormous legal muscle and AIR21's legal handcuffs – they are often ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs.

Tkacik cites Swampy's lawyer, Rob Turkewitz, who says Swampy was the only one of Boeing's whistleblowers who was "savvy, meticulous, and fast-moving enough to bring an AIR 21 case capable of jumping through all the hoops" to file an AIR21 case, which then took seven years. Turkewitz calls Boeing South Carolina "a criminal enterprise."

That's a conclusion that's hard to argue with. Take Boeing's excuse for not producing the documentation of its slapdash reinstallation of the Alaska Air door plug that fell off its plane in flight: the company says it's not criminally liable for failing to provide the paperwork, because it never documented the repair. Not documenting the repair is also a crime.

You might have heard that there's some accountability coming to the Boeing boardroom, with the ouster of CEO David Calhoun. Calhoun's likely successor is Patrick Shanahan, whom Tkacik describes as "the architect of the ethos that governed the 787 program" and whom her source called "a classic schoolyard bully."

If Shanahan's name rings a bell, it might be because he was almost Trump's Secretary of Defense, but that was derailed by the news that he had "emphatically defended" his 17 year old son after the boy nearly beat his mother to death with a baseball bat. Shanahan is presently CEO of Spirit Aerospace, who made the door-plug that fell out of the Alaska Airlines 737 Max.

Boeing is a company where senior managers only fail up and where whistleblowers are terrorized in and out of the workplace. One of Tkacik's sources noticed his car shimmying. The source, an ex-787 worker who'd been fired after raising safety complaints, had tried to bring an AIR21 complaint, but withdrew it out of fear of being bankrupted if he was ordered to pay Boeing's legal costs. When the whistleblower pulled over, he discovered that two of the lug-nuts had been removed from one of his wheels.

The whistleblower texted Tkcacik to say (not for the first time): "If anything happens, I'm not suicidal."

Boeing is a primary aerospace contractor to the US government. It's clear that its management – and investors – consider it too big to jail. It's also clear that they know it's too big to fail – after all, the company did a $43b stock buyback, then got billions in a publicly funded buyback.

Boeing is, effectively, a government agency that is run for the benefit of its investors. It performs its own safety inspections. It investigates its own criminal violations of safety rules. It loots its own coffers and then refills them at public expense.

Meanwhile, the company has filled our skies with at least 420 airplanes with defective, red-painted parts that were locked up in the MRSA cage, then snuck out and fitted to an airplane that you or someone you love could fly on the next time you take your family on vacation or fly somewhere for work.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/01/boeing-boeing/#mrsa

Image: Tom Axford 1 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_sky_with_wisps_of_cloud_on_a_clear_summer_morning.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Clemens Vasters (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:N7379E_-_Boeing_737_MAX_9.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

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eureka-its-zico · 1 year ago

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Chaos in Their Bones Ch. 4

Ongoing Series

Synopsis: All your life you’d listened to your friend, Usopp spin wild tales about pirates and adventure. Pirates weren’t a thing that came often to Syrup Village, but one straw hat pirate and his crew changed all that the day they arrived. Now, you aren’t so sure if your sleepy little village was always pirate-free or if no one had been paying attention.

Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x Reader

Genre: friends to lovers, frenemies to lovers, slow burn (I hope y’all like aching) eventual smut

Words: 8.7+

A/N: This chapter is mostly filler from 1.04-1.05. This chapter also, once again has a POV from Zoro. I kept going through my options of what I could do to possibly give these two idiots more alone time and this was the result. The beginning, and introduction, of Sanji begins right at Chapter 5 and I already have too many ✨ideas ✨ that I know what to do with. Also, I did add in Zoro working out. It’s a brief mention, but I just found it weird he didn’t have any of those scenes (probably for damn good reason). As always, thank you guys for all the love and support. I hope you all continue to enjoy this story🖤 Much Love, Jenn

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Previous Next

“I don’t know, Doc. You’re starting to look a little pale.”

“And green.”

You’d been hugging the side of this particular railing since you’d sailed out of port. It was your first time ever on a ship and it wasn’t going too great. You’d heard about seasickness and even had sailors come asking for Naan’s Elfroot to chew to stem the tide while they were out at sea. You always thought they were being ridiculous. How bad could it be?

Well, if your dry heaving was any indication - pretty bad. Of course, Zoro just had to make it worse.

You glanced up from looking at the water that was gently tapping the side of the boat to the growing bane of your existence. One hand was tucked into the pocket of his jeans while the other rested on the hilt of his swords. He looked effortlessly cool as he watched you with - was that a smirk?

He’d changed into a yellow shirt with fine detailing of gray lines running horizontally and vertically, which matched perfectly with his gray pants.

Zoro was more of a fashionista than he’d let on.

“It’s just the reflection of your hair,” you shot back at him.

You could feel the next wave of nausea thrashing around in your stomach and you prayed you could keep it down. You were going to lose more cool points if you hurled again. Zoro squinted over the sun's rays to regard your current state. He must have been able to tell you were 0.2 seconds from hurling because, instead of replying, he simply twirled his finger indicating for you to turn around.

You did as he instructed, but made sure to follow it up with a middle finger salute.

“Man, you two always like this? You just met.” Usopp asked.

Usopp tried doing the dotting friend routine by patting you a few times, awkwardly, on your back. It felt more like he was trying to get a burp out of you than soothe you.

“It’s because they like each other.”

Nami pranced out of the galley and chose violence. It only took both you and Zoro to register her words before you both shouted:

“I don’t like her.”

“I hate him!”

Nami wrapped her arms around herself as she looked you both over. A devious smile tilting the edges of her mouth and you had to look away before it turned into the shit eating grin you’d come to expect.

“I’m sure you both do,” she teased.

You wanted to prove to her that you meant it. Zoro would be the last person you would say you liked, like- like that. The man was literally the biggest pain in the ass you’d ever met.

“Usopp,” you croaked, “can you get my bag, please.”

“I’m on it, Doc.”

At the sound of his feet hitting the deck, a groan of discomfort resonated in your chest. How could anyone think that sailing was fun? This felt like the absolute worst.

When you first entered the Going Merry you couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. You’d heard Usopp tell you stories since he cleaned it everyday. It was as finely crafted as he’d described, and the white ashwood against the walnut was a stark contrast but complemented each other beautifully. There wasn’t another ship like the Going Merry and a one-of-a-kind ship should belong to someone as extraordinary as Luffy.

The minute you’d cast off into the giant blue you’d almost panicked. What if this was a mistake? You’d never been out in open water before nor had you ever left Syrup village. This could either be one of the greatest adventures of your life or a disaster. The only thing that kept you from flinging yourself over the side and swimming back was when you’d walked the stern and the glint of the sun shone down on the water.

The sun’s rays illuminated the water like light reflecting off a crystal glass. One minute it was the deepest blue. The color was solid enough that your reflection was easy to see and in a matter of seconds after a ray of light touched its water, it took on a cornflower hue that made the water translucent.

You’d been able to admire it for all of three seconds before you were embarrassing yourself over the port bow.

“I’m back, Doc,” Usopp spoke softly as he placed a soft hand on your shoulder. He lightly tapped the bag against your hands to try and coax you to grab it. “Do you need me to get you water or anything?”

“Water is not going to help. It’ll make it worse.”

You thought he was trying just to be his usual monotoned “Hi, I’m Zoro and I could care less,” self, but when you finally peeled your forehead off your forearm and looked at him he wasn’t even looking at either of you. He was curled up, like a lazy cat, against a couple of crates with his eyes closed and faced tilted towards the sun. With his hands infamously stuffed inside his pockets.

“It would?”

You nodded your head only once in recognition before you started searching through your bag. Your hands started scrambling inside it a soft, “No,no,” building into a frenzy before you stopped searching.

“I’m guessing your magic little root isn’t in there.”

Zoro was still sitting without a care while you felt like you wanted to throw yourself overboard.

“No. It isn’t.”

Mental note: Ask Luffy to stop at Irkhaven Isle to get supplies.

Suddenly, Zoro stood in one graceful motion and walked off towards the galley.

Ass.

You turned back to the Going Merry’s railing and held on tight. Your stomach felt like you’d swallowed glass and got punched, it was so empty. Another groan was building in your chest when a cold bottle touched the back of your arm.

The coolness to your skin sent a yelp of surprise from you, and sent you whirling to the presence beside you. Zoro was leaning back against the railing, looking as calm as ever, with a beer extended out between you.

“Isn’t it a little bit too early to be drinking?”

He rolled his eyes as he switched positions. He was now mimicking your current position against the rail but looked effortless and was still holding that damn beer out to you.

“It’s for you.”

“For me? Zoro, I don’t think now is the time to be drinking-“

“Just drink it,” he growled, an obvious annoyance replacing his earlier calm.

What hell, what was a beer going to do? At most, it would at least give your stomach something to actually throw up instead of dry heaving yourself into a six pack.

You reached out and took it from him. Zoro continued to watch you as you placed the bottle to your lips, waiting for you to take a sip.

“Could I get some privacy here?”

Zoro rolled his eyes but did as you asked looking off into the southside of the ship. You took that moment to take a long pull from the bottle. Surprisingly, it was damn good beer. You waited for the bitter aftertaste to kick in, but found it replaced with the tang of citrus. You immediately took another drink and another. It wasn’t until you were halfway to the middle of the bottle that you noticed the ship had been rocked a few times by the waves and yet…

You went to turn your attention back to Zoro and found him already staring at you.

I am not blushing.

You turned quickly to look back out at the ocean with both arms leaning over the railing as you took in the picturesque view. You couldn’t believe beer was making your sea sickness disappear. Out of your peripherals you waited for him to turn away from you. Unable to say it to his face as you played with the label that was peeling off from condensation.

Alcohol. It was brilliant. You were sure your body was still feeling sick, but the depressant in the beer wasn’t allowing those receptors to acknowledge it. Tilting the bottle at him you asked, “How’d you know this would work.”

“It’s how I survived all my boat trips. Old guy I’d met aboard my first ship when I was seventeen taught me that trick.”

“Is that why you have so much booze? Cause you have a weak stomach?”

Your question came off worse than you intended. You genuinely weren’t trying to insult him. He’d just helped you. Zoro has helped you.

“No. I just like to drink.”

His tone was void of all emotion. The little bit he’d given you quickly washed away and you wanted to kick yourself.

Foot meet mouth. Mouth meets foot.

You weren’t very good at this. The only friend you’d ever actually had was Usopp. The both of you know the tone of the other and every secret in between. You’d tried to make friends with the other kids in town, but holding up a frog as a friendship gift didn’t seem to go over too well. And on that wonderful trip down memory lane…

You straightened up and took a smaller sip from the beer before you leaned down to pick up your abandoned satchel.

“Thank you, Zoro.”

The both of you stared at the other until the silence was washed out by the squawking of seagulls and the rush of water. Even now in this weird game of chicken, you knew you would be the first to give. His dark eyes staring straight through you until you felt exposed. You tipped the bottle for good measure and turned on your heel to make your way inside the safety of the kitchen. Your hand clutching the bottle close as your brain tried to make sense of what happened.

Zoro helped you. He didn’t have too and for all intents and purposes you were surprised he didn’t just let you suffer, but he’d chosen not to. What did that even mean? He was just being friendly. It didn’t mean anything more than that.

Instead of dwelling on the question, you sat down in the corner booth and took another pull from the bottle.

——————-

After you finished your first bottle, you found another, and another until you’d ended up blissfully passed out in the booth. You were vaguely aware that Luffy and the crew had come into the galley at some point. The sound of Usopp and Luffy struggling to talk over the other was what forced you out of your nap.

“We all know who the Captain is.”

“It’s me.”

Two voices rang out as one with each ending in a high-pitch of surprise. It was his first day and already Usopp was trying to stir up mutiny on the ship. If you weren’t interested in staying unconscious you were positive you would’ve smiled.

“Just call me Captain Usopp.”

“We already know I’m the Captain.”

It didn’t surprise you they were still giving out declarations of who was Captain. You waited for it to become a campaign, like when Townsfolk ran for Mayor, but the sound of Nami’s laughter followed by - was that Zoro?! - ended both men’s rant.

“See, this is what it’s all about,” Luffy’s voice chimed in. “From now it’s going to be smooth sailing.”

He was his usual happy sounding self. You were willing to bet it was infectious, making everyone’s earlier laughter remain in the small creases by their eyes and the raise of their lips. Luffy was indeed a Captain and one of the best kind.

Enjoying the moment abruptly ended, however, when you caught the sound of a whistle outside. It grew more intense by the second. Whatever it was, was slicing through the air with a force that was audible. You weren’t sure why it took so long for your brain to register that it wasn’t a natural sound. It was rectified, however, when something violently slammed into the Going Merry and sent everything trembling.

Your back immediately shot up off the cushion of the booth. Eyes open wide as you stumble to your feet watching Nami and Zoro do the same.

“What in the hell was that?”

“Luffy opening his damn mouth,” Nami replied as you followed behind her.

You were wondering how Luffy’s mouth could have anything to do with the current sounds coming from outside. Your response died in your throat the minute you got out onto the deck. You followed them to the stern of the ship and finally saw what was waiting for you all was a very large, very metal, Marine vessel trailing behind you.

All the blood drained from your body and whatever buzz you’d had left over from earlier was now completely gone.

“It’s the marines! We’re under attack!”

Nami rushed to the wheel to begin to try evasive maneuvers to get you all out of the way of the oncoming cannonballs. Another shot rang out from the marine vessel and you waited to be struck by steaming metal and found yourself vaguely relieved when it crashed into the ocean a few feet from you.

“How did they find us?”

“Does it matter? They’re trying to blow us out of the water!”

What the hell were you supposed to do?

What in the hell could anyone do against being shot at by cannons and a marine vessel that was gaining on your small ship by the second. You could see three figures standing at the bow of the ship, eerily watching as if waiting for something - or someone - to appear.

Luffy grabbed the telescope and peered through the lens. You all waited for him to give an order and what he said next surprised everyone.

“Grandpa?”

“Grandpa!”

“Did you just call that guy grandpa?” Zoro asked, his eyes carefully watching Luffy as he glanced through the telescope back at the ship.

He didn’t answer right away. The sound of another shot being fired made all of you space out from one another. You could feel the tension singing through your nerves. The adrenaline was demanding you to move or do something else besides just hopelessly stand like a damn target. The fight or flight in you erupted to life with one key thought hoarding every inch of clarity besides one: run.

This time when the cannon came crashing down it came right at the edge of the stern. An eruption of water covering you in a fine mist of water. You didn’t get a chance to decide on what to do when another shot rang out.

“Hit the deck!”

Usopp’s scream was frantic enough you didn’t ask why, and did as he instructed and became one with the wood. Seconds later, the sound of speeding metal whizzed by you and smashed into the railing behind sending wood fragments everywhere.

You couldn’t stop the scream that tore its way from your lips as your body curled in on itself.

What the hell did I sign up for?

You could hear the sounds of feet clumsily finding their footing again as everyone began to get up. You wanted to stay where you were, but the sharp sound of Zoro calling you a coward resonated inside your chest.

You could do this. You could totally hundred-percent do this.

It was your turn to begin to get up from your place on the stern deck, and just as you moved to your knees someone offered their hand for you to take. Color you shocked when you looked up to find that hand was attached to Zoro. You must have been staring too long because he looked away, hand still out, and grumbled, “You going to keep staring at it or take it?”

Yup, and there was the Zoro you’d grown to know and loathe.

“It just burns you up inside to be so helpful, doesn’t it?”

Your voice oozed with sarcasm as you took his hand - maybe a bit too aggressively - and started to get up. Zoro saw your passive-aggressive hand smack and did you one better. He pulled you quickly to your feet, but that quickness came at the cost of your balance. Your feet couldn’t catch their footing back on the deck and you ended haphazardly colliding into his chest.

As fast as it happened, it was equally as fast that you both dislocated yourselves from each other.

“Is everybody okay?”

“I think so.”

“No. Not okay. Not even close to okay.”

“I second, Usopp,” you said.

You weren’t sure why you raised your hand. It could’ve been you just really needed them to know that no - no, this was definitely not okay.

Luffy took your concerns with a grain of salt, however, and ran over to the cannon - the only cannon - on deck. You’d only just meet him, but Luffy didn’t strike you as someone who held onto any ill will. So, you were surprised to see the determination burn in his eyes and the scowl to cross his face.

What did your grandpa do to you?

If you weren’t mortally in danger of drowning at any minute or being shredded in half by a cannonball, you might have asked.

“Usopp! Fire back at them!”

“Or how about we sail away as fast as we can?”

“I like that idea, actually,” you chimed in, a hand scratching the back of your neck. “That’s a solid plan if I ever heard one, Usopp.”

“Run from the marines?”

Luffy looked between the three of you. He couldn’t believe that Usopp, Nami, and you were apparently so quick to not want to put up much of a fight. You did enjoy not being a sea decoration.

“No. Never! Nami trim the…sail thing. Let’s sink their ship!”

“Wait, what? Are you crazy?”

You had to back up to stand next to Zoro as Luffy waved for Usopp to join him on the stern. The two of them grabbed a hold of the cannon to bring it towards an opening in the back.

“Let’s sink their ship.”

“Luffy, we don’t have time for this!” Nami interjected, but Luffy wasn’t listening. “They’re going to come up alongside us! If they do, we are finished.”

“Our odds keep sounding better and better,” you mumbled as you made your way over to Nami.

“You are our Navigator. Do something.”

Nami let out a groan before her whole demeanor changed. No longer was she trying to flee or get Luffy to see reason. Suddenly, she turned to Zoro and ordered him to go down and pull the sheet in. He didn’t waste a second before he brushed past you and down the stairs.

You waited for her to order you to do something, anything, but she must have known it would’ve been like explaining math to a baby. You didn’t even know what she’d even just asked Zoro to do. Apparently, neither did he.

“Which way is port?”

A heavy sigh left her as she shouted back, “It’s the left!”

“Have you ever loaded a cannon before?”

“Yeah, yeah I’ve loaded tons of them,” Usopp replied coolly.

You had to give Usopp props. He was literally the master of bullshit and could keep a straight face even though you both knew the only thing he loaded was his imagination.

“This is just a different model I’ve never seen before.”

“Usopp, you load the cannon in the barrel. Light it and then get the hell out of the way!”

Following Nami’s directions, Usopp rushed forward towards the barrel. You thought he was going to make it when the ball slipped out of his hand and landed with a heavy thud on the deck. You rushed forward to grab it before it rolled down the stairs, but didn’t notice Usopp rushing to join you in the hunt. What neither of you failed to notice was that the vibration from dropping the cannonball dislodged the others.

In a split second, you and Usopp collided into one another and when you stepped back to stand up your heel caught a ball. You had barely enough seconds to lean yourself forward as you slipped down the stairs, taking each stair with a thud just like the cannonballs.

Your knees slammed into the edge of one of the stairs, but the balls under your hips kept you slipping. You tried bending your knees to slow your descent only to have them successfully bump every step on the way down.

“Oh shit, Doc are you okay?” Usopp shouted down after you.

“I’m fantastic,” you grunted as you came to a stop before the last steps.

You weren’t trying to remove yourself from the stairs. You could feel the pain in your knees growing with each passing second. You were willing to bet when you stood up, that dull throb that was beginning to resonate under your skin would shoot out like lightning the minute you stood up. Unfortunately, you’d forgotten who was at the bottom of the stairs with you.

“Are you going to get up anytime soon or do you enjoy just laying there?”

You were ready to tell Zoro where he could shove his swords when a gruff voice you’d never heard cut over the chaos.

“Pirate vessel, by order of the marines, lower your sails and submit to my authority.”

You were willing to bet a million berries if that man wasn’t Luffy’s grandpa that wouldn’t even be an offer on any table. Ever. The sound of Zoro’s boots coming closer caused you to peel yourself up just enough before he - did he really just step over you?

“Oh, you asshole,” you seethed.

You scrambled to your feet to chase after him when you noticed another cannonball headed straight for the Merry. But where was the sound of the gunpowder? What felt even more unbelievable was what came after.

Sure, Luffy told you he’d eaten a Devil fruit. He’d told you his body was made of rubber but seeing was believing. You watched as Luffy began to inhale air and his body blew up like a…balloon. Luffy was becoming an actual balloon of skin until the cannonball landed in the center of his stomach. He took the entire impact and flung it back at the marine vessel. One minute, you could hear the return fire whistling through the air. The next, you watched as the crow’s nest above the mast exploded and seconds later it came crashing down.

Everything grew silent aboard the Merry as you all registered what you’d just witnessed. You were still staring at Luffy and back to the now very much on fire marine ship when Usopp’s surprised laughter cut through the silence.

“That was amazing! You just saved us!”

“You didn’t tell me you could do that.”

You could feel your own smile slide across your face as the adrenaline began to bleed away. The aftershocks of the thrill of battle - no matter how unsuccessful - left you feeling ready to do it all again. Or take a nap.

You were joining in on the laughter as you looked back at Nami, and at Usopp who was jumping in excitement with Luffy. You looked over at Zoro and found your earlier excitement drained from your body. Sure, you’d seen him smirk and look like the grumpy cat who ate the canary, but you’d never seen him smile.

Sometime during the battle the wind had tussled up his hair making him appear like he’d just woken from a nap. It made him softer, less broody, and the grin that lit up his face actually reached his eyes and scrunched his nose.

It was safer in the village.

You wanted to say the thought was because of what had just happened. Even as Luffy ordered Nami to get you out of the area, you knew it wasn’t because of the danger. Hell, as much as it was a mess of a first battle, the adrenaline of it all was demanding for a release. Maybe you’d be able to use that as an excuse for why your heart was beating so wildly as you watch Zoro run a hand through his hair.

The ship suddenly felt too constricting. It didn’t allow enough space between you and the swordsman who resided on this ship. You tried to shake your head clear of all those thoughts and turned to run after Luffy. You called his name as you carefully took the stairs down after him.

“Something wrong, Doc?”

“No, no,” you waved him off. “I just - I wanted to ask a favor.”

“You can ask me for anything.”

You weren’t sure if you would ever get over how genuine Luffy was. Every word he said to you he meant it. You could probably tell him you needed the sun, and whether physically attainable or not, you knew Luffy would try his absolute best to bring it to you.

Because Luffy was just that kind of Captain.

“Would it be a bother if we stopped at an island? I’m in need of some supplies.”

———————

Luffy didn’t hesitate to say yes to your request to stop at Irkhaven. It only took you all of four seconds to explain what it was, where it was, and why you needed to go before he sent you to Nami to give her the coordinates. While you’d never physically gone with Naan to harvest the ingredients you’d grown up using, she made sure to tell you often how to get there.

Just in case the day came she couldn’t.

What you hadn’t expected as you walked through fields of lavender was to have Zoro trailing behind you.

“How much longer are we going to be out here?”

“Until I have enough of everything to last us a while,” you called over your shoulder.

You didn’t need to look behind you to know Zoro was shooting daggers into the back of your skull. While he hadn’t been happy being volunteered to go with you onto the island, he hadn’t argued with Luffy either.

You stopped midway out of the lavender fields and took out your small knife to begin cutting gently through the stems. After you had a good enough bundle, you sheathed the knife back in its place on your satchel where you reached inside to grab a pre-cut piece of string.

You could still feel Zoro watching you, as you tied the lavender together in a tight bundle.

“I wasn’t aware picking flowers was life-saving medicine.”

This time you did look over at him. Zoro, the strong and proud pirate hunter. The demon, Luffy said was his nickname. Looking at Zoro now, even in an endless field of lavender, he resonated power. You held no doubt he had earned such an intimidating name through grit and blood-soaked swords.

He looked out of place next to you in a place meant for healing and you couldn’t help but wonder if it was more what he projected than who he was. While Luffy told you happily about the scary parts of Zoro (which Luffy by no means actually saw as scary) he’d also mentioned Zoro never went without a specific sword.

Remembering Luffy’s words, your eyes quickly darted down to the white-sheathed katana. If you had to put money on it, that was the one that held a deeper meaning to him. It was the one he clutched the tightest and his hand fell on absentmindedly.

Once you knew the bundle was secure, you playfully poked it in his direction.

“It does heal. It calms the mind and spirit. It creates restful sleep.”

“It stinks.”

“You are absolutely impossible,” you grumbled, your eyes rolling as you turned away from him.

You placed the bundle inside your satchel and started forward. You didn’t need to look back to know that Zoro would be behind you. This time you were leading him towards an eyeline of trees you’d spotted a few feet back. They looked promising to hold green chiretta.

“So, why did Luffy send you with me?”

You came out first from the field and onto a path that was being taken over by the vegetation.

“Because you don’t know how to protect yourself.”

“I can too.”

“A pot doesn’t count.”

You spun on your heels, satchel swinging, and caught it with your forearm just before it swung into your hip. You were pleased to see the unexpected action had caught him by surprise. Not the typical surprise that Usopp, or others, gave where it might be exaggerated or a gasp and step back. No, Zoro’s was the briefest flinch in the corner of his eyes. Blink and you would’ve missed it.

“Hey, that pot kicked ass.”

“You got lucky.”

“Okay, Mosshead, then what do you call this?”

You lightly tapped your cheek to indicate the very noticeable bruise that was just beginning to fade from his left cheek.

“I call that luck.”

You let out a huff as you turned and faced forward. Leading him towards where you needed to go and reminding yourself that you needed to focus on the task at hand. Not Zoro.

“You carry a knife with you but you don’t use it.”

He stated it as a fact. Not a question. Zoro already knew that it wasn’t used for self-defense.

“I use it to treat and clean infected wounds and forage for ingredients.”

“But not for self-defense.”

You found yourself whirling on him again and this time he was prepared. His hand resting on the edge of his sword and hand infamously tucked inside his pocket.

“I’m a doctor, Zoro. I follow Naan’s oath to never do harm to anyone-“

“And what if to help someone - yourself - it meant that you had to take a life to save theirs?”

He’d taken a step towards you. His whole body radiated with an intensity you hadn’t been prepared for. You could feel your muscles straining to stay in place; to not retreat. Zoro had closed what space you’d had between the two of you until all he’d left were a few measly inches.

“I try not to let it come to that.”

“You don’t always get to decide like that, it's not how the world works. You keep thinking like that and you’re going to be a liability.”

Your eyes narrowed in on him and you felt yourself get on your tippy toes without thinking. Your index finger pressed into his stupidly hard chest as you looked up at him.

“It is not a liability to give a shit about people, Zoro. To care about who they are with their own wants and dreams. What makes someone a liability is not knowing who is worth that effort and who isn’t.”

You dropped back down onto your heels and turned to stomp your way into the trees. What did he know? So, you weren’t exactly a swordsman or incredibly stretchy, and while Usopp wasn’t necessarily the bravest man on the planet he was a damn fine shot. Nami could kick ass and was the best navigator. What did you bring to the table?

No. You wouldn’t let him make you think that way.

You hadn’t realized you’d gone farther than intended into the forest of trees until you noticed not only the green chiterra growing all over the sides of them, but also what looked like gold cap mushrooms. One that you knew to be poisonous.

You put it in the back of your mind. You weren’t here to get things to harm people. That wasn’t who you were and you wouldn’t let this newfound journey, or anyone, change that. You unsheathed your knife from your satchel and started carefully scraping off the moss from the bark of the tree.

“I could train you.”

Those four words stopped you mid-scrap. It had been roughly a few minutes - only a few - since you’d both been silent. You expected the rest of your time out here collecting ingredients to go relatively dull with you both pouting in your respective corners. Out of everything you could’ve expected, those four words were most definitely not it.

“Huh?”

God, you really needed to get it together.

Zoro grunted out a, “Fuck me,” before he gave you his full attention.

“I said I could train you. If you want.”

Was it possible that Zoro, the demon pirate hunter, was nervous? You couldn’t believe it, and for that exact reason you didn’t think twice about it. However, you couldn’t pass up the chance to tease him. Just a little.

“Did Roronoa Zoro - the demon pirate hunter - just offer to teach me how to kick ass?”

This whole entire trip was turning into one unexpected thing after another. The last thing you would’ve thought you would earn from your teasing was a grimace, maybe a smirk if you were lucky. Instead, your words generated an actual smile from the demon himself and you were devastated.

“I thought you said you never heard of me?”

Oh, right. He was talking and he needed you to word back. Right. You could do that.

“Luffy,” your voice cracked on your captain's name and you pretended to cough to clear your throat. “Luffy was telling me about the first time you guys met. It was truly a riveting moment.”

“Okay, let’s back up,” you began, your fingers motioning like a wheel. You’d been sitting with Luffy at the table eating breakfast. What had come over you to ask about how he met Zoro was still currently pending investigation. Luckily for you, Luffy wasn’t going to question you on why you wanted to know. “Did you just say you met him tied up inside the marine yard?” “He’d given himself up. Never told me exactly why he’d done that actually.” Luffy was perplexed for all of a millisecond before he sank his teeth back into the dry meat in his hand. “Oh, well I’m sure he was happy you let him down.” “Actually, he told me to get lost.” Yup, you were choking on a piece of toast. Luffy just stated it like it was useless information. Not that his first mate didn’t tell him to essentially fuck off during their first meeting. “He told you to get lost?” “Yeah, he did.” “So, why did you even bother staying there? You could’ve just left.” A smile began to grow on his lips. It wasn’t his usual radiant one that could rival the sun, but a thoughtful one. It told you the memory of meeting Zoro meant something special to Luffy, and it made you regard the interaction a little less harshly. “I couldn’t just leave him there. Not when he has a dream to fulfill.” While you were still debating on whether Luffy was a real person, there wasn’t any denying that he searched for the good in people. Whatever it was he’d seen in Zoro told Luffy he was a good guy. “So,” you drawled out the o, “he told you to get lost and for some reason your brain heard those words as, ‘follow your dreams’.” “He isn’t a bad guy, Doc. I know Zoro is more than just a pirate hunter with a scary nickname. He is someone with a dream, just like you, and I’m going to make sure he reaches it.”

Looking at Zoro now, you could see what Luffy saw in him. Sure, he was quick to anger and even more quick to say shit without thinking it through, but who wasn’t at times? You had experienced first hand the good that lived inside of him.

He’d helped you when he didn’t have to when you were sick. He shared a part of himself, a small part but still a part, to see who he was underneath all the attitude. While you weren’t in the business of hurting anyone, you debated on whether letting him train you would at least make you useful enough to save other members of your crew - maybe Zoro - if something came up.

You did hit someone with a pot and punch Zoro in his face. What could learning a few moves going to do?

“Alright, demon pirate hunter, I’ll consider it.”

—————————

He wanted to throttle Luffy.

The way you kept looking at him - saying his nickname - was stirring something foreign in his chest. He may not know exactly what it was but he didn’t have too. His body was telling him plainly he should take back his invitation to spend more time alone with you. You were only going to get in the way of his goal.

All of those made sense why he should retract his invitation and head back to the Merry. And yet…

“If it pumps up your ego, I’ll say it as many times as you like. For a price.”

You wiggled your eyebrows at him and it was so unexpected Zoro wanted to laugh. His offer to help train you had been in the back of his mind, but when he went to offer it, it’d gone rougher than he’d intended. He hadn’t meant to make you feel bad - to call you a liability. It wasn’t that he thought you would be an actual liability for Luffy.

You were a liability for him.

The way you were looking at him now, the smile on your face, gave him all the warning he needed to know you were a dangerous wildcard. He’d made a promise to Kuina and you felt like the one thing that could keep him from it.

Whatever the feelings you were stirring in him were something he needed to be wary of. Zoro wasn’t going to have any of it. He made a promise a long time ago and he wasn’t going to let you or anyone else get in the way of him keeping it.

He was so lost in thought that he wasn’t aware you’d gotten so close. It wasn’t until your fingers slid over his ear, placing something behind it, that he was jolted back into the present.

“Oh, shit I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

Your voice was breathy and sweet with your wide eyes looking up at him with something dangerously close to reverence. Close like at the dinner table. Close like when he’d tumbled out of the well and landed on top of you. Zoro still had the way your body felt under him burned into his memory. One he’d tried to erase with the bottles of liquor that now sat empty inside his room.

His hand moved up to feel what you’d placed behind his ear, and his fingertips were greeted by the soft give of flowers.

“Did you seriously just put flowers in my hair?”

Your response was maddening. Zoro watched as you brought your hands up to join your shrug, as if he wasn’t standing there, flowers now pinched between his fingers.

“I think you look cute.”

Cute.

“Yeah. That’s not me.”

In a show that it wasn’t him, that you and your stupid flower giving were just another nuisance, he opened his fingers and let them fall to the ground. Zoro watched as your eyes that had been brimming with sunshine were darkened by clouds of sadness. Even your earlier giddy step was replaced by slouched shoulders that suddenly looked as if the world weighed heavily on them.

“Okay.”

Your reply was meek. If he wasn’t straining to hear it he would’ve missed it. You didn’t give him another glance or yell at him for being an ass. That was what he had expected; what he was still waiting for. Zoro had known you for a couple of days and within that time came to learn you were the most maddening person he’d ever met - second to Luffy. This? He didn’t like this. He liked it better when you fought back. When you told him what an asshole he was and when you touched him without thinking.

Zoro watched as you went back to gently maneuvering your knife under the bark; skilled hands that removed pieces of that weird-looking fungus. You pulled an empty glass from your bag and, with the same gentleness, pushed it past the lip of the bottle to hold it inside.

Cute.

That’s what she’d called him.

I am not cute. I’m the demon pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro.

He could feel his jaw flexing at the thought. Cute. Zoro has been called many things in his life, but cute was never one of them. His hand clenched and unclenched on the Wado Ichimonji as if asking - begging - what he should do.

He couldn’t stay here much longer. Zoro didn’t know what to say and you obviously had no intention of speaking to him anytime soon.

“Fuck this,” he whispered as he stalked off back out of the trees.

He made it to the edge of the clearing where the sun fully broke free from the shade of leaves when you called to him.

“Try not to get lost, Zoro. We both know you’ve got shit directional

skills.”

He refused to admit he was happy to hear you say something. Even if that something was your usual shit-talking. Zoro grunted as a reply and quickly went back to walking out of the clearing when something - small and pure white - caught his eye out of his peripherals.

It was huddled against the bark of a tree. Its petals were open and stark against the darkness. It took him a moment to recognize those white petals. What he found amusing was how the flower always seemed to be carrying its own weight on its shoulders; the neck of it dropping down like it’d just received devastating news. Zoro didn’t know why he gently plucked it from its resting spot. He couldn’t explain why after that he turned to head back in your direction.

Zoro was trying to get away from you and here he was bringing a fucking flower back. You turned at his approach, your mouth already forming over some word. You never spoke what it was you wanted to say and you didn’t seem like you wanted to try either.

Zoro placed the snowdrop behind your ear. Perfectly placing it to where the hanging bulb hugged the top of your ear to hang against your hair.

“You left to go find flowers?”

Zoro shook his head. He stepped back just enough to see how it looked. He was a dumbass for doing this.

“No, I was going to head back to the ship-“

“Figures-“

“When I saw this snowdrop by itself,” Zoro continued over you. “It made me think of you.”

“That feels oddly specific.”

He didn’t like how you were looking at him. More accurately, he didn’t like how you looking at him was making him feel.

“It’s a snowdrop. They’re one of the most delicate flowers in the world.”

There it was. The darkening of those previous clouds now cracked to life with the spark of your anger. Zoro had to admit, he enjoyed getting you all riled up. What he wouldn’t tell you, is because they only grew at certain times and usually in the snow, it made them one of the most resilient flowers because they could grow under any conditions.

“Are you calling me delicate?”

A huff left him as his eyes rolled up into the treeline.

“I was trying to apologize earlier.”

“Oh.”

You’d started all that storm building just to deflate but also-

“You sure have a way with words,” he teased.

“My bedside manner is not the best, I’ll admit. I once told a dying man a joke about a pirate and marine having an entanglement. Naan said it probably wasn’t the most appropriate time.”

For some reason, Zoro could picture it. A man dying and you, being your nervous self, trying to make him laugh to ease his passing. The thought of it alone made a smile curl at his lips, and he tried to gently shake it away. To look at anything else but you.

“What do I gotta do to hear one of these world-famous Doc jokes?”

He waited until his face was neutral to look back at you. Both hands rested on his swords as he watched you fill the bottle to the brim and place it securely inside your satchel.

“For that kind of service? You have to be dying.”

“You’re a real pain in the ass, you know that?”

You were a pain in the ass. A pain in his ass. From the moment he met you until now and probably would continue to be. A pain that made him think of things outside of his goal. You made him think past his promise. Who was he if he didn’t keep it? He should’ve never offered to train you or willingly spend more time with you. He was going to have to take it back. It didn’t matter if it hurt your feelings or made you hate him. Maybe that’s what he needed to do to make you hate him-

“What are you doing?”

Zoro prayed that his face was devoid of any emotion. The panic that bloomed in his chest didn’t spread to where you could see. You’d placed your hand over your chest in a way Zoro knew too well.

“I,” it was the first time Zoro ever heard your full name. “Promise to be the biggest pain in your - Roronoa Zoro’s ass - from now until whenever.”

For the second time, his hand was clutching onto the Wado Ichimonji today. While you spoke, Zoro could swear he saw flashes of Kuina standing behind you. The look of disappointment growing on her face.

“You made a promise.”

Zoro couldn’t bring himself to speak. He couldn’t trust what he would say. So, he simply turned back on his heel and made a beeline back for the edge of the trees. This time when he reached it he didn’t stop. He had to get back to the safety of the ship where he could barricade himself from you behind wooden doors and booze because Zoro could really use a drink.

————————-

It has been two days inside the fog. Two days of Zoro avoiding you like you carried the plague back with you from Irkhaven.

When you’d made that promise it was only meant to be good fun. You replayed over in your mind to see if you’d said something wrong - done something wrong to warrant the sudden extreme cold shoulder.

Besides the time you’d been with Nami and Usopp, all of you shared thoughts about the naval battle that had happened and, who could forget, his very real vice-admiral of a grandpa. Who could launch cannonballs like paperweights. After that, Zoro didn’t come around you or close to you.

Sure, you would see him when he lounged on the deck napping like a cat in open spots. Hell, if Zoro wasn’t sleeping he was either drinking or training. You’d catch glimpses of him on the upper deck lifting weights with his arms and, sometimes, his mouth.

The first time you saw him lifting eighty pounds with his teeth, you had about a thousand questions racing through your mind. If you thought he would answer you if you spoke, you might have asked him.

You weren’t sure why it bothered you so much. It shouldn’t have even mattered whether he talked to you or not, but he’d offered to train you. Why bother asking to do something that required his time if he wasn’t willing to give it? These sorts of questions had been your own personal plague since he’d begun to give you the cold shoulder.

You’d been sitting with your legs hanging out of the side of where the cannonball had blown an unfortunate hole through the Merry’s railing. It killed you to see her so broken; her intricate leafling design ruined all because of what felt like a family spat. Letting out a sigh, you pulled your legs out from over the side with a hand holding onto the rail so you didn’t fall into the sea.

Once you were securely standing without fear of going overboard, you wrapped the leather cord that secured the pages of your journal around it. You were just finishing up tucking it in when Usopp began to shout, “I see something.”

How anyone could see anything in this mess was beyond you, but then again Luffy was at the front of the Merry using his nose to guide you guys out of the fog so…yeah. Stranger things could and did happen.

It was enough to garner your attention and bring you walking up to join the rest of the crew that had assembled.

“I see nothing,” you stated.

“I don’t know how anyone could see anything in this soup,” Nami agreed as she stirred the ship in the direction Luffy called.

“You guys don’t see the red lights? How can you not see them?”

“Because, Usopp, I don't have eyes like an Eagle.”

You could feel the happiness your comment brought him as he continued to point in the direction of said light.

“Just keep your eyes posted right here in the center and you’ll see it, Doc.

“3 degrees starboard, Nami and keep it straight.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t sit up there Luffy,” you called up to where he sat, legs wide, on the Merry’s headpiece. “What happens if you slip?”

“You're his crew mate. Not his mother. He doesn’t need you coddling him.”

You turned to find Zoro standing a few feet behind Usopp. He wasn’t looking at you but he’d just spoken to you. His first words in two days and it didn’t surprise you in the least they were his usual asshole tone.

“Oh, so he can speak. What a shocker.”

Zoro side-eyed you but still refused to acknowledge your presence. The soft bruise that was there two days ago at Irkhaven was all but a faded memory. You were tempted to make it a fresh one.

“Okay you two let’s focus on-“ Usopp stopped mid-sentence as his eyes scanned over something in the distance. “What’s a baratie?”

You looked where he was and finally saw it. Red neon was bleeding its way into the fog. It was enough to make you forget about Zoro, your lack of clean clothes, or what had happened the last couple of days. It was land. You were finally going to actually put your feet down on something solid that wasn’t just the Merry.

Nami stirred the Merry in and easily parked it at the next available dock. Immediately, people rushed out to begin tying the ship's ropes to posts to secure it in place.

“Is it just me or does this look like a restaurant?”

You meant your question to be open-ended. To allow anyone to answer in case what you were seeing was in fact a floating restaurant in the middle of the ocean. However, you were leaning against the rail next to Nami, with whom you pressed arm and arm.

“I think it is.”

You were all still staring over the railing when Luffy asked excitedly, “Do you guys know what this means?”

“We stock up on supplies and keep going so the marines can’t find us?”

“We head back to Syrup village where it’s safe?”

“No - let’s go eat!”

You felt the blood drain from your face. You didn’t have much in the way of something to wear at an establishment like this. You were willing to bet you couldn’t just walk in wearing - or smelling - like you all did. You were getting ready to tell Luffy you’d hang back on the ship when you felt a hand gently wrap itself in yours.

Glancing down at your interwoven hands and back up, you found Nami, her lips together in a soft smile, as she gave you a light tug to follow her.

“Come on. You can borrow some of my clothes.”

You let out a raspberry, your hand squeezing hers briefly in relief.

“Nami, you are a lifesaver.”

“That fish better have a bar.”

You weren’t going to say it out loud, but you agreed with Zoro. You were going to need the blissful ignorance of alcohol to make it through a dinner where you possibly ended up sitting next to him.

---------------

As always, thank you so much for reading. Comments and reblogs are welcome.

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penkura · 5 months ago

Text

last forever [13/13]

Summary: Zoro only offered to marry you to keep you out of an arranged marriage with a man much older than you. You agreed without realizing how happy you would both become and the family you would create together.

Pairing: Zoro x Fem!reader, mentioned Sanami

Warnings: Mentions of pregnancy and having a baby, that's all

Note: I didn't initially plan this. I was going to stop this fic at twelve chapters, but I felt like ch.12 was getting to be way too long so I broke it up and put the epilogue at the end of thsi one. Do not be surprised if I ever come back to this fanfic universe for one-shots or drabbles. This is shorter than I expected, but I'm happy with how it turned out, thanks for reading this fanfic, I hope you've all enjoyed it! :)

The latter bit is set ten years after chapter 12, Zoro is 31 and Reader is 30.

Taglist:

[Ch. 1] ● [Ch. 2] ● [Ch. 3] ● [Ch. 4] ● [Ch. 5] ● [Ch. 6] ● [Ch. 7] ● [Ch. 8] ● [Ch. 9] ● [Ch. 10] ● [Ch. 11] ● [Ch. 12]

Your morning is quiet, despite Nami and Robin sharing knowing looks when you and Zoro entered the galley together for breakfast. Nami swears you're glowing and it grosses her out for a moment when she makes the suggestion to Robin who laughs, and says the three of you will need to have a girls night later to talk. No one asked where two had disappeared to the night before, it seemed like none of them had noticed, which you were grateful for. It kept you and Zoro from having to answer any awkward questions for the time being.

Zoro didn't notice or care, if someone had asked he would've told them, but still keep you from feeling embarrassed or anything, this is all still new to both of you of course. Breakfast goes by without anyone bringing anything up, even as Sanji gives you a smile that you return, discreetly showing him your ring and confirming that he was right, everything turned out okay so far.

Most of your day is spent doing the normal things you’ve always done, the Sunny is docked at an island for a restock, you choose to go into town with Robin and Jinbei, Zoro tried to go along but Nami pulls him back, telling you to go ahead while she takes your husband for help with other things. You don’t question it only because that’s completely normal, you don’t even question Robin in town when she tries to convince you to buy a pretty white dress you seem to be staring at. You try it on but don’t buy it, there’s no reason to.

“Are you sure, [Y/N]? It’d look lovely on you, I’m sure Zoro would think so too.”

“Nah, I don’t need it,” you laugh a bit as you go to look at something else that’s caught your eye, “Zoro doesn’t care what I wear anyway.”

“Mm…if you say so.”

You swear there’s something Robin isn’t telling you, even as you both try of different clothes and buy a few items, deciding you’ll bring Nami by later too, there’s plenty here she’ll like.

You do find it odd when Jinbei tries to get you to purchase a flower crown or a small bouquet of your favorite flowers for yourself, denying again that you really don’t need them. You’re not sure if you were imagining it or not, but you think the two share a knowing look with slight smiles as you head back to Sunny a while later.

When you make it back and see almost none of your crewmates around, you start to get suspicious something else is going on, especially seeing the way the ship deck is decorated to almost resemble a wedding, though with its own Straw Hat character, and Zoro waiting for you.

Face red, in a suit (that fits this time), and a bouquet of your favorite flower surrounded by daisies, heliotrope, and aster.

It dons on you immediately what Jinbei and Robin were doing, they were trying to get you ready for an impromptu marriage ceremony, but you didn’t catch on until now, you feel kind of stupid. Of course the white dress and small bouquet make sense now, even though Zoro hasn’t said anything. He doesn’t even notice you’re there at first, not until you say his name and he finally looks at you.

“Hey…you’re back.”

“What,” You’re trying hard not to cry but you can’t fight the smile that’s starting to creep onto your face as Zoro hands the flowers over to you, still nervous about this and maybe embarrassed over it, “What’s this about…?”

He’s quite for a moment, while you look over the flowers, a bright and happy look on your face. You know he’s had help with this, it’s what he and Nami were probably out buying while the others set things up.

“When we got married, legally, it wasn’t really a wedding,” scratching the back of his head, Zoro sighs just a bit before taking your hand and getting on one knee in front of you, returning the smile you’re giving him, “I know I was a stubborn ass about this for a long time, but you already know my thoughts on this, on us now…so I want to give you as real a wedding as I can. One you deserve.”

You have to stop yourself from laughing when it takes Zoro a minute to dig through the pockets he’s not used to find an engagement ring, one you don’t need but you figure Nami made him buy it just so you had one, even with your wedding band already on your hand.

“We’ve already got rings, and this time real witnesses,” you both can hear Luffy not so quietly asking Sanji for food before he's hushed and told to wait, everyone watching from the various places they’re hiding in, “Luffy’s ready to say whatever he needs to for us to be considered married on this crew, but I still have to ask you. So…will you marry me, for real this time, [Y/N]?”

“Of course, Zoro!” It’s not even something you can pretend to think about, not after everything you’ve gone through now. You throw your arms around him and Zoro hugs you close, there’s obvious relief like he was worried you’d changed your mind overnight while he tells you he loves you.

“Heyyy, can we do the ceremony now and eat?!”

“You idiot, she’s got to get dressed first!”

“Sanji made a great cake, it’s really sweet!”

“We were all glad when you went into town with Robin and Jinbei, we probably wouldn’t have gotten this all done if you hadn’t!”

“This is super great for both of you!”

“Yohohoho, I’ll get ready to play the wedding march then!”

“Mosshead, you better treat her right!”

“It’s wonderful to see you both happy now!”

“I may not have the full details of your circumstances, but congratulations to you both!”

You barely listen to your crewmates, your main focus being on Zoro and how this was pulled off so quickly, but you don’t bother to ask any questions, kissing your husband briefly.

“I suppose I should go get ready!”

“Yeah,” Zoro gives you a slight smirk before kissing your forehead, “I’ll be here, wife.”

Robin and Nami rush you off to your shared room to get you dressed, Robin having been sneaky and showing she’d purchased the dress she told you to buy, along with a small bouquet of flowers for you to carry. It’s nothing fancy, but that works perfectly with your relationship and how you’ve come together with Zoro.

Once they’ve got you ready the two go back to the deck to make sure everything and everyone is situated, sending Sanji after you a bit later, he’s agreed to be the one to give you away essentially, though you stop him just ad you’re about to head to the deck, he gives you a concerned look.

“Sanji, do you…do you think Zoro and I will last forever?”

Sanji takes a breath, before smiling and taking your hand as he lets it out.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a couple more destined to last than you two. Besides, I don’t think the mosshead is willing to wear a suit for just anybody.”

You laugh and agree, telling Sanji you’re ready before he leads you out to the deck.

It’s not a very long or formal ceremony, Luffy stumbles a few times trying to remember what he needs to say, he even gets choked up a few times when he thinks about how he’s seen you and Zoro go from a marriage born of convenience to now being in love and properly married. It almost gets to you as well, but you keep all your tears back, just a few slipping g out when Luffy tells Zoro to hurry up and kiss you which makes you laugh. You know Zoro hates public displays of affection, but he’s willing to look past it for you, only you he’d justify. After that Luffy shouts for the party to start, you and Zoro laughing together just a bit while he holds you close.

“Thanks for not giving up on me, wife.”

“Hmm, thanks for saving me, husband.”

Chopper is right, the cake Sanji made is sweet, you’re surprised Zoro even has some, that he mostly stays away from alcohol except when you bring him a drink later on. It prompts him to pull you to his lap, pressing a kiss to your cheek to make you giggle.

“What’s this for?”

“Nothing,” he sighs a bit, holding you closer and laying his forehead on your shoulder, “Just glad you’re my wife is all.”

“Forever, right?”

“Forever. No matter what happens.”

Nami and Sanji watch you two from the side, giving each other looks that tell more than anything they know you’ll make it. They’ve both watched you ever since they each joined, seen how Zoro treats you and how much you’ve come to love each other. Even when Luffy comes over and drags you away from your real, permanent husband to dance with your captain, the same look Sanji swore to you he’s always seen on Zoro’s face. Soft and loving, he just watches you while you and Luffy giggle together.

When everyone starts to settle down, you’re surprised by Chisa returning to you after being gone since you arrived in Wano. She stops in front of you with two letters, one you know is from Elias and the other from your parents, finally. You’re not sure what to think, even when Zoro wraps his arms around you and sets his chin on your shoulder.

“Well?”

Pursing your lips, you shrug, before tearing up the letter still in the envelope causing Zoro roll tighten his hold on you. For a minute you don’t say anything, before you sigh and lean back against him with a smile.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t want care about what they have to say…I only care about you.”

“Hmm,” Zoro kisses tour cheek which makes you giggle before you do the same to him, “That’s my wife, I’m proud of you.”

“Love you, Zoro.”

“Yeah…I love you too.”

You two are going to last forever.

+!+

~10 years later~

You have a newborn baby girl to care for now, literally minutes old as she lays next to you and cries, unhappy about her new surroundings. It’s the middle of winter and the only people you’re allowing around her at the moment are the midwives of Shimotsuki Village that had come to help you deliver your baby in the middle of the day. Every one of them praises you for doing so well, but all you care about is your daughter and Zoro getting to see her, to meet her face to face. He’d been more anxious about it as you got closer to your due date, neither of you knowing if you’d have a boy or girl until the moment you gave birth, and now you have her!

She’s perfectly chubby, her little hands trying to grasp at the air while she wails and kicks her feet at the same time, even as you take hold of one of her hands. You want to laugh seeing her hair is just a slightly darker shade of green than Zoro’s, but smile instead as you calm her down.

“Shh, shh, baby girl, everything’s okay. I’m here, sweetheart. Your daddy’s on his way.”

It’s not even five minutes later you hear Nami yelling outside your door about how someone could miss this, while Sanji starts to swoon at her for being so protective of you but asking her to calm down, stress isn’t good for her or their own baby either. You hear Luffy laugh a bit himself, saying something you can’t understand before Usopp and Robin suggest they all leave you alone, as the door to your room opens and you’re so glad to see who’s finally there.

“Zoro~”

“I’m sorry I missed it, I was asking master something,” Zoro takes your hand you reached for him with, kissing your forehead before he sits beside you, looking at your baby with nothing but pride and love on his face, “We…we have a baby…”

“We have a daughter, Zoro.”

“She’s perfect. Just like her mama.”

Rolling your eyes, you just watch for a few minutes while Zoro takes in the fact you have a daughter to raise now. Honestly, you had been expecting to have a boy, and Zoro never told you what he thought you might have, he said it didn’t matter because it was your child, you made this baby together, he’d love them no matter what. But seeing him gently stroke her hair and let her hold onto his finger, you swear you’re falling in love with him all over again.

“Did you ask your master what we talked about?”

Zoro doesn’t hear you at first, he’s too focused on your daughter and watching her settle down, starting to sleep, before he realizes you spoke to him and asks you to repeat your question. When you do so, he nods, looking back to your daughter.

“Well?”

“He said nothing would make him happier…”

Nodding, you sigh in content when Zoro kisses your forehead again, before doing the same to your daughter.

“Welcome to the world, Kuina.”

You plan to give your daughter everything you never had and more, all the love in the world and no expectations to marry rich unless she decides to. Watching Zoro with her the rest of the day makes you realize this was all you ever wanted.

To love someone and be loved the same, and give that love to your own child forever.

#zoro x reader #one piece x reader #reader insert #last forever #roronoa zoro x reader

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literaryvein-reblogs · 2 months ago

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Some Poetry Terminology

Alliteration. Close repetition of consonant sounds, especially initial consonant sounds.

Anapest. Foot consisting of 2 unstressed syllables followed by a stress.

Assonance. Close repetition of vowel sounds.

Blank verse. Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Caesura. A deliberate rhetorical, grammatical, or rhythmic pause, break, cut, turn, division, or pivot in poetry.

Chapbook. A small book of about 24-50 pages.

Consonance. Close repetition of consonant sounds--anywhere within the words.

Couplet. Stanza of 2 lines; often, a pair of rhymed lines.

Dactyl. Foot consisting of a stress followed by 2 unstressed syllables.

Decasyllable. Line consisting of 10 syllables.

Enjambment. Continuation of sense and rhythmic movement from one line to the next; also called a "run-on" line.

Envoi. A brief ending (usually to a ballade or sestina) no more than 4 lines long; summary.

Epigraph. A short verse, note, or quotation that appears at the beginning of a poem or section; usually presents an idea or theme on which the poem elaborates, or contributes background information not reflected in the poem itself.

Foot. Unit of measure in a metrical line of poetry.

Galleys. First typeset version of a poem, magazine, and/or book/chapbook.

Hendecasyllable. Line consisting of 11 syllables.

Hexameter. Line consisting of 6 metrical feet.

Honorarium. A token payment for published work.

Iamb. Foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stress.

Line. Basic unit of a poem; measured in feet if metrical.

Meter. The rhythmic measure of a line.

Octave. Stanza of 8 lines.

Octosyllable. Line consisting of 8 syllables.

Pentameter. Line consisting of 5 metrical feet. For instance, iambic pentameter equals 10 syllables (5 unstressed, 5 stressed).

Quatrain. Stanza of 4 lines.

Quintain. Stanza of 5 lines.

Refrain. A repeated line within a poem, similar to the chorus of a song.

Rhyme. Words that sound alike, especially words that end in the same sound.

Rhythm. The beat and movement of language (rise and fall, repetition and variation, change of pitch, mix of syllables, melody of words).

Septet. Stanza of 7 lines.

Sestet. Stanza of 6 lines.

Spondee. Foot consisting of 2 stressed syllables.

Stanza. Group of lines making up a single unit; like a paragraph in prose.

Strophe. Often used to mean "stanza"; also a stanza of irregular line lengths.

Tercet. Stanza or poem of 3 lines.

Tetrameter. Line consisting of 4 metrical feet.

Trochee. Foot consisting of a stress followed by an unstressed syllable.

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ References for Poets

#poetry #terminology #writeblr #poets on tumblr #literature #writing prompt #spilled ink #dark academia #writing reference #writers on tumblr #creative writing #langblr #linguistics #louis janmot #art #romanticism #writing resources

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boyapologist · 5 months ago

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on the bright side, a toddler gave me a kitkat on one of my flights today. he didn't even bring one for every member of the crew. he just liked my face, I guess

#he also came looking for me in the front galley to give me a slimy taki. which I did take but that one I obviously didn't eat #lol #I love children they're such weird little creatures #this kid was around 4?#he was old enough to go to the restroom by himself but he couldn't open his overalls 😭#he asked me to do it but after 23 seasons of svu I know better than that so I just told him he should go get his mommy #but he was sooooo cute. I wish I could have kids #rambles*

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zosan-secondchances · 27 days ago

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The Pirate King of the North: Part 5

Main Themes: Villain Sanji, Alternate Universe, Zosan Ship

Warning: Long post ahead with One Piece spoilers. Contains strong language and explicit content.

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Bepo

Captain! Captain!

Bepo, Penguin and Shachi tail Law as he stomps through the deck of the ship in a rush.

Bepo

CAPTAIN!!! Is the Pirate King seriously sailing with us?!

Penguin

I don’t think it’s a good idea. Did you see the townsquare? Have you not heard the stories?!

Law

Yes, yes and no. So everyone, stay out of his way. If there’s trouble, don’t deal with it by yourselves. Tell me or the swordsman.

Shachi

But which–

Law

The other, swordsman. Bepo, call everyone in for a briefing in five.

At that, Law vanishes inside the ship, leaving the trio to stand by idly at the doorway.

The three Heart Pirates hear a couple of thuds on the wooden deck. Nervously, they turn in unison to see who it was.

Zoro and Sanji stood by the edge, having just boarded the submarine. The swordsman had his arms crossed, looking at the distant water with his calm demeanor while the blonde waves at the trio with a cheerful smile across his face as a greeting.

The Heart Pirates’ cheeks flush pink. They give Sanji a shy wave in return. The Pirate King's smile clearly has infected them.

Shachi

He doesn't look that bad….

Penguin

Y–yeah…I don't know what the captain was talking about. He's not scary at all.

—

Bepo, Penguin and Shachi are in tears having just learned a small list of Sanji's most recent crimes from Law. The entire Heart Pirates crew sat on the round table in the ship’s galley with their two guests to discuss the mission ahead, but the doctor felt that introductions were in order first.

In truth, Law just wants his people to be extremely cautious of the most dangerous cargo that they’ve ever had on board. He wants to emphasize how serious the situation is so he nabbed Sanji’s file from the Marine base to share its contents to the entire crew.

Sanji sipped his tea calmly, quietly enjoying the conversation about himself, basking in all the attention and reactions that the Heart Pirates are giving him. He soaks it in, feeling smug about having his achievements read out to everyone.

Zoro sat next to him, finally able to enjoy a bottle of sake for himself. None of the information being relayed by Law is news to him, having been involved in more than half of Sanji’s escapades on the receiving end. He’d been trying to kill the man for more than a couple of decades after all.

Law

Did…did you guys already forget that he just slaughtered all those Marines?

Zoro

You're one to talk, Traffy. You did the same thing when he said he'd help you.

Law

Shut up….

Sanji turns his head towards the doctor.

Sanji

Did you really? That's a bit funny.

Bepo

But…but Captain, shouldn't he be detained then?

Sanji gives the polar bear an icy glare.

Bepo’s full body of fur stands on end. Penguin, Shachi and himself hug each other tighter, yelling out cries for help.

Law

There's no point. Detaining him is how we lose our ship. The Marines tried to cuff him and now their entrails are all over the place as a consequence. Just keep an eye on him and do what I told you earlier. Report anything suspicious, is that clear?

Heart Pirates

Yes, Captain!

With that, Law proceeds to brief everyone in the room about the plan to follow Corazon’s trail to Skypiea, and that the Pirate King will be assisting them during their journey and the next until they find Corazon or whoever’s behind the letters. The doctor announces that they will have to stop by Sabaody Archipelago first which is the closest place where they can get a decent portable bubble ship, unless they find an alternative way to safely transport people up in the sky that could withstand the terrifying knock up streams that lead up to it. He makes a point to thank Zoro for his insight as to what’s to be expected given that he’d been to the sky island already.

Zoro

Our former navigator should have a decent map drawn of the country already. At least the places where we've been to anyway, which was most of it. If you think that will help, I'll need a long-distant transponder snail to ask her for a copy. And potentially half a million Beri. She doesn't give away stuff for free, even to her own nakama.

Law

What the hell? I don't have that kind of money. Can’t you get a discount if you’re nakama?

Zoro

N–no…if I use that as an excuse she’ll probably just charge me more. Hey Curls, aren’t you king or something? You’d have the dough and some.

Sanji

Do you see large amounts of gold on me? I don’t carry that much treasure around, stupid. Unless you want me to be traced, I’d rather not withdraw Beri from a bank.

Law

We’ll have to do some fundraising in Sabaody then. Penguin, please show Zoro-ya our communications room after this briefing.

Penguin

Yes, Captain.

Law proceeds to lay out the plan, covering the less exciting details like the estimated duration of the voyage, food stock and potential jobs that they can do on the side for Beri. It will inevitably cost them more time than the doctor had anticipated, but they may not have any choice in the matter. He prays that they miraculously run into any one of Sanji’s contacts who just so happen to be carrying his gold around.

Sanji leans slightly towards Zoro and softly speaks so only he can hear him.

Sanji

Your navigator sounds like a smart lady, by the way. And the price is reasonable, given its rarity and how difficult it is to get to the island. The more I learn about your old crew, the more I wish I got to meet them.

Zoro gives a light-hearted chuckle then speaks just as quietly.

Zoro

Well, if you weren't such a murderous bastard, you might have actually gotten along with them.

Sanji

You think so? Do you think that I can meet them one day?

Zoro

Over my dead body.

After the briefing, the Heart Pirates return to their respective duties except for Penguin who waits for Zoro and Sanji at the door as ordered to take them to the communications room so the swordsman can contact his navigator friend.

On their way out, Sanji makes very brief eye contact with a large man that they call Jean Bart, who slightly nods his way, almost to a bow, before walking off in the opposite direction. Zoro makes a mental note of their interaction.

—

The trip to Sabaody Archipelago is going as smoothly as they had hoped, having only done a couple of stops here and there to stock up and stretch their legs. Zoro and Sanji quickly realise that it is absolutely necessary to go on long walks and exercise whenever they can given how often they get stuck indoors so the sub can dive deep in the water to avoid unwanted attention. Then there’s the matter of their sleeping arrangements.

The Polar Tang’s bunk rooms aren’t anything special. They’re small and cramped where the mattresses are contained in boxes similar to that of the Thousand Sunny Go except that it’s welded firmly against the wall instead of being suspended by ropes. Zoro and Sanji shared a room so the swordsman could keep an eye on him. He also insisted that he gets to keep the bottom bunk in case he finds a reason to skewer the curly brows above him for any reason.

Much to Zoro’s surprise, Sanji keeps to himself while in their shared room, only ever tearing his eyes away from the book that he’s reading to ask if he feels like doing an activity together, or to tell him where he wants to go so the swordsman can follow along. He’d even wake him up to make sure he knows where he’s going if he wants to wander around. Aside from that, Zoro notices that Sanji had taken a lot of liking to just quietly watch the view from their round window, especially when they go underwater.

The crew were extremely tense during the first three days of having Sanji on board but by the fifth day, they had invited him over for a game night on one of their few and precious days off. Zoro assumed that the Pirate King had somehow captured their hearts while he’s not looking.

None of the Heart Pirates had any real money in their name so Sanji proposed that they bargain with chores, volunteering to even take a few from each one to make himself useful in the ship while they’re travelling and to even the odds of the play.

Zoro sat at the furthest table in the mess hall, quietly enjoying a tankard of beer to himself while watching their game unfold into a messy havoc of drunken fun. He watches big smiles across everyone’s faces as the Pirate King tosses in another straight flush–his sixth in a row. The victim this time is the poor Clione who apparently has to fold clothes for two weeks.

After seeing the man melt into despair, Sanji opens the palms of his hands, revealing four extra cards that had been hiding in his sleeves. Everyone laughed at Clione, then at Sanji for confessing that he had been swapping cards around to his advantage. This means that the blonde has to take the laundry chore from Clione, and with a longer duration of four weeks for cheating. They joke about keeping the king as a chore boy, even after the mission is finished.

Sanji and the Heart Pirates were like that through the rest of night. It was as though the blonde’s just an ordinary human being who’s trying to have a good time with his friends. Zoro couldn’t help but smile to himself after seeing a particularly hearty grin from Sanji's face. He wonders what about the man that makes his smile so contagious.

Again, to Zoro’s surprise, the Pirate King stays true to his word and begins to spend most of his mornings folding laundry in their shared room. The Heart Pirates have taken to knocking on their door less formally, or just flat out shouting from the other side to ask if their clothes are ready for collection. Penguin had occasionally shown up just after showering, fully naked and exposed, desperately begging for a pair of his underpants because he'd forgotten to take one and a towel earlier. Sanji fusses over him like a mother hen, nagging him to be more organised next time, but proceeds to help the man anyway.

By the seventh day since setting sail, Zoro finds himself helping Sanji do laundry. They fall into a comfortable silence, which he didn’t realise was possible at all. Though sometimes they share a small banter, throw harmless snide comments, or offer to fetch each other stuff from the kitchen. There was no mention of their old life and how for two decades they had tried to relentlessly kill each other. Both are content enough to just focus on the now. It was peaceful and Zoro isn't about to question why and how this was the case.

During the afternoons, Sanji either visits the galley to catch up with whoever Heart Pirates are on break, or wanders to the library to borrow or read more books. The Polar Tang’s library is more of a shared study space but nevertheless, it’s the coziest part of the ship, given how almost every corner of the sub smells metallic or sterilisation chemicals. Most of the time, Zoro and Sanji are the only ones there given how busy everyone else is, except for Bepo who occassionally uses the nearby drafting table to chart their maps. As long as he keeps himself clean and his bottles checked, Zoro is allowed to drink in the room, away from delicate books, while Sanji delves into a variety of different topics like navigation, geography, Devil Fruits, marine life and a particularly cheap looking cooking-for-dummies book.

One lazy day, there was a knock on one of the bookshelves. Zoro and Sanji lift their heads to find Law and Bepo standing by.

Law

Zoro-ya, a word?

Zoro nods then gets up from the couch to approach the man. He notices that Bepo walks up to sit in his place happily. Him and the Pirate King share a book about deep sea fishes together. The swordsman assumes that the mink had been assigned to keep an eye on the blonde while he’s momentarily away.

Law leads him to his office, where he takes a seat then beckons the swordsman to sit at the other side of his desk. Zoro follows.

Law

I don’t think this changes anything with our mission, but I noticed something odd with the mad king’s file that you might find…interesting.

Law places the thick folder that he had stolen from the Marine base on the table–Sanji’s criminal record. Zoro takes it in his hand then flicks through the papers. He’d seen them all already. He’s a slaver who raids his competitors to steal their “stock” instead of acquiring them himself. He specialises in trading, particularly dangerous criminals–pirates and bandits alike–to sell them to bigger, badder, wealthier criminals to do their dirty work. Most of his clients and partners are corrupt politicians or individuals with private armies like Doflamingo who are in constant demand for troops. On top of that, Sanji has an endless list of serious offenses: arson, murder, stealing, a few kidnappings, warfare–the whole lot.

There’s also a simplified version of Zoro’s reports from when he actively sought out the Pirate King–it lists out where their fights had taken place, any surrounding casualties, and the conclusion of their encounter. The swordsman doesn’t particularly remember them to detail at the top of his head, but scanning through the papers relives old headache-inducing memories of their game of cat and mouse. So far they’ve been pretty even with who’s won and who didn’t.

Zoro makes a point to not kill his enemies. So every time he wins their fight, he hands Sanji over to the Marines to lock him out for life. And every time they try to transport him, he breaks out of his chains and leaves evidence of his carnage just like how he did on the island where they picked him up. Some time in the past, he’d somehow survived and killed his way out of Enies Lobby by himself before they could drag him inside the gates, making him the third person to ever break out of initial confinement after Nico Robin and Franky when his old Straw Hat crew went in to rescue them.

Zoro throws the folder back on the table. He shrugs his shoulders.

Zoro

Tell me something I don’t know.

Law leans over, then re-opens the folder, navigating to the part where the Marines have compiled copies of slave buyers’ proof of purchases and ownership records. He taps on the detailed breakdown list.

Law

He only sells other criminals.

Zoro

So? He’s still a slaver.

Law

They’re not worth a lot because they’re trouble.

Zoro

But they're plentiful. Plus he’s sold ones with Devil Fruit abilities.

Law

Which still isn’t as much as a fishman, a mermaid or a child by a long shot. They’re worth hundreds of thousands, depending who you talk to.

Zoro

So what’s your point?

Law pulls a small stack of papers from under the pile–a worryingly long list of individuals that were owned by other rival slavers. It’s a rundown of the people that they have on their inventory, referring to them as a sequence of numbers instead of their actual names. It has details of their age, race and gender.

Law

He’s acquired them, but not sold them. They just vanish when he gets a hold of them.

Zoro can feel his temper rising.

Zoro

You think he set them free? What, that he’s one of those doing-the-bad-thing-for-a-good-reason kind of person?

Law

I’m just saying…

Zoro

We don’t know what he does with them. For all we know, he saves the “best” ones for himself. Or he’s killed them.

Law

I suppose….

Zoro leans back on his seat, crossing his arms.

Zoro

He got to you too, didn’t he? Now you’re in love with him just like the rest of your crew and we’re barely at our first stop. He must have put the idea in your head somehow that he’s somewhat a decent man.

Law

I’m not saying he is, but I–

Zoro

He’s not. You don’t know him as well as I do. He’s probably just playing nice so he can make friends with you lot then control you somehow.

Law sighs in defeat, then takes a moment to find the right words.

Law

Zoro-ya, there’s usually more to the story than meets the eye. You can’t ignore the fact that the World Government likes to hide things and embellish on some to make themselves look like gods. They’ve burnt down libraries and destroyed valuable parts of our history to make that happen. If I were you, I wouldn’t trust everything that the Celestial Dragons says.

And I think, deep inside, you know what I’m talking about. I’ve seen the way you look at him.

Zoro gives Law a deathly glare, as if warning him to choose his next words carefully.

Law stands.

Law

You might want to consider your stance with him by the time we find Corazon.

But just…at least think about what I said about the Celestial Dragons, alright? I really don’t have to care about you. But as the first mate of the Straw Hat pirates, you need to consider what’s best for your crew. He may not do things the conventional way, but I think the Pirate King of the North might be one of the best allies Luffy could have right now. Especially because you wouldn't want him fighting for the other side when the time comes.

Zoro’s brows shoot up.

Zoro

Luffy? What about Luffy needing allies?

Law

Has he not spoken to you?

Zoro

No…I threw all my transponder snails away, remember?

Law sighs.

Law

Luffy plans to take on Kaido.

—

The Polar Tang finally arrives at Sabaody Archipelago. As soon as they dock the submarine in the safest and quietest grove they could find, The Heart Pirates, Zoro and Sanji practically pass out on the green grass on the giant mangroves.

Sanji

Well, fuck my ass and call me Susan. That sun is immaculate and this grass is so soft.

Shachi

I haven't heard of that one before.

Bepo

Hey! Do you guys hear that?

Everyone listens intently. Bepo's ears twitch as he looks around, changing the angle of his head so he could determine the direction it's coming from.

Bepo

It sounds like a concert!! Or…a game show? Maybe a festival? Do you think we can check it out? I hope Uta is playing!

Penguin

I’d kill to see Soul King live.

Law finally catches up to them. He stands in the middle of the field where everyone sun bathed.

Law

You have a day. By tomorrow I want everyone focused on looking around for jobs and sourcing out a bubble ship that can fit at least ten people. I'll keep watch this round.

Everyone rejoiced at the news. They begin to stand to make most of the day.

Law

Except for you, Pirate King. You have to stay behind. Everyone knows your face, and they have giant snails here that can transmit videos.

Sanji

Hmm….

Zoro

Why did you have to tell him what to do? Now he's going to do the opposite.

Law rolls his eyes then begins to walk away.

Law

It's your job to keep an eye on him. Good luck. Call me on your den-den mushi if you need me. Don't throw it away this time.

Zoro audibly groans. He rolls onto his elbows then pushes himself up.

Zoro

Hey Curls, I’ve been meaning to ask, do you… want… to–?

Zoro looks up and finds that he's by himself in the field. He frantically searches around and sees Sanji and the rest of the Heart Pirates already running as fast as they can towards the city where the distant sounds of loud music blared loudly. Some split into groups and some wander off on their own.

Zoro

Son of a–WAIT!!!

—

In Sabao Dome, Sanji and a few of the Heart Pirates managed to sneak into the stadium, finding themselves right in the thick of a massive crowd close to the main stage. They’re all feeling young, giddy and especially adventurous after having consumed their fifth drink too quickly. Sanji was able to acquire himself a long hood to cover himself so he could continue his day out without any interruptions from the local Marines.

Sanji

Bepo, hold my beer.

Penguin

YES!!

Shachi

Do it, do it, do it!

Bepo

I don't know about this…Captain's going to kill us.

Bepo takes Sanji's cup regardless.

—

It took Zoro about two hours to track down the runaway Heart Pirates that had Sanji in tow. He held onto his own hood, trying his best to hide his identity while fighting through the crowd in the stadium as he approached them.

During his struggle, he learns from people’s discussions that the show is an annual event that is currently being recorded and broadcasted live. It's an open auction where any member of the public has a chance to bid and win a date with an eligible bachelor or bachelorette. All their proceeds would go towards charity so it’s always for a good cause. This year, they plan to expand the local school, improve facilities of the public hospital and if they’re lucky, rebuild some of the more run down areas in groves that have abandoned neighbourhoods.

The show presents the last stretch of eligible bachelorettes. The made up women walk through the runway to present themselves and the crowd roars in reaction. Paddles of different colours and numbers flash up in the air as the bidding begins for the first participant. An auctioneer in a fine tuxedo introduces them and begins taking bids, one bachelorette at a time.

By the time they're almost done with the last woman, Zoro finally joins the rest of the crew. They all yelp out in surprise.

Zoro

Oi!!!

Shachi

Ah, shit!

Zoro

Why the hell did you run from me?! And with him!!

Don't you DARE run now!

Bepo stops in his tracks, then turns to bow down apologetically to Zoro.

Bepo

…I'm so sorry…

Penguin and Shachi

SO WEAK!!!

Zoro

So?! Where the hell is he?

Penguin

Uh…

Shachi

He err…

Bepo

Well…

Zoro looked furiously at the other Heart Pirates. They shudder under his eye and hide behind the large polar bear.

The auctioneer slams the hammer several times against the lectern, congratulating a noble located on the second floor for winning the last date available for the show. Suddenly, he starts moving back through the curtains, looking like he was called urgently by someone from backstage.

Bepo

I really hope that means he's changed his mind.

Shachi

But…I kinda really wanted to see him.

Penguin

Me too.

Zoro

What are you on about?

The auctioneer returns to the stage with a wide smile on his face. He declares that he brings exciting news and tells everyone to not leave the stadium no matter what.

The lights go dim, and with a well built anticipation, he reveals the last minute surprise for the people of Sabao Dome, and for everyone watching live.

A spotlight focuses in the middle of the stage.

At the far end of the runway, in the darkness, everyone could see a mysterious figure step out of the curtains. The silhouette moved with grace and confidence, trailing behind a waterfall skirt that complemented the shape’s fluid movements. It walks towards the spotlight, then slows down as it nears the center stage. One agonisingly suspenseful step at a time, long slender legs appear under the light, revealing a lean figure in a long sparkling dress and matching coloured high heels. The figure takes another step, and everyone can see the person’s flat chest that links up to defined shoulder blades and slim but muscular arms. The swordsman can’t help but start to recognise the individual by the visible scars on their skin. The figure puts a hand on a hip, and with the other, flicks one side of their skirt before taking one final step to reveal their identity.

Zoro thinks that he’ll die right there and then–from the sight and from the whole idea of it. His jaw drops involuntarily, and the same goes to the rest of the Heart Pirates standing behind him.

Sanji opens his eyes behind gold-glittered lids. He runs his tongue across the top of his reddened lips, and slowly trails a splayed hand from his thigh, teasing the crowd with a sight of his skin near his center through slit of his dress, drags his hand to follow his curve up to his chest, then finally he lifts his hair to reveal his long inviting neck to the crowd. He leans slightly on the side where his hand is on his hip, and gives the broadcasting transmission snail a seductive kiss in the air and one of his classic winks. The video footage feeds through all available screens in the area and beyond.

To Zoro’s horror and excitement, the auctioneer announces.

Auctioneer

We proudly present…our final bachelor…THE PIRATE KING OF THE NORTH!!!

The crowd goes nuts. The screaming is so deafening that the swordsman hears ringing behind his ears. Poor Bepo had to push his sensitive ears down to put up with the uproar. They get stuck watching the events unfold in front of them, unable to move like sardines in a can. They feel the crowd push in further from outside as people try to squeeze themselves closer to the stage as the bidding war begins.

Zoro and the Heart Pirates had to risk losing their voices just to hear each other.

Zoro

THE MONEY’S NOT EVEN FOR US! DOES HE KNOW THIS?!

Penguin

HE DOES!! HE SAID HE’LL FISH OUT THE WEALTHIEST PERSON IN SABAODY, GO ON A DATE, THEN STEAL FROM THEM WHEN THEY BRING HIM HOME!

Shachi

BUT NO DATES UNTIL HE SEES THEM PAY THE CHARITY FIRST! THAT WAS THE PLAN!

Bepo

WHAT DID YOU SAY, ZORO?! DO YOU KNOW THAT THAT’S THE KING?! HOW DOES HE WALK LIKE THAT WITH THOSE HEELS, RIGHT?!

Zoro lets out a pained groan and attempts to fight the crowd to get to Sanji quickly. It’s too dangerous for him to use haki, or to simply jump up in the air as he’s afraid of knocking people out given how grossly clustered the dome had become. He barely makes any progress at all. He’d never seen this many people freak out over one man. And of course it had to be him.

Penguin

HEY SHACHI! LOOK I’M BIDDING BUT I DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY! HAH!

Penguin awkwardly waves his coloured paddle up above his head.

Shachi

FOR CHORE BOY? HAH!

Bepo

Captain is going to kill us for real…. I’m sure this time.

The auctioneer starts taking bids, starting at a ridiculously high price of 100,000 Beri. This immediately cuts off half of the public but it doesn’t stop the wealthier citizens raising their paddles, all desperate to have but a few moments of their time with the Pirate King.

Zoro thought he’d hated the man before. Now he wants to personally strangle him in front of everyone. He continues to struggle through the crowd, effectively separating himself from the Heart Pirates.

Penguin

Swordsman! It’s not a good idea to split the party with a crowd this big!!

Zoro ignores the man and trudges on. He needs to drag Sanji’s ass out of there now.

The auctioneer continues to take bids.

300,000…

850,000…

1,100,000…

4,500,000…

The crowd goes quiet. It was an eerie feeling of having gone from extreme loudness down to nothing. Another spotlight shone on the crowd, focusing on a pompous-looking woman who is fanning herself with the bidding paddle, looking mighty proud that no one can top her high bid.

Suddenly, there was a sound of heavy doors opening, followed by a booming voice that filled the air.

Voice

ONE. BILLION. BERRI.

Everyone’s gaze collectively turns towards the source of sound. The spotlight travelled from the pompous woman towards the farthest back area of the stadium.

The crowd parts for a man in a white boiler suit and resin bubble over his head. He approaches the stage slowly–not on his feet, but by using a larger man underneath him as a mount. He gives the slave an agonising snap of his whip to make him go forward, pulling the chain that’s secured around his neck painfully.

Zoro

Shit. Shit. Shit. Fuck. Shit.

Zoro tries to squeeze through faster, but the crowd refuses to budge completely with most of them trying to bow down to the new arrival.

A Celestial Dragon is approaching, and Sanji can’t help but smile.

----------

This Sanji likes to look and feel fantastic.

Also, Bepo is love.

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writer-freak · 2 months ago

Text

His favorite| Sanji x Gn reader

Kinktober week 4 - Facesitting, body worship and overstimulation

Words: 1.6k

Warning: NSFW, Gn reader, no genital description, facesitting, handjob, english isn't my first language

A/n: Have to be truthful I'm not really happy with this one but I decided to post it anyways. I lost motivation for this piece I'm sorry.

Thank you for reading and Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated and really motivate me to write more <3

It had been a normal day on the Thousand Sunny. The sun had set, the ship swaying gently on calm waters, and the crew had scattered to their rooms for the night. Earlier, you had found yourself in a conversation with Nami, one that started innocently enough but quickly turned playful.

“You’re really with him?” she asked, raising an eyebrow in your direction as the two of you sat in the galley. There was no need to specify who she was talking about. You chuckled. “Yeah, I am.”

Nami leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. “Not that I’m judging, but I just don’t get it. What do you see in him?”

There was a mischievous glint in her eyes, knowing full well what your answer might hint at. You glanced around the galley to make sure no one else was within earshot before giving a sly grin. “Let’s just say… he’s really good at what he does.” Obviously, that is not the only thing that you love about him but it really was something that Sanji excelled in.

Nami’s eyebrows shot up, and she let out a surprised laugh. “Oh, I see."

The conversation quickly moved on, but her amused smirk stayed in the back of your mind as you thought about Sanji. The man was an absolute sweetheart, always so attentive and fawning over you with endless compliments and devotion, both in and out of the bedroom. And tonight, he was waiting for you.

Later that night, after everyone had retired to their rooms, you slipped away to Sanji’s quarters. His face lit up the moment you stepped inside, and with his usual lovestruck expression he pulled you into a tight hug.

“Finally,” he murmured, his lips brushing against your forehead before trailing down to your ear. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

You smiled into his touch, the warmth of his body making you feel at ease. “Really? You seemed pretty focused during dinner,” you teased, recalling how he had been cooking for the entire crew without a hint of distraction.

Sanji chuckled, his hands gently guiding you toward his bed. “Multitasking, my love. Just because I’m cooking doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you.”

His words were as smooth as ever, and you couldn’t help but laugh softly, shaking your head. Sanji had a way of making everything sound poetic, even when his thoughts were entirely indecent.

“You’re so full of it,” you muttered, but your tone held no bite.

Sanji pulled back just enough to look into your eyes, his expression softening as he brushed a hand against your cheek. “Maybe, but you love it.”

And you did. He was intoxicating in moments like this, so focused on you, as if nothing else in the world existed. His hands moved to your waist, fingers pressing lightly into your skin as he guided you back onto the bed, his eyes shining with that familiar adoration.

“I don’t think I tell you enough,” Sanji murmured as he settled between your legs, his hands already sliding under your shirt, fingertips tracing the lines of your body with reverence. “How absolutely beautiful you are… how perfect every inch of you is.”

You felt a rush of warmth spread through your chest as his lips began to trail down your neck, each kiss slow and deliberate, leaving lingering heat wherever his mouth touched. His fingers moved with the same care, gliding over your skin as though he were memorizing every detail. It was overwhelming sometimes, the way he worshiped your body, making you feel like you were the most precious thing in the world.

Sanji’s lips moved lower, kissing along your collarbone before pausing to look up at you, his expression soft but with a certain heat mixed in. “I’m so lucky,” he whispered, his voice filled with sincerity. “To be the one who gets to touch you like this.”

Your breath hitched as his hands traveled further down, his touch light and teasing. He always took his time, savoring every moment, as though each kiss and caress was something sacred. You could feel the tension building slowly, the anticipation hanging in the air as his hands roamed lower, his lips ghosting over your stomach.

“You know…” Sanji began, his voice low and hesitant as he looked up at you, his cheeks flushed with a mixture of excitement and nerves. “You’ve never let me do this before.”

You blinked, confused for a moment before realization dawned on you. He’d been asking for it for a while now, always with that same playful grin, but you hadn’t quite been ready to indulge him—until now. Tonight, with the way he was looking at you, you could feel yourself melting into his touch, wanting to give him what he’d been craving.

“Are you sure?” you asked softly, though you already knew the answer.

Sanji’s eyes lit up, and he nodded eagerly. “I want this so badly,” he whispered, his voice trembling slightly with anticipation. “Please.” You bit your lip, feeling a surge of desire pulse through you at the thought. It wasn’t just his excitement; it was the way he looked so completely at your mercy, his usual behavior just morphed into pure adoration. Slowly, you nodded, giving him the permission he’d been waiting for.

“Alright,” you murmured, your heart pounding in your chest as you shifted on the bed. “Just don’t get too cocky about it.”

Sanji’s breath hitched, his hands trembling slightly as they slid down to grip your thighs, positioning himself beneath you. “I’ll be good, I swear,” he promised, his voice hoarse with desire. “I just want to make you feel good.”

You took a steadying breath before moving into position, your knees on either side of his head as you hovered above him, feeling the warmth of his breath against your skin. The vulnerability of the moment wasn’t lost on you, but neither was the sense of power Sanji, was completely at your mercy, waiting eagerly beneath you.

When you finally lowered yourself onto him, his response was immediate. His hands gripped your thighs tightly, holding you in place as his mouth found its home between your legs. The first stroke of his tongue sent a shiver through your body, and you couldn’t help the soft moan that escaped your lips as he began to move, his mouth working with a precision that had your head spinning.

Sanji was relentless, his tongue moving in slow, deliberate strokes as he worshiped you with every lick, his moans vibrating against your skin. You could hear him murmuring praises between breaths, words of adoration that only heightened the pleasure building inside you.

“You taste so good,” he whispered, his voice muffled against you. “I could stay like this forever…”

Feeling Sanji’s mouth working you over in slow, reverent strokes, a shiver ran through you, every nerve set alight by his careful dedication. His grip tightened on your thighs, his arms kept you seated right where he wanted you, all while he lavished you with his undivided attention.

His touch was determined and adoring, his muffled moans only adding to the sensation coursing through your body, drawing you closer to the edge.

Just as your breath hitched in a ragged gasp, Sanji’s hands slid up your thighs, encouraging you to lean forward. Understanding his silent plea, you reached down, your hand slipping past the waistband of his pants to pull him out and wrap your hand around him.

He sucked in a sharp breath, and you couldn’t help the smirk that crept onto your face as his cock twitched in your grip, eager and sensitive.

With his face buried beneath you, Sanji’s moans grew deeper, matching the pace you set with your hand. His tongue worked you with the same rhythm, his hands squeezing your thighs each time he felt himself nearing that edge.

The dual sensation was dizzying the wet, heat of his mouth combined with the way he responded to every movement of your hand, a shared sensation that was overwhelming both of you. But neither of you pulled away.

Even as the pleasure rolled over you, leaving your thighs trembling and your breaths uneven, you continued stroking him, feeling him pulse under your touch, refusing to let him rest. Sanji groaned against you, his hips bucking slightly into your hand, seeking out the friction you provided. But instead of stopping, you kept going, letting your hand glide over him again and again, prolonging the pleasure that had his entire body tense beneath you.

“Don’t stop,” he murmured, his words slurred with exhaustion but laced with an insistent desire as his mouth resumed its work on you. His tongue pressed firmly, almost as if he was trying to leave an imprint, to feel every pulse and twitch that told him you were as close as he was.

And just when you thought you couldn’t take any more, you felt another knot build, Sanji’s movements becoming slower, almost desperate, as he continued drawing out every last drop of pleasure from you. With each quake, you could feel his body react, his own release drawn out in the same way as his hips bucked again beneath you.

Both of you rode that line between euphoria and overstimulation, your bodies working in perfect harmony until finally, breathless, you both collapsed in complete exhaustion.

Sanji’s hands still held you close, his lips pressing gentle kisses against your thighs, murmuring soft, reverent praises as the world around you faded.

This was his favorite thing—pleasing you, worshipping your body like it was the only thing that mattered.

Divider by: @cafekitsune

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