Title: Believe
Pairings: Zoro/Luffy
Warnings: None
Summary: Zoro will believe in Luffy, just because.
Disclaimer: One Piece does not belong to me (But can I buy it? Pretty please?).
You watch him constantly. It's hard not to, when your captain is prone to falling in the water five times a day, attracting marines like flies to honey even in a village the size of your thumbnail, and getting into mischief two seconds after docking at a new island. Hell, the first thing he did after you joined him (at his insistence, because you will never admit you had been captivated by his smile) was to get carried off by a giant bird.
You watch him defeat numerous enemies, emerge victorious from his battles – all for the sake of his nakama and their dreams, because it would never be anything less than that – and the tightness in your chest eases when you know he is well again. You will never forget that time in Alabasta, seeing him being carried out, limp, bloody, unconscious, and you want nothing more than to hold him to ensure he's alive. But you don't, because there's too many people around, and the feeling shocks you; it gets pushed aside though, because someone is saying something, and now that the adrenaline is gone, it is taking all your strength just to pretend you aren't already half unconscious.
It gets harder and harder to watch him from beneath half lidded eyes as you gather more nakama. You are sure Nami suspects something, because she gives you sly smiles and sometimes she giggles. You won't rise to the bait though – who knows if she wouldn't charge you for it anyways? Witch. The ero-cook probably knows something too, because he's not as stupid as he looks (but you will never tell him that, because there are some things better left unsaid). You don't care though, and go back to lazily watching him fish with Usopp. Who knows? He might decide to try and catch the fish himself, instead of waiting with a pole in hand.
You wonder when watching him had become so second nature, until you could unerringly predict his course of action. You wonder if perhaps he doesn't know, with all the times you've fished him back out of the ocean, mere minutes after he'd fallen in. You wonder if he doesn't know you stay under just a little longer, so you can hold him. You wonder if there is a name for that quiver in your chest every time he calls you (or is it something you ate?).
You wonder…and then you stop, because there is no point in wondering. You only feel a bone-numbing unease as you hear about the war at Marineford. You grip your katana, and can do nothing but feel, because he's there and you're not. You're not there. You trust he will win of course, because they've all made promises – but you can't help the undercurrent of anxiety snaking through your body. But you will wait and trust and believe, because he is the man who will become the Pirate King, and he is your captain.
A/N: The last bit doesn't flow as well as I'd like it to, and it feels a bit like I made a big time jump there…but ah well. Comments, suggestions, criticism appreciated. :D