Hana Arashi
Summary: Zoro has waited a long time for Hana Arashi to return to his arms, but seeing as nothing has happened yet, he decides that it's time to make his move—how will he know Usopp's feelings if he doesn't?
Courage.
Emerald irises were closed for the moment to take advantage of the warm, but cool spring weather the sea was experiencing; Zoro's form was still, but comfortable as it lay under the shade on the grassy deck of Thousand Sunny. There was a slight wind blowing, enough to add to the coolness of the weather without making it overly chilly. Despite having his eyes closed, his other senses were aware though—touch, smell and taste, and hearing; it was a sort of hyper aware state the swordsman found himself entering every time his body shut down for rest. From the soft waves gently splashing against the bottom of the ship to Brooke's quiet singing in the Crow's nest to the seagulls' calls in the open sky, he was aware of it all. In a sense he was not yet awake, but he wasn't asleep either.
Brook's singing was still sort of creepy as hell, but whatever, he wasn't the Musician so who was he to judge; cutting and slicing their enemies were more his forte.
Yo ho ho ho… Ho ho ho ho…
Yo ho ho ho… Ho ho ho ho…
He couldn't hear Luffy at the moment so Zoro could only assume that his meat loving Captain was pestering Sanji about food again. Neither the sweet scent of tangerines nor the indescribable smell of flowers were present either, so once again, he was assuming that the witch and Robin were doing things women did in their designated quarters. Chopper was almost always in the medical wing, and Usopp—his thoughts abruptly halted at the sound of light, but clunky footsteps.
His eyes slowly opened and glanced around for a moment before settling on the rippled, muscular form of the sniper, appreciating the view he got from the brunet's new outfit; it was a great choice, and the view from the back wasn't bad either. Where had the scrawny sniper gone? It was one of the first questions that had been bothering the green haired swordsman when he finally saw Usopp himself for the first time after that two year mark.
Sure, Zoro was a man who knew about sex and lust and needs like any other man, but he couldn't help hoping that the younger man would have confessed that he liked him at least a little bit by now—or did he go for tall, blond, bull's eye-browed assholes? He and Sanji were close though… His own thoughts made him frown somewhat as he continued to watch Usopp's form as he moved toward the railing, leaning against it in one of his rare moments of silence.
He yawned loudly, hoping to attract a bit of attention to himself, and it worked—Usopp turned at the noise and grinned a little, one hand moving up in a motionless wave of sorts.
"Hey," Zoro said quietly as he moved to stand slowly and, one hand rested on his swords as his feet led him towards sniper until he was quietly standing next to his shorter form. "You know, hearing me yawn like that—you usually jumped at the sound."
"I'm a brave warrior of the sea now—!"
"—except when it's out of your league."
"Hey!"
Zoro chuckled, a slight smirk curling onto his features.
"It's true."
Usopp huffed, folding his arms over his solid chest and glanced away, slightly embarrassed.
"O-oi! I'm still brave!"
"Yeah."
"Still think about that girl back home?"
"N-nah… I don't think we'll ever see each other again, and besides, I'm a pirate—I don't want to endanger Kaya…"
"If you love something, you protect it, right?"
"I'm not sure I love her—maybe it was just more of a physical attraction." Usopp felt bad, but during the long time away, he really had been seeing it as most of a physical thing; she was probably even more beautiful than when he last saw her.
Glancing away from Usopp, Zoro scratched the bridge of his nose lightly before speaking; he had to word this right without spelling out too many clues.
"So… You think you're in the market for someone else, maybe boys too?"
Usopp arched a brow, glancing up at Zoro, but then glanced away his own self, slightly pink and shrugged, soon puffing his chest out proudly.
"To the Great Captain Usopp, love is love!"
"Yeah…"
( Author's Notes: I think I may do a second part. )