AS A WARNING THERE IS SOME PRETTY BAD LANGUAGE AT ONE POINT. Thank you :3
AN: Based off of the Song 'Yo Ho Sebastian'/'Gay Pirates'. It is a fantastic song and I love it, but you really should not listen to it if you're sensitive.
Also, I couldn't think of what to do for a request so hey! Got that down too, with the line, "I think you missed your calling." I was-
Yeah pretty much totally stuck. So hey! Finished it now, ahah!
A pretty extreme 'proper pirates' AU, with Luffy enlisting as a cabin boy before he got his own ship and became a captain, and Zoro being on the crew first, before agreeing to follow Luffy when the boy finally became a captain in his own right.
This water is too salty
For me to even drink,
I'd rather walk the dreaded plank
Than stay another week.
His lips were salt crusted from the constant sea wind exposure, and even with the steadily growing heat of the day, not a drop of sweat could be seen decorating the severely dehydrated body. Even the ocean's water seemed tasty to the dry-mouthed man, but he'd seen enough of his crew mates go mad and die from eagerly gulping the deadly salt water to even entertain the thought.
"What cha thinkin' 'bout, Zoro?" The curious – albeit, slightly croaky – voice of his lover was accompanied by the cabin boy's weight draped over his back and shoulders.
Luffy's body was feverishly hot against Zoro's skin, and although Zoro knew that the feeling was one he'd come to attribute with having the teen pressed so close to him, this time worry made his mouth crinkle down at the edges. "Water."
"Isn't everyone?" Luffy asked, barest hints of a hoarse laugh in his tone, before he rested his chapped lips on the nape of Zoro's sunburnt neck. "Don't worry, Zoro," he mumbled, mouth barely moving against the swordsman's skin, "We'll find land again soon."
Zoro didn't answer; he couldn't. He just didn't have the time for such unwavering faith, after so many days without a single sight of civilisation or a hint of fresh water to be had.
Pissed in my hammock yesterday
So I'll sleep on the floor
I'd be under the sea,
But you hold me above.
And they put glass in my sandals
So my feet would bleed all day,
And they forced me to wear them
Or they said they'd make you pay.
The first drink of water he'd had in weeks tasted almost as sweet as the first time he and Luffy had kissed; he took it the same way too. Desperate and hungry, a bodily need that he couldn't resist or fight against.
Now after almost a full barrel (enough to make him feel gloriously water-sick and full from his stomach to his toes), Luffy had succeeded in peeling him from the drink and dragging him off to a room. The two were sharing lazy 'God, we're alive, we're both still alive' kisses, and after their harrowing escape from dehydration even Zoro couldn't complain about the pace. They'd been precious little time for kisses with everyone slowly dying around them, blossoms in the heat of summer drought.
Luffy still tasted like salt, but to Zoro that taste was as familiar as the smattering of freckles laid under his palm like a map.
"Told you we'd find land," Luffy murmured lazily, cat's purr of victory and teasing success in his tone, and Zoro felt the dark-haired teen's grin against his cheek. Zoro gave a small snort, and felt Luffy's grin stretch even wider.
"That you did, captain, that you did."
Zoro didn't mention the glitter of broken glass stabbed into the sole of Luffy's sandals when they woke up and the sun caught their edges and made the room fill with white shards of light, and Luffy didn't ask why he was sleeping on the floor the week after they drew out of port.
They said they're gonna kill me,
If I look at you once more.
I'd be under the sea,
But you hold me above,
'Cause you're the man I love!
Firelight made the edges and angles to the gaps in Luffy's ribs soften, and in the darkness their kisses felt like secrets, soft whispers even as their hands gripped bruising 'thank God you're alive,' checks to see the firm yield of living skin and the rapid pulse of hearts. Rapt touches settled into gentle presses and fleeting, butterfly fluttering fingertips grazing each other's injuries.
Their position was not safe; a single crewmate coming down the stairs would easily spot them, no matter the meagre, feeble flicker of the faraway fire, but even at the danger the pure exhilaration that they were both alive meant that Zoro just couldn't find it in himself to care. Didn't find a single shred of him that urged him to be cautious, not when Luffy was in front of him and so gloriously, wonderfully, alive.
Pressing another hungry kiss to the hardly-breathing lips of his lover, he heard Luffy give an overjoyed, breathy laugh, quiet but none-the-less easily caught by the swordsman's ears, and he felt a small smile quirk his lips.
"I think you missed your calling," Luffy teased breathlessly, and in that moment nothing could ever force Zoro to stop their midnight meetings and dangerous, furtive brushes of skin-to-skin contact as they passed each other on their separate ways around the ship.
At the top of the steps, a board creaked quietly, but neither heard the sound.
The captain found out 'bout us,
And ordered them to throw-
Us both overboard tonight,
Together we will go.
Raucous shouts woke him in the middle of the night, and he moved to grab his swords and pistols, instinct driving him from slumber under the stars, but his movements were halted by coarse ropes binding his hands behind his back.
Torchlight half blinded him when his eyes flew open, and even as he struggled against his bonds, he could see how vastly outnumbered he was. If he could just reach even one of his swords-
But no.
His weapons were being held tightly in the arms of their terrified-looking gunrat, who scurried quickly to the back of the pack as soon as Zoro's deadly gaze landed on him.
Hauled to his feet, shoulders twisting in their sockets at the awkward and painful angle, Zoro considered running for it and smashing a few of those guy's heads in along the way, but the bonds were tied to tightly and he didn't think even he could run properly with ropes bound around his ankles.
The jeers and taunts as they attempted to prod him like a wild tiger made a snarl curl his lips and as one particularly brave pirate attempted to poke his cheek, his teeth snapped shut around the ligament and bit hard, blood flooding his mouth and the bones making ominous cacking noises.
Only after a severe blow to the back of his head made him choke did he let go, and the wailing pirate's cries of pain made Zoro smirk. His triumphant, devilish grin broke and dripped off his face, though, as he heard Luffy's voice, all manner of swears falling from the teen's lips. A wild look entered his eyes, like a captured creature starved for too long and beaten much too often and the growl that built in his throat was nothing short of feral.
The jack'o'lantern grins flickered to life on the faces surrounding him, stretched wide and thin.
As Luffy was pushed into the sudden circle that'd formed, a growing sense of dread threatened to overwhelm and drown him where he stood. Their captain followed, knife having prodded Luffy to the middle of the group, and Zoro was shoved forwards too, a vicious push that almost sent him falling face first on the deck.
He cursed his decision to sleep under the stars; it just meant that it was easier to get him while he was asleep, and take him wherever they wanted.
Luffy pressed against him, fingertips just barely catching his own, and Zoro held on as well as he could, the angle his hands were tied at making it difficult.
"Fuckin' fags!" One of the crew shouted, another spitting at the two, and only Zoro's quick reflexes saved him from a knife in the gut from a member of the third party. He'd moved from Luffy's side to save his skin, though, and as he waited the circle grew a little smaller, similar insults falling like hailstones.
Anger, pure and wild, grew in Zoro's chest like a wildfire, and seeing Luffy's shoulders hunch just barely at the crew's words made him foolish. Even without the use of his hands he could still fight; and that was what he did, elbows and knees striking out at the one ones he'd once called family.
(If only for Luffy – but then again, he'd done almost everything for Luffy, now, hadn't he?)
And I hope they didn't tie up
Your hands up as tight as mine
I'll see you on this ocean bed, babe, sometime.
Hands free but he was still caught and trapped – frozen by the sliver of silver steel pressed against the delicate flesh of Luffy's throat and illuminated gold by the torches.
With the ocean only a few feet away, Zoro found it ironic he was drowning and dying on land instead.
Hands entangled in Luffy's mess of dark hair, the Captain grinned a gap-tooth grin, indicating with a bare flick of his blade to grab the immobile swordsman.
As his former crew swarmed him, ready for his recapture, Zoro caught the flash of determination in Luffy's eyes. Then, the boy whipped his head further back, crunching the captain's wrist at the sudden movement, and smashing his closed fists into the pudgy belly at the same time. Releasing the cabin's boy, the captain screamed in pain, clutching his angled wrist as Luffy charged into the crew, head butting and elbowing them to get to the swordsman.
Chest heaving when he managed to clear enough space, Luffy gave another of his proud grins, and Zoro kissed him long and hard, gripping his cheeks and trying to fight back the sense of despair in his chest that threatened to make him give a sob. He didn't cry, damnit!
(Walking dead, and he'd known it, too. He'd been a deadman since the first time he'd kissed Luffy, since the first time they'd started their secret affair, and he hadn't cared.
Couldn't, when everything in him screamed that it was right.)
A knife sunk through his back, just missing his spine, but it still made him gasp and arch at the pain. The worry that filled Luffy's eyes as he pulled away instinctively to try and breathe past the pain made him wish he could've kept quiet.
Hands dragged them away from each other, Luffy fighting like a wild cat, trying to land another hit, but they'd all learned to stay cautious around the two. "Zoro!" Luffy screeched, voice jarring in the panic contained, and Zoro just tried to breathe, tried to remember what it felt like to not be drowning.
"Not so tough now, eh, Roronoa!" One of them jeered, and the chorus of agreements made his lip curl, made him try and lash out, but as with Luffy, the crew had learnt their lesson and stayed a cautious way away from the swordsman.
But it's you my love,
You're my land ahoy.
The sun barely rose above the horizon, first flickers illuminating the bubbles left by Luffy's loud splash, and as the plank swayed beneath his bare feet, Zoro could see the dark haired boy sink deeper in the dark waters.
"Jump!" One of them screamed, a victory call borne of madness, and Zoro snorted, turning to look at them with one last glare, one that burnt itself into their memories as the look of a demon.
Then, he stepped over the edge.
And the sea swallowed them up.
But I'm yours you'know,
And I'll love you still in hell,
And down we fell!