Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
The sun was high above and its rays shone brightly in all directions. The blue sky met with the calm sea, so it was hard to tell where the sky began. A tiny raft floated on this sea with two figures lying lazily inside. One had a straw hat and in an outfit of red and blue, the other had green hair and clothed in white, green, and black. They had been rowing for some time with the slender oars but have grown tired after rowing for hours and discovering nothing beyond the horizon.
The one in red was named Luffy, and he mindlessly gazed up at the sky, subconsciously comparing the cloud shapes to food. At the same time, his stomach began to rumble.
"I'm hungry…" Luffy groaned as he flopped onto his stomach and crawled to the back of the raft where he stored food in wooden barrels. Before setting off on his adventure, Makino prepared three large barrels with food, she carefully instructed him how and when to eat them. Alas, Luffy's stomach betrayed him, so he had eaten most of the contents in two of the third barrels. The third barrel he was able to sustain because it contained cans of food and bottles filled with fresh water and juice. It was now the time to open the barrel and eat some out of the can. Hopefully they reached an island soon, or else the poor pair's adventure would fall flat.
"Zoro, do you want to share a can?"
"Sure. Do you need something to open it?" Zoro asked while reaching for one of his two black swords, but Luffy stopped him.
"Nope, I see a can opener."
"All right," Zoro closed his eyes and pressed the three swords closer, with the white one closest to this chest.
"Err, do you want beans, soup, spaghetti, lasagna in a can, meat, or fruit?"
"None of them sound really great, but let's have soup."
"But won't that make us even hungrier?"
"True, but we can take a few sips to sustain ourselves."
"Got it." Luffy bent over inside the barrel to wade away the cans he didn't want, "We have cream, tomato, consommé, clam chowder, vegetable, potato—hm?" Luffy straightened up and pulled out a large glass bottle. "Hey…I told her not to add this…" That young captain whined disdainfully as he read the bottle. It was a well-known brand, the one his favorite red-haired pirate captain loved, but he didn't like to drink. He strictly told Makino that he didn't want to take any alcohol with him. There was a small note folded in half and tied around the bottle's neck with straw. He opened the note and it was a message from Makino:
"A small celebration for your first voyage (don't need to pay back). Drink for a special occasion."
"Makino…" Luffy frowned, but he suddenly spun his head around to see that the swordsman had left his napping spot to peer over his shoulder.
"Hey, it's the Scarlet Label."
"You know it?"
"I've heard of it, but never seen it in person." Zoro rubbed his smooth jaw and grinned, "The people in my village drank this for celebratory reasons."
"Shanks drank it everyday because he said there is always something to celebrate about…"
"Well, we don't need to have a reason to drink—" Zoro reached for the bottle, but Luffy dodged his arms.
"No! I'm only going to open this unless we have something to celebrate! That's captain's orders!"
Zoro lowered his shoulders in defeat, but he let out a chuckle, "That's fine with me." Luffy watched as the older man carefully returned to his napping spot to prevent the raft from capsizing. He looked down at the bottle cuddled in his arms and then glanced up at Zoro. A light bulb flashed between Luffy's eyes. Oh, he had something to celebrate about: Zoro! He had forgotten because Zoro smoothly and easily joined his pirate crew like water. Well, sure, Luffy bribed him to join in the crew with the man's swords, but afterwards the man easily accepted him. It had only been a few days, and the swordsman never talked, but Luffy felt like he knew so much about him. This didn't mean the swordsman was simple and easy to interpret. Zoro gladly handed his trust, devotion, admiration—practically everything the man had to offer—into Luffy's hands.
"Ohh!" Luffy shouted so loud that Zoro toppled out of his relaxed position and automatically switched into defense mode.
"What happened?"
Luffy turned to Zoro with a beaming smile and rushed over with the bottle in his arms. He knelt down and presented the bottle.
"Congratulations!" One of Luffy's hands left the bottle and reached out, "Congratulations on becoming my first member of my pirate crew!"
Zoro stared at the opened palm, pending for a handshake, and then he let out a laugh, "Oh yeah! I totally forgot too!" He didn't leave Luffy's hand hanging; he slapped his over the rough palm and shook is strongly. "Nice to meet you, captain!"
"Shi shi shi!" Luffy gave a quick shake and then drew back, "Let's open it!"
"Wait, let's see if there are cups." Zoro walked past Luffy and peered inside the third and opened barrel, "Ahh, maybe this is it?" The swordsman returned with a small object carefully wrapped in fabric. When he unraveled it, his eyes sparkled. It seemed to be the object he was looking for. Wrapped snugly in the large napkin were two identical cups. They were quite shallow that it would only contain enough to sip once. Luffy immediately recognized the cups because they were similar to the ones he drank with Ace and Sabo.
"Those are…?"
"These are Sakazuki cups." Zoro explained as he placed one near Luffy's crossed legs. "I'll pour your fill, so you fill mine."
"Okay." Luffy replied as he handed the bottle.
Zoro placed his hand on the cork and gave a gentle pull. It didn't budge, so he used a little bit more force and it popped off. He glanced up and with his hand, he silently formed his fingers in a shape of a ring. He was trying to instruct Luffy on how to hold it. Luffy grabbed the cup off the floor and steadied the cup in his awkwardly shaped fingers. Then he stayed absolutely still. In fact he held his breath as Zoro gently tipped the bottle to pour a quaint fill.
Now, it was Luffy's turn to pour. Holding the fragile cup in the other while pouring one for Zoro was a challenge. A strong whiff of alcohol breathed out from the bottle and Luffy reeled backwards. He shook his head to get rid of the nausea and he cautiously tipped the bottle over to pour Zoro a fill, which didn't require much.
When he set the bottle down, Zoro raised the sakazuki cup just above eye level and gave a reserved smile, "Cheers."
"Cheers." Luffy followed suit, raising his cup to match the height, and then he watched as Zoro drew the cup to his lips and quietly sipped. Luffy took a deep breath and took a tentative sip. Despite having the barrels under the sun, the transparent liquid was cool on his tongue. But it was awfully bitter.
"Uhhhgh," Luffy couldn't help but utter a raspy complaint. On the contrary, Zoro's face radiated with happiness, as if he just drank refreshing water after running a six-hour marathon.
"This is nice…!"
"Uuuuuhhhhgh…"
Zoro chuckled, "Too strong for you?"
"Too bitter…"
Zoro chuckled again but paused as he twirled the tiny cup between his fingers. His long lashes batted while he fell into deep thought. Luffy leaned forward to get a better look at Zoro's features, and they sat so close their knees were touching. The insides of Luffy's stomach and gut tickled. The cause might be his low resistance to alcohol, as his face grew hot too. His mind grew clouded as well.
"It might sound strange to say this," Zoro looked up from his cup gazing, and waited for Luffy to continue, "but…doesn't it feel like we just married?"
Zoro made one long blink, and then the swordsman suddenly let out a loud laugh. "It does feel like it—" He continue to laugh but through his nose, so the sounds became gentle "fu" noises.
"So what? Are we?" Luffy pressed, his articulation was sloppy.
"If you say so…but we don't have any witnesses—"
"We do! The sea and the sky saw us!" Luffy grinned, leaning his body over to the point that he dove his face onto Zoro's shoulder. The swordsman filled his own glass and glanced over at Luffy's empty sakazuki cup, pondering whether he should fill it up or wait until Luffy became sober again, when Luffy launched up. With visibly diluted pupils (here, Zoro decided to not give him another fill) Luffy gawked at Zoro for a long time.
"I'm going to be Pirate King."
"Uh-huh…"
"And you're going to be the Greatest Swordsman."
"Yeah."
"So, I'm the husband."
Zoro nearly spat out his drink and barked a laugh, "Why? Can't I?"
"Do you want to be the King of Pirates?"
"No, but—"
"My title has 'KING' in it, so becoming king is usually means the husband who rules the world? Or do you want to be king too? Then we can both be kings—I be the king of pirates and you also being the King of Pirates and Swordsmen too but then we need to fight over this because there can be only one Pirate King-"
Luffy was getting really close to his face, so with his two hands Zoro gently pushed him to create some space.
"All right I get it."
"You do? Do you?"
Zoro scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I'm only interested in becoming the world's greatest swordsman, so you can take the king."
"So I'm the husband?"
"Yeah yeah."
"I'm sorry Zoro. I know you wanted to be king, but I really want to be the Pirate King."
Zoro covered a hand over his mouth to suppress snorts of laughter, "I'm really okay with it Luffy. Awh, I think I'm getting drunk over this."
"I'm not drunk."
"Oh yeah you are."
"No I'm not. Today, right now, we got married and I'm the husband. I swear on it!"
Zoro playfully raised his hand, "I swear on it too."
"We're going to support each other, trust each other, and never ever cheat! I'll never cheat, so you do it too!"
The swordsman snickered as he plucked the tiny cup from Luffy's fingers and refilled it. "I promise. Here, cheers."
"Cheers!" Luffy cackled a laugh and raised his cup.
After then, Zoro had to put the bottle away because he listened to Luffy babbling on and on about his dreams and how he was going to achieve it. Some were plausible. Most were outrageous. Only a madman would travel in the way Luffy proposed. Zoro couldn't tell if these utterances were real or blurred by the alcohol, but Zoro continued on smiling, nodding and agreeing to Luffy.
"—and on every success we're going to party, and everyone in the island is invited to come!"
"Everyone? Even strangers?"
"Of course because parties are always fun when there are more people!" Luffy laughed. The younger man lay on the floor because he was too woozy to sit up. Zoro snickered and shifted his body to lie down beside Luffy. The sky had darkened and it was splattered with twinkling stars. The captain outstretched his arms out as if he presented Zoro a long map of things he planned to do, and the stars represented checkpoints.
"I bet that if we're going to become the best in the world, we will be rich too! Do you want to live in a castle Zoro?"
"A castle? Won't that be easy for marines to find us?"
"Ah, you're right."
"I propose," Zoro chuckled, "That once our adventure is done, we go back to East Blue and build a small pub: you're the owner and I…I don't know, maybe become a bartender or something, and only the ones in the know will come to this pub and ask for a challenge."
"Yeah! And we can hang all of our wanted posters all over town, so it will be easy for everyone to guess where we are!"
Zoro laughed, "Are we planning to promote our bar by posting our wanted posters?" he laughed harder, "And didn't we just drop the castle idea because it will attract the marines?"
Luffy turned his head to face Zoro and then his smile stretched. "Oh yeah!"
Their laughter boomed and then faded as Zoro gazed at his reflection in a cup filled with sake. Many weeks had passed, and so many islands they sailed, but this memory was still vivid. The Merry Go replaced the tiny raft, and then it became the grand Thousand Sunny. Two became eight, and now a ninth joined the Straw Hat Pirate Crew. The battle at Thriller Bark was mysterious and a bit "thrilling" because of the Shichibukai's unique devil fruit ability.
And the sudden visitor of another Shichibukai, everyone thought it was over. Everyone must be confused as to why Kuma left without causing anything…other than destroying a large portion of the battlefield with his pawprint air bomb, threatening to take Luffy away, and Zoro drenched in his own blood. People still question about it, particularly Nami and Robin, but these questions gradually died down once the third day of partying began.
Three days had passed after the encounter with Kuma and the deadly tradeoff. He didn't feel good, but a little rest and a few gulps of alcohol would subdue the pain.
His eyes lingered at his reflection again. It brought back memories when he first joined Luffy's crew and made their special promise for life.
"I promised," Zoro whispered into the drink, "that we will support each other…"
He felt an unfamiliar presence, so he averted his attention from his cup to see two sparkling eyes of a lady. She was Lola, a pirate from some pirate crew (the name passed his mind. Was she even a pirate?) Her thick lips curled into a sweet smile, but it caused one of Zoro's eyebrows to rise. Why was she looking at him like that?
"You're so my type-!" Lola exclaimed, her cheeks reddening like a peach. "Will you marry me?"
Zoro lowered his shoulders and gave a sigh. He thought he already declined her offer. Apparently, he was the rare fish she wanted to catch, and she was not going to give up as easily.
"I'm sorry."
"Why not?" Lola wailed, "Am I not good enough?"
"No," Zoro looked over his shoulder because he heard Luffy's cheerful laugh. The young boy looked like he had no care in the world, with his cheeks stuffed with food and cheese. A gentle smile danced across the swordsman's face, which drew a pleasant sigh from the pirate madam, "I'm wed with the captain of the Straw Hat crew."
"Oh? Oh what? You're already married?" Her jaw almost touched the floor as she gasped. She also attempted to be polite by covering her mouth, but her tiny hands barely hid her gaping mouth. "I-I didn't know you were already taken!"
Zoro chuckled, "I don't even think my captain remembers." A large question formed above her head, but Zoro continued, "but we swore under the skies that night…so I'm planning to keep it."
"Unbelievable!" Lola gasped appallingly, "Many declined my proposal in silly ways, but yours tops as the most outrageous!"
Zoro shrugged, "Believe how you want it, but I won't accept your proposal." Lola stomped away from Zoro's bedside with several rounds of huffs bursting out from her nose. She couldn't get over the fact that a good-looking man like him would decline her offer with the most absurd reason ever. He was married, but his significant other wasn't aware they were? She needed to have a place to sit down with a large jug of ale and a rant buddy to spill out her woes. Thankfully, she became immediate close friends with the navigator of the Straw Hat Crew.
"Namizo!"
Lola thrust her arms out wide, and Nami gasped in fear because her friend looked like she was going to run her over. She strategically slid under the charging arms and met face first with Lola's soft breasts.
"L-Lola? What happened?"
"Namizo! May I speak with you for a moment? I need to vent out!"
"Venting?" Suddenly, Nami's eyes began to shine but her expression became solemn, "What happened Lola?" Nami guided her to a pile of broken cement pillars. When they found a good shaped boulder to sit comfortably, a gentle voice that didn't belong to Nami and Lola, entered.
"May I join the conversation?" Robin slithered out from the shadows and greeted the two with a smile.
"Sure! This area looks okay to sit on." Robin's smile was brightest today. Even though she was the oldest in this gossip group, no matter what age, women loved to engage in conversations. She found a seat next to Nami, so that they were sitting adjacent of Lola. From afar, Lola looked like she was receiving a job interview with two strict hiring managers. Thankfully, the wooden jugs of alcohol loosened up those tense muscles.
"Namizou, you have such fine men in your team!"
"Oh I do? Hah, I never noticed."
Robin giggled, "Our eyes have become quite spoiled with our attractive men." She snatched a glance at all of the Straw Hat Crew men-except for the young reindeer and skeleton.
"You see you see!" Lola huffed, "And you bet you thought they were all available!"
"Eh? Aren't they?" Nami gasped out loud and snapped her head to look back at the men who began to dance and sing random songs, "Some are married!?"
"Is Franky one of them?" Robin cut in, her face taut with worry.
"Err, not him. Well, I don't know about him."
"Oh."
"Then who are you talking about? Sanji?"
"Usopp?"
"No Robin, he's single. I know. He has a girlfriend back in his hometown."
"Really? How sweet of him. Then we should keep watch, so he won't wander."
"Don't worry, I've been keeping an eye on him—"
"Come back to the topic!" Lola screamed and the Nami and Robin straightened up.
"Yes, was it Sanji?"
"No, in fact…" Lola paused on purpose, so she could build the suspense. This drew the two closer, so their head united into a tiny huddle, "It's your captain and the swordsman!"
"Luffy and Zoro!?"
"They have a wife!?"
"They were the last guys I imagined them getting married!"
"No, they're married to each other!"
"Oh my gosh, what?"
"That's wonderful." Robin's smile grew and twinkled in delight. Nami was also grinning too.
"I knew they had something going on."
"But wait, there's more."
"There's more?"
"There's more."
"Tell us."
"The swordsman said that they were married, but the captain might be unaware that they are."
"What?" Nami leaned back, but she scooted closer, "But does that mean they were tricked into marrying? Wait, what does it mean?"
"Let's ask Luffy." Robin stood up and walked in quick steps toward the captain. Nami and Lola weren't able to stop the archeologist because she was walking too fast. They ran after her and sent her hand signals to come back, but today Robin's keen senses weren't working in their direction. She was already in front of the young captain and tapped on his shoulder to get his attention.
"Hmm?" Luffy turned around, his face stuffed with food, and raised his head to greet Robin, "Hey Robin, what's up?"
"Are you married?" Robin asked without a thought of beating around the bush. Hairs stood on Nami's and Lola's heads and they froze in shock.
Without hesitation, Luffy answered, "Yeah." He pointed his thumb over to the green haired swordsman, "with Zoro."
"Ahh, I see." Robin smiled.
"—but I don't think he knows."
"Oh?"
Luffy chuckled, "We promised when we were drinking tons of sake, so he might've got drunk and forgot about it. But I remember." The captain gave a powerful smile that always uplifted everyone's hearts when they were down, "I told Zoro that I'll be the Pirate King, so he's going to be my Pirate Wife."
"Awh," Robin clasped her hands together because she couldn't handle the sweetness. The other two were also trying not to scream out loud. "That's lovely. On our next trip, we should find a store and buy rings for you two."
"Rings?"
"In some islands, spouses wear rings to prove they are married."
"Ah, we don't need that. It'll be in the way."
"I had a feeling you will say that."
Nami assumed that Robin was going to tell Luffy that Zoro also remembered their confession, but with a short thank you and bye, Robin returned to their group.
"Eh? Robin, you didn't tell him that Zoro knew?"
"Yes."
"W-Why?"
"I don't think they need to. They sound quite content about it."
Nami crossed her arms and gave a short sigh. Robin was right. If she was in her shoes, she might have done the same. When she first met them, there was something mystical about their relationship. There was a faint bond that was beautiful and very strong; it was almost as if she was watching a happy golden anniversary couple.
They probably knew without even telling each other. She witnessed them giving each other glances and smirk and giggle for no reason, so they must have telepathy that could only be used on each other.
"But they need the ring."
"I think so too."
Meanwhile, Lola-fueled by Luffy and Zoro's wonderful marriage-rushed over to the cyborg and the cook to ask for a hand in marriage.
The End