Title: She
Characters: Zoro, Kuina, other crew members
Warnings/Spoilers: vague for Thriller Bark, future postulation for the sake of metaphysical conclusions
A/N: I was trying to write something introspective (big surprise) and in depth about Zoro and Kuina's relationship following a prompt about Zoro and Kuina actually being the same person, but this came out. It's too short and it has no coherence and I don't know what else to do with it.
(Resubmitted to fix screwy formatting)
She
She'd been craving sugar all day. But he doesn't like sweet things; even amalgamated they aren't fond of overly saccharine treats. Like the ones Chopper's munching on right now. All sickly sweet and dyed horrendous colours, with syrupy centres that burst excitingly when you crunch down and flood your mouth with liquid heaven… He has barely realised she's hijacked their train of thought when she takes control of their hand too, and suddenly there is sweet on his tongue and she likes it but he's in control, he's supposed to be in control and how on earth can Chopper eat these things?
Chopper honestly didn't mind sharing his sweets (although it would have been nice if the swordsman had asked first), though he did wonder why Zoro would even want one of the special toffees if that was the face he was going to pull.
She's delighted (because she's winning, again) and so their face is smiling, but he's regressing to back when they first met (because she's winning, again) and all he wants to do is claw out of his skin and scream at the sun.
Robin tips back her hat and returns their swordsman's grin. It's so nice to see him relaxed and happy; it makes this perfect summer's day even better.
His captain is about to lose his head and she's screaming at him about promises. He screams back, as loud as he can, of new and unspoken and stronger oaths, but their hand still falters and their legs still tremble and drag him down, away from his duty. His hate at this moment intensifies on an unprecedented level - he hates her for seizing his life before he knew what living even meant, and he hates Luffy for stealing their dream from her, and he hates her again for fighting so strong to get it back that he is so exhausted he can barely think. But his captain is about to lose his head. So he lets her go, and she clatters to the ground, and now it is his knees that fall to the earth and it is his head he can offer. If he thought for a moment he was going to live through this, he perhaps would have thought more of the consequences of his actions; she does not take being discarded well.
Brook sees the torment flicker across Zoro's face as he throws his swords away and prostrates himself in front of Kuma. The action is beautifully noble, but he knows something of the pain coming for the rest of the crew, and wishes he could move to stop it.
When he picks up the white sword again, hot rage consumes him, and it suddenly her hand gripping the worn and familiar handle, but then he pulls himself together and it is them again, and he tries not to think about how much less he is part of them than she is. He doesn't sleep for a week.
Usopp doesn't recognise the expression on Zoro's face when he finally gets his swords back from Nami. He's drawn it over and over again, absently, to understand it better. He hopes it's relief.
She's sinking. There were marines and a cannon and surprise but none of it matters because she is overboard and sinking and it feels like his soul is drowning. When his air is all but expired and his fingers are millimetres from Wadou-but-not-Wadou there is a moment, when he feels he can let her go and grasp semi-freedom for the first time in his life. But he can't breathe, and it has nothing to do with oxygen.
Chopper watches anxiously as Sanji pulls a dripping and gasping Zoro out of the water. He's got the white sword in a death grip and Chopper's had enough panic attacks himself to recognise one when he sees it. The doctor locks Zoro in the infirmary with a paper bag and wonders how soon the swordsman will stop laughing hysterically. He wants to cry.
They're bored. They agree on this much. Nami holds up a skirt and top combination for Robin's approval. Sudden annoyance dominates his senses and his mouth is forming words he doesn't want it to: "Don't be ridiculous; you can't put blue and green together." Zoro looks briefly horrified and no one says anything, but Nami quietly puts the skirt back.
The navigator wonders whether she should be taking fashion advice from a man who expresses a preference for orange goggles, but she figures the look on the stoic man's face might just have been worth it.
The triumph they feel from Mihawk's defeat could not have lent her more strength, and he's a passenger in his own body as they return – covered in blood and grinning – and are enveloped in a joyful crew. It's only when Luffy looks into her eyes and frowns, true anger, that she backs off, and that he can again taste the rum he's been using to numb the pain.
And he knows, when he finally lies dying, that she'll be expressing a sorrow she never truly felt until that moment, and she'll be grateful she got a chance to really live. He'll see her smile, laced with tears, and think that sharing his life wasn't so bad, after all.