Summary: Everyone has their quirks
Rating: K+
Head Canon: Several. Some mine, others I've seen floating around
AN: Great inspiration was taken from MadRabbit's fic Little Things. It's short, but so, so good. Go read it if you haven't.
Some called Zoro an uncultured baboon, and most days they weren't too far off. He trained, he slept, and he drank like a fish, and…well, most of the time there wasn't much else. He was strong enough that Nami understood why Luffy kept him around, but meat shields were a berry a dozen and she saw no reason to get particularly attached to this one.
But when Zoro kept Nami from being duped on some knock-off calligraphy at Logue Town—not that she would ever admit to being duped—with only a muttered "wrong stroke order" by way of explanation, she was forced to reevaluate her original assessment. A little digging revealed that Zoro learned a whole lot more than how to swing a sword at his old dojo. The great lump was a properly trained swordsman, with all that entailed. The only thing stopping him from acting like it was a complete lack of interest.
Nami tucked this tidbit away in the back of her mind, while subtracting a few thousand berries off of his debt. Loathe as she was to admit it, he'd saved her a little money and a lot of embarrassment, and that wasn't something she'd easily forget.
~x~
For an unashamed pervert, Sanji kept a whole lot of books on fairy tales.
For the longest time, Usopp couldn't wrap his head around it. Yes, the sentiment was undercut somewhat by his collection of dirty magazines, but still, fairy tales? Even the Great Captain Usopp, best storyteller on the five seas, hadn't brought fairy tales with him to the Grand Line.
It was easy to see how he projected himself as the knight in shining armor, but during Enies Lobby when he challenged Usopp to do what the rest of the Straw Hat's couldn't there was something in Sanji's tone that made Usopp think that the love-sick love-cook knew what he was thinking. All the self-deprecation, the questioning of his worth and place within the group, the struggle to find his strength…Sanji understood it all.
And maybe it took a storyteller to see it, but for all his bluff and bluster there was a part of Sanji that wanted to be saved, too, and Usopp wondered it was possible to be the knight in someone else's story while still being the damsel in distress in your own.
~x~
It was no secret that Robin never went anywhere without her notebook and pencil, ready to write down interesting bits of history or macabre trivia at a moment's notice. General consensus throughout the crew was that she wrote out her notes in an unbreakable code, after a strike team consisting of Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper risked life and death to satisfy their (Usopp's) curiosity by raiding the women's quarters in search of answers.
Chopper always felt the tiniest bit guilty about his part in the proceedings. He always had the feeling that Robin knew what they'd done, but the mysterious archeologist never said a word against them. Maybe that was the reason why he never let on that while Robin's handwriting was nearly illegible, it was still written in the common tongue.
Doctorine always said that the terrible penmanship doctors were known for only developed when the mind began moving too fast for the body to keep up with. It made sense to Chopper, then, that Robin—whose esoteric and vast repository of knowledge was worth several doctorates by itself—would have the worst handwriting that he'd ever seen.
~x~
Everyone knew Brook wrote music. Many of his original songs were instrumentals for the violin or the piano, but during his rise in popularity as the Soul King he began expiramenting with lyrics as well. Even Zoro could admit that his rock ballads were pretty catchy, though when the skeleton's electric guitar disturbed his naps Zoro had to stop himself from wringing Brook's non-existent neck.
And really, what was a song if not poetry put to music? It wasn't much of a stretch that Brook's interest would expand to include rhythm and meter of the written word. The constant stream of puns more than proved how much he enjoyed playing with words.
It was unfortunate that the same love of terrible jokes translated into equally terrible poetry. Still, even Zoro had to admit that his limerick about Nami was pretty funny, and no matter how many times she smacked him upside the head, Zoro refused to tell her where he'd first heard it.
~x~
Franky did not cry. This undisputed, oft-repeated maxim was well known amongst the Straw Hat Pirates. Any tears that dripped down the cyborg's cheeks were triggered by tangerine pollen, dust, reindeer fur, or something equally inconvenient. To say otherwise was to risk a Heavy Left to the skull.
No, Franky was a man's man. He built weapons strong enough to defeat sea kings and chugged cola by the gallon. He did not indulge in bubble baths or cheesy romance novels after a long day of work, especially not at the same time.
When a surprise marine attack forced Franky out of the bath so quickly he barely had time to put on his speedo and caused enough damage to the rigging to necessitate immediate and time-consuming repairs, it was Brook who silently drained the tub and returned the well-worn book back to its original hiding place.
It wasn't his place to judge, but the old musician wished there was a way he could tell Franky that no one would care one way or another, and that life was far too short to hide from what one truly enjoyed.
~x~
When she first joined the Straw Hat Pirates, the one crewmember that intrigued Robin wasn't the simple-minded captain, the human-reindeer doctor, the teen genius navigator, or even the surly swordsman. No, it was the long-nosed sniper that fascinated her, and her confusion only grew as time passed. He was seemingly weak compared to the rest, a self-serving coward whose goals in no way aligned with Monkey D. Luffy's. Where, in this complex puzzle that were the Straw Hats, did he fit?
He was different than the rest, more creative, more sensitive, more—dare she say it?—normal. At first glance Usopp was a boy playing pirate, the odd man out in a crew of monsters and geniuses.
On her birthday (her first since finding her family), he presented her with a book. This wasn't so unusual, if not for the timing. Usopp made sure he found Robin during a quiet moment, alone, before nervously presenting her with her gift.
There was no showboating. There were no lies. There was only a collection of Oharan myths, hand bound in a handsome leather cover, illustrated with ink sketches that mimicked the engravings she remembered from her childhood books.
And at that moment, Robin understood.
~x~
To say Chopper was young was something of an understatement. There were times, especially when around Usopp, when he was so damn jumpy and nervous it was hard to tell if he were a reindeer or a mouse afraid of his own shadow.
Still, Sanji had to admit he came through in a pinch, and if there was one time he was never, ever afraid it was when he was tending to the sick and wounded. It was his element, what he was born to do, and damn it all if he didn't do a good job.
So it was curious when after Enies Lobby Chopper fussed over Sanji's wounds more than usual. He treated the claw and bite marks left by that asshole of a CP9 agent in a way that was almost timid, wrapping and rewrapping bandages, even venturing so far as to ask Sanji if he could test him for rabies.
Sanji knew that Chopper knew that no Government agent would be allowed to go around rabid, although if they were it would explain some of their more shitty behavior. It wasn't until a moment of sublime clarity that the it clicked: Chopper was afraid of wolves.
It made sense in a way. Wolves were natural predators for humans and reindeer both, and though Chopper would never admit it there was a part of him that still held to his base animal instinct.
In the end Sanji let the little guy run his tests without protesting. They all had their demons, and if Chopper's fear led him to be an even better doctor than he already was, who was he to argue?
~x~
The helm of the Sunny wasn't really meant for sitting, and after setting sail with the Straw Hats that was the one aspect of his otherwise super ship that irritated Franky. Had he known how much love Luffy held for his favorite spot, he would have gone out of his way to make a figurehead that stuck out a little farther, or at least installed a fancy chair, complete with seat belt. Luffy didn't mind, but that was probably because he had no idea what he was missing out on.
No one knew for sure why a hammer like Luffy would sit in such an obviously dangerous spot, but Franky could guess. His captain was a runner and a gunner, who despite how much he got beaten up by his own crew was very much in charge of it.
Wherever the Straw Hat Pirates went, Luffy wanted to be the first one to see it, the first one to step on it, the first one to experience it. After all, the only way to protect those who were behind you was to remain one step ahead, and there was no one but the Straw Hat Pirates Luffy would trust to defend his back.
~x~
Whether Luffy was utterly clueless or only took the time to notice the important things was up for debate. The same man who recognized the similarity between the Sun Pirate's mark and the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon was the same man who regularly forgot that jumping after drowning crewmates only doubled the number of crewmates who were drowning.
But whether clinically idiotic or a brilliant savant, Luffy noticed when his friends were upset, and he noticed the moment Nami noticed the amusement park at Saboady that she was upset. He didn't know why, and it wasn't until the events on Fishman Island that the correlation between the archipelago and Arlong Park was made clear.
He didn't have to know those things to see when his navigator went unnaturally quiet and still, her eyes clouding over with trouble that made him both angry and powerless at the same time. He hated seeing that look in his friends, and would have done anything in the world to make it go away.
So he did, in his unique Luffy way. With a childish laugh of glee, he pointed to the amusement park. "It looks fun! Can we go?" he asked, giving Nami the power to choose for herself what she wanted.
"I've never been to an amusement park before," she mused, and there's hidden meaning in those words, but Luffy doesn't care about that. All he cares about is making his navigator happy.
"So let's go!" he shouted, and Nami only shook her head in exasperation.
In the end she decides to go shopping with Robin, but that's okay, because the fire is back in her eyes and each step is done with purpose. Luffy noticed, like he always noticed, and his grin stretches a little big larger before bounding off towards his newest adventure.
AN: Hello all! I know it's been awhile since I've posted something for this, and rest assured I have a couple other chapters with submitted head canons in progress. In the meantime, tell me what you think of this one. I vaguely remember reading a fic (one shot?) where Zoro saved the crew during a Davy Fight Back through his knowledge of traditional samurai skills, including calligraphy. Plus Oda's drawn him with ink and brush at least once for a cover, so it's definitely something I could get behind.
Also, for some reason I can see Brook getting really into limericks. Could you imagine how corny that would be? As a bonus, here's the one Zoro referenced in his section:
There once was a navigator named Nami
On whom I peeped once but she saw me
I took a kick to the face
But saw her panties were lace
And now of her bra I must make inquiry