Everyone has a soul.
That is what Luffy learned when he was only a child, he remembered seeing a woman in the streets one day, her wrist had a little black heart, like a tattoo, then, a guy that she seemed to know appeared, he had the same tattoo on the opposite wrist.
Was that a symbol of a new gang that he hasn't heard about?!
So, the first thing and most logical that he did was running to Ace and Sabo, they needed to know about this!
"That's just a soulmate's mark; you dummy." Sabo said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What does that mean?" asked Luffy, his eyes full of confusion.
"Don't you know what a soulmate is?" that came from Ace, the boy was sitting in a short wall that was there.
"No. What is it?"
"First of all, do you know what a soul is?" Sabo crooked an eyebrow in a questioning expression.
"No."
"Soul is you, basically." Ace took the speech, "It's like what you have inside yourself."
"Soulmate is someone that is, basically, destined for you and only you." they started to walk in the direction of a big tree.
"It's not just one person, Sabo." Ace said and gave the blonde a quick look before starting to climb, "You can be soulmates with more than one person too."
"That's impossible, stupid!" He followed him, finding a hook that he could sit on, "These kinds of things are just myths."
"They are not!" the freckled exclaimed and the other showed his tongue, Luffy was just listening to the conversation "Some say that soulmates can speak with each other through telepathic powers." said Ace, he was sitting at the top of the tree.
"But that's bullshit, the chances that this is real are the same as having more than one soulmate." replied Sabo, looking at the freckled one like what he just said was the dumbest thing ever.
"Don't listen to him, Luffy." the older brunette looked directly at the youngest, "He can't believe in anything."
Luffy just laughed when Sabo climbed all the way up to hit the other boy.
Luffy peeked what was on the other side of the big wall, he saw when Coby became unbalanced on the things he was on top of to have height.
His wrist was kinda tingling.
"L-luffy, we should g-get out of here, the marine will-" the moment the pink haired guy looked at his side, Luffy no longer was there.
The brunette was walking towards him. The guy had green short hair, he was using a green haki and green trousers too, apparently the only non-green thing he had was his white shirt and shoes.
His wrist was now burning. There was something inside him that made his stomach flip, was he hungry?
"They say you're a bad person." it was the first thing he said after they made eye contact.
And he felt his whole body shiver.
"You are…" suddenly, Luffy was way too close. He could smell the swordsman, it was bad, but he didn't look so ruined up for someone that was almost one month without eating.
Luffy finally reached him, touching his face with the tip of his fingers, feeling the sweat in the tan skin, their eyes were full of something none of them could describe.
The burning on his wrist went extremely intense for a second, a moment after it just stopped, but the brunette was so concentrated on the other guy that he didn't even try looking at somewhere else than him.
"I think you're my soulmate." Their foreheads were touching, the warm, heavy breaths mixing.
"Yeah, I think so." Zoro's voice made him lean closer, it looked like something that he was searching for finally appeared, the amount of feeling that he couldn't really describe, floating all around his stomach and making his chest tighter.
It was comfortable, like eating meat and taking a nap right after. He could get used to the feeling.
"Join my crew." Luffy said easily and Zoro frowned.
"Can't believe that of all the people in the world my soulmate is a pirate." His tone was low and he had a little smirk pulling his lips.
Luffy gave the biggest, brighter smile he had ever seen in his whole life, it made his body feel hotter than the usual.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'll be The Pirate King!" The swordsman smiled and gave a little chuckle, that was the craziest thing he had heard, and at the same time, he wanted to see more of it.
Suddenly, a feeling of pure determination hit him, almost like a punch on the chest.
It didn't feel like his, anyway.
"Name is Roronoa Zoro." He brushed their noses, trying to memorize the sea salty smell of the strawhat "Nice to meet you, captain."
Zoro was good, he knew it.
While he was hunting pirates he was able to realize his own force, the power he held when using the three of his katanas.
He was good, but, still, not the best.
Then he saw Luffy fighting with that huge guy from the marine corps, and that got him shining eyes from admiration. It seemed like the shorter was having fun, and when he put his own body in front of Zoro's to protect him from the bullets, that had been insane.
And then again, he had this thing on the back of his mind that he couldn't identify, but Zoro was one hundred percent sure that whatever this was, had connection with his soulmate.
They won, not surprisingly, and then the little girl that brought food to him when he was starving housed them for the night, she (more specifically, her mother) gave them food, a bathroom to wash himself and a place to sleep (she even put them into a separate room from Coby), which was way more than what he expected. This day had been full of surprises.
Now, smelling like a "normal person" Zoro let himself be properly involved by the rubbery, stretchy arms of the brunette. It felt strangely comforting, like, thinking about, they have just met, and yet it was like they were in a years long relationship.
"Your mark are little swords." Zoro said while scanning the other wrist.
"That's right! And yours is a little hat, I like it."
"Weren't they supposed to be little hearts?" That was strange, he has never seen that before.
"I dunno, but it's pretty." The brunette entangled more into the hot body "You smell like steel and fresh cut grass, ya know?" Luffy had his face buried in the other's neck "It's good."
Zoro liked his honesty.
"Doesn't surprise me." Answered the swordsman before breathing heavy on the top of the brunette's hair, soft strands tickling his nose "You smell better, tho."
"Yeah? What do I smell like?"
"Like the sea and sun burn. It's like you've been sailing since always." Luffy actually laughed at this.
"It seems like myself."
"Seems so."
"Zoro, I'll kiss you."
That was the only warning de green haired one got before he could dive into his soulmates's touch, and it felt incredible, every cell on his body was aching to pull him closer, to connect their bodies from the tip of the toe to the top of the head.
It was like his first kiss.
Don't get Zoro wrong, he had kissed plenty of people before (having no gender boundaries helped it), but doing it with Luffy was way more intimate than it had been with anyone else.
When his tongue slipped indeed his mouth, making a very much needy contact he whimpered. It felt like heaven itself and he wanted more.
His hands traveled to his nape, grabbing black locks with desire and then Luffy jolted forward, making a little sound.
"Zoro."
"Luffy…" Foreheads rested together as they took their time breathing, lungs running out of air.
Luffy smiled before saying "We should make out more."
"Yeah, that's something I really agree with."
And so their little session continued for a long time.
"Thanks for the meal!" Luffy thanked before attacking the food like his life depended on it.
Zoro felt sorry for the women that cooked it for them.
"You idiot, slow down!" He moved to take a napkin and cautiously clean the mess that the brunette's mouth was turning into.
"So, you guys are really soulmates?" Coby, who had been quiet the whole meal suddenly said.
"Yeah. At least that's what this mark says."
"Yeah, canu che it?" Luffy said with his mouth full and received a little punch on his head.
"Don't talk while eating!" Zoro exclaimed and then looked at the smaller one "He asked if you can see it, but of course you can."
"I can see it too!" The little girl said with excitement "It's pretty."
"It's strange, actually." Coby let it out in a small voice, but Zoro had good ears.
"Why is it? Is that a problem?" He furrowed an eyebrow.
The pink haired one's eyes went wide "No! It's not like I'm a homophobe or something like this!" Coby gestured and then realized he was being too loud "It's just that your marks are different from the usual, weren't they supposed to be heart shaped?"
"That's something I must agree with. We don't know either, but it just appeared when I touched him so it can just be this."
Luffy laughed at the conversation "I feel that you're my soulmate, I think that's enough." He gave another bite on his meat, it was tasty.
After this, things happened and they had to leave. Coby was accepted on the Marine and promised they were going to meet again, and so their journey began.
Nami had joined the crew, they met Usopp and protected the island from Kuro's pirates. The crew was now at Kaya's residence, she was giving them food as a way of thanking (they still didn't know she was giving them a proper ship).
"Who's your soulmate, Usopp?" Luffy asked after eating his meal sitting at the dinner table and waiting to digest (it was still a mystery how he could afford so much food in his stomach).
"Idiot!" Nami shouted at him " It's obviously Kaya, haven't you seen her mark?"
Luffy scanned the blonde's arm till he found the little heart on her wrist "Oh, I see it!" He made an angry face "Kuro deserved what he got, he was being such a bad person by trying to separate soulmates."
"Yeah, I know." Kaya bit her lip, feeling a little guilt for listening and trusting the (now not anymore) butler. Her face softened when she felt Usopp's hand resting on her thigh, comforting.
"He's not here anymore, because The Great Capitan Usopp saved the day!" He closed his eyes, doing a pose. Kaya laughed.
Zoro ignored the curly haired one "That jerk has plenty of reasons to justify what he got."
"Wow, I didn't think one day I would agree with you on something." Nami said and Zoro replied with a fake smile.
Luffy leaned closer to the swordsman, resting his head on his shoulder. He was tired, it had been a long day.
"And what about you? Have you guys found ya soulmates already?" Usopp was curious, trying to scan their wrists but all of them were under the table.
"Have you really not realized the amount of gayness they irradiate?" Nami thumb pointed at her crewmates.
"Yeah they act kinda strange but- WAIT! Are you soulmates?!" Usopp was wide eyed staring at the couple.
"Yeah, that's what these marks say." Zoro pulled their connected hands from under the table, showing the signals.
"Wow, that's unexpected."
"Oh my! You guys have ambition soulmarks!" Kaya was fast on getting herself off the chair to come near them and to examine the wrists "I've seen this only in books but never in real life, I thought this was only a myth!"
"Apparently it's pretty real."
"What have you said again? Ambition soulmark?" Zoro looked interested.
"Yes! I have studied a lot during this year's, and sometimes I get to read about these special marks."
"Are you really telling me these guys have something special?" Nami looked at the other girl, face with a real shocked expression. Zoro snarled.
"That's actually very rare. Ambition soulmarks only happen when your soulmate has a really big ambition, in your case, the hat and the sword must mean a lot to you."
"Yeah, I think so." Zoro moved to touch the swords on Luffy's wrist "But, is there something beyond the marks being 'special'?"
"I don't have sure about this, because that's supposed to be only myths." Kaya let her head fall to one side "By what I've read, you guys have almost 70% plus of chance of having a third soulmate."
"Wait, what?"
"Yes, and that's not just it." Kaya was excited with her new discovery "You know that soulmates have a connection, right?"
"Yeah, I mean, my soul was made for his." Zoro said.
"Not exactly. In reality, soulmates don't need to be exactly romantic, their bond can be beyond this." She was gesturing while talking "Because of this bond, we (soulmates) can share information with one another sometimes only by a change of looks, like telepathic. But some special soulmates can really have telepathic powers, they share thoughts, feelings, dreams and, sometimes, even make the other feel something using the mind."
"You're saying I can do this with Zoro? That's cool!" Luffy seemed happy with it.
"In fact, no. For doing it, you usually need to have a third soulmate, but because of your ambition soulmarks that's not impossible." She smiled.
"Alright, too much information for one day." Zoro stood up from where he was before "I'mma go take a nap before we go. Wanna come, Luffy?"
"Nah. You can go, I will wait for the desert."
"I thought so."