HEY HI HELLO I'M NOT DEAD YET BITCHES.

So, it's been more than a month since I've updated this. Which is kinda bad, considering my previous update speeds. I had a lot of life stuff going on and honestly I was struggling with a particular scene that ultimately did not end up in this chapter. It's going to be in the next chapter instead, because I thought I should probably have some kind of update. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Sorry again!

"I'll grab another bottle," Lucy hears. Blearily she tugs against the thick moss in her brain. She feels floaty, kind of. Melty, if that's a word. Warm.

Well, she's probably warm because she's got, like, six blankets and Zoro's jacket and the oversized shorts on. Plus, bandages. But also, the bed is warm? Like, really warm, like actually pretty hot—

Oh. That's Zoro, underneath her. She's got her face pressed to his haramaki and her arms around his waist. Her ribcage is stretched over his thigh in a way that should probably be uncomfortable because of her injuries, but isn't. He's sitting up against the wall just as Lucy's knees knock against it, while Zoro's feet point toward the door.

Lucy, should, maybe, feel bad about the fact that she somehow managed to trap Zoro in bed with her. She does not. She feels the opposite of bad, actually. Especially when she notices his fingers playing with her hair, combing out invisible tangles from the short locks.

A quick check with her Haki confirms the rest of her nakama, Torao, Bellamy, the Samurai and Kyros are also in the room. The faint hum of tension eases into serenity, her friends accounted for.

She tries to move, nuzzle into Zoro and let him know she's awake, but she can't. Her body feels sluggish, her limbs weighted down by something syrupy and cloying and heavy, like waking up from the deepest stages of sleep but worse.

Something in her brain pings in alarm, a soft tinkle of discord, but its drowned out by the heavy black labyrinth in her head. Panicking takes too much effort, and Lucy doesn't even know what she'd be panicking about, because everything is soft and warm and Zoro smells like Zoro and—

Lucy thinks maybe someone slipped her some more of the pain drugs while she was asleep. She feels kinda. Like. That word Zoro used earlier. Lucky. Loungey. Long-y? Louis. Loo—Loopy! She's loopy. Yep. Definitely Louis. Yep. That.

She almost wants to drop off to sleep and have sleep-hallucinations or whatever but she's sort of awake sort of not and then Kyros' Voice flickers with interest as he accepts something and there's a soft clink of glass as Zoro shifts toward the gladiator a little, and then. Then. Then.

Then what? What—is she supposed to do something? Is she doing things?

Zoro's voice cuts through the confusion, "Your house is well-built. Didn't make a noise last night, when I was sneaking around." It's interesting hearing him now, with her ear pressed to his belly. It's low and rumbly and distracting enough to let her latch onto the words. Lucy feels Zoro shift a little, his arm moving up to his mouth. Drinking! Zoro's drinking. Probably. That's honestly just a good guess at any given time, though.

"Thank you. I built it for my wife and daughter, oh…nearly twenty years ago now."

Huh. That's Kyros.

"But you're going to leave?"

Leave? Who's leaving? Why are people leaving? Some of her nakama already left and it's gonna be fine because Sanji'll take care of them and Sanji'll be fine and everything 'cuz Iva-chan trained him and Sanji's super strong anyway, but she doesn't like the idea of the rest of her nakama leaving because last time they got split up she was alone and alone is—

"…aye."

Oh. Kyros is leaving.

"Mind if I ask why?"

Yeah, Zoro, ask him why. Kyros shouldn't be leaving, Kyros's got a kid, but then Dragon left and he had a kid and so did Gramps and maybe that's not a good reason to stay, Lucy thought it was just her that gets left behind and stuff but maybe it's just a thing that parents do sometimes?

When Kyros speaks, there's shame and regret in his voice. "I—when I was young I committed a horrible crime. The worst one a man can commit."

Lucy's brain blanks out, fizzes to a halt, and she would fist her hands in Zoro's shirt if she could move her hands but she feels like she does when a building falls on her and she can't wriggle out of it.

Rape? Kyros raped—

Zoro must look confused, because Kyros continues. "…Murder. I killed the two men who killed my best friend. I didn't regret it at the time. I very much do, now."

Zoro makes a little ah sound of comprehension. Lucy's brain jiggles free of the gridlock, and then she's feeling melty again. "Revenge is no good. I can't say the thought's never occurred to me before, though."

Lucy wonders who he's considered avenging before. Can't be her. She wins all her fights. Except one. Like, the most important one.

Sabo said it wasn't her fault, so. It probably wasn't. 'Cept Sabo wasn't there so he might not know that Ace was right there—

As if in response to the thought, Zoro presses his calloused thumb down between her shoulder blades, finding and releasing pressure points as he goes. She can't move, but the sharp alarm fades at the gesture.

"If you value your soul, you'll never kill," Kyros intones, low and formidable. Lucy can't quite put her finger on why that bothers her, but she can think of lots of reasons to kill that wouldn't be revenge or anything stupid. She was willing to kill for Dressrosa. For Torao. She's always ready to kill for her nakama, and honestly if someone seriously threatened Chopper Lucy wouldn't think twice.

"I have before," Zoro says dully, frank and upfront.

Lucy's always known he's killed. Lucy's killed too. Not for fun or anything, just because she had to and he was a mean lion guy who wanted to hurt Robin and all her other nakama too. She wants to nuzzle into Zoro's stomach, press her face against the familiar haramaki as best she can because something about him seems tense and uncomfortable and she's known he's a good man since the moment she saw him, but Zoro doesn't always seem to realize that about himself. Which is stupid. Because Zoro is great. And the World's Greatest Swordsman. Or will be soon.

"…I could tell." Kyros replies, sounding vaguely sympathetic. "Blood on one's hands never washes off."

Lucy kind of feels frowny, along with the floaty feeling. Kyros is weird. She's. She's a little not sure why he's weird at the moment, but she's, like, ninety percent certain he just insulted Zoro. Maybe? Possibly? She doesn't know?

Zoro's only response is an indifferent "Hm."

…eh. Zoro can handle himself. He's like. Really strong and stuff.

"That's why I can't be a father," Kyros continues. He sounds forlorn. Tired. "Rebecca deserves so much better than me."

Well. That doesn't seem. Right? Lucy's pretty sure Rebecca just wants to live in a house with her family. She distinctly remembers Rebecca saying something like that. And something about sunflowers.

Zoro seems to think the same. "Everybody's got issues. Those things never have to control them." There's a swish sound as Zoro takes a swig of the liquor. "Riku wouldn't have let you marry his daughter if you didn't know that."

Kyros says nothing in response.

Zoro surprises Lucy a little, when he continues. He sounds sort of distant. The way Lucy feels right now. "Speaking from experience…quarantining your darkness isn't the same as controlling it."

The frowny feeling comes back. Lucy doesn't like that tone in his voice, and Haki whispers something undefinable in the low, echoing gong of Zoro's heart. It makes her think of when she told Zoro that he's hers and she's his and he kind of not-cried for a while, like he didn't believe her.

Zoro's hers. Hers hers hers hers—

There's a pause, and she feels Kyros's eyes on the back of her head. "You and Lucy-san are…?"

Zoro brushes her bangs away from her face. Lucy kind of wishes she could figure out how to open her eyes, look up at him, because can tell what he's feeling and she's pretty sure his eyes are the mercury-silver they get like sometimes when she says she loves him.

"Mhmm." Is all Zoro says in response. There's a warmth in his voice that makes Lucy feel meltier than she already did. Does. Is. Was. Were?

"How do you…accept it? She seems very…" Kyros trails off, uncertain.

Zoro seems perfectly happy to continue for him. "Childish? Lacking in impulse control?"

Lucy should, like, pinch him or something. And then cuddle. She likes cuddling with Zoro. Like a lot. It's like meat but better 'cuz Zoro doesn't ever run out of cuddles.

"I was going to say something like pure," Kyros corrects.

Zoro says nothing. Lucy is just confused because she's never been called anything like that in the history of ever. Dadan's favorite epithet aside from "brat" was "hellion" and sometimes "devilspawn" if she and Ace got up to something particularly troublesome.

"You aren't afraid of…of tainting her, or—?"

"Lucy can make her own decisions," Zoro interrupts. His thumb grazes her cheekbone, callouses dragging against the delicate skin beneath her eye, but it isn't unpleasant, especially because her face feels kind of numb from the drugs her nakama probably gave her. Lucy's pretty sure she just drooled on him. Whoops. "She's not as naïve as she puts on."

Kyros makes a despairing sort of noise, and Lucy hears the thunk of glass against wood as he sets his liquor down. "Rebecca is not as worldly as that."

Oh, yeah, 'cuz Lucy's traveled the world and stuff. So she's worldly. But there's like, lots more to see and she wants to see everything. Has to, actually, so Nami can make her map. Maps. Book of maps. There should be a word for that.

Zoro surprises her a little, sounding slightly harsher than she's expecting when he speaks. It makes her—not tense, but. Alert. Wary. She checks on the room's occupants again, her Haki echoing against her nakama and allies reassuringly. "…no offense, but she lived in that colosseum. And even if she wasn't actually an orphan, she believed she was one all this time." There's an unmistakable sound of wood groaning under pressure. Kyros's Voice sounds like a whistling kettle, and Zoro's rises louder in irritation. Lucy feels odd. Confused. Tense. Zoro sighs, and it seems like a conscious effort to relax as the gong eases down usual deep, calmer tone. "Look, Lucy didn't give me much of a choice. I doubt Rebecca will either, if you ask her input."

"She's a child. She doesn't know what she needs."

"She's old enough to fight. And if you don't want to be her father, don't make decisions on her behalf."

Lucy feels like cheering, or something. She's not sure, so she inhales slowly, and mentally recoils at the persistent stench of the cabin, but Zoro smells like blood and steel and sake under all his sweat and so she can put up with a little BO.

"I want—" Kyros starts, angry. Then pauses. Begins quiet and longing again. "I want that very much. But this is the most I can provide her with."

"Well, I'm not a parent. I don't know anything about it." There's a slurping sound, and then a dull thud as Zoro sets his tumbler down. "You can finish the sake. I'm going to sleep." Zoro, she can tell, doesn't like his decision. Lucy's having a little trouble understanding why. Con—con—consistency. No, no, it's. Context. Context is difficult, at the moment. The only thing she's completely sure of is that they're all safe, because Zoro is here, letting her hold him while he draws his fingers through her hair with something close to reverence, and his katana are rattling softly with every shift of the bed at his feet.

"Wasn't it mine in the first place?" Kyros asks, referring to the sake.

Lucy pities him. He obviously doesn't get how much Zoro likes sake. All sake is his sake, unless Nami steals it as a matter of alleviating his crushing debt.

But Zoro must like her more than sake, even. Because he untangles her arms from his waist and shifts down on the mattress clumsily. He accidentally knees her in the back a couple times as he maneuvers around her, but he eventually manages to claim a strip of the mattress at Lucy's back. She would turn to him if she could, press herself into the space under his chin until they were close enough that she wouldn't be able to distinguish her breath from his body heat.

It turns out Zoro has similar ideas, though, because then his arms curl around her waist and he pulls her back into his front. Lucy's brain blanks out in syrupy satisfaction because she can't be sure of where she ends and Zoro begins because she's warm and so is he and the bed's warm and Lucy feels herself slipping under again, falling back into true unconsciousness as Zoro's nose shifts her hair and his knees lock into the joint of hers.

"Eh, you can keep it," Zoro says, his voice quiet and his breath blows the hair from the nape of her neck. His lips graze the skin there when he speaks and there's a smirk in his voice, or maybe something fond. "We should spar, next time."

"Next time," Kyros agrees. Zoro adjusts her arm, pulls her hand back to her stomach, and laces his fingers through her as he lays their joined hands over her navel.

Something painful blooms in her chest as she remembers that Zoro loves her. And, honestly, they've fallen asleep like this who knows how many times, but for some reason this feels terribly intimate, like something precious and private, and she can't help but feel it has something to do with the waves of affection rolling off of Zoro and the vague sense that they aren't close enough, even now. Something hot stokes in her belly, right beneath Zoro's hand, and if Lucy weren't drugged out of her mind right now she would blush at the realization.

But the room is quiet after that and Zoro's breaths are slow and unbothered and calm, and Lucy wonders for the first time if he can sense her fleeting alertness, if he's trying to intentionally lull her into relaxation. The thought is foggy though, rendered through a haze, and his steady presence at her back and the slow rise and fall of his chest is soothing, steady, the paired heartbeat of the tiny universe known only to the two of them. It is silent in the cabin, apart from Usopp and Franky's snores, and the heavy labyrinth in Lucy's head collapses in liquid, ebony sheets into her consciousness, the texture satiny and insubstantial as she eases deep into the dark of sleep, feeling like she's flying and falling at once.

Zoro always did have a way of making her feel free.

"Is it weird that we're always running for our lives when we leave islands?" Lucy asks absently, and casually leaps over a pile of rubble, dragging Robin along with her for the sake of speed. Beside her Usopp pants and Franky's giant shoulders swing on the edge of her periphery.

"We are pirates," Robin replies, sprinting a few strides behind her back. "It is probably to be expected."

"There was still meat on the dining table," Lucy complains, setting one arm over her rumbling stomach. "I could have eaten it."

"Not without choking," Zoro says distractedly. He's keeping pace a few steps behind Robin and, when Lucy looks for him over her shoulder, she sees his attention on some buildings on their left.

"Don't get lost, Zoro," She warns. "We're running for our lives."

"I never get lost!" Zoro snaps. Lucy stares at him incredulously.

"Dude," says Franky.

"Dude," says Usopp.

"Dude," says approximately three other people running with them who have taken it upon themselves to corral Zoro in the right direction because he kept veering off at random vectors perpendicular or opposite to the desired one.

Honestly, Lucy's not sure, exactly, why all the guys from the colosseum are helping them out, but she's not complaining. The little fairies, dwarves, whatever, have been especially useful with keeping her swordsman with the group.

"What?" Zoro snaps at them all, indignant.

"It is alright, Zoro-senpai! The World's Greatest Swordsman does not need to understand trivial things like directions!"

"I can understand directions!"

Ahead of them, the path slopes down between the great boulders that ring the island, the blue of the sea glimmering before them in a slivered window between the rock. Wind funnels between the stone, up the path, and it tears laughingly at Lucy's clothes and hair as they sprint. The air smells of salt and sea brine and it makes Lucy grin wildly as something in her gut lurches in eager response.

The sea has always meant freedom to Lucy. Somewhere along the way it became home as well.

"Whose ship are we taking?" Franky shouts over his shoulder. The big guy with thick yellow braids grunts in response, his lumbering steps shaking the earth with every stride.

They take the stairs three at a time, eager. Lucy's eyes are locked on the opening horizon.

That may be why she didn't sense the purple admiral guy until he launched an attack at her head, his sandals clip-clopping on the cobblestone installed at the beach.

She doesn't quite sense him in time to dodge though, and so she braces herself with Haki boiling painfully on her skin—

A set of blades and a pair of familiar broad shoulders intercepts the blow instead.

"Attacking an unsuspecting opponent," Zoro huffs. "Not very sporting."

The entire party of their allies and nakama stop in surprise or shock or both.

Well. Except Rooster, who squeaks in something like delirious joy. Lucy's not really sure, the noise sounds painful.

"That's true," the admiral agrees, still walking placidly forward. "I was expecting my opponent to sense me though."

Lucy frowns, irritated. Completely draining her Haki like she did the other day…her senses have been a little off. She's not great with Observation Haki in the first place, and now it feels like she has a cold.

"Go on, everyone," Zoro urges. "I'll hold him off while we wait for Law."

Lucy hums, eyeing the admiral curiously. "How far away is he?"

"He's close," Zoro grunts, and places Wado in his mouth. "Couple minutes, tops."

"I SHALL HOLD THIS OBSTACLE OFF!" Rooster crows eagerly, sprinting up to Zoro and Lucy with a terrifyingly eager smile on his face. "FOR LUCY-DONO AND ZORO-SENPAI!"

Lucy squints at him, feeling like there's something she's missing. Robin laughs softly behind her.

"It's fine," Lucy tells him. "There's something I want to ask him."

She feels the collective spike of surprise around her, and feels it ebb away just as quick.

Zoro nods. "Me too."

Lucy looks at Rooster. "Protect everyone else, okay?"

Rooster doesn't react for a moment, but then there are. Tears. Lots of tears. Lucy doesn't know, she's very confused by Rooster.

"Oi, Straw Hat," Cabbage protests, "Don't be stupid. He's an admiral."

Lucy rolls her shoulders, trying to get rid of the lingering stiffness. "So?"

"So he could kill us all in a second if he wanted to!" Cabbage yelps, irritation bleeding in his voice. "He's an admiral! Pirates are supposed to get out of the way when we see those, didn't you ever learn that?"

Lucy turns to look Cabbage in the eye, and she lets steel coat her voice. "Yes."

Usopp and Franky shift uncomfortably. Robin leans closer, just enough to brush shoulders with Lucy, and Zoro says nothing at all as he stares the admiral down.

Cabbage doesn't quite back off sheepishly, but something about the way his eyes flash says he knows he's overstepped some invisible boundary, and Lucy takes pity on him.

"Two years ago I would have run too," Lucy admits. "But not anymore. I'm going to be Pirate King." She smirks. "Schichibukai and Yonko and admirals—I promised to beat them all."

The swell of affection and pride from her nakama feels warm and effusive, with the four of them placed around her as they are.

"Yeah, Lucy's strong enough to make sure the rest of us don't die. And Zoro'll make sure Lucy doesn't get herself killed," Usopp reassures their allies. He claps Zoro on the shoulder once. Zoro doesn't outwardly react, but Lucy raises an eyebrow when Usopp shrinks back at the mild spike of irritation Zoro emits at the touch.

Usopp doesn't have…does he?

Rooster is nearly non-functional at this point. He looks very close to catatonic. Then— "I SHALL STAY IN SERVICE TO LUCY-DONO!"

"This is all very stupid," Cabbage complains, but he backs down and Lucy sees grudging respect in his eyes.

"We'll stay too," Robin says quietly, and Lucy doesn't even bother telling them no, because Franky and Usopp are just as resolute as her archaeologist is.

Their allies form a ring around her nakama, clearly hesitant to leave them be. Lucy wonders at that, but feels grateful for the show of support nonetheless.

The admiral's cane knocks against the ground sedately, his pace never slowing. Lucy steps forward, lets Haki blaze on her fist as she edges ahead of Zoro.

"Straw Hat Lucy and her crewmembers, eh?" The man says lowly, his blank eyes calm. "I better not underestimate you."

He stops moving forward, stops moving entirely except to raise his cane and—

A wave of dark purple energy pulses out as he lifts his arm, and suddenly the island itself shakes in response.

Lucy remembers fighting this guy with Zoro. He's strong, powerful, and back then he was containing himself to avoid hurting the citizens of Dressrosa. Lucy and Zoro had their own handicaps at the time, but…they were equally matched. And now…

Lucy doesn't notice what he's doing right away. But then shadow falls over the beach, strange and unnatural—

"Whoa!" She looks up, shocked, and her hand flies back to tilt the brim of her hat up.

Above their heads swirls what must be the debris from the entire island of Dressrosa. Everything destroyed in course of the battle, everything too broken to be fixed. The admiral's purple aura pulses out and up and Lucy hears Usopp squeak in terror as the mass of debris condenses into a heavy, unholy sphere of concrete above their heads.

"Oh wait I wanted to ask you something!" Lucy chirps, heedless of the staggering amount of kinetic force the man raised so effortlessly.

"Er, Aneki…" Franky hedges. "Maybe…"

"You're high up in the Navy, right?" Lucy presses. "How's Gramps?"

Usopp offers a surprised laugh, and the admiral's face goes blank immediately. The strange sense of force and warped perception eases slightly for just a moment, then returns harsher than before.

"You…" The admiral hesitates. "That's what you wanted to ask me?"

Lucy bobs her head in a nod, and then realizes the admiral is blind and can't see the action. "Yep!"

She's been wondering what happened to her grandfather for a while now, because Chin Jao mentioned not being able to find him earlier, and spoke like he was nowhere to be seen on the sea, and that didn't exactly—worry Lucy, because Gramps is super strong, but she isn't…sure. She wants to know if he's…around. Or not.

"He retired from active duty after the war," The admiral replies, seemingly out of pure shock at being asked. "He's still with the Marines. He teaches classes at the Academy, does special assignments. That sort of thing."

Huh. So Gramps is…retired.

…weird.

But it sounds like he's fine, so…

"Cool! We can fight now."

"Finally," Zoro grunts, his blades poised. Gears whir in Franky's arms as he makes to fight.

Lucy's lips pull back into a wicked grin and she rushes forward, her fists black with her resolve.

"The child was honored well."

The admiral's parting words echo in Zoro's ears as he looks around the deck of the Yontamaria. The ship is huge, probably five or six times the size of the Sunny, and Zoro can appreciate good craftsmanship when he sees it.

Franky seems impressed too, and he gushes with another shipwright about support structures and mast height as Rooster breaks out a set of saucers in the corner.

…huh. It almost looks like—

Beside him, Law sighs. Zoro raises an eyebrow at him, and the other man just gestures tiredly at Lucy, who's managed to get herself stuck in the rigging.

"That's gotta be a record," Law mutters.

Zoro snorts, amused. "Not even close."

Learning to abide by Lucy's general propensity to get into anything and everything is something of a survival skill when running around with her. He is kind of hoping she doesn't end up in the water though. Salt water does not feel good on still-open wounds. He knows this from experience.

"Lucy-dono!" Rooster calls, sounding eager. "Please come down and grace us with your presence!"

"Don't say it like that," Cabbage complains. The giant plucks Lucy out of the rope with a surprising amount of grace for someone so large.

"We have a proposition for your consideration," the Director guy says, his language unusually flowery. He sounds like Kin'emon.

"See, we realized we actually get along pretty well, over the last few days," The Long-arm guy explains. "And we realized we all admire you."

Lucy, just now righting herself on the deck as the giant steps back in line with the other men, just blinks at them, her expression blank with surprise. "Me?" She scrunches her nose. "Why?"

The sheer level of gob smacked confusion on the others' collective faces forces Zoro to smother a grin behind his hand. On his right, Usopp and Robin do the same.

"Lucyland saved us! Beat up Doflamingo and is really nice! Usoland respects Lucyland!" The Tontatta exclaims, enthusiastic and earnest, his gold needle swishing back and forth with his excitement.

Lucy nods, almost absentminded. "Yeah, that was fun."

"Much as it pains me," Cabbage says dramatically, flicking blonde curls over his shoulder. "They're right. I…begrudgingly…find myself continually impressed with you, Straw Hat." He frowns, and behind him his horse pins his ears. "I might serve under you, but that doesn't mean you're going to be more popular than me."

Lucy scratches her head, knocking the hat back. "…I don't get it. We're all going off apart after this, right?"

"Lucy-dono," Rooster intones with a sort of incongruous level of seriousness. Rooster wasn't capable of using a normal level of volume control around Lucy even two hours ago. "We ask that you exchange sakazuki cups with us, so we may become your followers!"

Lucy blinks. Once. Twice.

"You want to what?"

Oh, damn, the look on Lucy's face. She looks like someone just told her she couldn't be Pirate King but annoyed.

Shit, if he looks at any of his nakama, he's going to lose it completely. He can hear Usopp laughing and it takes a hefty amount of self-control to avoid echoing the sentiment with his own bark of laughter.

"We've prepared the cups, Lucy-dono," Rooster repeats. He gestures to a particularly large cup perched on a barrel, already filled with an unusually large amount of sake. "Please, drink, and you shall become our boss!"

Lucy walks over to the barrel and frowns at it, her expression something closer to dismay than anything else.

She picks it up, and liquid nearly spills over the rim. Rooster and a few of the other men trying to adopt Lucy as their overlord grin.

"Yeah," Lucy says, a grin of apology on her face, "I'm not gonna drink this."

It's Robin's turn to lose it and Zoro nearly swallows his own tongue in an effort to avoid laughing at the expression on Law's face.

"What?" Rooster squeals, "You—"

"I don't like this sake much," Lucy says, setting the overlarge cup back on the barrel. "So I'm not gonna drink it."

Zoro walks up to the barrel, just catching the strange look in her eye before it flashes away. Lucy glances at him, a smile tugging at her lips.

Zoro cups his hand in the ridiculous trough of sake, and brings the liquid to his lips. It's sweet and has just the right amount of burn. Zoro mentally congratulates Rooster on his taste.

"It's not about—look, the sake is about the vow, and you shouldn't be drinking it."

Zoro looks up at Rooster. "It's good."

"Thank you, Zoro-senpai, I—No! Wait! You have to drink the sake!" Rooster repeats, pointing to Lucy.

"Yeah, that's how you get Lucy to do something," Usopp mutters, but he still sounds a bit breathless. "You order her. That always works out well for people."

"I don't want to," Lucy says petulantly, clearly a bit annoyed. Zoro shows Usopp the ridiculous saucer of sake and finds himself glad Usopp has built up his alcohol tolerance over the last two years. More drinking buddies on the crew can only be a good thing, especially since it's usually only him and Nami that make it any decent length of time.

"But—Lucy-dono," Rooster entreats. "After this the whole world is going to be after you! They'll come for you and no matter how strong you are, you'll need some help to fight them off! That's what we want to do, as repayment for saving us this time! We want to fight alongside you again, as your subordinates!"

The crowd of colorful people behind Rooster nod in unison, and Zoro raises an eyebrow. Lucy made more of an impression than he realized.

Damn, this sake's good.

"If I drink the sake, I'll become the grand captain of the fleet though, right?" Lucy asks, confusion and distaste written all over her face.

Rooster grins, clearly thinking his point has hit home with Lucy. "Yes! With a fleet of 5,600 in total, there will be no one who can stand in your way!" Rooster throws up his hands in enthusiasm. "You'll be Pirate King eventually, and soon you'll need more followers, but if you want to conquer the world—"

Zoro takes pity on Rooster. "Oi, you better stop." Rooster pauses, blinking rapidly at the interruption. Zoro can't quite help the pride in his chest from leaking into his voice when he cocks his chin at Lucy. "That kind of thinking doesn't work with her."

The giant looks annoyed now too. "Straw Hat, it seems strange to wish against assembling such a mighty military force," he says lowly, his deep voice booming against the oak of the ship. "I'm sure you'll need our help one day, just as we needed yours today."

Lucy scowls, looking terribly annoyed. "I need my space!"

The crowd of men trying to profess their loyalty to Lucy look utterly confused, and Zoro chuckles a bit even as Usopp tries to take more than his fair share of the liquor.

"Why—Straw Hat," Cabbage starts. Lucy doesn't let him finish.

"I smell meat though. There's a banquet later, right?"

"I—you're interested in eating right now?" Says the Director guy. He looks kind of annoyed.

"Oh screw you, Straw Hat!" Cabbage snaps. "I'm more experienced and more fabulous than you, and I'm over here saying I'll fly your flag!"

The guy who looks like he's been taking style advice from Usopp raises his spear. "Let's force her to drink it."

Long Leg guy chimes in with his own irritation. "You don't know how strong we are, you damn liberator."

Zoro feels a flicker of annoyance cut through his general mirth at the situation, but it fades quickly. He doesn't like people telling his girlfriend what to do, but Lucy's got it handled.

Usopp clearly takes similar issue with their sudden change in tactics. "You can't talk to her like that if you're her followers!"

"She—"

But Lucy finally snaps. "Listen, I just want to become King of the Pirates!" She yells, looking remarkably like a child throwing a tantrum. "I don't want to be important!"

The looks of utter confusion on the would-be fleet's faces is one of the best things Zoro has ever seen, seriously.

"What is she talking about," Law asks him, long-suffering confusion written on his face. He at least doesn't look as taken aback as the others. Robin and Franky look like they're having a hard time not just bursting out in laughter as the mess breaks down further, and Zoro doesn't even complain when they come over to inspect the giant saucer of sake with interest.

"Lucy-dono what do you mean?" Rooster asks, and it's by far the most irritated Rooster has ever sounded with any given member of the Straw Hats.

Lucy loops her arms around a railing on the quarter deck, and hops up on the edge, her hands on her hips and her smile beaming over the crowd below.

It's weird, how fast the perception of her changes between one moment and the next. One minute she's acting like a toddler, and the next…well, she's dressed in nothing but a red tank top and denim shorts, but she looks greater, somehow, her presence larger.

"I'll make sure to call you when we're in danger," Lucy promises, the words binding in a way only a person who treasures oaths so much as to live her dreams for them can achieve. "I don't have to be a great captain or anything, right? And it can work in reverse, too! We'll help you guys if you get into trouble!"

Lucy grins, her point made, and Zoro can't quite help the fierce, affectionate pride that wells up in him as he watches Rooster break down over the realization of who, exactly, Lucy is.

Lucy wants to be free. As far as Zoro can tell, she's never wanted anything else, besides good friends to share it with.

Of course, because Lucy only seems to attract strong personalities with uniformly admirable senses of honor, the idiots drink the sake anyway.

Lucy looks close to throwing them all overboard in response, which would be rude even by Lucy's standards considering they're currently using their fleet as a buffer from the admiral.

Zoro walks away from the sake reluctantly and bumps her shoulder reassuringly. "Let them be," he advises.

Lucy looks back at him and puts her hand on her hat. Irritation melts into uncertainty, and a more vulnerable sort of confusion than she'd previously shown. "But…"

"You didn't make them do anything. They're doing this because they want to." Zoro nods to the now-sobbing Rooster. "They really want to."

Lucy lets out a huffed sigh, and then a small smile crosses her face. "Yeah, I guess."

"We have a banquet prepared!" The big blonde guy announces, clapping his hands eagerly. Zoro should probably learn all their names, now that they've collectively sworn fealty to his girlfriend. "One that should even satisfy a Pirate King!"

Then they bring out several piles of meat dishes, and really, they should have opened with that. Life would have been easier for all of them.

I will remind you that Lucy still thinks she killed Lucci. I don't imagine she'd be too upset to find out she's wrong, but that is what she thinks.

I found it a more than bit ridiculous that they kept referring to Rebecca as a child. Like, no, she's not an adult, but she's a sixteen-year-old girl who's been through hell. Probably at least as much as Luffy at the same age, btw, and she was only a year younger than him at the start of the series. Not even consulting her opinion on whether or not she wanted to continue a relationship with her father was frankly absurd. As with all things absurd, I introduced Zoro to them. Zoro is too blunt to let absurdity pass.

I skipped over the Fujitora fight because this arc has already had a lot of fighting in it and it didn't need another battle. Not even a short one. There was more important stuff to get to.

A quick translation note. In Japanese the word "sake" is used to refer to all alcohol, which is why sometimes Zoro's running around with a beer mug calling it sake. What English-speakers (or at least Americans) think of as "sake" is rice wine. Zoro likes that too, but a lot of the time when he says sake it's referring to beer. Or other alcohol. I only realized this recently, so in my version Zoro just really likes the hard stuff. In canon, Zoro prefers beer, I think.

Again, sorry it's been so long. The wait until the next chapter will be no more than a week, I promise. Let me know what you thought!