In reference to chapter 'Luffy's Instincts are Usually Right', the line 'the man[Zoro] Luffy thought so highly of'. This is set at a random point during the two years the crew spent apart and Luffy was training with Rayleigh. He did train Luffy right? I hope it was in a place that could have had the scenery I describe here.
"Luffy," Rayleigh found the straw hat pirate at the grassy clearing, his legs hanging over the end of the field and the edge of the cliff. He settled beside his pupil and enjoyed the view of the vast sea, a sight that never failed to thrill his heart, before asking. "What are you doing?"
Inwardly, Rayleigh braced, ready to offer a distraction to a child who would forever suffer the loss of his older brother. The teen surprised him.
"Just wondering what Zoro would be doing right now," Luffy answered.
Rayleigh followed Luffy's gaze but all he found was dark green seaweed floating lazily along the waves.
"Oh," Rayleigh wondered briefly before shrugging to himself. "Roronora was it? Your first mate."
Almost instantly, the lines in Luffy's features relaxed as fond memories of a happier time bubbled up.
"Yup, Zoro's my first nakama. Boy, were the marines noisy then. As if it was such a big deal I was helping Zoro escape..."
Rayleigh's eyebrows were in danger of disappearing up into his hair; that sounded like the beginning of a story worth hearing. However Luffy would share the story if he wanted to and the older pirate didn't push. Instead, Rayleigh watched the clouds that were frozen in the sky, a grand sight that could only last now. The sky was a vivid blue, bright and beautiful, but not as(never as) the one Rayleigh had seen countless of times with his own captain ages back(but Rayleigh knows that the sky's the same and it's just him that's changed).
"All nakama are special," Rayleigh stated, eyes glazed with an old pain that never managed to truly heal. "But the captain and first mate are something else."
"I thought he'd be like my hat," Luffy answered as he clamped the top of his precious hat, his treasure he never dared to let go. "He wasn't."
"He wasn't?" Rayleigh asked, too quickly, failing to mask his surprise-and the hundreds of questions that would never be voiced(He's not precious? He's not worth it? He wasn't? He isn't?).
"Nope," The younger pirate stretched back into the soft grass as he pointed out with a grin. "I don't need to hold on to know he's there."