A/N : I had many readers point out that Zoro stopped laughing roughly after meeting Mihawk, thank you for the prompt. Please enjoy!

It was a clear afternoon Luffy realized: he couldn't remember what Zoro's laugh sounded like.

The sudden thought had him straightening up from his seat on Merry's head.

Zoro snorted and sometimes he chuckled, but he didn't laugh anymore. At the very least, not the way Luffy remembered Zoro to. The swordsman used to burst out in gales of helpless laughter, throwing his head back as his grin stretched wide. It would be fierce confidence at its most relaxed and Luffy's own glee would bubble up in answer.

Luffy's brows furrowed; usually, he'd ask his crew mates because they were the best in the entire world and there is nothing they couldn't accomplish together. Nothing, Luffy thought, except maybe this, because his crew mates couldn't help him with what they've never seen.

Something in Luffy's chest twisted uncomfortably at that thought.

His friends never saw Zoro laugh in a way that made Luffy sure he could take on the world. Luffy decided that wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all.

ㅡ

"Robin, how do you make somebody laugh?"

The archaeologist used the dried lily she received as a gift from Chopper in lieu of a bookmark, before considering the question. "I suppose it would depend on the person in question. For example, Sencho-san, you would be happier with a dinner consisting only of lamb legs but Navigator-san would probably prefer more variety."

Which was Nami being weird because meat was the best thing in the entire world. Not that Luffy was going to complain. If Nami didn't want a lamb-leg only dinner, it meant all the more meat for Luffy himself.

"However, you should consider that no matter how much a person may try, being happy doesn't necessarily equate into the act of laughing. A person may feel elated but decline to show such emotions. Similarly, a person may not feel any sort of positive emotions yet attempt to conceal their grief through laughter."

Luffy tilted his head. "Why would they do that?"

"Sometimes it happens, Luffy-san," Robin smiled. "It's different for everybody."

"Okay," Luffy nodded solemnly, understanding that Robin meant something important. "Thanks Robin!"

ㅡ

Luffy settled beside the napping swordsman, deep in thought. Ten minutes later, he decided he had no idea what Robin meant. He would have to try again.

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"How do you think I'm supposed to make somebody laugh Chopper?"

The reindeer scratched his head. "…Tickle them?"

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"Damnit Luffy, let me get some sleep!"

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"Usopp!" Luffy peered over his friend's shoulder. "How do you make a person laugh?"

The sniper, who was carefully pouring a light green liquid into a second beaker, answered with the practiced ease of often having been at the end of odd questions. "You give them good stories 'course!"

"Good stories?"

"Like mine!" With one hand stirring his experiment, Usopp immediately launched into his story. "Once upon a time, there used to a boy, a boy not as clever nor brave as I obviously am-but that's to be expected since Usopp-sama is not of any ordinary caliber and-err, where was I? Oh, right, so there used to be a not-so-clever-nor-brave boy who was told to look after the goats."

"Goats?" Luffy perked at the prospect of food.

"Uh-huh, to look after the goats from the fierce predators that roamed the mountainsides he lived in. He was pretty responsible, knowing how to keep the goats together and the goats liked him because they've known him since he was a child…"

And soon, both the experiment and Luffy's original purpose were briefly forgotten as Luffy was sucked into the world of a single sheep boy who was burdened with the destiny to save the poor goats from the paws of a mountain cat while battling his own fear of heights.

"…And then they celebrated all night long and praised the boy's courage for centuries to come!"
"Shishishi," Luffy laughed. "That was great Usopp!"

Usopp puffed his chest up at the compliment, going on about his own story telling abilities that saved countries from falling and heroes from dying-before realizing Luffy had bounced out. He tilted his head, considering Luffy's parting words, and wondered what laughing had to do with Zoro.

ㅡ

"..and then something happened to the boy and he beat up the bad guys and got his own party!" Luffy drooled at the thought. "D'you think they had a lot of meat there?"

Oblivious, Zoro snored on.

ㅡ

"SANJI!"

Sanji winced at the bellow because it always only meant Luffy was on his way to ask-

"How are you supposed to make somebody laugh?"

Men with lesser reflexes would have dropped their knives on their unfortunate toes. Sanji carefully placed his knife down and turned around.

Then promptly cursed a blue streak and, with a speed most reserved for battles, moved.

"Damnit Luffy, those coffee cakes weren't for you!" He snarled at his captain whose face was currently trapped between the kitchen's polished floor and Sanji's equally polished shoe. Sanji had thought it was strange for Luffy to not demand food upon entry into the kitchen; Luffy hadn't needed to because he had already stuffed his mouth full of the cakes Sanji had placed on the table to cool. Luffy's lips were moving and Sanji thought he saw a I'm sorry Sanji but that was probably his own wishful thinking and more likely just a Can I have seconds? Sanji ground his shoe further into his captain's squishy face. "Those were made for delightful Nami-swan and dazzling Robin-chwan, so they could enjoy themselves and honor me with their sweet smile and dainty laughter that could melt the heart of any man alive," Sanji oozed a parade of pink hearts before snapping back. "Not for muscle bricks and rubber idiots like yourself. If I catch you sneaking away food in my kitchen again I'll starve you for a week, do you understand?"

Sanji picked Luffy up by the scruff of the neck and kicked him out the kitchen, well aware he'd probably be doing the same thing tomorrow.

Luckily for Luffy, it would be a long while before Sanji noticed the half-open pantry door and missing beer.

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"Here Zoro!"

Zoro opened an eye in annoyance, which was quickly replaced with approval. When he downed the drink in one shot and Luffy didn't move away, Zoro tensed.

"…Was that payment for something?" Zoro's gaze swept the deck. "What did you do and which of the two is gonna try and kill me?"

Luffy only frowned before bounding away.

ㅡ

"Nami?" Luffy shuffled around her. "How are you supposed to make somebody laugh?"

Nami paused from her mapping to answer the questionably immoral ways she could make a person laugh and then get them to pay for it before catching herself. It wouldn't do for Nami to plot against herself. "Who exactly are you trying to make laugh?"

But to her surprise, Luffy wasn't looking at her at all. Nami followed the end of his gaze. "Zoro."

"Oh," Nami's own gaze softened, thinking of the swordsman's grim determination at Arong Park and how it was nothing like the casual bickering and crazy ideas she once knew. She had thought it was due to the adrenaline of battle with Arong's subordinates. However the battle passed yet the darkness remained and it wasn't until Usopp quietly told her about Zoro's battle with Mihawk, that Nami realized it was going to stay.

"I would tell you if I knew," She shrugged helplessly. "But Luffy, I honestly think you'd know best."

ㅡ

Luffy padded over to his sleeping swordsman and poked him in the stomach. Zoro stirred out of sleep around the eleventh poke.

"Damnit Luffy," Zoro grumbled. "Can't a man get some sleep on this ship anymore?"

"Zoro," Luffy sprawled across his friend's legs. He had considered what Nami told him, wondering what he knew best, and this was his answer: "You'll become the world's greatest swordsman."

It wasn't a question yet Zoro replied. "You'll become Pirate King."

And this was enough. Luffy might not remember how Zoro sounded when he laughed anymore but he was still Zoro. All of them might have changed here and there along the way but as long as their course didn't waver and they followed through, they would be fine.

"Good," Luffy decided. "You and me both."

In answer, Zoro grinned and tilted his head back, baring his neck. On anybody else, it would have been animalistic surrender. On Zoro, Luffy realized, it was fierce confidence at its most relaxed.

And just like that, Luffy closed his eyes and laughed.