The scene where Ace tells Luffy to back off and Luffy actually listens (chapter 572) always stood out to me. This chapter tries to explain why and is meant to be in contrast to chapter 54 in Moments like this. Set some time after the time-skip. Ended up more poignant than intended. Enjoy.
"What happened?" Zoro finally asks one night when they are keeping watch together in the crow's nest. He knows that the most secure prison was broken into, the highest authorities in the world challenged, and the Marineford destroyed. None of that really explains what matters.
Luffy tilts his head at the non-sequitur but his eyes quickly darken in comprehension. And though Zoro has sworn that he will follow Luffy until the end, up into the skies and down into the seas, into heavens and hells he doesn't believe in, he knows this is the one place he will be left behind.
Zoro has never been a brother. He doesn't know the pain of losing one.
"Tell me," He offers instead.
Luffy answers in silence but it is due to deliberation than refusal. Recognizing this, Zoro tips his head back to listen to the lull of the night sea.
"It's not – I don't," Luffy pauses again, twisting the hem of the blanket around his fingers as his brows furrow in thought. When he continues, the words come slower, more measured and careful. "I found out he was in Impel Down so I went, but I was too late. They had already taken him to the Marineford so I went there too. Everyone tried to stop me and I teamed up with Ace's old man to get past all the marines. And then…"
Luffy shakes his head to start again. The real answer is more simple: "He needed me so I went to him."
"And then, I saved him, got him out and we had to run. But everyone was still fighting and Ace's old man was hurt, and when Ace told me to get behind him," For the first time, there is the slightest hesitation, the smallest choke in Luffy's words that Zoro pretends not to hear. "I did.
"Ace was always stronger than me and smarter than me and he always knew what to do. He said to back off so I did, I let my guard down because there's," Luffy swallows, his confession harsh against the still night. "There was Ace."
Luffy continues, quieter.
"I trusted him," There are no qualifications to this, no conditions of when or if or because. Luffy's trust, a brother's trust, does not have any. "It was easy to listen to him, to stand behind him, to let him… y'know?"
Yes, Zoro thinks. I know.
But the swordsman keeps his silence.
Once, when Robin was gone and Usopp was leaving, Luffy had choked out his pain and Zoro had been the first to remind him of his responsibilities. The crew needed to move forward and Luffy needed to be strong.
But today, Zoro is settled beside his friend for the first time in two years, and he can't help but (want to) think, in the safety of their home and under the silence of the stars, that Luffy has been strong enough. That Luffy has been strong enough for all of them.
And tonight, even if it is just for one night, his captain doesn't need the burden of their trust.
The world can have all its treasures and victories and dreams, Zoro decides, if tonight, it will let Luffy be.
Listening to his captain's pained breathing, Zoro closes his eyes and thinks, just let him be.