Yes, Luffy is ooc in this one, but I don't care. Bite me. I just wanted Zoro to have a reason to comfort and reassure his cute little boyfriend. Enjoy!

Killing Monsters

Luffy laid on his back on the bed of the captain's quarters with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling above him. Before he was separated from his crew he never used the captain's quarters for anything, not even his private time with Zoro. He preferred to sleep with his crew in the men's quarters, on both the Merry and Sunny, and he could never wait to have his hands on Zoro long enough to reach the room, so they never ended up there. The Merry only had two rooms anyways, and Nami claimed the captain's quarters for herself. Sunny had enough rooms for the girls to have a room, the men all shared a room, and there was another room that was meant to be captain's quarters. When Franky built the ship, he didn't realize at the time that Luffy wouldn't ever use it, but the rubber man was glad it was there now.

It has only been since they reunited that Luffy has started to use his quarters. He still didn't sleep in there often, only on nights when his nightmares were particularly bad, and he needed to be alone. He also used the room when he was thinking about something or was upset. This instance happened to be that Luffy was worried. His mind raced as he traced the patterns in the wood of the ceiling.

Meanwhile, on deck Franky asked, "Where's Luffy?"

Zoro opened his one good eye, waking up from his light nap at the words. His eye scanned the deck, and at not seeing his captain anywhere, the swordsman stood, sliding his swords back into their spot on his hip. "I'll go find him. I think I know where he might be."

"SUUUUUPER idea, Zoro!" The cyborg struck his signature pose, and watched the swordsman walk away across the deck.

Zoro walked back towards the rear deck but was stopped before he could leave the grassy deck by Chopper and Usopp. "Hey, Zoro! Have you seen Luffy? We want to show him something." Usopp asked.

"I haven't. I was just going to look for him. I'll let him know you are looking for him once I find him." Zoro replied, not too worried about the captain.

It didn't take long to find his captain after that, since Zoro had a pretty good idea of where he would be. He turned out to be right. He found Luffy exactly where he expected to see him. But Zoro also knew that Luffy would only be in here if something was wrong. "What's wrong, Luffy?" Luffy turned his head slightly to look at Zoro, and the swordsman breathed a sigh of relief that there were no tears involved today. But there was a strange look on the captain's face that made Zoro nervous.

"I'm just thinking." Luffy replied, looking back up at the ceiling.

"A dangerous past time." Zoro joked, and thankfully, Luffy scoffed at the jest.

"You always say that, Zoro." Luffy chuckled a little.

"That's because it's true, especially for you." Zoro joked again, approaching the bed to sit next to Luffy. "Now really, what's going through your head? What are you thinking about?"

Luffy sighed, finally sitting up and looking at Zoro. "I'm just wondering, can you kill a monster without becoming one?"

Zoro raised an eyebrow. This was a new one. "What are you talking about."

Luffy leaned back against the headboard, and signaled Zoro to join him there. Once Zoro was settled, Luffy readjusted himself to lounge against Zoro's chest comfortably with his legs tangled with Zoro's. Once they were settled, he launched into his explanation. "It's about Blackbeard. Teach. The guy who captured Ace and turned him into the marines for a spot in the seven warlords. I know I'm going to have to face him again eventually, and that I will have to fight him. He's a monster, a real one, causing problems for everyone, including the Navy, Revolutionary Army, and other pirate crews. Even innocent civilians are affected by him. I hate him more than I though I was capable of hating one person.

"I've faced a lot of terrible people, especially since coming to the New World, and even the Grand Line. Crocodile, Hordy, Eneru, even Doflamingo, but none of them compare to Marshall D. Teach. I will have to face him, and when I do, I know I'm going to have to kill him. Most of the other people I've fought I've been able to leave them alive, and not have to worry about them coming after me again. But not Teach. He will never stop. He will never give up. So, I ask again, can you kill a monster without becoming one?"

Zoro listened patiently as always, taking in all of Luffy's worries and inquiries. When he was sure Luffy was done talking he answered. "I don't think killing him will make you anything like him. I don't think you are remotely capable of some of the things he does, even if you wanted to."

"But isn't the whole reason everyone hates him because he kills people? So how would I be any better. In order to defeat the monster, I must become one myself?" Luffy looked back and up at Zoro, looking truly worried about this.

"You are better than him. By killing him you will be saving a lot of people from a far worse fate, especially if he were to ever become the king of the pirates somehow. He would become unstoppable. You will make a much better pirate king."

Luffy looked kind of skeptical and turned back around to lean against Zoro again. "Okay, but say that's true, and I won't be worse for killing him, when I do face him, I have no idea how I'm going to stand a chance against him. He has two of the most powerful devil fruits I've ever seen, and one of them cancels out devil fruit powers, absorbs them like they were never there in the first place. That's how he caught Ace, and Ace was so strong."

"Yes, but Ace relied almost completely on his Devil Fruit Powers. You aren't like that. I've seen you strategize, and think through your fights. You use Haki, and not only that, but the conqueror's spirit.

"Ace had conqueror's Haki, too."

"But he ultimately still relied on his devil fruit."

"I do, too. When do you ever see me fight without it?"

"No, you don't. I watched you take out Zed with minimal use of your powers. You used mainly Haki in that fight, especially towards the end. Not many others could have done what you did that day."

"Really?" Luffy asked, still uncertain.

"Yes, really." Zoro kissed the top of Luffy's head. "I believe in you, and I trust you, Luffy. You'll figure it out. You probably won't have to do it alone, either. You have Law, and you have a whole fleet at your command, even if you don't accept that. We also haven't seen Shanks yet. If we see him, you can ask for help. I'm almost certain, if he's as good of a guy as you say he is, that he is as appalled by Teach as we are. Not to mention, you have your crew, who are all very strong, and highly capable. You won't have to do it alone."

Luffy smiled at the thought of Shanks. "Yeah, I guess that's true. It would be fun to fight alongside Shanks, too."

"There you go." Zoro pulled Luffy's chin up and kissed him chastely on the lips. "By the way, Usopp and Chopper were looking for you.

And just like that, Luffy was back to his usual self, bounding out the door and onto the deck to find Chopper and Usopp, worries forgotten for the moment, but Zoro was almost sure they would return soon enough. After all, the burden of a captain is a heavy one.