Zoro had been waiting for the perfect opportunity, and with everyone either partying after their escape, hiding away in their own little alcove (Fuuta, Robin and surprisingly enough Chopper) to read, or just generally enjoying the fact that Luffy had once again managed to pull off the impossible...well, he couldn't think of a better time.
Luffy squeaked, managed to salvage her booze, only to toss it back as quickly as she could without choking the second she registered the look in Zoro's eyes.
She quietly glanced to the captain's quarters, which had Zoro smirking.
"Give me fifteen minutes to get ready," she said quietly.
"Deal," he said.
At this point Luffy was just beyond happy with was going to be someone that she trusted explicitly...and that she wouldn't be friend-zoned until she was well into her twenties like before.
That had sucked on so many levels.
The two quietly slipped off, uncaring of the knowing look Nojiko shot them from the tiller, and went to have some fun.
Besides... Chopper had already made special medicine to act as contraceptives after Ace brought it up. The girls all had a supply on them just in case for when they found a partner they wanted to have some fun with, since Luffy was the last person to stop them.
Luffy dug through her Mist-expanded closet...thank you Fran for altering it when bribed with some of her ice cream (Belphegor had pouted for an hour before he thought to ask for some too)...and found something that felt 'right' to her intuition for this sort of event.
Hearing the knock, Luffy opened the door to reveal Zoro. There was a gleam in his eyes that said volumes of his intent. Something she was more than okay with.
(Just to be clear, any potential lemons/smut written for this fic will be posted on Ao3, not on Fanfiction. If you want to read it, please let me know via the review page and I'll get to work on a hopefully satisfactory one.)
Nojiko had a wicked grin on her face the next morning when she spotted a sleepy Luffy. She made sure to waylay her captain right after breakfast (Luffy noticed the quality of her food went up after the revelation that she was actually a woman), and dragged Nami along with her for female solidarity...and so she wouldn't have to repeat any information second hand.
"Alright sis, what the hell did you drag us in here for?" asked Nami baffled and a little irritable.
"I'm curious as well," commented Robin, though she seemed to have an inkling if the look of dawning horror on Luffy's face was any indication.
"Oh no... no, no, no, I am not getting into any girl talk!" said Luffy with a hiss.
"Considering I managed to cover for you and Zoro last night, you had better share something," said Nojiko wickedly.
"I don't do that sort of girl talk! I spent ten years pretending to be a boy, for crying out loud!" said Luffy.
Nami however went through the comment Nojiko made about covering for Luffy and Zoro, before she stared at her captain.
"No way... you and Zoro?"
"I am not being friend-zoned twice. Last time was pure hell," said Luffy defensively.
"What's friend-zoned?" asked Robin curiously.
"Imagine having a cute guy who only sees you as a friend or 'sister', despite all the hints you throw at him that you're interested in him either romantically or just want a roll in the hay," clarified Luffy.
"Didn't know there was an actual term for that," said Robin.
"Isn't there some unspoken rule against captains sleeping with their crew, or at least the first mate?" asked Nami.
"Only if favoritism is involved. Do you really think I would let my personal life impact the rest of the crew like that, or that I would favor Zoro over any of you?" asked Luffy seriously.
Nami shook her head. If anything Luffy treated them all like family and never had any trouble showing how much she cared about them. Some she might favor a bit more than others, but she never treated them any differently than the rest.
So the idea that she would favor Zoro more than the rest of the crew simply because she was sleeping with him didn't cross her mind at all.
"So how was he?" asked Nojiko eagerly.
"I have zero complaints about his stamina, and I am not getting into any details over my first time," said Luffy. "On an unrelated note I may have found a new use for some of the outfits Vivi insisted on giving me before we left."
"Wait, Vivi gave you some of her outfits?" said Nami.
"Apparently they were a size too small for her, but there was enough room in the bust area that I could fit into them just fine. And at least this way I have something nice to wear. Besides, it was free," shrugged Luffy.
"We are so going clothes shopping on the next island we land on," said Nami firmly. Nojiko nodded in total agreement to that.
"Before I forget, we'll be running into Ace again very soon if what he said was right. He's chasing after a traitor who almost killed another member of the Whitebeard pirates had Ace not gotten there in time," said Luffy.
"What happened?" asked Robin.
"Apparently this Teach guy was after a specific devil fruit, and when another crew found it, he decided that rather than ask or barter for the thing he would simply take it by force. Ace was already keeping an eye on him because he knew something was up about the guy, so he managed to make it there in time to save the man's life. He's in critical condition, but there's a high chance he'll live. Problem is that Ace was the commander of the division the traitor was part of, so he's duty-bound to chase after him. Remember how Wapol was 'kicked out' of Drum kingdom when we got there?"
Nami and Nojiko nodded.
"Teach was the pirate who chased him off. The guy is a real scumbag, and I still need to find where I put his bounty poster so we know who to avoid."
What Luffy neglected to add was that she knew Teach by another name and not from her current life.
Edward Teach was the real name of one of the most notorious and bloodthirsty pirates to have ever lived. Except everyone knew him by another name... Blackbeard. The man was one of the worst pirates to have ever lived and caused no end of death and destruction when he was active.
The fact that he had somehow managed to get reincarnated in this life as a pirate, or that he betrayed his 'family' over power did not surprise her in the least.
Hell, part of the reason Ace/Xanxus had kept an eye on the man was because he had drawn the parallels of what he knew of the historical pirate and didn't want a repeat! That, and Teach was shady as hell in his opinion.
Nojiko was mildly disappointed by girl talk being sidelined, but she drew some amusement that Luffy might be more open to talking about that sort of thing with the other girls once she got used to actually being a girl again, rather than hide what she was.
With Zoro...
Chopper was looking at Zoro confused.
"Why do you smell like Luffy?" asked the reindeer.
It only took three seconds before that question registered, and had Lambo, Fuuta and Takeshi all whipping their heads towards the annoyed swordsman.
"Well at least she didn't have to wait until her twenties this time," commented Lambo. Fuuta and Takeshi nodded.
"And maybe now we have someone to throw at her as a sacrifice whenever that time of the month starts to draw close," muttered Fuuta.
"What does that mean?" demanded Zoro.
"You remember what she did to Crocodile?" asked Takeshi.
Zoro nodded.
"Well she tends to get extra bloodthirsty and mean whenever a certain time of the month rolls around and there's nothing to help her deal with it. I think most of the damage she caused was because she was already pissed at him and there was no chocolate to soothe the beast," said Takeshi nervously.
"Which means we are going to be throwing you at her and insuring you can do things like take her out on dates to spare the rest of us," deadpanned Lambo. Fuuta nodded heartily at that.
Zoro wasn't the only one staring at them.
"You're okay with the fact he slept with Luffy?" asked Gin incredulous.
"We love her like a sister, but even she needs a chance to relax and unwind. Besides, even Zoro wouldn't be able to withstand all of us if he broke her heart," said Takeshi with a dark glint in his eyes. "That, and last time she was so stressed and overworked that it was a miracle she didn't kill herself."
Tsunami had been overworked and stressed to the point she had started to develop ulcers from it all. Shamal had not been happy when he discovered those, which was what prompted Fon to step in and insure she relaxed...one way or another.
He didn't intend to go so far as sleep with her, but one thing lead to another. He didn't mind though... Tsunami was someone who he would have been attracted to even before he was cursed.
"That being said, could you at least not go at it like bunnies in front of us?" asked Lambo, only half joking.
"You kidding? That would cut into my training time! Besides, I highly doubt Luffy would consider that idea even if the rest of the crew was okay with it," said Zoro.
That made the rest of the guys relax. So long as the two weren't too overt about the shift in their relationship, they could easily learn to ignore it. Besides, Luffy wasn't the sort of person who would favor her lover over the rest of the crew, when she considered them family anyway.
Word spread of the events in Alabasta...and the fact that the island was now considered part of the territory of the Straw Hat crew. The fact that the royal family not only allowed it, but endorsed the idea of being a claimed territory spread like wildfire.
Garp didn't believe the 'story' that the royal family had given the World Government for why they allowed the Straw Hats to claim their island.
Vivi and her father were nothing like most nobility, so the idea that the princess had 'outsourced' to a rookie crew from the East Blue in order to kick Crocodile out because he was causing far too much trouble sounded completely made up to him.
It was more likely his adorable little granddaughter had decided to help the princess when she found out what was going on, and in exchange convinced the royal family to let them stake their claim on the place once Crocodile was dead.
Alabasta was a bit ambitious for a newly claimed territory, but it meant that people would take his grandchild seriously as a potential major player for what she did to Crocodile.
Garp had to wince at the fact that when he compared the time frame of Crocodile's death to what he knew of Luffy's "schedule", the timelines were able to match to a rough estimate of the one time of the month Luffy made him and a number of others completely terrified of her.
That being said, he was discreetly proud of his granddaughter for being able to pull that off. Even if he still wanted to give her his Fist of Love for becoming a pirate in the first place.
Although the situation on board the Merry was slightly awkward, finding out that Zoro and Luffy had potentially become lovers, things settled down to a new normal soon enough.
Zoro and Luffy were not "going at it like bunnies" at every opportunity as Takeshi ahd put it. Nor was Luffy showing any extra favortism to Zoro because they had shared her bed. Aside from being a little more affectionate to the swordsman, nothing had really changed that much between them.
Zoro was interested in Luffy as a woman, but he would never allow that to interfere with his desire to beat Mihawk and become the strongest swordsman alive.
Luffy might find Zoro attractive, but she still wanted to take Gol D. Roger's place as the next "King", and it was rather hard to do that when you were stuck raising children or being a wife. At most it meant that the two would have little romantic moments when the mood struck, but neither would ever allow it to impede their dreams.
Besides, Luffy was such a tomboy that the idea of acting like a typical girl who found a boyfriend never actually crossed her mind once. At this point Nojiko, Nami and oddly enough Robin were slowly trying to ease their captain back into a more female mindset considering she had been acting like a boy for all these years.
The fact they got to enjoy trying to make Zoro blush, or on two noteable occasions have to hide a sudden nosebleed at the outfits they tricked Luffy into wearing for the day, was just a major bonus.
(Though Luffy made sure to note which outfits got the strongest reactions. Who knew Zoro had a thing for cat ears?)
By the time they reached the next island, a new normal had settled among the crew.
Coincidentally this was the first time Zoro would have a chance to take Luffy out on a proper date.
Sanji had already made certain that Luffy was more or less stuffed, so it wouldn't do too much damage to Zoro's wallet if they ate out.
Considering Zoro felt his mouth go dry when Luffy walked out of her room wearing one of her new outfits, he had zero complaints about taking his captain out on a date. He got to spend most of the day alone with her, while everyone explored the town. They would meet up later the next morning to resupply and explore before heading on to the next island.