He Knows It Best

By: Lanku

Disclaimer: One Piece and its characters still belong to Oda-sama... darn. T.T

Zoro knew his sense of direction was bad. He didn't need to get lost on a straight path to know that. He knew that north and up were two different things to everyone but him, but that didn't help him remember which was which.

Zoro knew that he should pay attention to where he was going. He should remember where he'd been and what looked familiar and what didn't. He knew it but that don't stop him from getting lost. Knowing was not the same as doing, after all.

Zoro knew that when the rest of the crew disappeared from his sight it wasn't because they went and got themselves lost. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone else. He was a man and he would not admit defeat even to something as inconsequential as a map.

However, Zoro also knew that it was no coincidence that even when he ended up instead of down, left instead of right, or out instead of in, even when he was so lost that not even Nami's navigational skill could find him, he made his own way home.

And Zoro knew that he'd be laughed at and that for at least the rest of the week there would be jokes about how he could get lost even when at home on the Sunny Go. He knew that he'd be sending out more death glares than he usually did in a week, but all of that was fine. Because he knew that the moment he would step back on the ship when he found his way again, Luffy would be there. Luffy would grin at him and Luffy would say in that off-handed way of his, "Nehe, it's fine if Zoro gets lost. Zoro always comes back home, ne?"

And Zoro knew that his face would heat up in a way that had nothing to do with annoyance. He knew that Luffy would be glancing his way a little more often, and that he'd ask Zoro to play with a little longer, and his grins would be a lot more like smiles.

And Zoro knows, more than anything else, that he can never stay lost, not when Luffy smiles at him like that.

A/N: Just a quick little thing I wrote between classes. I'm not sure if I gave it the right tone, lol.