Although the Straw Hat's doctor did an excellent job treating him with limited medical supplies - the reindeer explained rather apologetically that most of the heavier pain medications are still back on their ship - his broken arm, although bandaged and placed carefully in a sling, throbs too badly to let him sleep. It's a relief when Aisa finally loses her determined battle to stay awake at his side, and he leaves her curled in a small ball, covered with a cloak provided by the White Berets.
It's rather bewildering, he thinks as he wanders through the campsite, picking his way around sprawled snoring bodies of Shandians and Skypieans alike, how quickly his life has changed in a matter of days. He's spent an evening watching people that he considered bitter enemies only earlier this afternoon laughing and sharing brimming mugs with his own warriors.
It won't be easy, overcoming four hundred years of prejudice and mistrust, but maybe - just maybe - they've got a chance. He recalls the Chief's joyful tears at standing on the soil of their homeland, and he knows that if the old man wants peace, he'll do everything in his power to make it happen.
Distracted by these thoughts, he's no longer watching where he's walking once he reaches the outskirts of the huge circle of sleeping bodies surrounding the extinguished fire. He's only filled with the desire to be on his feet and moving, because he's spent entirely too much of the past few hours either unconscious or flat on his back grumbling at people who won't let him sit up.
As he braces himself momentarily against a broken pillar to catch his breath, he's startled to hear the low murmur of voices.
"Zoro's hair got singed - look, it's kinda crispy here."
"Oi, don't poke at it!"
Ah, the Blue Sea dwellers. He's surprised to find any of them still awake, considering they contributed so much of their energy to the fighting. He eases around the pillar, but his greeting dies on his lips as he tries to figure out exactly what they're doing.
The green-haired swordsman's sitting with his back propped against a chunk of masonry, his sheathed blades leaning against the stone beside him. He's fending off a curious hand belonging to the Mugiwara captain - the rubber guy that trounced Enel and rang the Golden Bell - who's curled in his lap and tucked comfortably against his torso. They're alone, no crew mates in sight.
"Stupid Earlobes," Luffy grumbles, his fingers curling into a fist against Zoro's palm. He leans his head against the older pirate's chest, listening to the reassuring sound of the heart pounding under his ear, and sighs as the swordsman gently pries his fingers open so he can kiss each one.
Wiper blinks, dumbfounded. Are these really the same hardened warriors who defeated Enel and his men? Right now they look like a couple of quarreling teenage Shandian lovers, and his brain can't quite equate the two images. He's very likely forgotten the fact that they probably are teenagers, since he tends to mentally divide everyone into two categories: warrior and not-warrior.
"I'm not the only one that got flash-fried," Zoro points out, sounding slightly amused as he laces their fingers together and nuzzles his cheek against the back of Luffy's hand. "Usopp and the shitty cook got hit too. And Robin."
"Yeah, but Chopper said Zoro got zapped like three times AND cut up by swords AND ripped up by barbed wire," the captain huffs, trying to look annoyed although he's slightly distracted by the sensation of skin on skin. "AND ran face-first into an iron wall AND-"
Wiper's jaw is now hanging open, because although he knew the swordsman was tough from watching the man fight, he hadn't quite realized exactly how much damage-
"-had big chunks of buildings fall on him AND-"
"You got eaten by a giant snake!" Zoro protests, because Luffy's eyes are starting to take on the wet shiny look that means they might start brimming over if he gets worked up any more, and if there's one thing the swordsman feels completely inept at dealing with, it's a crying captain. "And stabbed and burned and stretched completely out of shape and hit by way more lightning than-"
"But that's okay because I'm rubber! Zoro's not rubber!" Luffy wails in his face, a fist lashing out, and the older pirate nearly doubles over because the flailing knuckles just caught him directly in the bandaged gash left by Ohm's Eisen Whip.
"Ow, shit! Damn it, Luffy!"
"Stupid Earlobes! Stupid ZORO!"
"Stop hitting me!"
Wiper just... stares. There's no doubt about it; these people are monsters. Although perhaps he was mistaken about what he witnessed earlier; he doesn't know much about pirates, so maybe what looked like affection was actually just some sort of strange male bonding between crewmates.
The swordsman finally catches both pummeling fists and tries to straighten up, although his body insists on hunching over to protect his wounded chest and shoulder. He glares at Luffy with watering eyes. "If you still want sex, you better knock it off, or you're not getting any."
His captain's instantly contrite, snuggling against his chest and plastering his neck and jaw with hasty, apologetic kisses. "Zoro~"
"Oi, isn't it about time you got lost?"
It takes Wiper a few seconds to realize that these words are directed at him. "Wha-?"
"I said beat it."
Luffy snickers, leaning back slightly to give the swordsman's hands more maneuvering room as they slide under the tattered remnants of his vest. "Mmm, I like when Zoro talks dirty..."
"Oh, you do, eh?" The older pirate hums, disregarding Wiper's stumbling exit in favor of focusing on his captain's sharp intake of breath when he ducks his head to fasten his mouth against Luffy's collarbone, fingers trailing down to tug insistently at the top of his shorts.
The button comes off in his hand, and they both glance down at it in amusement before Luffy breaks into a sharp-toothed grin and pins Zoro flat against the broken wall at his back. "I claim captain's right - Zoro's my spoils of war!"
"O-Oi, we were both on the same side, you idiot. Don't- mmph!"
xxx
Once again sitting beside Aisa and watching her sleep, because it seems to be the safest place where he's least likely to blunder across any more perverse Blue Sea pirates, Wiper nearly jumps out of his skin when a hand drops down on his shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Laki asks, blinking in surprise at her leader's violent reaction. "Wiper, is everything alright?"
"F-Fine," he mutters gruffly, hoping she doesn't see the flush spread across his cheeks. The moon is damnably bright tonight, thanks to the Mugiwara captain's disruption of the storm clouds.
"Do you mind if I sit with you?"
He does, actually, but he keeps his protests to himself, tensing a bit as she drops down beside him and slowly relaxing when he realizes that her attention is focused on the girl sleeping beside him.
"That was very sweet of them," Laki observes, straightening the cloak covering Aisa. "Do you think-"
She pauses, frowning. "Wiper, did you hear that? It sounded like-"
"Birds!" Wiper blurts, nearly choking on his own saliva in his haste to get the word out. "It's just those damn birds, all riled up by all the lightning and explosions."