step 2: survive anyway

Even though he knows he’s a hypocrite for it, Zoro is so fucking tired of learning everything from everyone but Luffy.

pairing: monkey d. luffy/roronoa zoro

word count: 19,023 [final: 30,367]

ao3 tags: incorrect descriptions of poisoning and other medical inaccuracies; spoilers through wano act I; roronoa “self-sacrifice” zoro; law's weird jar of blood; no one being normal about luffy; angst and hurt/comfort

wood is a living creature

They keep her—history’s forgotten hero, the first great ship of the second Pirate King.

pairing: monkey d. luffy/roronoa zoro (implied)

word count: 3363

ao3 tags: no archive warnings apply; going merry; the dinghy gets her own kind of klabautermann

step 1: die

After two years with Ivankov, Sanji knows something about Luffy that Zoro does not.

pairing: monkey d. luffy/roronoa zoro (implied); roronoa zoro & sanji

word count: 11,334

ao3 tags: incorrect descriptions of poisoning and other medical inaccuracies; spoilers through wano act II; roronoa "self-sacrifice" zoro; big sanji emotions; angst and hurt/comfort

the sea makes bones of bodies

At the question (or maybe just Nami, a reprieve from talking to Zoro—who he's still vaguely afraid of) Usopp perks up. “Kind of! I mean, yeah—the big Sun God in the Trench. But also the sea gods themselves, and the missing Moon God—it’s a whole thing,” he says, waving his hands as Nami crosses the deck, book tucked under her arm. Usopp trails off again but she gestures him onward and plops next to Zoro, dangling her feet over the open water, too. “Go on,” she says. He stares at them both before letting out a strangled kind of, “Do you actually want to know?” Zoro and Nami exchange a look. “We have a keen interest in the local wildlife,” Zoro drawls, and Nami snorts out a laugh. The sound startles Usopp, who might be one of the most skittish people Zoro has ever met—second only to Koby, maybe. Nami elbows Zoro in the side, trying (and failing) to hide her smile as he flips her the middle finger in return. “Local legends, then,” she amends.

pairing: monkey d. luffy/roronoa zoro; nami/wanda (background); sabo/koala (background); deuce/ace (background)

word count: 87,730

ao3 tags: mafia hitman/fight club champion/reincarnated moon god X merman/legendary sea monster/reincarnated sun god AU; only one is a monster but they're both a little monstrous; it's about the Yearning and the Devotion; hurt/comfort/comedy at a 30/60/10 ratio; slow burn; religious imagery & symbolism; crew as family; graphic depictions of violence; (nami & roronoa zoro)

how to talk without speaking

In the beginning, Luffy does not know how to read. In the grand scheme of things, this does not matter.

pairing: (monkey d. luffy & nami & roronoa zoro) + usopp

wordcount: 6894

ao3 tags: no archive warnings apply; mild spoilers for wano; nakamaship

ocean theology

“Zoro—”

“Did you know?” he repeats, desperate, and Luffy just looks at him. And he wonders, then, how much of this has been preordained—how much of this is real, how much of this is him. How much of what he’s felt since they were wedged side-to-side in a shitty wooden boat on the East Blue has actually mattered, and how much has been the universe pressing him down into the mold of someone else's heart.

And then Luffy is gripping his horns, bringing his forehead down to meet his, repeating, “Zoro? Zoro?” like his name is a mantra, like he’s gone somewhere far away and gotten lost on his way back.

And Zoro blinks at him, then, and sees both of them at once—both of them—and he grips Luffy’s face in his own hands (claws) and presses his lips (violent, full of teeth) against his. Because this is who he has been waiting a thousand years for, the brightest and most beautiful of them all, the one thing he could never have—could never see, not if (Luffy, Joyboy, Nika) had made different (worse) choices—the thing that could never thrive in the darkness, just like he could never (has been unable to for centuries) survive without it—

pairing: roronoa zoro/monkey d. luffy

word count: 40,565

ao3 tags: canon-compliant reincarnation; melodrama (affectionate); spoilers through the end of wano; mild body horror (horns teeth claws); it's about the Yearning and the Devotion; graphic depictions of violence; archive warnings are for violence inflicted BY the crew not ON the crew; hurt/comfort/comedy at a 30/60/10 ratio; 40k words and i forgot to write "Asura" even once

poly philtatos (the most loved by far)

He keeps moving forward at a steady pace, resisting the urge to run because how fucking embarrassing would that be, running because he missed them, and as he breaks through the treeline he shouts, “Oi, oi—what took you guys so long? It's been—”

And then he freezes, because yes, actually—something is very, very wrong.

The Sunny is anchored just off shore, close enough to see the deck but far enough away that the crew has had to take the Mini Merry to make land. Scattered across the beach in various stages of chaos—rolling around, yelling, fighting—are his crew but not his crew, so similar and yet so, so different. They look younger, fresher, and whatthefuck there, on the deck of the Sunny just peering over the railing, he catches a flash of green—his own green hair—

“Ah, fuck,” he grunts, and then immediately turns back around because no, actually, he does not want to deal with this.

pairing: roronoa zoro/monkey d. luffy

word count: 24,853

ao3 tags: time travel; not a fix-it; major character death; spoilers through the end of wano; zoro protects the crew; and his captain; and does not realize they will go to the ends of the earth to protect him too; it’s all fine in the end i promise; mcd is a framing device only do not worry

feed your plants a little sunlight

Instead of napping, Zoro helps. It is his job, after all.

pairing: monkey d. luffy/roronoa zoro

word count: 4225

ao3 tags: gen rating; slice of life; nakamaship/crew as family

a short fic inspired by @fluffyartbl0g's zolu comic (plus a reference to @teazingsassy's zoro is good at math headcanon). just something a little fun!

bury your albatross in a shallow grave

chapter 2/6

A breeze drifts through the foliage, and Zoro squints against the glaring sunlight overhead. He doesn’t recognize anything—not even the climate—and after a moment he closes his eye again, heaving a sigh that draws out into an aggravated kind of groan, because sure, fantastic, incredible. No swords, no crew, no memory. Typical day on a new island, then.

Suddenly, a dark blur drops down from above, landing in a crouch, and all of Zoro's muscles tense. He hadn't sensed anyone else, so how—

A blond kid no more than ten years old stands in front of him, adjusting a worn tophat with one hand and gripping a long, lethal-looking metal pipe with the other. He's dressed well—in a dirty but clearly expensive suit, each piece of which is a slightly different shade of blue—and he looks pissed.

“Don’t move!” the kid shouts, swinging his weapon in a clear threat. “Who are you, and what the hell did you do with my little brother?”

pairing: monkey d. luffy/roronoa zoro

word count: 28131/?

ao3 tags: monkey d. luffy & nami & roronoa zoro; asl; kuina; childhood trauma; spoilers through the end of wano; nakamaship/crew as family

bury your albatross in a shallow grave

chapter 1/6

A breeze drifts through the foliage, and Zoro squints against the glaring sunlight overhead. He doesn’t recognize anything—not even the climate—and after a moment he closes his eye again, heaving a sigh that draws out into a kind of aggravated groan, because sure, fantastic, incredible. No swords, no crew, no memory. Typical day on a new island, then.

Suddenly, a dark blur drops down from above, landing in a crouch, and all of Zoro's muscles tense. He hadn't sensed anyone else, so how—

A blond kid no more than ten years old stands in front of him, adjusting a worn tophat with one hand and gripping a long, lethal-looking metal pipe with the other. He's dressed well—in a dirty but clearly expensive suit, each piece of which is a slightly different shade of blue—and he looks pissed.

“Don’t move!” the kid shouts, swinging his weapon in a clear threat. “Who are you, and what the hell did you do with my little brother?”

pairing: monkey d. luffy/roronoa zoro

word count: 12598/?

ao3 tags: childhood trauma; everyone needs a hug; spoilers through the end of wano; nakamaship/crew as family

alleluia

With the revelation that their Captain is a god, the crew worships.

pairings: nakamaship/gen

word count: 2645

ao3 tags: religious imagery; spoilers through the end of wano; third person plural/crew pov

anomalous dichromacy; or the precipice of a shift in philosophy

Sanji comes to terms with the futility of an existence rooted in the mundane. Usopp learns that French is the first language of pretentious assholes.

pairing: usopp/sanji

word count: 10,430

ao3 tags: alternate universe - modern setting; substance abuse

ouroboros

Zoro is too many things at once, some stitched-together mess of a human being, but then again Luffy isn't much better.

pairing: roronoa zoro/monkey d. luffy

word count: 1085

ao3 tags: character study; pov second person; stream of consciousness