Chapter Text
Zoro was currently working on a boat; with his bare hands.
He refused to use a hammer, since hammers were for weak wimps. He was not weak. Bang, another nail. He was nailing – stop. He was not going there. Nailing – fuck, he needed a good fuck, someone to nail really intense, wait, he thought, he wasn’t going there.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and looked up from his work. He was standing right in the middle of the infamous Galleya-Shipyard and was building some wooden ship right now. Well, he wasn’t entirely building it all by himself. He didn’t plan it, nor did he do the fancy details. He was just the man for the heavy work. Franky, Eisberg and sometimes even Usopp did the planning. They were the brains of the Shipyard, and well, Zoro and the others were the muscle. He was the one for the rough work, carrying the huge pieces of wood or metal, bending it, welding it and nailing it together.
Zoro knew that this wasn’t his dream job, but he’d never have a choice in this matter.
He’d never met his parents; he had grown up in an orphanage. He had been pretty lonely the first half of his life. No real friends, no family, nobody to even trust.
His life suddenly changed when they had visited a dojo back in elementary school, when they had to learn some shit about Japanese Culture. From this day on he got involved with martial arts.
At first the green haired boy had been shy and sullen, but he had needed just one kendo lesson and Zoro proved to be the most talented beginner the owner of the dojo had seen in a long time. Since this day he practically had been living in the dojo.
He was allowed to stay with the owner’s family, helping to clean the dojo and at the age of 12 he started teaching the younger classes. And for the first time in his life he had a friend: Kuina. Shit, he didn’t want to think about her. No, no need to dig up that grief and despair again.
After the accident, life went downhill fast. Kuina’s father committed suicide not long after, the dojo’s dept couldn’t be paid off and so the place was closed and torn down. He was 13 when that happened.
Some really dark years had followed. His only possessions had been Kuina’s swords, which were all he had managed to save. He didn’t want to think about those years. They had been pretty shitty.
He had been at his lowest point in life, almost close to the despair he had felt after the loss of Kuina – not going there.
That was when he met Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace. They had been living on the streets too. Yeah, life had been shitty for all of them back in the old days.
Luffy had needed full 30 seconds after they had met to decide that Zoro would be his new best friend and nakama for the rest of his life. Ha had thought that crazy grinning kid was fucking out of his mind.
Ace had been a little more skeptical of Luffy’s new nakama, but after a couple days of living with them they were practically best buddies. Besides Ace had been kind of happy that there was another one taking care of his little brother: Luffy was just being Luffy. No more words needed. Zoro had been pretty happy that Ace existed to keep the ever smiling enigma most times in check. Luffy and Ace had been some weapon dealers of a low rank, but they came along. Zoro had joined their small circle and was a great addition to their trading and dealing activities.
One day Luffy had just showed up with a red-haired man in tow. The man’s grin had been as wide as Luffy’s, but he had looked way more dangerous – since he had been missing one arm and had three nasty looking gashes above his one eye. Neither Ace nor Zoro had been overly surprised. Luffy had a thing for meeting weird people - but this time Luffy’s instinct had been right.
Shanks was the owner of the Galleya-Company, together with his partner Eisberg. They were building ships during the day and dealing weapons by night. Eisberg dealt with the everyday challenges, tried to keep the cover up and to actually build some pretty awesome ships, while Shanks was in charge of the business at night; dealing, dealing, dealing. The black market for illegal weapons was beyond huge.
Zoro, Luffy and Ace accepted the job offers. Back then they had no choice, but they never regretted taking the offer. Shanks and Eisberg paid good money, and he was living together with the other workers in a huge building in the yard, where they all had their own little apartments. The workers of the Galleya-Company didn’t need to pay rent and the food was for free, too. Eisberg and Shanks demanded in return absolute loyalty. He had no problem with that.
Zoro liked that he actually could consider his day job in the shipyard as training. Work was like a big gym for him – and he got paid for working out.
Luffy and Ace were pretty happy, too. They had connected really quickly with the rest of the workers. They had discovered that they all had some kind of sick and nasty history. Life did never play in favor of the workers, until either Eisberg or Shanks showed up and hired them. They all had unique talents and rare characters. But they accepted each other as nakama, and that was the fact that counted.
They called their old apartment complex “The Sunny”, since Eisberg once painted a sun on it. Shanks had asked him what that shit had been for. Eisberg had answered: ‘To lighten the mood.’ Shanks had just laughed at it, but Kalifa had declared Eisberg a nut job. Eisberg’s witty reply had been shrugged off with the words: ‘That’s sexual harassment.’
“The Sunny” contained a huge gym in the basement, on the first floor a large living room with a bar and an open kitchen. The other stories were for their bedrooms with separate bathrooms.
Zoro loved “The Sunny”. It was the closest he ever got to a real home. He enjoyed living with the always laughing brothers, he liked having Usopp, Chopper and Franky around, they were kind of fun to hang around – and they always got his back, day and night.
His other nakama Kidd, Khoza, and Lucci were another story. They were his nakama, but Lucci and Kidd were just cold. And cold in the sense of creepy, dangerous, don’t-come-to-close-or-you’ll-get-really-hurt kind of cold. Still, sometimes he could even enjoy hanging around Kidd or Lucci, they were nakama after all.
Khoza was nice, but he was a little too politically involved. He was talking about social revolutions and shit. He wasn’t the right person for this kind of activism; he enjoyed his swords, his training and a good fuck. Occasionally some heavy liquor, too.
Speaking of liquor, he really needed a bottle, right now. It wasn’t even noon yet, but he didn’t care. Just some quick gulps to keep his mind of spinning around this face – no, not going there. Time for a little liquor break.
“Oi, Kidd!”
“What?”
“Can you cover for me real quick? I’m off.”
“Sure.”
That’s why he liked Kidd. He was easy to work with, didn’t talk much, and the fucker loved to beat the shit out of metal – with his bare hands. Kidd sure got his respect.
Zoro turned his back to the flaming red haired man, who worked with his heavy fur coat even in the bright midday heat. He shrugged, none of his business, not his place to judge, since he was running around with his swords all day long. He just took them off if he left the shipyard for a bar.
He headed over to the “Sunny” and sneaked inside. The large living room area was empty so he went straight for the bar. He helped himself to a bottle of whiskey, he didn’t notice the brand, brands didn’t matter.
He took some gulps from the bottle and he immediately felt better. He let the liquor burn through his system, enjoying the slight buzz he got for a few seconds.
“Zoro!” Usopp cried from the top of the stairs. “What are you doing here? Are you drinking?”
“Shut up, Usopp.”
“No shit, Zoro, you shouldn’t be drinking right now, I understand, I mean, you can drink way more than a normal person-“ Usopp made his way down the stairs. “You know, once I drank a whole barrel of whiskey and I got in a police search and they-“
“Shut up, Usopp.”
“Are you in a bad mood or something?”
“What do you think?”
“You are really out of it, shit, Zoro, half a Captain Morgan before noon is pretty fucked up, even for you.”
Zoro just grunted. Whatever Longnose was saying.
“Tell me, what bothers you?” asked Usopp. That kid seriously didn’t know when to shut his face.
“What is bothering Zoro?” Luffy just showed up. Fucking great, now he had no other choice than telling. Luffy was fucking persistent, not even Lucci got a chance of withstanding this kid and his damn persistence.
Luffy went over to the fridge and started raiding its contents. He was currently munching something that looked like a raw tuna fish. In addition to that he got another huge chunk of ham out of the fridge and walked over to the bar to sit on top of it.
“What bothers you, Zoro?”
Zoro got some chunks of tuna or ham spitted in his face, he couldn’t tell. He growled.
“It’s nothing. I just didn’t get to fuck some nice ass lately.”
“Whoa! Too much information! That’s gross, Zoro!” screamed Usopp.
“I told you, shut it, Longnose.”
Luffy said nothing; he just sat there picking his nose after he finished munching his meat. After a few seconds of silent observing he hopped down and got really close to Zoro’s personal space. “It’s someone special, right?”
“REALLY? ZORO IS IN LOVE?”
“SHUT IT, LONGNOSE!”
“Nah, he’s not in love, not yet, I can tell.” Fuck, Luffy was too damn observing right now. That was definitely the wrong time for some of his brighter moments. Why couldn’t he be ignorant like any other day? Luffy was supposed to be oblivious, especially when it came down to sexual interactions or other types of romantic relationships.
“So who is it?”
“Nobody. It’s just a face. I’ve seen if for like five seconds, then it was gone.”
“You are so out of it, just because of a face?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Just because of some fucking face I’ve seen at the club last night.”
“What did he look like?”
“Blue eyes, blond hair.”
“Like Paulie?”
“No.”
“Like who?”
“Like no one you know. Or I know. I probably won’t see that face again.”
Suddenly Shanks busted through the door: “Oi, slobs, back to work! Lunch time is over! Zoro, you drunk, give me that bottle!”
Nobody bothered telling Shanks that it wasn’t lunch time for another hour. Or that he was twice the alcoholic Zoro was. But Shanks wasn’t a day person, as long as he was bright at night, nobody gave a shit.
Later that night Zoro, Luffy, Usopp, Franky and Kidd went out to the “Arabasta”, a bar and a nightclub just down the road from the shipyard. They all had worked the day shift and that meant working at the yard, building ships. Night shifts meant dealing and fighting with Shanks. Zoro preferred night shifts, but when he worked day shifts he got to go down to the “Arabasta”.
The club “Arabasta” was some weird mixture form 1001 Arabian nights, a strip club and a traditional harbor workers shack. The booze was cheap, the girls were easy, the music not too annoying. Just fine in Zoro’s eyes. And yeah, it was an unofficial gay bar. So pretty much something for every taste, just a little darker and dirtier than the other clubs downtown. Out here nobody bothered with passed out figures lying on the streets, or some hookers working on the parking lot, or some drug deals.
“Arabasta” was still a pretty popular club, even if it was located in this shabby industrial area.
Chopper, Khoza, Ace and Lucci had to work with Shanks tonight. So it was Zoro left alone with the morons. Well, Kidd wasn’t exactly a moron, but he usually took off after the first drink they shared together and was looking either for a fight or some dude he could fuck.
The bouncers let them in without even a second glance; they were regulars. The club was busy tonight, yeah, it was Friday night, Zoro remembered. The place was crowded and their small group fought their way through the mass of dancing and intoxicated drunks to their usual spot in the back of the bar.
They ordered their first round of shots. It was tradition that they would drink the first round together. After that everybody could do whatever or whoever they want. But most nights they would stick together, or just leave for half an hour to let some steam out either back in the parking lot or in the shabby bathrooms. If they would actually bother spending some money on their fucks, then they would get to use the slightly nicer rooms upstairs, but at least Zoro never did. He looked good enough to get his dick sucked for free.
Fuck, yeah. He wanted his dick sucked, preferably by that blond face he spotted in the crowd yesterday night. Maybe that was the reason why he was zooming out of their conversation and searching the room with his eyes.
Usopp and Franky were currently talking about same super awesome way to modify the motor of some ship – Zoro stopped listening. Not his topic. He wasn’t interested in boats. He built them to work out and to earn money. Not to worship them, but Franky and Usopp regularly fell in love with their work. Kidd downed his second shot and took off, probably searching for a fight or fuck.
Same thing I should be doing, Zoro thought.
Luffy started ordering food at the bar, Zoro believed they just put a menu up for the D-Brothers who visited this place regularly – and just because they would cause serious havoc if they were hungry. A fact the club owner had discovered rather quickly. Now he was making good money with the insatiable hunger of the brothers.
Zoro ordered his third shot. He felt a little buzz, he wondered why; usually he needed a whole bottle to get to this stage, weird. But then he remembered he started drinking around noon this day. He did never stop so far. No surprise.
He let his eyes wander. He had irrational hope to see that face again. He hadn’t told Luffy and Usopp the whole story what had happened last night.
He had been sitting at the bar, around his tenth drink, dozing off to the slow beat and the murmurs of the people surrounding him. Suddenly he felt something, something he usually only felt in an intense fight: The feeling that his opponent was going to strike with all his force. It was like his sixth sense.
He was awake immediately. But nothing had changed, Luffy was still laughing hard about a story Usopp had told, Franky was still gone with some nasty looking chick with weird square hair and Kidd just sat over his drink, frowning. Nothing had been amiss.
Zoro had decided it was time for a bathroom break and he made his way through the crowd. The intense feeling someone was on his back never left him.
When he had stepped out of the bathroom, back into the smoky air of the main floor, he had seen him. He was looking straight at him, those incredible deep blue eyes piercing through his skull. Other than the intense blue eyes of the man he had noticed his blond hair, one strand covering his right eye. Another thing he noticed were his eyebrows – they had been curly. Fucking curly eyebrows.
He stared at the stranger for a few seconds, but then the blond guy just disappeared. Zoro had searched the entire club, he even had asked the bouncers, described the fucking curly brow to them, but no one had a clue.
Ha had left the club twitchy and anxious.
Now the same uneasiness was back. Why did this fucking curly brow face have such a huge impact on his life? It was just a fucking face. It was just a fucking face. He kept on repeating this mantra in his head, till he was down at his tenth drink. Or was it his twelfth? He guessed he lost count long before that. This drink felt like his fucking fiftieth this night. He was drunk by now. Not a stage he was used to, but who gave a shit?
Luffy had finished eating; he was now bouncing on the dance floor and scaring the dancing crowd away around him. Yeah, a dancing Luffy would probably cause some serious damage.
“Oi, Usopp, Franky, get Luffy off the dance floor.”
“Why me? I have the I-can’t-get-on-the-dance-floor-or-I-get-fever-disease-“
“Shut it, Longnose.”
“Come on, Usopp-san, this is going to be super fun! I have those super new dance moves to try out! SUPER!”
Zoro wondered why Franky was so successful at picking up women. Seriously, this dude was wearing really short shorts and a really out of taste Hawaii shirt. Even he could tell it was ugly. And in addition to Franky’s ridiculous clothes he was screaming “SUPER!” all the time. No shit. He watched with slight interest how Usopp tried to stop Luffy damaging the dance floor, than his eyes followed Franky’s movements; he already got two chicks to move with him.
He groaned. It was time for another drink. Without Ace or Chopper he felt a little lonely. Luffy, Usopp and Franky were great, but after a whole week of working and partying he was eager for a change of schedule.
It wasn’t even that late, but Zoro felt like leaving. He had watched the entire crowd for curly-brow, and each time he’d spotted some blond hair his heart would speed up, but he’s been disappointed each time the person had turned around. No blues eyes as deep and thoughtful as the night before. No fucking curly-brow. Literally.
He got up, paid his tap and was ready to leave, when some stranger just bumped rather rough right in his back. Angry he turned around. “Watch the fuck out where you’re going, you fuck-“
He didn’t finish his sentence. It got stuck in his throat.
He stared right in the face of a really angered blond man, with incredible deep blue eyes and one visible curly eyebrow.
Fuck.