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Luffy was ethereal.
Decorated with white clouds and glowing white hair. Luffy was supernatural and godly, all in one, floating in the sky. Zoro had never seen divine until now.
He'd thought he'd seen it, back in Skypiea when they were faced with Enel, the false God. But standing beneath Luffy, watching his laughter ring through the land of Wano—Zoro saw beauty and heaven in one.
He saw the gates of eternal damnation contained in the glaring red eyes of his Captain. But he also saw the halo of light that encompassed Luffy's form like he was a star that fell from the sky.
Gear Five, Luffy had called it. Zoro thought it was the most gorgeous thing, bleeding out on the ground and half-delirious. He almost thought he was imagining it. The song of the Earth, the drums that echoed in his ears like a mantra of freedom. It all felt too surreal. But pinching himself did nothing but jostle his injuries so he remained still.
When Kaido fell, he fell hard. But by that point, Zoro had given in to exhaustion and let unconsciousness overtake him. After all, his Captain had the matter settled. Zoro could rest easy.
Waking up was as difficult as fending off Luffy from his plate of food. Engulfed in bandages, Zoro felt like a mummy.
There were mumbles around him but he fell into a slumber, once more, the conversations never quite reaching his ears.
He dreamt of many things, but mostly Luffy. In his god-like form, Zoro felt chained in the best way possible.
The next time Zoro saw Luffy, was when Zoro was already well on the road to recovery. He was engulfed in bandages but eagerly eating, so Zoro supposed he was fine. Noticeably, however, Luffy was back to his original form. Zoro tried not to feel disappointed over this. "Zoro!" Luffy greeted with a mouthful of meat. He waved the man over and gestured to the bottles of sake that littered the floor. Luffy swallowed, slapping his chest as he finally remarked with a lazy drawl. "Kin'emon brought us food! And drinks."
Zoro smirked, settling beside his Captain as he grasped a bottle and began chugging. Casually, he said: "So, new gear?"
Luffy hummed, knocking back a jug of milk and burped. Zoro winced. "Yeah. Super weird but so cool." Zoro figured that was the most he was going to get out of the rubber man. Luffy was a lot of things but being a detail-oriented person, was not one of them. "Feels odd, though."
Zoro raised his eyebrow, regarding the man with his one good eye. "Odd how?"
Luffy mulled over his next words before deciding on something vaguely descriptive. "My heart beats funny." To demonstrate, he began to tap Zoro's thigh to the rhythm of the drumbeat Zoro recalled hearing. Zoro didn't mention it. "And I couldn't stop smiling. Everything was so funny to me." Luffy shrugged.
Zoro's frown was deep as he gave Luffy a considering expression. "Is it..." Zoro trailed off, the words lost to even him.
Luffy understood him immediately, smiling as he shuffled closer to the man and planted a firm but fond kiss on Zoro's cheek. "It's fine, Zoro. I like it." Zoro smirked, knocking back the bottle in his hand.
"I like it too." Luffy raised his eyebrow at Zoro, caught stuffing his mouth with meat. He swallowed it in one go; Zoro had long grown used to this.
"You saw it?" Luffy cocked his head to the side.
Zoro huffed, leaning against the wall behind them. It would seem Momonosuke had spared them little and had gone all out. The room was adorned in wallpaper, the markings of it so obviously hand-crafted. The carpet beneath them was soft to the touch, a dull teal.
"When I was nearing unconsciousness." Zoro rolled his shoulders. His wounds ached but he ignored them as best as he could manage.
Luffy gasped, maneuvering closer to Zoro. "Did I look cool?"
Did he look cool? Zoro thought of Luffy engulfed in white, paler than usual and grinning like a madman. He thought of the laughter that echoed across Onigashima, like a roar of a deadly beast. But most of all, he thought of the bright red, demon-like eyes. Only comparable to that of the Devil. Luffy had been the perfect mix of heaven and hell, and Zoro had never been so entranced in his life.
"You looked okay." Luffy pouted, his head falling to Zoro's lap as he grumbled in protest.