The Beast at Your Side

by ST_Osmanthus

Summary:

Zoro had been this way for as long as he could remember. Once he set sail from Shimotsuki, he never lingered long in one place. No one wanted him around — an omega who could not obey.

“Fuck off,” Zoro replied.

Luffy’s smile didn’t fade. He got close, and Zoro braced himself to ward off another compulsion attempt.

Three seconds passed, and rather than confronting a mental onslaught, Zoro was being freed.

“I’m still not going to join your crew.”

“Yeah, you will!”

Parched and exhausted, Zoro bit back, “You can’t compel me into going with you either.”

Luffy stood shamelessly inside his personal space, so close Zoro could see the genuine confusion in his glimmering brown eyes when he asked, “What are you talking about?”

Only then did Zoro realize he couldn’t pick up even a hint of a scent from the man, alpha or omega.

Takes some inspiration from the live action. Includes spoilers up to the end of Water Seven/Enies Lobby. Now complete and edited.

Notes:

Full disclosure: This was meant to be a 5k one-shot. I do not know what happened.

Chapter 1: First Movement

Any other day, Zoro would have rejoiced at the chance to nap undisturbed in the sun, taking his time soaking up its rays and letting its warmth soothe and unknot his perpetually tense muscles. 

Unfortunately, pissing off the entire 153rd marine base and being tied up in the blistering heat as punishment was anything but relaxing. By noon of the second day of his ordeal, he was drenched in sweat and his shoulders ached. Zoro itched for his swords.

He focused on thoughts of the little alpha girl from the bar instead, who had clearly just presented and possessed zero control over the stream of fear and regret she exuded in the face of disgruntled authority. He thought about her omega mother, too, who was strong enough to run an establishment patronized by marines but could do nothing to shield her daughter. He breathed in, found his center, and knew he had strength enough to last the whole week.

Then the shithead with the stupid hair sauntered out to the courtyard holding Wado in his paw, and Zoro was irritated all over again.

“Father said no food or drink,” Shithead reminded the cadets trailing behind him. “Make sure nobody tries to give him anything. We’ll see how long you last, Pirate Hunter. Not so scary now, are you?”

Zoro took in the man’s crisp and unstained uniform, idiotic but well-conditioned hair, and fingers that had never seen callouses. His mouth was bone-dry, but that didn’t stop him from goading, “Do you command this much respect from all marines, or just the ones afraid of your daddy?”

“Shut up!” Shithead cried. 

Zoro chuckled at the squeak in his voice. 

Emboldened by false bravado, Shithead got as close to Zoro as he dared — but still out of biting distance — and said, “If you beg, I could be convinced to give you some water.” 

Zoro was too occupied with the scent that enshrouded his vicinity to pay attention to Shithead’s taunting. This close, all he could smell was lavender and wine.

He’d noticed it back at the bar: the distinct true scent of a young Permeation-grade alpha, unrestrained and brash. Zoro breathed in a lungful to steady himself against what he knew was coming. Shithead wasn’t exactly subtle in his posturing.

Zoro tried, “Your old man is Permeation too, and he smelled a lot stronger than you. But even he didn’t try to scent-compel me. Heard you could get court-martialed for that.”

The blond scoffed. “Not if it’s used to subdue hardened criminals.”

“I’m not a criminal.”

“You are if my father says you are. Besides, name one marine alpha who doesn’t use compulsion on a daily basis, and I’ll eat my boots. You omegas need to be kept in line. The law can’t be everywhere, don’t you know?” 

Zoro breathed in again and let Shithead’s scent whisper dark enticements over every inch of his skin. Of course he knew. Centuries-old traditions can’t be stamped out in mere decades. Rules mean nothing if even the enforcers treat them like a joke.

That was precisely the reason why sensei trained him for this.

After a few more threats that Zoro didn’t bother to register, the blond’s face twisted up in concentration. Zoro took glee in the fact that something this simple took such considerable effort from the alpha. 

The next moment, Shithead’s scent took on a different tone, darker and heavy enough to be tasted on the tongue. All at once, he directed it at Zoro and followed it with the specific command, “Beg, omega!” 

Lavender and wine tightened around Zoro’s neurons. 

It would be good. Zoro knew it would be so good if he gave in, because he’d seen firsthand the mindless bliss some bruised and battered omegas lived in. Biology was on the alpha’s side, and the primordial node inside Zoro’s brain was desperate to be ensnared.

Zoro closed his eyes and breathed in a third time. His body was already adjusted to the scent, and the appeal of that shiny veneer was quickly wearing off. He had smelled lavender before. The scent of wine was an old friend. 

There is nothing new here for you, he recited wordlessly.

With the groundwork laid, Zoro began painting a fantasy of defiance — how satisfying it would be to deny Shithead; how humiliating for the arrogant alpha to fail in front of his father’s subordinates. Sensei said this step is the hardest for omegas because they naturally want to obey. Fortunately for Zoro, defiance flowed in his veins. Picturing disobedience and practicing liking it makes it much easier to carry out when the time demands it. He already knew he would love to put this alpha in his place.

Zoro opened his eyes and saw the alpha was visibly confused by his disregard. The man’s stupid face was distorted in surprise and bafflement. Zoro started with that and made his way down to take in the blond in his entirety: hunched shoulders that spoke of self-doubt, skinny arms that lacked strength, a sickly pallor from too much self-indulgence…

Despite the promises whispered in the alpha’s scent, it wasn’t difficult for Zoro to extrapolate: Much stronger alphas exist. This one is not worthy of me. 

It was a mantra he had repeated countless times since he presented, one that he carried with him from Shimotsuki Village to every corner of the East Blue. He hadn’t had to fend off too many high-grade alphas, but he’d succeeded against everyone he went up against. Shithead was nothing in comparison.

Zoro rolled his shoulders as much as the ropes would allow, and like raindrops on an umbrella at the end of a downpour, he shook off Shithead’s attempt at compulsion. Zoro grinned the grin that many had described as “shark-like” and growled, “Put it down!”

Shithead recoiled. The fear in him was palpable, and it emanated from him in rolling waves. Though omegas could not compel alphas, for a split second, he was about to obey Zoro and drop Wado like a hot iron.

Humiliated and frightened, Shithead hid his shock by spitting, “Ungrateful omega. Fine then. You can die here!”

Zoro didn’t watch him leave. Defiance came easily but left him tense all over. Biology doesn’t like it when its subjects disobey.

He really could use a nap, but sleep was hard to come by with a merciless sun beating down on him. If heatstroke didn’t get him, dehydration surely would. Zoro tried not to worry about it. He still had a promise to fulfill, so it made sense that he couldn’t die here. He was just grateful Shithead’s odious scent didn’t take long to dissipate once the man left. 

Time was difficult to track in his state. Zoro drifted in and out of consciousness for a while. No marine came to bother him. 

He was probably a little delirious when the sewer grate opened — loudly — and a boy appeared.

He couldn’t be any older than twenty, and he looked ridiculous standing before Zoro, lanky like an underfed giraffe with dark curls that hadn’t seen a comb for weeks peeking out from under the brim of an old straw hat. His face was dusty and speckled with sweat, but one single scar under his left eye seemed to glow white in the sunlight.

“I’m Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m going to be the King of the Pirates,” the stranger declared. 

Zoro was definitely delirious, because the intruder was clearly insane and yet, within minutes, Zoro confessed his life’s dream with frankly very little prompting. He was mentally kicking himself when Monkey D. Luffy’s eyes lit up and he demanded, “The King of the Pirates would need no less than the World’s Greatest Swordsman. Join my crew!” 

“Fuck off,” Zoro replied.

Luffy’s smile didn’t fade. He got close, and Zoro braced himself to ward off another compulsion attempt.

Three seconds passed, and rather than confronting a mental onslaught, Zoro was being freed. 

“I’m still not going to join your crew.”

“Yeah, you will!” 

Parched and exhausted, Zoro bit back, “You can’t compel me into going with you either.”

Luffy stood shamelessly inside his personal space, so close Zoro could see the genuine confusion in his glimmering brown eyes when he asked, “What are you talking about?”

Only then did Zoro realize he couldn’t pick up even a hint of a scent from the man, alpha or omega. Zoro had come across people with extremely faint true scents before, usually the sickly or the elderly. He’d also heard of trained specialists who could meditate to an emotionless baseline where their true scents became barely detectable. 

But Luffy simply gave off no scent at all.

Even late bloomers presented by the age of fourteen or fifteen. Even the most humble alphas and reserved omegas naturally exuded some indication of their secondary gender. In all his travels, Zoro had never come across anyone who was as scentless as this Monkey D. Luffy. 

Defective — the outdated slur came to mind.

But being scent-null didn’t stop Luffy from rescuing Zoro, completely unsolicited, nor did it get in the way of him leaving without asking for anything in return, which left Zoro questioning the order of the universe. He half wanted to pass off their entire interaction as a heat-induced hallucination, and not a small part of him wanted to chase down the boy and punch him in his sunny grin for the audacity.

Ultimately, he went to hunt down his swords instead. He found Shithead with Wado, completely naked. The guy’s haircut was seriously bothering him, so Zoro did something about it.

Shithead fell to his knees while Zoro sheared him. He smelled like shame and fear. He didn’t try to compel Zoro again, and that was probably the smartest thing the man had done all week. 

Zoro knew he should have been perturbed by the sight of a subjugated alpha quivering at his feet, and the fact he felt only elation probably said a lot about him. Zoro didn’t need to examine it too deeply; he’d been this way for as long as he could remember. Fellow disciples at the dojo steered clear of him, and he had no friends before Kuina and certainly none after. Once he set sail from Shimotsuki, he never lingered long in one place. He was never welcomed anywhere. No one wanted him around — an omega who could not obey. 

Swords collected, Zoro spent too long finding a way out. The base was built like a labyrinth. He stumbled across the kitchen and pilfered some food and drink. He found the infirmary and smeared some salve on the sunburn on his neck. What he couldn’t find were the marines. It was like the whole base was empty.

It all made sense when he arrived back at the courtyard to a full-on brawl. The Straw Hat — Luffy — was having the time of his life humiliating a dozen marine grunts. A woman with a bo staff fought beside him. 

The woman had been trained; her feet were solidly planted and her forms were disciplined. Luffy, however, fought like a willow tree beset by a tornado. He was all limbs, and he moved like he was made of elastics. The marines couldn’t handle him because nobody could predict from which direction his punches and kicks would come.

The brawl kicked up more than just dust in the courtyard. Chasing the smell of sweat and blood was a rapidly overflowing cocktail of alpha aggression. The marines were disconcerted and frustrated. The whole place smelled extremely unpleasant, and Zoro was eager to get away.

He should’ve left. He could have just left. 

Yet, a debt was a debt. And cutting down marines was hugely satisfying after the night and day he had to endure. Staying didn’t mean anything.  

He stuck close to Luffy during the ensuing fight with Morgan. Luffy — who smelled blessedly of nothing — seemed to create a bubble of fresh air in his vicinity that kept the vortex of alpha scents at bay.

Luffy surprised him again when he stretched. A Devil Fruit eater. Zoro had never met one, and he wondered if that was why Luffy did not present a secondary gender.

Zoro had occasionally worked with other bounty hunters before, but he’d never fought side by side with someone like Luffy, someone whose every move promised devastation but seemingly had zero formal training. It certainly kept things interesting.

Victory was ultimately theirs. And when all was said and done, their hasty escape turned into a voyage on a dinky little boat, and their temporary team-up became a partnership. Luffy didn’t ask Zoro how long he planned to stick around, and for reasons Zoro hesitated to voice, he didn’t offer a timeline either. Way he figured it, he was just hitching a ride until he felt like leaving. His life as a bounty hunter was over as soon as Morgan could get word out to the marine network, but that wasn’t a long-term career anyway. 

He could stay for a little while — long enough to pay off the debt he owed to Luffy for freeing him from that cross. After the life debt was repaid, there would be no reason for him to stick around.

The orange-haired woman, Nami, came along too. She was an omega, but she set every fiber of Zoro’s being on edge. 

Nami smelled like the deep sea, a place that was briny and dark and inhospitable. It was uninviting — repulsive, even — for an omega to smell like that. 

After spending a day in close quarters with her, Zoro could pick up a veiled fragrance underneath it all, something akin to citrus, but it was covered by the hostile scent that enveloped her entire being. If Zoro found it unpleasant, alphas must think it was nothing short of revolting.

Zoro wondered if she had doused herself in a special perfume to appear unappealing to alphas. Whatever it was made it hard for Zoro to trust her. At the same time, he was envious that she had found a way to protect herself in this unkind world.

***

Zoro presented at the age of eleven. It was a good, average age and everything went very smoothly, in that he threw an absolutely fit, destroyed a bamboo grove, and ran away for five days.

He hadn’t meant to be gone for so long. In his blind rage, he’d wandered off to a part of the island he wasn’t familiar with and couldn’t find his way home.

At the end of the fifth day, he somehow meandered back to the dojo, hungry and exhausted but still mad at the world. Sensei was waiting for him in his room. There were new strands of gray that hadn’t been there when Kuina was still alive. The sternness was gone too. Zoro saw a tired man who had lost his wife and daughter and was left with a bunch of brats to wrangle for the rest of his days.

Zoro felt the urge to get on his knees and bow. But he was an omega now. He was going to spend the rest of his life bowing to alphas, and he really, really didn’t want to.

Sensei poured him a cup of tea. Zoro didn’t like the bitterness but he took it anyway and drank it standing. After he finished, sensei asked, “Do you want to know what compulsion feels like?”

Zoro gaped at his teacher. Compulsion was the taboo that lived in every home and every village but no one was supposed to speak it aloud. It was the future that awaited Zoro. 

No. He did not want to know. 

He had to know.

One cannot defeat an enemy that one does not know. 

Zoro answered shakily, “Yes. Please show me.”

“Sit,” sensei said with no warning and not much heat. The word reached Zoro along with a thin wisp of alpha. It was sensei’s familiar true scent of maple and cotton, but for the first time, it seized Zoro’s whole being with purpose, piercing and unforgiving. 

Zoro’s body gave itself over to the command. The hunger and tiredness from his five-day disappearance act washed away in seconds. He was floating, weightless and carefree, and he wanted sensei to give him another command to obey just so he could remain in that state of absolute safety and love, like a babe cradled in the arms of his mother.

In mere seconds, sensei’s scent receded to the background, the heaviness of the compulsion cleared, and Zoro was himself again, along with all the pangs and aches that he’d learned to live with. He opened his eyes because they had shut on their own volition, and he found his body was leaning forward, trying to get closer to the alpha.

Sensei sighed. “And you would feel that way, whether I compelled you to sleep, to eat, to train, or cut off your own arm for my amusement, as long as you obeyed.”

Zoro shivered and started to cry. He was only eleven.

“This is why, Zoro, you cannot obey. Few omegas have the strength to extricate themselves from that pleasure once it is in their bones. You’d be ensnared forever. Most people call it a mate-bond, but knowing you, you’d call it the end of your life as you know it.” Sensei then smiled. “Alas, it’s a good thing you never listen to a thing anyone says.”

The next day, sensei moved him to the omega-only class, which focused primarily on self defense. Most of sensei’s students had actual families who cared about them, and their parents would have thrown a fit if they knew there was an omega in the alpha class. 

The omega class was shit, though. Zoro spent most of his energy avoiding accidentally maiming his classmates. Two months later, he stopped attending altogether. Sensei would find him in the back woods practicing his forms alone for hours on end. True training started happening after dinner when the dojo was empty and sensei was free from his duties.

In the years of training that ensued, sensei compelled him countless times. The commands ranged from “Find me a flower” to “Put your hand into the flame.” As the training got harder, sensei pushed deeper and his commands grew darker. Zoro could see the visible toll speaking such horrid things did to his sensei. He wondered if Kuina had lived, whether she’d be an alpha or omega, and if sensei would have treated her the same.

He never asked those questions out loud. For years, it was just the two of them training under the stars. Even though sensei tried his best to hide it, Zoro felt the unbearable weight of his sadness. In response, Zoro hardened his knees so as to never buckle under the pressure of sensei’s expectations.

***

Waking up in a box with Luffy’s warm breath whispering in his ear was not an experience Zoro wanted to relive. Luffy’s lack of a true scent meant he was very good at sneaking up on people, and it was all too easy to drop his guard and let Luffy into his personal vicinity. If anything, keeping Luffy at arm’s length was proving to be more difficult than disobeying most alphas.

The freak show of a circus angered Zoro more than Morgan’s marine hypocrisy. Buggy might have felt like a big bad alpha when he chained up the omegas and Manifestation-grade alphas that made up Orange Town, but Zoro knew the clown was a mere poser, no stronger than Morgan’s son, so weak he didn’t even attempt to compel them. Without his Devil Fruit to help him make waves, the clown would have been swallowed up by the sea a long time ago.

Meeting Buggy cleared up one thing, though: Devil Fruit eaters still possess true scents. Luffy remained an outlier.

***

The Straw Hat Pirates — not at all a scary name — recruited their first alpha at Syrup Village.  

Usopp was as weak as they came. Classic Manifestation-grade, barely a step stronger than an omega, couldn’t compel a soul if he tried (well, maybe a puppy), and a bullshitter to boost. 

To his credit, his charisma — manifested in the form of meekness and harmless lies — worked wonders on the rich, sickly omega heiress. Even if she obviously didn’t believe a word he said, Zoro could see his tales were amusing enough for her to keep him around. 

Kaya was the epitome of the well-bred omega. Her servants were outwardly rude to the Straw Hats, probably due to Luffy’s “defectiveness,” but Kaya remained the perfect picture of a polite hostess. At dinner when Luffy broke decorum to pieces by getting on the table to sell his pitch, Kaya stayed genuinely attentive and smiling. Her soothing omega scent of rose and parchment paper lingered unobtrusively throughout the room.

Graceful, kind, gentle, and pretty, her perfection had Zoro downing an extra bottle of wine at dinner.

As Zoro understood it, this was the way it was meant to be. Kaya was the textbook example of how an omega could utilize their natural vulnerabilities to wield influence — a pacifying counter to an alpha’s aggression and dominance. Usopp was already a puddle and would have gotten down on the floor to kiss the hem of her skirt if she asked it of him. Even Nami, who still smelled of distrust and darkness and had been all gung-ho about robbing Kaya blind just hours ago, was now jumping to her defense. 

Zoro took a swig from his bottle. He felt no particular desire to be nice to Kaya.

He found himself watching Luffy instead, who was once again peddling ideals of freedom with food stains around his mouth and a sausage sticking out of his pocket. 

If nothing else, Luffy was amusing. Zoro had laughed more in the past week than all of last year combined. There was no pressure when he was around Luffy, no alpha scent to fend off or omega fragrance to compare his own inadequacies to. Luffy was a blank slate and a refreshing breath of air all at once. Being around him was no different than being by himself in a forest with just the warmth of the sun to keep him company. 

Listening to Usopp and Luffy chatter was unexpectedly fun and calming. The alpha had a naturally gifted way of bringing life to his words; his tone rose and fell in an almost melodic pattern as he talked, seemingly without needing to breathe. He never tired, and met Luffy’s endless energy head-on. Zoro had a feeling if he left them to it, they could easily spend an entire day talking about nothing. He thought about how nice it would be to fall asleep listening to their nonsense, and that was when he knew, by the end of their stay, Usopp was going to come with them.

They ended up getting a new caraval too, completely free, after spending some considerable effort ridding Kaya of a few cat-themed pirates. At the docks, Luffy extended a formal invitation to Usopp, and Zoro could feel Nami tense up beside him for a lightning second before relaxing again. 

Adding an alpha to a crew that consisted only of omegas (and a null-scent) meant safety. It meant they could go into bars and restaurants with a shield of sorts, since most people generally respected an alpha’s sphere of influence over their omegas. Nobody had to know that Nami and Zoro intimidated the crap out of Usopp. That was a dynamic best kept secret to the confinement of the Going Merry.

Usopp challenged Luffy for the role of captain just once, on their first day on the ship. 

He probably couldn’t help it. His alpha instincts must have been screaming at him to take charge. 

Usopp’s legs were shaking when he said, “All right, listen up, crew! There are three private cabins on the Going Merry. Obviously, I will be taking the biggest one as my captain’s quarters. Now that’s been decided, you’re all dismissed!”

Zoro snorted and Nami chuckled. Luffy clapped Usopp’s shoulder with a heavy hand that shook him all the way to his knees. 

“Nah! We’ll share a cabin, Usopp. It’ll be fun! Nami and Zoro need their own space.”

Nami quickled chimed in, “I’ll take the bigger cabin, of course.”

Zoro shrugged. “I already settled into the storage room. All the booze is there.” 

Like that, the matter was decided. Nobody would unnecessarily challenge an omega on their choice of a nest. This meant Zoro didn’t have to explain that he wanted to keep a private cabin free in case Luffy ever wanted it, because Luffy was their captain and deserved the best.

On Zoro’s part, he was more than satisfied with his choice of a nest. The storage room was a wonderful mishmash of scents, from grains to wine to spices to dried meats, all natural and perfectly balanced. Zoro could relax there far away from Nami’s joyless scent of the deep sea or Usopp’s modest but invasive odor of chili pepper and hickory. 

The first morning when Zoro appeared on deck after spending all night in the storage room, Luffy tackled him.

“Zoro! You smell like a kitchen!!” Luffy was nearly drooling. Zoro didn’t think Luffy would resort to cannibalism, but he wouldn’t put it past him either.

“Luffy! That’s incredibly rude!” Nami chided.

“What? But he does! It’s not like I’m bringing up his true scent.”

Zoro laughed. “So you were taught manners at one point?” 

Luffy grinned unabashedly. 

Traditionally, speaking aloud someone’s true scent, especially an omega’s, indicated one’s desire to lay a claim. But this was Luffy. Disregarding the question of whether he could even detect anyone’s true scent, he was beyond all those convoluted etiquettes plaguing alpha-omega relationships. Zoro preferred that. He let Luffy sniff him to his heart’s content and was even more glad for his choice of a nest. 

The peaceful balance on the Going Merry lasted exactly three days.

*****

Baratie was a hard name to avoid in the East Blue. Rumors flew that it was the ultimate neutral ground for citizens, pirates, marines, and lowlives of all types. On the decks of Baratie, fighting, bounty hunting, and even legal arrests were not permitted, lest you wanted to suffer the wrath of the Baratie staff and be denied of its meals for the rest of your life.

Zoro didn’t understand how such rules could be enforced on a civilian ship, until he set foot on Baratie with the rest of his crew and realized that every single employee of the restaurant was at least a Permeation-grade alpha.

From the bus boys to the dish washers to all the chefs, the Baratie staff uniformly boasted a scent of unquestionable dominance. And when Zoro wondered who could possibly keep all of these posturing alphas in line, out walked a smooth-talking waiter and the strongest Persuasion-grade alpha Zoro had ever met.

The waiter was coated in the fragrances of a busy kitchen: salt, oil, buttermilk, fish, charred steak, coriander, potato, and everything in between. But even with his true scent masked underneath the smells of his occupation, Zoro could detect his power potentials. 

Flame and ozone swirled endlessly in a tightly controlled frame. He wore the waiter’s uniform like armor, his necktie tight around his shirt collar, a symbolic self-inflicted leash.

Zoro was tense the entire time Sanji stayed at their table. Nami fared a lot better than he did, possibly because Sanji was turning up the charm on her without losing even a smidgeon of control over his alpha scent. He was signaling to her that he respected her space and autonomy, and he was there to serve, not to control.

Usopp was unnerved too, but only at first. Once he realized the much stronger alpha before him wasn’t there to bully or belittle, Usopp too fell to his teasing. It helped that Sanji was all deference and dropped “Sirs” left and right, which seamlessly played to Usopp’s ego.

It was a honeyed facade. Zoro was sure of it. In the East Blue, Persuasion-grade alphas either joined the marines, went into governance, or had set sail toward the Grand Line long ago in search of glory. Zoro had never met a Persuasion-grade alpha who was content to be a mere waiter, never mind one who could rein in his natural instincts for control to such an extent.

Sanji was dangerous, no matter how much he tried to make himself seem insignificant and harmless. 

At last, Sanji must have had enough of the hostility bleeding out of Zoro. He turned to face him for the first time, lit a cigarette, and said with complete sincerity, “You can relax. I’m not interested in men.”

Zoro shot up and drew a sword. He had never been so humiliated. 

Luffy got between them, but before he could interject, Sanji looked at Zoro up and down, as if he finally decided to pay attention, and remarked, “Shit. Either way, looks like you can handle yourself just fine.”

Sanji’s acknowledgement of Zoro’s strength placated him somewhat. He sheathed the sword and demanded quite rudely, “Shut up and bring me a beer.”

There was no hesitation in Sanji’s response: “Right away, Sir.”

Everyone looked at Zoro as Sanji walked away, taking the coiled powers of his scent with him. 

Usopp tentatively probed, “Hey… you alright, man?”

Zoro glared at him and growled, which sent Usopp scrambling into the safety of Nami’s arms.

Nami surprised him by saying, “He sets me on edge too, but he seems genuinely harmless, if a bit of a flirt.”

Zoro almost snapped back something unkind. Most alphas were so turned off by Nami’s scent that they were instinctively mean to her. Only those Manifestation-grade alphas with dull senses, like Usopp, didn’t seem to be bothered. For Sanji to have been so attentive in spite of her perfume, little wonder she was jumping to his defense.

He couldn’t stand it. The crew couldn’t see that he was trying to protect them against this glaring threat of an alpha.

The dangers of Baratie only seemed to grow. They soon discovered that Sanji wasn’t the only Persuasion-grade alpha on board. 

A peg-legged, grizzled old man quieted the entire dining room with his entrance alone. He smelled rough, like coarse hemp and aged oak. And even though he was a low-grade Persuasion, Sanji deferred to him. There was experience in those bones, experience only found on the high seas. Zeff was a force of nature and the true alpha of Baratie. 

And he wanted Luffy to wash dishes. 

It wasn’t worth a fight over, Zoro decided. It wasn’t going to hurt Luffy to wash dishes for a few days. He sank into a comfortable armchair and tried to drown in his beer. This place wasn’t good for his nerves.

Zoro slept on Baratie’s roof that night. He thought he could still smell all of the restaurant’s alphas on him, and he would rather freeze to death than bring that back to his cozy storage room.

Luffy found him sometime after midnight. Bless the man, he brought Zoro a bottle of rum.

“How many more dishes will this cost you?”

Luffy chuckled. “It’s on the house! Sanji felt bad, I think.”

Zoro debated spitting it back out. He must have worn the indecision on his face, because Luffy laughed even louder.

“He really got to you, huh?”

“Alphas as strong as that guy are all wolves.”

“Nah. Sanji’s super nice!”

“Then he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. See? He’s using his alpha charms on you already.”

Luffy ignored the accusation. “Do sheep wear clothes?” he asked instead. His little nose was all scrunched up. Zoro reached over to smooth it down. 

The question really made Zoro think, but since he’d been drinking since noon, thinking was akin to his brain running in a circle. A cold breeze blew by and he shivered, and he forgot what he was supposed to be thinking about. Luffy lay down beside him with their arms touching, and the warmth of Luffy’s body flowed steadily into him, lulling him to sleep.

“How long we staying, Capt’n?” Zoro slurred. His eyes had closed without him noticing.

Luffy laughed after a brief pause. “‘Captain’? I like the sound of that! Hmm, Zeff says if I can stop breaking the dishes, I should be free to go in a year.”

Had Zoro never called Luffy “Captain” before? That couldn’t be right. The word sounded so fitting in his head. He must have said it out loud once or twice. 

When Zoro woke up very, very late the next day, Luffy was long gone, and there was a commotion down below.

From the sounds of it, Sanji had fed someone who couldn’t pay, and the other chefs did not appreciate him giving out a free meal. 

A burly chef with short, green hair yelled, “Fuck your mercies, Sanji! Do you even know what you’ve done?”

“My principles stand,” Sanji blew smoke into the air, one hand in his pocket, as though he was merely reading the day’s specials instead of facing down a dozen pissed-off coworkers, each wielding a deadly weapon in their hand.

Another chef with an overbite cried, “What if he summons his crew? You gonna feed them all too? Zeff will kick you out for this!”

“Feel free to tattle to the old shitbag. Now, can we get back to the kitchen before lunch rush?”

Someone threw a frying pan at his head. Sanji dodged it with ease. The insouciance on display irked the rest of the alphas, and they began attacking him as a group. Sanji took his hand out of his pocket but kept the cigarette in his mouth, and using only his feet, subdued his mutinous chefs with overwhelming physicality. He did not resort to compulsion. He did not magnify his superior scent. If the chefs retreated, they did so purely out of fear for his kicks. 

Zoro looked away. It seemed Sanji couldn’t be bothered to use any of his alpha influence to take command of the ship’s chefs. What a waste of power.

That afternoon, an unexpected set of circumstances quickly snowballed beyond Zoro’s wildest imaginations. To start, the most notorious pirate in the East Blue appeared and threatened Zeff and his staff. 

Don Krieg was strong. He had physical strength, an armada, and a high level of alpha dominance. From a distance, Zoro couldn’t tell whether he was Persuasion-grade or just a very powerful Permeation. Regardless, of all the alphas gathered there, Sanji remained the strongest. But for reasons nobody knew, even as Don Krieg’s subordinate held a gun to Zeff’s head, Sanji refused to scent-compel the intruders into submission. 

The Baratie chefs were frustrated to the point of tears. Zeff, however, just looked at Sanji with a sad smile.

Then, things truly spiraled.

Dracule Mihawk was everything Zoro had expected, and far more besides. Nothing sensei trained him in and no one he’d bested in his bounty hunter days could have prepared Zoro for Dracule Mihawk. 

To make things worse, once they were close enough, Zoro learned for the first time that Mihawk was only a Permeation-grade alpha.

That wasn’t a well-known fact. If anything, rumors abound that the Seven Warlords were all Domination-grade, the strongest of the strong. Mihawk, in particular, had never been known to run with a crew. He was a loner, and the logical conclusion was that only a fabled Domination-grade alpha could achieve what he did.

Finding out Mihawk didn’t need to rely on a formidable secondary gender was a surprise and a gutpunch. Their duel — if one could even call it that — was a lesson in humility. How can someone be that strong? 

“You are but a frog in a well,” Hawk Eyes said. And Zoro couldn’t deny it.

The chest wound Mihawk left on him would forever be a reminder of the world’s vastness. He was glad, he truly was, that he met Mihawk so early in his journey. He lost to the world’s greatest swordsman in skills and not biology. There was comfort to be found in that. Zoro’s consciousness faded to the lingering thought that he was right to believe in himself all along. He didn’t need to be an alpha to claim Mihawk’s coveted title.

In the darkness where his mind hid to escape the pain of his defeat, Zoro could hear someone shouting gut-wrenching cries of despair and worry. Beneath it all ran a torrent of pride and trust.

Zoro! I’m here, Zoro! 

Zoro, you promised, you’ll never lose again! You’ll be fine!

You’re the strongest fighter I know! Hang on, Zoro! 

Stay alive, Zoro!

Zoro clung to that voice, to the way it always cried his name with surprise and joy and welcome and sunshine and decided there was too much left waiting for him to do. Mihawk was waiting for him to get stronger. Sensei was waiting for news of his triumph. And Luffy… Luffy waited for no man. 

But Luffy had saved him. Luffy had extended a hand. Luffy, who never stopped moving forward, shouldn’t need to look back to know Zoro would follow. Knowing that, how could Zoro ever fail him again?

Chapter 2: Second Movement

Notes:

I CANNOT stress enough how self-indulgent this entire fic is.

In the fight with the Arlong Pirates, Zoro learned two facts. 

One, fishmen are tough assholes. 

Two, fishmen have no secondary gender. They all smell like the deep sea, but it’s a scent that carries no further implication.

It was refreshing not having to worry about unwanted pheromones swaying the tides of battle. Usopp cowered because he was Usopp, not because he was facing down a superior alpha. Zoro was embarrassingly slow because he’d just returned from the brink of death, not because he couldn’t throw off a compulsion targeted at his secondary gender.

That’s not to say it was all smooth sailing. See fact number one.

Two fishmen charged at Zoro from opposing sides. With only one sword left, Zoro made a quick executive decision to cut down the bigger guy first. Before he could pull his sword out from the gut of one fishman to defend against the second, a cocky blond appeared by his side and kicked in the attacker’s skull.

“You’re lucky I’m here,” the blond taunted. He was smoking again. Zoro didn’t usually like the smell of cigarette smoke, but at the moment, it nicely covered up the alpha’s true scent, which would have been flying wildly in the heat of battle. 

Zoro growled. He wanted to retort that he never would’ve agreed with the crew’s new addition had he been conscious, but then he’d have to acknowledge the shame of his defeat at Mihawk’s hand, and he really didn’t want to do that in front of Sanji.

The fight went on far longer than he would have preferred. His wound reopened again, and he probably almost died, again. It was worth it, though, to see Arlong Park brought down and see Nami cry tears of genuine joy.

After the battle, Nami took a long bath. She didn’t join them at the celebratory banquet until it was well underway and Zoro was already tipsy, lazing on the uneven ground against a tangerine tree. Wearing a brand new dress, Nami took a seat next to him, and he leaned in when she touched her bare arm to his. They smiled at each other when they realized what had transpired. Zoro poured her some fruit wine, and they clinked their cups together. 

The smell of the deep sea still lingered on her, but it was not so prominent anymore. Citrus began to break through, along with a hint of summer storm. Zoro had no doubt that given enough time, Nami would smell only like Nami, and their scents would mingle nicely on the Going Merry, two omegas working together to keep their pirate crew in check. 

Head swimming and heart feather-light, Zoro said, “If you want, I’ll teach you how to repel alpha compulsion.”

When he didn’t hear a reply, Zoro turned his head to the sight of Nami gaping at him like a terrified fish. 

“What’re you lookin’ at?”

Nami gave her head a shake. “You can do that?”

Zoro blinked at her. “...Yes? Have I… Have you not seen me do it before?”

“I’ve never seen anyone try to compel you. Who would be that dumb?”

A certain idiot marine came to mind. Another blond. Zoro had bad luck with blonds. 

He shrugged at her. “Well, I can. Haven’t really needed to test it against the big ones, you know, the Domination-grades. But you don’t really see any of those hanging around the East Blue.”

Nami stared at him in silence a little longer before huffing and turning away. “You’re drunk.”

He was not. 

“I’m not!”

“You’ve never said so many words to me before without adding an insult.”

“Oh.” Zoro fiddled with his nearly empty cup. The words came to him slowly, and he was relieved that Nami stayed around long enough to listen. “I may be a piss-poor omega but the instincts are still there. And they’re loud as fuck. I didn’t realize it, but you smelled like them, like… a threat to the crew.”

Nami’s smile was rueful but understanding. “And now?” she asked.

“That depends, doesn’t it? What're ya gonna do?"

Nami’s gaze sought out Luffy across the clearing. Their rambunctious captain had stretched himself into a makeshift swing to dangle off the thick branch of a tall tree while all of Coco Village’s children took turns climbing him. 

Her sigh was one of deep satisfaction. “I'm going to the ends of the world with him. What about you, Mister ‘Not-A-Crew’?”

An involuntary rush of laughter had Zoro choking on his drink. He’d forgotten that Nami had already left when Mihawk showed up and therefore had missed everything that followed.

Zoro gripped tight the hilt of Kuina’s sword. It was heavy with the weight of two promises. 

“I’ll be there to cut down everything standing in his way.”

*****

Training Nami turned out to be harder than Zoro had expected, primarily because someone refused to cooperate.

He spoke very slowly, and in his opinion, quite calmly, even though he really wanted to shout and knock a certain blond’s head in. “In order for her to learn how to reject compulsion, there needs to be an alpha to compel her. Usopp isn’t strong enough to do it. And hey, would you look at that, we have a spare alpha on board. We finally found a use for you; I thought you’d be fucking overjoyed.”

The blond in question flipped the third omelet he was making for breakfast, took a deep drag off his cigarette, and replied, “Still no.”

Zoro was going to cut him this time. He really was.

“Fuck do you mean ‘No’?”

“I mean, find someone else. Luffy, here’s your triple-layer omelet.”

“If you can’t do this, then what good are you?” Zoro snarled.

His insult was undercut right away by Luffy enthusiastically cooing, “This is so so so good, Sanji! I want more!”

The cook got to cracking more eggs, and without a break in motion, said to Zoro, “I’ve never scent-compelled a person in my life. Not going to start now, shitty swordsman.”

Nami grabbed Zoro’s arm and stopped him from drawing his sword. “That’s OK, Sanji. I respect that. Please forget we asked.”

“Not a problem, Nami. Cake?” From seemingly nowhere, he pulled out an intricately decorated strawberry shortcake and a glass of orange juice. Nami accepted with a smile and went to join Luffy and Usopp at the breakfast table. 

Still fuming, Zoro left without eating. He stomped away to his little storage room to fume some more, and he had approximately five minutes of quiet before Luffy came knocking.

“Sanji needs more flour,” Luffy said, pointing at a sack in the far corner. 

Zoro moved aside and let him in. Since he’d made the storage room his own, Usopp and Nami had not stepped foot inside even once. When Sanji joined, an unspoken agreement was set that Zoro or Luffy would stock the storage or retrieve items for him. There was no way in hell Zoro was going to let an alpha’s scent taint his haven. Now that Nami was smelling more like “crew,” he was ready to let her in too, but she had yet to ask for the privilege.

As always, Luffy was the exception.

Luffy carried the heavy sack of flour like it weighed nothing. At the door, he lingered, shuffling his feet, so clearly bursting with a desire to say something. Zoro’s grumpiness began to melt away at the adorable sight.

“Spit it out, Luffy.”

Luffy looked sheepish; Zoro was overcome with the sudden desire to muss up his hair. “You can come back out anytime. You know that, yeah?”

The remainder of Zoro’s irritation deflated. “Yeah, don’t worry, Luffy. I was just doing some thinking.”

“Did it hurt?”

Zoro threw a boot at his head, and it made a peculiarly hollow sound as it bounced off Luffy’s nogging. They burst into laughter. Giggles, really. Sometimes being around Luffy made Zoro feel ten years younger, like he was just a kid who had not yet presented, free to mold his life however he wished.

Seeing Zoro was alright, Luffy made to leave. At the last second, he turned around and asked, “We have the best crew, don’t we, Zoro?”

Zoro thought about how hard he fought against his biology and the evident hatred Sanji had for his own, and he really wasn’t all that angry anymore. To his wonderfully defective captain, he merely replied, “Definitely the weirdest.”

*****

Zoro had always been a restless and cautious soul. Traveling alone as an omega, Zoro never really had a moment where he could let his guard down.

Being part of a crew changed that. When the sea was calm and his crew was more preoccupied with parties than battles, Zoro could disband his defenses. He started taking naps everywhere — on deck, in the galley, even on Merry’s head (which, amusingly, irritated Luffy to no end). 

Sometimes, when past anxieties reared their ugly heads, Zoro needed a little extra help falling asleep. After a bit of trial and error, he found the most expedient tactic was to meditate on the familiar scents of his crew.

Nami’s citrus and summer storm, Usopp’s chili peppers and hickory, and yes, even Sanji’s flame and ozone. Categorizing them one by one felt akin to blanketing himself under a layer of their protective camaraderie. 

Every time, his mind would inevitably drift to Luffy, and he’d lament not having Luffy’s scent to cling to while vehemently reminding himself that he wouldn’t want it any other way.

In the brief moment before he’d surrender to dreams, he’d wonder what his own true scent smelled like. No one had ever told him — no one had ever wanted to claim him. He wasn’t afraid, per se, of living the rest of his life without knowing, but in those defenseless few seconds, Zoro could feel a smidgen of something like grief.

*****

Nami’s training had to be delayed, and not only because Sanji refused to help. From Loguetown to Drum Island, from rescuing a princess in crisis to recruiting a literal reindeer, they barely had a moment to catch their breath.

Smoker was a particularly difficult hurdle that nobody could have foreseen. A high-grade Persuasion alpha with a Devil Fruit to boot — it was a miracle they made it out of Loguetown at all. 

Smoker hadn’t been shy about utilizing scent-compulsion either, not when the Straw Hats were officially wanted pirates with a captain boasting the highest bounty in the East Blue. His inherent alpha strength easily rivaled Sanji’s, and when he commanded them to stop resisting arrest, Nami and Usopp instantly froze on the spot. Zoro managed to dispel it, but only after a struggle and a whole lot of concentration. Sanji remained unfazed, as expected, but to everyone’s surprise, Luffy too was unaffected. 

The encounter confirmed one of Zoro’s long-held suspicions: Without a secondary gender, Luffy was utterly impervious to scent-compulsion.

Even though Luffy couldn’t be compelled, Smoker’s Devil Fruit was more than enough of a headache. If a freak storm hadn’t blown in, there was no telling what would’ve happened to the crew.

Much like the lesson Zoro learned from facing Mihawk, running into Smoker when they’d barely entered the Grand Line taught them there was no limit to the powers that roamed the seas. They couldn’t rely on unpredictable weather to save their asses every time. They had to get stronger. Zoro had to get stronger.

It became even more pressing to teach Nami how to withstand compulsion. A day’s sail away from Alabasta, Nami was finally healthy enough to start her training. Luckily, they now had Vivi onboard, who was not as strong as Sanji but understood well enough the importance of their request.

Vivi had taken over the remaining empty cabin for her own, the one Zoro had secretly been hoping to save for Luffy. They chose to conduct their trial lesson there. Vivi and Nami stood opposite of each other, just out of arm’s reach, while Zoro leaned uncomfortably against the tiny, rounded window ledge.

“Focus on Vivi’s true scent,” Zoro instructed. “You’re already familiar with it; there are no surprises there. Once compulsion begins, your instincts will tell you to obey. Grab hold of whatever remaining willpower you have left to tell yourself her scent is boring and old news, you can do better than her, and how great it’d feel to see her fail.”

The two women stared at him.

Annoyed at their obvious incredulity, he barked, “What? Are you doubting me?”

Nami grimaced. “Now that you’ve finally explained, it sounds pretty unscientific.”

Vivi was more diplomatic. “I’m just not sure focusing on the alpha scent is helpful in rejecting it. It does seem rather counterintuitive.”

Zoro sighed. “Fine. Don’t believe me. Vivi, compel me. I’ll demonstrate."

Vivi was hesitant, but Nami grinned like she’d just robbed a bank. She hopped out of the way, adding, “Oh yes, please. Let’s see it. Tell him to dance like a monkey, Vivi.”

Zoro rolled his eyes.

It took another minute of nudging and pleading from Nami before Vivi agreed. Zoro could swear that for a brief moment, the smell of citrus and summer storm thickened in the room, and Vivi’s acquiescence came with colors dotting her cheekbones.

The princess steeled herself; the earnestness in her light brown eyes made Zoro straighten up too. He was confident he could deny her, but she was a decently powered Permeation-grade alpha, and as a royal, she would have been properly trained. 

As expected, Vivi’s control over scent-compulsion was beyond reproach. The smell of petrichor and cactus pear that coated her room changed tones instantaneously and fell upon Zoro like an anvil. With it arrived the simple command: “Dance.” 

Whatever apprehension he possessed dissipated at once. He had no cause to fret over Vivi’s training. If anything, throwing off Vivi was entirely too easy. 

It felt like he was able to skip several steps of his usual process. There was no need to reject the familiarity of Vivi’s scent, and he didn’t care to picture her humiliation. All it took was the stray thought of “Luffy is much stronger than her.” 

He hadn’t meant to make the comparison. It wasn’t even a fair one. The words came to the forefront of his mind entirely unbidden. It quickly took root, and he knew it to be the absolute truth.

Why would he waste his time with her, when his captain, who wasn’t even an alpha, was so much stronger?

Zoro rolled his shoulders lazily. This time, disobeying hardly bothered him. The compulsion was still going strong; petrichor and cactus pear sat like unwanted guests on his tongue, but he remained composed, thoughts of his captain keeping everything else at bay.

He grinned at an astonished Vivi. 

Next to them, Nami was dancing like a monkey.

“Oh my goodness!” Vivi quickly quelled the compulsion. Her alpha scent settled into the backdrop. 

Nami immediately stopped dancing, but her eyes were still glazed over. She whimpered, barely audible, and swayed toward Vivi as if seeking something. Vivi caught her just before Nami fell to her knees. Flustered, the princess looked to Zoro for help, but he was already gone.

His mind had left the room the moment he realized there was nothing there for him. There was nothing anyone else could possibly offer him, because he already had the best — the fiercest, brightest star in the sky.

Zoro felt light, lighter than he ever remembered feeling. And he floated out of Vivi’s room, floated beyond the galley, letting pure instinct guide him to the one he’d been seeking.

Luffy was fishing with Sanji and Chopper. The three of them sat comfortably side-by-side on the port side railing. Luffy held on to the fishing rod while Chopper chatted and Sanji smoked. 

Chopper said something and Luffy laughed in response, throwing his head back so hard the straw hat fell off. Zoro reached in and caught it one-handed. 

“Zoro! How did it go?” Luffy greeted him with familiar enthusiasm, his eyes clear and free. Luffy was always so happy to see him, no matter the timing or circumstance. His unfailing attention inevitably made Zoro’s insides glow, and thinking back on it, Zoro could admit a few times he may have pushed himself further than necessary for Luffy’s affirmation. 

He put the hat back on Luffy’s head and didn’t bother to feel guilty about his lingering hand.

Chopper sniffed the air loudly. “Zoro, you smell different. Are you okay?”

On the other side of Luffy, Sanji suddenly flushed crimson. He dropped his cigarette, quickly covered his nose, and jumped off the railing. “Shit! Put a lid on it, Mosshead.”

Being a nonhuman, Chopper had the nose but not the instincts. He looked between the three of them in confusion and offered medical assistance. 

“I’m fine, Chopper,” Zoro replied.

Zoro couldn’t find any energy to care about propriety or their audience. He was still floating on air. His eyes had been opened, and his body knew what he needed before his brain could catch on. His inner omega was loud and hungry, having found something it wanted for the first time, and in the safe presence of his crew, Zoro felt no need to restrain it. 

Sanji yanked Chopper off the railing and darted away, mumbling unkind words about “shameless omegas.” Zoro didn’t watch them go. His captain — guileless and trusting — patiently held his eyes.

His brain finally caught up to speed, and Zoro couldn’t be ashamed of any of it. If anything, he was irked that the omega scent his body threw into the wind, the one meant to drive alphas to distraction, had no effect on someone like Luffy.

He let instinct lead him. If scenting did nothing, then Zoro had to work harder. 

He stood as tall as he could without seeming awkward and subtly flexed his muscles, taking pride in the veins that bulged along his forearms and the way Luffy’s gaze flickered to them for a heartbeat. He tried not to preen, except preening was the whole point.

Fingers roughened from years of swordsmanship trailed down to caress Luffy’s scar. 

“Is this… okay with you, Captain?” Zoro asked huskily. He hadn’t meant to make his voice sound like that — throaty and lazy yet broken and parched. He’d never had to seduce someone before. He’d never wanted to try. He hoped Luffy knew what he was asking, because he wasn’t entirely sure himself.

Luffy was expressionless but thoughtful. Zoro wondered if he was playing out scenarios in his head, or more likely, relying on gut feelings to formulate a response.

On his part, Zoro knew he should be nervous. He was throwing caution into the wind, after all, without planning and being driven completely by instinct. But he wasn’t scared. He knew his worth, knew what he brought to Luffy’s life. This was the safest bet he could make — a bet on Luffy’s affections for his crew members, which wasn’t a fair bet at all. It almost felt like cheating.

With a gentleness Zoro didn’t know his captain was capable of, Luffy removed Zoro’s fingers from his cheek and gripped them loosely within his own hand. He was blushing. Bashful patches of pink glowed like neon under the brim of the straw hat. 

Zoro’s breath stuttered at the sight. He drew back his fingers a bit, just enough to free them from Luffy’s grip so that he could then run imperceptible circles along Luffy’s palm.

“Luffy, look at me…” he started again with no script and no expectations. He just wanted Luffy to see him, to know the feverish beatings of his heart. 

He didn’t get the chance to find out where their conversation would lead. The fishing rod Luffy had abandoned suddenly clacked against the railing and began to slip into the sea.

“Whoa, a bite!” Luffy withdrew from Zoro’s fingers to make a grab for the rod and almost got tugged in by an unexpected weight on the other end. Zoro gave his head a quick shake and went to help.

Five minutes later, a face-changing ballerina was swearing a vow of friendship on their deck. Alabasta sat waiting just beyond the horizon; the first true threat of the Grand Line watched them from the shadows. Luffy’s attention was fully diverted, and Zoro knew there would be no point in trying to get it back. His captain still looked to him for assurance, still leaned on him like he was a thousand-year-old oak. For now, that was enough.

*****

They got separated ridiculously fast after landfall. Nobody except Vivi was particularly worried. The crew explained that Luffy couldn’t be expected to resist the allure of exploring a new island. That didn’t seem to reassure her much.

Alabasta smelled like everything. It was as though the entire country had been soaking in perfume and spices for centuries. Zoro had noticed a startlingly strong scent of artificial perfume on Vivi before, but it wasn’t until they arrived at Alabasta that he realized how much of it had already faded from her when they met.

He sneezed, and so did Sanji and Chopper.

Vivi chuckled softly. “No one remembers when it began. Everyone wears perfume in Alabasta, and our food is known as the most flavorful along the Grand Line.”

“I know my nose isn’t the sharpest, but man, I’m surprised. I can’t pick out anyone’s true scent!” Usopp said.

The princess nodded. “In an open-air market like this, omegas and Manifestation-grade alphas can blend in quite effortlessly.”

Nami gasped. “That’s amazing!”

“It’s not perfect. In enclosed spaces or even if you stand close enough to someone for a while, you’re bound to detect something. And if a dominant alpha or persistent omega try hard enough, they can certainly make themselves known anywhere. But my people prefer this way of living. It’s amazing how differently humans act when true scents and secondary genders aren’t the first thing we notice about one another.”

Sanji caught up after having stopped at a stand to buy some spices and herbs. He heard the last bits of Vivi’s words and sighed in sympathy. “Must’ve been an awful shock for you, Vivi, when you left home the first time.”

“I’ve been away before to accompany my father on diplomatic visits. Everywhere we went, a person’s entire life seemed to be determined by their secondary gender. It’s pretty awful, to be honest. Which is why I’m so glad to have met all of you!”

She smiled at them, this motley pirate crew run by a scentless ball of chaotic energy and shielded by an untamable omega. 

When their wayward captain showed his face again — and because Luffy never did anything by halves — Smoker was chasing his tail and the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates was protecting him, calling him brother.

Zoro was definitely more surprised by the fact Luffy had any family at all. Their captain was such a wild animal that he wouldn’t have been surprised if Luffy told them he was birthed from a rock. 

Second division commander of an Emperor’s crew was nothing to sneeze at, either. Portgas D. Ace effortlessly stopped Smoker’s pursuit, and they were saved yet again.

Back on Merry and a safe distance away from attracting more attention, they watched in awe as Ace proceeded to decimate a fleet of Baroque Works agents. The Flare-Flare Fruit was as terrifying as it was beautiful. As a dozen ships went down in flames, the orange glow of that sublime vision danced upon the pride evident in Luffy’s eyes. Despite the heat, Zoro shivered.

But when Ace landed on their ship, all hell broke loose.

“Oh my god!” Nami was the first to notice. 

Sanji shoved her behind himself even as his knees trembled. Usopp took initiative and hid with Nami as well. Vivi stood strong, but her face was ashen, and her grip on Karoo made the bird squawk. 

“Sorry, Luffy’s friends. When one is traveling alone, it’s prudent to be cautious.” Ace winked in apology and eased back on his scent.

Even so, true scents don’t lie: a Domination-grade alpha was on their ship. He could command them all to drown, and they would fight for the privilege of being the first to jump into the sea.

As though he hadn’t noticed everyone’s agitation, Luffy snickered and said, “Where did you learn those big, smart-people words, Ace?”

“About the same time you picked up this super interesting crew.” Ace examined them one by one, his unreadable eyes lingering no longer than seconds on each startled face. Then they landed on Zoro, who had two swords out and was a twitch away from drawing the third.

Ace’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “Heck of an omega you got there, Luffy. I’m Portgas D. Ace. What’s your name? Think you can cut me faster than I can burn you?”

Zoro didn’t answer because he honestly didn’t think he could. He didn’t have to, thankfully, as Luffy jumped in front of him, effectively blocking him from Ace’s sight.

“He’s Zoro, and he’s going to be the world’s greatest swordsman.”

The grin disappeared from Ace’s expression for a brief moment before it returned in the form of a hearty laugh. 

“You haven’t changed a bit, Luffy! Everyone, please relax.”

“Yeah, guys. Don’t worry. Ace wouldn’t hurt us. And if he tries, I’ll kick his ass!”

“Hah! You think the 2000th time will be the charm?”

Amidst the brotherly banter, Sanji and Zoro shared a silent exchange. He and Sanji understood each other well in times of crisis to always put the safety of the crew first. To Sanji’s credit, he never once used Zoro’s secondary gender as an excuse to doubt his abilities to protect the crew.

They arrived at the same logical conclusion: Luffy trusted this alpha; therefore, the alpha was not a threat. 

Instincts were hard to deny, however. Logic struggled in the presence of a Domination-grade alpha, whose strength was simply immeasurable as none of them had ever encountered one before.

They could only put their trust in Luffy. 

Zoro voluntarily sheathed his swords and Sanji slowly relaxed from a fighting stance. Accordingly, Nami and Usopp stepped out from Sanji’s shadow, and Vivi turned away to soothe Karoo’s ruffled feathers.

Poor Chopper, who could smell Ace’s sage and caramel but was unable to discern any power indicators, piped up, “What’s the matter with everyone?”

Ace jumped four feet into the air. “Holy shit! It’s a talking squirrel!”

“I’m a raccoon! No, I mean, a reindeer! I’m a reindeer, damn it!”

The tension truly broke after that. It took no time at all for them to realize Ace was just a slightly smarter, more polite version of Luffy. By the time the adrenaline from fighting Smoker and Baroque Works wore off, his scent had eased down to an atmospheric flatline, still awe-inducing and daunting but now easier to tolerate.

Ace volunteered to travel with them for a while. Zoro had reservations but the eager little dance Luffy did squashed any forthcoming protest. The crew agreed as one that Ace would have to stay on deck the entire time they were on the Merry, a restriction that Ace wholeheartedly agreed to. 

Once they were on land and away from their floating home, they breathed easier. The road to Yuba was long and full of dangers Vivi forgot to warn them about. Majestic dunes stretched like an endless dream. With their days filled with little else but walking, Zoro’s mind wandered.

He hadn’t had a chance to speak one-on-one with Luffy since his little epiphany outside of Alabasta. Now that Luffy’s brother was around all the time, attempts at sorting out non-platonic feelings seemed a tad inappropriate. 

Still, Zoro’s eyes strayed as though he had no control over them whenever Luffy jumped or groaned or talked. He was always able to catch himself within seconds and turn away, but this level of distraction was beyond embarrassing. 

It got a lot worse if Luffy spoke directly to him, or heavens forbid, touched him in any way. That was when he truly couldn’t help it, when no amount of self-restraint could prevent his inner omega from wanting to take. 

His crew was mostly polite about it. Nami would wrinkle her nose and give him an all-knowing side-eye. Sanji simply got as far away from him as possible. Usopp still hadn’t pieced together the cause for the shifts in his scent, but someone must have talked to him, because he made no comments. Vivi blushed without fail every time it happened, and would lower her head and quicken her steps.

There was no way Ace didn’t notice Zoro smelling like a lovesick damsel several times a day. Zoro would catch him looking at him, amused and assessing, which was sufficient enough to put out his fervor like a tub of ice water.

I promise I’m not thinking about doing unspeakable things to your little brother, was something Zoro honestly wished he could say to Ace out loud. But he was never a very good liar.

They weren’t sure how long Ace would stick around for. Ace didn’t give a timeline and it would have been rude to ask. After the first mindless day traversing through the desert, Zoro decided he might as well take advantage of this rare opportunity and get something useful out of it.

When Sanji went to sleep and Ace took up second watch, Zoro waited until the cook’s breathing slowed before quietly getting up from his spot by the fire. 

Under a moonless night sky illuminated only by faint starlight, Ace sat shirtless on a rock in the dark a short distance away from the sleeping Straw Hats. He was whittling a desiccated piece of wood with his pocket knife, and he nodded wordlessly at Zoro when he approached.

Zoro shivered as he sat down. The desert was freezing cold at night. He should have grabbed his blanket.

“Ah, allow me.” Ace snapped a finger and lit his half-finished carving on fire. He stuck the makeshift torch in the sand in front of Zoro, and it burned without burning, the flames grew far taller than what should have been possible with so little fuel.

“How can I help you tonight, Roronoa Zoro?” 

The playful way Ace said his full name made him want to get up and leave. He had the sinking feeling that Luffy’s brother saw right through him. The tiny, poorly concealed smirk was another nail in the coffin.

Ignore it and focus on the matter at hand, Zoro decided.

“I want you to compel me.”

That smirk dropped like an anchor.

“Oh! Oh wow,” the suave second division commander of the infamous Whitebeard Pirates stuttered. His eloquence died as quickly as flames in a storm. “That… that’s pretty daring. You’re a lot more straightforward than I expected!”

Zoro frowned. “If you’re worried about my crew’s reaction, of course I’d tell them I volunteered for this.”

“Oh man, that’s so not the issue. But sure, yeah, I wouldn’t want Luffy to think I took advantage of you. I just mean… you know I’m not sticking around for long, yeah? Don’t get me wrong, you’re very attractive, but I thought we would just keep flirting for a couple more days, scandalize that cook of yours, and leave each other with a sweet memory for lonely nights. I’m really not looking for a mate at this point in my life. No offense…”

“What in all the holy fucks are you talking about? I haven’t been flirting with you!” Zoro suddenly realized that Ace saw through absolutely nothing, that the man was actually spectacularly stupid, and he regretted getting up at all tonight. 

“Uh… your scent says otherwise. If all that today hadn’t been an invitation, then you need to see a doctor.”

Zoro couldn’t cut fire, but he was severely tempted to try. “That wasn’t meant for you!”

“Then who? Your entire crew just ignored it, so it wasn’t for any of them. And now you’re here in the middle of the night, alone, asking me, an unmated alpha, to compel you, a really tempting omega. What am I supposed to think?”

Zoro was fairly sure Ace couldn’t see him turn red in the dark, but if he tried to explain himself, he might just spontaneously combust. So Zoro ignored the first question entirely and focused on steering the conversation back onto important matters.

“I didn’t ask you to compel me for… intimate reasons. I need to learn how to dispel a Domination-grade alpha’s scent compulsion. That is all, Portgas.”

Ace flinched at the use of his last name. He reached up and covered his face with his hat, counted to ten under his breath, and put the hat back on. After violently shaking himself from head to toe, the friendly grin was back on his face.

“Okay. I’m okay. You’re okay. We’re okay. This has all been a misunderstanding.”

“Will you train me or not?” Zoro was now extremely skeptical of the man’s reputation and capabilities, but he couldn’t let this chance slip by.

“Sure, of course! Plenty of omega pirates in the New World know how to reject scent compulsion. I can’t let the head omega of my little brother’s crew get left behind. Since you’re asking specifically for my help, I assume you can already handle the weaker alphas?”

Zoro nodded. 

“How do you want to start?” 

Zoro had given this some thought. He didn’t spend the entire day mooning over his captain.

“First, I want to see what it feels like. Build a baseline.”

“Sure. Bare your neck.”

And Zoro was gone.

Ace gave him no time to prepare. The gruff command hit so fast and sudden, Zoro wasn't sure if he’d even heard it at all. A tsunami of alpha scent pulled him under, and it was as though the ground beneath him simply disappeared.

Zoro fell and fell and fell. Sage and caramel coated his entire being. Vaguely, he was aware of himself noting the sheer strength of Ace’s compulsion, how Ace’s command struck so much like an attack, and what a fool he was to think he could defend against it.

That was the last coherent thought he was able to conjure. Zoro fell deeper still and was caught by invisible hands, healing hands that took away all the sores and aches accumulated from years of pain, gentle hands that erased every trace of self-doubt born from failures big and small. He breathed in and felt renewed. He wanted to ask for more, wanted to fall to Ace’s feet and obey whatever commands the alpha would give.

The cloud of bliss went away as swiftly as it came. When Zoro could think again, he found himself gazing upward at the moonless sky, neck bared toward Ace. Sage and caramel taunted him from all sides.

Thankfully, he snapped out of it just as fast.

“What the fuck was that?” If Zoro’s voice quivered from humiliation, he wasn’t going to acknowledge it.

“That was scent-compulsion from a Domination-grade alpha, Roronoa. Just like you wanted.”

“A little warning would have been nice!” 

Ace didn’t try to defend himself. Zoro was glad for it. They both knew out on the battlefield, no enemy alpha of Ace’s caliber would give him quarter. 

“Frankly speaking, you did well for your first time,” Ace said. “Whether you consciously fought it for not, it took six seconds for you to obey the command.” He then sighed exaggeratedly and grumbled, “Such a shame. Your scent didn’t change at all even as you gave in so completely. It really wasn’t meant for me.”

Remembering their misunderstanding from earlier, Zoro glared at the wistful alpha. 

“How do I dispel something that hits so quickly?”

“I’ve no idea.”

“What do you mean you have no idea? You said you’d train me.”

“I thought I’d just compel you until you figured it out.” Ace shrugged. “I’ve never had to teach someone how to do it.”

“You said plenty of omegas on the Grand Line can do it!”

“Well, yes, but I don’t know how they learned. I just know whenever I try it on Marco, he laughs at me like I’m a child.”

Zoro spent two seconds processing the information that the first division commander and de facto first mate of the Whitebeard Pirates was an omega, and that Luffy’s big brother regularly tries to scent-compel him for fun. He was in the presence of monsters.

There was nothing else to it then, he concluded. Like any new skill, time and practice are key. Ace’s compulsion surprised him at first, but now that he knew what it felt like, he could start to guard against it.

The logical decision was to ask, “Again. I want to try again.”

Ace arched an eyebrow. “Want more so soon? Aren’t you afraid you’ll like it too much?”

Zoro bared his teeth. “I’m not so weak willed as to be ensnared by any random alpha.”

“I’m not any random alpha, Roronoa. If you end up begging to follow me home after tonight, I can’t promise I’ll stay a gentleman.”

“You talk too—”

“Take off your outer robe.”

This time, Zoro had been braced for another abrupt assault, and because he was more prepared, he kept a clear head long enough to be annoyed at Ace’s audaciousness.

The result was the same, however. An unknown amount of time passed, and when Zoro came to, he was shivering in just his undershirt, his robe in a pile around his feet, sage and caramel lingering in his brain.

Ace clapped twice. “Seven seconds this time! Impressive.” 

Amused brown eyes skimmed over Zoro’s figure as he shook the sand out of his abandoned robe. Ace offered suggestively, “You know, there’s another way to protect yourself against alpha compulsion. Even pirates generally leave mated omegas alone.”

Zoro rolled his eyes. He was starting to get Ace’s sense of humor. “Again,” he demanded.

When Ace was done laughing, he issued the third command of the night, “Tell me who you’re longing for.”

Of all people, Zoro didn’t want to tell Ace the most, and his deep aversion to the command aided the endeavor somewhat. He was sure he could hold out longer than the previous two times, even if he wasn’t yet strong enough to deny the compulsion completely.

When he came to again, it felt way more jarring than before, like Ace had changed his mind and withdrew the order at the last second. 

It made sense when he felt rubbery hands on his cheeks and worried dark eyes entered his vision.

“Zoro, are you okay?” Luffy yelled in his face. Before Zoro could collect enough brain power to reassure him, Luffy turned around and berated his brother, “I can’t believe you’d do that to Zoro!”

Ace was sprawled awkwardly on the ground, sullenly rubbing his jaw. “Aw, Luffy, it’s not what you think! I was just teasing!”

As satisfying as it was to watch Luffy give Ace an earful, Zoro did promise to clear up any misunderstandings.

“It’s okay, Luffy. I asked him to do it.”

Luffy’s head whipped back so fast Zoro thought he’d heard a rubber band snap in two. 

“You asked him to?”

People (Nami) liked to say Zoro wasn’t the sharpest tack in the jar, but he caught on quickly enough this time. “No, not like that! I asked him to train me. I need to be prepared for stronger alphas in the Grand Line.”

Luffy didn’t look placated. If anything, the lines between his brows deepened. 

“You don’t need to do that,” he said flatly. “I can protect my crew. I’m the captain.”

Zoro jerked back. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought the Baroque Works face-changer had replaced Luffy without anyone noticing. 

“Are you saying you don’t want me to become stronger?”

Luffy’s eyes widened. “No, of course that’s not what I meant! I would never say that!”

There was a disconnect there, because Luffy was right — he’d never stand in the way of his crew’s advancements. Which meant Zoro was still missing something. If he could have half a day to think about it, he knew he’d figure it out. 

Fortunately, big brother Ace was kind enough to give him an unwitting hint in the form of utter astonishment. 

“Holy crap!” He was staring at them, mouth open so wide Zoro thought he could jam a whole kung fu dugong in there. The growing glee hiding beneath his shock told Zoro that Ace had figured out the answer to his third command, and it was Luffy’s uncharacteristic behavior that led him to the correct conclusion. 

Therefore, Luffy’s ire was caused not by Zoro wanting to become stronger, but was instead somehow rooted in Zoro’s half-assed declaration of non-platonic feelings from a few days prior. 

That is, the declaration they never got around to talk about.

Zoro grabbed Luffy’s hands to regain his attention. Words couldn’t pour out of him fast enough. He only hoped they were the right ones. He didn’t always know what to say. This time, it was easier to let his gut do the talking, and his gut didn’t want to hold back.

He spoke slowly. He had to make sure Luffy heard every syllable of every word. 

“Luffy, I promise you, no alpha will ever ensnare me. I will fight them, all of them, with every ounce of my being. I’m your first mate, and nothing you can or cannot give me will change that.” 

Luffy’s indignation drained from him and was replaced with a quiet pensiveness. He looked at Zoro in that assessing way he sometimes did right before declaring war against an enemy. It was the closest indication of an internal debate that Luffy ever had.

Just when Luffy appeared to have settled on a decision about something, Ace chimed in, “Oh wow. This is unbelievable…”

“Do you need to be here right now?” Zoro growled.

“Yes, I do! I’m on watch duty. It was very peaceful before the two of you woke up.”

“I’ll go back to sleep,” Luffy said at the same time he pulled his hands out of Zoro’s reach. He didn’t seem keen on sharing whatever conclusion he arrived at. Before he left, he gave Zoro one last look, and Zoro couldn’t decipher it at all. To Ace, Luffy simply ordered, “Don’t make him do anything weird!”

Once Luffy was out of earshot, Ace chuckled, “Looks like I have little bro’s permission to keep training you.”

Zoro couldn’t look away from the lithe shadow trying to get comfortable by the campfire. He wondered if he went over there, whether Luffy would let him snuggle up for warmth. A week ago, Luffy would have dove into his arms. Now, he was no longer sure. 

“Hey, are you done fawning?”

The cat was out of the bag, and Zoro’s guard was down. He said to no one in particular, “I think I fucked up.”

“Give Luffy some credit,” Ace drawled. “He would never go along with you if he doesn’t want to, but he’d never distance himself just because your feelings evolved either.”

“I put him in a tough spot.”

“Maybe. But we’re talking about Luffy. Even as a kid, he was spectacularly creative at getting out of tough spots.”

Giving his head a shake, Zoro sat back down. He was wasting time. 

Mercifully, Ace didn’t make any more quips about Zoro’s tragic, nonexistent love life. They got back to the task at hand, and Ace spent nearly another hour compelling Zoro at his request.

Heeding Luffy’s warning, Ace refrained from issuing any more suggestive commands. And at his insistence, they took short breaks to allow Zoro to collect himself. No matter how much Zoro argued, Ace wouldn’t believe that he felt no desire to vie for the dubious honor of becoming Ace’s mate.

An hour later, Zoro was exhausted from concentrating at maximum effort and exasperated at his own lack of success. His progress stalled at 14 seconds. Ultimately, there was nothing he could do to defy a Domination-grade alpha. 

Meanwhile, Ace hardly broke a sweat.

They stopped for the night when Ace ordered him to go to sleep. The next morning, Zoro couldn’t remember how long he’d lasted against that final command. He had the best sleep in a very long time, though.

He wanted to restart training the second Ace woke up, but they needed to get going. All morning, he was impatiently looking ahead to nighttime and spent most of his time mulling over possible ways to resist. He found himself walking next to Ace while everyone else continued to keep their distance, just so he could desensitize himself to the alpha’s scent.

The two of them had surprisingly cordial conversations. Ace asked about his training with sensei, and without prompting, offered up quite a few amusing stories about Luffy’s childhood. Zoro discovered he would have been content to listen to tales of a ten-year-old Luffy chasing after jaguars and atlas beetles for days on end.

They stopped for a meal break at a cluster of rocky outcropping. After they ate, Vivi deemed it too hot to keep going. 

“We should rest for a few hours and start again after the hottest part of the day has passed.”

Usopp groaned, “Every part of the day feels like the hottest.”

In the shade, the heat was a tad more bearable. Zoro sat down and tried to clear his mind. There was a long way to go, and an unknown number of enemies waited at the end of their journey.

Beside him, Ace suddenly announced, “I’m leaving today.”

Zoro was confused. “So soon? You said you were accompanying us to Yuba. My training…”

The smile on Ace’s face was genuinely kind. “If I stay any longer, you’re going to want to marry me.” 

Zoro rolled his eyes. “I told you, you have no effect on me.”

“And yet, look where you’re sitting.” He gestured at them and then at the rest of Zoro’s crew, who were gathered a respectful distance away from Ace. “And you’ve been walking with me all morning. Even if your brain wants nothing to do with me, your omega instincts are driving you toward me. Besides, if I stay any longer, Luffy might never talk to me again.”

“What’re you going on about?”

It was Ace’s turn to roll his eyes. “Haven’t you noticed? My adorable little brother has been out of sorts since last night. You trailing behind me like a puppy all morning definitely hasn’t helped.”

Luffy was lying in a heap by the cook’s feet, complaining about the heat and whining at Sanji to make him strawberry ice cream. Tired of explaining to Luffy the impossibility of his demand, Sanji was now kicking his head in. 

It seemed like a perfectly normal day for the Straw Hat crew, and their captain didn’t seem troubled at all.

“If you’re trying to imply Luffy is bothered by my walking next to you, you’re nuts. He hasn’t even looked over here. He doesn’t pay attention to things like that,” Zoro said, hiding a pang in his chest.

“Hm,” Ace simply hummed. “In any case, I should go. For your safety, and mine.”

“We just started my training!”

Ace locked eyes with him. The jovial grins and blithe demeanor vanished in an instant. 

“Listen, Roronoa. I say this as a friend: Even if I stayed a month, you still wouldn’t be able to resist my compulsion. Don’t snarl at me. I say this because my brother’s safety depends on you getting stronger.

“You're not there yet. You won’t get there for a long time. But your secondary gender is not a weakness. The sea is vast and the terrors of the Grand Line have barely begun to reveal themselves to you. In the New World, alphas and omegas mean very little. Those who survive long enough to make it there usually have a strong crew, a Devil Fruit, or some unique skills that make them formidable. Those are what you should be training against.”

Zoro thought of Mihawk, thought of a frog happily stargazing from the bottom of a well. Disappointment tasted like sand and bile in his mouth.

He no longer wanted to sit with Ace. 

Luffy sniffled back manly tears when Ace bid them goodbye, and he made Ace promise they’d meet again in the New World. Vivi and the rest of the crew were polite and appropriately regretful as they said their farewells, though their collective sigh of relief immediately betrayed them.

Ace didn’t take offense and instead teased them for being ungrateful brats, just like his baby brother. Slinging his pack over his shoulder, Ace waved Zoro over, “Walk with me for a bit, Roronoa. Don’t worry, Luffy, I’ll return him in a few minutes.”

Wary of the sudden request, Zoro sought out Luffy for his input. But his captain’s expression revealed nothing. 

Ace walked away without waiting for a reply. Not wanting to miss whatever it was that Ace needed to tell him, Zoro shrugged and went after him.

“Why am I following you?”

Ace carefully avoided looking behind them. “I neglected to mention one thing earlier, something that could end up saving your life.”

“You can’t say this in front of everyone?”

Ace smirked. “Consider it a present, just for you, as my way of saying ‘thanks’ for the special memories.”

It was so absurd; Zoro laughed. He’d never expected to befriend a Domination-grade alpha. The Grand Line was a strange place. 

“And?”

“Well, take this however you like, but as you move forward, consider that not all is as you smell. You can’t trust your nose around the truly strong alphas.”

“How do you mean?”

Ace grimaced, like he felt guilty for bursting the bubble that was Zoro’s entire worldview. 

“It means, sometimes Domination-grade alphas can suppress their scent so much you could easily mistake them for a Persuasion-grade, or lower. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but in…”

“In battle, that level of deception can sway the tides.” Zoro picked up on the implications right away. He asked, “Can you do this?”

Ace raised an eyebrow and answered slowly, “No... I never trained for it. My strength is my captain’s strength; I don’t relish the thought of hiding it simply for a quick advantage. My point is, you won’t be able to rely on your instincts all the time. Expect surprises. You’ll thank me later.”

Zoro was sincerely grateful, if not confused as to why Ace chose to reveal this fact only to him. He was just going to relay it to the others anyway.

“That’s all, Roronoa Zoro! Keep my brother safe, will ya? Laters!” Without even a lingering glance, Ace waved goodbye and walked off alone into the horizon toward a direction only he knew.

Once Ace was no longer visible, Zoro looked about him and realized they’d gone quite a ways already, and he was lost amongst the cresting dunes. 

As Zoro debated which way he should start heading toward, a slim figure appeared over the zenith of the highest sand dune. In the blinding desert sun, the yellow straw hat shone like a halo. Luffy’s arm stretched out, an invitation without room for refusal, to span the distance between them.

Instinctively, Zoro reached for Luffy’s hand, but the hand flew past his palm to grip tightly around his right shoulder. He was yanked bodily until he landed in an ungraceful heap at Luffy’s feet. 

Coughing, Zoro sat up to glare at Luffy’s antics. He waited in vain for the usual half-hearted apology.

Luffy stood above him, grinning from ear to ear, and demanded, “You’re so slow, Zoro. C’mon! We’re going to Yuba!”

Finally, Zoro registered a nagging twang in his head. There was indeed something unusual going on with the unflappable Monkey D. Luffy.

Chapter 3: Third Movement

Preoccupied with his own battle, Zoro didn’t personally witness Luffy’s struggle against Crocodile. However, from the wounds that covered Luffy from head to toe, even a blind man could tell it had been a grueling clash between equally powered titans.

The word being passed around was that Crocodile is a mid-level Persuasion-grade alpha, whose grip over his dominion was strengthened by a vexingly overpowered Logia-type Devil Fruit. Fortunately for them all, Luffy somehow stumbled upon the Fruit’s weakness. Otherwise, all of Alabasta would be singing a different tune by now.

Two days after Crocodile’s downfall, Luffy was still comatose. Vivi had set aside the grandest guest suite in the royal palace for his recovery, and she had tended to him personally for a day and a night, until Nami chided her for daring to feel guilty and tugged her away to make up for several missed meals.

Naturally, Zoro took up watch by Luffy’s bedside. It felt right. Chopper’s skills and his naturally speedy healing had worked flawlessly in tandem, and by the second day, Zoro was already mostly back to himself. What else was he meant to do?

He dozed lightly on a soft sofa by Luffy’s bed but stirred every time someone came to check on them. Usopp had jokes and Nami hid her concern behind an impatience to get going. King Cobra was bursting with questions while Ingram bothered him with nervous chatter. Nobody stayed for long once they’d gotten a good look at Zoro’s crossed arms and tense shoulders. 

After sunset on the second night, Sanji wheeled in a cart full of food. “Just in case,” he said. But Zoro heard the fear and hope in his voice.

Once Sanji left, Zoro leaned over and really looked over Luffy’s wounds: Raw knuckles, broken ribs, torn tendons, and a hole in his side — how did Luffy even survive?

Could he continue to survive the unforgiving Grand Line?

The sudden swelling of doubt was quickly tempered. Zoro was disgusted with himself. He whispered an apology to his sleeping captain, untied his swords from his side, and climbed into bed beside him.

Careful not to jostle Luffy more than necessary, Zoro gingerly rearranged him so he could cradle Luffy’s neck with his left arm and tuck his head beneath his chin. He was only trying to offer comfort, Zoro told himself. Eyes closed, Zoro breathed in antiseptic and the rose-scented shampoo the palace servants used to wash Luffy’s blood-stained hair. 

“You’re the strongest man I know, Captain. Come back to me,” he pleaded over and over.

He had never seen Luffy so close to death.

The next time he was aware, sunlight was streaming in through the room’s tall windows and threatening to blind him. In his arms, Luffy had burrowed completely into his embrace. Their legs entwined like ancient vines while Luffy’s bandaged hands gripped the back of Zoro’s shirt like a vise. At his neck, he felt the unmistakable impression of a warm nose and slightly damp lips.

Despite being wide awake now, Zoro couldn’t find the strength to pull away.

Luffy must have sensed Zoro’s sudden alertness, because he shifted and sighed and wiggled closer, until no space remained between their bodies.

“Luffy,” Zoro whispered. The gentlemanly response would be to extricate himself or wake Luffy up at once. 

He did no such thing. He did not move at all, though he ached with a want to run his fingers through Luffy’s curls and stroke a steady line down Luffy’s back.

At his neck, the source of all his temptations breathed a satisfied sigh.

“Don’t move. ‘M comfy.”

Luffy’s sleepy demand jostled a flustered Zoro into action. “Luffy, you’re awake! Sorry. I got tired.” He made to get up and out of Luffy’s bed, only to be tugged back by rubbery arms with the strength of iron. 

“No,” Luffy was whiny but resolute. He dug his nose into Zoro’s clavicle and exhaled. “Don’t go. I like Zoro here. Zoro smells good.”

“Luffy, I really shouldn’t…”

“Zoro smells like bamboo and steel.”

Zoro’s next breath was caught in his throat. A blinding flash of light momentarily overwhelmed his vision, and when it went away, Luffy was still smiling. 

Hearing such an impossible declaration stalled Zoro for precisely ten seconds. His body was slow to inform his brain that the lips on his neck did indeed move in time to those words. And when his eyes scanned the room for something — anything — to ground himself upon, the sight of the now empty food cart from last night put an end to the last of his self doubt.

Luffy had woken up at some point to eat. Luffy had willingly climbed back into bed with him.

Luffy declared a claim on him.

He pulled away to search his captain’s eyes, the eyes that could never tell a lie, but Luffy burrowed his face again and wouldn’t look at him.

“Luffy…” Zoro felt himself breaking. His hand could not be gentle when he gripped Luffy’s chin and forced him to meet his gaze. “I thought you couldn’t… Are you sure you… No, I mean, why now? No, don’t answer that. You can’t take it back. I won’t allow you to take it back. You realize that, don’t you?”

Despite Luffy’s new aversion to eye contact, his legs remained entangled with Zoro’s, and his absentminded fingers played a distracting concerto upon Zoro’s shoulder blades. 

To Zoro’s rambling embarrassment, Luffy merely nodded. It answered everything yet nothing. The only solid assurance Zoro had was seeing Luffy’s composure betrayed by a growing smirk that was at once proud and mischievous.

In the eyes of society and the law, Luffy’s claim meant absolutely nothing. There was no way for him to scent Zoro, and no biological imperative bound them together. 

Zoro cared for none of that. He had Luffy’s nod, and Luffy had his everything. That was enough. That had to be enough.

He finally sank his fingers into Luffy’s curls, and so pulling none too gently, guided their lips together. 

Luffy tasted like blood, and sleep, and the food he ate during the night, and the sea, and the roving home they accidentally made. Zoro was aware he was too rough, too inexperienced, and was moving too fast. But Luffy was pliant beneath him. And every time Zoro paused for air, Luffy would sigh a little sigh that sounded too close to a moan and Zoro would lose control again.

He’d never kissed anyone before — never had a desire to try. He couldn’t explain how he knew to lick into Luffy’s mouth to entice the exact pitch of a whimper he was desperate to hear, or how he could coax Luffy into nibbling on his bottom lip by tilting his head slightly to the right. Or perhaps those were lessons he’d learn after the fact, because time was nonsensical when he was kissing Luffy, as though he was feeling all the kisses they’d go on to share in their lifetime, and each one would forever feel as electrifying as the first time.

Zoro didn’t want to let up; Luffy had no intention of stopping him. At some point, he’d covered Luffy’s body completely with his own, and his lips swept down to bite Luffy’s chin and bruise Luffy’s neck, while his stuttering fingers felt around for the folds of Luffy’s robe. 

They ran into rolls and rolls of medicined cotton that Chopper had wrapped around Luffy’s torso. A tiny tincture of reason returned him to his senses.

Panting, Zoro sat up. “Fuck. Luffy, you’re bleeding again.”

Under him, his captain was glassy-eyed. He didn’t seem to care that the stitches along his abdomen had reopened. Lazily, Luffy licked his swollen, crimson lips, and Zoro could do nothing except dive into his mouth once more.

“What you do to me…” he groaned into what little air was left between them.

Bandaged fingers gripped his hair, sending tingles down Zoro’s entire body. 

“Zoro,” Luffy gasped between breaths, his voice ragged. “My Zoro. You’re mine. My own.”

“Yes,” Zoro affirmed with a guttural heat. Between kisses, he vowed, “I’m yours. Always yours. Your first mate. Your sword. Your weapon.”

Those fingers tightened in demand of Zoro’s absolute attention. “My omega.”

“Of course. Your omega.” Zoro smiled indulgently. He wanted to chuckle at the hilarity of it all. Leave it to him to play an owned omega to a null-scent. 

To his surprise, Luffy got quiet at that. He put some distance between them and studied Zoro’s smile with a stern frown. Zoro would’ve done anything to avoid being examined so thoroughly in the midst of intimacy; therefore, he set about to kissing his captain with purpose. 

Luffy dodged aside. “I mean it, Zoro.”

Zoro couldn’t focus on anything else. He could only agree, dumbly but sincerely, “I know, Luffy. I know. Yours, and no one else’s.” 

Luffy stroked the sides of his face and didn’t seem placated in the least. Zoro thought he saw a little pout forming on Luffy’s face, but he couldn’t imagine what there was to be irritated about. 

One thing was for sure, the moment was effectively over. Luffy was still bleeding and needed medical attention, and Zoro needed to screw his head on straight.

“Are you… hungry?” he tried.

Luffy blinked a few times, and the displeasure disappeared. He was all aglow at the thought of food, yelling into Zoro’s face, “Oh man, I’m starving!”

Zoro reluctantly climbed off him but kept a hand on Luffy’s arm. Leaving Luffy’s side took more willpower than he was capable of sparing, but at the moment, it wasn’t really up to him. He said reluctantly, “I’ll get the cook. Chopper will want to rewrap your bandages too.”

Luffy nodded so enthusiastically that Zoro was afraid his head would bob right off. Like the constantly distracted ape he was, Luffy suddenly looked around him in a frantic, demanding, “Hey, where’s my hat?”

Zoro was relieved. Luffy was still the same old Luffy. Before he went to call the others, he kissed Luffy again for good measure, and to reassure himself it hadn’t all been a waking dream. 

Grinning, Luffy met his lips carefully; there were stars in his eyes. Zoro’s heart settled into a steady staccato of joy. With nary an inch between them — Zoro noted absentmindedly — he still smelled absolutely nothing.

***

Saying goodbye to Vivi felt like cutting off a limb. Not wanting to show such outward attachment to an alpha, Zoro kept up a stoic facade while the others fell apart at the seams. Nami, in particular, was inconsolable for days. 

She was momentarily distracted when Nico Robin invited herself to join the roster. A Persuasion-grade pain in their ass throughout Alabasta, Nico Robin surprisingly exuded zero hostility. She kept her subtle charcoal and orchid close to her person, and when she declared her intention to travel with them, Luffy happily agreed.

Nami went along with Luffy’s decision, partly due to her faith in their captain’s judgment of character, and while she would never admit it, Zoro knew she desperately needed another woman’s companionship, alpha or not. 

She only really voiced displeasure when Robin took over the cabin previously belonging to Vivi, but Zoro thought it was an efficient solution to quickly override Vivi’s scent.

“Probably better this way; like ripping off a bandage,” he commented casually when the crew, sans Robin, gathered in the bathroom for an impromptu meeting.

Sanji would have kicked him over the head if they had enough room to maneuver. He settled for yelling, “You heartless bastard! You’ve forgotten Vivi already, haven’t you?”

“I’m not going to be insulted by the idiot who folded like a wet newspaper just because a woman smiled at him,” Zoro fired back.

He didn’t rag on Sanji too much for his attraction to Robin. It was uncommon but not unheard of for two alphas to shack up together. The cook continued to surprise Zoro with his utter indifference to the laws of biology. But then again, Zoro didn’t exactly have a leg to stand on in that regard. 

“Why are we squished together in the bathroom?” Chopper asked from atop Luffy’s head.

“Because it’s raining outside, Robin’s drinking coffee in the galley, and this is the only neutral ground left for us all,” Usopp explained. 

Nami groaned at them and bodily shoved Sanji and Zoro aside in order to escape the huddle. That was the first and last time they convened to discuss Nico Robin’s induction into the crew.

Zoro remained cautious while everyone else quickly acclimated to Robin’s presence. Not wanting to burst their bubble, Zoro kept his suspicions of her close to his chest. If no one else could stay guarded against her, he alone would stand as the last pillar of defense.

What Zoro didn’t expect was the addition of the Devil Child getting in the way of his alone time with Luffy. Wary of the Devil Fruit that empowered her to see or hear anything she wanted at any given moment, Zoro suppressed his searing desire to drag Luffy into the storage room at night. He settled for fleeting moments in the bathroom, up in the crow's nest, behind Merry’s patchwork main mast while the others’ attentions were diverted. But their ship was small and opportunities were frustratingly scarce.

Having the ability to hold and kiss Luffy at his leisure was a freedom Zoro didn’t know he could become addicted to. And for all of Luffy’s talks of possession, he was docile and yielded beautifully to Zoro’s fervor. They learned quickly together how to kiss each other breathless. Every time they met alone, Zoro’s hands strayed farther and farther from propriety. Romantic explorations with Luffy inevitably left him lost and aching, and he knew his true scent — bamboo and steel, ain’t that something — had to be out of control. 

Finally, one day, Usopp confronted him about it. Zoro had a feeling Usopp picked the short straw, and he endeavored not to give the man a hard time. 

“Yeah, so, buddy…” There was no comfortable way to start such a conversation. “We, um, you see, we…”

“Fuck’s sake. Just say it, Usopp.”

“Ugh, fine. Look. I miss Kaya, okay? I miss her a lot. And you… with this thing… it’s not helping, is what I’m saying.”

Zoro scratched his forehead. “Is it that bad?”

“Oh, pfft!” Usopp started gesticulating wildly with his arms; Zoro backed away two steps for safety. “You know it’s not you, right? Like, not really. Because, buddy, never in a million years would I try to, you know, with you.”

“Right. Because I’d slice your dick to pieces.”

“Fair! That’s fair! But like, when you get… like that, and we can all smell it, it is so distracting! And it’s so not fair because Kaya is on the other side of the freaking Red Line, okay? I’m dying here! And have you noticed? Robin has just been hiding in her room. And Sanji! Poor Sanji is about to throw himself overboard to get away from you!”

Zoro had the cognizance to blush, but he also couldn’t help adding, “He is welcome to do that any time.”

Usopp covered his face with both hands and let out a groan from the depth of his stomach. “Zoro. Zoro. Buddy. Pal. As a group of alphas who care for your wellbeing and our own peace of mind, we’d like to humbly suggest, perhaps the next time we make land, you could, I don’t know, go to a bar and find a, er, friend? Get yourself an alpha who doesn’t instantly irritate the crap out of you, and just… let loose a bit, yeah?”

“What?”

“Yeah, you know. Get into some stranger danger — the fun kind. But maybe don’t let them talk, because I feel like you’ll want to cut them up if they try to talk to you.”

Zoro had been thoroughly and expertly trained on dispelling alpha compulsion, but he had to admit, sensei wasn’t the best teacher when it came to basic biology lessons. It sounded like Usopp knew what he was talking about, though, which made him the best person to ask, “What makes you think I haven’t been letting loose?”

A parade of colorful commentary flitted across Usopp’s face before it settled on an emphatically sympathetic “…Dude.”

Zoro put a hand on Sandai Kitetsu.

“Okay, chill out!” It was Usopp’s turn to jump out of the way. “Look, we’re not stupid. You’ve been like this since before we dropped anchor at Alabasta, and we see how you look at him. But Zoro, man, Luffy is not like everyone else. He’s not an alpha. He’s not even an omega, in which case you could at least try to scent each other that way. He doesn’t feel the same instincts we do. We just don’t want to see you pine forever.”

“I’m not pining!”

“Sure, sure! And you know and we know Luffy loves you, in ways he can. But we all need something more physical from time to time. I totally get it. It’s not like Luffy will care if you, ya know. So, think about it, ‘kay?”

Biting back a pained chortle, Zoro agreed just to make Usopp go away. If Usopp dragged out the conversation any longer, Zoro would have spat out that Luffy would care, he’d care very much, and Zoro knew better than anyone that instincts or not, true scent or not, Luffy felt something when they were together. 

Once the indignation faded, however, Zoro fell sullen at the implications of Usopp’s words. If he reeked of unfulfilled desire despite the deep-hearted happiness he felt these last few days, it could only mean that being with Luffy satisfied none of Zoro’s basic omega urges. What did that imply for him and Luffy’s future? Would it always be so? Would his body eventually decide it needed an alpha after all?

Before he could ponder the issue further, another startling realization sank in: Usopp hadn’t smelled him on Luffy. And if the crew gossiped as much as he expected them to, the only explanation for their lack of nosiness was that nobody had managed to smell him on Luffy. Nobody had even noticed. He had left no mark whatsoever on Luffy’s scent-null body.

Zoro felt blindsided. He’d known all along Luffy could never mark him, and it didn’t bother him because Luffy had made Zoro his own in all the ways that truly mattered. But if he was honest, he had hoped to leave some traces of himself on his captain.

In the days to follow, Zoro became increasingly ill-at-ease over this realization. He stopped caring about Robin or Usopp or any of the others. He stopped choosing blind spots and ungodly hours. Zoro cornered Luffy whenever he could find the time, pushing up on his captain against doors and railings and masts and tangerine trees with his mouth parched and his hands frenetic. 

The restlessness that overwhelmed Zoro was new and intolerable. He was distracted in a manner he hadn’t been since childhood. Even when he practiced his sword forms, routines that had long sunken into his bones, his movements stuttered embarrassingly.

This could not go on, Zoro told himself day after day. But when each day began anew and Luffy still smelled of nothing, the beast within him would roar in discontent. 

He could tell Luffy sensed something was amiss because Luffy indulged him like never before, letting Zoro monopolize his time and attention without question. When they were alone and Zoro burned too hot too fast, Luffy would put a palm on his scarred chest in order to gaze into his eyes, then he’d pull him close and squeeze until Zoro’s breathing slowed. 

Days went on, and Zoro could not climb out of the hole he’d dug for himself.

He remained stuck when they arrived at Jaya with promises of an island in the sky, and their attention had to turn to adventure, because danger lurked in even the smallest ports.

Mock Town was filled to the brim with wannabe hotshots who waved their alpha scents around like banners of war. Plenty of omega scents swirled in equal measure, loud and purposefully alluring. The further they went, the more blatantly provocative the omegas became, hanging halfway out windows beckoning passerby or lounging on porches in what could only constitute as negligees.

During their three-member reconnaissance mission in Mock Town, they met an omega with an affinity for cherry pies; he would haunt Zoro’s nightmares for years to come. In that moment inside the pub, the stranger they’d later call Blackbeard left only an unsettling impression. Craggly, grimy, and reeking of rosemary and oil paint, the man was possibly the worst candidate for an omega Zoro had ever seen, worse than even himself. 

Something about the omega set off alarms in Zoro’s head, and he might have been more concerned if the argument between the man and Luffy over food wasn’t the most idiotic thing Zoro had heard in a while. He didn’t get the chance to dwell on the potential threat. The omega caused no trouble and didn’t stay for long. Their attention was immediately diverted by the appearance of Bellamy the Hyena.

In the grand scheme of things, their encounter with Bellamy was but a small blip, something to forget about an hour later. But Zoro had been wound up for days, running furious circles inside his own head, getting pissed off at biology and nature and everything he couldn’t do anything about.

Then in walked Bellamy — Permeation-grade, high-level — and it was immediately clear that he was there to pick a fight. If Zoro didn’t spend every day around a monster like Sanji or had recently befriended Ace, he might have been on guard. As it was, he merely chugged the cold tankard of ale the bartender set down before him, irritation growing like an infection.

Bellamy was polite at first, asked for Luffy’s name and even bought him a drink. Within seconds, however, he abruptly slammed Luffy’s head into the bar. The suddenness surprised even Zoro, though his reaction was anything but slow.

Sandai Kitetsu was at Bellamy’s throat before Luffy hit the ground. Zoro’s shitty week just got shittier. 

Unaware of the brewing storm, Bellamy grinned, “What do you think you’re doing, omega?”

“I’d ask you the same, but I don’t expect any answers from trash. Apologize to my captain. Now.”

“Your captain?” The Hyena laughed. The once-over he gave Zoro made his skin crawl. “An omega like you is wasted on a defect like him. How about you join my crew? I’ll be sure to treat you nice.”

Behind him, Nami was beseeching them to not start a fight, which unfortunately meant Bellamy noticed her next. His appreciative scrutiny turned lecherous as he shifted his attention to her.

“Two omegas? Your freak of a captain isn’t very smart for bringing you to town like this. There might be alphas with bad intentions.” 

Luffy was up and dusting off the wooden splinters that had rained upon him when the bar shattered. He stood between Bellamy and Zoro and calmly demanded, “You trying to take me on?” 

Bellamy didn’t acknowledge him. Still eyeing Zoro and Nami, his gaze turned more and more manic as the seconds ticked by. Zoro restrained himself. He wanted to wait for Luffy’s lead since it was Luffy who had been insulted initially, but Bellamy had to reopen his big mouth.

“I gotta say, it really grinds my gears to see two top-notch omegas wandering the seas without proper protection. Seeing as you’re unclaimed, I think I’ll take you. How about it, you two? Want me to show you a good time?”

Unlike Zoro, most people couldn’t read Luffy’s bubbling anger. His unimposing stature and perpetual cheerfulness belied the dangers masked by his silence. If they knew, they might not goad him nearly as much. 

A man in a fur coat and a woman with yellow hair flanked Bellamy. More members of the Hyena’s crew convened at the ready. Bolstered by their presence, Bellamy sidestepped Luffy completely. He brazenly got into Zoro’s personal space and made a point to sniff the air.

Bellamy announced to his leering crew, “Guys, I’ve taken a liking to these two. Let’s escort our new friends to the ship. But be careful of this omega. He smells… wild.”

Zoro flinched but did not move, for he was shielding Nami behind himself. He couldn’t control the shudder of disgust that ran down his back. Now that he knew his own true scent — because Luffy laid a claim on him — Bellamy’s choice of words sounded overtly deliberate. It was provocation, harassment, and humiliation rolled into one. Once upon a time, Zoro would not have cared, but as with many things in his life, Luffy changed that.

The thought of someone else, someone like Bellamy, laying a challenging claim on him was unacceptable.

Luffy must have sensed the anger churning within him. Somehow, Zoro’s growing displeasure seemed to have neutralized his own. He was almost calm when he said, “Zoro, this one is yours.”

Mindful of the pub, Zoro had the good manners to take the fight outside. Luffy ran double duty keeping Nami safe while barring Bellamy’s crew from assisting their captain.

The fight itself was one-sided and anticlimactic. Bellamy had a Devil Fruit, but Zoro had just learned how to cut steel, and he was particularly motivated. Drawing only Wado, Zoro executed a singular iai that stopped a bouncing Bellamy in his tracks. The bout was over so fast Bellamy had no chance to scent-compel him. 

In the end, they didn’t get any useful information about the sky island from their trip into town. Torn between fury at Bellamy’s insinuations and their own lack of success, Nami stomped ahead back to the Merry. 

Luffy and Zoro walked back in silence. Zoro had won the fight and defended his own honor and the honor of his captain, but he felt no happier for it. By the look on Luffy’s face, he was equally troubled. 

“Zoro,” Luffy asked once they’d cleared the perimeter of the town, his voice small and sad, “do you wish I could scent you, like an alpha?”

The ale Zoro drank churned in his stomach. “Of course not, Luffy! I don’t care about that.”

It wasn’t anyone’s fault that he couldn’t leave a part of himself on Luffy. He couldn’t even blame Bellamy for thinking he was unclaimed. Nothing he or Luffy could ever do would be enough to legitimize their bond in the eyes of society. As a pirate, he shouldn’t care one bit.

But he did. He cared a lot more than he’d expected to.

Zoro was mired in a helplessness that felt aggravatingly familiar. It reminded him too much of sensei, with tear tracks on his face, consoling him about dwelling over things neither of them could change. 

So no, he did not begrudge Luffy’s biology. He would rather take the blame entirely unto himself. Luffy shouldn’t be made to feel responsible for Zoro’s own insecurities.

Steeling himself for a lie he did not want to tell, Zoro stroked Luffy’s cheek and said, “I promise it’s not that, Luffy. I just have something on my mind. I’ll get over it soon. I swear.”

Luffy looked at him again — in that dissecting way he did these days — and did not push any further. But gullible as he was, Luffy showed no indication of whether he believed Zoro’s lie. He only offered patience, and it shamed Zoro like never before.

***

Their brief conversation at Jaya never saw a conclusion. As Zoro and every Straw Hat had come to learn, Luffy preferred action over long-winded heart-to-hearts. After they made their way skyward and new threats charged from all sides, Zoro proved his loyalty in the only way he knew how: by cutting down Luffy’s enemies.

In many ways, Skypiea turned out to be a necessary and much appreciated detour. The island existed as a space outside of time. Beyond the reaches of the World Government and shrouded in mysticism, it was easy for Zoro to believe their adventures on the sky island were as illusory as the clouds it sat on. 

Like fishmen, the residents of Skypiea have no secondary genders. Up there, Zoro could forget for a while the direction fate seemed so keen to push him toward. He felt lighter, like the burdens he kept placing upon himself could be forgotten if he so wished. Up there, a sword was a sword and his life was his own.

The thinner atmosphere also meant smells were fainter and true scents dissipated into the air a lot more easily. Without intensely strong alpha scents whirling about, Zoro’s long overworked instincts found a temporary respite. A new tranquility embraced him, and in just a few days, Zoro began to see the world on brighter terms.

He and Sanji fought a little less; Nico Robin’s already unobtrusive charcoal and orchid became downright difficult to detect at times. Up there, Zoro was forced to see his crew as they were, and while he’d never acknowledge it, their relationship became all the better for it. 

When Luffy toppled a god to save yet another civilization from ruin, the echoes of the golden bell of Shandora rang for what felt like weeks inside Zoro’s head. With every reverberation, Zoro climbed a little higher out of the quagmire of self-doubt.

At the celebratory banquet, Zoro’s vision had never been clearer. While the victors danced, firelight pranced about Luffy’s person, framing him in a golden nimbus. To Zoro, he was at once a reclaimed treasure and an unattainable dream. Zoro got drunk to the sight of him.

After the party drew to a reluctant close and everyone passed out where they lay, Zoro was overwhelmed with a desire to crawl to his sleeping captain. They hadn’t shared an intimate moment since Jaya. There had been too much violence and not enough honesty. But Zoro still couldn’t make himself move.

He excused his inaction on the fact Chopper had fallen asleep on his folded legs, and Chopper was a furry ball of warmth he didn’t want to set down. Zoro nursed the jar of distilled liquor Wiper had thrown at him. He felt drunker than he had in a very long time.

A slim figure sat down next to him. A breeze of charcoal and orchid came and went. “I’d call it a night if I were you,” Robin advised. “At high altitudes, it’s much easier to get drunk.”

Zoro grunted. “This liquor isn’t bad. Who knows when I’ll get to taste it again.”

“I guess I never imagined you of all people would require a dose of liquid courage.” 

Zoro could hear the smirk in her voice. He didn’t deny it. But he wondered how much she knew. Surely no one could see into his heart, see the shame and the guilt. 

The ringing of the golden bell refused to leave Zoro alone. 

“And I never imagined you for small talk,” he deflected.

“I am merely trying to thank you for saving my life.”

Zoro didn’t know what to do with that. Everyone on the crew had saved one another plenty of times, but no one was expected to express gratitude; it was just what they did. 

“…Is this how you say thanks? By ragging on me about my drinking?”

Robin laughed. She reached over to scratch behind Chopper’s left antler; the young doctor twitched.

“You'll have to excuse me. For those of us unfamiliar with self-expression, feelings like concern and apprehension can be difficult to convey. I sometimes worry that others may mistake them for disdain.”

Zoro put down his drink and didn’t say a word.

When Robin smiled, her eyes were tired but free from shadows. That freedom was probably what emboldened her to say, “Now then, may I have Chopper, please? I think you would be much happier holding someone else for the night."

His hands effectively forced, Zoro scowled at her but passed over the sleeping reindeer nonetheless. 

Under Robin’s watchful eyes, Zoro could go nowhere else but to his captain’s side. Luffy had passed out spread-eagle next to Usopp, with Nami’s shin thrown haphazardly across his face.

The alcohol blurred Zoro’s eyes and brain. He looked back and saw Robin was still tracking him diligently, so he moved Nami and Usopp aside and made a space for himself. Then he lay down and pulled his captain close.

Surrounded by allies and friends — family — Zoro breathed in and tried to let go. There was Luffy in his arms, alive and safe and resolute like a truth immutable. He reminded himself that there were certain things in life he could not change, but as always, he must fight tooth and nail for the few precious people he cared about. 

Luffy was the single best thing to ever happen to him. Should his omega instinct ever clamor for more, he would need to find a way to cut it out like a tumor and drown it in the sea. Nothing could tear him away from Luffy, least of all himself.

Assured in the strength of his own vow, Zoro could rest at last. Just before he surrendered to dreams with Luffy’s tresses tickling his nose, he saw Nico Robin had finally fallen asleep.

Chapter 4: Fourth Movement

Falling back to the earth was a rude awakening in every sense of the word. Gravity, atmospheric pressure, and scents of all kinds returned in a deluge of sensory overload. Meeting Aokiji was just the shit cherry on top.

A Domination-grade alpha boosted by a stupidly overpowered Logia-type Devil Fruit, Aokiji effortlessly disarmed them in seconds. They were dumbfounded and useless as Luffy and Robin got frozen and were nearly shattered. 

Frog in a well. Zoro was still a frog in a well. 

After they escaped yet again — narrowly, way too close for comfort — Luffy didn’t seem too bothered, but any semblance of self Robin had clawed back in Skypiea disappeared. She retreated behind her wall of cryptic smiles, and the crew walked on eggshells.

Sanji fussed, as did Nami and Chopper. But Robin claimed she was unharmed, and there was more urgent matter at hand. They did not feel safe to venture any further with Merry in the state that she was. Water Seven beckoned them with its grandiose fountains and promises of repair.

But that too went to shit. A hundred million Berry lost in the wind, Usopp left half dead in the middle of town, and a Persuasion-grade asshole with a long nose was telling them Merry could no longer be saved.

When it rained, it certainly poured. An unforgiving gale of failure and disappointment battered the crew toward collapse, and it kept going until it tore them asunder. 

After the wrecking of Franky House, after discovering Robin had gone missing, after Luffy announced the hardest decision he’d ever had to make, after Zoro thought they could not fall any lower, Usopp quit the crew by challenging Luffy to a duel.

The result of the duel was always going to be one-sided. No one was worried about who’d come out victorious, because the very occurrence of the fight ensured they would all be losers in the end. Zoro was just relieved that Usopp managed to deal some damage to Luffy; the pain from his injuries might be the only thing that could help Luffy feel marginally better about the blow he’d dealt to Usopp’s pride.

And pride was at the crux of it all. Usopp’s pride in his contributions to the crew, his pride as their unofficial shipwright, and his pride as an alpha — overshadowed and subsumed by the beasts who made up the Straw Hat crew. They’d neglected Usopp’s pride until it was too late.

After Luffy beat Usopp into the ground and their connection was severed for good, Sanji, Nami, and Chopper were beside themselves fearing for Usopp’s immediate safety. Zoro wasn’t as worried. Physical wounds would heal with time.

Selfishly, his heart broke for Luffy instead, whose strength had always been used in defense of his crew and now had to be turned against one of his best friends. 

Luffy remained strong despite his anguish, so Zoro remained his pillar of support despite his own agony. He was proud of Luffy’s resolve and willingness to do the necessary, even if it went against his every instinct.

“It’s heavy,” Luffy choked out through snot and tears when it was just the two of them. 

“I’m here,” Zoro offered. He left the rest unsaid.

Luffy did not go to him for comfort. Under Merry’s figurehead, soundless sobs wracked his shoulders with tremors. Zoro did not take offense. They bid a silent goodbye to Usopp and Merry, and the pain hurt so much like leaving Vivi behind, multiplied manifold.

Later, at the hotel where they’d decided to temporarily make camp, Zoro ignored the curious eyes of their remaining three crew mates and demanded a double room for himself and Luffy. 

The concierge looked to Nami — who literally held their purse strings — for approval. Still shaken from all that had transpired, Nami absentmindedly nodded. Her attention kept flitting back to the tangerine trees they’d dragged into the hotel lobby. The potted trees and the rest of their meager possessions were being guarded by Sanji, who hadn’t stopped chain smoking since they’d left the shore. In his mind’s eye, Zoro could see those same trees swaying in the background as the five of them swore their dreams on a barrel. He remembered Luffy’s declaration and his grin and the feeling of belonging that had cemented within him. Zoro wanted to scream.

Once the room key was in his hand, Zoro grabbed Luffy by the wrist and yelled back at the crew, “Luffy is going to sleep. I don’t want any of you bothering him until morning.”

Chopper whimpered, “But Zoro, what if…”

“No buts!” He scowled. Luffy hadn’t looked up at all.

Sanji stood. Flame and ozone danced within the hotel lobby in a reassuring eddy. The concierge immediately ducked under the front desk. “Go. Take care of him. I’ll handle everything else.”

Zoro had never seen Sanji use his alpha scent like that. He nodded in thanks and dragged Luffy away.

Zoro still hadn’t figured out what he wanted to say by the time he locked and bolted the door. Momentarily, he questioned whether he was the best candidate for a situation like this, but the thought of leaving such a fragile Luffy in anyone else’s care did not sit well with him either.

Their room had two twin beds, a simple chaise lounge, a wardrobe, and double doors that opened up to a small veranda. Scrambling for something to contribute, Zoro tried, “Do you want the doors open, Luffy? For some fresh air?”

He received two armfuls of a rubbery captain as a response. Luffy dug his head into Zoro’s neck to breathe in his scent with shuddering breaths. Zoro could do little else except hug him back as tight as humanly possible.

“I got you, Luffy. I got you,” he repeated.

His soft reassurances only made Luffy retreat further into himself, which hadn’t been the plan, but Zoro adapted. It took no effort at all to pick up Luffy and move him to a bed.

“Here. Lie down. I’ll go get some food.”

Before he could move even a step, Luffy’s arms extended to an exaggerated length and wrapped around Zoro’s torso at least six times.

“No!” Luffy yelled. “Zoro can’t go!”

“Luffy, I’m just go…”

“Not you!”

Luffy was beseeching him with unshed tears rolling in those glistening doe eyes, and with one look, Zoro understood everything Luffy did not know how to convey.

He sighed softly and took a seat on the bed. His arms were still awkwardly bound, preventing him from reaching out to touch. Zoro settled for clumsy words.

“Look at me, Luffy. I won’t ever leave you. Got that? Not me. No matter what happens. Never. Never. Never.”

He spoke it three times and cemented it into reality. Luffy seemed to believe him after a little consideration, and those rubbery arms loosened and retracted to their normal length.

Zoro held on and put them around his shoulders. He then embraced Luffy so that not even air remained between them and murmured into those wild curls he loved, “You’ve been stuck with me since you cut me down from that cross, Pirate King.”

Luffy shuddered all over. When he drew back, Zoro was relieved to see Luffy was no longer on the verge of crying, and that his look of determination had more or less returned.

Straw Hat Luffy held his swordsman’s stoic face in his palms. “Swear it,” he commanded. “Swear on your dream that you’ll never leave me alone.”

Zoro didn’t have the chance to feel surprised, because Luffy looked contrite as soon as the unreasonable demand left his mouth.

“No, wait! I didn’t mean…”

Zoro’s laughter interrupted Luffy’s stuttering apology. He always knew he had the Grand Line’s most selfish and impulsive captain, who never considered the consequences of his actions and who also happened to be an idiot, because how could Luffy not see that he already had Zoro’s life in his hands…

In lieu of a promise, Zoro opted to kiss the message into Luffy’s soul. He brought them together with one open palm behind Luffy’s neck, right above where the straw hat hung, and another pressed against Luffy’s speeding heart.

He made sure to be gentle, to patiently sear slow, soft kisses onto Luffy in a manner they’d never really had time for. The tenderness tugged Luffy in, and he fell forward into Zoro’s arms, the two of them joined by a timeless languidness.

Slowly, Zoro untied the straw hat and lowered Luffy down, head cushioned by his long fingers. Only then did he take leave of those lips. He was rewarded with the sight of Luffy’s glassy, unfocused eyes.

“You have me, Luffy,” Zoro said. “You’ll have all of me, for always.”

There was really nothing else to be said. Nothing more he could say. Fortunately, Luffy seemed to understand the weight of his declaration. 

Rubbery hands that can never be calloused grabbed Zoro by his ears and pulled him down into a harsh kiss. Zoro mused distractedly that this marked the first time Luffy had ever initiated intimacy. Until now, his usually bold captain seemed content to take a passive role during their physical encounters. His omega instincts immediately perked up at having the script flipped so suddenly. 

A not insignificant part of him hesitated at the growing fervor between them. Luffy was in a vulnerable mental state, and Zoro worried that he was taking advantage, even if his intention had been pure at the start.

While Zoro hesitated, Luffy came alive. Hungry hands yanked at Zoro’s shirt and tore the button on his pants. It didn’t take long for Zoro to follow Luffy’s lead. After all, who was he to deny his captain? 

Pausing every so often to make way for distracted kisses, Zoro assisted an overly eager Luffy in removing the remainder of their clothing. Pressed against Zoro’s many, many scars, Luffy’s bare skin felt jarringly hot and smooth.

The sight of each other’s nakedness was nothing new, but the undeniable arousal was a novel addition. Zoro at once felt too excited and too nervous, and he had to drum up an exceptional amount of courage before taking a peek down below.

His and Luffy’s respective hardness rested against each other, occasionally twitching with the ebb and flow of desire. They were of a similar length, Zoro noted curiously, but his was darker in color and slightly wider around the base. 

Luffy grumbled, “Don’t stare at it.”

“Sorry, I…” Zoro looked up and suddenly couldn’t finish his sentence. As keen as Luffy was, his cheeks were flushed crimson, redder than Zoro had ever seen them, and he couldn’t meet Zoro’s eyes. 

Lust pooled in Zoro’s lower belly like liquid mercury. His mouth ran dry at the sight of his precious, adorable, apparently shy captain. A momentary madness consumed him; he had to know — what else made Luffy blush? Zoro decided to carry out an experiment, and the answer he got was, almost everything.

It was Zoro’s teeth, when he bit down on Luffy’s neck where one’s strongest scent gland would be and nibbled and pulled while Luffy wriggled and panted.

It was Zoro’s hands, roughened from training and battle, tracing a map of possession over Luffy’s chest and arms and thighs, pinching and kneading a patternless masterpiece only his mind can see.

It was Zoro’s voice, muttering unthinkingly as he made his way down Luffy’s body, promising forever and devotion and worship and love and so much more that could never ever be put into words.

It was Zoro’s mouth, hot and hungry as it branded Luffy from head to toe, finally arriving at the middle to take Luffy into itself.

Luffy shouted a soundless scream as he buckled against the sword-hardened hands holding him down. Zoro didn’t hesitate to swallow him whole, to feel the soft glide of Luffy’s sex against his tongue. He drank Luffy in like a tankard of sweet mead and the more he sucked the more he salivated at the lewdness of it all.

In all honesty, Zoro wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. He wasn’t even particularly focused on Luffy’s pleasure, obeying instead, for the moment, only his own impulses to take. Luffy didn’t make it easy for him either, as he wouldn’t stop wriggling. He was incoherent now, making noises that could’ve been encouragement or protest, but the way his fingers clawed desperately at the bedsheet told Zoro everything. 

When Luffy was close, he started moaning Zoro’s name, and only Zoro’s name, over and over in a litany of desire that drove Zoro to the precipice.

He had to let go of Luffy’s dewing cock and clamber up to muffle the invocations of his name with his lips. “You’re going to be the death of me,” he groused.

The kiss was rough and fast, not unlike the hand Zoro wrapped around them both. With every pull, Luffy would keen sharply into his mouth, and Zoro couldn’t tell what turned him on more — the warmth of Luffy’s hardness pressed against his own or the sound of Luffy begging him for something the younger man had no words for.

When it got to be too much, when they were both too overwhelmed for the coordination that kissing required, Luffy buried his nose into Zoro’s clavicle and gasped his release. Zoro finished to the sensation of Luffy pulsating in his palm.

After, he collapsed on top of Luffy with no intention to move. They lay like that as their breathing returned to normal and the stickiness between them grew uncomfortable. Zoro really didn’t want to walk to the communal washroom naked, so he grabbed the pitcher of water left by the bed and wiped them down half-heartedly with his bandana. 

Neither of them was in a hurry to get dressed or move. They stayed together in that tiny twin bed, skin to skin, hand on hand. Content with silence, they said nothing for a long time. But Luffy wouldn’t cease turning this way and that. Zoro couldn’t tell whether he was still shy or just trying to get comfortable.

Finally, he thought it wise to warn, “Are you trying to start something again with all this squirming?”

Luffy stopped. His grin was more than a little devious. Not shy then. 

“Just checking,” he chirped.

“Checking for what?”

“If that was a fluke.”

Zoro chuckled. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll show you it wasn’t.”

The deviousness turned sheepish but the smile stayed. Luffy snuggled close, so close they couldn’t look at each other and his nose had to be firmly pasted to Zoro’s neck. 

Then, Luffy’s hands started to wander. They stroked up and down Zoro’s arms and shoulders, across his chest, and down his abdominal. They were careful to stay above the waist, but his featherlight touches tickled and provoked. Zoro did his best to stay still and let Luffy take his time; the other man’s purposeful touches were fanning an ember that was already eager to grow.

“Luffy,” Zoro said with great restraint, “at least look at me while you feel me up.”

His captain obeyed, and Zoro wished he hadn’t said anything because he found he couldn’t read Luffy again. Those eyes seemed to strip him to the bone, but Zoro couldn’t tell what Luffy was thinking at all. 

“What do you see, Captain?” he asked.

Luffy frowned, bemused, and answered, “My Zoro, duh.”

Zoro was filled with both gladness and despair. 

“And don’t you forget that,” he said instead. “I promise. You’ll never be alone while I’m alive.”

Luffy exhaled and nodded. “I know, Zoro. It’s a lot. But I know it’ll get better. It just really sucks right now.” 

There was grief in Luffy’s voice, but some of his confidence had returned. Relieved, Zoro hoped he had something to do with that. He never again wanted to see Luffy lose faith in himself.

There was just one other thing guaranteed to raise his captain’s spirits.

“How about I go find us some dinner? Any requests?”

“No…” Luffy whined. He flipped them so he could rest firmly on top of Zoro and prevent him from moving. “You’ll just get lost.”

“Will not!”

Luffy squeezed him tight. His voice dipped to a low murmur that had an unforeseen effect on Zoro’s blood pressure, saying, clear as a summer day, “Zoro can’t go anywhere right now. Zoro still smells like sex."

Zoro choked on his own saliva. “…What?”

In what felt like a deliberate provocation, Luffy inhaled until he filled his lungs. Whatever he smelled instantly shrank his pupils. Zoro, on the other hand, could hardly breathe. The commanding, measured way in which Luffy spoke hit him squarely in the gut.

“I can’t let Zoro go anywhere. Zoro smells like… need. Like you want to be filled up inside. People will get the wrong idea.”

Once Zoro’s brain functions returned, he ruthlessly pinched Luffy’s cheeks, growling, “Luffy, you can’t just say things like that.”

In the faded lights of the room, Luffy’s chocolate brown eyes darkened to a pitch black. 

“Why not? It’s true.”

Zoro wondered where that shy, inexperienced Luffy from an hour ago went. It seemed he might have unleashed a beast. 

His musing had to wait. He wasn’t the only one affected by this exchange. Luffy suddenly surged forward and kissed him again, clumsy yet faultlessly enthusiastic. 

Just as swiftly, Luffy pulled back to ask, “Is this okay?”

Zoro was close to breaking down in giggles. If Luffy was self-conscious about technique, then he was worried over nothing. It wasn’t as though Zoro had anyone to compare him to. He just wanted Luffy on him; little else mattered.

They fell back into a feverish exchange of kisses. It didn’t take long for both of them to get hard again. Grinding their groins together, they experimented with pleasure, their movements more sure the second time around.

As their limbs tangled and tongues mingled, Zoro felt an acute emptiness growing inside of him. The opening beneath his balls twitched. A wetness he’d never felt before began to swell at the entrance there.

Luffy broke off to gasp for air. “Zoro, you…”

Zoro clamped a hand over Luffy’s mouth. “Shut up. Just… shut up.”

Zoro knew full well he might burst into flames if Luffy spoke the obvious out loud. Ignoring it was clearly the best course of action at the moment.

It was fortunate that Zoro had no plans to venture any further. Their time alone came to an abrupt end. A series of loud knocks shook their door frame, and a frantic Nami could be heard calling, “Luffy! Luffy! Get out here!”

“Dammit! I told them not to bother you tonight!”

“Maybe it’s an emergency.” Despite saying so, the preoccupied way Luffy was licking Zoro’s neck gave no indication of urgency.

Nami knocked again. “It’s Robin!” Both the name and the escalating desperation in Nami’s voice made them stop and pay attention. “Come out, Luffy, please! The townspeople! They’re saying Robin assassinated Iceburg!”

***

Fire.

They were surrounded by fire from all sides.

And smoke. And a building about to collapse.

Iceburg was wrapped in bandages and bleeding, the rope guy from Galley-La could hardly crawl, and Chopper and Nami were glaringly open targets. Meanwhile, CP9 stood like an impenetrable wall in front of Robin. Luffy and Zoro watched helplessly as Robin severed ties and disappeared out the window.

“Give up on her,” the long-nosed alpha said in response to their useless wails of protest. “If you run away now, you might still survive.”

Increasingly hot flames nipped at Zoro’s back. Luffy was facing down all four of CP9’s Persuasion-grade alphas alone because Zoro went and got himself injured already. He’d underestimated their strengths, and it may prove fatal. 

Fact of the matter was, they had been on the defensive this entire time, one surprise following another dogpiled on them until they neared suffocation. They were caught off guard by the reveal of CP9, by Robin’s departure, by a supposed shipwright boasting his malice while transmogrifying into a terrifying man-leopard hybrid. The facade of Water Seven had been washed away and replaced by horror after horror at mortifying speed. Zoro and Luffy were simply too stunned to act. And they were paying the price for it. 

The sight of Robin turning her back on them was seared into Zoro’s brain. His instinctual reaction was rage. And it was the rage that finally made him realize he had at some point wholeheartedly accepted her into the crew. Charcoal and orchid had become indispensable facets of the Going Merry, and Zoro did not want to board any new ship that didn’t have mysterious hands sprouting from its decks and walls.

Letting the rage drive him, Zoro gripped Wado Ichimonji and yelled in desperation, “Get up, Nami! Chopper, take the rope guy and Iceburg and run as fast as you can!”

Nami was ashen. A pronounced edge of apprehension tainting her citrus and summer storm. The room wasn’t large. Long-nose heard Zoro and smirked. “You can run, girl,” he taunted, “and we won’t chase you, but you’ll have to leave Iceburg behind.”

“No way in hell!” Paulie roared.

Paulie was brave, but Rob Lucci’s hybrid form loomed over them as a reminder of their differences in strength. In contrast, Luffy’s lean figure looked like a lone sapling left unprotected in a hurricane. 

CP9 had all the advantages thus far, which meant the Straw Hats – or what was left of them – hadn’t a second to waste. Zoro was bleeding from his side, but he’d been through much worse. He and Luffy together should buy the others enough time to get away. They had to focus on escape for now. There was time to regroup later and fight another day.

Luffy, though, had other priorities.

“Robin! Robin, come back!” Impulsive, single-minded, and headstrong, Straw Hat Luffy cared little for planning ahead or cohesive responses. He darted once more for the open window where Robin had gone. He was fast, but CP9’s specialities included speed. Rob Lucci blocked Luffy’s way and his beastly claw shot forth as fast as a bullet to pierce Luffy straight through his middle. 

“Get away from him!” Zoro roared.

The sight of Lucci’s claw protruding out of Luffy’s bloody back pitched Zoro into a hitherto unknown level of outrage. He could no longer feel the sharp pain in his side; his body chose to focus all his energy on sending a flying slash toward the leopard asshole’s neck.

It was no use. Long-nose casually stepped forward, Iron Body already activated, and Zoro’s best slash bounced off as inconsequentially as a cotton ball. 

It was at this point that Long-nose lost patience with them.

“We’ve given you more than enough chances to run. Yet you insist on annoying us. Enough of this, Omega. Stab Paulie through the heart.”

Parsley and jasmine were not the true scent Zoro would have expected from a shipwright, or a government spy. They also hit unexpectedly heavy; promises of pure pleasure danced before Zoro, just waiting for him to give in. 

In terms of power, Long-nose smelled on par with Sanji, which meant Zoro was more than prepared. He recalled sensei’s training and the successes that carried him safely across the East Blue and commanded his body to disregard Long-nose’s scent as quotidian white noise undeserving of his attention. Coupled with his honest belief that Long-nose could never best Luffy in a fight, Zoro effortlessly denied the man’s command.

“You’re going to have to do better than that,” he mocked in retaliation.

Long-nose frowned. He couldn’t mask the torrent of fury that swept over his scent as he hissed with disgust, “You’re one of those omegas.”

Zoro drew Sandai Kitetsu. He wanted blood and there was no better weapon for the task. With two swords in hand, he charged forth again. He had successfully cut Mr. 1, which meant he should be able to cut through Iron Body too. He just had to disregard the overwhelming dread and focus.

Before he could take more than two steps, however, Rob Lucci threw a bleeding Luffy at him, and he jumped back in order to avoid nicking his captain.

Rob Lucci sneered, “Pathetic, Kaku. Bested by a pirate.” He closed the distance between him and Zoro. “An omega that can’t obey is a waste of oxygen. On your knees.”

The command barreled into him, carried by gunpowder and pine. Zoro’s knees buckled. 

Rob Lucci was clearly stronger than Kaku, stronger than Sanji, even. Zoro couldn’t discern whether his Devil Fruit made a difference in his power potentials, and he couldn’t exactly spare the mental capacity to let his mind meander. 

Zoro fought him hard. His willpower was driven to its limits in a simultaneous battle against the alpha’s authority and his own tired body’s desire to give in. Euphoria awaited him at the other end of obedience — relief from all the stress and pains and disappointments that had been piling up since they’d landed in Water Seven. Gunpowder and pine promised rest and respite and the freedom to forget for a little while.

A warm hand seized him by the ankle. The familiarity of Luffy’s touch shocked clarity into Zoro’s rapidly muddling brain. 

How could he forget? How could he want to forget, when not even two hours ago they were tangled up in each other and Zoro was the happiest he’d ever been? He didn’t need the comfort of an alpha; he already had Luffy.

Perspective, Zoro thought, he just needed a little perspective. Despite the intense barrage of Rob Lucci’s true scent, the alpha was still only Persuasion-grade, and if Zoro was able to deny Ace for up to fourteen seconds, Rob Lucci was nothing in comparison.

He channeled his focus onto the fingers around his ankle, on memories of their warmth skimming across his bare shoulder blade, on their eagerness as they kissed desperation into each other. Do it for Luffy, he told himself. Luffy would not want him to obey this bastard. Luffy would not want him to obey anyone.

Thoughts of Luffy's disapproval kept Rob Lucci's compulsion at bay. Victory was Zoro's once more. His vision cleared, and the mist of temptation evaporated. A slightly pale Luffy smile at him in relief. He nodded back in gratitude.

A rising cat-like growl reverberated within the leopard-man’s throat. Zoro had a feeling he wasn’t used to being denied, and by a mere omega no less. Strong alphas typically meant big egos, and when insulted, they tended to lash out. Zoro took a defensive stance in preparation.

But a physical attack did not come. Oddly flippant, Rob Lucci grinned, baring his fangs. He drawled, “You seem quite pleased with yourself, pleading loyalty to a defect. I look forward to your despair, Omega. Cut down your captain.”

At first Zoro didn’t understand. There was no reason for the CP9 agent to waste his energy attempting another compulsion that was sure to fail. Then, he smelled the change in the air.

Still gunpowder and pine, still at once pungent and woodsy, but whereas it had been leaden and overbearing, now the alpha’s scent simply felt undeniable. He could no longer sense the loving touch of Luffy’s hand; it was as though some invisible being had gripped him by the ankles and pulled him into a bottomless sea. 

Reacting on pure instinct, Zoro immediately fought back. He realized he had, at max, fourteen seconds, because Rob Lucci was really Domination-grade, just like Ace, and the bastard had been hiding it, just as Ace had warned him. He let his guard down again, and he could only hope that Luffy was able to ignore the hole in his stomach for long enough to stop him.

Somewhere, someone was shouting. Their voice should have been a familiar salve upon his soul, but gunpowder and pine stood like a merciless barricade between Zoro and everything else. 

Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu were cold in his grip. The swords were shouting at him too, sending wordless reprimands that he couldn’t understand, preoccupied as he was by his inner omega, who was hopping with excitement at the promise of obedience. 

Zoro was tired. He had just fought off two high-level Persuasion compulsions in rapid succession. His stubborn mind was weary and ready to give in to the deafening needs of his body. No matter how much he screamed at himself to drop the swords, his hands would not listen.

He wished he could apologize to Luffy out loud. He wished they’d never gotten out of bed. He wished he was stronger. Fourteen seconds would not be enough. 

Zoro finally fell. Gunpowder and pine took hold of his senses and threw them into a cage. He was aware, just barely, of raising his swords at the bewildered rubber man still sprawled at his feet. He wasn’t all that conscious of swinging at Luffy, but two strong hands around his wrists alarmed him to the fact that his captain stopped him in time. The command was still active, however, so Zoro kept trying, and with every strike that failed to make contact, his omega wailed at the thought of failing the alpha. 

The passing of time did not register with him. The ever-increasing agitation in the air informed Zoro that he was taking too long, that Rob Lucci was not getting what he wanted, because even severely hurt, Luffy was strong.

A fresh wave of Rob Lucci’s true scent flared out; annoyance penetrated the fog in Zoro’s brain.

“This is a waste of time," the alpha growled. "If you can’t defeat your captain, then spare us the trouble and kill yourself.”

An order was given, and Zoro's omega registered it with glee. Zoro would obey. This command, at least, would be much easier to carry out.

Zoro somehow knew it would have to be Wado, who had always been more friend than weapon. He dropped Sandai Kitetsu and turned Wado Ichimonji on himself. She would make sure he doesn’t suffer, and it’d give him and Kuina something to fight about in the afterlife.

Wado’s sharp edge was cold but comforting against the skin of his neck. His eyes fluttered close. Rob Lucci had promised despair, but he was wrong. Zoro was too numb to feel anything but contentment; the despair was to be Luffy's burden.

In the end — Zoro thought rather hazily — he was still just an omega after all.

“ZORO, STOP!”

The barricade of gunpowder and pine shattered like brittle glass. Something unpleasant inside his mind retreated back into shadows, and another presence stormed in and unfurled its might. Zoro submitted to the new command without hesitation. His omega wept at the pleasure that came with obedience, uncaring of the source of the compulsion. An unfamiliar scent embraced him, one that he was certain he had never encountered before — the pure and simple fragrance of sunbaked earth. 

“Put away your swords,” the new alpha said, and Zoro did as ordered. Then the scent began to pull away, fading to a respectful distance to hover in a fierce protectiveness that Zoro could almost taste.

Head finally clear, Zoro opened his eyes. His swords were safely sheathed at his side. Something tickled his throat, and when he brushed at it, his fingers came away blood-stained.

A nonsensical scene greeted him.

Luffy stood between him and CP9, back straight despite the stomach wound that still bled. Kalifa, Blueno, and Kaku were on their knees, necks bared and visibly trembling. Rob Lucci alone remained upright, but Zoro could see that even standing took a toll on the leopard-man.

“I said, DOWN!” Luffy stomped a sandled foot. 

The Domination-grade true scent that rippled throughout the room was irrefutable. Blueno whimpered and bowed his head so hard it dented the ground. Kalifa immediately vomited.

“Luffy!” Zoro gasped. 

To his left, Iceburg and Paulie had scuttled to the farthest wall; they held onto each other and pointedly avoided looking at Luffy. In direct contrast, Chopper and Nami were sitting on the floor, aghast, but unable to tear their eyes away from their captain.

“What are you?” Rob Lucci asked through gritted fangs. He was shaking.

“I’m Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will become the King of the Pirates. And I will destroy you for what you just tried to do.”

Rob Lucci glared at Zoro. “So that’s it? You’ve claimed this one? He doesn’t smell anything like you.”

“He will,” Luffy stated.

Zoro still didn’t quite understand what was happening. He just knew he’d never heard anything as beautiful as those two simple words.

The leopard’s growl grew oppressively loud. “And how long before your omega’s mind breaks if we continue to issue competing commands at him? Would you like to find out?”

Deep down, Zoro knew it didn’t work like that, but the strength of Rob Lucci’s compulsion was not easily forgotten. He instinctively flinched when, frustrated and humiliated, Lucci leveled another command at him: “Omega, cease breathing.”

Zoro heard the order, but they were just words, a meaningless collection of syllables that passed clean through him. Gunpowder and pine did not reach him. Sunbaked earth formed an impenetrable wall of protection around Zoro’s person. 

Somewhere in his peripheral, Nami’s sob sounded like exultation and relief. Iceburg and Paulie were back on their feet, their fear replaced by awe. Luffy’s alpha scent was soothing and placating one way, mollifying his friends and allies, but toward his foes, it charged relentlessly forward and left no room for parley.

Zoro wanted to laugh until he cried. Luffy was an alpha, and he was strong, stronger than any alpha they’d encountered thus far, strong enough to shield omegas and weaker alphas from a pissed-off Domination-grade enemy. Zoro wanted to laugh and then kick himself. He should’ve known — he should’ve expected as much from the future King of the Pirates.

Rob Lucci was finally acknowledging the new reality that perhaps he wasn’t the top alpha around. He was, however, still the wiliest. Among CP9, he was the only one capable of resisting Luffy, even if he strained against it with all his might.

“You may be strong, but how long have you been suppressing your alpha? Years and years, I bet. You can’t control it, can you? You’re weakening as we speak.”

Zoro couldn’t tell how much of that accusation was bullshit, but the suggestion alone seemed enough. Luffy flinched, and that was twice in one day where he doubted himself.

It was only for a brief second, no longer than the blink of an eye, but Rob Lucci broke the stalemate and dashed forward to punch the existing wound in Luffy’s stomach. 

The attack landed despite Luffy dodging at the last moment. It sent Luffy flying backwards, and Zoro rushed to catch him. When he looked up, Rob Lucci was already out the window with Kalifa and Blueno over his spotted shoulders. Kaku followed closely behind. 

They didn’t bother to give chase. Too much had happened in too short a time. The flames were growing higher; Zoro could hardly care. Chopper rushed to their side to inspect Luffy’s injury. Nami hovered at arm’s-length; Zoro had never seen her so bereft of direction. Her hesitancy led Zoro to question his own composure. 

Safely ensconced within his arms, Luffy pouted. “Sorry, Zoro. I couldn’t let you die like that.”

Before Zoro could respond to that ridiculous apology, Iceburg limped closer and warned, “We should leave this place before it comes down on us all. Straw Hat, you have my regret for my earlier antagonism. After we find shelter, will you grant me a moment of your time?”

The suggestion was reasonable, but the respect was new. A Permeation-grade alpha like Iceburg metaphorically bending the knee to a Domination wasn’t unusual, but seeing it happen in real time to Luffy was definitely a kick in the back. 

Things were different now, Zoro realized. Even if he didn’t want to ask questions, even if his own faith in Luffy would never waver, all of his preconceived notions about his captain, his crew, and even himself had changed in the span of an evening. 

He tightened his hold. Change was fine. Change brought progress. Change made him stronger. They’d have to adapt and learn and be patient with one another. Scent-null, omega, or alpha, Luffy was his. The claim had been declared; their bond was forged. He finally found someone to tie his life to, and he would never let anything tear them apart.

Chapter 5: Fifth Movement

Zoro considered himself relatively uncomplicated. Before Luffy, a tankard of ale and a passenger ship toward any direction were the driving forces of his life. After Luffy, he discovered he was capable of thornier emotions, but in so many other ways, his path became more straightforward: Go where Luffy goes; cut down whoever stands in Luffy’s way; hone his skills by protecting his crew. From aimless to content, from unburdened to attached, Zoro generally had few complaints.

Of all people, he didn’t expect Luffy to bring a wrinkle of this magnitude into his life. Of all people, he didn’t expect Luffy to ignore the issue — ignore him — instead of confronting it head on.

And Luffy was clearly ignoring the matter, because while Zoro, Nami, Chopper, the remnants of Galley-La, hooligans from the Franky Family, and even old lady Kokoro with her clearly psychotic grandchild and pet rabbit were safe and dry inside the runaway train, Monkey D. Luffy chose to sit atop Rocketman’s nose, completely exposed to the elements.

Nami looked askance at Zoro, like she expected him to be mad.

He wasn’t all that angry, so he didn’t understand why she eyed him like that. Irritated? Sure. Once the adrenaline from another brush with death dissipated and Zoro fully digested what had occurred, he was definitely irritated at Luffy for lying by omission — because Zoro had been determined to love Luffy for who he’d thought he was; Zoro had even agonized over it, had lost sleep over their biological incompatibility. Now that it was apparently all for moot, he didn’t know how to feel, and that was a little irritating.

He couldn’t even grill Luffy about anything because Luffy would rather be buffeted by the full force of Aqua Laguna than talk to him. Therefore, he was now also irritated at Luffy for being evasive. Their captain was normally straightforward to the point of hurtfully blunt, but right now he was effectively running away from the problem at hand. So, yeah, Zoro was irritated, and there was nothing he could do about it.

But he wasn’t mad. And there was a difference.

The wind kept howling, and angry waves crashed against the train unceasingly. Their spontaneous band of rescuers occupied themselves with idle chatter, occasionally picking inconsequential arguments to distract one another from the apprehension that hung over the assembled. They left Zoro to irritate by himself in a corner. He wasn’t sure what sort of energy he gave off, but he hoped it was an unpleasant one.

Unfortunately, his glower had no effect on the child.

Chimney popped up between his knees. “Who’re ya growling at? There’s nobody here. Is it a ghost? Are you fighting a ghost?”

“Fu… Buzz off,” Zoro said.

The child clambered onto his left knee. “Why is big brother outside? Is he also fighting a ghost?”

“He’s being an idiot. And I said to buzz off, kid.”

The child did not buzz off. Her rabbit invited itself onto his right knee.

“He looked sad when he went up there. Are idiots always sad?”

“What makes you think he was sad?” Zoro wondered if Luffy was thinking about Usopp again. A lot had happened since the crew split up, and for a few hours they’d been too busy with one crisis after another to think about Usopp. Now that they were forced to be still, he wondered if Luffy was sinking back into self-recrimination. He wondered if Luffy needed him.

The child shrugged. “Dunno. Big brother looked like he really didn’t want to go out there. It’s wet and cold.”

“Well, he chose to. Nobody forced him.”

Something incredibly hard hit Zoro on the head and made him screech. When Zoro stopped seeing stars, he could hear Nami yell, “You’re the idiot! Luffy’s out there alone in a storm because if he was inside, half of these nitwits would pee their pants from fear. He’s trying to protect everyone.”

“Who are you calling a nitwit, you shameless wench!” Paulie yelled from the other side of the train.

“And we would not piss ourselves!” one of Franky’s underlings scoffed. He was instantly undermined by the women with square-shaped afros, who said in unison, “No, we totally would.”

Zoro looked around him, really looked. Chopper, the rabbit, and the child were obviously out of the equation, and Kokoro’s true scent was extremely faint, likely due to her age. Everyone else, however, was either an omega like himself or a Permeation-grade alpha. Paulie was possibly the strongest alpha present, and Zoro remembered exactly how he‘d fared back in Iceburg’s mansion when Luffy initially let his powers run loose.

He hadn’t considered at all that Luffy simply might’ve been trying to be thoughtful.

There was no other word for it — Nami looked disappointed.

Kokoro chugged her wine. The tension in the train seemingly had no effect on her. “I’ve been wanting to ask, Straw Hat didn’t smell like that when we first met. Talk about a surprise! He must be strong to suppress it so completely. Why doesn’t he just cool it again and come inside?”

Kokoro brought up another point that Zoro had given zero thought to, preoccupied as he’d been with his irritation, but Nami’s expression showed no surprise. She’d been pondering the same question, and the fact that she hadn’t bothered Luffy about it meant she’d already reached a conclusion: Luffy couldn’t suppress it anymore.

Nobody answered Kokoro, but the silence alone was enough. “Oh,” Kokoro reflected, and let the matter rest. Nami sighed.

Ever the pragmatist, Nami brandished an odd-looking staff Zoro had never seen before like a threat and asked, “Zoro, I get you’re beyond angry with him, but is moping going to help?”

Zoro scoffed. “I’m not angry. I’m irritated.”

“Bro…” another Franky Family lackey said unsolicited, “that’s totally your angry face. You tore down our HQ with that face. You broke, like, so many people’s bones with that face.”

“Nobody asked you!” Zoro snarled. The effect was possibly dampened by the two smiling creatures still sitting on his knees. At Nami, he yelled, “I said I’m not angry! I’m mildly irritated!”

Nami sighed like she was losing patience with him, but her tone softened. “Hey, I’m on your side. This hasn’t been fair to you at all. You’re completely entitled to some angry throttling. But I also think—”

“I said I’m not angry! I’m the first mate! I take my captain as he is. I could never be angry with him. You should be angry with him. Usopp should be angry with him. I don’t get to be angry with him!”

His fiercest reproach elicited zero reaction from Nami, who, in front of a bunch of people whose names Zoro didn’t even know, went on to explain plainly, “It doesn’t work like that, Zoro. I have no reason to be angry with him. Because I don’t want him the way you do.”

The collective intake of air was loud enough to temporarily drown out the howl of ravaging waves. Apprehension about the upcoming battles was immediately replaced by unrestrained curiosity. Every pair of eyes locked in on Zoro, and the glint in them portended nothing good.

Luckily, a deadly storm was upon them. There was a commotion outside as the larger Franky Family members started freaking out about an incoming wave. Luffy hung over the side of the train, opened a window and peeked in, calling, “Zoro, I need you to fire off a cannon.”

There was no push behind the command, but Zoro got up immediately, his body long accustomed to following Luffy without question.

Inquisitive eyes brazenly oscillated between Luffy and Zoro, who did everything in his power to keep his expression neutral. Despite giving the horde nothing, Zoro could still feel their giddy, expectant stares on his back as he climbed out the window.

Outside, the insane strength of Aqua Laguna nearly knocked him overboard. Luffy steadied him with a hand on his bicep, and in the process, re-entered Zoro’s personal space. Zoro was wholly unprepared for the unimpeded force of sunbaked earth overtaking his entire being, lighting up every neuron, and drowning out the discomforts of the cold, wet storm. Luffy had to catch him with both hands when he swayed a second time.

“Sorry, Zoro! I’m not doing it on purpose!”

Zoro’s head spun. His biceps tingled where Luffy was touching him. Logically, he knew this was neither the time nor place, but he wanted to do nothing except dig his nose into Luffy’s collarbone and melt into him. Staying upright took as much effort as it did to resist Kaku’s compulsion. And Luffy wasn’t even trying anything.

“Do you… could you tone it down, Luffy?” Zoro panted into the wind and the rain. His words surely slurred.

His captain pouted. “I’m really trying! Is this better?”

It was, but barely. Zoro still couldn’t focus, and he couldn’t channel any strength into his grip, much less fire off a cannon with his swords. His body had never reacted in this way to an alpha before — so utterly defenseless and completely unwilling to fight.

There was no time. A titan of a wave was bearing down on them. Nothing the Franky Family fired at it even slowed it down a smidgeon. There was only one way forward. Everything else could be dealt with later.

Zoro tried not to sound like he was begging. He tried not to sound like he was starving for it. “Luffy, just compel me. Please. Compel me to fight.”

The pout somehow grew. His captain looked like a kicked puppy, and the sight was so aggravatingly endearing that Zoro leaned in and kissed all his irritation into the alpha’s receptive lips. More than one onlooker whistled.

He withdrew from the kiss just as quickly. The words he didn’t want to acknowledge broke through in a fury: “Nami’s right and I’m angry but I also can’t think straight around you. I’ll kick your ass later. Right now, you need to compel me to fight. I give you permission. Just do it.”

Luffy didn’t look happy. “Fine… but you’re not allowed to lose yourself in it. Got it? Stay Zoro and take down Aqua Laguna with me.”

It was a command like none Zoro had ever experienced. He knew it worked because strength immediately returned to him, and his body was able to focus on the impending threat ahead. But unlike every instance before, Zoro lost no time. He remained completely aware as he stood side by side with Luffy, as they cleaved a blast into the air as powerful as three hundred cannons. A path opened up within Aqua Laguna, and the Rocketman was through.

With the task completed, the compulsion was fulfilled, and Zoro’s inner omega preened. Again, something was different. Whereas obedience typically brought relief and comfort, as it did with sensei and Ace, obeying Luffy roused a distinctly disparate sensation, one that Zoro recently experienced in an unremarkable Water Seven hotel room.

Pure pleasure bled into every finger and every toe. Uncaring of his precarious foothold, Zoro collapsed into Luffy with a poorly concealed moan.

Luffy was not helping matters. His arms were steel around Zoro’s torso, and his palms pressed searingly hot against Zoro’s back. He murmured into Zoro’s ear, voice quivering with pride, “That was amazing, Zoro. You are amazing.”

Zoro realized he was hard, but he couldn’t tell if it’d happened before or because of the praise. Luffy’s breath was like a brand upon his neck, and he wasn’t pushing Zoro away. If anything, Luffy couldn’t seem to stop either, as evidenced by his wayward hands and the way he kept whispering “You’re so good for me” into Zoro’s hungry mouth.

Voices were shouting, and it was unbelievably easy to parry them as meaningless noise. There was nothing as important in the world as the rush of Luffy feeding validation and approval into him through filthy, lascivious kisses. It cured Zoro’s irritation and warmed him despite the storm. He never wanted to stop.

Eventually, reindeer infiltrated their bubble, and Luffy was pulling back and pushing him toward a burly Chopper, who was cajoling, “C’mon, Zoro. You’ll fall into the sea like this.”

He didn’t want to go. A beet-red Luffy placated him with a lingering swipe of the thumb against his inner wrist. It was just enough to make Zoro stop protesting, and the further Chopper pulled him away, the easier it was to think clearly again.

By the time he returned inside the train, Zoro was completely aware of himself and definitely aware of the gawkers and their blatant smirks. He pointedly avoided their nosiness, ducked into a corner with the dry clothes Nami threw at him, and got changed.

He was still ma—, irritated, at Luffy, but aggravation was hard to hold on to when his body yet tingled in the afterglow of their exchange. Physical separation helped; though Zoro was quickly realizing that Luffy’s hold on him was becoming inextricable, and given the tiniest opportunity, he would undoubtedly find a reason to forgive Luffy, no matter the trespass.

It was helpful to be aware of his own weakness and know it wasn’t a battle that could be won anytime soon. For the remainder of their sojourn into Enies Lobby, Zoro made sure to avoid his captain. Rescuing Robin was his foremost priority; he couldn’t allow anyone — even Luffy — to distract him from it.

Eventually, Rocketman caught up with the sea train, and they were reunited with the errant cook and what appeared to be… Usopp?

Right away, Zoro found it difficult to get physically close to their long-nosed former companion. For one, he reeked of so much perfume that he must have used up every bottle Vivi had gifted Nami. Second, despite the little ruse to disguise his scent, it was painfully obvious who it was behind the mask, and Usopp’s insistence on keeping up the pretense gave Zoro a terrible case of second-hand embarrassment.

Of course, Luffy and Chopper didn’t suspect a thing. But when Luffy forgot himself in his excitement and went to admire the King of Snipers up close, Usopp and Sanji got their first whiff of Luffy’s true scent.

If they had questions, they didn’t ask them. There was only the dawning realization of their worldview turned upside down, and Zoro was fascinated by the differences in their reactions.

On one hand, Zoro had never seen the cook so relieved. It was as though Sanji had all his prayers answered in an instant. The blond lit a cigarette and took a long, slow drag, at which time the tension he’d been holding in his shoulders as the crew’s strongest alpha bled away in seconds. The tightly wound scent of flame and ozone flowed more freely than ever before. Zoro had a feeling that if Luffy asked, Sanji would have gone to his knees and bared his neck in half a second to pledge his loyalties, just like the alpha packs in the olden days.

On the other hand, Usopp — Sogeking — should have been delighted to have a Domination-grade alpha as strong as Luffy, which explained his downtrodden mien when he remembered that he had given up that protection only a day ago. His quick, aimless babble ceased immediately. Hidden partly by the mask, Sogeking’s eyes followed Luffy, lost and forlorn. Zoro couldn’t exactly let himself feel sorry for the guy.

Fortunately, or not, they had no time to dawdle and hash out hurt feelings. They were invaders, and their intrusion demanded a full response from the World Government. Once Rocketman broke through the gates, chaos reigned. Luffy charged ahead, taking his frightening scent with him. Following behind him, Zoro and the others found a steady trail of defeated marines, some left broken and unconscious, others left unhurt but immobilized by fear.

Zoro gave his all in the frenzied battles that ensued. He’d never had to push himself to such limits. And he’d never had such good reasons to channel everything into his swordsmanship.

Having the singular goal of retrieving Robin meant he didn’t have the spare mental capacity to dwell on Luffy and the uncertainties that awaited them. Blades and blood kept him well occupied. Only when he and Sogeking confronted Kaku, did the subject come up.

“We meet again, Omega. You look much better than how I left you last night,” said Kaku. The suggestive undertone of his taunt had to be on purpose.

Sogeking was scandalized. “Hey! You can’t talk to an unclaimed omega like that! That’s harassment!”

Zoro would have said Kaku wasn’t leering as much as he was mocking, but he was happy to let Sogeking defend him.

Kaku scoffed. “Still unclaimed? Even after that gaudy display from Straw Hat in Iceburg’s office? You must be disappointed, Omega.”

“You talk too much,” said Zoro.

Sogeking may be dim in some aspects, but he was sharp as a needle when it came to crew gossip.

“Wait, you mean it’s not just you? Luffy also…” He slapped himself on the forehead and hit his mask instead. “Well, duh! Oh man, I wonder how long he’s been—”

“Not now, Sogesopp!”

Zoro would never cease being amazed at his crew’s penchant for meaningless chatter during critical missions. But funnily enough, Zoro found himself actually wanting to talk about it — about how he’d follow Luffy to the end of the Grand Line and beyond, how just one look from his captain could set his bones alight, how he wanted to fall asleep every night and every nap to the smell of sunbaked earth.

Zoro wanted to talk about it. Not right now and not in so many words and not with so much sweetness, but he wanted to talk about it. He was going to beat Kaku and help take Robin back and sail the seas with his crew once more. And if he ever got some spare time and some patience, he wanted to pen a letter to sensei to talk about it.

In the face of such grand ambitions, Kaku didn’t stand a chance.

***

Zoro watched Luffy’s victory from a blurred distance, and the crew fretted as one when it initially looked as though Luffy could not get away from the cannon fires in time.

But one miracle after another kept them alive. Zoro was never one to believe in unseen forces, though, and he knew it was really their own resiliencies that delivered them to safety. It was Robin’s tenaciousness, Sanji’s foresight, Nami’s unorthodox wit, Chopper’s determination, and Usopp’s love for Merry that Luffy continued to rely upon in times of danger again and again. So when Merry appeared like a phantom on the waves and they leapt as one into safety and home, Zoro’s satisfied laughter echoed upon the waves like a roar.

On the rolling deck of Going Merry, their crew fell into each other with a familiarity buoyed by exhaustion. Citrus and summer storm, flame and ozone, chili peppers and hickory veiled in perfume, reindeer, charcoal and orchid, and surely, bamboo and steel — their scents entwined and danced together in a giddy whirlwind, and above them all, sunbaked earth enveloped them greedily.

Luffy’s eyes were closed, but there was no hiding the toothy grin. Zoro wanted to touch him and soothe his battered body somehow, but an equally devastated Chopper was clinging to Zoro with a death grip. They’d won, but tension remained high. Chopper wasn’t the only one sobbing in relief. Others simply could not stop shivering even as they laughed.

Unable to make physical connection with Luffy, Zoro was inspired to try something he’d never attempted before. He focused on his love for them and willed his body to channel it outward, his effort scaffolded on memories of those instances when his desires for Luffy sailed unimpeded on the wind. Judging by the instant silence that fell over the ship, he’d succeeded.

As the old saying goes, alphas rule and omegas subdue.

With blood still fresh on his hands and open wounds all over his body, Zoro rested his inner demon and searched for tranquility. He watched, content, as his crew relaxed into silence one by one, calmed by his scent.

Then, the citrus and summer storm in the air changed wavelengths as well, and Nami clasped his hand. The two of them worked on their crew together, soothing their inner fires.

We are safe, their scents proclaimed. We are home.

***

Luffy slept for two days.

In his sleep, his true scent was just calm enough that Franky’s minions and the Galley-La shipwrights could drop by and check on the Straw Hats without sweating buckets.

While Luffy slept, Zoro wandered the town. Sitting by Luffy’s side felt aimless, and he couldn’t show the slightest hint of concern for his captain without eliciting obnoxious cooing and giggling. So he left to search the city for a suitable replacement for Yubashiri.

Peace settled over the town following such calamitous destruction. Hope flowed as freely as seawater, sustained by news of Iceburg’s safety. Whatever darkness that had infiltrated everyone’s lives would be kept a secret from the people. Zoro refrained from judging the wisdom of that decision.

As Zoro wandered, he’d occasionally catch a whiff of smoke and ash, sourceless except in his mind. It was a smell that would stay with Zoro for the rest of his life, forever accompanied by the scent of Luffy’s tears. Saying goodbye to the Going Merry closed another chapter, and sad as it was, Zoro was glad they put Merry to rest in a way she deserved, in a way that all of them deserved. He worried for Luffy, however, because he’d never realized how much Luffy feared abandonment until they landed at Water Seven, and he wasn’t sure how Luffy would deal with losing both Usopp and Merry in the span of three days.

Zoro continued to wander, but instead of a sword to replace the one he’d lost, he saw a dog-headed marine ship docking at the port.

“Shit,” he summarized. Zoro changed priorities.

By the time he made it back to the crew, Luffy was awake and clutching his bruised head while a broad-shouldered, grizzled marine vice admiral towered over him. Two Domination-grade true scents clashed in the tiny, enclosed space. Even so, all of the Straw Hats remained standing. Even in pain and weakened, Luffy was careful to shield them from the other alpha’s noxious scent.

When Zoro entered unencumbered through a hole that had been made in the wall, the marine vice admiral guffawed.

“Ah, and here comes the omega.” So saying, he flicked his right hand, and two of his underlings leapt toward Zoro simultaneously. They were both alphas — one bareknuckle and the other wielding kukri knives with tremendous skill.

Enraged by this interruption to their hard-won peace, Zoro did not hold back. He had little trouble subduing both alphas, and when his swords were at their necks, he detected a familiar scent of lavender and wine.

Not many months had passed, but Koby and the idiot son of Captain Morgan — “My name’s Helmeppo!” — had changed enough that Zoro couldn’t place their faces at all until they reintroduced themselves.

Zoro digested the information that Luffy had a vice admiral for a grandfather well enough, and it made perfect sense that it would be Garp, the Hero of the Marines, of all people. As everyone else struggled with the onslaught of new information, Zoro stood calmly by Luffy’s side. What caught his attention was Garp casually stating, “Boy, I tell ya, I got fired up as all hell hearing ‘bout a Domination-grade pirate in a straw hat wreaking havoc on Enies Lobby. Good on you for finally dropping that suppression nonsense, brat!”

And then Luffy yelled back, “Forget it, Grandpa! I’m gonna do it again as soon as I figure out how.”

“I thought you wanted to be King of the Pirates!”

“Are you stupid? I can be King of the Pirates without that stuff!”

“That’s no way to talk to your elder!”

The familial duo fell into another brawl. The Straw Hats watched from the sidelines and didn’t bother to fret.

Zoro stayed out of it too. He was processing Garp’s slip of the tongue at his own speed. It was the final nail in sealing Zoro’s suspicion that Luffy had known he was an alpha all along, and his secondary gender hadn’t suddenly appeared out of nowhere. But Luffy’s vehement refusal of his own powers revealed something far more interesting: Being an alpha wasn’t a truth Luffy intentionally kept hidden; it was simply another fact of life Luffy decided to reject, like oppressive regimes and self-sacrificing crew mates. Luffy never wanted to be defined by his alpha nature, therefore, it was safe to conclude he would never let his alpha dictate how he chose to live. As for Zoro, his initial assessment was right all along. Luffy was his. Luffy chose him, period. The alpha and the omega did not enter this particular equation.

By the time Zoro was done processing, Garp had finished fixing the wall he’d torn down, and the last remnants of Zoro’s irritation had melted away.

Zoro was still curious, but he did not pry. He kept his questions to himself when they made small talk with Koby and Helmeppo, when they drank themselves to oblivion at a party that cost them the rest of their savings, once more poor in gold but rich in friends.

In that time, Zoro opted to give Luffy space. As everyone gradually became acclimated to Luffy’s scent, they feared him less and less. While they waited for Franky to build them a ship, Luffy’s days were occupied with play and exploration as he held court with Chimney, Gombe, and the townspeople who wished to deliver their gratitude. From a distance, Zoro watched a shadow of a crown form on Luffy’s head. He watched. And he waited.

***

Restlessness found them in short order. Thankfully, Franky and Galley-La worked at an impressively back-breaking speed. In less than a week, a new ship awaited them, and she was glorious.

At the unveiling, Zoro held down his own bubbling emotions. He trained his eyes to Luffy’s trembling hands, and watched with fondness as Luffy caressed the smooth grains of the treasured wood.

Per their usual pattern, leaving Water Seven was exponentially more hectic than their initial arrival. Garp was gunning at them while Robin assisted Luffy in recruiting Franky using the most inhumane method possible, and Usopp held out stubbornly in the distance until the very last possible moment. Zoro could have denied Usopp for that drawn out apology, but Luffy was full-on sobbing and flashing those watery puppy dog eyes at him. He really needed to figure out a counter against those eyes.

The Thousand Sunny was a king among ships and their new home. Franky poured his heart into the design and workmanship, and there was no doubt in Zoro’s mind that this ship would carry them to the One Piece.

Sunny was larger than Merry and for good reason. With Franky’s induction, their crew stood at eight members, and it was sure to grow.

“I removed my glands when I became a cyborg, so I don’t need a room for myself,” said Franky, the former omega. The Straw Hat Crew’s penchant for collecting outcasts and weirdos continued.

Franky built two single rooms for Nami and Zoro, mindful of their specific needs. Nami was over the moon and even dragged Zoro inside to show off her new furniture. Zoro, on the other hand, turned down the offer, opting instead for the storage room again, with its smells of spices and foodstock, which reminded him of Merry.

Robin got her own room too, on account of her primary gender, even though she would have been just fine rooming with the men. And the last person to get their own space was Luffy, who finally had a captain’s quarters to himself.

The crew smirked as one and pointedly avoided looking at Zoro when that tidbit was revealed. Zoro rolled his eyes.

He didn’t go near Luffy’s room for three days. He didn’t go near Luffy for three days. At one point, Nami physically cornered him as he was working out in the crow’s nest, demanding outright, “What the hell is going on between you and Luffy?”

“What the fuck?” he panted. He’d been in the middle of a heavy set, which Nami clearly had no respect for.

“Why is this still hanging over your heads? How has this not been resolved yet?”

He shrugged and toweled off the sweat on his forehead.

“Oh my god. You haven’t even talked about it, have you?”

“What’s there to talk about?” He tried dodging past her, but Nami’s pursuit of him was flawless. She’d make a formidable swordswoman.

Her jaw was practically on the floor. “Wh… ‘What's there to talk about?’ Are you messing with me? Luffy declared, in front of CP9 and Galley-La, that you will be claimed by him. It’s been a week since then, and nothing has happened, and you’re asking me what’s there to talk about?”

“If you’re so damn impatient, why don’t you go ask him?” Zoro’s retort carried no heat.

It made Nami pause. And she studied him, head tilted, brows furrowed, and he knew there was no escaping her.

“Oh. You want Luffy to come to you! Oh, you dumb idiot.”

“Hey!”

“Luffy’s not going to pursue you when he can’t control his alpha, Zoro. He’s been so careful not to order anyone around or even raise his voice. Everything he’s done since he lost control in Iceburg’s office has been to hold himself in check. You want him? You’ll have to throw yourself at him.”

When he said nothing, Nami taunted, “Are you too dignified for that?” Zoro performed a sidestep he’d picked up from seeing Shave one too many times, and she had no way of cutting off his escape.

No, he wasn’t too dignified. He wasn’t even afraid of rejection, because he could smell it now, smell the warmth and love carried by Luffy’s sunbaked earth whenever his captain spotted him meandering the ship. He could even smell yearning, which only made an appearance in Zoro’s presence. His hesitancy had nothing to do with Luffy’s reaction. It had to do with something he could not yet describe, a desire that taunted him from just below the surface but for which he had no name.

Zoro was determined to stay out of Luffy’s way until he figured out why he was dragging his feet. But he couldn’t avoid his captain forever.

After Nami’s intervention, Zoro attempted a return to normalcy. He sat next to Luffy again during mealtime. He let himself fall asleep on the deck of the Sunny within reach of Luffy’s antics. Unfortunately, he quickly got the picture that normalcy was a two-way street, and Luffy was not cooperating.

He’d noticed it back at Water Seven, and Nami had mentioned it too, but his limited exposure to Luffy since then meant he hadn’t recognized it as a pattern — that is, Luffy’s newfound politeness.

It was instantly annoying. Instead of ordering Usopp to play tag with him or demanding spending money from Nami, Luffy now made sure to phrase everything as either a question or a suggestion. While manners were always appreciated, such civility from Luffy simply felt wrong.

The rest of the crew hadn’t complained, however, so Zoro reluctantly let it slide, not wanting to disturb everyone else’s peace. That tenuous peace collapsed when, at the end of a long, actionless day, while he sat polishing his swords in the dining room, Sanji stomped into the galley, absolutely fuming.

“Someone finally kicked you in the balls, Cook?” Zoro couldn’t help it.

A single eye glared into him; its twin bled an equal amount of animosity from behind a curtain of hair.

Uncharacteristically, the cook didn’t escalate. “Can’t you do something?” he pleaded instead. “He just asked me for a snack. Luffy! Asked! ‘Can I have a snack, Sanji? Maybe with a cup of juice?’ Why is he doing this to me?”

At first, Zoro couldn’t speak from pure surprise alone. He had no answer for Sanji, though, and opted to ask, “Isn’t that a good thing? He’s trying not to compel us by accident.”

“Oh bullshit.” Sanji threw away his half-smoked cigarette, noted how empty his hand felt, and immediately lit another one. “He’d never compel us to do anything we didn’t already want to do for him. It’s not right, is what this is. Asking us for things, like, like…”

Sanji struggled for articulation. The bottom fell out from Zoro’s stomach when he grasped exactly what Sanji meant to say.

“Like we’re not even his friends?”

Sanji pointed his smoke at Zoro triumphantly. Now that he had the right words, he couldn’t seem to stop.

“Yes! That! Like we’re not a crew and he’s not our captain. Like we wouldn’t do anything for him, give him anything he wanted. All this ‘please’ and ‘could you’ bullshit — it’s a fucking moat he’s dug between himself and the rest of us and if I never hear him request dinner again it would still be too soon!”

Zoro was in complete agreement with Sanji, which of course meant he had to be contrary: “Rich coming from you. Aren’t you the one always hounding him about manners?”

His heart wasn’t in the bickering, and Sanji took advantage. Wearing a rather nasty smirk, he cursed Zoro in retaliation, “Oh, fuck off. You know what, Mosshead? You know that high you ride whenever he orders you to cut someone down, that giddiness you can’t keep off your ugly mug knowing Luffy trusts you to do as he commands without having to look back? Imagine never getting to feel that again, and instead, all you get is a ‘Please, Zoro, could you do me a tiny favor and defeat the bad guy? Okay, thank you!’ Yeah, keep doing nothing and one day soon, that devastation will jump you and gut you like a shitty fish.”

Zoro knew what Sanji was doing. He knew where the conversation was inevitably headed, and he stopped fighting it. The cue was waiting, and he only had to follow with, “And what the hell am I supposed to do about this?”

Sanji shrugged. He stamped out yet another half-finished cigarette and didn’t light more. “Look, it’s your job to support him and give him the courage to do the things he really doesn’t want to do. Right now, he needs encouragement to stop being afraid of himself. So do something, shitty moss.”

Zoro walked away from their exchange pensive and jittery. He was overcome with disbelief at how thoroughly Sanji could read him, and even more surprised at how unbothered he was by it, to be so exposed before a formidable alpha. Truthfully, Sanji’s words lifted a veil he had been desperate to ignore. The blond was right on all accounts: Zoro had always thrived under Luffy’s trust and approval; for an omega who spent years training to defy orders, Zoro was frighteningly eager to follow Luffy’s.

Sanji saw right through him — Zoro accepted that with minimal unease, and the sky still remained overhead. If he could be so vulnerable with the cook of all people, then he really had nothing to fear when it came to Luffy.

The desire he had no name for peeked out from darkness.

That night, after the wind died down and the waves lay still, Zoro left his swords in his storage room and found his way to Luffy’s door in the dark. He could hear the men softly snoring in their cabin, with Nami’s and Robin’s gentle scents drifting serenely out of the cracks beneath their respective doors.

Zoro’s hand was weak when he let himself into the captain’s quarters without knocking. Luffy’s cabin was only slightly larger than the women’s rooms, enough for a sturdy, hanging bed, a soft loveseat, and a wardrobe for all the clothes that Nami insisted on buying for him.

Zoro closed the door as quietly as he could, but Luffy sensed him instantly. He turned on his bed, making it sway, and inquired sleepily, “Zoro? What’s the matter?”

Three measured strides closed the distance between them. Saying nothing, Zoro took off his boots and climbed in with Luffy. The hinges creaked in protest, but he had the utmost trust in Franky’s craftsmanship.

“Oh, hi,” Luffy said, now wide awake.

Zoro hadn’t rehearsed what to say. He wasn’t very good at this sort of thing. It was far easier to blurt out the first words on his mind: “How long would you keep me waiting?”

“I…”

Zoro grabbed Luffy by the ears and cut him off with a kiss he didn’t know he’d been so hungry for.

“A whole week, Luffy.” He kissed him again.

Luffy didn’t need much more prodding. He got with the program quickly enough and kissed back with equal ferocity, panting and moaning and eager to climb atop his swordsman. There was a longing in Luffy that Zoro hadn’t felt before, which in turn agitated that unnameable want inside of him.

Before long, Luffy was pulling back, though the scent that loomed in the air spoke of a different intention.

“Zoro, wait. We have to stop. I can’t put it back. I’ve been trying, but I can’t.”

Zoro blinked away the fog in his brain. “Put what back? Your alpha? Luffy, you don’t…”

“No, you don’t understand. It’s not okay!”

“What’s not okay?”

Wordlessly, Luffy begged him to understand. It seemed those questions Zoro didn’t want to ask, those truths that he didn’t wish to pry, now had to find a way out, or there would be no moving forward, no matter how long they sailed.

Forehead to forehead, Zoro pushed down his desires and fears and pleaded, “Why is it not okay, Luffy? Why did you hide your alpha for so long? Tell me. Please… Luffy, it’s me.”

Just as Zoro could forgive Luffy for anything, it seemed that Luffy could deny Zoro nothing.

Luffy told his story with his face half buried in Zoro’s chest.

“I was ten. Grandpa dumped me on Dadan and her bandits, and Ace and Sabo were just starting to play with me.” Like all of Luffy’s stories, he didn’t bother introducing any of the characters. Zoro shouldn’t find that charming, but he did.

“When I presented, nobody was surprised. Grandpa is a Domination alpha, and they expected that of me too. And the bandits were used to it from Ace. Nothing really changed at all.

“One day, Makino came to check on us. She brought a bunch of food, and even new clothes because she said we were growing boys. I don’t really remember exactly what happened. I think Ace and I were fighting over a sandwich. And we were feral back then, so it must have scared Makino. She tried to calm us down, but she took Ace’s side, or at least it sounded to me like she took his side. I just remember getting really mad. I told Makino I hated her, so she should just die.”

Luffy paused. His full-body shudder shook the bed. Zoro clutched him tighter.

“You didn’t mean it,” he comforted. “You were just a kid.”

Luffy shrugged. “So? Makino is the nicest person in the world. If someone tried to bully her because she was an omega, I was always ready to kick their ass. But this time, I was the bully. I’d never compelled anyone before. Even when Makino’s face turned blue, I didn’t understand what was happening. While I panicked, Ace stepped in and compelled her to breathe again.”

Relieved that the story didn’t end in tragedy, Zoro tried to provide some levity. “Good to know that brother of yours is good for something after all.”

Luffy didn’t react. If anything, he curled up even further into Zoro, and his voice shook when he continued, “Ace lost it on me. He yelled at me so much for doing that to Makino. He wouldn’t stop yelling. I just wanted him to stop, Zoro. That’s all.

“So I told him to go away, and said I never wanted to see him again.”

Zoro could picture it clearly: Luffy, still a child but brimming with his newly developed powers, throwing his metaphoric weight against an older alpha. Zoro had felt Ace’s compulsion first-hand, and Fire Fist was a menace even when he was hardly trying.

But judging from the bitterness in Luffy’s voice, Ace hadn’t been strong enough.

Luffy lifted his head, like he wanted Zoro to see the shame. “He just left,” Luffy said. “He didn’t fight back or anything. His eyes went blank, like how you looked when the leopard-guy… you know. Ace was the strongest alpha any of us knew. But when I threw a tantrum, he couldn’t do a thing about it. He turned around and ran into the woods. Nobody could stop him.

“I didn’t mean it! And I tried to take it back, but I didn’t know how to push with intent. Ace just kept running. We couldn’t keep up. After Sabo came back from fishing, he went out looking, but Ace was long gone.”

“How long was he gone for?”

“Dadan found him after two weeks. He was barely alive. He’d been hiding. He hadn’t eaten at all, and hardly slept. All he could focus on was making sure I didn’t have to see him again.” Luffy sniffled. “Ace was terrified of me after he was himself again. We couldn’t figure out why the compulsion kept going for so long, even after he couldn’t smell me anymore.”

If Luffy’s hold over Ace was that overpowering at such a young age, one had to wonder whether the stretchy man even had a limit to his potential. No wonder Luffy kept his alpha on such a tight leash. Zoro sighed. To someone who prioritized personal freedom above all else, the alpha ability of compulsion must be the ultimate anathema.

“But Luffy,” Zoro tried, “Ace is fine now. Makino is fine too, I presume? You’d never hurt—”

“Only because I swore never to compel anyone ever again!”

Zoro shook his head. “You stuffed your alpha into a lockbox at the age of ten and just never looked back? One, it’s insane you managed to do it in the first place. Two, that’s a terrible fucking idea. And that’s coming from me, the worst omega in the world.”

“No! Zoro is the best! Zoro is…” His nose twitched as his words trailed off and his eyes lost focus. Zoro suppressed a grin.

“What I’m trying to say is, for now, your alpha can’t be put back, but that’s fine. You’re not ten years old anymore, and you can already compel at will. We trust you to never hurt us. I trust you to never hurt me. Stop worrying. Let it go. You’re usually so good at that.”

Luffy frowned. “I’ll end up compelling you by accident. You hate that more than anything. You’ll hate me.”

And there it was. The gauntlet was thrown. Zoro steadied his courage.

“Luffy… I don’t hate it,” he confessed in a whispered exaltation. “If it’s you, I don’t hate it.”

The frown deepened. Luffy didn’t understand.

The face Zoro made was probably not very attractive. Having to lay it all bare for Luffy was necessary, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t embarrassing.

He gently rolled Luffy onto his back so he could hover over the alpha. It was a small claim to power, to show Luffy he wasn’t a pushover and that Luffy should never mistake him as such. Everything he offered was entirely voluntary.

He kissed Luffy again. Slow and careful. Still confused, Luffy let him take the lead. Sunbaked earth grew heavy in the air.

After a long while that was not quite long enough, Zoro pulled away with no small amount of effort. Luffy’s lips were invitingly plump and warm, and his teeth ached with a yearning to sink into them.

Humbly beseeching, like a vassal presenting tribute, Zoro added, heart thundering, “If it’s you, Captain, I want it.”

Luffy’s barely audible gasp helped placate Zoro’s self-consciousness. He dragged his desire fully into the light for Luffy to see; it took the form of ravaging hunger to sit in the depth of Zoro’s belly. He surged forward to smother an unrestrainable groan into Luffy’s shoulder. His right hand caught Luffy’s left and brought it down to his erection.

Zoro wondered what he smelled like to Luffy at the moment.

“If I show you,” he said between licks and bites, “what your alpha reduces me to, will you let go then?”

Luffy couldn’t speak, but his hand was already moving upon Zoro’s cock, hesitantly at first, while his own answering erection greeted Zoro’s curled knuckles.

Zoro chuckled and reached into Luffy’s pajamas. “This is honesty, yeah? Yours and mine.”

He wanted to lean in and eat up Luffy’s soft little groans, but it was Luffy’s turn to put his trust in another, and Zoro wanted to hear it verbalized. Just then, Zoro recalled the last time they shared such intimacy and Luffy’s behavior atop the Rocketman and it was as if a light turned on inside his head.

Zoro had never been more sure of himself. He accused, “I think you’re afraid, Luffy, and that’s not like you at all. But you’re not really afraid of compelling us against our will; you’re already too strong to lose control like that. No, you’re afraid because you like it. You like my obedience, and that terrifies you. You’re so stupid, Captain. I told you. I want it. I want it because it’s you.”

Luffy let go and half-heartedly shoved at Zoro’s chest. But he put no strength behind it, and Zoro didn’t move.

The scent of sunbaked earth swelled in Zoro’s brain. Victory made him gloriously lightheaded.

It was okay to be demanding, Zoro reminded himself. This thing between them was never going to survive if selfishness flowed only one way. He pushed one last time.

“Luffy, I’ve flayed myself open to you. Isn’t it your turn? Tell me, what do you really want?”

Doubt, shame, longing, trust… numberless expressions flitted across Luffy’s open countenance like a stage play, and Zoro drank them all in, ecstatic that he could read his captain with such ease. Because he was watching so closely, he saw the triumphant moment when Luffy was Luffy again, when conviction returned to the younger man.

Luffy answered, his voice ragged and gravelly, “If I tell you, you can’t say no.”

The statement was not quite a command, but not entirely a question. Zoro’s heartbeat quickened yet again at the inherent promise in those words.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Captain.”

Rubbery fingers dug into grass-green hair and lightly yanked. Zoro forgot how to breathe.

Luffy finally conceded in a whisper, “I want you to kneel for me… Is that okay to want? Because I can’t stop daydreaming about it.”

Anticipation and want burned in Zoro’s throat. 

“Was that a request or a question, Captain? If you really want it, make me.”

There was no mistaking the sheer love and astonishment in Luffy’s eyes. Slowly, he let go of Zoro’s hair and sat up, forcing Zoro off him in the process.

Quietly, unrestrained, yet in absolute control, Luffy ordered, “Get on your knees, Zoro.”

The hardness of the floorboards seemed to be the only remaining thing grounding Zoro to reality, because he couldn’t recall how he’d gotten there, only that he was weightless and in overwhelming joy. His instincts wanted him to fall deeper, fall wholly into the sunbaked earth and feel nothing but the warmth of Luffy’s love. But he wanted to feel it all.

Fortunately, Luffy knew him well. “Stay with me,” the follow-up order arrived, and Zoro’s head cleared enough to be aware of his surroundings. Then, “If you don’t want to do anything I say, you will disobey.”

Zoro laughed. “I just want you,” he begged. “I love you.”

At that moment, sitting on the edge of his hanging bed, Luffy appeared to Zoro like some levitating divinity. A softness washed over him at Zoro’s confession. A hand reached down to stroke his swordsman’s jawline.

“You can have me, Zoro. You can have everything you want.”

“Say it, Luffy. Please.”

“Touch me, Zoro, the way you always want to. Like how you did at the inn.” A brief pause, and then, with a little push, “Use your mouth on me.”

Zoro was groaning before Luffy could finish the command. His mouth and tongue went to work at the tense muscles of Luffy’s lower belly while his hands pulled and tugged on Luffy’s pajama bottoms. There were some scars there, small ones in comparison to the healed gash Crocodile had left on Luffy. Zoro made sure to trace each one at least thrice, until he could feel Luffy’s erection impatiently nudging his chin.

Perhaps due to his Devil Fruit-influenced body, Luffy’s body hair had always been short and sparse. Zoro was delighted to find a faint trail leading downward from his navel, and he followed it like lines on a treasure map.

Zoro was no stranger to holding something in his mouth, but unlike swords, Luffy’s hardness was accompanied by a velvety softness that he couldn’t get enough of. His alpha scent was particularly strong there, and when Zoro took Luffy in, all the way to the depth of his throat, his nose buried in the source of that aroma, he couldn’t help but salivate and moan. His hands gripped Luffy’s hips in a vice, so he could bring him closer and closer still, taking Luffy in with a thirst far surpassing what he thought he was capable of wanting.

Luffy’s haggard breathing and broken moans played a heavenly symphony in Zoro’s ears. Zoro worshiped Luffy’s cock until his captain was bowed in half above him, whimpering and mewling, his thighs clamped tight around Zoro’s neck, his hands tugging and scratching just painful enough to send shivers down Zoro’s legs.

Zoro wanted more.

He reluctantly pulled away, not for air but in order to demand, “Talk to me, Luffy. I need… I need you to talk to me.”

“How do you expect me to talk when you’re doing that!”

“Figure it out.”

“What? What am I supposed to say?”

“You managed to say the right thing on the Rocketman,” he hinted before diving back down. His cheeks burned, and he hoped to hide it by speeding up the bobbing of his head.

“Ah!” Luffy yelled brokenly. He gave Zoro’s hair a harsh tug for his impertinence. “What did I say? I don’t remember. I can’t think, Zoro. Your, ngh, your mouth is so hot. You feel so good. You’re so good to me, Zoro. Oh!” Luffy stilled, and Zoro knew he remembered, because his next exhalation sounded awestruck. “Oh, Zoro… of course you are. You’re so good for me.”

Zoro purred without intending to. The rumble came from deep within his chest. Luffy kept going, rambling thoughts with no filter, and every word lit Zoro’s body on fire.

“Mn, you’re the best, Zoro. You’re so strong and funny. But that’s not what you want to hear, is it? Take me in deeper.” Zoro did, somehow, and Luffy shuddered. “You’re the best, Zoro,” he repeated, “because you’re mine. That’s it, right? That’s what you need? Yes! Ah! Ah! You don’t trust alphas and you fight them like you’re a demon, but with me, you’ll do anything I ask, won’t you? That’s what makes you so perfect, Zoro. Such a good omega. Look at me.”

It was difficult to meet Luffy’s eyes from that angle. Zoro pulled off completely and bemoaned the loss on his tongue. His jaw and throat vaguely ached from the exertion. The excess saliva he couldn’t swallow in time dribbled freely down his chin. Luffy intercepted it with a quick thumb and wiped it on his left cheek. The sight of it made the future Pirate King give pause. His eyes darkened to a near black, and he studied Zoro with a thoroughness that might as well have stripped him naked.

“Good omega,” Luffy praised. “I will claim you now. Give yourself to me.”

It was too much. Zoro tackled Luffy. They fell to the floor together, Luffy’s rubbery body cushioning their impact.

Sitting astride his captain, Zoro wasted no time initiating an onslaught of kisses. He took Luffy’s lips like he was claiming him in return, until both their lips were broken and blood and saliva mingled together.

Luffy was whimpering, but Zoro didn’t stop. He grabbed Luffy’s hands and put them to his ass, under the waistband he’d impatiently loosened, until he was sure Luffy could feel the wetness leaking shamelessly out of him.

From there, Luffy figured out the script and his touches grew more assured. One hand kneaded Zoro’s flesh while the other charted a trail of fire around a quivering, hungry opening. When two fingers entered him at once, Zoro’s gasp had nowhere to go but into Luffy’s relentless mouth.

His omega body opened up readily. His defenses crumbled at the slightest touch from the younger man. Luffy’s fingers filled an emptiness Zoro didn’t know had been haunting him. He moved upon them, greedy and selfish for the first time in his life.

Behind him, pleasure singed his overstimulated neurons. Beneath him, he and Luffy’s naked manhoods greeted each other in a primal dance. Their bodies moved together without rhythm or plan, obeying only the ancient rituals ingrained within the blueprint of their sexes.

Abruptly, Luffy withdrew his fingers and pushed Zoro to an arm’s length away to open a little space between them. Luffy took hold of his own cock. Zoro watched it grow even harder and clenched in anticipation.

Luffy’s unfocused eyes drifted to his neck. “You smell so good. You don’t even know. Do you smell me on you? You will never get rid of my scent, Zoro. Now, Zoro. I will have you now.”

The order was given, and Zoro nearly cried at being given the chance to obey. Raising his hips, he lowered himself on Luffy’s awaiting erection. The choking sobs that escaped his throat sang of a newfound euphoria.

The saliva he’d left on Luffy’s cock had long dried. Zoro sank down excruciatingly slow, guided only by his body’s natural secretion. He felt every beautiful, agonizing inch, until finally, he was secure in his seat upon Luffy’s pelvis.

He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. He must have been blabbering something because Luffy was reassuring him with soft shushes. His alpha’s cock throbbed impossibly large and full inside of him, and Zoro was truly lost. He wanted to bend down again and anchor himself with Luffy’s kisses, but every imperceptible shift of their hips fired pure electricity throughout his limbs. Never did Zoro imagine he could feel like this.

“Good omega. Good Zoro. You’re perfect. Tight. Hot… Ah!”

Luffy was still talking, even as he struggled for coherency, and every syllable set off fireworks inside the pleasure center of Zoro’s brain. But as much as he wished to indulge in his captain’s praises, he was sure he would die if Luffy kept going.

“No more, Luffy, please. I… I can’t…”

A tiny furrow formed between Luffy’s eyebrows for a fraction of a second. Then a mischievous smile flashed briefly, and Zoro knew he was in trouble.

His lover’s voice was honey sweet. “Why do you want me to stop, Zoro? I’m only telling the truth. I’ve never wanted to do this with anyone. But you… I wanted you when I first smelled you on that cross. Don’t you feel it too? You were made for me.”

Zoro truly did sob this time. “You’re such an ass sometimes, Luffy.”

Luffy laughed. “Move on me, Omega.”

Once that command registered, there was no more time. In between torrents of pleasure, Zoro could remember the burning of his thighs as he rode Luffy for what felt like an endless night, lines of fiery pain clawed into his calves, his captain’s helpless whines as he too succumbed to their ardor, their bodies swaying ever so slightly with the sea, and the ripples of sunbaked earth that soaked into his bones.

And underpinning it all, a persistent, impatient voice continued to clamor for more.

“Faster,” it demanded. “Deeper,” it insisted. “Take it. Take it all. Zoro, you’re mine. You will never forget this.”

Zoro obeyed each command and moaned in gratitude for them. When they could no longer hold back, Luffy reached out for his weeping cock.

“No!” He batted Luffy’s hand away. His mind wasn’t coherent enough to put his want into words, but Luffy understood.

Glazed brown eyes smiled at him. Smirking lips waited for another tortuous minute to say, “I won’t touch you. You’ll just finish when I do. That’s not an alpha compulsion, got it? It’s captain’s orders.”

So saying, Luffy took Zoro by the hips and fully speared him upon his pulsating cock. Flashes of white took over Zoro’s vision. He died and revived to Luffy’s voice calling out “I love you.”

When Zoro came to, the sky was still dark. He had been moved to Luffy’s bed, and his captain was curled up in his arms, eyes at half-lid, looking deceivingly harmless. Once Luffy noticed he was aware, he perked up again and wiggled downward.

“You’re awake! I wanted to wait for you to wake up to do this part.”

Zoro’s muddled brain registered the discomfort in his privates along with surprise at the sensation of having been freshly cleaned. He hadn’t expected Luffy to be thoughtful enough to take care of him. But before he could voice his gratitude, Luffy’s mouth had landed by his groin.

“What?” Even if he didn’t want to admit any weakness, Zoro was well aware he couldn’t go for a second round right away. Frankly, he was shocked Luffy was so eager.

“I still have to claim you, remember? The proper way.”

Zoro understood. Zoro wasn’t amused.

“I have scent glands on my neck! Get up here!”

“No.”

“What do you mean, ‘No’?”

That smirk would be aggravating if Zoro didn’t find it utterly endearing.

“It’s more fun this way. Stay still.”

Zoro only slightly regretted giving Luffy blanket permission to compel him. It was already coming back to bite him — in the groin, that is.

Sharp alpha teeth sank into the glands that sat beneath the skin at the base of Zoro’s listless sex. The ephemeral pain was quickly overtaken by the teasing strokes of an impish tongue. Luffy slowly licked his scent into Zoro’s own, and when he was finished, he turned his head and gifted a stray stroke to the resting organ beside his face.

Luffy sat up. “I want to do that for you too one day.”

Zoro pinched him half-heartedly. “Get back up here. You’re insane.”

He opened his arms and Luffy snuggled in once more. In the warmth of their embrace, Luffy wondered out loud, “How long is it supposed to last until I need to do it again?”

“I think my sensei mentioned the claim has to be reinforced every three months or so, or the scent will fade.”

“I can do that. Every three months until one of us dies. Easy. But just in case, don’t be sad if both of us forget about it, okay? Three months is a long time to remember something for.”

Zoro swatted him across the head, just because. He didn’t believe in luck, and he wasn’t afraid of curses. His place by his captain’s side would be cemented by the force of his own abilities and will. He’d never allow them to be apart for long, and even if the scent faded, Zoro wouldn’t despair. Sunbaked earth had already been entrenched in his being. He was completely, thoroughly ensnared.

After a furtive dash to the washroom, they fell asleep naked, squeezed into Luffy’s bed that wasn’t big enough for two. At some point in the early morning, Luffy rolled too hard and shoved Zoro off. In retaliation, Zoro threw himself atop the smaller man and used him as a mattress.

They woke up to the normal bustle of the ship but did not leave the room. They’d been more than a little loud, and as soon as the door opened, their crew would no doubt chastise them for their unrestrained scenting. So they stayed in and simply basked in each other’s presence, sometimes kissing, but more often simply daydreaming. Zoro couldn’t bring himself to let go of Luffy, so their skin remained in contact at all times. Tracing meaningless patterns on Luffy’s back, Zoro thought about Kuina, sensei, and the swords that he hadn’t touched since the night before.

Zoro’s voice sounded too loud in the peace of their seclusion. “I want you to train me, Luffy, on how to defy compulsions as strong as yours.”

Luffy shrugged. “I don’t know how to train anyone.”

“Train with me then. I’m not strong enough like this, and you won’t always be there to shield me when things go bad.”

Dark tresses swept against his neck. Luffy’s smile was warm on Zoro’s chest.

“Sure! I’ll make sure nobody can tell you what to do. Except for me. And maybe Nami. Sometimes Chopper if he thinks it’s good for you.”

Luffy went on without pause. He plotted his plan to stuff his alpha back in a box at will, if only for the hilarity of surprising their enemies at opportune times. He ranted about the lack of turmoil since they left Water Seven, and how he was itching for a new adventure. And of course, he sang praises of Franky’s craftsmanship, and suggested hidden corners on the Sunny where he and Zoro could find time alone.

The reverberations of Luffy’s rambling sowed contentment in Zoro’s heart. Their time would not last forever, but there was nothing to stop Zoro from returning to this bed night after night. There was nothing that could stop him from accepting this happiness.

A knock finally sounded at the door. Nami’s voice pulled them back to the now.

“Was that enough time, you two? It’s almost noon, you know. Luffy, we found a barrel with a message floating in the sea. Thought you might want to be there when we open it.”

Zoro nudged his beloved, who was already bouncing in excitement.

“Sounds like a mystery, Captain.”

Luffy whooped and hopped off the bed, one hand stretching for his straw hat while the other sought out clean clothes.

“Get up, Zoro! It sounds like a new adventure.”

- FIN

Notes:

There are a couple of unanswered questions, I think, that may get addressed in a potential sequel. When that sequel will come? Who knows!

Thank you for reading!

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of ZoLu Works