Luffy and Zoro are soulmates @soft-niku-and-sake - Tumblr Blog

Apr 23

ZoLu/LuZo Vacation Au: Prologue

Thank you to all who voted! I am happy to see that most of you wanted to read the prologue.

I don't have a title for the story yet, so I will keep referring to it as the "Vacation AU" for now. The main story will start with the group on their way to the hotel. So how should a Best Friends to Lovers prologue start the story? With how they met of course!

I may change some things once I start posting on AO3, but I hope you all enjoy what I have so far. 😊

❤️💚❤️💚

Zoro had always been good at moving forward, he had to be. It was one of the many lessons his adoptive father instilled in him.

Keep your feet steady and don’t wander… This advice would’ve been a lot more helpful if the school didn’t look like it had been designed by someone who liked watching people get lost!

His sneakers thudded softly against the concrete as he pushed through yet another empty courtyard, the sound echoed too loud in the wide empty space.

Every turn looked the same. Every door looked the same. Even the stupid little windows were too high for him to see through, which felt completely unfair! What was the point of windows if the students couldn’t even use them?!

All Zoro had done was go to the bathroom.

That was it!

One normal trip and now the playground might as well have been on the other side of the world.

Zoro frowned, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked. Oh well. It wasn't like he was in a rush to get back.

Helmeppo and his dumb friends had been especially annoying today. They always circled like flies that wouldn’t go away. Whispering just loud enough for him to hear. Laughing when they thought he wouldn’t look.

“Don't you know Zoro is adopted?!”

They said it like it was something gross.

His jaw tightened at the thought.

Sometimes (a lot of times) he wanted to knock their teeth into the sand. Just once. Just enough to make them shut up forever.

However, Mihawk’s voice lived in the back of his head.

“Be slow to anger. Only attack when protecting yourself or a loved one.”

Zoro scowled, kicking lightly at a crack in the pavement as he walked.

If he fought them, he’d lose more than just recess privileges. His father told him there would be no training if he irrationally lashed out.

No wooden sword in his hands.

No chance of getting stronger… Zoro couldn't risk it. So, he swallowed his anger. Every time. Even when it burned.

He pushed open another door.

Another courtyard.

Zoro stopped just past the doorway, staring.

There were too many doors.

They lined the walls like a puzzle. Each one leading somewhere… or nowhere… or maybe just back to where he started. Classrooms. Hallways. More courtyards. The playground (probably) but which one?!

“Ugh!”

He kicked the nearest metal pole.

Ding.

The sound rang out as Zoro exhaled through his nose, glaring at nothing.

He wasn’t lost.

He refused to be lost.

The school was just stupid.

That was all.

He leaned back against the wall, folding his arms as he shut his eyes. If he couldn’t see his way out, he’d just listen.

Mihawk said a swordsman should know his surroundings without looking.

So Zoro listened.

Wind slipped through open spaces.

The distant rhythm of a jump rope hitting concrete could also be heard.

Kids were laughing.

The clink of a tetherball chain rattled in the distance…

A quiet, broken sound of sniffles reached his ears.

Zoro’s eyes snapped open.

It was close.

He tilted his head and tried to focus by letting everything else fall away until only that sound remained.

A small stifled sob rang out, uneven breaths tried and failed to stay quiet.

It was the door beside him.

Zoro reached out and pushed it open.

The classroom beyond was dim with all the lights off. Sunlight filtered through the tall windows in long, pale strips, stretching across empty desks and polished floors. The cold air instantly made goosebumps rise in his skin. He rubbed his arms for warmth and wondered why all classrooms had to feel this way.

Zoro continued inside anyway.

“Hello?” he called, his voice softer than usual without really meaning it to be.

The sniffling stopped.

Silence.

Zoro frowned.

“I know you’re in here,” he added, walking further in. “I heard you.”

A faint shuffle to his… left…no, right… he sometimes had trouble remembering which was which.

He turned just in time to catch movement under one of the desks. A pair of small feet scrambled back, trying to disappear. They almost succeeded, but the untied laces gave them away.

Zoro walked over, crouching down without hesitation.

A boy stared back at him. About his age. Maybe a little smaller.

Messy black hair fell into wide brown eyes, still wet with tears. His cheeks were flushed, streaked, and his nose was running. He was curled in tight, arms wrapped around his legs like if he made himself small enough, the world might forget he existed.

Zoro knelt down.

“Hey…” Zoro still spoke in a quiet voice. It felt instinctive to do so in a classroom. “Why are you crying?”

The boy’s face twisted instantly.

“I’m not crying!” he snapped, scrubbing at his face with his sleeve like that would fix it. “Only babies cry!”

Zoro raised an eyebrow.

“Then you’re a baby and a liar,” he said flatly. “’Cause you’re definitely crying.”

“SHUT UP!” The boy shouted with his teeth bared.

Zoro leaned back in surprise and frowned.

Great… Another annoying kid.

He could just leave… He really should… He didn’t come in here to deal with someone else’s bad mood. He already had enough of that outside with Helmeppo.

But…

His gaze lingered over the other boy.

This wasn’t like Helmeppo.

There was no smirk or crowd of bullies. There were no mean eyes looking for a reaction. It was just a kid alone and hiding…

Zoro looked away with a quiet click of his tongue and dropped down to sit across from him anyway.

The boy blinked, clearly not expecting that.

“Aren’t you gonna leave?” he asked with a suspicious glare, but his voice had now become a lot softer.

Zoro shrugged.

“Do you want me to?”

The other quickly shook his head.

Zoro settled in place. “Then I’ll stay.”

The boy slowly uncurled, not all the way but enough to sit instead of hide. His eyes lingered on Zoro, openly curious, as if he was trying to figure him out.

“I’m Luffy,” he said suddenly.

Zoro nodded once. “Zoro.” He paused, leaving a beat of silence before asking, “Are you new?”

Luffy nodded, his earlier bravado slipping just a little.

“I had to change schools.”

Zoro tilted his head. “Why?”

Luffy’s fingers tightened around his knees.

“Some people said me and my brother Ace couldn’t live with my grandpa anymore,” his voice dropped so low that Zoro had to lean closer to hear it. “So I live with Ms. Makino...” His voice caught at the end and he looked down, struggling to say the next part out loud. “Ace lives somewhere else.”

Zoro’s brow furrowed.

“Why didn’t you stay together?”

Luffy shrugged, his shoulders pulled inward like it was painful to think about.

“The people at the forest agency said there wasn’t enough room.”

Zoro blinked.

“Forest agency?”

Luffy nodded, completely serious.

This kid must be a bit of an idiot. There was no such thing as…

Zoro's eyes widened, a soft ache pulled at his chest…

“I think you mean foster agency.” Zoro gently corrected.

Luffy’s head snapped up.

“…Oh.”

A beat.

“…Yeah, that one.”

Zoro huffed softly through his nose, and rested his chin in his palm.

“I was in foster care too,” he admitted. The words felt strange in his mouth. He didn’t talk about it much, since Helmeppo and his friends always taunted him about it…. but it felt important to share with Luffy. “I was too little to remember.”

That got Luffy moving.

He scooted out from under the desk, closing the distance between them until their knees brushed together.

“Smaller than you are now?!” Luffy asked, eyes going wide.

Zoro nodded once.

“My sister remembers it more,” he said. The ache in his chest subsided as he thought about Mihawk and Perona. “But we got placed together and we got adopted.”

Luffy’s face crumpled anyway.

His shoulders dropped, and his eyes filled too fast.

“But I don’t want to be adopted away from Ace!” Luffy burst out. “I don’t wanna be away from my family!”

Panic overtook Zoro.

Crap!

He didn’t mean to make Luffy cry!

His eyes darted around the empty classroom on instinct, like an adult might magically appear and fix this whenever a student began to cry, but it was just him and Luffy.

Zoro swallowed, forcing himself to look back at Luffy.

“It’s… different for everyone,” he said a little awkwardly. He reached forward to pat Luffy’s back. “That’s just what happened to me.”

He shifted, frowning as he searched for the right words.

“They’ll probably try to keep you together,” he added. “That makes more sense.”

Luffy sucked in a shaky breath, and pulled his leggs up to hug them again, as if trying to hold himself together. It didn’t work very well.

The snot flowed once again from his nose. The smaller boy kept wiping at his face with his sleeve as tears mixed with the mucus.

Zoro grimaced. He glanced toward the teacher’s desk for tissues. Thankfully, there was a box there.

He stood quickly, grabbed a handful, came right back, and held them out.

Luffy blinked at them, then turned his watery eyes towards him. Zoro could still see tears clinging to his lashes.

“…Thanks,” he mumbled, taking them, although Zoro wasn't sure if he was being thanked for the gesture or the soothing words.

“You’re welcome.” Zoro shrugged, and dropped back into his spot.

Silence settled between them again, the only sound in the room was Luffy blowing his nose.

Zoro waited, but the silence felt more natural this time.

When Luffy finally finished, Zoro tilted his head.

“So…” he started, glancing at the desk still half-hiding him. “Why are you under there?”

Luffy looked down, setting the crumpled tissues on the floor.

“My teacher yelled at me…”

Zoro raised an eyebrow.

“Did you tell her to shut up too?”

Luffy shook his head.

"My shoes kept getting untied,” he said, frowning. His fingers curled over his shoes. “She said I’m too old to not know how to tie them, but I’ve only ever worn sandals before moving into Makino’s home.”

Zoro’s mouth flattened.

“That’s stupid,” he said bluntly. “Yelling doesn’t teach anything.”

Luffy hummed, like he was considering that.

“That’s what my grandpa did,” he said. “If we didn’t understand, he yelled louder or he would do corporate punishment.”

Zoro’s frown deepened.

…He definitely meant something else, but Zoro didn’t correct him this time. It didn’t feel right to do so.

His gaze dropped instead to Luffy’s untied shoes.

Zoro shifted closer without asking, reaching for the laces.

Luffy went still, watching.

“I can show you,” Zoro said, fingers already moving as he crossed the laces. “It’s not hard once you get it.”

He tightened the first knot, then looped and pulled, slower this time so Luffy could see.

“For now, I’ll make them tighter,” he added, tugging firmly. “So they don’t come undone.”

He double knotted it. Then triple knotted it… Just to be safe.

He moved to the second shoe, repeating the process with the same careful focus.

“There,” Zoro said, leaning back when he finished. “That should hold.”

He gave the knot one last testing tug to ensure it was secure.

Luffy lifted his foot and stared at the laces in awe.

His eyes widened, lighting up with wonder like the world had just given him something it hadn’t before.

Zoro stilled as he stared. The look made him feel weird.

Good-weird.

It crept through him slowly, settling behind his ribs. It was warm and a little strange, but it wasn’t uncomfortable…

He decided that he liked it. A lot… He liked feeling this way around Luffy.

Luffy must have felt similar, for a moment later, he dropped his foot and blurted out, “So, you wanna keep meeting me?”

Zoro didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Yeah.” He said with a smile. "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't want to."

Plus, someone had to make sure this idiot didn’t hide under desks all day.

“…But we shouldn't meet under a desk,” Zoro added, glancing around the dim classroom. “We should meet on the playground.”

Luffy laughed gleefully at Zoro's comment.

His whole body folded forward like he couldn’t hold it in, hands clutched his stomach as he tipped his head back, a “shishishi” spilling out of him without restraint.

Zoro felt his mouth tug upward before he could stop it. The warm feeling caused his heart to leap in his chest.

“We should go now and pick a spot!” Luffy said, already scrambling to his feet like nothing had ever been wrong.

Zoro shook his head as he leaned back against the leg of a desk.

“Good luck with that,” Zoro replied. “That place is impossible to find.”

Luffy tilted his head, confused.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “It’s just down the hall.”

Zoro stared at him oddly. It wasn't just "down the hall"!

He’d gone through what… ten courtyards? Twelve? At least half of them looped into each other like some kind of trap. There was no way…

Before he could argue, Luffy grabbed his arm.

Zoro’s eyes widened as he was yanked upright.

“Hey!”

“Come on!” Luffy grinned, already pulling him toward the door. “It’s this way!”

Zoro stumbled after him, caught off guard, but he didn’t pull back. He let himself be led.

Luffy pushed through one door. Then another.

Sunlight burst across the ground ahead of them.

Zoro stopped short at the threshold, blinking against the light.

The playground stretched out in front of him. A ball bounced past, chased by a pack of shouting kids. Laughter overlapped with the squeak of swings and the rhythmic slap of shoes against pavement.

“…You’ve got to be kidding me.” Zoro mumbled under his breath.

He stared like it might disappear if he looked away.

Two doors… It had been two doors away! The realization made him feel equal parts disbelief and offense twist in his gut.

Luffy didn’t slow down, he just kept pulling him along like this was the most natural thing to do with Zoro. They wove through clusters of kids, dodging games and chatter until Luffy finally stopped.

“We should meet over there!” Luffy said, pointing ahead.

Zoro followed his gaze.

The play structure loomed ahead. It was built like a pirate ship, with climbing walls and slides twisting down from different levels. At the front, a carved ram’s head jutted outward like a figurehead.

Luffy stopped right beneath it, beaming upwards.

“This spot is perfect!”

Zoro frowned. The excitement from before began to dissipate. His eyes flicked around the area, already expecting Helmeppo to pop up any moment.

“…Maybe we should pick somewhere else,” he said quickly.

Luffy’s shoulders slumped.

“But I like this spot,” Luffy pouted. “Why can’t we meet here?”

Zoro opened his mouth to explain-

“I thought we told you to stop hanging around our spot!”

Zoro’s muscles tensed at the familiar voice. He turned slowly, already glaring.

Helmeppo stood near the steps, arms crossed like he owned the place. Three other kids hovered behind him, all wearing the same smug, ugly expressions.

“Get away!” Another kid spoke up. “We don’t want your disease!”

Zoro’s fingers curled into fists at his sides.

Before he could say anything, Luffy stepped forward.

“Shut up!” Luffy snapped, his own fists clenched. “Zoro doesn’t have a disease!”

The group paused, finally noticing him.

Helmeppo recovered first, and planted his hands on his hips with a scoff.

“My dad says their whole family is diseased,” he said with a smirk. “He said it was wrong that someone like his dad was allowed to adopt in the first place.”

Zoro’s teeth clenched.

That was new… They’d never brought Mihawk up like this before.

“There is nothing wrong with my dad adopting me,” Zoro practically growled through his gritted teeth.

Helmeppo lifted his chin, like he thought he was better.

“It’s wrong because you don’t have a mom,” he sneered. “And you never will. You’ll probably end up with two dads. My dad says that’s wrong.”

The others nodded, muttering in agreement.

Zoro’s body went rigid.

So that was why they treated him differently?

The anger flared though him, climbing up his throat until it tasted bitter. His hands trembled at his sides, nails biting into his palms.

He could hit him.

Just once.

That would be enough.

Surely Mihawk would understand…

‘Be slow to anger.’ Mihawk’s voice echoed in his mind again. ‘Only attack when protecting yourself or a loved one.’

Fighting because of the mean things said about his father counted as protecting a loved one… Right?

Before he could decide, Luffy moved forward.

“Don’t talk to Zoro that way!” Luffy’s voice rang out with anger. His now blazing eyes locked onto Helmeppo. “It’s really pissing me off!”

Zoro barely had time to register it before Luffy’s fist flew out in a blur and connected squarely with Helmeppo’s face.

Thwack.

Helmeppo flew backward, crashing into the sand with a startled cry, hands flying to his nose.

Everything went still for half a second.

“Hey! You can’t do that!”

One of the boys charged forward, arms flailing.

Luffy ducked the swing like it was nothing and drove his knee into the kid’s stomach.

The boy crumpled with a wheeze.

The other two rushed in when Luffy’s back was turned.

Anger flared inside Zoro. How dare they attack from behind! It was a dirty move and they knew it!

Zoro’s arm shot forward and grabbed one by his wrist, yanking him off balance, then shoved him straight into the other before he could reach Luffy. They collided and hit the ground in a tangled heap, a pathetic whine escaped their lips.

Luffy stood in front of them, chest rising fast, fists still clenched.

“Don’t be mean to Zoro,” Luffy yelled despite the heavy breathing. “Or I’ll kick your ass!”

Gasps rippled through the playground.

“Did he just say a bad word?”

“I’m getting a teacher!”

“Woah! Did you see that?!”

Some kids scattered.

Others leaned in, wide-eyed.

Zoro barely heard them.

His pulse pounded in his ears, adrenaline rushing through him as he stood there.

Luffy had fought for him. He didn’t seem to think twice about it. He just did it because someone was being mean and it wasn’t right…

The brown eyed boy turned back to him. The anger had melted away, replaced by a blindingly bright grin. Luffy puffed his chest out, clearly proud of what they had just accomplished together.

Zoro stared.

That feeling in his chest came back, only stronger this time.

It made his whole chest feel warm. His heart pulsed harder, causing the warm feeling to spread down to the tips of his toes.

A sharp whistle pierced the air.

One of the playground monitors was running toward them.

Zoro should’ve worried about the trouble they were about to be in, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling back at Luffy.

He didn’t feel nervous or any sort of regret over the fight, because standing there, next to Luffy, he knew he found someone special.

He’d found someone who would be his best friend for a long long time.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Writer's Note: They totally got detention for this, but they have been inseparable ever since.

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Luffy and Zoro are soulmates