An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I think about this fic a little too often. AU where Zoro is a phoenix, if you haven't read it pls pls do and come back because I'll be talking abt spoilers.
So when Zoro unleashes his flames at Water 7, how must have Luffy and Nami reacted? Luffy is all about trust yk, so he'll probably be like "Oh! Zoro is finally using his flames! They look cool!" while Nami is like "I can't believe he's been hiding this from us, but I still love this dork." However, there has be at least one moment where both of them think, "If his flames are so strong, why hasn't he used them sooner?"
And this, combined with the way Zoro turns into a tiny bird has massive angst potential, because when he's evaporating the water, Luffy says that he was on fire right? But they, being Luffy and Nami, are probably close enough to see the way his body is shrinking, which could lead to them thinking that Zoro is burning himself away to protect them, to protect his nakama like he always promised he would. He's never told them about it, and this could explain the reason why he doesn't use his flames (besides the point that he's training to be the great swordsman, not the greatest firebird).
I'm just... raaaaaaaaaaaaa.
I also find it hilarious how Franky probably meets Zoro in bird form first, so given the Strawhat's track record for craziness, he'll probably just roll with what the Strawhats tell him about this bird being their swordsman slash vice-captain. And I mean literally, he's just imagining this tiny bird being trained to fight with swords lmaoo.