Private Log [Deer Country]

[marimo]

"Old man can't tell his ass from his elbow," Zoro grouses to himself as he steps into a certain gaudy burlesque club in Red Cellar. "And now he's a pervert, too. Great."

Bad enough that it took him a few days (and some patronizing locals) to reach his destination. Now? He's finally stepped into the halls where that old-geezer Hunter told him he could find a mentor willing to help him. A master who, even without the gifts imparted to Sleepers, achieved something so few people in this land do: Control over the wild art of Beasthood when willpower alone wasn't enough.

Only to be surrounded by stale cigarette smoke, pounding music, raucous laughter, and half-naked performers hustling for their next meal.

Not that Zoro gives a shit what people do during their free time. But after the hell he's gone through, he needs a goddamn drink. Dragging a stool over to the bar, Zoro slouches over the counter and waves someone down. "Oi—"

That's also when he feels a pair of eyes boring into the back of his head. Clenching his jaw, he whips his gaze around, a defensive snarl of "what're you looking at?" on the edge of his teeth.

And then he stops. His eyes widen.

"...!!"

And his mouth splits into a wide beam.





"LUFFY!"

Comments

[marimo]

"No." He tilts his head toward Luffy. The sharp edges of his grin soften into something more boyish and cheeky. "...Already can. Turn into a beast, that is. The main thing is learning to control it."

Granted, the old man took great pains beating it into his thick skull that it's not so simple as controlling it. But as he sees it now, the only alternative is letting the beast inside of him run wild, with no purpose in its carnage, and no help to either his or Luffy's goals. That is unacceptable. And so here they are.

Lulu, meanwhile, rises from the table and saunters onto the stage alongside her partner. A pair of dark, leathery batwings unfurl from her back, sharp carpals gleaming underneath the bright stage lights.

"What about you?" Zoro asks. He's watching the spectacle, taking note of the fine control Lulu exudes over her own shape with the same calm detachment he'd have if he were watching his junior perform katas back at the dojo. "You turn into any animals lately?"

[holdmyhat]

"Hahaha! Oh! That makes sense! No way you'd be good at swinging on the pole!" The image of Zoro greased up, mouth firmly glued in a frown, and spinning around on their stage is hysterical!

[marimo]

Zoro bristles. "That's 'cause I'm not a circus animal."

[holdmyhat]

He can barely hear Zoro above the bass pumping through the bar and his own laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" His words are bright but dismissive. He's moved on to more exciting subjects than pulling his friend's leg. "So, what is it then? Your 'not circus' animal."

[marimo]

". . . Dunno," he admits. "Old man's the only person I know for sure who saw me, and I didn't think to ask him about that once I woke up."

It didn't seem important at the time. But now that Luffy's raised the question, Zoro would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little curious.

"All I know is," he adds, "it's got fangs and claws. And a taste for blood."

Same shit, different body, in other words.

[holdmyhat]

"Ha! So you're like a vampire bat!" That gets another cheeky laugh from his captain. "My beast is gonna have fangs and claws and flippers! Or maybe horns. Horns're cooler!"

[marimo]

"What?" Luffy manages to wring a snort from Zoro, and a tiny bit of incredulous laughter bleeds into his next words. "The hell kind animal is that?"