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

[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?"