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]

"You're here after all!"

Look, Luffy's got a mouthful of food, and Zoro knows his captain's priorities. So rather than wait for the man to get up from his seat, he strides across the room and pulls out a chair for himself.

"Man, I'm glad to see you. You seem well."

Better than Zoro expected, anyway. Then again, his own injuries from before are gone. Maybe the same is true for Luffy. He can't get a good assessment over the mountains of plates, but...his captain is as energetic as usual, at least. That's something.

[holdmyhat]

"Ah? Yeah, been here all day," he points out with a sober expression. But it doesn't last long. His smile breaks through in a matter of seconds when he leans toward Zoro to share some of the best news he's heard today.

"They have free chicken wings!" Luffy explains. One of the women beside him is quick to correct him.

"No, no, it's all you can eat," Candy points out to him again, but mainly to the newcomer. One of them must have some sense, and right now she's going to bet it on Zoro.

"Right, yeah!" By the look on his face, her amendment doesn't register with him. "Is that why you're here? Or're you here for the girls?" He expects the former, but hopes for the latter. Who knows if there will be enough chicken wings to go around between the two of them now. He already faced one contender for all the chicken wings when he ordered. Luffy bore holes straight through his head with his eyes.

Both women loitering around the table turn their attention to Zoro. Candy even sets herself gracefully on one of his knees and purrs, "I sure hope so."

[marimo]

"Tch. Don't confuse me with the cook." Then, pointedly, to the dancer on his knee: "—And I never said you could sit on me, lady."

There are plenty of chairs right there.

"Anyway, don't worry. I'm not here for your chicken wings, Luffy," he adds, knowing full well how territorial Luffy can get with his meals. "An old man gave me the wrong directions for some place I'm looking for. Said it was called 'The Late Chancing", or something like that. But then I ended up here. Because he can't tell left from right, apparently."

The second dancer leans against the table, exposing her cleavage. "That old man," Lulu says with a curious tilt of her head, "wouldn't be a Hunter who goes by the name of Hedge. Would he?"

Zoro narrows his eyes. "How did you—"

"He sent a message saying you were literally on your way. To our fine establishment, The Late Chanson," Lulu giggles with a dramatic flair on that last word. "That was days ago."



"Well, his directions were garbage!"

[holdmyhat]

Candy does as she's told, but not before sharing a sidelong glance with Lulu at Zoro's attitude. Other patrons would have considered themselves very lucky to have her bare cheeks on their knee.

But whatever slight could have dug in her craw, they all band together instead to laugh at the frustrated man now screaming just loud enough to be heard over the booming music in the background.

"I know that old guy!" The words are muttered from a mouth dripping with hot sauce. "He told me about the legs and eggs breakfast they do here in the morning!"

"Wait—" Lulu speaks up. "So you really are here for the food?"

Luffy blinks once. "Yeah." Then his eyes drift to Zoro, interested to hear his reason.

[marimo]

"So he's a regular here," Zoro mutters. "Well, that explains a lot."

Naturally, there's the unspoken question of why Zoro is here. If not for the wings or the legs, then what the hell does he want? The dancers must have some idea, at least. But they've expectantly fixed their eyes on him, alongside Luffy.

He folds his arms over his chest.

"People here turn into Beasts," he explains. "Not the way Chopper does. More like some mystery illness that gets into your bloodstream. Makes your mind and your body go berserk if you don't know how to tame it. Most people try to suppress or avoid it. But then it usually happens sooner or later, and they're screwed until someone puts them down."

Zoro studies the dancers now, his gaze sharp and appraising. Like someone assessing a fighter or an opponent, rather than tonight's entertainment.

"Some people here have learned ways to control their Beasthood," he adds. His words are directed at Lulu and Candy, just as much as Luffy. "And I wanted to find out how. That's why the old man sent me."

[holdmyhat]

"Oh!" His eyes bug a little wider when some familiarity sparks in his brain. Luffy tips further over the table, straw hat pushed back with one hand.

"Candy can do that! Right?" Black eyes dart to her for confirmation. Or a skeptical look if he's way off the mark. Her wide smile suggests they're both correct, thankfully.

"I'm a master," she tells them both. And then with a wink, Candy saunters to the stage. Luffy knows exactly what they're in for, so he sits back with arms behind his head to watch. He spares a glance for Zoro and an eager snicker.

When her hand reaches the pole, Candy takes one smooth spin around and continues down the catwalk. At the end of it, she squats down on platform heels with her ass popping in front of her audience as she looks over her shoulder at the two of them. Her eyes are not her eyes anymore, though. They are slitted and glare almost ruby red when light hits them.

"Ho hoo hoooo! So cool, yeah?" He whoops along with the crowd, but for completely different reasons.

[marimo]

Anyone can seem like a master if they know even a little more than you do, he thinks. But Zoro watches Candy's performance with a critical eye — past her curves, past the heels, and instead focuses on the confidence that rules her movements, the sharp gaze that pierces into the audience...

And the way her pupils coil into blood-red serpentine eyes.

When Hedge said he'd find people here to teach him, this is not what he expected. But Zoro schools his expression into a level gaze, even if Luffy's enthusiasm is still infectious.

"'Cool' is one word for it," he says. His own teeth bare into a hard smile, the kind of look he gets when faced with a challenge that hangs just beyond the boundaries of what he can do. "A monster normally makes people scream for a different reason. But she's got enough control over her own Beasthood that she can pretty much turn it into a game."

A lucrative game, even, if the plethora of shiny bobbles and trinkets being shoved at her are any indicator. As a gambling man, he can respect that. Most people wouldn't have the guts to let that side of them out in a venue like this.

"You've seen this song and dance before?" he asks Luffy.

[holdmyhat]

"Mm, yeah—" He has more to say, but he's got to clear his mouth of food first. "They all take turns on stage! I figured it was just devil fruit powers." Which is why it's been so easy to keep his mind on the food and not the goings on around him.

The small crowd, mostly consisting of men, suddenly gasps. Turning his attention back, Luffy sees that Candy has opened her mouth unnaturally wide. Fangs like you would find on a viper stretch out dripping what he can only assume is venom.

"Is this what you wanna do?" he asks between a few more wings.

[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?"