Chapter Text
8 months later.
Zoro walked down the street during a festival hosted in the main part of the town he was living happily in with his grandparents. Every day he thought about Luffy, hoping he made it away and was someplace happy, like Zoro was. He wanted to see him again, and tell him he wasn't mad or hated him, for he knew Luffy was expecting that. He walked around, looking for some actually good looking food. His grandparents had given him some money to spend. He liked the humble life, not having money all the time or being trapped in a castle in the middle of nowhere. He did things himself, not using slaves.
He walked around and immediately stopped, his eyes widening as he heard a beautiful laugh. He knew that laugh, and he started to run, pushing past people, trying to find it's source.
When he rounded the corner of the street, he saw a mess of black hair moving in the crowd, with two shorter people walking with him. They were all holding hands so they werent separated. Zoro saw each of them with food in their mouths. Luffy had no way of carrying the food since both hands were being held, so he just walked around with a corndog in his mouth.
Zoro momentarily stopped and felt tears start to form in his eyes. He pushed past everyone and tapped Luffy on the shoulder as the free teenager laughed again. Luffy turned around and saw Zoro, his smile leaving immediately. He made a sad noise as his food fell to the ground.
"Hi," Zoro said simply, looking Luffy up and down. He looked so much healthier than when Zoro had last seen him. His bare arms werent skinny anymore, and he was obviously bigger around the waist, no longer super skinny. His hair was cut better and his clothes were simple. A red vest and blue shorts. Zoro loved it. He no longer wore a slaves uniform and the clothes suited him.
"H-hi…" Luffy said, looking away in sadness. He didn't want to see Zoro hate him. The other two looked away as well. They didn't want to lose Luffy, which was why they were holding his hands. But they knew this was a private moment and didn't watch.
"I am not angry and don't hate you, Luffy," Zoro told him with a genuine smile. "Thank you," he said, surprising Luffy.
"I… I burned down your house. I lied to you for over a month and left with no goodbye," Luffy said in disbelief. How could you not hate someone who burned down your home and betrayed you?
"I'm glad you did it. Like you wrote, I am free. I'm living with my grandparents and I've never been happier. Thank you." Luffy smiled in relief and kissed Zoro back enthusiastically when he swooped down on him. The kids on either side coughed awkwardly, but neither teen acknowledged that they were there.
Zoro was breathing a little quickly, his face red again. He liked the feeling and had missed it because it only happened when he was around Luffy. "I have to say… your plan was flawless. Thank you for saving my belongings and leaving what you left for father. Even though I was devastated with your leaving, I couldn't help but laugh at that."
"I feel bad that I lied to you…" Luffy told him guiltily.
"If you had told me, I would have helped," Zoro replied back. The two kids turned around and stared at him in disbelief. "I would have. If burning down that house meant freeing you and ruining my father's life, I would have gladly helped. And I would have gone with you afterwards."
Luffy gave one of his bright grins at what Zoro told him. "I wish I had told you now. But… If you hadn't agreed with us or tried to stop us… it would have ruined the plan," he said softly.
"I understand completely. I've missed you so much. And I love you, too," Zoro said, thinking of the small piece of paper that was in a frame on his bedroom wall. "Do you live here?"
"We live a little further out of the town limits. We're all still living together in a nice house. It's not a problem there is four of us to a room. We lived in a basement for our lives after all. Thank you," Luffy said.
"For what?"
"For the money we stole from you to buy it," Luffy replied with a laugh. "Most of us have jobs now and the younger ones are going to school. Me and the others are teaching ourselves how to read and write. We're having a lot of trouble with math, though," Luffy explained with a smile.
"Are you all happy?" Zoro asked. The three all nodded. "I'm glad." Luffy smiled again and thanked him. "Can I see you again?" Zoro sounded a bit desperate. He didn't want to lose Luffy after finally being reunited with him.
"Of course!"
The end