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mugiwara-no-toshokan · 7 months

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Rip my heart out for a second just to stuff it right back in there xD What a fantastic little story \o/

OCCUPIED! xD <3

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2023 MONSTER FUCKTOBER October 10th

❀ Weretiger Zoro x F!Reader ❀

❀ N.SFW ❀ 6.3k Words ❀ ❀ Monster Boyfriend AU ❀ ❀ 2023 MONSTER FUCKTOBER Masterlist

❀ Author's Note: For a simping blog that is based on my love of Zoro, you think I would have more Zoro content by now, lol.

Either way, I love cranky and not understanding why he is jealous Zo. He's adorable that way. I also may be combining two different long stories I have in the works for this story (An untitled Weretiger Zoro slow burn still in the works and Requiring Assistance that I swear I will finish someday) to make Weretiger Boss Office AU. It was fun, so I hope you all enjoy.

Elevator sex, I think so!

PLEASE READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS BEFORE PROCEEDING

❀ You took a position as the only human in a company of werecreatures under Zoro, falling for his good looks and rather brutish charm but keeping it to yourself. One day when a coworker from another department comes to assist you on a project, Zoro starts to see red, not realizing he holds just as much passion toward you as you do to him.

❀ CW: pissy huffy cat that Zoro canonically is, sex in an elevator, oral (female receiving), unprotected sex, creampie, Zoro and Reader are competent dumbasses (according to my editor @standfucker)

❀ Listen to the Playlist: ❀ Spotify ❀ YouTube ❀

Oh, you would not be so bold, Zoro thought to himself, eying your skirt that seemed shorter than usual from across the room as you handed out the papers for the meeting.

You had already been driving him nuts the last few months: small hints of your thigh every so often when you’d cross your legs and knew he could see, the way you would wear your hair that somehow always showed off your neck, so inviting and begging for his teeth, the faintest of perfumes that enhanced your already alluring natural scent. Your ass… not that you brought that much attention to it, Zoro just really liked it. Everything about your existence was just reminding him of what he wanted; what he desired.

You had been working as Zoro’s personal assistant for some time, somehow being the only human in a building full of werecreatures. He himself was a weretiger, having founded the company with a few other heads of different wereclans and beasts to offer protection to their people in the modern world. While you were aware of this information about your boss and coworkers, the facts never seemed to bother you.

With your knowledge of those around you, you always were careful of what smells there were on your person, never wearing strong perfumes. Despite this Zoro could not erase your smell from his mind. You were an incredible asset to the company, the most qualified at your job and saving his ass more times than he could count. But that did not stop the way he looked at you, the way he felt, the longing in his heart and loins. Interoffice romances were not frowned upon, but he was your direct superior, and you were…

Human.

It made Zoro disgusted with himself to think of things that way; there was nothing wrong with you being human in the least. He had human lovers in the past, but eventually they all left him, citing his animalistic nature, calling him barbaric, or just not being able to handle him at all. The man wondered if it may have been more his personality and not his actual weretigerness, but he was still self-conscious of the idea. If he did pursue you, would you eventually leave him for the same reasons?

You always treated him with respect, kindness, and professionalism, and was the one who told him all the time that he was a stubborn ass. So, frankly, you were already aware of his flaws, it would be nothing new to you. Just how would he move from you working under him to you just being under him?

Zoro was completely useless during the meeting. In his defense, it was a Friday afternoon, and he had mentally checked out of work on Wednesday. It was you that subtly kept him on task and made it look like he was paying attention to what was even going on. Afterwards, you had notes prepared for him to review as you gently scolded him for not being more attentive.

“Honestly, Zoro. A monkey could do your job.”

“I mean, Luffy was in the same meeting.”

You gave him a slight glare, “You know that is not what I meant, Sir.”

Despite your annoyance, your boss met you with a smirk, resting his cheek on his hand as he slouched in his chair and put all of his weight on his elbow. You rolled your eyes and placed paperwork in front of him on his desk, “I understand that it’s Friday, but you still have to do your job. I may be your assistant, but that just means I assist. I can’t do your job for you.”

Zoro let out an annoyed huff, looking at the paperwork with a disgruntled face. Since you were the only one in the office and he had no meetings scheduled for the rest of the afternoon, he allowed some of his glamor to drop, tail flicking behind his chair in annoyance as his ears lay flat, displeased. He made the look often when it came to doing his work, and most of the time it was very hard to keep your stoic demeanor; his expression was the cat with salad meme spot on, and it was so hard to take him seriously like that. Clearing your throat, you hid your smile behind your hand politely.

“The sooner you get these done, the sooner you can go home for the weekend.” It felt like you always had to placate him, speaking as an adult to a small child. Or, in reality, an exasperated owner talking to their house cat.

Mumbling and grumbling, Zoro leaned forward and started to read through the papers, getting out his pen and signing or making marks where needed. You smiled softly, knowing full well that he would get his work done, albeit slowly. He made his phone calls, worked through the papers, and barely complained. As a reward, you brewed his favorite tea, pouring it into his favorite cup, and placed it by him on his desk with some onigiri you made in the kitchenette of the break room.

As his assistant, it was your job to make sure he had what he needed for work, and you took it above and beyond by attending to his needs during work hours; sometimes off the clock as well. Did he call you often to pick him up from the bar when he couldn’t find his car? Yes, because he would usually be three blocks away at another bar by the time you got there. Zoro could do many things, but knowing his left and right or up verses north was not one of them (it was why you a tracking device made into one of the three earrings he wore).

Did you also deal with his laundry, schedule his weekends, and actually live in the apartment next to his? Yes, yes you did. You were his assistant, and it was your job. At least, that was what you told yourself, moving back to your desk just outside of his office and watching him through the glass as a gentle smile graced his lips while he was on the phone, holding the tea just under his nose. His good eye was closed, enjoying the scent of the tea that gave him just enough serenity from his work that you knew you would get a rather sweet ‘thank you’ when you would go collect the dishes from him later.

You sighed at the thought, knowing the real reason you went out of your way: you were a simp. A simp for your idiot boss and his idiot good looks.

Zoro was a rough man, which you had found was not completely unusual among the many wereclans you worked with, but Zoro was the gruffiest of the gruff. Many of the others would applaud you for putting up with his sour attitude, but you knew him in a way no one else did, his more caring and sensitive side. In his own way, of course. You often wondered if you thought that because you did view him through rose tinted glasses, but he never forgot your birthday, he knew the names of your family members when you would speak of them, and he always got you chocolates when it was your time of the month. It wasn’t like he did this only for you, he also did similar things for his friends and closer work associates. Granted, Zoro did not consider many his friends, so that list was still very small.

Stealing one more glance at him before you returned to your work, your heart skipped a beat when you thought you had caught him staring at you, a warmth on your skin as you turned back to your computer. Little did you know, there was a soft blush on his face in return.

“Hey there, Pup!” Ace, a member of the werewolf clans, had caught you in the hall after a big meeting a few days later while you were taking some reports and papers to another clan. He had always been very friendly with you, possibly even overly friendly. You were also a rather friendly person naturally, so it was probably why he would genuinely be himself around you.

You smiled back to him, shaking your head, “Will you ever stop calling me that?” Ace had always called you “Pup” teasingly, since you were the only human in the whole company.

“Nope,” his freckled nose wrinkled with his grin as he stood close, his tie already loosened as he held his jacket over his shoulder, “that’s your nickname, and it’s not changing.”

“Whatever,” you rolled your eyes, still smirking as he walked along side you, now slowing your pace since you two were talking, “Did you ever manage to get those files together, by the way? The ones I asked for two days ago?”

“Oh, yeah. I handed them off to Zoro just now, actually,” he motioned over his shoulder behind him as if your boss were standing there, but it was just in the general direction of the higher-ups offices, “Must have just missed you. Took Thatch and I a bit to get it all together, but you should have everything you need.”

Your shoulders drooped a bit, letting out a sigh of relief, “Oh, thank you so much. After our that major server crash, I thought I had lost those altogether. Thank god Whitebeard keeps physical files.”

“Yeah, I never really understood why until now,” Ace yawned, work talk usually made him sleepy. Pretty much everything made him sleepy, and his department always had to have someone sit close to him when he ate, lest he suffocate in his own meal. He looked down at you and tilted his head, “You gonna hafta put all that in by hand or what?”

“Oh, that had not occurred to me,” you blinked a few times, thinking about it as you both approached the elevator, “Shit, I’m going to have to enter all of it back in by hand. Shit shit shit!”

Ace chuckled, pushing the button to go down, “You know, if you asked nicely, I’m sure that I could help.”

“Your help comes at a price,” you held the folders to your chest, biting your lip as the elevator doors opened. Snapping your head up to Ace as you both entered, you kept a serious look in your eyes, “So name it.”

“Dinners. You know the kind.” Ace was not asking you out inappropriately or anything; everyone in the building clamored for your cooking. IOUs in home-cooked meals from you were a prized office currency, and you used it to your advantage at times.

“Three days worth of lunches, at your leisure, and I will also feed you on the days we are working together. BUT—” you pressed the button for your desired floor now that the two of you were in the elevator and the doors were closed, “—you, and I cannot stress this enough, CANNOT stretch the work out for more lunches. We need to get it done as quickly as possible, and I do not want to spend a week transcribing a single page because you chose to type one finger at a time.”

Ace sucked some air between his teeth, contemplating your terms and conditions. He would totally have stretched out the work, but even one day of lunches was more than enough. Sure, it was a lot of papers and files, and you two would most likely have to wrangle in another pair of hands, but it would be worth it for your cooking, even if he had to split it with someone else.

“Deal,” He shook your hand, a verbal contract being all that was needed, “I’m looking forward to it.”

Zoro seethed at his desk.

It was bad enough that he saw you flirting with that Ace guy in the hall the day before, and the bastard had the audacity to extort you by asking for a date as a form of payment. But then—THEN—he was in your office with you, helping you with your work. You were Zoro’s assistant, and the most capable person in the entire company.

How fucking DARE he!

Zoro’s ears sat flat on his head, his good eye set in a more permanent glare than he usually did, and his tail bristled to the biggest it could be. He was more than aware of the physical annoyance he was portraying, hating it even more than if he were trying to hide it. The weretiger always thought of himself as a restrained man, but in reality he wore his heart on his sleeve, especially when it came to you.

He did not wish to be so dependent on you for most things, but if he were to ask it of you, you would find a way to bring him the moon. Frankly, he was the one who wanted to give you the moon on a silver platter, or a gold one if that were to make you happy. Zoro mostly made his requests because it was just another reason for you to be there beside him, near him. Closing his eye, he could feel the grumbling growl in the back of his throat, huffing as he tried to rip his mind away and back to his computer. Still, his gaze made its way back to watching you and Ace through the glass that separated your offices, the two of you talking and laughing and typing away on replacing some files lost in the system or whatnot. The more Ace opened his mouth in your direction, the more Zoro saw red. His blood was boiling and he was ready to pounce like the tiger he was.

No, that wasn’t it: he was a raging bull, and Ace was the red cape you were dangling in front of him.

His fingers cracked his desk when he saw you pull out a lunch box, handing it off to the werewolf. Zoro could hear nothing over the rush of blood in his ears. Your special homemade lunches were meant for him and him alone. What right did that bastard have to your cooking?

When you came into his office with his lunch, Zoro was not surprised to see your reaction, your brows instantly knitting together before you closed the soundproof door behind you, “Who pissed in your cereal?”

Zoro’s voice held the perpetual growl he could feel vibrating his whole body, “Is that really how you should talk to your boss?”

“Oh, I’m sorry—” you brought his lunch to his desk, untying the cloth and removing the lid as you slid it in front of him, “—who pissed in your cereal, Sir?”

He had not realized how much he was slouching in his chair until he grabbed his utensils from you and sat up properly. His tail was twitching wildly behind him, betraying more of his annoyance, “You’re not funny, ya know.”

“On the contrary,” your tone was flat, “I’m hilarious.”

You stood there in front of him, watching as he picked at his lunch. Zoro usually devoured your cooking, which was why you already had a second on standby. It was pretty obvious that your boss was upset, someone two states away could tell that Zoro was angry. Lots of things set him off usually, but for once you were at a loss, as it had been a quiet day other than Ace assisting you with backing up paperwork.

Sighing, you leaned against Zoro’s desk, looking down at him with genuine concern, “Seriously, though, Zoro. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

He had answered so flatly and quickly, you knew the obvious lie he stated. Rolling your eyes, you huffed, now being more annoyed than you would usually get with him, “Sure, and the moon is actually made of cheese,” you said sarcastically, sounding more like a parent scolding an unruly child, “You want to try that a second time?”

Again, he did not change tone nor demeanor, stating again stubbornly, “Nothing.”

You threw your hands up, walking away to go back to work, as you still had a lot of it to do, “Alright, fine. I’ll come get your dishes later, and hopefully by then you’ll want to talk, but Ace and I have a lot of work to finish still.”

Zoro chuffed loudly, “Why’s the bastard even here, anyway?”

Stopping, you turned slowly, looking to Zoro with an even more confused expression than you had before. Zoro was well aware of the lost files, and why you had to request them from another department which now had to be entered by hand back into the system. Frankly, he had more work on his plate than to worry about something so trivial, but to see him hung up on this was just odd, even for Zoro. As far as you were concerned, Ace and Zoro got along well. What the hell was this all of a sudden?

“I’m sorry,” you shook out your head, trying to put the pieces together when there seemed to be a rather large chunk missing, “Why is the who now where?”

You did not think it was possible for Zoro’s ears to go flatter against his head, looking to you with his good eye as if he could shoot daggers from it, “You know who!” he spat, “Ace!”

Gawking, it took your mouth moving a few times before the words would come out of it, “I told you yesterday that he would be here today helping me transcribe files. It’s too much work for one person, and he—”

“I could have helped.” Zoro huffed, sliding back down in his chair as his tail twitched again.

“No, you couldn’t have. You have your own work to do, but it’s quite obvious you’ve done absolutely nothing today.” You motioned to the large stack of papers on his desk, untouched since you placed them there that morning.

“But I COULD have!”

Zoro had been upset and angry before, but this was the first time you had ever experienced it directed at you. Or at least that was how it seemed. The level of ire was also more than you had seen in a long time, if at all, “You need to calm down.”

“I AM CALM!” he swiped his arm across his desk, knocking everything off it in a huff, including the lunch you made him.

“Roronoa Zoro!” you stomped your foot on the ground, “You’re being a giant child!”

“Am not!”

“I am not going to warrant continuing this argument!” Crossing the room, you went to do your best to pick up the lunch he had scattered across the floor. This may be the top floor of the building, but that’s how you get ants.

You heard Zoro huff, taking a few breaths before he came to stand in front of you, crouching down to help you clean up his mess. He was still pissing you off at the moment, and his expression was still angry, but there was the smallest flutter in your heart that he was trying to correct his behavior in the slightest way.

After the papers were cleaned up and his lunch in the bin, you went to go get his second one, only for him to grab your wrist, “I don’t like you working with Ace.”

Turning to face him, you looked at him oddly, “Okay, but you and Ace are actually friends. Where is this coming from?”

Zoro shook his head, pulling you a little closer, “No. I don’t like you working alone with him.”

Blinking a few times, you looked into your office through the glass to see Ace face down in the lunch box you made him, most likely sleeping. Despite being a werewolf, he was probably one of the least threatening men in the building, so Zoro’s displeasure just seemed so out of place, “Okay—” You glanced one more time at Ace just to make sure he was still breathing before looking back to Zoro, “—then I can get someone else to help me.”

“No.” His voice was more stern, grip tightening on your wrist.

Zoro’s behavior was starting to scare you, “Hey, let go.”

“No.” He pulled you closer to him, wrapping an arm around your waist, “Y/N, I…”

Your heart was suffocating as his expression softened, his face so close to yours. He leaned in and pressed his forehead against yours, something he had never done before, as he wrapped his other arm around you. Placing your hands on his chest, you tried to push away, but your own feelings overpowered your reason as you pressed your body into his more.

“I don’t,” Zoro swallowed hard, closing his good eye as you saw a bright shade of pink slowly pant across his cheeks, “I don’t want to share you. With anyone…”

“Zoro…” you also tried to get proper air into your lungs, unable to do so.

“You’re mine, Y/N. No one else’s.”

You weren’t completely sure how it happened next, but your hand struck him across the face with your open palm. Zoro let go of you immediately, frozen in place as he could definitely not bring himself to look at you now. Covering your mouth, you were also at a loss of words as you quickly moved as far away from him as possible, rushing out the office and to the elevator.

It had been a few days, but neither Zoro nor yourself had gone into the office. Which was why it was a surprise to him to come in and find your office empty. His heart sank all the way to the ground floor, staring at your resignation letter on his desk. He couldn’t bring himself to read it, or get rid of it, wanting nothing more than to just rip it up on the spot.

Rubbing his face, Zoro kept playing in his mind where he went wrong. Frankly, it was everything, and he knew it, but there was still apart of him that was trying to figure out the how and the why. What possessed him to be so jealous of Ace? What made him act so possessive of you? Where did he go wrong in thinking that you had wanted him back?

After you had run out of the office, Ace woke up and asked what the heck happened. To save you some face, Zoro had told him you were suddenly not feeling well and had to go home. That night he used the key to your apartment you had given him, but you were not there. You had not been coming home the last few days it seemed, and he was trying to figure out where you had gone. He couldn’t pick up your scent anywhere in the usual areas of the city, and for all he knew, you had completely left town. The empty office beside his was the first and only sign that you had been anywhere close in a while.

At least your resignation letter held the faint scent of you.

The sun was going down when Zoro finally got up from his desk, no work getting done yet again. He had to cross through your office to get to the elevator, a twinge in his heart that he now feared would never go away. His body felt heavy, as if the weight of the empty room was crushing down on him as he then continued down the hall and to the elevator, pushing the button to go down.

“Just put in a request for a new office,” he muttered to himself, feeling as though the elevator was taking it’s sweet-ass time from one floor to the next. Zoro was beginning to feel like he couldn’t breathe the longer he stayed standing there, leaning his arm against the wall as high up as he could. Looking down at the ground as the elevator doors opened, he found his nose overwhelmed with your familiar scent as he looked down at a pair of shoes you had gushed about purchasing over a year ago.

Slowly, his eye panned up your body, seeing you standing there just as surprised to see him as he was you.

“Oh, Zoro! I… I’m sorry. I-I-I was…” you were flustered, holding a box in your hand. It had the same label on it as his favorite tea brand, “Um, here. For you.” Then you held the box out to him.

The green haired man cocked a brow, looking at the box, “What is this?”

“Your favorite tea.”

“I can see that, but what for?” his voice was flat, looking at you with a slight glare. He was completely unaware he had your resignation letter still held in his hand.

You visibly gulped, backing into the elevator; a natural reaction as he had stepped in toward you, “Well, it’s a parting gift.”

Zoro kept advancing until you were against the wall, placing his hand next to your head with the resignation letter clenched in his other as he held it up, “You mean this nonsense? What in the hell is all of this, Y/N? Why are you quitting?”

“Um,” you looked at the letter in his hand, “I take it you did not read my resignation then…” then turned your head away, biting your lip.

With your back pressed against the wall of the elevator, you tried to flatten yourself so much that you would have become one with the mirrored paneling. Zoro did not scare you, far from it. Among other things, you were embarrassed for having slapped him. Beyond embarrassed, your soul was most likely still flying around in the stratosphere. Him questioning you quitting was a genuine surprise, as you felt he would never want to look at you again after your actions.

Growling, Zoro ripped up your unopened letter, throwing it to the floor, “I don’t accept this. Just bring your stuff back to the office.”

“No.”

Astounded, Zoro blinked at you a few times, “No?” it was strange to be on the receiving end, and he wasn’t sure he liked it, “What do you mean ‘No’?”

You shook your head, “Zoro, I just… I can’t do this anymore. It hurts too much. Then your whole episode with Ace the other day, and you telling me I am yours?” Placing your hand on your chest to emphasis yourself in your argument, “I can’t just deal with it, Zoro. I’m done.”

He felt all the blood leave the surface of his skin, a cold sensation running up his spine. His biggest fear realized, his horrible attitude was running you off, too. Zoro only had himself to blame, he had been treating you so terribly, leaving the brunt of his work on you, and on top of it he bared his fangs at the only person in the world who never truly deserved it. Removing his hand from the wall, he wrenched his eye away from you in his shame, heart shattering to the ground in a million pieces.

“I see. I guess I can’t argue that,” rubbing the back of his head, he looked to the open elevator door, trying to figure out how it was even still open at all, “Fine then. I am sorry for everything then, Y/N.” Zoro understood further why you slapped him when you did, but this was an even bigger slap to the face as he walked off the elevator, “Good evening, and good luck.”

As he turned away, you couldn’t take it anymore yourself. You had never seen Zoro so broken, so lost. But it was true, you could not take him playing with your emotions like that. He was possessive of you as his secretary, you were hard working and trusted by everyone in the company. Other members of the board have attempted to poach you from Zoro for your capabilities, but no amount of money could ever take you away. Until now.

You were far too in love with Zoro to continue working under a man who did not love you back.

A loud sob escaped you as the doors closed behind him, holding yourself in your grief. You were devastated, knowing the last time you would ever see him would be like this. It hurt so much to see him disappointed, but it had to be done. That was what you kept telling yourself, still embarrassed by the slap, embarrassed by your one-sided feelings. The doors of the elevator opened two floors down, now feeling worse that someone would have to see you like this. Turning your head, you covered your mouth, failing at hiding your sobs.

“Y/N—” Zoro was panting, most likely from running down two flights of stairs to just get to the elevator before you passed, “—Please, please don’t cry!”

His arms were around you so quickly, you were unable to push him away as he held you close, doing his best to hush your cries. You shook your head against his broad chest, repeating “no” over and over. Slowly, Zoro loosened his grip as he looked to you, touching your face. It had never been hard for you to read Zoro’s expressions, but for once you were at a loss.

His gruff and usual scowl was soft, brows upturned as if worried. Zoro’s eye was searching your own as if he were going to find the meaning of life written deep within them. When his thumb brushed your cheek, you felt it wipe the stain of tears on your skin with it. Your hands were flat against his chest, able to feel how hard his heart was pounding. The pieces began to fall into place, but your sorrow addled mind was ignoring the signs—there was just no way.

“Please don’t cry, Y/N—” the way Zoro spoke left you breathless, the butterflies in your stomach threatening to burst out of you any second, “—and please don’t leave. You can quit being my secretary, but I can’t live my life without you.”

Floored by his admission, you just stared at Zoro, gawking at him as you felt your face muscles twitch into a myriad of emotions, “I—you—what?”

Both of his hands were cupping your face, the elevator doors closing as it began to move down to the next floor called, “I mean it. Every word. I need you, Y/N. I won’t force you to stay in the office, and if you need space for a while, it’s yours. But for the love of the sun and the moon and the stars, don’t walk away from me. Please.”

You were frozen in place at his words, gasping when you heard the ping of the next floor. Zoro’s back was to the mirrored doors as they opened again to the poor unfortunate soul who was now attempting to interrupt the two of you. The doors barely opened as he turned his head and roared, “OCCUPIED!” Reaching over to press the door close button before turning his attention back to you, his face returned to the kind and gentle look he was giving you before. When the elevator started to move again, he kicked the emergency stop button with his foot, then reached around to hold you closer to him, resting his head on your shoulder.

Bewildered, you shook out your head, still pressed against his much larger and muscular body. It felt so warm and welcoming in his arms, you slowly reached up to hug him about his shoulders, “Zoro, I want nothing more than to be a part of your life. It’s all I’ve wanted.”

Lifting his head, he looked to you, astonishment in his eye, “Really? But what about Ace?”

Your brows knitted together, “What about him?”

“Him asking you out?”

Looking down and away, your brain was trying to add up the math, but it wasn’t mathing. Looking back to Zoro, you pulled away slightly, “He did? When?”

“Uh, you were right there,” Zoro cocked a brow, “I would like to think you would know.”

There was only one thing that came to mind, “Do you mean the lunch?” Then covered your mouth, his current admission and his whole outburst the other day now making more sense, “Zoro, look… I have kinda never told you this since, well, you get so jealous and all, but the lunch was a bribe. I bribed him for his help with transcribing with lunch.”

Reflecting, Zoro looked away for a moment, “Huh… I didn’t know Ace was so cheap.”

“Zoro, I bribe everyone in the office with food for assistance,” you never realized how silly it sounded until you said it out loud, “Everyone clamors over it. There’s an unofficial currency for meals from men. No one’s told you because of how mad you get since my cooking is supposed to be ‘only for you’ after that board room lunch where I made sandwiches.”

He bit his lip, not his finest hour, something he would rather forget. It was the first time his jealousy showed and the first time he realized his feelings for you. That time was also the first time you yelled at him, which he would still not admit made him like you even more.

Looking back into your face, Zoro cupped your cheeks, “Then there’s no one else? No one in the office, no one else in your life?”

Huffing, you also held his face, his forehead going against yours, “Zoro, we live next door to each other. If I had someone over, I am pretty sure you would quickly notice.”

Chuckling, Zoro ran his nose against yours, “I just had to check. I’m sorry for being so… rough.”

His hands moved to your waist as you got on your toes, “It’s fine, I like you rough.”

Your lips pressed together, tongues and hands exploring the other deeply, passionately. Zoro lifted you into his arms, wrapping your legs around his waist as he walked back, pressing you into the wall. He made quick work of any clothing in his way as he dropped to his knees, letting out a growl at your ripped tights and panties as his large and hot tongue claimed your dripping cunt. Nose pressing into your clit, he kept you from touching the ground, lapping at your folds desperately as you gripped the railing of the elevator. It did not take long before your eyes were rolling back and your legs shook, coating his face in your juices.

Zoro remained on his knees, drinking from your overstimulated cunt for a while longer before he gave you relief, shifting around to still not allow any part of you to touch the floor. Gripping his shoulders, you felt him slip the head of his cock into you, slowly filling your pussy with every thick and throbbing inch of himself. It felt like he was pushing the air from your lungs, gasping for breath as he began to move within you.

“Oh, oh Zoro!” you moaned, “Should we… condom?” the pleasure he had brought you made it hard to form coherent thoughts, but it did occur to you that there was nothing between the two of you but literal skin.

He licked your skin, nipping on your earlobe, “I can find one if you want, but I want to mark you as mine, then no one can take you from me.”

Your toes curled at the thought, never really thinking of yourself to be turned on by risky sex. Nodding, you gave him the go ahead to proceed. With Zoro, you were up for anything, kissing him deeply as you felt every inch of him raw and pulsing. His pants dropped around his ankles, shifting to hold your legs under your knees, spreading you further for him to only thrust deeper. With your mouth hanging open, you couldn’t even form sounds, gripping his shirt tighter as he ran his teeth down your neck, leaving red and heated scratches in their wake.

Panting, Zoro whispered in your ear, “Do you feel that? Do you feel how deep I am? So deep inside you,” his voice was like silk, causing your cunt to flutter around him, “Gonna fill you up deep inside. Let everyone know that you’re mine!”

You felt his hips begin to stutter, calling out his name loudly as you came again. His cock erupted inside you, unaware of how hot and warm it would feel. Shuddering, you felt the pleasure through your whole body, pulling his lips to yours as you felt him rumble from the back of his throat. His tongue tasted of your juices, still feeling the tingle of bliss as he rolled his body into yours a few more times, gasping against each other.

Zoro pulled away from you, reaching up to hold your face in his palm, feeling you go limp against him, “You did wonderfully, as always.”

Smiling, you nuzzled against his hand, feeling him pepper your neck and shoulder with kisses. He didn’t remove himself from you, nor did you care, never wanting to leave the fuzzy afterglow you were both in. He adjusted his arms to hold you close, still pressing your body to the wall.

The emergency phone in the elevator rang as you were about to say something, the two of you looking at each other with concern, then to the phone.

“What is that?” he asked.

“The emergency line. You stopped the elevator.”

“But why is it ringing?” he asked again, but this time with his usually annoyed growl as his ears pressed back.

You giggled, “Might have something to do with you hitting the emergency stop button.”

Zoro huffed, lifting you from the wall, but not off his cock as he shifted you both over until he could answer the phone. You hid your face against his neck as if the person on the other end could see you as he hissed at the operator, “OCCUPIED!”

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mugiwara-no-toshokan · 7 months

Note

Pining Zoro and blind-to-it Reader?

un-certainly

opla!zoro; 3,422 words; fluff fluff fluff so much fluff, straw hat!reader, fem!reader, (seeminlgy) clueless!reader, lots of pining, banter, teasing, smitten!zoro, the whole nine yards

summary: in which everyone knows zoro's got it bad for you, except for you, of course.

one.

“so… i should just… talk to her.” zoro says uncomprehendingly, blinking at an exasperated nami, who has to take a long, steadying breath to keep from shoving him overboard. the waves beneath them are calm, the day above them, a gorgeous, endless stretch of blue so brilliant it almost pains the eyes to stare.

nami resists the urge to pinch her nose bridge as a dull ringing starts to echo in her ears.

“yes. sweet god — just go up to her and say ‘hey, i think i might like you’ and i guarantee you, things will go from there.”

zoro shifts his tightly knitted arms, squinting at her as if she might be lying or purposefully luring him into a trap, “go? so there’s a chance it could go badly.”

this time, nami really does drop her face into her hands, groaning loudly.

“well there’s always a chance it could go badly —”

“sounds like a bad idea to me.” zoro looks away, eyes still narrowed as the light sea breeze ruffles his hair, a colony of news coo squawking loudly overhead, one of them dropping down to careen towards the going merry, landing on the thick white railings next to them, ruffling it’s feathers as nami pushes off to dig in her pocket for some berry.

“oh! newspapers here!” your voice makes both zoro and nami jump, and a second later you’re bounding up the stairs to the forecastle deck and stuffing some berry into the news coo’s bag. your arm brushes by zoro’s as you lean over to offer the news coo a piece of dried shrimp, which it considers for a second before leaning forward and gobbling up.

nami gives zoro a soft shove from his other side, leveling him with a meaningful look before turning and making a show of going to check on her tangerine grove.

zoro doesn’t have time to glare before the news coo takes off with a pat-pat-pat of wings, leaving you and him very much alone on the sunny fore-deck. he purses his lips, casting about for something to say even as you hum happily to yourself, your arm still painfully close to his as you unroll the newspaper and flip though, blissfully unaware of the inner turmoil of the man standing next to you.

“uh — anything interesting?” zoro asks, desperate for something, anything to fill the silence.

you shrug, “nope… just the usual — uptick in piracy along the coast, tightening of marine patrols…” you turn and cast him a grin that makes his stomach twist inside him like a contortionist from buggy’s freakshow.

zoro clears his throat, thumbing absently at the hilt of his swords before taking a deep breath.

“hey — uh…”

“hm?” you turn towards him, with your wide attentive eyes and your stomach-curling smile.

zoro blinks, his gaze flickering from your soft button nose to the way the wind twines its fingers in the loose strands of your hair. two twin pearls glitter from the lobes of your ears and he feels the tension melt from him as he sucks in another breath.

just say it, nami had said, just tell her.

really, how hard could it be?

“i uh — there’s something i wanna talk —”

“wait, hold still,” you say, your eyes going wide as you lean forward suddenly and zoro’s visions tunnels in around him — you’re close, closer, too close/too close/too close!

your fingers card through his hair and he has to bite back the shiver that rockets down his spine as you pull your hand back with a black-tipped feather.

“the news coo left you a present,” you say, laughing as you offer him the feather.

zoro considers it for a second before taking it from you.

“it could’ve left worse,” he says, recalling the few times that he’d gotten bird shit in his hair.

you giggle; the sound makes him want to scream but instead, he settles for clearing his throat again.

“now, you make a wish,” you say, nodding towards the feather in his hand.

“never heard of that before,” he frowns slightly, “thought you could only wish on dandelion seeds and…” he waves at the endless stretch of sky above you, “shooting stars and stuff.”

your smile is so wide that zoro thinks his cheeks might start to hurt for you.

“haven’t you heard that rules are meant to be broken?” you ask, offering him the feather again. he looks at you, then at the feather, and the back at you.

“okay — i wish —”

you squawk flapping your hand, “no! you can’t tell me what the wish is! otherwise, it won’t come true!”

zoro smirks, cocking an eyebrow, “i thought rules were meant to be broken?”

you blush the most darling shade of red and he decides to take it easy on you (and, honestly, himself). so, he plucks the feather from your hand and closes his eyes, making a soft, silent wish. a wish that, in truth, he’d been making since the moment he met you.

when he opens his eyes, it’s to find you staring.

“kay. now what?” he asks, rolling the feather between his thumb and forefinger.

“now…” you gently tug the feather from him before opening your palm and letting the wind whisk it away, “you let the sea take your wish. and if you’re worthy, it’ll grant the wish for you!”

zoro lets out a breathy laugh, “if i’m worthy? and how’s it supposed to know that?”

you lean in, and if it were anyone else, he might’ve been annoyed, but with you, somehow, he finds himself charmed.

your voice is conspiratorial as you whisper, “because… the ocean knows all the secrets the sky can’t keep.”

two.

at dinner, with you by his side, usopp detailing some imaginary adventure, nami laughing, sanji blowing smoke rings towards the middle of the fire-lit deck. your cheeks are pink from the wine everyone is passing around and for a second, you bump into him and turn — he turns towards you too —

your eyes catch like unsuspecting fish to a bobbing hook and zoro feels his stomach tug as you grin up at him, the night sky caught in the flutter of your lashes.

he can’t help the way his gaze flicks down to your lips, and then back up again.

“feel like sharing?” you ask, nodding towards his half-finished bottle.

wordlessly, he hands the bottle to you and watches as you bring the mouth to your lips and take a long drink. he tracks the soft bobbing of your moon-lit throat and feels his own mouth go dry at the sight.

across the fire, sanji watches with a growing smile and nami rolls her eyes.

“oi, moss-head — mind if i take a swig too?” sanji asks as you hand back the bottle, dragging the back of your hand across your lips, and zoro turns to pin sanji with a glare.

“get your own,” he says, before polishing off the rest with a few hard sips and tossing the bottle into a rapidly growing pile.

zoro licks his lips and tries not to think about the way your lips had fit around the bottle just right; he tries not to wonder if you’d taste like wine. or, if he’d even have the mind to think that far if you were to let him kiss you.

three.

“… and then, you pull it through… like this?” you slowly bring your arm through a swiping movement, your hands clutched around the hilt of a wooden training sword. zoro sighs, shaking his head.

“uh — not quite — here,” he pushes off from the barrel he’s sitting on to circle around behind you, wrapping one hand around both of yours, the other palm curling around your middle to press against your stomach, “you’re breaking in your waist again — keep your core tight and —” he helps you swing the sword through in a swift arc.

“oh.”

it takes him a second to realize how close you are, how he can feel your entire back pressed against his entire front, how perfectly you fit into his arms, how easy it’d be to hold you to him and never let go.

“so just… practice that a few hundred times,” he says, stumbling back as his cheeks go hot and he feels the inexplicable urge to toss himself into the calm, saltine waves below, if only to cool down just a bit.

“will you practice with me?” you ask, your smile wider than the sky is wide — zoro is sure.

he blinks at you for a second before making a show of sighing and rolling his eyes.

“ah… i guess i could use a bit of practice too.”

he pulls out the wadou ichimonji and takes his stance next to you.

“ready?” he asks.

you nod, glancing over and adjusting your posture.

“okay, how many are we doing?”

zoro casts around for a number, “a thousand.”

“zoro!”

“five… hundred?”

you cast him a look that makes his stomach flip inside him.

“how about we start with a hundred, and then i’ll see how i feel from there?”

zoro clicks his tongue, smirking, “i could do a hundred in my sleep.”

you make a show of rolling your eyes, “fine then — go take a nap!”

zoro huffs as he clears his throat, “right then — let’s start — one, two —”

you squeak as you hurry to catch up, jumping as he reaches out a hand to correct your posture.

up on the foredeck, luffy watches with usopp by his side.

“hey! i wonder if zoro would teach me sword tricks if i asked!”

usopp sighs, clapping luffy on the back even as he shakes his head.

“uh — not that i think he wouldn’t but … maybe you should just… let them do their thing, yeah?”

four.

“i think you really should tell her,” luffy says, slapping zoro on the shoulder, a bit harder than he’d intended. zoro winces, pressing a palm to his chest — still sore from their recent raid.

“i don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

luffy laughs, leaning forward against the railing, “nami said you’d say that.”

zoro fights the urge to scowl as he sighs, his eyes narrowed at the damnably calm horizon. at least if the weather weren’t so nice, he could make up an excuse to leave but —

“really, what’s the worse that could happen?” luffy asks.

zoro grunts, shooting luffy a sidelong look, “oh i don’t know, she doesn’t feel the same and shit gets awkward and —” he waves a hand at the going merry, “the crew falls apart.”

thankfully, luffy doesn’t pause to call him out on for once not denying it.

instead, he lets out a contemplative hum, “hm… yeah, that could happen. but… i don’t think it will.”

inside his chest, zoro’s heart clunks, strange and uncoordinated.

“why? she say something to you?” he can’t keep the curiosity from his voice, the stomach-squeezing anticipation he’d only ever associated with the heat of battle and a really good fight. but now, he feels it whenever you get too close, and he wonders if he can go insane like this — if one day his heart might just give out.

“nope!” luffy’s voice is too bright, too cheerful, and zoro feels himself rolling his eyes before he can stop himself, “i’ve just got a feeling!”

“a feeling.”

“yeah! and — have a little faith! the straw hat crew isn’t that fragile.”

with that, and another hearty clap to the shoulder that leaves zoro hissing in pain, luffy clomps off towards the kitchens, where sanji is already doing dinner prep. zoro lets out another sigh as he straightens, carefully stretching his arms to test the range of motion.

above him, a flock of migratory geese fly southward in a soft, arrowhead formation. zoro holds up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he watches them pass overhead.

a single feather flutters down towards him and he finds himself reaching out to catch in the palm of his hand.

a wish, huh, he thinks, twirling the feather between two fingers before casting around to make sure no one else can see him. satisfied that everyone else is either too far away or below decks, zoro closes his eyes and makes a wish —

alright roronoa, please. don’t fuck this up.

five.

“ahem.” zoro clears his throat after dinner, making a point to down a couple more drinks than usual. he’s never been one to believe in liquid courage, but… it couldn’t hurt, right?

“can we, uh, talk?”

you smile a smile that threatens to crack his chest wide open, nodding.

“sure! what’s up?”

across the room, sanji visibly stills but nami catches his eye and shakes her head ever so slightly.

“c’mon… not in here,” zoro says, jerking his head towards the hallway that leads to the decks above.

“what’s got you so secretive all of a sudden?” you ask as he leads you all the way up to the crows nest, reaching down to help tug you up, letting his hand linger in yours as you grin up at him.

“i’m allowed to have secrets,” he says, turning to stare out at the darkened sea, the summer moon hanging low and full-bellied over the glittering waters, the stars winking like so many all-seeing eyes.

“we all are, but… i thought we’d gotten all your big ones after that one night the whiskey bar —”

zoro coughs, “alright, alright — don’t need to bring that up again.”

you laugh, leaning forward to pillow your cheek against your crossed arms, propped up along the edge of the crows nest.

“so? what’s this new secret, then?”

zoro swallows, “uh — wouldn’t exactly call it new.”

“alright then, an old secret.”

“not super old, either —”

you turn to look at him, half-exasperated, half-amused, but when you catch sight of his expression, you still, pressing your lips.

“zoro? is… everything okay?”

he ticks his tongue against his teeth and lets out a long breath, as if bracing himself for something before he says —

“yeah. i think —” he clears his throat again, trying to recall what nami had said about just saying it and he tries again.

“i think i might like you.”

the coil in his chest feels tight enough to snap, but you’re quiet as he turns to steal a glance at you.

“oh,” you say, you expression curiously contemplative as you look out over the darkened seascape.

zoro has to physically stop himself from shaking you by the shoulders — say something, goddamnit! say anything!

“so…” he says, knitting his arms across his chest instead.

you turn towards him, your eyes bright as twin stars.

“you think you might like me, right?” you ask, and for a second, zoro can only blink down at you, completely thrown by your lack of reaction. of all the things he’d imagined you doing — everything from getting angry to apologizing to throwing yourself at him with an impassioned speech about how you’d felt the same since the beginning — this was not one of them.

“uh… yeah, pretty sure that’s what i said.”

you cock your head, a quick, bird-like gesture that makes zoro’s heart skitter inside his chest, threatening to leap from his mouth as you continue to stare up at him, completely unabashed.

“ah… so what do you think we should do then?”

zoro stares, “… do?”

“yeah, because if you’re not sure if you like me… we should do something to make sure, right?”

and it’s then that he sees the soft, playful uptick of your lips, the glittering darkness behind your eyes. the tension in his chest seems to loosen even as he lets out a breath, chuckling before quirking an eyebrow and taking a step towards you, caging you in against the crows nest’s edge.

“mm. you’re right — i can think of a few things we could try, though.”

“yeah?” you voice is little more than an exhale on the wind, but it’s the last thing zoro tastes before he finds his lips on yours.

as far as kisses go, zoro would later think back, it was a pretty damn good one.

it started as a slow kind of kiss, a soft, unfurling of breath on breath, and then lips on lips. the ghost-friction of promises made and kept and unbroken, the first spark to a fire that had been threatening to consume him since the moment he’d heard you laugh.

and then — just like that, he’s kissing you. and you’re kissing him back, the gravity and inevitability of it making his head spin even as he presses in closer. it is sweet and warm and trembling — soft and hard and deepening. he runs his tongue along the seam of your mouth and savors the way you gasp open for him.

just him.

he swallows it like he wants to swallow you, reaching up to sink his fingers into the silk and gossamer of your hair, pulling you so close he can feel your heartbeat thrumming against his chest, your nails as they curl into the linen of his shirt.

it takes everything inside him to pull back, and everything else left not to dive right back in again. you’re both panting, a little breathless, and zoro — a lot relieved.

“so…” you say, your tongue flickering out to lave across your bottom lip.

zoro doesn’t try to stop his eyes as he tracks the spine-tingling motion.

“so?”

you grin, biting back the shiver that chases through you at the deep, base rumble of his voice, echoing from his body to yours.

“what’s the verdict? have you decided if you like me yet?” you ask, batting your lashes even as he watches your own eyes drop down to his lips. a dark, warm, purring satisfaction curls inside his chest at the way your pupils dilate, black as the night, bright as all her favorite stars.

“hm,” zoro hums, leaning down to skim a knuckle along your jaw, slowly guiding your face towards his again, “dunno… jury’s still out… might have to try it a few more times. y’know… just to be sure.”

“mm…” you sigh as he leans down to graze his teeth along your pulse point, fingers tightening around your waist as he feels you tremble in his arms, “y-yeah… wouldn’t want you to be —” you hiccup as he sinks a soft bite into the juncture of your neck and shoulder, “uncertain.”

“no…” and his voice is all groan and gravel as he lets himself breathe you in, “we certainly wouldn’t want that.”

bonus.

far below, beneath the decks of the going merry, sanji takes a long pull from a post-dinner cigarette, his lips twisting into a concerned sort of frown.

“it’s been a while since they’ve been up there. think we should go check on them?”

luffy shugs, still happily picking at the remains of the turkey carcass sitting in the middle of an oblong plate.

“they should be okay — i mean, they say that no news is good news, right?”

“uh, not sure that applies to this kinda thing,” usopp says as he makes to peak out of the nearest window.

nami swirls her drink, “i think they’re fine. and we’d hear if zoro threw himself off the crows nest, right?”

across the table, sanji blinks and luffy pauses in his munching.

“whoa, you think he’d really do that if she rejects him?” usopp asks, his face going a little pale.

nami rolls here eyes, “no.” and then a moment later, “but really, we’d hear him if he jumped, right?”

luffy licks his lips, shrugging, “dunno, probably though. he’s pretty heavy so he’ll make a pretty big splash.”

sanji taps a bit of ash into his empty bowl and lets out a long suffering breath.

“yeah, y’know really, no news is good news.”

#sweet #roronoa zoro #x reader #reader insert

5K notes · View notes

mugiwara-no-toshokan · 7 months

Text

Slinktober 2023—Brook

Author's Notes

I gave this some heavy thinking and while I did state that each piece of Slinktober would be a stand-alone piece per character, I maintain the right to connect stories together as I see fit. As it stands, I am linking the Strawhat pieces together as one whole story—told from eight different perspectives.

The bit that holds all eight pieces together is Brook. I present to you all, Day One of Slinktober.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laboon's Slinky Composition

It was a typical day out on the Grand Line, morning saw the bright sun with not a cloud in the sky to dull its shine but by noon everything had changed. First it was a cloud here and then a cloud there and then they were grouping together and the next thing everyone knew, the sun was gone, the sky fully obscured by angry looking clouds. And then, as if to add insult to injury, the clouds had the audacity to dispense over a foot of snow onto the deck of the ship.

Now, anyone who travelled the Grand Line knew to pack for the temperamental weather phenomena. Any ship’s crew worth their salt would know to pack clothes for all four of the seasons. This crew being no exception even though they complained, or in some cases shouted exuberantly, about the snow—they were all prepared. Well, all but one.

The ship’s musician stood out on deck as the rest of his crewmates threw snowballs at each other or built snowmen. He stood idly by a tangerine tree, no winter coat or boots, snow clinging to his afro and a worn, bent out and rusted child's toy held lovingly in his hands as he remembered a day long gone by...

52 Years Ago

The Rumbar Pirates were two months in to their repairs just inside the Grand Line, after having trekked through Reverse Mountain. Laboon happily swimming about the ship as the pirates played on their instruments and sang songs off the cuff. All but one.

Soul King Brook sat on the rail deep in thought. Laboon stopped swimming in front of him and splashed some water against the side of the ship, as if asking in whale speech for Brook to play him a song.

"Yohohohohoho! Laboon, one of these days we'll have to teach you how to play an instrument, then you can play for us. Yohohohoho!"

Laboon splashed his fins as Brook laughed, not really understanding what the pirate was saying but liking the cadence of the laugh all the same. Yorki, the captain of the ship, came up to Brook and slapped him on the back, "you know damn well we can't teach the little fellow an instrument, the little guy has no hands."

Everyone laughed. That was a fair and valid point, Laboon certainly appreciated all the music from the sorrowful power ballads to the drunken sailor shanties all the way to the lyric-less instrumentals of Brook's violin. Guitars, piano, drums, violin, vocals, you name it, Laboon loved it. Sometimes he'd join in with his whale song and sometimes he'd splash his fins or tail in time with their rhythms. He was a precious being, no one could ask for a better pet or friend.

But, he couldn't play a melody just for them. He couldn't compose his own music for his friends, he was permanently relegated to being the audience. Brook thought his captain's words over and an inkling of an idea was beginning to form. Nudging his captain, "hey, what if, Laboon could compose the music for us to play?"

"I don't see how, but I'm curious. How could he compose a song?"

It's a good thing a cloud passed in front of the sun as Brook smiled because Crocus' eyes were not prepared to handle the light that would have glinted from his teeth. "We teach him."

"And how do we do that?!"

Reaching into his pocket, the Soul King pulled out a slinky.

Yorki was starting to wonder what was in his whiskey bottle last night, he could have sworn Brook just whipped out a child's toy as if that answered Laboon's compositional dilemma. "Huh? How is that toy going to teach Laboon music? It's not a musical toy...is it?" Yep, he was definitely drunk off his gourd, there was no way he was perceiving any of this properly.

"Of course it's not a music instrument, that's not the point! Look, if you hold each end in a hand, horizontally and open your arms and close them it gives the illusion of playing a concertina. Madaisuki* can play his and I'll play the slinky."

Firstly, Yorki was feeling a lot better about last night's drinking habits. Secondly, he was convinced Brook had a genius plan. "Oh, I get it! We'll get Laboon accustomed to the motions of the slinky and can train him to swim certain patterns to move the slinky certain ways. Madaisuki can play according to your slinky playing and it'll be like playing an original composition from Laboon."

"Exactly! Yohohohohoho!"

The two friends high-fived each other and the crew cheered, they had a plan to include Laboon in the merrymaking. It took a good two and a half weeks to train Laboon on the slinky movements and the musical patterns, but before everyone knew it, he had learned how to communicate to Brook and Madaisuki how he wanted the slinky to move.

After a night of partying, Yorki and most of the crew joined Crocus in front of his house as Brook and the elder Mizuta twin grabbed their "instruments." Madaisuki with his concertina faced Brook while the latter, with a slinky, sat on the ship's rail so Laboon could see him more clearly and so he could see Laboon's instruction. He sat facing Madaisuki as well, so that he could copy the slinky's movements as the twin pirate was the one actually playing the composition.

Laboon would compose and Brook merely acted as the conductor's baton which the older Mizuta then followed as he was the musician. It was a brilliant scheme and tonight was Laboon's compositional debut which is why Yorki ordered all the rest of the men off the ship. They would be the captivated audience.

Laboon began swimming in patterns of his choosing, free from training and learning what the patterns meant. He knew. He knew which parts of the slinky produced the prettiest sounds and which ones flowed perfectly into the next phrasing. He knew how fast or slow to make the tempo to get his friends dancing. Brook tapped his foot on the side of the ship to keep himself and his slinky in time with Laboon's aquatic patterns, and Mizuta Madaisuki played his concertina while swaying his body to and fro in rhythm with Brook's tapping.

Laboon had composed a spicy little dance number that soon had his audience dancing on the shore. The crew loved it so much, they demanded the poor little whale give them not one but two more encores of it. The first song ever composed entirely by Island Whale. Crocus tried to christen the piece but Yorki wouldn't have it, "this is Laboon's composition, he has to name it."

"How on earth is he going to do that?! You going to have the Afro King over there teach him speech?"

"Yohohohohoho!"

Yorki smirked, "nah, we'll just ask him of course."

Of course. How could Crocus miss that obvious answer. Yorki nodded to his musical duo on the ship, and Brook just held up the slinky, "Not it!"

Madaisuki chuckled, "fine I'll ask him. Hey Laboon! Whatcha wanna call your piece? It had the rhythm of a rumba but we can't just call it Rumba. So, what should we call it?"

Laboon splashed fervently at the crew on the shore. Yorki smiled proudly, "The Rumbar Rumba. I love it." He bowed to Laboon, "I am honored that you named your debut composition for us. Thank you my friend."

The entire crew, Brook and Madaisuki, even Crocus, all bowed to the little Island Whale. "Thank you for your generosity!"

Laboon slapped his tail on the water's surface in celebration.

52 Years Later

Luffy ran around the deck of the Thousand Sunny, trying to hide from an onslaught of snowballs all aimed directly for him. Seems the crew got it into their heads to band together and target him first before taking each other out. Even Zoro and Sanji put aside their arguing to pelt their hyperactive captain. Seems no one enjoyed his earlier attack of "gum-gum snowball bazooka."

He dashed into the tangerine trees, Nami would absolutely murder anyone who harmed those trees, so he should be safe until they figured out how to flush him out of there. He ran straight into Brook and knocked the skeleton down.

"Shishishi, sorry Brook! Hey, what's that thing in your hands?"

"Yohoho, this is an old memory. My previous captain liked to make children smile, and this was one of the ways we could do that. It's called a slinky."

"A slinky? What's a slinky? Can I eat it?"

"Yohohohohoho!" Brook's teeth chattered as he laughed, he couldn't control himself. Luffy's appetite knew no bounds. Pity he couldn't eat his way to the One Piece. Brook kept laughing for a few more minutes, buying himself time to sell the lie. He didn't want to lie to his captain and technically he wasn't, a slinky is indeed a children's toy, but this slinky was Laboon's instrument—his means of conducting Brook to play a melody only Laboon could otherwise hear. He didn't want to relive those memories again, they made him both happy and sad. As the Straw Hats musician, it was his job to set the mood and he didn't want to bring down their joy right now. So, he'd tell a little white lie and just pass it off as a different memory of his old crew.

"No Luffy, you can't eat it. It's made out of thin metal that's coiled up, like a spring. It bounces and stretches, kind of like you. Sometimes if you bounce it just right it makes a noise. It's just something to play with that makes kids smile." Brook's smile fell away as he got a little more serious, losing himself to memories. His slinky couldn't make that funny little noise anymore, it couldn't stretch like Luffy, and it lost its bounce. It was no longer shiny, the luster being lost to rust and the coils all bent and twisted in on itself that in the center it looked like tangled up string.

Luffy looked at it for a few seconds and then grew bored. "Huh if you say so. You should come play snowballs with us. Hey! I know. If you help me throw snowballs at the others, I'll let you have some of my meat!"

Brook looked at Luffy, did he just offer to share his meat? "Yohohoho! Deal!"

Soul King Brook tucked his dilapidated slinky lovingly in a pocket and joined his captain and crew in a snowball fight. He hung back and pelted the crew with high arching snowballs from the tangerine grove as Luffy wove his way on deck picking off his friends one by one. Brook threw his snowballs in rapid succession, to his crew mates he was creating a white flurry that they couldn't see through making it easy for Luffy to take them out with snowballs or as was most often the case, a tackle to the ground. For Brook, the snowballs were thrown in rhythm to the melody he quietly hummed to himself, Laboon's Rumbar Rumba.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: Mizuta Madaisuki is canonically known as being a musician but he is never shown in the manga or anime as playing an instrument of any kind, so it is unknown what his actual musical talent is. For purposes of this piece, I made him a concertina player.

I also apologize if no one sounds or acts like they actually would. All I really know about Brook is his laugh and that's he's a skeleton musician of the Straw Hat Crew. Haven't encountered him outside of fan fiction and even then he's usually a side character. I had the fandom wiki pulled up the entire time and I tried to keep the story accurate to Brook's history and character.

This is probably the angstiest of the Straw Hat fics this month. The overall story will continue tomorrow with Luffy. See you then!

#slinktober 2023 #little angst #little warmth #good stuff

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