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soyouareandrewdobson · 4 years

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Alex ze Pirate “Mini Review” 1: About Male Abuse

Alex ze Pirate is in my opinion the WORST “comic” series Dobson has ever written up until this point (date for archives: June 2020). Sure, I agree with people that his “hot take” comics on Star Wars Fans, political issues and virtue signaling for the sake of making brownie points are worse overall cause they are uneducated propaganda that give insight in how much of a loathsome human being driven by spite he genuinely is, but Alex “offends” me as someone who enjoys fiction. It may not be the worst thing ever written, but it just does so many things wrong in terms of storywriting, storytelling, presentation and creating fictional characters, I can’t help but wonder what went wrong that Dobson even remotely thought this thing would be a “successful” comic series to establish him as a creator. Cause I can tell you, having read the likes of Don Rosa’s work on Disney, Hilda, Cleopatra in Space, Spirou, Asterix, One Piece (of which I will talk a lot in my next few posts) and many more, I can confirm by comparison that Dobson’s pirates as a published comic would have only one use on the public shelves: alternative for toilet paper during the COVID-19 epidemic

Believe me, I would love to write an in depth analysis of everything wrong with Alex ze Pirate, from the lazy artwork up to even the publication history of this trainwrack. But doing so would take a lot of time and there is one individual part of this I think deserve at least extra attention. Something that in my opinion embodies quite well a lot of things I consider wrong with this comic. So before I am going over Alex in its entirety (and believe me, the day will come) let me just talk within the next few posts about one certain aspect and story of the comic, that genuinely got me to loath this comic to the core: Sam the Cabin Boy and “his” own individual story Dobson drew in three parts around 2010.

For starters, lets talk who Sam is: Sam is one of the main characters in the comic and actually the first person who joined Alex and Peggy in the initial pages of Legends, the “original” form of Alex ze Pirate.

See, back in 2004, Dobson released Alex ze Pirate in form of a single comic volume called “Legends” which features Alex trying to recruit a crew. The thing is around 78 pages thick and based on what I saw pretty terribly paced. For comparison: When Luffy in One Piece got his crew together, he spend multiple volumes and at least three minor story arcs to get Zoro, Nami, Sanji and Usopp to join him. All while also giving us good insight into the kind of people his new crewmates were (especially Sanji’s and Nami’s backstory got to me), defeating the likes of Buggy and Captain Black, meeting Dracula Mihawk and defeating one of the biggest bastards Eichiro Oda ever created in form of Arlong. What is the story how Sam joins the crew? An orphanage organizes an auction and sells kids off. Which I assume was even illegal in pirate times, so kudos for already showing us how despicable the world of Alex ze Pirate is to begin with and how much it deserves to be nuked in some sort of alien invasion.

Sam also doesn’t really get anything to do when he is introduced, just helping Alex escape on a small boat. Which is weird because he does not know her at all, she is just some stranger who bought him off and has no means to keep him in check, so why even bother following her and not let the mob get rid of Alex?

Anyway, I wish I could tell more about Sam’s involvement in Legends, but I don’t have really more than some scans of it in the beginning and near the end. So I don’t know his involvement in the rest of the volume. I also can’t say how he plays out in volume two, because that does not exist at all. Cause for reasons I will never understand, Dobson just abandoned the idea of telling a “coherent” and ongoing story with Alex ze Pirate and instead went to his colored one page comics/strips with it, turning it into what some people called “Garfield with Pirates” (which I consider a genuine insult towards any newspaper comic out there, even something as Boondocks). And the first thing we see of Sam in “classic” Alex ze Pirate?

The perverted dwarf of the crew showing of his shota underwear so that Alex and Sam stop bickering who is the cutest, leaving him embarrassed and humiliated.

Which kinda sums up his role in the comic to a t. Cause this is what Sam is: He is the buttmonkey of the crew. And honestly, I would not have a total problem with Sam being a buttmonkey, if a) he wasn’t it all the time, b) he would actually do something to deserve any form of humiliation and c) if the other characters in this comic itself would not be some of the biggest assholes I have ever seen, who get away with abusing the poor lad.

See, here is the problem: In a crew featuring a choleric homophobic soulless ginger

A black rat person who wants to fuck the ginger even without her consent

A furry abomination that has the same brain wavelengths as Chris Chan

And a perverted dwarf who tries to impersonate Happosai from Ranma 1/2

Sam is the only decent person in the entire crew. He works hard, he even questions the morality of his friends at times, he is honest, he is not perverted, almost good to the point of childish innocence and he has a very humble “goal” which is he wants to own his own piece of gold. Not even a big pile of treasure, just one single coin would be enough for him.

So he is likeable and relatable. In fact, if anything goes by, he may have been one of the most popular ones in the comic. And yet he is the one who gets constantly abused by “fate” and his friends, because as Dobson would say it, he is supposed to be the buttmonkey. There is just one problem: People do not necessarily like buttmonkeys.

I can primarily speak only for myself here, but I hope what I have to say resonates with others too. See, I get it: A character who is the butt of a joke can be fun. Like Daffy in Duck Amuck. But there is a fine line where a character being humiliated for the sake of a joke is fun (and perhaps even deserved because of his own shortcomings or deeds/actions that make the humiliation sort of kharmic, like lets say Johnny Bravo) and a character being humiliated to the point it feels disproportional, unfunny and mean spirited if not outright sadistic, can be crossed. Take Meg Griffin from Family Guy for example whose only “purpose” for existing within the last 12+ years is to get shat on by her family and the writers. People have no idea for a plot with her, so what do they do? Have her father physically and emotionally abuse her, fart in her face for what is supposed to count as a joke and then add additional insult to it by acknowledging that they are only doing this, because they have no other idea for her and think abuse is fun. Let me just tell you from experience, it is not.

And that is essentially what Sam is: He is the Meg Griffin of Alex ze Pirate, used by his creator as the butt of very unfunny jokes, even if he does not deserve any of the things said or done to him. Want to see some examples?

How about the description Dobson gives Sam within the introduction of one of his volumes, showing how little Dobson as the creator even cares for him.

Why is he called an unworthy “slob” if he is the only one who actually works? Shouldn’t a slob be someone like Dobson, who can’t even take care of himself anymore? Also the confirmation that he was kidnapped at the age of 16. And as we have no clarification how much time passed between Legends Vol. 1 and anything afterwards, that means that in a way Alex is a child abuser.

And now, here some examples by the rest of the cast. Like Uncle Peggy framing him for all sorts of his perverted actions and even trying to kill him for no apparent reason?

Alex trying to kill him with chicken pox…

…Destroying all his worldly posessions which is hilarious because he is a poor orphan…

…Essentially describing him as worthless because he was born with an Y-chromosome…

… doing the kind of thing Dobson claims women would never do to man, using their sex appeal to hurt them…

…forcing him to do some unnecessary and rather petty work for her in a physics defying manner (seriously, the way he holds the axe does not compute with how he swings it. Try it out yourself)

… stealing his food and just being a cruel sadistic cunt to him just because it is fun.

Which is “funny” in so far as that there are a few comics indicating she would jump his dick and ride it like a little pony if she could.

By the way, Talus and Atea are not better. None of them calls Alex out on her bullshit on average, Atea uses Sam to trigger traps in one story arc…

And Talus, the closest to a “friend” he is supposed to have, once for no apparent reason made him dig through his litterbox

And don’t get me even started when the characters decide to gang up on Sam, to the point he gets sexually harassedor is called to be less worth as a human being than the dirt you find in your belly button

Fuck’s sake, even in fanart everyone gangs up on him, even the freaking big bad of the story everyone is supposed to hate or be afraid of

Bottom line, Sam is an abuse victim played for laughs in this comics. And just to clarify, I do not think this was Dobson’s intention. But if the character is undeservingly the butt of jokes for the majority of over 120 strips, it turns nasty. The way Sam is treated, I just find disgusting and indictive of just how unlikable any other character in this comic is to the point I do not want to see this being turned into a proper “franchise”. And I assume others were disgusted by it too, cause Dobson eventually decided to make a story more or less addressing the treatment Sam receives, while also attempting to prove that deep down the assholes with starring roles in this trainwrack care for him. How did this play out? Well, I am going to talk about it, so likely not well. If you want to see the details, grab yourself some popcorn and take a toilet break before we tackle part 2 of this thing.

#andrew dobson #so you are a cartoonist #sjw #comics #comic #webcomic #alex ze pirate #sam the cabin boy #legends #tom preston #disgusting #male abuse #unfunny

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neverwatchedonepiece · 6 years

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551-552: "The Battle Is On! At Conchchorde Plaza!" and "A Surprising Confession! The Truth Behind the Assassination of Otohime!"

I KNEW IT!!

I knew that scumbag Hordy was behind Otohime’s assassination! Oh, I only wish I’d been a fan while these chapters were being released so I could have made a bet with someone. Then again... everyone reading at that time probably knew too. I mean the flags were vast and red.

As soon as I saw the title for 552 flash up, I thought, “Yes. This is it. Hordy is gonna confess.”

Was not disappointed.

And that wasn’t all. The reveals kept coming. The circumstances of the assassination? Check. Madame Sharley’s family? Check. 30,000 hidden human slaves? Double check. Plus, I finally know what Noah is (yes, it is a “what” and not a “who”). And it is currently being controlled by Decken who has finally gone off the deep end.

Why Does Hordy Look Like He’s About to Judge Someone on a Talent Show?

Have to say, I forgot to mention something in the last post. Neptune brought up an inconvenient truth about the Fish Roids. Those rad pills that grant you super strength? They come packed with horrendous side-effects. Namely: they take years off your life.

Maybe that’s why Hordy has snow white hair now as well as a water shoot attack that can fell buildings and destroy royal army squadrons.

Episode 551 served pretty much to build Hordy’s threat potential as a villain. And boy it was done in quick time. By the end of 551, he had strung up Neptune, decimated the royal army, the royal ministers and had defeated all three princes.

I kind of hate Hordy’s guts right now, so it was nice to see the islanders so concerned for their beloved king, shielding children’s eyes as the execution convoy flew past. Neptune’s guard tried to take a stand, but Neptune told them to run, not to die a meaningless death. See, that’s the difference between a good king and Hordy (I refuse to call him a king. He ain’t crowned yet). Neptune cares for his people and they respect and care from him in turn.

At the plaza, Hordy’s Head Goons assembled. Brave islanders climbed the walls because they wanted to rescue Neptune. They had prime seats for the upcoming show.

By the time they had scaled the fence, Hordy had cleared out the royal guard and installed himself on a giant pink beanbag throne. Neptune was trussed up to a St Andrew’s style cross. No idea if there’s any symbolism there, but Andrew was called a “fisher of men”. Maybe it’s just the whole martyrdom thing. Being willing to die for the peaceful ideals of Otohime. Or maybe Oda just thought, “Yeah.... saltire crosses. That’ll do.”

One poor soldier tried to pull off a suicide attack. If he could just take out one of the Head Goons before the princes arrived, it would aid the rescue effort. But the merciless hype machine ground its gears and the solider became fodder for Hordy’s power up.

It was an impressive power up. Just the normal water shoot bullet but ramped up to eleven. BOOM! It blasted through walls, buildings, rock formations and only lost momentum miles away at Mermaid Cove. I thought, “This guy really is a scumbag. He’s just wreaking havoc and destroying things because, lel, this is fun and I have the power now.”

Then the princes arrived. I finally remember all of their names! Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi and Manboshi. Better late than never. The spectators on the wall cheered. The princes were here! King Neptune would be saved! Hurrah! The princes declared, “WE WILL SAVE YOU, FATHER!”

I felt like Madame Sharly. I could see what was coming a mile off.

Fukaboshi, because he’s going to become king someday and be fucking excellent, gave another good speech. “Why don’t you understand, Hordy Jones? You people are the weakest on this island [Hordy was triggered by this]. The other islanders were trying to ignore the history of discrimination by humans and to forgive the murder of their hero and their queen who died at the hands of a human [oh, Fukaboshi...]. They endured their pain to change their future and sign their names. Why can’t you appreciate the boldness and kindness of their decision?”

Because he’s Fishler, that’s why. You can’t reason with Fishler types. You could say, “Well, remember that chap Whitebeard? He was an alright human, wasn’t he?” and a Fishler would shriek, “NO, HE WAS JUST PRETENDING! WHITEBEARD WAS FAKE NEWS!” Or, “Have you ever been to the surface, Fishler?” and they would reply, “NO, BUT I DON’T NEED TO.” (I think Hordy has because he’s a pirate, but the attitude’s the same).

I don’t know why they talk in caps. But

Now, the annoying thing about Hordy’s goons beating down the princes was that those boys are actually no slouches. Were it not for the Roids, they could easily have kicked ass.

But Hordy claimed they would never lose, as the had been, and I quote, “given great power from above.” From above? As in the surface? Now that’s suspicious. Who has been supplying these Fishmen with Roids? I half expect Vegapunk to be involved somehow.

At any rate, the Head Goons showed their stuff. Roided up, they were faster, stronger and crushed the princes. And they were strung up alongside their dad.

And It Gets Worse

No, not just because of the crowd of Hordy’s followers baying for blood.

Back at the Sea Forest... the fight between Jimbei and Luffy had been off-panelled.

This, I think, is weird. We did not get to see Luffy in a mangled, defeated state. We never got to see Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Robin or Franky. All we heard was Jimbei saying, “Phew, he gave me a hard time,” before he escorted Shirahoshi back towards the palace.

Except that didn’t work out because they thought a balloon version of Neptune was the real thing and were netted and dragged off to the plaza. (I am suspicious of the lack of Luffy, so I kind of hope this is a roundabout scheme from Jimbei. Schemes wouldn’t work with Luffy but maybe Jimbei’s clever enough to steer him in the right direction and count on Luffy being Luffy to sort things out in the end).

Hordy was pleased at the special delivery of Jimbei, Shirahoshi and Megalo. Before that, he didn’t want to kill his hostages until Shirahoshi was lured to the plaza. It’s her power to call Sea Kings that he feared most and other than Neptune, she is the one he wants dead most. It was also the only reason he teamed up with Decken. (Now it makes sense! I thought Hordy only wanted a way into the palace.)

The poor audience of islanders on the walls, though... they were distraught. It was like a quadruple whammy of gut punches. First Neptune, then the princes, and now Jimbei and their beloved princess Shirahoshi. I mean, I’d wager Jimbei is almost as much of a legendary figure as Fisher Tiger nowadays. To see him brought so low must be truly shocking (still hoping it’s a ploy).

Now Hordy’s only concern is what the Strawhats will do. He guessed they’d return to the palace, free Zoro, Usopp and Brook. But he had some surprise guests waiting for them...

Yes, that’s right! 30,000 human slaves Hordy caught! Plus another 70,000 armed thugs (fodder for Strawhats). “One hundred thousand outlaws together!” he crowed. I guess this proves Hordy can perform basic addition.

I mean, there were a few female and child slaves along with the male ones, but they would be taken care of later. And I don’t think he means given a hot meal and a roof over their heads. :|

Madame Sharly Steps Up

This is when the episode got Extra Juicy.

Madame Sharly stepped up, spoke up and got Hordy so wound up he snapped and went completely off the rails in public.

“You fools are a dishonour. Horsing around in public. You kids have no class at all. Don’t push your luck. I just wanted to say one thing to you since you’re at the height of your glory: a man will destroy Fishman Island.”

“Wasn’t it me you saw?” Hordy said, modestly.

Bad news, Hordy. “No. The man who will destroy it is Strawhat Luffy. I can’t tell what he’ll do specifically. But it is not you. The one who will determine the fate of Fishman Island is not you, Hordy Jones.”

Well...

Let’s just say this news was not received positively.

As Madame Sharly is another legendary figure in Fishman Island, her not backing Hordy’s rise to power was disastrous PR. Even the goons were freaking out. “Omg, that means Hordy will never gain control of Fishman Island. Her predictions are accurate!”

The Hordy stepped up and slapped the crap out of Madame Sharly.

Forget what I said last post about not wanting Luffy to come and sort shit out.

Get down here now because this guy needs taken down a peg.

I was so enraged by Hordy’s obvious threatened response to Madame Sharly that when he revealed she was ARLONG’S SISTER (WTF??) I barely heard it and had to rewind and watch it again. He also bare face admitted to her he was only using the Arlong Pirates name to unite people under his banner.

Properly triggered by Sharly’s lack of support, he went on a mad, Roid-Rant, yelling that HE was the ONLY ONE who could take over Fishman Island. His scheme is ten years in the making! He had the power to do it. ONLY HIM. OH, AND BY THE WAY, YOU KNOW THAT QUEEN YOU ALL LOVED SO MUCH?

I think this is Hordy’s biggest mistake. Some of you guys in the comments for the last post talked about Luffy sorting out Fishman issues not being a problem because would Hordy really have many supporters to resent Luffy?

After this, I am convinced he won’t have any. Because those islanders on the wall? They were enraged.

While Hordy had his villainous, “YES, IT WAS ME!” moment, a flashback revealed he did pay a human to be involved in the assassination. At first, I thought Hordy just paid the human pirate to shoot her. Was shocked but no surprised to learn that he hated Otohime so much that he wanted to pull the trigger himself. The human accessory only set fire to the petitions.

Hordy has gone so far off the deep end with the lack of Sharly support that he forgot that triggering Shirahoshi has geological scale consequences.

“Don’t you think she was annoying?” he said straight to Shirahoshi’s face. “She begged everyone not to seek revenge against humans but to be friends with them instead. She was bugging me because she’d almost accomplished her goal. I wasn’t satisfied with just killing her. [No of course you weren’t...] To me, your mother was someone who deserved death. I came up with the idea to make the best of her death, that would allow me to stoke the fire of hatred towards humans, that Fishmen citizens once had, and destroy the islanders’ stupid dream once and for all! I’d frame a human for killing her. You were all fooled exactly as I hoped. She was worth killing, right, Shirahoshi? She wasn’t killed by a human. She was killed by me. I, a kinsman, did it.”

I thought the earthquakes would start and the Sea Kings would begin, slowly, to stretch it out over several episodes, to swim towards Fishman Island.

But no.

The twist was even better!

Shirahoshi turned to Hordy and said, “I already knew.”

WHAT THE---?

Honestly, I was as shocked as Jimbei. Even Hordy was dumbfounded.

I cannot wait to find out how Shirahoshi knew. I mean, if she knew and didn’t tell anyone, that’s a pretty big ball to drop, you know?

Oh, and I forgot to mention this guy...

Decken: King of the Incels

This is some next-level creepy madness, let me tell you. Especially when the news only a couple days ago reported that some incel just shot up a yoga studio because “women”.

I mean, Decken has a neckbeard and is even wearing a Fedora. It’s like Oda had a vision of the future and turned it into a pirate because the reality was just too weird.

Anyway, Decken has also gone off the deep end, and has adopted a: “If I Cannot Have Her, Everyone Will Die” mindset. To achieve this, he has brought to life an ship called Noah built by Fishmen “a while ago” (hmm.... seems older than that, but I’ll run with it.

I’m half thinking Noah could it be one of those Pluton-like weapons because the ship is half the size of Fishman Island, apparently. Great for ramming into a protective bubble and killing everyone in it, eh? Woo hoo! What a great guy!

*whistles innocently*

#one piece #neverwatchedonepiece #nwop #never watched one piece #fishman island #monkey d. luffy #jimbei #hordy jones #princess shirahoshi #neptune #fukaboshi #queen otohime #fisher tiger #captain vander decken #madame sharly

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your-iron-lung · 7 years

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Mixed Up 24 | Spirit of the Radio |

Chapter Word Count: 6870

Pairings: Zoro/Sanji

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Chapter Warnings: Strong Language

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 , 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

Next Chapter: 25

The biggest point of discussion that occurred after Nami arrived was not, surprisingly, about whether or not Zoro would take care of his injury properly on his own, but instead revolved around whether or not he would be okay enough to play at the student recital the next day.

Nami seemed convinced that he shouldn’t, afraid of worsening his eye by over-exerting the muscles in his face somehow during the performance. Zoro insisted he’d be fine, and when the two asked Sanji his opinion on the matter, he knew better than to take one side over the other. He remained impartial to their disagreement as they ate, taking both of their points into careful consideration.

“It’s not like I fucked up one of my hands,” Zoro had said as he tipped his bowl against his lips to slurp the broth up noisily. “I’ll just pop a few painkillers beforehand and be fine. We already promised Tony; it’d break the kid’s heart to back out now.”

“Well what about the Tralalaw show on Sunday?” she’d asked then, guiding her spoon through the soup with an air of distraction about her. “There’s no way you’re still thinking of going to that.”

Their disagreement had exploded from there and they’d argued over that for a long while. It started civilized, but had eventually degraded to the point where they’d begun to shout and call each other names. Sanji wanted to intervene, but felt it was something that needed to be resolved between them. Zoro’s main point of arguing stemmed from the supposed pact they’d made that revolved around him going to the show ‘come hell or high water’, but Nami didn’t seem to want to hear it.

“This is different,” she’d stressed around a mouthful of sandwich. “You know how rough their shows can get; you’re already hurt badly enough as it is, why risk making it worse?”

“Because I already bought a ticket, mom. Whether you ‘allow’ me to go or not, I’m going to be there even if I have to drive myself and overdose on Oxycodone to do it,” Zoro snarled, daring her to challenge him further on the matter. “It’s the biggest show of the year and I’m not gonna miss it because some asshole cut up my fucking face.”

A line had been crossed; even Sanji had realized that. Instead of retaliating, Nami had only stared at him, full of an icy rage that threatened to burst before she abruptly pushed the rest of her unfinished food away from her. Clearly pissed, she’d bitterly thanked Sanji for the meal and left curtly without another word to gather the things she’d left in Zoro’s apartment.

“That was too far,” Sanji said, though he was beginning to come to terms with the fact that he didn’t have to take Nami’s side on everything.

Zoro had only shrugged, saying, “Had to let her know I was serious.”

He hadn’t stuck around much longer after that, having felt recovered enough to climb the three flights of stairs he couldn’t earlier. To his credit, though, he did offer to help Sanji with the clean up before following Nami upstairs, where their argument surely must have continued. Sanji didn’t hear Nami return down the stairs for quite some time after.

With everything said and done, he then spent the rest of his day alone.

When he’d finally finished washing all the dishes they’d used, he made a list of things he needed to restock on the next time he went grocery shopping, texted Nami to ask what time the Solstice recital started, and then killed time the only way he knew how: by studying up on various recipes and other cooking techniques he had not yet mastered.

By the day’s end, he’d completely forgotten to listen to the song Zoro had recommended him.

Then it was Saturday, and the thought that it was Saturday never occurred to him. The Solstice recital started in the early afternoon, allowing Sanji plenty of time to sleep in, shower, and groom himself before he drove into the downtown area. Knowing that the recital was a casual event meant he could dress down a bit, saving him time on figuring out what to wear. He settled for a nice button down and some high-waisted jeans that he could tuck the shirt into, knowing full well how many looks he was going to attract. He loved this particular look because it highlighted just how long his legs were, and today he felt like showing off. Today, he felt good.

Checking his look out in the bathroom mirror, he was pleased with how attractive he looked and deemed himself ready to leave. Pulling on his long coat, he checked his phone one last time before he walked out the door, locking his apartment behind him.

Sanji was in high spirits as he got into his car, even though Zoro hadn’t technically invited him to come by. Still, the recital was a public event, and he had no issue with admitting that he was excited to see him play, as he had yet to see him perform live in a semi-professional environment with a band. It was something he’d wanted to see for a while; watching Youtube videos of past Mugiwara Menace shows couldn’t contest with witnessing a live performance first hand.

He kept the radio station tuned to the same one that had played one of their songs before in hopes that they’d play another one for him to discover. As he travelled though, the only music they played was by musicians he’d never heard of before, and the Mugiwara Menace did not make a repeat appearance on the airwaves.

Parking was hard to find as he drove closer to the store, but he saw Zoro’s motorcycle parked by the sidewalk’s bicycle rack and Nami’s truck along the road and knew they were already inside. The turnout at the store when he finally did show up was much larger than he’d originally thought it would be, though it was mostly comprised of young kids eager to show off to their friends and family. He didn’t see Nami or Zoro as he walked in despite having seen their vehicles, and immediately felt out of place as he joined up with the crowd, lingering towards the back.

The stage was still being set up, with Franky’s employees struggling to stack a large amplifier over top of another one. There were several rows of fold out chairs set up in sections in front of the stage, and as he took off his coat to drape it over the back of one in the last row, he earned several appreciative glances from a few women. Unable to help himself, he returned a few of the looks with a smile he knew was seductive that turned a few faces red; it felt good to look good. He couldn’t help but wonder what Zoro’s reaction was going to be when they finally did meet up.

As he took his seat, he pulled out his phone and sent Nami a text that read, ‘I’m here, where are you guys?’ and resumed looking around the store to see if he’d perhaps missed them somewhere. It was then he felt someone’s hand clasp his shoulder. He looked up, half-expecting it to be Zoro and instead found himself staring into the broadly grinning face of Franky.

“Hey bro! Glad you could make it out!” he said as Sanji slipped his phone away and returned the smile.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” he replied as Franky pulled out a chair for himself and sat down beside him. “Brook told me I should come, I think.”

“Aw yeah, way to go Brook!” Franky laughed and put up his feet on the vacant chair in front of him to tilt his seat back, balancing meticulously on the rear legs. “Looking for your squad?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I texted Nami and told her I was here already but haven’t seen her yet.” Again, he let his eyes rove around the store in an attempt to locate them. “Have you seen them?”

“Ah, yeah, her and Zoro are in the back giving his kid one last pep talk before we get this show rolling,” Franky said, turning his attention towards the stage where a few of his technicians were now setting up a drum kit for the show’s use. “Poor Tony’s more nervous than a deer at a shooting range. But don’t worry, they’ll be out soon; show’s gonna start in a hot minute.”

“I’d be nervous too, with a turn out like this,” Sanji said, gazing once more at the decent sized crowd of people that had showed up.

“One day you will be, if you keep up with the lessons.” Franky turned and shot him a grin. “Speaking of, Brook told me you missed yours this week.”

“Oh. Guess I did,” he said. He hadn’t actually forgotten, but with Zoro in the hospital, he didn’t think he’d still be expected to come in while his instructor was incapacitated. At the very least, he hadn’t received a call or an email about what he was supposed to have done.

“All good bro, Brook’ll get it rescheduled for ya, but you missed the chance to learn with me! I was covering all Zoro’s lessons while he was out, but I guess you didn’t get the memo on that one eh?”

Franky laughed and almost let his chair fall completely backwards. He quickly righted it with the grace of a man who has made the same mistake several times before by swinging his thick arms to counter-act the momentum until he stabilized himself.

“No, I guess I didn’t,” Sanji mused, trying not to laugh outright at Franky’s antics. His energy was infectious though, and it was hard not to.

“Hey man, it’s cool, probably our fault you didn’t,” he said, his energy calming down to a level that was a little more socially acceptable after he almost took a spill. “Brook’s a great coordinator, but sometimes the technology we use outsmarts him. But hey, lookie lookie who it is.”

Pointing towards the back of the room behind the stage, Sanji saw that Zoro and Nami were walking out of the lessons hallway with a small boy wearing a pink top hat. Zoro had his hand on the kid’s shoulder, supportively guiding him towards the seating area. When he saw them, Franky sat up, letting his seat fall forward onto the front legs with a grunt.

Franky waved to grab their attention, whereupon Zoro released Tony’s shoulder and handed the kid the little guitar case he’d been carrying for him. He leaned down to say something to him then, which garnered a nervous smile from Tony. They parted ways, with Tony hurriedly walking towards where his grandmother was and Zoro and Nami meeting up with Sanji and Franky.

“Hey guys,” Nami said, smiling and giving a small wave as she walked up. Sanji greeted her with a smile and nod in return.

“How’s lil Tony holding up?” Franky asked.

Zoro and Nami shared a slight grimace between them.

“He’s…. more or less okay. Just got some pre-performance anxiety, you know.”

“Poor kid,” Franky said with a dramatic sigh. “Ain’t easy being a natural talent at his age; lotta people have eyes on you.”

The solemn way he’d spoken implied that he was speaking from experience. It was a hard burden to carry, Sanji knew, as he too had been affected by the pressure of being a talented cook as a child. Franky stood up then and put his hands on his hips, smiling proudly at all the people gathered in his humble store before any of them could dwell on it for too long. Sanji spared a quick look at Zoro to see how he was doing, and found that the oaf was actually looking at him. There was a dopey sort of look on the guitarist’s face that Sanji attributed to the fact that he was probably rolling off of the pain pills he’d said he was going to take before they started playing.

His hair had also been restored to its bright green state and there was no longer any trace of his natural hair color to be seen.

Zoro maintained the eye contact even as Sanji looked away hurriedly.

“Well, time to get this bad boy started; looks like Mozu and Kiwi have finished up,” Franky said, attracting everyone’s attention by clapping his hands together He turned towards Zoro and Nami and asked, “You guys ready?”

Nami nodded, a playful look in her eye as she said, “Let’s do it!”

“Super! See you after this is all over pal, hope you enjoy the show,” Franky said to Sanji before walking away, heading towards the stage where a microphone and stand had been set up.

“Good luck guys,” Sanji said, smiling warmly up at Nami as she, too, began to take her leave.

“Should be saying that to the students,” she laughed before turning away and making her way to the front.

Zoro lingered behind for a moment, even as Franky tapped on the microphone to get his audience’s attention.

“What?” Sanji asked, crossing one of his legs over the other.

“Did uh,” Zoro began, but faltered. He had clearly been looking at Sanji’s legs, and had to clear his throat and look away to continue. “Did you happen to listen to the song?”

“What so- Oh, uh, no, I forgot,” Sanji said, torn between feeling guilty and pleased by the fact that his clothing choices had worked the way he’d wanted them to. “Though I wouldn’t have if you’d just let me listen to it yesterday.”

Zoro’s lips twitched into a slight frown, an unreadable expression on his face that registered as slight disappointment. An apology was on the tip of Sanji’s tongue when Zoro walked away without another word, joining Nami, Brook, and Franky on the stage by the microphone. The guilty feeling completely outweighed everything else he felt now, but he did his best not to become consumed by it.

“Hey everyone! Before we start, I just wanna take the time to thank everyone for making it out here today to watch our students show off the talent they’ve been working super hard to refine over the course of this year,” Franky announced, speaking warmly into the microphone. He paused to allow the audience their moment to applaud him, and then continued. “They’ve worked hard under the care of our instructors, who will join them on stage to perform a song of their choosing that’ll exemplify their growth. So without further ado, let’s begin!”

Sanji clapped along with the crowd, impressed with the level of professionalism Franky displayed when he’d only ever goofed around with him before. He’d initially had his doubts about how a man like Franky could own a store, but they were quelled now by his speech. Everyone involved in the production looked happy to be there, as both Brook and Nami had large smiles on their faces, but Zoro still had that half frown stuck on his as he left the stage to be replaced by the first of Brook’s students.

They were an older kid who was learning the fiddle, and played some sort of jaunty tune with Brook’s accompaniment. The speakers carried the song throughout the store, filling it with a lively atmosphere that had more than a few people dancing along to it in their seats. When the song was done, the student bowed off and another one of Brook’s kids took his place. They were doing the recital in batches so the mentors wouldn’t have to keep leaving and coming back to the stage.

For the most part, the kids performing played really well. Every once in a while one would slip up, but they bounced back from their errors with a red face and relative ease. Their talent was being put on full display in an environment that was receiving them well with great encouragement; Franky and his establishment had gone to great lengths to ensure that that would be the outcome.

Occasionally Brook would take a seat behind the drum kit to play along with a kid on guitar, and once or twice he even sang to great applause. It made Sanji wonder if anyone in the audience ever thought to make the connection between Brook and his old alias of The Soul King, as he sounded much the same as he did when he was active. If anything, though, they probably thought of him as a wonderful impersonator.

It took an hour for all of Brook’s students to have their allotted stage time and play through their music. The songs each of them performed ranged from classical music to instrumental renditions of popular rock songs, and every one of them was finished to a round of applause. When the last of his students finally left the stage, Brook went with them, inviting Franky to take the stage once again to congratulate them all on their performances and to introduce the next grouping.

What Sanji had wanted to see all along was finally about to happen.

When Zoro took the stage, he walked with a sort of surly swagger, slipping the white bass that had been left on the stage for him out of its stand and across his chest. An air of arrogance surrounded him as he tuned it, but to his credit, he had sort of dressed up for the occasion and wasn’t wearing much of his usual punk attire. At some point after returning home he’d found three more safety pins to line his ear with, and for some reason, Sanji found that to be comforting, as though Zoro had reclaimed some part of himself that had been lost with his hospitalization and eye.

His first kid stepped on stage, and immediately Sanji noticed a difference in age when comparing Brook’s students to Zoro’s. Brook’s set had been kids of a younger talent, whose parents had probably been told at some point that learning a classical instrument would benefit their child’s development somehow. Zoro’s students were noticeably older; preteens and teenagers who wanted to learn something that would annoy their parents and impress their friends.

They were guitarists who had picked up on some of the punk attitude Zoro had rubbed off on them and bassists who admired their instructor’s talents and sought him out because of his professional career. Occasionally Nami would join them on stage to play a song that sounded better with a three part ensemble, but not once did he open his mouth to sing until that little boy Sanji had seen him with earlier hesitantly took the stage.

The poor kid’s knees were practically knocking into each other as he carefully placed his guitar’s strap across his shoulders and plugged into the amp. Nami, sitting behind the drum kit, threw the boy a supportive thumb’s up which seemed to strengthen his resolve a bit.

Taking his place at the microphone, Zoro looked distant and a little pissed. His eye hovered over the audience, staring more at the back wall than he was at the people filling the rows of seats; the painkillers must have been wearing off.

“Tony and I have been practicing this song for a few weeks now,” he said, and broke the stoic way he was looking out to grin at the kid nervously tuning his guitar. “And even though he’s been coming here for like, two years now, this is the first time we’ve conned him into performing in the end of year recital. We’re all very proud of him.”

Tony’s face took on a furious hue of embarrassment, generating some laughter from the crowd. He said something in response that couldn’t be heard as he wiggled around uncomfortably, but made Zoro chuckle.

“Anyway, the song he picked to play is called ‘The Prettiest Waitress in Memphis’ and we hope you like it as much as he does.”

He stepped away from the microphone then and backed up to say something to Nami, who nodded. She began to clap her drumsticks together to start a countdown, and on the count of three they began to play.

Tony was far more impressive than Sanji realized a kid that young could be. He started off strong, playing the opening rift with great ease and composure, the earlier set of nerves that had been affecting him now gone.

The bass line was steady and fast, being powered on by Nami’s drumming as she set the pace for the song. And then, oh, then, Zoro began to sing.

“Well there is only one reason I stop in this place; let me stress that it ain’t the cuisine-”

The way he was singing seemed refrained, making his voice sound different from the way he sang on the songs he recorded with the Mugiwara. It was, in a way, a little cleaner than it usually was; less like he was singing with a handful of gravel in his mouth and more like he had an actual voice. Sanji understood then that this wasn’t a performance for his benefit, but was instead holding back in order to let Tony shine.

When the fuck had Zoro gotten so damn considerate? Perhaps he always had been, and Sanji just hadn’t noticed it till now.

“She’s- the- prettiest waitress in Memphis, and I think she’s flirting with me-”

For a kid as young as Tony was, the amount of dexterity he had in his fingers was beginning to make Sanji jealous. They were moving so precisely even though he had his eyes closed the entire time, hitting every chord and note he was supposed to without needing to double check his finger placement. His expertise with the guitar was highlighted beautifully by Zoro and Nami, who were each doing their best to support him.

What Nami had told Sanji shortly after meeting him rang true regardless; Zoro definitely did sound better when he was plugged in.

The song held true to its steady, consistent rhythms as it progressed, moving through the first and second chorus until it got to the guitar solo, where Tony’s talent was truly put to the test. Looking at the faces of some of the other people in the crowd, Sanji could see that even many of them were just as stunned as he was by how good this kid was.

The solo itself didn’t necessarily fit the tone of the rest of the song, but was played so well that it didn’t matter. Tony’s fingers roamed the fretboard with practiced ease, hitting notes in a pattern that created a favorable melody that Sanji found his body trying to sway to. On and on it went, fingers roving up and down the neck as Tony held a strained sort of look on his face that showed just how hard he was concentrating. And then it was over, with the three of them finishing the song to much applause after the final chorus was finished.

“Thank you,” Zoro said, smiling and speaking a little breathlessly into the mic.

He ruffled Tony’s head as the kid took a bow, knocking his hat to the floor. Tony’s face when he righted after picking his hat up harbored a pleased smile that stretched from ear to ear as he unplugged his guitar with a slight burst of static and left the stage.

Zoro himself held a satisfied smile as well, and Sanji could feel his heartrate pick up when the punk’s gaze looked out over the audience and landed on him for a moment. This time, Sanji didn’t break eye contact until Zoro had to turn away to walk off the stage. Franky took his place, and commenced with his closing speech to wrap up the event.

“Huge thank you to everyone who came out today to support our young up-and-coming super stars, and an even bigger thank you to those who performed! You’ve all been super!”

With his short speech finished, the crowd began to disperse. Family members went to congratulate their kin and Franky for hosting the event, while Zoro, Nami, and Brook hovered around the stage area, talking amongst themselves and anyone who came up to thank and speak with them.

He sat there for a moment, unsure of what to do until Nami made eye contact with him and beckoned him to join their group. Gathering up his coat, Sanji stood up and made his way over, straightening out his shirt as he went.

“Ah! Mr. Vinsmoke! So pleased to see you again!” Brook exclaimed, greeting him with a broad smile and bringing him into their conversation, which seemed to have been about whose kid had done the best.

“You can call me Sanji,” he said with a half-smile, shifting his weight so he stood primarily with a lean, hip cocked to the side and holding his coat politely in his arms before him.

“Well! Mr. Sanji, how did you enjoy the recital? We showcased many young talents tonight, I do dare to think!”

“Yeah, they were awesome,” he agreed, and then gestured to the three of them standing there. “You guys were, too. That was really cool to watch.”

With the recital now over, most of the store’s main floor had thinned out considerably. Some people still lingered about in the rows of seats chatting amongst themselves, but for the most part a majority of the crowd that had been there was now gone. No longer restricted to his hosting responsibilities, Franky shook hands with one of his patrons and then joined them by the stage.

“What a great turn out! You guys were super!”

“The kids were the super ones, Franky,” Zoro said, though he did look incredibly pleased with himself. Leaning his back against the stage, he had a content look upon his face that eased some of the naturally hard angles of his profile, giving him a more youthful appearance.

“Yeah, but you guys were super too! We should go out for drinks tonight to celebrate a job well done!”

“You buying?” Nami asked, a sly look coming over her at the possibility of free drinks.

“Sure, I’ll buy us all a round; you guys deserve it!” Franky almost shouted, unable to keep his enthusiasm in check.

“Just a single round?” Nami pouted. “Didn’t we do super well though?”

“Don’t I pay you enough to buy your own drinks?” Franky responded good-naturedly, laughing when Nami shook her head no. “Fine, two rounds on me then!”

Nami let out a little cheer at that and turned to Sanji, saying, “You come too; it’ll be fun with all of us together.”

“Quit inviting him to everything we do,” Zoro complained loudly, letting out a sound of exasperation. “This is supposed to be a reward, not a punishment.”

At that, everyone in the circle booed him. Brook and Franky instantly rallied to Sanji’s side, each of them clapping one of their hands onto his shoulder in solidarity.

“Sanji’s a great guy from what I’ve seen!” Franky attested, shaking him a little as he spoke for emphasis. “He absolutely deserves to come celebrate with us!”

“He hasn’t done anything worth celebrating,” Zoro drawled, but it was evident to Sanji now that he was only complaining for the sake of complaining. There was no fight in his voice or posture, and his lips were drawn up into a slight smirk.

“He’s taking lessons! He is learning something new, and that in and of itself is something worthy of celebration!” Brook said fiercely, shaking Sanji’s other shoulder.

“Alright, alright, he can come, whatever, just quit shaking him like a baby or you’ll break him,” Zoro said, laughing now at the sight of Sanji being rattled so carelessly between them.

They both immediately stopped shaking in favour of cheering, and he wasn’t sure who it was, but one of them initiated a group hug that he suddenly found himself being roped into. He tried to pull himself out of it, but their grip over him was too strong. They held him in place as Nami brought Zoro in, all of them hugging in an awkward huddle before they finally all let go.

“Same old place?” Nami asked once they were all standing on their own again.

“Same old place,” Franky confirmed. “Same old time.”

“What’s the same old place?” Sanji asked, looking to Nami for some insight into the situation.

“We go to Blueno’s Bar usually, since its close by and the owner knows Franky pretty well,” she elaborated. “Sometimes we hang out there after work.”

“And the same old time?”

“We usually close the store at 9:30, but we’re closing early tonight, right Franky?”

Again she turned that sly charm upon him, fluttering her lashes a bit in an attempt to get him to agree. Checking the clock on his phone, Sanji saw that it was only 4, which would mean he had quite a few hours to kill before they all went drinking if that was the case.

Franky frowned, but appeared to be contemplating her request.

“I mean, I guess; none of you guys have any lessons today because of the recital anyway,” he mused, scratching his cleft chin in thought. “Doubt anyone’s gonna come in wanting to buy a guitar that late on a Saturday anyway. We can get outta here by 6.”

“Yes!” Nami exclaimed, and even Zoro seemed pretty thrilled about being let off early, despite the fact that the only thing he had to do while working was give lessons.

“I’ll go tell the rest of the family,” Franky said, beginning to take leave of their group. “So meet up at Blueno’s at 6:15 for your free drinks.”

Brook chuckled and shook his head, delighted by the turn of events. As he too was about to step away, he seemed to remember something and turned back.

“Oh! Before I forget, Sanji, would you like to reschedule the lesson you missed last week?” he said, speaking to him with an inquisitive look.

“Yeah, that’d be great,” he said, quirking his brow at Zoro. “Are you going back to work so soon?”

“Like I said before, it’s not like I broke my hand or my wrist or anything; I can still play and teach with one eye,” Zoro scoffed, holding his hands up for mock inspection. “You all just saw me play for an hour fine.”

“And how many painkillers did you have to take in order to do that?” Nami chastised with a frown. Zoro didn’t answer, and instead rolled his eye.

“Whatever,” he said dismissively, taking leave of their group to hop back on stage and collect his guitar. “I’m resuming my lessons ASAP, so schedule him for whenever you can, Brook.”

Nami sighed, but Brook nodded.

“Will do, Zoro. Now, if you would be so kind as to follow me, Sanji, and we’ll get that sorted out for you.”

“I’ll be up front when you’re done,” Nami said as Sanji followed Brook away and into the lesson’s hallway where his office was.

They rescheduled his next lesson for Tuesday at the same time he’d been set for previously. Brook apologized for not sending him the notification that stated Franky would be covering Zoro’s lessons, and Sanji once again found himself almost unable to believe that he was talking to the Soul King. Brook was just so humble and polite that it was hard to believe he had once been a rock star of incredible fame. His attention was once again drawn to the photograph of Brook and Jimi Hendrix together, when a thought occurred to him.

“Would you uh, ever be opposed to maybe signing something for me?” Sanji asked, trying not to look as awkward as he felt. “Like, as the Soul King?”

Brook looked up from his computer with a surprised look, his fingers halting over the keyboard mid-stroke.

“I’m afraid it wouldn’t be worth much,” he replied with a light laugh. Despite his joking nature, he seemed confused by the request.

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to sell it, it’s just, uh.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “Christmas is coming up and the old geezer has all your records so I thought it’d be cool if I got something signed for him.”

Cocking his head to the side, Brook merely stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out into what was perhaps one of the most obnoxious laughs Sanji had ever heard.

“Of course! What a thoughtful young man you are; I can see why everyone speaks so highly of you!”

“Maybe not everyone,” he replied quietly.

A small, relieved smile appeared on Sanji’s face as he thanked him though, promising to come by with an album he could sign as a gift he could give to Zeff for the holiday. He had to start thinking about what to gift his new friends as well at some point, but would deal with that later as Brook got his rescheduled lesson into the system. With everything taken care of, Sanji returned to the main area of Super-Star! Guitars and met up with Nami, who, along with Zoro, had resumed her usual perch at the front desk.

“Looks like I’ll be seeing you Tuesday and Thursday next week,” Sanji said to Zoro, who groaned and spun himself around in Nami’s chair.

Despite how it seemed like he was annoying him, Sanji was glad to see that Zoro’s disposition hadn’t changed much with the loss of his eye. Any other normal person, himself included, he supposed, may have become depressed over the loss of such a vital part of the body, but Zoro really didn’t seem to care. He carried on as he normally would have; his resentment of Sanji included.

“Can’t fuckin’ wait,” he grumbled, though as he turned away Nami caught a slight smile trying to force its way out.

“Well lads, since we have some time to kill, want to run over the game plan for tomorrow?” Nami proposed, grabbing a pen and a piece of printer paper.

“Why, what’s tomorrow?” Sanji asked.

“I swear you have the memory of a goldfish or some shit,” Zoro said, spinning back around to fix Sanji with a look that betrayed his annoyance.

Sanji opened his mouth in an attempt to argue back, but was shushed immediately by Nami before he could say anything.

“Nope! We are not doing this in public. The Tralalaw show is tomorrow, remember?” Sanji’s mouth formed an ‘O’ as recognition dawned across his face. “Yeah, so, we should probably work out some of the finer details in advance.”

“Anything you say, my sweet! You’re so smart for thinking ahead!”

Looking around for a place to sit, he was dismayed to find that Zoro was occupying the only chair behind the desk. He settled for half-sitting on the ledge of the desk beside Nami, who was beginning to write on the paper. At the top, she wrote in big, bold letters: ‘TRALALAW PLANS’.

“Ok, so first things first: Sanji, you gonna ride with us?”

“There’s no room,” Zoro said abruptly, now twisting himself lazily around with his feet.

“He can ride in the back with you,” she said. “It’ll fit two.”

“Oh, are you driving the truck?” Sanji asked, to which Nami nodded. “Well, if you’re being gracious enough to drive us all, then who would I be to refuse the ride?”

“Alright,” Nami said, smiling. She made a bullet point on the page and wrote down ‘carpooling’ beside it. “The next order of business is deciding when to leave. The doors open at 7 and the opening act starts at 8, so I was thinking if we left at 3, we could make it to the Hazard by 4 and that should give us plenty of time to-”

“Why so early?” Sanji couldn’t help but interrupt. “We’ve already got tickets, so shouldn’t we be okay showing up somewhere closer to 7?”

He could tell by the way Nami’s face slowly fell that he had said something obviously wrong. She raised her eyebrows as she slowly turned to share a look with Zoro, her eyes lingering on Sanji before they caught up with the direction she was facing.

“Um,” she began, but stalled due to her bewilderment. “It’s… standing room only, you know? We have to get there early to camp the line so we can be up on the stage. Have you… ever been to a live show before?”

Sanji could feel his face flushing with the embarrassment of unknowing and tried to suppress it as best he could. A bit reluctantly, he ended up shaking his head. Evidently, he was experiencing a lot of firsts with this new group of friends.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Ah, that explains it,” she said, stepping forward to punch Zoro in the shoulder when he began snickering. “So, the thing is, when a show is general admission, you wanna get there as early as possible so you can get the best viewpoint, which is dead center right at the front of the stage. In order to do that, we have to show up a few hours in advance and camp the line so we can get in first and secure a spot.”

“Right, makes sense,” Sanji said, trying to play off his embarrassment coolly. Zoro still had a smug smirk plastered across his face though, making it difficult. There was nothing more he wanted to do in that moment than to kick that look right off the bastard’s face. “So, you’ll pick us up at the apartment at 3 then?”

“Not too early for you, is it? Got some really important day plans to attend to?”

Zoro uttered an ugly cackle, throwing his head back and spinning himself in his seat until his back was turned on them. Apparently the pain pills were not entirely done affecting him yet. Beside him, Nami shook her head and rolled her eyes, but she too had laughed a little bit.

“Just ignore the idiot,” she said, and made a dash underneath the ‘carpooling’ bullet point that detailed the time they had decided to leave at. “But yeah, be ready by 3. And be sure to wear something really warm, because it’s going to be cold riding in the back.”

“If he can handle it, then I surely can as well,” he said, focusing what was left of his good mood on Nami.

“You two can share the blanket in the tool box, too.”

With Zoro’s back still turned to them, Nami took the opportunity to throw in a wink with her suggestion. Flustered, Sanji had to look away.

“Speaking of dressing warmly,” he said, immediately switching the subject. “What should I wear? That is to say, I don’t exactly dress like a punk.”

Here he opened his arms and gestured to his current outfit, which didn’t fit his perception of how a ‘punk’ would dress at a show that was reputedly going to be the ‘best one of the year’. Zoro spun back around and gave him a once over, prompting Sanji to close his arms and cover himself with his coat.

“It doesn’t matter what you wear,” Zoro said, resting his head so far back on the chair’s back that he was looking up at the ceiling. “If you’re afraid of looking like a poser or some shit, don’t be; it’s the jackasses who think punk has a uniform that are the posers. Wear whatever the fuck you want.”

“Inspiring,” Sanji said blankly, trying to maintain his façade of nonchalance.

Zoro’s head snapped up on his neck to fix him with a beady squint before it fell back onto the seat cushion.

Truth be told, what Zoro had said did help to put his mind at ease. There was a part of him that was afraid of showing up to the show and being called out for not looking the part. The insecurities he felt only reinforced the idea that this wasn’t his place, and that the styles and music and attitudes he was dabbling in would eventually come to reject him on that basis. He wasn’t a punk, and doubted he ever would be; not on their level.

“If you’re really worried about it, you can wear one of Zoro’s jackets,” Nami said. “But it’s like he said, there’s no wrong way to look at these things. If anyone tries to give you shit for it just beat them up. They’ll learn.”

She reached out and touched his arm, and his unease resettled into a nagging sense of insecurity he’d carry with him in the back of his mind until he was at the show. He didn’t want to let it root in too deeply, and instead focused on looking forward to the night of drinking he had with the friends he’d made who were allowing him this glimpse into their lives.

Eventually though, his free trial would expire and he would have to make a decision regarding his level of commitment to being their friend.

#zosan fanfic #zosan fanfiction #zosan #zoro/sanji #one piece fanfiction #one piece #punk au #modern day au #slow burn #mixed up

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