#cool arm movements bro are you autistic or what

[agp]

stephen harper is like bender in that episode where hes made of wood

#cool arm movements bro are you autistic or what #are you scared of islam and terrorism or what? #chretien harper trudeau seriously how much did we waste in money blood and time invading afghanistan???

[weirdmageddon]

my rheumatologist has done more for me towards getting a POTS diagnosis than my cardiologist thats kinda sad bro

i came in to the cardiologist the other day (finally after waiting MONTHS) hoping for a tilt table test to see how my heart rate and blood pressure react to orthostasis in a controlled setting. the doctor didnt actually do a thing to test me for it in-office, i was just told to schedule an echo (which is fine), holster (alright) and stress test (why). but i was also prescribed eastern medicine as a treatment....“superbrain yoga”? like i dont want to seem closeminded because she is an indian doctor and there are some things that western medicine hasn’t caught on to but i realy wish i was told why it is supposed to work. like i want to know physiologically how and why it supposedly works. get technical and mechanical with me bro i have le autism, thats my language if you wanna really convince me. if it’s about toning up the muscles in my legs to squeeze the blood into my core upon standing why dont i just do squats? why do i have to do all this really specific stuff like hold my tongue at the roof of my mouth and face east, crossing my arms (right arm must go over left) and maneuver my hands in a certain way to grab my earlobes while doing those squats? is that merely a concentration sort of thing to make your brain focus? if so, why not just let me know what the purpose to these specific movements are (and what does focusing my brain have to do with treating POTS symptoms anyway)?? i’m not a spiritual person so the spiritual aspects of it do nothing for me. but at least i wasn’t given intensive aerobic exercise because i cant do that lol. i was just prescribed core strength training with planks and crunches (fine with me) and “superbrain yoga” (the specifics still confuse me but i’m doing it anyway)

but i didnt even get a tilt table test while i was there, i asked about it and she said “we stopped doing tilt table tests a while ago” and i was like ????????? thats like the gold standard to test for POTS my guy. based on just my symptoms she said i had dysautonomia and i asked “what about POTS?” and she said “it could be” and i was like ? could be? bro you didnt even test for it?

the whole visit just felt really vague and dismissive to my issues (yet again). fucking even my rheumatologist said before this visit to the cardiologist that i “probably have POTS”

so when i left the cardiologist the other day i wrote this up because i was very upset, felt dismissed, and took matters into my own hands to show what kind of medical concepts i’m capable of comprehending and the kind of language i want doctors to talk to me about my conditions in. and today i read it to my rheumatologist during today’s appointment:

the cardiologist says i have dysautonomia, “caused by dysfunction of the small blood vessels”. in the clinic, the nurse measured my laying vs standing blood pressure (which increased rather than decreased) but they didn’t do my heart rate there for some reason. but on my own i’ve measured my heart rate to jump above 30 bpm within 10 minutes of standing, so with all the symptoms lining up exactly with what’s expected of POTS (heart rate increase greater than 30 bpm within 10 minutes of standing, no drop in blood pressure, lightheadedness, brain fog, palpitations, prolonged fatigue, heat intolerance, excessive sweating etc), i’m convinced that the type of dysautonomia i specifically have is POTS, not just the umbrella term “dysautonomia”, and the specific brand of POTS i have is the neuropathic POTS subtype which is thought to be caused by sympathetic denervation (partial autonomic neuropathy) in the lower extremities. this causes the blood vessels in my legs not to constrict as they should when standing, which in turn causes blood to pool in the legs and not return to the heart, causing the heart to have to source its blood supply from elsewhere in the meantime to compensate (with an overall lower venous return), driving up the heart rate and causing lightheadedness. my blood tests also showed i am also very slightly anemic by 0.1 point below the normal range (11.6 g/dL) the resulting denervation hypersensitivity from the sympathetic denervation what is thought to cause erythromelalgia—which i express all the hallmark symptoms of as well in my feet (redness, increased skin temperature, burning sensation (feels like walking on a hot pool deck), cold to touch and bluish purple when not actively flaring, flaring occurs at night, symptoms worsen with exposure to heat and exercise (including walking on feet while flaring) and are relieved with cooling and elevation). i have no response to the cold unlike with what is seen in raynauds. i actually consider cold exposure my savior; the heat is my worst enemy, it makes me feel faint and lightheaded dysautonomia-wise and it makes my feet flare up rheumatologically.

“Several previous investigations have provided clues that patients with the postural tachycardia syndrome have peripheral autonomic dysfunction. Streeten et al. found that patients with orthostatic tachycardia had excessive venous pooling in the legs while standing and suggested that denervation of the legs was a mechanism of the syndrome. This hypothesis was supported by the finding of hypersensitivity to infusion of norepinephrine into the veins of the foot, despite high plasma catecholamine concentrations. [...] These stimuli increased norepinephrine spillover in the arms of both the patients with the postural tachycardia syndrome and the normal subjects, with similar increases in the two groups, but failed to increase norepinephrine spillover in the legs of the patients. [...] The reduced clearance of norepinephrine in the legs, without a similar reduction in the arms, may result from impairment of norepinephrine-reuptake mechanisms due to isolated damage to nerve terminals in the legs. [...] CONCLUSIONS: The neuropathic postural tachycardia syndrome results from partial sympathetic denervation, especially in the legs.” — (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200010053431404)

“The laser Doppler flowmetry signal after sympathetic stimulation of reflexes mediated through the central nervous system, was significantly diminished in patients with erythromelalgia as compared with healthy controls. [...] Vasoconstrictor responses involving central sympathetic reflexes were attenuated in erythromelalgia. Local neurogenic vasoconstrictor regulation, vasodilator response to local heating and hyperemic response to ischemia were maintained. [...] The finding of reduced skin perfusion before provocation is in accordance with the clinical observations that many erythromelalgia patients exhibit cold acral skin between attacks. [...] These results indicate that postganglionic sympathetic dysfunction and denervation hypersensitivity may play a pathogenetic role in primary erythromelalgia.” — (https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022-202X(15)41629-X)

“Denervation hypersensitivity is a phenomenon peculiar to smooth muscle innervated by the general visceral efferent system. Following denervation there is increased sensitivity of the muscle to neurotransmitters. This is evident in smooth muscle innervated by sympathetic neurons when the postganglionic axon is affected. Such denervated muscle shows hypersensitivity to the application of epinephrine or to circulating epinephrine released during excitement.” — (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780721605616500198)

although my rheumatologist is in no position to give me a POTS diagnosis she very much agreed with the connections i made and said she thinks i am right on the mark with my conditions. she told me im a real academic patient and even that i’d be well suited for going into medicine lol. not only is it refreshing to have a doctor that doesn’t disregard their patient’s knowledge, but it’s good to see what i’ve learned about nerves from my biopsych classes (and in my own time for funsies) paying off in ways concerning my health. my mom who is a nurse also agrees that neuropathic POTS and erythromelalgia are what i have.

anyway the POTS symptoms have been a massive thing for me since puberty and the erythromelalgia developed a year or so after my POTS symptoms started. but i’ve always had freezing cold clammy hands and feet since i was a young child, they just hadn’t started changing colors and flaring until after i hit puberty. i’m not sure what destroyed the sympathetic nerve fibers in my legs (as most POTS happens in teenagers due to some viral illness but i’ve never had that?), i was also just tested for a bunch of autoimmune factors and disorders and my results came back negative. maybe it’s just a genetic factor, who knows, probably something caused by a hormone’s cascading effect gone awry at some point. it seems a lot of autistic afab people have POTS or some other type of dysautonomia for some reason and i’m curious as to why.

anyway i’m really stuck in a liminal space because i have no official diagnosis beyond “dysautonomia” but i’ve been sure of what it is for like over a year and it keeps getting clearer and clearer that i was right all along

#pots #dysautonomia #erythromelalgia #chronic illness

[swordbreakerz]

✨ for all of them, 🎥 for treasure planet and guardians of gahoole, 🍀 for 9-1-1 and penumbra, 📃 for unicorn chronicles, 🏳️‍🌈 for howls, treasure planet and legend of zelda, and 💎 for any ones you have facts for lol

you spoil me uwu

🎥 - ok for treasure planet, gotta be the 12 years later scene in the beginning and the zoom in to the spaceport, the way it transitions from jim reading under the blankets to him flying on his solar surfer is so chefs kiss, and just like. everything about to the spaceport lmao, fr guardians definitely the scene where soren flies through the fire and then blows up the pulley system to get rid of the flecks energy, bro when hes flying above it all holding the lantern before he dives down to save them? chills

🍀 - you know im on that projection shit w/ juno steel, ive truly never like connected with a character like that before and he’s really really helped me thru my recovery and transition lol, fr 911 uhhh ig buck or eddie? i havent Thought About It or like consumed it enough times yet to rly settle on someone but fr now,,, they

🏳️‍🌈 - ok for howls, Everyone Is Bi/Pan, howl is trans and autistic and i will die on that hill, fr treasure planet jim and cpt amelia are both trans and both of them + doppler are autistic, fr loz link is trans, autistic and semi nonverbal and communicates primarily with asl, post twilight princess zelda says fuck it and finds a way back into the twilight realm and she midna and link hang out, most of these boil down to everyone i love is trans gay and autistic because i say so lmaooo

📃 - OK SO. without like, spoiling too many plot points, our main character is cara and she lives with her grandmother. her mom is dead and dad is out of the picture. one day theyre getting chased by these people that her grandma knows and cara gets thrown into an alternate realm full of fantasy creatures using her grandmothers amulet. she meets a unicorn named lightfoot and a bunch of other rad people and basically, starts a journey to save that world from the Hunters. the Hunters are an organisation who specifically hate unicorns and want them all dead, led by Beloved, and cara and her friends have to try and stop them from entering the world and wiping them out. its sooo so so good and i highly recommend it cause i have no one to talk to about it please god

✨ - oh boy uh, well. im just gonna like list them out lmao

unicorn chronicles: i loved unicorns as a kid and read it when i was in elementary school, and over the years its remained just as compelling and well written as i remember and like. god the whole concept is so godamn cool and all the subplots that get introduced are fuckign fantastic and like all the different creatures are amazing i literally cant sing its praises enough

howls moving castle: must i have a logical reason? is it not to vicariously live my fantasy of running away to the countryside with a wizard boyfriend, his demon and his apprentice?? for real though, its such a fantastic story with beautiful visuals in the movie and wonderfully compelling prose in the book, and esp in the movie the whole time travel subplot with sophie seeing howl and calcifer in the past and then howl finding her in the future makes me go feral

penumbra: gays in space. need i say more? im a huge slut for gay found family and especially in futuristic space, and im a huge big fan of the lgbt utopia its created. like yeah capitalism sucks but at least im not gonne get misgendered in space starbucks, u kno? all the writing and dialogue is so incredible and the SOUND DESIGN GOD, alex i know u specifically can relate when i say i would kill a man for sophie and her incredible sound design skills, like dude the dance scene in man in glass p2 you can hear every single individual step they take and every swish of junos dress and i jusT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! god its so good, plus the whole the characters help me work through my trauma and repressed anger haha

911: this one is entirely your fault. so obligatory horny on main everyone on that show is so hot i want oliver stark to cradle me gently in his beefy arms oh my god. other than Men, the way it drives home the whole ‘you can’t save everyone, and it will kill you to try, so just focus on what you can do and keep living’ makes me so emo. the way it tackles big bureaucratic issues as well as closer to home interpersonal ones is amazing and i love how it shows people going through and dealing realistically with trauma.

treasure planet: again, who doesnt want to live in Cool Steampunk Space Travel Future? i really really love jims story and his arc, the way he deals with his trauma is uhh very familiar lol and his relationship with silver is like the ideal. the story is just the coolest concept and i love all the wonderful character design and animation, plus the soundtrack SLAPS and everything is beautiful

legend of zelda: ive been associated with this series from a very young age due to my name and as soon as i gave into my fate and looked it up for real i just kinda fell into it lol. i cant really tell you exactly what draws me to it besides ‘wow fun game!’ and ‘god i wish that were me,’ but like the absurd amount of detail thats put into each installment and the creative ways they retell essentially the same/similar story over and over is incredible

guardians of gahoole: so i had the same experience with this and treasure planet which is i remembered ‘oh hey this is a movie that exists and i cant clearly remember watching it, ill look it up :)’ and then it consumed my life for a solid 3 months. firstly this movie is absolutely gorgeous, the animation and framing is fucking stunning and the way they handled owls talking like people as far as the movement of their very inflexible beaks was amazing. it sort of has the same draw for me as warrior cats? secret animal society ft incredibly traumatic experiences and the characters dealing with it. like, the whole concept is just so fuckign wild and it works so well, i rly enjoy this niche genre.

💎 - alright trivia time, so guardians of gahoole is based on a book series and the movie only covers part of the first arc i think idk, BUT theres another series set in the same universe called wolves of the beyond that i devoured when i was younger! i didnt know they were connected for the longest time and when i found out i was :000, i still rly love wolves of the beyond and wanna reread it, as well as read the actual gahoole books. in the howls books, sophie is a redhead! also, markl is named michael and like a fully functioning young adult who ends up marrying one of sophies sisters. treasure planet is, obviously, based off treasure island but its so much better than the book dont bother reading it lol i tried and it was boring. there was plans for a treasure planet sequel that was fully scripted and cast but it was cancelled cause disney sabotaged treasure planet from the start with the shitty release and advertising and tldr we were ROBBED, also amelias concept was much more octopus like and while that wldve been rad im p glad she was switched to a cat for. several reasons lol. uhh i dont have a lot of Fun Facts abt the unicorn chronicles but for the longest time i thought there were only 3 books and then last year i found the fourth book by chance in a kitsch store and nearly had a breakdown i was so happy, like full on i started shaking and crying cause there was so much joy in my body i cldnt contain it.

thats all i can think of tysm ily, to anyone who read all of this bless u please watch guardians of gahoole and read the unicorn chronicles i will love u forever

#IM LOVE U #friendos #alex #and z answers #astrallouis

[pingo1387]

A Little Bit Different

Zoro doesn’t see the world quite like most others do, but that’s okay. Autistic Zoro fic for @caffeinelemur. Happy bday!! 

FFN / AO3 

Usopp scratched his head, tapped his pen on the ground, and sighed, staring in frustration at the paper in front of him. He wrote something down and then crossed it out.

“Something wrong?” Zoro asked. He didn’t even open his eyes, still keeping the appearance of sleeping against the railing.

“Well, yeah, but nothing you can help with,” Usopp muttered.

“Why not?”

“It’s math.”

“Try me.” Zoro opened his eyes and sat up, watching Usopp expectantly.

Usopp squinted. “Okay. So, I’m trying to figure out how many projectiles I can possibly fire in an hour. Because I’m assuming any given battle won’t last more than an hour, so if I figure that out, I can save space in my bag by packing less ammunition. Though, I might pack more anyway, just to be safe.”

“Right.”

“I know I can fire about forty of them in thirty seconds, give or take,” Usopp continued. “And I forget where to go from here. I’m trying to add but I keep making mistakes.”

Zoro was silent for a moment, staring into space. Usopp rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I figured you couldn’t help. I’ll just keep trying and—”

“Four thousand and eight hundred.”

Usopp paused. “Huh?”

“Right?” Zoro said, frowning. “Did I get it wrong?”

“I dunno, that seems like a lot,” Usopp said, skeptical about Zoro’s apparently random answer. “Hey, Robin!”

Robin came up the stairs. “You called?”

Usopp explained the problem. Robin stared pensively at the paper, studying the numbers and tracing them.

“That’s four thousand and eight hundred,” she said at last. “Though, I don’t think you’ll need that many. You won’t be firing them non-stop for a full hour, will you?”

“Good point,” Usopp said sheepishly. “But, Zoro, you got that so fast!”

Zoro furrowed his brow. “That was the answer. I just saw it. Was that fast?”

“It was really cool,” Usopp said to Robin in excitement. “I asked him and he said what you said, like, right away!”

“Impressive,” Robin agreed, smiling at Zoro. “I didn’t know you were so savvy.”

“What, you guys didn’t know the answer?” Zoro said, surprised.

“Don’t be rude!” Usopp exclaimed.

“I’m not!”

“Luffy—!”

Zoro slowed to a stop, glowering after Luffy, who had stolen his bandana while he was sleeping in order to play capture the flag with Usopp, Chopper, and Franky. He returned to his spot on the deck, but was unable to return to sleep, fidgeting and feeling the spot where his bandana should be.

“Something wrong?” Robin asked, having come up to the deck to water her plants. “Is your bandana missing?”

Zoro didn’t look at her, taking a moment to respond. “Luffy took it.”

Robin set down her watering can and left. She found Usopp desperately trying to explain the rules of the game to Luffy while Chopper and Franky waited.

“Guys,” she said. They looked over. “Zoro wants his bandana back.”

“But we need a flag,” Luffy protested.

“It’s just for a little bit,” Chopper added.

“He feels uncomfortable without it,” Robin explained. “Luffy, what if someone else took your hat for something like this? Or yours, Chopper?”

They frowned. “I wouldn’t like that,” Luffy agreed. Chopper nodded.

Robin held out her hand, and Luffy handed over the bandana.

“I’ll get you a new flag in a minute,” she promised. “In the meantime, learn the rules.”

“Right, Luffy, as I was saying,” Usopp continued.

Zoro stared at the bandana deposited into his lap. He looked up at Robin and then back down, muttering, “Thanks,” before brushing it off and retying it around his arm. He fell back asleep in no time.

“Breakfast?” Zoro asked, poking his head into the kitchen.

“Pain perdu,” Sanji replied, just getting his apron on. Zoro nodded and left, walking past Luffy, who was wide awake and ready to eat.

When the crew trickled in for food, Zoro stared at the pancakes and scrambled eggs on his plate as if waiting for them to turn into pain perdu. When they didn’t, he looked up at Sanji and glowered.

“What?” Sanji said. “Oh, right. Sorry, everyone, we were going to have pain perdu, but someone ate the last of the bread last night.”

He turned a pointed glare to Luffy, who shrugged. “Well, I was hungry, and what’m I supposed to do if the fridge is locked?”

“Ask me, dipshit!”

“You were sleeping! That would’ve been rude.”

“Since when do you care about manners?!”

The others had started on their food already. Zoro didn’t start until Luffy and Sanji had finished arguing, and even then he ate very slowly.

When Zoro finally came out to the deck for his after-breakfast nap, he found his usual spot taken by Usopp, who had sat down to tinker. He stood stock-still, staring at the spot, and was just about to move when Usopp saw him.

“Oh, shoot, this is your spot, isn’t it?” he exclaimed, standing. “Sorry, go on—”

Zoro looked away and left without a word.

“Well, geez, I was trying to be nice,” Usopp muttered, confused.

Zoro took his nap on the other side of the ship eventually, though it was a restless one. He woke up, ready to start training, and was on his way to the observatory when Franky interrupted him.

“Hey, bro,” he said with a grin. “You seen Usopp?”

Zoro pointed to Usopp.

“Oh, thanks!” Franky playfully drummed his fingers across Zoro’s shoulders and left, waving. “See you!”

Zoro was rooted to the spot, shuddering, before he managed to start moving again to get to the ropes.

He breathed slowly at the top, removed his shirt, and began training. But he hadn’t even finished his first rep when panicked shouts below alerted him of an approaching pirate ship—it was time to fight.

He set his weight down and pulled his shirt back on, too frazzled to fix it so it faced forward, and tied his bandana around his head, stumbling out of the room and down to the deck. The others were already fighting, and he joined them, his movements purely muscle memory.

“Zoro, help!”

He turned towards the sound and found Usopp cowering under a joint attack. With a slash, that was taken care of.

“Moss-hair, go help Nami-san!”

Zoro looked around, vision blurring, and spotted an orange head of hair. He ran over, but stumbled to a halt when Nami’s attackers were wiped out by her thunderbolt.

“I don’t need help, Sanji-kun!” she yelled, too close to Zoro’s face. Sanji cried an apology to her while Zoro swung his head around, searching for what to do next.

He had only just sliced down another enemy trying to board the ship when the enemy captain called for their ship to retreat. The conscious crew gathered their less-fortunate friends and headed off.

The Strawhats cheered all around Zoro as he stared into the distance, vision blurred, sheathing his swords and tying his bandana around his arm again. His hands shook; everything was too bright, and everyone’s voices were indistinct and far too loud, surrounding him on all sides, leaving no escape. His backwards shirt rested over his haramaki and brushed his skin in all the wrong ways. His eyelids fluttered as he blinked slowly. He needed to . . . needed to . . .

The voices became quieter, and blurry hands waved in front of his face, making him shut his eyes in pain. His legs wobbled, but someone took his hand in their large one, holding on firmly and slowly turning it to face him another way. He blindly followed, slowing when the hand moved downwards, indicating stairs.

He heard rhythmic splashing, and could barely see in the dim light of the room they were in.

“. . . Zoro? Squeeze my hand if you hear me.”

It took him a moment to respond, but he clenched his hand inside his companion’s. He recognized the voice as Chopper.

“Do you want to stay here? Squeeze if yes.”

He paused and squeezed.

“Alone? Squeeze if yes.”

Another pause, another clench.

“Want help sitting down? Squeeze if yes.”

Silence.

“Okay.” Chopper released his hand slowly. “If you’re not back up already, someone’s gonna come down here and tell you when dinner’s ready. Okay?”

Zoro managed a tiny nod.

“Anything else?”

A small shake.

“Okay. Bye.”

Chopper left. Zoro lowered himself against the wall and wrestled with his arms, fixing his shirt. As soon as he’d finished, he collapsed, falling into a light sleep while the waves splashed.

Zoro didn’t speak for the rest of the day, but he exited the Mini-Merry Docking Room for dinner, and went to sleep in the men’s quarters with everyone, who made sure to keep their voices down for his sake.

Zoro tapped the uchiko ball along the blade of his sword and wiped the powder away with a cloth. Satisfied, he slid it back into his sheath and put away his cleaning supplies, standing to stow the case in his locker.

“I’m sure I’ve said this before, Zoro-san, but those are marvelous blades you have,” Brook remarked, falling into step with him.

“I know,” Zoro said, smiling. “I rely on them as much as I do you guys.”

“May I ask about them?”

“Yeah,” Zoro said, stopping outside the door to the men’s quarters. “This one was my first real sword. The person who gave it to me inspired me to learn the three-sword style, since before I received this I used the two-sword style, and I wanted to use this one as well. It’s my oldest and dearest sword. The ones I used before these two I received at the dojo I grew up in, but they broke when I fought Hawk-Eye.”

Brook leaned against the cabin wall, listening without ears.

“This one is called Kitetsu, technically Kitetsu III,” Zoro continued, smiling, “and I got this one in a test of luck. It’s a cursed sword, but it didn’t cut my arm off when I challenged it, so it’s mine now. The shopkeeper who gave me this also gave me Yubashiri, but that one broke at Enies Lobby thanks to a rusting ability one of the Marines had. After that I got Shusui from that zombie, Ryuma.” He paused for breath. “The three-sword style I developed by—”

The door opened, bumping into him and startling him out of his rambling. Sanji gave him an eye-roll before going to the kitchen.

“So . . . that’s it,” he finished, train of thought broken, and went inside.

The Marine pushed Sanji face-first up against the alley wall. “Blackleg Sanji, is it? Your eyebrow gives you away, you know.”

“Watch the face, please, ma’am,” Sanji said, unable to fight back.

“You’re under arrest for aiding and abetting,” she said as Zoro walked by the alley and stopped, looking at them, “as well as participating in various—”

She looked at Zoro and paled, releasing Sanji. “Uh, changed my mind,” she said, backing up. “You’re free to go.”

She ran away.

“Guess your face scared her off,” Sanji remarked, dusting himself off.

“Hey!” Zoro called after her. “Weren’t you gonna arrest him?”

Sanji kicked his calf. “Don’t fucking taunt her!”

“What? I was just asking.”

“This never happened,” Sanji said as they started heading away.

“Huh?” Sanji glared at him. “Oh. Right.”

“Learn to read a situation,” Sanji snapped. “Honestly, you—”

He stopped and looked back. Zoro had fallen behind, examining a market stall of trinkets.

“And quit wandering off!”

“Hey!”

Zoro opened his eyes and stared at the person in the jail cell with him. They were a short redhead with glasses, and they stared at him expectantly.

“What?” he said when they didn’t continue.

“What’d you get arrested for?”

“Being a pirate.”

“Oh. I got arrested for homicide.” The person stared at Zoro’s swords, which the soldiers had foolishly left with him. “Hey, you’re that pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re really good with those swords, then?” the person said, voice growing high with excitement. “Can you break us out?”

“Sure.”

The person waited. “So . . . are you going to?”

“Yeah. I was just resting.”

Zoro stood and faced the wall, preparing two swords.

“Hey!” the person exclaimed. “I have a bad sense of direction, too, but even I know the bars are over here!”

“Breaking the wall gets us out faster,” Zoro pointed out, cutting the wall open without another word.

“I guess, but . . .” The person approached the hole and stared down. “It’s a long way down . . .”

Zoro grabbed them around the waist and ignored the scream as he leapt from the building. He set them on the ground and wandered away.

“One hundred . . . one hundred one . . . one hundred two . . .”

“Hey, Zoro,” Luffy said, poking his head through the trapdoor. “Lunch! Sanji told me to come get you.”

“One hundred three . . . one hundred four . . .” Zoro didn’t look away from his weighted lunges.

Luffy frowned and disappeared. A minute later Franky showed up.

“One hundred eleven . . . one hundred twelve . . .” Zoro muttered.

“Hey!” Franky yelled. “Lunchtime!”

“One hundred thirteen . . . one hundred fourteen . . .”

Franky shook his head and left. It was Nami who showed up next.

“Zoro, get your butt down here or I’m charging you for every minute you’re late,” she snapped.

“One hundred twenty . . . one hundred twenty one . . .”

She climbed up into the crow’s nest and smacked the back of his head. He froze and turned to her, shocked.

“What?” he snapped.

“Lunch. Is ready,” she hissed. “It’s been ready.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

He toweled himself off and left, leaving Nami to stare after him, mouth agape.

Franky, knowing Zoro wasn’t asleep, sat next to him on the deck. “Hey, bro. Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah.” Zoro didn’t open his eyes, keeping his arms folded firmly against his chest.

“I messed up. I ruined one of her maps.”

“Nami’s?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t finished, she’d hung it out to dry, and I was holding cola and I went to look at it and . . . tripped.”

“You spilled cola on her map?”

“Yeah. She grabbed it and stormed away. What do you think I should do?”

Zoro was silent for so long Franky worried he’d really fallen asleep, but then he spoke.

“If you messed up one of my swords somehow, and went to ask someone what to do while I tried to deal with the situation,” he said slowly, “I’d probably be pretty pissed if you didn’t even apologize.”

“What?” Franky said. “We’re not talking about you.”

“I know. I’m trying to make sense of the situation.” Zoro lifted his face to the sky but didn’t open his eyes. “Go say sorry to her.”

“Okay. What next?”

“Oh. Uh . . . I guess offer to help her or get new materials at some point. Let the cat out of the bag.”

“Excuse me?”

“What?”

“Let the cat out of the bag? What do you mean?”

“It means use every tactic you have on hand. In this case, do whatever you can to apologize and make it up to her.”

“But that’s not what that . . . never mind. Got it. Thanks!” Franky grinned and stood. “You’ve got a weird way of going about things, but it works.”

Zoro opened his eyes as Franky walked away.

“Weird?”

“What’s wrong?” Sanji asked.

Zoro’s face had only scrunched in disgust for a moment at the taste of his snack, so he was surprised that Sanji had caught it. “Uh . . . it’s sweet,” he said.

“Really? I thought it was plain enough. You want something else?”

“Dunno. You have anything else?”

“Bit of leftover ham,” Sanji said, taking the plate away. “I need most of it for the stew tonight, but if you want some of that . . . ?”

“Sounds good.”

Zoro rubbed his temples, wandering towards Chopper’s office. He opened the door and stared at Chopper until Chopper looked up. Zoro spread his arms out. Chopper trotted outside, bit down on a Rumble Ball, and transformed into Guard Point. Zoro fell against him, closing his eyes and rubbing his fur. Luffy found them and joined them for a minute before getting bored and heading away.

When Chopper turned back, Zoro hugged him before heading away to nap.

Zoro, worn-out from a stressful day, leaned against the railing but couldn’t seem to get comfortable. Chopper came upon him and Zoro looked up at him hopefully. Chopper turned big and grabbed Zoro, squeezing him in his lap. Zoro fell asleep in minutes.

“Zoro helped me with some calculations today,” Robin said at dinner, smiling at him. “You were very helpful. Thank you.”

“Well, since you helped Robin-chan,” Sanji said, setting an extra glass of booze in front of Zoro, who nodded and took it without a word. “Need anything else?”

He shook his head and started drinking his glass down. Luffy tugged at his bandana, but a look made him stop. Zoro fixed it and went back to drinking.

“Thanks for sharing your napping spot with me, Zoro,” Chopper said, waving his arms.

“I never knew you knew so much about your swords,” Usopp said, shaking his head. “You talked my ear off!”

Zoro stared in alarm at his ears.

“It’s a figure of speech,” Usopp added. Zoro relaxed.

“Surprised we could get you away from your training for dinner,” Franky said with a laugh. Zoro shrugged.

“Seconds, Sanji-san?” Brook said, holding out his plate in front of Zoro’s face. Zoro closed his eyes and moved back. “Ah, forgive me, Zoro-san.” Brook moved his arm out of the way. Zoro opened his eyes and slowly moved forward again.

“Zoro, we’re gonna have a party tonight,” Luffy announced, bouncing in his seat. “You gonna come or you gonna sleep?”

Zoro shrugged and gave him a thumbs-up. Luffy grinned. “Awesome!”

“Try not to hog all the alcohol,” Nami shot at him. Zoro made a point of rolling his eyes at her before returning to his dinner, carefully prepared without a hint of sweetness.

#zoro #one piece #opfanfic #writing adventures