He's training on Merry's deck when Luffy comes up to and stares at him. He ignores it for a few minutes – Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper always do that for reasons he never understood – and continues to weightlift. He focuses on the burn of his muscles, the heft of the weights, and the thought of beating that chef the next time he tried to deny him his alcohol. "Zoro!" is all his captain says. He's not sure if it's a question to see if he's paying attention, if it's just a statement, or if Luffy's saying his name for the sake of saying something like he always does.

"Yeah?"

Luffy is quiet again for a minute or two. Zoro doesn't really care because he's still lifting his weights – clink, clank, clink, clank.

"What if I lost?"

"You didn't."

Clink, clank, clink―

"But what if?"

"You wouldn't have."

Clink, clank, clink.

"I lost twice."

Clink, clank, clink.

"Third time's the charm."

"What if I died?"

Clink, cla―

Zoro stops lifting halfway and turns to look at his captain. Luffy's sitting up on the railing, staring up at the sky, a faint smile on his face. He looks way too relaxed for someone asking a question like that... but this is Luffy. Zoro just stands there and doesn't say a thing. It's mostly because he doesn't know what to say.

"What if I died because I wasn't strong enough to protect my friends?"

Zoro drops his weights on the floor and leans against the railing.

"Then… I wouldn't call you my captain."