Disclaimer : One Piece and its characters belong to Oda-sensei, always have, always will. (sigh)

Into Pieces

This is Nami's fault –no, it was Usopp's. Forget it, it is THEIR fault.

It was raining that day around the sea Thousand Sunny was sailing on, due to the fact that they had just left a spring island a day ago and the weather around was still influenced by the nearby island's climate. This, for the Strawhats, --especially Luffy-- meant 'no running onboard or you will get sick and Dr. Chopper will give you a lecture all night and day'

Needless to say, the young captain was bored, and a bored captain was a whining captain, a whining captain meant an annoyed navigator because she couldn't finish her work due to the noises he made, and an annoyed navigator was a scary navigator. And for the Strawhats, it would mean a disaster.

So Usopp decided to make a game that was called 'A Brilliant Game of Usopp-sama to Make Everyone Happy and Make a Baby's Cry Stop' (even though there wasn't a baby onboard, as they recalled). In fact, it was an ordinary card game. The rule was simple, to win the game as fast as possible, but for the fun's sake, Usopp added one more rule: the one who lost had to obey the winner's one order.

And so, in the Aquarium room, the game went on, the only one who didn't play was Zoro because he was snoring loudly in the corner. Nami, being a the queen of gambler she was, won the first; followed by Usopp and so on. Surprisingly, their captain was the last to spend his cards ("The one with more cards wins!" exclaimed he, which was completely the opposite of the game's rule).

Luffy, the man with the dumbest luck ever, lost. As much as he hated losing, he was a man with pride; and a loss was a loss, so he had to obey Nami's order, like or not.

With a smirk, the orange haired navigator ordered cheekily, "Kiss Zoro."

And so here was Zoro, wet and panting from the previous runaway-session with his captain around Sunny, cornered in the men's bunkroom while Luffy approached him with a mischievous grin on his face. The rest of the crews gathered on the doorway, waiting for what would come next impatiently.

"Step any closer and you are a dead man." The green haired swordsman growled, hand readied on Wadou even though he wasn't sure about the idea of cutting his own captain in half.

Luffy stepped forward.

Titling his head to the side, he whined, "Aww, come on Zoro! This is just a game, and Nami will kill me first if I don't obey her words! It's just a kiss!"

" 'Just a kiss' your ass!" Zoro barked, no longer could run because the wall was right behind him, "Nami, this is stupid, stop this!! Robin, do something! Luffy, you—"

His words were cut off abruptly as two long, slender arms stretched and wound firmly around his waist, soon followed by a launching captain. Not ready for the sudden impact, Zoro was knocked off balance and his head hit the wall with a sickening cracking sound.

The next thing was, he felt soft lips against his as Luffy clumsily kissed him.

"There!" Luffy said triumphantly, pulling away.

He grinned with a proud see?-I-can-do-this expression to his crewmates: a shocked Zoro, a chagrinning Nami, an amused Robin, a mockingly laughing Sanji, a 'I can't believe my eyes even though I don't have eyes anymore, Yohoho!' Brook, a jaw dropping Chopper, a 'Zoro will kill us!' Usopp and a 'Wow, super!' Franky.

Zoro, still leaning unsteadily on the wall, raised his hand to cover his mouth; a wave of embarrassment made its way to his face and made him all read to the ears. The kiss was awfully brief, barely a second, but he could fully remember how Luffy's lips' texture felt on him. It was a bit salty and soft, despite how rough the kiss itself was.

The commotion in the men's bunkroom continued for moments later until Sanji yelled that it was time for lunch, and the crews went to the galley, still chatting and laughing.

Zoro raised his head when he saw a hand stretch out to him, intending to help him up.

"Sorry, Zoro." Luffy said, grinning almost comically.

The older boy was, to say at least, surprised that his captain would willingly delay his mealtime to apologize for something that wasn't his fault to him. But then he sighed and took Luffy's hand, silently accepting the apology, not that Zoro needed an apology. It wasn't Luffy's fault.

The young captain's face brightened it could be the sun in the rain and even before Zoro could fully stand on his own feet, he ran to the kitchen dragging his firstmate along.

"Sanji, FOOD!"

X x x x X

Zoro glanced over his shoulder to look at the clock. His watch actually had over an hour before and it was Luffy who got the second shift for watch but he didn't feel like waking the boy up, as it needed a lot more energy than continuing the watch by himself.

Besides, Zoro had spent the whole day with sleeping and barely doing anything; and in the night, even it was still raining haevily outside, he always would have time to think about many things, everything.

Sometimes he would think about his dreams of becoming the Greatest Swordsman to accomplish his promise to Kuina and how it was impossible for him to do before he met Luffy. A lanky, silly, happy-go-lucky 17 years old boy with the biggest dream ever, and he was surprised to find that he was still following him. But despite his silliness, perhaps only Luffy who was capable of making their dreams –not just his, but also the whole crews' dreams, come true. He sometimes wondered how a small and young boy could hold so many dreams, not to mention his own huge dream of becoming the pirate King to keep his promise to Shanks.

Now that he thought about it, they had so much similarity. Both had promises to keep, and big dreams to reach.

"Zoro, you didn't wake me up." Zoro shot his eyes open at Luffy's voice which came out of the blue and he saw the younger boy hop into the crow nest. "It's my shift now, isn't it?"

The green haired swordsman gave but a small gruff and shifted to give space for Luffy to sit. Putting off his raincoat, Luffy smiled and sat beside him, the water trickling down his feet and made a long wet trail behind. They were silent for a moment before then Luffy broke into sheepish grin.

"It was my first, Zoro!"

"What?" Zoro raised an eyebrow at the sudden topic, guessing this was one of many rambling topics Luffy fond of talking about. Luffy was a talkative sometimes, questioning things and pouting if he didn't get the satisfying answer. But it would be just another reason for the Strawhats to love him more.

"The kiss."

Zoro almost instantly cried at the mention of 'that' and couldn't help giving a loud groan. Why should Luffy remind him about it? Hell, he wanted to forget about it, badly. It was really embarrassing, for God's sake!

"Zoro?" The raven haired boy chirped at the stillness, trying to see his best friend face in the darkness, "Were you—are you mad?"

Zoro shook his head, but knowing that Luffy couldn't see him due to the lack of light, he replied, "Not really. It was Nami's doing. Not you."

"Hm…" the young captain hummed tonelessly, hands in chin as if in deep thought, "But it was just a game. Nothing to be so upset abou—"

"I know, Luffy. Shut up." Luffy trailed off when the swordsman suddenly snapped, rougher then the swordsman wanted to be. Zoro was annoyed, by what, he didn't know. Was it because the game? Did Zoro have a grudge or something?

"Sorry.." Luffy said softly, now playing with the lower bottom of his red vest.

Zoro sighed. He didn't want Luffy to apologize and he wasn't mad either. It was just…it wasn't merely a game. Luffy didn't understand how much a kiss –a first kiss, meant to him. Sure, he wasn't a type of romantic person, but still, the first was always worth to be remembered, to be treasured. It should be more meaningful, not just merely a game.

"It wasn't just a game." Luffy heard him say and he was too late to realize Zoro was a mere inch from his face.

You have no idea how much that kiss meant to me, a kiss from someone I always adore, care for, and love.

Zoro leaned closer and placed his fingertips on Luffy's lips, giving him time to pull back. And when Luffy didn't, Zoro slowly but firmly, planted his lips on Luffy's.

The smaller boy's eyes widened, too stunned to decided whether to pull back or press back. After several seconds that seemed like forever, Zoro pulled away and saw shock and confusion painted on the younger boy's face.

"Z-Zoro..Wha-..?" Luffy stuttered, face all red for a reason he didn't even know. He was at a loss of words right now. Zoro had just kissed him…and it wasn't for a game.

Was it…revenge? For the kiss at this afternoon?

"Was it revenge?"

Zoro sighed, trying to hide his disappointment and gave a sad smile before then he looked away. The crow nest fell sickeningly silent for a moment, letting the sound of heavy rainfall hit the wooden build of Sunny and the waves rocking the enormous ship gently.

Revenge? Revenge for what, for this afternoon?
Damn, you are so thick, baka.

Then with a grunt, Zoro stood and started heading for the door, opening it without even bothering to put a raincoat on or look at the younger boy.

"Good night, Senchou."

And with that, Zoro left.

June 28, 2008

A.N : the title is crap, I know. This is the first chapter, longer than I wanted to be... It's been weeks since I wrote story in English so I hope I didn't mess that badly. So, what do you think? Good? Bad? Please review!
Thank you!