Chapter Text
Zoro woke up like any normal day
Took a little too long to get up like any normal day
Said good morning to Luffy like any normal day
And went to pee like any normal day
But then he realized there was a huge problem
Well, not huge, since it had disappeared
but still, a problem
He looked in the mirror and noticed another problem
His hair was longer, a little above his shoulders
He looked more carefully and it was somehow… feminine (?)
He grabbed his chest and it felt normal, just a little bigger
It didn’t take much for him to figure it out
“Why the hell did I turn into a girl?!” he shouted as soon as he reached the deck
Everyone looked confused
“…Sora… you’ve always been a girl,” Usopp said slowly, not understanding
“No im not!”
That was when a red-haired handsome guy dragged him back inside the ship. “Hahaha, she had a weird dream. These things happen. I know exactly what to do.”
When they were far enough so no one could hear, the boy spoke
“Zoro! You idiot! Stay quiet!”
“First of all, who the hell are you?”
The boy looked incredulous
“It’s me, you idiot! Nami!”
“Nami…? Nami! What is going on with everyone?”
“Apparently my name is Nessy. I still don’t fully understand it, but I have an idea.” Nami took a deep breath. “There’s a big chance we ended up in another universe.”
Zoro stayed quiet for a moment until the information fully registered
“WHAT?!”
“Shhh, stay quiet! When I figure it out properly I’ll tell you, I promise! But for now we just have to pretend everything is completely normal, okay?”
“Okay…”
“Look, since you can’t keep your mouth shut, I’m going to invent some excuse so you won’t talk all day. That’ll help.”
“I’m not doing that, Nami.”
“See? You have to call me Nessy and I have to call you Sora. You wouldn’t want someone from another universe completely changing your life without you knowing, right?”
“…No.”
“Then stay quiet.”
When they went back, Zoro had a strange surprise
“Sora! My love! I heard you weren’t feeling well. Are you better?” Sanji practically threw himself at Zoro
Zoro really wanted to yell at him, but Nami was faster
“She can’t talk. Girl stuff.”
“As if you knew anything about women, rust-hair. Poor thing, my love.” And then he kissed Zoro on the mouth. Worst of all: everyone seemed completely normal about it
Zoro grew even more confused and really wanted to hit Sanji, but he knew that if he did, Nami’s beating would be worse
He looked at Nami and, luckily, she looked just as confused as he felt, though she was holding back laughter
“I made the onigiri you like. Come with me.” He gently held Zoro’s calloused hands — or rather, Sora’s — guiding her to the kitchen
The onigiri were actually delicious. Was this the level of food the girls in the crew received?
Sanji watched Zoro eat the whole time (which didn’t take long since they were very good), occasionally playing with his hair
But Sanji kept that silly love smile the entire time, one he never really gave Zoro
“Was it good?”
Zoro only responded with a thumbs up, and Sanji laughed softly but kept looking at him like that
“You know… I’ll never get tired of looking at you.” He placed a small kiss on his forehead and went to wash the dishes
Why was Zoro’s heart beating so fast?
He watched Sanji wash the dishes and noticed he was wearing a pretty ring on his right hand
He looked at his own hand and also saw a pretty ring on his right hand
Funny
…
Yes, funny
…
Wait a second
He left Sanji in the kitchen and ran to Nami, who was flipping through some books
“Am I married to that idiot?!”
“Lower your voice. And I’m almost sure you’re just dating.”
Less bad
“Wait, I’m dating that idiot?!”
“It’s better than being married.”
Good point
“Nami, this is still bad. How am I supposed to pretend I’m dating him?”
“Figure it out. Go along with it. Knowing that guy, I think just you existing is already enough.”
“Nami, what if he wants to… kiss me?”
“Figure it out.”
“Nami! Help me!”
“Okay… let’s see.” She paused, thinking. “You have an extremely contagious sore throat.”
“Okay.”
“But it’s girl-related, so Chopper can’t fix it.”
“Okay.”
“If you want to stay here helping me with the books instead of being with that traitor cook.”
Zoro laughed. “Why ‘traitor’?”
“He’s treating me really badly. It even feels like I’m you.” She stopped and thought for a moment.
“That’s it!”
“What did the genius discover?”
“We switched places. You’re the pretty girl he’s in love with, and I’m the anoiyng guy he hates.”
Hate was a strong word. Sanji didn’t really hate Zoro, right?
And besides, he had become the ‘pretty girl’?
“Okay, and how do we go back to normal?”
“I’d like to know that too.”
A loud noise echoed from the deck
Zoro ran to look and saw a giant octopus “hugging” the ship
His body moved on its own and he quickly cut it into pieces
Too quickly
He somehow felt… better with the sword
That was when he remembered Kuina
——————————
“Sora, if you become the greatest swordswoman in the world before me, promise you’ll come back to the dojo immediately so I can take your title.”
“No way. I’m going to be the greatest swordswoman that has ever existed and ever will exist. I’ll be so good they won’t be able to refuse letting me own this place.”
Kuina laughed. “We’ll see.” And they made a pinky promise
——————————
It was true. She was going to own the dojo even as a woman. That’s why she trained so hard
Wait a second
That memory wasn’t Zoro’s
It was Sora’s
This was bad. What if his memories started mixing with Sora’s and he couldn’t tell them apart anymore?
He avoided Sanji and went to talk to Nami, and she had a similar experience
“When I was a child, I only got my older sister’s used dresses. That didn’t happen here.”
“Nami, do you have any idea how to go back?”
“I do have an idea, but I don’t know if it’s right.”
“Can you share it?”
“Well, we woke up here, right?”
“Yes.”
“But we didn’t go to sleep in our universe.”
That was true
“Instead, do you remember what the last thing we did was?”
Zoro searched his memory deeply. “You made me go into the middle of the forest with you because you were afraid to explore alone.”
“Yes! And we found some ruins there, right? I’m almost sure that was it.”
“And how do we go back?”
“That part I still don’t know.”
“This is giving me a headache. I’m going to get some water.”
“Bring some for me too.”
When he reached the kitchen, Sanji surprised him by pinning him against the wall
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with that rust-haired idiot, haven’t you?”
“Sanji…”
“Weren’t you unable to talk? And you never call me Sanji.” He looked sad
Zoro had another intrusive memory
————
He and Sanji argued in that universe the same way they did in the normal one
Of course, there Sanji was more respectful and didn’t really hit him during fights
But that didn’t change the fact that it was the same, and somehow Sanji fell in love
He even remembered when Sanji took him to watch the sunset and confessed for real, not like he does with other girls
He remembered how happy he felt and how his heart started beating faster
————
Sanji gave up on being angry and rested his forehead on Sora’s shoulder
“Sorry. I know you’re not like that.” He sighed. “It’s just that he’s so much more handsome than me. I really don’t know why someone like you is with someone like me.”
Sanji really thought he was pretty?
Zoro lifted his face to look into his eyes
They were close. He could smell the cigarette on his breath
And that made Zoro’s heart race without him realizing
“Listen here, my love.” He had called Sanji what? “You are the most handsome, funny, intelligent, charismatic, loving cook—”
Sanji laughed and interrupted. “Okay, I get it.”
“What I’m trying to say is that no one will ever be better than you. At least not for me.”
“Really?” And he made that hopelessly devoted face at Zoro — or rather, Sora
Zoro just pulled him into a kiss without thinking. It was instinctive
Everything there felt instinctive. Zoro was just following ‘Sora’
It wasn’t supposed to feel that easy or natural
The kiss was… good?
Sanji’s cigarette breath was terrible, but Zoro felt his mouth melting
They pulled apart but were still close enough to feel each other’s breathing, and Zoro couldn’t ignore Sanji’s hand on his waist
“Better?”
Sanji nodded and gave him another quick kiss
“Why is it taking so long, Zo…ro?” Nami entered the kitchen and saw the two of them. They stared at each other for two seconds and Nami left silently
And that was enough for Zoro to understand what was happening
He had really kissed Sanji because he wanted to
Zoro would never do that, but it felt so normal for Sora
If they started mixing, it would be bad. He didn’t want to become someone else
“That rust-head only shows up at the worst moments.” Sanji rested his forehead against Sora’s. “Thank you, my love. You are perfect.”
He wanted to stay there with Sanji forever, but reality hit and Zoro just laughed and left to find Nami and at least give her an explanation
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Shut up, witch. You told me to figure it out.”
“I don’t know, it looks like you want to figure out more than that.”
Zoro got irritated and hit her on the head. “Now you’re not a woman anymore and I can hit you.”
“What is that, Sora? Where’s the consideration for your fellow girls?”
Zoro just rolled his eyes
“Oh, and I think I figured out how we get out of here.”
“Really?”
“Remember when we went to those ruins? And I picked up that pretty stone that looked expensive?”
“Yes.”
“I remembered a legend from Alabasta that Vivi told me. All possibilities form a tree. Small changes form thin branches, and big ones form huge branches that bear fruit.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Wait. Every time one of those branches bore fruit, a special stone would fall somewhere random.”
Nami paused, trying to remember Vivi’s words
“It’s a stone that reflects like a mirror, but it will never reflect your face. It reflects the life you could have had. That’s what she told me.”
“So supposedly we found that legendary stone and we’re in another reality because you wanted to sell it.”
“Shut up. At least I know how we get back.”
That caught Zoro’s attention
“Its name is Pentagonal Prism, and if it’s real, we just have to pass through three more universes and we’ll return home.”
“What kind of math is that?”
“It reflects five universes. One is our original, two is the one we’re in now, so if we pass through three more, we go back home.”
“And how do we find it?”
“There was supposed to be one in the treasure room, which we supposedly ‘took.’”
For some reason, the possibility of leaving made Zoro strangely sad
“So it’s easy then?”
“We just have to find it in the middle of everything.”
“I see.”
They stared at each other for a while in awkward silence. It was strange seeing Nami at the same height as him
“You know… if you want to eat Sanji’s carefully made onigiri one last time, I can look by myself for a bit.”
“…Good idea.”
He wasn’t talking about eating onigiri, and Nami wasn’t either, but he went to the kitchen to resolve something else pending
Sanji was cutting vegetables. Sora rested her head on his shoulder and the two stayed in silence, just enjoying the closeness
—————
They were watching the sunset for the first time together. It was… comforting. And Sora rested her head against Sanji’s shoulder.
“You know… you have the same name as my mother,” Sanji said, not looking at her. But his voice sounded… happy?… Sad? It was hard to tell.
“I didn’t even know you had a mother. Do you like her?”
Sanji fell silent, his gaze fixed on the horizon for a while.
“…She’s part of the group of the most wonderful women to ever exist… just like you.”
He finally pulled back a little to look into Sora’s eyes and smiled, a real smile.
—————
That memorie made his heart harm a little. Maybe Sora wasn’t living so badly, Zoro thought
“Blondie, what am I to you?”
“What a strange question. You’re my girlfriend.”
“Deeper.”
Sanji stopped cutting. “Well… I would say you’re the reason I wake up every day and why my heart beats so fast.” He tried to make a flirty smile, but it came out softer instead
he looked at sanji and knew why sora was so in love with him
Zoro turned his face and kissed him. He hoped it was really him kissing this time and not Sora
Sanji smiled again and rested his forehead against his
Zoro wanted to preserve every moment there forever, but he knew that wasn’t his place, so he left and went to see Nami
Deep down he wanted her plan to be wrong, but he knew that girl was rarely wrong
He left the kitchen but almost went back. Instead, he just looked back for a brief moment and moved forward
When Nami saw him, she remained silent
She had already found the stone and was just waiting for him
“We just have to touch it at the same time, right?”
“Right.” Zoro could still smell cigarette smoke on his own breath
“3…2…1”
The two touched it at the same time and it was as if the whole world shattered like a mirror and fell into a deep sleep