Zoro's voice rumbled inside his sto

Zoro's voice rumbled inside his stomach, so that Luffy could feel it set off sparks in his own body. He had to laugh about that, because it felt good and that was – yes. His laughter chased away the heavy thoughts. He turned his face towards Zoro, so that his reply would come back to Zoro through his skin, speak Luffy's happiness to his blood and bones and weary muscles.

"Ey, that tickles!"

Since that had more or less been the intent, Luffy blew a raspberry on him, grinning at the way it caused Zoro to wiggle. "Getting impatient?"

The gentle hand sliding down his neck was unexpected, but pleasant. There were familiar sword-callouses against his shoulder, and one last thread of tension seemed to unravel in Zoro.

"Not really," he said. "But we wanted to have fun, eh?"

That caused Luffy to pout, because he had been having fun all the journey, that was the problem! He'd been having fun when they were sailing, exploring, fighting, eating, laughing – all those things that belonged to an adventure! It was Zoro who only seemed to have fun when he was fighting (if it was a good opponent) or sometimes when they were partying (unless Sanji had just said something upsetting).

"Oi." Zoro's grip was strong when he pinched Luffy's ear. "Just because I don't spend as much time running around like a fool, like you and Usopp do, doesn't mean I'm not enjoying myself."

"You're not having fun when you're worrying about them. It's no fun when you're too hurt either."

Zoro looked down at him, but Luffy stared back up, righteously stubborn.

"It's part of being a swordsman."

"So? Your a pirate too. Enjoying your body is part of that! And not just drinking booze!"

The way Zoro's eyebrows were tilted showed Luffy how he was enjoying their argument, which he guessed was a good thing. Still, they could play-fight almost anytime, so he put an end to it with one stern glare (have fun! please?), before turning his attention further down.

Keeping an arm wrapped around Zoro's waist to hold him steady, Luffy continued exploring. Curious hands tugged and touched. He followed an invisible path towards a pleasurable future, actions drawn from his own experiences and improved with bits from the many confusing stories he'd listened to lately. The way Zoro clenched his mouth shut around the next word was encouraging. Hah, so Zoro was curious too! Luffy knew he'd be, once he let go of his skepticism about new things.

The Shark Submerge was a smallish vessel. The temperature was steadily rising, so Luffy shrugged off his vest. Zoro made another interesting noise at that, big hands rough but gentle against Luffy's face. Good, all of it. When Luffy wet his mouth and tried a kiss against the the inside of Zoro's thigh, it became more than nice. His friend made a weird wheezing sound and Luffy tightened the arm around his waist, careful not to touch any of the too sensitive places.

It's okay, his grip reminded Zoro. I've got you.

There wasn't any reason to wait after that, not when Zoro whispered his name in such a surprised, almost overwhelmed way. Luffy put his mouth on the tip of him, mindful of his teeth, because that was apparently the real trick of this.

This time, the gasp from Zoro was a bit more freaked out than Luffy liked, so he drew back for a quick check. Hmm, flushed and wide-eyed was okay, but his entire body was a bit too focused for Luffy's intentions. The point of this was not to make Zoro look as if he was about to go into battle any second.

"Okay?"

"Uhh... that's. I don't know."

Zoro fumbling for words was an interesting sight, it almost made Luffy forget to keep his hand moving. But he could feel Zoro kind of twitch in his grip when he stopped, which was more than a little cool.

"You're blushing." Zoro sounded amused. Laughing at Luffy always put him at ease.

"Uh. Yeah." Luffy looked down. His shorts weren't hiding much and when Zoro followed the line of his gaze, he actually let out a small chuckle.

"So fun to chew on me?"

"I was not chewing," Luffy was only playing up his level of insultedness a tiny bit. He considered himself an expert chewer of all kinds of things. Zoro should be grateful he wasn't demonstrating just to spite him, so there. Apparently, Zoro sensed the depth of his insult, because he raised his hands in a gesture of peace.

"Sorry. It's good. I just don't know if... I'm not going to be much use if someone attacks. If you keep doing that, I mean."

Twisting his head all the way around once, Luffy demonstratively looked around the very small, closed and isolated submerge they were in. Right now the sub was even under – hang on, when did that happen?

"We're underwater!" he said, craning his head around once more, to confirm, his hand on Zoro slowing down. Coooooooool!

"The room filled up somehow, I think," Zoro replied. Pointing, he showed Luffy the large Three still visible through the water. "Think we'll have to use the snail-phone we want to get out."