#sorry......the zolu brainworms are having a party in my brain rn and you know it's bad when I start over-analyzing stuff

[general-cyno]

if I had to choose some more subtle moments I really liked between/about zoro and luffy in the LA I'd pick their brief conversation about shanks by the end of ep 2 and luffy taking care of wado ichimonji when zoro's injured after his fight with mihawk. again, they're subtle, but I think they capture zoro and luffy's quiet understanding of each other very well.

in ep 2 amidst the chaos of getting kidnapped by buggy, luffy seemingly randomly brings up shanks when nami and zoro are trying to find a way out (though in the latter's case it's more like kill his way out lol) to insist they don't need to fight/violence isn't always the solution - to which zoro asks a bit grumpily who the hell is shanks, a question that luffy pretty much ignores... then shit happens so no time to dwell on that anyway. yet by the end when luffy mentions him again, zoro just says he sounds like an alright guy. no prying, no pushing, no asking again who shanks is or what he means to luffy - because it's clear he's important to luffy, enough that his words are something luffy lives by, which zoro acknowledges with very simple words and is satisfied with.

(on a more speculative note, as the audience seeing how important shanks is to luffy and that even luffy himself struggled to understand the guy as a kid - the fact that zoro saw the worth in what luffy learned from him then in a few words called shanks a good man probably meant a lot to luffy. it lowkey speaks about zoro's own character and it's him extending a tacit acceptance and understanding to luffy as well, even if in a very simple manner.)

fast-forward to ep 3 and you've got luffy and zoro bumping into each other while sneaking out to look for food/booze. here luffy asks if zoro always carries his swords with him and zoro answers that wherever I go, the wado ichimonji goes. he doesn't elaborate and luffy doesn't ask further but zoro singling out wado specifically in that small instance stayed with him and it's something luffy made note of, despite it all being quite a random interaction/conversation in the larger scheme of things, and comes up later again in ep 6 where luffy, food loving luffy, refuses sanji's food because he needs to get wado ready for zoro. he doesn't know why, and he didn't ask back then, but he remembers that little offhanded detail from a few eps earlier and even though zoro didn't really say it in those words, he realized the sword is important to zoro and took it upon himself to care for it while its owner recovered.

considering who wado ichimonji used to belong to and what it represents for zoro now (his dream and his promise to kuina), luffy caring for it in zoro's stead IS a huge gesture even if he doesn't know it, much less know why. and he doesn't need to - because it being important to zoro is enough for luffy to care too. and yknow, in a lot of ways, wado is to zoro what the straw hat is to luffy, which makes it all the more meaningful.

these two just... kinda get each other on such a simple but profound, unconditional level that I absolutely dig. and it goes from zoro not a having a single doubt in luffy's faith of achieving his dream to luffy refusing to get in the way of zoro's own, including heartfelt declarations of the sheer lengths luffy would go for zoro's sake and zoro's vow of loyalty and devotion, and is seen even in passing/small moments like these. they're crazy.