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chibi_trillianTitle: Shiage-to
Series: One Piece.
One Piece: Not mine.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Zoro/Usopp, spoilers through current (Ch. 440). There's such a thing as being too sharp. Crossposted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
zosopp and onepieceyaoi.
Notes: Part the third and last of a series. Shiage-to is the finest grade of Japanese waterstone.
He was trembling now, choking on the heavy tang of Zoro and clove in the air, electricity crackling down his nerves like a mad god’s thunderbolt with that feather-light touch. He wanted to lean into that glowing energy, let it swallow him, let it immolate him in a blaze of white-hot glory so he’d come out the other side a different person, reforged and whole and new. And he wasn’t sure why.
That frightened him. Badly. Because he didn’t do stupid, careless things for no reason.
Stupid, careless things like getting trapped by a set of seastone cuffs he knew were there, for instance.
Bad luck. Destiny. Fate.
Zoro didn’t believe in any of them, nor did he believe in gods or blessings or anything but himself and his swords.
His swords. An elite group of which Usopp was now a member.
Zoro smiled, slow and predatory, teeth like a flash of moonlight across a katana’s edge on a dark night, and leaned in. The light grip the swordsman had on his chin became firmer, more controlling, tilting Usopp’s head up a precisely calculated amount before Zoro’s mouth was suddenly there, tongue sliding into his mouth as smoothly as a blade into a sheath.
Usopp’s brain shut down, quite possibly in self-defense, and his last coherent thoughts fled in terror from the explosion of cherry-red heat in his chest, like his heart was a crucible that had just poured the liquid steel of his soul into the mold of Zoro’s will.
He had things to worry about. Kaya. Merry. His father.
They all were such a long way away right now, in some sunny place where everything shone like Usopp couldn’t seem to right now. But Zoro was here, now, and his hands felt strong enough to rub away the tarnish of a thousand lies and the rust of a thousand tears.
Zoro’s mouth moved on his own, silent words that he somehow heard anyway, whispering to him of strength and balance. Of that moment when a sword is honed too fine and the blade will dull after a single cut, edge ruined, but oh what a marvelous strike it will be. Of his fear that when he confronted Mihawk, he would discover that he’d worked too hard, that he’d win but destroy that which made him strong in the process.
And if the strongest man Usopp knew could feel fear, maybe a coward could, in turn, be strong.
He trembled on the edge of hesitation, the Tower of Justice all over again.
But this time, as Zoro’s hands and will ran down his spine, he closed his eyes and gave in.
Series: One Piece.
One Piece: Not mine.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Zoro/Usopp, spoilers through current (Ch. 440). There's such a thing as being too sharp. Crossposted to
zosopp and onepieceyaoi.Notes: Part the third and last of a series. Shiage-to is the finest grade of Japanese waterstone.
He was trembling now, choking on the heavy tang of Zoro and clove in the air, electricity crackling down his nerves like a mad god’s thunderbolt with that feather-light touch. He wanted to lean into that glowing energy, let it swallow him, let it immolate him in a blaze of white-hot glory so he’d come out the other side a different person, reforged and whole and new. And he wasn’t sure why.
That frightened him. Badly. Because he didn’t do stupid, careless things for no reason.
Stupid, careless things like getting trapped by a set of seastone cuffs he knew were there, for instance.
Bad luck. Destiny. Fate.
Zoro didn’t believe in any of them, nor did he believe in gods or blessings or anything but himself and his swords.
His swords. An elite group of which Usopp was now a member.
Zoro smiled, slow and predatory, teeth like a flash of moonlight across a katana’s edge on a dark night, and leaned in. The light grip the swordsman had on his chin became firmer, more controlling, tilting Usopp’s head up a precisely calculated amount before Zoro’s mouth was suddenly there, tongue sliding into his mouth as smoothly as a blade into a sheath.
Usopp’s brain shut down, quite possibly in self-defense, and his last coherent thoughts fled in terror from the explosion of cherry-red heat in his chest, like his heart was a crucible that had just poured the liquid steel of his soul into the mold of Zoro’s will.
He had things to worry about. Kaya. Merry. His father.
They all were such a long way away right now, in some sunny place where everything shone like Usopp couldn’t seem to right now. But Zoro was here, now, and his hands felt strong enough to rub away the tarnish of a thousand lies and the rust of a thousand tears.
Zoro’s mouth moved on his own, silent words that he somehow heard anyway, whispering to him of strength and balance. Of that moment when a sword is honed too fine and the blade will dull after a single cut, edge ruined, but oh what a marvelous strike it will be. Of his fear that when he confronted Mihawk, he would discover that he’d worked too hard, that he’d win but destroy that which made him strong in the process.
And if the strongest man Usopp knew could feel fear, maybe a coward could, in turn, be strong.
He trembled on the edge of hesitation, the Tower of Justice all over again.
But this time, as Zoro’s hands and will ran down his spine, he closed his eyes and gave in.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-13 05:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-13 01:28 pm (UTC)This line right here seems to make any Usopp pairing that much more ... *gushes*
And,I'd like to second everything
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-13 05:26 pm (UTC)and the paragraph before that and♥.(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-13 07:57 pm (UTC)....♥ The way you drop in all these lovely descriptions, sticking firmly to your extended metaphor... Oh Usopp. He'll wield you in all kinds of ways and you'll come out... an amazing sword of the sea? ^^;
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-13 08:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-14 12:11 am (UTC)I will greatly miss your fics, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-14 01:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-15 06:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-27 08:45 am (UTC)But Zoro was here, now, and his hands felt strong enough to rub away the tarnish of a thousand lies and the rust of a thousand tears. <- This line, for some reason, really stood out. So beautiful...