"He's the man who's gonna be King of the Pirates," Zoro says, eyes glinting with a startling amount of confidence for a guy who'd been floating through some inter-dimensional ocean like a ball of seaweed just a few weeks ago, "and I'll be the world's strongest swordsman. Anything less is no good to the other."

Candy hums. "That sounds...transactional."

"No," Zoro easily answers. "You're free to see it that way—" because he really isn't having this conversation to impress anyone "—but Luffy's already a man of that caliber. I wouldn't be following him if he weren't."