Author's note:
The idea for this popped into my head a while ago and new ideas kept flowing in, so I do hope it doesn't get too complicated at the start ^^ anyway, have fun reading!
I do not own One Piece nor any of its characters.
It was around 1 AM, a shady backstreet in the most notorious quarter of the city, when the during nighttime quite lively bar "The Green Oyster" was at its peak of activity.
Loud music resounded in the narrow alleyways around the building. This would have caused complaints and possibly have the police taking action in any other part of the city; here though, the men of law tended to keep their fair distance from this region. There was a sort of unspoken rule that declared any laws and boundaries nonexistent in this zone, forcing its inhabitants to react flexible to every weird idea that had flashed into someone's more or less sober mind.
It wasn't as chaotic as one would think it to be though. There weren't any more robberies, raping or attacks than in any other place, at least none successfull.
Because of the harsh conditions that came with the unusual freedom, people here knew well how to defend themselves if needed.
It was used by quite a lot of people coming there to blow off steam, but of course the main part of the citizens not acquainted with the nightlife there avoided it as the "slum" part of the city, and referred to it with the ominous name "Freebooter block".
In front of the "Green Oyster", a man holding an empty bottle that had once been full of liquor stared at the starry sky above him and lowered his head to look down the road when the roaring of motorcycles became audible in the distance. He pushed his hat back a few inches to hold a hand against his forehead, then closed his eyes in pain.
The bottle slipped out of his hand and shattered on the ground while he himself let out a pained groan and stumbled away from the bar into the opposite direction of the motor sound that was constantly getting louder by now.
Two motorcycles came to a screeching halt before the bar. A man and a woman got off and removed their helmets to hang them over their handles.
"So, what do you say?", a deep voice asked a little amused.
"Hasn't changed at all", a lazy female voice replied.
"You didn't even repair the letters, unorganised bunch of idiots."
The man's forehead turned into a frown as he observed the neon green lettering "The Green Oyster", from what, since he could remember, only "Th G een Oyst r" was actually readable, the O flickering weakly every now and then.
He shrugged, a smirk tugging at his mouth.
"You wouldn't have wanted that anyway, right?"
"Don't talk about me like I'm freaking dead, moron."
She sighed, but then smiled warmly at the broken sign.
"But you're right, it's good to be back."
They both sauntered over to the entrance and the woman shoved the glass door open. Throwing her long, green hair over her shoulder, she shouted a happy "Heeeyyy!" straight into the room.
The bar was larger on the inside that one would have expected from the shabby outside: many wooden tables with people chattering and drinking, music playing and the light colour changing every few seconds.
The woman's entrance had quite a few heads turning: on one table a young black haired man and a red-haired girl jumped up from their seats, the boy accidentally knocking over a half-filled glass that spilled over the table, but got no further attention from neither the boy or the girl.
"Mow-ney!", the boy shouted happily with half a steak stuck in his mouth.
"Monet!", the girl shouted delightfully, waving one hand in her direction.
Monet waved back happily and made her way to the round table. The man accompanying her also smiled and followed. After a few chairs being shoved to make room for them and the waiter bringing a towel to clean up the mess the black haired boy had caused, they all sat down and Monet got bombarded with questions.
"Where have you been, Monet? I haven't seen you in ages!"
"Why're you with Zoro?"
"Zoro, why didn't you tell us she was back?"
"Yeah, right", the boy pointed out, munching on his steak.
"You din't tell 'e a 'ing 'eshterday." He shot a blameful glare at the green-haired man.
"Well I had no idea yesterday either", Zoro defended himself.
"She just came snowing in this afternoon, dragged me to McDonalds and now we're here."
Monet giggled heartily.
"Sorry about that", she smiled, "but you would've definitely found some kind of excuse if I had asked beforehand."
"Sure I would! You just forced the whole bill on me, I'm on a narrow budget lately you know!"
"Oh come on, you're just lazy", Monet rolled her eyes at Zoro's rage, then turned to face the red-haired girl next to her.
"So, Nami", she smiled, "still on business?"
"Is that what you came for?", Nami pouted, "and I thought you missed us for a second."
"Aw, don't be like that, you know I love you guys! But I'd still like to talk to you in private later", she added a little more serious.
"Well now you've gone and gotten me curious", Nami raised an eyebrow.
"Is it a secret, Monet?", the black haired boy with the straw hat had finished eating and turned inquisitive brown eyes at the green-haired woman. "I wanna know! Can't you tell us right now?"
"Sanji!", Nami shouted over the room, "Luffy wants more steak! And can you bring us some drinks please?"
Immediatly Luffy's attention turned to the counter where the blond waiter waved eagerly in their direction and disappeared into the kitchen.
Nami winked at Monet. As curious as Luffy was, being an incurable airhead he was easily distracted.
"It'll better be worth it", she murmured, "because I'm thinking of breaking my own rules and giving out some drinks to celebrate your one-time visit."
Monet cocked a surprised eyebrow, then chuckled.
"In that case I'm gonna take advantage of that one-time whim of generosity."
"Yeah, Nami being spendable? Can't miss out on that", Zoro smirked and leaned back comfortably.
Sanji, the waiter, came swirling over to the table with a pen and noteblock ready to take their orders.
Before anything, he bowed over and kissed Monet's hand slightly.
"It's been too many dull days and sleepless nights since I last saw your beautiful face and amber sparkling eyes, my sweet Monet", he swooned.
"Is there anything special you would grant me the honour to bring you, my ladies?"
"One big bottle of booze", Zoro ordered with one hand raised.
Sanji's expression changed drastically into a death glare.
"I wasn't talking to you, moss head."
"Well, I was talking to the waiter", Zoro countered completely unaffected by Sanji's scowl, "last time I checked it was your job serving paying customers, so get to it already."
"Since when are you paying, please? You only ever get paid for by people, though I still don't understand why anyone would wanna go through the trouble for a poor, lazy good-for-nothing like you."
"What was that...?"
Zoro's and Sanji's glares where now of equal murderous intent and you could almost see the electricity sparking where the two glances met.
"Guys, please", Nami cut in, "Sanji, if you could just get me and Monet a bottle of some good wine of your choice? I'm gonna trust you with this, so pick something tasty."
Sanji immediatly switched to a content happy-to-help smile again and walked off with the promise to come back with the best wine they had ever tasted (and also the worst booze, not that he said it out loud).
"He really pisses me off", Zoro grumbled glaring towards the kitchen.
"He does make good food though", Luffy beamed oblivious to the mood.
"I almost forgot you two were always at each other's necks", Monet chuckled.
Nami frowned. "Yeah, that hasn't changed for sure. I wish you would just behave a little more like adults and get along instead of constantly fighting over nothing."
"Over nothing?!", Zoro repeated incredulous.
"Nami, you know just as well as I do that he's one of them! We are SUPPOSED to be enemies! You're taking this whole thing way too lightly -"
"YOU are taking it way too serious, that's what", Nami cut him off.
"It's just a gang quarrel, nothing to fight about..."
Both Zoro and Luffy stared at her now as if she'd grown three heads.
"It's ALL about fighting, Nami", Luffy said very slowly.
"There are two big gangs in Freebooter's Block, the Incinerators and the Extinguishers. WE are part of the Incinerators and Sanji is an Extinguisher. That makes him our enemy, you know?"
"We can't just be 'friends' with members of the other gang", Zoro explained, "that would be treason on our side!"
Nami sighed resignated.
"You're an Incinerator too, Nami!", Luffy poked her forehead as if to scold her, "you gotta be on our side, not make friends with curly-brows!"
"You just praised him for his cooking, wouldn't that count as 'treason'?"
Luffy froze, then pouted.
"Cooking has nothing to do with that", he averred, looking to the side, "if he cooks here, everyone of every gang can eat it, that means HE'S a traitor, and that means MY treason is cancelled", he explained, nodding his head to himself.
Nami sighed exhaustedly. "This whole gang thing is incredibly stupid, but even so I am still amazed that YOU of all people were able to become the leader of the Incinerators."
Zoro smirked. "Good thing we have you, huh", he said towards the redhead, "taking care of all the organizing and stuff. I mean, for someone who apparently isn't interested in the fighting, you sure put a lot of effort in helping us out."
"Oh, shut up", Nami hit him over the head.
While Zoro was busy rubbing the hurting spot on his green head, Monet asked:
"If we're already talking about it, how are things going with the Incinerators and stuff?"
Luffy's forehead turned into a deep frown.
"Not very good", he confessed, "the Extinguishers have taken over many of our former bases and somehow their influence on the black market has gotten bigger and bigger lately. It's like someone new is pulling the strings behind the scenes..."
Monet cocked her head to the side confusedly.
"Who's their leader again...?"
"That big guy, Franky. He's strong and all, sure, but somehow I have the feeling there's something else to it, ya know? It's not a good feeling, too", the black-haired boy said concerned.
"But no matter!", he added the next second, his face lighting up rapidly, "because whatever they do, we're still gonna defeat them!
I AM going to conquer Freebooter's Block!"
"That's the spirit!", Zoro grinned, raising the bottle of booze a waitress had just brought them.
Nami rolled her eyes.
"You know", she said to Monet, "sometimes I really envy you for being a neutral part in this whole mess."
Monet laughed. "Why, I think it looks like a lot of fun."
"Yeah, join us, Monet!", Luffy beamed.
"Unfortunately", Monet interrupted him, "I have some business to take care of from time to time and joining a gang would mean having a lot of enemies all of a sudden which would rob me of loads of options to get my jobs done."
Luffy sat back down disappointed.
After they all finished their drinks, Zoro and Luffy agreed on staying at Luffy's place for the night ("But seriously Zoro, get a freaking job already") with some movies and pizza ("Don't you ever eat enough, Luffy?") while Monet and Nami escaped into a quiet alleyway to talk out business.
Nami crossed her arms, partly expectantly and partly because of the temperature that had sunk pretty low during the night. A chilly breeze made her shiver even under her jacket.
"So, Monet", she started and tried not to yawn (the cold always made her feel like doing that, which then again would make her tired; incredibly inconvenient when having an important conversation)
"What exactly do you want?"
"Information."
Monet, in her thin leather jacket, stood apparently completely unaffected by the cold, which Nami found admirable but also slightly intimidating because the green-haired woman once again didn't seem to have any human weaknesses.
"About devil fruits."
The red-haired girl raised her eyebrows.
"Getting straight to the point, huh? But that kind of information will cost you a pretty penny."
"I suppose you're not willing to do a discount for old friends?"
Nami smiled. This was her field again.
"Nope, sorry. Business is business. Where would I be if I neglected my own standards."
Monet laughed. "I see."
She zipped her jacket open and pulled a small envelope out of a pocket on the inside, then handed it to the other woman.
"This will do", Nami nodded after a little counting and stuck the whole envelope into a crack on the inside of her boots.
"So what exactly do you wanna know?"
"First of all, how exactly they work", Monet began in a quiet, deep tone of voice, "and also where to find them."
"Knowing you, you covered the basics already", Nami remarked in the same tone of voice, "Devil fruits are a special kind of drugs that give their consumers superhuman physical power. However, their type of power, for example brute strength, agility or sturdiness varies from the type of person the consumers are."
"With what criteria?"
"No one's really figured it out yet", Nami shrugged, "some even say it's pure coincidence, but the more valid theory is that it is decided by defined parts of one's DNA.
There is a side effect though: with gaining physical power, the user develops a kind of phobia against objects that are indestructable with brute force, such as smoke or water. They will find themselves panicking and even unable to move when they come in direct contact with those things.
But, the whole effect of the drug only lasts for three hours."
"That explaines a lot... but creates new questions, too. Maybe you can answer them: where can one find those drugs and how are they produced?"
"I guess I'll have to disappoint you there", Nami said apologetically, "I don't know how they're produced nor who makes them. But the best place to get them is on the black market, and they're getting more and more popular as it is, though up until lately, barely anyone even knew they existed. Part of the police has already taken action in finding out the sources but... as I said, I don't know it, and if I can't tell you there is no point in asking the police or anyone."
"I'll take your word for that", Monet chuckled.
"I suppose you won't tell me what you need that information for?", Nami asked inquisitively.
"That's my secret", Monet put a finger on her lips.
"Or rather the secret of the one that sent you", the redhead smiled, "this is just one of your 'jobs' again, right?"
"Since when were you asking the questions here?"
Monet shook her head. "Whatever. I gotta go, still have to find some place to sleep. It was so nice seeing you again, Nami sweetheart", she pulled the other woman into a short hug.
"Yeah, you too", Nami smiled, "come by any time, okay? And sooner than half a year this time."
"I'll try", Monet laughed, then jogged away into the dark.
The red-haired girl kept looking into the shadows even a while after the other woman's footsteps had long quieted down. She had a contemplating look on her face that got interrupted by a deep yawn that she was no longer able to suppress. Just as she was about to turn around and make her way home, a faint sound got her attention, nothing more than a petal falling on the street.
She knew very well that she was tired and maybe not at the peak of her consciousness, but she also knew she could trust her senses in most situations, lack of sleep wasn't a big matter.
"It must have been a cat or something", she finally murmured to herself after having waited a little and the sound didn't repeat itself; but when she walked home, she still couldn't shake of the uneasy feeling that had overcome her.
Luffy and Zoro were on their way to Luffy's apartment. The green-haired had run out of gas, so he shoved his motorcycle next to Luffy. He didn't mind, as he had been in the mood for a walk anyway.
Zoro had been a little curious as to what Nami and Monet had to talk about when they parted, but he quickly decided it probably didn't have anything to do with him; also he was not interested in getting involved any further in the green-haired woman's business. That would just lead to him spending more money unnecessarily and he really had to ration his savings. As for Luffy, the simple minded boy seemed to have long forgotten about anything not related to pizza.
"Say, Zoro", Luffy interrupted his thoughts, "I don't mind having you stay over at my place, but why are you so poor? Can't you just get a job?"
Zoro gulped at the boy's directness. He looked to the side uncomfortably.
"Ah, well..."
He frowned. How the hell was he supposed to explain something like that..?
"There have been... uh... differences"(a bit violent ones, maybe)"between me and my... employers"(who were total dickheads like 90% of the time)"and they kind of, well, fired me", he explained awkwardly.
"Oh, okay", Luffy leaned his head to the side while thinking, "so you got in a fight with them?"
"Yeah..."
That wasn't completely correct. The biggest reason for Zoro's unsuccessful career was probably just his laziness. While at work, he would snooze off and be out for a good while till someone was able to wake him from the dephts of overtiredness (due to extreme activity during night).
The second reason was his irritable personality, which would make him go head-on with the poor person who had the misfortune of waking him, pick a fight with anyone who tried to calm him down and more often then not making a mess out of the area surrounding him.
"Fights are fun!", Luffy grinned, his arms crossed behind his head. Then he quickly recontemplated and stated in a more serious voice:
"Ah, but arguments are bad."
Zoro rolled his eyes at the contradictory philosophy of the boy; trying to unite the chosen leader of one of the most notorious gangs in Freebooter's Block and this simple minded kid sometimes gave him a headache.
He frowned as a question crossed his mind.
Looking back, he found it weird he had never wondered before; Luffy lived in a pretty fair apartment, it wasn't huge, but definitely big enough for the boy and occasional grand-scale visits from friends that most of the time arted out in wild parties with a whole army's worth of food and drinks (no idea where they managed to get that stuff).
But he'd never heard of Luffy working somewhere or anything related.
"Luffy, how do you make your money?"
Luffy's answer was as simple as backtaking.
"I don't", the boy grinned.
Zoro stopped dead in his tracks for a few seconds.
"What's wrong, Zoro?"
"What's wrong?", the green-haired repeated incredulously, "how the fuck do you pay for food and rent and everything without money?"
Luffy smirked mischievously and put a finger on his lips.
"Sorry", he said, "that's my mystery."
"Mystery?", Zoro raised an eyebrow, "there's a secret to it? Oh come on, tell me, I could use something like that really well..!"
"Sshht", Luffy cut him off, staring in the dark of the alleyway.
At first Zoro wonfered confusedly if Luffy tried to distract him, but then he heard the sound of footsteps approaching them from the shadows. They both stopped and eyed the dark before them suspiciously
Judging from the irregular pausing between two steps, whoever was coming did not have a secure sense of balance and stumbled often; a sure indicator for drunkness that both of them had come to recognize during their life in Freebooter's Block.
Zoro relaxed a little and was just about to start walking again when the shilouette stepped out of the shadows.
His eyes widened with recognition for a moment, but as the circumstances of the encounter sunk in, a wide grin spread on his features.
Still, no wonder Luffy had been so cautious. He once again had to admire the boy's intuition.
A middle-aged man with white hair and two white smoking cigarres in one corner of his mouth had appeared before them, wearing pants and marine boots but nothing but an open jacket on his upper body. He stopped walking when he noticed the two and squinted to see them clearer.
"Yo, officier", Zoro said taunting, the goofy grin still on his face.
The man furrowed his eyebrows and automatically stood taller, now focusing his gaze on Zoro trying to recognize him.
"Do I know you?", he asked darkly with only a little slur in his words. That was admirable considering how drunk he obviously was.
"Cause you're in trouble if I don't."
"Do you know him, Zoro?", Luffy asked, his gaze still firmly directed at the white-haired man.
"Hell yeah I do", Zoro replied, "don't I, Smoker?"
The man's eyes widened and he scoffed almost disgustedly.
"Roronoa Zoro", he stated in a slow voice, "fancy running into you here."
"Likewise."
Smoker eyed the motorcycle that Zoro had been shoving.
"Still no lights, huh", he noted, "normally I'd give you a fee for that."
"He's a policeman?!", Luffy asked incredulously, "what is he doing here?"
"That's what I'd like to know", Zoro growled suspiciously, "also, you can't do anything to me here and you know that."
Smoker rolled his eyes.
"I'm not an idiot, I know about that nonsensical rule of no rules in this region", he said and stumbled to the side for a moment before catching himself.
"No police here, no laws, and that's why I'm off duty right now. Do you see any uniform?"
He grinned ominously.
"On the other hand, being a civilian gives me some rights here, for example beating up anyone that's a prick in my eye and believe me, I am SO in the mood to do just that right now."
Zoro frowned. Smoker was aggressive even on his job under normal circumstances; who knew what he might start as a drunk when he knew nobody would judge him for what he did.
Luffy clenched his fists.
"Wait, Luffy", Zoro held him back.
He knew that he and Luffy were more than able to bring Smoker down in his current state, but firstly he was tired and also, more importantly, Smoker wasn't keen of him already. The guy had duty in Zoro's neighbourhood and had run into him plenty of times already, most of which left him with a fee to pay (one more reason for his short finances).
He really didn't want to give the man any more reason to hate him.
He considered just running off, but then looked down at his motorcycle... nope, leaving it behind was not an option (it had been far too expensive).
"Look, I really don't want this guy to be mad at me", he whispered to Luffy.
The black-haired boy lowered his fists and scratched his nose in a contemplating manner.
"I see", he said.
Glad that the temperamented boy understood, Zoro wanted to try and reson with Smoker, but before he could say anything...
Both Luffy and Zoro stood there taken back as the white-haired policeman dropped down flat on the ground without any warning and started snoring.
Zoro raised an eyebrow. Was he pretending...?
Luffy went over and tugged at the man's sleeve, then pinched his cheek.
Smoker snored on without a care in the world.
"Blacked out", Luffy stated bluntly.
"Too much alcohol probably."
Zoro let out a tired sigh.
"Well that solves a lot of problems", he said, "let's just leave him here."
"Leave him..?", Luffy questioned, "didn't you wanna get good with this guy?"
"Yeah but what..."
"Then let's take him with us!", Luffy beamed, "he's interesting and he can eat pizza with us later!"
In a short moment of shock, Zoro watched Luffy heave the man on his back before he could reply.
"... bring him with us?! You can't be serious!"
"Huh? Why?"
"Luffy, there are just SO many reasons why that is a bad idea...!"
"I've already decided", the boy closed the case.
"Come on, Zoro, don't be like that! It's gonna be fu - un! Besides, it's my apartment", he added and stuck his tounge out.
Zoro shook his head in desperation and followed the impulsive boy. He should've known better than to wander through Freebooter's Block at night with Luffy just to eat pizza...
Hadn't it been clear from the start this would end him up with some freaks he didn't even want to know in the first place?
And the freakiest freak of all was walking contently right in front of him without a care in the world...