Chapter 2

The biggest issue they would have to deal with was housing. Right now, they were at a cozy two people per house, but now they would have an even spread of three per house across the cul-de-sac. They only had two weeks to prepare for the arrival, too, having to clear out and reorganize furniture to accommodate an extra person in their homes. This also meant occasionally going to the boarded up houses outside of the walls and stealing their furniture.

It was while they were in the midst of doing this that Baby, quite meekly, approached Robin. "Ah, if it is not too much trouble… since we are in zhe process of moving zhings around anyway…" she stammered while helping Robin carry a couch into the living room of their place, "Sanji and I have been talking… It would perhaps be better for everyone if we, say, moved in togezher, no?"

Robin stared blankly at her once they set the couch down. "You…" there was no good way to say this without her voice cracking with dread. "You want Sanji to move in here with us?"

"Oh, non, non! I would be moving in wizh him, yes?"

Robin tried to also hide the rush of relief over her face. It's not that she didn't like Baby or Sanji. She just, privately, took issue with how affectionate they could be. Some real Rated R flirting going on between them, if you get what I mean. "Well, I would miss you as a roommate, but if it's what you want…"

Of course, when Baby ran to Franky and Sanji's place to work out that arrangement, Franky mentioned that, since they were moving people around anyway, he'd want to move closer to the storage house, since he wanted to work more on the Frankystein, which put him in Robin's house. Well, she didn't like that because Franky tended to work late into the night and early into the morning and she preferred something quieter. So she went to Vivi and Coby to see if she could room with them, but the couple were already talking about moving in with Law so he could more easily monitor Vivi's pregnancy, and Perona would move… Hoo boy. Okay. To make a long story short...

You might remember there were seven houses in the cul-de-sac that made up Little Garden. By the time all was said and done, the group had rearranged themselves accordingly. Sanji and Baby would take the house starting clockwise from the cul-de-sac entrance. Luffy and Nami stayed right where they were, because Nami had no interest in going through the struggle of moving. Perona and Robin would move into the house formerly occupied by Coby and Vivi. The two young'uns were moving in with Law, which he found most agreeable. Zoro and Bonney weren't going anywhere either, but Franky took the last house, where Robin and Baby used to live. It took a lot of effort, over twice as much as if they had all just stayed put. But that's the danger of the phrase "as long as we're already doing it…"

All this running back and forth left the group pretty exhausted, so they were not in the best of spirits on the day the Whitebeard Expedition Brotherhood arrived at their doors. Zoro, Bonney, and Coby were on guard duty that day, keeping an eye on the horizon, with the others standing around impatiently waiting. They were expecting a few vehicles to transport everyone in. They were not expecting an actual convoy to drive through the gate and settle in the center of the cul-de-sac. The first to arrive was a well-restored van clearly from the 1970's, and yet somehow still operational. Right behind it was a more modern and more embarrassing minivan, which Nami immediately recognized as her own mother's.

It embarrassed her to no end. Bellemere stood alongside Empress Boa Hancock and Edward Newgate, and yet she still saw fit to drive around a minivan.

Behind the minivan was something that made jaws drop, especially Franky's. He burned with jealousy as an actual, legit military-grade humvee rolled through the gate. A quick glance towards his own Frankystein and he suddenly felt so incredibly inadequate.

Then, holding up the rear, and far less impressive, were a pair of pickup trucks. Far more conventional in this day and age, and loaded with necessary supplies.

They weren't too surprised when Bellemere climbed out of her minivan, waving to Nami and running to scoop her and Luffy up in a hug. "OHHH I MISSED YOU TWOOO! I miss having the whole family around!" she squealed, thoroughly humiliating her daughter in front of all her friends. Hancock's people, unfamiliar with Bellemere's mom-tendencies, tried their best to stifle their laughter. Perona failed.

Everyone was surprised, however, when the doors to the older van opened and, in a cloud of smoke, out stepped Empress Boa Hancock. She looked irritated and exhausted, stretching her back and adjusting the dress she was wearing. She coughed, getting fresh air in her lungs for the first time in a while, apparently, and clutched her forehead as she tried to stand up straight. They had never seen her in such a state.

"HOLY SHIT! EMPRESS, YOU RODE SHOTGUN THIS WHOLE FUCKIN' WAY?!" Bonney yelled out from the balcony in her usual tactful nature.

"Yes, well, I thought, in my infinite generosity," she said hypocritically, "I would ride here like a commoner, so as not to overshadow our new allies. But I can see that it was a mistake I shall not repeat."

The driver leaned out of the window. He was a scraggly-looking man, who looked like a combination of Michael Jackson and a dirty freedom-hating hippie. "Hey man, I told you the suspension this thing wasn't great! But you gotta admit, man, ride was smooooooth anyway, right?"

Hancock dragged her hand down her face. "I'm not letting you drive like that anymore, Jango. Especially not while I'm in the car with you."

"Wait a minute…" Robin said, raising an eyebrow. "You needed us to be a steady tobacco supplier, but you still have marijuana?"

"No," Hancock said, eyeing Jango suspiciously while he laughed quietly to himself. "That's not on me. I don't know where he keeps getting it from." At that, she cleared her throat. "Regardless, it is not important! We have gathered here to formally announce the newest member of our alliance! I, Boa Hancock, am proud to present the head of the Whitebeard Expedition Brotherhood, Edward Newgate!"

Everyone looked to the humvee, watching as it actually rocked to the shifting weight of someone climbing out of the driver's side. The man that exited was a behemoth, shirtless and displaying a number of severe battle scars. He covered his bald head with a bandanna, and despite the rough exterior, he proudly displayed a perfectly waxed moustache that he obviously put a great deal of care into.

"Well, that was a nice introduction. Thanks for that, Hancock," he grumbled out. His voice sounded like gravel, rare steak, scotch, and gunpowder. "Hey, all you little brats. I'm Ed," he said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Good Lord…" Coby muttered in awe.

"ARE WE GETTING A GIANT TO LIVE HERE?!"" Luffy screamed.

The old man laughed in that wheezing, hacking way that only the most gravelly of old men can. "Sorry to disappoint, son. I'm just here to make sure the place is up to code, you know? I'm not going to let my kids stay somewhere unless it meets my specifications. If you don't mind, I'll just have a look around while you all get acquainted. Hey, Belle! Hancock!" He called out to the two women. "Let's have a look around."

"Yeah, let's see if my daughter's been throwing any WILD TEEN PARTIES WITH LOTS OF UNDERAGE SMOKING AND DRINKING AND PREMARITAL SEX!" Bellemere yelled to Nami and all of her friends as she gleefully walked over to join Newgate and Hancock.

Despite being grown-ass adults, Sanji and Baby still exchanged nervous glances.

"Honestly, we're not kids…" a voice muttered from the direction of the humvee. Someone climbed out of the passenger seat. Tashigi had changed in the past six years. In that time, she had gone from meek intern to trained swordswoman, carrying a katana at her side at all times. Zoro narrowed his eye at it, silently acknowledging the other swordsman of the group. The others instead eyed her outfit, because someone had told this 20-something that the hip new style of the end of the world was tropical shirts and Mom Jeans.

The rest of the group filed out one by one, all of them radiating their own brand of unique adventurous coolness that none of the others could match up to. There was the blonde woman with the bow and quiver of arrows on her back. She introduced herself as Margaret.

"So are you any good with that thing?" Franky asked. "Cuz we could use an actual sniper around here."

Margaret glanced over her shoulder and let her expression sour. "No, I'm terrible with it. I just carry it around because I like the look." She sighed. "Yes, I'm an accomplished archer. Do you need me to prove it with trick shots or anything?"

Franky raised his hands in defense. "Hey, easy, I was just asking. Archers are cool."

Then there was the blonde dude with the burn scar across one eye who dressed like a Dickens character if Dickens wrote action movies. "Come on, Margie, don't give them a hard time." He took a graceful bow in front of the others. "I'm Sabo. Demolitions expert. Molotovs and pipe bombs and stuff like that. Fireworks, y'know. Boom!" He gestured to the brunette next to him. "And this is Koala. She's my partner-in-crime."

"He means that literally," the girl said, who seemed to take her fashion choices from WWI era bomber pilots. "We were on our way to jail for arson charges when Zombie Day happened."

"Oh hey, so was I! Well, not the arson charges, but yeah I started Zombie Day in my mom's police car!" Nami flashed a smile and a quick thumbs-up to Bellemere, who responded with a similar thumbs up.

The next one to introduce herself leapt forward, performing an agile, if wholly unnecessary, front flip, landing front and center ahead of everyone else and swung her arms open wide. She looked young, even younger than Vivi and Coby. With cute buck-teeth and a little nose, one could almost mistake her for a rabbit. "Hello, everyone! It's ME! Everyone's favorite character! Carrot!" With her bright, beaming smile, they could almost hear the fanfare as she announced herself. Hypothetical confetti rained down from the sky.

Instead she just stood there in silence, until Luffy, Perona, and Vivi offered polite applause.

"Well, damn, how am I gonna follow that up?" Came the last voice, climbing out of the humvee coolly. Of course he didn't have to do anything to impress Luffy, at least. The minute he came into view, Luffy's jaw dropped open.

He looked a lot like Luffy, if Luffy were cooler, taller, more muscular, and had freckles instead of the scar under his eye. He also did not wear a shirt, so as to show off the various tattoos across his chest and arms. He sparkled in the sunlight like a poorly-written vampire, but unlike a vampire, he had a healthy tan that only served to highlight his good looks.

He tipped his hat to the others. "Hey there. Name's Ace, glad to be here."

Luffy pointed at him, eyes wide as dinner plates and jaw on the ground. He elbowed Nami and kept pointing, making sure she could see this Ace guy.

"Yeah, I know. He's really cool-looking isn't he? What's with you?" She asked.

A wheezing sound escaped from Luffy's open mouth as he tried to remember how to speak. When the synapses in his brain finally fired off, he choked out "Tha… Tha… TH-THAT'S MY BROTHEEEEEEERR!" loud enough for everyone to hear, including a handful of zombies wandering around outside the walls.

Ace, naturally, focused on the source of the shrieking, and when he made eye contact with Luffy, his jaw similarly hit the ground and he pointed at the kid, elbowing Sabo. "L-LUFFY! LUFFY! WHA- SABO! THAT'S LUFFY!"

Sabo looked between the two of them. "You mean the little guy that you thought got left behind-GAK!" He was interrupted when Ace grabbed his shoulders, shaking him back and forth in sheer excitement.

"MY LITTLE BROTHER'S ALIIIIIIIVE!" he screamed in Sabo's face.

"ACE!"

"LUFFY!"

"AAAAAAACE!"

"LUUUUFFYYYY!"

Ace let go of Sabo, leaving him stunned and dizzy, and the two siblings charged at each other simultaneously, colliding into the sappiest hug imaginable. Both of them crying waterfalls of tears in the middle of a cul-de-sac street while all their friends and allies stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

From the sidewalk, while they were walking from house to house in their impromptue inspection, Hancock leaned to the side to whisper to Bellemere and Edward. "Did either of you know about this?"

"I knew Ace had a little brother, but I never thought he'd be here…" Edward said, stroking his moustache thoughtfully. "Alright you two, break it up. We still have a lot of work to do here."

"SCREW YOU OLD MAN!" Ace blubbered. "LET ME HAVE THIS, DAMMIT!"

"Such insolence!" Hancock was aghast, her hand to her chest in shock. "Newgate! Tell me you won't stand for a remark like that!"

The old man just chuckled and shrugged his monstrously large shoulders. "Ah, it ain't a big deal. What's more important these days than family?"

"Too true, too true…" Bellemere nodded along.

While Ace and Luffy caught up with each other, the others got to work unloading and moving their stuff into their new homes. Eventually the brothers got in on it too, but they were pretty much inseparable. Luffy only had to beg for a little bit before Nami agreed to let Ace stay with them.

"Truth be told, I'm his cousin. Not really his brother, but we grew up together, so that's just what we call each other," he said to her while they were getting his new room set up. Luffy was bounding back and forth between the trucks and their house, giving Ace and Nami a chance to get to know each other.

"So you two were really close?" she asked, opening up a box containing a variety of jock alpha-male accessories.

"Ahaha, yeah! We did everything together! He'd follow me around wherever I went." He turned away from the box he was opening to look at her. "How did he end up here? Last I saw him was New York!" The smile vanished from his face. "Be-... Because I thought he was dead."

"W-well he's not!" Nami said hastily, trying to pull him back to reality. "He is in fact one of the liveliest people I've ever met! We actually found him there, in New York. I think… he was under the impression that he was the last man on earth?"

Ace shook his head and brought himself back. "Oh jeeze, I've run into those guys before. Usually they have a score in the ten thousands and they think you're the zombie government come to take their jobs. He didn't… y'know, go crazy and try to shoot you or anything?"

Nami's expression was blank. "No, I hit him with a van and knocked him the hell out."

Ace just shrugged, "Yeah, you wouldn't be the first one." He was quiet for a minute. "Holy crap, he's alive. I thought for sure that…"

"Do you need a minute?" Nami asked with concern while still trying to seem cool and detached.

Ace's voice came out strained. "Yeah, I just need to-"

And then the house's front door was kicked in and from Ace's new room, they could hear Luffy scream out "ACE I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ACTUALLY GONNA LIVE WITH UUUUUUUSSS!"

While all that was happening, Sanji and Baby were busy helping their new roommate get her stuff moved in. "So…" Baby asked, nudging her with her elbow while they were carrying her things inside. "Is your name really Carrot?"

Carrot nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Well, no. Actually my name's Carolyn, but when I was a baby and my teeth started coming in, everyone said I had buck teeth! And so everyone started calling me Carrot, because I looked like a bunny! But actually then when I got older I learned that bunnies don't actually like carrots, they actually like lettuce, but then it turned out that I actually really like carrots anyway! So even though it didn't work out that I was Carrot because I look like a bunny, it still works because I just plain really like carrots!" She was beaming as bright as a star, which reflected nicely in the starstruck expressions of her older roommates.

"Good God, she's the most adorable thing I've ever met!" Sanji practically squealed.

"I am so happy you have come to live with us~!" Baby literally, actually did squeal. "Do not worry about anyzhing, petit lapin! Your big sister Baby will protect you from all zhe world's evils!" She swept up the teenager in a tight, spine-cracking hug.

When released and allowed to breathe, Carrot grinned brightly. "Oh, that's not necessary! I know how to protect myself! I couldn't be in Mr. Newgate's Brotherhood if I weren't super strong!"

"Is that so?" Sanji asked in a way that suggested he was partially humoring her. "What's your score, then?"

"10,294!" She bounced eagerly on her heels. This was a child that clearly had trouble sitting still.

If Baby or Sanji had been drinking something, they would've choked on it. "Zhat-... Zhat is a lot for someone so young!"

"It'd be higher if living people counted too!" The smile finally vanished from her face when she realized how implicating that sounded. "They were all self-defense."

Baby quickly threw an arm over Sanji's neck and pulled him in close so only he could hear what she whispered to him. "I do not say zhis often, my love, but I am intimidated by zhis child."

"Yeah…" Sanji whispered back. "That rabbit's dynamite."