Well, this took a little longer than I had expected. Zoro has been giving me the silent treatment since last week.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Warnings: Language and Mild Violence (kind of)

Enjoy!

"Sanji! Stop!"

I had let go of Chopper's hand and sprinted forward before I had time to fully register what I was doing. Luckily I wasn't the only one who had spotted what was quickly becoming a brawl.

"Wait, Sanji!"

Luffy and I were both approaching the two men at a rapid pace, the others having halted in their tracks to gape in surprise, but Zoro beat us to them. He wrapped his arms around Sanji from behind and forcefully pulled him away from Bellamy, taking several steps backward and holding the blond firmly in place while Sanji snarled angrily.

"Enough, cook!" Zoro snapped. "Knock it off!"

"Sanji!" Nami started in a shocked tone. "What are you doing?"

Bellamy turned away from Luffy, who had stepped in between them, to leer at Nami in a disgusting manner. "Hey, there you are, babe," he snickered. "You're lookin' good. Wanna have some fun?" With the hockey mask now gone, his black eyes moved very obviously to Nami's chest before flicking to her face again.

Nami made a gagging sound and stepped back to stand beside Franky while the big man kept a dark focus on the scuffle in front of us. Ussop was watching with an expression half-way between anger and apprehension from Nami's other side. I paused a few feet away from them, finally understanding what had made Sanji snap enough to attack Bellamy, and cursed silently as I realized that we had neglected to tell the cook about the bastard's presence in the garage.

Luffy had tensed noticeably at the offensive offer but to his credit didn't even take a swing at Bellamy. Sanji, on the other hand, snarled even louder and enhanced his struggle against Zoro's crushing hold. However, while the cook was a master at smashing things to pieces with his feet, he couldn't match the moss head in upper body strength alone.

Zoro pulled hard enough to yank Sanji's head back and hissed in his ear. "Stop, Sanji! He's just trying to rile you up."

My eyes snapped toward them, one brow arching in surprise. I couldn't remember the last time I had heard Zoro call Sanji by his name, and wasn't sure whether I should be worried by that or not.

"Get off me, asshole!" Sanji growled, trying to shake Zoro's grip. "I'm gonna flay him!"

"Sanji-" Luffy turned his head as he tried to placate his friend and Bellamy moved forward to take advantage of my cousin's distraction, one arm swinging back to throw a punch.

"Luffy-!" I shouted in warning, darting forward again.

Luffy spun back around and raised his own arm to block the attack but Pell had moved like lightning and was now standing behind Bellamy, both of his own pale arms locking Bellamy's limbs against the bastard's broad back.

"That's enough of that," Pell frowned. He didn't even seem strained as the much bigger Bellamy squirmed violently, trying to break the hold.

I remembered very suddenly that Pell was the head of security for the Nefertari Incorporation, and now I could understand why: despite his almost fey-like appearance, Pell turned out to be a rather capable and impressively strong man.

I then watched Zoro nod to Pell in thanks over Sanji's shoulder, although he didn't relinquish his grip on the cook just yet, and Pell return the gesture without hesitation. They both glanced toward Tashigi, who stood to the side with Robin's arm around her shoulders and her own hands over her mouth, before returning their focus to their respective charges.

An invisible weight I hadn't even noticed until that moment lifted from my chest as I witnessed the silent exchange. I was abruptly aware that I had neither seen nor heard much about any contact the two might have had in the last several weeks. Now, there seemed to be some kind of unspoken understanding between them, one that had much more to do with Tashigi than either the cook or the idiot still bouncing against Pell's iron grip.

The message was clear: Pell could and would protect Tashigi, and Zoro finally believed him.

I huffed silently with a mixture of relief and exasperation (mostly at Zoro). Men really are strange creatures.

However this still didn't solve the issue at hand, which was beginning to escalate as Bellamy managed to break one arm free before it was recaptured and Sanji started trying to stomp on Zoro's boots to make the green-haired demon release him. Robin had let go of Tashigi and moved forward in an attempt to sooth Sanji as Franky walked toward Pell and Bellamy, frowning deeply.

Not wanting to get in the way I took several steps backward to shield the round-eyed Chopper, the kid huddling instinctively beside my shoulder.

"Bellamy!"

We all turned to see the tall and, at the moment, very imposing figure of 'Boa' Hancock striding toward us, blue eyes flashing and her Egyptian-style robes swirling about her frame menacingly.

"Hey, it's Hancock," Luffy stated unnecessarily.

I heard Nami give a light snort from over my shoulder and felt the corner of my mouth twitch in amusement despite the current events. A moment later my attention was pulled back to the scene in front of us at the uncharacteristic reaction of Pell's captive.

Bellamy had instantly frozen at the sound of Hancock's voice, yet was now struggling with a renewed vigor, not trying to get away from Pell but (as absurd as it looked) trying to hide behind the other man.

Well, that was certainly unexpected.

"Lemme go!" he shouted, sounding half-desperate, but Pell held on until Hancock was directly in front of them.

The dark haired woman had a height advantage to begin with, being even taller than Robin, and adding the four-inch heels she was currently sporting she now towered over both men as she glared down at Bellamy with undisguised anger.

"Impertinent brat!" Hancock seethed. "What do you think you're doing, bating Luffy's friends like this?"

"I didn't start a damn thing!" Bellamy spat up at her, although he was still making quite an effort to place Pell between himself and the infuriated woman. "That blond bastard attacked me first!"

Hancock ignored his excuse, reaching out with one hand, and I felt my eyes widen in disbelief when she lifted Bellamy to the tips of his toes, holding him up by the front of his blue jumpsuit. "I warned you," she growled in his face, "that if you so much as breathed an ounce of your usual bullshit I would throw you out of here myself!"

In a flash of mean spirit I considered telling Hancock that Bellamy had tried to punch Luffy, but decided it would be extremely unfair to Franky to have to deal with the mess afterward.

Without looking away from Bellamy (who's own eyes were rather wide), Hancock addressed both captors in a polite yet commanding tone. "You can let go, Mr. Falcon, Zoro. I'll be taking my delinquent nephew home now. I'm sorry for the trouble."

Pell released Bellamy as Hancock set him back on his feet, but Zoro visibly hesitated, waiting until he was sure Sanji wouldn't go on a rampage before loosening his hold enough for the cook to angrily shake him off.

There wasn't any chance of that, I thought. Sanji would never charge at Bellamy as long as Hancock stood between them.

"It's no problem," Luffy answered with a grin. "Will you be back?"

I had never seen anyone's mood transform so quickly as Hancock switched from intimidating martial arts master to blushing schoolgirl in record time. It was almost dizzying, and not just a little bit scary.

"Of course, Luffy!" she gushed. "If that's what you want!"

"Sure," Luffy (the oblivious idiot) shrugged.

With one last wave and a blown kiss toward my cousin (Nami nearly broke her wand in half) Hancock marched Bellamy to the garage door in a swirl of robes and long black hair. They were both gone in a matter of seconds.

"What was that about?"

I turned away from Chopper to see Johnny and Yosuku standing behind me, each holding two more skull mugs and frowning in confusion. "Bellamy-" I started to explain, but was cut off as Sanji exploded at Zoro on my other side.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that rat bastard was here?" he shouted accusingly, grabbing the collar of Zoro's shirt and still itching for a fight.

Zoro impatiently batted his hand away with a scowl. "I was about to," he growled back. "But you cut me off by yelling about the robe. Pay attention next time, shit cook."

Sanji took a step closer to Zoro again but Robin stopped him with a gentle nudge on his arm.

"He's gone now," she pointed out reasonably. "It doesn't matter anymore." She looked toward Franky and Nami, stationed on either side of Tashigi and still frowning darkly. "I doubt he'll be back, either. Let's just forget about it for now."

I silently agreed with her, knowing it wouldn't do a lot of good to get worked up about the incident at this point, and made a quick, sweeping glance of the area. A few of the other guests had apparently noticed the scuffle, eyes darting toward our group once in awhile as they whispered to each other over the music, but most of the crowd seemed to have missed the entire thing completely. Hopefully it would be put out of mind as the party continued into the night.

While Robin and Nami continued to assure Sanji they were fine and Zoro left with Pell and Tashigi to sit at a table closer to the door, I turned away from where Luffy and Franky were ribbing the cook about his self-proclaimed chivalry as I felt Chopper tug on my sleeve.

"Who was that guy, anyway?" Chopper asked, still looking a little shaken.

"No one to worry about," I answered in a sour tone. "Just another moron who thinks the world revolves around his egomaniacal ass."

"Problem is," Johnny added, "the shit head is also pretty violent. Heard he used to train at the same dojo as Luffy and Zoro, but Hancock kicked him out when he started getting out of control, fighting when he shouldn't and tormenting the other students on a regular basis."

"He's also a chauvinist pig," Yosuku scowled. "Treats women like pieces of meat and has no respect for anyone else, either."

"I'm surprised Hancock brought him along in the first place," I nodded. "Even if he is her nephew. I'm even more surprised he tried to pick a fight with Sanji and not Zoro."

Johnny snorted and I looked at him questioningly.

"Bro would've pulverized that guy," he shrugged. "Probably better it was the cook, at least Bellamy didn't have to leave in an ambulance."

"It wasn't really for lack of trying on Sanji's part," I sighed. "But never mind that now. He wont be back tonight, anyway."

"Good point," Johnny grinned, his cheerful mood replaced in an instant, and he held out one of the skull mugs in offering. "Sorry 'bout your costume, by the way. Here's to make up for it. Well, it's a start, at least."

I didn't want to tell him that I was actually grateful he had managed to ruin the hated costume, so I took the mug with a polite thanks and made a quick check on the others' distances before trying to take a drink from it. Having Luffy pop out of nowhere and spill the second mug would have been too much for one night.

After a few more minutes of calming our nerves the four of us rejoined Luffy's group before going our separate ways again in twos and threes, moving from the dance floor to the buffet tables and balloon station (now set up on a row of upturned crates) before retracing our steps once in awhile. Johnny had refilled our mugs while I sat with Nami, Sanji and Robin, serving them around our table before scampering off again to find Yosuku.

Vivi had also joined us for awhile, bringing with her a tall man with dark hair and a beaky nose who introduced himself as Chaka. Despite his size he was a soft-spoken individual, explaining in mellow tones that he worked with Pell at the Nefertari Incorporation and would be taking over as head of security the following week.

After the two of them had left I received an unexpected offer for a replacement at the store, coming from a perky girl of around twenty with shoulder-length green hair and a bright smile. She agreed to come to the store on Monday for an application and promptly disappeared into the crowd again.

The night was moving along at a more rapid pace now, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the celebratory atmosphere in the garage or because I had managed to lose count of how many mugs I had already consumed. I figured it was the latter when I caught myself staring at Zoro's back while Nami and I followed him to Tashigi and Pell's table, thinking that he really did have nice shoulders.

Wait, what?

I stopped short, forcing Nami to side-step quickly to avoid bumping into me, and glared down accusingly at the mug in my hand. Why the hell was I gawking at Zoro? Stupid alcohol.

"What's the matter?" Nami tapped my shoulder with the wand she was still carrying around in one hand. She had been sticking close to my side ever since Hancock had rejoined the party, not really wanting to witness the older woman drooling all over Luffy every few minutes. I couldn't say I blamed her. It was a rather nauseating sight.

"Nothing," I shrugged the sudden thought away, chalking it up to the contents of my skull mug, and started forward with Nami beside me. She continued to shoot assessing glances at me until we had reached our intended destination and sat down with Tashigi, Pell and Zoro, where she soon lost interest in my behavior due to Tashigi's own increasing inebriation.

If the moss head noticed the way I avoided looking at him for the first several minutes, he didn't say anything.

An indistinguishable amount of time later, Pell took Tashigi to the dance floor (a dangerous endeavor, I thought) and Nami sauntered off to track down Sanji for company, most likely still avoiding Luffy and Hancock. This left me alone with Zoro which, given my current state, didn't bother me as much as I thought it should have.

"I wonder if anyone's managed to pry Hancock off of Luffy yet," I mused out loud, leaning back in my chair.

Zoro shrugged beside me, still holding the same mug he had been carrying an hour before, I was reasonably sure it was the same one anyway, and answered in a distant tone. "Not sure. I'm surprised Johnny hasn't come over here yet, though."

"Why would he?"

Zoro turned toward me with a 'you've got to be kidding' expression. "Come on, Syla," he drawled. "Think about it."

'Thinking' wasn't really on my list of top favorite things to do at the moment, but I did it anyway. "Ah!" I said a moment later. "Because he's your roommate?"

Zoro shook his head and tilted sideways (or maybe it was the entire garage that was tilting) before giving a short, unexpected chuckle. "You know, I've never understood how you can be so observant about the tiniest things sometimes and miss the big ones completely."

"I have no idea what you're even talking about," I waved one hand carelessly and moved forward to lean on the table. Apparently it was the only thing holding the floor right where it should be, so I decided to help it out a little.

"Are you alright?" Zoro asked, sounding concerned.

"Course I am," I shrugged. "You don't make any sense sometimes, you know that?"

"Sure," Zoro shook his head again, giving up on whatever he was trying to make me think about, and rested his arm across the back of my chair.

I thought briefly that there was something off about the gesture, something unfamiliar, but forgot about it completely when Johnny came bounding up to the table with another full mug, taking my empty one and asking if I would like to have any snacks from the table (I didn't) before disappearing again.

I looked over at Zoro again, who was frowning thoughtfully in the direction Johnny had walked off in, and giggled suddenly.

"What?" Zoro asked, looking surprised.

"You're so serious all the time," I told him with a mock frown, my eyebrows pulled down exaggeratedly. "Smile. Like this." I gave him a nice demonstration as an example and saw the corner of his mouth twitch a little.

"Just drink your drink," he said, turning away again to watch the bustle of costumed people swinging around on the dance floor.

I decided that was the best idea I had heard all evening and turned my attention back to the skull in front of me.

The next morning was not nearly as enjoyable as the party had been, and I vowed to never drink so much again, especially since I still didn't know what had been in those drinks. From the screaming in my head upon meeting with the bright sunlight glaring unceremoniously across my face, I guessed it had probably been vodka.

I had woken up in my own bed at an uncomfortable angle, my feet wrapped in my blanket and one arm trapped inside Zoro's robe where it twisted around my middle.

Huh?

I had enough time to wonder why I was still clothed in the moss head's costume while I struggled free from the aforementioned article and unwrapped my legs from the blanket. Strange.

Come to think of it, how did I even get home?

I sat up, groaning pathetically as the movement set off a minor explosion right behind my temple, and was just trying to crawl off the bed when the owner of the evil robe himself appeared in my doorway without warning.

"Need some help?" Zoro snickered, one arm on the frame and a glass of water in his other hand.

"Gah!" I slipped off the side of the mattress, landing on my knees and one hand and mentally kicking myself immediately for the sudden movement. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Been here since last night," Zoro answered, walking forward to set the water on my nightstand before returning to the door. "Drove you home, but didn't want to walk back to my place so late. So I crashed on your couch."

I pressed my face to the side of the mattress, only hearing half of what he was saying, and tried not to think too hard about how much I did not want to move around just yet. "Tashigi?" I asked.

"Leaving in an hour, maybe just a little longer," Zoro responded. "I doubt she's in any better shape than you are, but at least she wont have to drive at all. Anyway, we should go soon."

I managed to pull myself back up onto the bed and immediately flopped over again. "Uhg."

"I'll take that as an affirmative, " Zoro snorted. "I'm gonna go outside." Then he left.

I waited until I had heard the back door slide closed before attempting to sit up again. After drinking most of the water and rummaging around for a fresh change of clothing, I made my way to the shower for a quick rinse before retrieving Zoro and walking out to my car to drive across town to Tashigi's place, trying not to bash my face against every hard surface I came across despite my current headache.

Just what the hell happened last night?