Title: Of Dreams and Desires
Pairings: Smoker x Ace, Sanji x Zoro, and other side pairings
Ratings: T - NC-17
Chapter: 21 of ?
Summary: The road to One Piece is a dangerous one and each individual begins at different times and places. Some paths cross for a fleeting moment but the encounter could be so great that it can alter the initial direction. Every meeting is important and is planned by the souls long before the bodies see each other. Follow everyone's story and see what path they take.
Disclaimer: I do not make any profit from this story; all props go to Eiichiro Oda.
Author Note: Hello everyone! I hope everyone had an excellent New Years! Stick to those resolutions that you guys made. :D I hope you enjoy this chapter; Cancer isn't an OC so you guys might have to look him up but I had a blast writing this chapter.
Shout Outs: Thanks to ThePoliceLlama for reviewing! Lol don't die from the cuteness! There is so much more in the chapters to come.
Beta Reader: descriptionsalive21, thank you so much!

Cancer

Holy Land Mariejois.

Capital of the World fucking Government.

Capital of the building that holds the most fucking stairs!

The vice admiral let out a sigh as he walked up another flight of steps. It was a long way to the sixth floor and he felt as though he'd been walking for hours. After what seemed like a life time, he finally made it to his destination but was stopped by a guard, "Sir, may I inquire as to where you are going?"

Already running late and not wanting to cause a scene, he answered, "Vice Admiral Cancer reporting to the Gorosei."

The guard bowed in respect, "Vice Admiral Cancer, the Gorosei have moved their office to the eastern tower. If you continue down this hall then up seven more flights of stairs then you will be right at their office door."

As the man spoke Cancer's jaw dropped more and more until it hung open and it wasn't until the end of the guard's sentence did his cigar fall out his mouth. The vice admiral threw his hands in the air and groaned in annoyance, "You shittin' me?"

Slightly taken back by the question, the guard hesitantly responded, "Uh… no sir, I'm not… shittin' you."

Picking his cigar up off the floor, Cancer brushed some dust off the tip before placing it back between his lips, "Fuck it! Which way?"

The unknown guard pointed to his left and that's the direction Cancer stormed off in.

Seven flights of stairs and three breaks later, Vice Admiral Cancer was at the office of the Gorosei. Huffing, he fixed his clothes before he pushed open the door and kneeled upon entry. The Gorosei halted all conversation at the appearance of the Marine and Cancer cleared his throat before he spoke, "We have received intel that Red Hair will be moving to meet up with Whitebeard."

The youngest of the Gorosei stroked his yellow beard, "How is he going about it?"

"It was an indirect move via messenger, but the letter is not what we are worried about. The concern is any contact between Whitebeard and Red Hair; it could be extremely dangerous."

The scarred man pulled on one of his curls, "If we let Red Hair run amok, he may slip from our grasp," the other four members nodded in agreement and he continued, "but then again, he's not a man who would try to upset the world for himself. We will not make a rash decision in haste."

The Gorosei's shortest member crossed his legs, returning to their previous topic of conversation, "More importantly, what about the Shichibukai? We cannot take one hole lightly, it must be filled. If the three great powers were to collapse then the world itself would fall apart. We must hold firm."

Cancer looked up at the Gorosei, "We've summoned the Shichibukai for that reason, but as to how many will respond, that will remain to be seen. The pirates, after all, are very self-centered."

The man with the curled hair eyed the vice admiral, "Do you have Mugiwara's bounty on you?"

Cancer dug into the inner folds of his coat pocket and produced the requested item, handing it to his superior. The man looked at it for a while before he tsked, "Crocodile, you fool; your actions have caused great grief amongst us. For a man like this to defeat a man like you… we can no longer allow him to run loose."

A look was shared between the five members of the Gorosei, "Monkey D. Luffy must be taken care of."

The man in the white kimono leaned forward, "Will you be attending the Shichibukai meeting?"

Cancer stood and bowed his head, "Yes, sir. I need to be leaving now if I am to not be late."

"Go and report back to us."

Vice Admiral Cancer saluted, "Sir!"

The yellow haired Marine spun on his heels and exited the room, closing the door with a soft click. He sighed before he pulled out a new cigar and lit it. Now, to walk down all those damn stairs.

Cancer had gotten down to the last three flights of stairs before his mushi began to ring. He pulled the snail from his pocket and answered it, "Vice Admiral Cancer speaking."

"Where are you?"

He laughed at Tsuru's dry tone, "I'm almost on the second floor. I'll be down shortly."

Tsuru sighed, "They didn't tell you."

Cancer felt his eye twitch, "Tell me what?"

"The meetings been moved to the twenty-second floor."

Silence.

"Cancer?"

He ground he teeth before shouting, "Son of a bitch!"

Tsuru laughed, "Just make it here, vice admiral."

The line went dead and Cancer stuffed his mushi back into his pocket before turning around and stomping up the stairs he'd JUST walked down.

Nineteen flights of stairs and eight breaks later, Cancer stood before the doors of his destination. He entered the room with an apology on hand but the words died on his lips when he noticed that there were no Shichibukai present. He bowed his head to his fellow vice admirals before he took his seat.

"So… how's it going?"

Vice Admiral Mozambia looked at Cancer and laughed, "Better than your trip up and down the stairs."

"Man, fuck you." He threw a pen at his friend.

Tsuru cleared her throat, "Watch the language."

Vice Admiral Stainless shook his head, "It's a wonder how you passed basic training, Cancer."

Cancer poured himself some water, "BT I can do, but stairs… they're just not right. They go on and on forever with no end in sight. It's almost depressing."

"I've never heard of anyone thinking of stairs that way." Mozambia barked through laughter and Cancer was about to reply when the doors swung open.

The Marines straightened upon the sight of Kuma and Doflamingo entering the room. The gargantuan man nodded his head to the Marines and went to stand by the window so he could continue to read the Bible he held under his arm.

Doflamingo stuffed his hands in his pockets and cocked his head to the side, "What was this meeting called for?"

Stainless linked his fingers under his chin, "We will disclose that information when everyone arrives."

The blond stepped closer to the vice admiral towering over him, "'I'm not a very patient man. It would be in your best interest to answer the question."

The Marine glared at the pirate, "Are you threatening me?"

Slim fingers twitched, "I'd never threaten you, Marine. It's a promise."

To avoid conflict, Cancer addressed Doflamingo's question, "We are here to talk about Sir Crocodile's replacement."

"His replacement?"

"Yeah. He's been arrested and taken to Impel Down due to his criminal actions in the Alabasta Kingdom."

Doflamingo's face fell as he slowly straightened himself and walked over to the balcony to sit on the stone rail in thought. He'd just been with his lover not even a month ago. It was starting to become quite curious as to why he hadn't heard from him. He pulled the square paper from his pocket, watching the edges burn slowly. He clicked his tongue; if they hurt him there would be hell to pay. Doflamingo thought as fingers danced for a moment before he settled them on his lap.

Cancer watched the man for a while before he turned to speak to his colleagues, "Hmm, wasn't expecting that reaction."

Tsuru shook her head, "There's more going on with the pirates than we know."

Just as Stainless was about to comment, Mozambia shot out of his chair and clutched the hilt of his sword, "The fuck is going on?"

The slick black haired admiral stood and tried to approach his friend, "Mozambia, what's wrong?"

Said man cried out in shock when his sword became unsheathed and he swung at Stainless. "I don't know! I don't know what's going on! Stay away, Kaizeruhige!"

Stainless attempted to step towards the gray haired man but he soon felt fear as his body stopped mid-walk and his hand went to his weapon. Drawing his sword, he swung at Mozambia wildly, "What the fuck?!"

Cancer knocked over his chair in a rush to help, "Both of you stop!"

Both men turned to look at Cancer with desperate eyes, "We can't!"

Tsuru shook her head as she cut her eyes over to the man in the pink feather coat, "Don't you think you're going a bit far?"

Doflamingo didn't respond, instead he looked out at the ocean, a grin plastered on his face.

Connecting the dots, Cancer ran over to the Shichibukai. "This has to be your doing. Stop this at once!" He looked to Kuma for help but the quiet man never even looked up from his Bible. Doflamingo's laughter pulled his attention back to him. "If I do, then you'll say what you have to and this meeting will be over with. I have more important things to do."

Doflamingo's fingers convulsed and Mozambia screamed as he moved in to swipe at Stainless but just before the blade could connect a commanding voice broke through the commotion, "Enough. Cease these childish games. Are you here to start a war?"

"Oh?" Doflamingo looked up to see the Fleet Admiral Sengoku in the door way with his annoying ass goat next to his leg, chewing on some papers and he called back his devil to let the admirals have control back over their bodies.

Upon feeling the invisible pull of their limbs lifted, each man sheathed their weapon and threw glares at the Shichibukai before they returned to their seats.

Sengoku situated the seagull hat atop his head as he sat at the table, clearing his throat, "I apologize for being late, oh scum of the sea, but I had important business that called my attention first. Let's get this meeting started; two out of the six is good enough."

Doflamingo let out a fuffuffuf as he walked back into the room and sat on the table. He received a disapproving look from Tsuru as he said, "Indeed. I wasn't going to come but business on the island was going so well, I got bored."

Sengoku shook his head, "That's troubling to hear, that a pirate's business is going so well."

Before the blond could form a witty reply, a deep voice echoed throughout the room, "A very boring conversation has caught my ears. Have I come to the wrong place?" The occupants of the room watched as Mihawk walked into the meeting room and took a seat, "Having the Shichibukai all convene in the Holy Land for a meeting seems to be entirely meaningless."

Doffy chuckled at the sight of the hawkeyed man, "Well, well, well, the last man we'd expected to see has shown up."

Sengoku sat in awe as he watched the swordsman reach out for a cup of water. "I never… thought that…"

Dracule raised an eyebrow at the Marine, "What? I simply came to observe. I have a passing interest in the pirates on today's agenda, nothing more." He sipped his water with a small smirk on his lips. Those kids have managed to catch the attention of the World Government with their success in taking down Sir Crocodile. Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro; there is no way I could not come to this meeting.

"Well," an unrecognizable voice bounced off the walls in the room causing everyone to look around before they heard a tapping noise near one of the windows. "In that case, would it be acceptable for me to be an observer as well? No, I think I may be somewhat different than a mere observer."

A pale man stepped into the room, his tap shoes clicking loudly against the floor, causing Doflamingo's eye to twitch at the sound. He swung his cane around, saying, "I never expected such prominent figures to be in this meeting." He tapped the end of the walking stick on his shoe, "I heard that Crocodile has been stripped of his title and you all are looking for a replacement. I thought perhaps you would like a suggestion."

Vice Admiral Stainless, fully recovered from his torture session with Doffy, took time to assess the man's attire—the top hat and the yellow cross patterned shirt tucked into the navy overalls—before he questioned, "Are you Laffitte?"

Tsuru raised an eyebrow at the name as she watched the sickly pale looking man bow, "Oh, it seems you know me by name. A thousand gratitudes."

Mozambia rapped his pen on the table, saying, "You were a peace keeper in the west blue but due to your angry violent tendencies you were exiled."

The man now known as Laffitte waved his hand in dismissal, "A story of the past. It matters not what you think of me, I'm here to nominate a certain man for the place of Shichibukai: Marshall D. Teach."

"Teach?" Tsuru pushed a gray piece of hair out of her narrowing crow eyes.

"Yes, that's the captain of our pirate crew."

Sengoku shuffled through some of the papers that were in front of him, "I've never heard of a Teach before, and if no one knows who he is then he can't be intimidating to other pirates."

Laffitte tipped his hat, "Yes, I am aware. We are all set on that front… if you would just give us a little bit more time."

Not liking that they were replacing Crocodile but completely interested in the soon to be Shichibukai, Doflamingo laughed and said, "Oi, give them a chance, Sengoku."

Laffitte nodded to Doflamingo, "The name of the crew I belong to is the Blackbeard Pirates. Please remember it." With that, just as quickly as he showed, he left, leaving the remaining people in the room to contemplate his words.

Marshall D. Teach... Mihawk thought as he stood to his feet. He's the one Shanks goes on about. "I have heard all I needed," he said making a swift exit, pulling out a small white square paper from his trousers.

Doflamingo looked over at Kuma, surprised to see the man's eyes closed behind the shades he wore and as if he could feel Doflamingo's gaze, Kuma's eyes flew open and to Doflamingo. The blond nodded to Kuma and both Shichibukai's left the Marines in the room, allowing them to speak business.

Sengoku turned to Tsuru, "Any thoughts?"

She sighed and rubbed her face, "As badly as we need to fill the hole in the Shichibukai's, I don't think going with some unknown pirate is our best course of action."

"What I'm worried about," Cancer started as he pulled out a smoke and lit it, "is what are these so called Blackbeard Pirates going to do in order to gain this position."

The Marines hummed in unison and Sengoku pet his goat, stroked his long braided beard, "I guess we will just have to wait and see."

I hope you guys enjoyed! Doffy's always causing trouble lol. Review if can. Please stay in tune for next chapter: Donna - Huredhiel