I don't own anything but my ideas.

The Hunter

He adjusted the black hat on his head and reached into his pocket to pull out the phone resting quietly there, never once taking his eyes off of the two of them from down the street. He punched in the number with his thumb, a number he knew by heart and didn't have to look at the keypad to get right. A waitress walked up to him, holding out a pot of coffee and he nodded, gesturing to his cup while he waited for the answer on the other end. As it was, he wasn't sure which direction the two of them were going to continue in—they'd only just come out of the supermarket and could either come towards him or walk away—and he probably wouldn't be able to finish the coffee before he had to move, whether it was to follow them or keep out of sight.

"Yes?"

"I found the apartment," he murmured, pausing to take a sip of the steaming liquid. They were stopped in front of a window that he was pretty sure was a kitchenware store, nothing out of the ordinary there. "It's a two-floored place in a building that was converted from a warehouse. Some old woman owns it now and rents out the spaces as studio apartments. They might have some sort of history with her, she normally doesn't rent to anyone she doesn't know, but I can't find any past relations."

"That doesn't matter; Roronoa has a reputation in the city so the relations may just stem from that. But you have the address?"

"Yes, I'll text it to you."

"And the apartment?"

"It's got good locks, but that isn't surprising. I couldn't get in, I tried while they were at the grocery store and now I'm watching from down the street. But the place itself is pretty open, a good chunk of the two outside walls are entirely windows. I don't think it'll be hard to get into. The problem is getting them apart, I have yet to see him without Roronoa."

"If we must, we can all go in together. The two of them won't be able to handle all of us. Any sign of Nico?"

"Nothing, and I've been here for weeks. She may have been working under Shanks for a while there, but whether she left or is just gone, there haven't been any whisperings of her for over a year now."

"Very well, that's for Teach and Doflamingo to handle anyways. We'll set up a time to go in and retrieve him."

"About that."

"Yes?"

"I've been watching them for weeks, and it doesn't seem… like Blackleg's noticed me at all."

"And?"

"Well, isn't he supposed to have all those innate abilities and sixth senses? I was pretty sure Roronoa saw me once by accident at a fight, but nothing's come of it—not even a raise in guards around the city—so I think the sedatives they gave him made him forget."

"Any ideas?"

"None, I have no fucking clue how the virus works and they won't tell me. …In any event, part of the plan—and the boss okayed this—was that I would stay far enough away that Blackleg would get comfortable, and then move in closer little by little so he would start to sense me being there. Hopefully by that point he'd be close enough to the people here not to want them hurt and would start distancing himself when he felt the impending danger, which would make it easier for us to take him. He's been here for at least five weeks—I couldn't find how long he was here before Fukuro found him—and has clearly formed an attachment to them, but no matter how close I get, he shows no signs of sensing me. I can't get any closer now or someone else like Monkey or Flam or Roronoa will sense me and throw everything off. As it is, short of starting ding-dong ditching and calling in the middle of the night and hanging up, I don't think he's going to sense me any time soon, which means he'll have no reason to leave Roronoa's side."

"…Perhaps he's gotten too comfortable. Being around that many people at that level of strength may have given him a false sense of security. Shanks is much stronger than Redleg ever was."

"Yeah, and there's been no contact to Redleg either from what I can tell, which I can only figure is to keep himself safe. Blueno and I have regular contact and he says the atmosphere there is still as if Blackleg died; Redleg is the only one that is keeping positive about that, but the old man is just stubborn. But I found something interesting that would send a pretty damn obvious message, and it's perfect because the rest of them expect that something like this might happen anyways. He's the only one that would think of himself and take it as a double-meaning."

"What's that?"

"Roronoa's little brother? He's one of them too."

"…No."

"On my life. I never looked into him because Law and Kid are so damn protective and I could never get close, but for whatever reason—maybe even just that he's getting older now—they're letting him out more on his own. Should I let Spandam know?"

"…No. We were not ordered to. And you're sure?"

"Positive. I did as much digging as I could, but what with the destruction and rebuilding of the city and the shit show of paper work that comes along with something like that, the kid's history cuts off somewhere around ten years back. But I'm positive. There are a couple kids his age with the virus that went missing right about then; some were thought to be dead but no one knows for sure. The kid's good leverage regardless of his NSPH status because of his family, but Blackleg would take it for sure as that, and then all we have to do is get Blackleg alone for a minute. I'm going to call in other people so it won't be tied back to us just in case something goes wrong."

"Do it."

-oOo-

"Hey, little bro, wanna take this to your dad? I borrowed it to fix the speaker system but I think he's gonna to need it to build the feed tray he's working on today."

Killer nodded and took the tool from Franky, tucking it into the sheath where his scythes were on his belt. He had started wearing the hand guards all the time now—which made Law happier when he went out with friends—but the blades were detachable and had to be kept out of sight just in case he ran into marines, hence the sheath.

Franky stuck his head back up into the ceiling through the missing panel, fiddling with the wires hanging down. "I think both of your dads are down at the shop today, Law had the day off and I haven't seen him around here. No one hurt to fix up. Why don't you stop over with cook-bro and get something to eat too? You're looking a little tired."

"I will," Killer nodded again even though Franky couldn't see him anymore. "Be back soon."

"Sure thing, little bro."

Killer started up the stairs from the arena, yawning as he jogged. He really should have gone to Sanji this morning—he was getting too used to eating regularly every few days now, but he'd gone for much longer and been fine. And Franky had been working on a really intricately wired part of the system; he didn't want to miss that.

The hallways were strangely quiet, even straining he couldn't hear people off in other parts of the building. Now that Sanji wasn't living in the hospital rooms, both he and Zoro had less reason to be here what with their new apartment, which he still had yet to visit. And Sanji constantly being in his own kitchen instead of here meant that Luffy was usually off too, wandering the city until dinnertime when Sanji and Zoro came back to feed everyone. Chopper probably had extra work at the hospital with Law not being there, Usopp was probably at home working in his garage, Nami was most likely finding extra work or betting in one of the establishments just outside the city, Brook was probably off having tea somewhere… A lot of when the group came together seemed to revolve around Sanji's food. But Sanji's food was great, so that was ok.

Killer grinned. Maybe Zoro will let me stay over, then I can have as much of Sanij's food as I…

Killer bristled suddenly, grinding to a halt in the middle of the street. Just now, a cactus had scuttled up his spine and left a trail of stinging pricks in his skin. He reached up and scratched lightly at his shoulder blade, glancing around the evening street behind him, lit only by the scattered streetlights that were just coming on as the sun set. Only a few lights had survived the demolition of the city and they had yet to put new ones up—and might not at all—but his eyes were strong enough without them to see.

A shiver ran up the back of his neck again and Killer stuck his hands into the sheaths on either side of his hips, where both blades clipping automatically to the hand guards on his wrists. He was a couple blocks from Shanks' now, too far to run back, which meant finding someone else to help or somewhere to hide. The prickling hurt, which never meant anything good. Normally it was just annoying, and that meant something like Luffy was about to jump on him or Usopp was about to detonate something accidentally. The last time it hurt, he'd nearly died in their apartment, and he fought the burning sensation rising in the scar on his neck to keep from scratching it and ready for whatever was coming. He whirred the blades back close to his forearm, in waiting position like he'd been learning, and crept slowly out of the street and towards the sidewalk where the shadows were darkest.

A twig popped behind him and Killer spun with a gasp, slashing out with his scythes, but he knew even before he'd fully turned that he'd missed from the way his neck was still twittering and whirled again, trying to find whoever was there when something whipped into his field of vision from the side and slammed into his cheek, launching him into the air and sending him crashing to the ground in the middle of the street.

-oOo-

"I'm not getting a fucking cat! We didn't get rid of two kids to get something else to feed! Get a plant if you need something that badly for your empty nest syndrome!"

"I'm just saying that the mother is out in the streets with two brand new kittens and we should at least feed them if nothing else."

"It can be a cactus if you want it to scratch you!"

"I'm sure Sanji would agree with me that we should feed them."

"Don't use him! He's not your trump card! I don't give a flying fuck what he thinks!"

"You know, you yelling with your head is stuck under the car is toning down the severity of your threats."

"We're not getting a cat!"

Zoro snorted, covering his mouth and turning slightly so that Kid wouldn't see him, even though the redhead was currently beneath the underbelly of a car and was just a pair of irate legs thrashing about. Sanji, perched next to him on the table Zoro was leaning against, reached up, pretending to grab his cigarette while he covered his own smirk. Law looked amused, leaning against the car Kid was working on and grinning to himself while Kid ranted.

"Kittens," Law corrected unabashedly. "Two kittens, and you'll barely notice they're there. We'll be able to find homes for them—some nurses at the hospital have already expressed interest. It's temporary."

"Temporary shredding of our apartment and shitting all over our floors!"

"You're the one who complains if they're noisy when we have sex."

That made Sanji snort, and he covered it quickly with a cough as Kid rolled out from under the car and sat up to glare at Law.

"Just make Killer come home for dinner every once and a while."

Law rolled his eyes. "It's not about my supposed empty next syndrome, Eustass. It's about three hungry cats that live outside our apartment door and the fact that we will be feeding them."

"Don't say "fact" like it's already been decided!"

"I'm not about to step over kitten corpses every time I want to walk through my front door."

"I'll feed them if you don't want to," Sanji chimed in quietly and Law gestured to him.

"See? Wanting innocent kittens to starve to death is not a normal thing."

"They're not starving to death!"

Zoro recognized the tapping of Luffy's sandals outside the door but decided he'd let the younger man let himself in instead of walking away from the table. He didn't feel quite like moving from this spot, especially since Sanji had hopped up on the table right next to him and basically had the length of his leg draped up against Zoro's side. It was odd for the cook to be so bold like that, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth and he wasn't about to move until Sanji did. His arm was still burning where they were touching, just like it had been ten minutes ago when the cook joined him.

"You guys in there?" Luffy called from outside the door, followed immediately by the sound of something crashing against the cement floors. Kid gritted his teeth and Law smirked down at him, watching the annoyance roll over his body before Kid gave up and leaned back on the creeper heavily so he could roll back under the car.

"Yes, Luffy, we're in here," Law called in much of a sing-song voice, no doubt to continue bothering Kid.

Zoro, from his position leaning on the table that was next to the door, couldn't see Luffy at first, but he could see Law's expression drop as Luffy came into Law's view. The doctor's lips pinched together so tight they lost their color, and horror and dead seriousness snapped over Law's face like a bolt of lightning as the doctor yanked away from the car, making a beeline for Luffy with long strides. Zoro followed him with his eyes, confused as to what could make Law act like that, only to almost swallow his tongue when he saw Luffy, his breath locking in his throat painfully.

The younger D brother was grinning happily, dripping blood from three different places on his face and several others on his body where his clothes had been ripped, but Luffy fighting and coming back injured was nothing out of the ordinary. The small person on his back, on the other hand, was very out of the ordinary.

Killer was clutching at Luffy's shoulders and hiding his face in the back of Luffy's neck, but even from far away, Zoro could see the enormous bruise on his brother's face and the numerous skid marks and cuts marring his body. Law was at Luffy's side in a heartbeat, faster than Zoro could even get his body to move, helping Killer off of Luffy's back and up onto the table on the other side of the door so he could look at Killer's wounds.

"What happened?" Law asked quietly, running his fingers gently over the bruise on Killer's cheek. It was already yellowing, the edges of it starting to turn back to Killer's normal skin color, but it was the size of a grapefruit and the fact that it was taking this long to heal at all meant that whatever had hit Killer had hit him hard. The bone looked broken underneath the skin. Zoro registered inwardly that Kid had joined them, the older man's stance tight, but he didn't even really remember getting to Law's side and he couldn't take in anything other than Killer's quivering bottom lip through the white-hot rage that was boiling up through his blood. His fingers drifted unconsciously to his side where his swords were hanging, waiting for Luffy's answer.

Luffy shifted the hat on his head. "I was on my way to Sanji and Zoro's apartment because I was really hungry and I hadn't eaten since my snack after lunch, and I saw some people attacking Killer in the street about two blocks from here."

"And where are they?"

Luffy shrugged. "Probably still in the street. There was no one else around and I didn't want to stay there with Killer, so I called Shanks with a payphone. He said he would send some people to clean them up."

"I want you to describe to me everyone you saw there," Kid snarled, fingers twitching as he tried to stay calm.

"No," Law snapped. "No one is going out there. You either, Zoro, calm down."

Zoro let out a slow breath, forcing his grip on Shusui and Kitetsu to loosen. He'd already begun to slide them from their sheaths.

Two blocks wasn't far from here and Shanks might not have gotten people there yet. He and Kid could go—

He jumped at the sudden weight on his shoulder, finding Sanji's hand firmly holding him as the cook shook his head. Zoro grunted, snapping the swords back into their places. He took another slow breath, counting Killer's breaths as he calmed himself. Zoro traced the bubbling cuts with his eyes, watching them knit themselves back together. Killer was all right. The way he flinched though every time an oozing bubble deflated so the skin could stretch back over the bleeding cut made something burn in the back of his throat, but he made himself stay calm, feeling the weight of Sanji's hand on his shoulder.

Law's voice was firm, but more relaxed now that he was sure Killer was healing normally. "Was there anyone you recognized? Anyone from the city?"

Luffy didn't move at first. "…I saw a couple of people, and I think I know who they are, but I want to make sure. I thought I remembered Franky telling me this morning that you'd both be at the shop so I told Shanks to meet me here after he gets them. He's bringing the ID book of all the people he's logged that live in the city."

Law nodded and stepped slightly to the side so Kid could move in and the larger man laid a hand on Killer's head. Killer only quivered for a long time, a fang digging deep into his bottom lip where a trickle of blood was dripping down his chin, and then he leaned over into Kid's grimy shirt, turning to hide his face as Kid held him close. Law stepped closer at that and Killer reached out, letting Law rest a hand on his back soothingly while he clutched at both shirts. Zoro swallowed heavily, rolling his neck, feeling Luffy and Sanji's energies on either side of him to keep him anchored.

He didn't notice how tightly Sanji was gripping his shoulder, or how stiff the cook had gone when Luffy said that he'd recognized some of the people.

-oOo-

Zoro was leaning against a pillar in the front hall of the had-been-town-hall-turned-Shanks'-home-base-and-arena, eyes closed and breathing deeply and counting until he was calm enough to open his eyes and get his bearings. It didn't look like that was going to be any time soon, he'd already reached 2,045.

Sturdy shoes tapped down the stairs next to him, and he followed the sounds of someone sitting next to him. The smell of a cigarette washed over him, and even though he wasn't particularly fond of the smell he felt some of the tension leaving his back and neck.

Sanji.

"You ok?" the cook asked and Zoro managed a nod.

Killer bleeding Killer crying Killer hurt Killer scared Killer bruised Killer in danger—

"Shanks' guys brought in some people through the back door. I didn't see anyone, but one of the guys that went with him said he brought back three. Two of them are still out, but Law is looking at the awake one."

Zoro blinked, finally losing his count and opening his eyes to look down at Sanji in shock. "…Law is fixing… the people that hurt Killer?"

Sanji shrugged. "Guess so. I told him we'd come down soon."

"…He can't be fixing them."

"Take it up with him, marimo, maybe his humanity has won over."

"No," Zoro shook his head firmly. "Law can't be fixing them. He's insane. He'd never go near someone that hurt someone close to him, unless he could make the process as painful as possible. There's no way he'd agree to it, even if Shanks ordered him to."

"He's a doctor, maybe this is just because of the oath."

Zoro knew that Law wouldn't, but even the thought brought the anger he'd just forced down to a simmer back to a broil in his chest.

"…Are you really ok though?"

Sanji's tone of voice made Zoro pause, and he looked down slowly to meet the cook's good iridescent eye, glowing morosely up at him.

…Was Sanji ok?

"This doesn't mean anything," he answered, though it was for a slightly different question. Sanji turned away after a moment, sucking deeply on the cigarette. The tenseness was back in his shoulders.

"Killer has a lot of standing with Law and Kid," Zoro continued. "It's not weird that someone would try and use him to get to Shanks, who backs Law and Kid on everything."

"…I know. And Killer's already healed, so it's fine."

Zoro didn't like Sanji's weak tone though, and waited silently until Sanji finally turned back to look at him, leveling him with a look so serious it was almost a glare. Sanji returned it easily, and that made Zoro relax.

"Really, dumbass, I'm fine. I'm not going to vanish into the night because I'm scared. I've been running all my life. This isn't new."

"Good. Because you're a pussy."

"Fuck you, shitty swordsman."

"Dart-board brow."

"Idiot marimo."

"Curly-cue."

"Dumbass."

Zoro joined the cook on the stairs quietly after that, Sanji smoking while Zoro went back to counting in his head. It was amazing that with all the stress that they could have such normal coping mechanisms and still stay sane. Just cigarettes, alcohol, and banter.

"Hey, mush-for-brains."

Zoro actually managed a smirk at that name. Sanji was never at a loss for smartass things to say.

"Law and Kid will want to have Killer at their place for a while, but after that let's set up the guest room for him. Give him a place to stay when he doesn't want to go home."

"Yeah."

Sanji smoked for a while more before he stood suddenly and beckoned for Zoro to follow. "Come on. Let's go down. We should hear what the person they got has to say."

Zoro nodded and stood to follow him. He hadn't notice that Sanji hadn't started walking yet, which meant that when Zoro stood up he was an inch from sticking his nose right in Sanji's ear.

Zoro felt his breathing pick up, anger entirely forgotten as the cook's subtle, spicy smell filled his nose. The tension was still tight in Sanji's shoulders, but it was… strange. Not like the tension Zoro had grown accustomed to. This tension traveled down Sanji's shoulders and into his spine, creating a weird S-curve in his back like he was leaning backwards and forwards at the same time. The cook reached up slowly and took the cigarette from his lips, head ducked down to the floor so he didn't have to meet Zoro's surprised look at finding himself with a face full of cook.

…They were actually really close to the same height.

I have… like, a quarter of an inch on him.

Zoro's heartbeat hitched when the cook rotated the corner turn back to face him, his head still tipped towards the ground, but reached up with his free hand to fix an inside-out zipper pocket on Zoro's leather jacket. The place Sanji had touched burned and something in Zoro's eardrums shifted, throwing off his equilibrium and making his vision twist. His eyes flicked down as the cook finally looked back at him, blue eye staring unblinkingly into his own. Inwardly, Zoro could feel the quick shifting in the air from the cook's own accelerated breathing.

"…Sanji—"

A muffled scream split the air and both men snapped toward the direction that it came from, racing down the hallway without a moment's hesitation. They dashed down the stairs, Zoro's hands finding their way to Shusui and Kitetsu's hilts as Sanji tucked his cigarette back into his mouth. The screaming was picking up the closer they got to the arena's hospital, punctuated by the muffled voices of others talking around it. Zoro blinked in confusion, looking over to Sanji for something, but the cook was dead-set on their destination. Zoro's mind was whirling, wondering how something could have happened right under Shanks' nose in Shanks' central location with so many of Shanks' top people still in the building—

Room 34.

…The operating room?

Zoro stopped outside the door, trying to make sense of what was happening as he slid his swords from their hilts with a low ringing sound, but Sanji wasn't waiting. It only took Zoro a second to figure out why, growling in annoyance afterwards.

The screams were coming from a woman.

Sanji threw open the door like the front runner in a drug raid and the hard metal cracked sharply against the cement wall behind it, sending little bits of shrapnel raining down to the floor, and then the cook ground to a halt, bristling as he took in the scene in front of them.

A woman had been strapped down to the operating table, tears streaming down her face and blood dripping from a couple minor cuts in her arms and legs. Her dress was messy and torn from what must have been the fight to get her inside—or maybe Luffy did that. Law was standing over her like the guardian of death himself. The dark gleam in his eyes matched the chilling reflection of the blood on the knife against the blinding light above the table, and Zoro felt a shiver run down his spine as Law's dark eyes flicked up, meeting first him and then Sanji with that delicately insane look. And then the cook launched himself.

Sanji flew over the table like a missile, foot trained for Law's head, and all in the span of a half-second Law whipped to the side, smacking Sanji's ankle out of the way where he connected with the wall on the other side, Law sliding out of the way of the attack, his scalpel spinning off across the floor. The woman shrieked pitifully at the attack, turning to hide her head in her shoulders. Zoro grimaced, catching the malignant smile stretching across Law's face, watching the doctor calculate the distance between him and the scalpel and the cook. Zoro dove forward as Sanji whirled on Law, lip pulled back to reveal his fangs as the cook snarled viciously at him.

Zoro was too far away.

"No!" he barked, Luffy appearing at his side as they lunged for Sanji and the cook shot forward, leg out and ready to take Law's head off when Kid appeared in front of the blond and clamped a hand around his neck, smashing him back into the floor so hard Zoro swore he saw Sanji's eyes pop out of his head.

The cook choked loudly, hands snapping up and tearing at Kid's arms, leaving angry red gouges that turned his nails red. Kid laughed, eyes flashing with instability and he raised a fist over his head.

Zoro and Luffy reached Kid at the same time, Luffy locking onto Kid's fist and using his whole body to keep him from attacking, Zoro prying at his grip on Sanji's throat as the cook's face started to turn red from the lack of oxygen.

"Law!" Zoro barked desperately, looking back over his shoulder, but the doctor just straightened back up and dusted himself off, returning to the woman on the table. Her eyes locked on him and she started to shake violently, throwing back her head and screaming at the top of her lungs as she thrashed. Sanji's foot connected harshly with Zoro's middle and he grunted, losing his grip and Kid clamped back down on Sanji's neck. Zoro looked over to Shanks for help, but the older man hadn't moved from his position leaning against the far wall.

"Sanji!" Luffy called, shoving back hard on Kid and finally getting him to lower his arm. "She's one of the people that attacked Killer!"

Sanji faltered, his struggling slowing for a second before the lack of air hit him again and he choked out a strangled sound, kicking Kid square in the chest. Kid grunted and stumbled back, giving Zoro the leverage he needed to pull him off and let Sanji scramble away. Once they were apart Luffy moved to Kid's front, hands out to keep him back while Zoro slid to Sanji's side, reaching out but not touching the cook. He had a feeling he would lose a finger if he touched Sanji right now.

"Sanji," Shanks said coolly from the corner. Sanji halted at the intensity of his voice, holding his neck tenderly and wheezing as the color returned to his face. Zoro glanced back to Kid, hoping to god Luffy could see that every single one of Kid's muscles were locked and ready to kill Sanji if he went at Law like that again. He wouldn't be able to hold the both of them off by himself.

"She calls herself Miss Valentine. The other two with her are just underlings; they know nothing about what was going on, but they told us her name. She might be able to give us some insight into why Killer was attacked. If it's because of Law and Kid, that's nothing strange. If it's because of… well, who he is, we'll have to find some way to handle that problem, and fast."

"Sometimes," Law snarled, leaning down to pick up the scalpel. Miss Valentine screamed again, trying to yank away from him, "people need to be broken. Men and women. The weak ones die; there's nothing I can do about that. Weaklings can't pick their way of death. She might be able to save her demise for another day if she answers our questions."

"Help! Help me, please!"

Sanji gritted his teeth and ducked his head, toes twitching as he fought the urge to throw himself at Law again. Zoro was like a spring, ready to lunge at either Sanji or Kid, eyes flicking back and forth between them, waiting for some sort of movement.

"What's going on?!" Chopper shrieked, rushing into the room, still in scrubs from the hospital across the city. "The door is open, I can hear you all the way—WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?"

"Chopper," Law snapped, scowling at the dirt on the scalpel. He chucked it into the container labeled "sharps" and picked up another, bigger knife, making Miss Valentine shriek and yank against her bonds.

Chopper yelped at the screams, his horrified expression locking on Law. Zoro swallowed, a memory of Law lashing out and taking an ear clean off of someone else in this position flashing through his mind, the man's agonizing screams echoing around the barren room while Law grinned. Chopper had never seen Law like this before, the poor kid.

"Take," Law hissed, grinning maniacally, "that half-brained, unrestrained, military lab rat the hell out of my operating room and stitch him up. Make clear, if you will, that if he ever tries to interfere with me like that again, he will be the next one under my knife and I will graft his fingers together to keep him from ever cooking again."

Chopper nodded nervously, fumbling with his backpack as he raced to fill it with gloves, thread, needles, a sedative, and whatever else he would need. He tripped several times in the process, but finally managed to get it back onto his back and shuffle past Kid to Sanji, tugging on his arm to get him to stand up.

Zoro watched, scared for one awful moment that Sanji would decide in favor of the woman on the table, but the cook stood, stance tight, and stalked out after Chopper. Miss Valentine's wails filled the room again and Sanji twitched violently, making Kid growl in return but Luffy held their stance, and finally Sanji was gone. Kid scoffed after a minute when the cook didn't return, yanking out of Luffy's hold and he stepped back to let him go.

Zoro waited a moment, gaze flicking from Law to Kid to Luffy to the door and back before he finally landed on Shanks, who nodded calmly at the door and Zoro raced out without a second thought. Remembering what Chopper had said, he slammed the door behind him, and a viciously terrified scream from Miss Valentine echoed down the hallway as all help was taken out from under her. Zoro gritted his teeth and stomped up the stairs, counting again. Counting his steps, his breaths, the spots on the wall, anything to get Law and Kid's demonic expressions out of his mind. It wasn't the first time he'd seen them, but they never stopped making his heart beat erratically in his chest. It was easy to forget how fucked up the pair of them were sometimes.

He found Sanji on the steps outside in front of the building, head in his hands while he breathed deeply, Chopper behind him stitching away quietly at a gash Kid had torn in his shoulder from slamming him into the ground. Sanji had both hands pressed tightly over his eyes, fangs poking out from his lips as he shook. Zoro sat down carefully next to him, mind still overloaded with what had happened. He shot Chopper an apologetic look, but the boy's traumatized expression was focused too intently on his patient to notice.

"…I was taught…" Sanji snarled through gritted teeth, moving his hands away from his face so he could clench them into fists, "to never disrespect a woman. For any reason. This world is overrun with assholes that try and "put women in their place" or force themselves on them because they can. Just because you may be stronger doesn't mean that you should use it on a whim to force women into submission."

Zoro's eyes found the ground. Useless idiot. He didn't get it. And Zoro didn't know how to explain it to make him understand.

"…Law and Kid…" Chopper spoke up quietly after it became clear that no one else was going to talk, and thank god he was the one taking the initiative to explain, "won't see it that way. Especially when Killer is in danger. And from what you told me, he really was for a minute there. Thank goodness Luffy got there in time, but what if he hadn't?"

Both Sanji and Zoro shifted uncomfortably at the thought.

"Maybe they weren't sent in," Chopper continued with a shrug. "Maybe they saw something and wanted to bring him back, a-and capturing them will keep Killer safe for a couple more years until he can fight for himself. They didn't see that it was a woman they were questioning; they just saw a threat and moved to eliminate it."

Sanji groaned hugely and Zoro growled, actually angry now that Sanji refused to listen.

"Kid could have crushed your skull there," he snapped, "and if you'd pissed Law off any more than you did, he'd have slit your throat open before Kid could even move to attack you. You got lucky; you ever pull that bullshit again and one of them will kill you. Both of them are easily just as strong as Luffy is and they're way too overprotective of each other. They're the only things that ground each other—even Killer and I don't have that effect on them. If you threaten that, they lose their fucking minds."

"…You have to be careful, Sanji," Chopper agreed. "We all like you—we really do—but Shanks… isn't going to take your side against someone like Law or Kid, who are two of his top men, especially when it's practically Shanks' nephew that they're protecting. And they're definitely not going to take your side when you're defending the enemy. Shanks is really kind, but honestly, you're the rookie around here and we still don't know if we can trust you. You walked in on a family that survived an apocalypse together; we don't trust outsiders easily and you need to understand that and stay out of the limelight."

Sanji said nothing, and it looked like he wanted to get up and walk away, but Chopper still had a needle in his back so he was forcing himself to stay still. Zoro sucked in a huge breath he'd been about to huff out and turned away, chewing on his tongue to keep from saying anything else. The idiot wouldn't listen; it didn't matter even if he did say something worthwhile.

Chopper and Zoro looked up at the sound of sandals tapping against the steps to find Luffy trotting down to where they were, an oddly serious expression on his face, and it made Zoro uncomfortable. Just knowing how seriously Luffy took the situation made it that much more nerve-wracking.

"Chopper… uh, Law says for you to fix her up now. …I don't think he really wants to."

Chopper nodded and tied the last knot in Sanij's shoulder, clipping the thread and tucking the materials back in his bag.

Zoro stood to be level with Luffy. "Did she say anything?"

Luffy made a face something like he didn't want to answer, but gave in to Zoro's stare after a moment. "Crocodile."

Zoro grimaced, fists clenching.

"Shanks says not to let it get out. He says it'll be better if Crocodile thinks we don't know. Even if his people don't get back to him, he won't know that we saw them attack Killer."

Zoro nodded, sighing to himself as he remembered Sanji sitting like a gargoyle by his feet. It had turned into an awful day really fast.

Did that mean that Crocodile knew about Killer? Or was it really just because he was Law and Kid's son?

"Hey, Sanji, I'm hungry. Can we go back to your place?"

Zoro watched nervously as Sanji's shoulders clenched and unclenched three times as the cook fought with himself, imagining him screaming at Luffy for being able to eat after seeing that poor woman—! But the cook stood suddenly and nodded, flicking his spent cigarette down the steps in front of him.

"Sure, Luffy."

"WOO-HOO! Thanks Sanji!"

Zoro sighed again to himself, following the two as they slumped/bounded down the stairs of the building. Maybe the day wasn't shot after all. It was only six thirty, after all.

Jesus Christ it's only 6:30. That whole fucking thing only took three hours.

-oOo-

"We're going out," Luffy announced happily as a plate of food was set down in front of him. Zoro and Sanji fixed him with blank stares. "Because you two need to lighten up. You both have had too many bad adventures recently, so we need to have a good adventure."

Sanji and Zoro shared a glance, both opening their mouths to decline when Luffy said (around a mouth full of food), "I called Franky and Brook and told them what happened. They said they're coming over now and forcing you two to come."

And that had been that.

Zoro scrubbed the heals of his palms into his eyes, whether it was for the sand in his tear ducts or the lingering annoyances of the day settling in he wasn't sure, but the bright spots of light bursting in his eyes were giving him something to focus on that wasn't all the shit that had happened. He'd called Law and Kid's apartment earlier and talked with Killer a little bit before the younger boy grew too exhausted to stay awake any longer. The expedited healing always took a lot out of him. But Killer had seemed pretty excited to come stay with him and Sanji regardless of his lack of energy, so that was a good thing, and he'd seemed ok overall, which was the only thing that was keeping Zoro from storming out of the apartment and demanding that Shanks let him take at least a couple good swings at the bastards that attacked Killer before he went to hunt Crocodile down.

Crocodile had risen to power just as quickly as Shanks had, but not nearly in as honest ways. The man was feared almost everywhere, running shady organizations under the pretense of working for the government, which came with the protection of the marines, giving him almost complete power in whatever he did as long as he didn't screw things up and get caught infiltrating and taking over some of the most top secret organizations in the government. For years now, he'd been untouchable and unstoppable; only a select few bosses and people in the underground had enough manpower backing them to stand up to him and get away with it.

Just thinking about the smug, drawl bastard's cigar-smoking, fucked up face made Zoro's upper lip curl back into a snarl. If he ever caught up to the fucker—

"I never thanked you for these."

Zoro blinked at the sudden sound that wasn't Luffy snarfing down his food like he was a dog with nasal problems. He looked over to where Sanji had joined him against the counter, smoking idly on a cigarette. The blond gestured to the fishbowl on the counter, where the four fish he'd just fed where darting around at the surface of the water, gobbling up the flakes of food. Sanji brought the cigarette back up to his lips, eyes on the floor and avoiding Zoro's gaze.

"They're…" the cook paused, looking for the right word, "sweet. Thank you. Especially because, you know, the four corners and everything."

Zoro crossed his arms casually, anger finally starting to dissipate. Sanji's cool demeanor was contagious, especially because he was normally such a hothead. Zoro had been nervous for a while there that the blond would take Killer's attack just as badly as they did, but for entirely the wrong reasons. Sanji hadn't felt safe for so long in this city, and he couldn't shake the eerie feeling that if he let the cook out of his sight, he might not be around for much longer.

"You could tell?" he asked finally, and Sanji nodded.

"Surume is the one that got me thinking, he's the most distinctive, and then when I looked closer I saw the markings on Mohmoo's back. Only fish from the more southern parts of the ocean have them."

"…Surume…?"

"Luffy named them."

Ah.

Sanji leaned in towards the bowl, waving a finger over the water so the fish would swim up to the surface, looking for food. "The yellow one with the fins that look like squid tentacles is Surume, the green cow-like one is Mohmoo, the one that looks like a tiny shark is Megalo, and then the tiny whale is Laboon. Did Laboon get in a fight or something on the way home from the store, by the way? His face is all torn up. Yeah, what happened, Laboon?" Sanji cooed, leaning in to the largest fish and waggling the tip of his finger over it.

Zoro snorted. He'd kind of hoped that Sanji wouldn't notice, but the reason was still funny anyways. "It's a fighting fish apparently, and some new worker didn't know and put two males together in a tank. He was on sale because of it."

"Classy, marimo."

"Shut up."

"…Are we really doing this tonight?"

Zoro blinked, looking over to finally meet Sanji's eyes. The blond looked uncomfortable.

"What do you mean? The club? It's not that far out of Shanks' territory."

Sanji shrugged, scuffing out his cigarette in the sink. "I know. It's just… depending on where we go. I don't know who I'll know there."

Oh.

"…Most of the attention will probably be on Luffy all night. He's actually pretty charming and a lot of fun, so he attracts a bunch of people and then gets them to buy him drinks and food all night. We brought Usopp and Chopper once, but they can't do the whole drink and dance and socialize and not end up with bad company at the end of the night. Luffy can handle himself, so he's ok to go with. Usopp and Chopper just… kind of turn into a babysitting job. It's better to do less intense things with them. And it'll be dark and loud, and it's been months since you've been seen. It's not like everyone there is looking for you."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "I know what a club is like, moron. That's not what I'm… whatever."

"…Do you really not want to go?"

"No, I just…" Sanji reached up and scratched absentmindedly at a spot on his shoulder blade. "I just can't shake this bad feeling. But it's probably because of what happened with Killer."

"There will be a lot of us there too. And drunk or not, we can still handle ourselves. I can't tell you how many times I've fought at the club with more than I should have had in my system." He chuckled. "It makes Chopper really mad because you bleed more, but people buy me drinks all the time."

Sanji gave him a dark smile and Zoro cocked his head slightly to the side, not sure where the sudden change in the mood was coming from, but his blood was suddenly jumping in his veins.

"So popular, marimo." Sanji's voice was heavier than normal too, and it made Zoro's breath hitch in his throat. "Is this going to be one of these things where you promise me all this shit and then ditch me once we're there?"

A returning grin stretched across his face, challenging. "You sound like you're threatening me not to leave you if you're pregnant."

"Fuck off."

"Make me."

Sparks crackled dangerously in the air between them, both grinning viciously and waiting for the other to make a move. Zoro's breath was like fire in his lung, spurring him forwards, screaming for him to lunge—run—yell—do something to get his hands on the fiery blond in front of him—!

"Uh, guys?"

Franky's interruption was like a bucket of water dousing their conversation. Sanji pulled out of his hunched stance first, reaching into his pocket for another cigarette as he turned to the blue-haired intrusion. Zoro closed his mouth and swallowed heavily, counting his breathing as he forced the energy down in his heart.

"Yeah?" Sanji asked coolly, flicking his lighter to life and sucking in a deep breath.

"Uh," Franky looked around the room once, from Zoro to Brook and Luffy, and when they shrugged, he followed suit and turned back to Sanji like nothing had happened. "Well, we're looking at a couple places. Luffy, can we get into Hancock's tonight?"

"I can call her, but I don't think she'll say no. Hammock never does for me, and she has really awesome food too!"

Zoro snorted to himself, waiting for the onslaught of praise for the amazon and the fact that Sanji would be able to see her again in person, but the cook was strangely quiet and turned in on himself, just smoking the cigarette. He looked pained, like he was making an incredibly difficult decision, and it made Zoro's mind jump back to what the cook had said earlier. He shook his head silently at Franky, nodding over to Sanji and the mechanic nodded.

"We can go somewhere quieter, there's a place half an hour from here to the west. It's a little farther but it's not bad, I know the man that runs it so we should be able to get in, I helped him build the sound system at his club. But we should get going soon. It got late fast."

Sanji nodded and murmured something about changing before he sulked up the stairs, a sad wisp of smoke trailing behind his slumped form. Zoro rolled his eyes.

"What's with Sanji?" Brook asked, helping himself to a drink from their cabinet. So Brook wasn't driving tonight. Zoro debated joining him to take himself out of the running, but that would just be a dick move and Franky was probably going to offer anyways considering the circumstances of the night.

"He's just pissy because he can't see Hancock."

Franky burst out laughing, finding a seat at the table. "Cook-bro is great."

"If that's the word for it."

-oOo-

Great was not the word.

Zoro threw back the drink that had just been set in front of him, adding the empty glass to his line of nine empty glasses in front of him. The alcohol was helping to keep him from focusing in on Sanji's annoying trilling and the cackling of the banshees he'd latched himself onto basically the moment they walked through the door, offering drinks all around and handing the bartender a huge stack of bills. Zoro had just let him go. God knows he was fucking stressed from earlier, so Sanji was probably worse at this point. He needed this.

One woman deposited herself in Sanji's lap and he grabbed her happily, making her shriek with excitement and Zoro waved the bartender back over, downing another shot. Good, now he could feel the buzz setting in. About damn time. Zoro finished off another two and shoved away from the bar, stalking off into the crowd, anywhere to get away from the cook and his fucking caterwauling hoard of females. Why wasn't Robin here? What was wrong with her? Up and leaving for years! Jesus, it was like she'd never grown up with them and didn't give a shit about any of them. Knowing her she probably kept a very close eye on all of them even from a far, but for all he knew, she could have been dead for weeks and he'd just think she was hiding out from some organization trying to kill her.

The beat of the music reverberating through his body was starting to have a calming affect, probably because of the alcohol, but Zoro felt his steps slowing down to a more casual walk as he wove his way through the crowd of dripping skin meshing together around him. Hands started to find their way into his shirt and tracing up and down his bare arms, and he started to get why Franky and Brook had made him put on a t-shirt before they came. The skin on skin contact was creating pulses of tightness that ran between his groin and his stomach, generally centered right behind his naval where he felt like gravity kept dropping out from under him. A pair of strong hands found his shoulders, yanking him to a halt and Zoro stumbled slightly, finding himself face to face with someone just a hair shorter than him with blond hair draping across his eyes. Zoro grinned stupidly, swaying along with the other man's lead.

-oOo-

Sanji threw back his head and laughed, maybe too strongly for the joke Ever had told, but she seemed to be enjoying the attention. She was a beauty to behold, grace and poise practically spilling out of her glowing skin, but she was fun too and could hold her drink pretty well. He was pretty sure that she was still keeping up with him, but those last three shots had really done a number on him. The world was starting to twist sideways, and speaking of twisting, if she didn't sit still it was going to create an awkward moment for the both of them, especially because he didn't know anything about this place Zoro had taken him.

Zoro.

Sanji looked around curiously, swiveling his head to keep Ever from blocking his view, but even in his drunken haze it was easy to see that the vibrant head of green hair was no longer sitting next to him. The guy was such a stick in the mud.

But maybe… Sanji's eyes slowly found the mob of people gyrating against each other, half-naked bodies and bare skin dripping sweat from the heat of the dance floor dancing together like a hoard of choreographed snakes twisting together for heat and warmth. And probably company.

Do snakes care about company? Zoro's hair is green like a snake. But I guess not all snakes. Or wait—no, not all snakes are green. Where the hell did he go? Little snake went off to find himself a mate… heh… that rhymes. No it doesn't, not really.

Did he go off to find someone?

Something unpleasant curled in Sanji's stomach and suddenly the writhing, gorgeous woman that had willingly plunked herself into his lap was encroaching on his breathing space. Her smell was too sweet and her limbs were too fragile and her blood didn't even smell good—

What the fuck was he thinking?!

Sanji jolted uncomfortably and wrapped one arm around Ever's waist so that he wouldn't send her sprawling when he shot out of his seat. She shrieked at the sudden movement and clutched at his neck, making his spine shiver and he pulled as far away from her as he could while still holding her off of the ground.

The floor twisted again and Sanji stumbled slightly, catching himself on the counter as several pairs of hands flew to his shoulders to steady him. How many women had joined him? Four-thousand?

Sanji set Ever on the ground and stepped backwards, flinching as his hip hit the counter sharply and he hissed, more because he inwardly knew that it should have hurt more than it actually did. Which wasn't a good sign. Or maybe it was good, because… you know, he couldn't feel it.

"I'm-m sorry, my sweet… flower," he slurred, dipping into a sloppy bow. Close enough. "I'm af-fraid I must be going, but your stellar charm has provided me with charms of memories that I will carry in my persona forever."

I don't even understand what I'm saying right now. The thought made him snort.

"What's wrong, Sanji?" a twittering voice asked him, a delicate hand finding his shoulder.

I could probably break it pretty easily by accident right now. I never really got drunk with Zeff… dunno how much I won't know my own strength. Or whatever.

"My Amazonian princess of far of lands and all the pretty in between," Holy fuck I sound so stupid, "I'm displeased to say that I must take my leave now, something from afar calls to me."

"…Calls to you? Who's calling to you?"

Sanji smiled to himself and raised a finger to his lips. He could really go for a cigarette right now.

That might be dangerous though… some old person might have an oxygen tank lying around or something…

Do old people go to clubs?—stopping that thought right there.

Sanji leaned in to the girl that (he hoped) had been talking and lowered his voice. "Don't tell anyone, it's kind of a secret, but a prince has caught my eye and I'm shocked to say that for some reason your exquisite beauty just isn't doing it for me tonight."

And with that he strode off into the crowd with all the confidence of a drunken cow. Sanji snorted again. Drunken cow. Now that'd be funny to see.

A hand landed roughly on his shoulder and Sanji's face lit up as he was pulled around, but his smile dropped to find that the brute strength had not been, in fact, coming from the hoped source.

Where the fuck is that fucker?

"Hey, I'm Kaku."

Sanji rolled his eyeballs (no small feat) back to the man standing in front of him and unabashedly sized him up with a couple once-overs. He was tall, four inches or so over Sanji's head, with a nose that bore striking resemblance to Usopp's in the manner in which it jutted way out into Sanji's personal space. He really wanted to laugh, but something told him that would be rude. The tight grip on his shoulder though was making something deep inside of him ebb in anticipation. That same brute strength…

"You want to dance?"

The man—Kaku pulled him into the heart of the dance floor where most of the people had ended up, pressing Sanji right up against the man's chest where he could let his head loll against the man's cut shoulders and just twist his body along with the music.

…This is nice.

Kaku wrapped his hands around Sanji's waist, running his fingers up and down the cook's rib cage and making Sanji's body undulate against his control. Sanji's mouth dropped open and his breath picked up, something hot and suddenly very alive inside of him twisting and whining impatiently. The grip was tight, and when he suddenly started walking backwards Sanji was pulled along with him, stumbling around the steady feet leading him. His hands snapped up to grab the man's shoulders, just fighting to keep his feet at a point where he could take actual steps instead of being dragged along like some fainted maiden. It suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea where they were going and forced his head up to look around.

They'd made it out of the crowd of people and were drifting towards a darkened hallway lit with what Sanji guessed were black lights but gave him an odd feeling of being dragged into a cave with a monster waiting at the end for him. The hands, tight on his back, should have been reassuring, but the unpleasant chill was settling back into his stomach and a wave of cold smashed into him despite the pulsing heat of the dance floor. In the back of his mind he could feel something like a cactus prickling incessantly at his shoulder blades, but he couldn't put together at the moment what that meant.

…What is…?

Those strong hands were normally so reassuring, guiding him along and promising without the use of superfluous words that he was going to be safe. That no matter what happened, he wouldn't leave Sanji's side no matter how much danger he was in. Zoro was like a stone wall, standing up to the battering storms going for Sanji's throat and—

"Let's go into the backrooms."

Sanji blinked at the sudden voice in his ear. It was strong, and confident, but definitely, definitely not Zoro's.

Sanji yanked back, hands still on the man's shoulders to stare blankly at him and figure out what was wrong with the picture.

…

Not Zoro.

Sanji whirled suddenly and yanked himself out of the man's—err, Kaku's grip, ignoring the indignant squawk as he stalked into the… backrooms, as Kaku had called them.

Kaku looked around in confusion before following and Sanji grimaced, realizing that he thought Sanji was initiating now. It would be much easier to find Zoro if he did a process of elimination, and these "backrooms" as they were called were probably much easier to navigate than that writhing orgy of human snakes out there. Kaku fell into step behind him, a hand invasively resting on his lower back, occasionally asking where Sanji was going and what had him in such a hurry, but Sanji was too set on his task now.

Where the hell did that fucker go?

-oOo-