Title:From Here On Out
Author:AoiTsukikage
Rating:R-ish
Characters/Pairing:ZoSan, other secondary pairings
Chapters:9/?
Word Count:3088
Summary:Sequel to 'This Is Your Life.' Sanji had thought that balancing real life and working to take down a new crime boss would be easier the second time around. He was wrong. Modern!AU, ZoSan primarily, other secondary pairings.
Chapter Nine
"We were just making bets on when you lot would show up!" Shanks raised his arm in a wave as they entered the bar, motioning them over to the counter. "Lemme guess, you wanna know if Akainu stopped in here to quiz me about Roger, right?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Zoro had insisted on coming along and he hopped up on a stool beside Mihawk (honestly, Sanji thought, the man never seemed to be anywhere but near Shanks, and for as different as they were it was a wonder they got on so well). "You heard about Ace?"
"Through the grapevine," Shanks replied with a shrug. "Good thing Whitebeard's boy was out here, I guess."
"You know him?" Nami questioned, leaning on the counter and peering at Shanks intently.
"Everybody knows Whitebeard," he said it as if it was a fact, and Sanji rolled his eyes because he was more than fed up with being perpetually out of the loop. "Sorry," Shanks laughed quietly. "Everybody in our generation knows Whitebeard. It's why I'm not that worried about Ace, even if Akainu's sniffing around. Marco's just too good to let anything happen to somebody he likes."
"You still haven't answered the question," Nami cut right to the point, tapping on the countertop as Shanks filled up a glass with beer and slid it to her.
"Yeah, he was here," Shanks nodded. "Didn't tell him anything, of course, but he looked pissed when he left, so I'm sure he's out trying to find the rest of Roger's bunch. He won't get anywhere," he said quickly. "Rayleigh...he was the closest to Roger, and he might be the only other person that knows he had a son, but he won't talk," Shanks sounded completely sure of this.
"What about that…clown-friend of yours?" Mihawk looked like he thought little of this person and Shanks barked a laugh.
"Buggy? Nah, don't worry about him, he has no idea who Ace is. And other than that, I can't think of anybody Akainu would be able to track down," he sounded sure and Sanji had no real choice but to trust him for the moment, so he nodded in understanding. "And if something changes and I get wind of it, I'll let you know, don't worry."
"Good," Nami sat a little more upright and downed most of her beer in one gulp, something that Sanji still was amazed by because that girl could drink any man under the table.
"Now, topic change, and I know this is probably the last thing on your mind right now, but…Christmas is coming up, and we're getting pretty booked up for parties and things, so if your crew wants to rent the bar out I need to know right away so I can reserve it for you," he offered, and Nami immediately looked to Sanji.
"Why am I always the one to make decisions?" he frowned and ran his fingers along a grain in the wood, wishing he could smoke but knowing he couldn't inside the bar.
"Because you're the one with a dad that owns a restaurant," Luffy piped up, and Sanji realized that yeah, he had a point.
"Nah, don't worry about it," he decided with a wave. "I'll get the old man to give us the Baratie for a night. He'll bitch at me about it but he'll agree eventually, and I think we've got more room in our banquet rooms than you've got here. But thanks," he added, and Shanks nodded. "And you guys are welcome, too, of course…"
"Does that include me?"
Sanji perked up at the voice and turned, trying to keep hold of himself because Hancock looked even more beautiful than the last time he'd seen her. "Of course, Miss Boa!"
"I'll be there," she promised with a smile. "And you must be Luffy! I've heard ever so much about you!" she stopped in front of Luffy, who blinked at her and looked confused before smiling nervously.
"Who does she think she is?" Nami huffed and drank the rest of her beer, and Sanji wondered why she was so defensive all of a sudden before seeing the way Hancock was staring at Luffy and getting it, as strange as it might have been. Not, of course, that Nami had anything to worry about, because Luffy was blissfully oblivious 99% of the time (and truth be told Sanji couldn't see what anybody saw in the younger man anyway).
"Are your earrings snakes? That's so cool! Lemme see…" Luffy was already making friends, like always, but for her apparent disdain for men Hancock seemed all too willing to show him, and Shanks was trying and failing to hide a smile that looked half-amused and half-horrified.
"Well, chalk that up as one of the weirdest things I've ever seen," Zoro muttered in his ear and Sanji snickered and leaned back against his boyfriend. "Seriously, what is it with that kid? Not that I want women falling all over me or anything, but…"
"I was just wondering the same thing," Sanji grunted, although he noticed that Nami was still looking far too down and put a hand on her back. "Don't worry about him, Nami-san. You know he has no idea."
"Yeah. Of course," she held up her glass to ask for a refill and her smile still looked half-hearted, but he knew she'd be okay. His phone buzzed in his pocket then and he pulled it out to glance at it, looking back at Zoro.
"What is it? Trouble?"
"Don't think so. Law sent me an address and said we should meet him there later because he's got something to give to us, but it doesn't sound urgent," he tapped out a quick reply and put it away, hoping that maybe this time it'd be good news and not more premonitions of death and destruction.
000
"Hey, Heart! Cap! Your boys're here!" the woman who'd opened the door of the rather run-down little row house was pretty, Sanji supposed, although she was gnawing on a turkey leg with a ferocity that Luffy could have easily matched. She flipped her long pink hair over her shoulder and sighed, brandishing the leg at Zoro and Sanji before moving inside and letting them follow.
"Oh, good, you made it," Law looked up from where he was bent over a large piece of parchment on a table, sword slung over his shoulder.
"I'm assuming you're 'Heart', which makes sense, but…" Sanji cocked his head to the side and Kid laughed.
"Yeah, we use code names sometimes; it's easier to pretend to be somebody you're not that way. But 'Cap' is just short for 'Captain;' Bonney here thought it'd be cute to name me after a pirate," Kid grinned and crossed his arms, leaning back against the table.
"After Captain Kidd, I get it," Sanji walked closer and looked down at the paper, seeing that it was a large map of some sort.
"Anyway, this is Bonney," Kid pointed to the woman, who brandished the turkey leg at them again. "And that's Drake," he gestured to a man wearing a hat that pretty much shadowed his eyes, but he looked a few years older than the rest of them. "And Basil Hawkins," this for a man with long blond hair and rather strange facial tattoos who was turning over tarot cards, and Sanji thought it was nice to finally put a face to the name since Hawkins had been helping them out.
Well, trying to help them out, but that was Sanji's own fault that it didn't work.
"What is this? Your base of operations?" Zoro still looked wary but Sanji knew that was just his default in a strange environment.
"More or less. We needed somewhere inconspicuous, especially since we're getting more well-known," Law scribbled something on the map before straightening up. "If you ever hear people whispering about the Supernovas, that's us."
"Good to know," Zoro had his hand braced on his katana and Sanji wanted to roll his eyes, because it was such an obvious show of bravado and entirely unnecessary.
"You can relax, Mr. Roronoa. You're safe here," Law looked amused and Zoro shrugged, not moving his hand. "Well, have it your way. I can't blame you for being cautious."
"So what did you call us here for?" Sanji peered at the map and Law pointed to a rather large shaded-in square.
"That's where Enel's operating from, as near as we can tell. These ones," he pointed to three other squares that were surrounding the main one, "are where he's keeping his weapons. And this is where we are," he indicated another room nearly off the edge of the map. "He's picked a good spot, there's only really one way in or out of the tunnels there and the entrance is under a building that's always under guard. So we've got our work cut out for us if we even want to disarm him, let alone actually find him and arrest him," Law reached to roll up the map and held it out. "We've got another copy here but if you could get that to Mr. Iceburg somehow that'd be helpful. I want to avoid any of us being seen around City Hall in case some of the people we're trying to get information from see it."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Sanji nodded and stuck the map under his arm.
"Just not tomorrow," Hawkins spoke up and Sanji turned to him. "Any other day this week will be fine but avoid going there tomorrow."
"And listen to him this time," Drake had a wryly amused grin on his lips but his eyes were still shadowed so it was hard to tell what his expression meant. "He's saved my hide more than a few times with those psychic skills of his, so I'd trust him."
"I will," Sanji promised, because he was never going to overlook or forget Hawkins' warnings again.
"Speaking of, I'm going out scouting," Hawkins stood up abruptly and Sanji thought absently that he seemed a little…well…spaced-out, and wondered if it was a good idea for him to go out by himself. "I'm not going to die today," he announced before leaving the room, his long coat swirling around his feet, and Drake sighed and stood up.
"I'll make sure he doesn't wander into a hole or something," his tone implied that he did this a lot.
"And I'm out of food," Bonney was looking rather despondently at the bone she was holding. "So I'm gonna go fix that. Nice meeting you," she waved at Sanji and Zoro before taking off.
"And you were saying CP9 is full of weirdos?" Zoro raised an eyebrow and turned to Kid, who shrugged.
"Eh, well, maybe I'm just used to these idiots. Besides, I don't have much to do with them other than the fact we all use this as a base. I've got my own men. Speaking of, I've gotta go meet Killer, so can you hold the fort for an hour or two?" he looked toward Law, who nodded vaguely and was looking at another map he'd unfurled.
"I'll be here," Law replied, eyes flicking up before he looked down again, and Kid shifted from foot to foot without making any more to actually leave.
"You know it's just us, right?" Zoro had finally taken his hand off of his katana and was standing with his arms crossed. "And you know that we know you're together."
"Ah, fuck it," Kid stalked across the floor and grabbed Law by the collar of his jacket, hauling him up into a kiss. He pulled away after a few seconds, Law looking rather stunned, and nodded at all of them before leaving.
"Well, then," Law blinked owlishly and then shook his head as if to clear it. "I'm…ah…"
"So, do you want us to wait with you?" Sanji decided that changing the subject would probably be for the best, because while he and Zoro weren't really big on PDA themselves, he really couldn't understand this whole 'I'm going to pretty much ignore you or at least act like we're barely acquaintances in public' mentality a lot of his friends seemed to have when it came to relationships.
The smile Law gave him after that was grateful, regardless. "If you don't mind, I wouldn't say no to the company."
"Yeah, I've got nothing better to do," Zoro flopped down on the couch that Hawkins had been sitting on and put his feet up on the low coffee table, eyes already sliding closed (the man could sleep anywhere) as Sanji busied himself with poring more carefully over the map Law had given him.
000
"Nmaa, this is very useful," Iceburg spread out the map on a large drafting table, rubbing his chin and pointing to where Enel's base was supposedly located. It was two days later, although Sanji didn't know if anything had happened at City Hall the day before to warrant them staying away, but he was hardly going to tempt fate again. "I know where that is. We used to…"
"Yeah, man, I thought Tom was gonna kill us when we scouted out those tunnels as teenagers," Franky pushed up his sunglasses and grinned, leaning forward a little so he could see better. "But those guys are right, Sanji-bro, it's the perfect spot to operate from."
"Which means we're fucked?" Zoro guessed with a raise of one eyebrow. "I mean, if we can't get in or out safely…"
"We have to draw him out," Sanji was chewing on the end of an unlit cigarette. "Not yet, obviously, but at some point he's gonna have to make a move, and that's when we hit him."
"Until then, we can focus on the weapons caches," Iceburg pointed. "That one especially is close to a manhole, so it would be easy for somebody to slip in. I assume he'll either have guards or some kind of locked doors, but we'll figure that out as we go."
"Yeah, it'd be super if one of you could get your hands on one of those electric guns. I could take it apart and see exactly how it works and we'd have an easier time dealin' with them," Franky grinned and Sanji could see the merit in that, so he nodded.
"I'll talk to Law about it. After I talk to Zeff about renting the Baratie for Christmas," he sighed and tried to remember if that was all he had to do, but since he was working the next day he'd bring it up then. "What's the mayoral policy on attending Christmas parties?"
"The mayoral policy is that the mayor can do what he wants, and since I'll be well-protected, I don't think anybody will have issues with it," Iceburg decided. "And it's not as if I can't take care of myself."
"I think we're all pretty good at taking care of ourselves," Franky looked smug at that one.
"Shanks offered his bar, but I thought the Baratie would be safer just in case. Upper floor and all that," Sanji pointed out. He wasn't that worried, but it was his home turf and he felt more at ease there anyway.
"I assume CP9 is invited as well?" Iceburg looked amused and Sanji snorted.
"Yeah, if they want to come. Just…maybe no outside guests, so if they're part of our little group or whatever I don't have a problem with it," he shrugged. "Besides, can you imagine the shit Kaku would give me if I told him he couldn't come?" he chuckled and Iceburg nodded knowingly.
"Good. And I'm sorry we're using you as some sort of message-runner, but Law is right in saying that he shouldn't really be seen around City Hall and you're kind of a safe middle-man for the moment," he looked as if he was going to ask Sanji to send a message in return, which the blond was more than okay with.
"So you want him to see if the entrance nearest to that weapons cache is guarded?" he pointed to the one farther from Enel's base, and Iceburg nodded.
"Yes. I want to know how over-confident this man is, and whether or not he's even going to suspect that we know where he's hiding away. I'm sure you've heard by now, but Doflamingo wasn't taken down by luck and not even CP9's good enough to conjure locations out of thin air," he smiled thinly and Sanji nodded.
"Yeah. I know Law was behind that whole thing, but from what I'm getting we don't have an in with Enel like that, or even the way I had with Gin helping us out where Krieg was concerned. So we're kind of flying blind," he didn't particularly like that idea, but there wasn't much they could do about that for the moment.
"We'll figure it out. It sounds like these Supernovas or whatever they're calling themselves all know what they're doing," Zoro put in, leaning over the map himself and blinking down at it.
"Why are you looking at the map? You're hopeless with directions," Sanji nudged the other man with his elbow and Zoro rolled his eyes. "Well, you are. I swear I've seen this guy turn left when the GPS tells him to go right," he added, and Franky clapped Zoro on the back and laughed.
"Seriously, bros, you two are like an old married couple already," he winked and leaned back in his chair and Sanji cleared his throat.
"Fine, I'll let you handle the maps," Zoro rolled his eyes but Sanji saw he was smiling, and well, as much as he trusted Zoro to watch his back and to take care of himself, but when it came to going the right way? Yeah, it was better if he was in charge of that.
"Good," he nodded and turned back to the table.
"Nmaa, so I can keep this?" Iceburg gestured to the map, and Sanji nodded.
"Yeah. Law's got another copy, at least, and it means more to you than it does to me anyway," he decided.
"Good. We'll make plans to move as soon as the Admirals leave town," Iceburg looked rather grave and even Franky seemed to be taking all of this more seriously than he usually did.
Sanji figured that was probably a good thing, because it paid to be cautious, but a bigger part of him was wondering just how much danger they were actually in.
Notes:
1. Not much to say this time, but thank you to everybody that's reviewed :)