Title: From Here On Out
Author: AoiTsukikage
Rating: R-ish
Characters/Pairing: ZoSan, other secondary pairings
Chapter: 11/?
Word Count: 3343
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 Eleven
"Big turnout," Vivi stopped him as he was rushing by her table to re-fill the main buffet line, and he decided that Luffy (and Bonney, because damn, that girl was eating him under the table) could wait a bit, dropping his tray and sliding into the seat beside the blue-haired girl.
"Yeah," he sighed and half-collapsed on the table, exhausted from playing food runner all night. Honestly, when he'd offered up the Baratie for their Christmas party, he hadn't expected keeping the food supply going to be that much of a challenge. "It's good, though. I'm glad everybody could make it."
"So am I. It's rare we all get together these days," she primly crossed her legs and both of them watched Luffy and Bonney fighting over the last couple of chicken wings. "So? Things have been quiet?"
"Yeah," he knew she was talking about Enel. "I mean, we're still biding our time right now, but hopefully we can move soon."
"Still haven't seen what he looks like?" Kohza asked from Vivi's other side, and Sanji shook his head.
"No. Which might be the most annoying thing of all because we could pass right by him on the street and not know who he is. It's just a waiting game for the moment," he had to agree with what Kaku had said earlier, that he was also starting to get a little impatient, but he also knew that there was nothing they could do to move things along any faster right now.
"Well, if his ego's as big as they all say, I'm sure sooner or later he'll show himself," Vivi patted his arm and he had to admire her optimism, but then, she'd always been like that even though it wasn't as if her life had always been easy. "In the meantime, how about we forget all of that for tonight and just focus on having fun and hanging out?"
"Sounds good to me, my dear," Sanji inclined his head and stood, spinning the tray on his fingertips. "In the meantime, I'll get this over to the food table before they start eating the tablecloth," he waved to Vivi and Kohza with his free hand and scurried across the floor, dropping the food and barely getting his hand away before Luffy and Bonney both jumped on it.
Still, it should hold them for a while, and he was damn near run off his feet so he retreated to a table near the piano where Zoro and Usopp were having some sort of conversation, plopping down into his boyfriend's lap without preamble and ignoring Usopp's squeak at his intrusion.
"There's a chair," Zoro had already looped an arm around his waist and didn't seem all that put-out that Sanji was choosing to sit on him instead, although protesting was really just par for the course where he was concerned.
"I know. I've been working hard," he shrugged. "What are you boys discussing over here?"
"Just Usopp being worried for nothing again," Zoro looked almost amused and Usopp frowned at that.
"It's not 'nothing,' Zoro! Those…Supernovas, or whatever they call themselves, how do you know we can trust them?" he asked in a low voice and Sanji looked over to where Bonney and Luffy were still chowing away, and then to where Hawkins was apparently doing some sort of tarot reading, oblivious to everything, with Drake watching him (Sanji wondered if he was some sort of pseudo-bodyguard because, from what he'd seen, it seemed like Hawkins needed one).
"Law and Kid trust them, that's good enough for me," Zoro replied. "Besides, they're way outnumbered if they try to start anything, so just relax and enjoy yourself," he said firmly and Usopp opened his mouth to reply again when Kaya and Chopper bustled over, both of them looking a little frazzled.
"I'm so sorry, you guys, we were working on a project that ran late and then traffic was a nightmare getting into downtown," she took the spare chair and brushed her fingers through her hair, eyes wide.
"It's fine, my darling. Would you like me to grab some food for the two of you? I'm sure there's still something left in the kitchen," he offered and she nodded, Chopper throwing himself at Sanji for a quick hug before he backed off and laughed sheepishly.
"I'm starving," the boy admitted, Sanji patting his head and promising to be back soon. He nodded to Brook who was playing some sort of jazzy piece on the piano and pushed open the doors to the kitchen, relieved to see that at least nobody had gotten back there to raid the supplies yet and piling some appetizers on a plate to take out for Kaya and Chopper.
"Busy?"
"Should I be worried about you lurking back here?" he smiled at Ace, who shrugged and leaned on the counter, wincing a little.
"Nah, I'm not trying to steal food. It's just getting a little rowdy out there now that the alcohol's flowing so I decided there'd be less chance of anybody running into me here," he still looked pale and his smile wasn't quite as bright, but at least he was standing and moving around on his own.
"Can I grab you anything?"
"You're doing enough. Seriously, you should have hired some servers or something. You know what that bunch is like," he pointed out and Sanji could only agree with him because, yeah, he did.
"I can handle them," he promised, grabbing a jug of water and balancing it all. "And when we run out of food, that's it, no matter how much your brother might complain," he added, getting an eyeroll and a 'yeah, good luck with that' from the older man. He was contemplating adding some dessert so he wouldn't have to make another trip when the lights suddenly flickered, going dark for a few seconds before they popped back up.
"Power surge?" Ace asked, looking concerned, and Sanji frowned and shook his head.
"There shouldn't be, the weather's fine and we're not overloading the system, so I don't…" he stopped when he heard the sound of glass breaking from outside and something far too close to dread swept through his chest.
"Shit," Ace cursed under his breath, stumbling to the door and pulling it open.
The banquet room was still half-dark, the lights flickering ominously, and Sanji peered around the corner to see the curtains flapping from where a window had been broken. Dark figures poured through the opening.
And maybe it was because he was used to it by now, but he found himself amazingly clear-headed and knew that the first priority had to be keeping those who weren't ready to fight safe, and then looking to take down the intruders (and after that maybe figuring out how the fuck they'd gotten there in the first place, but that wasn't important right now).
"Stay in the kitchen," he said to Ace, grabbing a couple of long cooking knives from the block and spinning them to test their weight.
"Like hell I will!"
"Ace," Sanji snapped, willing the other man to let go of his stubborn streak for once and just listen, and Ace slumped back against the counter and nodded. "Stay here. I'll keep them away from the door. Everybody else will be fine."
"Be careful," Ace warned him before he snuck out of the room, the darkness providing good cover, but he'd no sooner let it swing shut behind him when the lights snapped back on and he could see the chaos the room was in.
Luckily, it didn't look like there were too many men to take down, and for whatever reason most of his friends had decided to bring their weapons with them (which, he was a little offended they didn't think he could keep a controlled environment, but then, they were right, after all).
He looked for Zoro first, making sure that he was protecting Kaya, Usopp, and Chopper, but he had his swords out and a maniacal grin on his face and Brook…well, apparently Brook's cane had a sword inside of it, which was fucking cool and also fucking useful, and he heard the displacement of air behind him before he lashed out with his foot, bending low to the floor and sweeping it up, hearing the satisfying crash of a body plowing into a table.
"Get down!"
He did, instinctively, keeping flat to the floor and trying to hide his amazement when three men that had been coming up behind him went sailing clear across the room, Marco grinning and holding out a hand to help him up.
"Holy shit," he tried not to look too impressed even though, well, he was, because damn, between walking through fire unscathed and literally flying into people Marco's phoenix reputation was well-earned.
"Hey, I'm not the only one that knows how to use height to get a jump-start on a more powerful attack," he motioned to the bar, Hancock launching herself off of it and delivering a sweeping kick that felled an entire line of men (and yeah, Sanji thought, it probably was a good thing she was on their side). Mihawk and Shanks both looked mostly bored, neither of them making a move to do anything with the fight as of yet, but Sanji knew well enough by now to recognize that it was merely a front.
"I think I could learn a lot from both of you," Sanji had no idea either of them were that proficient when it came to using their legs, but then, he was kind of grateful for it, too.
"One day. But you're pretty handy with those knives and I can't do that," Marco admitted. "Ace…"
"He's in the kitchen. Hopefully staying put," Sanji replied, seeing the relief flit across Marco's face before he was all business again.
"Good. Let's take care of these bastards," he sprinted away and Sanji turned in the other direction, spinning his knives and looking for more opponents to take down. Everybody so far seemed to be holding their own (well, Hawkins had yet to move from his spot at the table, and when Sanji darted by he idly mentioned, 'I'm not going to die today' and went back to reading his cards, but he was a special case) and Sanji scanned the room, trying to figure out who they had left to take down.
One man by the window seemed to be holding what looked like a rifle, and Sanji had a pretty good idea this was one of the weapons they were looking for (and also, if he could get his hands on it, it would mean they wouldn't need to break into the weapons cache and that would save them some trouble).
As long as he could get over there before the guy actually discharged it, of course, because it would cause some damage otherwise, and he ducked his head and started to run, hearing the unmistakeable blast of a gunshot and cursing his luck before a look up made him realize the man he was aiming for was holding his hand, howling in pain, and the rifle was on the floor.
Sanji knocked the guy out with a sold foot to the underside of his chin, grabbing the butt of the rifle and standing up fully, but from the looks of it he'd been the last man left.
"That's what we're up against, huh?" Franky wandered over, taking the gun from Sanji and peering at it. "Looks like a normal gun, but I'm guessing it's the bullets we're gonna be interested in."
"Yeah," Sanji felt a little shaky now that the adrenaline was leaving him but from what he could see nobody looked hurt, and Iceburg joined them, a pistol hanging loosely from his fingertips as Sanji realized he'd been the one to shoot the other man.
"I can take care of myself," he promised, crossing his arms. "And besides, you don't have CP9 around for years without picking up something."
"What are we doing with…." Sanji gestured to the men lying around the room and the mayor shrugged.
"Arrest them. I don't think any of them got away, which is good, because if they could report what we looked like to Enel that would be bad, but the rest of these guys will be heading straight to jail. Especially since they attacked the mayor," he added and Sanji huffed a quiet laugh at that one.
"Iceburg," Lucci looked murderous as he stalked up, hands stuffed in his pockets and Hattori grumbling on his shoulder. "After we clean up this mess, nobody leaves until we find out who sold us out."
"Rob, that's hardly…" Iceburg started but Lucci shook his head quickly.
"No. Somebody in this room, inadvertently or not, led them here. And nobody is setting one foot outside until that person confesses. Enel underestimated us, but if his men don't come back he'll at least have half an idea of our strength, and this could have turned out a lot worse if they'd have sent more men or more guns. Somebody in this room can't be trusted, and if they won't speak voluntarily, I have ways to make that happen," he scowled and turned sharply on his heel, snapping at Kaku to help him round all the men up so the police could take them away, and Sanji didn't want to even think about the prospect that one of his friends could have betrayed them.
But then, Lucci was right. Somebody did, and he wasn't looking forward to finding out who that was.
000
"We'll find them."
"I know," Sanji blew some smoke out of the broken window, grateful for it at least even if he couldn't physically leave the space, and Kaku rubbed his shoulder before stepping up next to him. "I don't want to think about it."
"I've seen my fair share of double-crossing being in this business, and it's not fun to find out people you trusted have been lying to you," he said quietly. "But better to smoke them out now so they don't cause trouble in the future."
"What a bother," Law came up on his other side, arms crossed and his nodachi held loosely in one hand, sticking up over his shoulder. "It wasn't me," he added as Sanji and Kaku both looked at him. "I'll swear it on anything. I rather like all of you, and I don't flip sides without a damn good reason. Unless you turn out to be as awful as Doflamingo…which is highly unlikely, I'm here for good."
"I know," Kaku eventually said. "And that's the problem. Everybody here has somebody to vouch for them, which is going to make it impossible and if Rob starts looking to 'make people talk' I'm going to be the one that'll have to get his mind off of the idea," he looked dismayed at the prospect.
"Get everybody together," Lucci suddenly appeared as if he'd been summoned, looking grumpier than ever although the rather sadistic gleam in his eyes was worrying.
"Rob," Kaku said slowly and Lucci paused for the briefest of seconds. "Don't do this."
"I have to. The safety of everybody here, especially our mayor, is more important than ruined friendships. You should know that," he brought his hand up to rest in the small of Kaku's back for a second or two, which was about the most comfort Sanji had ever seen him offer another person, before stalking off.
"Well, let's go, lads. Best to get this over with," he steeled his expression and set off, and Sanji trailed after, hoping against hope that it wasn't as bad as they all feared.
000
"They know this is useless, right?"
Zoro frowned, trying not to look too impatient, but he figured he was failing. Although, looking around the room, he certainly wasn't the only one.
"Yeah," Sanji replied, fingers tapping on Zoro's knee before he wrapped his arms around himself, chewing on an unlit cigarette. Zoro hadn't had much of a chance to look for him in the skirmish, but he knew he'd held his own and yeah, he was kind of proud.
And also a little sated, because he'd finally gotten to use his swords for something even if he couldn't go all-out.
"So why are we still stuck here?" he hooked his chin over the blond's shoulder, holding him securely. Even though he wasn't really that into touching by nature, Sanji seemed to need it especially after high-stress situations and Zoro could tell he was worried and that this was one of those times, even if he'd never admit it out loud.
"Lucci."
"Figures," Zoro rolled his eyes. Yeah, he wanted to know why Enel's guys had found them, and he could see why it was important, but honestly, he knew that nobody in the room had done it on purpose. They wouldn't have gotten away with it, and none of them were that stupid to think it would have turned out any differently than it did.
"We can do this all night, folks. So I suggest somebody start talking," Lucci leaned back in his chair, tie loosened and shirt collar undone and looking kind of effortlessly predatory.
Zoro took a quick glance around the rest of the room where the majority of the older crowd were either looking indifferent or annoyed, and while some of the younger ones looked a little frightened, nobody looked excessively suspicious or anxious so that wasn't going to help find the culprit.
"Nmaa, Rob, I appreciate the care you're taking with this, but it's truly not necessary. Some of us have other places to be," Iceburg was maybe the only person who could get away with calling Lucci out in that moment, but even he was frowning and idly petting the head of the tiny white mouse sticking out of his pocket, obviously impatient.
"I apologize, sir, but unfortunately it is necessary and until we…"
"I'm hungry again," Luffy spoke up out of nowhere and of course he wouldn't be afraid of Lucci at all, Zoro thought with a grin, because that was just how Luffy was.
"And I need to get Ace home," Marco looked bored, of all things, but Ace was curled up beside him and more than half-asleep although Zoro knew this time it was because he was exhausted and not his normal food-induced narcolepsy. "I think tonight was a little too much for him."
"Be that as it may, you're all suspects right now…"
"You know, I thought the difference between you and Akainu was that he believed in justice at all costs, and you were a little more human when it came down to your methods. Apparently I was mistaken."
Zoro looked at Kaku in surprise because he'd never heard him snap like that, especially not at Lucci, but he looked pissed and Zoro couldn't even blame him. There was a scuffling sound behind him and he looked over his shoulder, Sanji sitting up a little to check it out, too.
Kaya and Chopper were involved in some sort of hushed, whispered discussion, and Kaya looked terrified while Chopper looked close to tears. Eventually she straightened up, Chopper clinging to her as she cleared her throat.
And she'd always been pale, but she looked about ready to faint, her soft voice barely carrying through the large room.
"I think…Chopper and I…we think we might know what happened," she started slowly, Usopp turning to her in shock, and Zoro had to admit that she was about the last person he'd ever accuse of something like that. "A-and, if we're right…we think we have somebody that can tell us a little more about Enel."
Lucci looked ready to pounce at that but Kaku grabbed his arm, shaking his head firmly, and Zoro was a little amazed that the older man actually sat back in his chair.
"Please, explain," he said instead, obviously making an effort to restrain himself, and Kaya began to talk.
Notes:
1. I figured I'd post this for Sanji's birthday, but otherwise I don't have much to say other than that I hope people are still enjoying this :) And just a reminder that my tumblr is at kikokus (dot tumblr dot com) so if you want to chat or anything feel free to come visit!