ok second chapter! here is where i finally started with 'planning' what i was going to write. (at least in the last half i did)
i hope you guys like it. like always reviews are very welcome!
Chapter 2 – Ashes
White steam covered the mirror as Nami stepped out of the shower. Her long orange hair sticked to her back and tiny transparent droplets clung at the tips for seconds before they fell down onto the blue tiles of her bathroom floor or trailed down her skin.
She took the white towel that she had placed by the sink, wrapped it around her body and tapped barefooted to the window.
It was a nice morning with birds chirping happy songs and the sun warming the concrete of the streets. A cat, white with black dots on its fur, stretched and then rolled down at the roof again, it's yellow eyes blinking at Nami twice before closing.
Nami smiled. It should feel nice to be able to lay in the sun like that the whole day. No worries, no obligation, just laziness and peace. If ever she were to give a second life, it should be as a cat. Not that she was old enough to think about stuff like death already.
A orange lock was winded around her index finger. She stared at it.
No, she was still young and had a lot of plans for her future, even though it wasn't like she didn't knew that death could always await at the next corner.
Ace and Luffy -for example- were so close to lose everything. Even their lifes and Nami was very aware of that.
Now they were probably sitting at the table of Zoro's living room with the green haired idiot beside them, staring at empty plates with wide eyes as the Portgus brothers devoured everything within their reach.
'Next time let me know when someone lives in my apartment. Z.'
Nami had to roll her eyes right after reading Zoro's SMS in the morning. Truthfully spoken, she had awaited an enraged call, a speech on her voice mail, everything but that. She felt like she had forgotten how her best friend was and this was just so Zoro that she had to roll her eyes at him. And at herself.
"Next time you better answer, when I call you, idiot." she had hissed at the display of her mobile and then had thrown it back on her bed, where it was still laying when she came back from the bathroom.
It was a pity that she had not been able to see Luffy's reaction to encounter their friend back with them. Ace's too, she thought, but what's done was done and she couldn't change it. More rewarding now, was the thought of everyone coming together to celebrate Zoro's return. It had been a long time since their last big party and since she had won in one of their infamous drinking battles.
Nami took her mobile from the covers and stroked over the display. A tiny red number blinked over the symbol of her inbox and when she opened it a smile stretched her lips apart.
'My swan, here's the song for the new choreo today. I dearly hope you enjoy it. With love – Mr. Prince'
Under the text was a music file with a green play button and as soon as her finger hit the touchscreen, music filled her bedroom. It was a catchy song and soon Nami found herself wiggling a little to the beat. When the female voice hit the refrain Nami laughed. Today's choreography was going to be awesome.
The girl walked over to her wardrobe, humming the song from the message. She played it two times more while she dressed herself in a tight strapless black top and blue jeans and when she left for breakfeast she was still humming to herself.
The cat on the roof yawned and slowly changed position. The sun still warmed its fur and the silence surrounding it was only disturbed by the girl's singing voice. It was nice and the song kind of catchy. Not that the cat with white fur and black dots even cared.
„I told you to eat more slowly, damn it!" Ace patted his younger brother's back, who was coughing harshly to get his air ways free again. „You're gonna die some day like that, Lu!"
Zoro snorted. He sat opposite from the two of them. Like that it was easier for him to fight off two pair of hands of his plate.
„You're no better, though."
Ace had some bread crumbs on his cheek and the green haired young man was sure he could see some bacon sticking between his black strands.
„Still eating like you're starving, huh?" Zoro said. A smirk playing at his lips and Luffy coughed up some cereals right into his face. The smirk vanished immediately with that. In its stead a vein throbbed threateningly on his forehead.
Ace lunged out for a punch to Zoro's chin as the latter did the same to slam Luffy's face onto the table and as both fists hit their goal the fight at the dining table erupted again.
At the end Luffy was laying under the table his cheeks stuffed with bacon, bread and cereals while both older man were about to rip apart a package of cheese.
Zoro let go of the package abruptly, which made Ace slam back into his chair with a loud yelp.
„Asshole!" he yelled but Zoro just laughed. Yeah, a calm silent life was really impossible with the Portugs brothers.
„Oi, Zoro." Luffy ducked out of his hiding place, his mouth still full of food. „You gonna eat that bacon?"
While he spoke some tiny pieces of the content of his mouth sprayed all over the table.
"Close your mouth, damn it!" Ace who had recovered from the fight over the cheese with Zoro reached out and slammed Luffy's face into the table just like Zoro had done before.
The young boy stayed like that munching on the remains of his food and Zoro sighed. Idiots.
„Uhm...by the way. Luffy." he said with a quick glance at the clock ticking at the kitchen counter. „Shouldn't you get ready for school?"
Luffy was one of the youngest of their little group, together with Chopper and Usopp. Means that he and the other two were still finishing their education, even if Usopp and Luffy didn't seem to take it very seriously like Chopper did.
The brown haired 'kid', as Zoro -affectionaly- called him had already skipped two years and was now in the same class as the two lazy idiots. One more year and they would graduate if Zoro had calculated right.
Two years ago Zoro used to kick them whenever they had tried to exploit Chopper's kindness and his intelligence, like trying to make him do their homework. He had asked Nami to do the same during his absence and she had promised to take care of it,
Zoro felt a tiny pang of sadness as his thoughts wandered over to the young boy. Chopper had looked up to him and he had left. Without any excuse, without saying anything.
„Fuck! What time is it?!" Luffy yelled and jumped up from the table, nearly hitting a glass from the edge and breaking it, hadn't Ace caught it in the last second.
„Forget it! You won't make it anyway." the older Portgus grunted and lifted himself back into a straight position again „Stay."
Luffy looked at him with wide eyes and stuffed cheeks. He resembled a hamster like that. It wasn't unusual to compare him to that animal.
„Really?" he mumbled.
„Yeah." Ace put the glass down and glanced over to Zoro. „You won't be able to concentrate either way. Plus I don't want to deal with your whining when you get punished by the teacher for coming late." He waved at his younger brother dismissively and Luffy sat down beside him again, continuing to munch on his food. ."You're such a crybaby, really."
At that Luffy stopped his munching and hit Ace's side with his elbow. No good move in retrospect as the older Portgus crashed his face on the table again.
„So Zoro." Ace continued, his hand still pressed on Luffy's head. The boy tried to fight back and pushed himself upwards with his hands flat on the surface of the brown wood but Ace had always been stronger than him. His chances of winning were less than zero.
„You still haven't explained yourself."
„Huh?"
Ace rested his chin on his free hand.
„Why you're back now, if you're going to stay..." he said, a smirk stretching his lips as Luffy mumbled something against the hard surface he was pressed against that sounded like defeat. „Why didn't you let us know that you were coming back, man?"
„A party!" Luffy yelled with the first breath he took after Ace had given him free.
„We could have thrown a welcome back party." Ace added as an explanation for the words of his younger brother. „With lots of booze. So why?"
The greenhaired man dropped his gaze from his friend's faces. His hand at the handle of his cup shook a little but Zoro was sure they wouldn't notice if he rose it just fast enough to take a sip from his chocolate.
It had just been a matter of time until he had to give some answers. Yes, he knew that. But he wasn't ready. Not yet at least. He wasn't ready to talk about the past two years and avoiding answers would just lead to more questions and he didn't want to deceive his friends. Not when they really deserved some answers. But not yet.
Zoro sighed and Ace was worried when it sounded more defeated than anything else.
„Circumstances..." his friend said, slow and soft. Zoro had not lifted his gaze to meet theirs again. He was just staring at the cup on the table in front of him.
„What circumstances?" Luffy asked. His older brother at his side leaned back a little and crossed his arms at his chest.
„Luffy. I'm sorry but thi-" Zoro didn't come any further with his answer as a mobile started to ring and the black haired boy jumped up and disappeared into Zoro's old training room in a flash.
Ace and Zoro could hear that it was Usopp who had called to know why Luffy wasn't were he was supposed to be. At school.
The green haired one sighed again and rose the cup to his lips, but then he saw that Ace never had averted his eyes from his face. The freckled man was still staring at him, silently. His dark eyes were attentive and waiting. Waiting for Zoro to continue what he had started to say before Luffy had left them.
„I don't want to talk about it." Zoro said after a while.
„I know." Ace's eyes were still fixed on his face. The smirk he wore just minutes ago while teasing his young baby brother had been replaced by a smile. It was softer and a lot sadder. „Nami told me."
„What?"
„I pressured her to tell me. What did you expected when you left just like that." It wasn't a question, more a statement, accusing him of not knowing his friends better. But it wasn't like that, Zoro just had had no time to think.
„Thank you for not telling anyone else then." His gaze fell back down on the table. „For not telling Luffy."
A tiny part of the sadness in Ace's smile melted away. „You know how he is. As long as he knows that you're okay he stops asking too much. Luffy will wait for you to give him answers. Unlike me." he said and Zoro nodded.
Luffy had always been that way. The first time Zoro had really noticed how mature his young friend was in some aspects, had been when he saw his behaviour around Nami a few years ago. Nami and her sister got into a difficult and pretty dangerous situation, which had her lose all her hard earned money and savings to safe the people she loved from losing everything. It was a price she had been ready to pay, but it wasn't enough. And as everyone had watched Nami sink deeper and deeper into desperation Luffy had just waited.
For the girl it had been a fight; her alone against the world and she had been losing it.
Luffy had waited, even when Nojiko, Nami's sister had shown up to beg for his help he had waited until Nami herself realized that shouldn't be fighting alone. She had been broken, crying, so young and so lost and Luffy had picked her up. He had helped her back to her feet and had promised to save her. From then onward Zoro was ready to follow the boy- to wherever he would lead them.
Luffy's muffled laughter brought his mind back to his apartment, with Ace still sitting in front of him with a face more serious than what Zoro was used from the Portgus.
„So how are you?" Ace asked.
Zoro stayed silent for seconds, seriously thinking about the question when he looked up to meet the other man's eyes.
„Had been better, to be honest. But I will be okay." he said and he spoke the truth.
Ace seemed to be statisfied with his answer and stuffed a croissant into his mouth. One of the last remains of the fierce battle over breakfeast.
„And you?"
The freckled man stopped every movement, his shoulders tensed and slowly his eyebrows pulled together into a frown.
Ace glanced towards the closed door of the training room and than back to Zoro. When he spoke again his voice was lower, merely above a whisper as if he tried everything to avoid anyone from listening to what he was about to say. And the only other person in this apartment was Luffy, his younger brother.
„I told you, our house burnt down, right?"
Zoro nodded.
„Luffy does not necesarrily need to know what i am going to tell you." Ace stared down at his fingers. He was gripping the table's edge so hard that the skin underneath his fingernails was turning white.
Zoro leant forward and slid the empty cup beside. He was getting worried. If Ace was trying to keep something from his younger brother so desperately it was to protect Luffy.
„A few weeks before you left, Water Seven had been the target of some crazy arsonist. Maybe you saw some news about it?" Ace asked and continued when Zoro nodded.
„They just reported about the last three incidents though. Before the big ones there were already fires occurring outside of central. Just little ones, nobody got hurt in there."
Ace hands turned into fists and the tension in his shoulders were clearly visible now for the man sitting opposite of him.
„While you were away there were four more, the last three at places I used to visit regulary and at home." Zoro's eyes turned wide. Ace eyes were hard when he met Zoro's and the green haired man was shocked when he saw something like fear in them.
„Police says I might be a target." Ace said. His voice portraying too much emotion and tension and the worries in Zoro's head exploded. This was no joke. Ace wasn't kidding him.
„What the fuck?" Zoro hissed „What the fuck, Ace?!"
„Zoro. I need you to listen, okay?" Zoro didn't like the expression the dark eyes staring at him had. „I live in your apartment right now. Nami literally locked me in here and I didn't say anything but you are back and..."
The fear in Ace's eyes made the other man more furious than anything else. He could feel the anger swelling in his chest, ready to burst out and fight everything that had caused this pain.
„If I really am a target of that bastard, whoever it is, I am putting you and Luffy and maybe everyone around me in danger."
There Zoro got what Ace was about to say.
„Ace." he hissed but he was interrupted.
„If you want me to leave, I will." It sounded defeated. Something Zoro never wanted to hear in the tone of his friend's voice.
„Ace." he said again, this time louder than his first attempt to stop the older Portgus.
„But please let Lu stay here." Ace continued, ignoring him completely. „I don't want him to worry over something like that."
„Shut the fuck up!"
Ace stared at him. His eyes were wide and his mouth hanging open, like Zoro's reaction was not something he had expected which made Zoro even angrier.
„What the fuck made you even think that I will throw you out after you told me that?!" He was nearly yelling, his voice gaining volume with every word. „You will stay here. Together with Luffy where I can look out for you and your idiot freckled face, man. You're an idiot for thinking Luffy wouldn't be worried you just suddenly leave him here alone."
After a second of surprised Ace had recovered and jumped up to slam both hands on Zoro's mouth to get him silent, but Zoro pushed back. „What the fuck are you even thinking?!"
„God damn it, Zoro!" Ace hissed at him with a pleading look. „Shut up! He will hear you!"
„And what the fuck is wrong with that?!" Zoro continued without lowering his voice. „He is your brother!"
„That's exactly why I want him to stay out of this!" Ace pressed Zoro's head down, looking hastily towards the door of the room where Luffy was still loudly talking to Usopp. „Please, Zoro. I don't want him to suffer because of me."
The desperation in his voice made Zoro stop his struggling against the hold of his friend. He looked up into his face and what he saw made the anger soften with worry. He never wanted to see him like that. Not the strong Portgus, the older, idiot brother and his dear friend.
Ace slipped back onto his seat as he saw Zoro stopping his struggles. His shoulders dropping, his back lax with defeat.
„What happened there, Ace?" Zoro asked. Carefully lowering himself back on his chair.
Ace looked up at him.
„That night..." he started with nothing but a whisper and Zoro strained his ears a little. „The fire at our house...I was so close to losing him, Zoro. So damn close. I try not to think about what could have happened but there's no helping it, man."
Everyone had been of witness of the strong bond the Portgus brothers shared. Both of them were equally important to each other, both of them trying to protect each other from everything that could harm the other one. Zoro had seen it so many times. Most of it, it had been Ace who kicked Luffy out of the danger zone but the moments it had been otherwise were stuck in his memory deeper than those.
Zoro had seen Luffy waiting with dinner for his brother, which meant a lot considering it was Luffy they were talking about. Then at some nights when Ace came back home, totally exhausted from work and university and crashed on the couch, Luffy had put a blanket over him and some nights he even snuggled close to Ace's warm body and fell asleep just like that. They were inseparable, the more worrying it was when Ace thought about leaving Luffy alone for his protection.
„That's not all, is it?"
Ace cradled his head in his hands and shook it slowly. „I thought I did lose him there for a moment." he said with a thick voice and Zoro knew how close the man must be to tears.
„When I got him outside, he wasn't moving. There was so much smoke and he was laying there and I only thought of getting him out of the house. He wasn't moving, Zoro." Ace's shoulders shook, his voice breaking at the last sentence.
„Nami was there, too. I can't remember much of it but from what she told me I must have looked miserable." a gasped laughs escaped his friend's trembling lips and Zoro sunk into his seat a little more.
„I remember holding him. I was so sure he wasn't breathing, that he was gone but then she was there. She got me to let Lu go, so that a doctor could take a look at him and thank god that she did. I was so sure I had lost my baby brother. It was so close."
As Ace spoke, Zoro imagined the scene Nami had encountered when she had arrived at the burning house. He could see Ace sitting on the concrete with Luffy cradled in his arms with so much sorrow that he didn't allow anyone to get closer to the body of his younger brother. Nami must have knelt beside him, whispering worried words as the older Portgus pressed his brother to his chest, his face black with ash and sweat and tears.
He felt devasted. He hadn't been there, plagued by his own worries at that time surely but he felt guilty again for being absent in the moments he had been needed the most. He saw Ace, bending under his sorrow and fear and he hadn't been there.
All he could do was watch as one of his closest friend was breaking silently at his dining table.
The police in Water Seven wasn't the best on earth's surface. The friend and helper of society was corrupt, egoistic, cold-hearted and ignorant and everyone knew better than to trust the black uniform when they saw them.
Everyone knew exactly when to avoid them but also when to make use of them.
On it's streets money had more worth than moral or justice.
Zoro stood in front of the 'Louge Town' police station in the east side of the city, a nickname from a story which was well-known in the whole city.
In the story 'Louge Town' was a tiny city somewhere in nowhere. The people living there had a peaceful life. Young girls could walk the streets at night without fear, kids could play in dark alleys without their parents worrying themselves sick and nobody had to walk around with their bag pressed to their body in fear someone could steal it because of one simple reason; The city was protected by its police.
No criminal was allowed to roam free in their city, no crime was left unpunished.
Even the worst criminal one could ever imagine, had no chance against the police force of Louge Town. In the legend he was arrested the moment he had set foot on their streets and sentenced to death three days later. The legendary three days of remorse.
The police station in the east side of Water Seven with Captain Smoker as the head was trusted by everyone. The people working there had devoted themselves to justice and kept the promise they had made to society. They felt a great obligation of protecting their city and it's civilians, so much that everyone felt they were worthy enough to carry the name of the legendary city.
Following the example in the story, every criminal brought to the east station had three days of remorse where they had time to confess what they had done, before they were taken to face the jury.
As Zoro opened the heavy door of 'Louge Town' two pair of eyes settled on him. Seconds later two paired yells and two pairs of arms wrapped around his body and Zoro rolled his eyes. He hadn't expected anything else from Johnny and Yosaku.
„Aniki!" they screamed in unison, tears and snot streaming down their twisted faces. One of them had black hair and sunglassed, which he wore no matter what weather they had and the other one a bald head with a red bandana wrapped around it. Both of them were older than the green haired man being currently wrapped in their tight hug.
„Yo." Zoro grunted, wiggling himself free as he pressed their wet faces away from his jacket. Too late, he noticed annoyed and a little bit disgusted, it was already drenched with their... fluids.
„You are back, aniki!" Johnny and Yosaku said again in unison, both of them laying at Zoro's feet, wiping away their tears as they tried to control themselves.
The three of them shared a backstory but it was not very interesting and there wasn't much to say about it just that, after some bar fights where Zoro had been able to let some frustration out, the two police newbies had started to call Zoro their Aniki. Zoro hadn't even really known what it meant before he had asked Koshiro about it.
„We were so worried, Aniki!" Yosaku wailed as he ran a hand over his face trying to stop the tears from flowing out. He wasn't really successful. Neither was Johnny as he just nodded at Yosaku's words. „Were have you been?"
Zoro glanced at their faces shortly. Then, without answering their question he sighed and opened his mouth, just to be stopped by the sight of a broad chested man standing at the next door frame a few feet away.
A cigar was dangling between the man's clenched teeth, more in the front pockets of the jacket from the black police uniform. It hung open, revealing a white shirt stretched over proud muscles and tucked under the black belt of the man's trousers. Gray hair adorned the top of his head in an unruly mess, hinting the age the man had just slightly.
The expression on his face was hard, his eyes, which had grown wider a bit at seeing Zoro the only clue of what the man may be feeling at the moment.
„Smoker." Zoro said.
Johnny and Yosaku jumped up from the floor and rose their hands in a salute immediately after Zoro had announced the presence of their boss. Tears dried away in seconds and Zoro could say he was a little bit proud of seeing that the two retards he knew from two years ago had matured at least a little.
„Greenie." Smoker answered, his tone flat and empty of any emotion.
„Don't call me that." Zoro countered with the same tone. Johnny and Yosaku glanced at him sideways and Zoro knew what they must be thinking. The Zoro both of them knew from two years ago would have leashed out at Smoker's nickname, but he had changed. A lot more than the two of them had.
Smoker seemed to have noticed that too. The man turned around after looking Zoro up and down and walked away. He was limping slightly.
Zoro followed, leaving Johnny and Yosaku behind. Both of them relaxed a little and shot their friend worried looks as the he disappeared from their sights. Zoro didn't turn around.
The police station didn't change in the past few years. The same weird boring paintings of landscapes and houses were adorning the corridors with the white walls and white doors. At each door he saw the same glass plates with the same names printed with black ink on them. The door beside the one with Smoker's name and position had been left open and Zoro closed it behind his back after he had entered the office.
„So you are back." A hoarse voice said when the door clicked close.
Zoro who had directed his eyes towards the floor rose his head to meet Smoker's gray ones. „As you can see." he said flatly.
Smoker smirked and Zoro relaxed.
„Sit." the older man ordered and lighted another cigar, nodding to the empty chair in front of his desk. Zoro slipped out of his jacket and folded it over the arm rest before he sat down. „Since when are you back then?"
„Yesterday." Zoro answered, leaning back a little.
„And then you immediately come by to see your uncle Smoker?" Smoker breathed thick white smoke into his face and Zoro frowned. „Seems like Koshiro was finally able to train his little watch dog."
The green haired clicked his tounge as he waved his hand in the air to get the white smoke away. Koshiro and Smoker weren't really related, not by blood anyway. Still they knew each other since they were little kids and Koshiro seemed to have played an important role in Smoker's steep ascent in career, even if neither of them had ever told Zoro about that in detail. He just knew that Koshiro was one of the reasons Smoker had been able to get 'Louge Town' its independence from the other police stations.
Smoker had tried to move Zoro to become a member of the police when he was still a little kid, training under Koshiro. There was even a time when Zoro had admired the police officer more than he had his mentor but that had been just a short phase.
The officer had always had a weak spot for kids as he had always come to visit Koshiro and his tiny family and even demanded the kids to call him uncle. Koshiro had laughed when Zoro had asked him if Smoker was one of those souls with a hard outside and a soft inside Koshiro had told him about. Zoro was pretty sure that this was still the case with Smoker.
„So how is he?" the older man asked.
Zoro stared at him, his back became a tense straight line suddenly. Smoker had been the only one beside Nami -and also Ace- who had known why Zoro left Water Seven in such a hurry. Not because Zoro had told him, but because Koshiro had. When he had been in the condition to do so.
„Not good." Zoro answered and Smoker frowned at the tone in his voice. It was too flat, too empty of emotion and Smoker knew better than to let it slip.
„And how are you?"
The tension in Zoro's body increased visibly. It spread from his back over his shoulders to his neck. The young man was fighting against something and Smoker could see how tired he was from always being on his guard. He knew that the youngster before him was close to burst, just a tiny bump and he would explode.
But just when Smoker was about to say something, Zoro leaned back and took a deep breath. His eyes were closed and slowly his shoulders relaxed. The tension melted away just like that, not everything vanished but Zoro seemed to be able to gain some control back. And Smoker just watched.
„That's not why I am here." Zoro said after a while. His breathing and tone controlled as he crossed his arms over his chest and glanced over to the captain.
Smoker raised an eyebrow, but Zoro felt that the man wasn't that surprised as he tried to make him believe.
They stared at each other for a while and Zoro could hear the seconds tick by from the clock hanging over the door behind him. Then Smoker sighed, his hand reaching down to one of the drawers from his wooden desk. It was an old piece of furniture and the wood creaked as he opened the third and last at the bottom.
The file he took out of it had no red stamp on it, also no name was written on the lines at the front. Zoro reached out as soon as Smoker put the brown file down on the surface of his desk but stopped when he saw that the deputy had no plans of sliding it over to him. Smoker was watching at him with gray thoughtful eyes.
„I'm sure your old man wouldn't appreciate this." he said hoarsely, his hand still on top of the file. „He was worried enough when you witnessed the fire that night."
Zoro stayed silent. His eyes fixed on Smoker's gray ones, not flinching away once.
„Promise me something, Greenie." Slowly he opened the file „Don't sniff around on your own and let the police do their work."
„Because they are so capable." Zoro all but snorted and Smoker stopped in his motion of sliding the file over for him to see.
„Don't underestimate Louge Town, boy." he said. His tone switched warningly and Zoro mumbled his excuse as he reached out to snatch away the file. Smoker let him and the green haired man slipped the papers on his lap.
Smoker's cigar had grown shorter as they talked and he was lightening another one with the old still in his mouth. „The house of your friend Portgus was the last one this month." he spoke clearly, even with two thick smoking cigars clenched between his teeth. „Fire spread out in minutes, when the fire department arrived they could just stop the fire from spreading to the neighbours. The house was lost."
Zoro flipped through the loose papers until he found what he had searched for. The report of the arson inspector. His eyes scanned the neatly written phrases, his eyes hardening with every new word and his fingers gripping the edges of the paper harder with every familiar detail.
„Your friends were lucky to get out of there alive."
Zoro didn't look up, just started to read the next page of the report and then suddenly he stilled every movement.
„Oi..." the green haired man gulped, his voice had become too hoarse and his throat too tight. „This is..."
„Do you think I would have given you the file if this had no connection to that night?" Smoker bend forward a little until his elbows were resting on the wooden desk. „It's the same procedure on every scene."
Zoro gulped again as memories resurfaced in front of his mental eye. Flames climbing higher and higher into the night sky as he had fallen on his knees helplessly in front of the crumbling building.
„We can assume that every fire was caused by the very same person that you saw there."
Once again Zoro breathed in slowly and deep, the air felt cold and fresh. Winter was coming and Zoro let a soft smile tuck at his lips. He liked Winter better than any other season. Especially when he was in Water Seven with all its tiny rivers and bridges.
The air filling his lungs felt lighter, not humid and thick like in Summer.
Zoro breathed out and his shoulders slacked, the complete opposite of the tension they held when he was still sitting at Smoker's desk.
When the green haired man had entered the office it had felt so familiar. He had spent a few hours in there when he had still been living in the city two years ago and even before that. Nothing had changed at all and just for a second Zoro let down his guard, the thick walls he had built around himself thin and weak and Smoker was about to look right trough them. Maybe he did.
Zoro cursed himself. The office, Smoker, the smell of his cigars, everything should have had made him more alert, more careful. Instead he had just let the atmosphere of the past slip inside his mind to wake up memories of the times where everything had still been okay. Memories where he had seen himself laughing, running in the garden, training under a blue sky.
And then everything had turned dull.
Smoker knew Koshiro and Smoker knew Zoro. He should have known to be more careful around the captain.
„Why such a long face?"
Zoro looked up at the voice and the man it belonged to. Another familiar face.
The man was as tall as ever with broader shoulders than Zoro's or Smoker's, tanned skin and thick lips. Zoro could see a brutal scar stretch over the man's right eye. A long thick swordcase was swung over his shoulder and Zoro got curious.
Daz Bones had been a normal officer two years ago. He had trained with swords since he was a kid, just like Zoro but he couldn't remember actually seeing Daz with one outside of his Doujo even once.
„They must be crazy to let you carry a sword around like that with your skill level, officer." Zoro snorted and leant forward to reast his chin on his hand.
„Detective." Bones answered, his expression as neutral as it could be „You've been gone for a while, Roronoa."
The smile on Zoro's face grew into a grin and he looked at the man with a dangerous glim in his eyes. „Two years and you have just been promoted to a detective?"
Now a thin vein was pulsing on Bones' face and Zoro's grin stretched even more.
„Careful, kid."
Zoro snorted again and Bones sat down his sword case. „Glad to see you too."
The detective nodded. „You've talked to Smoker?" he asked, glancing up to the door of the police station.
Now it was Zoro's turn to nod.
„I'm sorry for your friend's house." Bones said.
„You're on the case too?" Zoro leant back a little, the stairs leading up to the station he was sitting on had began to feel a little uncomfortable.
„Yes. Louge Town is the only station they will give such cases. No leads, no proof, no suspects. Just victims."
Zoro hummed in acknowledgement. People are just waiting for Louge Town to mess something up or to leave a case unsolved. Anything to ruin the station and drag Smoker's name through the mud.
„Well then." Bones was about to heave the sword case back on his back when Zoro jumped up and stood in his way. The detective sighed, already familiar with Zoro's actions. „I can't tell you more than Smoker already has."
„Just the location of the fire before the one at Ace's house." Zoro pulled his jacket close and zipped up. He had no intention of letting Bones pass him without an answer and the man knew that.
„For what? You won't find anything we didn't." Bones said. „You're not even allowed to enter the scene either way, kid."
„The address?"
Bones changed his center of gravity to his other leg and stared at Zoro. They were at eye level with Zoro standing two steps higher than where Daz Bones stood.
A breeze ruffled at Zoro's hair and Daz seemed to pull his shoulders up to take cover from the cold.
After a few minutes, in which the wind grew stronger and colder Bones pulled out a paper from the left pocket of his jacket.
„Smoker will kill me for this." he hissed at the younger man and gave Zoro the paper with some addresses.
Zoro looked down at it and smirked. „I asked for one."
The vein on Bones' forehead appeared again, pulsing slightly and Zoro took the paper from him before he could change his mind and slip it back to safety.
„You would come back for the others and I have work to do. No time to play your babysitter. Again."
Zoro stepped aside and the detective passed by him, resettling the heavy sword case on his back.
„Roronoa."
The green haired man glanced over his shoulder and saw Daz doing the same. It was a funny picture to see his thin eyes looking over the broad wall of his shoulder.
„Don't touch anything and tell your friend Portgus to be alert of his phone. We may call because of his testimony." Then Daz turned around and continued his ascent of the stairs.
„Understood, officer."
Zoro was already around the next corner when the detective turned around to yell at him.
The burnt building Zoro had stopped by at first had been an apartment complex. The firefighters had luckily been able to stop the fire from spreading to every story above the third and forth one right in the middle of the building. The soot blackening the walls outside of the shattered windows made the building look like it was wearing some kind of black belt.
Ashes and black walls had surrounded Zoro, when he had entered the little flat, slipping under the yellow caution tape that prohibited any outsider -like himself- to enter the scene.
As he slipped from one room to another a tiny part of him had began to ache. The ashen gray of every room, of the walls and the black floor; it was as if a veil had been lowered over the small flats. A black veil, thin but heavy, drowning every sound and every color and Zoro had to be careful or he would be tempted to sink into it.
He had left the building, taking a deep breath when he had heard the heavy door fall closed behind his back.
The walk to the old house of the Portgus brother had been longer than he remembered. When he had arrived, though, everything had seemed to stand still for a second.
The proud building where Zoro and the Portgus had created so many treasured memories was completely covered in black soot, the windows shattered and the glass spread all over the place as if a terrible explosion had burst inside of the house. No proof that there had been someone living a life in there was left. Nothing had been spared.
Zoro had stood inside the once so familiar walls for a while, between the black chaos, before he had started to look around, careful not to move anything. Again he had slipped under the yellow caution tape, but as he had stepped through the painfully familiar destroyed rooms he had started to regret it a little.
Every room had meant something to him . Memories were revived in front of his mental eye and he had to shake his head a few times to concentrate on what was before him, instead of the images his mind had created.
The police had done a good job. The green haired man couldn't find anything that wasn't already mentioned in the files Smoker had shown him earlier that day just like at the building before. He had not expected the officers and detectives of Louge Town to do a sloppy job, they were good people and Zoro knew that, especially with Smoker leading them, but it had felt a little satisfying as he had looked over the scene himself.
Leaving the former residence of his friends, Zoro mentally went through the notes Smoker had shown him back at the station. On every scene the same paint thinner to fuel the flames had been found, it seemed as if the arsonist had known in which room the fire would spread the fastest as he always seemed to break into the rooms with the most furniture, mostly the living room. So the possibility of him being someone who had been inside of the building before was highly probable but every technician, cleaning lady, caretaker -name it- had been checked without any results.
There was a reason why the detectives of Louge Town had no clue about the identity of the arsonist. The attacks seemed to be completely random. No victim had any connection to the next, they went to different universities, worked at different places, had different hobbies, there was absolutely nothing but the frustration of the police and higher ups as they tried to stop the citizens to panic.
Zoro stepped back onto the street and looked up into the gray sky. With no information about the motive, or the identity nobody could possibly know where the next attack might happen. Zoro had read that some victims were still supervised, like Ace, in case they might become a target once again. It didn't stop Ace from nearly losing his precious brother in the flames, though and Zoro won't allow for something like that to happen again.
The soft vibrations of his mobile phone in the pocket of his jacket made Zoro jump slightly and he pulled it out. At first he thought it must have been Nami calling him but the name on the screen was another. Not knowing what to expect he pressed the button.
"Yea?" he responded a little too grumpy.
"Yo." Ace's voice answered him through the speaker. "Guess what."
Zoro's eyebrow rose higher. Ace stayed silent but from the rustling and clanking noise in the background he could imagine what his friend was trying to tell him.
"Get Luffy out of my kitchen." Zoro grumbled and Ace answered with laughter so that the green-haired man at the other end of the line had to pull the mobile phone away from his ear to get enough distance between his eardrum and Ace's loud voice.
When he thought his eardrum was safe again he leaned the cold screen back against his face. "Lu called some friends over to celebrate that your back, man." Zoro's steps faltered "'wanted to warn you."
Zoro was absolutely sure that Ace was grinning wider than any circus clown, amused by his friend's misery. A grin that showed every single flawless white teeth of the freckled Portgus.
"Is that Zoro?" Luffy's voice suddenly sounded into Zoro's ear. It was a little muffled by the distance but he knew better and once again distanced the mobile from his sensitive ear to protect it from the loud voice following not even a second later.
"ZOOROOOO!" Luffy screamed "WE NEED MORE CHIPS!"
Zoro was pretty sure that some of the passerby turned around to look at him, surely the whole street had heard his young friend through his phone.
"BUY SOME ON YOUR WAY HOME!" Luffy continued in the same volume. Lord have mercy with his eardrums.
"Luffy, the neighbors will come again if you don't stop screaming." Ace's voice didn't really sound as if he was trying to stop his brother.
"Again?"
Ace seemed to have won the phone back from Luffy as his answer came back clearer.
"Sorry 'bout that."
Zoro just sighed.
The sky turned darker by the second and a girl on the other side of the street opened her yellow umbrella. Others quickened their pace or pulled their hoods up over their heads as the wind became harsher, ruffling through Zoro's already messy hair. Stopping by the supermarket wasn't a bad idea, he thought. When the rain starts he could use it as an excuse to show up later to the party. Late enough for every unimportant individual to get drunk enough so they won't care who he is when he enters his own apartment. Perfect.
"Tell Luffy I'm getting the snacks."
"Really?" Ace asked oblivious to his plan.
"And some booze." Zoro added with a smirk playing at his lips. Poor boy had no idea he was about to be left alone with a horde of Luffy's friends. Knowing Ace he would be fine, though.
"Yo, Ace." Zoro followed the example and pulled his hood up one-handed, while the other hand was still preoccupied pressing the mobile to his face "I met Daz. 'told me you should answer his calls when he does."
At the other end of the line Ace snorted. "So you really went to Smoker."
Ace didn't need an answer to that. After he had told Zoro about the incident, his green-haired friend had left, telling him not to worry too much and that he will take care of some things. The way Zoro had said that, though had made Ace add to his worries instead of relieving him. "You don't need to do this, Zoro. Whatever Smoker told you-"
"It's the same man." Zoro interrupted him and Ace stopped breathing "It's the same man from five years ago."
The supermarket wasn't that far away from another building that had been set on fire, so while he spoke Zoro decided to take a detour towards the crime scene. He saw the house as soon as the first rain drop hit his reddened nose tip.
"Don't tell me that I don't need to do this when its my fault that, that bastard is still a free bird, running around and setting fires."
The roofed front door was still intact and Zoro took cover from the rain under it. And as he stood there his body began to shiver, just slightly. Zoro was angry and the rage swelling up in his chest made his body tremble as if thousands of bees were buzzing around inside his rib cage. The worst part of it was that when bees get ready to attack they had a target. They knew who they need to defend their home against but Zoro was mostly angry at himself.
"He's my responsibility and he nearly took Luffy away from you." Zoro hissed but Ace stayed silent.
"I need to do this."
"It's the same man from five years ago."
Luffy looked up as he heard Ace gasp. It was silent enough that it would have went unnoticed but since Zoro had left a few hours ago, the younger Portgus had been looking out for things. Things like the expression his older brother was wearing at the moment and as Luffy stepped closer he met his brother's eyes.
Ace tried to soften his expression, but knew it was a lost cause when he saw Luffy coming closer to the table. Reluctantly he pressed the loudspeaker button and laid the phone down onto the brown surface.
"Don't tell me that I don't need to do this when its my fault that, that bastard is still a free bird, running around and setting fires." Zoro said and Ace saw Luffy's expression change. At first it had been curious with worry slightly visible in his eyes. Now they were wide open, fixed on the phone on the table, black strands of his hair shadowing his face as the voice of their mutual friend trembled slightly.
"He's my responsibility and he nearly took Luffy away from you."
Luffy's eyes shot up to meet his brother's again.
"I need to do this."
"Zoro!" Luffy said. Ace nearly slipped from his chair at the sudden change of tone. From the soft thud at the other end of the line Zoro was no better. Luffy still held eye contact with his brother, his back straight and his hands tensed into fists but he talked to Zoro.
"Where are you right now?"
After a few seconds of nothing, Zoro answered. His voice sounding surprised and kind of wary. "Near the supermarket."
"Where?" Luffy repeated and Ace felt close to laugh. It was so uncommon to see his brother like that. He was too serious for being...well for being Luffy. Of course, he knew that his baby brother had these other sides as well, but seeing them live and in action was so rare even for someone that knew him all of his life.
"Nutra-Peek-Alley 56." Zoro grumbled "Where the fire was."
Ace groaned and Luffy furrowed his brows. "Really, Zoro." Ace said and rested his chin on the table close to the phone. "You should join the police if you really want to become a detective. Smoker would be happy."
He looked up back to his younger brother when he noticed movement and saw Luffy crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes were closed, his brows relaxed as if he was thinking about something.
Zoro grumbled some response, but Ace didn't pay much attention, continuing to observe his younger brother. Luffy nodded, once to himself and let his lips spread back into a grin that fit him better than the thin lipped expression he had moments ago.
"Come back home, Zoro!"
A soft smile tugged at Ace's lips for seeing Luffy like that. His baby brother had some nice instincts when it came to the well being of his friends and he was pretty sure that he had come to the same conclusion as he had. Obviously Zoro had spent the few hours before they had called, at some of the crime scenes.
Ace knew what some lone hours between ash and soot could make to ones mood and mind, he wasn't sure if Luffy did but even though, Zoro would feel better when he came back to them. He didn't deserve to drown himself in thoughts of self-hatred.
At the other end of the line Zoro raised his voice to counter but as soon as he had taken the breath Luffy talked again.
"That's an order!" he said and erupted into his infamous laughter as he left the table's side to go back rampaging through the poor kitchen's cupboards.
When Ace hold the phone back against his ear, he wasn't surprised to hear some rustling and heavy steps on granite when Zoro stepped back on the street, trying to protect his mobile from the soft drizzle.
"So you're still the first mate." Ace laughed.
"Can't remember when that became a thing." answered his friend. His voice was rough but couldn't hide the smile Ace heard clearly in his words.
"I never thought Smoker would give you the addresses, though. Has he gone soft?" Ace's voice had become softer again.
"It was Daz." Zoro answered and Ace couldn't hear a hint of the trembling he had in his voice a few moments ago. He felt a little lighter.
"Poor bastard."
Zoro snorted.
"You're coming back then?"
"Yeah." Ace could hear Zoro's steps becoming faster as the rain outside trickled against the windows "Just getting the chips for Luffy."
The older Portgus hummed. First mate through and through, he thought and his smile turned into a full-teethed grin.
The soft drizzle had turned into a harsh downpour, the gray heavy clouds emptying over Water Seven, billion tiny raindrops fell down onto the streets, the bridges and the surface of the rivers that made their way through the city.
Zoro stood at the check stand. Five Maxi-packs of chips in different flavors laid on the conveyor belt, together with two packs with bacon flavor. When Zoro had seen them, he had reached out immediately without thinking twice. Funny how Luffy had influenced him in such ways that he linked everything slightly related to meat to the boy's immense appetite.
The woman scanning the articles rose one eyebrow and glanced up at him as she counted the bottles of booze behind the plastic bags. The last time someone had asked him for his ID was when he had been 18, Ace had said that nobody dared to nowadays because he always looked ready to skim them alive.
Rain drops trickled against the glass doors of the supermarket endlessly, the gray sky had turned into a black one with the time passing by and Zoro was still standing at the entrance. Hurrying home made no sense, not with this rain. He would arrive completely drenched and even if Roronoa Zoro never had gotten a cold before, he hated wet clothes sticking to his skin. What he hated more than that was changing out of wet clothes and peeling them from his skin.
So Roronoa Zoro stood in place, leaning against the wall of the supermarket fifteen minutes away from his apartment where more and more people seemed to gather with the evening drawing nearer and nearer.
One of the first to arrive, had been Usopp, the long nose 'canoneer' of the 'Strawhat Pirates' and proud friend of Luffys, together with their 'doctor' Tony Chopper the Second.
After Usopp's phone call with the younger Portgus he had told Chopper the news and both agreed to go to Zoro's old – or new- apartment right after the classes would end, with the younger of both more than extremely excited to see their long lost friend again. Chopper had wiggled around in his chair all day, until one of the teachers had asked him if everything was alright and if he needed to go to the bathroom, which made Chopper blush extremely hard. Laughing hysterically Usopp had nearly fallen off of his chair in process, and was thrown out of class to stand in the corridor with a bucket full of water on his head.
Of course the boy had lost his balance and arrived drenched and embarrassed at the apartment. Luffy had lent him a hoodie after he and Ace had stopped rolling around on the floor clutching their stomachs from laughing so much.
Chopper was running around nervously then, trying to be useful to Ace as he filled a few bowls with the snacks they had managed to save from Luffy's greedy hands.
"How is Zoro? Was he okay when you saw him? Did he tell you why he went away? I bet he trained until complete exhaustion again, didn't he? Did he went away for training?" the kid asked without taking a single breath, his big blue eyes wide and shiny as if he was trying to hold back tears. The tiny freckles on his cheeks were more subtle than Ace's and danced funnily as Chopper wrinkled his nose to sniff. "Has he changed?"
"Why do you think that?" Ace asked looking down at their tiny friend.
"Two years is such a long time."
Ace snorted. "How about you calm down some and wait for Zoro to come back." he said and steadied a bowl with peanuts in Chopper's small hands. "I'm sure he will be happy to see you again."
Chopper bit his lip and Ace swore he could see actual tears filling those eyes now.
"Luffy! Usopp!" he called and two heads appeared at the door frame of Zoro's bedroom immediately. They were radiated mischief out of every pour. "Play with Chopper, will you?"
The boys jumped into action even before he had closed his mouth again and dragged the younger boy to the stereo. That would distract them for a while and Ace considered to get some earplugs in case the trio would forget the volume when they turned it on.
Franky, Robin and Brook were the next ones to arrive, the latter joining the kids sitting in front of the speakers and pressing their hands to the soft surface to feel the vibrations of the bass, giggling non-stop.
Then Yosaku and Jhonny, Zoro's old buds walked through the door and as the sky turned darker and the rain became softer again the apartment was full with people. Ace had noticed how Chopper had looked up hopefully with every new ring of the doorbell and had left the front door open after the sixth time.
"Maybe he got lost again." Chopper said. The kid had his hand curled into Ace's shirt and tugged shortly at it to get his attention. Ace hummed and patted the soft brown curls at Chopper's head.
"Don't worry so much, 'kay?" he said as his big brother instincts kicked in and his patting turned into ruffling Choppper's hair roughly. The boy squeaked and laughed and Ace was glad to see him relax a little.
"You know Zoro." He said and released the kid's messy hair from his grip "He gets lost a~ll the time! But always finds his way home, doesn't he?"
Chopper nodded and leaned against Ace's side as both of them continued to stand beside the kitchen counter with the people surrounding them laughing and drinking.
"Luffy said that Zoro is an idiot." Chopper said. He was nearly whispering, his head bowed and Ace bent down slightly to catch his next words better. "He said he is an idiot and that's why he never remembers where he has to go." the kid giggled "so that's why he needs us. If he gets lost he will know how to come back because we are here, waiting for him. We're his family, that's why he'll always come home. That's what Luffy said."
Chopper's giant blue eyes are looking up at the older Portgus again. The green-haired idiot really had left some impression on the youngest of their group. It was really adorable how close the two of them had been. How close they still were.
"Luffy really said that?" Ace asked with a wide grin, his eyes scanning the crowd and catching his younger brother fighting with Usopp with two star wars toy swords. "Calling other idiots when he is the biggest of them is really dumb."
Chopper giggled.
"What's so funny?"
The female voice coming from behind of them nearly scared both to death and they whipped around so fast Ace could feel the pulled muscle in his neck instantly.
Nami stood there, her hands at her hips and her long hair falling down her back in all its shining glory. The girl wore a black tight top and equally tight blue jeans that sat slightly under her hip bone so that her pale skin shone through the thin gap between the top and jeans seductively.
A blond was standing behind her at a distance discreet enough to get a nice view of her behind and the man was enjoying it visibly.
Ace squinted his eyes a little, the blond seemed kind of familiar but the squinting was more a judgmental gesture than one of the oh-I-think-I-know-you kinds. His freckles had always made it kind of difficult to look intimidating enough to scare people off just with a stare but it seemed to catch the attention of Nami's companion as he rose his face and his deep blue eyes connected with Ace's.
"Ace said Luffy is the king of the idiots." Chopper giggled, oblivious to the tension that had risen right after the two male attendants had recognized each other, the visible blue eye of Nami's blond friend wide and mirroring the expression Ace was currently wearing.
"That's nothing new, is it?" the only girl said. Nami had noticed, of course, and she glanced from Ace back to the blond with a lot of curiosity.
Chopper let some kind of adorable snort escape from his lips and stepped closer to the girl, more or less one step in front of Ace, so that he could hug Nami for a greeting. Then he turned around to the other one.
"Who's your friend?"
Nami's eyes wandered back to Ace. "Oh that's-"
"Sanji Black." the freckled Portgus finished for her. "Haven't expected to see you here, Sanji."
The blond nodded, the movement a little stiff from tension but he overplayed it by casually pulling a box of cigarettes out of the breast pocket of his brown jacket. "Nice to see you again, Ace." he said after he put the white stick between his lips.
"I'm Chopper." the boy jumped in front of the newcomer and rose his hand to shake. Ace knew Sanji had a weak spot for little kids, even if the other would have his difficulties to admit it, so he just smiled knowingly as he saw Sanji's blue eye(s) soften a little and his hand closing around Chopper's. "Sanji Black. Sanji is fine."
His voice was kind of husky. Even more than when he had met him and Ace wondered if the cigarette the blond was now hiding behind his back, considering Chopper's age, were to fault for that. He wasn't complaining, just curious.
"Why do you know him?" Ace asked Nami as Sanji and Chopper talked to each other.
"Dancing." Nami answered, her hands again busy with pulling a few strands out from behind her ear. "He's the teacher. Where have you two met?"
Ace leaned back and rested his elbow on the kitchen counter. He had no chance to escape the questioning.
"One year ago. I was out with some buds and we were so hungry."
Nami groaned.
"Let me finish." Ace said, although he had to suppress his laughter. "So we were hungry and had heard of that awesome restaurant."
"You will go to jail for this someday."
Now Ace had to laugh. "Nah." Impossible, he was a pro in dine-and-dash. Unbeatable even. "Well we ate, a lot! And then we ran but nobody said something about the owner's son being a fucking speedy runner. And those legs could kick, holy ballsack."
"And then?"
She wouldn't stop, would she. So Ace sighed, admitted defeat and continued telling her the story. He looked over to Chopper and Sanji to be sure they wouldn't be able to catch some words from their conversation and he was sure he saw Sanji glance up to him once.
"After every single one of us got kicked black and blue he brought us back to his father to get kicked again. They made us pay double and then do the dishwasher, I swear they could hold a candle to you with how they made us empty every single pocket we had." Ace ducked and felt the soft breeze over his head from the slap Nami was about to give him.
"After that, Sanji calmed down and made us something after work and god if that wasn't the best food I ever ate I don't know what. He's pretty awesome. Blond. Blue eyes. Legs that go on forever. Temper and an amazing cook."
Nami looked up at him, frowning. Her hand was already struck out for another slap.
"I thought you were going to say something else." she said, answering Ace's questioning look.
"So you two went out." Ace's accusing gestures were completely ignored by her.
"Not really. We fooled around a little. That's all." He never thought he would meet the man again, when he thought about it he remembered Sanji telling him about giving dancing classes in a studio. He knew Sanji was an amazing dancer but never made the connection between him and the blond teacher Nami had told him about.
"Perona works at that studio too, right?" he asked.
"Yes. Why?"
And he had never made the connection between him and the dancer Perona had always told him about. So. Many. Times.
"ZORO!" Chopper jumped up from where he had sat talking to the blond dancer and ran towards the entrance. Ace could only catch a glimpse of his friend opening his arms to catch Chopper as the young boy nearly tackled him over from the force of his jump.
"Really. He's late." Nami said and also left in the same direction where half of the guests where heading after Chopper's subtle announcement about the arrival of the man of the moment.
Ace was about to join them but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Do you have a second?" Sanji's husky voice asked him from behind and he turned around. The blond pulled his cigarettes out again and pointed towards the tiny balcony.
Ace looked back at the crowd. Zoro was hugged and greeted from all side with Chopper tightly wrapped around his midsection, not unlike Luffy had done the first time he had seen Zoro in his bed. He was sure that greenie could wait for 'a second'.
"Yes, sir." he answered with slight sarcasm in his undertone, which was returned with a soft glare. So he still had his temper.
Both man walked out into the night air thick with the humidity the rain had left on the streets. Sanji lightened his cigarette and inhaled deeply. Ace could see his back relax a bit afterwards and a smile started to spread his lips apart as he remembered the evenings that had started just like this, with a cigarette.
"So Blackleg, what do you want to talk about?"
"No need to call me that, is there?" Sanji answered. There was no real annoyance in his posture so Ace allowed himself to smile wider. Blackleg was the nickname he and his buds had given the blond after they had lost their race against him. It fitted perfectly and it made Sanji mad, sometimes even furious when he started to tease him with that.
"You're okay?" the blond asked and the smile on Ace's face became hard. An expression comparable to the smile of marble statues, the corners of the mouth upturned but cold. Lifeless just like the cold marble they were made from.
"I'm fine. Why?" Ace asked warily.
The cigarette between Sanji's lips was already burned down to the middle. Just when the ash was about to drop the blonde removed the white stick and tipped it over the edge of the balcony. His blue eyes seemed to examine the now shorter red glowing end shortly before he turned around completely and stared Ace down.
"Zeff told me about the fire." Of course. "'Said that it was really close and nearly kicked my head off when I told him we were no longer in contact."
"Wow." Ace smirked "Never thought your old man would care so much."
Sanji also pulled his lips into a smirk and put the cigarette back where it belongs. White smoke rose up into the night sky and somehow Ace had missed that sight. The white thin thread was by far better than the thick black cloud he sometimes still saw in his dreams.
"Guess that he had take a liking to Luffy." the blond continued, the cigarette still stuck between thin lips "Don't ask me how!" Sanji added when he saw Ace's unbelievable expression.
"I tried to call you, but I guess you lost your phone and everything back there."
Ace nodded. Of course he informed as much people as he knew that his number had changed after the fire, but if he was honest he never even thought of telling the blond. He really had no reason to.
"Look. What happened back then-"
"was nothing you should lose any beauty sleep over." Ace finished for him and leaned back against the cold metal of the railing. "Call it a game, call it whatever you want, really."
He couldn't see Sanji's face from the position he was in and he preferred it to be like that. It made it a little bit easier, for both of them, he thought. Ace had told Nami that they were only fooling around earlier and remembering it like that was less complicated. The feelings that were starting to bloom whenever he had looked into those blue eyes he had loved so much had turned into a memory and he would like them to stay just like that.
"I'm sorry." Sanji's voice said. It sounded a bit hoarse but when Ace decided to look the blond had taken his old position, with his elbows both on the railing and his hair hiding most of his face. The thin white thread of smoke still raising endlessly towards the night sky.
Ace hummed. "Nah, man. What for?" his tone was clear enough to make it a rhetorical question, a question he wasn't expecting an answer to.
Looking back, both of them -or just him- had not been mature enough to start a serious relationship.
For Ace every relationship he got himself into was...a game. Nothing more. What he had with Sanji had started to turn into more than that though, and as much as it had excited him it had scared the fuck out of him too. He didn't knew what a real relationship would possibly lead to and he didn't really felt like finding out so he had left it. Just like he had felt that Sanji had done the same.
"You know what." the black haired man said. "We can still be friends."
Sanji snorted.
"Yeah, right. Luffy won't forgive me if I just let you leave now." Ace went on also with a real smirk playing around his lips now "I'm sure Zeff would kick your ass if you let him go hungry again."
"I can't remember when he had ever NOT been hungry." Sanji dropped the cigarette over the railing of the balcony.
"'that a yes?"
"To being friends or to cooking for you and Luffy?"
Both young man were leaning their backs against the cold railing now. The rain earlier had left a freezing breeze behind and Sanji shuddered a little. Ace however never felt cold, not really. The blond remembered that Ace had told him that he just ignored it, how that was possible for a human being evaded Sanji but the Portgus were no normal humans so he stopped questioning after a while.
"I guess I have no other choice, now. Do I?"
"Nope." Ace answered, popping the 'p' "not with Luffy seeing you're here. What he just did."
Chopper was wrapped around his back, piggyback style and tried to fight Usopp and Luffy with only his feet. Usopp, who was already pretty drunk, had contested Luffy to see which one of them could make Chopper drunk faster.
The young boy had already had a few and for Zoro he had had one too many. That's why he had took it on himself to protect the kid from those two idiots and pulled him onto his back into safety.
"Zoro~" Chopper whined into his ear "I am adult now. I can drink!"
"Forget it! You've had enough!" Zoro answered and nearly kicked Luffy harder into his face than he had intended.
A few guests had started to cheer the two boys on when they leaped into another attack. Zoro dodged with a grin and slammed his leg into Usopp's side, sending him flying against Luffy and onto the floor. The two boys stayed lying down then.
Luffy who was lying under a dizzied Usopp couldn't stop laughing and Zoro felt his grin become a little wider.
Chopper burped and pressed the palm of his hand over his lips. "Zoro~" he whined again and Zoro's grin disappeared immediately.
"NOT HERE YOU IDIOT!" he yelled.
The crowd around him parted as if on command, letting the green-haired man pass. He could hear the laughter that followed after he had slammed the door to the bathroom shut.
Long and pitiful moans echoed from the toilet, where Chopper bent over the bowl and burped again.
"An adult, huh?" said Zoro as he walked over to his young friend to brush the brown locks out of his face and rub his back.
"Mh." Chopper nodded. He rested his cheek on the toilet seat and looked up to meet Zoro's eyes. His freckles jumped as he sniffed. "Someday I'll be able to keep cool while drinking like you."
Chopper's voice was slurred, fatigue making his eyelids and tongue heavy.
"This shouldn't be something to aim for, don't you think?"
"But Usopp said to become an adult..." Chopper frowned and bent over the toilet once more and Zoro tugged the locks away from his cheeks. When nothing came, the younger turned back to him. "To become an adult like you I have to learn to drink."
The eye-roll that followed looked almost painful. Zoro swore he would pull at that liar's nose until it's longer than Pinochio's for making Chopper believe something ridiculous as that.
"And you believed him?" he said incredulously but Chopper's look made him stop there.
The young boy was looking at him with an expression that seemed too familiar to Zoro now. The expression was the one of a child looking at his idol, his guide. He was looking at him as if Zoro would hold answers to any questions Chopper might have and Zoro's chest suddenly felt a little bit tighter.
He had seen that expression on Chopper's face before and he had felt kind of proud whenever he had noticed the young boy looking at him like that.
But now, Zoro knew that that expression also held a responsibility he wasn't sure he was ready to carry yet. It was the same expression he himself had plastered on his face whenever Koshiro had shown him a new technique, gave him a new advise or showed him how to be a little more brave.
"Chopper." he started unsure, reaching out for the boy's head slowly.
"Do you really want to become like me?"
The boy blinked a few times like he hadn't fully understood what Zoro had asked him and the man felt a little ashamed when he realized that the question had sounded kind of weak.
But then Chopper nodded.
A sigh left Zoro's lips.
"You know, I'm not the best example you'd want to follow."
His hand had rested on Chopper's brown curls and he patted softly.
"You're strong." The young boy said after a little while of silence. His eyes where already half closed and his voice dropped down to a murmur.
"You're not afraid of anything. You can protect everyone. You know who you are and where you're going."
Chopper blinked slowly again. His eyes never lost the questioning look in them and Zoro was concerned that they would turn worried if Chopper saw right through him.
"You don't?" he asked instead, trying to lead the topic of this conversation back to the young.
Chopper shook his head as good as he could. Zoro was glad his plan seemed to work but also kind of lost as he realized what thoughts his young friend was growing in his mind.
"Chopper." he said softly and slipped closer to the boy's body. "What's going on, buddy?"
His friend's gaze fixed on a glazed white tile around Zoro's knee. "Who am I, Zoro." he whispered.
Puberty was weird. Scary even in combination with alcohol. Zoro knew that. Before someone would turn into a big boy, some questions need some answering and sometimes some were not able to find those on their own. That his smart friend would need a hand in these matters, surprised the man slightly.
He sat, the only movement the soft patting on Chopper's head, and thought.
What had Koshiro said to him? Did they even talk about stuff like that? He guessed, he did. He hadn't been as smart as Chopper so of course whenever he hadn't been able to understand something he had run to his father. At first.
After some time Zoro had understood that the only one that could help him was Zoro himself. He had stopped running after Koshiro and had followed his own path through every obstacle. Thick-headed. That's what Koshiro had called him at some point.
But how did he get there?
Zoro's eyes wandered back to where Chopper was sitting and realized that his young friend had passed out at the toilet seat. He was still murmuring something in his sleep.
Zoro sighed again. He couldn't bring himself to wake the young boy up. His bedroom should still have some futons stored in the wall closet and he decided to let the brown-locked kid rest there for tonight. Chopper going to school was unthinkable considering the condition he was in right now, so it shouldn't matter if he stayed the night.
Chopper was limp in his arms, as Zoro heaved him on his back again piggy-back-style and wrapped his thin arms around his neck. Chopper nuzzled into his shirt and murmured something again as a smile spread Zoro's lips. The young boy had always been a cuddler.
He slipped out of the bathroom and was glad when he saw that Luffy was distracted by his brother and another blond man. The blond pulled his eyebrows – eyebrow, his second was hidden under a curtain of his blond hair – into an annoyed frown as Luffy threw his arms into the air and exclaimed something. Probably something related with food.
Ace's eyes met his a second after and Zoro nodded shortly towards the door of his room.
The older Portgus understood and made his way over.
Luckily the trip to his bedroom was short and nobody dared to approach the green-haired man when they saw the boy sleeping on his back.
Ace helped him laying the futon down and peeling Chopper off of his back.
"Everything's good?"
"Yeah." Zoro answered careful not to wake the boy. "Just a bit worried."
Ace nodded. "'s been a little tough for him. He missed you very much."
Now Zoro nodded. "I thought it would be enough, if Nami keeps an eye on him." he said and patted Choppers head again. The habit is returning with full force.
"Well." the freckled man was leaning against the door of the wall closet after closing it again. "He was fixated on you. What would you do if the footsteps you're stepping after suddenly disappear from sight?"
"Make my own." Zoro whispered.
"Of course." Ace snorted. "That's not how being an older brother works."
Zoro looked to meet Ace's eyes but the light in the room was too dim to really recognize anything more than the silhouette of the other man.
"He'll learn how to make his own someday but until then..."
The green-haired man saw the other shrugging.
"Just be there for him."
Zoro nodded. He would make up for the times he hasn't.
They left Chopper sleeping in the bedroom and joined Nami, Robin and Franky at the table where they were playing card games. Zoro was sure he saw Nami tugging a card from between her breasts but stopped himself from saying so. He couldn't risk his debt being doubled. Also he was sure that Robin had already seen right through her.
Luffy was dancing with Yosaku and Jhonny with sticks sticking in their nostrils and yodelling incomprehensible words at full force to the melody of the song they obviously didn't know.
The blond Zoro had seen before with Luffy was gone.
yepp second chapter. the third is already half finished so next month theres going to be chapter for sure!
also i want to explain...shortly. why i only update once a month? if any of you were wondering.
i am not a very experienced writes (as you probably noticed), its not an excuse and i look up to everyone really able to hold their routine and write 3 chapters a day xdd
so im really taking my time so i can write without much pressure or obligation. its a hobby after all. and a hobby is supposed to be a loooooooooot of fun (and a lot of frustration) so hurrying through it would be...stressful!
thanks a lot for your support!
see you next month?