As Luck Would Have it

Zoro laughed light heartedly "So, what's the job?"

Ace shifted his footing "Well we are protecting somebody, we got hired to protect someone, and eliminate their 'hunters'"

Zoro nodded "The good ol' days from my teens. Are you two ever going to get out of it? I mean, you've been sent to prison for it already"

Ace chuckled "Look, you had a son, and went legit, but, we like the work, we help people, illegally, and violently, but we can follow our codes of justice this way"

…

"Jesus fucking Christ Luffy! What the hell did I do?!" Sanji yelled angrily while standing up

"Shishishi, I hungry, I always look grim when I'm hungry"

"Wait! Weren't you in jail! How the hell did you find me? Why are you here?"

Luffy's stomach grumbled loudly "Sanji, can you cook me meat?" Luffy looked up with pleading eyes

Sanji gave a look with dark eyes and smacked Luffy on the head "You somehow get out of jail, track me down, and scare the shit out of me, then ask for food!"

Luffy nodded with a pout "Please?"

Sanji sighed "Fine, go wait at the table"

…

Zoro and Ace were now seated at a table in a nearby bar, Zoro took a chug from his beer and then set it down, wiping his mouth as he did so, "So, are you able to disclose who you're defending or from who?"

Ace smiled "Yeah I can" Ace let his smile fade "But I don't know if you want to know"

Zoro let a quizzical look pass his face "Well that's new, so who is it?"

Ace Frowned "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Well is it someone I know?"

"Not well"

Zoro paused for a moment "Yeah tell me"

"It's a sexy man" Ace started "likes to smoke, has shiny blond hair, and cute curled eyebrows too"

Zoro paled "Sanji?"

"Don't act so surprised, he told you he had problems in his past" Ace smiled

"How the hell did you- did you bug me?" a dark expression crossed Zoro's face

Ace sighed into his beer

"Did you bug me?!"

"Look, he skipped town a few years back, we were protecting him, but we got caught and lost contact, then when Franky came to see me and Luffy in jail, he said that you had met someone, the description matched, so we had a lead, it's not something I wanted to do, but I had to"

Zoro stood, kicking the table "I can't believe you'd do that to me!"

"It was just to find him, we are protecting him!"

Zoro started pacing back and forth, slowly drawing attention "Why couldn't you just ask me, If I knew him?!"

Ace looked at some of the other patrons of the bar, that were staring at them "Let's get some air" he said dragging Zoro out of the bathe exited the bar and went into the back alley Ace turned around and put his arms on Zoro's shoulders "Look, you were my best friend, but my 2 years in jail, you didn't come and talked to me, so excuse me if I didn't just walk up to your place and say hi, did you meet any blonds lately! I mean do you even know what it felt like, having my best friend leave me alone, in a cell? So don't act like I owe you anything, I'm just doing my job!"

Zoro took a few steps back "I have a kid! And two jobs! What time do I have?" For a moment they just stared each other down, before something clicked in Zoro's mind "Why did you invite me out tonight?"

Ace turned away

"Oi don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you, is this a part of your job to?"

Ace kept walking

"God damn it Ace! Tell me!"

Ace stopped and turned around, reveling a tear that was rolling down his cheek, even in the dark light, Zoro could spot the shine it gave off

"I brought you out here for a beer, I thought we might be able to skip the argument, but neither of us are able to talk about our problems right now, so I'm going to walk away, and we are both going to go home, Franky knows how to get a hold of me, call me when you're ready to talk" with that Ace walked away, but stopped and turned one last time "Be careful Zoro, you may be out of the job, but people remember the demon"

…

Zoro stomped away, he hated fighting with Ace, he always would pull the calm down card! So fucking annoying! Before he realized it, he was putting his key into the lock and entering the apartment

"Welcome back dad, have a nice time out with Ace?" Usopp called from his room

"Yeah, it went well" Zoro answered going to his fridge, only to find that he didn't have beer 'that's right, I stopped buying it"

"So" Usopp walked out of his room "I've come to a decision about you and Sanji'

Zoro looked at his son, closing the fridge, suddenly in a better mood, just at the thought, but it was quickly over ridden by what Ace had done "And?" Zoro asked with bland eyes

"I am fine with it"

Zoro put on a thin smile and nodded "Thanks Usopp" Zoro said rubbing Usopp's messing hair ashe walked past him

…

(knock knock)

Luffy looked up from his pile of meat, and quickly swallowed what was in his mouth "That's Ace"

Sanji nodded and walked to the door, opening it "Hey Ace, come on in, there's still some food"

Ace smiled widely "thanks, I love your cooking"

"Thanks" Sanji replied pulling out a cigarette "So why are you two back?"

Ace and Luffy looked at each other, with Ace swallowing to answer

"They are back, and in return, so are we, we are here to keep them out of your life, and your family's, however there's only two of us, so we can't protect your friends, so it's best if you only communicate with them through a third party, or better yet, not at all"

Sanji hung his head and took a long drag off his smoke "Are they in the city yet? I mean do I have time to say bye to my friends?"

Luffy shook his head "They are here, but as far as we can tell, they haven't found you yet, I wouldn't suggest it."

Sanji nodded with empty eyes "Figures they'd come back to ruin my happiness, what about my son?

Ace grimaced "It might be best if you don't see him anymore, he is family but they could trace him back to Nami and attack innocent people"

Sanji slammed his foot down and stood "that's ridiculous, he's my son!"

Luffy stood as well, but in a calm manner "We understand, you will be able to visit, but not often and not for long, a day at the most, he can't come here"

"How am I going to explain this to Nami?! I don't want to lose my son over this!" Sanji rubbed his empty hand through his hair

Luffy went around the table with his hands up trying to calm Sanji down "Sanji, I'm sorry about your situation, but we have to do our jobs if you don't want to lose him forever, it won't take longer than a few months at most"

Sanji kicked a chair, and the now standing Ace quickly caught it before it broke against a wall "It's not easy for anybody in your situation, please let us do our job, you have to explain that the mother will have to have full custody for a few months"

Sanji began stomping around the house muttering obscenities before he finally calmed down and stood in front of the two men "Okay, I'll tell her tomorrow" he said through gritted teeth, pain traced across his eyes

…

Zoro leaned against his son's door, and listened carefully. Before long he picked up the snoring and nodded to himself before he went to his own room and dug out a case from his closet, one that had the dust of 17 years on it.

He brought it out to the table, along with a few oil's and rags, and opened it up, revealing three swords, with not a speck of dust on them. "Thank god for air tight cases" Zoro mumbled to himself and reached for the first one, a shinning white one.

Soon enough he was standing on one foot, holding all three swords, uncased and extended to the fullest in the small apartment, he began to move silently, trying to recover what he had lost in those years, and it soon came back to his muscle memory

…

Three men sat at a table in the almost pitch black room, two with their feet kicked up onto the table, and one, bigger than the rest, with his feet down

"We found him 'boss'" the last word rolled out of the man's voice with a heavy layer of spite and sarcasm

"The blond?" the man with his feet down asked

"Yeah, the D. brothers busted out and are protecting him" the other man said, putting the underfoot on top

"Good, I'll inform the police of their location"

"Oh and 'Boss' there's something else you might want to know" the first man said, the sarcasm spilling again

The bigger man raised an eyebrow, barely noticeable to the other two "And what is that?"

"The Demon is here, in this town, the D brothers left a trace right to him"

The bigger man smiled "Well, that sounds like a problem for you, not me, after all" the man stood "He never attacked the Law"

TBC

Okay guys, sorry it took me so long, I just couldn't get the juices flowing for awhile, but here you go, sorry there getting short, but I think that might just be how it is for now.