"Why are you here Zoro?" Nami groaned, stacking liquor in the counter.
"As if I want your service. You'd probably just want a reason to triple my debt or something," Zoro snorted but gathered the drinks anyway. He gestured to a bottle. "Want anything?"
"Maybe later." Nami shrugged. "I still have so many people to serve. Coming!" she called, heading towards the other end of the counter. Zoro wove his way through the crowd to find a hopefully more secluded corner to enjoy his drinks. Someone grabbed his arm.
"Zoro you came!" Luffy grinned teeth glowing in the darkness. "Over here!" he dragged his friend through the haze of bodies.
"Nearly everyone's here!"
"Ace?"
"Yo Zoro. I'm so lucky I came here today! Otherwise I would've missed out on this party!" Ace laughed and grabbed a large jug of beer off from Zoro. He took a long draught and sighed contently.
"Totally."
"Legit." Ace grinned. "I totally did not know and came here by coincidence."
"I'm not going to question it anymore." Zoro shook his head. He knew how Ace could literally talk someone to death. Not to mention Ace could fast asleep in any situation. And once he got you riled up or confused, you were left hanging until he woke up. Which to say, could be from a few minutes to the next day.
"I'm so tired." Ace groaned, slumping at the table.
"What have you been doing?" Zoro chugged down a bottle.
"Slaving away at the lab."
"How is it?"
"It's fun, sure, but you can't force inspiration you know?" Ace rested his cheek against the face of the table. Zoro rolled his eyes.
"Hm, sure."
"Don't be like that Zoro! Fireworks are amazing. You can put in explosions and bangs and fire and it'd still be okay!" Ace sighed dreamily. "It's great."
"Still working at the forge?" Zoro blurted out. He cursed himself silently. Shit. He couldn't tell Ace that the swords were broken. Both of them. Ace had taken upon so much time and effort to hone the form and edge of the weapons that when he handed the swords to Zoro, he was almost as happy as his friend was. How would Ace feel that during the time he left, Zoro had not only ruined the swords, but also left them untouched for many months?
"Sometimes but I found out my blades are kind of crap. I can make like little knives and stuff but bigger things are actually really flimsy," Ace pouted. "I still like to create nice stuff with glass and metal sometimes."
"Blowing glass?" Ace wrinkled his nose.
"I don't like to use that term. People are way too dirty to even understand it nowadays."
"You can still touch them with your bare hands?"
"Of course!" Ace puffed out proudly. "The fire fruit powers always come in handy! I don't even listen to safety precautions or that crap. It's just keep working until the lab is melted down. Oh yeah, check this out." He revealed a small knife at his belt and placed it on the table. The blade caught the colourful lights and Zoro could make out the intricate little carvings in the blade.
"Sweet."
"It's my masterpiece." Ace pushed the handle and it spun easily.
"Damn, I'm a little jealous there," Zoro remarked, watching the blade spin.
"How are your swords? I really wouldn't be surprised if they broke already." Ace looked at the stiff expression on his friend's face and immediately drew his conclusions. He laughed. "No hard feelings man. They were shit. I only make knives, but I doubt you'd want it." Zoro grunted. "Look man, it's fine. If they broke, then it means you used them, bad as they were, so I'm pretty happy. You got new swords now don't you? Are you going to introduce them?" He straightened up and peered around Zoro's waist. Zoro shifted uncomfortably. Fortunately, by some stroke of luck, Luffy bounded out of nowhere and tackled Ace.
"Ace!"
"Luffy! You've already done that! Stop! Get off me!"
"But I haven't seen you in ages!" Luffy sniffed tearfully and Ace's will crumbled.
"Ugh Luffy don't use that face on me."
"Ace…" Luffy stuck out his lower lip.
"How was the food?" Ace tried a different tack. Zoro snorted. Trust that Ace could smooth talk anyone, woman, man or child but when it came to his brother, Luffy always got his way.
"It was great!" Luffy babbled excitedly, eyes sparkling as he recounted his ridiculous stories of food tasting. Zoro sighed.
Sanji could hear the remains of the thumping beats in the cafeteria he worked in. He groaned.
"Yo boss. After I'm done can I head out?"
'Sure thing Mr. Sanji. You were great. You're everything you said you were," Hatchan shook his head amusedly as he wiped the floor. "The best chef, waiter, cashier…" Sanji laughed, completely unabashed.
"I don't tell lies. It kind of helps when you've worked at a restaurant from when you were a kid." Hatchan smiled.
"Well, Mr. Sanji, you can go ahead. I'll just finish up here. It'll only take about ten minutes or so."
"Really?" Sanji exclaimed. Fuck he really was lucky to end up with a hell of a boss like this one. "Thanks man! I'll be back tomorrow, same time right?" Hatchan flicked him the thumbs up.
"I have to go," Zoro said, shrugging on his jacket. A chorus of disappointed wails arose but they let him go. He slipped a small bottle in his inner pocket and headed off. "See you guys." He glanced at the darkened clock hanging on the wall above the counter as he pushed the door open to embrace the chilly air.
The time registered in his head. Oh shit.
He'd have to run.
"You're late Zoro." A shadow loomed behind Zoro as he stumbled inside the factory, slightly breathless.
"I'm not, Lucci. Stop trying to get up my ass," he snarled harshly against his breath. He knew he had at least a few minutes to spare from the neck break pace of the run.
"There's a meeting today." Lucci jerked his head. "Did you forget?"
"In case you forgot," Zoro said, walking past him, "I'm a fucking labourer. I don't get invited to shit like that."
"Zoro, how nice of you to join us," Spandam purred. Oh just his luck.
"I'm not late."
"I do recall that work starts promptly at at seven o'clock."
"I'm not late." If he really had to explain that way time works to this shit head of a boss, then he will probably get dragged away by Lucci for killing him.
Do it, he silently begged. It would give me a reason to get out of here.
"Hm. You are cutting it close, Zoro. Tomorrow I expect you to be here with time to spare." Spandam walked off and Zoro looked up at the ceiling, breathing deeply in an effort to not call something offensive to the retreating form of his boss. He'd really rather not be moved to a particularly bad task today. He walked over to the machines and started his work.
Sanji stared at the crowd in the club. Holy shit. This was crazy. There was never so much liquor, dancing and loud music before. Franky really did come up with an incredible comeback. He glanced in sympathy at the beautiful Nami-swan. The poor thing was running up and down, answering the raucous calls of drunken fools who didn't know when to stop. If he wasn't suspended, Sanji would be no doubt helping his goddess with her dreadful tasks and kicking anyone who tried to touch her out the doors.
But he couldn't. He scowled heavily. Maybe he could nab a few drinks before heading home. Damn, losing his position at the Baratie is pretty shitty. Usually, he'd be somewhere upstairs, in his own VIP private room, doing whatever the hell he wanted with good company. Another one of those conditions that were written down on that hellhole of a paper. He would lose all status and position in the kitchen as well as in the club. It sucked. A lot.
"Sanji~!"
"Black hole! I'm not serving you!" Sanji yelled without turning. He recognised that tone immediately. It was the I-am-hungry-so-please-serve-me-Sanji-you-are-the-best tone. He heard laughter from his group of friends.
"Sanji, come and party!"
"Luffy, I'm really not in the mood right now." The blonde continued to walk away.
"There's free drinks tonight!"
"What?"
"No kidding! Franky bought out the whole store!"
"Really?" Now the idea of partying sounded enticing. A whole night of drinking away his worries and stress. His fatigue and anger with Fullbody. And best of all, no bills to pay, although they never really were a problem anyways but hey, how could a man resist free liquor?
"Alright, alright!" he conceded and Luffy's group erupted in cheers. "We're going to party 'till we drop!"