Notes: hhhhey it didn't take me too long this time! holla

This chapter was fun to write and stuff happens! Best combo imo

Thanks to sav as usual!

Chapter 5: Desolate Encounters

Luffy sits at the table, a joyful expression on his face as he happily sips at his milkshake. He kicks his sandaled feet under the table idly, unaware that he's incurring the wrath of the woman sitting across from him until the duly pointed tip of a boot meets his shin.

"OW! What was that for Nami?!" Luffy basically yells, getting more than a few glances from the other people in the restaurant.. None of them care, of course. They're all more than used to the stares by now and honestly didn't really register them anymore. Luffy brings his shin closer, rubbing the place where Nami's boot had connected.

"Did you even notice that you were kicking me, Luffy?! You're lucky I'm not increasing your debt for the dent you left in my shin!" Nami exclaims, pointing at the straw hat wearing teen. She's a pretty woman - ginger hair falling in waves down just past her shoulders and an almost unnoticeable splattering of freckles on her cheeks. The shirt she wears exposes her arms, showing off a proud pinwill tattoo and a rather fresh scar just below it. "You were kicking me this entire time!"

"Eh?" Luffy asks, tilting his head to the side. "Are you sure?"

"Oh God," Usopp whispers from besides Luffy, a dark hand covering his eyes. His nose is exceptionally long and his hair is all thick, tight curls that are bunched together in a hair tie at the base of his neck. His arms are uncovered as well, unmarred but in the awkward transition of growing muscle. "You're digging your own grave, as usual."

"Do you want to see what you were doing to my shin, Luffy?" Nami says a bit sinisterly. "Because I can show you."

Luffy shakes his head, pursing his lips together. Nami sounded scary. "No, but I'm sorry Nami! I'll stop!"

"Good. You better or I'm tripling your debt." Nami replies simply, tucking a ginger strand of hair behind her ear as she turns back to her own drink.

Luffy looks at Usopp, a little fear on his face. Usopp reaches over and puts his hand on the Brazilian teen's shoulder, his face showing understanding. He would say something too, but he didn't want to risk having Nami's anger turned on him.

The redhaired woman was too good at keeping the guys in their group in check. (She was a blessing, some would say. Their group all agreed, but that was because she's Nami and not because she's great putting the more rowdy members of their group in their place.)

"We're going shopping after this, by the way." Nami states, not looking at either boy.

"What? No! Nami, shopping is boring!" Luffy whines with a pout.

"I told you it was a trap!" Usopp groans before jumping in his seat with a high-pitched squeak. Nami was looking straight at him, her brown eyes giving off no emotion, which made it even scarier.

"Don't you two give me that! You two owe me! If it wasn't for me and Torao, you guys wouldn't have passed your finals! Do you know how many times I had to cancel plans with Nojiko and Vivi?"

"Torao doesn't make us go shopping with him for like five hours!" Luffy complains, resting his face on the cold table.

"I...We, appreciate it all Nami, but Luffy does have a point." Usopp interjects hesitantly.

Nami sends the darker skinned teen a sharp, scolding look. Usopp cowers a bit in his seat.

"Would you rather hold my bags or become Torao's science experiment?"

Usopp pales. The latter option did not sound pleasant at all and, really, he wouldn't actually put it past Law to do something like that. He even had a silent theory that some of the scars on Luffy's torso were due to Law dissecting him whenever the younger teen crashed at the tattooed doctor-to-be's house.

"O-on second thought, shopping isn't really that bad." Usopp concedes.

"I'm glad you reconsidered."

"Namiiiii," Luffy whines. "I don't wanna go shopping! It's so boring and you never go into any fun stores!"

"Well, there's a new 50s style diner that's opened up across town, near the library. Franky and Robin were telling me about it. Apparently Franky helped design it. He wanted it to be a surprise, I guess."

Luffy looks up, staring at Nami. He looks a bit excited at the mention of a new food joint, but another thought passes through his head and he starts bouncing in his seat. "Wow really? That's awesome! I'll go shopping with you if we can go there! Hey, did I tell you guys, I met this one guy who dresses like he's from the 50s!"

Nami smiles like a cat who's caught a canary. She sits back in her seat, pleased. "No, you never told us Luffy. What do you mean?"

"Like, James Dean or Danny Zuko! A greaser, I think? He's soooo cool! I wonder if he knows about that diner?"

Usopp's head pops up. "Zuko?"

"I'm pretty sure John Travolta wasn't searching for his honor in 'Grease', shithead." A smooth, familiar voice cuts in. A spare chair at their usual table is pulled out, a lean well dressed body sitting in the empty seat. The man who joined their table is blond, and tall, with a curly eyebrow and the other covered by hair. The moment his eyes land on Nami, warmth filled his blue eyes. "Ah! Nami-swan~! You're gracing my break with your glorious presence! I'm the luckiest person on the entire earth!"

Nami inclines her head towards Sanji, eyes closed and much more focused on her drink. Sanji seems delighted by even this meer gesture, if his happy sigh tells the others anything.

"Is his last name really Zuko?" Usopp questions, raising a thin eyebrow.

Luffy looks up from his milkshake, his lips reluctantly leaving the straw. "Haven't you seen 'Grease'?"

"No..."

Luffy looks at his best friend slightly betrayed. "How?!"

"Usopp has shit taste in movies." Sanji suggests, unwrapping a piece of gum and popping it in his mouth.

"Oh! I see." Luffy concurs, turning back to his half finished milkshake. He grabs the cold glass in his hands, giggling a little at the condensation against his palms causing Sanji to roll his eyes.

"OI!" Usopp barks, but it's clear that he's not really angry.

Nami rolls her eyes at the behavior, more than used to this by now. Honestly, this was nothing like how it usually was when all ten people of their group got together. Not to mention when Luffy brought Bonney and Kidd or whenever Perona or literally anyone Luffy so happened to befriend showed up unannounced.

So, it was only natural for the nineteen year old to question Luffy about the next possible weirdo that could be knocking on her door in the near future.

"Luffy, this Danny Zuko, James Dean love child you mentioned. Is he a friend, or a friend?" She emphasizes, but knowing that Luffy might not understand even still.

Luffy brightens up like they've seen him do countless times, blue eyes shining excitedly as he starts kicking his legs underneath the table once before. "I'm not really sure what you mean, Nami! But Ace is a really, really cool guy! I like him a lot and I think you guys would to! But I don't think he's into doing the same stuff we do, y'know? But that doesn't matter! A friend is a friend!"

Nami, Usopp, and Sanji all exchange defeated looks. It was already too late, probably. Everyone Luffy gained an interest in and talked about like that meant they would probably be joining their group of friends one way or another, even if it was in a different way than they were.

Luffy always does get his way, after all.

"Tell Danny Dean, James Zuko, whatever his name is not to knock on my door at 3AM like Perona..." Usopp mutters, just barely loud enough for the table to hear.

Luffy just looks at his friends obliviously before turning back to his milkshake.

Ace leans his head against the doorframe, watching the scenery go by and letting the wind whip his face. The twenty year old sits in the backseat of Marco's old, beaten up Toyota. Thatch had claimed the front seat, right after both men had denied Ace access of his motorcycle on the job they were going to do now. He's not buckled up, claiming the whole seat as his. He's a little too tall for it even if he's partially sitting up, so his legs are bent at the knee.

"Attracts too much attention, yoi." Marco had said, as if having a near breaking, noisy car and a hairstyle that was too similar to a pineapple for comfort wasn't attention grabbing.

"Why are you pouting?" Thatch asks, cutting through Ace's thought process with a cheesy grin. Hell, the man Pompadour stood out more than Ace's motorcycle too!

"I'm not pouting." Ace mumbles, staring out of the window. The scenery was growing more desolate as they got further from the city. They had even passed the rundown gas station a few minutes ago. Ace knows no one will be there now, if what Luffy had told him was correct. But still, restlessness swims through his veins. He thinks about the cute, small eighteen year old and wonders what he's doing.

Ace hums as they drive by some cactus. He pats his pockets for his phone, planning to shoot the teen a quick text... only to come back empty-handed and phone less.

"Fuck..." He says, leaning his head onto the headrest. "I forgot my phone at home."

"Nice going." Marco says dryly.

"Fuck you too." Ace says playfully. "Yo Thatch, what time is it?"

"Uh, 1:33? Dude, we've got like ten minutes to get to there, stop driving like a granny!"

Today, their job was to meet up with a mysterious man known in the underworld community known as the 'Surgeon of Death.' They needed information and who was a better choice than an underground doctor himself?

They had gone to Surgeon of Death a few times in the past when necessary and the doctor had always given them accurate information, even if the cost wasn't always fair.

He could be extreme at times, but Ace did like him. He was a pretty amusing guy, his seriousness even adding to it, and he has some sick tattoos.

Ace could always appreciate tattoos.

"We're nearly there and I don't drive like a granny, yoi." Marco says, making a sudden turn.

"Yeah you do." Ace and Thatch reply in synch. Thatch lets out a loud laugh and extends his arm over his head for a high five. Ace grins and lazily smacks Thatch's hand before digging into one of the pockets of his jacket for a cigarette.

The rest of the ride isn't silent, with Thatch drumming on the car and humming something unfamiliar under his breath, but it's comfortable enough.

Ace is the last one to get out of the car, Marco and Thatch already starting to walk ahead. Marco is a bit shorter than both Ace and Thatch, his blond hair arranged in an odd hairstyle that's similar to a pineapple. Thatch is taller than Marco, but shorter than Ace and is dressed in his work clothes, as if he hadn't had time to change out of his chef's outfit.

The twenty year old cracks his neck and yawns. He definitely didn't get enough sleep last night and the rude awakening thanks to Sabo this morning wasn't ideal at all. If he hadn't taken his medicine just before leaving the house, there would have been a good chance of his narcolepsy kicking in.

Ace looks up at the building that Marco and Thatch have already entered. It's an old, abandoned bar. They've met here with the underground doctor before.

When he opens the door into the bar, he's hit with warm air.

The bar is dark, the only source of light being from a few holes in the ceiling. In the center of the room is the Surgeon of Death himself.

If there was one person that looked like he needed sleep more than Ace did, it was him.

He's a thin, dark skinned man with dark bags underneath his gray eyes. Black hair peeks out from under a hat that resembles a snow leopard with it's pattern, his pants bearing a similar look. He's taller than Ace by an inch or two, his legs extremely long. The Surgeon of Death scratches at his goatee with tattooed fingers lazily, eyes roaming over Ace without giving away anything.

"Look at what the cat dragged in. It's been a while, Fire Fist-ya." The Surgeon says smoothly.

"I could the say the same. Last time we met, you wanted my liver as a test experiment. Sorry, I'm a little too attached to it to let it go, you know?" Ace shrugs with a smirk.

The other man sighs regretfully. "So selfish, I swear. How are you going to get anywhere with that stinginess?"

"It's all about compromising."

The doctor hums thoughtfully for a moment. "If you say so."

"You talked to Whitebeard, correct?" Marco cuts in calmly. "You know what we're here for?"

The tattooed man pulls out an envelope from his back pocket. "Indeed. He told me what you needed and I'm willing to give it to you, but first… let's talk about payment."

The dark-skinned man smirks deviously and automatically Ace, Marco, and Thatch understand that it's not going to be anything simple or fun for them.

Ace resists the urge to rub his temples.

It was going to be a long day.

A hum cuts through the noise of the revolving fan, followed by a creak of a shifting chair. Luffy sits at the counter, chewing a chocolate bar and his blue eyes skim over a comic.

The eighteen year old is really, really bored and wishes there were more things to do.

After eating at the Baratie, Luffy had gone shopping with Nami and Usopp and it had been funner than he thought it would be. However, the 50s diner had been shut and the moment Nami dropped Luffy off at home, Luffy's grandfather Garp opened the door and dragged the eighteen year old in by his shirt collar, saying that Luffy 'spent too much time with his friends and not with his own Grandpa and that had to change, damnit!'

The door had been slammed before Nami and Usopp could drive off.

Garp had wanted to take Luffy camping or something like that and even Luffy knew what that meant by now. It probably meant Garp deserting Luffy further into the desert with little food or water and expecting him to find his way back home. Or maybe throwing him down the canyon and expecting him to climb back up the side. The man done them before and Luffy wouldn't put it past him to do something similar.

Luffy saved his skin by saying that he had work that night. It was because of Garp that Luffy had gotten the job in the first place - the older man was fine with taking a semester off before college as long as he worked doing it and had even arranged a job for him with Hammock.

Luffy flips a page. He thinks about texting Ace once more, his phone becoming a bit heavier in his pocket. The older man had yet to respond to the text Luffy had sent him earlier, but Luffy was really bored and it would be pretty cool if Ace replied or even showed up.

The little bell attached to the door rings, making Luffy look up from his comic.

Blue eyes blink once before a brilliant smile so bright that it could probably light the sky up better than the stars curves on the teen's face.

Ace stands in the doorway, his hand still clutching the door. The teen can tell he's probably had a you day, if his disheveled appearance is any indicator. A few wavy strands of hair fall from the top of his head, a bit of dirt is on his shirt and jeans too but Luffy doesn't care about that stuff in the first place. Ace looks really tired, like he's going to collapse any moment and sleep the rest of the night away like a baby, but he's still able to send Luffy a tired smile.

"I was hoping you were gonna show up!"