The streets always moved in this place, and Zoro wasn't in the mood to deal with it at the moment. He wasn't in any condition to either. He had been with everyone just a short time ago, when their crew had a run in with a shichibukai named Moria and his stupid crew. He didn't figure any of them were in great shape, but at least Brook was now an official member of the crew instead of being their one weird skeleton friend that couldn't go out in sunlight. Luffy had been happy that they'd finally had a musician, but afterwards they had gotten separated, partially due to trying to make their way back out of the densely fogged area of Moria's territory. In Zoro's opinion, it was always the rest of his crew who were always getting lost, but they would always argue the reverse, saying it was him that would get lost. How could he be expected to find his way back when the streets kept moving?

He was heavily injured, to say the least, but he figured it was about the same for everyone, especially Luffy who had to intake other peoples' shadows to defeat Oars and Moria. He was close to passing out and far beyond exhausted; he'd been wandering for an hour now and all of that after the battle itself. He had noticed the buildings getting substantially grander but it took him until he saw gold plated street sign to realize where he was: Mariejois, the home of the highest caste, Celestial Dragons.

Celestial Dragons were the highest of the seven castes that made up society. Each caste was marked by a certain collar that all the members of that caste wore to mark their place in society. The Celestial Dragons were those whom were born into their castes attributed for founding society and government and therefore were allowed to do whatever they pleased not matter what the laws said. Their golden collars embellished with stones permitted them to commit the most heinous of crimes without any worry about punishment. This of course led to the majority of them being unspeakably cruel and willing to kill on a whim or enslave anyone they pleased. It was lucky that most of them never left Mariejois, but, when they did, the people of all other castes ran scared.

Zoro growled to himself. Now he was stranded in Mariejois without any knowledge about how to leave. He was thankful that it was late and that all the Celestial Dragons seemed to be asleep in their mansions, each the size of entire neighborhoods of his own castes district. He reached up and touched his own collar. It was made of iron of the lowest caste: the Untouchables. People in his caste were usually criminals who broke laws or the children of criminals. Zoro had gotten his for a crime, though, he himself thought the crime as one of his best achievements. Still, for any person who wasn't a Celestial Dragon to enter Mariejois without a permit granted to them by a celestial dragon was a crime punishable by being thrown in jail for life or the death penalty. He looked back at the trail of blood he had left through the meticulously clean street and knew that he had to keep moving, but his vision kept swimming. There were guards in this district, ones that would definitely want to capture and kill him if they found him. He knew he had to keep moving but he leaned against a large stone wall separating someone's estate from the street. He just needed a short rest, then he would move again and get back to the Sunny, the bar where his crew was based.

Then, an altogether ominous sound of dress shoes on pavement could be heard, slowly growing louder, and in the low light of the streetlamps he saw a slim figure starting to approach. Zoro couldn't tell if he was a Celestial Dragon or a patrolling guard. The man approaching didn't seem like either; he wasn't wearing the weird spacesuit that Celestial Dragons usually wore to avoid breathing the same air as the lower castes, nor was he wearing the normal garb of a military man. The man got closer and Zoro could just make out his figure. He was walking alone in the middle of the night, smoking a cigarette. The man's build was slimmer than Zoro's own but around the same height and he carried himself with a relaxed composure yet, it bespoke confidence. He wore a black suit and tie with a blue dress shirt that made his one visible eye stand out beneath his weirdly curled eyebrow. His hair was as golden as his collar that had a blue stone in it that, just like his shirt, matched his eye.

So, he was a Celestial Dragon, Zoro thought with a huff and an eye-roll as he started push off the wall and again his vision swam with darkness encroaching quickly. He must have been worse off than he assumed, but he had to move. He didn't feel like ending up the slave of some blondie for the rest of his life or, worse, dead. He had something he had to do, he couldn't just die before he achieved his dream; their dream. He started to walk away but just ended up leaning against the same wall he had been a few moments ago, just a few steps further away and the man's footsteps were getting closer and louder. He could nearly feel the other man's presence just a few meters away from him. He pushed off from the wall again only to nearly pass out and have to take a knee.

"Oi," He heard the man behind him shout and the footsteps behind him quicken until the man was right beside him and reaching out trying to get a better look at him.

The voice was deep and just a little scratchy, but not in an unattractive way. He seemed concerned but Zoro highly doubted that was the case. Celestial Dragons don't care for anyone but themselves, he reminded himself. He felt the hand on his shoulder trying to turn him towards the man and he almost let out a snarl, or at least a form of speech that resembled one.

"Get your fucking hand off me," Zoro snarled with a harsh shove into the man's shoulder causing the man to catch himself with his hands instead of falling on his butt on the pavement. He tried to cover up his collar with his hand then hoping the man hadn't noticed the collar and that he could get away before he did.

"I'm just trying to help, you damn Marimo." The man responded slightly annoyed and tried to reach out again. "You're obviously hurt so just let me take a look."

"It's none of your damn business, Curlybrows. I'm doing fine on my own." Zoro claimed as a response and tried to get up again, managing to stand.

"Oh really," the blonde said sarcastically and stood as well, "then be on your way then moss-ball."

"I will be, you Swirlybrow." Zoro replied and started to walk again slowly, only to have his vision go nearly dark again and be forced to take a knee again. He could hear the blonde start to laugh behind him and yelled, "shut up you bastard."

"What you're doing so well, go ahead be on your way." The man teased before crossing the gap between them in one long stride. "Or would you rather actually get your wounds treated first."

"Don't need it," Zoro grumbled still hiding his collar and hoping the annoying guy would just walk away if he ignored him long enough.

"Somehow I doubt that grass-head," The blonde said taking a long drag of his cigarette before crushing the remains beneath his foot. He then crouched again and reach out again, saying, "Come on my house isn't that far from here, I can treat you there and once you're better you can leave." He then noticed that Zoro was holding his neck. "Is there something wrong with your neck, if so I might have to call a friend but that's pretty serious, let me see it, Marimo."

"Leave me alone, blondie."

"Let me see it grass-brain!"

The blonde then yanked fiercely at Zoro's hand with his until he forced it to uncover the collar that was beneath it. The blonde paused with a small sound of surprise and guilt crept slightly into his mind. Zoro tensed and started to slowly reach across his waist reaching towards the three blades at his side.

"Sorry," the blonde muttered lowly. "I thought you were covering an injury, so sorry about that."

That was when Zoro finally turned towards the other man with a look of shock. Never once had he ever even fantasized that a Celestial Dragon would apologize to him. Maybe he'd imagined killing some but mostly he'd tried to stay as far away as he could from them. Rumors always said that words of apology weren't even taught to Celestial Dragons but rather they were taught as children to do whatever they felt like, that they were gods and no one could retaliate against them. Zoro and everyone he had ever known had agreed that Celestial Dragons were simply all cruel. So, Zoro didn't really know how to respond to this Celestial dragon looking at him sheepishly and apologizing.

"What?" Zoro questioned not believing that he'd heard what he had.

"I'm not repeating myself, moss-brain." The blonde said with a huff. "Anyway, you still have a lot of injuries. Like I said, my house isn't that far away."

"As if I'm following you anywhere blondie." Zoro responded gruffly after coming out of his shock. "How do I know you won't torture or kill me if I go with you?"

The man sighed and answered sadly, "If I wanted to do that I could just as easily do it here."

"Asshole," Zoro answered and tried to stand to move again.

"It's not safe for you here, you know," The man said following him as his moved at a snail's pace. "The people here won't respond to you the same way I have."

"As if I don't know that," Zoro growled. "Why are you following me?"

"If I don't follow you and a guard finds you; they'll kill you, or worse." The man replies. "If I'm with you at least I could give you an excuse for being here, but that's if you can even make it out of this district without dying of blood loss."

"I don't need your help." Zoro said.

"What will you do if they find you?"

"I'll fight them." Zoro grunted.

The man sighed, "How?"

Zoro was about to respond when his legs were kicked out from under him and made him hit the ground and loose his breath. He gasped as he looked up and the blonde standing over him. The man sighed again and rolled his eyes.

"If you can't avoid that, how well do you think you'll do against guns and armed men who actually want to kill you?" The man asked.

"Fucking bastard." Zoro cursed as he started to get back up.

He was about to start yelling when the man held a hand making him stay quite. The man was staring down the way they had come from where the blood trail faded off into the dark. The man tilted his head, listening. Zoro followed his lead and after a few seconds he could hear them; boots on pavement following his trail.

"Come on, Marimo." The man commanded snapping back into action and quickly helping Zoro up. "I said I would give you an excuse but even I really don't want to have to deal with those assholes tonight."

"EH?" Zoro questioned as he was somewhat dragged along by the blonde supporting half of his weight with an arm around his shoulder.

"I said I don't need your help."

"Yes, you do because it's either you come with me or you go with them because you can't fight them right now because you're too injured." The man yelled back. "So decide; come with me so I can treat your damn wounds or stay here and be tortured and killed or imprisoned. What's it going to be?"

"Damn Curlybrow," Zoro grumbled but gave in and didn't say anything else as the blonde helped him to supposed safety.

…

Ace was worried, which was why he was running down the dark alleys of the business - or silver collar - district towards the Thousand Sunny Bar. He was on his way back from an errand in a higher caste district when he'd heard about the fight his little brother had gotten into against Moria through gossip of a passing couple. He knew that he needed to get back to the lowest caste district soon, or there would be harsh consequences for not arriving to 'work' on time, yet he had to see if Luffy was alright.

Still, as he rounded the corner and the Sunny came into view, he saw something that made him skid to a halt and duck quickly into the closest alley. Damnit, he thought to himself, peeking out of the alley to see the two military personnel positioned not far outside the Sunny. He knew they were there to look out for him. He reached up to touch his iron collar and his chest hurt. It wasn't the collar he had started out with; he had started with a silver collar with a red stone - the same as what Luffy still wore. Garp had vouched for both of them to get them into the caste of the military, but after an incident in their childhood Ace was punished by having that collar revoked and being moved to the untouchable class.

Since then, Garp had decided that he should no longer associate with Luffy. He'd said that he would pull Luffy down to his caste as well. Ace had to agree that he didn't want Luffy to end up the same way that he had but he wouldn't ever do anything to cause that and tearing the two of them apart was unspeakably cruel. Who else did he have, besides Luffy? That thought would lead to darker ones, so Ace cut them off there.

Still, with the guards there, he knew he couldn't see Luffy tonight. He resolved to go home and speak with Zoro, Luffy's so called first mate, and Ace's housemate. He would be able to tell Ace what happened, as he often did since he and Luffy were so often being kept apart by Garp's intervention. He moved to cross the street again, trying to be careful and not to be noticed, but to no avail.

"Stop right there, Fire Fist Ace." One of the military men shouted causing Ace to take off running.

"Shit," Ace cursed and ran away from the two who seemed eager to pursue and catch him.

He knew these streets fairly well, not as well as the lowest class district, but often time 'work' had brought him here to where most of his clients resided. He was sure he knew the streets here better than the two behind him as he was quickly losing them with the twisted paths he was weaving within the thin alleys lined with apartment buildings. He was continually glancing behind him, he couldn't see them behind him anymore, but he could hear their boots not far away. He wasn't looking where he was going, too panicked about what was behind him. He didn't want to use his powers as using them on a military person could get him executed. He couldn't die; he had someone whom he had to protect, someone who could only rely on him.

"Watch out yoi," He heard a voice shout, only too late as he collided with another person's body.

He fell hard to the ground but his powers as a logia type protected him by allowing the parts of his body that collided with the ground to become fire, preventing any damage. He froze in shock for a second a sheets of paper fell around him and the other person. The other person, a man, had caught himself with his hand it seemed, but had allowed what he had been holding, a file full of paperwork, to fall in the process.

"That's going to be hard to reorganize, yoi." The man said with a speech tick at the end, as he slowly stood and faced Ace to reach out a hand. "Are you alright?"

"I, uh," Ace paused grasping the hand and being pulled to his feet.

His thoughts were interrupted by the pounding of footsteps one street away. Ace froze, terrified. The man turned his head towards the sound and then back to Ace all while still having their hands clasped together. He examined Ace and a flash of understanding seemed to cross his face. Ace's panic grew any he frantically tried to pull away

.

"I think he went this way," A voice said, very close even though its owner wasn't to be seen yet.

The man quickly grabbed Ace by the wrist and shoulder and Ace wanted to scream for him to let go. He was afraid this man would turn him over. Would he be thrown in jail? What did Garp want other than him staying away from Luffy? How far would he go to get that? Ace felt like he was going to hyperventilate when the man spoke quietly almost a whisper.

"Hide, yoi." The man commanded as he roughly pushed Ace into a nearby alley with a large dumpster in it.

Ace quickly ducked behind it despite his shock. He hid with his back leaning against the dumpster facing away from where the man was, now calmly picking up his scattered paperwork. The footsteps got louder until the voice of the military men could be heard coming from where he'd been standing just moments before.

"Sir, have you seen a young man with black hair run through here? We're in pursuit of a known criminal."

Ace held his breath placing a hand over his mouth, trying to be as quite as possible. His heart was beating so fast and so loud in his ears, he wondered if it would give him away. He squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the man's response. Would he really protect him? He had no real reason to believe the man he just met would. The man sighed.

"I only saw him long enough for him to destroy all the documents that I had organized, yoi." The man replied with a huff. "He went down that way and turned left. He was in a hurry didn't even apologize, yoi. You might want to hurry up if you want to catch him."

"Thank you sir, leave it to us."

The footsteps continued fading away. Ace didn't dare move until they were completely gone. The man had finished gathering his papers, though, he knew it would take some time for him to reorganize them again. He knew he should have stapled them instead of just putting them into a folder. The man looked up to meet Ace's eyes as he finally creeped out from behind the dumpster again. Ace rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Um, I'm sorry about your papers, and, uh," Ace bowed and said, "thank you for helping me."

The man shrugged and stood up, giving Ace a better look at him. His hair was a bright yellowish blonde and it was styled in a way that reminded Ace of the leaves of a pineapple. His eyebrows were arched high above his light sky blue eyes. He was wearing a very light violet dress shirt and light grey dress pants with black dress shoes. Yet what caught Ace's attention was the pure silver collar around his neck; the collar of the business class. Ace lowered his gaze wishing his own iron collar wasn't so obvious without anything to cover it.

"It's not that big of a deal, yoi." The man shrugged again and asked, "Why are they chasing you anyway? You don't seem like a terrible criminal."

The man's tone was light and teasing. Did he not see Ace's collar? Most people would've told him to stay away from them in disgust or worse called the guards back by now.

"Aren't all Untouchables criminals?" Ace asked drawing direct attention to the white elephant in the room as he reached up to touch his collar.

The man approached him, and even though his past experiences told him he should run, he didn't feel as if he were in danger. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was hope, but whatever it was, it had Ace firmly rooted in place. The man reached out a ruffled Ace's dark black, curly hair, which was revealed as his cowboy hat hung on his back. It was so gentle of an action, it nearly startled Ace.

"Only idiots believe that, yoi." The man said softly as he removed his hand from Ace's head. Their eyes mat and the man cleared his throat before continuing. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sorry about that again."

"It's fine, as long as neither of us is hurt." The man replied. "I'm Marco by the way." The man said extending his hand.

"Ace," Ace replied shaking the man's hand and feeling a little bit lighter than he had been before.

Ace smiled and then felt his eyes get heavy. No, not now, Ace thought as he fought to stay awake. He still had to get back to the lowest caste district, but he was starting to sway. He hadn't been getting enough sleep lately and it had obviously had repercussions on his narcolepsy, which always flared up at the worst moments.

Marco watched Ace sway and reached out to support his shoulder. He was worried that the younger man had lied about being fine. He tried to look into Ace's drooping eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay, yoi?" He asked in a concerned voice.

"I need to," Ace spoke languidly and with difficulty, "go."

Ace tried to move but he felt his legs give out and his eyes close. This wasn't a good time or a good place to sleep. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't be late, but he fell into deep sleep anyway unable to prevent it. He went limp.

Marco acted quickly to catch and then lower the other to the ground as he collapsed against his chest. He worried that the man had passed out and quickly laid the other down, face upwards. It was with great amusement that Marco realized what had actually happened.

"He's asleep, yoi." Marco marvel while wondering what he was going to do given the current situation.

…

Okie doke. I know it's basically going to be a retelling of the first few chapters, but I already feel as though I like this a lot better. For those of you wondering where Luffy and Law are don't worry they will be included soon. I'm super excited with this. I hope you all enjoyed it. I'd love to know how you guys like this if you've read the original CCL. See you very soon.

-LPC