I usually don't update this soon, but I thought you would need a little more to get a feel for this story. Plus I have some free time at the moment. Thank you for all the hits, review, and for given this story a chance.

With that, please enjoy.

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Woman

Zoro grunted as he parried another attack from the woman. She was much better than he had expected and so far she had managed to dodge some of his best attacks. It didn't help his wounds that his wounds from Thriller Bark were still slowing him down. He was already pushed to the point of exhausting from the short fight. It was more than a little frustrating since this fight would have been over minutes ago if he was at full strength.

"I expected a bit more from you," the woman said neutrally. "Maybe I overestimated your abilities."

"This fight isn't over yet," Zoro sneered as he charged in for another attack, but his thrust was deflected by one of her knives and his chest was left wide opened. He was able to pull back at the last second to keep the woman from piercing his heart. Nonetheless, Zoro was still left at a huge disadvantage since he was now unbalanced and was in no position to counter-attack.

The woman smirked as she moved in to finish off the swordsman when suddenly a bunch of arms bloomed from under her and tripped her. Without any warning, the woman fell ungracefully unto the forest's floor.

Zoro looked up to see Robin standing nearby with her arms cross. Sanji was also with her, to his eternal annoyance.

"You still don't know how to treat a lady, huh moss head," Sanji mocked.

"Save it, eyebrow," Zoro growled as he stood up, taking several deep breaths. He was more upset at his current weaken state. That woman shouldn't have been able to beat him. Being saved by his crewmates were just salt to the wound.

"Damn, I didn't expect there to more of you nearby," the woman said as she stood up. She then glare at Robin. "I got careless."

Robin said nothing, but kept her arms crossed.

"Tell me, what did that uncouth jackass do to upset you," Sanji asked as he walked up the woman and held out his hand.

The woman was taken completely off-guard by the gesture before she slapped his hand away. "I won't fall for such an old trick." She readies her knives again.

"Trick?" Sanji asked in a hurt voice. "No, no, you have it all wrong. I would never harm a lady."

Zoro snorted in disgust. "Save the sex talk, love cook."

Sanji quickly turned around to face Zoro. "What was that, shitty swordsman? It was most likely your ugly mug that scared this poor young lady."

"You want to fight!" Zoro exclaimed as he raised his swords to his rival. Within a few seconds, they were both sparring with each as the woman looked on in confusion. They had completely forgotten about her.

"What...what just happen?" she muttered as she watched the two men fight. After a few seconds, she sighed and put away her weapon. "How stupid. I can't believe I even considered Zizu wanting them."

"You have to excuse my crewmates. They tend to get very passionate," Robin said in a friendly tone, but she still kept her arms crossed. "But I must ask, who is Zizu."

The woman turned her head away from the fighting and looked towards the older woman. "Why would that concern you?"

Robin shrugged. "From what I can surmise, this has all been a big misunderstanding. We are part of a pirate crew known as the Strawhats. We have no association with this island before now."

"Pirates?" the woman repeated before nodding in understanding. "I see. However, I didn't attack your crewmate because I thought he was with Zizu."

By this time, Sanji and Zoro had finally stopped fighting and had gotten back to the problem at hand.

"Yeah, you said some strange stuff about someone wanting us," Zoro stated.

"It doesn't matter," the woman said coldly. "And if you were smart, you would leave this island as soon as possible."

"You're so sweet to be concern about us," Sanji said in his usual lovesick voice. His body seemed to morph into a noodle like form.

"Moron," Zoro muttered.

"Is there something wrong with this island?" Robin asked, ignoring Sanji.

"There is nothing hazardous about the island itself, but a very dangerous man currently resides here," the woman said in a solemn voice. Her hands also began to shake lightly.

Robin knew all too well that the woman was recalling a very painful memory.

"As I told your swordsman, if you made it this far on the Grand Line, I can only conclude that you're not an ordinary band of pirates. However, your power will only serve to make you more desirable," the woman said slowly.

"Desirable?" Zoro repeated. "So, is this man some kind of bounty hunter?"

"I've already said too much," the woman said as she shook her head. "Please, find your remaining crewmates and leave this place before it's too late." She then turned around and began to leave. "If you don't, then you will all experience a fate worse than death."

"Wait, can you at least tell me your name, my sweet flower?" Sanji asked.

The woman paused for a moment in thought. "It's Ivy." With that she disappeared into the forest.

"Ivy, what a beautiful and delicate name. Indeed worthy of such a lovely lady," Sanji all but cooed.

"You're really starting to make me sick, dart board," Zoro said as he sheathed his swords.

"Zizu, I have never heard that name," Robin muttered mostly to herself.

"I wonder what is supposed to be so dangerous about him," Sanji said in a he took a long drag of his cigarette before he knocked off some of the ashes. "If he is a bounty hunter, he must be fairly tough to work this deep in the Grandline."

Robin nodded. "Most likely."

"Do you think we should take her advice?" Sanji asked.

"Only the captain can decide that," Zoro said matter-of-factly. "That is, if we can find our moronic captain. I lost track of that idiot awhile ago."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "I swear, how did you fail in such a simple task. Can you do anything besides raise the anchor?"

"Why you..." Zoro growled as he prepared to take out his swords again.

"For now, let's return to the ship. I doubt we will learn anything more here," Robin interrupted. "We should also inform the others of what has happened."

"You always have the right answers, Robin-chwan," Sanji cooed sweetly.

Zoro was beyond commenting at this point.

Once everything was settled, the small pirate band began their walk back to the ship. It didn't take them long to reach the Thousand Sunny. In fact, Zoro was a little embarrassed to learn that he had only been fifteen minutes away from the ship after he had walked around that forest for over an hour. He hoped that witch Nami never learned about this. He would never hear the end of it.

"Hey, you guys are back already!" Chopper yelled as he lower the ladder.

Usopp was working on one of his inventions as he looked over to the reindeer. "Well, it sure didn't take you long to gather supplies."

"Has Nami and Franky returned?" Robin asked as they climbed aboard the ship.

"No and they shouldn't be back until dinner time," Usopp answered. He knew from personal experience that it could take Nami hours just to do one map. "Did something happen?"

"We ran into some crazy knife wielding girl in the forest," Zoro answered bluntly.

"Take that back!" Sanji yelled. "Ivy wasn't crazy."

"Ivy?" Usopp questioned in confusion.

"It would appear that there are people on this island," Robin answered as she retold everything that has happened.

"So, there's some kind of powerful man on this island?" Chopper asked in worry. Why couldn't any of their stops be easy?

"That appears to be the case, but that woman would not tell us who he is or what he wanted from this island," Robin said. "The only real information we have gained about him is that we would be desirable."

"Desirable? Sounds like a bounty hunter," Usopp observed with fear in his voice.

Brook tapped his head in thought. "But why would a bounty hunter inhabitant such an isolated island? At least in my day, bounty hunters usually laid in wait in big cities where all the big name pirates converge."

"We are close to the Redline where all pirates will eventually met up," Chopper said. "Maybe this is some kind of trap like Thriller Bark."

"I highly doubt that," Robin answered as she put her hand on her chin. "This island isn't on a normal track and most crews would miss it all together."

"This is all so confusion," Chopper moaned as he put his head down. "What do we do?"

"For now, we can only wait for Luffy to return," Robin said. "Then we can plan out next move."

Usopp's eyes widened in realization. "If there is someone terrible out there, then the crew members who are still on the island are in danger."

Sanji's eyes also widened. "Nami-san could be in danger! Next to Robin-chan, she is the most desirable person on the crew!" he exclaimed in a panic.

Usopp stared at Sanji for a moment. "What about Luffy and Franky?"

"Who cares about those shit heads," Sanji said dismissively.

Usopp sweat dropped. "You're so cold."

"Maybe we should go look for them," Brook suggested.

"Better not. This island is fairly big and there's no telling where Nami, Franky, and Luffy are," Zoro said. "It's better for us to stay here and wait for them."

Robin nodded her head. "I agree with Zoro."

Usopp gave a heavy sigh. "I hope they're okay."

Nami took several charts of their location as she sat near the edge of the island. The breeze off the cool water below them felt wonderful against her skin. Franky stood nearby as he attempted to amuse himself by looking at the different plant life in the area. He has never been much of a nature person. He was too much of a city boy to care about the 'great' outdoors.

"How long are you going to take, sis?" Frank asked impatiently. They have been here for almost two hours and he was bored out of his mind. He hated being on map duty.

"It takes time to make a proper map," Nami said, not even bothering to turn around and face him. "You just have to be patient."

Franky gave a loud sigh. "I could be maintaining the ship, building new weapons, or something."

"The ship will still be there," Nami said in annoyance. "Taking a couple of hours to help me isn't killing you."

"Sure, but it doesn't change the fact that this island is boring," Franky complained. "I mean, there's nothing here but forest."

"Is that really a bad thing?" Nami asked. "After everything that has happened, it's good to catch a break." She then paused for a moment. "Since we have entered the Grandline, we have been fighting nearly nonstop."

Franky felt a suddenly pang of guilt. "I'm sorry, sis, I didn't mean to be insensitive."

Nami shook her head and smiled. "I know you didn't. Being a pirate is hectic, which is why I enjoy these kinds of moments. Sitting here drawing maps reminds me why I am out here."

"Hey guys!" a voice yelled out over the forest.

Nami and Franky both turned around to see Luffy waving at them as he ran out of the forest.

"Oh, you finished exploring already and where's Zoro?" Nami asked.

"Yeah and I found something really neat," Luffy said before he realized what her other question was. "What about Zoro? I haven't seen him since I left the ship."

Nami gave a loud annoyed huffed. She was definitely going to increase his debt. "Never mind, what did you find?"

"Oh, it's something really cool," Luffy said, remembering why he was excited. "You have to see it for yourself."

"If you want to show us something for your beetles collection, forget it," Nami said.

Luffy frowned. "What's wrong with my beetles collection?"

"Come on, sis," Franky encouraged. "You could use the break."

"Yeah, and I promise you'll like what you'll see," Luffy said with a wide grin.

Nami's curiosity was peaked. She wanted to finish her charts, but that could wait until later. From her calculations, the log pose won't set until the next day anyway. "Alright then, lead the way," she said as she put her charts away.

Luffy gave a large grin as he led Franky and Nami towards the heart of the island. Before long they were standing right at the edge of the city Luffy found earlier.

"See, isn't it cool!" Luffy asked in excitement.

"What is this place?" Nami asked in awe.

"This place is super," Franky said, equally impressed. "This is very good craftsmanship and it looks only a couple months old."

"You can tell how old the buildings are from this distance?" Nami asked in disbelief.

"I have a keen eye for detail," Franky answered proudly. "You have to in order to build a ship that has thousands of working parts."

"I told you it was cool, but you need to check out the middle it," Luffy said as he practically ran into village.

"Luffy, wait up!" Nami yelled as they ran after him. They lost track of him for a moment before they spotted their captain standing in what appeared to be the town's square.

Luffy seemed oddly blank faced.

"Luffy, are you okay?" Nami asked, not liking Luffy's change in demeanor.

Before they could get too close to their captain, his head suddenly jerk sideways. "There's someone here."

"What?" Nami asked in confusion.

Within seconds a figure jumped from the shadows and nearly decapitated Nami. Luckily, Franky was there to block the fatal blow with his metal arm.

"Too close," Franky muttered as he held his ground against a steel blade. The attacker was almost as tall as him with dark gray hair that was tie into a ponytail.

"You're not a normal man," the attacker said. "Your arm should have been sliced off."

Franky grinned. "Well, I'm far from normal." He then pushed the sword away and attempted to uppercut the swordsman. The swordsman dodged the attack with ease and sidestepped away from the cyborg.

"Don't underestimate me," the swordsman warned with a snapped of his fingers. Within seconds, several more people appeared in the town square. Soon, the small pirate crew was surrounded.

"Where did these people come from?" Luffy asked in confusion. "They weren't here earlier."

Nami glanced at Luffy. The tone of his voice sounded off. It almost sounded like he was lying. That couldn't be right.

"There're here now, bro," Franky said, interrupting Nami's thoughts.

Nami quickly took out her Clima-Tact. She didn't have time to think about their situation. "We have to fight our way through."

Luffy gave a wide grin. "Fine by me."

I feel this chapter came out better than my first, but things are a little slow at the moment. I hope the current events hasn't confused you too much. It is also kind of rough remembering who is or isn't in a scene. This is the first time in awhile that I dealt with so many named character in a story and it is easy to get lost. I honestly forgot about Brook more than a couple of times.

On that note, I also hope you like my OC. Don't worry, I can promise you now that she won't take over the entire story, fall in love with anyone from the cast, or end up as a new crew member. This story purely centers around the Strawhats and Ivy is around to move the plot. I also forgot to put this in my first chapter, but there will be no romance in this story. Although there maybe some undertones, it won't be anything you haven't seen from the anime/manga. This is strictly a friendship story.

Until next time.