A/N: The second chapter...

For some reason I think that this story is slowly headed in the M-rated direction. What do you guys think? Yes? no? I'll leave it up to you, I suppose. I'm pretty down for either, personally. Maybe I'll do a poll. Yeah... I'll probably start a poll.

I realized I missed the entire Zoro and Robin coming out with their relationship... Soooooo I'll write a one-shot about it sometime soon!

Well, hope you enjoy :D

Chapter 2

"I'm going to kill him," Nami said, standing there at the end of the dock.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, sitting down on the end.

"My precious Robin-chwan!" Sanji fell to his knees. "That damned Marimo better not lay a finger on her."

"Maybe Marines came by and they moved the ship?" Chopper looked up at her.

"The Marines wouldn't leave so quickly," She replied, sighing as she pushed her hair behind her ear.

No one said anything for a long moment. Gentle waves lapped against the dock. They all looked out, trying to spot the ship –perhaps Luffy could shoot himself over and get the boat back to the dock. But there was nothing out there.

Finally, Nami sighed, dropping her hands down to her side. "Let's go and rent a room at the inn. Until they come back, we can't do anything anyway."

"I hope nothing bad happened," Franky said as we turned and headed back towards the town.

"They're really no where in sight," Brooke said, staring out across the endless sea. "Not that I have eyes to see with. Skeleton joke! Yohoho!"

"I don't think this is the time to be joking around," Usopp said. "Something serious could have happened."

"Maybe other pirates stole the ship," Luffy said, grinning.

"While Zoro and Robin were on board?" Nami questioned doubtfully.

They all stopped and looked at one another before they all shook their heads, dismissing the idea with a wave. "Nah~"

"This is just great" Zoro said sarcastically as he stood there at the bow of the ship, having just put the anchor down. He turned and looked back at me, "How are we going to get back?"

"We don't have a log pose," I said, looking overboard at the men that were still swimming frantically. "But, maybe they do."

"Oi!" Zoro called out to them. "Which one of you is the navigator?"

They all gave him out in a second, their fingers all pinpointing him. This crew was just awful. It reminded me of a few of the Pirate crews I'd been in before. Or, I suppose, any Pirate crew I'd been in before. How willing they were to hand me over to the Marine's to collect the beli on my head.

"Some nakama you have," Zoro snorted. "Give us your log pose."

"Then how would we get back?" Someone asked.

"Why should I care?" Zoro scoffed. "You wouldn't be in this mess if you didn't steal the ship in the first place. Now toss up the log pose before I come in there and skewer your asses."

"I don't want to be skewered!"

"I don't want to be in the water with him!"

"Just give him the god-damned log pose!"

In a hurry, the navigator took the log pose off, and then tossed it up. It was short of the distance, but I caught it and brought it up using my extra hands.

"Thank you," I told them. "Now, how long until the next island?"

"Four days."

I turned to Zoro, "That means eight days until we get back to the island, supposing that they have an eternal pose directed to it."

"Nami's going to throw a fit," Zoro muttered.

"I'll handle Nami when we get back," I told him. "Let's just make sure we get back first. Get the anchor up. The sooner we get going, the sooner we'll get back."

He sighed and nodded.

I couldn't help but feel that this was my fault, and I would willingly take the responsibility when the two of us got back. Until then, though, we just needed to concentrate on getting back.

"This is so stupid," Zoro muttered, leaning against the helm.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him.

"Starving," He yawned and stretched. "Stupid Sanji."

"For what?"

"Not pre-making breakfast," He replied as he got to his feet.

I double checked the log pose before getting up and following him. "Luffy would have eaten it anyway."

"That's true," He agreed. He looked around the empty ship. "It's so peaceful without them all though."

"Mm," I smiled. "Usually it's so loud."

"It's like we're getting a break from all of the nonsense."

"At least they know how to have fun," I smiled as we entered the kitchen. "And being nonsensical is definitely part of our captain's charm."

He laughed, "I guess. That and how straightforward he is about everything."

"And the way he sees things differently than everyone else," I added. "I think that's why he and Nami make such a good pair."

"Why?" He asked, sitting at the table as I went to the kitchen. I punched in the code for the lock on the fridge and opened it wide to see what we had.

"Nami needs someone strong and straight-forward," I laid out the ingredients I wanted to use on the counter. "Someone who won't lie, that can always make her smile, trustworthy at all times -"

"And what kind of guy do you deserve?"

"I have you. That's enough, isn't it?" I smiled at him over the counter. He scowled slightly, but even though he turned his face away, I saw the small smile. I sighed happily and began to boil a pot of water. "How does chicken soup sound?"

"It doesn't matter as long as its food," He said.

"Soup it is," I said, beginning to cut up vegetables to add flavor. Not with Sanji's knives, of course. They were like his life aside from his hands –oh, how he treasured them.

He was silent for a moment before saying, "I know she's not here, but I can't help but feel Nami's going to jump out and beat me to a pulp at any moment."

"The reputation she's given herself," I chuckled. "You can't hide from her shadow no matter where you are, can you?"

"I have a feeling my debt is going to sky rocket because of this."

"I'll take responsibility," I told him. "I was on the ship too. And I brought the alcohol."

"Which Nami gave to you –hey, let's just blame this all on her," He said.

I laughed again, but I brought the knife down on my finger, I winced, dropping the knife. "Damn it."

"Are you okay?" He was around the counter in a heartbeat. He took my hand gently and lifted it into the light. It wasn't deep; it had just surprised me. But he took my index finger and placed it in his mouth. As comfortable as I was around him, the gesture made me blush. Maybe it was because we were completely alone, but his presence was really strong right then. He glanced up at my face, and let my finger slip from between his lips, murmuring an apology.

"It's fine," I told him, picking up the cutting board and dumping the vegetables into the pot, "You just took me by surprise."

"Can I take you by surprise again?" He asked.

I turned towards him, and he caught me in a kiss. I smiled against his lips, handing the cutting board off to another pair of my hands and setting it down on the counter so that I could kiss him back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

We probably could have gone further than we'd ever gone before right then, knowing that we had no audience, but the water boiled over the top, spilling onto the stove and hot water misted us as the bubbles gave way. We pulled apart quickly, staring at the frothy mess.

"Well, that's what happens when you don't pay attention to what you're doing," I sighed, glancing at him as I quickly returned to tending to the soup.

Without saying a word, he went back to his seat.

I finished making the soup and dished it out into bowls. It wasn't really a breakfast food, but it really didn't matter to Zoro, and for some reason soup sounded really good about then. I went back, after placing the bowls on the table, and cut a few slices from the loaf of bread, spreading it with butter before bringing that to the table as well.

We ate in a comfortable silence, both of us getting up for a second and third helping. With Luffy not there though, there were leftovers. Putting the remainder of the soup into a smaller container, I placed it in the fridge, and then checked the log pose.

"Still on course?"

"Mm," I said. "I'll grab a book and man the helm, you observe from the crow's nest. Maybe we can cross paths with a pirate crew that does have a pose pointing towards Luffy and the others."

I turned the page of my book as I sat at the helm. I glanced down at the log pose, surprised that I didn't really have to adjust the helm.

Actually, with the size of the waves today, it was just plain weird. But I wasn't complaining. If we were able to stay on course with little adjustment, then I was fine.

I set my book down and stood up. I had flowers to attend to. And I should probably water Nami's mikans while we were separated. I stretched as I walked down the steps. Zoro was up in the crow's nest like I had suggested. Whether he was sleeping or working out was another matter, but that was fine.

Producing more arms, I pulled myself up to the deck with my flowerbed. I grabbed the watering can, shaking it slightly to check to see how much water remained, then headed downstairs to the kitchen to refill it. Back up on deck I lightly watered the flowers, and then knelt down to weed the small garden.

I hummed as I worked, trying to fill the unnatural silence on the ship. When I finished with my flowerbed, I watered the mikan trees. I debated whether they needed a trim, but I was sure that Nami would prefer doing that on her own when we returned. I set the can down and headed for the ladder to go and wash my hands. As I climbed down though, I glanced at the log pose to find that it was pointing towards the stern. I jumped down to the dining room and rushed to the deck, glancing once more at the log pose.

But now it was pointing to the bow. I frowned, turning around and keeping an eye on the needle of the log pose. Bow. Starboard. Stern. Port. No matter which way I turned, the needle turned with me, always pointing in the direction I faced.

"Zoro!" I called up to him.

"Yeah?"

"We were given a faulty log pose," I said, waving it by the strap in the air.

He jumped down, landing on the lawn deck. I took the slide down to him, letting him catch me as I reached him. I held out the log pose. "It's like it's stuck, but I wouldn't know where to begin to fix it. It's as good as broken though."

"We've already been sailing for a few hours," Zoro said slowly.

"Which means that we're completely lost," I told him, sighing deeply and looking up at the sky.

"Damn those pirates," Zoro muttered, clenching his fist. "So what do we do? Sail randomly or sit and wait in hopes that other pirates come by?"

I opened my mouth. Either way, there was nothing we could do. The amount of time we would spend without the rest of our crew suddenly sunk into the unknown. We had enough food that I didn't think we'd have to worry for a while, but what would the crew think? They couldn't even come after us.

"We'll continue to sail," Zoro decided, sensing my wavering disposition. He kissed me quickly. "It's okay. I've been lost at sea before. We can get through this. We'll get back to them."

I chuckled. Of course he'd been lost at sea before. "Oh, why am I not surprised?"

Nami frowned as she started towards the port. The ship still hadn't returned. Where had Robin and Zoro disappeared to? Were they okay? What if something serious had happened? It wasn't that she didn't trust that they could handle themselves, but this was so weird…

And surely they hadn't run off to elope and honeymoon.

"It's going to be okay," Luffy reassured her. "They'll come back."

I smiled at him, "Mm. I'm sure they will."

With a sigh I looked at the surrounding town before looking out to sea. "I just want to know what happened."