Bleh...

I'm back, and although I didn't meet my May deadline, I got another chapter in before finals... It took longer than I thought, but after this week, it'll be smooth sailing for me and this story.

Hoorah!

I'd also like to say thank you for all of you faithful readers out there (even if you don't review), and I greatly appreciate your support. My goal isn't to generate the most amount of reviews or anything stupid like that, but I thank all of you for forcing me to get my lazy butt up and write this.

This is another boring chapter, but whatever... The next couple of chapters after this will be much more lively, I assure you!

Away From Home

Chapter 4

Two days had passed since the Strawhat pirates were hit by an unforgiving storm. They were separated, without a trace as to where the others were, and alone. It was the second night on the mysterious island, where both the navigator and archeologist of the crew had ended up, along with their severely wounded first mate.

The two females of the group had mapped out some of the area covered during the day, before coming across Zoro's unpleasant body lying on the shoreline. Aiding him and his condition while witnessing him gain consciousness, they ventured into the island's forest, intent on finding an area to camp for the night.

Nami and Robin had found a fairly open spot; just yards away from the forest's edge where they decided to stop and regroup. Large trees and vines surrounded them on all sides and they were comforted by short grass growing underfoot. The moon angled itself above the water, giving a clear reflection of itself and lighting up the shore. The two were shaded by the trees, forming a type of canopy to keep them closed in, which they hadn't decided was a good or bad thing. Keeping Zoro nearby, the two lay out on the grass with the purpose of getting some well deserved rest.

"Where do you think the others are right now, Robin?" Nami asked, staring up at the night sky through a small crack in the trees.

"I'm not sure… but I wouldn't be too worried about them. I know they can handle themselves. You should try and believe in them more, Nami-san…" responded Robin, turning her head to look at her orange-haired counterpart.

"I know… I trust them, it's just that… I-I'm not exactly sure…" the navigator stuttered while trying to analyze her own emotions.

"We'll be with them soon, I'm sure of it. Luffy-san won't stop until he finds us, even if it takes tearing up the entire Grand Line," thought Robin as she turned her gaze towards the soundless swordsman lying a few feet from the two. "We should be more concerned for ourselves. We need to make sure Zoro-san is safe, but we'll just have to wait until he responds…"

"Yeah, you're right… Being separated from everyone else is one thing, but losing one of them is a whole different story, especially Zoro. We need to wake him up so he can help us get the hell off this island." Nami pouted.

Robin smiled at the navigator's hot-headedness. Although Zoro did indeed move earlier during the day, he was still in extreme danger. The archeologist knew that anything could happen, and did not rule out the fact that they could both wake up tomorrow and find the swordsman dead.

"Nami-san…" Robin said with a more serious expression.

"Hmmm?"

"We must remember that in a place like this… there is no telling what might happen. Zoro-san may be better by tomorrow… or he could die in our sleep… and so could we."

"…"

"We still don't know what's on this island, so we must keep our guard up at all times and consider every available option and outcome…" the archeologist looked at the money loving thief with a determined look, "If we want to make it off this island, then we must work our hardest in order to survive; we cannot be weakened by anything." Robin finished speaking, waiting for her friend's response. Hopefully she didn't scare her too much.

"Y-Yeah… Alright, Robin… Don't worry, 'cause you can count on me," the navigator returned Robin firm poise. "We'll make it off this island together…" she paused, looking back at the green-haired man. "All three of us."

"Hmmm…" Robin made her trademark smile, turning to look up at the trees while accepting her partner's commitment. "We should get some sleep Nami-san, if we are to search more tomorrow and help Zoro-san, we'll need some rest."

"You're right… Well, goodnight Robin. Hopefully we can make it through this night okay…" Nami mumbled, turning on her side and slowly closing her eyes.

"Yes… goodnight Nami-san." And with that, Robin did the same thing, resting her mind and body for the day that's to come.

?

"Huh… ah… gah… d-damn… guh… it…" I could hardly breathe. I had no idea where I was and the pain kept getting worse.

"Gah… where the hell… am I… ah…" I leaned up against a nearby tree and looked up around me, taking in my surroundings. Trees, vines, and more trees… Reminded me of that sky island place, except for the whole gigantic trees and weird thunder god thing. Boy was that annoying…

My chest was throbbing violently. It appeared that I had gotten injured recently, but I couldn't remember a thing and that wasn't good. Just where the hell was I, and how did I get here? All I remembered was waking up and being surrounding by a shit load of plants…

I continued to pant against the tree as I tried to ignore the pain flooding through my worn out body. My mind was racing everywhere and it soon slowed down as I began thinking about the crew. Where were all of them? Where was Luffy? Where were Usopp, Nami, Dumbass, Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Brook? Considering I couldn't remember a thing and I had absolutely no idea where I was, something must have happened, and if I was the only one gone, I had no doubt Luffy was looking everywhere from the refrigerator to the end of the Grand Line for me.

But none of that changed the fact that I could hardly breathe.

I was abruptly interrupted from my subconscious musing by a sharp screech from a large, black bird above me, most likely some type of hawk. So there were living things here after all… I had heard nothing but myself panting since I had "woken" up.

Well, who knows…? The crew may have just stopped at some random island to shut Luffy up, and I may have just randomly wondered into a forest on my own. Nothing out of the ordinary there…

And I may have just woken up not remembering anything…

And I also may have just woken up with a huge gash in my chest…

…

Something was certainly going on here…

My mind reverted back to my surprisingly bad condition. I don't know how I got it, but I found that I had a nasty slash across my chest. That's going to leave another scar… just lovely. I had a hard time inspecting it with all the rangy bandages wrapped around my torso. They didn't look like the ones Chopper usually put on me, and the job wasn't as well done. They were rough and were soaked with blood around my chest, and the more and more I looked at them, the more and more they looked like the color purple.

Definitely weird.

"Uh… I gotta get the hell… out of this place. Damn… it… I better not be… lost…" I muttered to myself as I gritted my teeth and pushed off of the tree. I began slowly walking, or limping, with the intention of finding something that didn't look like a plant.

"Hmm…?!"

I suddenly heard a slight rustling in a nearby bush behind me, causing me to turn around at the speed of light as I cringed in pain. I guess I turned around a little too quickly… I stared intently at the source of the sound, waiting for something to jump out at me and make my day. Fortunately, after waiting a minute or two, nothing of that nature happened, so I just shrugged it off as a small animal or something and continued to walk in a random direction. I inwardly sighed, somewhat thankful that I wasn't mauled by a rabid bear or whatever. Normally I'd be more than happy to test out a few moves on some woodland creatures, but even I had limits. I knew my 'random' wound was quite severe, and I had to take care of myself regardless of the situation.

And this day was already shitty enough.

"Grr… I got to find… the others, but I have no clue… where I am…" I declared, finding it harder and harder to talk as the time went on. Knowing well that I wouldn't get anything done sitting around, I continued trekking through the untamed forest, hoping to see a familiar face sooner or later.

?

"Grrr… Geez, Chopper! Would you stop screeching like an animal?!" I yelled in my sleep after hearing a loud, high pitched noise, most likely from the reindeer. Keeping my eyes closed with the intention of getting more sleep, I silently awaited the retort of the fuzz ball, which would probably be something along the lines of 'I am an animal, you bastard!'. After a few seconds of complete silence, I decided to open my eyes for the first time that day to see what was with Chopper. The doctor always yelled immediately after someone commented about his species. Leaning up from my bed to prepare to check on my friend, I was greeted with an immense ray of light blinding my eyes.

I'm definitely not getting anymore sleep now.

After I let my eyes adapt to the brightness of the room, which was supposed to be dark in the first place, I was able to see everything. Trees, vines, more trees, and more vines. Well there certainly weren't trees in the men's quarters of the Sunny, so I must have still been dreaming. But I must say, it was quite beautiful-

W-Wait a minute…

…

Crap…

"N-NOOOOOOO!" I cried, looking up at the tall trees while everything came back to me. "I'm not on the Sunny at all! I'm still on this stupid island!" I clenched my fists and kneeled over onto the ground, asking why this had to happen to me. My dream of being woken up by my little reindeer buddy was completely shattered as I looked around my makeshift campground. I was still alone on this forsaken island which probably housed every type of monster imaginable. If I hadn't sworn to believe in Luffy and the gang, I most likely would have been crying right now…

Although, despite not waking up in my hammock on the Sunny, I was dead sure I heard something. I stood up, brushing the dirt off of my pants and looked all around me to see if anything changed. Everything was just the same as it was last night; quiet, nothing but plants to look at, and… scary. Now that I think about it, I could have been woken up by a monster's battle cry…

O-Oh… n-no…

"I-I've got to do something about this! I can't just sit around while the rest of the crew is missing! Some of them might even be here on this island… A-And if Luffy was here, he'd never give up!" I declared to myself. The crew may be relying on me, and we've come too far to let each other down. Preparing to dive into the unforgiving wilderness of the island, I turned to go pick up my supplies and bravely venture across the jungle.

"Man, it's a good thing I still have these…" I muttered, signaling to my Kabuto and satchel. I walked over and slung my bag over my shoulder while grasping the large slingshot in my hand. Taking a deep breath, I began heading out of my deforested circle and into the forest itself.

"Gulp… Well, I guess this is it…" I stated nervously. Pushing away the stray branches in front of me, I delved into the jungle, intent on finding anything.

Robin

The sun rose early in the east, cascading its radiance through the island trees and onto my face, waking me instantly. I slowly opened my eyes, ready to be blinded by the excruciatingly bright light, only to see a thin cloud graze across the sun and create a shaded region over our area. I leaned up in a sitting position and stretched out my arms and legs while letting a deep yawn escape my mouth. After allowing my eyes to register the lighter environment, I took in my surrounding once again. The trees that surrounded us gave off a mysteriously peaceful elegance and sun's rays seemed to create sparkles in the air, as they gracefully lit up the grass.

Although this island could be the death of us, it was really quite lovely. It seemed like a completely different piece of land than the one we washed up on a day ago.

My eyes slowly drifted to my orange haired companion who was sleeping soundlessly a few yards away from me. It looked as though all here troubles had melted away last night, and left her smiling happily in her sleep.

I smiled as well and reverted my eyes to myself, focusing on my condition for the time being. I frowned as I took in my messy appearance, with my magenta pants ripped off to a few inches above my knees. My thin shirt had a small hole in it near my stomach and a few grass stains from the ground, but nothing overly serious. I had gone the entire day yesterday without any footwear, which could become a problem in the future. My hair is probably a mess… not that I have mirror to see it with, but I can tell. Nothing really life threatening, but I care nonetheless.

I was suddenly pulled out of my self-analysis when I heard a loud shriek from up above me. Curious to find out the source of the noise, I looked up and saw a great big hawk flying just above the treetops. I continued to stare at it for a few moments, studying its size and characteristics, somewhat amazed at the bird's exotic beauty.

It was a rather large bird…

…

I lowered my gaze back down to my eyelevel only to find my head immediately jolt back up to the sky where the bird flew just moments ago.

"A bird…" I told myself aloud. So there were animals on this island after all… I had gone the entire day yesterday not seeing a single living organism, besides plants of course. It was very strange in fact, and I had asked myself countless times yesterday of why I hadn't seen any animals. I looked over to Miss Navigator to see if I was still on the same island as before. In the last five minutes after I woke up, this island had seemed completely different than it was a day ago…

It was peaceful, the sun was shining and the weather was perfect, and there were birds flying through the sky. I definitely wouldn't mind being here if it was under different circumstances. My thought process then changed to the very circumstances we were dealing with. My eyes fell from the sky back to the ground, wandering our little campsite for the second time that morning. I began thinking of the all the others. The childish rubbery captain, the cowardly marksman, the lovesick cook, the little reindeer doctor, the immature cyborg shipwright, and the perverted skeleton musician. I sighed, hoping they were somehow safe together. After everything that has happened so far, I wouldn't be able to take being separated from my nakama once again. It would simply be too much to bear…

I mentally shook myself awake at the thought. I might have been separated from a majority of my friends, but I still had one of the greatest navigators in the world and the demon hunter himself with me. Reminding myself about the situation regarding the swordsman, I turned my body around to where the swordsman was laying. As my eyes slowly made their way to the spot where he lay unconscious, I felt a slight chill down my spine, warning me not to get my hopes up. My eyes finally made it to his resting place and I felt my heart skip a beat. My breath got caught in my throat and my eyes widened in shock as a bead of sweat rolled down my face.

…

He was gone.

Boring, huh? Don't worry, cuz it'll only get better from here on out!

Thank you all and see you next time!