Okay, last time I left this off, some of you had issues with it. But now that I'm back, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 3

It was a cloudy day out in the pier as Zoro, Franky, Robin, and Usopp were getting ready to set out into the ocean for Robin's latest research.

"It's quite fortunate that the specimen I'm looking for is in our area." Robin said.

"Though it would've been better if it was related to history." Usopp said as he made sure their stuff was down in the galley.

"True, but until something comes up, I have to put all this information to the test." She said as she looked up to see Franky, working with the switches and other such devices. "Are we going to see your sub in action?"

"If the situation calls for it!" Franky said as he looked at the back of the ship, used strictly for research and observation purposes, and saw the blue, shark-like submarine. "Took me three years to create the plan, a couple months to get the supplies, and two weeks to put her all together!"

She giggled as she looked over to see Zoro, and felt saddened by the way he was trying to distract himself.

It had been a couple of days ago since they learned that Ace was the only one that made it back. He is now in a coma at their hospital, guarded by none other than Lt. Smoker. From what they got from the doctor, Ace had aged two years since his departure, making the comatose man at age twenty. What disturbed the group the most was the lack of muscle of the once strong, muscular man they remembered years ago, but knew that space would cause problems for the body. Not to mention that they were abandoned three years after take off, making them be on their own in space. This means that the young man would have to go through physical rehabilitation to recover back his muscles.

But Robin was greatly disturbed to learn something that the doctor told her alone.

#Flashback#

"Nico-san…"

"Robin please."

"Robin-san, I'm sure it's a relief for you to have a close friend of yours return."

"One of them…" She said sadly.

"I'm sorry…"

"What is it that you wished to tell me?"

He looked at his charts and took out a data sheet. "We ran some tests to determine his condition, and we discovered some unusual micro-organisms in his system."

"Micro-organisms?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that what ever it was, it has become a part of his DNA… What this means I'm not entirely sure. However, it seems that it's not causing any harm to any of the surrounding personnel. But just to be safe, if it's not too much trouble, we would like to have you have a look at what this might be first hand. Maybe you can provide some information."

She didn't seem comfortable about it, but her concern and curiosity got a hold of her and agreed. "Give me a call when you have what you need."

"Thank you, Robin-san." The doctor said as they went their separate ways.

#End of Flashback#

They were getting out of the marina when Robin went up to Zoro, who was looking out from the back of the boat. "Zoro-san…" She said, but he didn't seem to recognize her as he kept looking at the mass of land getting smaller. "Zoro-san!" She said a bit louder, getting his attention.

"Oh… Hey Robin…"

"How are you holding up?"

He sighed. "Still trying to wake up from this surreal world…"

She felt torn from seeing such a strong man, holding his emotions and hoping, truly hoping, for the one person he truly cared for besides his first family to return.

"Bad luck…" He said. "I'm just unlucky…"

"Don't say that, you still have us, and when Ace wakes up, I'm sure he has something to tell us about what happened." She said, trying to make his see the bright side of things.

"I was abandoned when I was four, brought in by Sensei and his daughter, my big sister, when I was seven, lost them a year later from Kuina's death and Sensei unable to care for me… Ended up in the orphanage two days later, unwelcome and made fun of… Then Luffy busted through the door and yelled like a crazy mad man…" He chuckled. "Then I lose him too…"

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "We all lost him… You're not alone in this Zoro-san…"

He sighed as he looked at the sky. "It's a good thing the clouds are hear to cover the sun, I don't want to see or feel the sun… he likes it when it's a perfect sunny day."

She looked at the sky as well and agreed. "It's a sad day for all of us…"

"You guys talking about Luffy?"

They looked back to see Usopp.

"Hey Usopp…" Zoro said as the said teen stood next to Robin.

"He would've been my age… you know…" He sighed. "I have so many tales to tell him… now I won't be able to…"

Zoro sighed once more as he looked up at the sky once more, but saw something unusual. "Robin… What do you make of that?" He said as he pointed up to a red dot.

Robin grabbed her binoculars and looked to see what she could make of. What she saw first was a round object, then the red color, then the color turns out to be extreme heat-like flames. She put down her binoculars. "It's… some kind of… metal object…" She looked at Zoro, who almost didn't want to believe what he's hearing, then to Usopp, who didn't know what to make of the information. She then ran up to where Franky is, keeping an eye on the fast approaching, fiery metal mass and told him to stop the ship for just a moment.

After stopping the ship, Franky and Robin went out, just in time to see the mass hurl pass them and land some fifty miles away from where they were.

"Doesn't that look like…?" Franky said, almost afraid to be hopeful, but was there.

"Only way to find out…" Robin said as Franky went to start the ship back up and followed Robin's instructions about the location of the last sighting.

It took only a few hours, but they made it to a disturbed spot on the ocean's surface and Franky readied the shark-sub. However, Zoro started to take off his shirt and shoes off.

"Zoro!? What are you doing!?" Usopp asked, while helping Franky.

"Swimming." Was his blunt response as he dived in before anyone could question or stop him.

"Damn it!" Usopp said. "Does he have any idea that it could be in the deepest part of the ocean!?"

"Ah! He'll figure it out. He is a champ at holding his breath in great depths." Franky said, not majorly concerned. "And I should know, he asks me to do this for him for his training."

"He's still insane…" Usopp said. "He's going to get himself killed on of these days…"

"He won't be easy to put down." Robin said, but her expressions and tone are indescribable.

With Zoro, he was swimming with some ease as he was loosing his visual, which is until he saw a red dot some meters down. He could feel his lungs straining and his ears threatening to burst, but he went down deeper before and this wasn't different. He managed to get closer to the red light before having a light appear behind him. He knew it was just the shark-sub and got a good look at what it was, which nearly made him want to go up for air. 'It's… It's that symbol!' He thought when he saw the logo he remembered seeing ten years ago on a limo car. He needed air now and mentioned to whomever was in the shark-sub to stay where they were, and not move as he quickly went up.

When he did reach to the surface, he saw Robin there. "It's… It's another… pod!" He said while gasping.

She handed him the oxygen tank and mask as well as a series of rope. "Then we need to pull him out now!" She said, panicked as the man quickly placed the oxygen tank on him and put the mask over his face.

"You don't need to tell me twice!" He said as he dived down back to the spot and he and the shark-sub got down to work of tying the rope to create a net-like carrier. While Franky gave instructions to Robin about reeling it up, he looked at the pod, seeing now windows for him to see what was inside. 'It's like an egg…' He thought as he held onto the ropes, not planning to let go until he got on deck and start opening it.

When the pod was on the deck, Franky, reading the plans some years ago, knew how to open it. "Usopp! Start the engine and start moving back home slowly! We don't want this thing rolling away from us!"

"Right!" Usopp said as he got onto the wheel and got things running.

Robin got out from below deck with an armful of blankets, and just waited off to the side.

"Okay Zoro…" Franky said. "I'm about to do the last of the combination, when it opens there should be a pad in there. The numbers to open the capsule is 10114, got it?"

Zoro nodded as he waited for the pod to open and went in, which was freezing to his liking. He easily saw the capsule with the heart monitor, which shows that the heart was still beating. The glass was frosted over and he couldn't rub it away to see what was behind the glass. He put the numbers in and stood back to see smoke coming on immediately inside the capsule and feared what it was about, but the capsule started to open and waited for it to completely open before going in through the smoke and felt around for a body. When he identified as a human body, he carried the form bridal style and started to walk out, where Robin got the blanket ready to place over the unconscious teen. From there, everyone got to see the person who they thought they lost.

Sleeping in the man's arms was Monkey D. Luffy, pale skin, maybe too pale for anyone's liking, a small scar under his left eye, ebony hair in a wind swept style. He was also thin and fragile looking, which they could blame being in space up too long.

"Luffy…" Usopp said with a smile as he let tears go down.

"I'm putting him to bed." Zoro said, not once lifting his eyes off the teen in his arms as he headed down below deck, where there was a makeshift bed, no doubt that Robin quickly made as she was looking for blankets. He carefully placed the other on the bed and sat on the edge. "Damn it Luffy…" He whispered. "Don't scare me like that…" He smiled, a true, genuine smile. "Welcome home Luffy…"

Okay! That part's done! See you next chapter!