Reprise

by Kamiko Kiyo

On Hiatus.

4. Of Talking Trees

AU: So, because shit happens some major changes have taken place. It really won't affect you readers except for the fact that Yuki now has a fingerless glove on her right hand and that her name is now Kou S. Yuuki. But if you care to know more about the changes feel free to refer to the new AU in chapter one, if not, go on ahead. Oh, yeah and the title changed again... sorry 'bout that.

Also, there is a new person behind the inner workings of this story. Her name is Mistyfalls, who is also my good friend and will be contributing to this story as of now and is to be credited as such. Another helper who has been a great help for my writing problems is Kittylynne. Without both of them this fic might have never seen the day of light again.

And enjoy.

Disclaimer: Nobody owns One Piece, but Oda-sama, we clear? All we have is the right to screw around with what he makes.

Chapter 4

"Looks like we're taking a detour."

"Is he going to be alright?"

"You're free to give him mouth to mouth."

"... I think he'll be okay."

"This isn't the first time I've seen this happen to him. As long as he's breathing he'll live," Yuuki said dismissively. "Our top priority now is to fix what he broke." She looked at the ripped, white cloth in her hands with a sigh.

"So now that none of our lives are in mortal danger, you gonna explain to me what your problem is?" Zoro had taken off his shirt and busied himself with ringing it out over the boat into the ocean. While his attention seemed to be on drying his shirt, his voice demanded an answer. "'Cause I think I deserve to know why I had to be the one to get drenched," the Swordsman snapped, tossing the shirt in the boat with a plop! when it landed. True to his word, Zoro was soaked from head to toe and did not look too happy about it.

Luffy, likewise, was also dripping, lain out on the floor, asleep, but otherwise fine.

No one would wanted to accept it, but it was a fact that the three pirates were destined for trouble.

"Yum! This is great!" Luffy scarfed down their food with glee. Out on the seas it got so boring on their tiny, little boat. Meat-er...lunch time was the only thing he could ever look forward to on a regular basis. Sadly, he couldn't get his 5 square meals a day (I mean, really, he'd miss two or three whole meals sometimes!), but even he had the brains to know that complaining wouldn't fix it (which he'd figured out on the 5th day).

"Where does he put it all?" Zoro couldn't help staring at his new companion, who ate enough food for ten people and then some.

"Don't know. He's always been like this though, so I wouldn't think on it too much," Yuuki said, popping a grape in her mouth. "Luffy, I know you have a problem with self-control, but just a heads up. We probably won't reach any place with a market until later tomorrow."

"Really?" Zoro perked. "Then we better stop. By the looks of it, we'll barely have enough to eat one or two more times."

Luffy , who was sticking his hand in the sack of food they'd gotten from Rika's town, pulled out a biscuit. He stuffed it in his mouth saying in between chews, "But I'm still hungry."

"You just ate more than both of us," he pointed to himself and Yuuki, "combined. I doubt you'll die of starvation." He internally shuddered at his own words, remembering the experience of being deprived of food for nearly a month. He had been able to endure it for three weeks and he could probably even do it again if need be, but the whole thing still sucked and he didn't plan on revisiting such desperation as to eat a dirty rice ball again any time soon.

"Fine," he conceded, tying up the bag. But that didn't stop him from trying to leech off of his crew mates. First, he looked expectantly to Yuuki, who was the most likely candidate, but he drooped when he saw the grape vine in her hand bare. All that left was Zoro. And the perfect target was laying right at his side.

Seeing Luffy stretch and make a grab for his bread the Swordsman quickly stabbed one of his sheathed swords down on the hand, pinning it to the boat floor.

"Ouch!"

"No way. This is mine, so keep your grubby hands to yourself," he glared, lifting his covered blade, allowing the rubber man's hand to retract.

"Come on. You aren't eating it," Luffy whined sorely, holding his slightly red hand pathetically for effect, in hopes it would convince the man.

It didn't.

"That's 'cause I was having a drink," the former Pirate Hunter replied irritably. "Now quite being a moocher and back off."

There was silence between the inhabitants of the boat as the two had a staring contest. The tension rose, becoming so thick Yuuki thought she actually saw it crackling between the two.

"I just want some food," he defended loudly, standing up to look down at his First Mate.

"You just ate!" Zoro stood as well, spilling a bottle of water, but neither seemed to notice, too caught up in their battle of wills.

"You know, we could just put the food back in the bag," Yuuki suggested.

"Stay out of it!" They both yelled at her.

"Man, you're just stingy," Luffy stuck his tongue out and pulled down his eye lid.

"And you're a greedy glutton! Can you take one second to thi-woah!"

Just then a large wave crashed against the boat, rocking it and making the men stumble. As they tried to regain their balance they both slipped on the spilled water. Zoro grabbed onto the mast behind him and barely managed to catch himself from falling. Luffy, on the other hand, could only manage to grab the sail. However, unable to support his weight, it easily ripped sending him overboard and into the water with a large splash.

"Glah! Plep!" The Captain's yells were gargled as his head bobbed to the surface for one second. In an instant, he sunk down below with bubbles rising from where he fell in.

"Luffy! What the-? He can't swim!" Zoro looked to Yuuki frantically. She, however, was not exactly in the mood for a discussion with their friend still in the water.

"Zoro! Get in there! He's drowning!" she yelled, pushing the Swordsman toward the water.

"Hey! Quit pushing me!" When she stopped, Zoro quickly detached his swords from his side. "Let's go!" he said, getting ready to dive.

"I can't," she stated simply.

"What! Why not!"

"I just can't! Now will you go before I have to succeed Luffy as Captain!" She then shoved the First Mate overboard.

"Ah!" he shouted as he got soaked. 'That girl is dead!' he thought lividly. Then remembered his drowning Captain. ''Well, she is once I drag back his sorry ass,' he added, diving down to find the teen. Soon Luffy was retrieved and Yuuki was stuck to deal with a broken sail, an unconscious Captain and a drenched, royally pissed off First Mate.

"I ate a devil fruit," was her explanation.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Zoro was still on a short fuse from his involuntary bath.

"Eating a devil fruit gives you powers; that's true, but what you don't know is the fatal flaw of it all," the green haired man looked at her expectantly. "When someone eats a devil fruit, they can't swim anymore," his eyes widened in surprise and understanding. "When people like us hit the water they just sink. Not only that, but it also weakens and immobilizes them. Taking away any powers they gained from their devil fruit," she said, not looking at him once when she spoke. Instead, the whole time she was intently studying the ripped sail thoughtfully.

"So, does it happen with all water?" he inquired.

"Yes and no." He waited for her to explain. "No, we're not affected by the rain, but yes, its any kind of water. Although, it only happens once a part of our body is submerged."

"And yet you both still sailed out here," he stated. "Despite having a weakness that could be the death of you around 24/7," he paused, mulling over the condition of the two.

Well that just added to the number of problems. It was bad enough that they had no real boat, crew, a low food supply and a useless sail, but now he learned if either of them stepped in a really deep puddle it weakened them and their little super powers were shot to hell. Just great.

Still, he thought. It was worse for them. And it was admirable of them to go after their dreams with such a severe weakness. He didn't know how anyone could deal with that. Forgetting the fact that they'd die if they ever fell in the water, it would be just damn annoying if it weakened you that much. Even the powers you got were taken away. What was even more commending was that they intended to be pirates. Pirates who sailed the ocean. The ocean: a giant body of water.

The Swordsman didn't really know what he would do if he couldn't swim. 'Probably be dead,' he answered himself. Although he'd never admit it, he'd accidentally fallen in the water on more than one occasion.

"It's not so bad. There are plenty of normal people who can't swim that are on the seas. Other than getting weaker and not being able to move, we're not taking much more of a risk than them. We're just careful not to fall overboard," she paused as she remembered something. "Except for Luffy. Who's always forgetting and diving in anyway; the idiot," she mumbled, finally taking her eyes off the cloth to make eye contact. "Anyway, like I said. We're going to need to stop to get some things to fix our sail. I think there was supposed to be an island not too far from here. With any luck, there's people on it."

"Looks like we're paddling for now," Zoro picked up the oars and placed the ends in the water. As he was about to row, a flash of movement distracted him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Huh?" she looked up at him. "Um... taking off his shirt?" Yuuki asked, as if she wasn't sure herself. She was hovered above Luffy holding the top of his vest open where she'd undone the buttons.

"Why!" he shouted, very uncomfortable looking at the sight.

"He might catch cold with wet clothes." She paused as a thought came to her. "Now that I think about it, they say idiots don't catch colds," she briefly pondered, then shook her head. "Eh, better safe than sorry."

"Here, I'll do it," Zoro shoved himself in between the two.

Normally, Zoro had no bones about not having some cloths on as long as all the important parts were covered. It was when someone else was doing the undressing that he felt the need to intervene.

Yuuki stared owlishly at Zoro while he was finishing her job and a small smile spread across her face. "I'm glad Luffy chose someone like you to be our crew mate," she spoke randomly. "It'll be nice to have someone else to help look after him again."

"Yeah, thanks," he grumbled. "I have no idea how you've put up with him for so long." He got up and moved back to the oars when he was done.

"Oddly, with Luffy, you just get used to him over time and it becomes natural to deal with him and all the baggage he comes with."

Zoro sweatdropped at that. He may have said that he thought they had some interesting adventures ahead of them, but now he felt that there were going to be some major, unavoidable mishaps and train wrecks along for the ride as well.

S

When they reached land it did not look promising. There were no docks for them to anchor their boat to, so they pulled it up on the beach to prevent it from floating away. Before them was a large expanse of forest as far as they could see. No markets. No towns. No village. There wasn't even a house in sight.

"I'm just gonna take a wild guess, but I don't think we'll be finding any sail repair shops here," a now fully clothed Zoro commented.

"Maybe, but it's the closest island there was. We might as well give it a shot," Yuuki crossed her arms. "If we're lucky there will be a village close by and we just came to the wrong side of the island."

"I'm all for trying, but what are we gonna do him?" the Swordsman pointed to their shirted rubbery friend. It had been about an hour since his near drowning, but the Captain was still out cold.

"We carry him," she said simply, trying to pull the boy onto her back.

Zoro sweatdropped at this. They weren't going to leave him knocked out all by himself. If they did that there was no telling what might happen with stray animals going by, any thieves that might be around; you name it (hell, they probably wouldn't even leave him alone if he was awake with all that he could get into by himself). But he didn't think it was a good idea for someone to carry another person who was nearly a head taller than themselves.

"Look, I'll do it. We have no idea how long we'll be looking," Zoro offered, but she didn't seem to hear him, too focused on getting the straw hat boy securely on her back. He doubted she could even drag the guy, let alone carry him. Watching her try made him feel pity, like watching a small child attempt to walk a dog twice its size.

It was just sad (and admittedly a little amusing) to watch.

To his surprise, once the girl got her arms under the rubber man's knees and his arms draped over her shoulders, she lifted him expertly and held him up with no problems.

"Ready?" she asked him, unblinking.

"Uh, yeah..." he trailed, a bit bewildered. Quickly grabbing the bag they had stashed the damaged sail in, Zoro slipped the satchel's strap over his head and walked with her into the woodlands.

Checking the forest for a town or even a house was easier said than done. It was fairly thick with trees seeming to sprout every 10 ft. of land and only seemed to get more crowded as time went by. Not only that, but the two conscious pirates both noticed that the forest seemed to get darker as they went deeper. It wasn't so bad that they couldn't see, but it was getting dimmer and there wasn't that much light.

It seemed that the type of tree was the cause. It was easily noted that the trees in the forest had leaves of an obviously darker color than normal trees. That and seeing as the trees only got closer in proximity to each other as they got farther away from the ocean caused the sun to be well blocked from the forest floor by the particular tree and its abundance.

"Hey, I think I hear something," Yuuki spoke while they wandered through the woods.

"What is it?"

"It sounds like... running water," she listened closely and continued on to confirm her suspicions. Getting hopeful that there might be people not too far if a source of water was nearby, the Vice-Captain jogged toward the noise, followed by Zoro. Unknowingly, she started to pick up her pace in anticipation and wasn't taking care in her steps.

In one move of carelessness, the redhead caught her foot on an upraised root. Normally, she might have regained her footing, but with Luffy still on her back there was no way. She was not used to the extra weight and due to the momentum created by this, she could only let herself drop.

Seeing her about to fall Zoro dashed forward to catch her... but unexpectedly stepped on something and tripped as well.

"Ah!"

"Oof!"

The two lay there, groaning, on the ground. It wasn't because of hitting the floor though. Falling and hurting themselves wasn't the problem here. It was more of the humiliation and embarrassment that came out of falling at all that kept them from getting up immediately.

"Sorry," Zoro mumbled at his failure to catch her from falling and even ending up tripping himself.

"Thanks for trying," Yuuki consoled pushing herself up with her elbows and onto her knees.

Zoro eyed the Yuuki's burden. "Is there anything that can wake this guy?" Luffy was still slumped against her back, although his legs laid limp behind her since she let go of them when they fell.

And yet, the straw hat still remained dead asleep.

"He always does this..." she muttered.

Zoro sat up, briefly stretching his arms. He stopped when he felt eyes on him and turned to see Yuuki staring at his face intently. She was just looking at him like some sort of puzzle, boring holes into him. As if he could tell her how to find the One Piece if she stared long enough. And quite frankly, it was starting to creep him out. "What...?" he began, but trailed as she gently touched his cheek near his left eye with her two fingers.

As the fingers tips of her gloved hand rested against his skin she lifted them again to lightly touch his face and her eyes widened fractionally. Zoro had been watching her carefully the whole time, thoroughly confused, but waiting to see what she would do. He tensed as she took her hand away.

"I knew it," she said softly.

"Knew what?" he asked, curious.

She sighed, before shaking her head. "You cut your face when you fell," she informed him, turning her fingers around to show him blood.

Feeling beneath his eye, he realized she was right, much to his chagrin. "Shit," he frowned.

"I thought I saw some blood, but I wasn't sure with the lighting in this forest," she murmured.

Zoro shut his eyes. "Don't worry about it. It's just a scratch. For now, let's just find that river or whatever it is."

"Here," Yuuki stopped him from getting up by placing a cloth to the injury.

"Where'd you get this?" he asked, surprised, referring to the cloth. It was some kind of handkerchief, but she just seemed to have materialized it from thin air.

"Mm," she shrugged absentmindedly, "it was just something laying around where I lived. I took it with me just in case before me and Luffy left for our journey." She had just a hint of a smile as she dabbed the cloth on his face. "You never know," she said, with glassy eyes.

Zoro looked down at the cloth on his face as she cleaned the small wound. He then turned his eyes to her and stared. When she was done and moved her hand away his eyes suddenly hardened and he grabbed one of her shoulders in a gentle, but firm hold.

Yuuki blinked. "Z-"

He cut her off by shushing her. His eyes had an intent gleam to them and she could feel his even breathing as he leaned his face in closer to hers ever so slowly...

Sheee-thunk!

Yuuki looked to the side with only her eyes to see one of Zoro's swords lodged into the bottom of a tree behind her, tacking something down. When she caught sight of it, it fell limp and he reached over to pull his weapon out, with the object still impaled.

"What is it?" she asked as she studied it with a mix of surprise and intrigue.

"Some kind of snake?" he wondered aloud, taking his hand off of the redhead's shoulder. It seemed a little too short and fat for a snake, though. It was a dark sheeny black with thin rings of white throughout its body. "I don't really know, but I'm guessing this is what I stepped on when I fell," he pulled the corpse off to point out the dirty shoe print on the body of the dead animal.

When Yuuki had finished cleaning the blood from Zoro's face, he's seen the thing creeping behind her slowly. He supposed it didn't take too kindly to being stepped on and wanted some way to outlet its anger. Although, it made the mistake of picking Yuuki as its target. Zoro, seeing it behind her, had tried to keep both of them quiet and still, so as to not incite the animal to attack. Just when it seemed to come at them, he stabbed it, killing it instantly, before it got too close.

The two scrutinized it another moment before the Swordsman blurted, "You think we can eat?"

Yuuki raised an eyebrow. "You're starting to sound like Luffy," she mused. After a moment, "You don't think he's contagious, do you?" she asked, worried, wearily eyeing the boy on her back. The last thing she needed was for either of them to start always complaining about hunger and have the intelligence of a log.

"I'm just saying, we're running a little low on food. Having some extra supplies wouldn't hurt," he told her.

Yuuki supposed he was right. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing they'd ever eaten in her opinion. "Okay then, wrap it in this," she gave him the handkerchief.

He quickly tied it up in the handkerchief and set it in the bag they kept the sail in. He didn't object to carrying it, seeing as Yuuki was the one hauling Luffy.

"I'll check it out later and make sure we're not going to eat something poisonous before we do anything with it," she added, picking Luffy up again as she stood.

Making their way to the sounds of water (much more carefully this time), they were disappointed to find it to be just a small stream. It was so small, Yuuki didn't even have to worry about drowning if she fell in. She could just step over it. It was discouraging, because if the water source was so small, it was less likely that there was a town or a village close by that would use it.

"What do you think we should do?" Zoro consulted her.

"I say we keep going. Unless you've got a better suggestion," she waited expectantly, but received no indication he did; only a shrug. "Well, we've come this far, why not a little more? It might widen out if we keep following it," she said optimistically. "But before that," she walked over to the small stream. Moving Luffy off of her back she removed his hat and gingerly placed it on the ground next to her.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "What are you-?" He got his answer when she lifted the boy by the back of his vest and calmly proceeded to lower his face into the water, producing a sweatdrop from the green haired teenager. Four seconds later the Captain began to flail his arms around as bubbles rose from the water when he tried to breath. Seeing this, the redhead took her sweet time in yanking him back up to allow him to breath air.

'Well good to know I'm not the only one she does that to,' he thought dryly, watching Luffy cough violently as he greedily gulped the air into his lungs. When the rubber man was sure he wasn't going to suffocate he turned on Yuuki, who still held him by the back of his shirt like a puppy.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!"

"It was about time you woke up. I was just speeding up the process," she let go of his shirt, remaining unaffected by Luffy's anger.

"You didn't have to dunk my head in the water!"

"Oh, c'mon. Anything else short of clobbering you wouldn't have woken you up."

"You could have drowned me," he grumbled, holding his head at the thought of Yuuki hitting him awake. That's when he noticed something missing. "Ah! Where's my hat!" He kept feeling his head as if it was simply lost in the folds of his hair.

"Here," she handed the item to him which he took happily. "And you wouldn't have drowned. If your didn't come to after ten seconds I would have pulled you up," she declared.

'Before or after he died?' Zoro walked off a little to get away from their arguing. It was getting really annoying.

He eventually slumped against an old tree a safe distance (for his sanity) away from his Captains. Suddenly, the most unexpected happened.

"Hello?" he heard a voice.

"Huh?" he glanced over to see Yuuki and Luffy still at it. The only difference was that Luffy had gone from mad to simmering. So, who had he heard talking?

"Is there anyone out there?" said the voice again. It was emanating from behind him, he realized. Getting up to inspect the tree, he experimentally tapped the bark and was surprised to hear more muffled noises from within.

"Hey guys," he called as Luffy's pout was being ignored by the Vice-Captain. "You might wanna come see this," suspicion and uncertainty worked their way into his voice.

"See what?" Yuuki asked as they joined him.

Before he could answer they all heard a loud, "Who are you guys?" They all stared in shock for a moment at the tree where the speech came from. As bizarre as it was, they all recognized the voice for what it was; it sounded like a little boy. Looking at the tree, it was a fairly short dead tree that seemed to have a hollow inside judging by all the gaping holes on the branches. It suddenly clicked in their minds.

"Oh my gosh," Luffy began, stepping closer. "Zoro!" he said urgently. "You found a talking tree!"

Okay, so maybe it clicked for two of them.

Zoro resisted the urge to face palm. "It's not a talking tree, you idiot. There's someone inside of it!"

"Are you alright? How did this happen?" Yuuki inquired.

"What do you mean 'how did it happen'? A talking tree is a talking tree," Luffy said, having ignored or not heard Zoro. Most likely the latter.

"It's not a talking tree, dammit," the Swordsman said through gritted teeth.

"Ha! We found a talking tree," he eyed the plant in childish glee. "This is so COOL!" he fisted his hands, excited at the 'discovery.' Zoro gave into his urge with a loud smack!

"For the last time, it's not a talking tree. It's a kid," Yuuki retorted, annoyed with Luffy's idiocy. She sighed as he still didn't seem to be getting the idea. "So, how did you get in there?" she questioned the child.

"I was... uh, playing. Yeah," the little boy answered. "And I climbed up this tree for fun, but when I tried to get down the wood broke and I fell in," he said miserably. He must have been in there for a while. "Could you-would you help me out? I need to get home."

"But isn't the forest your home Talking Tree?" Luffy asked like a moron.

"Talking tree? I don't-just, please. I need to get back to my mom. She's really sick and probably getting worse 'cause I'm not there," he sounded upset.

"Alright," Zoro said, having given up on making sense to Luffy. He knew just the way to get the little boy out. It was quick enough and very simple. "We got any matches?" he asked Yuuki.

"Um, no. What for?" she dreaded the answer, hoping her creeping suspicions were wrong.

"We'll need something to start a fire. Once that's done we just lite it to let the tree burn up until he's free," he nodded approvingly at his solution.

"YOU'RE GONNA WHAT!" the little boy began to panic.

"We're not going to burn him out," Yuuki growled, believing Zoro was trying to scare the child. That just went to show how well she knew the former Bounty Hunter.

"But you can still help me out, right? I've already been gone too long. My mom's gonna be really worried if I'm not home soon!"

"Fine, we'll do it the hard way then," he heard the man who tried to burn down the tree say begrudgingly with a sigh. Unexpectedly, cracks and breaks started forming where wood met the ground inside the tree and light began to emerge from them. Soon the tree was lifted over his head and to reveal a tall green haired man slightly straining to lift the tree with his hands before he threw the mass of wood away like a discarded piece of trash.

The boy felt his jaw drop and he stared back and forth between the tree and the man. It seemed impossible that the tree could have been handled so easily by one person. "Wow~" he breathed in awe.

"Hey!" His attention was diverted by a skinny, black haired teenager who was pointing at him. "There was someone inside of the Talking Tree!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"That's what we've been trying to tell you, Luffy," a girl with long red hair bonked him on the head before turning her green eyes to him. "What's your name?" she asked more softly than how she addressed her friend, observing him. The kid wore a plain grey shirt, some dark brown suspenders and some simple shoes. Judging by his size, he seemed to be about 10 years old.

It took a moment for him to register the fact that she was talking to him. "Ke-Kenji. Who are you?" He stood up to better level himself with them even though they were all obviously taller than him.

"I'm Yuuki. This is Luffy," she pointed to the Captain as he grinned, giving a friendly wave.

"I'm Zoro," the super strong man walked over to him. "You said you had to get home. Does that mean there's a village near by?"

"No. I live here with my mom. There's no one else on the island."

Normally Kenji wouldn't have told strangers such a thing, but they did rescue him. And they seemed like nice enough people. Plus, he was curious about them. He didn't really meet many people on the island since they lived alone and honestly, the green haired guy, Zoro, was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.

Kenji watched with interest as Zoro and Yuuki physically deflated when he said that.

"Crap. Well, would you happen to have something that could fix a sail?" the redhead asked sheepishly. "Ours kinda ripped," she looked pointedly at Luffy, who was oblivious to it.

"Maybe. My mom might-" the boy abruptly jumped, remembering his mother. "Mom!" he turned and started to run, but stopped as his mind went to the strange group he'd just met. "Um," he turned back to them, "I could probably help you, but I have to go home. I can help you get it fixed there," he worded, basically asking them to follow him.

Soon they were out of the woods and came upon an open area where a fair sized house stood next to a river. There was a wide field of land in front of the house that looked to be for growing food, but only a small portion of land near the house was in use, full of colorful produce. When they were at the door they all watched Kenji dash into the house, following not too far behind him.

"Mom! I'm home!" He went into one of the rooms.

The pirates came to find a sickly looking woman in bed. The room was fairly simple with the bed shoved against the wall that had a window with a table near the other side where a small basket box sat.

The woman's long brown hair was strewn out messily on the pillow and she smiled at Kenji weakly. "Where have you been, Kenji?" her small voice was full of relief. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm okay. I just got stuck in a tree when I was, uh, playing in the forest."

"'Stuck in tree'? What do you mean?'" Just then she noticed the presence of the pirate trio in the door way. "And who are these people?" She looked slightly weary of them. Especially Zoro as she got a glance at his three weapons.

In response to her agitation, the boy hurriedly explained. "They're the people who helped me out. And that guy," he pointed to Zoro, "he lifted a whole tree by himself when they rescued me!" he smiled.

She was very weak, but still managed to look shocked by the news at first, but soon came to her senses. "Kenji, you shouldn't make up stories like that." Before he could argue she gave him a weathered 'not in front of others' look. "And you are?" she inquired.

Yuuki stepped up, "I'm Yuuki. My friends here are Zoro," the Swordsman gave a short wave, "and Luffy."

"Thank you all so much for helping my son," the woman smiled back tiredly.

"No problem," Luffy grinned, forgetting he did nothing and Zoro was the one who freed Kenji.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did come to the island?" the mother asked softly. "We don't tend to get many visitors here except for a boat that brings supplies every so often. Are you sailors, perhaps?"

Luffy opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Yuuki cut in, "Yeah, we are." It probably wasn't a good idea to tell the pale mother that they were pirates. First of all, the woman looked weak enough without having to deal with the stress of pirates and they had no idea how she or Kenji, felt on the subject, so it was best to keep quiet. At least until they got their sail fixed. Then the mother and child could angrily chase them off the island if they wanted to.

"But-" Luffy, ever stupidly truthful, was about to correct her, but she quickly covered his mouth and pushed him over before adding.

"As for why we're here. Our sail got torn and we're looking for some way to repair or replace it," she explained.

"How'd that happen anyway?" Luffy got up, forgetting Yuuki's short assault.

"You of all people outta know. You're the one who broke it."

He cocked his head, thoroughly confused.

"Before you fell overboard," she hinted. "You grabbed it which is why it's now ripped," she spelled out for him.

"Ah! I remember now!" There was a moment of silence as they all quieted to hear his epiphany. "I'm hungry," he whined holding his stomach.

The two straw hat pirates fell over. "You are such a pain," Yuuki mumbled, sitting back up.

"Yeah? Well, you stuck my head in the river, nye," he shot back (cleverly?), sticking his tongue out at her.

"Your point?"

"I could have died!"

"And we could have just left you on the boat. Then you'd be vulture food," she teased smugly.

"Well, next time I'll throw you in the water and see how you like it!"

"Anyway," Zoro cut off anything Yuuki would have said, sending them both a mixed look of disapproval and annoyance. "Do you have anything that could fix it?"

The woman smiled fondly at the three. She'd been uneasy at first, but now she could see they were really just children. Watching Yuuki and Luffy fight brought a familiar feeling to the surface; one that she'd long since missed. They were good kids, she felt, and had a feeling of motherly instinct come over her that impelled her to help them.

"I think we might have a sail laying around somewhere," the mother thought. "But we'd have to dig it up."

"No need," Yuuki interjected, ignoring Luffy who was still making faces at her. "If you've got some thread and a needle, we should be fine."

"In that case, I have some needles and thread right here," she pointed to the basket on the table. "There's not much to do when you're stuck in bed all day but mend clothes and embroider," she smiled. "Feel free to use them."

Luffy ceased his childish behavior at Yuuki and exchanged his attention to the matter at hand. "Thanks, Lady!" he grinned.

"W-When are you guys planning on leaving?" Kenji asked abruptly, with a hint of hesitation.

The male pirates turned to Yuuki. "What?" She blinked.

"You said our sail is ripped," Luffy said. 'Because of you,' she thought at him, sweatdropping. "How fast can you fix it?"

'Oh right, I have to fix it. Because you two are useless.' "I don't know," she scratched her cheek thoughtfully. "I'm not a very fast seamstress. Maybe...ah, by dark."

"Oh yeah," he grinned. "You really suck at sowing. Ha, ha-ugh!" he yelled when she smacked him in the back of the head.

"I do not suck at sewing," she stated firmly. "I'm just a little slow. Besides, it's more than you could do."

"I know seeing my friends isn't very encouraging, but would it be alright if we stayed the night?" Zoro asked, as Luffy complained to Yuuki about hitting him.

It was already obvious that, given the situation, they'd need to settle down on the island tonight. If the fastest they could get their sail fixed was by night time, it was too much work to set sail when it was done. By that time they'd have to anchor anyway. They might as well take the opportunity to sleep on dry land.

Kneji looked to his mother expectantly.

She thought for a moment and smiled when she saw his enthusiasm, nodding, much to Kenji's delight. "I'd be happy to have you all here."

"Thank you very much, ma'am," Yuuki said politely. "I'll gladly make us all dinner in return if you let me use your kitchen."

"That would be wonderful. But before that we should take care of that cut, Zoro," she turned to him, ever motherly.

"Huh?" Luffy looked over, having noticed it for the first time.

"Oh yeah," the redhead scratched her head awkwardly.

Before the green haired teenager could object, Kenji's mother instructed her son, "Kenji, show them where everything is."

"Okay," he nodded, leading the way.

Zoro was a little put off by the concern. It was just a little cut. Why make a big fuss about it? He'd had far worse and he could almost guarantee them all that the scratch would go away within a day by itself without any medical care. But not wanting to obstruct the woman's health, he quietly went along.

"How did you cut yourself?" Kenji asked after bringing in the first aid materials. They'd exited to the living room to give the mother some rest.

"Did you fall asleep and cut your face on your swords?" Luffy suspected bluntly.

"NO! YOU IDIOT! HOW COULD THAT EVEN HAPPEN! I tripped and probably got it caught on a stick..." his voice faltered as he realized what actually happened didn't preserve his pride much better than the straw hat's stupid theory.

"You realize the whole thing was kind of your fault, Luffy," Yuuki wiped Zoro's cheek with a cloth full of disinfectant.

"What? How?" Luffy was puzzled at the accusation.

"If you both hadn't started arguing about the food, you wouldn't have almost drown and I wouldn't have had to carry you," she told him. "Your extra weight tripped me. Because of that Zoro tried to catch me when I fell and ended up collapsing too," she finished up, putting a bandage on the Swordsman's face.

Luffy stared at her. "...what?"

"Never mind," she muttered as Zoro surpressed an annoyed groan at their Captain's idiocy.

Kenji watched the scene in curiosity. When Zoro had lifted that tree from the roots in the ground and thrown it like it was nothing, he'd immediately perceived the man as strong and cool. Hearing that he got a scratch from tripping somewhat dented that ideal. Also, reasoning told him that Zoro's friends would be similar to him, but seeing them, they acted very...inadequate, for lack of a better term. And quite frankly, it was putting a crack in his imagination of the group.

He was distracted by his thought when Yuuki got up and walked toward the kitchen. "If that's all, I better start on the food," she paused to glance back at him. "I know how to make vegetable soup, will you eat that?"

"Yeah, but we don't have a lot of vegetables in the house. I'll go get some from the garden," he snatched a basket on the counter and just as he was out the door he heard Zoro call to him.

"Wait up! I'll come help you."

Kenji stopped in his tracks, surprised, but nodded, leading them both out to where they grew their food. After a quick run down on how to pick the ripe vegetables was given to the First Mate the two began their work in silence. It was a bit awkward for Kenji and he constantly fidgeted being near the older man.

He wanted to say something, but he just couldn't get up the nerve. While Kenji really did take a liking to him, Zoro was still a relative stranger. He hadn't spoken to anyone other than his mother in years and he felt very stiff trying to do the same with someone else.

Thankfully, Zoro decided to break the ice first.

"Hey, do you know what this is?" the green haired man went into the bag on his side and pulled out the dead animal from earlier on the blood stained cloth.

Kenji was a little jolted at the sight of blood, but calmed as he saw what was being shown to him. "Oh, that's a leech snake," he informed the pirate. One didn't get raised on a nature filled island working on a farm everyday and get intimidated by the sight of a dead snake.

"Do you know anything about it?"

"A little. There's nothing special about it. It drinks blood, but doesn't usually bother bigger things like us. It knows that if it goes after us that we'll kill it."

"That's it, huh?"

After a short moment he quickly added. "Well, it likes light, so they even come out during night time. Except on new moons," he slowed a bit in his explanation at the end, but looked up to the man.

"I see..." he stared at the creature before looking up again. "Then is it safe to eat?"

All he got was a blank stare.

"Why would you do that?" he asked as if asking why one would plant an apple seed to get a peach tree.

Zoro shrugged. "A guy's gotta eat," he answered simply picking a pepper.

"So, what do you guys do out on ocean?" Kenji started awkwardly as they collected the produce.

Zoro looked up, not expecting the conversation to be diverted toward him. "Not much. I actually only met my friends a few days ago and just started traveling with them."

"Like, you met up with them again? How long have you known them?"

"That's not what I mean. I'm saying I'd never met either of them before the last few days."

"Really? You just met them and they're already your friends?" Kenji hadn't learned much about meeting new people as he'd spent his entire life on the island, but that sounded a bit odd, even to him.

"Yeah, I guess they are," he hadn't thought of it much until now.

Just as Yuuki had pointed out, he got himself involved with the two without knowing a single thing about them. But he'd learn.

Admittedly, there were times that the First Mate frustratedly wondered why he'd ever joined up with them, death threats from marines aside, but found that, truly thinking about it, he couldn't find it in himself to regret it or feel that he'd want to be anywhere else. It was a strange effect the pirate duo had on him.

"But you've gotta do something. You're sailors. Maybe..." he searched his mind, "you're Marines," he guessed.

'No, we're the exact opposite,' Zoro internally chuckled. Shaking his head at the irony he went back to work picking the vegetables.

Kenji took the shake as a no and continued to guess. "You're not fisherman, are you? Then you wouldn't have swords," he thought aloud. "I bet you're some kind of bodyguard for Yuuki and Luffy. But then what guarding them from?" he crossed his arms.

"Themselves," he answered barely thinking.

"Huh?"

"I'm surprised those two morons have survived without me all this time. They get into trouble so easily and I end up having to save them," he grumbled, reflecting on Luffy's near drowning earlier that day.

Unbeknownst to the former Bounty hunter his comment triggered a very different scenario to run through the small imaginative boy's head.

"Please let us go!" Yuuki begged their captors tearfully. "I didn't mean to get your clothes dirty! It was an accident!"

"I didn't even do anything! Please let me go," Luffy shook in fright.

"Your excuses mean nothing! Women and weaklings should know their place!" a burly, fat man said, backed up by mob of evil looking men.

"Oh no! We're gonna get killed!" Yuuki screamed looking away from their soon-to-be killers. They were in a windowless room and the men were blocking the door. There was no escape for the two.

"No! we'll do anything, just please don't hurt us!" Luffy wailed. "This is all your fault, Yuuki! If you hadn't thrown that pie at him, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"I was aiming for you! Oh, if you hadn't dodged it," she cried. "So, you do something about it!"

"What? I'm so weak, I'll be dead in a second! You go!" he yelled back.

"Oh, will anyone save us?" Yuuki asked on her knees with hands folded in prayer, looking up imploringly.

"No one will be able to help you!" the ugly man said before laughing maniacally. "Get them!" he commanded his men.

"AH! Help!" both yelled, closing their eyes.

Suddenly there was a loud smash and a flash of green. All men but the boss were on the ground, slain, as a shadowy figure stood in the door way. "Who dares to kidnap my friends!" he shouted with a sword in his hand.

"You," the fat man paled. "You defeated all of my men. Please, leave me be! I'll give you money, power, anything you want, just please spare me!" he threw his arms in front of himself in protection.

Zoro walked in toward the man and stopped in front of him. "I don't want your money. All I want are my friends. I'll give you mercy, but only because they are not harmed. Now get out of here," he made some slashes at the man, but nothing happened. After a moment all his clothes fell off in sheds and he covered himself in shame, running out the door crying as Zoro calmly put his swords away.

"Zoro! I knew you would come!" Yuuki gushed.

"No need to fear. You can always rely me!" he said, shooting her a gleaming, shining smile. Yuuki fainted with a girlish sigh and Luffy ran over to him.

"Zoro! You saved me!" he cried, tears running down his face. "How can I ever thank you!"

"You don't need to thank me, we're friend after all!" the green haired man smiled happily.

"Oh, you're so wonderful Zoro," Yuuki said, getting up from her fainting. "You must be so tired of us. You're always coming to our rescue and all we ever do is get into trouble," she teared up.

"It's true! We don't deserve you!" Luffy hugged Yuuki in their despair.

"Don't worry about it," he wiped her tears away. "I do it, because I care about you guys and I promise I'll always be there to save you," he crossed his arms and looked up at the sun that suddenly appeared as its light shone on him heroically.

Kenji nodded happily. It was sure to go off like that! It explained everything!

Zoro looked over at Kenji when he felt eyes on his and found the boy's eyes sparkling in admiration for the Swordsman. He sweatdropped under the child's gaze uncomfortably and went back to picking vegetables, oblivious to the thriller movie featuring himself that had gone on in the little boy's head.

'Man, this guy is incredible!'

'Man, this kid is weird.'

The two came back to find Yuuki trying to make dinner. The key word being 'trying.' Her relentless Captain was constantly hovering over her, either trying to steal bites from what she was making or complaining to her about making meat too. Zoro was genuinely impressed she had not lost her temper yet with all the pestering and seemed to actually deal with it very well.

Every time Luffy tried to get his hands on some unattended food she would stop him by slapping his hand away, cutting the black haired teen's advances short by slamming a knife down as a barrier between him and the food or by some other effective method.

When he would complain about things like "When is it going to be ready?" "Will you make some meat?" or "Why won't you let me snack?" she would appear patient and give short simple answers such as "Later," "No" and "Because you're you." The whole time she somehow moved swiftly around the kitchen grabbing pans, bowls, chopping food and various other tasks, despite the interference from the gluttonous teen.

It was really rather entertaining to watch them go back and forth, both physically and verbally, but Zoro thought that he should give the cook a break as he brought attention to their return.

"Good," she breathed out in relief. "He won't stop bothering me," she took the basket of vegetables they brought in. Since they'd left, the Vice-Captain had taken off her bandanna and tied it around her waist to keep it out of the way.

"Only 'cause you never let me eat anything," Luffy pouted, crossing his arms.

"Hey, Kenji," she called, ignoring the Captain's complaint. "You got chickens on this farm?"

"Um, yeah," he replied, not knowing where she was going with this.

"Would you mind showing Luffy the birds?"

Kenji looked at her strangely, but obliged anyway.

"Wanna see where the chickens lay the eggs?" Zoro and Yuuki heard their voices fade as they left.

"Chicken can lay eggs! I thought it was just some tasty meat, but it can make eggs too!"

The two sweatdropped, staring after the boys (at least mentally they both were) awkwardly for a moment, before Yuuki turned back to the cooking and Zoro leaned against the counter.

"What was that about?" he questioned the Storm Witch.

"Something to (hopefully) get Luffy off my back long enough for me to make the food." A silence set in as she washed the vegetables and began to chop them. Sensing some awkwardness, Yuuki looked up catching sight of Zoro shifting uncomfortably. She stopped her activities altogether and gave him her undivided attention. "Do you have a request or something?" she said, as if amused by the idea.

"No, I just wanted to give you this," he took out the leech snake and handed it to her. "I already asked Kenji about it and he said that it was a leech snake. It drinks blood, doesn't like light, but the point is, it's edible. You can feed it to Luffy to get him off your back about the meat," he offered.

Yuuki froze for a moment, as if processing the what he said and smiled at gesture. "Hey, Dreamer." In a second, she swiftly pulled him down to kiss the bandage on his cheek. "That's a thank you and to help make your little cut feel better," she said in all seriousness.

He stared down at her smiling face awkwardly, which was a little more than strange to see. Why did he feel that she was treating him like a little kid that got scrapped up when he was playing?

And dammit, she was using that stupid name on him again.

The thought of the nickname she'd been calling him made the Swordsman twitch in irritation. Needless to say, Zoro didn't take too well to it. She'd started doing it a day or two back and it was annoying as hell, but he couldn't figure out a feasible way to make her stop. He was beginning to realize, at times, she could be just like their Captain when it came to her decisions. Stubborn. Selfish. Firm. And final.

"'Dreamer,'" he reiterated in pent up frustration. "What hell kind of name is that anyway?" he inquired heatedly.

He hoped showing his distaste for the name more openly would do something. However, from past attempts, getting her off the use of the nickname was like trying to refuse Luffy when the rubber man had tried to get Zoro to join his crew. Sure, he struggled against it as best he could, but looking around at this situation now, the former Bounty Hunter couldn't deny, it was useless. Just like what he was doing now.

But a guy can always try.

"Yours," she answered factually. "'Cause that's what you are," she proved his prediction right.

Zoro mentally face palmed. That's when he saw a perfect little piece of payback. "Don't look now, but the soup's boiling over," he pointed behind her blandly.

Indeed, the liquid in the pot was bubbling to the top, raising the lid to escape and dripping over the sides rapidly to the redhead's horror.

"Shit!" she cursed as she rushed to turn down the heat and take in the damage. Meanwhile, the Swordsman walked away leisurely, relishing the distressed sounds of his Vice-Captain from the predicament, and leaving her with the culinary chaos.

S

Thank you to reviewers: Kishi, MidoriPoet, Mistyfalls and last but by no means least, Kittylynne

Any questions?