Chapter 4: Trouble

Jordan watched the nakamas fight wih much pain in her heart. At first it seemed like Usopp was going to win, but in the end his already damaged body had to give in to Luffy's superhuman strenght. Even though he lost, Luffy gave the ship to him and told the others to leave it and go to town.

By the time they reached a cheap but acceptable hostel, it was 11 p.m. Jordan went with them and supported them as much as she could. In the end she had to go back to the HQ. They all greeted her one by one. Luffy, Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and las came Zoro.

"I... I just wanna thank you for being with us tonight. You tried to help Usopp and the Merry, and I appreciate it." he said. His hand hestitantly moved towards her and tapped her shoulder. "Good night, Jordan," he said, but there was doubt in his voice. They both turned around at the same time and headed to their respective rooms.

Jordan went into hers and changer her clothes. Then she went to the bathroom and splashed water on her face.

"Come on Jordan, you're losing your mind," she said to herself. "And now you're talking to yourself, great..."

In all her years she had never had feelings for anyone in a romantic way, but this sort of fit the description. She had wished for Zoro to kiss her, back at the hostel, and later she had been fantazising about him and her. But he han't kissed her, and just tapped her shoulder, he probably only wanted her as a friend only… That was what she said to herself anyway.

Zoro looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. What was wrong with him? He had only met that girl a few hours ago, yet why did he feel so at loss when she was gone? It was the first time he felt attracted to someone. It was not the same feeling he had towards Robin or Nami; he loved them like sisters.

This was different. He wanted to kiss her so badly when they said goodbye, but then they both walked away from each other. It seemed she wasn't interested in being more than friends, or at least it's what he said to himself.

Next morning, Jordan woke up late. When she noticed the time, she quickly got dressed and tidied herself up, then headed to Dock one. She arrived at midday, which was exceedingly late, picked up her tools and waited for Paulie to catch up on her and give her a lecture about being late.

But that lecture never came. In fact, as she entered Dock One, she was surprised to hear an unusual sound: silence. No laughter from Kaku and Tilestone's jokes, no cheering or booing from Paulie's lousy gambling skills, and no yells or high-pitched voices from Lulu and Lucci's usual discussions. Nobody even talked.

Jordan saw Paulie at the boat they were working on. She went to him and stopped, leaning on the ship. "Sorry for being late," she said. Paulie just grunted. "What happened? Why is everyone so silent? And why aren't you telling me off?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Jordan, even Paulie looked surprised. "Y-you mean you don't know?" he asked.

"What? Know what? I overslept today, I haven't heard any-"

"Iceburg got shot," Paulie said bluntly.

Jordan paled. "W-what?" she said in a low voice, almost whispering. She wanted to believe it was a joke, but everyone's expression was dead serious. "B-but, he's not... dead, is he?"

"No. He's been stabilised by the Doctors, but he's still unconscious at the Galley-La mansion," Paulie said.

Jordan dropped her tools and ran away. As she jumped over the fence she turned left, heading to the mansion which was Iceburg's home. It hadn't come to her mind to use Soru until some guards tried to stop her once inside.

"Jordan-chan!" one of them said, raising his hands in attempt to stop her. "Y-you can't see the mayor right now! He's still-"

"Soru!" Jordan disappeared from the eyes of the guards to appear a split-second later far behind them, and closer to Iceburg's bedroom. As she got there, she stopped in front of the doors. Knowing that it wouldn't be good to slam them open, she just pushed the double door and quickly walked in.

She found Iceburg laying in his bed unconscious, his bandaged torso covered in diverse medical instruments. Kalifa was sitting in a chair next to his bed, and she didn't seem surprised at all to see Jordan. She gestured towards a chair that was on the other side of the bed, inviting her to sit.

Jordan just stood up and watched her old friend. After about half an hour, she decided it'd be best to go back to work. She walked slowly and silently back to Dock One. Once there, she sat quietly beside Paulie and continued the ship.

Some time later, Kalifa came to Dock One and addressed Paulie. "Paulie-kun, Iceburg summoned you."

That got the whole dock's attention. Paulie's eyes widened. "H-he's awake?" he said. Kalifa nodded, and started walking away. Paulie stood up and followed her.

Jordan was astonished to see the new headline. She knew Iceburg was awake, but she didn't know he'd be over it so quickly, or even to reveal this kind of information. The headline read: "ICEBURG IS AWAKE: IT WAS THE STRAWHATS!" Jordan couldn't believe it. She didn't believe it. She went ahead and started reading the article – more like searching for quotes. She looked for a few minutes at the page-long piece and found what she was searching for:

"In his sickbed, Iceburg said, 'around at 10 p.m, two people entered this room. One of them was wearing a gown and a mask, and the other one, was none other than Nico Robin. Nico Robin recently became a nakama of the Strawhat Pirates, which are in this island right now. Therefore I am sure that the ones who planned to murder me were them.'"

Jordan put the newspaper down. She didn't know what to do. How could Iceburg believe that? He couldn't, so she decided to check if the media wasn't lying, and ask Paulie. This time, she used Soru, and arrived at Paulie's place quickly. However, he wasn't there, so she tried the HQ. Again, he wasn't there. When she had tried all likely places, she decided to try the not-so-likely, and went to Blueno's bar.

She found Paulie somehow drinking and smoking at the same time. Like herself and most Galley-La foremen, he had an iron liver, and didn't easily get drunk, so Jordan decided not to stop him. She quickly sat down beside him and went straight to the point. "Is it true? Did Iceburg really tell you that?" she almost yelled.

Paulie looked at her. "Not the kind of question I was expecting, but yes, he did. And I heard it with my own ears."

Jordan briskly stood up and disappeared – literally.

"God knows where she's heading," Paulie said, not really sure to who, but continued drinking.