About two years later...
Usopp suddenly gasped loudly, toppling over the railing to land with a thump beside Zoro. The swordsman cracked open his eye, used to Usopp's sudden falls and small noises.
"What is it this time? A dragon?" he snorted, closing his eye again.
"Actually, yes! If you count a Celestial Dragon!" Usopp breathed, climbing back up to stare across the water. His eyesight had improved tons, and he could now see almost as far as a telescope. Zoro, though he was slightly interested, just shrugged.
"So what?" he muttered. "Doesn't matter to me..."
"Luffy could be on that ship!" Zoro flinched at the name. It had been, what, eight months now since he had heard that name?
"I seriously doubt it. We've attacked every Celestial Dragon alive, and not one even knew his name," Zoro sighed, not even bothering to open his eye anymore.
"But this could be it! Imagine, Luffy could be only a few miles away, waiting for us to rescue him, and you don't even want to get up!" Usopp jumped down to go rouse the others, 'failing' to notice that he stepped on Zoro's swords. The green-haired man growled threateningly when the sniper passed. Tensions had been increasingly growing stronger in between the crew, slowly breaking them away from each other without Luffy as their glue. Usopp disappeared into the ship without even another glance, showing a small sign of defiance to the first-mate-turned-captain. Zoro glared at the door, then slid the straw hat over his eyes.
Though he didn't show it, he actually was itching to go over and cut that Celestial Dragon's ship to pieces simply for just being there. He decided to settle with observing with his Haki, and he slowed his breathing and relaxed, letting his awareness expand over a vast expanse of water. When he located the ship, he zeroed in on it. He felt the pressures inside, tested them out. Some dropped under his force, but the rest simply shifted in discomfort. But one made him pause. There was a bright red aura, but it wasn't red from anger. It was red from pain. Another aura was close by, black as Sanji's suit. The black aura was obviously growing stronger from it's own ego, while the red one flickered and shrunk.
Zoro abruptly pulled back. He recognized that red aura. He lifted the hat, and saw everyone was already preparing to head to the ship. Chopper was staring at him, obviously awaiting orders, while everyone else just stuck to their task and milled about.
"We're attacking. Now," Zoro said firmly, standing up. Usopp seemed surprised by the sudden change of heart, but accepted the decision wholeheartedly.
"Let's go!" he shouted. Franky dashed to the steering wheel, then pressed a button. Wings sprouted from the sides of the Sunny, and the rudder elongated and turned until it was parallel with the ground.
"Sunny Wings!" Franky shouted, just as the wings began to flap. The whole ship rose from the water gracefully, with no lurching or rocking. It started to move forward, gradually picking up speed, until it was streaking towards it's target. The golden ship dead ahead. The new 'tail' controlled the movement, keeping the ship on course, while the wings simultaneously flapped, creating winds strong enough to knock down an ordinary man. But the crew wasn't ordinary, and they stood on the deck with determined looks on their faces, waiting for the moment when they could destroy the golden dragon-like ship that sat in their path.
Waiting for the moment to kill.
Yeah, without Luffy, the crew just breaks apart! Oh, and the last sentence? They aren't bloodthirsty, they just met some former slaves, heard how bad it was for them, and now hunt down the Celestial Dragons and kill them so they won't harm another human in the world.
Plus, Zoro knows that someone they know *Cough* Luffy *Cough* is aboard that ship.
Ooh, and you'll love next chapter! Someone we all know and love will join in on the rescue for poor Luffy! I'll give you a hint- "The weak don't get to decide anything, not even how they die."
Try to guess! Good luck! *Knows everyone else knows it*