Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, Binks' Sake, or its affiliated characters/songs.

Get ready, ya'll. This is gonna be a long one, though I doubt you'll be complaining. However I hope you appreciate that this turned out to be one of those chapters you rewrite 30 times before you're even half-way satisfied with it. This went through a million edits.

Note: I did not come up with the idea of the Nerve Nerve Fruit! I based this version loosely off a version I read in another fanfic. They'll be similar, but still very different.

Chapter 6: Operation SAVE THE FUTURE and Other Machinations

Time: Daybreak at Night
Location: Undisclosed Part of Kāla

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Bodies. Bodies were scattered everywhere in this section of the jungle. Some were dead; most were not. But all had their spines bent at impossible angles.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Erity shouted, tugging at her hair. "What the heck wiped out Delta Unit?!"

No one made an effort to answer her though. Yari just adjusted the position of her parasol while Runo poked one of the dead bodies with a stick. Gamma Unit stood back, watching the scene with a careful eye.

Erity knelt down next to one of the live ones. "Tell me who did this to you. Now."

The man choked. It was difficult to breathe, let alone speak. "I... don't... know. Extra arms... from our... bodies... appeared out of... nowhere."

Erity frowned. Extra arms?

"That would be the Demon of Ohara," Yari clarified, as if reading Erity's mind. "I heard she has the abilities of the Flower Flower Fruit. It is very useful for incapacitating many enemies at once." She grinned eerily. "I have seen her wanted poster. She would make a lovely doll."

"Oh, come off it!" Erity snapped. "We don't have time to indulge in your sick interests! Can't you see this is a problem? We just lost about 35 of our men!"

Erity knew who the so-called Demon of Ohara, Nico Robin, was. While it was an interesting development, she didn't appreciate having a good chunk of her men twisted up like pretzels.

"Then they were weak," Runo said, standing up and tossing his stick aside. "Someone else would have tore them a new one eventually if the Devil Child hadn't gotten to them first. It's for the best though; we have no use for toys that can't play rough."

Erity put her hands on her hips. "You guys and your obsessions with dolls and toys. What, did kids not play with you two much when you were young?"

Runo and Yari were immediately on their knees, an aura of depression hanging over their heads.

"How did she know that?" they said together.

Idiots, Erity thought with a sweatdrop.

"Enough of this crap!" a member of Gamma Unit yelled. "We've had it!"

Erity turned to look at the speaker. It was one of the newer members of the unit. (In fact, Gamma Unit was almost entirely made of up of mostly new people. They had only been sailing with the boss for about a week.) Rico, she believed his name was.

"We've been searching for this treasure for more than eight hours!" Rico went on. "And so far, we've found absolutely nothing!"

"Well, maybe we would've made more progress," Erity ground out. She glared at Runo and Yari. "If some people hadn't gotten caught by giant venus flytraps thirteen times!"

"Oi, it wasn't thirteen times!" Runo protested, jumping to his feet. He crossed his arms. "It was twelve times. We got out of the way with the last one."

"Shut up!" Rico snarled. "I'm sick of listening to you three argue, and I'm sick of watching you get owned by some coward sniper with freaky ammunition! We're done taking orders from you, and we're done searching for some stupid treasure that probably doesn't even exist!"

Behind Rico, the members of Gamma Unit were all holding up their weapons and sharing identical smug smirks.

Yari stood up and said in a bored tone, "Please do not tell me that after all this time, you are just now deciding to mutiny."

"They weren't with us for that long," Erity said. "However, I'm with you on the irregularity of this. If he wanted a mutiny, he should've done it after a few years, so we'd trust him more and never see it coming."

"Speak for yourself," Runo said with a snort. "I wouldn't want spend time with you lot any longer than I have to, never mind for another few years."

Yari nodded. "I second that emotion."

Erity crossed her arms. "Then we've reached a consensus."

Rico held out his sword, irritated that they weren't paying attention to him. "You think we're not serious? Just you wait- we'll kill the three of you and then go after the Straw Hats! Their bounties will keep us set for life."

Runo grinned ferally and stuck his hands on his hips. "I don't recall the boss hiring so many ignorant fools into his little troupe. Looks like some reeducation is in order."

"Erity, do you mind if we handle this?" Yari said, closing her parasol. "I have not have a good fight since Vaughan interrupted my duel with the Pirate Hunter."

Erity waved her hand. "Be my guest. Just make it quick... and try not to kill anyone."

"We guarantee nothing."

Rico gave a loud battle cry, charging directly at Yari. He wasn't going to be dismissed so casually! He would show them he meant business!

Yari just stood calmly.

"Nerf Coupé..." Yari muttered, holding her parasol upside down.

She lept forward, planting her palm on Rico's face then vaulting herself into the air by springing off his head.

"...Fleuve Douloureuse!"

It happened so quickly, anyone who didn't have Haki wouldn't have been able to see it. Rico stopped charging, and now just stood there with his sword. Yari was back on the ground, brandishing her shikomizue sword- which she had drawn from its hidden spot in her parasol- out in front of her.

A small cut appeared on Rico's shoulder. It wasn't deep, and it barely bled at all. However, it caused Rico's eyes to widen to impossible size, and he began to scream. It was a scream filled with hurt and agony, as if Yari had cut the entire arm off instead of just nicking the shoulder. He collapsed, writhing on the ground as he clutched his shoulder. He screamed until he fell silent, either unconscious or dead.

"Rico!" a member of Gamma Unit shouted. "What's wrong? A little cut like that shouldn't hurt so much!"

"You witch!" another shouted. "What did you do to Rico?!"

"I just increased the sensitivity of his nociceptors," Yari replied, flicking the drops of blood off her sword. She gave the unit a smug smirk of her own. "That is the power of my Nerve Nerve Fruit."

The mutineers blanched. Being so new to the bounty hunter crew, they had yet to learn of whatever abilities the boss's top lieutenants had. This was the first time they had seen Yari use her sword and her devil fruit powers. It was no secret that devil fruit users from the New World were a breed all their own, so this wasn't going to be easy. That wasn't going to stop them from completing Rico's mission though. The unit charged, weapons armed and ready. They were going to avenge their leader at any cost.

They might've done so too, if Runo hadn't gotten in the way.

Runo cackled wildly, jumping between the 40 or so members of Gamma Unit and Yari. He moved like a beast, kicking, clawing, and scratching everyone who got close. He twisted his torso around nearly 180 degrees to smack away a gun. His hooked his leg over his own shoulder to perform a double spinning flip and kick two guys in the face at once. He picked up two guns and fired behind him by bending his arms unnaturally far back.

Some of the mutineers stared on in horror. What was this guy, part jellyfish? It was as if he had no bones!

"What is with this guy?" one asked.

"Is it a Devil Fruit ability?" another asked.

"I did eat a Devil Fruit," Runo admitted. "But it's not the reason I'm like this. You see-"

"He is triple-jointed," Yari interrupted.

Runo's head slumped forward. The depressed aura was back. "Don't steal my thunder, Yari."

Yari rolled her eyes. "Shut up and fight, Runo."

From that point on, Yari and Runo fought together. Runo mostly used whatever weapons the defeated dropped, as well as some strange fighting style they couldn't identify. Yari cut down whoever came across her path, her sword moving with great speed. She usually made only superficial cuts, but those cuts caused her victims to scream from sheer agony. The two were fast, efficient, and deadly.

No wonder they had come "highly recommended." It wasn't long before only ten mutineers remained standing. Barely standing, but standing nonetheless.

"Wanna surrender now?!" Erity called out from the top of the large tree root she had been hiding on.

"Never!" one of the remaining ten shouted back.

"That doesn't work for me," Erity sighed. "I'd tell Runo and Yari to just knock you out, tie you to a tree, and leave you to the jungle's mercy, but we still have need of your services. Looks like we're going with option B."

"Yes!" Runo cheered. "I love option B!"

With that declaration, Erity and Yari averted their eyes from Runo. The mutineers looked on in confusion. What were they doing?

Runo stood up straight, snapped his fingers, and then began some sort of strange dance that utilized a lot of sudden movements. Immediately, the air around him seemed to shimmer, and his eyes flashed a whole rainbow of colors every few seconds. The colors then started to expand, surrounding his body and mingling with the hazy air. The ten remaining Gammas wanted to look away, but found they couldn't. The colors, the dance, the shimmery air... it was so amazing to watch.

"Hypno Hypno..." Runo said in a soft, purring tone. He stopped dancing, his arms crossed over his head. "...Trance."

The mutineers dropped their weapons. Their faces looked dazed, and their eyes were glassy.

"Here are your orders: Do whatever I say, when I say it. Got it?"

"Yes, Master Runo," the now entranced mutineers replied in unison.

Runo grinned. "Good. Your first orders is to clean up here. The unconscious and dead bodies draw attention away from the natural flora, wouldn't you say?"

The mutineers nodded in unison and began to do just that. Meanwhile, now that the show was over, Erity and Yari could look at Runo without fear of being affected.

Erity jumped down from the giant tree root. "That's the power of the Hypno Hypno Fruit, huh? I've never actually been around you while you did that. As if you weren't creepy enough."

Runo shrugged and walked over to join the girls. "It's a power that works, and it makes it easy to get new toys, at least."

Erity never liked how Runo referred to his victims as 'toys.' She may have been a ruthless bounty hunter (when the situation required it), but even she had some standards. What Runo did was one step shy of slavery. The only difference between being hypnotized and being enslaved was with the former, you didn't actually realize you were a slave. It was twisted and wrong, but the boss never asked Runo to stop, so he kept right on doing it on the condition he undid the trance if an assignment went longer than a week. (It usually took that long for Runo to grow bored with his toys anyway).

Then again, it was preferable compared to what Yari did to create her "dolls." That had to constitute as torture.

"Seeing as the present crisis has passed, I would like to bring up the issue of the rest of Straw Hats," Yari said, sheathing her sword and opening up the once-again whole parasol. "Rico was a fool, but he had a point. It was ridiculous how we kept falling for the sniper's same attack. Something needs to be done about him and his crew."

"He was also right about their bounties," Runo added. "It's a massive haul. It's shame we stopped chasing them just because we ended up on this island."

Erity thought about that. The Straw Hats did have a collective bounty of 800,000,050 berris. That was a lot of berri...more than the group had made in its years of bounty-hunting. She could see the appeal Runo was talking about. Not counting the ones they had already 'taken care of', that left five Straw Hats to defeat (six if you counted the swordsman. He was most likely still alive, despite taking all those tranquilizer darts). However, there was the matter of their boss. He would want them to focus on the treasure, not the pirates.

"I am all for hunting for them," Yari said, interrupting the other girl's thoughts. "But how do you plan on getting the boss to go for it? He is obsessed with finding that treasure."

"Told you the guy had issues," Runo grumbled.

"I think I have a solution," Erity broke in. "Boss wants to find the treasure to impress the higher-ups at Navy HQ, right?"

The Creepy Duo nodded.

"Look at it this way. Just imagine the look on Fleet Admiral's Sakazuki's face if Boss not only brings in the treasure, but also the son of Dragon."

Their eyes widened. Their boss would love that. Not only would the Navy reinstate him, they would also probably give him a huge promotion. Not to mention they would get the boy's gigantic bounty along with his crew's. It was no secret Akainu had something of an obsession with bringing in Dragon's son, at least ever since the events of Marineford two years ago. This would be perfect!

"You are an evil genius, Erity," Runo complimented. "I'm in." He then turned tail and began running into the jungle.

"Where are you going?!" Yari called after him.

"Back to camp! I want to get my toys to help with the hunt!"

Yari rolled her eyes as he ran out of sight. That man was hopeless sometimes. With nothing else to do at the moment, she began supervising the "toys'" clean-up. Meanwhile, Erity reached into her pocket and pulled out the baby Den Den Mushi her boss told her to carry.

Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring. Ring ring- clank.

The Den Den's face took an annoyed and tired expression.

"The forces of hell better be biting at your heals," Vaughan's voice muttered through the snail. "Or so help me-"

"Is it too much to ask for a 'hello'?" Erity said dryly. "What, did I wake you up in the middle of a nap?"

The snail looked sheepish. "... Maybe."

"Aren't you supposed to be guarding the brat?"

The baby Den Den's face suddenly looked very indignant, and a new voice came from it. "Hey, watch who you call a brat, Mohawk New Woman! I should-"

The angry looked melted into an irritated one as Vaughan's voice returned. "Gimme that!" Vaughan sighed. "Sorry about that. The little snot- who I am watching- snatched the receiver right out of my hands. So, how's searching going? You guys have been gone since that first daybreak."

Erity scowled. "Nothing so far except a slew of aggravating encounters with man-eating plants."

"Brilliant, and I still can't get Siobhan to spill anything. I can already hear Boss screaming at us after promising not to get angry. However, I doubt you called just to tell me that."

"You got that right. I need you to get the regular Den Den Mushi and contact the men we still have on the ship. Tell them to start circling the island and to keep an eye out for the Straw Hats' boat."

"Okay... crap, are we doing what I think we're going to do?"

For someone who originally said the Straw Hats weren't a priority, Vaughan sure sounded eager.

Erity grinned, but a pulse throbbed angrily on her temple. "Before I confirm your suspicions, let's have a quick chat about the strength of your tranq darts..."

Location: Going Merry

It was sunset, the fading light painting everything red and gold. All around Luffy was nothing but sand, big rocks, and more sand.

Luffy blinked. He didn't know the mystery island had a desert too! Why hadn't Zoro-ossan said anything? Then again, if he was still on the mystery island, wouldn't the sand be pink? Weird.

He looked over his shoulder to see his crewmates, minus Carue. (Though there was a camel. When did a camel join the crew? That was awesome!) They were all dressed strangely, in long robes and a couple of them wore head coverings. It was then Luffy noticed he was dressed quite similarly. He wore a dark red robe with a blue scarf wrapped several times around his neck.

"Well then," a voice spoke up. A familiar one.

Luffy turned back around and gasped. Standing before him, adjusting his beloved orange hat, was none other then his big brother. He was looking at the crew, giving them a warm smile.

Ace? Luffy thought. Is that really him?

Ace certainly looked different than the last time Luffy saw him (to be expected, given that was three years ago). He was taller and more buff (Ace had always been naturally muscular). His voice was a little deeper too.

At that moment, Ace was wearing a white scarf and a black robe that had red flame-patterns along the bottom and sleeves. He also wore black shorts, black boots, an orange belt that had the letter 'A' on the buckle, and a sheathed knife. He also carried a green and black patterned bag over his shoulder, and had a log pose around his wrist. Did everyone dress weird in the desert?

"You're not really going to leave us, Ace, are you?" Luffy heard Chopper say. The little reindeer sounded sad to see Ace go.

"Yeah," Ace replied. "Seeing how its been confirmed Blackbeard isn't in Alabasta, I have no reason to stick around."

"You sure?" Luffy heard himself say. It was like his mouth was speaking of its own accord. He hadn't wanted to say that; he wanted to ask his brother what he was doing here. Were they really in Alabasta? (If it was, no wonder Vivi left. There was nothing but sand.) How could they have gotten to Alabasta so fast?

"Any idea where you'll be headed next?" Sanji asked.

"I have a lead to Blackbeard's whereabouts," Ace said. He reached into his pocket and removed a piece of paper. "Scorpion heard about a man who saw him out west. Guess we'll see."

Ace tossed the paper over to Luffy, who caught it. Why was Ace giving him this? It was just paper.

"Luffy, do yourself a favor and hang on to that," Ace instructed. "Always."

"But it's just a scrap of paper," Luffy pointed out.

"That scrap of paper will reunite us someday."

"Yeah?"

"You don't want it?" Ace teased.

"No, I'll keep it," Luffy assured him. It wasn't just his mouth this time. Luffy honestly meant it.

Ace grinned, only this smile was more directed at Luffy's crew than Luffy himself. "It's perfectly natural for a guy to worry about his bumbling kid brother, right?"

Luffy's breath hitched. That one of the things Ace's voice had said in the mystery fog.

"He might be a bit much for all of you to handle," Ace went on. He bowed to the crew. "But take good care of him for me."

Luffy's eyes widened. Was Ace... was Ace placing his trust in Luffy's friends?

Ace went upright, and gave his little brother a serious look. "Luffy, when next we meet, we'll both be top pirates."

Luffy felt himself grin. "Right!"

Ace's seriousness melted into a smile. "The top, you and me!

The top, Luffy thought. He looked down at Ace's paper...

...And then all of a sudden, the paper wasn't in his hand. It was on the ground several feet away, sliding on the ice.

Wait. Ice? Where was the sand? And why was Luffy kneeling on the ground? He had been standing a moment ago.

The paper kept getting farther and farther away. Luffy reached out for it... then he felt a strong heat come straight for him. He looked up to what looked like a fist, only it was gloppy and burning. Whatever it was, Luffy didn't have to be a genius to know that if it hit him, it was going to hurt.

Then out of nowhere, the fist stopped. Red beads scattered...

...and fire and blood were the only things Luffy could see.

Luffy jolted upright and his arms flailed about, causing him to lose his balance and fall right out of his hammock. He bounced onto the floor, landing on his stomach. His hat fell after him, floating down neatly onto his back.

He quickly sat up and jammed Hat back on top of his head, but his hand shook the entire time. The dream had started out so nice; what had caused it to become so dark and scary, and end the way it did? He was pretty sure that gloppy burning fist hadn't struck him, but then where did all that blood come from?

Had someone jumped in the way? Luffy hoped not. He could count the number of people he thought for sure would do that for him on one hand, and he didn't want any of those people to get hurt for his sake.

"Uh, Luffy? You awake?"

Luffy looked up. Usopp was looking down at him from the trap door that led out onto the deck.

"Yeah, I'm awake," Luffy called up.

Usopp swallowed. Luffy wasn't sure why, but Usopp was looking at him strangely. The expression was unlike the sniper, and that bothered Luffy.

"Did you need something, or...?" Luffy asked.

Usopp snapped out of his daze. "Oh! No, I didn't need anything. I just came to tell you breakfast's ready. Though it's technically eight at night, so that would make it more like dinner. You coming?"

Luffy nodded and cheered, "FOOD! I'll be right there!"

Usopp smiled halfheartedly and stepped away from the trapdoor.

Luffy sighed and stood up, dusting himself off. That dream had been unnerving at the end, but he wouldn't worry about it. What really got him was what happened in the beginning. He didn't know why, but the part with Ace and being in Alabasta... it felt so real, like it actually happened. But they hadn't even arrived in Alabasta, so that couldn't possibly be so. Yet, anyway.

Luffy groaned. All this thinking was making his head hurt. If he kept this up, he was going to get a fever.

He climbed up the ladder leading to the trapdoor. It was time for some breakfast-for-dinner.

"Alright everybody, listen up!" Nami commanded.

The crew was in the galley, in the middle of eating their breakfast-for-dinner. Luffy was digging into his food with the usual vigor, Usopp sat across from him (not really eating with his food, more like just pushing it around on his plate), and Vivi was eating and feeding Carue at the same time. Zoro sat on the far side of the table, as far away as he could from his older self (most of the crew noticed he had been avoiding him all morning), who was currently sitting on the ground getting his shoulder examined by Chopper. Actually, it was more like Chopper was nervously scolding Roronoa for removing his bandages, while the latter tuned the former out. Sanji was once again passing out food (as he always did, being the chef), only he set Roronoa's plate down rather roughly. He was clearly still angry about the previous night.

Nami stood in front of the galley door, a large sketch pad on a stand propped next to her. Written on the pad were the words "What We Know", and everything that fell under that category was written under it. When she barked out her command, everyone turned to look at her.

"Somewhere on that island is a crew made up of our older selves and a group of crazy-powerful New World bounty hunters," Nami said. "Thanks to our captain, we've been roped into aiding Roronoa in searching for the former. Since we obviously don't want to run into the latter, we can't just go gallivanting into the jungle. We need a plan."

She smacked the sketch pad with her palm. "This island is strange, and we don't really know anything about this situation. I did, however, take the liberty writing down everything we do know so far."

Everyone skimmed the list.

What We Know

1.This island is able to exist in two places.

2. Night and day have strange patterns.

3. The plants grow at irregular rates (Sanji, Chopper, and Vivi's Fruit Glade).

4. The island cannot be locked on to by any form of log pose.

5. The fog that surrounds the island seems to act as an entryway.

6. Time does whatever it wants.

7. Roronoa doesn't remember ever meeting his older self back when he was nineteen.

8. There are at least two bounty hunters out there. Maybe more.

9. There is also a little girl on the island who appears to live there. She knows about this place.

10. As for future Straw Hat Pirates' locations, there is at least one crew member that was left behind on the ship.

11. Something has happened to Nami's older self.

"Why is that bit about your older self on the list?" Zoro asked.

"We found my older self's log pose, and we know something happened to her," Nami replied. "So it goes on the list."

"Knowing you, I'm surprised you didn't put it at the top."

"Shut it, sword freak! We have every right to be concerned about future Nami-swan!" Sanji snapped. His visible eye turned into a heart. "I can't to see what she looks like. I bet she's even more beautiful than she is now!"

"Shut up, Mr. Nosebleed," Roronoa muttered as he pushed Chopper away from his shoulder. "You're giving me a headache."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING MR. NOSEBLEED?!" Sanji bellowed.

"Why are you calling him 'Mr. Nosebleed?'" Chopper asked, begrudgingly packing up his bandages. "His nose isn't bleeding."

Roronoa's eye blinked, then he grinned wickedly. "Well you see, in the future, the cook's nose-"

"Zoro-ossan!" Luffy shouted, his mouth full of bacon. "No telling us about the future!"

"Whoops, sorry," Roronoa apologized, not sounding sorry in the least. "Guess it'd be better to keep that one a surprise."

Zoro didn't show it, but he was now very curious about what his older self was going to say.

Usopp sweatdropped. "Even so, knowing Sanji, I think we can guess what you mean by that insult."

"Usopp!" Vivi gasped. She shook her head. "Never mind. Nami, would you please continue?"

"Thank you, Vivi. I'm glad somebody appreciates my efforts," Nami said with a sniff. She pointed to number ten on the list. "Roronoa, you did say your crew left a member on the ship, right? I wasn't wrong to write that?"

Roronoa stood up and took a seat at the table. He took a bite of french toast before answering. "No, that's right. When we weighed anchor, our shipwright offered to stay behind and watch the ship while the rest of us explored. Said he had some detail work to do anyway."

"Shipwright?" Vivi repeated.

"We don't have a shipwright," Usopp said. "Which is why I'm always the one fixing the Merry when Luffy breaks something. Like the mast and the figurehead."

"Hey, Laboon's the one who broke the figurehead, not me!" Luffy protested.

"Who's Laboon?" Chopper asked.

"A giant whale who lives next to Reverse Mountain," Luffy replied. He grinned eagerly. "Next time I see him, we're gonna fight!"

"Why would you want to fight a whale?!" Chopper gasped. "Is it because he broke the figurehead?"

"No, young Chopper," Usopp said dramatically. "It was a promise between men... well, between a man and a whale, but you know what I mean. Luffy promised Laboon he would return after our journey across the Grand Line, and they would duel!"

"Wow!" Chopper said, his eyes sparkling in admiration for Luffy.

"Anyway," Sanji interrupted. He gave Roronoa a glare. "Like Usopp said, we don't have a shipwright." He stopped glaring and thought that over for a moment. "Though considering how often the Merry gets beat up, getting one might be a good investment."

Roronoa frowned, looking like he wanted to tell them something. However, he appeared to change his mind and instead said, "What, you don't think the Straw Hat Pirates would have picked up a few extra members over time? This probably falls under the category of 'The Future,' but since Luffy insists on you all helping me, you should know. Besides myself, Luffy, Nami, Chopper, Usopp, and the love cook, we have three other crewmates in the future.

"Only nine people for a crew?" Vivi asked. She giggled. "I don't know why, but putting together such a small crew just sounds so... Luffy."

"It does, but I kind of expected us to have a much larger crew after two years," Nami commented. "Twenty or thirty members, at least."

Roronoa took a hasty sip of milk. "We just don't do that much recruiting."

Luffy grinned. He was a little unhappy this search made Roronoa reveal something about the future, but he was happy to hear his future crew's size. He always said he wanted at least ten guys. Just one more to go!

"In any case, fewer members means it's that much less searching we have to do," Nami went on. "Roronoa, do you have any idea where your crewmates could have gone on the island? You did say you all split up."

Roronoa leaned back a little. "Hmm... well, I think Nami, Chopper, Usopp and the cook all went together in one group. They wanted to look for supplies and stuff, and Nami also wanted to survey the land for a map. Franky- that's our shipwright- stayed on the ship... I'm pretty sure Robin went off by herself, but with that woman, who can-"

"Robin? Woman?" Sanji repeated. He got close to Roronoa's face. "You mean another lady joins the crew?! What is she like? Is she gorgeous?"

"Get out of my face, Swirls!" Roronoa snapped, pushing the blonde out of his personal space. "Since you're probably going to meet her anyway, yes, "another lady" joins the crew. I guess she's pretty, though she's not really my type so I can't give any major descriptions. You'll just have to wait and see Robin for your-"

Roronoa froze, as if he suddenly realized what he was saying. Then, very slowly, he turned to look at Vivi.

Vivi suddenly felt uncomfortable. "Is there something wrong, Mr. Bushido?"

Roronoa looked away and closed his eye, rubbing his temple as he muttered, "Yeah, that might be a problem. And not just for her..."

The Straw Hats gave the elder swordsman confused looks. What was he mumbling about?

"Why would it be a problem?" Luffy asked. "Is something wrong with this Robin lady?"

Roronoa contemplated how to explain it, but decided this was a story for another time. He waved it off. "Never mind, I'll explain it later."

Zoro gave the elder swordsman a sideways glance. "Why? Something to hide?"

Roronoa returned the glance. "Didn't I say not to make assumptions?"

The two swordsman glared at each other. You could practically see the antagonistic lightning passing between them.

"Wow," Usopp whispered to Chopper. "You'd think Zoro would get along great with someone that's basically himself in the future. These two look like they can't stand each other."

"They're both scary," Chopper whimpered.

"Roronoa, you said there were eight other people in your crew!" Nami chose to interrupt. "You haven't counted off for two of them yet!"

Roronoa broke his staring contest with Zoro. "Fine. Where was I... yeah, Robin. I have no idea where she might have gone off to. Anyway, I was going on a walk with a crewmate named Brook- who's a guy, so don't even ask, cook- until he went and got himself lost. I was actually looking for him when I ran into that weird little girl."

"And future Luffy?"

"Moron went rocketing into the jungle before we even dropped the anchor."

The present Luffy snickered. "Shishishi, that sounds like something I would do. I hope he's having fun!"

"Wonderful," Nami sighed sarcastically. "So other than this Franky guy, we have no definite clue as to your crew's whereabouts. At least this gives us a place to start. Did you guys weigh anchor along the beach, or somewhere else?"

"It was along the beach. Can't remember where, though," Roronoa replied.

"That's fine. Even if you did remember, you'd probably end up leading us in the wrong direction anyway," Nami said dryly. She pointed to the beach outside the galley window. "Then that's our first step. We'll walk along the beach until we find the future crew's ship!"

"Aww," Luffy whined. "I wanted to explore the jungle first."

"NO WAY!" Nami shrieked. "We're not going into the jungle when we don't know what's in there!"

"Which is why we need to explore it! My older self had the right idea."

"Maybe we should break into groups?" Vivi tried to compromise. "We'd be able to cover more ground that way in less time, since we we don't know how long daylight is going to last this time around."

"Normally I'd agree with you, but Nami's right for once," Zoro said. "Besides not knowing what the heck is in that freaky jungle, there are also New World bounty hunters in there. Since we're apparently not allowed to fight them without Roronoa's permission, going in there would be suicide. It's best we stick together."

"We can try the jungle after we find Franky," Roronoa added. "You could say he's one of our crew's 'big guns.'"

"We should keep an eye out for the little girl Roronoa mentioned," Sanji added. "She might be able to aide us."

"So we have a plan then?" Nami asked. There was mutual nodding amongst the gathered pirates (and princess). "Okay! Then pack up what you need and head for the beach! We leave in ten minutes!"

With that being said, the Straw Hats quickly finished their breakfasts and departed from the galley to prepare for Operation SAVE THE FUTURE (as Usopp decided to call it, much to Luffy's exclamations of the name's coolness).

Usopp left the galley, giving Luffy an awkward wave as he exited. Chopper ran from the galley, muttering under his breath what he would need for the trip from his clinic. Zoro left the galley as quickly as physically possible, pushing past Vivi and Carue to do so. This made Sanji charge after him, though not before shooting Roronoa another glare. Roronoa just sighed and exited the galley after Sanji, grumbling about "stupid blondes who couldn't let things go."

Soon, the only people who remained were Luffy and Nami. The former was eating the table scraps, and the latter was cleaning up her display.

"Hey, what's up with Zoro?" Luffy asked, swallowing his food. "He's acting really weird today."

So was Usopp, but Luffy didn't think Nami knew anything about that.

Nami collapsed her metal stand. "I don't really know, but back while you were asleep, he kept giving Roronoa all these weird, suspicious glances. However, if you want my opinion, I don't think he or Sanji trust him very much."

Luffy raised a confused eyebrow. "Huh? Why wouldn't they trust Zoro-ossan? He's Zoro. And why wouldn't Zoro trust himself?"

"Technically, he's Zoro in two years."

"What difference does that make?"

"It may not sound like much, but two years is a pretty long time," Nami sighed, folding up her sketchpad. "People change."

"It's not that long."

"It is for pirates. Our lives are pretty rough, and a lot can happen in two years. Roronoa may not be the same Zoro we know now. It was pretty obvious yesterday when he took down Sanji that he's different in the strength aspect, anyway. He's twice the monster Zoro is now. It makes me wonder how much everyone else might have changed too."

Luffy frowned. Truthfully, he had similar suspicions when Roronoa first came aboard. But after Roronoa agreed to the "captain's orders," Luffy had pretty much dismissed them. Zoro was still Zoro; he wouldn't change... would he?

"Do you think Zoro-ossan's trustworthy?" Luffy asked.

His navigator shrugged. "More or less. I have to, or else we'd never be able to figure out anything on this backward island. For now, let's say he's trustworthy unless he does something that suggests otherwise."

That didn't make Luffy feel better. If anything, it made him feel worse.

Nami squeezed his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "Come on, let's go get ready. We need to leave soon."

She left the galley, leaving Luffy to himself. The pirate captain sat down and remained seated at the table, thinking over Nami's words. Granted, he knew people did change as time went on. Ace had been really mean when he was younger, but got nicer as the years went by. But that was seven years, not two. Zoro, or anyone else, couldn't have changed that much.

Maybe.

He guessed he would just have to see, now wouldn't he? He had to meet his future crew to find them, after all.

Location: Outskirts of the Kāla Jungle

Yohohoho, Yohohoho, Yohohoho, Yohohoho...

The sun had risen again. It had only been night for roughly five hours, but he wasn't complaining. He never did like sitting in the dark for too long. It brought too many harsh memories. At least that fog from before hadn't made its way to the main island yet; he'd had enough fog for one lifetime, than you very much.

...Though, he wasn't actually alive anymore, so he guessed he couldn't complain.

He took a sip of tea (he always carried some around in a thermos). He still hadn't been able to find the others, including the crewmate he had gotten separated from. The island was big and confusing; he couldn't even remember where they had docked the ship. He had been alone for quite some time now.

...He never did like being alone.

So for now, he decided to take a break. His crewmates were very capable and could care for themselves if need be. And who knows? Perhaps they all had already made their way back to the ship and were currently looking for him as well. All he really needed to do was wait. The only issue now was how to pass the time until he either found his friends, or they found him.

...He knew it was a good idea to bring his violin along. He pulled his bow back, and began to play.

Yohohoho, Yohohoho, Yohohoho, Yohohoho...

Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo. Umikaze kimakase namimakase...

Next Time (For Reals!):

Vivi and Usopp stared up in horror. This thing was a... it was a... a...

"Excuse miss," the tall skeleton before them said, leaning towards Vivi. "Would you be so kind as to show me your panties?"

"AIIIIEEEE! PERVERT ZOMBIE!"

"AHHHHH, WHERE?!"