Chapter 7:

"Don't trust her," the man whose stomach was bleeding badly muttered. Luffy was squatting next to Jack and the two of them had been having a conversation when the guy who Jack had to remove the shrapnel from started moaning again. "You have to find her. Have to bring her back."

"Yeah, you keep saying that," Jack said and Luffy chuckled. "But every time I ask you who you need to take back, you pass out on me again. You're fever's running pretty high, I'm betting you don't even know who you're talking about."

"My cuffs," the man muttered in a raspy voice. "Where are my cuffs?"

"Are those the metal things Mike found on the beach?" Luffy asked Jack.

"Get the pilot," Jack told Luffy and the skinny teen jumped up to his feet. He was in pain, but the only way to make that better in his opinion was to walk it off.

"Hey Seth!" Luffy started running around the beach to find the heavyset pilot. Seth Norris was still in his bloody pilot uniform so that everyone knew he was in charge and he was having people sort the luggage. The pilot turned to the teenager who he had no clue how the kid was alive, and Luffy called him over towards the medical station.

"My jacket pocket," the injured man stated clearly for the first time since the crash. "Dangerous," he whispered as Seth and Luffy made it to the medical center and looked under the tarp at where the man was pointing. Jack, Luffy, and Seth all looked down at the sheet of paper where a girl was standing in a mugshot.

"Hey look it's Kate," Luffy pointed with a smile and the man lying there went wide-eyed at the sound of her name.

He was on the verge of passing out again, but knowing that they had seen her made him wide awake. "You can't trust her. No matter what she says, or how she makes you feel," he looked to Jack this time as the doctor seemed unsure of what to feel right now. "She's dangerous," he repeated and then his eyes closed again and he fell back asleep.

"What do we do?" Jack would have liked to keep it a secret, but the pilot was in charge here.

Seth looked down at the sheet of paper and grabbed it from Jack's hand. "It says here," he looked at the sheet again and he folded it up, "we have to detain her."

"No," Luffy stated and both of the older men turned to the teenager with skinny arms and legs. "I trust her, she's not a bad person."

"You don't know..." Seth began.

"It doesn't matter," Luffy said again, ending the conversation there and walking out.

Seth didn't seem like he was going to listen, but Jack grabbed the pilot by the arm and the two made eye contact. "That number I told you, fifty-three people." Jack started and the other man nodded, "We'd have a lot less if it weren't for that kid being here." Jack turned to the green haired man who had been out for almost two days now. "A lot of people have come to me saying that these two saved them."

"What does that have to do with Kate?" Seth asked.

"Just," Jack started and then released the pilot's arm. "Just do it as a favor to him." He didn't want to see Kate detained while they were trapped here. She didn't seem like a bad person to him either.

In the morning following the picking up of the distress signal, the hiking group had almost made it back to camp. Usopp was feeling pretty nervous as Kate was the one holding the gun again and he knew she was lying about not knowing how to use it. The night before there had been an argument over who was the best fit to hold the gun, and though he mentioned he was a good shot, the gun wound up going to Kate.

When they finally reached the beach, Sayid told everyone that they received no signal when they hit the top of the mountain. He asked for electronic devices as well as told people to ration the water and food. When he was done talking, he walked over and started talking to Seth alone, feeling he had to pass on what he learned from the radio to their pilot.

Meanwhile, Kate walked over to tell Jack the same thing. Usopp went over to the medical station though where he found Luffy and Nami standing next to Zoro's bed. The man with green hair had just sat up and was looking around, "Zoro!" Usopp exclaimed, which was the same reaction the other two had a minute earlier when the man awoke from his multiple day nap.

The green haired swordsman looked over to the tarp entrance where Usopp ran in and over to him. "Ugh," he sat up and ignored the pain as he ripped his bandages off. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Two days," Nami responded and the swordsman's eyes went wide.

He realized he's been missing out on his training and he grabbed the three sheaths lying next to his bed. He realized they felt a little light and then remembered one breaking and the other getting lost in the water. They weren't special swords to him, but he'd rather have three than one. Now he was down to only his Wado Ichimonji.

"I'm going to train," he mentioned as he ripped off more of his bandages. He looked up at his captain who was smiling seeing that his friend was okay. "What are you wearing?" the teenage pirate captain had his Straw Hat tied around his neck by a string, but he was wearing a black tank top with some a funky drawing and the letters 'DS' written diagonally across it in a spiky font.

"My shirt got ripped up," Luffy responded. "There's a cool monster on the island."

"Monster huh?" Zoro looked at some scratches on his captain's face and arms and he smirked. "Sounds like a challenge," he walked towards the entrance and then glance back, "What's up with the dead man?"

"He's not dead," Nami responded.

"Not yet," Zoro replied, taking his sword out of his sheath a little. "I should put him out of his misery now."

"No!" Usopp yelled and bonked the swordsman on the head. "There's a doctor here, he can help."

"If you think so," Zoro had never seen someone in this bad a condition survive, but he slid his weapon away and walked out of the tent.

"Hey Zoro, are you going out to train?" Luffy ran out of the tent after the swordsman. Zoro nodded at him and the captain smiled, "Alright, I'm coming too."

"Was the monster really that strong?" Zoro asked as they walked away. Nami and Usopp walked out and stared after them as Luffy used his arms to exemplify how strong the monster was and how big it was too.

"Those idiots," Nami mumbled. "They're going to hurt themselves again."

"Oi Nami," Usopp whispered and the woman turned to the man with a long nose who was staring off at the forest. "I've learned a lot about these people, and they all seem to think that others are looking for them. But," he took a deep breath and turned to her, "there's a message that someone else who got stuck here left. She said she was all alone on the island and that something had killed everyone else." Nami shivered and that was Usopp's same reaction the first time he heard it. "The message," he continued, "it's been playing for sixteen years. Whoever these guys think is coming to save them, they aren't coming."

"So what should we do?" Nami asked, looking around at the mystery forest that her friends were walking into to train and gulping.

"We should build a boat," Usopp replied and the girl stared at him dumbfounded. He was completely serious though and said it again, "We need to get off this island as soon as possible."

"None of us know how to make a boat though," Nami reminded him.

"I can build pretty well, and we can ask around to see if anyone else has any experience," Usopp suggested and Nami agreed that it sounded like a good idea.

If there is no one else on the island, then we really do have to come up with a plan to get out of here as soon as possible. I just wish I still had all that treasure to take back to Arlong with me. Well, as long as I stay with Luffy for a while longer, I'm sure we'll get some more treasure. The idea of having to stay with Luffy and the others for a longer amount of time made her smile and she nodded her head as Usopp said they should split up and look for someone who could help.

Zoro and Luffy were out in the woods training until it got dark. They stayed there longer, but finally both men were pretty exhausted and looked around wondering which way was back home. "That way," both pointed in different directions and Luffy decided to go with Zoro's hunch because the swordsman sounded very sure of himself.

Zoro had his white hilt on his waist along with two long pieces of bamboo that he'd been training with. After an hour of walking up and down hills, Zoro pointed another direction and Luffy told him to wait a second. The pirate in the straw hat threw both arms up in the tree and rocketed himself up in the air high above the jungle. "Whoa," he exclaimed as he looked around and saw a lot having flown almost above the top of the mountain.

When he landed, Zoro ran over to the area he crashed down in and asked what he saw. "The beach is back that way," Luffy pointed the direction they just came from and a sweatdrop formed on the side of Zoro's head. "But there are a bunch of lights coming from the other side of the mountain. And over there," he pointed the opposite way as their beach, "is another fire like the ones the people on our beach are making."

"You want to go check it out don't you?" Zoro asked, already knowing the answer. Luffy nodded his head like a little kid and the two of them started walking through the woods again. Luffy learned from the first night that he couldn't trust which way he thought the beach was, and every couple dozen steps he'd throw himself above the trees and do cool flips and spins while he kept himself on track towards the other fire.

The two of them trekked over hills and through the forest pretty quickly. "We're almost there," Luffy exclaimed as the sun was coming up. Both of them were exhausted from the whole day of training the day before, made much worse with all their injuries. Now after staying up the entire night to walk through the woods, they were getting really tired.

"The fire is still going," Luffy told his nakama as he landed back through the trees. They were both covered in mud and Luffy had a few new scratches from flying through tree branches all night. "I can see the smoke even better than at night."

"That's good," Zoro responded, trying to keep his sentences short as to not waste any energy. The swordsman heard wind rustling through the leaves around him and then both he and Luffy snapped their heads up at the same time and looked around. "It sounds like," the green haired man started, "whispering?"

"It's the whispers," Luffy said in a nervous voice and Zoro turned, even mroe surprised by the look on Luffy's face than by the scared voice he used. "They're here, don't listen to them," he warned and the other man didn't know why Luffy was freaking out so much.

"There's something else," Zoro said and he flicked his thumb, making his sword leave his sheath a little. "Someone is in the forest."

"You're right," Luffy stated, his nervousness of the whispers going away as he heard rustling in the bushes. "There are people around us." He rose his voice with a smug smile, "They're trying to hide! But we hear them!" The rustling stopped and even the smallest crack of a broken twig drew their attention.

Zoro continued to slide his weapon from his sheath as the younger teen lifted up his straw hat and planted it firmly on top of his head. "If you're going to attack," the captain started and flexed his right arm, grabbing it with his left hand, "then you better be prepared for the consequences."

The people hiding in the bushes seemed to have a change in heart and tried stealthily moving away, though the two they were watching definitely seemed to notice they were leaving. "Weird," Luffy muttered as he lowered his fist.

"Let's keep going," Zoro stated and then turned and walked back the direction they just came from.

"Hold up." Luffy flung himself up through the trees again and started laughing as he saw Zoro really was going back the way they came. "Shishishi," he laughed as he dropped down and pointed the right direction.

A/N Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in a while but I had college and other projects I was working on. Totally forgot I still had over half of this story to post, well of what I've written so far, so expect another few chapters soon! So the Others were definitely hiding in the woods right there, but who is it these two are heading towards right now? What's the source of the lights? Will they escape this island?! Stay tuned to find out! XD 'Till next time!