A/N: Sorry it's been so long! Here we are with another update for Down Under... which I'm sure you are acutely aware of, considering that it was plainly obvious...

Well, I'm happy to say that my summer break has more or less started! (insert crowd cheering here). I just have two exams, and since they're spaced out fairly well, I think we'll be good to go. I'll have a one-shot up tomorrow, and then since Thursday is one of my test days, we'll see what happens :P

What else? Hmm... Oh! I've mentioned it previously, but I do have my own personal novel on the go! If you're reading this far and thoroughly enjoy my work, I would love, love, LOOOOOVE it if you went and checked it out! Feedback is always welcome! It's free (for now), so read it while there's not a price tag on it :P (I mean, hey, an up and coming writer needs to make some money somehow). But honestly, I would love you all forever if you were to do that for me. FOREVER! Really :)

Anyway, here's the long awaited chapter! Hope you enjoy~~! :D


Air Pocket

Nami

"Help!"

"Over there," I said, pulling Luffy along. I called out, "Hello?"

"Here!" they replied, relief flooding the person's voice. Male.

"Let's lift this," I told Luffy.

"Earlier you said that –"

"Luffy, you know as well as I do that this is a completely different situation. Now help me lift this."

He gently pushed me to the side, placing his hands on the metal support and began to move it. But it was wedged between one wall and the other. He looked at me, question in his eyes.

"Just do it," I told him, "But be careful. If you sink this ship, I'm not rescuing you."

"Shishishi," he chuckled, knowing that I would try whether or not the sinking of the ship was his fault.

I watched as he brought his fist back, holding the metal carefully with his other hand and placing his feet on both sides of the hallway to make sure he himself didn't budge. When his hand hit the metal, it went flying, but before it could put a hole in the ship, Luffy pulled it back, catching it and lowering it to the ground carefully. Removing the piece of metal revealed a door that had been held shut by it. I threw the door open, surprised to find not one, but two people there.

And one was a child. A little girl, about seven years old.

"Thank you for saving us," the man said, picking up the girl and supporting her with one hand as he shook both of ours. "I'm Windsworth, and this is my daughter, Mariko."

"Nice to meet you," I murmured. More clearly, I asked, "Are you both okay?"

"Just a little shaken up, right?" he asked the young girl. She nodded, watching Luffy and I with wide eyes.

"Well, gather whatever you think is important, but keep it light," I said, "We're getting out of here. You're welcome to come."

I would never leave a little girl behind if we had the chance of escaping. Especially after seeing her face –that wasn't a nightmare I'd need.

"Isn't this ship upside down?" he asked.

"It is," I replied, glancing at the upside-down room. Wasn't it obvious?

"Aren't all the exits under the sea level?"

"We'll get out through the bottom," I said.

"It's not like there's an exit down there," he said.

"If it comes to it, we'll make one," I spoke firmly. Although making a hold in the hull would consequently sink the ship and any survivors that may have remained… But I didn't have to say that. In this kind of situation, it was us or them.

"Let's go with them," Mariko said to Windsworth.

"It's not a certain way to safety," he told her.

"Neither is whatever you're even considering," I told him. "The ship isn't about to right itself, and the water in the ship will only rise higher until it consumes everything."

In all technicality, we were in an air pocket; one with a lot of holes, considering all the portholes. With that in mind, I pushed past Windsworth and headed for the port, dragging Luffy with me.

"You need to stick your head out and tell me how many windows are open," I told Luffy. "And if you can reach them, close them. The less air that escapes, the longer we'll remain afloat."

"Mm," Luffy said, opening the porthole and climbing out of it, his legs holding him there.

I sighed, turning back to the two, "So are you coming with us?"

"Dad," Mariko said, clutching to her father's sleeve. He set her on the ground.

"Fine," he said after a moment. I had the feeling he was going to be difficult to deal with.

"Great," I said, glancing at Luffy as he slid back in. He made a show of closing the porthole, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes. "Now let's go try to find Robin."


Robin

I sighed as I looked at the map, using a pen I'd found on a corpse to cross out another path that was unusable. I looked around, and then finally headed off in the direction of the last staircase I had to check out.

"Watch your step," Brooke was saying in my ear.

"Thank you," Suki replied.

"You still listening, Robin?" Zoro asked.

"I am," I told him.

"We're coming down to the level Brooke and the girl were staying on now."

"Any water?"

"A puddle, here and there," Brooke said. "But I believe that's from the rolling of the ship."

"That's a relief," I said, pausing in the hallway. I looked down the hallway, sure that I had just seen something fly by. I ran to the next hallway, seeing it disappear around another corner.

"Robin?"

I chased it again, this time seeing it. A hand. Attached to a really, really long arm. Only one person could have an arm like that. I rushed after it again.

"Robin, what's happening?"

"She's fine. You say that your room's on the other side of this mess here?" It wasn't that Zoro was being inconsiderate –he just believed that I was capable of handling myself.

"Yes."

Panting heavily, and not catching a gain on it, placed an eye on the back of his hand, then paid attention to each corner that his arm went around, this time following at a slower pace, and managing to catch my breath.

"You okay?" Zoro asked.

"Just trying to catch up to Luffy," I murmured, wiping my brow.

"You've caught up to them?"

"Almost," I replied, rounding one of the many corners that were to come.

"We're coming up on Suki's and Brooke's rooms," Zoro told me. "The walls caved in though. I'm going to break through it."

It took a moment for what he said to register, as I continued to follow Luffy's path.

"Wait! Stop!"

Too late. I heard the ship creak as the weight of the ship shifted. A broken picture frame slid across the floor in front of me.

"What's happening?" Suki asked.

"Disturbing the frame of the ship will change the weight distribution of the ship," I said. Luffy's arm was back to a normal length now, and now I could see their reaction to the creaks of the ship. Nami didn't look happy at all. "Get your stuff and hurry back up. Nami's not going to be happy about this."

"Nami's never happy," Zoro muttered. I smiled.

There was another creak, and the frame moved away from me, down the hall. My smile faded.

"Stop whatever you're doing," I told them.

"That wasn't us this time," Suki said.

"Then what was it?"

"Water. It's flooding the hall," Zoro muttered.

"How many floors did you go down?" I asked.

"Three," Brooke replied.

"Just grab your violin and ring and get up here," I said, hurrying down the maze that Luffy's arm had gone through. I realized they weren't alone, now with two companions.

"My deepest apologies, Robin," Brooke apologized.

"It's fine, Brooke, it's not your fault."

It was no one's fault, because, really, no one had ever seen this coming.


Nami

"I bet you that was Zoro," I said, banging my fist into the wall.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed.

"It's not something to be laughing at!" I snapped.

"What's that creaking?" Mariko asked.

"Nothing good," Windsworth told her.

"Well, at least we know they're alright," I gestured to Luffy's hand, where her eye blinked at us.

"Of course she is!" Luffy said triumphantly.

I rolled my eyes. I still didn't understand how he could be so happy and confident in this kind of situation.

But it was encouraging.


Luffy

My stomach growled, and I placed my hands on top of it. I was soooo hungry. I wonder when Nami was going to let me eat.

I shifted from foot to foot, waiting for Robin and the others to appear. Nami said we should remain right where we were so that Robin could catch up.

The little girl was still watching me with incredulous eyes. She and the man –Winds-something –hadn't been expecting my arm to stretch. I still didn't understand why Nami had made me stretch my hands. Maybe this was part of her plan, for someone to see the hand and follow. Well, it worked, so I guess it didn't matter.

What did matter was my stomach though.

It growled again.

"Naaaaammmmmiiiiiiii," I complained, pulling at her arm as I crouched to the floor.

"We'll feed you after everyone meets up," she told me, glancing down.

"So when Robin and the other's come around that corner?"

"Mm," Nami said.

I hoped they came around the corner soon.


Zoro

I held Brooke and the girl by their collars as I held onto a doorframe, the water rushing past at waist height. Where did it all come from? The ship had been level before and there had been hardly any water.

"Yohoho! I don't think I've been this clean in years," Brooke called to me.

"You are aware we're going to have to find one of the other staircases, right?" Suki also looked to me.

"We'll find one easily," I told them.

"Indeed! We'll just go the opposite direction that Zoro wants to go in!"

I almost lost a hold of him. Deliberately.