Chapter 10: Exploring with Them

The Thousands Sunny was nearing their next destination, and would be there before night fall. Mugiwara no Luffy sat in the grass like he had been doing every day, the crew stopping and taking breaks from other activities to join him every so often.

Tashigi had at this point investigated the entire crew fairly well, the only two left to question were Zoro and Luffy. She had decided on spending a great amount of time away from Zoro. The swordswoman was still irked at him for what happened at the island, and then the following morning. She almost despised the man for acting so nonchalantly. Pushing her glasses to the bridge of her nose she glanced at Luffy who was currently watching the sky keenly. Most of the crew was sitting on the grass, excluding Nami and Robin sitting at their umbrella covered table.

"Mugiwara!" Tashigi caught Luffy's attention.

"Hai?" he questioned, wondering what she wanted.

"Why do you want to be Kaizoku-Ou?" Everyone's' attention was called, curious of her question.

"That's an interesting question; I wonder why I never asked." Nami commented, Usopp nodding his head in agreement to the response.

"Do I need a reason?"

"That's probably why..." Franky mumbled.

"Well, I'd think you have some sort of reason to strive for something so...infamous." She responded, raising a brow to his previous answer.

"Heh heh, of course I have a reason. Shanks wouldn't let me join his crew, so I told him that I would become Kaizoku-Ou, and create a crew that wouldn't be defeated by his. I was about seven at the time." Luffy finished his simple story, a grin of pure excitement. "So far, I think I'm doing pretty well."

Tashigi gawked at him in surprise. It was such simple things that lead him to such an infamous goal. He shared a dream with hundreds, maybe even thousands of pirates. They all wanted gold and glory, and here Luffy was doing just because he said he would. "Sugoi..." she finally mouthed.

"Luffy, do you mean to say at the age of seven, you told thee 'Red-Haired' Shanks that you would become Kaizoku-Ou?" Nami asked.

"Yup." An even larger smile appeared on their captain's lips. "He saved my life, and that's why I have reason to live."

"How did he save your life?" Robin asked, drinking her coffee.

"I picked a fight with some bandits that had come into town and made fun of Shanks."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Someone made fun of Shanks? He has 1,200,000,000 beri on his head!" Tashigi exclaimed, completely confused by another's stupidity.

"Really? Well, this was ten years ago, but the bandit leader had kidnapped me, and then we were attacked by a sea king. That's how he lost his arm." Luffy finished his story, a rather somber smile appearing.

"You're the reason he's missing an arm, I would have never guessed." Tashigi commented.

"Yeah, it's a real shame. I here before that happened, he use to duel Mihawk" Robin added, catching Zoro's attention.

"This Shanks man use to fight Mihawk?" Zoro asked, very intrigued by what Robin said. "I'd like to fight him one day. I'm sure he'd still be quite a challenge."

"Ohhh, Zoro versus Shanks? I don't know who'd win!" Nami said, interested in such a fight.

"You guys are insane!" Usopp started, "he's obviously dangerous beyond all reason, why would any of you want to go near him!"

"He's fuuun!" Luffy laughed happily, leaning back.

"So wait Luffy, how did you get the gomu gomu no mi?" Brook asked, interjecting into the conversion for the first time. Even though it wasn't in the conversion, the skeleton was sure it was related.

"Oh, it was Shank's, I ate it on accident."

Nami put her face in hands. "Of course that's how it'd happen. I never thought about it, but we should be careful about when eat off of the ship. If you ate another fruit, well no one actually knows what would happen." A slightly ominous feeling went through everyone.

"Nami, I think we're getting close." Chopper broke the momentary silence. "I smell foliage."

Nami got up from her chair, going up the stairs to look. "Oi, look guys!" She motioned with her hand for everyone to come to the upper deck to look. Their ship was heading westward for the bay of the island, surrounded by a protective crescent of land. The western coast was a raised rocky ledge, but the valleys below were completely covered in lush flora. A breeze wafted through the air, carrying the scent of the land. It was a clean smell, pleasing everyone.

"This is a beautiful island!" Nami sighed, happy about their destination.

"It is most certainly Navigator-san" Robin responded, brushing her hair out of her face. Both Robin and Brook sipped their drinks casually, enjoying their views.

"Oh! Look at all the streams running into the sea!" Usopp noted, "That means if we can find a stream, then all we have to do is follow it if we're lost."

"That's almost too easy. Don't people normally get lost?"

Franky questioned, "There must be something hindering people."

"Oh my, do you guys see this?" Tashigi exclaimed. She pointed to the coast. "Look at the thickness of the undergrowth!" The trees of the forest were tall and slender, and very closely grown together. Large plants were packed into the shadows of the forest floor. Even though it was day time, it was relatively dark as far as they could tell.

"I can see why they get lost." Luffy commented, almost hanging off the railing. "So they are mystery plants." Nami hit Luffy's head almost immediately.

"The only mystery is the location of your common sense!" Luffy rubbed his head, still staring at the tropical island. Nami sighed also gazing at the island. "It's probably going to rain, I'd be prepared if you're going off the boat."

"I'm going to go change." Tashigi stated, already walking down the ladder to the women's quarters.

"I think I too will join her. I'm quite curious of such an island. It should be adventurous." Robin looked at Luffy, watching his eyes light up at the word 'adventurous'. She grinned, going down the ladder.

Nami sighed, hoping that she would be allowed to stay on the beach and drink fruity drinks courtesy of Sanji. Though adventure in the tropical forest did sound a bit intriguing...

Chopper nervously watched Zoro, trying to make sure he didn't leave the beach by himself. He was sure if he let that happen that they would never see their swordsman again.

The said swordsman was watching the foliage intently, occasionally glancing at the ship. Luffy excitedly ran around the beach chasing Usopp, screaming 'Mystery Forest'.

Tashigi, rather clumsily, leapt from the ship, landing on the soft white sand of the beach. She was wearing her new jean shorts, the first green tank top she borrowed along with her jacket and the pale green knee high boots. Nami soon appeared wearing something quite similar to their Skypiea adventures, as was Robin. The boys momentarily ogled the women, though one particularly would never admit to such an act.

"Are we ready?"

"Guys, I fear I am suddenly suffering from 'dark-forest-that-people-get-lost-in' syndrome, if we cou-!" Usopp and Brook started to babble, almost instantly getting cut off by Luffy yelling.

"YOSH! TIME FOR MYSTERY FOREST!" He yelled, grabbing Usopp and Brook, running straight into the underbrush. Nami tailed Luffy, threatening him as he entered; Sanji followed Nami, not wanting their adolescent Captain to 'take advantage of the innocence of Nami-swan'.

Robin and Tashigi giggled at their actions, as Chopper, Franky, and Zoro stood bored. "I'm quite interested in the coast of the island. Would you like to join me?" Robin directed her question at them.

"I'll go with you! Beach time, YEAAAH!" Franky excitedly sang.

"Are you going in the forest?" Chopper timidly asked, not wanting to enter the dark forest that practically screamed 'LOST; NEVER TO BE FOUND AGAIN.' "I want to join you if you're not."

"No we're not, but what about you?" Robin looked at Zoro and Tashigi, a small deviant smile appearing.

"I wanted to go look for things to eat." Zoro stated, turning and heading for the forest. Tashigi immediately grabbed the back of his shirt, and gaze him a scrupulous glance.

"You're going to get lost."

"I will not, since do I get lost?" Zoro somewhat innocently responded, obviously not fooling anyone.

"I'll go with you to make sure you can make it back." Tashigi told him, pulling on her borrowed backpack. He glared at her, but she simply ignored it. "There is no way that you would ever appear on this shore again without assistance."

Robin and Franky chuckled, Chopper still worried the thought of everyone getting lost. "Please Tashigi, don't let him out of your sight!" Chopper asked, 'hiding' behind Robin's leg.

"I won't Chopper, promise." She replied, hugging him before tailing behind Zoro who urgently wanted to go in the forest. Zoro was already practically fighting the shrubbery, cursing under his breath. Tashigi simply walked in the cleared walk way behind him, not too worried about get lost because of their evident trail.

"So, are you looking for anything particular?"

"I just want to make sure I bring back more meat than the shitty-cook." Zoro responded, in full gear of catching something edible.

'Men can be so competitive. Testosterone…' Tashigi thought. She was pleased with her lack of work. Her eyes stayed glued to Zoro's back, observing his motions, along with the muscles evident through his white shirt.

'He is so well…defined. I almost feel hypnotized by watching him work.' Tashigi looked up, feeling a few droplets land on her scalp. "It's starting to rain…"She commented, Zoro pausing to also look up. The sky was not to be seen through the canopy, but the moisture was all around them. Tashigi bent down and retrieved a fallen leaf from one of the trees. "The leaves are rather light and feathery. This is what most likely gives the forest floor so much water." Droplets increased in their falling. "Do you want to turn back Zoro?"

"Hn. What's a little rain?" Was his only commenting, continuing to make his way through the forest flora. The plant life started to lighten up, enabling them to simply push past the plant life. The trekked for what it felt like was only 30 minutes before they realized they weren't finding anything.

"It doesn't seem like there is much life here." She noted, accidentally bumping into him. He looked at her curiously.

"I think you might be right. There haven't been any obvious signs." He admitted to the evidence, "I'm still interested in looking around though."

"Alright, I guess I have no choice but to follow you."

"You can always turn back."

"I have no intention on breaking my promise to Chopper to keep an eye on you." Staring at the back of his head, she raised a brow, not sure if she'd get a response. Zoro grinned, expecting her to say something that would keep her there. Keep her near him.

As they continued to walk, it became evident that there was almost no end to the plant life. The rain had gotten harder, and it was obvious that the sun had gone down because of the severe lack of light. Zoro's paced had slowed dramatically as he noticed Tashigi slowing down from all of the activity. "Is your ankle alright?" He asked.

She looked up, completely caught off-guard by the question. "My ankle?"

"Yeah, it was sprained two weeks ago, how is it feeling now?" Zoro spoke up, the rain drowning out his voice.

"It doesn't hurt or anything right now." She bit her lip, looking at the back of his head with what little light that they had.

"It kind of looks like there is a small clearing ahead, we're taking a break." He stated.

"Well, actually, I uh, don't think we'll be returning to the ship tonight." She timidly said, looking away when Zoro's eyes turned to her.

"Why?"

"Because I think we're lost."