A/N: Here I am again! Please R&R!

Disclaimer: Disclaimers are ridiculous. ;)

Skypiea, Part 2

Time seemed to barely pass as Zoro now led the trio through the forest of Upper Yard. He climbed over the root of a tree with ease and stood on top of it for a moment, surveying his surroundings. The forest had been awfully quiet since they had left the altar. Zoro wondered how Chopper was holding up with the Going Merry. He was sure that Chopper would do his best to repair the ship and even protect it, if need be. He couldn't dwell on it though; he had to focus on the task ahead. He heard the footsteps of Nami and Robin behind him, and Nami soon joined him on the root.

"So, where's God?" he asked impatiently.

Instead of answering him, Nami sighed and used the back of her hand to wipe the area under her chin. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, noticing the sheen of sweat on her face and hairline. He kept staring even as Robin ended up answering his question.

"Being God, he may already be watching our movements," she said.

Zoro looked forward again, as though that's where his eyes had been all along, and placed his right hand on the hilt of one of his swords, Yubashiri. His other hand rested on his left hip. Meanwhile, Nami let herself down on the other side of the root. It was such a simple action. However, Zoro couldn't help but watch her once more. His eyes trailed her until he snapped them back up.

"This wouldn't take half as long if he'd just get his ass over here," he said.

Nami turned toward him and stuck her arms out from her sides, her palms facing up.

"I'm fine with him right where he is!" Nami scolded him. "What do I have to say to make you listen? This island's god is wrathful!" She lowered her arms to her sides again.

Not much, Zoro thought. He ignored her comment about God for the moment. He concentrated on her question instead. It didn't take much at all for Zoro to listen to Nami. She was the one who gave most of the orders in the Straw Hat crew, so listening to at least some of them was inherent to him. Yet, a lot of times, Zoro would actually listen to what Nami said, even though she may have been talking about something trivial or pointless. He paid attention to her, probably more than he should have; he just didn't show it.

Then, Zoro returned to Nami's comment about God. He remembered the shots of lightning that came down from the sky and how they eventually formed a column, which demolished nearly everything in its path. If it really was God, then even Zoro had to admit that it was a fair display of His strength. But seeing that level of destruction only made Zoro want to face this god even more. He broke away from his thoughts and glanced at Nami again, only to discover that she was praying. He watched her back as she spoke.

"Oh, Kami-sama, please have mercy on us," she said in a trembling voice. After that, she muttered, "Oh! And please help me to find lots of treasure."

Zoro scowled and rolled his eyes. "You had to end it with that," he said curtly.

Trying to put what had just happened out of his mind, he walked along the root of the tree until it reached the water's edge—or the sea cloud's edge, rather. It was a river of sea cloud that the group had been following for quite some time, almost as far back as the altar. Zoro knew that it would be useless to keep going along with it. He looked across the sea cloud, his fists clenched.

"Anyway, just walking along this river isn't getting us anywhere," he said. "Let's cross this river and check things out on the other side."

"Good idea," Robin said.

She was near the root he stood on and looked out over the sea cloud as well. Zoro figured that if she agreed, then at least it was a turn in the right direction. It was better than continuing on the same side of the river any longer. They had to try something new, and the other side of the river was their best bet. Nami walked forward, nearing the edge of the sea cloud and almost where the island cloud ended.

"But how do we get across?" she asked, interrupting his thoughts. "Swing across on vines like before? Or maybe there's a tree—"

Suddenly, Zoro heard a cracking sound, as though something had started to crumble. Sure enough, he was right. The island cloud under Nami's foot had collapsed, and she began to fall into the river. She panicked and screamed, her arms flailing out as her body started to turn. She would land into the sea cloud on her back at this rate. Even worse, Zoro saw the sea cloud beneath her churn, and a skyshark appeared right under Nami with its mouth wide open. It was preparing to make a meal out of her. Zoro grit his teeth and sprinted as fast as he could. He barely noticed Robin as she was about to user her Devil's Fruit power. All he could focus on in that split second was Nami and how she was inches from her death.

He wrapped his arm around Nami's shoulders and pulled her towards him. At the same time, he kicked the skyshark with all of his might, which forced him and Nami back onto the shore. The kick sent the skyshark flying across the river and caused it to crash violently into the opposite bank. Zoro and Nami landed on the island cloud together, their backsides dragging across the ground and digging into it. They slid so far back as to nearly run into the trunk of the tree behind them. Zoro's head barely tapped the trunk when they came to a stop. They both breathed heavily, but when he faced Nami, she winced.

"You okay?" he panted.

"Y-Yeah," she replied. "That kind of hurt though."

The two of them laughed a little, and Zoro actually felt relieved that he had made it in time. They were still lying on the ground next to each other, not even a foot away from one another. Zoro helped Nami sit up and stayed by her side as she continued to breathe heavily. When she finally calmed down a bit, Zoro came to a horrible realization. His eyes widened as he saw where his arms were. One of them was still draped across Nami's shoulders. And somehow, the other was wrapped around her midsection, with his hand grasping her ribcage firmly. Zoro also noticed that Nami had one of her hands on his back, resting right between his shoulder blades. Her other hand was on his chest, clasped over his heart. Zoro had become very conscious of both of their hand placements at that moment. Nami seemed to realize the same thing because she looked down at his torso and back up with wide eyes.

"Uh…" Zoro said.

"Oh…" Nami replied.

Silence fell between them for a brief moment until, at last, Nami shrugged Zoro off and scurried away from him quickly.

"Jeez, alright already!" she exclaimed. "You can let go now! I'm fine!"

"Oh my," Robin said, smiling in her demure way.

Nami still sat on the ground, making incomprehensible noises and wild gestures. Zoro stood up and brushed off his shirt with his hands as she continued to make a scene. He glared at Robin, not wanting the newest member of their crew to get any funny ideas. He still didn't exactly trust her, after all. Yet, Robin just kept smiling and looked between him and Nami knowingly. Zoro scoffed, but that's all he did to voice his protest. He knew that dropping it immediately was the easiest way to put the moment behind them.

Nami was still making a big fuss, though, and Zoro couldn't understand why she was being like this. At first, he thought that it was just her overreacting as she usually did, and even more so because she had nearly been eaten by a skyshark. But he also sensed that maybe there was more to it than that. If he was honest with himself, he was sure that it was more than that. Nami's life had been in danger, yet he felt differently than he had when he saved her before, such as back on Alabasta. He had saved her because she was his nakama, of course; that was the same in both instances. He couldn't quite place why this time was different. He just knew that it was, somehow. At last, he returned to the glaring issue at hand.

"Those annoying bastards are here, too?!" he snapped, referring to the skysharks.

"I quit!" Nami said in exasperation. It was the first coherent sentence that Zoro heard from her since the incident. "I'm not crossing that river! I refuse to get eaten by a pack of skysharks!"

Now, she was just being ridiculous. Zoro faced her and tried to reason with her. However, that was when Nami and Zoro fell into their old habit, the one thing that both of them could be counted upon to do, even when there was no justifiable reason for it. No matter what the situation, it was the one thing that happened between the two of them, without fail. They argued.

"But we need to search the other side of the river, too," he said. Nami remained defiant.

"No means no!" she said. "If you want to go so badly, Zoro, go by yourself!"

"Huh?" Zoro demanded. "If you're that scared, you shouldn't have come in the first place!"

He leaned down and frowned at Nami, gritting his teeth. Nami was still on her knees, but she frowned in return and glared at him. Neither of them noticed Robin, whose expression had fallen as she knelt down to examine the island cloud beneath them.

"Hey," she said to them. Both Zoro and Nami turned their heads toward her. "The ground here…" Robin used her hand to brush the area in front of her. When she lifted her hand, she picked up some residue on her skin.

"What about the ground?" Nami asked.

"It's soil," Robin replied, slightly surprised. Zoro straightened up to a standing position and folded his arms across his chest. Nami stayed where she was.

"Well, obviously," she said. "It's the ground."

"This is Skypiea," Robin said simply.

Like Nami, Zoro didn't exactly get what the other woman was saying. Yes, they were on a sky island, but what did that have to do with…? Out of the blue, Zoro understood.

"She's got a point," he said to Nami. He tapped his foot on the ground to confirm it for himself. "It's not fluffy at all."

Nami perked up. "Oh, right. Skypiea's made up of island cloud." She rubbed her own hand across the ground and scooped up some dirt. "It feels like ages since I've felt soil like this. So why is this island different?"

"Whatever the case," Robin explained. "it seems there are mysterious islands even among those in the sky. There seems to be a great deal worth investigating."

Time had slowed to a dying crawl, and Zoro was beside himself with boredom. He would do anything to put himself out of this misery. Robin had taken the lead from him a while ago, and the three of them walked down a grassy knoll back toward the river. They had tried to stick with it, despite the earlier notion that nothing would be found if they continued on that path. But, since Robin had discovered that the island cloud was actually soil, it made sense to stay by the river and hopefully find more. However, the forest had a tricky layout, which kept them away from the river for quite a while. Now, they were back, and they could resume their search for clues.

This time, Robin climbed up onto the root of a tree, and Nami wasn't far behind her. The older woman bent down and lent Nami a hand to help her up. Nami grabbed with both hands, and Robin hoisted her up onto the root. Zoro watched from a short distance as he kept walking to catch up with them.

"Thanks," Nami said to Robin.

Zoro made his way on top of the root, and without meaning to, his eyes fell on Nami. She stood right beside him and paused. She was panting and sniffling a bit, clearly affected by the heat. With another sigh, she tucked her fingers into the collar of her shirt and moved it back and forth, trying to fan herself with the fabric. Zoro got just the shortest glimpse down the front of Nami's shirt, but he had no time to comprehend what he had seen. He sighed, too, and rubbed his forearm across his forehead, wiping away the sweat that formed there. It was an excuse to get his eyes back where they needed to be. His face felt warm. Damn heat…

"Hey, did you see something move over there?" Nami asked him.

"Not really," he said. He couldn't have seen anything with his arm covering his eyes.

"Hey, did you see anything, Robin?" Nami pressed further.

The archaeologist turned to face Nami and shrugged. "No, I didn't see anything."

"You probably just saw a monkey or something," Zoro said.

"A monkey? Maybe," Nami replied.

They all moved off of the same root and created a sort of circle between them, or at least managed a half-circle with only three people. They were still on the same side of the river that they had been tracking for hours. It was time to come up with a new plan.

"So, shall we check the opposite shore?" Robin suggested.

"No!" Nami protested. "What if we get attacked by another shark?!"

"Jeez, what is wrong with you?" Zoro asked with a groan.

Before any of them had a moment to contemplate their options, they heard a faint, high-pitched sound. Robin lifted her head slightly. She was kneeling on the ground once again, trying to study what was beneath them. Nami leaned against the root of the tree with her legs crossed at the ankles. And Zoro had turned away from the two women, but it wasn't the high-pitched sound that he tuned in on.

"Hey, did you hear something just now?" Nami asked.

"Yeah. Don't move," Zoro warned her.

He unsheathed Wado Ichimonji just an inch, pressing his thumb lightly onto the blade. He stared straight ahead, his eyes narrowed. What would it be this time? His senses were on high alert; he had to be prepared for anything coming from any direction. Sure enough, he heard it. A blast of water. He whirled around and looked up at one of the streams of sea cloud that flowed above them. Shooting out from the bottom of the stream wasn't a skyshark, but a different creature that looked more like a crocodile. But it was enormous like a skyshark, and it came at them with the same, killer intent. Except it was aiming for one person in particular: Nami.

She didn't even have time to react before Zoro wound his arm up behind him and closed his hand into a fist. He gave the beast a fierce uppercut, bashing it right in the jaw with his knuckles. He was finally fed up.

"WOULD YOU THINGS KNOCK IT OFF?!" he bellowed.

The crocodile went flying high over the river as Zoro landed back on his feet. He shook his hand out nonchalantly, as though he didn't feel any pain. Yet in reality, Zoro was irritated. Just how many more times was this going to happen? And why did each time have to involve Nami?! He found himself a bit taken aback, slightly surprised at himself. Since when did he feel such concern for her? Sure, he was at least a little concerned about her whenever she could be in trouble, but not like this. Not to such a degree. Zoro racked his brain for anything to explain what the hell he was going through; however, he had no idea.

"It's your unlucky day, huh?" Robin asked Nami. The crocodile splashed into the sea cloud of the river as she spoke.

With his luck, Zoro never expected to run into this much trouble on their expedition. But once again, Robin had a good point: Nami had bad luck. It was most likely her fault for coming along. Though Zoro imagined that things wouldn't be the same if Nami hadn't tagged along. He wouldn't have discovered something new about himself if it wasn't for her… because what he had discovered included her. He only had one thing to say.

"Gotta stay alert."

"T-Thanks," Nami responded.

Zoro nodded. She actually sounded grateful that he had saved her this time, unlike earlier in the day. It wasn't like him, but Zoro couldn't help but feel pleased. He wondered if, for once, she owed him for something instead of the other way around.

At long last, the trio found a way to cross the river safely: a fallen tree that acted as a bridge across the sea cloud. As they walked along the bridge, Zoro noticed the skysharks circling below. They were so far down there, however, that Zoro thought they wouldn't be a problem. He walked as part of a single-file line that the group had formed. Robin remained at the head, with Nami in the middle, and him bringing up the rear. Zoro strolled along the bridge with his hands in his pockets.

Nami, meanwhile, clutched the straps of her backpack as though her life depending on it. She walked at a much slower pace across the bridge, which granted Robin a lot of space between them. Zoro was getting to be right on Nami's heels, though, and he was tired of going along at her pace. What was she scared of now? The height that they were at above the sea cloud? Or the fact that there were still skysharks to worry about? Zoro saw no reason to worry now.

"Oi," he said in agitation. "Nami, walk faster, dammit!"

"Shut up!" she shrieked. "Quit talking to me! What if I fall?!"

Zoro thought that they were safe. Yet unbeknownst to him, Nami's streak of bad luck wasn't finished. From his right side, an explosion of sea cloud occurred. He and Nami both turned in the direction of the sound, she out of fear and he out of readiness. One of the skysharks had decided to launch itself into the air for an attack. Once again, it was aimed at Nami. Zoro saw her step back, but before he could warn her, she slipped and careened down the side of the bridge, screaming as loud as she could. However, the skyshark was well within Zoro's range and susceptible to a counterattack because it was in mid-air. It no longer had any control of where it was going.

Zoro unsheathed Wado Ichimonji in full this time, slashing the skyshark twice through its side before jumping to avoid one of its fins. The skyshark moaned and bled profusely as it headed straight for the sea cloud, hitting the surface with a great splash. Zoro landed back on the bridge effortlessly. He shook Wado Ichimonji to flick the blood off of the blade. He knew that he would have to clean it more thoroughly later. Then, he twirled the katana before sheathing it again. He had only heard one splash of the sea cloud, which means that Nami had managed not to fall in there.

"Oi, you okay?" he called.

Nami answered, "Yeah…" Then, her voice shook with fright. "I guess so."

The trio made it the rest of the way across the bridge and to the other side of the river, like they had planned so long ago. Nami fell to her hands and knees once they reached a steady surface again.

"One thing after another," she gasped. "Sorry for all the trouble."

"It's nothing," Robin replied, although her voice sounded far away.

Zoro walked up to Nami from behind and almost offered his help to get her up, but she stood on her own accord. She hurried to catch up to Robin, while Zoro lingered back for a minute. He just didn't understand that woman. Well, either woman in front of him. Yet he mainly didn't understand Nami. She must have known that there was many risks in exploring the forests and volunteered anyway. He definitely wasn't bothered by those risks as much as she was. To distract himself from any further thoughts about Nami, Zoro addressed Robin, who had become very still.

"What's up?" he asked. "You find God or something?"

"No…" Robin answered quietly. "There's a well."

"A well?" Nami asked.

Robin got a head start and proceeded to move forward over a new set of roots from the enormous trees surrounding them. Nami and Zoro stood together for a moment and exchanged glances. Zoro felt that they were holding each other's gaze too long, so he gestured his head in the direction that Robin took off in. Nami got the message and nodded before following the path that Robin took over the roots. Zoro stayed close behind her. Once Robin had gotten enough distance on them, Zoro spoke to Nami.

"What the hell is up with her?" he asked. "Wandering off by herself… She's so self-centered."

"You're calling someone else 'self-centered?'" Nami retorted. "I'd never put up with that crap from you."

"Huh?"

"I have a feeling we're having a lot of unnecessary trouble because of you."

"Really?"

"Yes, really! How else would you explain it?"

"It's not my fault!"

Nami and Zoro made no real effort to catch up to Robin now. Instead, the two continued to bicker at one another as they tended to do. The events on Skypiea, however, were far from over. But they had a moment together, and they spent it how they usually spent it. Zoro didn't mind though. Something had changed within him. He saw and thought of Nami differently. He didn't know what would happen after Skypiea. Yet time would only tell.

Okay, I'm sorry if the ending is kind of lazy. I honestly didn't know how to do it. xD But Skypiea will only be in these two parts instead of three, even though there's still some ZoNa goodness that I haven't covered. So I'll have something new for the next chapter! Probably about Dressrosa/Zou in some capacity! :D