A/n: Chapter 21 here! This Chapter may be quite small, depending on what direction my thought process goes in.

Also even if there are a few more chapters, they won't go more than 25. So no worries.

Before you start I wanted to thank everyone for sticking with me for so long and reading! I'm sorry for all the random updates! Thank you for bearing with me! You guys are awesome! :D

Please review.

And PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE BOTTOM.

Love~

Recap:

"Right then." Nami said blowing on her fist. "Lets go look for our baka Senchou shall we?"

And just as she said that, a loud screech filled the air and the crew clutched their ears.

"Ehhhh… Does this thing work? Ok~ This is Monkey. D. Luffy and I'm gonna be the Pirate King! Shishishishishishishi~"

the crew groaned as their captain's voice sounded across the island.

"Oi you guys! Come to that pillar thing closest to Sunny! We'll talk there!" and then everything was silent except for the constant crashing of the waves against the rocks and the occasional breeze.

The crew sighed as they helped Zoro and Sanji walk towards the spot their Captain mentioned.

"That Baka Senchou…." Nami smiled as she propped Sanji's arm around her shoulder.

"Ah!" Nami exclaimed as Luffy came into view. Their Captain was waving his arms excitedly and had a huge grin plastered on his face. Behind him was Laquarde and he was kneeling besides an unconscious Bianca. Nami frowned but chose not to comment.

"Oi Luffy! What's going on here?!" Nami sighed. Way to ruin my effort Usopp.

"Why is HE here?!" He? Nami thought and he followed the others' gaze until her jaw dropped, as she saw who was standing to Luffy's right.

"Well a lot of stuff happened and I decided to help him!" Luffy said happily. Everyone groaned. That was just like him, to suddenly decide to help his enemy. Luffy seemed to have completely forgotten about what that guy had done to Zoro and the others. But as always, once he had made up his mind, nothing could change it. And so they helped Zoro and Sanji sit down with their backs propped against a large tree and waited for an explanation.

But of course none came. Luffy just 'Shishishishishi'd and that was that. Sighing, Laquarde stood up and slowly walked towards them. Eyeing Zoro skeptically, he opened his mouth and said in a low voice:

"Isn't there some one you ought to meet?"

Zoro frowned at the question and didn't answer. Laquarde looked at him wearily and ran a hand through his golden blonde hair.

"Ok let me reframe that. There's someone that wants to meet you."

Zoro merely raised an eyebrow at him. Exasperated, Laquarde shrugged and went to sit between Luffy and Bianca. Zoro looked around at all of them and found that everyone's eyes were on him. Some were eyeing him suspiciously, some looked tired, some were dead serious and one didn't particularly care. Zoro groaned and ruffled his short, spiky green hair.

"This may take awhile." And then he drifted off. Everyone kept staring at him, expectantly. But when the swordsman started to snore, they gave up and turned their attention to the other three.

"So Luffy, where is Robin?"

"Over there." Luffy pointed to a nearby rock that was surrounded by a crystal clear pool of water. Beside it lay Robin. On seeing her, the Crew instantly stiffened. Chopper gasped and ran towards her. Two things were definitely wrong. Firstly the Archeologist was lying extremely still and her face was a pale blue. Her body was covered with blood and scratches and the wounds were turning purple and green. Her eyebrows were knitted as though she was in extreme pain and a thin film of sweat covered her forehead. The other thing of concern was, that a certain colourful Toucan was treating her. As soon as Chopper reached her, he shooed away Peri and set to work on her.

"Its no use." Laquarde's voice rang across the quiet field.

"She's been poisoned and only Peri knows how to treat her."

Even though the very idea seemed to appall the little Doctor, his need to treat his patient came first, and so he stood by and watched carefully as Peri began her ministrations.

Everyone lapsed back into silence and only Luffy seemed to be enjoying himself. Why, the rest of his crew could not tell.

"So…" Sanji started, struggling to reach for his cigarettes. "Who exactly is Marimo meeting when he's sound asleep?" The cook asked, Poking Zoro with the nub of his cigarette.

Laquarde shrugged. "We'll know soon enough."

And once again everyone quietly waited. What for, most of them were not sure.

When Zoro opened his eye, he was lying on his back in a very familiar green field that had the strong scent of flowers and fresh grass. He simply lay like that for a few seconds, wondering if it was all right to move. When he didn't feel any gut wrenching pain, he slowly started to sit up. But he stopped suddenly and froze as he heard her voice. She was singing some extremely sad song that nearly brought tears to his eyes. Her crystal clear voice flowing across the field in gentle waves. He slowly turned to see that she was directly behind him, singing to a rose. Frowning, Zoro got up and walked towards her. He was surprised at how light his body felt without the excruciating pain. When he reached her, she stopped singing, much to his disappointment and looked up at him with a smile.

"So we meet again."

''And this time I'm not lost or dying." And he suddenly realized he had said that just to hear her delightful laughter. Once she had stopped laughing, she looked down at the rose in her hand, which had now fully bloomed and was a deep hypnotizing red against her alabaster skin.

"It seems the time has come." Zoro found himself laughing sourly at that statement. Maya cocked her head to the side and looked at him with amusement clear in her glass like eyes.

"That joke is getting too old. Especially when something like time doesn't even exist here." This time Maya chuckled dryly as she placed the rose on the grass in front of her.

"That is true. The power to manipulate time may be considered as a gift by most, but to those who possess it, 'tis naught but a curse. We cannot enjoy the natural flow of time. We are forced to stay eternally constant and unchanging. So much so, that after millennia of the same process repeating over and over again, you simply start to wish that you could be free of such a curse."

"Aren't you awfully talkative today."

"You seem to be in an unpleasant mood. Would I be the cause for it by chance?"

"And now you can read my mind!" Maya chuckled sadly.

"And what is it that ails you little one?" Zoro snorted at being treated like a child again.

"I thought no one was supposed to know about you. And though it was my fault for telling my Nakama about it, how come that blonde Prince knew about you? Not only that, he even told me you were waiting for me!" Without realizing it, Zoro had started yelling. Maya looked taken aback, her wide eyes reflecting the grass around her to make it seem like a vast Ocean.

"I see….. So Laquarde didn't explain anything to you as yet." Zoro cocked an eyebrow.

"Fufufu you wonder how I know his name, whilst you never mentioned it." Zoro frowned. Maya tilted her neck so that her silver hair flowed down her back and landed around her in puddles of silver silk. She opened her eyes to look at the ever-present clear sky and slowly opened her mouth.

"It is but a simple truth. Laquarde…. As is Bianca… Are my children…" A wonderfully tender expression overcame her previously sad one and she sighed deeply.

"Those children have suffered greatly for our sins."

"And I suppose 'our' refers to you and that King?"

"Why yes…. You have already heard of our rather… unfortunate tale. Yes?" Zoro nodded.

"There is more to it. Or should I say less." It was Zoro's turned to sigh.

"Every single one of you like to talk in riddles don't you? Why can't you just tell it out straight rather than beating around the bush all the time?" His question came out harsher than he expected, and a pained expression crossed Maya's face. She looked down at her hands and watched the sunlight play designs on them through the leaves of the trees.

"Laquarde was a child created by us." Zoro hung is head in frustration.

"You do not understand….. Bianca was born to us, but Laquarde…. He was created by us." This piqued the swordsman's interest.

"At that time, we, Lord Razhea and I, merely wished to live simple human lives. But no matter what we did, out curse did not allow us to bear a child. We were cursed to be immortal. And those who bear such a curse could never be normal. So, using our powers, we created a child. Who would breathe, grow, eat, sleep and age like any human would. Once he was created, we became greedy. We wanted more. We wanted to create life and raise them with our own hands. And so we did. All the people who you see in Razhea's kingdom are our creations. Immortal beings that could lead mortal lives. But that came with a price. Razhea's people were hunted down and killed. So he constantly shifted locations, between time and space, in order to keep them safe. And on one such occasion, he ran into you and your crew." Zoro's eyes widened in astonishment.

"'Twas a time from the future, when Luffy had conquered the seas. You were seeking refuge from the hungry hands of the world government and the pirates. This led to a great distortion in time-space. Razhea found Luffy to be a kindred spirit and spoke of his true nature. And instead of fleeing from fear, Luffy decided to save us. And thus a great calamity occurred. If he did not do something to revert this calamity, your lives would have been in great danger. And so, he sacrificed his friendship with your Captain, in order to save your lives. He did so by erasing our existence from time-space. The events of that time were completely erased. Yet, for some reason Laquarde's and Bianca's memories were unaffected. Bianca's memories were tampered with until certain events were forgotten, but to no avail. But this is not what I want to tell you. Zoro, the reason you are here now, is because of a promise."

"A promise?" Maya nodded.

"Let me guess. Luffy promised Razhea that he would help him even if he forgot about him and that's how we ended up here."

Maya smiled at him gently.

"It seems I am not the only one who can read minds." Zoro shifted uncomfortably.

"So? How do we keep this promise?" He scowled at her astonished expression.

"Of course we'll help you! First of all Luffy never goes back on his word. And besides unless we do something, we can't leave right?" Maya nodded slowly.

"Ok then…." Zoro stood up and dusted his trousers. "Tell me what I need to do."

"…"

Laquarde watched as Zoro blinked and stretched. He then winced and groaned and everyone eyed him with concern. Once he was sitting upright, he began to relate everything that had happened. Everyone listened carefully and to Laquarde's surprise, didn't seem the least bit shocked. Once he was done, the swordsman looked at him expectantly. Laquarde nodded and stood up. This was it. This was finally ending. Finally.

But Zoro, you left out a very important detail. On how to end it.

A/n: Yeah well it ended with a cliff hanger C: I said it would be short.

Now I would like to explain Laquarde's origin. I guess most of is understood, but to make it simpler, he ages much much slower than a normal human would. So do the rest of the people. Why he is so young even though he was the first to be created in comparison to the others, would be because Razhea and Maya wanted him to be younger to Bianca who would be born later. [How is a different story. I will leave it to your imagination.] WHY they wanted such a thing, would be so Bianca would not doubt anything told to her in relation to Laquarde's origin. She did not know until the end that he was her brother. And that they shared the same mother. Also, what Maya tells Zoro will become clear in the next chapter. I just left it at that because it would be more interesting that way~

That's all for now! Chapter 22 on its way!

Review~

Love~