Hello readers! So. I had an amazing friend of mine actually draw a map of Rieno (because sometimes word descriptions are just really hard to understand)! Unfortunately, I cannot figure out how to upload the pictures onto this website/story... BUT! If you visit Wattpad and search for "Zoro x Tashigi", then click the table of contents and go to the chapter titled "MAPS!"- you will be able to see an aerial and side view of this island I have *attempted* to create!:) The story has the same cover photo as this website. Anyways! Sorry I couldn't get it onto here, but at least its somewhere out there if your interested:) Thank you so much for reading the story, and I hope everyone is enjoying it! Thank you to anyone whose given a review! I am always open to comments, suggestions, and advice! But most importantly, I just hope you enjoy:) Anyways, back to the regular program:)

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10 pm

Robin POV:

Cicadas hum in the dark, their overwhelming chirps joining a chorus of other nightlife noises as our self proclaimed gold heist group pushes through the thick underbrush of the island jungle. Right in front of us, a tower of earth still covered in tropical vegetation climbs into the sky, the top invisible as a heavy fog descends on the island. I push a leaf aside to walk under, and

"Oh!" I gasp a little as I step away from the 3-foot tall beetle hanging from a low branch right in front of me.

"What is it Robin-Chan? Can I AAAAHHH-gfhhfhg" Sanji leaps away from me and the bug, tears streaming down his cheeks as his whole body shivers at the sight. I chuckle lowly and wait for his whimpering to quiet more before I dispel the hand I sprouted to clamp over his mouth.

"Sanji, try to stay quiet. We don't want to alert the marines we are here until after we've robbed them clean."

"I know, I know! I would never do anything to endanger Tashigi-Chan!" The cook lets out a nervous laugh as he walks past me, ducking far below the giant bug and standing on the other side, then

"AAAAAHHHHH-gfhhgh"

I quickly clamp another hand over his mouth and let out a sigh. No wonder the navy officer had been nervous when she and Zoro pushed off a few hours ago. Our crew is good at many things. Following precise, pre-laid plans is not one of them. Or just generally not alerting the entire world to our existence.

"it's a good thing you're not here to see the process before we pull through when it counts." I mutter to myself, shaking my head with a soft smirk as I recall the navy captain throwing her hands in the air in defeat before hopping down to the little boat the duo had sailed off in.

"Just- please no one die and if you can somehow actually get around to the part that helps us out too.. no.. no never mind just, don't die."

Tashigi had yelled the words as if fully resigning that we would be of no use in her mission as we were distracted by gold, but Luffy had been quick to stretch a fist down and bonk her on the head.

"Oi! We said we'd sound the alarms at 1, so that's what we'll do! You saying pirates are too stupid to keep their word?! STOP DOUBTING US!" Luffy had made his famous pouty face, and Tashigi just stared for a second, before barely smiling back. She may not realize it, but I could tell from her face then that she was really counting on us. An ocean waves camaflouge cover on the Thousand Sunny, several hours of rowing, and a slightly stomach churning climb up the thousand foot cliffs of the island later, we were still on task with keeping our word.

Pushing the memory aside, I walk past Sanji, and 20 feet later I'm at the base of the giant pillar of earth. I peer at the myriad of insects, some barely visible and others as large as my head, crawling all over the place on its surface. All of them poisonous. I lift my own arm and check for bites, smiling when I see none.

"We'll have to tell Chopper to keep the recipe for this repellent he created." I comment to Franky whose come up beside me. The cyborg lets out a chuckle before he shoves his giant hands into the mass of writhing crawlers and tears away the layer of jungle to reveal bedrock.

"You really think they tunneled this far down Usopp?" Franky asks the sniper, who nods his chin down once with surety.

"Even if they didn't, the blueprints for the main base labeled one door in the dungeon as the 'path to mint' and never mentioned a path on the surface from the base to here. So, they must go underground. We just have to quietly dig until we reach the tunnel that has to be in this mountain, and then we'll find the gold!" Usopp proclaims with a giddy clap of his hands.

"Did we really leave ourselves with enough time here? We gotta have most of the gold out by 1." Sanji talks around the cigarette that he's trying to light, attempting to regain some of his cool factor.

By 1. Have we ever had a legitimate time limit on a plan that was run by the clock and not some impending doom? I turn and glance at my crew mates, the boys all a bit too excited that they get to blow stuff up. Nami had finally managed to drag Luffy here without him running off to some other "adventure", and now that the task was in front of him the rubber man grinned from ear to ear.

"We'll show that navy brat what happens when pirates get an idea in their head!" Luffy whisper yells, and the whole gang whisper yells "yeah!" back. His grin turns wicked for a second and he giggles out "and Zoro better make sure he follows his Captain's orders and prove himself dependable."

All the boys let out a snicker as they imagine their brother's fate for the next few hours.

"Heh. slap-slap fruit."

"His face is gonna be black and blue!"

"Serves that stupid moss head right!"

"Zoro do this!" Usopp slaps himself, then clasps his hands next to his cheek and flutters his eyelashes, "yes miss Tashigi, I will obey your every word!"

"BAHAHA!"

BANG!

The four laughing guys all rub sore spots on their heads as Nami lets out a frustrated sigh. "You'll never get a chance to ask Tashigi for stories if you don't start digging for gold idiots! let's go!"

"And maybe try to keep the volume down a bit?" I add as the guys begrudgingly stand to their feet and start clearing more of the vegetation from the base of the mountain. Here's to gold heists!

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12:35

Eiji POV:

BANG BANG BANG!

Commander Eiji awakes with a start at the pounding on his office door, his whole body shooting up straight in his desk chair as bleary vision searches for the source of his sleep's end. After a couple of times blinking, he slowly turns and glares at the door, where someone continues to pound away.

"QUIT IT WORM!" Eiji shouts over the commotion, and the banging stops. His lips twitch upward as he hears the person on the other side of the door nervously gulp. Someone knows they earned a night on dungeon duty. A second later, a man's quivering voice squeezes through the door.

"Commander Eiji, I have urgent news to report."

A rumble erupts from the commander's chest as he stands from my chair, stretching his arms over his head to crack his back. He looks down to see several piles of paperwork, one with drool on it, and thinks to himself that he needs to stop falling asleep in this god-forsaken office. Rubbing a hand over his face in an attempt to wipe away traces of sleep, he walks around his desk, grabbing a lantern off the corner. Thin moonlight filters through the windows, not enough to really see, and the commander lights the lantern in one swift movement. As the orange glow rushes into the room, shadows vanish and the commander's eyes bounce all over the room, seeking, unnerved. He's in here. Eiji can feel him. The shadow man. His eyes still searching, Eiji looks down and visibly winces as he sees the remnants of blood drops on the carpet in front of his desk.

The plush, purple fibers had sat saturated in his blood for a few hours before Eiji had cleaned the stains himself, putting in an order for an oriental rug that same day.

The rug had still not arrived.

Eiji glances around his vast office, his eye passing over the tapestries. He should replace these, get some new designs. He'll make a call to the interior designer tomorrow, demand what's taking so long. Maybe he should just order new carpet all together? This purple color wasn't quite rich enough for his taste, and a few of the fibers were getting fuzzy. Not acceptable quarters for the commander of a base. He IS the commander of a base.

BANG BANG BANG!

"I SAID QUIET SCUM!" Commander Eiji yells, turning swiftly on his heels away from the desk and stalking towards the door. Damn. Let the shadow man haunt. He would show him the authority of a base commander. He would show who is truly in control. The power he wields after his sacrifices.

"Commander Ei-"

The private stops talking when the commander flings the door open, Eiji's eyes glowing while his face remains in shadows. After a few seconds of terrible silence, Eiji shoots his hand out and grabs the private's collar, lifting the man almost off his feet as the commander growls "Now what, is so important, you felt it appropriate to wake me well past midnight?"

"S-s-s-sir, R-r-r-r-r-ronoa-a-a Z-z-zoro-o-o is"

Commander Eiji lifts the private fully off his feet, swinging him around to slam the man into the thick wooden doors of his office. Eyebrow lifted, Eiji sneers "An update on the Straw Hat crew's latest antics does not constitute a significant enough threat to this base to disturb my rest." Eiji's hand pushes against the private's throat, causing the man to cough and choke as he tries to keep from struggling against the brooding commander. "You will be working every night shift this week private, to remind you of the value of slumber."

The commander throws the private to the ground, then turns on his heel to walk back into his office, the foot soldier's coughing echoing into the office's high ceilings.

"Well, haven't you grown cruel."

The voice, slithering, comes from above, and freezes Eiji in his tracks as the commander snaps his head up, searching for the shadow man's form. To no avail.

"Throwing out rash punishments will not prove your value to the Doctor. Why so stressed commander? Are you second guessing your ability to wrap up loose ends?" the shadow man's voice is barely loud enough to vibrate the air...

"Commander he's," the private's razed voice stops as he coughs, still lying in the doorway, the man afraid to make a move and stand as he looks up at the commander. "Roronoa is here!"

"Here?!" Eiji spins around at the words, his eyes wide. How did he-

"Captured, sir, by a Captain Tashigi. They are on the way to the base now, and should be-"

SLAP!

"Slow down while climbing the stairs you bastard pirate! Are you so eager to meet your doom?" a woman's voice echoes from the nearby stairwell, and Eiji turns to watch as a few seconds later, a tuft of green hair pops into vision, followed by the infamous swordsman himself. Right next to him, a woman with long black hair ascends the stairs while walking backwards, one hand on her hip and the other raised near Roronoa's face as if she had.. just.. slapped him?

Commander Eiji sweats nervously.

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Very nervously.

In the office behind, a shadow man stretches his neck, intrigued, excited. A loose end for his master and a notorious pirate? How very, very, exciting.