It was his own groan that roused Zoro into consciousness, and it wasn't long until his eyes slowly cracked open. Darkness prevailed around them, that much was for certain, and he had to wait a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the extremely dim lighting. He could barely see the hole that loomed far, far overhead. It must have been a long way down, he was sure. They were fortunate that nothing massive had landed on them, pinning them in the process.

Something suddenly shifted underneath him, and a soft mumble reached his ears. "So…hungry…"

The swordsman rolled off to the side and sat up, only to discover that he'd landed on top of his own captain. Luffy stirred in response to the sudden lack of weight upon him, and his eyes shot open. "Meat!" he cried.

"Gone," came Zoro's flat response, his eyes traveling upward towards the hole they'd fallen from. "I don't see a trace of him from here."

The rubber man sat up, uninjured due to his amazing powers, and stared up in the same direction as Zoro. "This place is funny," he proclaimed.

"No kidding," said Zoro as he stood up. He lightly brushed himself off and gazed around himself. There was plenty of space all around them, he realized, and a chilly draft gently rustled his hair. "There's some ventilation here," he observed. "There must be an opening somewhere other than above us."

"Are we in a tunnel then?" inquired a now standing Luffy, his own eyes traveling along the rough, damp, stone walls.

"Or at least something like it, I guess," replied Zoro. Luffy beamed, his hands clapping together.

"Let's explore, Zoro!"

"All right," said the swordsman after a brief moment. "But we're finding a way out as soon as possible."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Luffy. "We can do that, too!"

And off they went, side by side, against the light breeze that swiftly ran through the gloomy passageway. Barely a word was exchanged between them, and an easy silence hung as Luffy's curious eyes cast themselves this way and that. They walked along for at least ten minutes before they came to an intersection of sorts, which introduced two new paths that ran on either side and into opposite directions. In light of this new discovery, Luffy looked right, then left, then forward, then right again, before announcing that he had no idea which way they should go.

"It'd be a lot easier if they had a sign, wouldn't it?" he added casually, scratching his head all the while.

"I say we just keep going the way we are," answered Zoro, not the least bit confounded by the two new pathways. "We'll get to an opening eventually this way, since there's a breeze."

"I'll bet there're more places like this," Luffy said excitedly, ignoring his fist mate. "I'll bet you there're a ton of tunnels all through the mountain!"

Indeed, to Zoro, it seemed his captain's last statement actually made a bit of sense. He wouldn't be all that surprised, either, if there was an entire network of tunnels running through out the place. Not paying it much heed, however, and certainly not delving into the question of what put those tunnels into place, he continued forward and his captain strolled beside him.

Several more minutes lazily drifted by before the two companions saw something bright -- an exit -- in the distance. Giving a sudden whoop of joy, Luffy suddenly broke into a gleeful run. "Hey!" growled Zoro. "Wait up!" He followed suit in order to keep the same pace.

Wasting no time and no momentum, the dark haired boy abruptly reached out and wrapped a long arm around his first mate. Ignoring the sudden protests that ensued, he immediately threw his arm back, taking in a deep breath. "Gomu gomu no…!"

"Luffy!" snapped Zoro. "What do you think you're doing?! Stop!"

But it was too late. Faster than the eye could see, his rubber-like arm suddenly flung out before them both, reaching farther and farther until he finally grasped onto something neither of them could see. Grinning at his friend mischievously, Luffy let out an exclamation of, "Rocket!" and he let his feet off from the ground in mid run.

Together, they shot off from the cliff and over the lush, green forest like a speeding bullet. A mighty yell of protest sounded, but it did absolutely no good. It was only a matter of seconds before they both slammed into the scratchy sand of the empty shore, skidding at least 20 meters before rolling to a halt.

Coughing up copious amounts of sand from his mouth, Zoro abruptly pulled out of Luffy's grasp and sat up. "Out of all the idiotic things--" he managed to sputter.

"What?" asked Luffy good naturedly, lying rather comfortably on the sand, not having swallowed any. "You wanted out of that mountain, didn't you?"

"I hate it when you do that, though!" By now, a lot of the sand was out of his mouth, but it still didn't make it any more pleasant.

Luffy grinned suddenly as he sat up. "I know." A sudden twinkle appeared in his eyes, which clearly stated to Zoro: That's what makes it fun.

Growling, the swordsman stood up and brushed himself off. "I know you know," he finally grunted, but he didn't seem nearly as angry as he did just a few moments ago.

"I know you know I know," Luffy shot back playfully, his feet clapping together. Before Zoro could retort, however, his captain's stomach suddenly gave a low, loud growl. "Ayah," he said, patting his tummy and forgetting the conversation at hand, "I'm hungry, Zoro. Why didn't you kill that blue monster when you had the chance?"

"You know why," he merely answered, his arms folding over his chest.

"But I'm still hungry," Luffy persisted.

"The only thing for us to eat is that monster up there," said Zoro simply, gesturing lightly at the mountain that loomed over the forest.

"All right then," announced Luffy. "I'll get the monster for us to eat!" He resolutely tried to stand up, but only succeeded in falling over, deflated and without energy. "…ahh," he managed after a moment. "I'm so hungry…"

Zoro simply sighed, sitting down beside Luffy once more. He wasn't in any hurry to go to the mountain again, either, although he had entirely different reasons. For one, a lack of food didn't bother him as much as it did Luffy. He knew he could on for weeks without food if he needed to, whereas Luffy seemed to be able to go only a few hours before declaring that he was hungry. It was one of his captain's pleasant quirks, really, and after seeing how much he could eat in one sitting, Zoro supposed it wasn't surprising that he got hungry so often anyway.

As for his second reason, well, he didn't like the prospect of being flung from the mountain again and eating sand to boot. No, he had no problem in waiting a little bit before going to get their meal.

He watched as Luffy idly intertwined his own fingers together and stretched them, looking exhaustedly bored. "You know," he said after a moment, "I like using my fingers like this to make a net."

"It'd be great for catching fish," prompted Zoro casually, his eyes wandering over to the softly roaring sea.

"Yeah, I guess it would," responded his companion. "All I'd have to do is sit there and wait for some fishies to swim into my net."

"I could start a fire to cook them," offered the green haired man, a soft grin on his face.

"Yeah! We could have a meal by night time," said Luffy, a similar grin taking over his own features.

"It's almost sunset. I heard fish feed around that time."

"I heard that once, too."

There was a brief pause, consisting of an easy going silence.

"You know," spoke Luffy as he slowly hauled himself up onto his feet, "I'm gonna go catch some fish!"

"You go do that."

"I will! I'll bring back good fish, too!"

"Right."

And with that, the rubber man languidly departed a small distance down the shore to find a suitable place for fishing with his interesting little net.

***

Night settled in around the Going Merry like it usually did, and an odd sort of silence prevailed around her deck. While many of the crew members usually slept around this time, such was not the case this night. Being without two people had its drawbacks, and that included being shorthanded. Everyone aboard had to pull their own weight, plus the extra that was left unattended to.

Usopp, who was still standing near the helm, yawned a bit with a mixture of fatigue and boredom. The good thing about the helm on the Going Merry was that it could stay in place, so you wouldn't have to press it into the same direction for hours on end. The bad thing was that, in light of its previous damage, it occasionally slipped out of place and drove the ship off course. He knew he would have to check into that in the morning or afternoon, depending on if he was still awake by that time.

Tony Tony Chopper sat at the kitchen table, not too far away from the long nosed fellow. His furry little head was tilted forward, and a soft snore emitted from him. Usopp grinned lightly at the reindeer, glad that at least someone was getting some sleep. Nami was keeping look out in the crow's nest, which meant that Sanji was more than likely fretting over her, trying to convince her to go to bed.

Just then, the kitchen door opened, and Sanji suddenly strode into the room while taking a drag from his smoldering cigarette. Chopper startled awake, and the blond chef casually said, "Coffee, anyone?"

"Nah," replied Usopp, shifting the helm back into place again. "I'm fine. Thanks anyway."

"Ahh, but Nami-san insisted that I do something other than look after her in the crow's nest." The chef's eyes became aglow, and he smiled brightly. "Nami-san is so attractively independent!"

"Well, if you're that eager to do something," said Usopp, grinning lightly, "you could always take over the helm for me."

"I'd rather make coffee," stated Sanji bluntly.

"Or you could help me find my eegyak," added Usopp as an after thought. "It's still missing, you know." Sanji decided not to respond to this, as he made his way over to the kitchen counter to prepare some coffee, at least for himself.

"I could help you find your eegyak," spoke Chopper helpfully, albeit a bit sleepily. Usopp chuckled under his breath.

"There's no reason for you to, Chopper."

"Then do you want me to help with the helm?" he inquired, a tad nervous at being placed with such a large responsibility as steering the ship.

"Working a helm is nothing for me!" exclaimed Usopp happily. "I've manned an entire ship by myself before! No one can man a ship better than I, the great Captain Usopp!"

The doctor smiled suddenly. "Really?"

Usopp nodded, giving off the appearance of someone skilled and wise. "Really."

"I thought just a minute ago you were asking me to take over for you," spoke Sanji from the other side of the room.

"I did?" replied Usopp delicately, a serious expression on his face.

A brief pause. "Fine, whatever." The smoking cook went back to making his coffee.

"Say," asked Chopper, looking back and forth from Usopp to Sanji, "how long do you think it'll take for us to find Zoro and Luffy?"

"I don't know," replied Sanji casually. "That's hard to say."

"As fast as we can," said Usopp firmly. "Definitely." Chopper shifted a little uneasily in his seat.

"I feel bad," he confessed after a moment of silence. "I believe you when you say we'll find them, but I still feel bad that it happened."

Sanji and Usopp gave each other momentary glances before Sanji asked, "Do you blame yourself?"

"Wouldn't you?" said Chopper. "I mean, if I'd have hurried, maybe I could've given them the rope sooner, and they'd be here instead of…" a pause. "Out there." Wherever that was.

"No," Sanji answered after a moment. "No, I wouldn't feel bad at all." Chopper seemed taken aback by this statement.

"Why not?" he asked, incredulous.

"Because, if you try your best, everything will turn out for itself," was Sanji's relaxed reply.

"But what if your best isn't good enough?" spoke Chopper once more, turning completely to Sanji's back.

The chef paused a moment at the question, and he stopped grinding the coffee beans as if a memory had suddenly snagged at his mind like a sharp hook into the flesh of a fish. As a child toiling in the kitchen, he had been quite acquainted with his best not being good enough. After an odd silence that lingered for a few seconds, he turned to Chopper suddenly and smiled at him.

"Your best will just get better as time goes by."

"That's right!" came Usopp, reassuringly. Chopper jumped at the sudden exclamation, and his head snapped over to the curly haired man. "Besides, look at it this way," he continued. "Were you the one who caused the storm?"

Chopper blinked at such a silly question. "Of course not."

"Did you push Luffy into the water?"

This time, the doctor was almost offended by this query. "No!"

"Did you tell Zoro to jump into the water?"

Chopper gave an abrupt scowl. "Absolutely not! Stop asking stupid questions!"

"Well, then," said Usopp confidently with a grin, not at all abashed by the reindeer's outburst. "I guess that means none of this is your fault."

This seemed to take the youngest member of the crew by surprise, and he gave a sudden blink of understanding. Smiling with a sort of relief, he gave a laugh. "I guess so."

A long, comfortable silence lingered in the kitchen, save for Sanji's quiet bustling as he finished up with his coffee making. However, Usopp quietly leaned towards Chopper and whispered with a sheepish grin, "Wanna take the helm from me?"

"I thought you said it was no problem!" exclaimed Chopper, somewhat confused by the question.

"Er," Usopp scratched his head, giving a feeble laugh, "did I?"

Sanji merely snorted from his side of the kitchen.

Outside, Nami adjusted the blanket around her shoulders as she leaned slightly forward to peer into the vast ocean. Careful not to let the cover slip and expose her to the cold, she withdrew her binoculars and gazed out into the glittering horizon. It was easier to see in the day time, but with the moon's constant beam tonight, she was able to see better than she'd hoped.

Normally, she would've retired to bed long ago. However, the closer they got to where they'd been before being blown off course, the longer she wanted to linger in the crow's nest. It was difficult for the orange haired girl to pinpoint exactly why this was, which frustrated her to a certain degree. Was it because she was concerned that another storm would hit unexpectedly, like before? Maybe a little. Was she expecting to find Luffy and Zoro somewhere near here? Partially.

But she also knew for sure that every time she tried to leave the crow's nest, the same words would rush into her mind.

"I saw something when I was in the crow's nest! I think it was an island -- isn't that cool?"

When Luffy had first informed the skilled navigator of this the day before, she had deemed the statement untrue. Not only did she not expect to reach land so soon, but it wouldn't have been the first time her captain ran away with his own imagination and simply thought he saw one thing, when it was really another.

But now, she was a little bit more willing to go by Usopp's latest motto -- "Well, we have seen stranger things, right?" Really, reaching an island several days early didn't sound that outlandish, now that she was able to sit down and think about it.

Whether it was because she thought Luffy could be right, or that she wanted to find some sort of glimmer of hope in the prospect of finding her lost comrades, she wasn't sure. But she did know that she wanted to see the validity of Luffy's island, even if she had to stay in the crow's nest all night.

"Someone needs to be up here at all times anyway," she spoke to herself. "We can't risk missing Zoro and Luffy at all." What was left of the crew would just have to take shifts, and she knew they could do that just fine.

Sighing to herself, she lowered the binoculars for a few moments and gave her eyes a chance to rest a little. The young navigator couldn't help but wonder what the captain and the swordsman were up to right at that particular moment.

Where are they?

***

As it turned out, the two were just finishing their first meal in over 24 hours. It was a grand feast consisting of two fish and a crab, which was just enough to make Luffy even hungrier.

"I sat out there for hours," he declared while playing with his own fish bones and staring into the crackling fire that sat before them both. "But I only caught that much!"

"Guess you're just not an expert fisherman," said Zoro, who about to start on his own, burnt fish, tearing off a piece of it with his own fingers. "But it's a lot better than what you've caught before."

Luffy muttered a vague, "Yeah," but his dark eyes had fastened themselves onto Zoro's fish.

Noticing this, the swordsman looked up at his captain. "Don't even think about it," he said shortly. "You've all ready had a fish and half a crab. This is mine." Prior to eating, they both agreed to split the crab between them, and they boiled it using the kettle Zoro had found in the pile of junk in the cave that morning. Luffy might have forgotten, but the green haired man intended to eat his fish.

To make his point clear, the green haired man popped the piece he'd torn off into his mouth. Luffy's salivated as he watched him like a hungry dog that lingered beside a table, hoping for scraps. Upon chewing it, Zoro grimaced a tad at the strange texture, but he silently acknowledged that it was edible. Just as silently, he admitted to himself that fish roasted over a simple fire wasn't quite up to par with Sanji's lavish meals. Even so, he swallowed it and tore himself another piece, careful not to get any bones.

Luffy instinctively moved closer to the swordsman, eager for food, but Zoro moved way just as swiftly. As he was about to place the second piece into his mouth, the dark haired boy suddenly exclaimed, "I'm hungry! Can't you share?"

"Will you just leave me alone?" growled Zoro, still holding the warm fish in his hand.

"No!" proclaimed the rubber man, his eyebrows furrowing in determination.

"How many times do I have to tell you--" But he stopped suddenly as he turned to face him. He recognized that look of resolve, and he knew it would take a long time for Luffy to quit badgering him about it. Even in the moon light, he could still see traces of that desperate hunger in his eyes -- even amidst all the will power that was in the rest of his face.

An irked sigh left the older fellow, and he grudgingly extended what was left of the cooked fish to him. "Fine, fine, just take it all ready!" Immediately, his friend's eyes lit up.

"Really?" he asked, a tone of glee in his voice.

"Yes! Just take it before I change my mind!"

Luffy wasted no time in snatching the food away from his first mate. "Thank you!" he exclaimed through mouthfuls of fish. "Thank you! You're the greatest guy ever, Zoro!"

After watching him for a moment with the tiniest of grins, Zoro remembered to grumble and laid down onto his side, turning his back to Luffy. "Yeah, fine. Just don't go thinking I'll give you my food every time we eat a meal, okay?"

All ready finished with picking the fish's bones clean, his captain beamed at him. "Okay!" Silence fell after that, and it wasn't long until Luffy's dark eyes idly wandered from the discarded skeletons to the softly crackling flames that danced before them. It hovered over dried coconut husks and pieces of wood, and it cast a significant amount of light across the dark shore of the island. He could barely make out his and Zoro's shadows, as well as the shadow of the kettle that rested beside them.

The soft glow of the fire, as well as the gentle roar of the ocean, soon began to draw Luffy's eyelids to a partial close. He yawned, stretching pleasantly, and began to settle himself onto the sand.

"Oi," came Zoro's voice. "If you're going to go to sleep, put out the fire."

"Right, right," said Luffy sleepily. He stood up and immediately kicked sand onto the fire, weakening it tremendously until a gust of wind killed what was left of it. He stamped on the ashes for good measure before plopping himself onto the sand beside Zoro.

A draft made itself be known as it skidded past the two pirates in a less than gentle fashion. It took a few moments for Luffy to notice, but his arms wrapped around himself as soon as he did. "I wish Chopper were here," he announced to no one in particular while rubbing his arms.

"Chopper?" inquired Zoro lazily. "Why?"

"He's furry," answered Luffy with a grin, "so he keeps you warm."

"Well, he's not here," said the unconcerned swordsman. "You'll just have to be a little cold."

There was a brief moment of silence until Luffy slowly turned to his friend with a mischievous smile. "But you're here."

Zoro didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Luffy, why are you looking at me like that?' Silence. "Luffy? Luffy, I will leave if you get any closer." More silence. "Luffy, let go of me! I'm not a furry deer!"

A laugh. "But you're warmer than nothing!"

"Aghh…"

It was going to be a long, long night.

-end chapter 5-