Chapter 2

Zoro yawned widely- which caused droplets of spittle to fly- as he idly listened to Kuina as she yapped on about something he did wrong.

He really wanted to sock her in the guts just to make her stop talking already. Her nagging was making his sake taste bad- and that was a terrible shame; he could smell the excellent quality off the mouth of the gourd. Not being able to fully enjoy it was utterly regrettable.

He stuck his little finger into his left ear in an attempt to reduce the noise Kuina was making. It didn't work one damn bit. The woman was still mouthing off at him as if she hadn't been talking nonstop for the past eighteen minutes- he had counted.

He took another swig from his gourd, choosing to ignore the plate of assorted grilled beef and sighed. So he had taken a little detour and deviated from their original route until she had to come back for him three hours later which resulted in their completely missing the local sword fighting contest being held on the island. It wasn't a big deal, she should be able to deal with it.

Zoro could not understand why she- who was almost certainly stronger than him- still felt it necessary to compete with all these lesser men. Did she take joy in feeling like an adult who was beating a baby? That must be the case. Why else would she get so worked up over not being able to compete against fresh dojo graduates?

Tsk. She really was competitive.

If she wanted a real match, she should've come along when he went on his journey to challenge Mihawk. He was beyond certain that the current world's strongest swordsman would have satisfied her competitive spirit, crushed it even. She would have brought the greatest of her skill to bear, the entirety of her abilities, all her strength and will and power. And she would have still been crushed- just like he had been- left kneeling beneath the shadow of the greatest, staring up and up and up at the mountain looming over her, and left wondering what it would take to reach that level. If she would ever reach that level. Whether she wouldn't die before she could reach the peak. It would have given her that push she needed to once again chase after her dream- their dream. To sharpen her sword once again and overcome the stilling contentment of being just the strongest female swordsman in East Blue. He was sure of it.

He rubbed over the stiches of his scar, his fingers tracing between the neat and even distances between each stich as he pondered. At least that was what had happened to him when he faced him.

A yank at the piercings on his left ear brought him out of his musings with a yelp. He turned to see Kuina with her fingers still pulling at his cartilaginous appendage. He glowered at her and she lightly bit her lower lip- an unconscious mannerism that showed she was hovering between being worried and being nervous- before asking. "You're thinking about him again, aren't you?"

Zoro sighed before lifting his hand to pull her hand off his ear.

"If you've faced him, even once, I'm sure you would too." He answered before taking another swig of his sake. As she had momentarily stopped nagging him, he took his time to savor the taste of his alcohol- it was wonderful. He glanced at her as he drank and his eyes narrowed at her solemn expression.

Sighing, he put down his gourd and turned to look her in the eye. He raised his hand to cup the back of her head before pulling, bringing her face closer to his. Surprise flashed in her eyes at the gesture and she reflexively tried pulling away. Zoro felt her strain for a moment in his hand as she tried to get away before she relaxed, a slight sigh escaping her lips. He smirked slightly at her reaction before bringing his face even closer to hers and pressing their foreheads together.

This close, her scent of dried bamboo, lacquer, and sword polish filled his nose and reminded him strongly of the dojo (he didn't say so out loud though- she would resent him for doing so).

He closed his eyes, "I'm sorry… for everything," and apologized.

He heard her take in a shaky breath before nodding against his head, her hand also cupping the back of his head.

"I'm sorry too." She said.

He opened his eyes and looked into hers which were also staring back at him. He would never get tired of staring at them- into them. Their color was just that captivating: a blueish-gray that resembled the color of the sea when it was reflecting storm clouds. Stormy eyes, he thought as he drew his head away from her and laughed.

"You're forgiven," he said, chuckling at her even as she gasped in exasperation and annoyance at him. He pulled at her puffed cheeks- something he would never have dared to do once upon a time- and laughed harder when she jabbed him, rather viciously, in the ribs, then he let go of her cheek.

A lazy smile plastered itself on his face and he continued to gulp down the contents of his gourd. The environment of the bar/restaurant invigorated him as such places tended to. The smell of food and booze cloying the warm air; the vague chattering and hollering of people discussing and ordering around him; the old flickering yellow light bulbs and their eternal dance partners- the moths; and the loud answering and rushing about of waiters as they took orders and delivered meals (though in this case, waiters were replaced with a single pre-teen girl with bandages over her right eye- how she was keeping up with all the busyness, Zoro might never know) always filled him with a certain sense of satisfaction that was second only to things related to the sword.

He swallowed the last mouthful and slammed the empty container down on the table and was about to call for more when his eyes caught two figures lurking amateurishly in the shadows just outside the establishment. His smile fell immediately and his eye began to twitch in annoyance even as he clenched his fists. Those two… again. What was wrong with them?

He took in a breath to calm his self and to prevent himself from doing something he might later come to regret. He glanced to his side at Kuina. She was reading one of her books (Make Up Tactics? what the hell was that?)while sipping from a glass of beer. She hadn't noticed them yet. Good.

He cleared his throat to get her attention and she looked up from the pages to stare at him.

"Gonna go take a leak. Be right back." He said, hoping she wouldn't get up to lead him to the restroom.

She tilted her in contemplation before responding.

"Don't get lost. Seriously. I won't come looking for you." Then she went back to reading her book, promptly ignoring him.

He sighed inaudibly, pushed his seat back, got up and gave an absent nod before picking up his two katanas: Nidai Kitetsu and Yubashiri and walking out of the entrance. Those two had bolted the moment they saw him looking at them. Smart. They wouldn't escape so easily though. He took in a deep breath as he tried to catch their scent. A moment later, his nose picked it up: a whiff of pronounced anxiety and nervousness, and he grinned taking off after the dissipating scent, winding through the crowd and turning countless turns. Damn getting lost. He was going to totally beat any and all ideas out of their heads tonight, and then he would make them bring him back to the bar and have them pay for the rest of the sake he would have that night.

An evil grin flashed across his tanned face at the thought of having an all-night drink fest off those two.

OPX

Robin hummed an old tune from an ancient North Blue festive song (she had forgotten-and that was rare- the actual lyrics of the song and she only remembered that it had a verse about chopping off little babies' toes) as she walked down the dark corridors of the hideout. It was night and the hallway was pitch-black. She had tried turning on the lights earlier but apparently, it seemed like somebody or bodies had broken all the bulbs- either as a prank or a scuffle had broken out (both tended to happen a lot.) Either way, it was a result of excess energy and unhealthy doses of stupidity, she thought to herself as she had started walking. She hoped she didn't stub her foot in a crack in the floor, fall, break her neck, and die, only to be found the next day in such a pathetic position; herself in the afterlife would be so embarrassed.

She shook her head slightly to get rid of the thoughts that clouded her mind. Others were creeped out by her 'dark' thoughts and she was sure they would have taken a step away from her if she had been walking with them and voicing out her fantasies. Well most of them would. The brothers, Koala, Hack and Dragon had grown used to her deviating thought patterns. Especially Luffy; he was practically immune to everything she said- even the ones she herself viewed as gruesome.

She came to a sudden halt and stared at the wooden door in front of her. It led outside to the world. She pushed the door open and walked out onto a projected veranda. She was at the highest story of the hideout and from this veranda, she could see the coast.

In front of the railings, a tall man in a green cloak stood. The night's breeze blew at him and his cloak made flapping sounds. His neck-length jet black hair, combed backwards was long enough for the ends to hide behind the dropped hood of his cloak.

The silver light of the full moon broke through a thick veil of clouds and shone on the veranda giving it a mystical glowing sheen.

Robin took the scene before her in before walking to go stand beside the man. He stood there looking into the distance as if he had not noticed her presence. She didn't say anything either, they both just stood there, gazing into the night and letting the gentle breeze caress them.

In the silence, beside him, she could feel the heavy weight of pressure emanating off him and pressing against his surroundings- her included. It wasn't an oppressive, stifling sensation though. It was more the feeling you would get when sitting next to a friendly giant- secure and safe (and she should know that feeling, after all, she was one of the few people in the world who could claim they had met a giant).

Robin was sure that even he himself did not know the kind of feeling he gave her. It was his natural disposition, at least in her eyes. The rest all said he gave off different feelings from what she felt. She took in a deep silent breath to fill herself with his scent- it always made her feel calm, and the ticklish sensation it spread through her nostrils left her feeling warm inside, like she had coated her insides with a fuzzy blanket.

Not for the first time, she wondered if hugging him would amplify that wonderful sensation. She had only ever hugged him once; when she was 15 and she couldn't fully enjoy the feeling because she had been bawling her eyes out.

She took a tight grasp on her running thoughts as she sought to calm herself. He had called her out here for a reason- most likely a mission. She wanted to hear it in a serene state of mind. And so, like that, they stood there throughout the night. When the first rays of red sunlight peeked out from over the horizon, he stirred. The movement caught her attention immediately- he had been motionless for the past four hours.

He turned to look at her and the red crisscross tattoo on the left side of his face glowed like blood on his copper skin in the early morning rays.

"Robin," he said, his baritone voice stable.

"Dragon-san," she responded.

"Get Luffy. You're going to Alabasta."

"Aye."

Then she turned and left. That one sentence had explained her entire mission to her. It was time to return to being Miss All-Sunday. And this time, Luffy was coming with.

She chuckled as she wondered how his reaction to a desert country would be.

OPX

Nami knew from the moment her eyes fluttered open, that she was not in her clothes. The soft cotton shirt that felt like it barely reached her mid-thigh didn't have the feel and smell of sweat, blood and salt that her original outfit was supposed to have.

She tilted her head as she looked around at her surroundings. She was in a wooden room- a ship cabin to be exact- she could tell from the log book, maps, and drawing materials on the table to her far right. The air smelled of sawdust and polish with little to no personal scent lingering in it. The ship was new.

She closed her eyes as a sudden headache bloomed behind her eyes, piercing through her brain all the way to her scalp. It felt like her skull was being cracked open like a nut; it didn't feel good.

She raised her hand and placed it on her head. That was when she noticed the bandages. The soft, slightly rough, papery texture of white material wrapped around her palms confused her for a moment before she recalled the injury it had sustained some days ago- it had been a knife cut, the blade stabbing deep enough to pierce out through the back of her hand. She sighed softly as she sat up and lifted the thin blanket that covered her off her body.

As expected, her right thigh was wrapped tightly in thick bandages, a splint holding the broken limb together. She slowly reached out her fingers to touch the damaged limb. Even through such thick bandages, she felt a sharp prick of pain the moment her digit came into contact with her thigh. The sensitivity of her damaged leg surprised her. She sighed again. This was going to put a hamper on her plans; she couldn't go robbing treasures with a broken leg now, could she?

Wait a moment. Treasure? Treasure… Treasure!

Crap! It just hit her that she just gave out her treasure to some passerby just to save her life. Why did she take the initiative to do such a stupid thing? A normal ship would have helped her- treasure or not. And a pirate would have left her to rot after acquiring her treasure. And since she was alive, it was obvious she hadn't been found by pirates, which meant they would have saved her anyhow. Now, she had just given away a part of her riches to some person in exchange for what? Dressing up her wounds and probably feeding her.

She looked around the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of the black wood of her treasure chest hidden away somewhere. She was quickly disappointed though. Whoever had gotten his hands on her treasure had hidden it- well enough to hide from her well trained, treasure seeking eye.

She sighed again for the third time since she had woken up two minutes ago. This was turning out to look pretty dreary.

She turned to the bed stand on her left; on it was her assemble-able bo-staff. It had been cleaned of blood thoroughly and there was a new lock on the second part where the old one had been broken (at least, they weren't trying to unarm her). She picked up the three parts of her weapon and within the blink of an eye, had assembled the entire contraption. She swung it lightly. It felt a little heavier than usual. Probably the post effects of her lengthened weakened state. That and the new lock.

Placing the butt of the staff on the left side of the bed, she used it as a post to carefully and gently shift herself till she was sitting on the edge of the bed, her feet firmly planted onto the wooden floorboards.

Taking a deep breath, she grasped her staff with both hands before pulling herself up, making sure to put all of her weight onto her left leg. She made it about halfway up before she felt herself falling back down into the bed. The pain followed closely after.

The sharp stinging sensation that pricked her entire body from head to toe, accompanied by the heavy pounding in her head and heart, dull aches in some joints and fiery ones in her marrows served to numb her entire system, causing her to fall into a temporary paralytic state.

She wanted to cry, but she bit her tongue. If she made any unnecessary noise and attracted the attention of the people on board, she wouldn't get any other chance to sneak around and look for her treasure.

After a few moments had passed and she felt like most of the shock-like state had worn off her body, she slowly sat up once again and tried getting up. The result was the same as before but she was not giving up. Pain be damned; she was going to find her treasure whether her body liked it or not.

After six more tries, she finally made herself stand. She took a few moments to savor her victory against pain, stress and vertigo, before slowly but surely making her way to the door.

A/N: Aaand here's a new chappy! Sorry for the delay. I know I said I'd try updating every Friday, but my laptop died. (I still haven't fixed as of now. I'm currently using a friend's to post this). But I'll still try to get a new chapter out every Friday like I promised (?)

My apologies for the shorter and not action packed chapter. I'm still trying to set a pace. Also, I personally didn't like this chapter, and although I slipped successfully slipped some important info into the story, it just didn't flow well in writing (at least compared to what I had in mind).

Anyhow, please leave a review if you have any comments and follow and favorite if you've enjoyed the story so far.

And as always, constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Vine.