CHAPTER 3

An Old Flute?

Zoro and the Hoard of Women!

"Alriiiggghttt!" Franky cheers. "Looks like we're close enough to drop anchor!"

"Aye, aye Franky!" Chopper salutes, moving over to the side of the Sunny and attempts to lift the iron anchor.

"Let a real man handle this one, Chopper mah boy!" Usopp points a thumb to his chest, and also attempts to lift the anchor. Zoro, a hand resting on his swords, walks over to them.

"Need some help?" he offers.

Usopp defiantly shakes his head. He tries to lift it again and his face strains from the effort. Usopp finally lifts it up a little, only to have his 'victory' ruined when it falls down again on his toe.

"Owwoowww OW OW OWW! GET this thing off of mmeeee!" he bawls.

Zoro takes hold of one side of the anchor with his right hand, and throws it over the side effortlessly. Chopper is left with his mouth gaping as the anchor flies off the ship and sinks down to the ocean floor.

Usopp relaxes and is relieved to be out from under that thing. He stands up and throws his hands up in defeat. "OK! I give up, there's no way any normal human being could lift that thing!"

"Usopp, I think you're forgetting that Zoro isn't normal," Sanji smirks.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Zoro states matter-of-factly.

A rowboat is dispensed from one of the ship's many docking bays, and Luffy swings down into it using an elastic arm.

"Heyy! You guys coming or not?" Luffy smiles up at his beloved friends. Everyone boards the cramped rowboat, ramming their elbows into each other's faces. Franky and Zoro double on the paddles, and move the rest of the way surprisingly fast. The boat thuds against the rocks at the shore and the surf foams at the edge of the sand. Franky secures a rope around one of the rocks to keep the little boat from drifting.

"That's some arm you got there, Zoro," Franky comments and ties another knot. "Seriously, you almost out paddled me."

"Thanks," Zoro grins. "I train hard to keep my strength up."

"Yeah?" Franky finishes his tying. "I think that's SUPER!" He moves into a dramatic pose, placing his forearms together to complete his blue star tattoo.

The group tours across the beach and heads for the forest straight ahead of them. Luffy leads the group with Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Robin, Chopper, Franky, Brook, and Usopp walking behind him in corresponding order. As they wander through the towering trees, everyone starts to question whether or not Luffy knows where he is going. Luffy scratches his head and looks to the left. Then he looks to the right.

"Okay, I have no idea where this village thing is," he confesses.

Nami stands in his way and gets in his face. "How do you not know where it is? You've been here before!"

"I wasn't here long," Luffy answers her. "And I was paw-pawed over here, remember?"

"That's right." Robin's foot gets temporarily stuck in the mud. She trudges out of it and moves closer toward Luffy and Nami. "You were launched here by Kuma."

Luffy nods and feet rustle ahead of them in the trees.

Zoro places a hand on one of his swords, ready to draw it. The rustling becomes louder by the second, closing in on Luffy's crew. Over the rustling comes a woman's voice. The crew spreads out in a circle formation and is prepared for anything that comes at them. Almost.

"LUUUFFFFYYYY!" A blonde-haired woman rushes through the last layer of trees and propels herself into Luffy's arms, causing him to fall on a metal object that digs into his back.

"Owww…"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Marguerite exclaims as she gets on her feet and extends a hand to help him up. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fiiiinnnnee…" Luffy gets up, rubs his back and searches for whatever it was that dug into his back. "What was that thing anyway?"

Robin kneels down and sees a sparkle amidst the mud.

"TREASURE?" Nami's eyes sparkle and shine with the thought of finally getting a chance to refill their treasure room.

"I don't believe so." Robin pulls out the shiny object and wipes some of the excess mud away. "It appears to be an instrument of some sort."

Nami's face drops in disappointment, and she falls to her knees in despair.

Brook trudges through the mud and Robin hands him the strange, mud-encased instrument.

"If it isn't treasure then I have no use for it," Nami remarks.

"It's a flute. They can be quite valuable depending on what they're made of," Brook replies. Nami brightens at this. "Nami-san, does this mean-"

"Don't even ask it," she rebuts.

"In that case," Robin says and retrieves the flute back from Brook. "Usopp, would you mind carrying this in your bag? It could tell me something about the history of the island."

"Just looks like a dirty old flute to me, but ok, whatever you say." Usopp places it in his knapsack.

Zoro's mind races back to the night before. A flute, huh? From what I remember, that swordswoman in the article played the flute as some sort of weapon. Just as he thinks he's onto something, Zoro loses his train of thought.

The women from the village come storming through the forest to greet them with promises of food, water, and, of course, booze. All the way back to the village, the girls wouldn't stop staring at the men of the crew.

"I've never seen a man before!" one young girl gabs excitedly.

"The only one I've seen is Luffy from about five years ago!" another one chats. Both girls walk close to Zoro and stare at him. "But these men don't stretch like he does for some reason." The second girl reaches over and pinches Zoro's cheeks in a futile attempt to stretch them.

"WOULD YOU GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME ALREADY?!" Zoro shouts angrily as he attempts to assert his personal space. The girls withdraw, but continue on with their blabbering and give him 'discreet' glances.

XXX

As soon as Luffy and his crew set foot into the village, they are swarmed with a horde of grabby hands and the scenery is scarcely seen above the jumble of ladies' limbs and lit up faces.

Sanji is pulled under, but opens his arms and accepts the maidens affection enthusiastically.

"Oh my!" one of them trumpets to the rest as she circles around Brook. "This one is different too!"

Brook is taken aback by the sudden attention and thinks to himself, Why is this woman circling me like a vulture about to dig into my flesh? Though I suppose I don't have any flesh to dig into yohohoho...

"Interesting, interesting," another jots down details on anything from appearance to personality on her handy notepad. "Not all men stretch. Some men have curly eyebrows. Some men are just bones."

"The saga of new discoveries," another one says.

In the background, a mass of women rush towards Zoro and topple him over. Their greedy hands grab at his face, feet, hair, anything really. One woman goes too far and places a hand up his thigh. Zoro's face flushes.

"GET OFF OF ME ALREADY!"

"And most men have a temper." scribble… scribble...

Zoro manages to sneak a hand through the sea of ladies on top of him, reaching his palm for the ground. He squirms out from under them and remains undetected at first. He breathes a sigh of relief.

"Hey, where'd he go?" a short, stocky blonde asks.

"LOOK! OVER THERE! COME ON LADIES, THE MAN'S GETTING AWAY!"

Zoro flees the scene as fast as his feet can carry him as his swords bump against his hip. His feet pound on the uneven ground of the forest, leaving the stampede behind him in the dust.

"Aw, man! He got away!" the girls whine in unison.

"THERE HE IS!" A girl points to her left.

"Damn it, how did I end up back here?!" Zoro dashes back into the forest, this time without emerging again.

"Well, girls, it looks like it's time to prepare for the feast tonight!" a giant brunette warrior asserts.

"Right!" They salute in unison.

"Alright! FOOD!" Luffy jollies over to the big group of girls and follows them to the center of the village. His crew, with the exception of Zoro, trails behind him.