Author's Note: It's been a long time, but here it is! Chapter 9! Thank you to all of my followers and favoriters for your support! This story wouldn't be nearly as rewarding to write without you!

Chapter 9

Enter New Girl Marin! The Memory of Kuina's Inspiration!

Brook plays music during the Straw Hat's meal just like he always had since he joined the crew. He looks over and notices a new, feminine face at the table tonight. He strolls over with his violin in one hand and his bow tucked away to give the girl a proper greeting.

My heart is pounding out of my chest at such a beauty… that is… it would if I had one yohohoho… "My name is Brook," he introduces himself proudly.

"Ari," she replies.

"Well, then, Ari-san," he pauses. "Could you show me your panties?"

Ari is taken aback by his unexpected comment and takes a little longer than usual to come up with a decent reply. "Don't think so." I should have guessed… this guy is all bones after all.

XXX

After dinner, Ari stands up from her chair and leaves the dining hall. Robin, who is sitting next to her, offers to walk her back down to the foyer and Ari reluctantly accepts. After she slips on her sandals and opens the door, Robin interjects.

"The Empress probably wouldn't mind you staying here with us for tonight," Robin says. "She's grown quite fond of Luffy and thus it's not likely that she'll say no to a request from him." Footsteps approach the foyer from the hallway.

Ari steps away from the opened door a little and ponders this, wondering what her best option is. Right as she's about to decline, Luffy chimes in from the hallway.

"Oh, come onn!" Luffy walks up to the girls. "We're friends now, and Robin just told you that Hancock's fine with it."

Friends? I can't risk getting attached to any of them… but… I suppose… "Friends?"

"Uhuh, you got it. We're friends."

Zoro finally comes back toward the palace and steps up to the porch. "Just make up your mind already." He stands in the doorway with his right arm resting on his swords. A gust of wind breathes through the door causing his hair to lift slightly. His natural musk catches onto the wind, carrying his robust scent to Ari's nose. Her stomach does a little flip. She looks over to Zoro and a look passes over his face so quickly that she almost believed that she imagined it.

Does he want me to stay? "Alright then," she says, "I'll stay." She's surprised by her own sudden decisiveness.

"Alright! Hehehe." Luffy dances with joy.

"I believe that room number eight upstairs is unoccupied," Robin says. "Do you need any help finding it?"

"I can figure that out on my own, but thank you," Ari says and Robin nods in response. Zoro grins and steps inside, closing the door behind him. A maid walks past the group with a basket of cleaning supplies in hand and heads to the stairs.

"Hey, Luffy is there any food left or did you eat it all?" Zoro asks.

"Wait, was I not supposed to?" Luffy cocks his head and before Zoro can respond, the maid pipes up from the base of the stairs.

"Excuse me, but I heard that a maid noticed your absence and delivered a tray to your room for you," the maid explains. "I'm headed up to the guest quarters at the moment anyway, so I could escort you if you like."

"Well, in that case..." Zoro walks past Ari, accidentally catching the fresh orchard-like scent that tags along with her skin. Zoro continues walking, but the imprint of her fragrance remains ingrained in his memory. He follows the maid up the staircase and the click of her heels on the tile echo through the room.

After going down the long hallway in silence for some time, the maid speaks up, "Your room is just up ahead, sir." As they come closer, Zoro notices that his door has been left ajar.

Something isn't right. Zoro puts a hand on the hilt of one of his swords and uses his thumb to withdraw it slightly.

"I'm quite certain that no one would have been able break in; our security is top notch," she assures him. They both walk over to the door and the maid screams. Zoro instantly draws his sword. "OH! It's only you Marin! What exactly are you doing in here? You know you have no business lingering in the guests' rooms," the brunette addresses her confidently and gives her a stern look.

"Sorry, Tori."

The brunette cocks up a smile and her eyes blaze fire into the maid in front of her, as if daring her to defy her.

"I just wanted to make sure he got his dinner," Marin retorts and walks to the door. She bows in apology to Zoro.

Looks like the party's getting more interesting. That's the other chick who was following me in the halls today. Zoro sheaths his sword, but still keeps a hand on the hilt.

"I apologize for this, sir," Tori expresses and furrows her brow. "You see, she's new here."

"Marin Andakaba, sir," Marin says and comes out of his room.

"Zoro."

"Back to work we go."

"Aw, come on..."

Tori grabs her by the arm and takes her away to help her clean. Zoro checks the room to make sure that nothing is missing. Satisfied, he lays in his bed and is ready to sleep when he hears a knock on the door.

XXX

"You know what I'd like to know?" Nami demands. Ari and Robin exchange glances at each other. "I'd like to know why all the maids around here wear those creepy veils. It's reminds me of my almost-wedding with that zombie lion all over again." Nami shudders at the distasteful memory.

"It's very simple actually," Robin replies. "I did some reading up on the island's traditions and found that since the Empress of this island is said to be the most beautiful woman in history, the maids are required to wear the veils to cover up their own beauty so that the Empress is the only one whose face can be clearly seen in the palace. Also, it is said that the veils contain magical properties that protect the maids from the gorgon eyes on the Empress' back in case they were to ever accidentally see them."

"Sorry I asked," Nami replies bluntly.

"Anyway, I'm glad that you can stay, Ari," Robin says. "I have much more reading to do about the island's history so if you need anything, I'll be in my room for the night."

"Alright."

Robin starts up the stairs and leaves Nami, Ari, and Luffy in the grand foyer.

"So here's the deal," Nami says, "normally I would do this kind of thing with Zoro, but he's probably gonna sleep for the rest of the night. So how 'bout a drinking game?"

"Ooo sounds fun, can I join?"

Luffy's comment goes unrecognized and Ari politely declines, "Sorry, but I should be turning in too."

"Oh alright, I guess I should get to work on some new sea charts then."

"Goodnight," Ari calls to the group. She makes her way up the stairs and heads down the long hallway, searching for room number eight. She comes to a stop in one of the hallways and hears hushed voices around the corner. Pressing her body against the wall, she peers over and listens in. Robin? What's she doing talking with Zoro and why did she lie about where she was going? An object is carefully wrapped and held in Robin's hand. She lifts a corner of the wrapping and is about to show Zoro. All of a sudden, Ari feels a hand grab her shoulder and she whips a fist around to punch her perpetrator. The woman catches and grasps her fist firmly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't realize that it was a maid behind me," Ari apologizes and looks at the blue-haired maid.

"It's fine."

"Excuse me, miss, but do you need help finding your room?" another maid inquires nervously.

Ari nods, "Yeah, if you don't mind." The second maid looks over at the blue-haired one in scrutiny.

"Don't worry about it," the blue-haired maid says. "I can finish cleaning up the halls."

The brunette hesitates to pause her surveillance on the clumsy and careless maid before her.

"It's ok, I got it."

Reluctantly, the maid turns her back to Marin and agrees to lead Ari to her room. "This way to your room, miss." Ari finds herself looking back over her shoulder at Marin.

It doesn't look like she's doing much cleaning… it looks like she's just spying on Zoro. Geez could the women here be more obsessed with men or what? She arrives at her room and the maid hastily takes her leave to continue her surveillance.

XXX

Zoro opens his door and sees Robin on the other side of it.

"I was able to clean the flute last night."

Zoro steps out of his room and into the hallway. "And?" He notices that there's an enormous book in one hand and a delicately wrapped object in the other that is presumably the flute.

"You might be surprised at what I found."

Zoro hears something around the corner and looks past Robin's shoulder, trying to spot what it is. "We're being watched," he whispers under his breath to Robin.

"It might be smart to discuss this elsewhere then," Robin says. "This information could be dangerous." They both duck into his room and make sure that the door is shut before they continue. They both take a seat on his bed.

"So, the flute?"

She takes out the instrument from its wrappings and unfolds it before him. Upon first touching the light, its golden surface shines and its keys sparkle and glisten. The reddish color of the rose gold only adds to it's beauty.

"So, are we gonna sell it or something?"

"Nami would probably like it for that reason, yes," Robin replies, "however, this holds more historic value than you realize."

"Historic value, huh?"

"This isn't just a beautiful flute. Look here." Robin sets the flute on the bed and flips the feathery pages of the book until she lands on page 916.

"Yeah, so what? It's just a picture in a book."

"A picture of a flute that is famous enough to reach a secluded island." Her eyes search the page for the passage she read last night. "It says here that this was the flute of the Fluttering Swordswoman who died in the Florian Triangle in a battle with the marines."

"Isn't that the same swordswoman from the paper?"

"Yes."

"So that means… that somehow her flute ended up here."

"It could be possible that it may have washed up on the shore, since the Florian Triangle isn't far from here. That could be a possibility if a heavy flute such as this one is able to float."

"So what you're getting at is that someone brought it here."

"I found some logs of the island's history in the palace and after flipping through it a while, I found some very valuable information. According to the log, two new villagers came to this island around the same time that the swordswoman died."

"Two? So she brought a crew member with her?"

"That most certainly is a possibility," Robin explains. "However, the other person could have been someone else entirely. I continued reading and found that a marine battleship came to this island to force the Empress to carry out her orders around the same time."

"And you think that someone got lost and was left behind?"

"We don't know. I'll have to do some more digging on the matter," Robin replies. "I don't mean to pry, Zoro, but I have to ask: Why are you invested in the Fluttering Swordswoman being alive?"

"I have my reasons."

She gives him an odd look at first, but then replies, "That's fair enough. I'll let you know what I find."

"Thanks."

Robin carefully wraps the flute up again and takes it with her as she exits the room.

That swordswoman… the painting in the palace gym implies that the swordswoman who inspired Kuina is still alive. He stares at the wall and spaces out, remembering one of the few times that Kuina confided in him…

It is late into the evening, and Zoro is finally coming back inside the dojo to put back his bamboo swords. On his way to the equipment room, he passes by the classroom. The door is slid back a couple inches and he takes a peek inside. He spots Kuina on her knees in front of a painting, her legs tucked underneath her. The last remnants of sunlight peek through the windows, but the rest of the room is coated in shadows. Kuina is grasping her pant legs tightly and tears fall onto her clothes, forming little darkened puddles. The door slides shut and Kuina turns to find Zoro standing there, looking at her curiously. She wipes her eyes defiantly.

"What are you doing here, Zoro?"

"Why are you crying, Kuina?"

"It's nothing. Nothing."

Zoro eyes her in disbelief.

"Did you not hear me? I said it was nothing!" She stands and moves to walk past him, but he stops her with his arm.

"Listen to me! We may be rivals, but I still care if you're hurting!"

"Zoro…"

"So, just tell me what's wrong already." He sits down and looks up to her. She sits down next to him and tells him everything, from the very beginning.

"You see that painting up there?"

"Yeah."

"It's a painting that was done by a friend of mine," Kuina says. "I got a letter from her saying that she won't be coming back." She stares ahead blankly. "And I didn't even get to say goodbye to her. I never told her thank you either. I had too much pride I guess."

"You… had a reason to thank somebody?"

"Oh, come on! Is it really that farfetched?!" She smacks him. "The truth is, if it wasn't for her, I would have quit swordfighting a long time ago."

Zoro stands. "But you've always been a good fighter! Why would you ever want to give up on your dreams?! Your ambitions?!"

"You're wrong, Zoro," she says, "I haven't always been a good swordsman."

"Kuina you can't just say things like that! The Kuina I know has always been strong."

"I am, but I never knew it before Flutter came along. My dad… he's always doubted me just because I'm a girl! He told me that I could practice all I want, but he would never hand down the dojo to me! And that I could never be the greatest swordsman in the world!"

"You… you can't still possibly believe that, right?"

"Flutter… she… gave me the courage to go after my dreams… she said that I could be anything I wanted to be. I owe so much to her… and I never even got the chance to show her how much it meant!"

"Then you just have to find her again someday and tell her! So stop whining your mouth about it since you'll probably see her during your travels again anyway!"

Kuina looks over at him and smiles at his comforting words. I hope so.

Zoro's memories gently drift into dreams and he falls asleep.