Treasure Hunters

Author Notes: Happy Children's Day, and happy birthday Luffy!

Unfortunately, I cannot give Luffy a present, so I will give one to you, my faithful readers: an early update!

It's not the best present ever, but it's the best I can do.

This chapter is comprised of several separate scenes, and as such, I could not pick a chapter name. So, there are three titles. Sorry. The listed chapter title… is the best I could decide on.

Please to enjoy!

Disclaimer: Watakushi, Ezra no Aoi wa jika no kotonashi. (I, Ezra the Blue, own nothing. I also apologize for the obscure Excel Saga reference and my nonexistent understanding of Japanese grammar.)

Chapter 12: A Snowball's Chance/Have Mercy On Her!/Did You See Them?

Gilly used a stick to trace her SOS into the sand, as big as she could think to make it. She drew the Straw Hat Jolly Roger in the middle of the "O." It was a pretty small island, but it had lots of shade and protection from the sun, a little fresh water spring, and lots of fruit trees. She thought she could live there for a while, but she was very lonely. She did not like being lonely. Even if it wasn't dark, it seemed very eerie with no other people around. There were a few colorful birds that would land to pick and eat the fruit, but they were not good conversation and they did not give good hugs. They did not, in fact, give hugs at all. As she sat on the shoreline, hoping someone would see her Ess-Oh-Ess, she decided that this bee-ee-ay-see-aech was absolutely no eff-yew-en.

Then, she saw the boat. She jumped to her feet and waved and screamed. "Help me! Help me! I'm here!" She jumped up and down, and finally squealed with joy when she saw they were coming towards her. The boat landed on the sand, and two men approached.

"This her?" One looked at the other. He held out a photograph, the same one Mihawk had taken of her.

"Yeah, that's her, gotta be her. How many kids have green hair like that? Cute little girl," the other remarked with a smile, and then looked directly at Gilly. "Hey, kiddo! Come on over here! We're going for a ride! We're taking you back to your dad!"

"Daddy!" She gasped. "You know my Daddy?"

"We know who he is," one of them said. "And we're going to get you back to him!"

"Yay!" Gilly jumped to pounce on one of the two pirates, and he caught her in the air as she hugged onto him. He laughed and carried her to the boat.

Gilly had not yet learned that it was unsafe to go places with strangers, even if they do tell you they will take you to your daddy. She was very fortunate that the men she had encountered did, in fact, intend to take her to her father. They sat her down and gave her a coloring book and a little box of crayons, and one man hoisted the anchor.

"Away we go!"

From the Internal Monologue of the Brave Man of the Ocean, Sogeking

It was practically overnight! I didn't expect it to be so sudden. One day, she was Nami, the navigator, the fiercely independent, the clever one who could turn any man to her will like she had thumbscrews on them. The next, she was Sanji's wife, and she was going to be the mother of his child, and she was afraid. Now, it's only been a few days, and it's obvious that she's going to be the mother of his child, and damn soon. Where the hell did that come from? She looks, God, like Luffy after lunch! I admit, I've never paid attention to Nami's waistline. (I always looked a little higher.) Now, I can't keep my eyes off of it.

Her clothes aren't fitting as well, and she's sick a whole lot. She used to be able to hide from us when she was throwing up everywhere, but where can she hide now? Even worse, she cries a lot, and it breaks my heart. She doesn't want to do anything. I can't really do anything for her except beg her not to cry, to try and tell her jokes. I might as well be talking to a stone. So, I've taken matters into my own hands.

This island doesn't have much by way of nourishment, but I managed to find some fruit trees and fresh-water spring, and I'm always sure that even if I don't, Nami gets to eat. I've been building a raft out of the wood that's washed up and vines I tore out of the forest. I fashioned an oar, too. I did some scouting, and saw another, larger island a few miles away. I decided that we have to keep moving so we might be able to find people and get help. There are no people here. Maybe there are people there. But there are definitely none here. Nami can't be moved to go, though.

That's when it started. I had to do it. I told her Sanji was there, I had seen him! I swore I had seen him, that he was looking for her, and she rushed to the raft.

It took a few days of rowing, especially with the current as rough as it was, but I managed to get us to the next island. It, too, was uninhabited. There was also no Sanji. Nami cried, she tried to hit me, she yelled at me for lying, but I swore to her that he must have gone ahead looking for her. He was desperate to find her, I said, I could even hear him calling her name at night. "Nami-swan! Nami-swan!" It kept me up all night. Not the shouting, the lying. I hate lying to her.

We walked across this island, resting often because her weight slows her down. I'm hoping we see another island, and another, and another, and we find a place with people and we can wait there safely for our crew. Nami needs that. She's just so sad all the time. I may not hear Sanji's voice, but I hear his name, because she cries;

"God, Sanji, I hate you, I can't believe you…"

Please stop saying that, Nami, I know you love him. It's why you keep moving. You can't lie to me.

I can see the next island in my binoculars. It's been more than two weeks since we were split from the others. It's further away, and it's going to be tough to get there. But all I want is to find some way to get us back to the crew. If we can keep going, that's all I need. I just want Nami to be happy again, because it breaks my heart to see how sad she is all the time. Nami, oh, Nami, she doesn't want to move, all she wants to do is stare at the ocean and cry. I have to keep lying to her, because I love her like a sister and I hate every second of this.

"Nami, Sanji's there. I'm telling you, he has to be there."

"Live for the living" was Luffy's new motto. He had spent three weeks rowing between islands on the tiny raft he'd landed on, paddling with his hands, yelling the names of his crew members until his lungs hurt. He didn't like being all alone. When he finally exhausted, which happened sooner and sooner each day, he would either lay flat on the raft with his head down so he didn't have to see the sun, and eventually drift to some shore on the current. If he had strength, he would try to dig for sand crabs, but he always failed. If there were any plants, he would eat them, if only because he was too oblivious to actually get sick from them if they weren't good for him. All he wanted was his crew and a plate of shiitake. Even the ever-slowing thrashing of his son wasn't enough to distract him from his mission. He hadn't even spoken to his child, blocking out his insistent cries in his mind, only shouting back:

"Live for the living!"

A lesser man would have died of dehydration a week ago. Luffy didn't have the courtesy to succumb. However, after three weeks of no decent food and very little water, he felt physically dry, and his blood felt sluggish. He managed to drag himself ashore to another unfamiliar shore and collapsed in the shade of a palm tree. He tried to remind himself that he had to survive, and he wanted to survive so badly, and his stupid body wasn't going to stop him. He did feel terrible. His skin felt stiff, dry, and a little less elastic than usual (which was nearly impossible for him!), his tongue was dry, and his abdomen was taut like a drum. Even though he hadn't eaten, his middle somehow looked bigger, the bulge more prominent on his withering from, and he tried to use its shadow to keep the sun from his eyes. Somehow, it felt more disconnected from him all the time, like an orb of flesh that he just happened to be following.

Hand over hand, he crab-walked himself up the beach, further into the shade, and heard a familiar sound- running water. He looked behind him and saw, in the center of the plants, a hole with water flowing from it like a vein from the Earth. He flipped onto his front and began to gulp it desperately. Water on his tongue and in his throat made him, somehow, feel a little alive again. He didn't realize that he was not alone on the island until it was too late.

"Straw Hat Luffy!" Luffy glanced over his shoulder to see a strange man watching him. If he had his head screwed on right, he would have recognized Helmeppo. He went right back to slurping up water. "I'm surprised you're alive! Stand up. You're under arrest."

"Gimme a sec!" Luffy held up a hand, gulped down his water, and finally pushed himself to his feet. He groaned as he rocked his stiff joints back into place. "Okay. What's up?" He looked at Helmeppo with a weary smile.

"Why don't you remember me?!" Helmeppo snapped. Luffy frowned, thinking for a moment.

"Oh, yeah. I remember you. You're that guy with the mushroom hair. You caused that storm that sent me flying. Okay." Luffy's smile flipped upside-down. "What's up?"

"You're under arrest, that's what's up." Helmeppo beamed, obviously very proud of himself.

"Oh." Luffy thought about this for a moment. "No I'm not. I've gotta find my crew. Where's my crew?" Luffy scowled again.

"Straw Hat Luffy, your entire crew is already under arrest." Helmeppo smiled slyly. "You're under arrest too. Come quietly now. Think about the baby." He began to laugh at this last statement, laughing harder and harder, as Luffy clenched his fists. "The b-baby!" Helmeppo patronizingly poked Luffy's middle, and Luffy quickly grabbed and constricted his hand around the fingers.

"You have my crew?"

"Y-yes!" Helmeppo stammered, still laughing as he tried to pull his hand out of Luffy's grasp. "They're all fine for now, though! You'll be reunited with them on the trip to Impel Down!"

"No, that's not where we're going." Luffy twisted Helmeppo's fingers back, and Helmeppo let out a squeal of pain. "We're going to find One Piece. I need my crew."

"S-Stop talking about it like you have a choice!" Helmeppo pulled a gun with his free hand. Luffy kicked his other wrist, knocking the gun to the ground.

"Let my crew go! Go let them out and bring them back to me!"

"Shut up! You can't order me around!" Helmeppo reached to pick up his gun, though Luffy still held his fingers in a vice grip, but as soon as he straightened up to aim at Luffy, Luffy grabbed his other arm and threw his foot as far back as he could. He put his foot right into Helmeppo's gut, and dropped him to the ground to let him spit blood.

"I'll do anything for them! I'll rip you limb from limb if you don't give them back!"

"C-calm down!" Helmeppo choked, sliding away from Luffy, who glared down at him with a look of hatred. Luffy grabbed him by the throat and stepped on his chest. "Th-think of your freaky little baby. If you keep struggling, you'll do it harm! If you keep resisting, you'll force us to do it harm!" Luffy, at this, released Helmeppo and began to shudder with rage, fists balled at his sides. "There you go." Helmeppo smirked, satisfied that he had calmed the beast. He managed to sit up, shaking out his still-purple fingers. "We'll be sure that little runt gets to Vice-Admiral Garp safely."

"Is that what this is all about?" Luffy growled. "To take my entire family? Start with my crew, and then my children?" He cracked his knuckles against each other. "If you're looking to steal this child, then you should know… this child is dead!" He slapped his belly hard, as if to demonstrate its hollowness. "I lost him! You already stole him from me!" Helmeppo's eyes widened and jaw fell.

"I… I mean… we didn't want it to die!" Helmeppo was lost for other words at he got back to his feet, shaking in place as Luffy's rage renewed.

"You broke my family! You might as well have cut him out and slit his throat yourselves! When you went to break us to pieces, you should have known that without a family, a baby doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell!"

With this, Luffy punched Helmeppo in the chin. Helmeppo dodged left and right, as Luffy punched again and again. The air around them felt like he was firing bullets, full of gunpowder and tension. Helmeppo dodged around to Luffy's side to kick his hip, and Luffy whipped around to kick Helmeppo in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and bringing him down. Helmeppo tried to throw his hands up in defeat, but Luffy began to stomp on his groin. "My son! My son! You killed my son!" He roared it over and over, and Helmeppo kept screaming in pain. It was brought to an end when two hands grabbed Luffy from behind, taking his wrists and wrapping his arms around his chest. The hug felt odd to him, and he froze. "R-Robin?" Luffy looked over his shoulder, but it was not Robin embracing him.

"Let him be, Straw Hat," Tashigi whispered tearfully. "You have made your point." Luffy halfheartedly struggled against her grip, but somehow, her hug felt nice. He let her remove him from Helmeppo, giving him a chance to crawl away. Luffy began to wail aloud, turning to hug her as well out of his need for affection, and she patted and rubbed his back. "There are no words to express my apologies. There is no justice in the death of an innocent child. If we were to claim justice, we would be nothing but monsters and murderers." Luffy sobbed loudly onto her shoulder, unable to respond. Tashigi looked over his shoulder to Helmeppo. "Can you stand?"

"Y-yeah," Helmeppo muttered, pushing himself from his hands and knees to his feet.

"Helmeppo, did you see Straw Hat Luffy?" Tashigi asked pointedly, still squeezing Luffy tight as he cried like a baby.

"Yeah, what are you talking about?! He's right there! You're restraining him!"

"I don't see Straw Hat Luffy," Tashigi responded sharply.

"Y-you don't?" Helmeppo grimaced.

"No. I only see a coffin, a man trying to bury his dead." Tashigi gave Helmeppo a significant look, and he understood.

"Of course." Helmeppo hung his head. "We didn't see Straw Hat Luffy. Nobody saw Straw Hat Luffy. If any of our men say they saw Straw Hat Luffy, they're lying."

"Good," Tashigi murmured, and she released Luffy. Luffy collapsed to the ground, weakened by his uncontrollable emotions, and she shook her head. "I'm so sorry." She bowed her head. "I hope you're wrong. I hope that baby is alive. I hope he's born kicking and screaming. I'll apologize to him myself!"

"Let him be, Tashigi," Helmeppo interrupted, taking her by the elbow. He gave her a tissue from his pocket, and she wiped her tears. Luffy still cried aloud, head tilted back, bawling. "I can't say I'm comfortable with his loss either, but you're just breaking your own heart now." He led Tashigi away, back to their scouting boat on the other side of the island, and they were gone. Luffy was alone again.

He dropped back to the ground and crawled to the well. He began to suck the water up, glutting himself like a sucking tick until he couldn't open his mouth without leaking. He rolled over, bloated and waterlogged, and cried silently. With a belly full of water, he could almost imagine his son still writhing in his preparations for life. Almost.

A lesser man would have died from water poisoning. Luffy knew he didn't want to die, but he wasn't sure he wanted to be alive, either.

Zoro had sailed from place to place, circling each tiny island as he went. He didn't land on many of them, only when he ran out of food to eat or water to drink. He had to land, however, when he saw a building. He left the Mini-Merry by a rock that jutted out, and got onto the island. He could see the brick building better now- it appeared to be a partially burned church. There was a sign to indicate one of the three named islands in the Vindaloo Archipelago: "Eléison."* Zoro approached the ruined church cautiously, and looked around at the tall cedar trees that seemed to spring from the solid, sandless rock, and frowned. Something felt wrong, but he couldn't place his finger on it. He crept towards the building and peered in the front window. His heart nearly dropped through his ribcage- he could see Robin, laid on the altar at the front of the room with her head in bandages. She looked like a corpse in the sunlight that beamed through the fallen-in roof. Zoro shook the thought from his mind- she must have fallen asleep there when it was shady, but the sun had moved. He almost let out a whoop of victory, but then suppressed his happiness- was Gilea there?

He slipped into the building through the broken door, and approached Robin. He stood over her, and laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Robin," he whispered. She opened her eyes.

"Zoro," she hissed weakly, barely aware. "Zoro, you have to leave. They've spotted your boat, they knew you were coming. I'm the bait for their trap…"

"What?" Only now did Zoro realize that Robin was in seastone handcuffs. "Damn!" He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder and turned to the door, but it shut. Smoker and Coby emerged from the shadows in the back of the room, and they advanced on the swordsman. Zoro looked between them, and carefully set Robin down on one of the benches.

"Okay, Pirate Hunter," Smoker growled. "Come quietly. I have the authority to kill you where you stand." Zoro glanced between them, scowled, and then looked to Robin on the pew.

"Robin, is Gilea okay?" He asked softly.

"Yes, she's not here, she was left on another island," Robin whispered. Her soft voice was loud in the silent sanctuary.

"She was alive?"

"Yes, she was just perfect. The man who left her said someone else would take her soon so he could return her to you," Robin told him with a sad smile.

"Who was coming for her?"

"Pirate Hunter Zoro!" Coby's voice was trembling. "Come forward or we'll shoot!"

"He didn't tell me," Robin mumbled sleepily. "He only said she'd be okay. I don't know, though. I wish I did. I'm so sorry. I'm a terrible mother." Zoro shook his head, saying nothing to her, and looked to Smoker and Coby.

"Here!" He pulled a photograph from his sash. "Look at her!" He threw it at Coby's feet, and he picked it up. "Is that what you want?" Coby looked at the photograph of the tiny infant, with just a few wisps of hair, photographed while yawning. "My only girl. She'll be four soon." He pitched another photograph at Smoker, a more recent one. "Isn't she just goddamn beautiful? She doesn't look a damn thing like me except that wild moss-head of hers." Zoro sounded terribly bitter in recounting it. "When she smiles, or pouts, or laughs, she looks like Luffy, but when she's angry, she looks like me. She is the greatest joy in my world! She is a child! Defenseless! Naïve! She's never done a goddamn thing wrong in her life!" Zoro got down on his knees. "I know I'm a criminal. I know you think I'm a bad person. But I love my daughter more than my own life! Have mercy on her!" Zoro put his hands on the ground and lowered his head. "Just this once, give me leave! Let me be sure she's safe! Let me find my daughter!" Smoker and Coby stared at the swordsman on his knees, and neither could speak.

"Commodore Smoker," Coby finally said. "Commodore Smoker, I can't do this."

"Damn," Smoker muttered, and he stepped forward to sink into a pew. He puffed one of his cigars anxiously. "How am I…? I don't want to jeopardize that poor damn kid… There is nothing right in leaving that kid to starve!"

"Are you kidding me?" Zoro muttered. "Coby, I know Luffy told you. He told you, didn't he? I'm going to be a father again. Luffy and my son are somewhere in this desolate part of the world, starving just the same!" He tried to catch his breath. "And…"

"And?" Smoker growled, rubbing his forehead.

"Robin," Zoro looked back over his shoulder. "Nami, Robin. Sanji told me. She's expecting too."

"Oh god…" Robin's voice was barely audible. "Is she okay?"

"We don't know!" Zoro lost control of the volume of his voice. "For all we know, she lost it when she was caught in the whirlwind! She got hit hard. The man's practically killing himself in his stupid self-pity!"

"This is… too much…" Smoker shook his head angrily. "Marines… don't… murder… children!" He took a key from his pocket and pitched it at Zoro's head. It bounced off his collarbone and landed by his hand. "Take her. Get the hell out of here. You, take him to where his daughter was left!"

"C-Commodore, what if command finds out we let Roronoa Zoro and Nico Robin go?" Coby stammered. Smoker turned to Coby with cold eyes.

"Oh? Did you see Roronoa Zoro or Nico Robin?" Smoker growled.

"Wh-what?"

"I asked if you saw them, Petty Officer!" He barked. "I sure as hell didn't see them!" Zoro took the key into his hand and freed Robin. He picked her up into his arms and held her tight against him. Smoker stared at them as he started to walk for the door. "All I see are a couple of treasure hunters, not pirates. Let them find what they're looking for." Coby nodded, and hung his head.

"Yeah. We didn't see them." He cast one eye over to Zoro. "Go. Get out."

"Before we look again," Smoker added darkly. Zoro paused for a moment, and ran for the boat. He gently laid Robin down on the back seat and started the boat. Robin tried to speak and explain.

"Zoro, I can point the way to where Gilly was, but I'm afraid Smoker and Coby have had me imprisoned for more than a week. If Mihawk did send for a rescue for her, then she'll be long gone by now…" Zoro whirled around.

"Mihawk?! You saw Mihawk?!"

"Yes," Robin replied calmly. "He found us, he took us onto his boat. He took a photograph of her, he cut his mark into her, and then left her on an island. He left me somewhere else."

"He cut her?" Zoro growled. "He hurt her?!"

"She agreed to it as part of an exchange. She was very, very brave. Zoro, he gave her a real sword."

Zoro scoffed with disdain as he thought about Mihawk, before looking back at her. "Where were you while all that was happening?"

"Mostly passed out. Look at me." Zoro looked over his shoulder, and she turned her head and unraveled some of the bandages to show the healing wound. He winced. "I had begun to recover, until I was taken by those two. I did not want Hawk-Eyes to harm either of us, and he had told her he would not attack her. I'm just thankful he did not attack me in this state." Zoro turned on the FPS receiver.

"Robin, forgive me. I need to get you to Chopper first." The boat began to direct itself towards the Thousand Sunny. "If Mihawk said that Gilea would be rescued, I will trust him on his honor as a swordsman. You need medical attention, and if you die, then Gilly's going to be heartbroken." Robin smiled sadly, as the Mini-Merry's FPS navigation system began to guide them back.

"You really are a good father, you know. A much better father than I'll ever be a mother." She closed her eyes to let a few tears roll down, and Zoro silently hoped she would fall asleep and stop suffering.

Gilly was transferred from the first small boat to another one, with two friendly men rowing back. They happily chatted with her most of the day, and she was glad to be around men who laughed like her family. They wondered over her scribbling in her coloring book, However, the longer she was with these strangers, the more nervous she got. Even if she had never been told not to mess with strangers, she had to wonder. What if they were not really taking her back to her father? What if they did not know who she was? Worse, what if they did? What if they were turning her in for her bounty? When they arrived at a larger ship that let them aboard, Gilly realized that they were not flying a Jolly Roger. She did not recognize the symbol on the flag they flew but she knew it was not a Pirate flag. She stared around at all the strange men that surrounded her, most of whom smiled at her, and she looked around her at the ocean. She shivered in fear, and finally screamed and scrambled to jump back overboard. One of the men grabbed her by her arms.

"Calm down, little miss, we're friends! We're not here to hurt you!"

"I want my Daddy!" Gilea shrieked. "I want my Daddy!"

"We have to find him first!"

"Daddy! Daddy!" She screamed, scrambling to escape, but he held her tight.

"Get her in the barracks, lock her in there if you have to," one of the higher officers instructed. "The big guy won't condone her getting so much as a scratch while she's in our care."

"Yes sir," the man holding Gilly agreed, and he carried her, kicking and screaming, down towards the cabin. Gilea didn't know very much about the world; she couldn't be expected to recognize the Revolutionaries' flag when it was so rarely seen.

End Notes: * The name Eléison comes from the Greek Christian liturgy "Kyrie, Eléison." The titular phrase means, of course, "Lord, have mercy." I'm not terrible creative, but at least I'm esoteric!

Next week's chapter might be a little late, as I will be on vacation… in Disneyland. I would get you all souvenirs, but I do not have enough money to get everyone presents and I don't know where you are.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Criticism? Please review! Reviews make me extra-happy!

Until next time!