Chapter 13

Zoro continued to follow Joshua even as they left the building and made their way out of town. When they finally reached the copse of trees that surrounded the outer rim of the island, the swordsman finally found a need to question the other man.

"Oi, where are we going?"

"Eh? Didn't I mention? We're headed to the farthest portion of the island."

"Why?"

"Why? Because you'll be meeting your friend there and then leaving the island."

Zoro reached out and broke a low hanging branch the size of his fore arm. He pointed the jagged end at the slightly bewildered man and glared, "I'm not going anywhere. I've already decided there's a bunch of people, including you, who I'm going to save before so much as thinking about getting off this god forsaken island."

Joshua's eyes widened at that, and a strange smile spread on his face. "You.. you're kind. But, I'm afraid, the people here, including me, are beyond saving."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I know you've given up since you never had a chance before, but now it should be alright right?! Isn't that what Freddy and you guys were striving for in the first place?!"

Joshua shook his head slowly. Then reaching into his shirt, he carefully pulled out the locked hanging around his neck and gingerly opened it. "Do you know who these two are?"

Zoro snorted in confusion and shrugged a shoulder. "Your wife and daughter?"

A sad smile played on the man's face, as he caressed the worn out picture with his thumb. "That's what I like to think too.."

Zoro made an incredulous noise at the back of his throat and swung the branch at Joshua, "The fuck does that mean?"

Joshua clicked the locket shut and placed it back under his shirt. Absentmindedly patting the place over where the locket lay against his chest, he smiled at Zoro, his eyes reflecting a strange, mysterious emotion. "The thing is, there are a lot of things you don't quite know about this island. But trust me when I say you must leave. Your place is not here amongst us."

So saying, Joshua spun on his heel and began walking away. Zoro didn't bat an eyelid. Noticing his companion wasn't following him, the man looked over his shoulder, "Aren't you coming?"

Zoro hoisted the branch on his shoulder and looked back at the city, "If you won't answer my questions, why should I do anything you say?"

Joshua laughed and ruffled his hair sheepishly, "Well I guess that's fair enough." He motioned forward with his head and stretched his arm out slightly, "Walk with me?"

Zoro grunted, but followed nonetheless. As they fell into step, Joshua began.

"You see, I'm not sure if you know, but the people who end up on this island go through something that we call a 'screening' every time the force field is opened. Newcomers as well as the islanders go through this without choice or difference. This 'screening' is when they send a series of magnetic and electric waves through the entire island that erases everyone's memories."

Zoro made a surprised sound and Joshua continued, "Well, I say erased but you can't actually completely destroy a person's memories. They remain in the subconscious all our lives. It's just that, some times we find that we can't recall a certain piece of information that we've experienced or sensed before, like amnesia. For example, I know that the two people who are in the picture in the locket have a significant place in my life. Only problem is, I don't know what they are to me. I don't even know whether they are dead or alive. But my brain is sure that I've known them before or else I wouldn't be carrying around a picture of them.

"When the force field is opened and then shut, the 'screening' takes place and past memories that people have of their lives or even who they were, are forgotten. It's like how, when we don't want to remember a particular incident, we pro-actively suppress the memory so as to forget it. It's not like the memory itself has been erased, but we can't exactly recall it at will either.

"Except the 'screening' takes it two steps further. First, every time someone accidentally or purposely tries to recollect the erased memory, their brain sort of short circuits and they see vague flashes and unclear images that make no sense. It also causes severe headaches and a sudden burst of adrenaline that makes them fatigued. In a more extreme situation, the person might go into spasms and might even lose their lives.

"There are several people like Freddy or me, who know that we undergo the 'screening' on an almost regular basis. But most of the people don't have any memory of either the 'screening' itself or the existence of the force field. So even if we did know, doing something to counter act losing our memories is near to impossible.

"Secondly, everyone's memories are not only erased/suppressed, but also altered. As in, our memories are tampered with, in such a way that we believe whatever we are expected to believe. Once the force field shuts, our memories will disappear again and we'll go back to living ignorantly without questioning why we exist or what we have to do in life."

Zoro had an expression of a person lost in thought. "So, if that's true, then all the information and planning that you've been getting and doing happened after the last 'screening'?"

"Ah, no. We cannot stop our memories from being tampered with, but we can restore them to some extent. Just like revising for a test, we've found out that if we experience the same things repeatedly, we should regain some part of the previous memory. If not, everything that we've found out has been recorded physically in various locations, which help us re-organize our altered memories. Does any of this make sense to you?"

Zoro ran a hand through his still dark hair and sighed. "So, the reason for you trying to get us off this island in such a hurry, is so we don't lose our memories?"

Joshua smiled and tilted his head, "Yes, something like that."

"Hah?! Is that a yes or a no?!"

"Ah! We've reached our destination! Now all we have to do is wait for your friend. Oh and I've got a different pair of clothes for you to change into, if you want."

Zoro took one look at Joshua's smile and knew he wouldn't be getting any more out of the man.

'Amoret.. Amoret.. Amoret..'

Sanji ducked behind a corner as a group of black clad men ran past him. He frowned in thought, as he wracked his brain, trying to remember whether he knew any one by the name Amoret. Some how though, his mind would flicker to a certain event and his mind would go blank, followed by several flashes and random silhouettes. He ground his teeth as he clutched his head and stared at the ground.

'Amoret.. Amoret.. Amoret..'

Unable to remember anything significant, he continued to wander aimlessly, his frustration increasing every second. Finally, he found himself standing in front of Amelia's clinic and as he stared at the large red plus, something clicked in his brain.

He ran up the stairs two at a time and banged the door open. His eyes whipped around the room and paused when he found what he was looking for.

"Eh? Prince-san? What are you doing here?"

Sanji pulled a chair towards him and straddled it, resting his arms and chin on the back. He eyed Amelia for a while, causing the shy woman to become flustered and nervous.

"I-Is there something wrong?"

"Amelia-san, why are you still here?"

"Eh?"

"Everyone else is running around, panicking and you're still here brewing tea. How come?"

Amelia shifted slightly and a slow smile spread on her face, one that Sanji had never seen on the woman's face, making her almost unrecognizable.

"Ha~ah~ Took you long enough."

"Huh?"

Amelia strode forward, dragged the other chair close to Sanji and sat down on it. Crossing her legs, she reached up, one hand undoing her untidy bun, while the other removed her glasses. Sanji sat up straighter. He could feel the air around them change. It simmered with a different kind of aura, compared to moments before. When Amelia looked at him, he was sure of it.

It was like looking at a person who had MPD [A/n: Multiple Personality Disorder. Google it if you haven't heard of it.] or rather, looking at a doppelganger. The woman who sat before him was sharp eyed and had a superior smirk on her face. There was no sign of nervousness or shyness, in fact she was oozing confidence. She ran her hand through her hair and let it fall down her shoulders, the long, dark strands standing out against her stark white lab coat. Her posture indicated superiority and that she knew exactly what she was doing. She leaned back and propped an elbow on the back of the chair. Looking Sanji over, her lips quirked into an amused smirk.

Sanji was too blinded by her beauty to really comment on the transformation.

"Well? Don't you have something to ask me then?"

Snapping out from his love-struck state, Sanji shook his head slightly, "Ah yes.. Amoret-san?"

Amelia/Amoret simply smirked some more. Her eyes glinting dangerously as she leaned forward, providing the cook with some very nice eye candy. "Yes, that's right."

"Who..?"

"Who am I? Hm well, to make the introduction as brief as possible, I'm Amoret Lightinger, code name- Doctor Amelia, you could say I'm a sort of freelance secret agent currently working for the Revolutionary Army."

The last bit made Sanji's eyes pop. "Revolutionary Army?!"

"Yep. Special assignment given by Dragon himself. Though I've been here for far too long. Good thing you kids came along, I was almost losing it." She reached into her coat and pulled out a cigarette pack. Placing one in between her lips, she tilted the pack towards Sanji. The cook eagerly snatched one, far too nicotine deprived to give a second thought about the side effects of smoking after consuming so many drugs and what not. After inhaling deeply and breathing out a satisfied sigh, Sanji focused on the person in front of him again.

Amoret had started moving around the small space, picking up random things and tossing them aside, as though looking for something. "I've been keeping an eye on you and your friend since you suddenly appeared on this island. I must say, I had to pull quite a few strings to keep you as safe as possible."

"You mean, everything that happened to us..."

"Ah, yes well, I could apologize for getting both of you nearly killed, but it was certainly a necessity. Without being thrown out, your friend wouldn't have ended up with Frederick and without my continued efforts, you wouldn't have ended up with that half-wit, Zeher. Really, you ought to be thanking me! I even risked my life to take care of the two of you, geeze."

Finally finding what she wanted with an 'Ah!', she walked up to Sanji and stuck the piece of paper in front of his face.

The blonde had to go cross-eyed to look at the picture in front of him. Immediately recognizing the distorted painting that people dared to call an identical replica of him, he twisted his head away from the gruesome bounty poster, urgently sucking in the nicotine to stop him from ripping it to shreds.

"I thought as much. The resemblance is uncanny."

Sanji gagged on the rolled up paper in his mouth and looked pathetically up at Amoret. She just laughed at his miserable expression and spun around, swiftly walking towards the table behind her. "Alright then, we've wasted enough time. We have to get you off this island as fast as possible, so things can actually begin."

Sanji quietly followed the woman out the door and down the stairs, biting back all the questions that threatened to overflow.

Luffy leaned forward slowly and squinted, trying to ascertain the happenings and going ons of the island that was swiftly drawing near. Before any of them had any forewarning, the force field around the island had suddenly disappeared and the fog surrounding them had thickened to an alarming extent. The crew had hurriedly donned disguises and prepared themselves to get onto the island.

Nami had somehow convinced the fat man to let them aboard his ship and now they finally stopped at the small wharf that was on the back of the island. As the ships began unloading whatever they had on them, the crew discreetly slipped away - not before making sure to beat up half the men guarding them - and made their way to the line of trees that bordered the island.

"Alright, listen to me. We don't know what to expect here, so don't go bounding around and arousing suspicion. I think it's best to split into groups and find out as much as possible and then meet up so we can think things through from what we've gathered. Also Luffy, please stay calm and don't go rampaging around because we might not be able to get away with things this time."

"I know already-"

"Luffy?"

The crew snapped around at the overly familiar voice. Luffy and Usopp let out yells of excitement and Nami and Franky, yells of surprise. Brook yohohohoho-d and Robin and Chopper just stood confused behind the suddenly excited crew.

Zoro looked equally confused and shocked to see his Nakama ten metres from him, all in spectacular disguises. He almost thought they were members of a circus, if he hadn't heard Luffy's voice.

"Zoro! What are you doing here?!"

"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?!" Usopp screamed and whapped a laughing Luffy on the head.

The swordsman just grinned at the lot of them. But before anyone could say anymore, Joshua appeared from behind the trees and looked between the Strawhats and Zoro, alarmed.

"Who are these people?"

"Ah, they're friends of mine."

"What?! Why are more friends of yours coming onto the island?! Are the whole lot of you insane?!"

"Uwoo Nami-swaaan~ Robin-chwaaan~ Is that youuu~"

And there were collected exclamations of surprise and shouts of rejoicement, as the crew finally reunited. Amoret walked up from behind Sanji and deadpanned at the sight in front of her.

"Holy shit, things got way more complicated than I bargained for."

A/n: Ehm well, I think I explained two of the several mysteries. And yes, you may expect the Revolutionary Army to appear. Also Doffy and maybe even Kaido. Well, the next update shall be after Christmas, as I will be uploading a special ZoSan one shot on the 24th as part of a Holiday Exchange that's going on! More details about it will be in the fic! Make sure to keep an eye out for the fic on the 24th! :D

Wishing you an early Christmas, with lots and lots of love~