Author's Note: Sorry that I'm a little later than normal. I had the unfortunate luck of coming down with the flu. Go me, right? Anyways, thank you guys so much for the reviews, faves, ect. I hope you guys continue to enjoy the journey into my crazy ideas and strange plotlines.

Disclaimer: Oda owns these wonderful characters. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.

Part One: The Godless Sea

Chapter Three: And Then There Were Two

Zoro pulls Shusui from its scabbard, holding the blade in front of him while not-Luffy crouches low, fist on the ground as though readying himself for Gear Second. No one moves, all frozen while first mate and not-Luffy glare at each other.

"Where are my nakama?" not-Luffy snarls, with a wrath Zoro's never heard in his captain's voice. "Who are you?"

"Could ask you the same," Zoro says evenly.

His hands don't shake, but he can feel the unease overtaking his body. What kind of game is this? Are Robin's tales true? Could this be Luffy, just another version. The other-captain's eyes search already Zoro, taking in Robin and Brook standing behind him.

"Luffy." Robin's voice is even and she inches forward to stand at Zoro's side. "Did I tell you the story of this sea?"

Dark eyes turn to Robin, moving all over her before finally focusing on her eyes. "Robin said weird things happen here. She said Marines met themselves and then the sun rose." The captain's eyes moved back to Zoro. "But our sun didn't rise."

"Because it didn't rise for the Marines until the next day," Robin says smoothly. "Let's not do anything rash."

Luffy looks at her again. His body begins to relax, eyes saddening as he looks around at them and realization dawns. "You lost your nakama too?"

"Our captain." Robin nods. "I suspect you have a similar problem."

A sheepish smile pulls at the captain's rubbery lips. "Hai. Hai. Zoro's going to yell at me when I find him." His gaze moves to Zoro, still with Shusui drawn. "Zoro's going to stab me?"

Put that away unless you're going to do something with it. It's not for threatening people, Luffy's telling him. It's unnerving that Zoro can read between the lines, hear the actual words being said. But it can mean only one thing.

He slides the sword back into its scabbard and earning a smile from the other captain. With the two at east again, Luffy turns to look at Robin and Brook, looking them over too.

"You all look funny," the Captain tells them. "Well, not Brook. Brook looks like Brook." He looks back at Zoro, frowning. "Zoro hurt his eye."

Zoro frowns back because it's not a statement, but a question. A question that his Luffy had never asked. And a question this Luffy isn't expecting an answer for. What happened to your eye, Zoro?

Luffy's gaze goes back to Robin. "And Robin has her hair down all funny. Do the rest of your nakama look funny?"

Robin giggles. "I suppose that depends on what you mean by funny, Captain."

"You know, funny."

Different. How different does your crew look from mine?

"You trust us?" Zoro asks him, eyes locked on the rubber man still standing before him. "Just like that?"

"Of course." Luffy looks back at him with a wide smile. "I know what Zoro feels like. You're not my Zoro, but you're Zoro. And you know I'm Luffy!"

And he does. Zoro knows without a doubt that this is Luffy. Even if his appearance is different, Zoro can feel the presence, the comfort that just being near this man brings. This is Monkey D. Luffy, without a doubt. The future king of the pirates.

Brook and Robin are looking at him, Zoro realizes, waiting for his confirmation. Even if they suspect that this Luffy is safe to be around, they want Zoro to tell them it's so. Luffy waits for him too, blinking at him calmly and without fear. All waiting for him to make his decision.

"We should head back," Zoro says, glancing back at Robin. "Regroup and then," he turns his attention back to Luffy, "we'll find our nakama."

Luffy beams at him. "Yosh! Oi, oi, you have a Sanji too, right? I'm starving!"

Shusui is free from it scabbard in seconds. The smell of burning fabric fills the air as Sanji steps up beside Zoro, both ready to fight if the situation calls for it. Luffy - if this is Luffy - stares back at them, strangely calculating eyes going over each of the nakama standing behind the boys.

"Oh, honestly," Nami huffs, tugging on Sanji's jacket sleeve before either of them boys can do anything stupid. "Don't you idiots remember what Robin said about this island?"

The other Luffy blinks at them, straightening out before he lets out a laugh. "Marines met themselves!" he cheers. "That's what my Robin said. So that means that you're my other nakama. Suge!" Dark brown eyes focus on Sanji. "Sanji! Meat!"

No one seems to know what to say about the other Luffy that comes bounding back to Sunny behind Zoro's group, grinning and rambling about how cool this is. Grinning like a madman, the captain bounces up to Sanji with demands for meat and pirate lunches. Because how are they supposed to find all of their nakama on an empty stomach.

It seems that Luffy is Luffy, no matter where he comes from.

The silence continues well into their dinner, the crew all stuck in their own heads as Luffy crams as much food as he can muster into his mouth.

Zoro sits directly next to the captain, his eyes locked on the other Luffy. His actions are disturbingly Luffy like, yet his actions and the forest had been disturbingly un-Luffy like. The way he'd clung to Zoro, kissed Zoro, indirectly asked about Zoro's scar. Things his Luffy would never do.

Sanji stares at Zoro across the table, silently trying to catch the shitty swordsman's eye and ask what the hell is going on. Well, he knows what's going on. Robin told them anything was possible in this sea. Had warned them they might meet themselves when landing on this island. But he needs more. He needs to know that this is a good idea. That this Luffy will be able to help them find their captain.

The rest of their crew pick at their food quietly, occasionally glancing up at the captain stuffing his face with food. Strangely, limbs aren't flying toward their plates in a vain attempt to steal some extra meat. Only Zoro is stuck trying to fend off the other captain's rubbery hands. Though, the swordsman is considerably less violent than he normally is about the whole thing, simply swatting Luffy's hand away.

Eventually, when his plate is empty, Luffy drops onto the table with a moan. "Zoooorrrrrroooooo!"

The swordsman blinks over at him. "Eh?"

Luffy turns his head to look up at him, lip pouted out. "I'm hungry."

"You just ate half the table!"

Still pouting, the rubber man sighs and sits back up. He looks over at Sanji. "More meat?"

"No!"

"Stiiiingy!" Luffy laughs. "Just like my Sanji! But my Zoro shares with me." He shoots Zoro a look of disappointment.

"No way in hell," Zoro hisses, shoving another fork full into his mouth.

Another moan and Luffy throws his head back. Robin giggles. Usopp glances around the table as the rest of the crew exchange small smiles.

"Are we sure this isn't our Luffy?" the sniper mumbles, almost to himself.

"Alright," Nami says. "Alright. We should make a plan." She turns her gaze to the other captain, looking up at her though he's dropped his head onto the table again. "The quickest way to find your nakama is to follow your path back to them."

"But I don't know how."

"Why don't you tell us how you got here, Luffy?" Robin suggests. "Maybe we can retrace your steps."

The captain sighs, as though recounting the tale is the most inconvenient thing he could be asked to do. "Well, I woke up this morning and there was no sun. Robin said we were in this weird sea and that crazy things happen. Which is great, right? A new adventure! So we headed for the Mystery Island, but then it started to storm and Sunny got damaged. Sanji said we had to look for food when we got to the Mystery Island but I wanted to explore! So I went to explore. But the trees were really think and I got all turned around."

"So you don't know where your crew docked?" Nami asks.

Luffy shakes his head. "There are no docks. Franky said we'd weigh anchor and take Mini Merry in."

"And you shot off into the forest before they even dropped the anchor," Zoro sighs.

"Shishishi! Zoro knows me."

"Sencho," Robin sighs. "When you landed on the island, did you land in the trees?"

He shakes his head. "No, there was a beach."

"So if we walk along the edge of the island, we should find where your Sunny is anchored," Nami pipes up. "Which means that we'll find at least some of your nakama."

The rubberman perks up. "Really? That's a great idea!"

"You mean, you didn't think of that?" Usopp asks.

"No."

"Did you have a plan, Luffy-san?"

"Of course! I was going to wait for Zoro to find me. Zoro always finds me."

Silence goes around the table. Nami looks at him like he's grown a second head before glancing at Zoro.

"Him?" The navigator points at the swordsman. "You wait for him to find you?"

"Oi!" Zoro yelps indignantly. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Luffy lets out a laugh. "Of course! Wasn't Nami listening? Zoro always finds his nakama."

"With any luck, your nakama will come up with a similar plan," Robin tells Luffy, effortlessly swatting the captain's grabby hands away.

"Oi!" Usopp cries, too slow to snatch back the piece of meat Luffy managed to grab from him.

"Damn glutton," Sanji sighs. "He's as bad as our captain."

"He is our captain," Nami says.

"No." Usopp pokes Luffy's hand with his fork when it gets too close. "Our captain only steals off of Zoro's plate."

"I'm not complaining," Zoro says with a grin, shoveling his untouched food into his mouth.

It isn't often that the first mate gets to enjoy his whole meal on his own. He plans on taking full advantage of this rare opportunity.

"My Robin is smart too," Luffy says, food spraying everywhere. Zoro grimaces and Sanji kicks the captain under the table, muttering about table manners - not that their Luffy's ever had table manners. "She'll come up with the same plan!"

"How do you know?" Chopper asks, pulling at Zoro's arm. "What if they go a different way?"

"Oi, Chopper, you just checked that bandage an hour ago," the swordsman grumbles.

"And you went galavanting around the forest-"

"I wasn't galavanting!"

"And I want to make sure you didn't pull any stitches and not tell me."

Luffy cocks his head at the scene, watching Chopper pull the green vest from Zoro's shoulders so he can pull up the white shirt underneath to investigate his right side. "Zoro's hurt?"

"I'm fine."

Sanji scoffs. "Zoro's an idiot."

"And Sanji's an ass," Zoro shoots back. "Now that we're all on the same page." He looks at Luffy. "What if your nakama do take a different way?"

"Then we wait on my Sunny!" Luffy replies as though it's obvious.

"What about our Mugiwara?" Franky pipes up.

"We could set Zoro lose in the forest," Usopp mumbles. "If there's one thing he can find, it's Luffy."

"Absolutely not!" Nami shrieks. "I'm not losing our captain and our first mate. And Zoro shouldn't even be wandering around the forest. He should be waiting for us on Sunny."

Said first mate rolls his eyes. "I don't know why you're all so antsy about this. I am fine."

"You're not the one who had to listen to you scream," Nami growls.

"Alright," Robin says, voice firm as Zoro breaks eye contact with Nami to glare at the table instead, red spreading across his cheeks in a blush. "It's beginning to get darker out. I assume this means night is falling. Why don't we get some rest and start fresh in the morning."

"Good idea." Sanji stands and begins cleaning off the table. "I'll take first watch. I'll wake you later, Usopp."

Agreement goes around the rest of the crew and they begin to disappear to bed, one-by-one. Usopp leads Luffy down to the bunkroom with Chopper, Franky and Brook not far behind them. Robin and Nami retire not long after. The navigator pauses, placing a kiss on the swordsman's head.

"Sorry," she says softly. "I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"'S okay," he mumbles. "'M sorry too."

Nami smiles and squeezes his shoulders. "Get some sleep, okay? We'll find him in the morning."

Zoro nods and the navigator vanishes to bed. The cook and the first mate sit in silence for a few minutes before Sanji tosses a dish towel at the brooding swordsman. Zoro catches it without looking up, sighing as he stands to help.

"You okay?" Sanji asks as he's joined at the sink.

"I don't like this," Zoro replies.

"He's Luffy."

"Mostly."

"Our Luffy is fine," Sanji tells him, handing him a plate. "It's Luffy, Zoro. He doesn't want you worrying about him."

"Then he shouldn't go rocketing into the forest like an idiot."

"You wouldn't take him any other way and you know it." Sanji nudges his ankle with his foot. "Zoro, hey. Talk to me, marimo."

"What do you want me to say? I want to go back to the New World, Sanji. I don't like this place."

"Robin said the Marines didn't get out until after they met themselves," Sanji reminds him. "The faster we find the other versions of us, the faster we get to leave." He sighs, draining the sink and grabbing the towel from Zoro to dry his hands. "Go to bed. Get some rest."

"In a bit," Zoro replies. "I need to clean Shusui."

Sanji raises an eyebrow. "Didn't you do that yesterday?"

He shakes his head. "No, I cleaned Kitetsu yesterday."

"I can't keep them straight."

The statement pulls a laugh from Zoro. "How is it difficult to keep them straight? I only have two swords cook."

"Most people only have one, Berserker Boy."

"Goodnight, Sanji."

Sanji claps him on the shoulder. "We'll find him tomorrow, Zoro."

"Hai. Tomorrow."