Second chapter! Hope you enjoy!

"What the hell is that?"

"His name is meat!" Luffy exclaimed, proudly displaying his new find. "He's my new pet!"

Zoro skeptically looked the dog over. It was a scraggly looking thing and it looked at Zoro with those puppy dog eyes that just demanded for Zoro to melt. Zoro scowled and looked back at his over enthusiastic captain.

He was back to his happy, non-serious self, laughing madly as he held up his new white dog. It was this that made Zoro feel so conflicted. On the one hand, the swordsman didn't really want to send the captain back into that terrible depression thing he had spiraled into a few times, but on the other hand, Zoro really did not want to deal with a happy dog the entire time they spent on this island.

Not moments before, their walk had been completely silent. Luffy had shifted into that odd persona from earlier, and then, to top it all off and make Zoro wonder if the universe was against him, the swordsman had lost track of Luffy. Luffy had shown up minutes later with a brand new pet. With the way the captain was obsessing over the poor creature, one would think Luffy had just asked the puppy to join the crew.

Luffy laughed and put the tail-wagging puppy down on the ground, crouching next to him. "He's a good little guy, don't you think?"

Zoro raised an eyebrow, bemused by the sudden melancholy light that reflected in his captain's eyes. "Why do you want to keep him so much?"

It was obvious Luffy was already insanely attached to the thing. He crouched protectively over the puppy—Zoro refused to call it "Meat"—and wouldn't take his eyes off of it, especially since Luffy was no longer holding it. He wouldn't even look at Zoro.

Luffy shrugged his shoulders, eyes never leaving the puppy as it ran circles around the captain.

Zoro suddenly felt sort of uncomfortable. Sure, he trusted Luffy, but that was when Luffy was actually being Luffy. Zoro had only seen Luffy act like this one time before, and that had been during the Water 7 incident and the fallout with Usopp. Back then, after the captain and sniper had dueled for the Going Merry, Zoro had been doubtful of Luffy's abilities to stay strong. After all, it wasn't every day that one saw Luffy crying tears of regret. Luffy didn't really do regret, or at least, he hadn't.

During the incident, Zoro had done what he could to lend Luffy strength to the captain so he could continue on and save Robin, but looking back on it, as the unofficial first mate, he hadn't done all that great a job. It was only after the truth of Robin making that deal to save her friends came to light that Luffy seemed more than an empty shell of himself.

And after they had saved Robin, and after they had almost left Usopp behind on the island; only then did Zoro see the reality of it all.

Zoro had only the upmost respect for Luffy—when the teen wasn't being a rubber headed idiot—and he knew that Luffy was the only reason he had come as far as he had. The problem was, Luffy too often shouldered most of the weight of the crews' burdens. The captain was responsible for his crew, but seeing Luffy now, especially after their two year separation, Zoro couldn't help but think that that they all relied too much on Luffy and his accepting smile. Now that Zoro could see clearly, he found that Luffy was buckling under the weight of all their promises and dreams.

So, if Zoro felt rather uncomfortable with Luffy's silence, who could blame him? How could he possibly make the captain's burden lighter, but at the same time help Luffy build up his strength when he had failed so miserably before?

"He kind of reminds me of Chopper," Luffy admitted, kicking Zoro out of his wondering thoughts.

Zoro frowned in confusion before realization settled over him. "Oh, the dog."

Luffy nodded, that hyperactive spirit back again. "He's small, animalish, and he's probably going to grow up to be a doctor."

"You think?" Luffy had said it so matter-of-factly that Zoro didn't have the heart to comment otherwise. Besides, with the strange things that happened around Luffy, it wouldn't surprise Zoro if the dog could do circus tricks.

"Hey Meat!" Luffy exclaimed. "D'ya wanna play something?"

The dog yipped happily, wagging its short tail in excitement. Zoro smiled despite himself. He just hoped Luffy didn't use his superhuman strength in any way while "playing" with the dog. If the dog got hurt, Luffy would probably be beside himself with worry.

Zoro's smile faded, lips pressing together into a thin line as he observed the two playmates. He couldn't let this person, his captain, die—emotionally or physically. Zoro wouldn't let any more burdens be placed upon Luffy's shoulders, for both their sakes. Luffy may be strong, but even the most strong willed person in the world couldn't survive the crushing weight Luffy bore forever. So Zoro promised himself that as long as they were on this stupid island, Luffy wasn't going to be the only one to bear responsibility.

"Corvi?"

Both pirates started as they heard the soft call. They turned towards the rustling bushes, and to their surprise, out tumbled a little girl. She was trembling as she took in the strange scene. Two strange guys surrounding her dog; it must have scared her, but the determined expression she wore spoke otherwise.

"Wh-who are y-you?" the girl asked timidly. "And what are you doing with Corvi?"

"Corvi?" Luffy asked cluelessly, looking around for something that was definitely right in front of him. Zoro, amused, said nothing when it was apparent the captain didn't fully understand the situation. "All I see is Meat!"

The girl gasped. "You can't eat Corvi! He's not meat!" she yelled defiantly, her anger throwing all sense of rationalization out the window. She stomped up to Luffy—when had he stood up?—and got up in his face. Her cheeks flushed with anger. This girl showed no sign of fearing for her life.

"Who the hell is Corvi?" Luffy wondered. The captain tilted his head in confusion, as if thinking about it. "I think I would remember if I wanted to eat some guy named Corvi, right Zoro?"

Zoro snorted skeptically, struggling not to comment with a "Probably not." The miscommunication between pirate captain and little girl was rather amusing, as well.

"I don't care if you won't give me my dog back," the girl said coldly. "If I have to, I'll take him back by force!"

"Your dog?" Luffy looked down at his new pet.

A nod.

"And you guys are friends?"

Another tentative nod.

"And you would do anything to get him back."

"Of course!"

Luffy held out the dog for the girl to take. "Here, you can have Meat back."

The girl hesitantly reached out, her trembling more prominent now that the moment of irrational anger had vanished. She took the dog back cautiously and even seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after she had the puppy safely in her arms. "What's the catch?"

Luffy's infectious grins were usually blinding. This one, however, was not. It was a small, gentle, more personal smile that comforted one immediately. This did not fail to reach the little girl, despite Luffy's rapidly changing moods. The girl relaxed and slunk closer to the pirates.

"I'm Maki," the girl introduced. Now that Zoro got a good look at the child, he realized the oldest the girl could have been was nine or ten. He brunette hair was pulled back in a braid to keep it out of her face, and her determined eyes shined a glowing auric, the same color as the golden leaves of autumn. Her dark skin contrasted with her stark white dress. Zoro raised an eyebrow at this. How her clothes were so clean—not even a speck!—after trekking through this forest, Zoro didn't know, but he wasn't so curious as to ask.

"I'm Luffy," the captain replied back. "And the grumpy pants over there is Zoro."

Luffy's stomach growled noisily at that moment, cutting the girl off from replying. The young captain held it, a pout replacing his smile. "Zoro~" the boy whined pitifully. "I'm hungry~!"

Maki perked up instantly, setting the dog on the ground. "Why don't you come with me back to the village, then?"

"Will there be food?"

"We have more important things to worry about," Zoro replied stiffly. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful for Maki's offer; Zoro just didn't want Maki to get into any trouble for bringing two infamous pirates into her home. Besides, they had promised Chopper to be back by tomorrow. They still hadn't located the Kudzu root yet, so they didn't have any time to waste.

"Come on, Zoro!" Luffy pleaded, his black hole of a stomach warbling again. "They'll have lots of food and booze!"

If that was supposed to convince him, it wasn't a very good argument. While Zoro had to admit that he was absolutely famished, he wasn't feeling too good about all of this. Maki had let them off way too easy. She wasn't quite wary enough for his taste.

And besides, he wasn't really excited about the alcohol. For some reason, he felt sick to his stomach whenever he even thought about the stuff. Zoro didn't think too much of it, though. It was probably just a side effect of his recent sickness.

"Please~!" Luffy pleaded, unintentionally mimicking Corvi's puppy dog eyes from earlier. The only difference? This time it worked.

Zoro let out a reluctant sigh and gave his consent. "Fine."

Luffy was the only one who could get Zoro to do anything the captain wanted him to—besides Nami, but he didn't really count her since she used money to manipulate him. But in this case, Zoro couldn't help but feel a bit taken advantage of. Sometimes, whether the captain knew it or not, Luffy could be a real charismatic, manipulative bastard.

Luffy cheered and the trio, plus the dog, started towards the village. Despite his reluctance, Zoro was actually kind of glad he had made this call. The setting sun left the breezy evening rather chilly.

As they walked, Zoro's brain nagged at him, and the swordsman retreated into his thoughts. It was unusual. Luffy was usually one to demand something, not ask for something. The captain demanded, he was denied, he'd do it anyways. That was the general order of things. It was a general rule that Luffy got what he wanted-unless it was food in the middle of the night.

So, Zoro wondered what was going through Luffy's rubber brain. Instead of just going through with his stupid whims, Luffy had deliberately asked Zoro again and again, trying to change the swordsman's mind instead of forging ahead. It was just so unusual.

Something else was bothering him, too. Their walk was quiet, and it gave Zoro a bad feeling. He didn't know why, but this little girl was bad news. And yet, Luffy, the one who could judge a person's character by just looking at them, saw nothing wrong with her. Was Zoro just acting paranoid?

"We're here!" Maki exclaimed.

The group pushed through some bushes and a sleepy little town was revealed. It was bigger than Zoro had expected, but then again, he hadn't expected to be less than a ten minutes' walk from the village. If he had known it was so close, he would have suggested going there in the first place. Oh well. At least they had an escort this way.

The group passed house after house, and Maki kept calling out the names of the occupants that lived there, but each and every time the brunette's calls went unanswered.

"It's like a ghost town," Zoro commented.

Luffy's eye sparkles in excitement. "Oh!" Do you think we're going to be able to meet a ghost? That' be so cool!"

Zoro snorted skeptically. "Did you get your fill of ghosts back on Thriller Bark?"

"Those were zombies," Luffy argued. "And that was two years ago, anyways. I wanna meet a ghost now!"

"What about Perona's ghosts?"

"Those suck! I wanna meet a real ghost! One that doesn't make me feel all weak and yucky. Not a zombie, not a skeleton I wanna meet a ghost!"

Zoro sighed in defeat. This was going nowhere at all. Might as well agree to disagree.

The group finally stopped in front of a small, weathered house that barely looked like it could survive a small gust of wind.

"Grandpa?" Maki called out. She was met with silence. Even Corvi, who had been running around and wagging his tail in excitement sat expectantly in front of the house. Maki called out again, "Grandpa? Are you home?"

There was no reply from the house, but rather from the sound of footsteps from behind them. The footsteps sounded slow and deliberate, like the person was struggling to walk.

An old man, hunched over and wheezing, slowly trudged towards the group. Maki squealed in delight and raced toward the old man. Corvi eagerly followed the girl, barking happily.

"Grandpa!"

Maki stop just before her grandfather, bouncing on her toes. Zoro noted that she looked just like a pet expecting a treat for all her hard work. For some reason, that thought sickened him.

The old man shot Zoro and Luffy a small, apologetic smile, although something was rather off about it. Zoro tensed. Ever since Maki had started to lead them towards the village, the swordsman had been feeling nothing short of paranoid. It was like this shadow was standing right behind him, watching even the slightest twitch.

And this guy. This guy irked Zoro. One look at Luffy's tense form told Zoro the captain shared his sentiment.

"Welcome to our village, travelers."

"Do you have any food?" Luffy asked bluntly.

The old man looked rather startle by the random question, but replied anyways. "Food? Ah, yes, we do, but-"

"Great!" Luffy exclaimed. "Then we can eat, sleep, and find that root stuff Chopper needs to save everyone."

Zoro snorted. "Oh yeah. Sounds like it could be a party," he muttered.

Luffy grinned. "Well, if you insist, we could just go all out and it could be like that three day long party we had on Nami's home island!"

"Hell no," Zoro said. "The only thing we need to be doing is eating, sleeping, and then finding the Kudzu. We got a late start already as it is. We promised to be back tomorrow, remember?"

"Kudzu?" The old man interrupted before Luffy could retort. "As in Kudzu root?"

"You know where we can find it, old man?" Zoro growled out. The swordsman had to admit, if this geezer knew where to find the root then it would save the pirates a great deal of trouble. It was better than aimlessly searching the island without an inkling of an idea of where they were supposed to search. Besides, as the crew liked to put it, Zoro was a little directionally challenged.

The old man nodded. "We have some here in the village," the geezer admitted, although it seemed rather reluctantly. "But there isn't much and Kudzu is rather uncommon."

As quickly as Zoro's hopes rose, they were mercilessly crushed just as fast. This couldn't be happening. It was Zoro's and Luffy's job to get that root back to the ship so Chopper could cure everyone. And here it was, right under their noses, and they couldn't even reach it.

Zoro cleared his throat. "If you aren't able to give us what you have, that's fine. Just tell us where we can find some."

"Well," the man stated, "that's the problem." The geezer looked rather uncomfortable as he spoke. Zoro dreaded to hear whatever came next.

"You can't take our medicine!" Maki yelled out suddenly. Zoro had almost forgotten she was there. "If you take it, it won't grow back!"

"What she says is true," the old man explained, begging the pirates to understand. "There are only a few roots left, and if picked, we wouldn't be able to harvest any next season."

Luffy, who had been completely silent up until now, exploded in rage. "You can't tell us that! My friends are dying! What else am I supposed to do?!"

"I'm afraid I can't help you with that-"

BANG!

The two villagers jumped in fright, looking at a panting Luffy and a stoic Zoro in fear. The swordsman supposed the door could have split open from the sheer strength of Luffy's punch, considering how weak and unstable it looked, but the wooden structure held, only rattling slightly. Luff huffed out frustrated breaths, trying to reign in his raging temper. Zoro said nothing.

The silence lasted several moments, broken only by Luffy's harsh breathing. Finally, it became too much for Zoro to bear.

"What are you going to do, Luffy?" Zoro asked, arms crossed defensively in front of his chest. He had promised himself he would do it right this time. "Are you going to steal the herbs from these innocent people?"

Luffy didn't reply, turning his head away in shame and frustration.

"L-Luffy?" The old man stuttered, jaw slack from shock. "As in Monkey D. Luffy? Strawhat Luffy? 400 million beri bounty Luffy?"

Zoro's gaze hardened as he took in the man's reaction. Usually the only people who looked like they were going to pee their pants when they heard Luffy's name were newly recruited marines, rookie pirates, or citizens from well-informed islands. There was no way this tiny, secluded island in the New World should know anything about Luffy.

"What's it to you?" Zoro snapped.

"I-It's just..." The old man trailed off, face pale and hands shaking. The man dropped to his knees. Maki cried out in concern but didn't close the distance between them. The girl looked just as terrified as her grandfather.

Zoro was so startled by their reactions that he actually took a step back even Luffy looked surprised. The captain did the opposite of Zoro, though, taking a few steps toward the geezer and dropping into a crouch in front of him.

"What happened?" Luffy asked, his tone leaving no room for argument. Zoro shivered slightly. Luffy was angry and frustrated, but he wouldn't take it out on an innocent old man, right? That wasn't the captain Zoro had chosen to follow.

The old man gripped Luffy's rubbery arm and pulled him close as a sort of mental or emotional support. Beside them, Maki stared blankly at the ground and Corvi was silent, tail completely still. Something was very wrong in this village. Zoro could feel it.

"You need to leave, Strawhat," the old man rasped. "Both of you. Avalo said that it was hopeless to rely on you, that no one could help us, even if we asked. So, we complied with his wishes. But now that it is done, there's nothing you can do for us. Leave now while you are still able to.

Nothing this guy said made any sense. Who was Avalo and what has he forced these poor villagers to do? And why would they think that they couldn't get help from- Oh. That was actually a pretty dumb question. Zoro and Luffy were pirates. What other excuse did the villagers need?

"I'm not leaving without that Kudzu root!" Luffy yelled. "I won't let my friends die. I will protect them no matter-"

Wolves howled in the distance, cutting Luffy off.

The old man seemed to age ten years as he listened to the howls. "Maki. Inside, now."

"But, Grandpa-"

"Now!" The old man barked. "As the leader of this village, I will not allow you to get hurt!"

Maki reluctantly followed the order, running into the wooden house with Corvi on her heels.

Zoro turned his attention to the pale old elder. The wolves' howls sounded again, closer this time. It made Zoro's hair stand on end, goosebumps creeping up his arms. Never before had he felt so...out of control of a situation. He didn't know what was going on not why all of this was happening. And to top it all off, they were still a step away from gaining the Kudzu root.

A howl ripped through the air, sending a shiver down Zoro's back. They were here.

Luffy stood up silently. His hat shadowed his eyes, but the grim frown on Luffy's face was enough to tell Zoro what the captain was planning. Zoro urged his stiff muscles to move and forced his body forward, standing in front of the old man; a ready hand on Sandai Kitetsu.

The old man was speechless as he watched Luffy carelessly approach the wolf pack. He had no need to worry, though. Luffy lifted his head, enraged expression and fiery eyes turned full force towards the large animals. A large burst of Haki later and the creatures were forced to submit to Luffy, eyes rolled back in their heads.

The wolves collapsed one by one as Luffy padded slowly back to his awaiting companions. The gloom of night left Luffy almost completely shrouded by the shadows by now.

"You tell me everything," Luffy told the man icily. When the man started to tremble in fear, Luffy's voice took on a gentler tone. "I need to save my friends and you need to protect your village. How about we make a deal?"