This isn't one of my longer chapters, but it was all I could do while I spent two weeks in Minnesota learning Japanese. To all the Doctor Who fans out there, I can say Bowties are cool and Exterminate in Japanese. Uselss, probably, but incredibly cool.

Anyway, during rest and study time I jotted down bits of chapters in various places, and had to type it up before I could post this chapter. It was an interesting two weeks, and the feedback I received was good, so I thank everyone from the heart.

I think this chapter is a bit Zoro OOC… I wasn't exactly sure how his reaction would be, so I did my best. Well, let's just see what you all think, ne? Enjoy!

Review Corner:

UltimateC3 – I don't think you're stupid. It was meant to take people by surprise. Actually, this chapter was inspired by a Teen Titans episode, when the Titans' souls are locked in puppets and the Puppet King uses the bodies to hunt Robin and Starfire who were switched in the process. So the zombie-walk-thing credit goes to that, but thanks anyway. :D Thank you for your kind review, and enjoy the chapter!

000000000000000Zero00000 – Ah, yes, I did. Lol, thanks for catching that!

NinjaSheik – I'm the most evil cliffhanger-writer on the planet (besides Rick Riordan; trolls by sending the entire freakin' fandom's OTP into Tartarus) As for Japanese camp, I didn't hear a lick of English for two weeks straight, because it was total immersion. Japanese food, language, culture the whole time. The first day was like… holy-crap-what-did-I-get-myself-into but after that the sensei were very helpful. Namai wa Santoryuu3 desu. America kara kimashita. Jyu-nana sai desu. Ichiban suki na One Piece kyarakuta wa Roronoa Zoro desu. Ichiban suki na One Piece kyarakuta wa nan des ka? :D

dukefan01 – Thank you so much for waiting, it really means a lot.

Pentastic – Yes, it kinda is like the filler arc, but also very different. This is much darker. I'll do my best to update quickly, and thanks for your review!

Peachie . D – Thank you very much for your kind review! I'm glad you've caught up on SoL, I missed your wonderful reviews. But life goes on, and I'm sure you were occupied. It happens to me all the time. Enjoy the update, onegaishimasu!

Zbluez – You thought Robin was preggo, right? PSYCHE! I hope that the real reason behind Robin and Zoro's fight will remain a mystery until the very end; to be honest, I'm stuck between two things that have the same basic problem so I don't have to change anything, but by the time it's big moment rolls around I'll have decided. Thanks for your review, and enjoy the update!

Chapter 4 – The Price of Zoro's Resolve

"What a clumsy fool. When a man
like you swallows his pride, it's
always for someone else."
- Dracule Mihawk

Zoro POV

I was thoroughly pissed. How had I, Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, come to being led through the woods like some sort of lost puppy? It wasn't my damn fault the old man had no sense of direction. After the third time he wandered off and found his way back again, he tied a rope around my waist and forcefully dragged me in the direction to the town. Cheeky bastard.

According to him, I was passed out in the sand as high tide was rolling in, and would have drowed if he hadn't woken me. He was just looking for credit, and I was too angry to argue. After losing my nakama to some overconfident soul-stealing brat, then putting pride aside to be towed behind a man older than dirt, my mood was sour. I was on my own again, and this time I didn't even have a cocky marine to take my frustrations out on.

"The town is just over the hill," the old man finally said, stopping abruptly so that I almost ran into him.

"So just keep walking straight," I said, and cut the rope that connected us.

"That's about it," he said. "Don't get lost, old whippersnapper."

I stared confusedly after him as he strolled away, fishing gear slung over his shoulder. He was warning me not to get lost? And yet he was walking in the opposite direction. I silently vowed to never be a stupid old man. And not to mention he was bad at giving directions as he was at following them, because it took me another hour to find the damn town.

It was a tiny rundown place. Doors creaks on rusted hinges whenever the wind whipped down the narrow dusty roads. Very few people walked these streets, and the ones that did looked dirt poor, with dirty clothes and unshaven faces. They stared at me as I walked sullenly around, evidently unused to strangers. They steered clear of me, and ran away when I tried to ask questions. Was there something on my face?

I did, however, get someone to point me in the direction of the harbor, which was the best place to find a boat. Several teleporting houses and streets later, I finally made my way across the dock searching for someone to talk to.

"Oi, anyone here?" I called into the little shack I assumed was a check-in station of some sort. There was no one behind the molding desk, and the entire room from the empty billboard to the moth-eaten curtains seemed to be dark, lonely, and musty. Just like how the Thousand Sunny must be feeling now with her zombie captain and crew.

"Where can I buy a boat?" I yelled again into the darkness, and this time my call was met with the sounds of shuffling. A lantern flickered to life, casting a faint glow over the face of the shop owner, a tall man with shaggy red hair and dull eyes sunk deep into his face. For a moment I thought he was an escaped zombie from Thriller Bark before I beat more sense into myself.

"How can I help you?" he asked slowly, his voice ragged like he hadn't used it in a while.

"I want to borrow a boat," I said. "One that can sail to the next island with no problems. You would also happen to have a log pose, would ya?" I didn't know how to use a log pose; I had left that job to Nami. Seeing as she was unavailable, I might was well take the opportunity to learn.

"I don't have any log poses, and the ships we have are in disrepair. No one has visited this island in a few years, you see. Not since he came. Our village is dying."

"Sorry to hear that, but I just need the best boat you have. I'll make do."

"You got money?"

"Some."

The man eyed me hungrily. I supposed that my payment would fund his next meal. "Fine. Come this way."

I followed him out of the dilapidated shop and down to the docks where small two-person rowboats drifted half-submerged in the water. I may not be as good a shipwright as Franky, but even I could tell by the rotting needed something durable like a fishing boat or a legit sailing ship, not rundown rowboats.

"Where is it?" the man suddenly asked aloud, sitting hard on a worn post with a frayed rope wrapped around it. "My personal fishing boat; where is it!?"

I looked over. An empty lot had obviously held some sort of vessel within the hour; the rope mooring it to the dock showed signs of a fresh cut mark, and when I mentioned this discovering to the dock man, what little color was left in his face drained.

"It's her," he sighed, dropping to all fours and hanging his head between his hands. "She stole my boat."

"She?"

"A crafty girl who lives on the far side of the cliffs. Wasn't much trouble until her brother disappeared a few years ago. Fingers like feathers and you never realize what you lost until it's too late."

"Oh hoh," I chuckled, trying to keep the bloodlust from my voice for the old geezer's sake. "She sounds interesting."

The man apparently caught the tone and raised his head indignantly. He opened his mouth to retort, but his eyes fixed on something at my hip, and his mouth snapped shut again. I found this behavior awkward and was about to ask what caused this behavior when he suddenly explained it himself.

"Say, didn't you have three swords?"

I froze. My blood turned to ice in my veins as I adjusted my stance and indeed notice the sudden weight difference at my hip. An uncomfortable feeling settled in my stomach. My eyes drifted to my sash, through which my katana were usually strung.

Shusui, check. Kitetsu, check. Wado Ichimonji, gone. Completely and utterly gone.

I let out a stream of words so foul Satan himself would have cringed. I whipped around, scanning the surrounding area with my physical sight and Haki, like the thief would still be in the general vicinity. She couldn't have gotten far, not with the Wado's weight. Yet there were absolutely no other people around; just me, the old man, and the empty dock.

I rounded on the pining old man. "Where did you say that girl lived!?" I screamed, practically spitting in his face. NO ONE touches my swords, much less a petty the thief. Especially the Wado Ichimonji, the very essence of my ambition. I was out for blood, girl or no.

The man flinched, but I was in too much a rage to consider the pressure I put on him. When he didn't reply immediately, I grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him upward until I stared hard into his withering features, my entire body trembling with anger. "WHERE. IS. SHE."

"A-about f-f-four miles th-that way!"

I dropped him and broke into a sprint, my heart pumping like mad as adrenaline coursed through my veins. My mind zeroed in on her, that petty thief who thought she could steal from me, Roronoa Zoro, and wound my pride as a swordsman. That sword was precious to me, and if she thought she would get away with stealing it, then she was dead wrong. I would kill her. I will kill her. I will kill her!

"Wait, stop! Where are you going!? I'm pointing this way! You're going the wrong direction!"

.o0o.

I found the girl's house with very few inconveniences. The small single-story shack was isolated in a small grove of trees about a thirty-minute walk from a small stream flowing downhill from the apex of the tall hill. A well-worn path was easy to follow through the forest until it expanded into the glade. The house was a tiny dilapidated thing leaning like a drunken sailor, only big enough for two, maybe three people at most to live comfortably. An overgrown garden sported a few haphazardly grown tomatoes and assorted other garden-type foods. Through the cracked glass of what used to be a window, something moved.

I drew Kitetsu and approached cautiously, stepping around the strewn farm equipment. I was unused to fighting Itoryuu with the cursed blade, but it was the one I wanted to use to cut down this cheeky bitch. My rage was insuppressible and probably over the top, but I'd had a rough two days, and all that frustration and despair would be taken out on that poor soul inside the house. I knew that Robin would hate to see me like this, and for a moment I hesitated on whether or not to actually kill this thief. But right now, Kuina's sword meant more to me than anything, and I needed it back.

With a flick of the sword, the door flew inward, crashing into a cabinet of chipped dishes. The china crashed into a thousand pieces as it shattered against the dusty floor, scattering the rats. The inside was half lit with oil lamps and candles, not bright but enough to see by. The house seemed immensely cramped, like the outside didn't do the place justice. A small kitchen with a grease-stained stove and oven was to the left, a one legged stool propped against an island tabletop where a plate of mush sat half-eaten. A couch was pushed up against the far wall, made up with sheets and a pillow. At the head of the couch was a large wardrobe with a door missing, and inside I could see assorted trinkets like pocket watches and candlesticks.

I smirked. This was definitely the house of a thief. And she was somewhere close by.

"Oi, girlie," I called. "Come out right now with my sword and I'll spare your life." The silence of the house roared in my ears. A rat scurried between my feet and climbed up the stool, diving into the meal left in easy reach. A fly buzzed by my ear. "I'm going to count to three," I said sternly when I received no direct answer, raising my blade and licking my lips like a wolf that just zeroed in on his prey. "If you don't come out, I'll find you."

Still nothing.

"One."

The rat squeaked.

"Two."

Wind rattled the shutters.

"Three."

A door opened somewhere, and tentative footsteps slowly approached from my right. I looked down a dark hallway lit by a single candle, through which I could see an approaching shadow, slim and short.

"Good girl," I said. "Now where's my sword?"

Quick as a flash, the figure vanished. Someone jumped on my back and used one hand to grab Kitetsu's hilt while the other captured the blade, wrapping their legs around my stomach and pulling back until the sharp edge was pressed against my throat. "Don't move," a girl's voice whispered. "Or your head will roll."

"Ha," I chuckled. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

I suddenly threw the arm holding Kitetsu's hilt forward, simultaneously using my free hand to wrench her legs from around my midsection. I ducked, and the girl's body sailed over my head as her position on my back was suddenly thrown off balance. She instinctively let go of my katana and landed with a thump on the dirty floor, a feminine grunt escaping her lips.

I lowered Kitetsu's blade over her face, and she opened her dark eyes to stare defiantly at me. In the dim light of the house, I could somewhat make out dark green – almost black – hair pulled back into a high ponytail with slightly curled bangs hanging on either side of her young face. Her left hand was bleeding a bit from where she had grabbed the katana blade, her blood pleasing to the cursed sword. "You have something of mine," I told her. "I want it back."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she spat coldly.

"You most certainly do," I hissed, growing impatient. "Down by the docks earlier today, you stole my white sword. It's important to me, and I want it back. If you don't tell me where it is, I'll tear this entire place apart."

"You have three swords. It won't matter if you lose one."

"I use Santoryuu; three-sword style. It doesn't work if I don't have three swords."

Her expressed twisted a bit. "I don't know if you can tell, Mr. Swordsman," her tone turned icy. "But I don't have a lot of money. You're rich enough to afford three swords. Go buy another one and leave me alone."

"I don't think so."

We remained like this for several minutes. She didn't say anything, but continued to lie on the floor staring coldly upside down at me, and I reciprocated her gaze with equal if not more ferocity. This girl wasn't fazed in the slightest at her imminent death, so I'd give her points for that, but her spunk was grating on my nerves, which wasn't the best position to be in.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she said, "You're strong, right."

"Very."

"How strong?"

I was a bit miffed at the disbelieving tone. "Strong enough to be in the New World. I'm the man who will become the world's greatest swordsman and surpass Dracule Mihawk."

"So you're a pirate."

"And if I am?"

"What's your bounty? Where's your crew?"

I was put off by the interview, but if it helped this girl decide that I was superior, then so be it. "One hundred twenty million belis. And I'm not a captain. I'm a Straw Hat pirate, under Monkey D. Luffy."

Her eyes widened a fraction of a degree. "You're Roronoa Zoro."

"Damn straight," I confirmed. "And I need my sword, if you please."

She seemed to be deep in thought for a brief moment before she closed her eyes and curled her lips into a sinister smile. "Perfect."

My eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you yammering about?"

She opened her eyes again, staring at me with an eerie, cunning and crafty light in her eyes. I was suddenly overcome with a strange sensation, like I was staring at Nami when she heard the word treasure. "I'm not yammering, Roronoa-san. I'm negotiating."

"I'm not agreeing to any of your terms, bitch."

She wasn't faltering. She slowly raised a hand and pushed Kitetsu's blade from her face and sat up, not turning to face me as she patted the dust from her T-shirt. "I think you will. Because what I'm proposing is fairly easy to go through with."

I crossed my arms. This girl was confident I wouldn't kill her. And she was partially right; I wasn't in the mood for siphoning through the junk that was scattered through this hovel. It would be far easier to beat the Wado's location out of this girl. I watched her with a careful eye as she stood and faced me, the top of her head barely reaching my shoulder.

"I know what you want," she said, a sympathetic breath underlying her normal intellectual and annoying voice. "I have an eternal log pose to the next island. I stole the old man Yamamura's boat, so I have a sturdy vessel. I have valuable items worth a lot of beli. I have your sword. I have the information you need to survive the upcoming weeks."

There's no such thing as a free lunch. "What do you want?" I growled, tapping my fingers against the opposite bicep impatiently.

"You have to take me with you."

That certainly was not what I was expecting. I felt my jaw open slightly, indicating my surprise and astonishment. I had been waiting for the cash payment Nami would offer, or the harem ero-cook would have bargained, or something other than what she said. "I have to do what?"

"I know what happened to your ship," she said. "I was following him, the one who attacked your crew. I didn't know one of you got out of there; usually no one survives. I stole Yamamura-san's boat because I didn't want you to leave without me. You looked strong enough to take him out, so to lure you over here I stole one of your swords. I knew who you were and what technique you used, and I purposefully played dumb."

I wasn't sure what to do with this information. At the mention of the perpetrator of my situation, my rage flared again, and I roared, "You know who he is!? Tell me!?"

She crossed her arms stubbornly. "I told you I would tell you everything once you give me your word that I'll come with you. I have my own reasons for going after him, reasons you don't need to know about. I've done this with two other guys before you, but they weren't strong enough. You… you have something precious on that ship, don't you?"

My heart skipped a beat. Robin. Alone, her soul trapped in a tiny wooden doll as her body became a slave to some demented puppeteer.

"I can see it in your eyes," the thief continued. "You'll do anything to save your crew. All I want is to come with you."

I studied the girl, probably a year or two younger than Luffy. About average size, small bust and narrow hips. Her shorts were loose around the waist, as if they were meant to fit a woman much older. The shirt looked to belong to a man, tied in the back to better fit her. She certainly looked no worse for wear, and made up for her disheveled appearance with a head held high and a commanding voice.

A log pose, a boat, my sword, and information, all for one tiny passenger. It was ridiculously tempting. I couldn't see any other way around it. Nami was way better at haggling than I was, and I figured there was probably a loophole I was missing, but my strained brain failed to detect it. This wasn't the first time I had "teamed up" with a female thief, and from experience, they often robbed you blind of ship and money, sailing off with the goods. I wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of repeating the process, but this time, Robin was at stake, not to mention the Wado Ichimonji and my dream.

I curled my lip, wiping the blood from the blade and sheathing the protesting Kitetsu. With my thumb and forefinger, I pinched the bridge of my nose as a headache pounded against my skull. "Fine."

"Shake on it."

I looked at her small hand, covered in callouses and scrapes, held out toward me. The girl's expression was firm, defiant, and unless I was mistaken, a bit nervous. I grudgingly put my pride aside and took her small hand in my own large one, and we moved our joined arms once in unison, our pact complete. For the first time, a smile pulled at the girl's lips. "Great. We'll set sail tomorrow, Roronoa-san."

"First, my sword."

"I didn't say you would get it back immediately," the girl smirked. "I'll hold on to it to ensure that you keep your end of the deal."

Loophole. Found it. "Bitch!"

She laughed. "Name's Keiko. We're partners from now on!"

I moaned, all the energy draining from my limbs as it dawned on me what I had suddenly gotten myself into.

Whatever the case, I reasoned wearily to myself as the Wado Ichimonji was retrieved from behind the cabinet of dishes I had destroyed with the door. I have everything I need to rescue my nakama. And Robin. And on my own life I swear I'll save them. I stared longingly as Keiko tied a sash to the Wado's hilt and scabbard, looping it around her chest so the sword rested comfortably against her back. The Wado Ichimonji in exchange for my friends. A price I'm unwilling to pay, but for the sake of the crew, it's necessary.

Forgive me, Kuina. But I'll definitely succeed and continue our dreams.

So… as for that chapter, it's completed. Please leave a review if you have time and tell me how I can improve this chapter for future readers; I feel like there's more I could do with this but nothing is flowing right now. This cold I suffer from is dulling my senses as I review this one last time, so I may have missed a few things.

Thanks for reading, and I sign of this chapter with the next's title!

Coming Up: Chapter 5 – Setting Sail