This one is a little longer than the others, I've been trying not to get lost in pointless detail but I don't know how well that's working out.

This chapter contains yet another OC (sorry!) but hopefully you'll forgive me. I needed another element for the story and dragged this one out from the piles of garbage littering the corners of the computer specifically for this reason. I wrote this chapter weeks ago and have been fiddling with it ever since. Still hasn't improved much. Oh well.

Enough of my rambling. Here we go.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

Warnings: Language

And as always, I love every review! Thanks for reading!

Arms were around me, pulling with enough force to fight off the current long enough to get my head to the surface again.

Someone was behind me as I coughed and dragged in a few painful gulps of air. The water was rushing around the back of my head as I was held up by the waist and supported against what I had to guess was a thin human body. I couldn't see anything but an arm encased in black fabric, a long narrow chain held in the hand and wrapped down to the elbow. I couldn't be sure but it looked like the chain was attached to a nearby tree by something long and sharp.

"Take a breath," a low yet obviously feminine voice ordered from behind my shoulder, "and hold on."

Not having much in the way of options I did as I was instructed and found myself being dragged to the bank of the river with reassuring speed. I still went under a couple of times, but due to the strength of my rescuer managed to not drown.

When I finally reached solid ground I collapsed into a freezing, soaking and exhausted pile of limbs. My rescuer walked past me and pulled what appeared to be a large glass knife out of the tree, winding the chain before hooking it to her belt. She turned to look at me, and I was surprised to realize that we were very close to the same age. I may have even been a little older.

The girl was dressed completely in black. Black pants, black boots, long-sleeved black shirt and vest, and a couple of belts around her trim waist. She was so small, I had to wonder how she had ever managed to pull me from the river. Her hair was hanging in dripping tendrils nearly down to her hips, and although it was soaking wet, it looked like it might be black as well.

Such dark colors only made it more painfully obvious how pale her skin was, although it might have just been from the cold. Her eyes however, were a dark shade of green bordering on unearthly. I could swear they were almost glowing.

She looked me over with a slightly unnerving gaze. "Can you stand?"

I was shivering like crazy but pushed myself off the ground to my feet. I felt a little too vulnerable just sitting on the rocks. "Yeah," I said, teeth chattering. "Shit, it's cold!"

The girl bent down and picked up a large blue canvas bag and a long jacket. The jacket was also black but had a strange green sheen to it, like some kind of reptilian skin. "Let's go," she said.

"Wh- what," I hesitated on the shore, remembering the beast that had been chasing me before I fell into the river. "What about that wolf thing?"

"Don't worry about it," was the short reply before the small young woman began walking away, jacket over one arm and bag slung across her thin shoulder. "It's not here anymore."

I hovered indecisively on the spot before hurrying after her as fast as my tired limbs would allow. We walked for a few minutes and came across a tiny clearing, protected by rocks on one side and massive trees on the other.

The girl set her belongings on the ground and opened the bag to pull a spare shirt from inside. She walked over to where I stood and yanked my drenched sweater over my head with alarming speed, I hadn't even had time to protest. She handed the shirt to me and turned away again, prowling around the small area and returning with an armful of dry branches.

I pulled on the offered clothing and sat heavily on the ground as my aching legs finally had enough of standing, watching her make a fire so quickly I began to wonder if it wasn't a bit unnatural. In no more than a minute or two the flames were nearly up to the girl's elbow, and the warmth radiating from them was heavenly.

She removed her belts without a word and, to my astonishment and horror, walked right into the fire.

"What are you doing?" I shouted, jumping to my feet. Was she completely insane?

She looked at me in confusion, the fire licking up her small frame and drying her hair and clothing, before seeming to remember something and laughing. "Oh," she said, still chuckling. "Sorry about that. I suppose I should have warned you first. I forgot that this looks strange to most people. Don't worry," she added when I took a step forward. "Fire can't hurt me."

Indeed, she didn't seem to be in any kind of pain, or even discomfort. I stood by, flabbergasted, as she stepped out of the fire and shook her arms to rid her shirt of the grey soot clinging to it. Apparently it couldn't hurt her clothing, either.

"Sorry," she said again. "I didn't mean to scare you."

I stared at her for a long time. "How are you still alive?" I demanded, feeling annoyed for being so far out of my element. Not to mention incredibly tired.

She chuckled again. "I should introduce myself," she mused out loud, before nodding at me. "Modokai 'Dragon Tooth' Syla. Or just Syla, if you prefer."

"Dragon what?" I really wanted to sit back down again, but forced my legs to cooperate for a little longer.

Syla smiled patiently. She walked over to her belts and picked them up, pulling one of the two long knives from it resting place in the black sheath. The thin silver-white chain was connected to the handle, winding down to the belt. It was a lot longer than I had thought at first.

"This," Syla explained, holding the weapon out in front of her, "is called a Dragon Tooth blade. Of course its not really made from a dragon's tooth," she smirked. "That would be ridiculous."

Right, I thought dryly, because nothing so far had been ridiculous at all. I studied the semi-transparent knife and frowned. "Does that thing hold up very well?" I asked. "I mean, I can't picture glass lasting too long against steel, for instance."

"Not glass," Syla corrected. "Diamond."

I blinked. What?

Seeing my confounded expression, she replaced the blade and dug around in the bag again. "Those blades are centuries old," she said. "Passed down from one clan leader to the next. I've had them for awhile now." She reemerged with a rolled-up blanket. "Take your pants off and cover up, before you come down with fever."

I looked at her with a sudden suspicion. "Why are you being so nice?" I asked. It did seem kind of weird, now that I had time to think about it. This girl was a complete stranger and yet she had pulled me from the river, built a fire and told me her name, and was now making sure I didn't catch a cold or something similar. It was all very strange.

She sighed and tossed the blanket to me. "Because you were drowning, and I thought I ought to do something about it."

It wasn't a very satisfying answer. "Why?" I asked.

Syla glanced over at me and gave a light snort. "Relax," she said. "I'm not an enemy. Now, dry off. I'll take you back to wherever you've wandered in from."

I gave her another cautious study before coming to the conclusion that she was probably right about getting sick. I quickly stripped from my soaked pants and pulled my shoes and socks off, wrapping myself in the thick blanket. When I was finished I moved a little closer to the heat source and lowered myself to the ground.

Syla was sitting on a large flat rock beside the fire, her feet inside the flames as she hummed quietly to herself. The image was bizarre, and brought up another very important question.

"So why the hell are you fire-proof, anyway?" I hadn't intended to sound quite so rude, but the stress of the day was starting to catch up to me.

"I am Dragonkinde," she said simply, going right back to humming the exotic melody.

"And that means what?" I prompted.

"She's a dragon."

I whipped around as my swordsman strode into the clearing. He was looking more intimidating than usual, owing mostly to the dark bandana around his forehead. "Zoro," I acknowledged in surprise. I frowned almost immediately. Did I really just think the words 'my swordsman'? I must have been more tired than I had thought.

Zoro gave me a quick once-over and, apparently satisfied that I wasn't hurt, he turned back to Syla. "An obnoxious, fire-breathing pain in the ass," he finished.

"I do not breath fire, pirate hunter," Syla answered evenly, then tilted her head. "Or is it just 'pirate' now?"

Zoro ignored the question. "I thought you were dead," he frowned. "What're you doin' on the Grand Line?"

"I could ask you the same," the small girl smiled at him. "But I know you wouldn't tell me anyway."

"You're right," Zoro agreed.

I watched the exchange curiously, feeling a lot safer with the green-haired man in my sight again. "You two know each other?" I had already guessed that, as the tension in the air was very nearly palpable. It was almost amusing how someone could get under Zoro's skin to such a level, but it did bring up the question of how this girl had managed it.

"In a manner of speaking, I suppose," Syla shrugged and stood up, pulling her feet from the fire and dusting bits of ash from her pants. "It's been awhile, Zoro. You've certainly changed. Still chasing Mihawk?"

"You haven't," Zoro had moved closer to me, his eye still fixed on the girl. "Still chasing the past?" His tone was hard, unforgiving.

"Ah, well," Syla shrugged again. "You know what they say. Old habits die hard, and all that." Her eerie green eyes moved from me to the swordsman. "Speaking of…On second thought, perhaps you haven't changed so much after all."

I didn't miss the hidden implication, even if I didn't understand the meaning behind it. I looked up at Zoro. "What's that about?" I asked.

"It's nothing," he answered without turning. "Forget it."

Syla's dark eyebrows rose up in surprise. "I don't know why you insist on acting the way you do," she said. "It's incredibly transparent, you know."

"Renna, get your stuff," Zoro ordered unexpectedly. "We're leaving. Now."

"But…" I looked down at the blanket and borrowed shirt.

"Keep them," Syla waved a hand and smiled. "I have others." She appeared to be completely unfazed by Zoro's shadowy mood. I was a little impressed.

I picked up my wad of wet clothing just as Zoro stepped back and hauled me up onto one arm, practically sprinting from the clearing. I heard the faint call of 'Try not to be so careless, Zoro' before we were too far into the trees to hear anything else.

"Whoa! Hey!" I clung on to his shoulder to stop myself from bouncing around too much. "What's the matter with you?" When his pace didn't change I tried again. "Slow down, dammit! I'm going to fall!"

Zoro slowed to a walk, keeping me on his left arm since I was still bare-foot from my dip in the river. Not to mention not wearing any pants, a fact that I was now more uncomfortably aware of than before.

"That woman," he growled. "Damned, meddling, obnoxious-" He went on for awhile, and I didn't interrupt his rant.

"I thought she was nice," I told him when he had settled down.

Zoro tilted his head toward me, although it was hard to read his expression from my current angle. "Stay away from her," he said. "I don't trust her."

"How do you know her?" I asked. "And what was that she said about you not changing?" I was too relieved that he had come to get me to be very annoyed with him, at the moment. Although how he had actually found us with his dismal sense of direction was probably a mystery that wouldn't be solved anytime soon.

Zoro had located the path, or accidentally stumbled onto it, more likely, and was now walking east toward the town. "It was before I met Luffy," he answered after a moment. "I saved her life. Or thought I did, anyway. Turns out she wasn't really in any danger to begin with. I didn't know she was Dragonkinde, at the time."

"Okay," I said, resisting the urge to rub my eyes in confusion as my brain twirled around in my head. "Explain. What the hell does that mean? Why did you call her a dragon?"

"The Dragonkinde were a race of people actually descended from dragons. Not sure how that works, honestly. They were a hidden clan from the East Blue but originated here, on the Grand Line."

"Were?" I repeated. That sounded a little ominous.

"Modokai is the last," Zoro confirmed. "The whole clan was wiped out, several decades back, and she's been looking for the ones responsible ever since."

"Oh," I answered. "That's really…Wait. Decades? She can't be that old, can she?"

"Dragons don't age like we do," Zoro said simply, as if it made perfect sense. "She's been on the seas for longer than you and I have been alive."

I took a moment to roll that around but stopped before I gave myself a headache. "What did she mean," I started again, "about being careless?"

Zoro didn't answer right away. Finally he said, "She thinks I act like a human shield or something."

"Well, I can see her point," I nodded. "Eep!" I squeaked when Zoro bounced me on his arm intentionally to shut me up. It didn't work. "What? You don't think so? It isn't always a bad thing."

"Can we not talk about this?" he grumbled.

"Alright," I gave in on the subject, but started a new one within the next second. "So," I began slowly, speaking on a strong hunch and judging by their reaction to each other in the clearing, "how long were you two together, anyway?"

Zoro's step hitched slightly and I knew I had found something interesting. His mouth tightened at the corners as he regained his footing.

"Well?" I prompted when he stayed quiet for several seconds.

"Not long," he said. "Not after…it doesn't matter."

"That's kind of gross, isn't it?" I thought out loud. "Considering the age difference and all."

"Depends on how you look at it, I guess," Zoro shrugged.

"How old were you?"

Zoro made an irritated sound. "What does it matter?" he asked. "It's the past."

I sighed. "Why don't you trust her?" I asked after a short pause. I couldn't help my curiosity. This was definitely a side of the swordsman I hadn't seen before. Hadn't even considered it, actually.

"She's unpredictable," Zoro growled. "She was calm today, but she definitely has the attitude of a dragon." He stopped talking for so long I thought he was finished. "I watched her take down three full galleons in the East Blue. By herself. Turns out they weren't the ones she had been looking for. It was disturbing, how she didn't even seem to care."

I was quiet for awhile after this, thinking hard. For as much as I had seen of him I knew for a fact the swordsman wasn't exactly a saint, but neither was he really a monster. He fought back when being attacked and to protect his crew. His goal to be the best swordsman was only to prove that he could, and not to wreak havoc on the world's inhabitants. To purposely initiate that kind of slaughter…I understood now why he had been so anxious to get me away from Syla. "I see," I answered eventually.

The sea-side settlement came into view and I spent the next ten minutes directing Zoro through the town as best I could. Nami's map had still been in my pocket when I fell into the river, so I doubted it would be of much use anymore. After a few wrong turns we finally got the hang of our make-shift teamwork and I was beginning to relax a little as the familiar sight of the Thousand Sunny came into view, it's jolly roger flying proudly in the breeze. After the events of the afternoon it was a welcoming sight.

Soon we had reached the edge of the small port town and Zoro walked along the docks toward the towering figure of the Sunny. "Listen," he said as we approached the Straw Hat crew's ship. "No one knows about Syla…"

"Got it," I nodded. "Not a word." It didn't feel right, hiding information of a possibly dangerous woman from the others, but Zoro was obviously very uncomfortable about the whole thing. If I wanted to keep myself in his good graces and hold up my end of our agreement, I knew I would have to keep mum in the bargain.

We reached the Sunny and Zoro jumped high into the air, grabbing the ropes on the side of the ship and hauling us both over and onto the deck. He set me down and pulled the bandana from his head. "Why are you all wet, anyway?" he asked.

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "You didn't just notice that right now, did you?"

"I noticed immediately," he said. "Thought the harpy had tried to drown you, at first."

I remembered the scary expression on his face when he had burst into the clearing and shook my head. "Something was chasing me," I explained. "I fell into the river, but she pulled me out."

"That's why you don't wander off," Zoro frowned down at me. "Stay close next time."

"I didn't wander off," I protested angrily. "I ran off. Didn't really have much choice, you know. Didn't you hear me calling you?"

"I heard," Zoro's frown intensified. "But by the time I got outside, you were gone."

"So where did you go?" I asked, trying to ignore how cold it was without the swordsman's body heat to keep the chill away. My wet clothing felt like it had been sitting ice water and my hair wasn't much better. "Why did it take you so long? Did you get lost?"

"I got side-tracked," the swordsman answered while studying me with a critical eye. "I'll tell you later."

"Why is it always 'later'?" I grumbled, feeling more than a little fatigued. My entire body shivered convulsively and Zoro grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward the cabin without another word. I let him lead me up to Chopper's examining room, although I already knew the way. I was too busy still mulling over the fact that the surly swordsman had an old flame. Literally, it seemed. It was kind of funny.

Zoro handed me over to the doctor, who yelped in concern at my disheveled appearance, and left again immediately.

Apparently he was not as amused about it as I was.