So, I don't seem to have much consistency in chapter length. Sorry about that.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Warnings: Brief Language.

The group was very quiet as we waited for what felt like hours. Even Brook had abandoned his perpetual humming as he leaned against the far wall beside Syla and Luffy hadn't said anything at all.

At first there had been a kind of quiet murmuring while Syla told us that both of the explosions should have been enough to level half of the island and Robin and Nami came up with a chilling theory: Zoro had used one of his manifestations, similar to the Asura form but opposite in effect, to intentionally absorb most of the attacks into himself, lessening the chance of anyone else being hurt by it.

No one had said much after that. The silence was nearly deafening and only served as a reminder for the seriousness of the situation.

In an attempt to distract myself, I turned away to study the line of empty vases on a narrow table behind me. I wondered if Chopper kept them in here for flower bouquets when one of the crew was laid up for any length of time. They were all empty now.

I whipped back around as Zoro gave a low groan and raised one hand to rub at his eye tiredly.

"That was a good nap," he rumbled with only a small bite of sarcasm.

Chopper was off Nami's lap and across the small room in a heartbeat, jumping onto the stool beside the cot to look over his patient. "Zoro! You're awake!"

No one else moved from their current positions but all of the tension drained from the room the moment the swordsman had started talking. I heard Sanji scoff and Luffy giggle as apparently they chalked it up to just another after-battle get-together. It seemed they had almost known the damage wouldn't keep Zoro down for very long once Chopper got his heart pumping again and were no longer all that stressed about it.

I had to remind myself that Zoro was stupidly strong, after all. I also realized that with the green-haired terror involved, the attack had probably looked a lot worse than it had actually been. No doubt the other Straw Hats were almost used to watching him pull back from the brink of permanent oblivion and had only been waiting for the moment he would wake up, heavily bandaged but already on the mend.

I, on the other hand, was furious.

"You had us going for a minute, Sword Bro," Franky snickered from the doorway. "Tossing yourself off a cliff like that."

"How silly of you, Master Zoro," Brook agreed fondly. Beside him, Syla simply shook her head in exasperation and went back to staring at the floor.

"Honestly Zoro," Nami rolled her eyes and Ussop and Sanji directed disapproving scowls at the swordsman, although none of the looks held much force behind them. "Can you at least try not to throw yourself at every little thing that blows up whenever we're in a fight? Its getting really old, you know."

"But you do seem to be feeling better already," Robin observed. "Your battle stamina is certainly a large factor in that, but I suppose our doctor's quick skills are what ultimately saved you. Do try not to be so reckless."

Chopper nodded quickly from the stool. "Robin is right. And I've already applied the skin glue to the worst of your injuries, so as long as you don't move around too much yet you should be- Hey, wait!"

Zoro ignored the doctor's startled warnings and sat up on the cot, swinging his legs around to hang off the sides. "What happened?" he asked the room. "How did the fight end?"

"Shogun escaped," Nami answered. "We're on course for the next island right now; I'm more than sure he'll be there."

"Shit," Zoro said with feeling. "Damned stupid demon bastard. I was hoping to get off a few more hits before I blacked out."

"Don't worry about it," Luffy grinned. "You'll get another chance. He's not getting away from us that easy." Now that his swordsman was out of immediate danger he had gone back to his usual goofy self.

Zoro smirked at the captain in agreement and I lost what little control I had been holding on to for the past couple of hours.

"You idiot!" I exploded, releasing all of the fear and anger that had been building since Zoro had taken that first hit. "What the hell were you thinking!" I was seeing red, watching the swordsman dive at Shogun's massive attack over and over in my head.

"Renna," Ussop started worriedly. I ignored him, not tearing my eyes away from Zoro.

"I have never seen anything so stupid in my life!" The volume of my voice was hurting my own ears but I plowed on anyway. "Don't you have any self-preservation instinct at all, you psychotic son of a bitch!"

Luffy and Robin each took a step away from me, letting me rant without interruption. The others simply looked on with expressions ranging from wary to curious.

"As you can see," Zoro said calmly. "I'm fine."

"Shut the hell up, Zoro!" I screamed. "I'm not about to listen to that idiotic macho crap! This isn't just about you! Don't you realize how anyone else would feel if you died!" In a blind rage I grabbed one of the vases from the table and hurled it at Zoro's annoyingly green head with surprising speed. It missed of course. I had never had much hand-eye coordination to begin with and certainly not when I was so angry.

The vase shattered into pieces against the wall and fell to the cot behind the swordsman.

"Renna, stop!" Chopper cried.

"Wait, Sis," Franky warned. He wriggled in the doorway as if to reach in and block my attack on the injured man.

Undaunted, I snatched another vase and threw that one as well. It flew past Zoro's head and smashed on the wall the same as the first one, missing his ear by inches. "Selfish bastard!" I hollered.

"Renna!" Nami stood from the chair. "Calm down!"

Zoro hadn't moved an inch. He sat still on the cot, his one good eye studying me with almost no expression at all. His lack of reaction made me all the more furious and I reached for another vase, only to be stopped by Luffy as he grabbed my arm and bent down to pull me up over his shoulder.

"Let me go!" I shouted, still fuming. "I'll kill him myself! Luffy, stop!"

Luffy ignored my barely coherent raging and left the medical room through the exit opposite Franky, closing the door and setting me down in the hallway. He took my hand and turned away to tug me along behind him without a word. I didn't try to stop him, not that I actually could, and resigned myself to follow the captain as my teeth clenched with anger.

Luffy didn't even pause until we had walked outside, down the stairs and through another door. I looked around and finally took note of where we had stopped. What were we doing in the men's sleeping area?

I waited for him to say something. To tell me not to yell at Zoro or to keep my temper to myself on his ship, something like that. He didn't. He simply stood still, his fingers clasped around mine, and after about a full minute I prodded, "Luffy?"

The captain dropped my hand and walked over to one of the lockers on the other side of the room, opening it and digging around for a moment. I watched with a mild curiosity still tempered by fury as Luffy returned holding a small wooden box. He flipped the lid up and reached inside.

"What are you doing?" I asked. His silence was making me nervous. Luffy was never this quiet.

Luffy removed his closed hand and set the box to one side. He then reached for my own hand and pressed something small and light into my palm. A ghost of a smile played around his lips as he watched me pull my arm toward my face to study the object more closely.

I stared down at the plain-looking piece of paper in confusion, my anger ebbing away quickly. "What's this?"

"It's Zoro's Vivre Card," Luffy answered simply.

A Vivre Card. Of course, I had seen these before. A piece of paper that reflected the life force of the person for whom it was made. I had no idea Zoro even had one, actually. "Why would I want this?" I asked.

"So you know he's okay," the captain explained, as if this should be obvious. " He's always okay."

I looked from Luffy to the paper again, unsure of what to say. "I can't-"

"Just hold on to it for now," Luffy grinned. He put one hand on my shoulder briefly before moving past me and toward the open door. "It's fine, Renna."

I stared after him, rooted to the spot as he disappeared out onto the deck. Luffy had never called me anything but 'Mermaid' before now. I knew suddenly he was very serious about what he had said, and meant every word of it.

Holding the paper tightly in one hand I reluctantly followed him.

I had stayed out on the deck for another hour, sitting on the stairs and leaning back to watch the jolly roger flap gently in the breeze as we moved along the sea. I was still a little irritated with Zoro for being so stupid and reckless but most of my anger had burned off by the time Nami walked carefully down the staircase to sit next to me. She didn't say anything until I turned to meet her scrutinizing gaze, giving her one of my own.

"We'll be at the next island in three days," she said lightly. "Should give everyone some time to recover before we meet up with Shogun again."

I didn't reply to that, rolling the Vivre card between my fingers thoughtfully. I really didn't ever want to meet up with that monster again, and if I did manage to make it home I would do my damnedest to not come back, not matter how much I loved these people. But that wasn't the news I had been waiting for and I gave the navigator another pointed look.

Nami sighed and answered the unasked question. "He'll be fine," she said. "Chopper gave him a really powerful sedative to knock him back out for awhile, not that you didn't put in a pretty good effort to do it, yourself." She turned to look at me again and raised one delicate eyebrow. "What was that about, anyway?"

"He's an idiot," I said blandly.

"Well, yes," Nami agreed. "But I seem to remember you guys getting along a little better right before the fight. Was I wrong?"

I sighed and tugged my fingers through my tangled hair before answering. "Not really. I guess…we had come to a kind of agreement. Sort of. But he's still an idiot."

"Yeah," Nami pulled her knees up and rested her arms across them. "He's over-bearing when he's being protective and nearly gets himself killed every other week to make sure nothing happens to the rest of us. It's like he doesn't really think things through beyond that first goal, most times. But to Zoro, that's what it means to be part of this pirate crew, I guess." She tilted her head toward me and smiled. "He'll never change, Renna. He is always going to put your safety above his own. Is that such a bad thing?"

I hadn't ever thought so before today, remembering my conversation with the swordsman the day I had met Syla. It was true I had always watched Zoro do anything he could to protect the other Straw Hats short of actually dying himself, although that was hardly through any lack of effort on his part. I frowned thoughtfully.

"There's just one little hitch in your theory, though," I said after a pause.

"What's that?"

I turned to meet her gaze fully. "I'm not part of your crew."

Nami didn't respond to that, only looked away with a cryptic smile, staring out onto the open water.

Some time later I was still sitting on the staircase while the sun made its way slowly down to meet the waves in front of us. Nami had gone back inside awhile before, saying something about reading up on the next island, but I myself hadn't moved much. Apart from trying to find a decent place to store Zoro's Vivre card.

I turned it over in my hand for the hundredth time and sighed. I didn't trust it would stay in my pocket if something like the Shogun incident were to happen again. My boot was probably more secure but a little gross and there was no way I was sticking anything that had a part of Zoro in it inside my bra. Walking around with the card in my hand was completely out of the question. So what the hell was I supposed to do with it?

Light, clipping footsteps descended the stairs behind me and I raised my head at the sound of the skeleton's polite voice.

"Our Master Cook says dinner will be served shortly, Miss Renna," Brook said as he stopped beside me on the stairs. "He has asked me to invite you inside for the meal."

"I'm not all that hungry," I muttered.

I heard a soft whoosh of air that I assumed was the skeleton's way of sighing before long, thin legs stretched out beside me as Brook sat down. "To have such friends," he started quietly. "Those who would risk their own life for yours without a thought and with no expectation of reward. They are truly rare gifts, are they not?"

"If they get themselves killed over it, they're nothing but morons," I growled.

"But they have not," Brook continued. "Have they?"

I was trying to come up with a suitable counter argument but the bony musician beat me to the next line.

"Have faith in us, Miss Renna. We follow our captain and, while he may have the mannerisms of a particularly spoiled child a good deal of the time, he has enough heart to motivate us to do great and impossible things."

"I know that," I sighed. "I just don't like being able to do nothing, is all. It's frustrating."

"I don't doubt that in the least," Brook replied in a strangely cheerful voice. "However, I'm sure your presence on this ship isn't all for nothing."

I turned my head to look at him and averted my eyes again almost immediately. It was still a little too creepy to stare at him for very long, although I did appreciate the thoughtful words. "We'll see," I shrugged.

Brook nodded in satisfaction to my answer and stood again with a flourish, towering over me and giving a jovial chuckle. "Well then, Miss Renna. Shall we?"

"I guess," I agreed. Climbing slowly to my feet I tucked the card into my front pocket, near the bottom. I would still have to come up with a better place to keep it but for now this would work. "Let's go then."

"Of course, my dear," Brook made a low bow. "But first, may I see your-"

"You'll be seeing my fist up close and personal if you finish that sentence," I warned in a very good impression of the navigator.

Brook squeaked and straightened again. "Ah, yes," he fumbled. "Of course."

I gave him another scowl, just so I didn't accidentally smile at his weird behavior, and let him lead the way to the kitchen.

Dinner was subdued that night. I had mumbled a half-apology when I arrived with Brook, not actually feeling very sorry for my outburst, but the crew seemed to have forgotten about it already. A few of them were even trying to engage Syla in conversation while we ate. The dragon girl was sitting at the other end of the table, talking quietly with Robin and Nami and answering Luffy's questions as he voiced them loudly around a mouthful of food.

Chopper and Zoro were both notably absent from the table and Brook offered to take plates to them when we were finished.

I was still thinking about what I had said to the musician. The last battle had been an eye-opener to the actual level of my uselessness on this ship. Every one of these people were fighters and it bothered me that I couldn't even help them.

Later that evening I snuck out of the kitchen while Sanji doted over the three other women and Nami yelled at him for one thing or another, making my through the ship and down to the work area of the two resident inventors.

Franky and Ussop both looked up as I came into the room but almost immediately went back to their work.

"Hey Sis," Franky greeted as he tightened a bolt on a giant piece of metal sitting in front of him. "What's up? You get sick of the cook already?"

"Not really," I admitted. I hovered in the doorway, steeling my resolve to make the request I had been thinking about since my conversation with Brook. "Actually, I have a favor to ask from you both."

The sniper must have caught something in my tone, as he set his hammer on the floor beside him and pulled his goggles back to study me properly. "What is it?"

I met his gaze and looked from him to Franky and back again. "Teach me how to use a cannon."