Sorry for the slow update, been shorted on free time recently. And I suppose I should also apologize if I've completely butchered some of the attack names in this one (seems likely) as they do tend to vary slightly from one translation to the other. Other than that...Yay! Fighting!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except Renna, Syla and Shogun.

Warnings: Language

Enjoy!

Shogun is here, I thought numbly, still sitting at the table as the inevitable shouting and snarling from the crew, plus Syla, began out on the deck. Shogun is here? What the hell?

Nami had said he would be at the next island. And yet here he was, almost two days ahead of the navigator's predictions. But, I supposed, predicting the movements of a half-mad demon god was a lot like predicting the movements of someone like Luffy. Pretty much impossible.

I stared down at the table top, not actually seeing it, trying to decide if I should stay where I was or, although I really didn't want to, go out on the deck. My decision was made for me when something hit the side of the Sunny, throwing me backward and clear out of my chair. I scooted quickly and reflexively under the table. Definitely not going outside, then. Seemed like it might end in a very bad day.

But as I crouched under the heavy piece of furniture, I thought again about what I had told the sniper just the day before: I want to help!

Yes, I did in fact want to contribute as much as I could to the people who had already protected me on more than one occasion. Did I want to be blown up in the process? Not really.

Yet the longer I sat motionless under the table, the more an urge to at least see what was going on outside grew in my head, and before I could reconsider my actions I found myself sliding out between the chairs and bolting for the door, just as another hit to the ship sent me bouncing off the wall instead. My hands caught most of the impact but I still managed to smack my shoulder against the thick beam of wood next to the door, leaving yet another bruise.

"Shit!" I gasped. That hurt. Wondering again about what kind of super-human ability gave Zoro so much tolerance for pain when I myself could barely stand a paper cut, I eventually reached the door of the galley and flung it open.

I was reminded forcefully of the first time I had seen a Sea King with my own eyes, back on the Going Merry not an hour after finding myself in this strange, dangerous world. The shouts of the crew among the ordered chaos, the spraying of displaced water and the sheer volume of the enormous creature rising up from the ocean was almost nostalgic, in a heart-stopping and terrifying way.

Obviously, there were several differences: this ship was bigger than the Merry had been, and the crew were up two in number. They were also a lot stronger and, in some cases, much smarter. But, I realized within seconds of watching from the doorway in numb horror, so was the creature.

It towered over the Sunny menacingly, looking like a cross between Godzilla and Falcor, only with four pairs of arms and long, venomous-looking fangs protruding from a sharp snout. The iridescent glow coming from its slimy skin made it appear even more lethal, if that was even possible, and the bright and intelligent gleam in its yellow eyes was enough to freeze the breath in my lungs. This was not the average run-of-the-mill Sea King. This was something else entirely.

For one time-rendering moment I nearly gave up my resolve as reality slapped me in the face. Who was I kidding? I wasn't a fighter. Then I heard Luffy's voice, ringing out loud and clear over the deafening racket of the confrontation and my eyes immediately sought him out, although I was unable to find him through the spraying water:

"You wont stop us!"

As simple as those words were, I realized they were also very, very true. No one could stop Luffy, not when he had the entirety of his crew with him. Not when he was hell-bent on reaching his goal, and making sure every one of his crew members met theirs as well. He was so very nearly indestructible and I realized with another odd, almost surreal feeling that I was starting to trust the stretchy captain and his abilities almost as much as his crew did.

This new thought spurred my feet into action and I pushed away from the doorway with a renewed courage, or stupidity, I couldn't quite decide, making my way toward the aft deck. No one had moved the cannon yet, so I knew it would still be there, fully loaded. Also, I remembered as I managed to make it to the deck without incident, it hadn't been recalibrated yet, either. Which meant I could very likely be run over by it.

Deciding I could jump away if I had to, I ran to the cannon and pushed on the barrel as hard as I could, eventually managing to at least make it point in the direction of the fight. Stationing myself behind it as Zoro had instructed earlier, I finally looked around to take full stock of the current situation on the Sunny.

The huge creature was at the bow of the ship on the starboard side, rising up out of the ocean like an enormous, glowing mountain. It was swinging its many pairs of pale and talon-tipped arms toward the small figures below, aiming for the ship and roaring ever louder as each attempt to smash the Sunny was thwarted by the crew members swarming around it.

Robin was standing beside the mast with her arms crossed as dozens of disembodied hands and arms linked together over one of the creature's limbs, trapping it in place. Sanji and Chopper were jumping around from the ship's railing to the beast's shoulders and back again, landing several skin-piercing blows before retreating further up into the rigging. Franky, Nami and Ussop were hitting it simultaneously with rockets, lightning and fireballs and Brook was doing an excellent job of keeping the thing distracted long enough for the others to attack it.

I was still looking for Luffy, Zoro and Syla as I pulled the lever to adjust the height of the cannon barrel and took aim at the ugly creature's head. I was distracted from my shot by a sudden tingling coming from my front pocket. Tearing my eyes from the fight long enough to look down in confusion, I suddenly remembered the Vivre Card and gasped out loud. I pulled the Card from my pocket and felt my heart jump as I noticed a tiny bit of one corner appeared to have been burned away.

Zoro.

"Shit!" I hissed, scanning the area again. "Where are you, you damned nutcase?"

I spotted Luffy not a moment later. Or rather, Luffy's incredibly long arm just before the captain himself appeared, launching a full-out Elephant Gun attack straight into the monster's chest. It fell back to the water with an enraged roar, sending the Sunny tipping dangerously on tall waves, before shaking off the blow and concentrating it's attacks on Luffy.

Holy crap. That thing just withstood an Elephant Gun attack. What the hell was it made of?

I cursed again as I tried to keep the small cannon from rolling too far away from me and came to the full realization that the beast was a lot stronger than I had first thought. Before now I had harbored no doubt that the crew would beat it quickly and we could continue on our way, as Shogun himself didn't actually appear to be along for the ride this time. But as I watched Luffy's body shrink from the after effects of his Gear Third and fall helplessly to the deck, I was beginning to wonder if we could even win this fight at all.

And where the hell was Zoro?

I watched for another moment as the beast's hand was deflected by Sanji as it reached for Luffy and Brook managed to catch the captain before he could actually hit the deck. Then I turned my focus back to the cannon. And fired.

By some miracle I actually managed to hit the bastard, striking a glancing blow across its snout with one of the heavy metal spikes. I watched from the deck, having had to leap aside after firing the cannon, as the beast shook its head in anger and turned piercing amber eyes toward me with a menacing snarl.

Oops. Didn't quite think that one through, did I?

I scrambled away across the deck as the weird, glowing monster made to move toward me, instead. "Ah!"

"Seventy-Two Pound Cannon!"

I immediately recognized the name of the attack and, after the displaced air above me had settled somewhat and the massive creature's angry roar died to a hiss, I raised my head and gasped in relief. Zoro was standing only a few feet away, a katana in each hand and breathing heavily. He was sporting several new injuries and seemed to be having some difficulty standing upright, which would explain the missing corner on his Vivre Card. Clearly, he was nearing his limit.

"Where have you been?" I asked as I pushed away from the deck to stand again. "What did you do?"

Zoro didn't answer as he pulled the white hilted katana from its sheath and set it firmly between his teeth. "Don't attract its attention," he growled, sounding half-exhausted. "Go back inside."

"I doubt I'll be able to get there now," I admitted. It was true. My path back to the galley was being blocked by the dangerous fray in front of us.

"Then stay out of the way," Zoro walked past me without a glance, raising his blades as he approached the other side of the deck.

I wanted to grab his arm, to stop him from attacking such a formidable enemy when he was already injured so badly, but my arms didn't seem to want to cooperate. Instead I watched him move into an offensive stance, resisting the urge to run to the railing and push him over the edge, not that I could actually manage it even if I tried. But still… The idiot really was going to get himself killed this time if he went through with whatever hair-brained idea he was cooking up at the moment.

"Zoro-" I started, knowing he wouldn't listen anyway, and stopped myself as Nami's commanding tones cut across the ship from the main deck.

"Everyone at once! Aim for its heart!"

"If it has one!" Ussop put in. He was now standing on the roof of the lookout room, Kabuto steady in his hand.

"Just do it!" Nami answered. "Robin, hold onto it for as long as you can, give us a clear shot, then get out of the way!"

I stood frozen on the aft deck as Zoro backed down from the railing and changed his stance. I supposed with the others attacking he couldn't safely jump at the beast without the potential of getting hit by friendly fire.

I finally realized I had been gawking for several seconds and forced myself to snap out of my confused state. Why am I just standing here? I thought angrily, running to the cannon and wrestling it back into position. The weapon may have been light-weight for Franky, but it was still quite a struggle for me.

I adjusted the barrel as the crew began shouting several attack names all at the same time:

"Sure Kill: Firebird Star!"

"Devil's Leg: Colliere Shoot!"

"Thunder Tempo!"

"Left Cannon: Maximum!"

"Arrow Notch Strike!"

"One Hundred and Eight Pound Cannon!"

As I listened to each attack I had the insane, almost giddy urge to name my cannon shots as well, but quickly forgot about the idea as a call I had never heard before rang out, mixing with the voices of the Straw Hats at the same moment my hand came down on the red button.

"Thousand Year Surge- Wind Dragon: Scythe!"

Oh, for Pete's sake. She did not just do that.

I was so startled by the sound of Syla's apparently-suicidal attack that I let the cannon knock into my legs, bruising both knees and forcing me back onto the deck. Staring over the round metal shell I watched as the creature was hit first with two giant fireballs, then lightning, a cannonball, a couple of invisible but deadly slices and lastly something that arched out horizontally and left a blinding trail of green light in its wake. The result of the combined attacks was a nearly deafening blast of light and sound which forced me flat on my back and made my ears ring, followed by the decreasingly audible snarls of the monster.

Shaking my head to clear it I pushed myself to my feet, helped along by the adrenaline pumping through my body, and attempted to see where Syla had no doubt collapsed, hoping she hadn't fallen over-board. Or been killed by her own attack.

Zoro seemed to be thinking along a similar line as he bolted toward the stairs as quickly as his tattered body would allow, heading to the place where Syla had most likely been standing out of my line of sight on the main deck. He set his foot down on the first stair at the same time I looked up and saw the creature, now obviously either dead or very near to it, falling down toward the deck directly above me. I screamed.

Zoro didn't even bother to look as he pushed off from the wood and leaped backward to swing out with all three katana, howling loudly as the force of the movement no doubt caused him a great deal of pain. His blades connected with the body of the beast and managed to change its course mid-fall to land in the ocean instead. He didn't quite make it out of the way of the huge talons though as one of the arms swung around when the monster's corpse twisted in the air, catching Zoro square in the abdomen and throwing him to the deck behind me.

I was across the deck and at his side faster than I had though possible. Don't be dead! I told him silently, cursing out loud as I approached. "Shit! Zoro!"

The swordsman wasn't moving. He was laying face-down on the deck, his three katana at his sides.

"Hey!" I knelt down next to him, one hand hovering over his prone form as I tried to find a place to touch him without causing any more damage. I eventually settled for his shoulder and applied a tiny amount of pressure. "Zoro! Hey, answer me! Are you still alive? Zoro! Zoro!"

"Dammit woman, I heard you."

The reply was not much more than a low, muffled rumble but it was all I needed to know he was still kicking, at least. I sat back with a shaky breath. "Say something sooner!" I snapped. "I thought you were dead!"

Zoro rolled over onto his back with a low groan. He didn't appear to have taken as much damage as I originally thought he had but the wounds from the previous island had broken open again, staining the bandages under his yukata a dark red. I was about to turn and yell for Chopper when Zoro looked up at me and growled.

"Why the hell were you fighting?" he demanded angrily. "I told you before Renna, stay back or you're gonna get yourself killed!"

I stared back down at him for several seconds, at the stained bandages and the shallow gashes and bruises that covered most of his visible skin and, to my own surprise and horror, I burst into tears.

"Hey!" Zoro protested immediately, raising one hand as if to fend me off. He winced and lowered it hastily. "What are you doing? Stop that!" His tone had changed to one of worry and discomfort and I would have laughed at him if I hadn't been bawling like a certain cyborg.

I covered my face with both hands as the stress and fear from the fight poured out of me and I sat down fully on the deck next to the swordsman. A moment later I felt him rap his knuckles lightly against my knee to get my attention.

"It's okay," he said firmly, still with an underlying nervousness in his voice. Apparently dealing with crying girls wasn't really on the top of his list of skills. "Calm down. Take a breath."

I did as he said but didn't lower my hands.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

I shook my head and heard him exhale sharply.

"Then why the hell are you crying?" Even without looking at him I could practically see the confused frown on his face.

Why was I crying? I thought angrily. Why was I-

"You're such an idiot!" I bawled and finally lowered my hands as several different sets of footsteps thundered across the deck behind us. Zoro's frown deepened for a fraction of a second before his gaze moved above my shoulder instead and he sighed in resignation. A moment later I understood why.

"Zoro! Renna!" Chopper called out.

I quickly wiped my eyes on the back of my hand before turning around. "I'm fine, Chopper," I answered. "Better do something about this guy, though."

Chopper moved to Zoro's other side and carefully picked him up from the deck, having conveniently still been in Heavy Point. I listened to Zoro complain nearly non-stop about being carted around like an infant while Chopper studiously ignored him until the two of them were down the stairs and out of sight. Then I looked around at the gathered crew.

Brook was carrying the mini, unconscious Luffy in his bony hands and Robin was supporting a worn-looking Syla, one arm under the shorter woman's shoulders. I was relieved to see that Syla didn't appear to have suffered any long standing damage from her attack. It was more than likely that she too had gotten stronger since the last time Zoro had seen her.

Nami and Ussop looked tired but no worse for wear. Sanji and Franky had sustained only minor injuries, although the cook was still favoring the leg he had damaged in the last fight, back on that horrible island. The cyborg was beaming as he looked down at me.

"That was one Super shot, Little Sis," he grinned.

"What do you mean?" I asked, still feeling a little dazed from the fight.

"Maybe you didn't see it while your life was flashing before your eyes," Nami put in. "But that last shot definitely hit home." She was smiling cheekily, one hand on her hip and the other holding her Clima Tact.

"Right through the eye," Sanji nodded. "Pretty good hit, actually. Keep practicing with that thing my dear and you'll likely give Ussop a run for his money some day."

I had hit it again? Well, that was a surprise. "It was a lucky shot," I mumbled. "Not a lot of aim involved. Besides, you guys had already taken it down by the time I had even fired."

"Give credit where it's due," Ussop said seriously. "You did what you had wanted to do; you helped us fight that monster." He smiled suddenly. "Well done, Renna. Although I doubt you'll really ever be as good as me." He stuck his long nose in the air when Sanji glared at him, as if daring the cook to disagree.

"That doesn't mean you'll be fighting again," Nami said sternly as the two men continued their staring contest beside her. "Almost being smashed into the deck by a twenty ton mystery beast was a little too close of a call. It was a good thing Zoro was up here as well, or there would have been nothing left of you."

I nodded in agreement and got shakily to my feet with the sniper's help, as he had apparently given up on the silent argument with Sanji in favor of making sure I didn't fall over. That was the excuse I was going to give him, anyway.

"Yeah," I said. "I think I might stick with staying out of sight from now on." I forced another small smile at Ussop as he patted my shoulder in an encouraging gesture.

"Come on," Sanji tilted his head toward the stairs and gestured for the crew to follow him. "I doubt that shitty monster will be coming back, so let's have something to drink and rest while we still can."

That sounded like a perfectly logical plan. I followed the crew down to the galley, looking back at the cannon once before descending the stairs. I wondered if I could somehow bring the weapon back with me when I returned home. If I returned home, I reminded myself. It seemed a little bit unlikely to be so lucky a second time.

Brook set Luffy down on the long bench next to the kitchen and Robin eased Syla into a chair at the table before taking a seat next to her. Sanji, doing his best to hide the pain in his leg, began moving around by the counter to prepare various beverages for everyone.

I wasn't really paying attention to much around me as I sat myself between Franky and Syla, listening to the Straw Hats congratulating each other on the well-deserved victory and simultaneously beginning the plans for the next island. Nami was thanking Syla for her assistance in the final attack, saying it would have been much more difficult without her, and Ussop was recounting how he had heroically stopped the beast from taking the entire lookout room clean off the mast, and wouldn't Zoro be pleased about the rescue of his precious weight room?

Within minutes most of the table was laughing, smiling or cheering and the sounds were infectious, not to mention surprising.

Even with their captain and swordsman so drained, and unconscious in Luffy's case, the spirits of the Straw Hats were as strong as ever.

I kind of envied that part of this tight-knit group, to be able to bounce back so immediately from the impossible and prove the world wrong again and again with nearly everything they did, every obstacle they put behind them. With this kind of force backing them up I had no doubt that each member of this crew would reach their respective goals, no matter how long it took for them to do it.

I also realized that I had my own goal now, although mine was starting to look even more lofty than Luffy's at this point. If this whole mess wasn't resolved soon, I mused as I accepted the glass of orange liquid Sanji was holding out to me, I doubted I would ever see my own world again. The thought didn't bother me half as much as it should have.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story or added it to alerts or favorites so far! You guys really keep me going (even when it doesn't seem like it) and I really appreciate the time you take to read my nonsense-disguised-as-a-story. Thank you!