I am BACK, baby! Yes! And I am also very, very sorry it's taken such a ridiculously long time to post this. My only excuse is that I wanted to finish Green Scales before doing anything else, but once it was done my muses decided they had earned a vacation and promptly disappeared. They are back now though, so hopefully I can flesh out the rest of the outlines I've made for this story. I'm sorry I fail so hard, and I'll do my best to keep this thing going at a more steady pace. That said, let's get to it.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Warnings: Not really any in this one, maybe some very mild language.

A/N: Fixed!

Three steps down the hall the swordsman's quiet rasp caught me in my tracks.

"Wait."

I paused for a moment, wondering if I had imagined it, and turned back around when he continued.

"Renna. Come here."

I walked back to the door, wondering what he could possibly want now, and leaned against the frame to look inside the room. "What?"

Zoro was laying on his back, not looking at me, frowning almost thoughtfully. "If they are Sighdbar's Gems," he started slowly, as if measuring his words. "There are three of them."

Three? I thought to myself. Why three? Although it would probably explain a little about how Zoro even knew of them, as he was a swordsman and seemed to have an odd affinity with three of anything.

"Alright," I said out loud. "I'll tell Robin."

Zoro seemed to lose a small amount of his previous tension, relaxing into the cot as I pushed away from the door to continue down the hallway.

I found my way up to the library of the Sunny, still thinking about what the swordsman had said, and knocked on the door before pushing it open to slip through it into the circular room.

Nami and Robin were standing on either side of a long table, heads bent together while they poured through several open books set out in front of them. Nami raised her head briefly in acknowledgement and Robin lifted two fingers in my direction in a short greeting, her sharp eyes never leaving the pages of the book she was reading. I waved to both of them before closing the door again and walking further into the room, finally spotting Syla sitting at a chair near the window just as I opened my mouth to tell them about the swords, and found myself freezing in surprise mid-action.

Syla had removed her long jacket and was turned to her left to gaze through the glass, giving me a clear view of her right side. In this position I immediately noticed that the right sleeve of her shirt seem to have been blown off completely, revealing intricate lines of a solid black, almost swirling pattern that covered her pale arm from shoulder to wrist. They were oddly pretty, in a way, and gave the small woman a more dangerous and edgy air than she had already, but seemed a little out of place on her light skin all the same.

I opened my mouth again, my train of thought completely derailed at the unexpected sight, when Syla turned very suddenly to catch me staring and shook her head a fraction.

"Later," she said quietly, having probably already guessed at what I wanted to ask, before nodding her chin toward Nami and Robin pointedly.

Nami, despite having not even seen the movement, straightened to her full height without any prodding and turned to face me fully. "Renna," she nodded once before getting straight to the point. "I'm sorry, but we need to ask another favor from you." She was wearing a small, almost reassuring smile at the corners of her mouth, but her brown eyes were unusually serious.

"What is it?" I asked, instantly wary. The last time she had asked a favor from me, I had been threatened by a crazy person, chased by a wolf monster, and nearly drowned in a river.

Nami sighed heavily. "I had a little discussion with Chopper earlier," she started as she turned back to the table to flip the page of one of the open books. "While you were practicing with your cannon. We were wondering if Zoro should be allowed to fight Shogun again, given his current condition, and after this last encounter, my mind is made up." She looked over at me with the same serious expression. "He'll have to stay on the Sunny when we reach the next island."

"He's not going to like that," I frowned. Not that I disagreed with her at all, but given that Zoro was just as stubborn as Luffy, I couldn't see him taking that kind of news very well.

"No, he wont," Nami agreed. "Now, I could probably convince Luffy to order him to stay on the ship, but I don't really want to have to resort to that. It'll just make Zoro angrier."

I felt a little surprised at that, before remembering that Nami did actually care a great deal for every member of the crew, even if she hid it well most of the time. "Okay," I said. "Makes sense, so far. But what do you need me for?"

"Well," Nami gave a half-hearted shrug. "He's still in charge of watching you, right? And Shogun is still interested in you as well, so…" she trailed off.

"You want me to stay on the ship with Zoro," I finished, still frowning. Just the two of us, with Zoro still out of commission, docked next to an island hiding a dangerous demon-god-man. The idea sounded very close to suicidal.

Nami watched my face as I thought over her request, and eventually nodded. "Yeah," she acknowledged quietly. "It's risky. That's why it has to be your decision. We can't bring you with us this time, Shogun will be expecting that, so your only other option is to hide somewhere on the island by yourself. If you stay on the ship you might be better protected, at least."

"I hadn't thought of that," I admitted. Then, choosing the lesser of two evils, I agreed to the navigator's request without complaint. "Alright. I'll stay with Zoro."

"Good," Nami smiled. "The rest of us will face off with Shogun, I know Luffy's been dying for another round, and if we can bring that creep down, we might not have to worry about the Gems at all."

I forced a smile, already worried for their safety although we hadn't even reached the next island yet, when her words sank in fully. "The Gems!" I exclaimed, having momentarily forgotten about the odd conversation with the swordsman. "Robin!"

Robin, who hadn't looked away from her books once since I had arrived in the library, raised her head and blinked at me owlishly. "What is it, Miss Renna?"

"The Gems are swords," I blurted out quickly, mentally kicking myself for not saying something sooner.

"How do you know that?" Nami asked, tilting her head in question as Robin frowned thoughtfully.

"It's what Zoro said," I explained. "He said Sihgdbar's Gems aren't rocks, they're swords. And apparently there are three of them." When all three women blinked at me in surprise I could only shrug in response. "I know, right? It's Zoro."

"Which is why we should take note of it," Syla stood from her chair to join Robin and Nami at the table. "If Zoro says the Gems are swords, that's what we should look for."

"Yes," Robin agreed, her slightly dazed expression replaced by one of concentration in a heartbeat. "You're right."

"Do you have any weapons anthologies?" Syla directed toward Robin. "Or anything on famous blades?"

"Several," Robin nodded before sweeping along the bookshelves, pulling a bunch of old tomes and some newer publishes into her arms. A few pairs of disembodied arms got to work behind her, closing the books already laying across the table and stacking them neatly to one side.

I watched them in fascination; even after all this time it was still a bizarre sight. When Robin returned to the table a moment later, I walked around the circular room to sit in Syla's abandoned chair, looking on nervously.

"Three of them, right?" Nami asked as she selected a book and began flipping through it.

"Yes," Syla agreed. She was already studying a large old anthology, the spine of it balanced carefully on her decorated arm. "It would be easier if we knew what they looked like, though," she added a little bitterly.

"We can't be sure they haven't acquired other names, as well," Robin mused. "It is a possibility, after all."

"Crap," Nami muttered.

They continued to talk quietly for a few more minutes while they picked over each book in turn before falling into a tense silence, the rustling of paper the only sound in the room. Robin returned to the shelves once in awhile to either replace the books they no longer needed or to select another. I leaned back in the chair, my head resting against the glass of the large window, and stared out onto the ocean, trying to rein my thoughts into some kind of order before I suffered a full-on panic attack.

I had managed to keep myself quiet for a full thirty minutes before the navigator's voice broke through my thoughts.

"Here," Nami spoke suddenly, holding a worn brown book in her hands. "There's a record of a famous sword that belonged to a Captain Norrin- oh, but wait. There's only one sword." She sighed in frustration. "Robin?"

"I've found something about a set of legendary scimitars," Robin nodded, another book in one of her hands. "They are known as the Sun Stars, but they are currently in the possession of a king in the West Blue. I doubt they've ever been on the Grand Line."

"Cannons, daggers, guns," Syla mumbled in irritation. "Nothing about a set of three swords or a cask of any kind." She sighed heavily before closing her current book and setting it aside to select another.

I stood from my chair and made my way to the table quietly, eager to do something to keep my mind off of what would happen the next day, and reached cautiously for one of the books on the table. When no disembodied hand appeared out of thin air to stop me, I gently picked it up and opened it.

Pointless, I realized not even a second later. Whatever language this book was written in, it wasn't one I had ever seen before.

"That's part of the problem," Nami said quietly from beside me, having noticed my confusion. "Most of these books are written in ancient text. Robin and Syla can read most of it just fine and I'm okay at it, but it's still slowing us down. Even Robin," she added a little more quietly and grinned when the woman in question shot a sharp look her way.

"I am managing, Miss Nami," Robin sniffed, although she didn't seem very upset by the comment.

Nami's grin turned into a giggle but was quickly stifled behind one hand. The other hand reached for a thinner and less worn-looking book, holding it out to me in invitation. "Try this one."

I was kind of astonished that Nami could find any amusement in what I considered a very dire situation, but took the book from her hand without hesitation. "Thanks."

This one was much easier to read, only some of the words were foreign to me, and about halfway through it I saw something that caught my eye, even if it wasn't exactly what we were looking for. "Hey Syla," I turned the book around for the dragon girl to see the pages. "Your blades are in here."

Syla looked up from her reading to glance at the page I was pointing toward. "Not too surprising, I suppose," she smiled. "They are very old, after all." She didn't give much more acknowledgement than that, but she did seem a little less somber as she continued to read.

Taking the subtle hint I started flipping through the book again, not willing to get distracted from what I was supposed to be doing, no matter how curious I was about the Dragon Tooth blades. Besides, I figured, I could always just ask Syla.

By the time I had finished the book the sun was beginning to set, Nami had turned on the lights around the library, and I still hadn't found anything even remotely useful to them. Knowing that I couldn't even read the other tomes I was pretty much at a loss for what to do next. I scrubbed a hand over my face in frustration.

"Why don't you go down to the kitchen for awhile?" Nami suggested lightly. "We'll let you know if we find anything."

"Uhg," I groaned. "I don't know if I can handle having to drink any more tea."

Nami snorted lightly at that but nodded in sympathy.

"You could talk to Zoro," Syla said without looking up. "If he's going to be staying on the ship, he'll probably want to know in advance."

As much as I wanted to put off confronting the cranky bastard I figured Syla was probably right. "Yeah," I nodded. "I can do that." As I turned to leave the library I glanced again at the black designs on Syla's arm, guessing my questions would have to wait a little longer.

I made it back to Chopper's medical room to find the door left open a crack, revealing Zoro sleeping soundly on the cot. He had one arm dangling over the side and was snoring obnoxiously into the quiet room. Pushing the door open a little more I realized Chopper wasn't in the room at all.

I frowned at that for a moment before my brain called up what Luffy had told me earlier that evening:

"Chopper wouldn't leave Zoro alone if he was in trouble."

So, Zoro was probably just sleeping off some of the pain, I thought. At least he was resting, for now.

"Reckless idiot," I muttered under my breath, then moved all the way into the room, leaving the door open behind me.

As much as I knew Syla was right, that Zoro would want to know about Nami's plan before we reached the island, I was finding it difficult to even attempt to wake him up. He looked so…well, peaceful wasn't really the word for it, more like…relaxed. Even with all of his injuries.

I stood indecisively in the middle of the room, next to Zoro's cot, wanting to punch the moron in the face for making me worry and at the same time fighting down the strange urge to hug him, which just proved how stressed I really was about everything.

Eventually I turned away to settle on the opposite cot, my back against the wall and knees drawn up, hiding my face. I found myself almost wishing we would reach the next island soon.

I really didn't know how much more of this I could take.