Erk, I really suck at this whole updating thing. But we're getting closer to the finale now, so I'll be trying harder to get it done!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

It was very dark in Chopper's medical room when I sat straight up on the cot, realizing I had fallen asleep while waiting for Zoro to wake up. Turning my head toward the cot holding the aforementioned monster, I felt my heart jump a little when I realized it was empty.

The sight was much more troubling than I would have thought it would be and I scrambled clumsily from my make-shift bed, throwing off a blanket I hadn't even noticed had been covering me before that moment. From the rough texture of the fabric I had a feeling it was the one that had been on Zoro's cot earlier that evening. And where exactly was Zoro, anyway?

The blanket's origins pushed out of my thoughts for now, I opened the door to the medical room and stepped out into the hall. "Zoro?" I called experimentally. As expected, no answer.

Did that idiot get lost on his own ship again? I thought in irritation, still tired from my unexpected nap.

Not having much of a clue as to where he might be hiding (if he had gone to the weight room he would have been kicked out by whoever was currently on watch) I trudged down to the kitchen on exhausted feet.

The kitchen was dark and empty, and almost a little eerie without the lights or the usual people in it, and after a glance at the clock hanging above Sanji's fancy stove, I could understand why. It was three o'clock in the morning; the crew were all most likely asleep in their rooms.

Sighing, I made my way up to the library again on the chance that Robin might still be awake. Maybe she knew where the green nuisance had run off to, and could help me coerce him back into the medial room without having to wake Chopper.

But the library was abandoned as well. I stood in the hallway just outside the door, and after a few moments of allowing my brain to run in circles with useless guesses, I found my feet moving almost of their own accord, making my way out onto the deck and into the cool night air.

The ship's sails were fully unfurled to catch as much of the ocean breeze as it could, and while I couldn't see much of the dark waters around us, it definitely felt like we were moving pretty fast. The deck was also cast in shadow, the only light coming from the observation room. Well, it looked like at least one member of the crew was still awake.

I paused at the railing, one hand pressed to the wood, to survey the grassy deck below me, wondering if I should just give up on trying to find Zoro and go back to sleep instead. As I turned to move toward the kitchen door a light sound caught my attention and I leaned over the wood of the railing instead, straining to listen as hard as I could for the same soft disturbance.

At first there were only the now-familiar sounds of the waves gently pushing at the sides of the Sunny, and the low creak of the rope holding single plank swing under the tree, then…

A voice?

No. Two voices.

In the same moment I recognized the sounds as voices, the little piece of paper in my pocket jumped against my hip and I pulled it out to set it in one hand.

Oh, right. The Card. Duh.

I watched the little Card scoot along my palm in the direction of the foredeck before shoving it back into my pocket and heading toward the stairs. As I crossed the grassy deck of the Sunny, I chanced another look to the side, toward the inky waters surrounding us. The sight was so eerie I looked away almost immediately. I was still definitely not an ocean-traveling kind of person.

The voices became more clear the closer I got to the foredeck, and by the time I had reached the staircase I could pick out Zoro's baritone lilt alongside the much lighter tones of…Syla?

Surprised, my foot paused on the third step as I debated on whether or not I should just leave them to it, before I gave myself a quick mental shake and pressed on.

Peeking above the top of the stairs, I spotted Syla first, seated on the helm's bench with the hand of her decorated arm wrapped around one spoke of the wheel. Zoro was sitting on the deck next to her, arms folded and head lowered as he leaned against the side of the bench. He didn't move so much as a muscle, but, once again, Syla turned to catch me staring and smiled in invitation.

"We were just discussing you," she informed me. "Wondering if one of us should retrieve you or let you find your destination on your own."

"Huh?" I said.

"Did ya get lost?" Zoro asked, as blunt as ever. He raised his head and cocked a dark eyebrow at me in question.

"Me?" I spluttered incredulously, ascending the rest of the steps and walking toward them. "I was looking for you. And how did you even know I was awake?"

"I could hear you," Syla explained, tugging the helm a fraction as she spoke.

"Hell, I could hear you," Zoro put in. "You weren't exactly being quiet you know, stomping around like a drunk camel."

"I wasn't stomping," I argued. "Not my fault you both have bat-like hearing. Also, I'm not drunk."

"You ran into four different walls," Zoro pointed out.

"I'm tired."

"And you tripped on the stairs."

"The ship is moving."

"What's your excuse for knocking into the kitchen table?"

"Well- I- It was dark in there, alright?"

"It's dark out here, too," Zoro raised his other eyebrow to join the first as I stopped next to him. Close up, I could now see that he wasn't actually irritated in the least. In fact, it looked suspiciously like the green-topped bastard was laughing at me.

"Jerk," I frowned down at him.

"Why were you looking for me, anyway?" Zoro asked suddenly.

"Oh, uh…you were gone, so…" I trailed off lamely.

"I told you not to worry about me," Zoro yawned. "I'm fine."

"I wasn't worried!" I protested, instantly defensive. "I thought you'd wandered off and got lost again!"

"What?" Zoro yelped, sitting straighter to glare at me. "I don't- I'm not lost!"

"Then why are you out here?" I countered.

"I wanted some fresh air," he shrugged. "So I came outside for awhile."

"You mean, you waited until everyone else had gone to bed and then snuck out?" I guessed. When Zoro turned away without answering, I figured I was at least partially correct.

"Whatever." Zoro stretched his legs out in front of him, his movements a little slower than normal. "Just go back to bed or something."

"I'm not tired anymore," I admitted, turning away from him to look past the ship's figurehead. "Too much to think about."

"Don't think about it, then," Zoro suggested.

"How can I not?" I scowled in frustration. "We don't know how to get to the Gems, you're still hurt, and everyone else will be looking for Shogun by noon tomorrow."

"Dawn," Syla interjected. She had been sitting straight-backed at the wheel, staring directly ahead of us and ignoring the argument behind her, but she turned to look at me over her shoulder as she spoke. "By dawn, we will have reached the island."

"That soon?" I asked. "I thought…"

"Your navigator was right," Syla said quietly. "The currents are moving faster the closer we get to Shogun. We're running out of time more quickly than we had previously thought." She reached down and pulled at a lever near the bottom of the wheel, locking the rudder into place.

"Well, that's just great," I huffed, sitting on the deck beside Zoro's boots. Watching the black waters too closely was still freaking me out a little.

"I'm kinda surprised you're out here," Zoro noted, looking at me curiously. "You know, with your fear of sea monsters and everything."

"Why?" I asked quickly. "Do you think there are more of them?" I hadn't given the possibility a lot of thought, and only now realized that had been a bit stupid of me.

"Don't know," Zoro shrugged again, appearing completely disinterested in the thought of a potential threat. "Hard to see anything right now…"

"Uhm…" I moved a little closer to him and he snickered almost inaudibly. "What- Are you making fun of me?" I snapped. "What's wrong with you? There could be any number of monsters out there, and you're not even worried that you can't see anything?"

"Nope."

"What the hell-"

"There's no danger yet, Haeven," Syla cut in again. "I can still see perfectly, even in the dark. There are no monsters in the immediate vicinity."

Just the two sitting on this deck, I thought, still a little sulky about being teased.

"Relax, Renna," Zoro nodded, still smirking annoyingly. "Or you're gonna wear yourself out before we even get there."

"Rel- How am I supposed to do that?" I demanded. "Do you need me to go through the list of 'Reasons Why We're Screwed' again?"

"What can you do from here?" Zoro asked. He wasn't grinning anymore, but still wasn't back to his usual stern-looking self, either. "Nothing. So think about something else for now."

"Like what?"

"You wanted to ask me something earlier," Syla turned her small body on the bench to face me and raised her right arm. "Something about these, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, looking over the swirling black lines again. "I guess." I glanced from her arm to her face, still unsure of how to phrase a question that wouldn't seem too intrusive. "So…nice tattoos?"

Syla turned her arm over, frowning thoughtfully. "They certainly look like tattoos, don't they? They're not."

"They're not?" I repeated, a little surprised despite myself. I caught Zoro smirking again out of the corner of my eye and knew I was falling for the bait, but no longer really cared about that. "What are they?"

"It's the sign of the Dragon Tooth Clan leader," Syla explained. "The Clan never had an actual royal bloodline. We were a military-based government centered around the leader, the General, the one born with the highest concentration of Wind Dragon blood." She set her arm down across her knee, leaning forward. "It was a flawed system, but no worse than a monarchy, I suppose."

I drew my knees up in front of me, blocking some of the cool night air. "What do you mean?"

"The title was never earned," Syla frowned. "It was only ever given by chance of birth. I just happened to be born with the markings."

"You didn't like it?" I asked.

"That wasn't it," Syla shook her head. "I loved it, but I never took it seriously. Not until…"

I suddenly remembered Zoro saying that Syla's people had been wiped out and scrambled for a quick change of subject. "Hey, that jacket of yours-"

"Dragon skin," Zoro drawled, clearly bored with the conversation. I glared at him pointedly and he frowned back. "Oh, come on. You couldn't guess that on your own?"

"It is dragon skin," Syla agreed. "Very old, nearly indestructible and fire-proof dragon skin. It was my brother's jacket."

I couldn't decide if I was surprised or not that Syla would have any siblings, but a second later came to the conclusion that it didn't really matter anyway. "The jacket is dragon skin. Got it. So, that wolf thing-"

"The Lumbra," Syla corrected me.

"Yes, that guy," I nodded. I still hadn't really forgiven it for chasing me through the woods and into a river. "Where did it come from?"

"I found it," she said simply.

I had been expecting something a lot more elaborate than a random finding, and felt my eyebrow pop up toward my hairline. "You found it?" I asked slowly.

"Yes. The poor thing was wandering around on an island a few years ago, completely alone and scared out of its mind, just a pup at the time." She sighed, scanning the surrounding ocean again while she continued. "I felt so sorry for it, I couldn't just leave it there."

I thought of the giant black beast that I had now seen on two separate occasions, and just couldn't picture ever feeling sorry for it. "Sure," I nodded in agreement anyway. "I guess that makes sense. So where does it stay when it's not trying to maim, chase, or eat anyone?" I had thought about the question a few times already, but hadn't really had an opportunity to ask it until now.

Syla gave a light snort of amusement before lifting her right arm again. "See this?" she asked, running one pale finger down a particularly bold line which seemed to weave around the other markings, instead of flowing with them. "This is the Lumbra."

"That one means Lumbra?"

"It is the Lumbra."

"So…" What did that even mean? "It's a magical, transforming, tattoo-wolf," I concluded, still trying to understand what the hell she was talking about. I decided right then that my questionnaire was at an end, as I now had even more questions and hardly any answers to balance them.

"I suppose you could say that," Syla agreed. "In a manner of speaking, anyway." She stood from the bench and stretched her shoulders in a fluid motion. "Well, since the currents are moving too fast to be comfortable for most sea kings, I doubt we'll run into much trouble before we reach the next island. Keep an eye on the weather, regardless. I'm going inside to rest for awhile. Goodnight."

I waved to her as she turned to go and Zoro gave a short grunt of acknowledgement, still propped up against the side of the bench. When she was gone, I got up from the deck to take Syla's abandoned seat, leaning forward in a similar position.

"So, you and Syla," I started, watching the side of Zoro's face for a reaction, although I hardly expected one at this point.

"What about it?" he asked.

"You know, Zoro," I raised one hand to my chin, my elbow propped on my knee. "You're really damned inconsistent with her."

"The hell does that mean?"

"I mean, what you say to her and what you do around her are completely different." I waited for a moment to see if he would deny it, and when he remained silent I continued. "Like on the last island, when you ran off toward the cliff, you didn't push me toward Nami, or Ussop, or Robin. You pushed me toward Syla."

"So?"

"And when she used that Surge attack," I ignored his question. "When we thought she'd been killed, you ran after her despite having said, just hours before mind you, that you were never going to like her."

"That doesn't even count," Zoro folded his arms loosely across his bandaged chest. "As you said, we thought she was dead."

"Ah. So you do like her, then?" I asked hopefully. It would be a hell of a lot easier on everyone if those two would just agree to disagree. Not that I was really one to talk about agreeing with obnoxious swordsmen in the first place.

"What? No, I didn't say that." Zoro shifted around to look at me and leaned against the railing again. "Look, I'm just used to her. That's all."

I let out a small huff of annoyance, figuring it was the closest thing I was going to get to a confession. "If you say so."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, staring off in different directions, before I made an attempt at doing what I had originally come out to the foredeck to do.

"Are you going to-"

"No."

"I didn't even ask yet," I scowled.

"I'm not going inside," Zoro stated firmly. "If I have to sit this out, I'd like to at least enjoy some relaxation outdoors before they lock me in."

"How do you know about that?" I asked, although I had a feeling I already knew the answer.

"Syla," Zoro confirmed. "She was already at the helm when I got here, said she wanted to talk, so I stayed."

"That was easy," I noted. "And I'll bet it didn't even hurt."

"Don't patronize me," he grumbled. "I didn't want to, but she asked about you, so I stuck around."

"She's not after me, remember?" I pointed out. "You don't have to guard me from her."

"Old habits," Zoro shrugged.

The image of Syla in the clearing came to mind, along with the memory of her saying something very similar, and I grinned at him.

"Stop that," he groused.

"Stop what?"

"Stop smiling at me like that. It's weird."

"Speaking of smiling," I leaned further down to look him in the eye. "What was with you earlier? Exactly how much blood did you lose?"

"A few pints," Zoro answered with a yawn. "Not much. Why?"

"Nothing," I shook my head and sat up again. Hopeless, that man.

We fell into another short-lived lapse of silence, broken this time by Zoro.

"When we get to the island, what are you going to do?"

"Huh?" I moved my attention away from the lights of the observation room to focus on his face again. "What do you mean? Syla didn't tell you?"

"Nah, she just said Nami had told me to stay on the ship. She didn't mention your plans."

"Then what did she ask about?" I wondered.

"Never mind that," Zoro shook his head. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll stay on the ship too, I guess," I answered. "Why?"

"Because," Zoro's sharp gaze moved past me, toward the figurehead of the Sunny. "We're here."