Ha! The chapter is finally finished! Zoro was being a pain in the ass, as usual, but I finished it anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Warnings: Brief, Mild Language.

Enjoy!

I stood at the rail for what felt like an eternity, trying to convince my disbelieving mind that what I was seeing was not what it looked like, but something similar instead. Despite my attempts to deny the evidence, I knew without a doubt that the object half-buried in the sand beneath just a few feet of water was indeed the casket the crew had been searching for.

"Hey Robin, how are we supposed to find this box thing if we don't even know what it looks like?"

"Well, I would guess it would have to be longer in shape, given it's supposed possessions, and most likely the same color as Modokai Syla's chains. I hope that helps, Captain."

"Yes! Everyone, look for long silver chains!"

"That isn't what she meant!"

I shook my head to clear it and pulled myself back to the present, and the predicament at hand. "We can't just leave it there," I realized, glancing fearfully at the iridescent island beside the Sunny. "We have to get it up here, somehow. We have to hide it until..." Until they get back.

The Lumbra pushed off from the rail and in the direction of the galley, whining in what I assumed was supposed to be a question.

"No," I turned away from the water, clutching at the hood of the jacket in frustration. "We can't get Zoro. He shouldn't be in the water, not in his condition." I didn't really want to be in the water, either. If anything were to attack us right now, I was vulnerable enough just standing around in plain sight. Adding water to the mix would only make it worse. Still, with the tiny bit of medical knowledge I possessed, I knew someone with Zoro's injuries would become much worse if they decided to go for a swim.

As my thoughts wandered toward the swordsman, I suddenly remembered something he had told me about Syla, back when we were still under the impression that she was our enemy. Given what I had known then, it had seemed to make sense. Now, however…

"Wait a minute," I turned toward the wolf-like animal beside me. "It was you, wasn't it? Zoro thought Syla had some kind of special senses, a tracking ability. He said it was how she had found us on the last island. He was wrong though, wasn't he? It was you the whole time. You're some kind of tracker."

The Lumbra shook itself in irritation, long black snout pointing back toward the rail of the ship.

"Right," I nodded. "Right, we'll come back to that. We need to hurry." I glanced around the deck, trying to spy something, anything, that might be able to help in any way. After a few more seconds of fruitless searching my shaky memory dug up another tidbit of information. "Oh, I've got it."

I ran to the bench behind the wheel and dropped down beside it, running my hands under the cushion to locate the hidden latch. It was something Luffy had shown to me during my first tour of the Sunny. With everything going on around me now, that peaceful afternoon seemed so far away. I had to remind myself it had only been a few short days since I had returned to this world.

Finally finding the latch, I lifted the top of the bench and reached into the hidden storage compartment. My hands immediately found what I had been looking for, pulling the rope ladder free with a quick tug. "I really do hate these things."

Running back to the rail and nearly tripping twice on the dangling bits of rope, I began to think over the next step in my impromptu plan; how was I going to get that stupid casket on the ship? If it was made of some type of metal, as Robin seemed to believe, I knew I simply wasn't strong enough to pull it up on my own, even if I did somehow manage to tie it to the end of the rope ladder.

Deciding I would have to cross that bridge when I came to it, I set the hooks around the rail and let the ladder drop to the water, the ends of it floating above the casket. Then, taking a deep and shaky breath, I went about hauling myself over the side and onto the swaying ropes, trying to keep my balance and hold on at the same time.

The climb down felt as if it took forever, with my back to the island I couldn't even see if anyone or anything was sneaking up on me. Finally, I felt the waves hitting my feet and let go of the ropes to drop into the shallows. The water was only about chest deep, but I was beginning to wish I had removed Syla's jacket before leaving the ship. Luckily, dragon skin didn't seem to be very absorbent, so at least it wouldn't weigh me down.

Up close I could see the object more clearly. It was only about four feet long, smaller than I had been expecting, and shaped like some kind of strange little coffin. The nearly grotesque reminder of the surrounding danger made me shudder and I immediately focused on the task at hand, wanting to get back to the deck, or better yet, the galley, as soon as possible.

Looking down into the water, I began using my feet and legs to try moving the long box into a more upright position and with the help of the added buoyancy succeeded after only a few minutes. I then wrapped the ends of the rope ladder around it as many times as I could, using all of the strength at my disposal to tie the ropes together tightly. This took more than one attempt; my hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold on to the ropes.

The climb back up to the rail took less time than the climb down, and I pulled myself ungracefully over the side of the ship to land in a soaking pile next to the Lumbra. Pausing momentarily to catch my breath, I stood and grabbed both sides of the rope ladder and pulled hard. It didn't even budge.

"Dammit!" I winced, letting go again. "How am I supposed to-"

The Lumbra cut me off by once again pushing me aside with it's massive head. Once I was out of the way it clamped down on the rope hanging over the side and hauled itself backward with a sharp growl. I watched, fascinated, as inch by inch the wolf monster pulled the top of the rope ladder across the deck, bringing the metal casket all the way up to the rail. It fell over the side and hit the solid wood with a hard thud, making me wince at the sudden sound.

"Quietly!" I shushed. "But…thanks." I took up the ladder in both hands after the Lumbra dropped it and began to pull, my feet sliding on the wet deck. Miraculously it had moved, just a little, and I regained some hope that maybe this wasn't so impossible after all. On the third attempt however I finally lost my footing and hit the deck on my side. "Ow."

Huffing in frustration I stood again and pulled with every bit of strength I had left in me, which admittedly wasn't very much.

"Don't just stand there," I growled at the Lumbra, who had been looking on from beside the wheel. "Help me!"

The big Lumbra gave the wolfish equivalent of a shrug and walked to the other side of the casket, crouching low and pressing it's shoulder against the smooth metal. The casket began to scoot toward me with very little warning and I was forced to scramble backward to avoid being run over by it.

So, I thought, it could definitely understand me. How interesting.

We made it to the stairs, the Lumbra pushing and myself pulling the ropes to guide it, before I said anything else.

"Stop," I panted. "Wait a minute. The stairs."

The Lumbra lifted it's head with a strangely quizzical look, but took a step away from the heavy box, waiting expectantly.

I was standing with my feet on the top stairs and one hand on the side of the casket, the other still holding the ropes. Taking another deep breath I did quick sweep of our surroundings, trying to work out how best to get our cargo from the fore deck to the main deck without being killed by it. After another moment I foolishly decided I could just jump out of the way if it got out of control and took a step backward, directly into something very solid.

"Gah!" I nearly jumped out of my own skin and the dragon skin and flew back up the steps, my brain flurried with the thoughts that Shogun had somehow found me. In my hurried escape attempt I slammed my knee against the end of the casket and fell to the deck again, flipping over to face my attacker.

"The hell are you doing?" Zoro asked bluntly. "You're supposed to be inside."

He was standing on the stairs and glowering at me in question, one arm across the bandages on his chest and the hand of the other holding his three katana. He looked more tired than I had ever seen him, although the fatigue was nearly completely hidden by his scowl.

"The…casket…" I replied shakily. "With the Gems. I found it. Well, the Lumbra found it."

Zoro turned his gaze from me to the metal object beside me, then bent down to retrieve my abandoned ropes and tossed them to the Lumbra without any more questions. "Hey mutt," he growled. "Anchor."

The Lumbra looked less than impressed by Zoro's attitude, but took the ropes into it's mouth and waited.

I watched as Zoro stripped from his yukata, wrapping it around his katana before tying the entire bundle to his back. He then bent down again and took hold of either side of the casket to begin guiding it backward down the stairs, the wolf monster keeping a firm grip on the ropes in front of him.

As much as I wanted to tell him to stop making himself worse, I knew he was our best bet at getting the precious object to safety. So I remained quiet, very grudgingly, and crept along the steps beside him, not willing to get too far away from either the swordsman or the Lumbra.

It took the two of them next to no time to conquer the stairs, pulling the casket onto the grass and moving it between the stairs and the cabin's wall, where it would be at least partially hidden. I joined them a moment later and looked up at Zoro.

"Now what?" I asked. "Should we put it below deck?"

Zoro didn't answer, dropping to his knees on the grass and placing his hands on the top of the rectangular box.

"Uh," I started hesitantly. "I don't think you'll be able to open it…"

The stubborn man continued to ignore me, pushing on the top of the casket until he was sweating with the effort of trying to get it to move.

"Zoro!" I reprimanded quietly. "Really, just get it somewhere out of sight!"

Zoro rocked back on his heels with a grunt and I dropped down beside him. For the first time I took a closer look at the strange metal box, noting the uneven patterns that whorled around the outside surface from top to bottom. There was a definite groove on the very top of the side, showing where the lid connected to the rest of it, but the seal was obviously very strong if even Zoro couldn't manage to make it budge.

I was just reaching out to run my fingers over one of the odd patterns on the lid when a loud, thundering crash echoed from the direction of the island, shaking even the deck of the Thousand Sunny.

"What was that?" I squeaked, falling back behind the swordsman.

"They found him," Zoro answered simply. There was almost no inflection in his voice, but I didn't need to see his face to picture the deadly glare he was now shooting toward the island. "We're out of time."

"Time? For wha- what are you doing?"

Zoro had stood from the grass and drawn Wado Ichimonji in one fluid movement. "Get out of the way, Renna," he ordered. "We need the Gems. They could be the key to taking down Shogun."

"And how do you plan to use them if they're in pieces?" I demanded, but I was scuttling back away from him anyway. "I don't think that box is exactly normal, Zoro," I added, thinking of the myriad of strange things and occurrences that had led us here in the first place. "You might not be able to cut it, at all."

Zoro, who had already half-raised his white katana, paused with an angry hiss and looked back at me over his shoulder. "What do you want me to do, then?"

"I…" I wracked my brain for any kind of solution, but came up completely blank. "I don't know," I admitted. "Just…maybe we should take it somewhere else." I had moved forward and was kneeling beside the casket again before I knew it, the palms of both hands pressed flat against the lid, and pushed. It was stupid, I already knew there was no way I could move the damn thing by myself, but I was attempting to stop Zoro from losing any more blood while we thought of a way to get at the Gems. Basically, I was stalling.

The lid slid back with a soft hiss, parting from the rest of the box as easily as if it were gliding across a layer of butter.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed in complete and utter surprise. "Hey Zoro, look! It's opening-!"

A hand clamped down on the back of Syla's jacket, pulling me away from the sudden light and intense heat billowing up from under the lid of the casket. The next thing I knew I was rolling across the grassy deck and listening to the snarling and snapping of the Lumbra as I bounced to a painful stop in the middle of the ship.

Raising myself in alarm I immediately searched for Zoro, knowing it had obviously been him who had thrown me away from the light. "Zoro?"

The swordsman was still standing beside the casket, Wado Ichimonji in one hand, but he wasn't moving. Not even when an eerily bright, almost shining mist began creeping from the crack in the metal box, wrapping itself around his legs like a python.

"Hey!" I called in warning. "Get away from it!"

Still, Zoro remained in the exact same position, his back to me. He didn't even attempt to get away as the shifting mist moved up to his waist.

A sudden and horrifying realization hit me like a train and I shot to my feet. He couldn't move.

"Dammit, no! Zoro!"

Before I could take so much as a single step, I was knocked down again by something huge and hairy, landing flat on my chest in the grass. The Lumbra took position above me and lowered it's head to block the brightest beams of the burning light, but I could still see the swordsman.

I watched, trapped under the protective shield of the Lumbra, as bit by bit Zoro was swallowed by the pulsing, luminescent mist until I couldn't even see his annoying green head anymore.

"Zoro!"