Hey guys! You all are so awesome, I can't thank you enough for favoriting, following, and reviewing this story, it really does help motivate me to write each chapter. Also thanks a lot to my beta reader SilenceOfRain7, I really appreciate the help! :)

I listened to November Rain while writing this and I think it really helped to set the mood... Music definitely helps me write.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters

Hope you like it!

Zoro was taking a walk around the island, well more like a jog. He was tired of just sitting in the same spot next to that annoying ero-cook. The blonde had been so moody recently and it was really ticking Zoro off. So, despite the intense heat, jogging seemed like a good idea. It was different from his usual workout with weights, but actually somewhat nice. It gave him a chance to think, which made it almost like meditating while training. And since both were such an important part of his swordsmanship, then why not work on both at the same time?

It had been ten days now that he was on this island with Sanji. He was hungry and, to his surprise, still a little tried despite that fact he'd only woken up half an hour ago. But Zoro didn't care; that only meant that this was better training for him. What kind of swordsman would he be if he couldn't even handle a little hunger or fatigue? If he wanted to someday be called the best, then such trivial things like that shouldn't get in his way.

Despite this, he had to stop a few minutes later for a break when the simple act of breathing became too difficult. It would only be a quick one, he told himself, just a few minutes is all that would be needed. He sat down, leaning back against a large boulder, and tried to catch his breath. Looking down at his arms, Zoro noticed that his muscles had gotten smaller since he'd been on this island, but that didn't really make much sense. He was still making sure to exercise and train as much as possible without his weights, so why would his muscles be disappearing? It made no sense to the swordsman. Maybe he'll ask Chopper when they get here. It should be any day now…

Once Zoro was able to get his breathing back to a normal level, he pushed himself off the ground and tried to ignore the slight trembling in his knees. He was about to continue running but something caught his attention. He paused and moved closer to the strange looking rock a few feet away. It had scratch marks in it, almost looked like tallies. He counted about 85 of them, but who would scratch 85 marks into some rock? He furrowed his eyebrows. What were they even supposed to stand for? All Zoro understood was that it meant someone had been on this island before he and Sanji got here. He didn't see any remains though, so they had either managed to get off, or had ended up in the water.

Shrugging, Zoro left the rock and continued jogging back to where Sanji was. The heat was beginning to get on his nerves, and he could always do some more training later. Besides, the cook may know something about those marks like he knew about this island's lack of food. Reaching Sanji a few minutes later, he sunk to the ground feeling out of breath again despite the short trip back.

"Hey, dartboard brow. There were marks, what were they?" Zoro panted slightly. Running usually didn't make him this tired... Maybe the hunger had something to do with it. Either that or he just needed more sleep.

"What do you mean marks?" Sanji scowled at the name.

"Scratched on a rock, there were 85 of them," he elaborated. Sanji seemed to stiffen for a second, before relaxing again as if nothing happened.

"How would I know?" the cook said, his voice sounding almost strained.

"You knew about there being no fish," Zoro huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I checked the island, there was none. That doesn't mean I know about everything on this island shitty marimo!" Sanji snapped, standing up. He turned around and stormed off towards the center of the island.

Zoro thought he was being rather defensive, even for Sanji. The cook did tend to overreact at times, but now it seemed a bit strange. Maybe the hunger was just getting to him. Oh well, he didn't really care that much about what those marks were anyway. Yawning, he laid back deciding to get some sleep so he could get back to training later, maybe when there was less heat.

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Sanji couldn't stay around Zoro any longer, if he did, the swordsman might find out, and he couldn't let that happen. Even though Zoro wasn't the most perceptive of people- aside from his observation haki- he wasn't a complete idiot. Sanji knew that he was acting strange, but when he was this irritable it was harder to control himself. He knew that staying around Zoro while he was like this was a recipe for disaster. At least, disaster for Sanji. He was bound to say something that would give it away, and if the marimo were to find out, he would never let Sanji live it down. If the swordsman knew about this weakness, Sanji would undoubtedly be mocked about it for the rest of his life.

Sanji sighed, slowing his pace a bit and changing direction. He just needed to stay away until he could calm down. After a while, he reached the rock Zoro had been talking about and knelt down in front of it. This was the same place where he had sat, waiting for a ship to come and rescue him as a kid. The cook slowly ran his fingers over the tallies until the last one. Sanji remembered scratching these into the rock each day, so he could keep track of how long he had been here. He'd actually began to lose hope when the food ran out, so it was a big surprise when a ship finally did come.

A his finger lightly traced over the last mark, he felt that it was noticeably shallower than the rest. By the last day, Sanji remembered he had barely had enough strength to even add the tally. Even now, though not that bad yet, he felt drained. It was made more irritating by the fact that his cigarettes had run out yesterday. He could already feel the withdrawal symptoms... And it would only get worse as time went on.

But the worst part of this ordeal was watching Zoro, no matter how insufferable the swordsman may be sometimes, starve as well. It would have been hard enough if he had been here alone, but with Zoro, it was twice as bad. Sanji felt that if anyone in the crew was going hungry, then he was failing as a cook. Whether or not this could have predicted or prevented from happening didn't mean a thing; he was still letting someone starve.

Sanji grimaced slightly. He was breaking his promise to himself, that he would never let anyone suffer through starvation if he could help it. That was why he didn't care who it was or how much money they had; if someone were hungry, they would be fed. Letting someone starve was not in his nature. But now he was helpless, unable to feed anyone, not even himself.

Sanji looked down at his arms. Though not particularly boney looking, they were noticeably smaller. Zoro had also lost quite a bit of his muscle, looking thinner than usual.

He feared that the longer they were stuck here, the longer it would take to completely recover, which would be a major problem in the New World. Even in their best shape, they still had some trouble, but weakened by hunger... they would just be burdens to the rest of the crew until they got better.

Sanji gazed out at the horizon where the sun was now setting. Moping over everything going wrong would do him no good. This situation would be easier if he just tried to remain optimistic and hope that the rest of the crew arrive soon. He stood up and began making his way back to where he'd left Zoro.

He just needed to act as normal as possible, or Zoro would find out about him being here before. Right, just be optimistic and act normal. Easy. Sanji rolled his eyes at his own sarcasm. Whatever, there wasn't much of a choice. It was either do that or go crazy despairing over being here... again.

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"I can't believe you; this is all your fault... Yea, I know, well there's nothing you can do about it now... What's your problem...?" Soutsu muttered, scowling.

"What are you talking about?" Chopper asked. It was his turn on watch and the prisoner had been muttering strange things under his breath for the past five minutes.

"Well I wasn't talking to you little tanuki," Soutsu scoffed.

"I'm a reindeer!" Chopper snapped. He was tired of people confusing his species- he didn't even look anything like a tanuki!

"Yeah yeah, whatever," the guy waved his hand flippantly. Chopper decided to ignore him; having more important things to think about anyways, like the missing crewmembers.

The doctor knew that Zoro and Sanji were strong, but anything could happen. They could get attacked by marines and get injured... Or if they were near a winter island, they could have gotten hypothermia... Or a summer island, heat stroke... Anything could happen! The rest of the crew had been assuring him that the swordsman and cook would be fine, but Chopper couldn't help but have his doubts.

He wanted to believe them, but the doctor in him was forcing him to be realistic. Anything could happen, and if he wasn't there, any injuries or sicknesses they got would only get worse. Without proper care, well, the two might not even be alive by the time Chopper could help them.

Just the thought of it scared Chopper to the point where the reindeer was fighting to hold back tears. He didn't want his nakama to die because he couldn't be there to help them. If he was too slow, then no matter what anyone else said, it would be his fault. Well, then he just had to make sure that they reached Zoro and Sanji as soon as possible.

"Hey, little tanuki," Soutsu staged whispered. Chopper glared at the name but said nothing; Nami had warned him not to talk to the prisoner.

"Hey... tanuki, listen..." the man said louder. Chopper didn't answer. Why even bother with someone who couldn't even tell his species after he'd already corrected him?

"Come on, don't ignore me..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"There's a sea king behind you."

"Ah! Where!?" Chopper yelped, whipping around. There was nothing, just clear skies and empty waters. The little doctor turned back around to glare at the snickering prisoner. Yea, the sooner they reached Zoro and Sanji the sooner they could get rid of this guy too.

Thanks everyone fore reading! Please leave a review, I'd appreciate it a lot! ^_^