Down the Rabbit Hole...

Chapter 1 - Down the Rabbit Hole...

Luffy was sitting on a cliff face overlooking the sea. It was a place that he was very familiar with… the same place where he once shared his dreams with both of his brothers… and later the place where Ace had made him a very important promise…

Ace…

He looked beside him to see Ace sitting right there with him looking like he remembered. His serious expression with a splash of freckles across his face… his two tattoos—the Whitebeard symbol on his back, which was once his pride, and the ASCE tattoo on his arm. He tilted his trademark orange hat with two blue smileys, back so that he could look at him and grinned wildly. They both sat silently on that cliff, neither one saying anything as they looked at the sparkling blue sea… a sea that they always thought of as Sabo's Ocean.

The soft breeze that gently blew Luffy's hair about his face as he looked at the water—remembering the promise he and Ace made when they were kids and lost Sabo.

"You know…" Ace said, his voice sounding as it had always been. "I'm sorry that I couldn't keep that one promise to you."

"I know," Luffy answered, looking at him. "You promised me that you'd never die… I get it now that you couldn't keep it… but you did end up keeping another promise now that I'd think about it…"

Ace grinned back as he stood up and held out his hand to him. "I know how hard it is to say goodbye…"

Luffy reached up to take his hand, but as soon as he did—he could smell the scent of blood and burning skin. He could feel the hot blood splattered on his hands and arms—the heat of the fire that tore through Ace's chest…

Luffy's eyes snapped open and he was gasping for breath. He wasn't on the cliffside anymore as his eyes looked around almost in a panic. Instead, he was lying on the floor of the temple that they'd been exploring before he blacked out. He was breathing hard, almost painfully, as his eyes stared up above him at the twilight sky…

He breathed hard as he shut his eyes again, feeling relief…

It had been a long time since he dreamt of his brother's death. After the war ended and he began his training with Rayleigh, he had those same nightmares every night for months… it was what drove him to give it his all in training and help to calm his mind. It was the first time in awhile since he had that nightmare…

He opened his eyes and looked around to see that Zoro, Nami, Robin, and Usopp were there as well and he felt that terrible weight lift off his mind at the sight of his sleeping crewmates. They all looked to be alright, just sleeping. He smiled as he started to get up… until he realized that he couldn't. He was stuck.

Blinking in horror, he tried desperately to move, but his body felt as if he had heavy chains keeping him trapped there. The last time he could remember feeling like this was when he gave it his all to fight that pigeon bastard. But even then, it was because he felt weak and was in pain.

Here, he was just stuck…

Something was keeping him from moving…

Gritting his teeth, Luffy fought with all his strength, but he might've have had his limbs made of solid lead for all the good it did. It was just no use.

"What's going on here?" he demanded, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came up.

He froze. What was happening here? Again, he fought to raise his arms, to just move his fingers as he shouted out into the distance. But there was nothing… no voice, no movement at all. Now growing angry he could feel the blood rushing to his head as he now, almost desperately, fought against whatever was holding him back.

Just then he could hear a strange cracking sound. He stopped struggling and focused listening as his eyes looked around. He couldn't see anything, but he could sense something here. It wasn't like a 'wild beast' feeling though… this felt like something much more… different.

Luffy couldn't figure out how to explain it… and then suddenly he felt something grab hold of his ankle. His eyes widen as he tried to look down to see what it was but couldn't even do that much. He was now growing angrier with each passing second as he felt the thing around his ankle wrap its way around his leg and stretching up to his waist.

He then felt something twist itself around his wrist, and forced his eyes to look down. But when he looked, he couldn't see anything holding him there… all he could see was the 'Mystery Rock' in his hands that was still sparkling slightly as he felt his body slowly being dragged away…

*Zoro*

The last thing that Zoro saw before he was blinded by all the white light was Luffy putting those two rocks together. He now had a slight headache and had only just come too… he felt sick and didn't want to open his eye as he lay there on the cold stone, trying to think back to whatever it was that hit him. But as he started to drop off to sleep again, he felt as if something was creeping across the ground near him.

Forcing his eye open, wincing a little at the bright light, he blinked several times to make sense of what was going on around him. He was leaning up against the stone wall of the temple that they had been at when he realized that there was something wrong.

The stone altar that had been there a second ago had vanished, and instead there was a round hole in the ground, big enough to fit even Franky inside. He tried to get up, but suddenly, he felt as if he had a whale on his chest; he was having trouble moving. He could move his head around and was glad to see that his crew was there. All four of them were asleep, but unharmed.

Good, now if he could only get his ass moving…

Just then, that horrible creeping feeling came back and he stopped as he turned his head back to the hole. There was something there… something was crawling up. He waited, almost aching for something to come up.

And finally, something did… it looked like a snake at first… until he realized it was some kind of root. It was jet black and looked gnarled from age as it came creeping out of the hole and across the temple floor.

Zoro tried to move harder than ever, his hand now trying to go to his swords, but he couldn't even get his limbs to twitch as he struggled. Just then, slithering along like some beast, the root-like thing finally came towards Luffy, who was lying the closest to the hole. He was lying on his back, fast asleep, as the vines suddenly twisted itself around his ankle and bind his leg.

Feeling anger surging in him, he tried to get up—and this time, he did end up finally moving, but he was light-headed and felt sick, as he fell face-first on the stone.

Just what the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn't he move?

He struggled to get back up, but he was struggling to keep his eye open as he felt like his mind overcome with a thick fog. Meanwhile, Luffy was still being bound tightly by the roots that crept up his body and started to circle up around his chest and arms… and then very slowly started to pull him across the ground.

"L-Luffy!" Zoro called loudly, but his voice came out in a stuttered as he struggled back up, only to fall back as if someone had hit him over the head with a thousand pound weight. The last thing that he saw before he blacked out was Luffy slowly being pulled into the hole.

*Later*

"Zoro? Zoro-san?" called a familiar voice as if far away. Groaning loudly, Zoro opened his eye and blinked ahead. Standing above him was the familiar skeletal face of Brook—and though it was hard to tell with a skeleton, there was an air of worry about him.

"B-Brook?" he croaked out, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Oh!" Brook called out happily. "It is so good to see you all safe and sound! Yohoho! I was filled with such worry it felt as if my heart would burst. Though I have no heart to begin with. Yohohoho!"

Zoro forced himself to sit up—for some reason, now able to move easily, just a little tired as though he slept in for too long. Chopper, Sanji, and Franky were all there as well and trying to wake up the others who were all still fast asleep on the ground. Blinking in confusion, he looked up to the sky to see that it was a deep red color.

"We were so worry about you all when you didn't come back," Brook explained, stepping back as Zoro got to his feet, a little dizzy. "Sanji-san got worried about Robin-san and Nami-san so he insisted on coming out to check on you all."

"Great," Zoro groaned as he got up, rubbing his head where a slight headache was taking place, quickly getting over his dizziness as he tried to remember what the hell happened.

Sanji—who had been trying to wake the girls—turned to glare up at him. "You idiot!" he yelled. "What happened here? How could you let something happen to Nami and Robin?"

"Would you shut up, Nosebleed?" he snapped at him, staring around him.

"Yow, Chopper, how are they?" Franky asked Chopper who was now examining a sleeping Usopp and looked up to them, "They don't seem to be injured. It's more like they just fainted or even just fell asleep." He looked up to Zoro and said happily, "I'm so relieved to see that you're ok!"

"Yeah," Zoro said, one hand on his head. "I'm feeling fine. But what happened?"

"We were going to ask you that," Franky stated, who had been leaning up against the temple wall, completely at ease. "We were waiting for hours but you never came back."

"We were all so worried we had to come and check what was taking so long!" Chopper called as Usopp let out a groan and began to stir. "Oh Usopp!" Chopper said relieved. "You're alive!"

Usopp blinked his eyes open, wincing at the bright light. "I am?" he repeated dully. He shut his eyes again for a moment as if he was about to fall back asleep until he sat bolt-upright and stared around him in panic. "What happened? Where's that light? What are we doing here? What's going on?"

That last part ended in a bit of a plea for help as he stared around him in worry.

"You don't know what happened either?" Sanji demanded, looking from him to Zoro and back. "What were you all doing here?"

"Look, I told you I don't know!" Zoro yelled in frustration. "We were all looking around and then there was a glowing rock…"

"A glowing rock?" Chopper repeated in puzzlement. "You mean like the one that Luffy found?"

"Hey, speaking of Luffy-san, where is he?" Brook asked, looking around, as if expecting to see Luffy pop up at any moment.

Zoro looked up at once, suddenly remembering what happened and quickly started to search for the hole. But there wasn't anything… all he could see was the altar in the center of the temple's circle… no trace of Luffy. "You mean he's not here?" he asked at once.

"We just got here," Sanji said darkly. "When we found the place, we found you all lying here like this just a few minutes ago. None of us have seen Luffy yet…"

"So it was just the four of us?" Usopp asked in worry, rubbing his head. "But… where's Luffy?"

"He wouldn't have just left," Franky said as Chopper checked on the two women, the two of them slowly starting to come too as well. "He's got to be around here somewhere."

"I don't feel him anywhere though," Zoro said, using his Haki to try and sense his presence, but not picking up anyone else on the island but the eight of them.

"Neither do I," Sanji agreed uncomfortably. "I felt something bad a while ago and I had to know what was going on. What's this about a glowing rock?"

As Zoro explained about what happened, the girls had come to. "Ow, ow," Nami groaned, her hand going to her head as she blinked awake. "That idiot. What was he thinking?"

"Nami! Oh no are you alright?" Sanji called as he came to her immediately. "Don't worry my love! I swear that I'll be by your side until I am convinced that you make a complete recovery."

"Enough, lover-boy," Nami snapped as she glanced around at the ruins. "What?" she demanded in outrage. "Where's my treasure?!"

"Treasure?" Chopper repeated in confusion. "What treasure?"

"The treasure that was mentioned on the door of course!" Nami told them irritably as she brushed herself off and stood up. "I remember it saying something about treasure and…"

"You still going on about that?" Usopp demanded loudly. "We've got bigger things to worry about. What about Luffy? Where is he?"

"You mean he's not here?" she snapped at him, running a hand through her long hair in irritation, "Damn, doesn't he know what a hassle he is? I swear, I don't know what is wrong with that guy." She then heard a sigh next to her and looked over to see that Robin had just opened her eyes and was looking at her sleepily. "Oh, Robin!" she said anxiously, going to her side to see if she was alright.

"Robin-chan! My dear, how are you feeling? Are you sure that you're ok?" Sanji said as Robin sat up and got quickly to her feet.

"What just happened?" she asked.

"We're still in the ruins," Nami explained, now rubbing her forehead to clear her thoughts. "Apparently after we saw that light we passed out and now Luffy's missing. I don't know what to do with him."

"No," Robin said, turning back to the altar. "This isn't good. We've got to find him now."

"What's wrong, Robin?" Chopper asked in a scared voice. "Did something really bad happen?"

Robin knelt by the shrine and looked at the ancient writing that was covering the platform. She bit her lip and said, "I was afraid of this."

"What?" Nami asked. "What are you afraid of?"

"Yeah, cause you're kinda freaking me out," Usopp said, hiding behind Franky. "This is a bad place isn't it?"

Rather than answer, Robin reached into her bag and pulled out the book that she had been reading for the last few days. She flipped through it, searching for something as Zoro asked, "Robin, you mind telling us what this is all about?"

"Here," Robin said standing up and turning towards them. "I was afraid of this. I thought that this sounding familiar. These ruins are part of an ancient temple that once housed the Reminiscence Stone."

"The what?" they all repeated in confusion.

"What's the Reminiscence Stone?" Sanji asked.

"It's a magical artifact that acts like a sort of key," she answered without looking up. "According to this, years ago there was some kind of door that was locked and the stone that acted as the way to open it was broken apart. Whatever was sealed here was so powerful that it was decided to be close for good and then the key was broken into two halves. One half was kept here in the temple, but the other was thrown out to sea."

"Whaaaaaaat?" Chopper yelled out in fear. "You mean that rock that Luffy fished out earlier was…?"

"That idiot," Zoro groaned, smacking himself in the face. "Leave it to him to fish out something dangerous like that."

"What was it talking about treasure then?" Nami demanded at once. "It said so on the door here didn't it? That there was treasure?"

"Yeah, but it all said something really creepy with it!" Usopp yelled out. "Something about…?"

"Facing the darkest shadows of your soul," Robin recited softly.

"Well, what's that supposed to mean?" Sanji asked, lighting another cigarette. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Whatever it does mean, it doesn't sound good," Franky said with a frown. "So not cool."

"So how about we just find Luffy and get off this place then?" Usopp suggested. "I mean, it only takes half a day for the Log Pose to reset right? As soon as we find the captain, we clear out."

"Yeah, I'm all for it," Nami agreed, now looking around anxiously.

"Hey wait," Zoro demanded. "What was so dangerous about that stone that they had to break it apart and then separate it?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Robin confessed as she flipped through the book. "According to this, it states that it depends on the one who unlocked the door."

"Unlocks the door?" Nami repeated.

"There's something to do with this temple and the stone," she said shaking her head, not having the slightest idea to what this all meant. "There's some kind of gate that's here…"

She gasped as she stared at the page in amazement.

"What?" Usopp cried out loudly, sounding close to freaking out. "What is it?"

"If I'm right," Robin said anxiously, looking at them all, "Then this island could just be the legendary land called Agartha…"

"Agartha?" Nami repeated, "What the heck is that?"

"I think I've heard of it," Sanji said coming forward. "I think I might've read about it as a kid. Isn't Agartha the name that's used to describe the land of the dead?"

"LAND OF THE DEAD?" Brook, Usopp, and Chopper call cried out at once in full panic mode.

"No," Robin said at once, still in her usual calm tone. "Agartha isn't that…"

"It isn't?" Chopper asked, sighing in relief. "What a relief…"

"Rather, Agartha is the land that holds the gateway to the land of the dead," she finished and they screamed out loud again.

"The gateway?" Zoro repeated, his eyebrows raised.

"What's that mean?" Franky asked, looking lost.

Robin flipped open the book and read out, "'Long ago when humankind was young, there was one place where it was possible to reunite with lost loved ones. Agartha… the island where broken hearts can mend…' that's what it says. Apparently this temple was built because of that… this temple is some kind of gateway that connects to the other side."

"The other side?" Nami asked in wonder and horror. "Does that mean… does that mean that we can see people who died again?"

"I honestly don't know," Robin said, now sounding disappointed—as if upset that she didn't know the answers. "There's not much else on it; just something about a Gate of Life and Death. 'Those who have the key are taken to this gate and are confronted with the memories of life while staring down death.' But it doesn't say much else."

"Ok," Usopp said gulping. "I don't know anything about any of this, but why don't we just find Luffy and leave this creepy 'land of the dead' stuff behind?"

"I agree with Usopp-san!" Brook called, holding up his hand as if voting. "I certainly don't want to come face-to-face with a ghost!"

"Aren't you technically undead?" Zoro asked annoyed.

"But what about Luffy?" Chopper asked anxiously.

"I think I know," Zoro told him. As they all looked he quickly explained about what he saw. "I don't know if it was a dream or not… but I saw some kind of roots dragging him underground… but that hole isn't here anymore!"

Sanji walked over and began to examine the altar, looking at it from every angle. "I don't know what to tell ya," he called. "But I really don't see anything here…" He stood up and smiled. "Which means…"

"Don't you dare," Robin warned him, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'm worry about Luffy too… but don't you dare destroy anything."

"Yes, Robin dear!" Sanji cried out, hearts in his eyes. "You all hear that?" he demanded them all, "Anyone puts one stone out of place here, they'll have to deal with me!"

"But Sanji we have to find Luffy!" Usopp said pleadingly.

"It's that idiot's fault for getting himself into this," Sanji said, now standing in front of the altar like a guard. "If Robin-chan says not to touch anything, then we won't!"

"I never said that," Robin said, walking up and kneeling down to run her hand along the altar. "I merely don't want you to destroy this place." She then pulled out a notebook and began to look through it as she studied the ancient writing that was mostly worn away.

"Darkest shadows of your soul…?" she repeated to herself, reciting what had been written on the door, "but what does that all mean? Apparently there's some kind of price to pay at the Gates of Life and Death."

"A price?" Brook asked softly.

"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Zoro said, now looking angry.

"YOW! It doesn't surprise me," Franky sighed in annoyance. "Nothing comes without a price in this world…"

"You mean you have to give something in order to meet with lost loved ones?" Nami asked uncertainly, a deep desire to see her adopted mother once again, if only for a moment.

"Yeah, is it really possible?" Chopper asked, his eyes watering up at the thought of being able to see Dr. Hiluluk again.

"This is all guess work mostly," Robin confessed, pushing up her sunglasses as she stared at the words on the stone.

"Well, what is it that you have to give up, Robin-san?" Brook asked curiously.

"More like to share," Robin said, frowning as she wrote something down in the notebook.

"Share?" Usopp repeated, not having the slightest clue to what she was saying.

"Yes," Robin answered, "Apparently, you have to share your memories of being alive. That's all it says."

"What? You mean tell these ghosts your life story or something?" Usopp asked confused.

"That's all it says," Robin answered, slowly getting up, still looking through her notes. "I guess that there's someone that Luffy wants to meet again and is probably sharing his memories as we speak so that he can speak to that person again. If Luffy had the key, then he would most likely be taken to the Gate. What happens after that, I can't say."

"Just great," Nami called out sarcastically. "So now Luffy's who-knows-where, and we have no idea how to find him!"

Usopp moved back, pulling out his slingshot as he looked around, now wishing he still had his old exorcism gear on to ward off the evil spirits. Chopper moved a little closer to Zoro as they argued to what it was they were supposed to do.

"You idiot, why didn't you do something?" Sanji yelled at Zoro. "You're a swordsman right? Why didn't you cut up those roots or something?"

"Hey, I told you didn't I?" Zoro yelled in annoyance, feeling a strong urge to kill the cook. "I don't know if it was a dream or not! All I know for sure is that couldn't move for some reason! It felt like I had a whale or something on me. I couldn't move a muscle!"

"Apparently it was the weight of the burdens you carry through life that weighed you down," Robin answered as if it was obvious.

"The what?" Zoro repeated as Robin continued to flip through the book. "According to this, those selected to go to the gate are suddenly weighed down by all the burdens they carry in life and are unable to move as they are taken to the gate's entrance. Only once they arrive is the weight taken off them."

"But I wasn't taken to some gate now was I?" Zoro demanded. "I just watched! I don't know what those roots were or where that hole came from! Just what is all this?"

"I've already told you everything in here," Robin said sadly, shutting the book again. "Without some kind of key, there's not much we can do."

"So what? We're stuck here waiting until Luffy's done in there?" Sanji asked as Usopp kept walking around in a circle, a pop green in his slingshot, just waiting for an attack.

"If we could figure out how to open the doorway here, we may be able to follow him," Robin said softly as Usopp cried out in panic.

"NO!" he yelled out at the top of his lungs, "THIS ISLAND IS CURSED! DO WE REALLY WANT TO RISK BEING CURSED OURSELVES?" he stopped to take a deep breath and finished, "Now, why don't we just wait back at the ship? I mean, Luffy's strong! He can take care of himself right? How much trouble could he get into at the Gateway to Hell?"

They all looked at each other.

"We've got to find him now," Zoro said, looking around, trying to feel something, anything that lurked on the island.

"Search everywhere for some way in!" Nami called. "Don't leave any stone unturned!"

"You can count on me!" Sanji cried, love-struck.

"We really should find him," Robin said softly, "It would be bad if Luffy was cursed by spirits of the dead."

"Robin please don't say creepy things like that," Usopp whispered as Franky moved up his sunglasses so that his eyes could do a quick scan of the surrounding area.

"You don't really think that there could be real ghosts right?" Chopper asked, looking a little blue in the face at the thought.

"Hard to say," Franky said, "So far, I'm not picking up anything."

"The land of the dead…" Brook sighed as he put his hand on the altar and leaned heavily against it. "It feels so long ago that I was there myself. It is a frightening place… I think…?"

"You think?" Usopp repeated with a squeak.

"I'm afraid I don't really remember too much about it," Brook confessed. "I vaguely recall walking down a warm tunnel with a glorious, shining light but that's about it…"

"Creepy," Chopper asked as the others fanned out to look.

Brook sighed and had pushed himself up, but as he did, he accidently ended up pushing the altar slightly and he almost fell over from shock.

Usopp, who had his back to Brook, jumped at the sudden noise and cried out in alarm, "GHOSTS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE! THEY'RE HERE!"

As he and Chopper screamed out, the others looked back in time to see that the stone had been covering something. "Oh!" Brook called. "There really is a hole here!"

At once, Sanji and Zoro came over to continue pushing it until the entire hole was uncovered and they were all staring down it. It was impossible to say just how deep it was because there was no sign of the bottom.

Usopp gulped as he looked down and whispered, "It's even darker than the Deep Sea!"

"Appropriate place for the pathway to hell," Zoro said calmly.

"How can you say something like that so calmly?" Usopp yelled at him, pointing down the hole. "It's darker than dark! There's no telling how deep this thing goes! And you're telling me that Luffy's down there?!"

"Yeah," Zoro said, standing up straight. "So who wants to go down and check things out?"

"YOU HAVE TO BE CRAZY!" Usopp cried out. "WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS WOULD WANT TO GO TO HELL?"

"So you just want to leave Luffy down there?" Franky asked, which shut Usopp up at once.

"What makes you so sure that he's down there?" Nami questioned, looking down the hole anxiously like she expected something to come crawling out.

They all looked at each other and nodded together. Yep, there was no doubt in their minds that Luffy was definitely in there.

"I'll go," Zoro volunteered.

"Me too," Sanji sighed, breathing out the smoke from his cigarette.

"You can count me in!" Franky called out, striking his pose.

Robin giggled. "Sounds like fun."

"You're going too, Robin?!" Nami cried out in horror.

"It's not every day you get to visit hell," Robin answered with a bright smile.

"I will go too," Brook said at once, his guitar in hand as he strummed along. "I will be my newest song! 'Pathway to HELL!'"

"So you guys plan on leaving us here?" Chopper asked with a gulp.

"Not unless you want to come with us," Zoro said, walking up to stand on the edge of the hole and looked down. "Do what you want. Either come with us, or go back to the ship." He took a deep breath, and before anyone could say another word, he jumped down, the darkness of the hole swallowing him up like some kind of monster.

"Zoro!" Usopp called after him, but they didn't get a word. It was truly as if Zoro had been swallowed up by another world.

"Well," Robin said smiling as she came up, sticking her book and notebook back into her bag. "What are we waiting around for?" And quick as a flash, she jumped in after Zoro, a slight giggle escaping her mouth as she did.

"Wait for me, Robin-chan!" Sanji cried, and jumped right after her, swooning as he did.

"ROBIN! SANJI!" Chopper cried out fearfully.

"Yeah!" Franky called happily as he jumped, "Don't forget the SUUUUPPPPPEEEERRR ARMOR ME!"

"Yohohoho!" Brook laughed as Franky disappeared and the other three were now looking scared. "Never a dull moment in this crew!"

"Brook, wait!" Usopp gasped out. "Are you sure you want to go?"

"Yohohoho! I've already been to the land of the dead Usopp-san," Brook laughed. "I don't see why I should be afraid!" and with those words he jumped, laughing all the way down, his voice disappearing down the hole until fading away like some kind of echo. That left the three of them still standing up watching.

Nami gulped as she said, "I think they've got it. I mean, it shouldn't take long for them to find Luffy and come back right?"

"Yeah!" Usopp said, optimistically. "We could wait for them back at the Sunny for them! I mean, it's not like we need their protection anymore does it?"

"Yeah!" Chopper cried out proudly, his two hooves up in the air. "I'm a full-grown man now! You don't need to worry!"

"Right," Nami said, looking up at the darkening sky. "I'm sure that it shouldn't take them too long…"

As they all got up, Usopp took a step back and ended up stepping on a twig, breaking it in half. The noise alone was enough to startle Usopp as he jumped up, tripped and ended up falling head-over-heels into the hole.

"OH CRAPPPPPPP!" was his cry as he was fell in.

"USOPP!" Chopper cried out, and without thinking, jumped in after him.

"Chopper!" Nami cried as she watched their doctor tumble through the dark. Now it was just Nami all alone. She stared around her in worry before she sighed. "Luffy, I'm going to kill you for this," she promised as she closed her eyes and jumped in after them.

(So how is it yet? Please tell me what you all think and if it sounds promising to you all. Any suggesting to the memories that should be shown and how? I'd love to hear any ideas you all have.)