For Whom The Golden Bell Tolls...

Chapter 26 - For Whom The Golden Bell Tolls...

"So we're finally going to see the golden city?!" Brook cried happily, if he had eyes, they would be wide with excitement. "Oh! My heart feels as if it will burst from my chest! If I had a heart that is! Yohohoho!"

"Well, you're in for a show, I can promise you that," Nami said, knowing that she wasn't going to like this. As amazing as it all was, riding on that flying ark with Eneru wasn't worth it. What a horrible day this was. But they followed the four through the thick greenery, and it started off with Zoro starting to stray off to one direction with Luffy yelling after him that was the wrong way and that they were supposed to go West… but…

"Luffy you dope, you're not going west…" Nami said rolling her eyes, "That's east…"

"Oh, come on Luffy! Use your head for something other than a hat rack for a change!" memory Zoro called after him, pointing to his right, "We're supposed to go to the Skull's Right Eye so we gotta go right, rubber brain!"

"How does that make any sense?!" Usopp asked, almost falling over at that logic.

"What?" Zoro asked in annoyance. "You said the right eye, so I was going right!"

"It's not the same thing you idiot!" Nami yelled at him as he shrugged unconcerned.

Apparently she wasn't the only one who thought that.

"They've both lost their minds," memory Chopper whispered as Robin knelt down to whisper to him, "Why don't you go tell those two 'heroes' we're supposed to be going south before they end up lost?"

"Not that that did any good," Chopper sighed, remembering how they all got separated after getting attacked by that snake and how he was alone when he was forced to run from all that fighting. He shook his head as a shiver went up his spine—he would've been better off getting burnt at the altar than running around the middle of a battle field.

"Well, they're both wrong," Nami sighed, feeling a little more sweat-drop around her brow. "Now this is sad when pirates can't tell which way to go. You both are hopeless."

"I'll remember that the next time something dangerous pops up," Zoro said in deep annoyance. "You can fight off that slime thing when it comes crawling out from somewhere."

Memory Chopper nodded in understanding to Robin, and then went running after them, yelling that they were supposed to go south instead. Luffy picked up a long stick and soon began following after Robin, who was leading them directly south.

"South huh?" Luffy asked as he happily swung the stick around like a baton, "You should've said so sooner."

"I clearly remember saying that you had to go south before we split," Nami said in exasperation. "One of these days he will have to learn to listen."

They all rolled their eyes, knowing that stopping Luffy long enough to listen was like trying to part the tides themselves. But they followed after the four through the overgrown, and oversized, forest. They walked on for about fifteen minutes—with Chopper wanting to find a stick like Luffy's—and so far it had been very quiet walk.

But as Luffy dragged his stick across one tree, he suddenly asked, "The City of Gold's got a really big bell in it right?"

"Noland did mention that in his logbook, yes," memory Robin confirmed as she thought about it. "A great bell and a City of Gold."

Brook giggled to himself happily, acting like a little kid going to an amusement park.

"Why do you ask, Luffy?" past Zoro asked inquiringly as Chopper looked up at him in curiously as well. A big grin suddenly appeared on Luffy's face, as if he had been planning a big surprise for someone.

"I got a really good idea," he giggled to himself, and that got Chopper's attention. He stopped walking and turned up to him, his eyes bright as he asked him to tell him what it was.

"Yeah, what?" Franky asked, suddenly having a foreboding feeling that this wasn't going to be as easy as Luffy was going to make it sound.

"If we give that ginormous bell a good ringing I bet that old timer and those monkeys down below would hear it, don't you think?" Luffy asked them as the others just smiled at his plan. Chopper beamed, fully agreeing with that.

"Yeah… I bet they would," Luffy decided.

"So that's what you meant!" Brook called happily, "When you said that you were sure Cricket-san and the others got the message! Luffy-san rang the bell didn't he?!"

None of them answered him, but they were all smiling which was all the proof that they needed. Franky sniffled at that, his eyes burning with tears as he thought about it all. If old man Cricket and his monkey pals did hear the ringing, even from above the clouds… then that meant that all his years of searching and never giving up weren't in vain.

"What a great thing to do for them!" he sobbed openly as the others became a little dazed in the eyes as they remembered hearing the beautiful sound of that bell. They all hoped that that memory would be shown… when Luffy finally defeated that fake god and sounded the bell…

That had truly been something to witness…

They walked on for a little while before memory Chopper began swinging his own stick around, he was smiling and laughing—clearly having a good day as he said happily, "I thought this forest would be scarier. But so far it's been nice and peaceful."

"You sure sound like you're enjoying yourself, Chopper-san," Brook said.

"I felt so safe with these guys," Chopper sighed before he added, "At least before we lost each other."

"Lost each other?" Usopp asked in surprise.

"You'll see very soon," Robin answered, smiling a little as memory Chopper laughed happily and Luffy looked back playfully and teased, "Hey, Chopper! You're in a pretty good mood today, you feeling courageous for a change?"

"Yep!" he laughed, "You betcha!"

'Well, that sure didn't last long,' Chopper thought grimly. Why did they have to come to this island when there was a war? He wondered if the others had as hard a time as he did.

"Yeah, you're right," memory Zoro suddenly said, "The forest really has been a big disappointment. Nothing but birds and trees for two whole days, makes me wanna scream I'm so bored."

"Well, count yourself as lucky!" Usopp said darkly as Zoro finished, "We haven't even seen one of Eneru's priests… so I know exactly how you feel, Chopper."

"No you don't," current Chopper whispered quietly as his past self laughed a little more.

Memory Robin smiled back at them. "Listen to the two of you," she said, sounding like a mother talking to her boys who were complaining about not having anything to do, "Are you that eager for something dangerous to happen?"

"Not at all," Chopper and Usopp said together.

Memory Chopper laughed some more, but it had died in his throat so suddenly that they all looked back to see that he was now staring behind them at what appeared to be a very strange, stripy-looking root there. Past Chopper was muttering to himself about where it came from until it started moving.

"Did that root just move?" Brook whispered, suddenly having a very bad feeling to all this.

"That's not a root," Zoro muttered as Luffy called back to Chopper, asking what he saw back there, which Chopper quickly denied seeing anything.

"If it's not a root, then what is it?" Franky asked quickly, noticing how everyone was having nervous looks.

Rather than answer him, Robin turned to their Chopper and asked, "Why didn't you mention it to us?"

"Yeah, a little warning would've been good," Zoro added.

Chopper looked down in embarrassment. Thinking back now, he knew that it was stupid. "I thought if I said that I saw a moving root you'd laugh at me for getting scared over nothing," he mumbled. "And I guess that I just really wanted it to be just my imagination."

"Well, I can't say I blame you for that," Zoro said after thinking that. "That thing was a nightmare to fight."

"But what made you think we'd laugh at you?" Robin smiled kindly at him.

Chopper didn't answer as he kicked at the ground, and shrugged uncertainly. Truthfully, he had always wished that he was as strong and brave as his friends were. Up till here, he had always relied on the others to protect him. Even when he fought in Alabasta, he had Usopp there to back him up. There had always been a small part of him that feared that he didn't truly belong here in the crew because he wasn't like any of them. But he knew now that it was because he wasn't like them did he belong!

He suddenly remembered Luffy's speech back at Arlong Park and fully understood his words. He reached up and tugged his hat a little over his eyes—a habit that he picked up from his father. When the Doctor was lost in thought, he would pull his hat over his eyes as he tried to get his thoughts in order.

Chopper knew that he wasn't as brave or as strong as Luffy, he couldn't use swords like Zoro, he couldn't cook like Sanji, he couldn't navigate or draw maps like Nami, he couldn't shoot like Usopp, he couldn't read the past like Robin, he couldn't build like Franky, nor could he play music like Brook.

But he would never forget the first time he met Luffy… finding him with his skin almost frozen through and his fingers and toes nothing but bloody shreds… how could he have ever known that he would become who he was now? He smiled a little… from the moment that he pulled Luffy back up that mountain and treated them, he had been the one to care for the Straw Hats—to bandage them up and give them medicine… he had sat with them through the night if that was what it took to help them. He had always been the one to care for his crew and keep them healthy.

He loved his crew… each and every one of them and he wanted to be useful to them. That was all he wanted.

He didn't say any of this to the others, but Robin was smiling, as if she knew just what he was thinking as Franky poked the others for information. Wanting to know just what that thing was. Zoro told him to shut up as they continued following the memory Straw Hats for another ten minutes. Every few seconds, past Chopper glanced over his shoulder and he seemed to grow steadily whiter when he saw that 'root' was still there.

Finally, memory Zoro noticed how Chopper was acting and called, "Chopper! Why do you keep looking behind us?"

"Huh?!" he called startled, "No reason! No reason at all!"

"Should've known that there was something wrong here," Zoro said, a sideways smirk at Chopper who laughed a little as Luffy finally looked back and spotted the 'root' as well.

"Whoa!" he said in surprise, "Get a look at that weird stripy-looking root back there?"

"Oh that?" memory Chopper asked, blinking in surprise as the root was moving more than ever, "So you guys can see it?"

Memory Zoro and Robin both looked as well and could see what they were talking about. "I've never heard of roots moving before," past Zoro muttered quietly.

His eyes budging out of his head, past Chopper cried out, "Oh no! You see that too?! I thought I was just imagining things!"

Chopper sighed, still wondering if they could've stayed together here if he had spoken up sooner.

The ground suddenly began to shudder, and in front of them, a head rose up and they could see what it was. It was a snake… one bigger than most buildings and long enough to reach out to the sky well above the trees… its mouth alone was big enough to swallow them all with no room restrictions… it was blue in color with a single row of white hair on both sides, along its body. It had small, yellow eyes and two long whiskers hanging from a spot above its mouth, like a mustache… and it was covered in blue wavy lines across its body with some kind of purple substance dripping from its sword-long fangs.

"A SNAKE!" Brook and Franky screamed in shock, looking ready to run.

"I forgot how big that overgrown inchworm is," Sanji muttered.

"Boy did it give us trouble," Zoro sighed, remembering when he was stuck fighting it. Its scales were harder than steel… nothing could faze that thing… at least nothing did till Eneru was through with it.

"What? Didn't we have a party with that thing?" Sanji asked, remembering how the snake had allowed people to dance on its head as they celebrated for those four days.

"You… partied with that thing?" Franky spoke up, his eyes wide as he stared up at the massive snake. It looked anything but friendly at the moment.

"Easy for you to say, you didn't see it when it was mad," Zoro muttered darkly as the snake looked down at them, its tongue flicking in an out.

"RUN FOR IT IT'S A GIANT SNAKE!" Luffy yelled out, but there was excitement on his face as they all turned and ran off with the serpent right on their heels. The present-day Straw Hats were all forced to, one again, run behind them to keep up. By far, memory Chopper was the one freaking out the most… he was running, screaming with tears in his eyes as the past version of Robin stared back at it in amazement.

"It's enormous!" she yelled, her eyes wide, "I wonder if it's another result of the environment up here!"

"How could you admire it when it was trying to eat you?" Franky demanded.

"Why didn't you just attack it then?!" Usopp yelled at Zoro.

"You make it sound so easy!" Zoro snapped back in frustration. But Luffy didn't care. He loved every minute of it even as memory Zoro got sick of running and turned to face it.

"Well, you can't say that you didn't ask for trouble!" Usopp yelled, pointing an accusing finger at their Zoro. "So really, it's your fault!"

"Shut up!" Zoro snapped back as his past self snarled, "Alright catfish face, it's time for you to die!"

But as he drew his sword, the snake launched itself at him with such surprising speed that he was forced to jump out of the way to the tree branches above them to avoid getting. But with him out of the way, the snake was now barreling towards Luffy and Chopper who were also forced to jump out of the way—with Robin using her powers to jump out of harm's way.

Memory Zoro called out from above them, "HOW CAN SOMETHING SO BIG MOVE SO FREAKING FAST?!"

"Size is no guarantee of speed," Robin answered as she watched as the snake suddenly tried to go after them again, but only managed to bite into the base of one of the large trees. As they watched, they could suddenly see the purple cloud of smoke from under its mouth and smelt burning wood.

"Ah… guys?" Usopp asked with a gulp. "That purple stuff from its fangs…?"

"It's venom," Zoro nodded as they watched the snake open its jaw and released the tree… with the base of the trunk destroyed and melted away.

"ACID!" memory Chopper screamed out in horror. The four of them each had a different emotion on their faces; everything from excitement to terror.

"Ah… change of plans," past Zoro said, looking tense, "We're running away!"

"I agree with that plan!" Usopp and Nami both nodded firmly at that.

"Sounds good," memory Robin agreed, sounding calm as Luffy cheered at the idea—like they were just going to be playing tag or something with the serpent. As the tree slowly fell the snake turned back to look at them.

"DON'T LET THAT VENOM TOUCH YOU! IT'S DEATH!" memory Zoro screamed out in warning as Luffy swung from a branch, actually taunting the snake to come after him. But it had turned its attention to Robin instead, who was directly above him. Sanji and past Chopper screamed for her to get out of there, but it already went straight up at her… however, she had been able to create a kind of chain of arms and used it to swing out of warms way.

"Ha! Nice try!" she called as the snake curled around the trees, clearly wondering what happened.

"Yeah! You go girl!" Nami cheered with a beaming smile. The snake then noticed Chopper on the ground, who got so freaked out by it, that when he changed into his 'Walk Point' he still ran upright from it.

"THIS WAY WHISKERS!" Luffy laughed as he continued swinging happily away.

"How can you think that this is fun?!" Usopp hollered angrily after him. And that was how it was… the snake went after whoever was closest to it—while all of them were forced to running, dodging, swinging and doing everything they could to avoid it.

It was almost impossible to keep up with any of them. There was so much yelling and destruction going on that they couldn't make heads or tails of what has happening. But after several chaotic minutes, they were able to follow after Luffy—who had finally managed to lose the snake… but he had also ended up losing the other three as well.

"Where are you all?!" Franky yelled anxiously, staring around for their past selves.

"We all got lost from each other," Robin answered, looking around at the grove of strange striped trees that they had wandered into. "That snake made us lose sight of each other and as far as I know, I was the only one who made it to the ruins… I didn't see any of you boys until the upper ruins had been destroyed."

"Same here," Zoro said, "Well, at least until I found you Chopper."

"I don't remember much of anything," Chopper said with a frown. Though he had been proud of himself that he had been able to take out one of the priests, he still felt a sense of shame that he wasn't able to help them all fight in the end.

"What are you talking about?" Brook asked, still lost as ever, "The upper ruins?"

"I don't know how to describe it," Robin answered with a frown. Especially since she's sure that they won't be seeing it since Luffy wasn't there… not that she was aware of.

Luffy was now muttering to himself, looking as confused as Brook was, as he said, "Now what? Where did everybody go? Did they get lost?" He thought it over before he decided, "I better keep moving. I'll catch up with them later at the ruins. Robin said we had to go south and it always gets warmer when you go south so… I go this way!" and then he went walking off in one direction.

"That idiot," Nami hissed, slapping her forehead, "That's southwest!"

"Ok, so you were all lost from each other, but what happened to you all?" Franky asked. No one could really answer him that. None of them really seemed to know the whole story to what was going on here.

As they tried to gather their thoughts, after a few more minutes, Luffy began to sing happily to himself.

"Oh, the islands in the south are warm…

And they're heads get really hot…

They grow pineapples, they grow coconuts…

And they're morons!"

"Yohohoho! He's tone deaf!" Brook said happily.

"What a dumb song," Nami whispered to herself just as they heard the baying of a goat calling from somewhere and Luffy stopped dead as he looked around excitedly.

"Sky goats?" Brook asked, expecting to see giant goats come in.

"No," Zoro said rolling his eyes as he jerked his thumb above them. Standing on top of a Milky Road just above them, a man who was completely bald, had long ears and even horns on his head; was standing there clad in white.

"What is he?" Franky asked with a deadpanned expression. "Is he half goat?"

"I don't know, but probably," Sanji muttered with a shrug.

"They were the Divine Squad," Nami whispered darkly, "Eneru's soldiers."

"His servants?" Brook said in surprise.

"Apparently while we were at the altar, the Shandorians found out that you guys took care of Satori," Zoro said grimly. "And decided that they could use that as a chance to take out the other priests and Eneru."

"Really?" Franky asked, eyes wide, "So Eneru set his whole army on them?"

"I don't know the whole story," he shrugged.

"I think I know," Nami whispered softly, but before she could explain it to them, as Luffy was now calling out for the 'goat' to come out. As he called, the goat-man jumped, heading straight at him—but acting instinctively, Luffy punched him so hard that he went flying. Like a pinball, he crashed into a tree trunk, went flying up and crashed into a branch, before he fell to the ground, his ass in the air and lost consciousness.

"Ow…" Franky winced, "That had to hurt."

"Well, that was pathetic," Zoro stated in a bored tone. He noticed that… why was it the servants of the nutjobs were such weaklings? It was when they got higher up did things become increasingly more difficult.

"Luffy might not know Haki yet," Sanji spoke up, now chewing on the end of a long blade of grass since he was dying for a smoke. "But his sense are so sharp that he almost didn't need it."

"Truly amazing," Brook said happily as Luffy walked over and picked up his fallen straw hat. "Who's this jerk?" he asked in annoyance. "Man, he got me all excited," he pouted as he put his hat back on, "I thought I was gonna get to see a goat."

"He's upset over that?" Usopp asked, shaking his head. "Not over the fact that this guy tried to kill him?"

"He's funny that way," Robin giggled to herself. Still frowning, Luffy marched off, but cheered up enough to continue on with the next verse of his stupid song. But he didn't get far…

Luffy suddenly stopped dead and was looking off to his side with a tense expression. Surprised, they all looked and saw that Luffy wasn't alone. Standing up on some giant roots was the Shandorian Wiper. He was looking as ill-tempered as he had the last time they saw him, carrying a bazooka over his arm, and his right arm bandaged from his fingers to his shoulder. His left shoulder however and part of his wing had been burnt and scarred… he was a mess.

"I guess this fight had taken its toll on him," Brook said as Usopp gulped and moved back a little. Memory or not, this guy gave him the creeps; Wiper's temper was as mean as a Sea King's. Wiper was glaring down at Luffy as their captain looked back up at him.

"Oh, it's you," Luffy muttered, his voice was unusually cold.

"That's right," Wiper said threateningly, "And just what are you doing here? I warned you to leave this island."

"What makes him think that we should've listened?" Zoro shrugged.

"I don't know, after I heard about 'god' I wanted to leave," Usopp muttered. "But would anyone listen to me? No…"

"Big baby," Sanji stated.

"Shut up! I can do whatever I want!" Luffy retorted.

"Damn right," Zoro said.

"Would you all shut up?" Nami asked irritably. The others looked at her—they knew that Nami was probably the only person who could get them to do something they didn't want to.

"No, you can't," Wiper said angrily, a warning clear in his tone, "This land belongs to us Shandorians!"

"After hearing their story, that is true," Brook said softly, "But Luffy-san and the rest of you haven't done anything to them! Why is he going around picking fights?"

"He means well, but his determination can blind him and he can become violent," Zoro shrugged, "At least that's what I picked up on him." He knew that the guy wasn't completely heartless. After all, he had been fighting as hard as the rest of them. And once he understood Luffy's goal, he was moved by his efforts and even risked his own life to help them take down that beanstalk.

"Huh? It does?" Luffy asked, looking around him at the trees in surprise, "Really? I thought it was god's? Well, then," he said bowing his head, "I beg your pardon."

"Though better, he still needs to work on his tact," Sanji sighed despairingly.

"Besides, I doubt that he's going to let bro go that easily," Franky muttered. Luffy then began to head off once again, humming his song as if nothing happened.

"Hold it!" Wiper called angrily.

"Now what?" Luffy yelled in annoyance. But Wiper looked aggravated, as if he was thinking something over before he came to a decision.

"I don't like that look in his eyes," Usopp whispered nervously, suddenly having a very bad feeling to all this.

"No," Wiper finally decided, "I'm through wasting words on you." He turned to face him with his eyes closed, "And I'm sick n' tired of listening to your idiotic babbling." He held up his bazooka and pointed it at him as his eyes snapped open—a deep anger quickly building there. "So I'm gonna destroy you!"

"FOR WHAT?!" Brook yelled in shock. As far as he could see, Luffy-san was just taking a walk! Even if the land rightfully did belong to the Shandorians, they didn't have to kill everyone else who came there did they?

But Luffy remained calm. He didn't even look surprised by what Wiper said… merely annoyed. "I see," he said and he threw the stick over his shoulder so fast that it was a blur. He grinned as he took his backpack off and held his hands up, his knuckles cracking as he smirked. "If you wanna fight you just have to say so!" he laughed a little.

"No! Luffy! It's not worth it!" Chopper cried worriedly. But there was nothing any of them could do. Wiper than shot a cannonball from his bazooka, which Luffy easily inflated and deflected like he did when he attacked them in the Crow. The black ball was sent flying narrowly over Wiper's injured shoulder and blew up the tree behind them.

"You think he'd had learned that from the last time," Sanji muttered.

"Some people never learn," Zoro answered with a shrug.

"Yeah, and you two would know that better than anyone would you?" Robin asked teasingly and Sanji swooned happily.

"Oh, Robin! You're smile is as beautiful as any angel!" he gasped out, hearts back in his eyes as she smiled. "I love that side of you as well!"

Meanwhile, Luffy deflated back to normal and challenged, "You'll never be able to hurt me with that thing!"

"If all that guy has is cannonballs, then he's right," Franky pointed out.

"Don't count him out yet," Nami whispered, thinking of painful clarity of when he went up against Eneru, "He's no one trick pony. I've seen how far he's willing to go."

But Wiper didn't listen to what Luffy said as he shot two more black balls at him, which Luffy easily deflected once again. And it went on like this for a while… Wiper just didn't seemed to get it as he kept firing—it didn't matter how many balls that he used, it wasn't going to hurt him.

"I can do this all day if you want!" Luffy yelled, though he sounded out of breath, "But you can't win! Rifles and cannons won't leave a scratch on me! Rubber body and all…"

"So it would seem," Wiper agreed after a moment of thought, "Time for a change of tactics…" That was when he spit out cigarillo before his eyes darkened. This couldn't be good—and they all had foreboding feelings as they watched him pull out a small Dial and fit it into his bazooka and fired that. But instead of another cannonball, it was a gust of strong wind.

"What's he doing this time?!" Brook yelled as Chopper's nose sniffed the air and his eyes widen.

"THAT'S GAS!" he screamed as Luffy was coughing and gasping for air as he covered his mouth and nose.

"You've got to be kidding!" Franky said, thinking it all over. Just one little spark is all that's going to take—and if it goes off…?

"This weapon is called the Burn Bazooka," Wiper said in a cold voice and interrupted his thoughts. "By igniting the gas released from the Breath Dial, a deadly blue flame is created, which will incinerate everything in its path. Let's see if you can bounce this back at me."

"Something tells me that Luffy can't do that," Robin answered coolly.

"HELLO!? WHO CAN?!" Usopp screamed at her as Wiper pulled the trigger and there it came. It was a path of blue fire from the weapon, they could see it in front of them—a light so bright that it was blinding.

"LUFFY!" Chopper screamed, terror going through him, "DODGE!"

Thankfully, Luffy did just in time. If he had stayed just a couple seconds longer he would've been burnt to a crisp… the fire had ended up burning a hole right through the tree behind them.

"Damn! That's some serious firepower!" Franky whistled.

"Now is not the time to be admiring that!" Usopp yelled and slapped Franky's head. But he quickly calmed down. He gets so caught up in the moment that he keeps forgetting that all this already happened a long time ago. Taking several deep breaths, he looked back to see that Luffy was already back on his feet. He was shaken, but unharmed…

As he glared around for Wiper… a sudden noise caused Luffy to stare up in time to see the warrior right above him and aimed a kick at his head. Luffy was then forced to bend over backwards to avoid it—by this point both of their faces were full of anger. By this point however, some of the Straw Hats were actually starting to enjoy watching the fight… it was non-stop action the whole way. It would've been a lot better if their faces were full of so much fury…

Luffy threw another punch which was blocked by Wiper's foot, who used the momentum from it to send himself flying backwards. Luffy didn't wait around for him to fire that burn bazooka again as he stretched out of the way as the fire came and was clinging to the trees like a spider.

"So far this fight is pretty well-matched," Sanji said impressed. He had a feeling that this guy was strong, but he was surprised that Luffy was struggling so soon. But he wasn't worried… this fight had only just begun after all.

"COME ON LUFFY!" Chopper yelled eagerly. Luffy soon launched himself back at Wiper, aiming another kick, which Wiper blocked his foot with his own. But soon the fight got nasty from that point onward. After Luffy tried a series of punches that Wiper endured until he was able to get behind him, he fired his weapon once again.

At that, Luffy started to get irritated. He was able to stretch himself out of firing range and hung from a tree overhead as the fire burned. He then let go and tried his Gum Gum Stamp to get at him, but Wiper was gliding along the root of a large tree to get up into the air as well. Jumping up, Chopper tried to give Luffy's a head's up, but Wiper somehow got his feet underneath Luffy's arms, flipped him over his head and sent him crashing to the ground below.

"Come on Luffy! I know you can do better than that!" Nami yelled, remembering how easily this guy dealt with all three of the 'Monster Trio' before they arrived at Heaven's Gate. "Don't let this guy walk all over you!"

Luffy seemed to agree and they were all getting sick of Wiper using that weapon. He was forced to avoid it once again, and he rocketed himself out of the way. Now looking seriously ticked off, Luffy yelled, "SO YOU LIKE BAZOOKA'S HUH?!" he stretched his arms back, ready to launch a bazooka of his own, "GET A LOAD OF THIS!"

"This is going to be explosive," Sanji betted.

"NOW YOU DIE!" Wiper screamed out as they were about to attack, and their attacks hit the other at the same time. Luffy was finally hit by the fire as his fist ended up shattering Wiper's shield and hit him hard… both of the fighters were sent flying backwards.

"Where is the sense in all this?!" Brook cried out, truly not understanding how they ended up fighting in the first place. Nami just rolled her eyes. Men… just what was it about them that they had to fight all the time? Even when there was no point?

Both boys here got hit hard. They went crashing to the ground—with Wiper crashing into a tree before he began spitting up blood—and Luffy was burnt and covered in ash as he lay several yard away. However, they all knew that they weren't going to die that easily for they were both getting back to their feet. Wiper now seemed seriously ticked off and bellowed out, "WHERE ARE YOU STRAW HAT? I'LL FIND YOU! I KNOW YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!"

"This guy has got some serious anger management issues," Zoro muttered. Of course, he already knew that when he was forced to fight off those Shandorians who kept coming after him. His one eye twitched at the painful reminder at how hard a time he had of fighting that one guy with the blinding pistols. He couldn't see anything and ended getting his ass kicked there for a while.

He sighed… but he brightened up greatly as he remembered when he fought that Angler Fishman back at Fishman Island. He smirked… he was weak in these days because he did rely too much on his sight.

"Anger management?" Sanji repeated, his eyebrow raised as he glanced at Zoro. "Like you're one to talk Moss Head."

"What was that?!" snarled Zoro.

"See what I mean?" Sanji poked fun at him as Zoro had to fight the urge to pull out his sword and stab him. No… that would only prove that he was right… even if he did kill him, he would be forced to live with that. He would wait until later to kill him.

After catching his breath, Luffy sat up and yelled, "YEAH! AND I PLAN ON STAYING THAT WAY!"

"Something that we all intend," Brook said loyally. They smiled at him, before turning back to the fight. But as Luffy got ready to charge ahead once again, something appeared behind him—a familiar pair of glowing, golden eyes.

Brook, Usopp, and Chopper all screamed in shock, and as the memory faded, the last thing that they saw was a dark hole behind Luffy and he was suddenly flying backwards into the darkness.

"What happened?!" Franky yelled anxiously, fearing the worse. "What was that hole thingy?"

"That… was the snake," Nami whispered, remembering seeing a similar dark hole when she had been eaten by that thing.

"SNAKE?" the three yelled at her.

"That moron had to get eaten did he?" Sanji sighed. Well, he knew that this had to have happened… how else did Luffy know about all the gold inside that thing's stomach. In a way, maybe it was a good thing… after all, they never would've gotten all that money right?

"That's about right," Nami sighed grimly. "He thought that he was stuck inside a cave that kept having earthquakes and floods if you can believe that."

"You're kidding me!" Franky actually laughed.

"That's what he said," she answered, fighting back a smile herself. It was funny… though stupid as that was, she found that kinda endearing now after all this time.

The next memory appeared once more and they were in a place that could easily been mistaken for a cave. It was dark and full of space—full of broken buildings and dead trees… bits of golden treasures scattered every several yards…

Nami gasped happily as she stared at the treasure, wishing that she could pick them up once again.

"This is the inside of snake?" Zoro asked staring around at the rotten trees.

"I guess…?" Franky said just as they heard a loud groan behind them and looked to see that Luffy had just pulled his head out of the ground and was looking around him. "Everything's stopped," he said, sounding a little dazed, "Where am I?"

"You're in the stomach of a giant snake! That's where you are!" Usopp called loudly, as if hoping that Luffy could hear him.

"And I thought Luffy ate strange things," Sanji muttered to himself as he looked to an old skull that was lying at his feet.

"Well, it wouldn't be that hard to get out right?" Franky asked with a smirk. "Just wait until the snake has to…"

But Nami gave him a deadly look and yelled, "DON'T EVEN FINISH THAT DISGUSTING THOUGHT!"

Luffy pushed himself up and stared around at the 'mystery cave' as he called it before he walked on, muttering about how he hoped that the others didn't go to the City of Gold without him. Since nothing else seemed to be happening for awhile, the others took this time to tell Franky and Brook everything that happened to them. Nami explained that while they were taking the Merry through Upper Yard, Eneru had appeared on their ship so that he could speak to Gan Fall face-to-face. When Sanji and Usopp tried to attack him, he used his ability to electrocute them, rendering them both out cold. After which, he told Gan Fall that he had declared that there would be, what he called, the Survival Game. There would be a fight between his Divine Warriors, the Shandorians, the Straw Hats… and even he, himself, was part of it.

"You mean that he was having all those people out here, risking their lives, and he thought it was some kind of game?!" Brooke demanded in outrage.

"And that should be your first clue to what kind of monster Eneru really is," she muttered bitterly.

"So that's what happened," Sanji said as he scratched his head and thought it all over. He didn't remember anything that happened after Eneru showed up… all he could clearly remember was waking up in the cabin a few hours later with Usopp on the bed next to him. He shuddered at the thought of waking up and seeing him there after he had been dreaming of Nami.

"But why did he come onboard and tell you that?" Franky asked, not understanding the point.

"Why else but to brag?" Sanji asked bitterly.

Nami also explained that Eneru told Gan Fall that he had no use for the island anymore and that he was going to leave once the Survival Game was over. Immediately afterwards, Satori's brothers Hotori and Kotori arrive to get revenge for what they did to Satori. But working together, Nami and Gan Fall were able to defeat him.

"Now I can see the family resemblance," she sighed, thinking of the puffball that was in charge of the Ordeal of Spheres.

"That was so brave of you!" Sanji swooned happily at her.

"Moron," Zoro mentioned, but even he had to admit that she stood her ground for once and fought to protect them for once.

"What did you say?!" Sanji demanded.

"Enough, both of you," Nami snapped. But she smiled to herself as she thought back. Though it was against two idiots, and she didn't do it alone, she was proud of herself for that. She protected the ship and the crew! That was all that mattered. But she just smiled as Sanji lovingly did what she told him to do.

"Anyway," she said, "After that, the weird old man left the ship with his freaky bird-horse hybrid so that they could try to find out what Eneru meant and what he was up to. But as I was trying to figure out how to treat you two, Conis, her dad, and Aisa showed up."

"They showed up there?!" Chopper said in great surprise.

"Yeah, see, they wanted to help us escape from the Upper Yard so they came to get us and lead us out of there," Nami smiled. "As well as brought us our repaired waver."

"Oh, what kind-hearted people!" Franky cried, weeping loudly as he cried.

"It truly touches my heart! If I had one, Yohohoho," Brook laughed, "But ah… who is Aisa?"

"Oh, right," Nami said, hitting her head as she remembered that they weren't there. "Well, you see, Aisa is this little Shandorian girl who wanted to come to the Upper Yard to help her friends after she heard their voices disappearing."

"Their voices?" Usopp repeated, sounding lost before he understood. "Oh, right! She was born with really strong Haki wasn't she?"

"She was?" Brook asked in great surprise, "You mean you can be born able to use it?"

"It is very rare," Robin answered, thinking of everything she learned about Haki. "But it has been known to happen. They have incredibly sharp hearing and can hear things from miles away. Most of the time they have no idea how they can do it…"

"I remember that!" Chopper said excitedly. "You know, I met a girl named Daisy a long time ago! Just before we got to Water 7! She could hear just like that!"

"Who?" Nami asked, a little confused.

"Daisy!" Chopper answered her, "I met her… I met her at…" but he trailed off for a moment as a look of polite confusion came over his face. "That's strange… I don't remember…"

"You don't know where you met her?" Brook asked in surprise.

Chopper gave his head a little shake, for some reason, his mind felt a little foggy as he tried to remember. "Don't you guys remember? She was part of that funny family…?" but as he struggled to say his words, he shook his head and sighed. "That's funny… I don't know anymore. I mean I remember meeting her… I think… I was in some kind of a graveyard and…?"

"Graveyard?" Robin asked curiously.

"Yeah…" Chopper nodded firmly, still frowning a little, "I remember! She had a brother and a sister… and her papa! They were playing pirates or something… I think?"

"You sure you didn't just dream her up?" Zoro asked bored.

"I KNOW I DIDN'T!" Chopper yelled at him before calmed down and asked, "You guys all met her didn't you?"

Nami blinked as she thought back to a little girl named Daisy. As her memory cleared a little, she did remember that they met her on some kind of island, she vaguely recalled waking up and there were a couple little kids calling Chopper 'Mr. Reindeer' or something like that.

"Now that you mention it," she whispered, "Yeah, I do remember."

"Really?" Chopper asked in relief. That was good, he had been worried that maybe he did dream her up or something. But he frowned a little more as bits and pieces came back to him. Wait… there was something… as if through a cloud—a cloud as thick as the island clouds up here in Skypiea—a voice echoed somewhere in the back of his mind:

He could hear his own voice say in worry, "I told you to get away!"

Huh? Who? Who was he speaking to?

"What are you kids doing!?" yelled another voice from far off, "Come on we have to get away!"

"Papa!" a girl's voice said, and she was pleading, sounding terrified, "Please save Mr. Reindeer! You're strong right?!"

Save him? Save him from what?

"Show us how strong you are!" a boy's voice sounded.

Chopper was shaking his head violently, trying to clear the fog, but instead the clouds seemed to come together even tighter until he couldn't even remember what he was talking about. "Who was that?"

"Hmm? You still talking about that Daisy girl?" Zoro asked as Chopper rubbed his head, remembering where he was.

"Huh? Oh, no…" Chopper said. "Funny… I can't remember what it was I was thinking about here. But I do remember meeting Daisy."

"Ok, we can talk about that later," Franky said impatiently. "What I want to know is what else that was going on here. This Aisa girl… why did she come to such a dangerous place like this?"

"Right," Nami spoke up, feeling a little foggy as she put Daisy and her family out of her mind for now. If she couldn't clearly remember, then it wasn't anything to worry about for now. But as she went on, Chopper was still frowning as he tried to think back. What was that memory just now? Who was he talking to?

But when Nami spoke up again, he also decided to worry about it later.

"She came because she could hear voices disappearing and was worried about her friends," Nami explained, "Apparently as she was crossing the White Sea, her waver broke down and Conis and Pagaya saved her from being eaten by Sky Sharks. Not long after that, the snake appeared and started going crazy, that was when me and Aisa were chased by it. Now I know that it was Luffy who was making it crazy."

"Must've been something it ate," Franky teased with a laugh.

"What about the rest of you then," Brook asked as he looked to Chopper, Zoro, and Robin.

Zoro shrugged in an unconcerned way as he mentioned fighting some Shandorians before he ended up at some ruins where there was a fight going on. He decided not to mention getting carried off by that South Bird and then dropped—the crap cook was never going to let him forget it.

But Chopper puffed his chest out proudly as he told them that he had stumbled into the Ordeal of Swamp and fought Eneru's priest Gedatsu. After a hard battle, he was able to beat him in the end and really become part of the crew.

"That's truly brave of you, Chopper-san," Brook commentated. "That must've been a difficult fight if he could predict your moves."

"Yeah, it was," Chopper admitted, "But…" he added happily, "I didn't have to fight from the altar or protect the Merry! So I had a fighting chance."

"Good for you, Chopper," Zoro said and Chopper did a little dance at being complimented by someone as awesome as Zoro for doing a good job. Especially since he knew that Zoro could've taken Gedatsu on himself and beaten him in half the time. Chopper then said that he began to climb a giant beanstalk that was called Giant Jack—he thought that he could find the god on his own… but when he got up it, he was in the middle of some ruins… but that was where Eneru's final priest, Ohm, was waiting with his Ordeal of Iron. He admitted that he didn't remember too much after meeting Ohm, only that he got hurt really bad by him apparently.

As they all smiled at him, Robin told them that she fought some Commander named Yama in the ruins as she looked around for Shandora. She frowned a little as she mentioned that oversized oaf and how he had destroyed those ruins. She couldn't understand for the life of her why someone would regard history as meaningless. To her, there was nothing worse than destroying objects of historical significance. She had learned about ancient civilizations and cultures of the past… she had learned to read dead languages before she could even walk. She had been surrounded by a grand library and scholars who had dedicated their lives to learning about the past from the moment she was born. The idea that someone would disregard what their ancestors had once held sacred was unbelievable. That was why she couldn't forgive Yama for his destruction of the ruins… what he did was inexcusable.

She smiled a little as she remembered those feelings… to learn, to know everything. And the only way that could happen is by learning from the past.

"Robin?" Usopp asked when she stopped in her story, watching as Luffy found himself a golden necklace among the broken stones and examined it gleefully before he threw it away, muttering about wanting lunch.

"Don't throw that away you idiot!" Nami yelled.

"Just thinking," she smiled as she finished telling them that she ended up beating Yama before she headed to the Skull's Right Eye. She sighed as she said that she had found a map of the city written on a stone. However, when she got there, she realized the layout of the land was all wrong, before she realized that the ancient city had been right below their feet all this time. Shandora had actually been covered up by Island Cloud all that time and the people there never realized it. But… when she got there, she hadn't found any trace of gold nor the Golden Bell. Nonetheless she knew that it had to exist because she found a Poneglygh in the ruins that stated that there was another Poneglygh in the city… one that was right underneath the bell… which had once been the pride of the ancient Shandorians. A pride that they had even given the bell a name…

"The Fire of Shandora?" Franky repeated softly, almost reverently as he thought it over, still following Luffy, who was now growing impatient of all this walking and just wanted to get out of the 'mystery cave'.

"That's what it was called," Robin answered him.

"It sounds like it must be something else!" Brook said before he realized what she was saying and asked, "But… wait… if it wasn't in the city… then where was it?"

"Well…" she said slowly and Franky and Brook leaned in dramatically. "That would ruin the surprise," she said with a smile and Brook and Franky almost fell over.

"YOU GOT US ALL EXCITED FOR NOTHING?!" they yelled as she shrugged.

"I'm sorry," she said, though she didn't sound too sorry, "But once she you see it, I'm sure you'll understand."

They had talked so long that they hadn't realized that they had finally reached a dead end—the back of the snake. Now Luffy was truly frustrated, saying that he had enough of this 'mystery cave' and wanted out. He then came up with the idea of breaking right through.

"Oh," Franky winched as he watched Luffy stretch his arms back. "This snake is in for a nasty bit of indigestion."

"That moron," Nami sighed, rubbing her head in an irritated way.

"To be fair, this place does look more like a cave than a python's belly," Robin pointed out as Luffy cried out his attack and slammed his hands to the 'wall'.

"That had to hurt," Usopp whispered. At first, nothing seemed to happen before everything began to shake around them as if during an earthquake. Everything trembled violently, but then a flood of water came out at the other end of the 'cave' and Luffy screamed in horror.

"Where'd all that water come from?!" Brook screamed in shock as the water flooded the tunnel and dragged Luffy away from them.

Nami remembered seeing the snake at the Milky Road, and reasoned with herself that it was probably getting water to try and calm it's stomach since Luffy was inside doing all this damage. The memory shifted a little, as if Luffy was fighting to stay conscious… but the shaking stopped and the water calmed. Looking around worriedly, they found Luffy dragging himself out of shallow water, coughing and gasping for air.

"That had to be terrifying for any Devil Fruit user," Usopp said, glad that Luffy was able to pull himself out of that mess.

"Ok," they heard Luffy mutter to himself as he caught his breath, "That was scary… what's with this lame cave anyhow?"

"Again, it's not a cave, Luffy," Chopper whispered nervously, wondering just what was going to happen next.

"First there was an earthquake, then a flood of ocean clouds… I could've drowned!" Luffy said, and he sounded real angry here as he began to scream and throw punch after punch to try and find a way out of this place.

Nami sighed as she raised her eyebrows. She had a feeling that this must've been where she and Aisa were getting chased by the thing. She shook her head, planning on having a few words with Luffy when they found him again.

The 'cave' started acting up again, and Luffy was getting tossed around like he was in a tornado. It eventually got to a point that none of them knew which way was up or down… which way was the front of the snake, or the back…

Luffy never got seriously hurt thanks to his rubber body, but they could see from the look on his face that he wasn't enjoying this one bit.

"Ok," Franky said irritably, "This is getting confusing! The snake goes crazy and chases you and that little Aisa girl up the beanstalk to where some ruins were?"

"Yeah, that's right," Nami said after a moment.

"And that's where you were fighting?" Franky asked Zoro, who nodded. He then told them that when he got to the ruins, he was there with Ohm, Wiper, and even Gan Fall—who demanded to know where Eneru was. As he fought with them, Nami and Aisa showed up out of nowhere being chased by more of Eneru's soldiers.

"The snake chased you all that way?" Robin asked Nami in surprise.

"Well, that thing only chased us about halfway before we were able to lose it," she sighed with a shrug. "But then the Divine Squad started chasing us after that right up that beanstalk."

"Why do you keep talking about a beanstalk?" Franky muttered to himself.

"And then what?" Brook asked interestedly as Chopper nodded, still wanting to know everything that happened after he blacked out. Well, Zoro told them that when Wiper saw Aisa with Nami, he tried to shoot her before realizing that Aisa was in danger as well… thankfully Gan Fall and Pierre saved them… but that didn't last long since they were so distracted they didn't notice the python until it had eaten them.

"So then you guys all got eaten too?!" Brook yelled out.

Nami sighed, thinking back to their own stupidity. They had been so busy trying to get away from Wiper's attack that they didn't see it until its mouth had already closed around them. That memory showed up though…

They were back in, what they called 'the tunnel', with Luffy walking towards some voices. They recognized one of them right away as Nami's own voice. There was also the sounds of the old man's and a young child. They walked on for only a few seconds before they watched as Luffy found them. Nami, Gan Fall, Pierre, and a little girl with a fur dress and cap were there staring at him.

After a quick talk, Luffy was astonished to hear that this 'mystery cave' was actually the stomach of that giant snake and he started to freak out.

Aisa and Gan Fall seemed stunned when memory Nami told him that he was actually the captain of their crew, especially after she gave Luffy a pounding after finding out that he was the reason the snake was going crazy and that he suggested that they could get out by finding its butt hole.

"Nami's scary…" Aisa whispered, moving a little bit away from her after seeing the shape that Luffy was in.

"I know what you mean child, she's meaner than the snake," Gan Fall agreed in hushed tones.

Zoro laughed at that and Nami gave him a hard punch to the head to shut him up. Usopp didn't dare say anything to that, but he had to admit that this wasn't disproving what they said. Though it was funny to watch, the 'earthquake' started up and they were falling back down the tunnel with the memory quickly fading until they were all lying in a pile of debris.

"I can see why he's getting sick of this place," Zoro mentioned as he looked around.

Pushing a large boulder off him, Luffy muttered, "Ok, this 'Mystery Cave is getting really annoying."

"I told you this isn't a cave, it's the snake's stomach!" memory Nami's voice said. Luffy looked around for her and freaked out when he saw a skeleton that was in clothes similar to Nami's and he thought that she was dead until she appeared behind him and knocked him on the head.

"What a dope," current Nami sighed as they laughed around her good-naturedly.

"At least he cares," Robin laughed.

Nami rolled her eyes. "How could he think I said anything and been turned into a skeleton!?"

"I don't know," Brook said happily, "I think I can pull it off just fine."

"Oh, shut up," she said as her past self was dusting herself off and they heard Aisa's shouts. They looked to see that Aisa was beating her little fists against his armored chest from where he caught her as they fell. "Let me go, please!" she cried fearfully, "You're gonna squeeze me to death!"

Brook was surprised by that. The weird old guy hadn't done her any harm. In fact, he was smiling down at her like how a grandfather would to his granddaughter as he said sincerely, "I'm glad to see you're unharmed."

But Aisa was no struggling to get back to her feet. She finally cried out for him to let go before she jumped back, and away from him. But to their shock, she grabbed Gan Fall's fallen lance and pointed it at his neck.

"What does she think she's doing?!" Frank called out startled as memory Nami demanded to know the same thing, telling Aisa to stop it.

"He is our enemy!" Aisa said firmly, "He's the one responsible for ruthlessly taking away the Shandorian's homeland! So now… I'm gonna take his head!"

"TAKE HIS HEAD?!" Chopper screamed in horror, trying to run between them and stop her, but his hooves ended up going right through them both.

"But what's that going to change?!" Brook croaked out in horror. Robin frowned, already guessing why Aisa was acting like this. But as Nami tried to talk to Aisa, the only person who didn't show any emotion was the Sky Knight. Gan Fall didn't say anything as he looked to her very calmly, as if he had expected this to happen from the start.

"I don't get it," memory Nami said sadly, "How is taking the head of the Sky Knight gonna fix anything?"

"It won't! It's just going to lead to more bloodshed!" Chopper yelled anxiously but Robin put her hands on his shoulders. "It's alright," she told him gently. "She's just a child. Remember when Sabo and Ace had talked about killing Luffy when he followed them?"

Chopper blinked as he thought back. "Neither one could do it," she answered for him softly. "She had been raised during a war, and must've heard many horrible things. She can't help how she is here. But I don't think we need to worry."

"He's not just a knight!" Aisa suddenly said loudly, "He was the leader of the Skypieans before Eneru showed up! The Skypieans were the ones who drove us Shandorian's out of our homes!"

"The Shandorian's were driven out of their homes four hundred years ago!" memory Nami reminded her quickly, "So there's no way he had anything to do with it!"

"Yeah, he may look ancient, but there's no way he's that old!" Franky added.

"If taking my head would be enough to satisfy your people, I would gladly sacrifice it," Gan Fall said, his eyes hidden by his helmet. Everyone, even Aisa seemed surprised by his words as he slowly sat up. His expression was oddly blank as he looked at her, not showing any signs of emotion except for sadness and regret. "Unfortunately," he added grimly, "just my head wouldn't be enough. The level of hostility between the Shandorians and the Skypieans hasn't changed and for good reason. Our ancestors took your homeland away… what a horrifying thing to go through. I don't think I'll ever find a way to apologize for that. Time alone will not heal this wound."

They all glanced at each other, knowing that there were some wounds that couldn't be healed. Some scars that ran too deep to ever truly heal. A part of them had hoped that life between the Shandorians and the Skypieans had changed since they left… that their war had truly ended once and for all. It is never easy to forgive those who have caused us harm.

But for the ones who had been there, remembered that Angel Island had been lost before all this was over. It is never easy to understand the suffering of others unless you experience it yourself. And the Skypieans paid for the greed that their ancestors had… their homeland had been taken away from them. However, unlike the Shandorians, their home was gone… forever. With no chance of ever being returned to them someday.

Hopefully, with the end of this war, the hostility between the two sides had calmed. By the time that they left, they had high hopes that they hadn't sunk back into their old grudges… there was still four hundred years of anger there.

"Therefore I regret my helplessness in this situation," Gan Fall said regretfully. "If at all possible, I would like to apologize to the Shandorians who have spent the last four hundred years searching for their homes. I would like to apologize to them all… one by one…" he slowly looked up to her and said, true sorrow in his tone, "I am truly sorry."

Franky choked on his own tears as he, Brook, Usopp, and Chopper all got into a group hug and cried at Gan Fall's words.

"That's so… heartbreaking!" Usopp sobbed out. "I'm sorry if we gave you such a hard time weird old guy!"

"He is a real leader!" Franky sobbed as he hugged all three of them with his massive arms.

"We get it!" Sanji yelled as Aisa stood there frozen, still holding up the lance as if she thought that the old man would suddenly attack. Her face now held confusion, and they knew that she didn't know what to think anymore. When she didn't say anything, memory Nami spoke up in a soft voice. "Listen to him…" she pleaded, "he's been trying to make sure that everyone's been getting alone. He wants the citizens to live peacefully in the sky. So you really should…"

"We will never be able to get along and live peacefully!" Aisa cried, "Not with the bad guys!"

"But that's what the Skypieans think of them though," Zoro said softly.

"That's what war does to people," Robin whispered softly, her eyes full of sadness.

"That's just it," memory Nami said firmly, as if Aisa just proved her point, "They're not bad. What's bad is when people can't coexist because they belong to different races." Aisa sniffled a little at that as Nami added, "Right…?"

"Please listen Aisa-san," Brook whispered tearfully. "Killing him would only removing one less good man. He's not perfect, but he really does want peace! Though I never met him, I can tell that he's more weary of this war than anyone."

Aisa just stood there, tears in her eyes… she looked like she didn't know what to believe anymore. But something in her seemed to snap as she screamed out, about to strike Gan Fall—who sat there with his eyes closed—as if willing to accept whatever she did.

Chopper and Franky gasped, horrified that she was really going to go through it. Memory Nami screamed at her to stop, but that was when Luffy stepped in. They had been so focused on Gan Fall's words that they had almost forgot about him there. But he had stepped up, and stopped Aisa from doing something that she was sure to regret by grabbing hold of the top of the lance.

They sighed in relief as Aisa's eyes snapped open and stared at Luffy. She looked furious as she screamed at him, demanding to know why he stopped her. Luffy didn't even look at her, never relaxing his grip on the weapon. "He was apologizing," he said softly, "Probably not the best time to kill a man."

"Right you are, Luffy," Sanji agreed with a soft nod. Aisa stared at him before she stared at the lance. Her eyes wide as she slowly realized what she had just about done and she began to cry. She fell to her knees, and it was clear to them all that she had no idea what to do anymore.

Both Nami's looked at her sadly, but very soon, the tunnel was moving again. However, unlike before, they felt themselves falling… they were hovering in midair as their feet left the ground and they could feel themselves as though they were going down in a submarine.

"Now what?!" Franky yelled as they began falling, staring around and tried to figure out what else could possibly be happening.

But the others seemed to realize that this was their only chance to escape. Gan Fall was back on Pierre as he called that now was their chance to get out of here.

"Right! Yeah! It's now or never!" memory Nami agreed before she called to Luffy and Aisa to grab hold of the waver.

"No! Wait!" Usopp yelled hurriedly when he saw Luffy cling onto the Jet Dial with Aisa under his arm. "DON'T HOLD ONTO THE DIAL YOU IDIOT! YOU'LL BE BLOWN RIGHT OFF!"

But it was too late. Just like Usopp predicted, when Nami revved up the waver, the force of the air being blown was easily strong enough to blow them right off. As they fell back with the two, before they lost sight of the old man and Nami, they heard Gan Fall screaming out, "MAN OVERBOARD! WE CAN'T LEAVE THEM! PIERRE GO BACK! YOU HAVE TO SAVE THOSE TWO!"

They were soon falling once again, rolling head over heels, bouncing around with such forces that some of the Straw Hats had to fall to their knees and shut their eyes as they fought to keep their lunches inside them.

"I think I'm gonna hurl!" Usopp yelled over the noise around them, his eyes spinning around violently.

"I'm already ahead of you there!" Franky gasped out, his hand over his mouth. "And to think, I've got a stomach of scrap iron!"

"I too am about to lose my lunch! Though I have no stomach!" Brook called, "Yohoho—oh…"

"Just hold on!" Nami yelled over the noise. And after several more turbulent minutes everything calmed around them and the tunnel return to its dark and quiet self.

"How aren't they dead here?" Franky asked, looking a little green in the face. Usopp and Chopper both fell down, their eyes dizzy as Usopp muttered, "Who cares? As long as we can lie down?"

"That was one hell of a landing," Sanji muttered, his eye twitching in worry as they spotted Luffy and Aisa pulling themselves out of the rubble.

"Hey, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing in my book," Zoro shrugged in a bored sort of way.

"Wow!" Luffy said, "That was one crazy ride if I do say so myself! I think I wanna go again!"

"I can't believe you actually enjoyed that, Luffy!" Chopper yelled out in amazement as he got back to his feet and spun around dizzily, trying to get a hold of himself and stop the room from spinning around.

Meanwhile, Aisa was screaming at Luffy, "ARE YOU STUPID?! WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU HOLD ONTO THE WAVER'S JET?!"

"Sorry…" he laughed.

"For someone who had wanted to get out so badly, he's sure taking the idea of being digested well," Zoro stated.

"Look at the bright side," Sanji offered, with a shrug, "There's never a dull moment in this crew."

"Ha! That's true!" Usopp laughed.

"Everyone else managed to escape," she went on angrily, "But we've been left behind because of your stupidity! It's all your fault!"

"I can't disagree with that," Nami muttered as Luffy just laughed, telling her not to worry.

"GET US OUT OF HERE NOW!" she screamed childishly. And like Nami before her, she hit Luffy when he suggested that they go out of the snake's butthole.

"I can see that Nami's already a bad influence on her," Usopp whispered to Franky in a quiet tone, and he nodded sagely.

"What are you two talking about?" Nami asked, noticing the whispering and the shut up at once.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all!" Usopp said a little too quickly and she gave them both sharp looks before she turned away. Luckily she didn't think too much about it when they heard a familiar call coming from one end of the tunnel and they looked up to see Pierre was heading towards them.

"Oh good!" Chopper cried happily, finally able to see straight.

"Look, it's the horse," Luffy said in mild surprise.

"THAT'S A BIRD!" Aisa screamed at him.

"Well, she's going to be in for one shock," Brook said calmly as Pierre landed and held up his wing in a salute Luffy asked, "You telling us to get on your back?"

It let out a squawk, as if confirming his words. Brook had also been right about Aisa, for when Pierre transformed in front of them, Aisa let out a cry of surprise. "How in the world did he do that?!"

"You never forget meeting your first Devil Fruit User," Nami muttered, leaning forward to rest her chin on her knees as she watched, a smile tugging at her lips.

Luffy just chuckled as he jumped up on Pierre's back—and though it was very subtle, there was no mistaking seeing his arms stretch out. As soon as she saw it, Aisa screamed even louder.

"YOU'RE A FREAK TOO!" she shrieked, her eyes popping out of her head. Luffy told her about how he ate a Devil Fruit and he stretched his face out to show her. "FREAKS!" she screamed, "THE BOTH OF YOU ARE FREAKS OF NATURE!"

"I think they freaked her out," Sanji said coolly.

Robin smiled sadly, remembering how painful that word had been when she was younger. But she smiled anyway as Luffy said happily, "No, I'm a pirate." He then stretched out and grabbed her so that he could pull her up behind him on Pierre's back. She looked freaked out and seemed too stunned to speak.

"Better hold on tight ok?" he asked as she jerked her head, afraid to say anything as Luffy looked forward. "Now, I think it's time we made our escape!" and soon they were running/flying along the tunnel. "Let's go horse! Full speed ahead and don't stop until you see the sky!" Luffy laughed as Aisa clung on desperately.

The memory faded after that and they all looked around at the familiar trees once again.

"While that was interesting, can someone mine telling me exactly what happened?" Franky asked, remembering the fall. "Because I'm lost.

"That's a long story," Zoro sighed, running a hand through his green hair in a tired way.

"Well, I got nowhere to be right now," Franky said at once.

Zoro leaned his back up against a tree and told them that he was eventually about to defeat Ohm and had been trying to get the snake to cough up everyone in its belly. Robin added that while she explored Shandora, she ended up meeting up with Eneru, who explained to her that he was the one who took all the gold from the buildings there.

"Does that mean he took the bell!?" Brook asked at once.

"Thankfully no," Robin answered. "When I asked him about it, he was surprised to hear that there was a golden bell. But when he learned about it, he decided to make it his mission to find the bell before he left. That was when he destroyed the clouds where you were fighting above us," she added with a look to Zoro, who nodded in understanding.

"I wondered how that happened?" he said. "We were all sent falling and buried under all that rock."

And together, they were able to tell them everything that happened while Luffy and Aisa were inside the python. They mentioned that Eneru electrocuted the snake—and they had been worried sick that something terrible had happened to them. But from what they saw, apparently the three still inside the snake had no idea to what was going on.

That was then when Eneru told the six survivors that there was only three more minutes before the Survival Games were over… and since he predicted that there would only be five players left, one of them would have to go. And when he asked the remaining survivors who it should be, they unanimously decide Eneru.

"So he was trying to get you all to fight each other?!" Brook demanded furiously.

"Human lives were nothing but playthings to him," Robin answered darkly.

"That is sick!" Brook stated bitterly. "But… what was the point?"

Robin sighed and, her voice starting to grow hoarse from explaining, told them that Eneru explained his plan all along. To destroy Skypiea and return the Upper Yard back to the Blue Sea.

"HE WAS GOING TO WHAT?!" Brook and Franky screamed in horror.

"That was a horrible thing to see," Nami sighed. "I honestly don't know which is worse… Eneru or Crocodile."

"Ok, now I know that this guy was evil," Franky muttered if they couldn't figure who was worse.

"But if Eneru destroyed Skypiea, he wouldn't have a place to live! What's the point?!" Brook called, completely lost.

"I still don't know what he meant by it," Robin frowned. "But what I do know is that he thought that people living in the sky was unnatural. And since he had truly come to believe that he was 'god', he felt it was his job to keep the natural order. He had come to Skypiea for the gold in the Upper Yard and to take a handful of people to a place he called 'Fairy Vearth'."

"Fairy what?" Chopper asked, not getting it.

"Apparently, from what he said, it's supposed to be a piece of vearth—or earth—of infinite size," she answered with a shrug. "A place he believed that 'god' would reside as opposed to the limited Upper Yard."

"He was kidding right?" Sanji asked with a roll of his eyes. "I mean… come on! Where in the world would that be?"

"Don't know, and don't care," Zoro said sourly. "So long as we don't have to deal with him again."

"I can live with that," Nami nodded.

Robin sighed as she finished explaining that Gan Fall demanded to know what Eneru had done to his own Divine Soldiers that Eneru captured six years ago. And that was when he claimed to have killed them all. In a furious rage, Gan Fall attacked him, but was defeated.

"And that was when the guy's ego got even bigger when he found out that he believed his prediction was true," Zoro muttered bitterly.

"I remember that," Nami sighed miserably. She added on that she watched the whole thing… that she, Wiper, Zoro, Robin, and Eneru were the five survivors. But as Eneru began ranting on about destroying the land, Robin reminded him that he couldn't destroy it yet since he was looking for the golden bell. But he then bragged, saying that he knew where the bell was by now and attacked her—claiming that he hated cold, calculating women.

"YOU MEAN THAT BASTARD HURT YOU ROBIN?!" Sanji roared with rage. His eyes were bulging and he was now seething at the thought. Oh, if he had known about that, he would've destroyed the entire insides of that stupid ship before breaking every bone in Eneru's body.

"I don't remember too much after that," she confessed, her hand going up to her face, to the spot where Eneru had stuck her with lightning. "I only remember bits and pieces."

"I remember," Zoro muttered bitterly, quickly telling them that he had tried to fight with Wiper to defeat Eneru. However, no matter what they did, they couldn't deal a decent hit. Finally, Wiper had an ace up his sleeve… he had a piece of Sea Prism Stone and tried to use it to shut off Eneru's Devil Fruit powers as well as use his Reject Dial to kill him.

But in the end, he used his ability to restart his heart and come back to life. In the end, he had defeated all of them and Nami added that she had no choice but to go with him, but took the waver with her so that she could try to escape later on.

But before anymore questions could be asked, the memory showed up and they all stood up. They were standing among the ruins of breathtaking buildings—though covered up in moss and vines, it was still a gorgeous city to see.

"Is this…?" Brook asked softly.

"What was once known as the City of Gold," Robin nodded, her feelings of sadness coming when she thought of how Eneru so ruthlessly blasted the ruins to dust.

"I wish I could've seen this place as it looked before that bastard showed up," Sanji said dreamily.

"I'm sure that it would've been a sight to see," Usopp said quietly. "Imagine it… buildings of gold?!"

"But gold or no gold, this is a sight to see," Robin smiled a little as they heard a strange sound behind them. There was the serpent once again. However, this time, it was burnt to a crisp and its jaw suddenly fell open so that three figures fell out of it.

Luffy crashed to the ground, and Pierre had caught Aisa as they fell onto the hard stone. They walked over to the trio as Aisa stared around at the ground in amazement. But Luffy only seemed interested in the fact that they had finally escaped. With a scream of joy he took off running, heading up the stairs of a pyramid-like structure that resembled the altar, with Aisa right behind him, yelling for him to wait up for her.

But he didn't listen as they followed him up the stairs and when they got to the top he screamed out at the top of his lungs, "WE'RE FREEEEEEE! WE MADE IT OUT!" he finally looked around and added eagerly, "WHERE ARE WE? WHAT ARE THESE OLD BUILDINGS?!" grinning a mile wide he said, "THIS LOOKS LIKE THE PLACE WERE THAT GOLDEN BELL'S SUPPOSED TO BE!"

"Well, that's got to be the most sensible thing he's said all day," Nami stated as Aisa looked around in amazement as well. "What is this place?" she whispered, "Wait… could this be our homeland?"

"Your homeland?" Luffy repeated happily, "Hey not bad… but where'd that big hole come from?"

At his words, they all looked up to see that there was a large crater not too far away from them.

"What is that?" Chopper asked curiously as Luffy squinted his eyes sharply. As if trying to make something out. The smile quickly faded from his face and was replaced with a serious, almost dreading expression.

"Luffy-san?" Brook asked in concern before Luffy's eyes slowly widen in horror and he jumped down, running towards the hole as if the devil himself was right on his heels.

"What's wrong?" Usopp yelled as everyone suddenly felt a strong sense of dread. As Aisa yelled for him to wait, turned back to the stone steps behind her and ran down them to catch up. But the rest of them jumped down to follow Luffy—their hearts pounding so hard that they all suddenly felt sick.

No one said anything until they finally reached the hole… what they saw caused some of them to gasp in horror. There they were… Gan Fall, Zoro, Wiper, Robin, and Chopper were all laying there on the ground and each one of them was badly hurt. While memory Chopper looked as if had been slashed to bits, while the others were all burnt black and lay there on the charred ground...