Chapter 6

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."