Chapter 7

"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."

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