Chapter 8

"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.