Chapter 9

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

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

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

"You think?" Usopp repeated with a squeak.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I'll go," Zoro volunteered.

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

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

Robin giggled. "Sounds like fun."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"ROBIN! SANJI!" Chopper cried out fearfully.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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