Hiding the Truth (One Piece)

Chapter 24 - We're off to see the Ghosts

"Are we sure this is a good idea? Leaving Sunny by herself" I asked the others, wearily observing the surroundings.

"It should be fine, it's best if we all stick together for now. We don't want to be losing anyone else in this place" Sanji replied, regarding the situation objectively. I nodded with reluctant agreement, before heading towards the path that led towards the dark forest at the edge of the coast.

"Well let's not keep the ghosts waiting. Onward!" Luffy obnoxiously shouted, marching off down the road without any regard for the lurking dangers. I signed slapping my forehead, following my idiot of a brother. I was seriously debating whether we should leash the fool, if only to keep track of him for the meantime.

As we walked down the worn down path, the winding road only seemed to lead deeper into the vast forest. What little light given by the hidden sun was concealed by the large oak trees, their branches looming over us to create an eerie and almost haunted scene. The place appeared to be completely devoid of any wildlife, even the small scurrying of insects seemingly absent from the woods. I shivered as the sudden temperature drop, the frigid air causing our breaths to mist. I rubbed my concealed arms in an effort to generate some heat, though it didn't do much as it seemed with each step, the air only became colder.

"Does anyone else feel like its just got a little colder here?" I shuddered, walking closer to Zoro who seemed unaffected by the freezing conditions. 

"Yes, it has. I don't know what's causing the sudden change, but we should keep going" Robin stated, wrapping her arms around her body as she shivered. We sensed movement up ahead, but what we saw had to be one of the strangest things I had ever encountered. A tree was seated against a stump, pouring tea into a cup for a unicorn.

"Am I high, or are you all seeing this too?" I asked rubbing my eyes in disbelief, the rest observing the scene with shocked stillness.

"How cool is that?!" Luffy shouted, moving closer to the weird specimens. I rushed to pull him back, not wanting him to go any closer. 

"This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger" Sanji mused, looking around with muted surprise. We pushed ahead, walking down the path where the ground gave way to a narrow flight of stairs heading down. We were climbing down in a single file when a loud growling echoed across the small space, which seemed to be coming from further down the path at the base of the winding staircase. We couldn't see what was up ahead, the thick fog obscuring any sights a few steps away. 

"Be careful, there's something down there" We reached the landing, and the scene that greeted us involved skeletons and pieces of armour littering the cobbled floor. The animalistic growl resounded again, much closer this time and we were met with a three headed dog standing in our path, bearing its teeth menacingly at us.

We stared at the beast in wonder, the three heads reminiscent of Cerberus, the mythical guard dog of the Greek underworld. Strangely enough, there seemed to be a little inconsistency with the creature. The animal before us had two wolf heads and the third belonging to a fox.

"Cerberus. What is it doing so far from Hell" Sanji stated with muted interest. The others stood with mock disinterest, probably to try and play down their surprise.

"I'm going to tame it!" Luffy exclaimed, approaching the thing which skittishly backed away at the sudden movement. I shook my head in surrender, knowing Luffy was past the point of any help.

"You know what I give up" Leaving the man-child to his devices, I only watched as Luffy was bit on his leg, arm and head. Luffy only shook his head in mock understanding, stroking the fur of the head that currently had his head in its mouth. The creature to the gesture with shock, slowly releasing Luffy as it began to back away. What was unexpected however was when Luffy retaliated in anger after it released him, beating the beast until it slumped to the ground.

Luffy then stretched out his hand when it was unconscious to demand a 'handshake', causing us to sweat drop at his antics. Despite his less than savoury methods, Luffy had managed to tame the creature, forcing it to carry him for the remainder of the journey. 

"That looks like a nasty wound huh, Cerberus-san?" Robin asked with gentle worry as she walked beside him, which only caused the creature to just hang its head in gloom.

"Don't talk to the loser, you're just hurting its pride" Zoro scolded Robin like the idiot that he was. Sanji was walking ahead shouting for Nami into the distance, completely disregarding Chopper and Usopp who she had went missing with. Unexpectedly, a series of chanting could be heard around us, slowly getting louder with each minute.

"Negative...Negative...Negative" The voices moaned and whimpered, the rest of us searching the foliage in hopes of spotting the people that were behind the noises. To our surprise, a small white ghost came out and floated in front of us, its arms moving with the wind as it continued to chant the words.

"THERE IT IS! GHOSTS!" It continued to dance about, only for it to separate into three. I tilted my head to see what it was exactly trying to do, just to see it pass through Luffy as he jumped up to catch it into his net. What was shocking was that in response, Luffy fell to the ground in despair mumbling about his incompetence. The same thing happened with Franky and Zoro each complaining about their own shortcomings in a depressed manner.

For the rest of the trip, Luffy, Franky and Zoro were in a horrid mood, each stumping along from their wounded pride. I was laughing at their behaviour, though my laughter was cut short when a hand abruptly placed a folded handkerchief over my face, covering my mouth and nose, forcing me to breath in the pungent sweet smelling chemical.

I thrashed soundlessly in their arms, trying to warn the others who hadn't noticed the disturbance but with each passing second, my movements became more erratic and muddled as my mind became drowsy. As my eyes drew closed, I could barely make out the others fading figures walking ahead, none the wiser to what had just happened.