Happy birthday Clarobell. This fic is for you! XD Hope you enjoy it!

Trapped

The markets were beautiful this time of year and Luffy was taking full advantage of them, and when I say full advantage I mean, he ate everything in sight. It was a rather frightening experience for Zolo to say the least.

He was dragged from one side of the town to the other as Luffy devoured all meat in his path. Of course, then Zolo was left to pay for the 'damages'. Well, finally Luffy had eaten enough food to last a normal person a lifetime, Luffy, half an hour, and they began making their way back towards the ship.

"Hey! Look Zolo!" Luffy cried pointing at a tall, dark and dead tree. Zolo sighed and rolled his eyes in the general direction of the tree.

"Yeah, wow." the swordsman muttered. Luffy laughed, grabbed the green haired man's hand and raced towards the tree.

"Let's have a look!" the captain cried.

"It's a tree Luffy, get over it." Zolo said sarcastically. Luffy frowned.

"Come on Zolo. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Currently, it's wishing it was on the ship." Zolo replied. After being dragged all over the town, paying for every bit of damage and food eaten, the swordsman was not a happy camper. Luffy pouted.

"Stop being mean." Luffy said as he pressed his hand against the tree trunk. It was burned and twisted and looked about ready to fall. Zolo sighed.

"You've had a look, now lets go." the swordsman asked as he crossed his arms and glared at the tree.

"Hey, look there's a cave around the other side." Luffy called as he went around to it. Zolo just stood in his place rather stoically. An arm stretched around the tree and grabbed the swordsman's arm and hauled him around. Luffy crawled into the cave and looked around, eyes sparkling with curiosity. Zolo followed grumpily.

"Wow." Luffy whispered as he crawled in deeper. Zolo rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going any further." he said as he crossed his arms again. Luffy frowned.

"Oh come on. You're not afraid of the dark are you?" Luffy asked with narrowed eyes. Zolo stiffened.

"No." he replied. "It's just stupid coming down here. The tree could collapse at any minute."

"Nah." Luffy objected. Zolo sighed and followed again. It was useless to argue with Luffy when he wanted to do something, whether it was dangerous or not. The tunnel led down to an underground cavern which was lined with glittering quartz and a steady dripping filled the air.

Zolo looked around, looking up to see how high the cavern actually went. Not very. It would have been the height of Merry and no higher.

"WOW!" Luffy cried as he ran into it. The echoes created by his call made the rocks above them shake and begin to stir. Zolo winced. This place was dangerous.

"Let's not shout Luffy, k?" he asked. Luffy pouted and then grinned.

"OK!" Luffy replied. Zolo slapped a palm against his forehead. They were going to die. He knew it. Luffy ran around and picked up some rocks, throwing them into the small pool in the centre of the cavern and giggling at the ripples they made.

The water looked oily and rotten and Zolo wrinkled his nose in disgust as he looked at it. No way in hell was he going to drink that. It smelled rotten too. Luffy paused as he spotted something shiny on the ground. He kneeled down by it and pried it out of the mud.

"Hey Zolo! Lookit!" he cried. A small rock fell from the roof, skittering along the ground at Zolo's feet. The swordsman looked up.

"Luffy…" he said. Luffy blinked at the warning tone in his voice. Then it began. Rocks started to tumble from their places in the roof and hit the floor with an alarming force. Zolo jumped out of the way and then looked across.

"Get under the cave over there Luffy!" he yelled, dodging out of the way as he tried to go to his friend. Luffy looked up, and then jumped backwards as a huge boulder hit the ground in front of him and then began to roll towards him. Luffy yelled and ran backwards and then his eyes narrowed and he pulled his arm back.

"Gomu gomu no pistol!" he yelled and slammed his fist into the centre of the boulder, stopping it dead. There was a moment where nothing happened and then small cracks began to spider web out from where Luffy's fist was still connected to the boulder.

Then, the rock broke into pieces and fell still. Luffy grinned and then jumped to the side as another rock came down. He put a hand on his hat and danced out of the way, a rock just missing his foot. Running for the cave, he craned his neck over his shoulder to see Zolo pulling his swords out.

Could he cut through stone? Well, he would soon see.

Zolo spun around and sliced the next rock in two, before jumping under the next one, and then leaping on top of the huge one that came down in front of him. He leaped off of it, sliced the rock that was coming down on him into quarters and spotted Luffy hiding under the cave's entrance.

"Go in further!" he yelled. Luffy didn't move, so Zolo suspected the captain hadn't heard him. He spun out of the way of another boulder and then sliced through one more before landing on the ground.

Unfortunately for poor Zolo, he hadn't known the ground was slippery and he fell back. Rubber arms were suddenly there and they pulled him up and yanked him out of the way. Zolo grabbed onto the wrist that was attached to his bicep and was finally able to get his footing and he launched forward, a large piece of rock slamming into the mud behind him with a wet splat.

Zolo's eyes widened and then he was beside Luffy and they were running as the tunnel rumbled behind them. They stopped when finally the rumbling ceased and the two were now in the dark. The only noises left were the settling of the occasional small rock, ticking down the side of the rock fall that now blocked what was thought to be the only way out.

Zolo re-sheathed his swords and turned to look at Luffy, who was watching him with wide eyes.

"Great." Zolo muttered. "Now we're trapped."

Usopp stood in the crow's nest, watching through his goggles for any sign of Luffy and Zolo. They had been gone for a while now and they were due to set sail. Nami looked up at him from the bottom of the mast.

"See anything?" she called. Usopp shook his head.

"No. Nothing." he replied. Nami sighed.

"I told them to be back by midday, but no, Luffy probably had to go and eat everything." Nami huffed, crossing her arms.

"Ah, do not worry my sweet Nami! You're gorgeous when you're angry." Sanji crooned as he swept up to her with a drink on a platter. Nami accepted the drink.

"Thankyou Sanji." she said as she took a sip. The world behind Sanji suddenly turned to swirls and hearts. Usopp continued scouting.

"Hey! Look at that!" he suddenly called, pointing to something on the horizon. Nami and Sanji turned. Chopper jumped down from his perch on the rail and also hurried over. A large plume of black smoke was slowly drifting up. It was dark and slowly spread outwards as it got higher. Nami's eyes widened.

"What is it?" Chopper asked softly. Sanji shook his head. There was a yell and people from the town suddenly began running out. Sanji ran to the edge of the ship and jumped down onto the dock. He ran along the boards and then up beside a man who was directing the people down the road to safety.

"Hey, what's going on?" Sanji asked. The man looked at him.

"Are you kidding?" he replied. Sanji shook his head.

"I'm new. So, why are you all running?"

"The ancient tree has collapsed. That means doom on all and especially the one that dared to enter it."

"Enter it? What are you talking about?"

"There is a cave under the tree, and it has been avoided… until now. Someone has dared to enter it, and when that happens, doom shall fall on the island." The man explained, panicking.

"Is the tree cursed or something?" Sanji asked. The man nodded.

"Yes. Aren't you leaving?" he asked in return. Sanji shook his head.

"I think I'll stick around." the chef replied and the man shrugged before running off. "Thanks for the info!" Sanji walked back down the dock and climbed up the ladder.

"Cursed! We need to leave! Doom!" Usopp yelled scrambling down the ladder and back onto the deck.

"We need to find Luffy." Nami replied to Usopp's screaming.

"Well, I don't think he will be that hard to find." Sanji said pushing his hands into his pockets. Nami turned to him.

"Why Sanji?" she asked a little cautious.

"Because who else would enter a cursed tree?" he replied. Nami sighed.

"Of course. And Zolo would be with him." she muttered. "Usopp!" and the long nose stopped his screaming and running to look at her. "How far away do you think that smoke is?" Usopp took a moment to look.

"Nearly the other side of the island I'd say." Usopp replied. "But, we aren't going there! It's dangerous!"

"We're missing a captain, and sitting on the ship isn't going to help us find him." Sanji stated. Usopp's face became determined.

"The great captain Usopp will find him!" and his legs shook like rubber. Chopper giggled.

"Let's get going." Nami said and then walked to the edge of the ship. Sanji followed, then Chopper. Usopp sighed, looking rather lost and then he followed as well. Doom or not, Luffy was their captain and Zolo was their friend. He just hoped they would be able to get out of this themselves and that was no curses would take effect on him.