Here we go, everyone! I don't want to raise your expectations, so I'll tell you now that this is basically Strawhats-Get-Trapped-in-Dark-Gallery.

More info after this chapter

"Well, this looks interesting," Robin commented, scanning an article in the newspaper. She and Nami were sunning on the deck.

Nami looked up. "Yeah? What is it?"

Robin glanced at her. "Isn't our next stop called Fiore Island?"

"Yeah," Nami said.

"Well, there's an art gallery being hosted there today and tomorrow," Robin said, showing her the article. "For an artist named Weiss Guertena."

"Guertena-san?"

The girls looked up to see Brook approaching. "What about Guertena-san?" Brook asked.

"You've heard of him?" Robin asked curiously.

Brook chuckled. "He died five years before I did! He's from the West Blue and he was quite popular in his time. So young, though . . . I never got the chance to see any of his works, other than the photos from the paper."

"Really," Robin said in surprise. "There's a gallery being held for his works on our next island."

Nami handed the skeleton the paper. He took it with a bony hand and scanned the article. "Amazing," he said, admiring the photo of the sculpture Abyss of the Deep. "I haven't seen these in over fifty years! And they say that they're displaying more than twenty of his works? That's quite impressive, considering that most of them have been lost over the years."

"Oh?" Nami said. "What happened to them?"

Brook shrugged. "Destroyed, stolen, and who knows what else? I hear that one of them was taken home by a fellow student when Guertena-san was still studying."

"Interesting," Robin murmured. "Why don't we all go?"

"All of us?" Nami asked in surprise.

Robin shrugged. "It couldn't hurt, and it might be fun to have a relaxing day for once. Besides, I think that some of our crew could stand to experience a little bit of culture."

When she said this, the slightest emphasis was put on 'some' and for half a second her eyes flicked over to where Luffy and Usopp were bothering Zoro.

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Nami said, who had not failed to catch these subtle actions. "Alright, I guess we'll bring it up at dinner."

"By the way, Nami-san, may I see your panties?"

A minute later, Brook meekly crawled away with a bump on his head.

"Art gallery?" Zoro muttered. "Not interested."

"Sure, let's go!" Luffy exclaimed. "What's an art gallery?"

Nami groaned. "Do you know what art is?"

Luffy frowned. "Sure I do. Painting and drawing and stuff."

"An art gallery is where they show a lot of paintings and sculptures in a building and you walk around and look at them. For this one, they're only showing art by an artist named Guertena."

"Oh, okay," Luffy said in understanding.

"It could be interesting," Robin added. "They might have some paintings you'll like. The only problem is that you're not allowed to be loud in the gallery."

Luffy frowned. "Well . . . I can try to be quiet . . ."

"That sounds like fun," Usopp agreed. "Did I ever tell you guys about the time that I saved a priceless masterpiece from villainous thieves?"

"Really!?" Chopper exclaimed.

Usopp was about to launch into his story when Franky said, "Count me in. I'd like to see some of those sculptures. I bet they're super."

"If Robin-chwan and Nami-swan want to go, then I want to go!" Sanji exclaimed.

"I wanna go too," Chopper said. "I've never been to an art gallery before!"

The crew turned to stare at Zoro.

"C'mon, Zoro," Usopp complained. "We're all going!"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean I want to go!"

"Nope!" Luffy declared. "You're coming with us! Captain's orders!"

"Isn't that an abuse of power?" Zoro muttered. "Fine, I'll go."

Luffy grinned.

The following day they dropped anchor at Fiore Island. The crew headed towards the exhibition building, which was about as tall as three or four houses stacked on top of one another.

They entered and were stopped by a man behind a desk. "Excuse me," he said in a bored voice, "I'm afraid weapons aren't allowed in here."

He pointed to Zoro's swords. "Sir, if you could give those to me, I'll keep them here and you'll get them back when you leave."

Zoro scowled and handed over his swords, watching them carefully as the man stored them behind the desk. Brook handed the man his cane-sword, and Usopp sighed and handed over his slingshot. Nami reluctantly gave him the Clima Tact.

"That's all?" he said, glancing around at the group. When they nodded, he cleared his throat and said, "Welcome to the Guertena Exhibition. Here, we'll be displaying many works by the artist Weiss Guertena. We hope that you enjoy your time here."

The group headed off.

"Well, let's meet back here when we're done, shall we?" Robin said with a smile.

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Franky, and Brook headed to the upper level, while Nami, Chopper, Robin, and Usopp went off to the side.

"This is just weird," Franky said, staring with crossed arms at a sculpture. He and Brook were standing in front of a piece entitled Wariness, which resembled a large pink sphere stuck with several knives.

"Hey, skeleton, what do you think about this one?" Franky asked, glancing at Brook.

"I have no clue what it means," Brook said cheerfully. "But it's rather aesthetically pleasing, don't you think?"

Franky shrugged and looked back at it. ". . . Are those real knives?"

Robin and Chopper stood in front of a large sculpture of a red rose. Several of its petals were scattered around it and the area was roped off, a clear indicator of 'Do Not Touch'.

"'Embodiment of Spirit'," Chopper read aloud quietly. "'Beautiful at a glance, but if you get too close, it will induce pain. It can only bloom in wholesome bodies.' Robin, what does this sculpture mean?"

Robin smiled. "Art is open to interpretation, Chopper. What do you think it means?"

Chopper thought. ". . . Well . . . um . . . I'd like to hear your opinion first . . ."

Robin smiled again. "I think Guertena was trying to say that if a person's 'spirit' or 'soul' had a physical, tangible form, it would look like a rose; something that is beautiful but painful to touch."

"Oh," Chopper said in understanding. "That's really cool."

Sanji stood all by himself in front of a painting titled The Hanged Man. He considered taking out a cigarette to have a quick smoke, but he realized that smoking was probably banned in the gallery and resisted the impulse to take out a pack.

"Whoever hanged this guy, they must be real idiots," he muttered. "You don't hang someone by their foot."

"Ooh . . . I want all of these!" Nami exclaimed. She and Usopp were standing in front of a display case—one of four—as part of a piece with the title Twinkling of Crystals and Stars. Underneath the glass were many small stones and jewels that caught the light and sparkled pleasantly.

"I wonder if they're on sale?" Nami said aloud, staring greedily down at the small gems.

Usopp sighed. "Probably not, Nami. And don't you dare think of stealing any."

Nami puffed out her cheeks in irritation. "For your information, I wasn't even thinking about stealing them before you said that, so if I do end up stealing them, it's your fault."

"What!?"

"Hm . . ."

Luffy and Zoro stood in front of a very wide mural. The colors were dark and it seemed to have a few vaguely recognizable things within it, like a woman wearing red—but other than that, it was mainly splattered colors.

"What does this say?" Luffy asked, pointing to the title. "Something World?"

Zoro squinted at it. "Uh . . . Fab . . . Fabricated World. It means . . . well, made-up world. A world that isn't real, I guess."

Luffy nodded in understanding and stared at the mural, apparently in thought.

The lights flickered. Luffy and Zoro glanced up, but they stopped flickering after a moment.

Luffy frowned. "That's weird . . ."

Zoro nodded. "It feels different in here . . . should we go find the others?"

Luffy nodded.

"I think the cook was around here," Zoro continued, going forward and turning right. "Hey—"

He stopped. In front of him were two exhibits, Reserved Seat and Death of the Individual. However, there was no one standing around them.

"What's up?" Luffy asked curiously, coming around. "Hey, where'd everyone go?"

"I don't see the cook, either," Zoro muttered. "I could've sworn he was standing right up ahead . . ."

No one was in front of The Hanged Man.

"Brook and Franky came up here too," Luffy remembered. "Let's find them."

He and Zoro went around the corner and down the hall. There was no one examining the paintings lining the way. When they turned the corner, they saw neither strangers nor Brook nor Franky.

"This is weird," Zoro said with narrowed eyes. "This place was filled with people a moment ago."

Luffy frowned. "HEY!" he yelled. "ANYBODY THERE?"

No answer, no response of approaching footsteps.

The lights flickered again.

"Maybe downstairs," Zoro suggested.

They headed for the stairs. When they got down, they noticed that the man behind the desk was no longer there.

"Maybe they all went outside," Luffy said hopefully.

Zoro went for the doors and pulled hard. "They're locked," he said, turning back to Luffy. "We're stuck in here."

Luffy pulled back his fist. "Gum-Gum . . . Pistol!"

He punched hard, but all that happened was that he stumbled, almost losing his balance.

"What happened?" Zoro demanded, coming over. "Weren't you going to stretch?"

Luffy frowned. "I couldn't."

"What?"

"I couldn't stretch," Luffy said, looking up at Zoro as he stood.

Zoro grabbed both of Luffy's cheeks and pulled hard. Luffy yelled out in pain and Zoro stopped.

"You're not stretching," he said in surprise.

"I could have told you that," Luffy said, rubbing his face. "Even if I can't stretch, maybe we can punch through the door?"

They approached the door, pulled back their fists, and punched hard. Instead of breaking through, they stumbled backwards, clutching their fists in pain.

"What the hell!?" Zoro snapped. "Why . . ."

"I-I'm not strong anymore," Luffy said, staring at his hands. "Zoro, I think we got weaker."

Zoro scratched his head in frustration. "What in the ever-loving fuck is going on!?"

"We need to get out of here," Luffy said decisively. "I dunno where the others are, but if we keep looking we'll find them, right?"

Zoro nodded. "Yeah. Lead the way."

Luffy went forward towards the giant fish painting on the floor, the main feature of the exhibition. He jogged down the hallway and all the way around. When he came back he was panting from the effort.

"Wow . . ." he said, breathing hard. "Not being strong sucks . . ."

"Anything?" Zoro said hopefully.

Luffy shook his head. "There's no one there . . . I thought I heard someone cough, but there was no one."

Zoro glanced over at the fish painting and frowned. "The rope's gone."

He pointed to the rope that prevented people from stepping on the painting. A section of it was missing.

Luffy and Zoro went over to examine the place. Luffy immediately stuck out a hand and touched the painting, similar to how a child wants to touch everything for themselves. To his and Zoro's surprise, his hand went straight through the painting instead of stopping at the normal boundary of floor and air.

They looked at each other. Zoro stood and slowly lowered a foot towards the painting. It went straight through.

Without another word they grabbed each other's hands and jumped in.

For a moment they were floating in an ocean-like atmosphere—but then they were falling slowly down. They landed lightly on a set of stairs.

They silently walked downwards. The walls were painted dark blue and the lights overhead flickered briefly. When they reached the bottom and turned around, the staircase had vanished.

"Where did the stairs go?" Luffy asked worriedly.

Zoro shrugged. "I can tell you as much about that as I know about where the fuck we are."

Luffy impulsively turned and went off to the right. Zoro rolled his eyes and followed him. As they walked down the long hallway, the only thing that really stood out was the word 'COME' written all over the walls in what seemed to be red paint.

"Hey . . ."

Luffy stopped in front of a small table standing in front of a door. Perched upon the table was a dark gray vase with two roses sticking out—one red and one green.

He grinned and pointed to the green rose. "It looks like you, Zoro!"

Zoro rolled his eyes again. Luffy attempted to move the table to get through the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"I think it's stuck," he said, staring at it. Zoro tried the same thing with the same result.

Luffy stared at the roses. Slowly he reached out a hand and took out the red one. It was beautiful and healthy-looking, as if it had been freshly cut.

Zoro carefully took the green one and studied it. It couldn't have been real—since when did green roses exist? Yet it looked just as healthy and beautiful as Luffy's red one.

Looking up, he noticed a small sign posted next to the door. "'You and the rose are intertwined'," he read aloud. "'Know the weight of your own life.'"

Luffy reached over to Zoro's rose and plucked a petal off. "Is this thing real? I've never heard of green—"

"Ow!"

Luffy and Zoro looked at each other in surprise. "What?" Luffy asked.

"I . . ." Zoro felt his arm. "My arm hurt . . . when you pulled the petal off."

He lifted up the sleeve of his T-shirt and found a small wound, barely bleeding.

"When did this . . . ?"

Luffy studied his red rose and yanked one of the petals off.

"Ouch!"

A small cut appeared on his face, similar to Zoro's.

Zoro stared at it. "So . . . that sign said that we're 'intertwined' with the roses. Is this what it meant . . . ?"

Luffy stared at his rose. "I guess we gotta take really good care of these."

Zoro leaned against the table and to his surprise it moved. He stood and shoved it aside, allowing access to the door beyond.

"Weird," he muttered, shrugging. He and Luffy went in to find a small room. The only things inside were a painting of a pretty woman with long hair that was—was it coming out of the frame?—dark blue-gray, a small sign beneath the painting, and a tiny light blue key on the ground.

Luffy knelt and picked up the key.

"Whoa!"

Luffy looked up and saw Zoro staring at the painting. He looked over at it and saw that the woman's mouth had opened in a wide grin, her tongue was sticking out, and her eyes looked to their left.

"Wow," Luffy said. "Mystery painting!"

"What the fuck is this place!?" Zoro yelled.

Luffy went up to the sign and squinted at it. "'When the rose' . . . something . . . 'you too will' . . . something . . ."

Zoro looked at it. "'When the rose wilts, you too will rot away."

They looked at their roses.

"Let's take really really good care of these," Luffy emphasized, putting the key in his pocket.

Zoro nodded. "Yeah . . . let's go for now, I guess. We're not gonna get outta here by standing around."

They left and headed down the hallway. The only difference they saw was that the word 'COME' all over the walls had been replaced with the word 'THIEF'.

About halfway down, red letters suddenly appeared one-by-one on the floor directly in front of them. Luffy and Zoro stopped and stared. They too spelled out 'THIEF'.

They glanced at each other and kept moving.

All the way at the other end of the hall was another door, as well as a small painting hanging next to it.

Luffy looked at it. "'The Something Fish'."

"Geo . . . Geometric," Zoro said, looking at the title.

Luffy looked at the painting. "That's a cool fish . . . I'm hungry now."

"You're always hungry," Zoro pointed out. He tried the door only to find that it was locked.

"Hey, you got a key in that other room, right?" he asked Luffy. Luffy nodded and held it out; Zoro took it and tried it in the handle. The door easily swung open and they entered, leaving the key in the lock.

Alright, here's a bit more info. First off, I will not be including any of the three main characters from Ib.

I will also not be including Crayon Town. This is because it's obviously Mary who made the place, and since Mary will not be in this story, out goes Crayon Town. However, I will be including the Orange and Aqua dungeons (the two 'bonus' dungeons in Ib ver. 1.04 or higher) as 'regular' dungeons in the storyline.