I confess, I typed this chapter immediately after posting the last one. I figured that the prologue would maybe score a few hits; one or two reviews if I was lucky… AND THEN I GOT SIX REVIEWS WITHIN TWENTY FOUR HOURS OF POSTING IT. I was so happy and full of joy that I attempted a noodle dance, nearly snapping my spine in about five places. In recovery I went over this chapter and edited it, finishing it. Usually I'm averse to posting chapters so close between each other, but I did say that I would type these chapters whenever the hell I wanted. AND YOU GUYS MADE ME WANT TO TYPE THIS WITH YOUR KIND REVIEWS~!!!

So this is only a little longer than the last chapter, unfortunately… But ten thousand word chapters are something that I work on especially for Horizons. Plus this seemed like an appropriate place to end it. The next one might be longer.

Disclaimer! I do not own One Piece or Aladdin! I only mention Aladdin because they get the credit for the basic plot. This will deviate further and further as the story progresses, but for now I'm going mostly along the same lines. The Cave of Wonders, for example. :D

"Arabian nights

'Neath Arabian moons

A fool off his guard

Could fall and fall hard

Out there on the dunes"

~Bruce Adler

The sun had very nearly risen by the time Luffy stole back over the wall of the palace, although with some reluctance. Life outside of the palace was great! There were market guards to run from, cats to chase, and so much out there (even if food was so much harder to get). Usually he spent the rest of his day with Usopp and the Vegetable Bandits (although nowadays they rarely had to steal their meals) but after the awkward confrontation, he had set out to the town on his own.

Admittedly, he wasn't nearly as good at running as Usopp, who had (in his own words) been running from guards since he could crawl. He had almost been caught twice, being actually snatched up and almost dragged to the prisons. While being a hidden prince meant that he could sneak out without anyone recognizing him, it also meant that he could get in huge trouble.

But if there was anything the sultan was good for in the princes' lives, it was his training. After so many years of his 'visits' (pounding the boys until they learned to pound back) Luffy had a strength that easily outmatched any guard, and he was able to quickly make his escape.

Luffy yawned loudly as he went up the staircase that led to the boys' room. He was looking forward to an all day nap…

… Shanks, however, had other plans. The man was sitting in the room, talking with Ace about something. Ace seemed strongly opposed.

"You can't do that to him, Shanks! He's still just a kid!"

"He'll be eighteen this year, Ace. You know what that means." Ace scowled at the man.

"So he'll do what I did! He'll live with it and-"

"He's already agreed to send Luffy to Amazon Lily." Ace was stunned into silence.

"You… sent the acceptance letter to them??" Shanks nodded slowly, resting his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"The sultan had it just shipped off. Why are you so worried? If he goes, then you'll be 'forced' to stay behind and not be married! I thought that was what you wanted!" Luffy chose that time to walk in.

"Who's going where?" The two immediately stood, Shanks staring at Luffy.

"Luffy? What the hell happened to you?" Luffy blinked down at his apparel, which was covered in the dust from his brawls and sliced from the swords. He hadn't even noticed.

"Um… I fell down the stairs?" Shanks sadly shook his head.

"Guards again, eh Luffy? Haven't I taught you that the key to avoiding scimitar swings is-?"

"You've been fighting with the market guards again?!" Both Luffy and Shanks winced, turning slowly to Ace, who, for all intents and purposes, was positively ablaze with rage. Luffy smiled sheepishly.

"To be fair, they attacked me first!"

"AND YOU WERE STEALING FROM THE MARKETS AGAIN?!?!?!" This time Shanks turned to Luffy incredulously.

"What's wrong with you Luffy? You've got everything right here in the palace!" Luffy pouted.

"But I was only having my adventure! Usopp says that adventures are a true man's romance! Someday I'm going to have the greatest adventure in the world!" Shanks and Ace exchanged glances at those words. Ace sighed in resignation as Shanks chuckled slightly.

"Well then, I guess you are ready!" Luffy tilted his head at the words.

"Ready for what?" Shanks looked at Luffy from under his straw hat, thinking about something. After another glance from Ace, he pulled off his hat and shoved it on the startled Luffy's head.

"Ready for the adventure of a lifetime."

There was a figure that approached the palace, a man that knew what he wanted in life. When he wanted to make his base in a little town near the coastline, he ravaged the citizens until they agreed to also fund his projects. When he wanted to take out the most famous kingdom in the country, he started a rebel group.

When he wanted to head for the palace in the final stage of his plan, he got a magic carpet.

No one, not even his men, knew where he had obtained the odd black and white carpet. It was alive in a sense, and he fondly referred to his ride as 'Mohmoo'. But that was another matter; now, he had a plan for taking over the palace.

During his travels, he had learned of a cave. A cave deep in the desert, where only the bravest or foolish attempted to go. For the Cave of Wonders was alive, and very choosey of those who entered it. Any who did not meet the requirement were instantly buried upon entering, never to be seen again. This the man had found out the hard way, when he had sent more than a few unlucky travelers to fetch the object of his desire.

After more metaphorical digging, he had found that the cave only accepted those of royal blood. And he thought it would be amusing if the hidden princes of East Blue were their kingdom's own downfall.

He patted Mohmoo as he sailed above the dunes, the palace finally coming in to sight.

The man wanted to get into that cave, which meant that he needed to have that prince. And Allah help anyone who got in his way.

Luffy pounded on the wooden door in the alley.

"Usopp! Usopp, open up!!" When no one answered, he slammed open the door. "Usopp! You won't believe… what…" Luffy slowly reached up to feel his new hat, staring with wide eyes at the scene before him. "No…"

The place was in shambles. Any reconstructed furniture was reduced to broken pieces of splintered wood, and tossed across the room. Luffy carefully picked his way through the rubbish, standing near a fallen table with wide eyes.

"G-Guys? This isn't funny! … Usopp? Piman? Ninjin? Tamenagi? Where are you?!"

"Luffy??" Luffy whirled and peeked under the table, grinning in relief at seeing the three boys staring back at him.

"Wow, you guys scared me so badly! I have to say, this is your best one yet! Hey, where's Usopp?? I gotta tell him something!" The boys merely stared at Luffy with wide, teary eyes. Luffy's grin slowly faded as he processed their faces. Ninjin sobbed as he spoke.

"They… they found us, and Usopp shoved us under the hidden trapdoor. They came and they took him and…" Luffy slowly crouched down to the boys' level and met their eyes seriously.

"Who took him?" They looked at him with wide eyes; Luffy was a fun, happy boy. For him to act so serious… Tamenagi sputtered as he spoke.

"The-The royal guards. They grabbed him and took everything, smashing everything that they didn't take, and then…" Piman continued as Tamenagi trailed off, eyes watering in terror.

"Then they stood in the middle of the room and said that they were going to behead Usopp in three days, and then they would find the rest of us." Luffy's eyes widened and he backed away slowly, shaking his head.

"Th-They can't do that! We've gotta stop them!" The boys stood and stared at Luffy as though he were crazy.

"Are you insane?? Even if you managed to get Usopp out of prison, you'd have to leave the city! You'd be hunted for the rest of your life!" Luffy placed a hand on his hat as he turned back towards the door.

"Then it's a good thing I was leaving anyway. You guys lay low. I can get Usopp out of jail, and then I'm leaving East Blue. I'm going to the seas." The boys stared at Luffy as he took off the straw hat and looked it over. "And then I'll come back and tell them my name, just like Shanks said. But he said that I had to find the ultimate adventure first, and then when I came back I would be ready!" The boys followed Luffy as he left out the door. When he had just reached the end of the alley, Piman called

"What do you mean by your name? Ready for what??" Luffy waved as he ran down the street, cupping his hands to his mouth and calling back

"Luffy D. Monkey, prince of East Blue! When I come back, I'm gonna be the sultan!"

The figure grinned a toothy grin from his perch on the palace wall. "Found you." He gave a silent motion to the carpet lazing next to him, and he was swooping down on the boy like a hawk in the next moment.

Luffy turned and blinked to see a large figure on a carpet flying down to him. He opened his mouth to shout something (most likely about how awesome the magic carpet was) but the man on top of the carpet instead snatched Luffy by the back of his vest, and then flew up and away into the desert.

Luffy's eyes widened when he noticed how high up he was. He blinked at the fact that the man was still holding him over the side of the carpet. Luffy tapped the large arm.

"Excuse me, ossan. But could I ride the mystery rug with you? I could die from the fall…" The man said nothing, but slammed Luffy down on the rug.

Luffy patted the rug, tracing the black and white patches. He looked around at the clouds for a moment but quickly grew bored.

"So, this is a cool mystery rug! Thanks for the ride to the ocean, ossan!" The man in front of him growled.

"It's a flying carpet, brat, not a 'mystery rug'. And I'm not giving you a ride, I'm kidnapping you!" Luffy blinked, tilting his head to the side. He then made a fist and slammed it into his open palm.

"So this is a mystery trip!" The man whirled around immediately, grabbing Luffy by his collar and shaking him back and forth.

"There is nothing mysterious about me kidnapping the so-called prince of East Blue!! How the hell can someone like you be destined to run this kingdom?!" Luffy pouted, despite the man practically throttling him.

"Shanks said it's because my Nii-san isn't actually related to me; he was adopted! He's still considered a prince and has to marry some icky girl, but I'm the only defendant." The man stared at Luffy as though he had found a new species. Considering Luffy's intelligence, he probably did.

"That's descendant you fool! Don't you realize what you're up against?!" The man tossed Luffy to the back of the rug and drew a long blade. The white blade was straight, unlike the traditional scimitars, and had jagged edges. Luffy blinked at it.

"What…?"

"Kiribachi; taken from the nose of a swordfish! If I stab you with this, you will slowly bleed to death in the most painful way possible; and I will unless you get me what I need." Luffy was silent. Now that he had grasped the fact that the man was not a good person, he realized that he was in a very bad position. The man chuckled at his silence.

"Now that we've come to an understanding, Luffy D. Monkey, here's what you are going to do…"

The man finally brought the carpet down near some dunes. Luffy hopped off and looked around, but upon seeing nothing but desert for miles around rested a hand on his hat and turned to the man, confused.

"Say, ossan, where are we?" The man growled something as he rummaged through his pockets.

"What?"

"I said shut up, you damned spoiled brat!!" Finally he produced two golden halves of a scarab, and was about to put them together...

"Wow!! A gold beetle! Lemme see, lemme see!" After properly ensuring that Luffy's mouth was blocked off by a rolled-up rag, the man continued with the scarab.

The pieces went together with a small click and the scarab came to life with a flash, flying up and away. Luffy's eyes widened as the scarab plunged into a nearby dune.

And the dune came to life, rearing up in the shape of a tiger's head and glaring down at the two with blazing eyes.

"Who disturbs my slumber?" Luffy walked in front of the cave at a nod from the man, pulling out his gag.

"My name is Luffy D. Monkey, prince of East Blue." The cave narrowed its eyes down at Luffy before seeming to nod.

"Proceed. Touch nothing but the lamp. " And the mouth opened fully, revealing a long range of stairs. Luffy and the man were nearly blown back by the wind from the cave's breath, the man shouting over the wind.

"Remember, boy! If you do this, I'll not only rescue your friend and give you a ride to the ocean, but give you a ship as well! Just bring me that lamp!" Luffy gave a hard nod, and then slowly descended into the cave. The man chuckled a bit, and then guffawed, which eventually evolved into full out maniacal laughter.

"SHAHAHAHA!!"

Luffy carefully stepped down the stairs, looking around with almost a bored expression. The cave was filled from top to bottom with precious gems, silver and gold, and pretty much everything that he had seen in the palace treasury. He was certainly not interested in touching anything but the lamp; there wasn't a single edible around here!

Luffy looked at the bluish tint of the walls that he went through, then noted the odd, lava filled cavern waiting at the end. There were some odd, mushroom like stepping stones (one quick taste test proved them to be no more than rocks) that led up to the small pedestal at the top.

After climbing the steps and walking in front of the pedestal, he was most pleased to find the lamp he had been searching for.

It was a small, bronze object; barely about eight inches long, with an antique quality to the barely rusted surface. It looked worn, yet polished, and there was some odd text on the bottom that was faded beyond the point of reading. Not that Luffy would ever bother to read something he wasn't planning on keeping; he only had a couple of days before Usopp would be killed! He needed to get this lamp to the weird ossan, and fast!

Luffy turned and raced down the steps, idly noting a large ruby the size of his head being held by some sort of monkey off to the side. He would have laughed at the silly/creepy facial expression had he not been in such a hurry.

Just as he reached the room full of gold, his stomach gave a loud alert that his reserves were reaching 'Empty'. Luffy immediately collapsed, dropping the lamp and clutching his stomach.

"Food…" Luffy groaned as he pulled himself up. Just a little farther, and then he could ask for some meat from the guy for the trip to the palace dungeon! He reached over and grabbed the lamp again, this time shoving it in his large pocket, and then stiffened as he saw the pedestal that the lamp had been resting by.

On it was a large, purple, swirly fruit. Perhaps his 'Food Radar' had been malfunctioning the first time he walked through, perhaps he had taken some other route through the mountains of gold, but he was hungry, and there was food. Luffy reached up to the fruit, eyes wide and mouth drooling, completely forgetting the warning of the mystery cave.

Besides, if he didn't eat fruit regularly, he could get scurvy! And he didn't exactly want to try his hand at gumming any meat he may encounter.

The man growled to himself as he sat beside the hovering carpet. "What's taking that brat so long??" Suddenly the ground around him gave a large tremor, and the mouth of the cave in front of him gave a large roar of pain.

"INFIDEL!!!" The man's eyes widened and he quickly jumped on the carpet, racing towards the entrance as the cave continued.

"Shit!"

"You have eaten the forbidden treasure! Now you will never again see the light of day!!" The man looked down in the entrance in time to see Luffy clinging to the remaining steps of the entrance. Luffy looked up at the man with wide eyes.

"Help me up, ossan! Hurry!" The man only held out his hand, hovering just out of reach of the young prince.

"First give me the lamp, brat!" Luffy quickly shoved a hand into his pocket and reached up with the lamp...

... Which the man took and held up in his triumph. "SHAHAHA!! At long last, it's mine!" The man turned and grabbed Luffy, who was slowly climbing up the edge of the cave. He held up the boy by his collar, cackling.

"Don't think I've forgotten about your reward, boy..." The man carefully placed the lamp on the carpet beside him, and then slowly drew his swordfish sword from his side. He held it up to behead Luffy, who was watching him with wide eyes. "Your eternal reward!!"

Luffy watched the arc of the sword before his mentor's words came to him. "Remember what I taught you about evading scimitars!" Luffy decided that even if this wasn't a scimitar, the same rules would probably apply.

Grabbing the man's arm, Luffy swung himself and kicked the man under his chin, making him drop his sword. Luffy then released an arm and punched the man in the face as hard as he could.

Maybe it was the desert moon playing tricks on him, maybe it was the weird fruit he had eaten giving him hallucinations (it had certainly tasted bad enough) but Luffy would forever swear that his arm stretched, sailing past the man even as he fell back.

As it were, the man was sent tumbling into the back of the carpet, making it buck and send Luffy flying into the still-collapsing cave behind him.

No one noticed the lamp also fly off and after the boy. The man grinned a shark-like grin as he recovered from the blow just in time to see Luffy fall down the cave.

"SHAHAHA!! Tell the devil that Arlong, head of the rebel group sent you! Die knowing that you've just provided the key to conquering the East Blue!" Luffy only yelled as he fell towards the cavern floor hundreds of feet below, a large pile of rubble following and burying him down in the bottom of the cave. Arlong laughed maniacally as the cave gave a final roar, and then sank into the rest of the desert.

Arlong patted Mohmoo as he groped for where he thought the lamp to be.

"After so long, finally we can rule the country! Taking over East Blue, grand capital, is only the beginning! All we need to do is..." Arlong finally realized the loss of the lamp, calmly clearing his throat. "Mohmoo?"

The carpet paused in its flight, nodding its front in acknowledgement.

"Where is the key to our success?" Mohmoo pointed with its black tassel to the dune that had previously been a mythical cave. Arlong howled with rage as he realized his mistake.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Yes, I made Luffy eat his devil fruit, because apparently devil fruits exist even in this AU. Why? Three reasons:

One: I do not have such an imagination that I can imagine Luffy fighting any bad guys without his stretchy powers. And vice-versa for the baddies. It's like some sort of blasphemy in my mind.

Two: Because Luffy was made a prince (and he doesn't care about money that much anyway) and he has no kleptomaniac monkey sidekick, Luffy has no reason to touch anything that isn't edible in the Cave of Wonders. A devil fruit is considered a treasure anyway, right? It could work… I think. xPPP

Three: Luffy doesn't have a magic carpet. Arlong does. How else would a kid survive such a fall in a cave, even after being buried by all that rubble, unless he was made of rubber? Carpet saved Aladdin in the movie, but Mohmoo (XD) has absolutely no loyalty to Luffy whatsoever. Plus it would be kind of pointless to make a fic about Luffy crossing the desert towards the seas if he could just ride a magic carpet the whole way. There's no adventure in that at all! And no nakama to be met…

BAM, my logic. Anyway, special thanks to NinjaFoodLover, NopeJustMe, bookishangel, kouriel, Kerykeion, and Jasmin Liertha for reviewing the first chapter!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THAT MEANS TO MEEEE~!!!

Please review, with sugar and sprinkles on top~! I also take flames, too. I'm a bit of a pyro. x333

Linhae, OUT.