The Caterpillar
"Whoooo Arrrre Youuuuu?" a strange voice asked us out of nowhere.
"Who said that?" Zoro asked.
A huge shadow fell over all of us. If the floor wasn't going to be the thing to kill us, then surely whoever belonged to this shadow would. It was only a matter of time now.
"I said whooooo arrrre yooouuuu?" the voice asked again.
"We are the Straw Hat Pirates. I'm their captain, Luffy," Luffy said without even a hint of fear in his voice.
I thought to myself, "How can he be so brave in this situation, while I stand here trembling like some moron? It's like we're on two completely different levels. There's a giant shadow covering us, and he doesn't even flinch."
"Helloooo Straw Haaaaats," the creature began to get closer, "whyyyyy arrreee yoooouuuu here?"
The creature's features were starting to become clearer the closer he got. Once he was close enough we could see him perfectly. The multiple colors parading over his body. About 14-20 legs, two of which were holding a pipe with smoke coming out of it. Two antennas placed perfectly upon his head. It became apparent that he was a giant caterpillar smoking a Hookah.
Once I saw this, the fear I held at first seemed to slowly fade away. Surely, we could take on a giant Caterpillar if we had to. How hard would it be to fight an oversized larva? Of course, that's only if it comes down to that.
"We got sucked into some vortex that took us here. Perhaps you could tell us if there's a way we can get back to the New World?" Sanji asked the Caterpillar.
The Caterpillar replied with some riddle:
A way to home
A way to leave
Follow the path
Beyond the queen,
Don't ask the hatter
Don't ask the cat
Keep moving forward
Stay on the path,
The path is gold
The path will glisten
You will know
Just wait and listen,
A spaded key
To open the door
Lies at the end
Forevermore,
Complete the path
To meet your fate
Will it take you home?
Or force you to stay?
Beware my friends
For this path is mad
With magic and mysteries
And many shocks to be had,
Make it through
And you will be a success
Otherwise
You'll forever live in this mess,
One last thing
Before you flee
Remember who you are
Or you will never leave
At this point, he left.
"Where are we supposed to find a golden path?" Chopper cried out.
"Perhaps, there is no path and we are forever doomed to live out our days in this strange world," Robin depressingly mentioned.
"You're not very optimistic. Are you?" I told her.
Somewhere deep down inside me, I felt like she might be right. Here we are in this strange place. We have no idea how to get back and the only clue we have so far is from some giant caterpillar filled with riddles. Are we really going to be forced to stay here forever?
"I see smoke in the distance. Let's go," Luffy began running towards what hopefully would be people that could help get us out of this hell.
We all began running in order to not lose our captain. By the time we reached the place where the smoke was coming from, we saw something most delicious...