A/N: Okaaaay... Never mind. I guess I am updating this story. Two chapters in two days!? This is madness!

This is actually pretty easy to write, since I don't have to create the plot on my own...

Here we go, chapter 2!

I don't own One Piece or 999.


This was it.

The lever turned and the door creaked open.

Aaccompanied by a wall of angry water, Luffy shot out of the room and into the opposing wall. Gasping to catch his breath, he looked around. He was in a narrow hallway. The water that had followed him out of the room was rapidly pouring out of the door. It flowed quickly down the hallway, and slammed ino the foot of the short flight of stairs. Just 5 steps in fact. And at the top of this short staircase…

"A door! Another door!"

Luffy leapt up the stairs, straight for the door. The door burst open, and Luffy exploded out of it, only to freeze in his tracks. What other possible response could there have been to what he saw?

"Wha...what the hell...?"

His voice trailed off, and all he could do was stare. A polished floor stretched out before him, ornate staircases rising up from the edges, each one of them equidistant from the others. The wide stair case was split by a luxurious railing, before splitting off into two different staircases, each leading up in the opposite direction. The stairs and pillars were solid wood, and Art Nouveau embellishments and decorations covered the walls and pillars. It looked like nothing so much as the entrance to a luxurious mansion from the early times.

Luffy couldn't help but wonder... Was he really in a ship?

The water quickly filling the hallway behind him suggested that yes, he was. As he looked, a fresh wave rolled out of the room he'd been in, gathering speed as it moved toward the stairs.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. This is totally a bo— Wait, what the… A wave!?" Luffy looked in the hallway at the wave quickly speeding towards him, "I gotta get outta here!"

Luffy spun around, his wet sandals squeaking in protest on the polished floor, and ran toward the tremendous staircase in front of him.

C Deck

B Deck

As he ran, he glanced quickly at the plates mounted on the wall, denoting the decks of the ship. He took the stairs 2 at a time, not entirely sure where he would find himself. Just as he began to wonder where, in fact, the stairs did lead...

Luffy saw another person out of the corner of his eye. He stopped short, nearly tripping over the next stair, and looked. It wasn't just 1 person he'd seen... On the landing to the left of the stairs, there were 4 people staring at him... And on the right side, 3 more. All told, there were 7 of them.

It looked as though they had been on their way down the stairs. They'd stopped short when they saw Luffy, their eyes wide. He'd done the same of course, and now they stood there staring at one another. Luffy didn't move, one foot placed awkwardly on the next step, in the middle of a stride. Who were these people? This entire interaction lasted only a matter of seconds. The woman spoke to Luffy, and time began to move again.

"I suppose there's another one of us now."

Luffy looked at the woman. Her long, black hair fell loosely down her back and she wore a long, pink skirt with a partially-zipped purple leather vest with a V-neck line, exposing much more than Luffy was accustomed to. The leather vest exposed her stomach, and she wore pink high heels and sunglasses on her head.

"Hey, come on… We have to hurry," her soft voice told him.

With no further ceremony, she ran, straight past Luffy and toward the doors behind him. The sudden proximity of a woman with such striking assets left Luffy momentarily stunned...

...But the others wasted no time, and quickly followed the strange woman. The first to pass Luffy was a young man with blonde hair, dressed from head to toe in a formal suit. His long, blonde hair covered one of his eyes, and slightly overgrown stubble could be seen on his chin and upper lip. He threw a quick glance in Luffy's direction as he ran, muttering...

"Hmph. One of us, huh...?"

Following him was an older man, his face calm and without fear. His eyes hidden behind triangular shades and his blue pompadour flowing as he moved. He wore an open Hawaiian shirt, revealing his surprisingly toned chest, and a black speedo to go along with it. Luffy stared back at the odd man, noticing his strange, metal nose and oddly shaped chin, but quickly forgot about it.

"Going up won't do you any good! There are two doors, but neither of them will open!"

The next to speak was a…raccoon dog? No, that wasn't right. He had a blue nose and wore a pink hat over his antlers. He must be some sort of deer. Luffy was too shocked to ask questions.

"Come on! Aren't you coming? You gotta hurry!" His high-pitched voice squeaked at Luffy. His small hoof was held by the hand of another man…

His eyes were hidden behind a pair of unusual goggles. His nose outstretched the usual size of a human nose, and his curly black hair reached down to his shoulders. He sported a small goatee and wore a strange pair of yellow pants and a white t-shirt, with a pair of suspenders fitting around his shoulders. He was odd, to say the least…

"That's nine of us, then. All of the cards are in hand," he spoke. Luffy had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He opened his mouth to ask what the man had meant, but the deer rushed past him, and they were gone.

He turned just in time to see two more people running toward him. One of them had spiky black hair and wore an extremely odd pair of glasses, almost like goggles, which covered his two eyes completely and jutted out slightly, like sites on a gun. He said nothing, and scuttled past Luffy as though he were running from something…

The other was a veritable wall of a man, his green hair pushed back across his head. A large scar ran down his left eye, shutting it completely, and he wore an open, dark-green robe, enclosed by a red sash at his waist. His muscular chest was revealed by his open coat and his steps were loud and heavy. He was intimidating…

"Hey! What the hell are you just standing there for!? Didn't you hear him?!" The man roared. Luffy hesitated in front of him.

"The doors on A Deck are no good! We gotta check those on B Deck! Got it!? Now GO!" Before he had a chance to respond, the man laid a large hand on Luffy's shoulder. With no more effort than Luffy would have used to brush aside a fly, the man shoved him out of the way.

"Whoa…!" Thrown off-balance by the man and recent events, it took Luffy a few steps to get his bearings. He finally regained his balance and looked up, at what the other seven had been running toward. There were two pairs of large iron doors set into the wall in front of him. They looked quite sturdy, and each had handles jutting from them. Written across the surface of each door in red paint was a number.

The door on the right had a 4.

And the door on the left had a 5.

"They're the same…" The blonde-haired man mumbled to himself. "The room I woke up in had a number on the door, just like that." He explained.

"You too, eh?" The blue-haired, Hawaiian man said. "My cell was the same. Had a number on it just like these. I opened it, ran down the hallway outside, and found myself in the grand room full of stairs. I guess the rest of you did too…"

It was as though the floodgates had been opened—they all began to talk at once.

"Me too."

"I did too."

"Yeah, a door with a number on it."

"This sure is odd…"

It soon became clear that each one of them had awoken in a room with a locked door, and solved a puzzle to escape. They'd all ended up in the same room… Almost as though they'd been guided there…

"Yes, we all saw the same thing! That's not important! We've gotta get the hell outta here!" Yelled the green-haired man.

"Ya think I don't know that, moss head!?"

Before the green-haired man had time to retort, the blonde was already running. He grabbed hold of the door labeled 5 and pulled. However…

"Damn it! It's not opening! This damn thing won't even budge!"

"Move. You're in the way." The muscular, robed man grabbed the blonde's shoulder and pushed him aside. His path cleared, he took a few steps back, then threw himself at the door.

*BAM* Once…

*BAM* Twice…

*BAM* 3 times…

*BAM* 4 times…

The door shook as his body slammed into it, but showed no signs of breaking or opening. The man threw himself at it again.

Luffy turned toward door 4. Next to the door, on the wall, was a small box. It looked just like the one that he'd seen in his room, next to that door. The only difference being a large, circular touch pad on its surface, about the size of his hand. If it was the same, then this door was likely locked as well…

Still, he had to check…

Luffy grabbed a handle and threw all of his weight onto it.

"RRRRRRRGGGHH! Gah…!" It was locked as tight as the door next to it. "Damn it!"

Luffy punched the door. It did not respond. He wondered if these were the only doors. The others were watching as both the green-haired man and the blue-haired Hawaiian man tried to break the door down. He'd barely finished the thought when the C Deck plate he'd passed on his way up sprang, unbidden, to his mind. His body moved before he had time to think. Luffy turned, and ran back toward the stairs. He had scarcely taken a step, when—

At the top of the stairs, next to an ornate clock embedded in the wall, he saw a person. It was a girl. She looked to be the same age as Luffy. He froze, unable to look away from her face. He wasn't confounded by her beauty, or something equally foreign to him... No, there was another reason he couldn't take his eyes off the girl. Luffy had seen her somewhere before. He couldn't quite remember where, but he knew... He knew he'd met her before. The girl, too, stared at Luffy, similarly stunned. Her response suggested she'd seen him before as well.

Without saying a word, Luffy walked slowly up the stairs toward her. She didn't move. It was almost as though she was held in place by some sort magic spell. As Luffy stepped onto her landing, the spell broke. No sooner had he set his foot down, than the whole ship shook a second time.

"Aah!"

The quake caught the girl unprepared, and she fell. Moving on instinct, Luffy leapt to catch her... Or so he thought.

Her face was far closer than it should have been; mere inches from his own. He was flat on his back, and she had landed squarely on top of him. The girl seemed as confused as he did, and her face suggested she still hadn't fully recovered from seeing him. For a moment that seemed to stretch for a very long time, they stared at one another. The ship stopped shaking. Everything was quiet. The others stopped and looked behind them. Water could be heard from the bottom of the ship, lapping faintly at walls and ceilings, but eventually that faded as well. The silence was complete, a thick, muffling blanket... At last, the girl opened her mouth.

"L-Luffy…? Is that you?" Her words echoed through his head, and suddenly, his memory returned.

"N-Nami!?"

Why hadn't he realized it before? The girl was Nami. She and Luffy met some years ago when he and his brother had been sailing around aimlessly. They ended up saving her hometown from a group of ruthless pirates, and he and Nami had become fast friends.

But that was a few years ago… What was she doing on this ship? Her orange hair fell down around her head. It had grown since the last he saw her, and her eyes looked more beautiful than ever. He could feel his face heating up.

At that moment…

A speaker crackled to life, and a cold, eerie voice filled the room.

"Welcome aboard. I welcome you all, from the bottom of my heart, to this, my vessel."

With the voice's invasion, the spell between Luffy and Nami was broken, and all hints of burgeoning romance instantly forgotten. They hurriedly untangled themselves from one another, and struggle to their feet. Their seven companions had heard the voice as well, and many of their face had gone pale or tensed in anger.

They looked around frantically, desperate to locate the source of the voice. At last they found it… A speaker set in the ceiling's corner.

"I am Zero… The captain of this ship. I am also the person who invited you here." The voice was harsh, obscured occasionally by the crackle of static…

…But Luffy recognized it. How could he have forgotten it?

It was the same voice he had heard from the masked man.

"Hey! Asshole! What the hell is this?!" The blonde angrily yelled. "C'mon out here! I wanna get a good look at you!"

"What are you planning to do with us?!" The Hawaiian man spoke.

"I mean to have you participate in a game. Some of you, I know, are familiar with this game." The voice continued. "The Nonary Game. It is a game…where you will put your life on the line."

"Nonary Game…?" The raven-haired woman mused.

"What the hell's that!?" Roared the green-haired man.

"The rules of the Nonary Game can be found upon your persons. They are simple rules. Read them."

"Hey… There's something in my pocket… Check this out." The suited man reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small slip of paper. The rest of them reached into their own pockets, and pulled out similar slips of paper.

Luffy followed suit, and dug into the pocket of his shorts. He felt the crumple of paper, slightly damp from his earlier ordeal.

"Hey, I got one too!"

"It seems this Zero guy gave each of us a letter…" Spoke the Hawaiian man. "Do you mind reading it to us, kid?" he asked. Luffy, after a short moment of surprise, did as he'd been asked.

"On this ship, you will find a handful of doors emb…embl…?"

"Emblazoned…" the tall woman offered. The green-haired man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Emblazoned with numbers. We will call them the numbered doors. The doors in front of you are a pair of the same. The key to opening these numbered doors are the numbered bracelets that each of you possess. Should you total the numbers on your numbered bracelets and find that the digital root of that number is equal to the number of that door, the door will open. Only those who have opened the door may pass through. There are, however, limits. Only 3-5 people can pass through one numbered door. All those who enter must leave, and all who enter must contribute."

Bracelet, Luffy figured, had to mean the bulky thing on his wrist. He glanced around. It looked like everyone else had one as well, and had come to much the same conclusion.

"The purpose of this game is simple. Leave this ship alive. It is hidden, but an exit can be found." He continued to read.

"Seek a way out… Seek a door that carries a 9."


A/N: Dun dun dun!

Hopefully this isn't too confusing. If it is, don't worry, 'cuz it'll all make sense sooner or later.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! :)