And another chapter is up. Another adventure to be had. Or at lest continued... Any ways, ill answer some replies to this story then be on my way!

From Naliams: Painful, and the pace is alright. I hate when people rush things. Let us mourn with Sanji, snif.

Thank you. I've never lost someone close to me (Maybe because I haven't got that many to begin with XDX) So I hope I'm portraying Sanji's grief correctly. I really wanted to show how Sanji goes through loosing someone, especially nakama, because Sanji is the only one in the crew that hasn't lost some one close to him. (I wonder how he's gonna act when he hears Zeff has passed away!) thanks for the comment!

From (yet again) Naliams: I can't imagine what's going to happen..., at all, update soon D

Well here's another chapter! I've updated it!

also to add, there's a bit if nami love in this chapter because there's not enough of that in this fandom! Okay here ya go!

Chapter Ten - There is no end to any thing, only new beginnings.

A small shack stands before the eight of them. A small shabby shack that has an odd homey feel. Sanji feels as if he could just walk in there and curl up in a big pile of pillows.

As they walk into the house the smell of incense smack them in the face as hard as one of Luffy's punches. There are literally pillows flung everywhere and carpets in the oddest places. Pots and pans along with other cooking utensils hang from the ceiling everywhere.

When Sanji looks closer they look well worn and well cared for.

Book shelves line almost every inch of the walls each one looking like it could collapse at any second from the sheer amount of bucks jammed in there. Not only books lie in the shelves but voodoo looking things too.

Skulls decorate the coffee tables that are skaters around. Red and white candles stand on top of skulls and coffee tables with wax dripping all the way to the floor.

The whole place feels warm and cozy. Although incense was never his most favorite smell, but Robin seems to like it so Sanji won't complain.

"What is this place Luffy?" Nami asks while taking in her surroundings. Before Luffy could respond a woman appeared from behind a curtain of beads strung on a string.

"This place," the woman's voice would be silk if it were physical. "Is my home." She smiled lightly and looked at each of them.

Sanji's not saying she's beautiful. Well okay yes every woman is beautiful no matter what, but this woman is unique. Not unique in the fact that's she's exquisite, she's not, but the fact that her features are not what he would see every day. How she dresses is not the style of fashion on this island.

Honey hazel hair floods from her head over her shoulders and down to her mid back. Startlingly green eyes shine from between thick black eyelashes. Her cheekbones are quite defined and her lips are pinched together is a slight pout. Although when she smiles her soft pink lips stretch out over her face creating a genuine warm welcoming smile.

Her clothes can be described best as thing soft looking carpets. Because that's what they look like. A large circular carpet that has had a hole cut through the center for a head to fit through. She's wearing more than one, and each one is a different shade.

The top one is a light soft lavender purple, and then it gets darker and shimmers more. Violet becomes present and quickly dissolves into a dark almost black purple. All these layers shimmer and flow. Like galaxies in the night sky flowing together sitting peacefully.

"My name is Io." She, Io, smiles. She then looks around at each one of them, her eyes becoming sad when the rest on Luffy, merry when they rest on brook, and forlorn when they rest on chopper.

"I can see many of you are grieving something in different ways." She voices looking to nami, who Io has assumed is the leader of the group.

"We lost out nakama." Luffy speaks up. Io's eyebrow raises a bit sending her gaze towards Luffy.

"And why have you come to me?" She asks accepting that Luffy is actually the head of their group. Luffy just smiles and laughed at the question.

"I just heard about you while I was in another island and I thought it was so cool!" His grin doesn't fall, even when Io chuckles lightly.

"Well I suppose that I can show you a few things..." She wanders towards a fairly large table motioning for their crew to do the same. All nine of them sit around the table on pillows instead of chairs.

"Now," Io folds her hand together. "What is it that you want?" She turns to Luffy again.

He thinks for a second before deciding, " can you do magic?" He asks excitedly, and that gets Usopp and chopper going. Eventually Nami has to "calm" them down so Io can continue.

"Of sorts yes. What did you hear of me?"

"That you can open portals to different worlds!"

Io smiles softly as if she had a suspicion he would say that. "Sadly that is not true, it's actually impossible even with the help of a devil fruit." She shrugs at Luffy's disappointment. "But I can open portals to certain places and sort of dimensions."

Luffy Usopp and Chopper all perk up again. "What does that mean?" Chopper asks curiously in his squeaky voice. Io turns to him with a pleasant smile.

"How about we all sit at the table and have a civilized conversation." She suggests, sweeping her arm over towards the table, making the waves of purple dance and pulse with the motion. The crew all go and sit down at the circular table that has random items on it.

"So, like I was saying," Io starts again once they are all seated. "I can have one person travel to different… Places. Places that many do not believe in." She smiles at Luffy and Sanji. When the smile is turned on Sanji he feels a weird sensation of knowing, of being filled with wonder and the knowledge that there is no end to any thing, only new beginnings.

Then her gaze moves on and the feeling is taken away, leaving Sanji in a small short daze. He snaps out of it when people start talking again.

"What do you mean by that?" Nami asks, clasping her hands in her lap and leaning slightly towards Io. Io smiles at her with kind eyes.

"I can open a pathway for only one person to travel through, to any place that is believed by a large quantity does not exist." She turns back looking at all of them. "Like the One Piece, or All Blue." She looks right at Luffy and Sanji once more.

Sanji doesn't know how to breath. Well okay he does, but that has to be the best news he could possibly have at the moment. That basically confirms all Blue exists doesn't it?! So why hasn't anyone gone there? Why hasn't anyone gone to this women and ask her for this?

"The guarantee that the place you seek exists is not in my control." She sighs seeing Sanji's excited reaction, and Luffy's slightly confused one. "If it doesn't exist then you'll be wandering the path until you run into another dream of yours." That doesn't seem so bad to Sanji, but he can see why not as many people have been asking her to transport them. "But that could take years." Oh so not that great.

"I don't want to go to the one piece." Luffy states. "Or if it's real or not." Although whitebeard made sure that all the pirates watching the war footage knew that the one piece exists. "I wanna have an adventure while I'm getting there!" He states quite seriously but with a hint of happiness. "I'm going to get there with all my nakama."

That shoots a stick through Sanji's gut. Sanji's been able to handle hearing people talk about Zoro, and he's chatted about him a tad with Usopp earlier, but speaking about their group as a whole but minus one is different. At least to Sanji. Usually It was Luffy Zoro and Sanji at the head, the monster trio. They were the ones to boast about their nakama. But lately Sanji hasn't been up to it, and neither has anyone else in the crew really either. This is new to Sanji. He feels as if Luffy has accepted that Zoro is gone. Why? He can't just forget about him! He's his first mate! Zoro was Luffy's first crew member! Luffy can't just forget about him…

Io starts to speak again. "Yes I'm well aware of how you want to get there, and I must say that is very true of you." She smiles as Luffy mulls that over in his head. "But I can help you get back Zoro." She says. And Sanji is happy that he's not the only one to have a big reaction. Nami and Sanji's heads snap up to her with wide eyes. Robin and Franky's eyebrows rise on their head, and Luffy cocks his head to the side. Brook's eyebrows would be risen too if he had any skin! (Yohohoho SKULL JOKE!)

"How do you know his name?" Nami asks, slight danger tinting her voice. Sanji never realized how close Zoro and Nami were. Of course they cared about each other, they're nakama, but Sanji has never really thought about it.

Nami was the second to join the crew, and every time something emotionally challenging for her happend to her, she went to Zoro first. She always had a debt over his head which Zoro always tried to repay. Other people he would ignore them or the debt, but with Nami he actually cared about getting her money back to her. He wanted to make sure she had everything she wanted. He makes sure she's okay (although Sanji steps in most of the time) but at the same time recognizes her strengths.

Sanji has never taken the time to really look at how Zoro and Nami's relationship worked. How they could actually be siblings given different circumstances. Nami is like (at the least) an older sister for most of them. She's kept them in check and she seems to be the only one able to control Luffy. She really does have a strong unique relationship with each of them.

Io looks at Nami with slight surprise at the sudden out burst. "I heard you're the blond fellow murmuring under his breath about a 'shitty swordsman' and 'Zoro'." She shrugs as if it were nothing about how she connected all those pieces so quickly.

"Anyways, do you want to know how you can get him back?" She asks. Everyone at the table falls silent. No one knows how to answer. Sure they would be overjoyed to get Zoro back, but at what cost? Are they supposed to ignore the old saying "let dead men lie"?

Luffy is the one to speak up. "Why would we do that?" His eyebrows drawn downwards. "He's died and I'm pretty sure Zoro wouldn't want us to drag him back after his time had passed."

Io looks at him curiously. She's never had a reaction quite like this one. She can planet see how much they love this friend if they're willing to live without him if it's better for him. "How would you know if you don't ask him?"

"What do you mean?" Usopp pipes up. The first time he's spoken sense they step foot in the house. "How would that even be possible?"

"Just because you make the trip doesn't mean that your friend must come back with you." Io furrows her eyebrows as if it were obvious. "It's really their decision if they want to come back or not. the person who travels over is just the opening for them to decide."

Usopp frowns in thought while the rest of them do the same. Well all of them except Luffy. "Yosh! We'll do it!" He smiles up at her.

"WHAT?!" Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper all shriek. While Robin chuckles a little and Franky just smirks. Everyone can hear brooks merry laugh over all of the commotion.

After being throttled by Nami, Kicked by Sanji, and screeched at by Usopp and Chopper, Luffy finally is given a chance to state his choice. "If we won't be forcing Zoro into it, and he's got a choice, then why not? We could have our nakama back!" He smiles joyfully.

Well that does make sense. Zoro would never want to be forced into anything or not be given a decision on the matter… But then there's the whole making the trip thing. "Who will go?" Sanji asks. The three manhandling Luffy before all pause and look at him, including Luffy.

Io clears her throat. "There are things that one must be careful of while going down this road." She says.

"What may that be?" Robin asks, her hands folded in her lap, but her sharp eyes directed straight on Io.

"When someone is going down this particular path, a path to another dimension, there are things they must be careful of." She still talks in her soothing voice, and calm demeanor. "The path will try and make you stray from where you are trying to go. There will be temptations, and persuasive voices whispering in your ear." Io looks down as if recalling an old memory.

"The person who is chosen will have to be very stubborn." Everyone looks at Luffy and Sanji. "They will have to be able to keep their mind on track away from the distractions the road is trying to throw at them. As they travel down the road the deep and longer they go, the more the road extracts things from your head to use against you." Io's eyes are far away as she talks. It's obvious something has happened before.

She snaps back and looks up at them. "So who will go?" She asks. Nami Usopp and Chopper all shrink away murmuring something about having a weird sickness, or not being strong enough, or some pathetic excuse like those. Nami makes sure that Luffy isn't the one to go because the first time the smell of meat wafts through he'd be gone. Sanji makes sure that none of the lady's are sent through, and he tells Franky to look after them.

That leaves Sanji and Brook. Neither one knows who should go. Sure they could argue that the first time something with boobs walks around Sanji would be gone, but so would Brook. Ever since Zoro's death Sanji hasn't been that into floundering over women as much. His mood hasn't been so great. Of course he still loves women and gives them compliments, but he isn't as enthusiastic. For some reason that Sanji can't quite understand is that he's been getting more numbers from women. Why do they find him more attractive when he isn't showering them in gifts?

"I think Sanji should go." Either Luffy was thinking the same thing, or that's just who he wants to go Sanji has no idea. Said blond whirls around to stare wide eyed at his captain. "When you get there he's gonna need persuasion, and I think Sanji's the best one for that!" He smiles. Everyone around them nod their heads and murmur in agreement. Whether it's because they actually agree, or they're just saying that so they won't have to go doesn't matter. Sanji's going and there's nothing he can really say about it.

"Yosh! Sanji! You're gonna get Zoro back!" Luffy smiles at him with is giant smile that says 'we can do whatever we want as long as we put our minds to it'. Sanji smiles back at him, but a chill runs through his body. He's really going to hell to get Zoro back? He's really going to hell?

"See ya in hell." The man smirked and closed his eyes, sighing into the mans body.

The man always keeps his promises.

Dun dun dun... A cliff hanger? Maybe. You tell me. Okay I will update soon! Im having fun writing this! I wonder what's going to happen next D: