Chapter 10
~ Welcome ~
to the Masquerade!
The sign said 'masquerade', like the type of ball where you dress up in your fanciest clothing and wear a mask to conceal your identity from those around you. To enforce this, there was a tall, wide wooden wardrobe to the right of the 7th door, filled with ballgowns of all assortments, and tuxedoes and fine tunics in a wide variety. Gloves of all colors and fabrics, for both males and females, hung on the outer sides of the wardrobe. Heeled shoes and shining men's dress shoes to the sides of the wardrobe, on the stone floors. Hanging beside the wardrobe on either side, above the shoes, were as many as 50 different masks; some that covered just one side of your face, some that covered just the top of your face, and even some full-faced masks. Masks were lined with sequins and fine silks, beads and feathers, paints and flower petals.
Across from all this hubub, on the other side of the hall, was a tall wooden and iron set of racks, almost like cubby-holes. It was as if whomever hosted this ball wanted you to strip down right then and there, put your clothes in a cubby-hole, and then choose your ballroom clothing of choice. The problem was, if this area was just as old as that first door voiced, then surely these clothes would have been worn and dilapidated; moth-eaten and faded.
"Hey, maybe if we bring back some of these cool clothes to Law, he might forgive us!" Ace said with a hopeful tone after he flung open the doors of the wardrobe. Luffy, Zoro, and Ace all looked through the clothes, touching and feeling, observing, and again for Luffy, smelling.
"Is it just me, or do these clothes seem to be a bit.. young compared to the castle?" Zoro stated, taking a purple pair of slacks in his hand and inspecting them carefully. Ace and Luffy shrugged in unison, to which Zoro sighed.
"Well, let's see what's on the other side of this door, and then come back and get some clothes to take back to Law, alright?" Zoro recommended, to which he received several eager nods. But suddenly, something in the air made the older two of the three stand up straight as an invisible something seemed to float on the air around them, and it was not a pleasant something.
Ace and Zoro glanced at each other with nervous looks while Luffy was jumping up and down in excitement. Then.. something more caught their attention.
Music and voices.
Music and voices seemed to echo about in the space beyond the 7th door, and it sounded to the three like that space beyond was rather... large. Luffy's eyes went wide in amazement, and he suddenly found himself pushing open the 7th door.
Light blinded the boys eyes for several moments, and sounds of laughter, talking and music filled their ears, which brought both somewhat of a smile to the 3 traveler's faces.
The room, well, the gathering space, seemed to be from yet another time period, in fact, a more modern time period than the clothing and masks that they had seen not more than a minute or so before. Bright, crystal-covered chandeliers hung from the high ceilings, and the walls were a bright white littered with gold-framed artwork. Tall, stained glass windows lined the walls high above, letting in the silvery light of a dazzling harvest moon over the tree-tops of the distant hill-lands.
"Wait.. hadn't we been climbing down a staircase for more than 3 hours... and yet.. they're windows here?" Zoro thought to himself, squinting at the windows.
Beechwood floors stretched across the entire room, with light-colored oak chairs and tables at the back of the dance hall, covered in intricately designed cuisine and fine wines. To the fore was a large assembly of chairs and in turn music stands under use by a large orchestra of many muscians.
The three unlookers thought that this alone was impressive, but much to their amazment, dancing all around in this space were hundreds of men and women, from many different regions and time periods, wearing the clothing of their era as they all co-existed in this room together.
Luffy stood wide-eyed as he looked upon all the beautiful dancers in their clothing spinning round and round with their partners, and the wonderful music that rang throughout the room. The masks that these people wore were all so different and charming. Some were simple yet elegant, and some literally rose a foot or more above their heads. The shoes of these people all clunk-ed in unison to the music, as the women and men danced in complete sync.
Meanwhile, Ace and Zoro were pinching themselves, to see as if maybe what lay in front of them was merely but a dream.
Then all of sudden, Ace found a man wrapping his arm around his shoulder with his other gloved hand gesturing to the crowds in front of them.
"Welcome, welcome to ye! Go and fetch the attire of yer choosin' and return here to join the festivities!" The man said with much gusto, following his greeting with a hearty laugh, patting Ace on the shoulder before quickly shoveling him back into the wardrobe area again, closing the door behind.
Ace looked around him for a moment, left in darkness as he had passed his torch onto Luffy earlier. Then, a cold wind circled him, making him a bit anxious, before a heavenly glow filled the room as if by magic.
He looked around him looking for a chandelier or a candle, only to find none.
"Why...What..What is happening here? All those people.. this is not possible.."
The freckled-one turned and felt the 6th door with his hands, pulling on the handle to open it back to the 5th door, the heavenly glow bursting to light his way once more. He continued this back until the 1st door, where when he tried to open it, but to no avail, it would not budge. Ace stood back and looked at it, knowing that even though he was by himself, he would still be able to get it partially open, like the other ones he had just opened. Something was off... maybe the hinges just finally gave up and wouldn't budge? He would have to tell Luffy to pour some of the oil from his flask onto the hinges, and then maybe it would move.
Walking back a bit disapointed, Ace found himself looking at the wardrobe again, the man's words resounding in his head.
"I guess I should.. find some clothes then," he decided, hitting himself inside for even following the not-real man's instruction, stripping out of his clothes and placing them onto a rack behind him. He then looked through the wardrobe, searching for something to his liking, and he eventually found it.
He found a long-sleeved black shirt, and pulled it down over his chest, straightening the sleeves over his arms carefully. Then, taking a deep red satin sleeveless tunic with a gold sash over the right shoulder out, Ace slipped it on over the shirt, following afterwards with a pair of tight-fitting black pants. He pulled a pair of tall black boots with a large gold buckle on the side onto his feet, walking around in them a bit, surprised that they fit him so well.
Pulling a pair of short, black satin gloves off of the wardrobe, Ace pulled them onto his hands before choosing the mask of his choice. After a minute or so of decision, Ace carefully pulled a mask down off of the wall. It was a top-face mask, covering his forehead, sides of his face, cheekbones and nose, and it seemed to be made of pure gold, matching the sash upon his shoulder. Pushing back his black hair away from his face, he tied the gold mask's ribbon behind his head and looked at his reflection in a mirror which was conveniently located on the inside of the door on the wardrobe. Straightening his clothes a bit, Ace readied himself and then opened the 7th door once more.
Stepping back into the marvelous room, Ace looked around for Zoro and Luffy, or at least the man. Finding none of them, Ace began walking around a bit, maybe purposefully bumping into a party-goer or two, questioning in his mind if they were real. Yes, they were real people, Ace, get over it.
Meanwhile, as soon as Ace had stepped out of 'the dressing room', Luffy was quickly ushered in by the same welcoming-man who Zoro was then left with.
What is this place?" Zoro asked him, arms crossed as he gave the man almost a glare. The man just laughed and put a heavy hand on Zoro's shoulder.
"A ballroom, are ya blind?"
Zoro then let loose with his looks and let the glare come out in full. The man looked back at Zoro with a raised eyebrow and smirk, clearly seeing that his remark had not been funny.
"To tell ya the truth, I don't know, lad."
"OK, this geezer is startin' to get on my nerves," said Zoro's inner self.
"How do you not know?" Zoro responded in annoyance, putting down the lamp to raise his arms for emphasis. He studied the man very carefully then, looking over every detail.
The man was tall, maybe about 6'1 by Zoro's standards, and wore a simple emerald green suit, which very obviously gave his redish-orange hair more flare. Was he Irish, or Scottish? He sounded like it. His hair was long, almost down to his shoulders, and was pushed back off of his face in a fancy-manner, giving his green eyes room to sparkle from behind his wooden mask. He had a bit of a beard, not much, but enough to call it stubble, and had a scar half-way along his jaw on the left side. He looked to be about 25 years of age, a jaunty young man he was, with a lively sort of character to him. Yet, if you payed attention long enough, his eyes hid a sort of.. yearning, a longing, for something just out of his reach.
"I'll let you in on a little secret, my friend. You see all these people, including myself?" The man questioned Zoro, taking him by the shoulder. Zoro nodded.
"Half of us are ourselves, the other half aren't."
Giving the orange-haired man a very confused look, the younger tried to move from the other's touch, only to fail.
"What I mean is that half these people don't have free will to do what they please. They're.. under some sort of spell. I can't explain it, but the other half, including myself, do have free will. We can do what we want, while the others just aren't in their right minds."
"You lost me," Zoro announced, shaking his head tiredly. The man sighed and clapped his other hand on Zoro's chest.
"Let me tell ya another thing then. After every hour of this ball, whatever happened in that hour repeats. This moment of the ball re-"
At that moment, a grand clock struck the hour, and indeed, that hour of the ball restarted with a bright flash of light.
"-peats," the man finished, finding himself in the place where he was the hour before, which was by himself, leaning against the wall opposite the 7th door. Luffy was exempt from this hourly-repeat because he was inside a different chamber, a different space. Meanwhile, Ace found himself back in front of the 7th door, everyone that he had last seen now gone from his view.
"What... what just happened?" Ace thought to himself, as he looked around for the lady in the red dress he had just seen a minute before. She was nowhere in sight. But, he did see other people that appeared to be just as confused as he was. Not everyone, but some. For example, a long, blonde-haired man in some sort of purple robe was looking around in the same fashion as himself. Ace wanting some answers to his many questions, he approached the blonde-haired man carefully, gently putting his hand on the man's shoulder, as he was coming up from behind him.
"Excuse me, sir, but could you tell me what just happened?" Ace asked as the man turned to face him. He was tall for his era and region, being about possibly 5"11 in height. Even so, he was looking up at Ace through a silvery mask that covered the left side of his face.
"I don't know how many times I have had to answer that same question, young man," the man replied, taking Ace's hand off of his shoulder before continuing, "that was the hourly loop."
"Hourly.. loop?"
"Yes, the last hour of the original Harvest Ball was plucked from history to be repeated every hour, therefore putting all of us here back in the position we were in at the start of the last cycle so to speak."
Ace was very confused.. he was in the staircase an hour before.. so why did he end up in front of the 7th door?
"I just... I just arrived here, sir, I am very confused," Ace pressed on, shaking his head.
"Ah.. yet another newcomer. From where did you come?" The tall man asked politely.
"I come from America, sir," Ace replied.
"And what year is it?"
The freckled teen stopped for a moment to look up at this man, quite frankly afraid of what would happen if he didn't answer the..odd question.
"2013, sir."
The man went wide-eyed for a moment before regaining his calm composure, coughing once into his gloved hand before explaining further.
"You see, I first arrived to this ball in 1853, from Norway. And before you ask any more questions, let us go to a quiet corner to speak further." With that, the two men then walked over to a less populated area of the room, back near the tables and chairs. The two had a seat next to each other, Ace eagerly awaiting an explanation.
"Just to let you know about myself, my name is Alton Ingeborgsen, born and raised in the Norway by my parents who always kept up an adventurous spirit. This, in turn, was passed along to me, and in my early 20's, I set out to explore the world. I traveled to Germany and Austria, Ireland and Scotland, eastern Russia and later on Sweden and parts of Switzerland. I accommodated many fellow travelers along the way, and was surrounded by supporters.
"As I was trekking through the mountainous areas of Norway, north of my hometown, my 15 mates and I were freezing cold and looking for some place to seek shelter, and soon we found it in the form of an inviting small cabin. Upon entering, we realized that it had been abandoned with the fire still flaming, and food still on the table. Thinking that there certainly must have been more supplies in the cellar, I descended down in the cold, earthen room.
"Now, in a far off corner was a door. A very large, iron door that must've been 2 times my height. Me being adventurous, I opened this door, and by God did it make a sound! After overlooking this much, I stepped past it to find the exac-"
"Exact same door," Ace completed in unison, mesmerized by Alton's story. The man nodded and then continued his story in the same manner as Ace's experience.
"And so, upon entering back into this ballroom with my apparently needed ball-attire on, I heard a thunderous voice booming above me, and all the people really, though I seemed to be the only one that heard it."
"What did it say?" Ace asked, finding himself leaning closer and closer to Alton.
"It told me this message, which I shall never forget, 'I see that curiosity killed yet another cat. Welcome to your doom, young one. There is but one exit from this place; to find me. Find me among the masked men in this room, and all trapped here shall go free'."
Upon finishing his story, Alton took a sip of wine from the nearest glass, not minding whomever it belonged to, and then set it back down with a satisfied sigh. Ace looked at him with great respect then, to have gone through so many hours of this ball since 1853, and still be sane.
"But how hard could it be to find that guy, right? I mean, sure there are a lot of men here, but…"
Ace looked around once more at all the people in the ballroom, the spinning dresses of the women, and the long legs of the men following shortly afterwards.
"Okay.. maybe it would be a little hard.. but you would just have to hear each guy's voice, right..? Oh.."
Back in Zoro's neck of the woods, Mr. Scotsman had found and continued explaining all the same thing to the green-haired teen, who still had a hard time taking it all in.
"Aye, once you go in after your dark-haired friend, choose your clothes wisely, as you might be in 'em for years and years," the man stated with a chuckle, pulling on his emerald collar.
Zoro stared at the man as if he were insane, and which he probably was, but who knew, considering that there were under-ground windows and people from all over the world in a surprisingly well-kept ballroom hundreds of feet below the surface of Earth. He was almost willing to accept anything now, and so he let out a sigh and took in the Scottish man's words.
"So you are telling me that your name is Aaron McCleode, and that back home in Scotland, you found a circle of stones, and when you walked to the middle of it, you fell through the ground into a dark pit, which then led to a magically lit passageway, to which you then opened 7 doors, leading to this very room?" Zoro asked to clarify, pointing a rude finger at Aaron. Aaron nodded with his same grin.
"And also that this hour of the original ball has been repeating for hundreds of years, because some.. wizard-y guy wanted you to find him amidst all these people, just for his amusement?" Zoro continued, his eyes then shut tightly.
"Yes," Aaron said, "ya sure do retain a'boat load o' information in that noggin' o' yours!"
Zoro sighed and leaned against the tall, white wall and looked around him once more. There were people dancing in the middle of the room, some standing and chatting on the sidelines, and some doing the same except at the back of the room with tables and chairs. In fact, at the moment, two men were having a very intricate conversation while the one drank wine. The other man looked slightly familiar…
"Up you go, lad, your friend has chosen his get-up," Aaron stated as he pushed Zoro back towards the 7th door. The man sighed and turned his back to the door, thinking that maybe, just maybe, these three would be stupid enough to find the damned man.
Meanwhile, back in Law-Law-land, it was about 5 P.M. and none of the boys had managed to come back to the great hall of the castle, where Law was tapping his foot waiting for them. He had checked his phone time and time again, but got nothing, and figured they got lost.
So as the dark haired man checked around the places where he had seen them last, he went up a grand staircase, down a dark hallway where a torch should've been, but wasn't –luckily he had brought a flashlight- and then saw an large, metal door that was open.
"Yeah, that's them," Law thought to himself as he shined the flashlight into the room from the hallway. There was a wooden piece of furniture that looked… slightly odd, pulled away from the wall, and all its drawers pulled out as well.
"Well, no boys in that room.. but hey, there's my camera sitting on the ground over there."
Walking over to this camera, Law bent over to pick it up and spotted a very dark square in the side of the wall behind the mutilated bureau. Flashing his light near to the dark spot, he realized that it was a small doorway. Shaking his head, Law knew that those curious boys couldn't have resisted going through. So he followed in their footsteps.
As soon as Luffy had touched the door's handle, he was suddenly transported to a far off corner of the room, near the front actually, next to a tall gentleman in a short-sleeved red tunic, a gold breast-plate covering his chest. He wore leather-strapped sandals and wore a white mantle over his shoulders, fixed onto the top's of his breastplate by gold chains. The man had short, curly brown hair and a very distinguished nose, muscle popping from everywhere on his body. To top it all off, the man was wearing a gold mask that covered around his eyes and then led back along the middle-line of his head to the nape of his neck, red fabric sticking up in a Mohawk along the top-most part of it. Small gold beads covering the entire area of the mask, excluding the red fabric, making it seem to shimmer when the man turned his head to look down at Luffy.
"WOW! You look awesome!" Luffy exclaimed with stars in his eyes, jumping up and down at the sight of the man before him. With a slight smirk, the man put a hand on Luffy's head and messed up his hair.
"Glad you think so, young one. You look rather dashing yourself."
"Oooooh! What's your name!?" Luffy pleaded, hands in a praying-manner. With another smirk, the man stood back up straight and ran his hand back along the red-mohawk for effect.
"They call me Octavius," Octavius replied calmly.
"Too cool for a last name!" Luffy screeched, running his hands all along Octavius' breastplate.
"Too cool for pants too!" The man added, gesturing to his bare calves. Luffy burst out into laughter with the man, and they got along justtt fine.
Oh yeah, now to describe Luffy's choice of clothing. He chose, after many minutes of decision since there were so many cool clothes, a silky midnight blue suit that shone in the light, with white gloves over his hands, and a white, shimmery moon-like crescent mask over the left side of his face. To finish it off, Luffy chose a pair of spiffy white short-heeled boots to go with the whole 'white & blue' theme.
"And so? What name do you go by?" Octavius asked Luffy, crossing his arms over his chest, looking like a superhero. Luffy blinked in awe for a second before responding.
"Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy.."
"Luffy? Ha! How amusing. Where I come from, that name might gotten you an odd stare or two. Standing out with a name was not the way to go, but rather stand out with action instead," Octavius mused, rubbing a thumb over his chin while Luffy just gazed at him, transfixed by his hero's smart-sounding words.
"That's so cool.."
"Right?"
~ + Wow! Plot twist, "Right?" XD hope you liked this very late update! (hey, that rhymed.. hehe XD im so lame~~) + ~