Reviewer's Gift Fics Chapter 36, an one piece fanfic

I. Am. Never. Doing. Another. Fatal Frame Crossover. For. As. Long. As. I. Live.

Zoro: I don't even want one of your gift fics...

Too bad. This totaled up to 81 pages in the end. Your's the longest, by far!

Zoro: ...

Yeah, so don't start.

Tattooed Priest

It was raining and dark when the car took the corner too quickly and went off the rail and flipped. For a moment there seems to be no life inside the flipped vehicle until a man with light green hair crawled out of the passenger's side and stayed on his hands and knees for a moment as the rain was on him, cleaning the small cuts on his arms as he got his mind together and looked back to see the person in the driver's seat and looked shocked but didn't utter a sound when he saw that the woman in the driver's seat was, without a doubt, dead.

"Kuina…" He whispered as the rain continued to pound on him.

"Zoro…? Zoro!"

The man blinked as he looked around a partially kept up building that was burnt down, but the structure was still up, before looking to see a younger man looking at him.

"Are you okay?" Asked the young man with windswept black hair that was being tamed under the strawhat.

"Yeah, Luffy, I'm okay." He said as he brought his camera up and took a picture of a beam ahead of him. "You sure this place is supposed to be haunted?"

Luffy shrugged. "It's a rumor after all, maybe it's not true."

Zoro chuckled. "Maybe…"

The younger man smiled as he grabbed a metal suitcase. "I'm going to put these back in the car."

"Okay. I'll be there in a bit."

"Take your time." He said as he grabbed a camera stand and headed out.

Zoro smiled a bit as he continued to take pictures until he took one of a small hall, only to see a woman suddenly appear at the corner. "Kuina…?" He said as he cautiously walked up, only for the woman to turn and walked to where the corner leads, which he followed, only to have a sudden moment of seeing the place transform to what it could've been before it was burnt down.

He found himself outside, but still within the building, with a gravestone mound on either side of him as snowflakes gently fell from the opening above.

"Where am I?" He asked himself as he took a few steps towards the two large doors ahead and entered, blacked out, and found himself in a new room, where he saw a man behind some screens. He went around and found an opening to that room, only to see that the man was gone. 'What?' He thought as he continued to walk up the few steps, turned the corner to see a larger room and saw the woman walking down the hallway ahead of him.

He went down the hall, where he saw another small room, but he can't help but feel he's being watched as he passed by it and continued to walk down the hall to turn the corner and saw a door at the end and opened it, only to black out for another second before seeing that he was in another hallway with a large mirror to his left. He followed along the hallway until he thought he saw a woman behind the wooden gate wall, but she quickly disappeared, and saw no sign of life in the small room and continued his way down the hall. Then he sensed that he was in danger, looked behind him and saw a man with a cleaver knife and ran to the end of the hall and took a right up the stairs to a door, where he blacked out again, only to find himself outside again, but this time it looked like some kind of garden with a sacred tree in the center.

'How did I end up outside?' He thought as he saw the woman suddenly appear and was heading towards some doors on the other side from him before disappearing. He went around and as he was passing the open door way that leads to another hall, a young priestess girl appeared and bowed while saying.

"Stay here… forever…" Before she disappeared.

He continued to head towards the doors, blacked out for a second, and found himself what seems to be outside, but still dark as night with a large Shinto gate ahead of him and another set of doors beyond them. He went down some steps and walked towards the doors, only to see the woman again as she turned towards the doors.

"Wait! Kuina! I have to tell you something!" He called as she disappeared. He ran up to the doors, opened them, and found himself in a different room with ornate cloths hung on the beams and fluttering in the wind, where he saw someone walking towards him before the cloths covered the person, only to appear in front of him.

He saw that it was a man about his age with black hair, the upper body showed tattoos while the lower half was covered, but no doubt that there was even more tattoos there as well. He felt afraid as he backed up to the wall, only to see the other get close so that he could see the pale silver eyes that also seemed to be tattooed for a second before finding himself on his back, covered by a white cloth, and saw that he was somewhat spread out as four girls, each wearing a priestess outfit was standing where his limbs are.

The girls had a hammer and a huge nail in their hands as they went down and had the nails ready on his ankles and wrists. He couldn't find his voice to protest this as he saw that something was going up along his arm and felt pain going around his body as he felt it coming up his neck as he looked at one of the girls and saw her raise her hammer and quickly forced down on the nail.

He gasped when he saw that he was back at the burnt down house and looked at his hands to see that there were no strange marks or any sign that he had been struck by a nail.

"Zoro?"

He was startled a bit when Luffy came up.

"Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "It was nothing Luffy…" He looked around the area once more before walking pass the other. "Come on. Let's go."

Luffy looked at the other with some concern, but followed and they went to their shared home.

~0~0~0~

Zoro was in the dark room where he was developing photos of the so called haunted mansion, when he took out one particular photo from the solution and saw the picture of the woman in the corner of the hallway. 'So it wasn't my imagination… I saw her… But… why?' He thought as he heard a knock on the door.

"Zoro? Are you almost done in there? Food's ready." Luffy said through the door.

"I'll be there in a sec. I'm finishing up."

"Okay!"

He looked at the photo again and wondered about what was going on.

That night he tossed and turned as he was dreaming that he was outside the mansion he was earlier, only it was snowing, dark, and the mansion wasn't burnt down. Candles and stone lanterns were lit outside the mansion as he walked up the steps to the entrance, as if drawn towards the building itself.

Hour 1 The Sign

He found himself looking down the hall, a flashlight somehow was in his hand, with some dressers along the wall. "This place is…" He started to say as he walked down the hall and turned to the corner to his right to follow the hallway until he saw a small girl standing in front of a door before disappearing. He blinked as he cautiously went up to the door and opened it, only to see the room he was in earlier, but not burnt down. He entered only to see a woman and the girl again, but disappeared. He walked around until he saw some stairs and looked up to see the woman again going across.

'Kuina?' He thought as he went up the steps but saw no sign of the person he was looking for.

He didn't see the pale hand cautiously moving an object out from the shadows before going back into the shadows before he aimed the light beam from the flashlight to that corner to see a camera. "What's this?" He said as he went up and picked the old, antique looking camera.

He looked that it was an old bellows camera with strange markings similar to the occults and on the back there was some old writing saying 'Camera Obscura'. "Seems to be in good condition for an old camera." He said as he headed towards the door, opened it, and heard a sound. A sound of something being hammered down.

He followed the sound down the hall and took a few corners before finding the sound coming out of a look hole on the wall. He went up and looked through to see and recognized a little priestess girl, hammering on a wall before she disappeared, but heard her ask.

"Who's there?"

He backed up from the wall a bit before he heard a woman sobbing not far from where he was and followed that sound back down the hall where he came, and saw her through the broken rice paper door. "Oi, you alright?" He asked as she seemed to take notice of him, got up and ran.

"Stay back! Go away!"

"Oi!" He said as he followed down the hall, maybe to find the woman again to see if she was okay. As he did, he passed by some kind of wooden barred window to hear a man's voice.

"I don't want to see… anymore…"

He looked and thought he saw the man from his day dream in the dark hallway, but was gone before he can confirm it. He continued until he found a door and opened it to see the room where he found the camera, and headed down the steps to see the woman and the child again before they disappeared, and he headed towards the door that he entered the room from.

"Have you seen… him…?"

He heard a woman's voice behind him, which made him feel a bit afraid before he turned to see that there was no one there. He took a deep breath before turning to face the door again to open it.

"Where did he go?"

He heard a child say and he looked down to see the girl and backed up, seeing her transparent and concluded that the child is indeed a ghost before quickly turning to see the woman, the mother, about to reach out to him with a crazed look on her face and dodged her reach to grab him. He felt the camera shook and couldn't understand it until the woman tried to reach for him again and his finger pressed the button, causing the flash and the woman backed away. "Huh?" He looked at the camera and then at the ghosts, who disappeared and he looked around to see that they had reappeared and he brought the camera up and took another shot, only to see that the two ghosts backed up from him. 'Is this used as a weapon against ghosts?' He thought as he dodged and took shots of the two ghosts before the camera stopped shaking and he couldn't see the two ghosts anymore.

He exited out of the room and walked down the hall until he turned the corner and saw bent legs and feet and went up cautiously to see that it was the woman again.

"…died too… If only I'd died too…" The woman murmured as she kept shaking and not seemed to notice him there, even with his flashlight on her. "It's not my fault I'm the only one who survived…" She continued as everything else became hard for him to understand.

He bent down slowly and cautiously as he tried to get her attention. "…Are you…?" He started to ask as he looked at the woman, who couldn't be no older than her mid twenties, mumbling and sobbing to herself to the point where it almost seemed that she had gone insane as she mentioned 'if I died too…' He cautiously reached his hand out towards her. "…Are you all right!" He said it a bit loud so she could hear him, which seemed to work as she slapped his hand away and hastily crawled to the wall not far from him and had her back against it before she looked up and gasped before breathing quickly as faint marks appeared on her neck.

He got up and turned to see a faint outline of someone at the end of the hall and felt a sort of fear as the figure moved towards them before he saw that it was the same man he saw in his daydream and heard the woman ran off as he backed up from fear until his back hit the wall and blinked to see that the figure was gone. He started to calm down when he saw the tattooed eyes and dodged the other's advancing as he started to run the way the woman took, but he thought about the doors that were the entrance to the house.

He ran as he looked back behind him once to see that the other was following him and he ran harder that he could only hear his heavy breathing before he felt something cold, colder than he had ever felt on his skin as he heard the man whisper.

"Let me sleep… forever…"

He continued to run as he saw the doors and forcefully opened them to see a bright light.

~0~0~0~

He woke up and saw that he was in his room and started to get up when he felt a pain on his back. He never felt such a horrible pain before as it stopped suddenly and looked to see a bluish mark on him suddenly appear and reminded him of part of the tattoo design the man in his nightmare had.

"Zoro?"

He looked up to see Luffy, who was opening the door to his room and looked concerned.

"Is everything okay?" He asked. "I heard you cry out and I wanted to see if you were okay… Did you have another nightmare? You've been having them a lot…"

He looked back where he saw the mark, but saw that it wasn't there anymore. "Huh?"

"Zoro…?"

"I'm fine, Luffy."

"But…"

"It's just a bad dream, Luffy…"

"Okay…" He said. "Breakfast is almost done."

"Okay… I'll be there." He said as the other closed the door as he held his shoulder. "Was it all… a dream?" He wondered as he got up and started to get dressed.

After he got dressed he grabbed his notebook and started to look through the entries he placed in prior, first starting with the one labeled 'Locations', and looked up the one he entered yesterday, titled 'The Abandoned House'.

'I wasn't motivated enough to find out much about the place before I went. About all I knew was that it was supposed to be haunted. What was behind the strange daydream vision I had in that house in the snow? Was I worn out, still scarred by the accident? Or are the rumors true? Was she really there?'

'The Manor of Sleep... The ruined house I wandered in my dream the night I got back after my vision on that assignment. Something about it reminded me of the haunted house where I saw Kuina. It seemed too real to be a dream. Daydreams, visions – maybe I'm just tired…'

He then flipped to the one labeled 'People' and found the one titled, 'Roronoa Kuina'.

'My older sister. She was an editor who worked on books of folklore, philosophy, and anthropology. She was always a pain because we're somewhat alike: stubborn and strong willed. But she reminded me of gentle falling rain that washes everything clean afterwards, even if she isn't too gentle in person. She passed away two months ago when we were on our way back from an assignment and we were arguing, causing her to drive too fast…'

He sighed as he remembered that night as he flipped to one titled, 'Monkey D. Luffy'.

'Luffy, younger brother of a friend of mine, Portgus D. Ace. He lives with me now and works as my assistant. Ace was killed in an accident a year before Kuina's, and in his will he had placed Luffy in my care. Even though he's cheerful and happy-go lucky, which didn't bubble back up a few months after Ace's funeral, he's very helpful and helps me out in all kinds of ways – not just work. If not for him, I don't know how I would've made it through after Kuina died…'

'The Tattooed Man... The man who appeared in my dream of the manor, his whole body covered in a blue tattoo. He came closer, and I ran away before I knew what was happening. All I remember is an intense fear. I can still feel his cold stabbing fingers on the back of my shoulder where he touched me. It's hard to believe it was only a dream.'

'Mother and Daughter... The mother and child who appeared in my dream in old-fashioned kimonos. They were looking for someone, calling out in sad voices to him… Who could they be?'

He found a few blank pages and wrote down what he found out so far as he labeled 'Incidents' on one of the pages.

'The bruise appears… I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder when I woke up. For a moment I thought I could see some kind of bruise on my skin, but when I looked again there was nothing there. Was it just a dream?'

He finished writing what he needed to put down and exited his room.

~0~0~0~

"Morning Zoro!" Luffy said as he went down the steps to meet the young man.

"Morning Luffy… What's going on?" He said as he found a plate of his breakfast on the bar counter.

"Well, it looks like it's going to rain all day today again…" Luffy said as he looked at the white curtains that covered the glass sliding doors. "And it looks like you don't have much work this week…"

"Okay…"

"That's good though… You've been working so much lately… and it sounds like you were woken up by a really bad dream this morning. And don't get me started on what happened the other day when we were collecting data."

"Yeah… I was thinking maybe I'm just getting worn out…"

"You are, so let's take it easy. Oh! That reminds me! There's a letter."

"A letter?"

"Yeah… it's addressed to Kuina…"

The man looked at the envelope on the counter and picked it up, opened it, and read what it has to say inside.

'Dear Kuina,

Sorry for not writing for so long. How are things? I'm continuing my investigation on the urban legend. Like I thought, my friend's symptoms bear many similarities to the strange disease associated with the urban legend. I think most of the story is groundless rumor, but I've heard there was a psychiatric study done. If you have it, I'd like to see it. Maybe it will provide a clue. I'm taking a break from all my other work to devote myself to studying the urban legend. I'd like your help. According to the documents I've studied, that camera I sent you is apparently a rare "Camera Obscura". Given where I found it, it may have some connection to the missing people and the urban legend. If you hear anything, please tell me.

Regards, Nico Robin.'

"She's written a several now…" Luffy said, having reading the letters himself. "You still haven't told her about Kuina?"

Zoro stayed silent as he looked at the letter from the same person who he has no idea who, but his sister did. 'Kuina's… "Camera Obscura"…?' He thought, knowing nothing about that. 'Could it be in her room?' He got up.

"Where you going Zoro?"

"I need to check something from Kuina's room."

"What is it?"

"An old camera of some sort…"

"A camera?"

"I'll be back down."

"Okay…"

~0~0~0~

He went up stairs and went to the door at the end of the hall, stood there for a moment as he thought about the letter and the camera he saw in his dreams, before entering into the room. He looked at the empty, clean room as he walked up to the desk to see some papers.

"Can I help you with something?" Kuina said.

"I was wondering if-" He said as he looked to see that the person he thought was there, but saw that there was no one. Just his mind being cruel to all the times he entered the room to ask his sister something. He looked at the curtained covered window and the rain reminded him of that night of the accident, how it rained just like it. He took a deep breath and looked at the desk, and saw some papers either typed or handwritten along with some books around.

'I probably should clean this out… but…' He thought as he looked at a notebook that looked like his sister was working on, which was about urban legends and how it came to be so. It mentioned the one urban legend, 'The Lost Village' about a massacre of the night of the ceremony and only one woman survived, and how the rumor of being trapped in the village after crossing the Shinto gate. Then there was one about the Himuro Mansion and it's accounts of murder and missing people found without a head, arms or legs. To him, all this he heard about in the news, but never from his sister. "Just what were you working on?" He said, never seeing this kind of research before as he continued to read before seeing the words 'Manor of Sleep'. " 'Manor of Sleep'?" He said as he read what his sister found out about that urban legend.

' "The Manor of Sleep" legend was picked up in various magazines in the 1960s, but incidents with very similar characteristics can be found here and there in older media. This newspaper is from the early 1900s and is no relation to when "The Manor of Sleep" legend was taken up, but the background of the "spirited aways" and those people's later conditions bear many similarities to "The Manor of Sleep" urban legend. I'm still investigating, but these incidents may trace back to the 19th century, and I have seen legends in several folklore books that may have become the basis for "The Manor of Sleep".'

He blinked as he finished reading what his sister found out about the urban legend. "Is this what Nico-san was asked to look up on?" He questioned as he found the old newspaper that was mentioned in the notebook.

'Series of Vanishings Across Region… According to sources, before dawn yesterday, a mother and daughter who live in the Myojin Village went missing. The missing are Makie Kuzuhara, and her daughter, Kozue. Since last year, the two have been searching for Kuzuhara's missing husband. The two reportedly wandered the mountains nearly everyday. The informant says "I hadn't seen them for several days, so I went to visit them. There was no answer, so I went inside, but they were gone. I only saw some black soot-like marks." Similar disappearances are being reported across the area, and some are calling them "spirited aways".'

"Strange…" He said as he looked at the book shelf beside the desk and wondered what else his sister had done and looked. He knew his sister was pretty successful when it comes to her company in the editing business. He knew she edited some of her own books as well. But he was never really interested in those things, since it was his sister's profession, not his. He looked to see that a lot of the books on the shelf she could've, and might've, used for research material, but didn't see anything of interest and was about to head out when he saw, on the small shelf beside the empty bed, was the camera from his dream.

He went up to the camera to see a letter under it by the same person.

'Dear Kuina,

During my research on "The Manor of Sleep" urban legend, I finally made it to a certain deserted village lost even from the map. I found this camera in a huge abandoned house near that village. I'd like you to take care of the camera. You know about antiques as well as I do, so could you look it over for me? I don't think you'll be able to reach me for a bit, but I'll contact you, so let me know what you find then.

Regards, Nico Robin.'

He looked at the camera and saw that it was similar to the one in his dream, only it looked very old and the inscription on the back was illegible. He picked it up and aimed it at the bed and pressed the button, but there wasn't a flash or anything of the like. "Must be broken…" He concluded as he checked to see that there was some old film inside. "Huh… Wonder what's on it…" He took the camera with him and exited the room.

As he headed downstairs he looked to see that Luffy was watching television with Myo, his sister's cat but took a liking to Luffy more, when the young man looked at him.

"Oi, what took you so long?"

"Just found some things out that Kuina didn't bother to tell me."

"Like what?"

"Like she was looking into some dumb urban legend crap."

"Oh that? Yeah I went to her about that, but she always pinches my nose and says to stay out of it if I want to keep it."

Zoro chuckled. "That's her alright."

"I missed that…" Luffy said as he looked and petted the cat.

"Yeah…" He said as he looked at the camera.

"What's that?"

"An old camera… It has some film in it so I'm going to see if I can develop it."

"Oh, okay." He said as the other walked pass the small kitchen, opened the door to the entry way and took a right down the hall and into the last door in that hall to the dark room, where he developed the one picture in the solution. He waited until he saw the picture and he was surprised by what he saw. 'It's that woman I saw in my dream!' He thought, recognizing the sobbing woman. "But how…?" He asked himself as he tried to make heads or tails of this. "Maybe if I learned more about her…" He took the picture, made sure it will be okay to bring out of the dark room, and headed back to where Luffy was.

"Oi, Luffy."

"Yeah?"

He went up and showed the young man the picture. "About that woman in the picture… Can you try and find out as much as you can about her? Anything will be great."

Luffy looked at the picture. "Okay, but it's a pretty old picture… Is it from that old camera?"

"Yeah… Well, since this is from Kuina's camera, and it is old like you said, if you don't find anything, that's okay. There's just… something about that woman that suddenly got my attention."

Luffy nodded. "Okay, I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Thanks…" He said as he ruffled the boy's hair.

The rest of the day went without much events as night fell and he was getting ready to go to bed.

He filled out what he found out today in his notebook, starting with a new page labeled 'Kuina's Research'.

'According to the notebook left on her desk, Kuina was doing some research for someone named Nico Robin. Her notes are full of accounts of old urban legends, and newspaper clippings about disappearances and people who were "spirited away".'

He then went to the 'People' and titled the blank page 'Nico Robin'.

'I've never met her personally, but it seems she knows Kuina somehow, maybe from college. Kuina seems to know a lot of people professionally and privately. According to the letter, she and Kuina were doing research into Urban Legends. Maybe this Camera Obscura was somehow connected to that. I should tell her of the accident…'

He then labeled a new page 'Articles' and put in 'Camera Obscura'.

'An old camera etched with the words Camera Obscrua. I found a camera like the one I picked up in my dream in Kuina's room. Apparently this Nico Robin sent it to her. Is it the same camera I saw in my dream?'

~0~0~0~

Later that day, Zoro stretched out from reading some books and looked at the time."Luffy is really working hard to find out about that woman…" He said as he looked out of his door to see the door on the other side of the hall from him, some light can be seen under the door to show that the other was still up. "Only seventeen too…" He went back to his room and was ready to get to bed. "Well Ace always told me he has to be busy with something to get him occupied…" He turned off the light as he stared at the dark ceiling. "But then doing research for me isn't what he had in mind…" He sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "He always did have too much energy for someone his age." He said as he fell to a fitful sleep.

~0~0~0~

He woke up to see that he was standing at the entry way of the hall from last night. "This dream… again?" He asked himself as he looked down to see that he had the old camera in his hands. "No way…" He walked down the hall, until he saw the woman from last time run across to some steps at the end of the hall and he followed her to find a door. 'Strange, I didn't hear it open or close…' He thought as he opened the door and walked into a large room with torn paper screens and folding screens.

He walked around to see if he could find the woman, only to see a piece of paper on the ground at the same time hearing her say 'go away' and go into another room. He picked up the paper and read.

'It's not my fault. I didn't choose to survive.'

'She muttered something like that last night too…' He thought as he continued to walk to where he thought he heard her, where he saw drawers and what not before finding a door. "Must've gone through here." He said as he opened the door to see a hallway and stairs in front of him.

He walked to the front of the stairs and thought he heard her at the top of them and went up. Once there he thought he heard a door being closed and went to the end of the hall, turned the corner and saw the door, but there was some kind of voodoo doll on it. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He then touched the doll and saw himself going down a path to a certain wall.

'What was that?' He thought as he decided to follow the path he saw and went back out of the hall, pass the stairs he came up from, pass another set of stairs leading up, and saw some stairs leading down. He saw some selves that looked like they were rotting away and turned to see the wall he saw in his vision. The closer he got to the plain wall, the more the camera shook. 'Why is it doing that?' He thought as he held the camera up and thought he saw something through the eye piece and looked through to see a ghost of a man and the wall and floor had spatters of blood and heard the ghost saying 'please help me' and his finger hit the button making the man disappear. When the put the camera down, there was no sign of blood anywhere where he saw the man. "Okay…" He said as he stepped back and saw a small door just to his right, but he didn't think much of it and went back to the door where the woman went through, and saw that the doll was gone.

"I see… The dolls on the doors mean I have to go to that area in order to lift it. And the camera…" He looked down on it. "Shakes whenever there's a ghost around or the place where the vision is reveals something I couldn't see…" He concluded as he went through the door, where he could hear the woman and followed down the hall and found her, curled up by the corner of some large room.

She was muttering to herself again as he went up to her. "Oi… Who are you?" He called out, but the woman didn't seem to hear him as he looked down at her feet to find a piece of paper that looked like a passport, but it was burnt on some spots, but he could make out some things.

'Surname: TAKIGAWA, Given name: YOSHI…, Nationality: JAPAN, Registered Domicile: SHIZUOKA'

'Yoshi…? Yoshino…?' He thought as he looked at her. "Oi… Oi… Can you tell me your name?" He asked, but the woman continued to mutter. He sighed as he wasn't going to stand around talking to a woman who doesn't seem to realize there was someone there talking to her. 'I guess there's nothing I can do for her…' He thought as he was about to walk away when he heard her.

"Mister…"

He turned to look at her.

"If you should wake up… please… help me… Wake me up… I didn't do anything… wrong… Why…?"

~0~0~0~

He woke up and sat up to see he was no longer in the dream when he felt the pain on his shoulder again, but this time it seemed to spread onto his back. "W-What the…" He said as he looked back to see that there was nothing there. "The hell?" He took a deep breath and got up to get dressed.

Once that was done he went out of the room and headed downstairs, but didn't see Luffy anywhere. 'He's usually up before me…' He thought when he saw a note on the counter and went up to see it was a note by the person he was looking for.

'Dear Zoro,

I've gone out to do some research on the woman from the other day. I'll be back later this evening. Make sure you eat breakfast, okay?

– Luffy'

He looked to see a dish of onigiris made for him and took one. He heard Myo mewling and looked down to see her rub against his leg, figuring that the needy cat missed her playful companion and petted her. He then looked out to see the curtain covered glass doors and could hear that it was raining again today as it was yesterday. Then the phone rang, startling the cat a little as it dashed to the couch, making him chuckle before he answered it. "Roronoa residence…"

"Zoro, it's Luffy…"

"Morning, how's the research going?"

"Well, I was able to get the name and address of the person in the photo."

"Really?"

"Yeah… Her name is… Takigawa, Yoshino."

"Takigawa?" He said, remembering the name from the burnt passport.

"Yeah, she's the only survivor of a plane crash that happened the other day. It thought I recognized her from somewhere until one of the editor guys pieced it all together for me."

"Do you know where she is?"

"She's still hospitalized by the sound of it."

"Do you know which hospital she's in?"

"Sure, I'll give you the address…" He said as he gave the man the address and the line was disconnected.

"Takigawa, Yoshino…" He said as he headed out of the house.

~0~0~0~

He arrived at the hospital and was given permission to visit the woman and the doctor told him about her condition.

'The doctor said that she had been asleep for a long time, and so far no one is able to wake her… Like she's in some kind of coma.' He thought as he walked into the room she was in and found her, lying in the bed and walked to the side to study her as he remembered what she said about waking her up. But a moment later tattoo-like markings started to appear and the woman opened her eyes. He was startled and was about to go get the doctor when he heard a very inhuman voice.

"I don't want to see anymore…"

He turned and walked back to the bed, only to see that the woman was nowhere to be seen and he walked to the side of the bed, took off the covers and saw a soot-like marking of a person. 'Just like in that old news article…' He thought as he remembered from one of his sister's notes.

~0~0~0~

He went home, a bit soaked from the rain that was continuing outside, and was taking off his shoes when Luffy came from around the corner with a blanket in his arms, putting away laundry it seems.

"Did you go to the hospital?" He asked.

"Yeah…" He said. "I'm going to take a shower…" He walked pass the other as he looked lost and concerned.

~0~0~0~

That night he was at his desk to fill out what he had learned so far.

He started with the 'Incidents' and updated on 'Bruise'.

'The pain flared up again after my dream of the empty house. Since the vision I had that day I keep seeing the house in my dreams. The pain I felt when the tattooed man touched me. The bruise… The dream, the house. Are they connected to Kuina somehow? Or am I just tired?'

He then went to 'People' and added to 'The Female Survivor' in the page regarding the woman.

'Takigawa, Yoshino. It's definitely the same woman I saw in the dream manor. The sole survivor of a plane crash, she slept constantly in the hospital after the accident, till the day she disappeared in front of my eyes. A blue pattern appeared on her body the instant before she vanished. What was it? Is she connected to the woman in my dream? And if so…'

He put down his pen and sighed.

"Zoro?"

He looked behind to see the teen there by the door. "Hey Luffy, what's going on?"

"Just checking on you."

Zoro smiled as he got up from his chair. "Thanks Luffy, but I'm really okay."

"That's what I said too… But I know I wasn't."

Zoro went up to the other and rubbed his head. "You're right. Thank you."

Luffy giggled as the other stopped rubbing his head.

"Now get back to bed." He said as the other whined. "Don't give me that." He said as the other giggled and said his good night before he went back to his room. He closed his door and smiled. "Man… I don't know what I would do without him…" He said as he went to his bed and sighed. "I'm going to have that damn dream again… I just know it…" He turned off the light and closed his eyes.

~0~0~0~

He blinked and saw that he was at the entry way again. 'I wonder if Takigawa-san is still there?' He thought as he ran his way to where he saw her, only to find three shadow like creatures going towards the room where he last saw her and ran to the corner to find them gone. He ran to the room and couldn't find her anywhere. He then thought he heard something in the closet and went up to it cautiously, and opened it to see a doll. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and looked around until he saw the woman at his right and jumped back a little. 'She wasn't there when I came in and I didn't hear her come in! What's going on?' He thought as he looked at the woman, who looked as though she didn't move at all since he last saw her. He went up to her. "Oi… Takigawa-san…" He said as he bent down. "Oi…"

"Stay back…!" She said.

He was a bit thrown off by the change of her voice as he sensed something behind him and saw the shadow-like figures behind him and the camera shook. 'Looks like I have to take these guys out.' He thought as he took sometime taking three or four down. Once he was done he went up to the woman, who was holding her head and shaking. "Oi… It's okay now…" He said as the camera continued to shake. 'What the hell?' He thought as he went up to her, which shook even more. He looked to see the woman get up. "Takigawa-san…?" He said when she suddenly charged at him with a crazed look on her face. "Shit!" He said as he got his camera up and took a few shots of her before she disappeared. "No way…"

"You're not like me?"

He looked around when he heard her voice as he walked backwards out of the room, turned and saw her as she reached out and grabbed his arm.

~0~0~0~

He woke up with a start and panted. "Shit…" He said as he took a moment to gather his thoughts before he felt something on his arm and looked down to see the woman, still holding his arm before disappearing. He sighed until he hissed with the sharp pain and looked at his shoulder and saw the blue markings on the upper part of his arm before it disappeared. "Well shit…" He said as he grabbed his notebook and went to the 'Incidents' part and wrote down 'The Bruise Spreads'.

'I saw the bruise clearly when I woke. The pain is worse than yesterday, the bruise is spreading. A spreading bruise. Takigawa, Yoshino had a bruise like this before she vanished. She was in the dream too. Was she having these same dreams? The bruise, the dreams… What do they mean?'

He sighed as he heard a knock on the door.

"Zoro? You up?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay, well, breakfast is ready."

"I'll be down…"

"Okay."

He sighed. "Just when he made me feel better last night. Damn dream…" He said as he got dressed and went down.

~0~0~0~

"Morning Zoro!"

"Morning Luffy." He said as he noticed a book in his hand. "What you got there?"

"It's Takigawa's diary… I went by the hospital before you did, and I was going to give it to you, but you seemed…"

"Yeah… I know…" He said as he remembered what happened yesterday.

"Well, they asked me to take care of it because her whole family is killed by the accident, and they weren't comfortable with keeping it after what happened… Is it okay?"

"Yeah, it's okay." He said as he took the dairy. "We are looking into her after all."

"I guess… Oh! Zoro! The photo you gave me…"

"Yeah?" He said as he sat down to eat the prepared breakfast.

"I noticed that there's some strange marks on them, and they kinda look like tattoos."

"You still have the picture?"

"Yeah…" Luffy took out the picture and the other took a closer look at it and it did look like tattoos. "Did she have any of that when you went to see her?"

"Didn't you see her?"

"She was being tested at that time."

"Oh… No… she didn't…"

"Strange…" Luffy said with that a tilt of the head and a thoughtful expression, which amused the other as he looked through the dairy.

He saw that the woman seemed to be normal and sane when she was first hospitalized, but read some things that he realized he was going through right now, dealing with the strange pain from the bruise, but the last few pages is what bothered him, not because he knew the woman like that, but because both of them were experiencing the same thing, but hers was obviously gone longer for sometime, or quickened because she was so guilty about surviving.

"Zoro?"

"Huh?"

"Zoro, you okay? You look like you're about to pass out. Is breakfast that bad?"

"Oh, no, no Luffy. Breakfast is fine it's… the diary…"

"Oh, yeah… I got a chance to read it as well. Must be horrible being left alone like that, knowing that everyone you love is gone…" Luffy said as he placed his plate in the sink. "I guess I'm pretty lucky to not be that way. Because I have you, and you have me."

Zoro smiled and nodded. "Yeah…" He said as he placed the dairy down. "As long as we have that, we won't fall into that." He looked to see the other smiling as the rain continued outside.

That night, he sighed and looked at his bed. 'If I'm going to continue having that damn dream, how do I stop it from happening again?' He sighed as he scratched his head. "Let's get this over with." He said as he shut the light out and shut his eyes.

Hour 2: The Manor of Sleep

He woke up to find himself in the room where he last saw Yoshino. "I'm here now?" He said as he got up from the floor and looked around and found a key. "Where does this go?" He said as he placed it in his pocket and was about to walk out of the room when he felt the camera shake and saw Yoshino at the hallways and backed up into the room when a few shadow-like figures appeared and he got the camera out. "So you're one of them now, huh?" He fought them off until all of them disappeared and headed towards the door when he heard someone murmuring behind some screens, but he couldn't find any sign that there was anyone there as he left the room and walked out to the hall.

"Maybe the key goes to that door where I saw that ghost with the blood on the walls, but not there…" He said to himself, since it was too quiet and walked down the hall to find the stairs that leads down and turned the corner before he heard something fall behind him and saw that it was a box. 'But that was on the shelf…' He didn't think too much about it as he continued his way until he saw the small door with the same pattern lock with the key. "At least I know which key opens which door." He said as he unlocked the door and went through.

~0~0~0~

He found himself in another hallway as he turned and saw a wall with something that looked like a stain of a person on the wall and got a closer look, only to take a right to see more human figure stains on the wall before he turned the corner to see a hand on the wall. "Is that a…" He started to say when the camera shook a bit, like it did with Yoshino the first time he saw her. He aimed the camera to the hand and took a shot. 'Maybe the camera takes shots to do research on after I develop them, like Yoshino's picture…' He thought as he continued his way until he saw a tall door and opened it to see the gravestone mounds and snow falling. "This is…" He said as he walked out. "I remember this place…" He went close to the larger stone mound and the camera shook a bit, aiming it up and taking a shot of the stone mound, ceasing the camera's shaking. He went up to the two large doors, only to find out he couldn't open them. "Huh?" He looked at the padlock and looked at the two mandarin flowers. 'In that daydream… Kuina went through here…' He thought as he went back. "Have to find that key to get there." He backtrack to the hallway with the strange human stained walls.

As he made his way back to the hall, the camera shook like crazy and he narrowly dodged a ghost attacking him. "The hell!" He called out as he got the camera up and started shooting about three ghosts that came out of the walls.

After he finished the third one, he heard something drop and saw a stone with a white line. "What's this?" He said as he studied it and placed it in his pocket. "Might be useful for something. But what were those guys?" He asked as he continued to look for the small door he entered through earlier and made his way out to back track back to the hall, when he heard something from the next set of stairs up. He went up only to see a ghost man run to the wall calling out 'stay away'. He went over there and saw that there was a different kind of lock with some stones similar with the one he picked up and placed it in, and moved them until he saw the lines change and heard something unlock. "That was easy." He said as he opened the small door and found himself outside on the roof where he could see the stone mounds below him. He looked to see another entry way and carefully walked there.

He made it to the other door on the roof and entered to see a dark and mostly empty room. He looked around and found a key on the ground and looked to see it was the key he needed to get through the two large doors. But the camera shook and he looked to see another man in white and started to take a few shots before the man went down and disappeared. "That was easy enough." He said as he went back outside to see someone going to the doors and disappeared. "Kuina?" He backtracked back to the doors, unlocked it, and entered through.

Once inside he first saw a long, lit hallway before a woman appeared. "Kuina!" He called before everything became white.

~0~0~0~

He woke up and looked around to see he was back in his room when he felt the pain again on his back again before it subsided. "Damn that hurts…" He said as he laid back down as he thought about the dream. "That courtyard and tomb site from the daydream… And Kuina's inside that building…" He pondered before getting up and looked to see that the camera seemed to be vibrating like a cell phone. He grabbed it and it stopped. "That's strange…" He said as he remembered that there might be some film in there to be developed. "May as well do that while I'm up." He said as he went out of his room and headed to the dark room.

Once there he found that there were two pictures to be developed and it was about the stone mounds and the black human shaped stain walls. 'What could any of this mean?' He thought as he went back out with the two pictures and was about to get dressed when the telephone started to ring and he answered.

"Roronoa residence…"

"Morning Zoro!"

"Morning Luffy, I didn't know you went out."

"Yeah… Since yesterday I've gotten a little interested in this so I'm doing a bit more research on it."

"You almost sound like Kuina."

"So do you sometimes."

He chuckled. "Well, she's my sister… So, you called to let me know about your whereabouts."

"That and to tell you that I gathered all the information I can from the editor about the Takigawa lady yesterday and I wanted you to see it."

"Where is it?"

"It's laying on my desk in my room. So you can check it out if you like."

"Okay, I'll do that."

"Zoro… Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"I don't know… Call me paranoid, but I gotten a little worried about this."

"You shouldn't have to worry about it Luffy."

"I guess… Well, I have something to check out so I'll call to let you know I'm coming home. Make sure you eat something!"

"I will, and be careful coming home."

"I will!"

With that he hung up the phone and went upstairs to stand in front of the door that leads to Luffy's room. 'I really don't want to go in there when he's out…' He thought as he entered the room and saw that the room was a little messy. "Jeeze… I'm going to have to lecture him about this?" He said as he went up to the desk, where there was reference material and notes on the desk in a neat pile. "At least he's organized with his notes." He picked up and looked through of what the other has found.

'Takigawa, Yoshino… The woman in the photograph… Name: Takigawa, Yoshino (26)… She was the only survivor of the plane crash that occurred in August. Following is a comment from a reporter named Ozawa who covered it. When the plane crashed, Takigawa-san was thrown out of the aircraft and was mostly untouched by the fire. Also, the arbor where she was thrown became a cushion, and she was thus miraculously saved. When saved, her external injuries were mild burns, bruises, and scrapes, and it was determined there was no threat to her life, but took four days to find her she was dehydrated, weak, and distressed, and she seemed to be suffering mentally. During those four days, she was surrounded by other victim's, her relative's and her lover's corpses. Next is what I heard from someone at hospital admissions. After hospitalization, she was extremely frightened of being alone or sleeping. She apparently had frightening dreams, and would even hurt herself to stay awake. But over time, the amount she slept grew longer, until she spent most of the day sleeping. At first it was thought she was sleeping due to the psychological trauma she experienced, but her condition gradually grew worse, and she would sleep for three days straight. When she woke she would complain of hallucinations, saying "Pain" or "There are bruises all over my body. " As her hallucinations grew worse, she became less responsive to outside stimulus during her waking hours and would sometimes mutter deleriously, or sing lullabies. The pass several days she hasn't woken, and the rest is as Zoro saw. This is also just a hospital rumor, but the staff has a long-standing urban legend amongst themselves about patients like Takigawa, or "Lost Patients".'

He also saw a news paper clipping that the other must've gotten in the morning describing of the disappeared woman and noticed a picture frame laid down flat on the table. He picked it up and saw that it was a picture of Ace and Luffy, before he met the younger. 'Why did he have this down?' He thought, knowing how much the younger loved his brother. 'Is this thing going on bothering him?' He placed the picture frame down as he remembered some of the times he had met Ace before he met the younger. He looked at the pictures and placed a note on top of them, asking to look up the pictures. 'I hope this doesn't bother him too much… since he doesn't have the dreams…'

The rest of the day was Luffy cleaning his room while Zoro made dinner.

As night fell, Zoro filled out what he found out in his journal and went to bed. 'Kuina…' He thought as he remembered the last time he dreamed and sighed as he closed his eyes.

Hour 3: The Subduing Song

He woke up in the room where he remembered being in last and saw the woman walking down the hall ahead of him before disappearing. He went down the hall, only to narrowly dodge an attack of a ghost and got his camera up and started taking shots before the man went down. "Jeeze that surprised me…" He said as he noticed a door and decided to check it out, since he didn't know if Kuina went straight, left or right, and found a projector room, which the camera shook when he got close to the projector and took a picture. 'Why take a picture of some old film reel?' He thought as he found a small room behind where the screen is and found a book shelf full of books, but one seemed to catch his attention.

'While continuing my research, I stumbled upon the existence of the shrine that is the origin of the sleeping priest. The shrine is very small, and hidden away within the depths of the mountain. It appeared just as in the drawing. There are normally no worshippers, and according to stories from the small village nearby, it is a shrine where you could 'offer your pain'. When I called upon the head of the family, she said they allow visitors until the snow melts. They carry out a rite here to protect a sacred area in the mountain. Women are not allowed in the rite, but it seems every few years they invite women in order to continue the bloodline. They call them 'outsiders'. I think that I've heard of a similar custom. The guests who come in winter while the snow falls all hide their faces and pull large bundles on wagons. It resembles a funeral procession. The rite carried out on their behalf must be connected to the song of the 'sleeping priest'.'

"A place to offer pain?" He said as he went back out and saw another door next to the one he entered. "Where does this lead?" He went up and opened the door and walked down the hall a little before he thought he heard humming, but when he looked around, he thought he saw someone disappear. 'What was that about?' He thought as he made his way down the hall. He found a small area and the camera shook a little and he looked through the lens to see someone crouching on the other side. 'Who's that?' He studied it for a moment to see it resembled a woman. He didn't bother with it and continued back out to the hall until he found a door and entered through.

He was in another hall, but he looked ahead and saw a sacred tree and it was snowing. 'Wait…' He thought as he walked to the doorway and saw that he was out in come courtyard where he remembered from his daydream. "No way…" He said as he saw the sacred tree with some strange dolls on poles surrounding it.

He walked out a little more before he saw someone going towards the doors on the other side where he was… where he remembered Kuina going through. He was going over there when he heard a child singing and followed it to hear that it also accompanied a sound of a hammer to nail. Once he found the source of the sound, he saw that it was a small door with a doll there. He cautiously reached a hand to the doll and saw the path he had to go to lift the doll from the door. 'I have to go all the way back?' He thought as he made his way to get to the other part of the mansion.

Just before reaching the end of the hall to get back outside to where the sacred tree is, the ghost of a shrine priest suddenly appeared with a large cleaver in his hand as the camera shook violently. He brought the camera up and took shots of the ghost priest before the other seemed to be down.

"More sacrifices… more blood…" The ghost said before he disappeared.

"What…?" He said as he found a door he remembered from his vision, went through it and followed the hallway path to a room, took a left and unlocked the door, opened it, and saw that he was back in the lantern lit hallway where he first entered this side of the mansion. "Short cut…" He walked down and backed tracked through the gravemound court yard, where he heard a child crying and saw a girl behind the larger mound before disappearing. 'That's the girl with the mother…' He thought as he made his way back to the other side of the mansion. 'Now to find that girl in that one room…'

~0~0~0~

He continued to backtrack until he was walking up the steps, where he heard the familiar sobbing sounds of the girl and cautiously followed the sound to the next set of stairs leading up, where he saw a ball rolling away. He walked up the steps and saw the girl again before she disappeared.

"Daddy's dead…"

He heard her say as he looked around and saw that she wasn't there and went back down the steps. He headed over to where he saw and fought Yoshino and thought he heard someone in one section of the room, only to not see anyone through the transparent screens before the talking stopped. When he found nothing of interest in the room, he backtracked to where the sunken fireplace room is located.

On his way there he went to the Tanami rooms and saw the mother as the camera shook and he took a picture of the woman.

"Won't you help me find him?" She said before she disappeared.

He continued his back tracking through the Tanami rooms, out through the door and went down the short hallway to get to sunken fireplace room where he encountered the woman again.

"Why? It's not the child's fault…" She said before she disappeared.

He took a deep breath as he went to the door and entered the sunken fireplace room, where he heard the girl's sobbing sounds coming from upstairs and followed the sound until he saw the girl behind some boxes before she disappeared.

"Daddy fell… I… I… I…"

He heard the girl say clearly as he found a piece of crumbled paper on the ground.

'Mommy… sorry… Daddy was trying to get my ball and fell it was scary sorry…'

'This was to her mother?' He thought as the camera shook and he saw the girl drifting around the room. "Sorry kid…" He said as he took a few shots and she was down.

He looked at the door there and opened it, only to hear the familiar sounds of a hammer to a nail. "I must be going the right way…" He said as he went down the hall until he found the square hole in the wall and the camera shook a bit as he looked in to see the priestess girl hammering the wall as he took a picture. He saw her stop and turn to look, but disappeared before she can see him. 'Looks like I have to make my way back now to that other door on the other side of this place…' He thought as he did just that.

When he reached to the Tanami rooms, he encountered the mother again, demanding to give the girl back, and took a few shots with the camera with her.

"It's not the child's… fault…" She said as she disappeared.

"I know that…" He said as he made his way to the door, where the doll fell from the dresser. It didn't scare him too much as he continued to back track all the way to the open area with the sacred tree in the middle.

~0~0~0~

When he finally got there, he headed to where he heard the song, as well as hammer to nail sounds, he saw that the doll wasn't on the door anymore and cautiously entered through the small door.

When he entered, he saw that the room was covered in pinned up red dolls, making the room look red, with a table with a small altar of some kind, lit with candles. 'How long have those been lit?' He thought when he heard a giggle and saw a young priestess girl in the middle of the room before she disappeared. 'Who was that?' He thought as he took a closer look at the altar. He saw a gem that was a about the size of a tennis ball and saw a key there with a bellflower shape at the top of the key. "Where does this go?" He asked as he picked it up.

He was about to leave the room when the camera shook violently and he turned to see the priestess girl was just about to hit him with the hammer as he took a quick shot of her, knocking her back. He looked around the room as she glided from side to side before he couldn't see her when he heard her saying 'are you hurt?' and looked down to see that she was about to hammer a nail down to his foot, but took a shot to knock her back again before she disappeared.

"You're a traitor, too…" She said as a grey book was left behind.

"What's this?" He said as he picked it up and read it.

'I wonder if being impaled hurts. I wonder which hurts worse, having the stake go in a little bit at a time, or having it stabbed through all at once. I wonder if they die if the stake goes all the way through. I wonder if it matters if they die. I want to impale a real priest soon.'

"Impale?" He said as he heard the song, louder, and seemed to surround him in the room before he blacked out.

~0~0~0~

He woke up with a start and saw that he was in his room once again as a sudden sharp pain was felt again before it dulled to being numb. "Shit…" He said as he grabbed a note book and wrote down about the red doll room.

'Location… Skewered Dolls… Inside the house, in the courtyard surrounded by a corridor, was a tree wrapped with sacred rope. Around it stood straw dolls skewered on stakes. Countless dolls in the snow… What's the significance of it? It's a bit creepy.'

'The Red Room… In the small room where I heard the song, I saw red dolls nailed to the walls. Inside was also a girl in shrine maiden clothing that tried to impale me in my daydream and again in my dream. Who is she? And what the hell was she doing in there?'

Once done he looked at the old camera on his desk and saw that the camera was shaking a little. 'There must be some film in there…' He thought as he got up, grabbed the camera and started to head out of his room.

~0~0~0~

As he did he saw Luffy down stairs singing but he stopped when he recognized the lyrics and tone of the song the other was singing and a horrid feeling came over him.

"Sleep. O Priest. Lie in peace… Sleep. O Priest. Lie in peace…" He hummed the rest of the song as he stared out through the glass doors.

'That song… it's the same one in the dream!' He thought. 'He… couldn't have the same dream as me… does he?' He went down the steps quietly and went up to him. "Luffy…?"

"Oh, morning Zoro!" Luffy said with a smile.

"Luffy… that song you were singing just now…"

"Huh? Well… I heard it somewhere before, but I have no idea what the lyrics mean…" He said as he pointed to the camera that the other was holding. "What are you going to do with that camera there?"

"Oh, I think I found some more film hidden in here and would like to check it out if I could develop it…"

"Oh, okay! Well! I better get breakfast ready!" He said as he went to the kitchen.

"I'll be there to join you in a bit."

"Take your time!"

Zoro nodded as he was on his way to the dark room when he saw that he received mail, or more like Kuina received mail. 'Must be from that Nico woman again…' He thought as he opened the letter and read what it had to say.

'Dear Kuina,

I'm sending you a testimony tape I just found about the urban legend. If I give it to you, I know you will take good care of it. I found several other tapes, but as they're quite old, having been dubbed by a gramophone, they're damaged. I'm trying to get them restored now. I'll send them to you when they're done. Lately, I've been solely been researching folklore - - legends, folk tales, and folk religion. That was both your and Ace's fields, wasn't it? It's an interesting world, but I don't want to get too deep into it. How is Ace's little brother… Luffy, correct? I'm searching everywhere I can, but I still don't know Junsei Takamine's whereabouts. Maybe he was "spirited away" too? If you've got anything, let me know. My friend's health is not good, so I put her in the hospital. She only wakes once every two days, and then for only a couple hours at a time. I've got to hurry with my research.

Regards, Nico Robin.'

He found a photograph of a young woman with tangerine-ginger hair and a cassette tape, labeled 'The Manor of Sleep Recordings: Case A'.

"Zoro! Breakfast is ready!"

'Looks like these photos will have to be on hold for a bit…' He thought as he thought about listening to the tape in his room.

~0~0~0~

The rain made it hard to separate day from night if not for the working clocks as he dressed to go to bed, but he grabbed the tape and placed it in the tape slot of the radio and pressed play.

"In my dream I saw… my mother… in that manor… Inside… there was an old shrine… it was cold… snow was falling… I could hear a song… There were so many people going into the shrine. It was like a… funeral procession… I could smell incense burning… Everyone was hiding their faces… My mother was among them. No matter how many times I called her… she kept going… further and further… And just before the door shuts. It was like I was going to be left all alone… I saw it… everyday… I went in just a little bit… If I went any further… I wouldn't be able to come back… But… I thought I could meet my mother… in there…"

He sighed. "Damn…" He said as he saw the camera was still vibrating like a cell phone. "May as well get those pictures done…" He got up, grabbed the camera and headed out of his room. He went down the steps, just in time to see something move the curtains for a moment before it stilled. He shook his head and headed for the dark room.

He looked at the developed photos and saw the sacred tree with the skewered dolls surrounding the tree. 'Is it some kind of ritual?' He thought as he saw another with the mother holding what looked like a child in her arms. 'What happened to them?' He saw another picture of the mother and daughter. 'What ever happened to them happened a long time ago…' He saw the picture of the priestess girl and wondered who, or what, she could be and why did she have a hammer and nail. Then he saw the picture of the old projector reel stand and wondered what is so significant of that device.

Once he got the film together he headed out of the dark room, only to see something on the wall that looked like a stain. "We have a water leak or something?" He said as he shrugged. "It's small anyway. It will go away." He headed back to the living room and headed upstairs.

He was about to go to his room, but he remembered the morning's event and looked at the door that leads to Luffy's room. "Better make sure he's okay…" He whispered as he knocked on the door. "Luffy?"

"Come in Zoro!"

He entered and saw him on the bed petting the black cat.

"Hey there, you usually don't come in my room, what's up?" Luffy asked as the other looked over to see the picture frame on the desk.

"Do you miss Ace a lot, even now?"

"I do… the hurt doesn't really go away, but after sometime it's just a reminder that they were here with us and now they're somewhere else, waiting for us…"

"Luffy…" He said as he looked at the teen, who looked uncharacteristically solemn.

Luffy must've noticed the change in behavior as well as he giggled. "Well, you're still thinking about Kuina, right? Well it's not too different."

Zoro nodded. "You're right… I guess I'm a little concerned about you as well."

"I'm fine Zoro, and so will you."

Zoro smiled as he nodded. "Thanks Luffy. Well, I came in to see if you're okay, and I did just that. Need anything?"

Luffy shook his head. "Nope, just reading…"

"About?"

Luffy lifted up a manga, making the man laugh.

"Okay, I'll leave you to your reading." He said as he ruffled the teen's hair. "Good night Luffy."

"Night Zoro, see you in the morning!"

He nodded as he walked out of the room. Once he was outside the other's door, he headed to Kuina's room. 'Maybe there's more information that she may have on this legend…'

~0~0~0~

He entered the room and went up to the book shelf and saw something about a projector and took it out and read it. What he found out that the projector, much like the camera, was created by a man named Kunihiku Asou, who was interested in the 'Spirit World' and wanted to prove of its existence. Asou was a scientist and philosopher and managed to take the Western technologies, as in the camera and projector, and made them into devices that made anyone allow to see things that were there but can't be seen through normal eyes alone. The projector happens to be one of these things, but works differently than the camera, which is a stilled picture object. But these such things became a bit fashionable and copies were scattered across the country. 'Well that was helpful…' He thought as he placed the book back and sighed.

He went back to his room and wrote down in his journal to update what he had learned from last night's dream and throughout the day.

'Incidents… The bruise… Every time I wake up from that damned dream, that bruise, or tattoo, spreads and causes more pain. It's not as bad as the first time it happened, but still hurts like hell. But if this continues to spread throughout my body... This dream manor, why is it doing this? How can I escape it?'

'Disappearances… From what Luffy found out, Takigawa-san has been asleep most of the time before 'disappearing'. After that accident she slept longer than usual, and when she did get up she would hum what sounded like a lullaby. Apparently this isn't a rare thing for the medical stand point, having records of some similar events.'

'The Lullaby… Luffy was singing and humming the song I heard in my dream. He says he heard it from somewhere, but it's too much of a coincidence that he would hear that song somewhere. I hope he isn't having these dreams too… I don't want him to end up like Takigawa-san…'

'Locations… Human-shaped stains… The narrow corridor on the other side of the door, I saw some walls that had human-like stains, and I believe I heard some kind of moaning going on, but I can't be sure. Then again, Takigawa-san left a stain when she disappeared, I wonder what happened to them?'

'People… Luffy… He was singing and humming that song this morning. I don't want to think he was having that dream as well, but… He did loose Ace about a year now, he must still feel some kind of loss even now…'

'Ace… He and I were college buddies before he suddenly disappeared one day on a search of a famous author about folklore and supernaturals. I was never really into that thing. They never recovered a body, but there wasn't a doubt, especially from Luffy's expression that time, that he's gone. Was he 'spirited away'?'

'The Tattooed Man… The man I saw in my daydreams was covered in a blue tattoo. Takigawa-san, and even the mother, had tattoos on them as well. Ever since he touched me that one dream, that same tattoo is spreading… Is this connected to him somehow?'

'Mother and Daughter… The two appeared in my dream in old fashioned kimonos. The girl dropped what looked to be an apology letter to her mother about her father. No doubt she felt responsible for what has happened.'

'Shrine Maiden Girls… The girls who appeared in my day dream I saw one of them again in the dream. Just who are they? From what I've gathered up so far from mine and Luffy's research, it seems there was some kind of ceremony going on… and they're impaling people?'

'Yoshino Takigawa… Only survivor of the plane crash, she disappeared in the hospital and appeared in my dream. She attacked me like she'd gone crazy, the blue tattoo covering her entire body. And that same tattoo on me… Would that happen to me as well?'

'Men in White… The men who appeared in the human-stained corridor wore ragged white clothes and tall court hats. I think I may have heard them when I was walking through there the first time. Just what happened in there?'

'Kunihiko Asou… A scholar of the Occult in the second half of the 19th century did a research of the 'Mystical Science' by using Western technologies to help explain old Japanese folk beliefs about the Other World. After completing the Camera Obscura, he created a projector using the same method, which he can use to see images recorded on film.'

He sighed as he placed the pen down. "Shit…" He said as he looked at the bed. "Here goes nothing…" He said as he shut off the light and closed his eyes.

Hour 4: The Evil Dream

Luffy stood inside of that looks like an entry way to a different mansion, which looked like it was about to cave in, but still held strong from collapsing.

'Wait… Ace was here before the accident… Why am I dreaming of this creepy place?' He thought.

"I don't want to see anymore…"

He heard a man whisper as he turned and saw no one but the doors behind him. "I thought I heard someone…" He said as he looked to see the doors wouldn't budge when he tried to open them and saw a strange doll on it. "That's weird…" He looked at what he could see of what was inside the building and sighed. "Looks like I have to find a way out… Or wake up…" He went up the small steps and looked around and saw a door to his left. He went up to the door, opened it, and walked down the hall with ropes hanging from the rafters as he saw a reflection of himself in the mirror at the end of the hallway, along with an old looking camera. 'Wait… that looks like the camera that Zoro has now…' He thought as he picked it up and looked at his reflection, only to see someone behind him. He quickly turned to see no one there. "Creepy…" He said as he took a closer look at the camera and saw that the design on it was a tad different, and then remembered where he saw the designs from. "Ace… Ace had this exact camera with him! But… it was destroyed and burned in the fire along with him… How…?" He took a deep breath. "This is just a dream… of course I would remember the camera that Ace had. But why now?"

He headed to the nearest door to his left, opened it, and went in and explored the area around until he reached the end of the sliding door room to see a small shrine above his head. He saw some trinkets in there as he looked to see a door, but saw that he needed a stone of some kind. "A puzzle lock? That's strange…" He said as he started to back track when the camera shook. "Eh? What?" He said as he lifted the camera only to hear something behind him, turned, and his mind only took a second to tell his body to dodge an incoming attack from a knife. He looked to see a ghost of a priest, covered and blood spatters. "Oh crap…" He said as his finger hit the flash button, taking a shot of the priest, which seemed to hurt the man. "Huh?" He brought the camera up, just like what Zoro would do when taking pictures, and took a few shots before the man started to disappear.

"Need… more sacrifices…" The priest said as he disappeared.

"Sacrifices?" He said as he saw some items where the ghost disappeared. "Huh? What's this?" He said as he held up a plain, expressionless mask and a strange stone talisman. "Huh, looks like I can wear it…" He found the string and put it over his head so that it dangles on his neck. "Okay, I don't come here, that's one area done." He said as he back tracked out to the rope hallway. "There was a place to hang the masks on from what Ace told me…" He said as he headed down the rope hallway, only to be attacked by a rope. "The hell? Scared me…" He said as he continued his way down until he found the door, opened it, and went to the other side the room to see the place to hang the mask on.

Once he placed the mask on the door, it changed from expressionless to anger and heard it being unlocked. He opened the door to see the fish tank room. 'Wait… I went through this house before and the fish tank room wasn't behind this door…' He thought as he went in anyway.

He walked only a few steps in until the camera shook and he saw a black ghost of a woman go up to him and he took a shot, seeing the insane, bloodied face before she was knocked back a bit away from him and continued this until the ghost was gone.

"Akito…" The woman ghost whispered as she disappeared.

He went up to where she disappeared and saw a small stone on the ground. "Eh?" He bent down and picked it up to see a stone with a character one it. "Where does this go?" He asked himself as he went to the door on the other side and found that the stone was a key to a different puzzle lock, which he spent quite a time on, puzzles not being his strong suit and opened to see a room with a large cage. 'This door supposed to lead outside…' He thought. 'But this is a dream… maybe it's different in a dream…'

He entered the room and took only a couple steps before seeing a ball roll out from the cage room and saw a girl inside. He found the door and entered the dungeon and didn't see anyone. He looked around the room before finding a crimson book of some kind.

'Snow is falling. It's a quiet night. This could be the last snow of the ten years of changing seasons I have watched from this window. As I watched the snow, I get the feeling that something has passed. Finally, I have severed all of my attatchments. I'll give my body over to the ropes and seal the gates. –Kizuna Himuro'

"Huh? What does that mean?" He said as he went out of the caged room and to another door, which he had to put some force in to open and looked up to see the large room with a blood covered circular stone slab and four rotating pillars.

'I remember…!' He thought. 'In Ace's journal… he mentioned a ritual where the limbs and head are pulled with rope… He described it in such detail that I had nightmares about it for weeks before they stopped… Why am I dreaming of this now!' He walked around the horrid contraption with a few steps before seeing a girl being pulled in such a cruel way that he gasped and blinked to see a body on the stone slab, covered by a cloth. His breathing picked up as he went up carefully, grabbed one end of the cloth and pulled it away, but the body disappeared.

He breathed a sigh of relief when a hand appeared from the other side. He backed up a bit as he saw the form moved slowly into the light to see the stretched out arms and the form to be a woman. The camera shook violently as he picked it up and started to take shots of the ghost before he got it to disappear.

"I'm out of here!" He said as he ran out of the room and backtracked his way to the room where he found himself in. "I'll bust the door down if I have to! I wanna wake up!" He was getting close to the door when he heard a soft child's voice.

"Big brother is over here…"

"Ace?" He turned to see the girl pointing to the door that leads to the hallway with hanging ropes and disappeared. 'I… I wonder if I could talk to Ace? It would be nice to hear his voice again… even if this is still a dream.' He followed to where the girl pointed and walked down the rope hallway.

"Over here…"

He saw the girl going to the right side and he did as well and saw a door with paper talismans on them as he opened the door. 'I remember being in this room when Ace showed me around before he decided to spend the night here.' He thought as he saw, not a room, but a hallway. "Nani?" He said as he entered and walked a few steps down the hallway to see the girl again.

"Over here…" She said softly as she walked to the right side of the adjoining hall.

He followed that way to see a door, opened it, and found himself in a different room with a thick veil covering one section of the room and walked around to find some stairs leading down to a door and saw the girl appear in front of it. He went up as she disappeared and opened the door.

He entered to see some altar room and a cage above him, with someone inside. He went up for a closer look when he heard the girl whisper.

"Save the two…"

"Huh?" He said as everything became bright.

~0~0~0~

Zoro woke up in his room and pushed himself up on the bed. "Luffy's… dream…?" He said as he remembered what happened yesterday. "So he is having the same dream." He got up, got dressed and quickly wrote in his journal about what he had learned so far and went out of his room. He headed downstairs and saw that Luffy wasn't around. 'He's usually up before me…' He looked up to where he knew the teen's room is before going up to the counter to see some mail, turned and noticed a pair of legs in the doorway under the stairs where only a cloth substituted for a door, but the legs disappeared and he stood there, a bit shocked. "The nightmares are making me delusional…" He said as he read the recent letter.

"Dear Kuina,

Have you listened to the three tapes I sent before? I'd like you to listen to them before you read the rest. You may not believe me, but I'm having that dream, the 'Manor of Sleep' dream. I thought I was thinking too much about this, but after listening to the tapes and seeing Nami, I'm showing the same symptoms. In the dream, I'm in a snowy manor, it seems to resemble the place where I found the camera. I got a bad feeling about the place, just like in the testimonies. But in the dream I'm pursuing Nami, and she isn't 'dead'. But if the legends are true, I have to save Nami. It may sound a little crazy, but in a way it also makes sense, at least I'm a bit closer to the truth.

Regards, Nico Robin."

"Cassette tapes?" He said as he thought about going to Kuina's room. "I think I remember seeing her bring up a package from this Nico person a week before…" He sighed as he went upstairs, paused at the door to Luffy's room, and continued walking to Kuina's room, entered, and found the tapes along with a letter.

"Dear Kuina,

I got a tape on 'The Manor of Sleep' urban legend from a source at the hospital. A psychiatrist had recorded the medical condition of a patient. There is a lot of background noise as it was originally recorded on a gramophone, but the content is great. It's not quite anthropology, but I think you'll be interested too. It's a lot to ask, but I'd like you to find out about legend or cases of missing people similar to this one.

Regards, Nico Robin."

"So Nico-san is the reason why Kuina is into this urban legend stuff…" He said as he looked at his sister's desk. "But why was she doing it alone?" He asked himself as he placed the papers down and headed out of the room.

As he walked out of the room, he headed to Luffy's door, knocked, and went in.

"Morning Zoro…" Luffy said as the cat jumped on his lap. "Sorry I wasn't up, I don't feel too well."

"Luffy… did something happen?"

"No… just a bad dream is all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! Oh, there's a letter for you,"

"I got it, thanks. I'll make breakfast then, just take it easy."

"Yeah… Oh! Here Zoro, I found a picture of Nico-san."

Zoro blinked as he went up and took the picture and saw a woman with pass the shoulder hair and looks to be about her late twenties. "Where did you get this?"

"Well… I was looking through Ace's old books and the picture fell out. It seems he knew her as well, along with Kuina."

"Yeah…" He said as he ruffled the teen's hair. "I best start breakfast then."

"Can I help?"

"Didn't I tell you this is your day to relax?"

Luffy smiled as he got up and followed the man out. "Mind if I watch a movie?"

"We're stuck indoors anyway… again."

"Yeah… crazy weather… It's been raining for almost a week."

"Good thing we're not getting any job offers. I don't like to get the equipment wet."

Luffy laughed, knowing how true that is, which made the other feel some relief.

~0~0~0~

That evening Zoro was in his sleep wear as he went to Luffy's room, still bothered by the thought of seeing Luffy's dream.

"Hey Zoro, are you having trouble sleeping?" Luffy said as he looked up from the laptop that showed some use and had a large sticker of a fireball with the bold letters 'ACE' on it.

"No, I just wanted to check up on you. What are you doing exactly?"

"I just found out something about those buried mummies and the tomb!" He said as he printed the page out and handed it to the other. "Took a while to find it, but this is the best I could find out about it."

Zoro took a look at it and read it.

'Buried Mummies… It has been reported that in the process of rebuilding Kukaiji temple, which commenced last month, many mummies have been found in the walls of the hallway. In the walls of the area called the Shadow Hallway in Kukaiji temple, there were stains in the shape of humans, but when that hallway was restored, someone noticed there was something like a root of a tree coming out of the wall. Digging it out, it turned out to be a mummy. In the other stained areas, many more mummies were found and quite a commotion was raised. The Kukai temple insists they are enshrined saints, but certain observers argue that they may have been killed in sacrifice.'

"This is good Luffy, thanks."

Luffy giggled. "Well, if you need anything for me to look up on, I'm here."

"Actually there is…" He quickly went to his room, grabbed the photo with the tree and skewered dolls and went back to show the pictures to the teen. "Can you find any information from this photo?"

"There was more in the camera?"

"Yeah… Took me awhile to get it cleaned out…" He lied. "It looks to be some kind of ritual, but I can't be sure."

"Okay, no problem. I'll let you know what I've found out."

"Thanks Luffy."

"Now get some sleep."

"That's my line punk." He said as he ruffled Luffy's hair, making the other laugh, said goodnight, and headed back to his room.

'Better listen to these tapes while I have them now…' He thought as he placed the one that followed the first and listened.

There was some mumble at the beginning before a clear voice was heard.

'"Yes… that dream. I dreamt of the manor… Yes… Yes… My name is… Serizawa. It's the same manor. It's a big… and quiet manor. It was a very cold night. It was snowing, and then… the roof collapsed… and the snow started coming in… a song? It sounds like some sort of… nursemaid's song… The child kept stabbing at the doll… When I… came to? It always hurt… there was always pain… Here, can't you see it…? Look… it's right here… It's true. It kept getting spreading…"' Then the woman started gasping as if in pain.

He then listened to the next tape.

'"Huh…? How many times… do I have to explain it…? It was a manor… and it was snowing… There was blood. Lots of people lay collapsed all over. In the hallway. In the room. Everywhere. Yes… it was a man in white clothes… but he had no face. There was a hatchet… and blood… on the walls… I always ran as hard as I could… So far… Lots of hands came out of the walls… But, when I came to, somehow I was the one chasing the man… That's right." A few mummers before continuing. "… That man… Yesterday, he touched me…. It was painfully cold… Even when I woke up, my body was like ice…. This tattoo…"'

He held the shoulder where the man touched him and sighed. He grabbed his note book and started to fill out anything he had learned today.

'Incidents… Human columns… The mound of graves in the courtyard inside the manor. In the ruins of an old castle, the bones of people thought to have worked on the construction where found under a mound. Shrine carpenters were buried alive as sacrifices…? Did the same thing happen there too?'

'Location… The haunted manor… Luffy tells me the house I went to is famous for being haunted. They say it's a place where people can meet the dead. And that the dead lure people into the 'Other World'. The words have stayed in my mind. What if Kuina really is in there inside that manor, calling out to me… What will I do?'

'Human-shaped columns… Sacred rope was hung along the narrow corridor behind the door where I heard the moaning, and the walls were covered in black human-shaped stains. There was a similar stain left behind after Yoshino Takigawa went missing. I read in one of the papers about mummified bodies being discovered behind the same kinds of stain.'

'The Rope House… The house in Luffy's dream is different from the one I've been seeing. The corridors hung with rope, the blood altar, the women torn apart… Luffy has a memory of these things. Is the place somehow connected to Luffy and his memories of Ace?'

'People… Luffy… He too wanders the house in her dreams looking for Ace. He's always been so cheerful and strong. I understand what has happened, but is he still wounded from that… just like me…?'

'Nico Robin… A friend of Kuina's who's researching the "Manor of Sleep". She and Kuina were researching an urban legend about it. It is the same one in my dream. She's started to look into it more when her friend, Nami, apparently fell victim to the "Manor of Sleep". But now she's sucked into the dreams as well and is also trying to escape it.'

'Begging for help… The girl who called Luffy back when he tried to get out of the dream. "Your brother's here," she said in a sad, mournful voice. Luffy was stunned by what she said.'

"Here comes another night…" He said as he shut the light and closed his eyes.

Hour 5: Vanishing

A woman of twenty-eight opened her eyes to find herself crouched behind a small rice paper screen as she caught a glimpse of the tattooed man and stayed where she was until she felt sure she was safe. She got up and carefully walked out of the small room to see no one. She walked down the hall to her right until she heard a familiar voice.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

She looked to see a young woman of eighteen walking up the steps and she went after her. When she got to the top step, she found a door with some butterflies going around and she tried to open it, but found that it was locked. She looked at the lock to find that it had a butterfly design. 'But how did she enter through?' She thought as she went back down the steps. 'Either way I have to find that key to open the door.'

She went to the other stairs on the other end of the hall and heard a faint sound of music coming through a door at the top step. She opened the door and found herself in a kimono room and went around a veiled screen to find no one at the koto, but she did find a small book and read what was inside.

'How many days has it been? How many months? How many years? Many outsiders have brought here. But none of them are like him. He said my hair was beautiful, but no matter how much I arrange it, he'll probably never know how I feel. All I can do is comb my hair, and wait for him. That way when he comes back with his camera, he'll take my picture again.'

She then examined the mirror, which was shattered to pieces and the hair pinned on the wall. She then looked around the room until she found another door, but it was locked and looked to see the lock had a holly design. 'I didn't check the dresser if it had a key in it.' She thought as the sound of the koto stopped and heard a woman's ghostly voice. She hid behind the kimonos and carefully observed the female ghost going out from the screen, pass the dresser, and to the other side of the kimonos. 'I better make this quick.' She got up and looked around the dresser until she found a hairpin with the holly design and quickly went back to the door and opened it.

She made her way in the small hallway and down some steps when she sensed the ghost finding her and went up to the nearest door, opened it, and found herself in the lit hallway that became four hallways. She took a right, went up a few steps, and entered the projector room. She looked around, but didn't find anything of great importance and headed back out into the lit hall, took another right to where she thinks is the front of the building, which she sensed something behind a small screen beside her, but it disappeared before she had a chance to see what it was, and started to head to the doors leading out when she heard the door open. She looked back to see a half naked man walk out and the air became heavy.

She went behind the small screen and waited there as she heard the man yawn constantly before she got to see him. She saw that the man was covered in tattoos as he headed to the foot of the top step, looked around before turning, and she thought she recognized the face somewhere before as she saw him go back down into the hallways. She cautiously got up and peeked around the corner to see him turn left and waited until she could no longer hear the yawning sound.

She went back down into the hall and took the opposite hallway and entered to see a ghost of a priest walking up the steps. She heard him say something, but couldn't comprehend it as the priest disappeared as soon as he reached the top step. She had a feeling to go up there and cautiously did that, only to see another priest-like ghost there and crouched down. She cautiously peeked over to some drawers on the wall and thought she saw something resembling an old camera she sent to Kuina sometime ago. She took a chance and went up to it also finding a note about it. She was a fast reader and read what the note had to say.

'It's been nearly half a month since I entered this mansion. It's still snowing outside. Once this snow melts I'll be parted from Kyouka, and most likely never be able to return. Men are not needed at the manor. If necessary, I could run away, but if possible, I would like to take Kyouka with me. That feeling is what keeps me here. Sometimes, worshippers from nearby villages come here. All of them cover their faces, and head into the shrine. Today's worshipper seem like a woman. She was holding a child-sized bundle, and it looked as if she was crying. I could also hear that "Lullaby". I wonder if the "Ceremony" is like some sort of funeral.'

She then sensed the ghost had found her and ran before the ghost can have a chance to follow her. She went down the hall under the platform and found a door with a strange doll on it. She touched it and saw the kimono room with the clumps of hair on the wall. 'I have to go back there to lift the spell on this door?' She thought. 'There must be something I need behind this. But in the other dreams…' She shook her head. 'Those dreams were not for me to figure out. I only had them because I have been involved into this.' She turned to head her way back to the kimono room.

~0~0~0~

Once there, she saw the woman there as the camera shook. 'In the other dreams this is how we lift whatever is in our way.' She thought as she took a shot of the woman, which seemed to trigger the ghost to know she's there. She went out of the room in order to head back to that one door, only to have a surprise attack from the said ghost, got her off, and headed out of the room. She breathed deeply as she looked exhausted. 'When they touch you, your energy gets sucked out. So that's how we get hurt…' She thought as she made her way to where the door with the doll is.

When she entered that room, she was encountered by two ghosts that looked like labor hands as they tried to attack her. She picked up the camera and took a few shots before both of them disappeared. Once that was done, she headed down the hall where the door was and saw a priest there walking and going through the said door. 'He said something… What was that…?' She thought as she headed up to the door.

She opened to find another room where there was a spot with curtain veils on it and stairs leading up. She went up the stairs to see books, shelves of books scattered around. She walked in further only to see one small shelf in the way to the further part of the area. She moved the said book case and walked to find a small shrine of some sort behind the tall book case to her right. She went up to inspect the shrine and saw that there was a stand where a book should be and then found a key with the butterfly design. 'Found it!' She thought as she picked it up and placed it in her pocket. 'Now to get Nami.' She thought as she headed out that way, only to hear the priest ghost again and hid behind one book shelf, and timed herself before she dashed out, ran out of the room and ran to where the four hallways are before she breathed.

She headed to the room where the kimonos are, went out the other door and headed down the steps to the other stairs that lead up to the door with the butterfly design lock, and unlocked it.

She entered the room and saw another door open and looked to see the ginger haired girl in some kind of dungeon cage, staring down at something, and butterflies surrounding her.

~0~0~0~

Zoro woke up with a start and saw that it was still too early in the morning to be up as he heard the rain pound on his window. 'Shit… Now I'm having Nico-san's dream as well? What on earth is going on?' He thought as he got up, and head out of his room. 'A bottle of beer sounds really good right-' He stopped at mid thought as he exited out of his room to hear something coming from his sister's room. 'The hell?' He thought as he went up to the door.

He entered the room to hear that the sound was coming from the closet. He walked up to the closet door and slid it open, but didn't see anything until he looked up and can tell that the sound was coming from the attic. "What the hell?" His whispered as he went up, gently removing the lid of the ceiling and went up to the darkness of the attic. He took the flashlight and the beam of light showed the area a bit more and he saw that the attic was spacious, if not a tad creepy. He carefully walked on the attic floor as he saw that the attic was like another room with another entryway that he has no doubts that went along the house. He shined the beam of light to the ceiling of the attic and was taken aback to how spacious the attic is before he brought the beam of light down to the odd and creepy entry way to see pale, thin hands coming out. He blinked, but saw nothing there.

"Fuck this…" He said as he started to head back when he suddenly stopped as he felt icy cold arms go over his shoulders and around his neck as in an embrace and he looked back to see the pale, dead face of a woman before blacking out.

~0~0~0~

He shot up from the bed with a loud gasp and saw that he was back in his room, the lightness in his room indicating that it was morning as he felt another shot of pain on his shoulder and then onto his back. When the sheer pain was over, he took deep breaths as he looked around to see that he was indeed in his room. "A dream…?" He asked himself as he rubbed his eyes. "It's never a good thing when you wake up from a dream and then wake up from another dream after that…." He said as he lazily got dressed in sweat pants and a tee shirt. 'But… what if…' He thought as he headed out of his room and decided to eat something first, finding that the young teen's company always made him feel slightly better after something like that. At least after what happened…

He headed down stairs to find Luffy on the couch, with a book opened in his hands before looking up to him.

"Zoro! Come here a sec!" Luffy said, sounding like he had something important to say.

"What is it?" He asked as he walked up and sat down next to the other.

"Well, I done some research on the place we covered… Here!" He said as he handed the book he was holding to the man. "It's a summary of what I found out from the reporter. I didn't have a lot of time with it, but take it to look over it."

He took the notebook from the other and took a look at it.

'Coverage of the abandoned house… Below is a summary of what a newspaper reporter told me about the coverage of the abandoned house. I didn't have time before, so please take this as a reference.

1. History of the Manor

They say there were several villages around the manor until the 1900's, but today only the abandoned house remains. Even the land owner does not know when or why it was built.

Now only the area around the entrance is left, but originally it was a huge manor—deep and strangely-shaped.

It seems on old maps, a shrine is occasionally drawn in, but now there exists not so much as a trace of it, and not much is known about it.

But on the outlying mountains, it seems a myth-like story is told that is connected to the other world.

2. The rumor of the ghost manor may be due to the myth, but since long ago the abandoned house has been called a ghost manor. Many people visit it just because of the rumor.

The rumor is that "you can meet the dead at the Manor," and further, that "the dead you meet will summon you to the other world."

The rumor's origins are said to be in séances that were held in a shrine there, but that's merely a rumor too.

In any case, I think the story of the mountain, "connected to the other world" is the source of the rumor.'

"Thank you Luffy, you're getting good at this research stuff."

Luffy smiled a bit. "Thanks."

"Sorry for asking so much from you."

"Not at all!" He said cheerfully. "I really like helping Zoro out. Beats being bored with the rain and being stuck at home all the time."

Zoro smiled as he ruffled the other's head. "That's good to hear."

"Oh! Breakfast isn't done yet. It's some breakfast casserole or something."

Zoro sniffed the air and indeed he smelled something cooking. "I have to check something in Kuina's room anyway." He said as he got up. "Call out when it's done, okay?"

"Right!" He said as Myo came up and nuzzled him.

Zoro smiled as the other giggled and petted the cat as he headed back up the stairs, and headed to his sister's room. 'That strange dream… I wonder…' He thought as he entered and followed what he remembered from the dream.

~0~0~0~

When he got up, he looked around to see if there were any creepy ghosts lurking before looking into the box there and found an antique radio and a book.

'As mentioned previously, "Occultist" Kunihiko Asou has actively appropriated Western craft with the goal of explaining ancient Japanese belief in and legends of the "Other World." It is said he finally was able to establish communication with the Other World. The first example of this is the "Other World Crystal Radio Signal Receiver," otherwise known as the "Spirit Stone Radio". The Spirit Stone Radio's "Spirit Stone" was a name his colleagues used later- - in Dr. Asou's research materials it is usually simply referred to as the "Crystal". The principle of the crystal radio is that it utilizes the crystal wave detection property of crystal to pick up the appropriate band of wavelength. Asou focused on that fact that "stones" have been known from ancient times to carry occult properties. If he could find a special "Crystal," he then thought perhaps he could capture signals from the Other World. It is said his experiment was a success , and the records note that he was able to capture sound at a range outside that of normal broadcasting. The documentation of the sounds have been lost, but Asou's associates left behind several testimonials saying they heard "words of the past" and "words of ghosts".'

He looked at the radio questionably before taking it with him back down into the room. 'It's strange… I had a dream about coming here, but I woke up in my room…' He thought as he headed out of the room just in time to hear that breakfast was ready.

~0~0~0~

That evening he wrote down what happened that morning and sighed. "Another night… What will it be this time?" He said, not really looking forward to it, but knew from what he read and heard on the tapes, not sleeping to avoid it isn't the answer and the dream will not leave him alone anyway, so why fight it? His only choice is to keep going… even if he rather not. "Here I come." He said as he shut off the light.

Hour 6: The Sacrificial Pillar

He woke up in the red room that he remembered being in last and exited from that room. He headed to where the sacred tree is and saw Kuina walking somewhere and he followed. Once he got there, he saw the door bounded by rope. He went up and touched one of the ropes, seeing four men in white. 'The hell? I have to find them to open this damn door?' He thought as he remembered Kuina walking through the doors before him. He sighed as he started on his trek to find the ghosts in white before he saw a ghost of a priest appear before the sacred tree.

"It is not enough…" He said as he turned to walk away. "Please forgive me…"

The camera shook and he took a picture, which made the man disappear. 'Why was he there?' He thought as he got closer to where the man once stood, only to hear voices whispering the closer he got to the tree, where he saw a plank of wood tied with sacred rope around the tree. "He said 'not enough'… 'not enough' what?" He said as he turned to walk up to the door, opened it and saw a trail of blood. "Just great…" He said, getting used to the whole horror thing going on here and entered the hallway.

~0~0~0~

He followed the trail, while also hearing the koto being played. 'Okay, a bit creepy…' He thought as he found the end of the trail with one of the ghosts in white there.

"Please… Help me…" The ghost said as he disappeared.

"I'm the wrong person to ask that…" He said as the sound of the koto continued. 'Who the hell is playing?' He thought as he went up, opened the door, and his camera started to shake, which he brought it up and saw someone behind the thin screen where the music was coming from, he was going to aim a shot when the ghost woman appeared suddenly, making him jump back. "Shit!" He cried out, not liking that damn surprise at all as he took shots of the woman. That's when he realized that the woman's hair is also a weapon and he avoided the clumps of black threats thrown at him. Once she was finally down for now, he exited out of the room, only to find another pool of blood near the closet.

He went up to open it, only to jump back when the camera reacted and took shots of the ghost. Once the ghost was down, he looked at the blood on the floor again. "Looks like I have to find more blood trails like this to find the ghosts to open that damn door." He said as he went back to the kimono room, went down the stairs to get to the four way hallway, and walked out enough to see a ghost coming out of one hallway and running way to the one across it, saying 'stay away' as he ran. Of course, this means that this was a clue to where he should go. Not that he really liked the idea that this was a clue, but he had no choice.

He went to where the ghost ran away from, and saw a massive amount of blood there. "Looks like I'm going the right way…" He said, really not wanting to do this, but he has no choice in the matter. He went up to the door, where he heard groaning and tried to open it, but found out that it wouldn't. 'Damn…' He thought as he headed down to where the running ghost went when he heard something above him and saw someone walking on the boarded path above him. 'There's also a path up there as well? Just how much does this place have?' He thought as he decided on where to go from here. "There is that one room where there's human-like stains… I guess I can start looking there." He said with a sigh. "Great, more walking around a creepy place. These ghosts definitely want to make one lose their sanity. No wonder people don't want to go back to sleep…" He headed out of the building to where the two grave mounds were and noticed a ghost walking along the tile roof to the other room where he found the key to the doors he exited from. 'A hint?' He thought as he headed to the other building, going to wonder about it later.

He went through the hall of the human-stained walls, opened the small door, and sure enough he saw the blood there before seeing a man in white, but was far different from the others as he dodged the ghost's attacks and took shots of it before it disappeared, leaving behind a scrap of paper. He picked it up and read what it said.

'When building or repairing the Kuze Shrine and the Last Passage, all the carpenters of the Moriya family except for their leader must be prepared to stay behind, never to return. Excluding one who exceeds in their craft, all the carpenters must fulfill their duty to protect the secrets of the shrine by being buried as the sacrificial pillars lining it. The remaining Moriya carpenter must become the Master Builder and ensure that the craft is carried on to the next generation.'

"The hell? Be part of the wall to keep the secret?" He said as he looked at the walls. "That explains the reason why they are there…" He said as he continued his way by going up the stairs, walked down the hall when he heard a faint voice of the woman who recently became part of this nightmare. He went down the stairs, found the Tanami room and looked around until the camera shook where two screens were open slightly and took a shot, seeing the woman in the center of the room, curled up into a ball. When he looked up, she wasn't there anymore, and her voice disappeared as well.

He found the door that lead to the house where he first started. He saw a trail of blood leading to the entrance and followed, only to meet the ghost similar to the first one, took shots, and watch him disappear as he left behind another scrap of paper.

'The "Rift Shrine" makes the priestess, or in this case priest, wander for eternity, and stakes must be used to impale his limbs while praying for his peaceful rest. When the priet is restless, it is necessary to build on to "The Shrine of Sleep" and pray for him to slumber. The Shrine of Sleep is sealed within a dream to prevent the priest from escaping and the spread of the Rift. To keep the Rift from spreading, we must ensure that he stays staked down, and pray for his eternal sleep.'

"The 'Rift'? 'Eternal Sleep'? And usually a priestess does this. Why the change?" He asked as he read it again before putting the piece in his pocket and continued his way to the sunken fireplace room, where he first fought the girl and her mother.

~0~0~0~

He aimed his flashlight around the room until he found one of the shrine girls up on a small platform before disappearing. He went over to find a ladder and climbed up onto the platform and went up to the door, where he heard giggling from. He looked to see that there was a lock with a bellflower pattern, which he remembered he picked up somewhere sometime ago and unlocked it.

When he opened the door, he saw the ghost girl standing in one part of the room, looking down at something before she disappeared. He went over to find some burnt papers, but found one of the stone pieces with three lines, and placed it in his pocket. He then went over to where the ghost girl was standing. He looked down to see a room with some mats on it. 'What's so special about this room? Looks like a place people sleep.' He thought as he went out of the room and back to the sunken fireplace room, where he then reached to the door that leads out of the room.

"I still have to find two more of those kinds of ghosts…" He said to himself as he made it to where he can go to the other side of the mansion, opened the door, and made his way back to the other part of the mansion, and went up to the kimono room.

'There's another staircase leading up, I wonder where that leads?' He thought as he looked around for any moody ghosts before making his way there and saw another small door. 'Is this what that one ghost used to get around earlier?' He thought, remembering the sound of footsteps on wood when he couldn't enter that one room with all the blood out in front of the door.

He opened it and entered to see that it was a tight space, but he managed to walk across until it opened up to a wide room, but he had to walk on beams, meaning he has to maintain balance or fall. He suddenly felt the camera shake and looked back to see the shrine girl about to hammer a nail to his back. He quickly dodged it, but he almost lost his balance as he took shots of the girl. When he got her, he heard her say something about 'never could runaway' and found another one of the puzzle stones and put that in his pocket as well. "Shit that was close…" He said as he looked around before moving carefully along the beams until he found the door with the said puzzle lock and worked with that until it opened.

He entered the empty room and saw a peep hole on the floor and looked down to see what looks like a Buddha statue and a priest ghost.

"Not enough blood… Need more blood…" He said before disappearing.

'The hell? Blood? For what?' He thought as he made his way back. Before he got to the door, he heard a voice from below and stopped to listen, but he couldn't understand the mumble and waited until the ghost was gone before heading back to the door and back out to the kimono room. From there he headed back down to where the lit, four way halls were at before he ran into two ghosts and fought them for a while before he headed over to the one hall covered in blood, and opened the door.

~0~0~0~

He entered when the chime of the clock sounded and the other ghost appeared and as about to bash his head with the club but he dodged it, lifted the camera up and started shooting. Once he was through with that, another scrap of paper appeared.

'Top shrine carpenters have been gathered together to seal the Kuze Shrine into the depths of a great cavern so that not even a single ray of light can enter into the darkness. Then, we must erect a Shrine of the Rift in front of the great cavern using Spirit Trees as the core pillars, and with sacrificial pillars arranged so that the Rift cannot leak into the world.'

"The hell were these people thinking? Purifying darkness through sacrifices. Sounds like they're working for the devil or something…" He said as he placed the paper into his pocket.

He then wandered to the hallway that leads to the door where Robin took, but then he got a little curious of where the other hallway before the door leads. He walked down that hall to find a door with talismans on it, opened it and walked out to find a hallway with ropes hanging from the beams. 'This is… what Luffy dreamed…' He thought as he walked down the hall to the door that lead to another familiar room with the huge hole in the floor. "How strange…" He said as he back tracked down the hall, where he saw his reflection in the strange mirror and turned the opposite of where he exited from and entered the room Luffy was in before.

He walked pass through the sliding doors until he reached to a spacious room with a small shrine a bit above his head. He turned to see a door and saw that it was yet another puzzle that he had the piece for. "Luffy didn't have a piece to open the door with… Are… our dreams really connected?" He asked himself as he worked with the puzzle.

Once he got it, he opened the door and entered the room, only to find the mats he saw earlier through the peep hole before hearing the door shut and saw the last ghost in the room. And to make matters worse for him, there were about four other ghosts with the other. "Fuck!" He called out as he fought all the ghosts before finally getting the last one, where he saw the piece of paper.

'After the "Unleashing" happened, the priestess who had wandered loose from the Chamber of Thorns roamed about the manor as if in a dream. Those passages the priestess entered were engulfed by the Rift, and fell into darkness. The "Rift Shrine" is a hidden shrine that ensures that the priestess wanders forever and never escapes, and the Rift does not spill forth.'

He didn't quite get what the papers where trying to explain, but he knew that he got all four ghosts now. 'Will that door open now?' He thought as he made his way out and to where the sacred tree is.

He went up to the doors and stood there when he heard a voice behind him.

"That door must not be open… It must be sealed…"

Then everything went black.

~0~0~0~

He woke up with a start, panting heavily before cringing as the tattoo spread to his chest now, before disappearing, leaving him to take a moment to recover from the pain. 'It's getting worse by the day…' He thought as he saw the camera vibrated on this desk. 'That's right… I got some film to develop….' He looked at the time and saw that it was still pretty dark out. 'It's not even morning… Shit that was horrible… But…' He thought about the two doors that Kuina went through. 'I can go into those doors now… but what if this 'Rift' thing is something that…' He sighed as he grabbed the camera and headed out of his room, where he heard the phone ring.

He headed down the stairs to answer it. "Hello, Roronoa speaking." He answered when he heard sounds that sounded like muffled screaming before hearing the familiar line from the woman, Yoshino, and slammed the phone back to its holder. He took a deep breath as he saw Myo and went over to pet the calm cat until the television went on, only seeing a static before it turned itself off. He stared at it for sometime before looking down at the cat, who didn't seem alarmed at all. He headed out of the living room and made his way to the hallway to see that the bathroom light is on.

He rolled his eyes as he headed to the bathroom, only to see a Yoshino walking down the hall behind him. He turned to see no one there. 'Better keep the light on…' He thought, not caring how it was turned on in the first place as he cautiously headed down the hall to his dark room.

When he entered, he saw the familiar legs and brought the camera up and took Yoshino's picture, making her disappear from his dark room. 'Fuck! Now I got her haunting my house!' He thought as he just worked on the recent pictures to develop.

When he was done with the pictures, he saw the picture of Yoshino, curled up in the middle of the room surrounded by other ghostly figures. 'Her family? She's still guilty about being alive?' He thought, now a bit sad for her. Then he got another one, the one with the tree, but this time he saw what looked like a group of men in white. 'The carpenters that were working for the family…' He thought as he placed the photos aside. 'Luffy doesn't have to research these things… We already know about Yoshino… And I doubt we'll get enough info about the family carpenters… So why bother with those?' He thought as he left the dark room.

~0~0~0~

He looked up to see that the water stain earlier looked different. 'The hell?' He thought as he went back to the living room and went up the stairs. He looked at Luffy's room and wondered about him and quietly entered the room.

He saw that the other made a mess of his room again, except for the desk that had neat piles of books and papers. He looked over at the teen, a few books scattered over his bed and one seemed to still be open from previous reading. He shook his head as he proceeded to place the books to the side in a neat pile and tucked the other in. Once he'd done that, he looked at the teen and ran his fingers through the ebony hair. "What would I do without you?" He said quietly as he placed a quick kiss on the other's forehead and left the room.

Once out he looked at his sister's room and sighed. "Seeing that I'm a bit awake now…" He said as he went into the empty room and went up to the book case and found the book about skewered dolls. 'She actually had a book about that?' He thought as he read it over.

'Skewered Dolls… In many religions, particularly in the mountain areas, there remains a folk practice of dressing up dolls they made from straw, earth or cloth, and worshipping them as idols. The doll in the picture was reported by an Iwate resident. It is called Kushimi, and when someone dies in the village, they weave the hair of the deceased into the straw and have it wear his or her kimono. The doll is fixed into skewers, and put before a shrine at the edge of the mountain. The doll is enshrined for up to one month after the death, and after that period passes, it is cast into the river behind the shrine together with various offerings. In this region's tradition, there is said to be a cave in the mountain connecting to the land of the gods. The dead who became Kushimi stand between the village and the mountain. They take up upon the village's evil and head to the land of the gods. In a neighboring village, there is said to be a similar doll called Igushi, but this one is the spirit of a person who died young and is deified in the mountains. In one interpretation, both village and mountain have a protective deity standing in the border between people and gods. In another sense, burdening the death with evil, or deifying the spirit of the young in a mountain, connotes human sacrifice.'

He placed the book back and headed to his room. "I'm not looking forward to sleeping again, but it has to be done…" He said as he exited out of the room and back into his own to get back to sleep.

Hour 7: The Hanging Prison

Luffy blinked as he realized he was back in the room with the hanging cage in a strange, shrine-like room before his eyes fell on a shrine girl, who was unlike the other three shrine girls.

"Save the two…" She only said before disappearing.

"What does she mean?" He asked as he looked up at the wooden cage. He couldn't tell who was in there, but he knew that there was someone in there. He looked at the shrine-like display, which he thought was human skin with the snake tattoo, in front of him as the camera in his hands shook a bit, lifted it up and pressed the button and the camera stopped shaking. "Save the two…?" He looked up at the cage. "I wonder…" He said as he looked around the room before going towards the only door in the room and walked up to hear a voice he could hardly comprehend but glad when the voice stopped saying anything as he headed to the door that leads to the hallway, when he heard the sound of a nail hitting something, followed by the familiar lullaby. He followed that sound to a small opening in the wall, near the floor.

"Over here…"

He heard a voice spoke in there. He didn't want to go down there, but he didn't know where else to go, and, unfortunately for him, this was his only lead at the moment. He bent down and managed to fit through the opening, seeing the dark under passage of the mansion. 'This is a bad idea…' He thought as he carefully crawled through. No sooner as he thought of that, his camera shook and he saw a thin woman quickly crawling her way to him and he started pressing the button to shot at the woman before she disappeared. He took a few deep breaths before continuing to crawl until he found a lid to a path even further underground. He lifted the lid up and carefully went in, seeing that he has nowhere else to go and he can't go back.

He saw a ladder, leading down and saw a red room with the skewered dolls. He then looked at the altar and saw a pretty orb on the table as well as a scrap of some diary.

'Amane led a man into the shrine. The head of the family is so angry. If the priest wakes up, the commandment will be broken, and the Rift will spread. The family head teaches all the handmaidens so hard so that they won't forget their duties. The head of the family ordered that Amane be impaled, and that her brother be cast out of the manor. Because of the duties of the handmaidens, and the duties of the Kuze Shrine, there was no other choice. Amane, I'm sorry.'

'Amane… is she the girl that led me to that room with the cage? Is she someone I can trust then?' He thought as the camera shook and he saw a shrine girl, not Amane, and took up his camera until she disappeared. Once that was done he saw another ladder leading up and went that way.

~0~0~0~

He found himself, not crawling this time, but he was bent over and carefully walked down the path to find another ladder leading up. 'Where will this take me?' He thought as he opened the lid, climbed out and looked to find himself in a what looks like a shrine, but with hanged, human-like burlack dummies in some parts of the room, but near some kind of shrine. He saw a small table with some altars until his camera shook and he held up, went around the room until he went behind him to shoot something that was in-between two statues, as if they were holding something in the empty space. He went up to the door in the room and unlocked it, but the camera shook violently and saw that there was a ghost of a woman there. The ghost woman had needles sticking out of her hands, and ropes were bound around and in her eyes, not to mention she's half naked from the waist up. But with a few shots she disappeared and he was out of the room and managed to find his way into the kimono room.

He went up to the dresser with the cracked mirror and saw a scrap of paper that was a dairy entry.

'His parting gift was a forbidden child. The child had handsome features just like he did. If he stays in this place, they'll cast him away once he turns four. I have to find a way to sneak him into the village below before then. If I give him the earring his father gave me, I'm sure someday he will be able to come back. He'll be able to hear my voice. I may even be able to see his father again if he find this earring. I'll name the child "Kaname" to symbolize our connection. I know this child will come back. With his father.'

He placed the piece of paper into his pocket and headed to the other door, made his way down the stairs, and opened the door with the sacred tree there.

He kept hearing the cling of the nail and found the source, but also saw the voodoo doll and he touched it, seeing where he has to go to lift it, and back tracked to the kimono room.

Once there he went up to the small door, walked into the small space, and carefully walked along the beams. At some point he heard a girl whisper that made him stop for a moment.

"Stay here… forever…"

'Who would want to stay in this creepy place?' He thought as he made his way to the door. He entered the empty room and looked in the peep hole to hear someone saying 'need more blood' and he left the room. 'Just plain creepy…' He thought as he started walking on the beams again, but this time the camera shook and he saw one of the shrine girls again and only took a few shots before she went down.

"You're a traitor… too…"

"You have me mixed up with someone else… I don't belong here." He said as he made his way back to the kimono room, where he headed to where he heard the sound from earlier.

He entered through the small door to find another red room and an altar with a different colored orb and a diary page.

'Amane led a man into the Kuze Shrine. The man woke the priest from his dream. The Kuze code must be followed. She must be punished by impalement. She must not be let go.'

'Did they…' He thought as he place the second orb into his pocket. "What are these orbs anyway?" He asked himself as he exited the room, only to hear the same sound coming from somewhere else. He followed that sound, entered through the door, and he grabbed the other orb before exiting. "I got three now… So one more… But where?" He asked as he walked back out to where the sacred tree is as he tried to think of any place he may have missed. "Maybe it's in that one building…" He guessed as he headed to the four way hallway and went out to the doors that reveal the grave mounds.

~0~0~0~

Once he entered through the door that led to the other part of the mansion, he found another small door where the human-stain walls were and saw Amane at the very bottom of the earthen stairway. He could hear the song being sang at the bottom as she disappeared and he headed down.

He then reached to a small hall that lead to a narrow passage that he needs to crawl through again. 'Not again…' He thought as he bent down and started crawling. Not long after he started crawling that the camera shook, but he was ready this time and gave the crawling ghost a couple shots. "Not gonna work the second time." He said as he crawled along the passage until he found a door. "What's a door doing here?" He asked as he opened it to see the red room. "No way…" He said as he got up from his crawling position.

He made his way to the altar to grab the last orb as well as a piece of a diary page

'My mother told me that I have an older brother. His name is Kaname, and he lives in a house on the outside. In the Kuze house, they throw away boys, so he was sent outside. She told me many times that this was a secret. My brother has the same earring as my mother. They're beautiful earrings that she got from father. Mother gave it to him so that no matter where he is he can hear her voice. I wonder if he can hear my voice too. I want to see him. Kisho was made into a priest, which is a first, but he qualified. I help take care of the priest. He tells me about the outside. He says when he talks the pain isn't as bad. I'm glad that I can be of some help. The priest has an earring just like mother's. He says that it was a present from a good friend, so that he can hear his voice no matter where he is. I think that friend is Kaname. The priest talks about him a lot. The priest seems kind of lonely.'

"This is Amane's diary… And the priest, Kisho, is a friend of her brother, Kaname…" He said as he started to understand a little. "She just wanted to help them… as well as see her brother…" Then he realized something. "Save the two… does she mean those two?" He placed the page in his pocket and found the door, unlocked it, and exited out to see stairs leading up.

When he got close to the top, two of the shrine girls suddenly appeared and started to attack him. "Damn it!" He said as he took shots of them until they both disappeared. And once they were gone, he headed out of the room to find himself in the sunken fireplace area, went down the ladder, and made his way to where the room with the cage is at.

~0~0~0~

When he entered the room he noticed another piece of paper on the ground and recognized the handwriting as Amane's.

'Kaname snuck in with the people who came to ease their pain. He said he wants to see the Priest, just once. It is against the code, but he is going to have to perform the Rite of Commandments soon, he won't be able to leave again. I want to help them meet, just once. Kaname went into the shrine. To that place. Men cannot go into the shrine. Even though Kisho is an exception, I'm sure the mistress will be upset.'

"Amane…" He said as he placed the piece of paper in his pocket and went up to the altar to where he can see the indications of where the orbs are to be placed. "How am I gonna know which ones go where?" He asked as he looked at the four orbs in his hands.

Then he heard the faint sounds of the song in the orbs, each with a line of that song. He placed the blue and copper one in the far left, the green next, the red, and finally the ocean blue orbs and he heard the song once more.

'Sleep O' Priest. Lie in peace. Sleep O' Priest. Lie in peace. If the Priest wakes from his dream. Perform the rite of stakes, his limbs pinned tight. Lest the doors open wide and suffering unleashed on all.'

He heard the mechanisms work and he looked up to see the cage being lifted so that the bottom of the cage is now part of the ceiling. "How am I gonna get up there?" He asked himself as he was about to leave, only to see that the he couldn't open the door, which the camera started to shake. "Crap!" He said as he got the camera ready as he fought with the ghost in the room before it disappeared. He then started feeling dizzy and blacked out.

~0~0~0~

Zoro woke up with a start and got up to see that it was still far too early to wake up. "Luffy's dream… again…" He said, a bit worried about the teen's well being. He saw the camera vibrating and took it with him. "He did catch some things…" He got up and headed towards the dark room.

He looked to see the altar display of what is indeed human skin with the snake tattoo, and the other of two Buddha statues facing each other with an arm out. 'What can I learn from this?' He thought as the third photo came up of the woman on all fours. 'She must be a missing person as well…' He thought as he left the dark room, leaving the pictures behind once again.

He went up to Luffy's room to check on him, and saw that the teen was sitting at the edge of the bed.

"Luffy?"

"Ace…"

"Luffy?" He said as he bent down, which got the teen's attention.

"Oh, Zoro…"

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah." He said with a small smile. "It was just a bad dream… You had one too?"

Zoro nodded as he sat down next to the other and held him close. "Yeah, I did… Two actually…"

"That sucks…"

"It did." He said with a smile on his own. "But that's why we have each other for…"

Luffy leaned in more of the other and sighed. "That's true…"

~0~0~0~

A few hours later, Luffy was making breakfast while Zoro was looking over what he had written down so far.

'Incidents… Human-columns… The old book tells how a family named Moriya marked by the tattoo killed the shrine carpenters after they had built the manor, then ended by making themselves into Taboo Pillars or Sacrificial Pillars. All except one, the Master Builder.'

'Locations… The Skewered Dolls… Inside the manor in a courtyard surrounded by a corridor, was a tree wrapped with sacred rope. Around it stood straw dolls skewered on stakes. According to an old book on folklore the practice belongs to an old folk cult. The dolls stood at the border between the mountains (divine) and the village (human), functioning as protective deities or amulets. What is there at the in that courtyard beyond that door? A room full of red dolls nailed to the walls with stakes. This is not the only one of these rooms inside the manor. What is the meaning behind those rooms, behind those dolls?'

'The Ceremony Room… In the room I looked into from the roof sacks shaped like people where hanging. On the floor by an altar was a big red-black bloodstain. What purpose could this room serve?'

'People… woman with comb… The woman who pinned her combed hair to the wall and awaited someone's return. "I've been waiting," she said when I caught her image in the Camera Obscura. Did this camera once belong to the man she was waiting for? Maybe he left her and the camera here and set out for somewhere…'

'Shrine maiden girl… The girls dressed as shrine maidens who tried to impale me in the daydream I had inside the deserted house. Are they constantly impaling dolls in those small red rooms dotted around the manor? What about Amane, the name they kept repeating? Could that be the girl who was begging for help?'

'Men in white… The men in ragged white robes and tall court hats. In the photo where the man holding a hatchet and hiding his face appeared, they were standing in line as though for a commemorative photo. They were holding carpentry tools. Maybe they had something to do with building the house. And then after…'

'Woman on all fours… And even older house lies inside the dream manor. Down in the darkness beneath the floor I was attacked by a woman on all fours. Has she gone missing too, like Yoshino Takigawa? She spoke in a horse voice. "Let me out," she seems to say.'

'Kunihiko Asou… The first of his experiments to bear fruit was the spirit stone radio. This used crystal radio technology and was able to receive supernatural sounds that normally could not be detected. The products of his research-the camera obscura , the spirit stone radio, and the projector- were much sought after by enthusiasts after his death and were soon scattered all over the country.'

'Articles… The Old Radio… An old radio that was in the loft above Kuina's room. According to an old book left in the same place, it's a crystal radio made by Professor Asou for communicating with the Other World. A reaction with a special crystal makes it possible to hear words spoken in the past and the voices of ghosts…'

Once he was done, he went out of his room and went downstairs to see Luffy, reading a book. They had breakfast not too long ago, but he can still see the other wasn't his cheerful self.

The teen looked up and smiled a bit. "Morning again Zoro."

"Morning Luffy." He said as he went over and sat down. "What you got there?"

"I was looking into that strange song."

"You mean the lullaby?" He asked.

"Yeah…" He said as he handed the other the book. "Here, I've read it enough times to remember."

Zoro did take the book and read it.

'Legend of Song 1… In the mountains of the Mutsu region, there is an old lullaby that was only passed on to certain villages. The Sleeping Priestess: Verse One… "Sleep, child, go to sleep. Sleep, child, got to sleep. If you cry, the boat you'll ride. The boat to the other side. Once you get there. The bib shall wear. And you will be punished. Should you fail to lie still."

Within the same mountain chain, the song "The Sleeping Priestess" was only transmitted to a certain number of villages. The dissemination is thought to be dependent on elements such as the village's roads and location. As the usage of the word "Priestess" implies, this song is thought to have its origins in ingenious folk rites, given its method of transmission. As for the lyrics themselves, the opening line "Sleep, child, go to sleep" calls the child into sleep. The next part, "If you cry, the boat you'll ride, The boat to the other side" uses words like "boat" and "the other side", which is suggestive of banishment. It can be taken as a stanza of a "threatening song" which is to frighten the child into sleep. "The bib you shall wear" can be understood to depict, "you will be dressed up to go." After "Should you fail to lie still," the inclusion of the frightening words "you will be punished" impresses admonition upon the child. Perhaps as the once, ceremonial song changed into a lullaby, it metamorphosed into the "threatening song" so common in the Mutsu area.

The Sleeping Priestess: Verse Two… Sleep, child, go to sleep. Sleep, child, go to sleep. If you should wake. From your slumber at night. Great wooden stakes. Shall pin you down tight. Lest the doors open wide. And the others that sleep wake too." The second verse develops in a very similar way, and make use of the same elements. "If you should wake" threatens that "if the priestess should wake during the ceremony (in the lullaby, this means sleep)" the woken priestess, or child, will have her limbs pinned by stakes. These "great wooden stakes" may be a remnant of a religious phrase. At the last part, "Lest the doors open wide/And the others that sleep wake too," there is s shift from a familiar story centering on the priestess (child) to an uneasy end, both vague and large in scale. It is thought that this expresses religious fear, such as the dread of underworld.'

"Not a great way to get someone to sleep…"

Luffy giggled a bit, but wasn't its usual cheerfulness. "I know right? I would be too scared to sleep."

He managed to chuckle as well, and realized how he sounded as well. 'This thing is really draining us out.' He thought.

"Zoro? You need anything for me to look up on?"

He shook his head. "No, but you're doing great on your own it seems."

"Well, the book says it's the first volume, I'm still trying to find the second one. If it exists."

"I'm sure you'll find it." He said as he looked at the television. "Feel like you're up for a movie?"

"Not really, I've seen the same ones so many times that it's hardly funny anymore."

"Yeah, the jokes only funny after a certain length of time." He said.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Luffy said as he jumped up from the couch, headed over to the kitchen counter, grabbed the envelope, and handed it over to the other. "It's from Robin again… to Kuina…"

Zoro grabbed the mail and looked at the letter.

'Dear Kuina,

The cassette tapes I had restored are finished now, so I'm sending them. My tape player broke so I can't listen to them, but apparently they were in pretty bad shape, so even though they've been restored, they may be hard to hear. In the dream I had the other day, I saw Nami deep in the manor. It looked like she was after her missing sister Nojiko. I guess it has weighed on me. When I wake the pain and the tattoo spread, just like the story says. If I don't hurry, I may also go missing like the urban legend says. This may be it for my investigation. Once it get off the mountain I'll give you a call.

Regards, Nico Robin'

'So she's also a victim in this.' He thought as he pulled out two cassette tapes that looked pretty old.

"What are those?"

"Old tapes that this Nico-person restored. I'll listen to them later." He said as he got up. "I'm going to put these in my room, kay?"

"Okay."

"I'll also check out Kuina's room for something. I still don't know anything about this friend of hers."

Luffy smiled a bit more as he giggled. "Zoro is starting to sound like his old self again."

Zoro smiled a bit more as well. "I guess that's a good thing, huh?"

"Yep! I like seeing Zoro like this."

He reached out and ruffled the other's head. "Same here with you." He said as he headed up stairs. "I'll be down in a bit."

"Take your time!"

~0~0~0~

He headed to Kuina's room and went up to the book case. "Okay Sis, do you have anything about Buddhas?" He asked himself when he found the book. "Go ahead, laugh it up." He said as he pulled out the book and began to read.

'Rituals and Statues… This statue is from a derelict temple in the Akita mountains. It is standing upright, but seems to be holding something like reigns in its hands, making it a very unusual Buddhist statue. The temple appears to have been neglected for many years, and both the ceiling and floor fell in. The books were completely decomposed. Upon investigation, a small amount of blood was found on the statue, and there were also traces of the same blood on the floor of the temple. It appears some kind of folk ritual or sacrifice may have taken place here. No oral tradition or documents related to the temple are left in the surrounding mountain villages, so the details remain a mystery.'

"Not much, but enough." He said as he placed the book back and headed back into his room. 'May as well listen.' He thought as he got some head phones, plugged it into the radio with the cassette insert, placed the second of the three of the cassettes and listened.

"Yes.." A man's voice was heard. "I don't want to sleep… ever again… There were a lot of people in the courtyard. The people… They were tying this person up with ropes… and wrapped them in white cloth. They were burying… But… it looked like the one being tied up seemed to be doing it voluntarily. Afterwards, they put a big rock on them… A big log… like a skewer… There's a song… coming from inside the manor… Children are singing… and laughing… At first? At first… I saw my wife… I just wanted to see her… one more time… I went inside… I'm so tired now. So… tired… the snow…"

He then placed the third to hear the same man's voice again.

"I can hear it. I can't make out what they're saying, but I can hear something. It's the same dream… Wait, no it's not the same. It's different somehow. I'm going further in. They're calling me, I can hear their voices. No, I can't tell… what they're saying. They're just calling me. It's snowing. There's a big, quiet manor. It seems like there's a funeral. Everyone's faces is hidden… I'm going in deeper and deeper… It's almost suffocating…" Then the man seemed to be gasping. "I can't breathe…" Panting was heard. "I didn't do anything… She did it… no… it can't be… Help… It's not me… not my…" Another few gasping sounds before it became silent.

He stood there with an almost shocked expression as he took the head phones off and sighed. "What am I gonna do?" He asked himself as he headed out, only to smell that Luffy was preparing lunch as he went down to help him, trying to keep his mind off the dream for a little while.

~0~0~0~

Evening fell way too quickly and he found himself that he couldn't sleep just yet as he stared at the picture of Yoshino being surrounded by what he thought was family. But what if it's something to do with the cult or the belief thing? He looked into Kuina's books, but none of them helped, and he only knows one person who can. He sighed, really not wanting to let the teen get more involved than he did, but for some reason he feels that they're in the same boat and it didn't matter if the teen was involved or not. And the dreams were proof that Luffy was also suffering.

He got up from his bed and headed to the teen's room where he saw his friend at the desk as he turned to face him.

"Hey Zoro, can't sleep either?"

"Not there yet." He responded as he went up to the other. "Luffy… can you help me with something?"

"Sure." He said as Zoro handed out the photo he was holding. He looked at it and nodded. "No problem." He said as he noticed more photos. "You also want me to look through those?"

Zoro looked at the photos that both he and the other took and handed them over. "If it's no trouble…" He said as he looked at the other looking through until he saw the altar with the tattooed skin.

"I-is this skin?"

"Yes, and definitely human." He responded, noticing the look in the teen's eyes before he tried to cover it up with a smile.

"Okay Zoro! I'll look into these."

"Don't push yourself too hard…"

"I know. Thanks for always caring about me."

Zoro ruffled the teen's head before leaning down and kissed him on the forehead. "You do the same for me." He said as he walked out of the room to head to his own. "Let's get this night over with…" He said as he shut off the light.

Hour 8: The Vacant Dream

"Nami!" Robin called out through the cage, but the other woman didn't seem to hear her. The camera shook and she aimed to get a good shot before the camera stilled and went up to the other door in the room. "Nami, if you can hear me, please stay where you are. I'm coming to get you, okay?" She said as she went through the door.

When she entered the room, she gasped at the sight of blood spattered in different areas of the room. She even saw a man appear when the camera shook and she took a picture of him to disappear. She continued around the massacre scened room as she saw two small twin girls appear suddenly and quickly made her way around to find another door, opened it and entered through.

She found herself in a well lit hallway that was clean of anything unlike the other room and followed the path through, taking a corner before seeing red butterflies. 'There were butterflies at the door and surrounding Nami…' She thought as she followed the suspicious yet beautiful insects to one small hallway that it was fluttering to, opened the door and entered.

She saw some stairs going down and thought she saw someone on the upper level, looking down at her before turning away into the dark. She looked around the area, finding two doors that wouldn't open, and went back around, only for the camera to start shaking and turned to see a ghost of a woman with rope tied to where her eyes should be. She fought with it until the ghost disappeared and she was able to walk back up the steps and headed out back into the small hall and took a right, where she found what would be considered a family room and kitchen area. She thought she saw someone on the second level and found a page of some book.

'Masumi, it's Miyako. I came to find you. Let's go back together. If we're two, maybe we can leave. If you read this, shout for me. Because I'm close. Stay strong.'

She looked back to see the sliding doors, went up to them, opened one, and went inside to find the second page of the note. She shined her flashlight to a small room kept to store kimonos and thought she saw one of the boxes move, but that didn't surprise her for long as she saw something on the ground and picked up to find a key. She turned and thought she saw something move quickly pass, but she couldn't see it and decided to get out of the room.

Once she got out, she felt the presence and saw the man covered in tattoos. She made a beeline up the stairs and saw a door with the lock with the similar pattern to the key she just found, unlocked it and quickly entered, only to see two ghost appear in what looked like a twin's room. The camera shook and she took a shot, making the ghosts disappear. She then looked around the room and found a key and placed it in her pocket to use later, followed by another key.

"She's not coming back…"

She turned to see a shrine maiden before she dashed off. "Wait!" She called out, but it was too late. She went up to the door, opened and felt a presence within the area. 'I better find a place to hide or get far away from it.' She thought as she went down the steps and back to the door where she first entered. 'I better get to Nami…'

~0~0~0~

She went around the blood spattered room as she reached to the other door, only for it to be stuck and heard another ghost behind her. The camera shook violently as she ran to dodge the charging attack of the ghost. 'He's too fast for me to capture a shot!' She thought as she played the 'can't catch me' game until she saw the butterfly appear near the stuck door and headed towards it, finding that she can open it again and got away from the ghost.

She took a huge breath to calm herself as she looked at the cage and saw that the other girl wasn't there. She unlocked the cell with the two keys and entered she looked to her right to see two twin statues, one of them had their head popped off suddenly, and she looked to her right to see something written on the wall. She went up to the desk and found a pinwheel disc of some sort as she investigated the area, finding a small room with tons of books, but no sign of the girl. 'How?' She thought as she looked at the books and found one that caught her eye.

'Crimson Sacrifice… The "forbidden ritual" passed on in this region is called the "Crimson Sacrifice Ritual", and is apparently a ceremony where the "gates of hell" are sealed by sacrificing twin shrine maidens. There are two parts to the ritual: a periodic "Visible Ritual", and in the event of its failure, a "Hidden Ritual". Should all the rituals fail, the "gates of hell" will open, the dead will pour out, and the skies will go dark. This disaster is called "The Repentance".'

Once she was done she went out of the cell and headed out of the room, only to see the butterfly once more. 'It seems its reason is double edged. It's helping me, but also trying to make me fail.' She thought as she followed where it fluttered to. "But it looks like I don't have a choice.' She followed the hallway to some stairs leading down, which she found a tablet to place the pinwheel disc in and found out it was a puzzle lock, and worked with it for awhile until the unlock sound was made.

When she opened the door to an unusual hallway that seemed to be made underground, she saw Nami, running after the butterfly. "Nami!" She called out as she ran, but the other girl seemed to be much faster until she reached the doors, opened them, and saw what looked like some ritual room and Nami going through two doors, as if she was a ghost. "Nami…" She said as she went up to the doors, which she couldn't open. 'There has to be another way to get in…' She thought when the camera shook and she turned to see a ghost with rope moving wildly.

She took up her camera and started a long fight with the ghost before it finally went down. She backtracked to the room where she found Nami first and saw the butterfly once more. 'Such an annoying thing.' She thought, but went up to the door anyway. 'I have to find out more about this place. There has to be something…' She thought as she could feel her mind going into consciousness.

~0~0~0~

Zoro woke up with a start, looked around and started to get dressed. 'No pain today, but maybe Robin is feeling it instead…' He thought as he could see the camera vibrating and knew what he has to do. Once he was out, he heard the phone ring and went down to get it.

"Roronoa residence."

"Oh, I got the right number. This is Nico Robin, is Kuina there by any chance? I'm a friend of hers."

Zoro was a bit shocked to say the least to get a call from the mysterious woman. "So… You're Nico Robin…"

"Yes, and you must be Zoro, her little brother."

"Not that little anymore though." He said as he heard her giggle.

"Of course, she spoke about you all the time, mostly complaining about this and that."

"It wouldn't be her if she didn't."

"That's true. Speaking of which, can I have a word with her?"

He sighed, knowing that he would have to tell her. "I'm sorry, Nico-san… Kuina… she died a couple months ago…"

"Oh…" He could hear her voice change. "I'm so sorry… I didn't know… I was investigating and lost contact…"

"I would like you to continue to do the investigation… on the Manor of Sleep."

There was a moment of pause before she responded. "Why?"

"I… I can't say for sure…"

"I see… Roronoa-san…"

"Yes?"

"Is it alright if I came to pay my respects sometime? I would like to say goodbye to her…"

"I think she won't mind, but okay…" He said as they both hung up and he sighed.

"Zoro?"

He looked up to see Luffy.

"Everything okay?"

"That was Nico-san on the phone." He said. "I… I told her what happened."

Luffy came down and hugged the other, who returned the embrace and both stayed in a comfortable silence that morning.

~0~0~0~

That evening, Zoro was in the living room, staring out at the windowed doors that showed nothing but water droplets pounding on the door and darkness. 'This tattoo… is it some kind of damn curse from that one guy? The chosen priest to bear all the pains when it's usually a woman?' He thought as he placed a hand where the man touched him. 'When this damn tattoo spreads… When that guy catches me… Will I disappear and go insane like Yoshino did?' He cringed at the thought. 'Not to mention she's probably stalking me in my own home.' He then looked behind him to look at the door that leads to Luffy's room. 'And then there's him and Nico-san… what would happen to them. It doesn't seem like they know I have the same dreams as they do. It's like I can see what they're doing, but they don't see what I do in the dreams.' He took a deep breath. "I need a shower, how long has it been anyway?" He said as he headed to the bath room.

Sometime while he was in he heard a sound by the glass frosted door that was closed when the shower is occupied. "Luffy?" He said as he turned around, only to recognize the ghost woman with the needled hands and roped eye sockets. He backed up against the wall. 'Wh-What! How the-' His thought was cut off when the doors opened and he held his arms up. When he didn't feel an attack coming, he looked up to see that the ghost wasn't there, but the door was wide open. He fell to the tiled floor, shaking and breathing heavily.

Once he was dressed, he looked around the bathroom, finding it clear of ghosts… for now, and headed to the dark room, where he left the camera in earlier to work on after his shower. He saw the man in the photo and thought he recognized him from somewhere, probably in the paper a year or two back. The next photo was of Nami, but he also saw another girl standing behind her. 'But Nami was the only one there…' He thought as he worked with the last photo, which is of the two girls with a red cord that bounded between them. 'Wasn't there something about this somewhere?'

He headed up to Luffy's room after that, wondering if the other had any leads to the other photos he gave him the other night. He opened the door to see Luffy playing with Myo with a feather wand before the other looked up at him.

"Zoro? Is there something wrong?"

"Nah… just a bit tired…"

"Oh." He said as he placed the wand down and handed the other a note book. "Here Zoro, I found a few things out from the photos you gave me."

Zoro grabbed the notebook and opened the cover to read it over.

'The Crawling Woman… Associated with the disappearances and spirited aways, there is an urban legend called "The Woman who Crawls on All Fours". "In close, dark spaces like under the floor, or in ceiling or closet, lurks a woman that crawls out every night, cursing bitterly." That's the gist of it. Many urban legends of this type are based in fiction (novels, etc.) and real incidents. As the story spreads, images people fear are added, and it becomes all the more "legendized". For example, the story "The Woman who Crawls on All Fours" is said to be based on the following disaster that actually occurred years ago. "One month after the disaster, a woman's corpse was found in a ditch several miles from the disaster site. Evidence showed she was alive up to a few hours before she was found." It is thought to be an exaggeration since the story became "legendized", but several people who lived where the woman was found and along the route to the disaster site say they heard a knocking sound in the night. There is also another version of this story that has been passed on. The part about the woman lurking in the floor or ceiling, seeing help every night, is the same. But in this one, the ending is that if you peer into the ceiling or floor, she will attack you.'

'Shrine Carpenters… A "Shrine Carpenter" is a carpenter who specializes in building temples and shrines. They were formally called "Temple and Shrine Carpenters," but when Shinto and Buddhism were separated in the Meiji period (1860s) and the anti-Buddhist movement began, "Temple" was removed from the name, and they became "Shrine Carpenters". Amongst themselves they said "Building mere a house degrades one," and when they did not have a building contract they would work in farming or the like, and with only limited site experience refined their technique and skill. There were carpenters who only served one shrine, and special techniques, methods, and ways of mystic construction were passed on to that Master Builder. This photograph is of the framework, with the carpenters linked up and the Master Builders at the center. As in the picture, they wore white clothing and a court hat for the framework-raising ceremony, but in old times, they would wear white clothes during work as well as it was said that "A carpenter must worship the gods and Buddha." While this dress expressed piety, it may have also been a way for Shrine Carpenters to assert their pride and skills before others.'

'Tattoo Foklore… This combination of "snake and holly" in this tattoo is primarily found in Northeastern Japan. This design is chronicled in the old Northeastern Japanese folktale, "Tattoo Maiden".

"Tattoo Maiden"… A girl loses her lover, and before he fades from her memory completely, she takes the pain of her remaining love and imbues it in a holly tattoo. Yet the girl falls in love once more. Again she loses her lover. She engraves a tattoo of her love into her body again. This time she engraves a divine snake so her lover's spirit will arrive safely at the place of the gods. As the girl repeats love and loss, her skin grows filled with tattoos. She cannot tolerate the pain of the tattoos and it takes its toll on her sanity. Meanwhile, her heart is eaten by the snake engraved in her soul.

This legend is widely known on the plains, but depending on the region, slight differences appear. In the mountains, the following changes can be found in the story. This is called "The Tattoo Master".

"The Tattoo Master"… The girl who lost her lover goes to the mountain Master to relieve her pain (to confide in her). On hearing of the girl's pains, the Master engraves the snake and holly on her own body and assumes the pain. The villagers, hearing of this, visits the Master one after another to relieve their pains as well. Eventually, the Master's entire body is covered with tattoos. She who took on so many pains gets trapped in sleep from the pain of the engraved tattoos, and cannot wake. Finally, she is eaten by the tattooed snake.

The story has one more version, this with and even more tragic ending. It is likely a story designed to teach a lesson.

"The Tattoo Master (2)… The Master covered in tattoos goes as far as to tattoo holly in her eyes. Then her tattooed eyes turned to mirror and the pains engraved on the Master are repelled back to the people who engraved them. In the end, every last person is eaten by the snake.

The part about "turning to mirror" may come from how snakes' eyes were traditionally thought to resemble mirrors. Given to the change in the story, it appears that when "The Tattoo Master" legend of the mountains spread to the plains, it became more fable-like. The story, with its priestess-like element of the Master, was corrupted into a city girl's foolish love story. As far as the meaning of the "snake and holly" tattoo in this folktale, the "holly" tree represents the pain of love for the dead and pains of the heart. The "snake" is employed here in the divine sense, and its import seems to be tied into love and pathos for the dead that devours those including the girl and the Master.'

"Great work Luffy."

"Thanks."

"Sorry to put you through this…" He said, meaning about the dreams and such.

"It's no problem, the research stuff gets easier after awhile." Luffy said with a smile. "If there's anything else, let me know. And don't think about holding back!"

Zoro blushed at that but he took the three photos he developed. "There is, actually." He gave the photo of Nami and the other girl, and the two girls with the cord. "Think you can handle it."

"Easy!" He said with an easy smile.

Zoro smiled as well and ruffled the other's head. "Try to get some sleep, okay."

"You too."

He nodded and left the room and headed to his sister's room. "Okay, Sis, you're turn, what have you been keeping?" He said as he found the news clipping of the man in the photograph. "I knew I've seen him somewhere before." He said as he looked at the many books and found out a bit more on a few things before heading back to his own room, including an article about the carpenters that were 'spirited away'.

"I'll be lucky if these dreams give me a night off." He said as he entered, only to notice a pale arm stick out from under his bed. He stood there, looking at the arm before it slipped back under his bed. 'Why me?' He thought as he sat down, open his note book, and started to write down what he and Luffy found out so far.

'Incidents… The Tattoo Bruise… Every time I dream of the house, the bruise—the tattoo—gets bigger… I found a picture of a similar tattoo in a book of folklore. A Snake and Holly Pattern. According to an old folktale, the tattoo represents the pain (holly) and longing of a girl whose lover has died.'

'The Lullaby… According to a book Luffy found for me, the lullaby sounds like a song called "The Sleeping Shrine Maiden" from Northeastern Japan. The empty house I visited on that job assignment was in the same part of the country, off the map deep in the hills. The book suggests the song might be a folk corruption of an old religious ritual. A ceremony to do with sleep –could it be connected to my dream somehow?'

'Locations… The Ceremony Room… I found a Buddha image similar to the one on the blood stained altar in an old book of folklore. The book suggested the image was a kind of memorial, used for offering live sacrifices. Is the image in the book the same as the one in the house? What was happening in there?'

'Missing in Minakami… The man who appeared in the photo is Masumi Makimura, who went missing three months ago near the Minakami Dam site. His fiancée went to look for him, and never came back. Many people have gone missing like this in the Minakami area and there are rumors that they have been spirited away.'

'People… Nico Robin… She promised to come by when I told her Kuina was dead. Maybe by working together with her, I can find a way escape from the manor.'

'Carpenters… In an old newspaper I found in Kuina's room was an article about shrine carpenters who have gone missing—about the same number in the photo.'

'Woman on All Fours… According to Luffy, there is an urban legend about someone similar. It's apparently based on a true story of a woman trapped by disaster. Was she someone who had gone missing too, like Yoshino Takigawa?'

He sighed as he got onto the bed before saying. "Listen if you're really here, Yoshino. I don't mind you hanging around, but I don't want you trying to be like those fucking ghosts in the dream. Got it? I'm going back into the dream now. So don't do anything stupid, just because you're a ghost now." With that he shut off the light and closed his eyes.

Hour 9: The Unleashing

Zoro woke up in what looked like a cage as he saw one of the shrine maidens bow to him and disappeared. He got up and went of the cage to find two doors only to see nothing but white and found himself where the sacred tree is. 'This is like… my daydream… on that day…' He thought as he walked over to the two doors are behind the tree, only to see one of the shrine maidens again. 'Definitely like the first time.' He thought as he reached to the doors.

Soon he was back in the present moment as he heard the voice and dodged the cleaver knife from hitting him. "Crap that was close!" He said as he got the camera up and started shooting until the priest was down. At that moment before the ghost went down, he saw something and headed over there.

~0~0~0~

He made his way to the four way hallway and headed to the entryway when saw and heard something fall, but he couldn't see what it was, but it startled him a bit. 'This place is so damn quiet…' He thought as he made it to the entryway.

He went through the grave mounds and into the hallway of the human columns, only to hear someone around the corner, and saw a priest. He followed, only to see something he hadn't seen before and heard a voice coming from inside.

"Rest here… as a corner stone."

This was followed by a gurgling sound of someone dying, slowly.

He took a deep breath and entered, seeing a dead, ghost priest on the floor. His camera shook and he took a shot of the dead priest. He then noticed a part of the floor that was out of place and found out it was a lid and lifted it up to see carpentry tools and a map with a mark on it. 'A map, finally.' He then noticed some writing on the back and read what it had to say.

'When the "Shrine of the Rift" fails to stop destruction, build the "Shrine of Sleep" and pray for the priestess to slumber. To keep the rift from opening into the outside world, the final command must be driven in where the "Shrine of the Rift" and the "Shrine of Sleep" connect.'

He then backtracked to where the sacred tree is and heard another priest talk about 'it cannot be unleashed' and attacked him, which he had to fight back with a camera. When that was done, he went up to the doors and stood there for a moment before his vision turned white.

He blinked and saw that he was standing on a platform of some kind, looking at some kind of shrine some good few feet away and went down the steps, only noticing something from the corner of his eye. He looked to see what looked like a man wearing white before turning away before he could make out his face. He then looked ahead to see that the shrine ahead of him looked exactly like the one in his daydream… the one where Kuina went in. He took only a few steps before his vision became white again.

~0~0~0~

He woke up gasping as the pain not only covered his back and chest, but now it's going down his legs. "S-Shit…" He said as it took longer to recover from the pain. "It's spreading more than before…" He took a deep breath to try to relax. "I must be… getting too deep into the dream now… So it goes faster… Killing me quicker…" He took another deep breath before getting up and getting dressed. Then he heard the phone ring from downstairs and rushed to answer it, seeing that Luffy would usually answer it after the second ring.

"Roronoa residence." He heard someone whimpering and crying. "Luffy?" Then he heard someone crying 'let me out!' and slammed the phone on its carrier. 'That call again?' He thought as he was about to walk away when the phone rang again. At first he wasn't sure if he should answer it or not, but he did anyway. "Roronoa residence." He said again.

"Hello, Roronoa-san, this is Nico Robin."

"Oh, hello."

"Did you have that dream again?"

"Y-Yeah…" He said when he heard the hysteric, yet faint crying while the woman was speaking.

"I think we should check the place again, we might be able to find something. I'll gather some folk legends and stories that I've gathered and come over. And from what I've read, it was called the 'Engraving Shrine'. I believe it has something to do with those tattoos. If we bring our information together, maybe we can put the pieces into place and figure out at least half of the story."

Zoro smiled and nodded. "Sounds great, Nico-san."

"Please, call me Robin, we're in this together now."

"Right." He said as they disconnected.

~0~0~0~

Later that evening, Zoro was looking over some of his notes when he got up and headed downstairs, grabbing the camera with him. He headed down the hall towards the bathroom when he saw bloody handprints on his mirror. He brought the camera up to see the rope eyed woman appear behind the mirror and took a picture, which thankfully did the trick as she and the hand prints disappeared.

"Fucking ghosts in my house…" He said as he walked back up the stairs. "I can't even take a crap knowing that ghost seems to stalk me." He headed up to Luffy's room, to make sure that he was okay.

Luffy looked up from his manga when Zoro entered. "Hey Zoro."

"Hey Luf, everything okay?"

"Yep, why you ask?"

"Oh no reason, I just think I may be losing my mind slowly."

Luffy giggled as he got up and went over to his desk. "I found out some things from those pictures you gave me." He said as he handed him a folder. "Here you go."

Zoro took a look and found a news article of the second girl from that one photograph with Nami.

'People Go Missing in Minakami… By last month, two people had gone missing in the Minakami dam area. Now yet another case has been reported. The police have been called in. The missing people are Tokyo resident Shizu Amakura (35) and her eldest daughter Nojiko (18). On summer vacation, Nojiko visited the village near the dam with her sister, Nami (18). The two went missing one week earlier, but recently Nami was found alone, collapsed in the middle of the forest. She was taken to the hospital, and though there was nothing wrong with her physically, due to extreme fatigue she is not in a condition to talk. The police are waiting for her to recover before questioning her.'

'Nojiko… I know how it feels to lose a big sister… And this was published two months ago. Shit, we're not that far apart when it comes to losing people.' He thought as he looked at the other thing about the twin girls.

'Twin Deification… Some of the villages in the mountain region practice a folk religion rite that deifies twins born in the villages as priestesses. It is called the "Twins Ceremony". When twins born in the village reach a certain age (most commonly 15 years) they are dressed in white. Then as priestesses, they are joined by a red cord and conduct a séance. This "red cord" is said to represent the twins as one person, and in the region it is a custom to believe that "when the twins become one, they have the power of the gods." This rite is supposed to protect the village from calamity, and it is also supposed to bless them with a bountiful harvest.'

'So that's what the cord means…' He thought as he looked at the other. "Thanks Luffy, these are a huge help."

Luffy smiled. "Glad to hear it!"

Zoro ruffled the boy's head. "You're always a great help, don't you forget it."

Luffy blushed as he laughed, a truthful laugh. "Zoro's being silly, that's good!"

Zoro smiled a bit more as he patted the other's shoulder. "I'll see you in the morning then."

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, see ya."

With that, Zoro exited the room and headed to his sister's room. 'I wonder if she did anything that went this far? Surely there can be some clues.' He thought as he found some papers on the desk and found out some notes.

'The Manor of Sleep… "The Manor of Sleep" is an urban legend that was whispered among those in psychiatry, about hospitalized patients suddenly disappearing. There are several stages to it, and it progresses like a sickness.

1. Having the same dream… The patients (who later go missing) first see the same dream every day, usually about dead lovers or family.

2. Dreaming of the manor… Next the patients dream about wandering into a large manor. It is a huge, snowy, Japanese-style house. It is laid out haphazardly, as though many extensions were added. Then, deep in the manor, one discovers their dearly departed.

3. Preceding deeper into the Manor… Patients follow the dead deeper into the Manor. Most patients find the same scenes and phenomenon along the way. For example, "hearing a lullaby", "seeing a masked funeral march", or "being pursued by a tattooed woman".

4. Hallucinations while awake… At this stage, the patient complains of abnormalities of the body while awake. The symptoms are common to all patients, and when they wake they feel a sharp pain and see a growing blue bruise or snake-like tattoo.

5. Decrease in waking hours… At this stage, the patient's response to external stimulation grows weaker. The time spent in sleep also slowly increases. From a medical viewpoint, this is a "defensive reaction to pain," so if the patients are actually in pain, it is a normal response.

6. Missing, vanishing… Then, 1 to 2 months after the first stage, the patient goes "missing". "Missing" is the official term. It is said the patient actually "vanishes, leaving only a black soot-like mark".

The above mentioned is the original "Manor of Sleep" urban legend, but the popular legend is more story-like and includes the following elements:

1. Strong feelings for the dead summon the first nightmare.

2. Once you follow the deceased in the dream you can no longer return.

3. If the sleeping person dreams of a lover or friend, it will beckon that person into sleep. The Manor of Sleep "disease" spreads thusly.

4. Deep in the Manor of Sleep is the world of the dead, and if you make it you can meet the deceased there.'

He looked at the notes before him as he read the symptoms of what he experienced. 'I've experienced the first four, but have yet reached the fifth stage…' He thought when he thought about Luffy. 'And it looks like Luffy's in the same condition as I am, but doesn't show it.' He looked at the other things and sighed. "A close bond to the deceased… I know Luffy was really close to Ace…" He looked at the desk and saw a framed picture of him and his sister when they were kids. "Kuina…" He smiled sadly. "Luffy and I are no different when it comes to our older siblings… And Nami… she lost her older sister as well…" He looked at the last bits of information and that is what worries him. "Following the dead… and you might never come back… is it… worth it?"

He placed the notebook back onto the desk and left the room to go into his own room and shut off the light.

Hour 10: The Piercing of Soul

Robin blinked to find herself outside the door where she entered to get to Nami, but now she would have to find a different way to get to the girl and headed to the kimono room, which she saw the woman go through the door and prepared to fight her in the small room.

Once she was in, she lets herself be known and took awhile as she dodged flying hair and frontal assaults from the ghost woman. Eventually though she got the ghost woman and found a key dropped from the woman, as well as an earring of some sort. She placed both items in her pocket and headed to the other door and walked down the steps to a small door with the lock similar to the key.

She unlocked the door and entered, only to see a well there, but her camera was shaking and she took a picture of it anyway. She was about to head out when she heard a cry of a baby coming from the well and waited until it stopped, and exited the room.

She then made her way to where the sacred tree is and headed towards the doors that she knew Zoro had unlocked. 'Beyond these doors is what everyone fears to bring out and believed to be sealed for all time…' She thought. 'But maybe… just maybe I can find Nami somewhere there and snap her out of this.' She pushed the doors open and entered through.

~0~0~0~

The first thing she noticed when she stepped into the new area, as that the atmosphere is heavier, almost suffocating and weighing her down. 'What is this…? It's like a miasma…' She thought as she walked down the steps and looked around the area before finding a building with a bar across it. 'We may need all the available passages as we need.' She removed the bar and entered, only to recognize the area from the last time she had the dream. 'I guess I'm not too far off.' She headed to where she knew the stairs were when she heard some bells behind her and looked back to see no one, but she saw something that wasn't there before and saw that it was the pinwheel disc. She put it in her pocket and headed up the stairs, opened the door and found herself in a familiar surroundings, but the miasma made things a tad difficult than before. 'It seems that after we allowed the miasma to come in, everything gets affected.'

She walked out of the small hallway when she saw the butterfly again. 'You're back I see…' She thought as she followed the fluttering insect back out to the sunken fireplace room and went up the stair to the twin's room.

When she got there she looked around the room and found a door with the same lock for the pinwheels and worked with the puzzle until she heard the unlocking sound. She entered to find a huge room filled with books and found one that caught her eye.

'The Unleashing Tome… The priestess' pain is reflected in the Mirror of Loss. The commandment must be placed upon the priestess' empty eyes. If tattoos should enter her eyes, the empty eyes will become mirrors and all of her pain shall be unleashed. If the commandments break, and the priestess awakes, the gates will open and the Rift shall spill forth from the Chamber of Thorns. The Rift which spills forth will pass through dreams into the world, and love shall be consumed by torment.'

She continued to find another book.

'Mirror of Loss Tome… Once the tattooed priestess' ritual duty has finished, the door to the other shore must be opened with the mirror which can reflect her pain. The Mirror of Loss which reflects this pain shall be placed in the Shrine of Loss. She must break it with her own hands and cast her love away. The tattooed priestess casts away her love and takes the Last Passage deep into the Abyss, where she will be hidden in the Chamber of Thorns to sleep for all eternity.'

She continued to walk to find another book that caught her attention.

'Purifying Light Tome… When the Last Passage is opened, the Rift is filled with a miasma. The darkness is filled with the miasma casts the world into eternal night. In this eternal night, the souls of the living shine brightly, and attract all manner of unspeakable things. Use the purifying light to light the darkness. The blue flame glimmers faintly in the darkness and purifies the miasma.'

She continued to look around, seeing that these books may be a great resource to bring to Zoro, and found another book that caught her attention.

'The Tearing Tome… That tattooed priestess who cannot enter the sleep of no regrets must be stripped of her tattoos and sent to the other shore. The removed tattoo must then be enshrined in the tranquility of the stone shrine, and the lullaby must be sung to pray for an end to the pain. The tattooed priestess who will not sleep, who cannot endure the pain, will be enshrouded in misery and cast into the Rift.'

She then headed up stairs and the camera began to shake a little as she went around the folding screen to find a little girl on the cloth and took a picture of her, which the girl soon disappeared. She then found something lying on the cloth and found a candle. She picked it up and the flame suddenly went on by itself, causing the miasma to lift. "So this must be the purifying light…" She said as she can easily see the area now and went up to the sliding screen doors and found herself outside on the roof.

She saw someone walking on the roof on the other building and judged the distance from where she stood to the other roof before jumping. She landed onto the other roof and walked carefully around until she found another way into the building using the sliding doors and entered.

She found herself in another attic room before taking the stairs down and saw that she had to go across some beams that were above a room. She carefully balanced herself as she walked across the beams before hearing voices, which she wasn't able to make out, but she looked down to see a person, lying on some table, in a room that seemed to be veiled for some reason. 'What is this room?' She thought as she made her way to find a ladder to go down on.

~0~0~0~

When she got to the ground, she noticed that the person was nowhere to be found in the small room with the platform for a table, and she saw two platforms on either wall that had a cloth with needles sticking out of it. 'It looks like there's a body under the cloth…' She thought as she looked around to find a tome.

'Piercing of the Soul Tome… If the feelings of loss for those who crossed to the other side begin to spill into dreams, they shall bring great trouble to this world. Those feelings of loss must be etched into the priestess as tattoos in the Piercing of the Soul. The tattooed priestess who has been engraved with the pain shall then bear that pain to her sleep and calm the troubles of this world.'

After reading that, she looked at the altar to see something about it before the camera shook and saw two of the needle handed, rope eyed women. She had a time fighting the two, but when she finally got the last one, she walked out of the room and found herself in front of the shrine that was facing the doors that she entered from earlier before she felt becoming conscious.

~0~0~0~

Zoro woke up and looked around his room as he sighed. "Just what was that?" He asked as he got dressed and saw the camera vibrated. 'Why do I have to do the photo development? Robin has the same camera… Oh wait, I have the surviving camera.' He thought as he grabbed the camera and was about to head out when he heard rattling and looked to see that his mug was rattling on the table for a moment before it stopped. He sighed and walked out of the room and headed downstairs, where he saw Luffy, but he can see the other wasn't himself. "Luffy?"

The other took longer to respond as the teen looked up. "Oh… Morning Zoro…"

'This is definitely not like him.' He thought as he walked up to him. "You okay, Luffy?"

"So tired… So cold…"

He didn't like to see the other like this. "Luffy, I have to develop something right quick, I'll make us breakfast this time, okay?"

"Okay…" He said as his eyes seem to lose their shine. Completely different from what he had witnessed last night.

'What happened? Did he stay up that night, fearing the dream? Or… did the dream make him think too much?' He saw how tired the other was and decided that it wasn't the latter and went to develop the film.

~0~0~0~

That evening Zoro walked out of his room from changing when he heard the other sing the lullaby. He noticed a lot of things wrong with his friend, and he tried everything to cheer him up, but it was like he's losing the fight, and badly. He started to walk down to talk to the other again, only to see the shrine maiden standing next to him before disappearing. When that happened, Luffy stopped singing and looked over as if nothing had happened.

"Zoro? What's wrong?"

"Luffy… Tell me the truth… Is everything really okay with you?"

Luffy sighed as he looked out of the glass pane doors to the pouring rain. "No Zoro… I'm not really okay…" He said. "The truth is… I never really got over Ace's death. You see… I was supposed to go with him, that night he stayed over at that mansion… I-I was scared of that place, I didn't like how it felt… But he went in anyway…" He took a deep breath. "If I hadn't been so afraid…"

"Luffy…" He said as he wrapped his arms around him. "Luffy… if you were gone as well, I wouldn't be able to handle all of this..." He sighed. "I feel so responsible for her death that sometimes I don't feel like I deserve to live. But Ace trusted me to look after you, and that, to me, is my only reason to keep going, even with this guilt."

"Zoro…" He said softly as he wrapped his arms around the other's that embraced him. "I guess we can never get over it, can we?"

"I wouldn't say never… but it certainly feels wrong to pretend like it never happened."

"We never did that though…" He said softly. "We're trying to make each other better so that we can make each other heal, but… It's not something to simply plaster over with, because it will always be there."

Zoro wasn't sure what to say as he held the other close, as if afraid the other would disappear if he let go. That's when he noticed just how cold the other was, almost like ice.

"We better try to get some sleep." Luffy said as he gently removed the other's arms around him. "I'm having a bit of an off day, I'm sorry that I made you worry. But thank you for talking to me, I feel a little better."

"Yeah… No problem." He said, unsure what to do at this point.

"So… Are there any new pictures you want me to look at?"

"Are you sure?"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, it helps keep me focus on the now. Because I'm with Zoro now, and helping you out is my way of keeping my eyes on today, not the past."

Zoro managed a smile as he went over to the counter, where he placed the photos to make breakfast that morning. "Here's two new ones." He said as he handed them to the other. "You're not nervous about this at all?"

"A little… But in a way it's good… finding things out that no one thought of it before or able to put the pieces together. It's like a mystery, and that's pretty cool, right?"

Zoro nodded. "Yeah…" He said as he started to ruffle the other's hair, but turned more like petting before he brought his hand to cup the other's face. "But don't be afraid to tell me you want to stop looking things up if you're scared, okay?"

Luffy smiled a bit. "I think we're beyond that at this point."

Zoro knew that was true… more than true. With that they headed to bed, unsure what to expect from tonight's nightmare.

Hour 11: The Last Passage

Luffy blinked as he found out that he had been standing in the room since the last time he dreamed. He looked up to see that the cage was still there with the person inside it. 'Looks like he hasn't woken up yet. I can get there if I reach the second level.' He thought as he made his way out of the room and up the stairs to hear voices from behind the veil, which he found out that they were open now and he looked to see that no one was inside. He did, however, find a book on a desk.

'One of the handmaidens led a man who came to offer his pain into the Kuze shrine, and so the tattoos have entered the priest's eyes, and the doors to the Chamber of Thorns have opened. We should never have let a man enter the shrine. No matter who it was, we should have never have engraved the priest's empty eyes. Now that I have felt the pain of the holly as well, even I am not allowed outside. Before the Rift that has spilled forth from the Kuze Shrine spreads any further, we must find a way to shut the shrine within the Rift. We must summon shrine carpenters, and seal the Kuze Shrine. Many sacrificial pillars will be required. We should have cast that man away. Just as we did that male scholar who wandered here.'

He went out in time to see a ghost of a man walking up the steps and he followed to find shelves of books and went to the back to see the small altar. He went up close to it and saw a little girl and knew where to go. 'So far away though…' He thought as he knew he didn't have to choice but to go and find that girl.

~0~0~0~

He made his way to where the sacred tree is, went through the two large doors, and headed over to the building next to the shrine. When he entered, he heard the girl singing the lullaby and remembered where to go from where he was.

After going through the twin's room, up the stairs with the shelves of books, he found the girl there as she disappeared, leaving behind the tome.

'Commandment Tome… The chosen maiden is put onto the Boat of Passing. The boat sways as it is sent to the Kuze Shrine. The Living flesh is cut, the tattoos etched in. Pain of the Holly shall be sealed within her. All her love shall be interred into a mirror. This she must break, shatter herself. Her attachments to this world must be broken. The Piercing of the Soul thus concludes. Impale her with the stake of tattoos. The Rite of Commandment must be conducted. Sleeping undisturbed for eternity. Dreaming the endless dream of the Rift. Enclosed, entombed in her Chamber of Thorns. She shall continue to feel the Pain of the Holly for all time.'

He head back to where he found the altar and proceeded to climb up the ladder, where he saw a small door there and entered through to see a room divided by screens and the lights were flickering. 'This place isn't too creepy…' He thought as he walked around, only to come across the rope eyed woman, took a few shots and she disappeared, leaving him to find a different door and entered through that.

He found the cage, but the person in it was missing. 'Must left behind some clue though…' He thought as he went around until he found the door to the cage and entered to find a mirror and a diary.

'My father, my mother, my sister… Everyone has gone to the other side. I have been left all by myself. Just like that time when I couldn't go with Kaname. An escort came from the Kuze Shrine. Those who know the pain of loss of loved ones become priestesses, and by surrendering their flesh can save many people who know the same pain. But, once you become a priestess and have the pain of the holly engraved into you, you can't leave the shrine. The entire village is gone. Father, mother, my sister, everyone. I am the sole survivor. There is nothing left for me. If it's decided that I can never see them again, then that means that I can sleep for all of eternity. Although I am a man, I am accepted to be a priest to bear the responsibility. I can save others with the same pain.'

'This person lost everyone too…' He thought as he heard a girl's voice and turned to see the girl, Amane.

"Put the mirror in the shrine." She said before she disappeared.

"The shrine…?" He said as he remembered the one dream where it was someone else, that room with the needles in the cloth that covered the bodies. He took a deep breath and walked out of the doors in the room and found that he was back in the kimono room when he heard another girl's voice, but this wasn't Amane, but she wasn't attacking him. With that he made his way to the sacred tree, where he saw the other two girls, but left them be as he reached to the doors leading to the hidden shrine and ran to the doors of the shrine ahead of him, but he saw that he wasn't alone as another priest like ghost was there, and his camera shook and knew he had to fight the ghost to place the mirror at the stand.

It took a while, but he got the ghost down and he headed up to the altar to place the mirror on the stand, and heard something coming from the small area that held the table like platform.

He went up and found out he can enter the small room and saw that the area was where the tattooing was taking place, seeing that there was ink and needles around. He turned to the door behind him and entered to see stairs leading down until he saw two doors with talismans on them. But before he could open them as well, his vision became white.

~0~0~0~

"No one will survive… No one…"

He blinked to see that he was in an underground area with a spiraling staircase made of logs and started to go down. It took him awhile until he heard voices of the shrine maidens, two bitter and one confused and sad. He could see candles at the bottom of the large pit, but as he reached to the ground, he saw the girl he known as Amane, impaled to the ground. "Amane…" He said as he saw the other three appear and he knew they were going to hurt him next and he fought back.

Once he dealt all three of them, he looked to where there was only a blood pool remain of Amane before he reached to the next set of doors and opened them to see a walk way over the water and followed that until he saw someone walking ahead of him and he could hear Amane's voice as the man in the kimono turned to his brother, Ace.

"Onii-san?" He said, surprised as he started to run. "Onii-san!" He cried out. "Don't go! I'm sorry!" He reached the doors, before blacking out. "I'll go there with you too…"

~0~0~0~

Zoro woke up, fear clearly shown in his expression. "Luffy!" He called out as he jumped out of bed, ran to the door, opened it, and ran to the room to look at the teen, curled up at the foot of the bed. He was breathing hard as the other didn't look up. "Luffy?"

"Zoro… We're going to die… aren't we?"

Zoro walked a couple steps and was about to say something when he saw the last thing he wants to see on the other. He saw the red and purple tattoos on his body. "Luffy… how long has this been going?"

"About the same time as you…" He said without looking up. "I understand now… These tattoos… they symbolize my punishment for living… for being scared while Ace went there all alone…"

"Luffy…" He said as he crawled next to him and held him tight. "Don't you remember what I said earlier?" He said as he brushed the other's bangs away from his face. "We can get through this together. Everything is going to be okay. I swear." He saw the other nod. "Remember Luffy, I'm here. You're not alone in this at all."

Luffy curled up more against the other and returned the embrace. "Thank you…"

Zoro was even more worried about the other as he felt that he was going to lose his dear friend. But he didn't want to think about that and waited until the other was fast asleep before tucking the other in and quietly returning to his own room and slept.

~0~0~0~

Luffy blinked to find that he was back at the mansion where his brother went and felt dread and guilt. "I don't want this dream anymore…" He said as he walked to the fish tank room, and he saw his brother on the other side of the room. "Ace…" He said as he followed until he found himself back at the horrible room and fought the stretched out woman. When he got rid of her, he was about to go back to forget about going further. "This is stupid… I have to go back…" He said as he saw his brother enter the other door in the room. "Ace…" And then he was torn to what to do. "Ace…" He turned and walked over to the door that his brother went into and pushed it open.

He saw a hallway of Shinto gates, though disorganized and looked like they survived a cave in, he looked ahead and saw his brother, walking a bit ahead of him. "Ace!" He called out as he went up a bit and only stopped to see that the other turned to face him. "Ace…" He said as he was able to see his brother's face again. Then he saw the other turn away from him and continued to walk further down. He felt like he was being left behind and started to run after the other, separating himself from Zoro who was shocked that it happened but he started chasing after the other.

Zoro called out, practically begged the other ahead of him to not go before he tripped and he shouted the words he wanted to say to the other. "Luffy! I love you!" He looked up to see the other stopped running and looked back to face him, but he saw a tattooed hand reach out to grab the teen's hand, which brought out the tattoos on his body as he looked to see who grabbed him and was shocked to see the person looked like Zoro with some differences. "Luffy!" He called out as he ran to the two before he saw the two disappear before his eyes, the younger reaching out to him and crying out his name.

~0~0~0~

He woke up with a start and he ran out of his room, ignoring the sudden pain from his tattoo, and headed to Luffy's door, only to see that it was ajar. He opened the door and gasped at the sight of the four shrine maidens there over Luffy's still body. "Get away from him!" He shouted as he entered the room and held the teen close to him. When he looked up, the shrine maidens were gone and he looked at the other in his arms. "Luffy…" He said as he saw the other was still breathing, but his skin was still cold and he held the other close to him as he cried.

~0~0~0~

Sometime later in the afternoon, he was sitting in a chair besides Luffy's bed and just stared lifelessly at the still yet breathing teen before him before he heard the door bell ring. He slowly looked up, eyes red from crying, and got up.

He walked to the entry way, only to see that his guest, Nico Robin, let herself in using the spare key that his sister gave to her sometime back. He can see that she knew what was wrong as he guided her up to the room and she looked over the teen as he leaned up against the door.

"How long has it been?"

He shook his head as she looked back at the teen on the bed as he slid down to the floor.

"Zoro-san?"

"I can't take it anymore…" He said has he placed one hand over his eyes and his shoulders shook. "We're… going to die… aren't we?"

She didn't know what to say do that as she looked at the teen and remembered all the things her dear friend, Kuina told her about him since Ace and Kuina were also good friends as well. She managed to convince the other to join her to the living room, where they sat on the couch in heavy silence.

She then brought out some books and took a look at one before her face lit up and looked at the other. "Zoro-san, there's still hope!"

He looked at her slowly. "What?"

She handed him a book, which was the Commandment Tome as she explained. "This is a book written by a scholar of folklore named Akito Kashiwagi about the 'Sleeping Priestess', but the same material appears in this book as well."

'Legend of Song 2… After extensive research on the Mutsu lullaby "The Sleeping Priestess," lyrics were discovered that appear to be even closer to the original. The following includes thoughts on how the song came about, as well as its meaning.

"The Sleeping Priestess: Verse One"… Sleep, child. Lie in peace. Sleep, child. Lie in peace. If you cry the boat you'll ride. The last trip to the other side. Once you get there. Sacred marks you'll bear they shall be peeled off. Should you fail to lie still.

The words "Lie in Peace" in this version of the song seem to connote death, rather than sleep. The worlds "sacred marks" may be related to the area's legend of the "Tattoo Master." Perhaps in the original religious song, it expressed a meaning of "engraving a tattoo."

"The Sleeping Priestess: Verse Two"… Sleep, child. Lie in peace. Sleep, child. Lie in peace. If the priestess wakes from her dream. Perform the rite of stakes. Her limbs pinned tight. Lest the doors open wide. And suffering unleashed on all.

After researching various oral traditions, there was found to remain here the vestiges of a spirit world faith of sending the spirits of the dead to the "sea" - - despite the fact that it is in the mountains. This "sea" may signify the "underworld." If the "doors" are taken as the doors to the Other World, then "Lest the doors open wide/And suffering unleashed on all" seems to connote that if the doors to the Other World open, some disaster will occur. This song may have originally related to a ceremony that protected the gate to the Other World. The combination of elements such as the title "The Sleeping Priestess," the priestess "waking," sleep, and laying to sleep, juxtaposed with the word "to pin," leads the meaning of the priestess being "aided to sleep"; in other words, "to be put to sleep". A sacrificial property can thus be read into the song.

Following is a diagram found in regional documents, combined with the legend that seems to be based on ceremony and religion. In the center of the illustration, there is a small shrine where "Engraving Shrine" is written. The part of the song about "tattoo" leads credence to the theory that the song may have been sung there. Deep in the "Engraving Shrine" there is a vast sea (the underworld), and the shrine is drawn as a boundary between This shore and The Other Shore. The lore accompanying the diagram is as follow.

…Break fresh skin. Engrave the Holly. Impale the tattoo stake. Subdue for Eternity. To sleep in the rift…

Like the song lyrics, the lore can also be read as having the same human sacrifice-like aspect of "Impale. Subdue. And Sleep."'

"How will this help?" He asked.

"Both books indicated the "Rite of Commandment" or "Rite of Stakes". By 'impaling the priestess with the tattoo stake,' you 'subdue for eternity'. The 'doors' could refer to the 'gates of hell'. And now, for some reason, they have been open."

"I was the one to open the doors…" Zoro said dully.

"I know that, but if we can impale the priest's limbs with the 'Tattoo Stakes' then we may be able to put him to rest… These stakes seem to be special for the ceremonial use and could be anywhere in the mansion…"

"Impale…"

"I remember Kuina said that she had found a tape with the song recorded on it… You wouldn't happen to know about it?"

"A tape? She usually never tells me things about this, but I think it may be in her room." He said as he got up. "I'll go see." He said as he went up and looked to find a package addressed to Robin. He also saw a notebook with it and decided to read it.

' "The Sleeping Priestess"… This song is thought to be the original of Northeastern Japan's lullaby, "The Sleeping Priestess". It was found in a gramophone at a local university, and I had it sent to me. I listened to it, but the first and second verses are slightly different from today's "Sleeping Priestess". This was thought to be due to differences in the period and area where the song was transmitted. Further, a major difference is that there is also a "Third Verse". I have to look into it more, but it seems that the mood changes from the first two verses to the third. I wrote the lyrics as I heard them.

"The Sleeping Priestess: Third Verse"… Go to the other side. Go to the other side. Cast the boat. Take a ride. Cross the rift to the other side. Further and further to the other side, it must sail bearing your tattoos. And our suffering of tears.

The first and second verses are littered with frightening words, but the third verse is more melancholy. In particular, the ending of the song seems less like a lullaby than something sung at a funeral.'

He headed out of the room and handed the tape to Robin.

"Thank you, I'll look into this. This just maybe a clue."

~0~0~0~

Evening fell and Zoro, still feeling broken and numb as he filled out what he had learned so far.

'People… Luffy… He's gone… He was about to follow Ace when he had heard me. But then he was taken away by that tattooed priest.'

'Tattooed Priest… A ceremony took place inside the shrine to etch his body with the tattoo. Is it true what the old book say, that she was etched with Holly to take on people's pain and suffering? Could this nightmare be his Holly?'

'A Man Named Kaname… A diary was left in the prison where the shrine maiden was kept. In it were recorded her thoughts and feelings. The name Kaname was written there. The brother's name in the diary of the girl dressed as a shrine maiden was Kaname too. Did he go to see him? Did he go inside the shrine?'

'Begging for Help… The shrine maiden with plaited hair who called out to Luffy for help. She was hiding on the third floor of the library deep within the manor, crying and calling her brother's name…'

'Location… The Hidden Shrine… The area around the sealed shrine was full of evil air. Now that the door is opened, the air has escaped and entered the manor. The seal as been broken, and there is no turning back now. Carved into the altar inside the shrine are the words "Offer up the Mirror Etched with the Holly of the Priestess".'

'The Library Altar… On the second floor of the reed screen room was a library full of old books. There was one shelf with an altar on it. Something must once have been displayed there. Carved into the shelf were the words: "Offer up the Commandment Tome Written in the Ink of Tattoo". '

He placed the notebook down and went to bed and shut off the light.

Hour 12: The Ceremony of Commandment

Robin opened her eyes to find herself standing on the pebbled path to the hidden shrine. 'No matter what happens, it'll be over soon.' She thought as she went up the steps, opened the doors and saw the sacred tree before walking out, only to see and sense that the tattooed priest was there. 'Zoro-san told me that he took Luffy forcefully. I wonder why?' She thought as she ran to get away from him which was easy. 'Seems like he never did sleep well…' She found herself finding the small door that leads to the one red room. She went up to the small altar and opened the small doors to reveal an impaling stake, but it wouldn't come out until she realized that she has to do another puzzle with the candles. 'Interesting.'

She was able to solve the puzzle and took the stake out. "One down, three more to go." She said as the camera shook. "Of course…" She turned in time to see one of the shrine maidens try to hammer her. She was able to defeat the ghost and headed to the next red room across the way. 'If I remember where the other two red rooms are, I can get all those stakes and go deeper into the hidden shrine to subdue the Tattooed Priest once and for all.' She thought as she got the second stake and headed up to the kimono room.

Once she entered, she saw the woman again and fought with her. Once she got the woman ghost, she found a piece of paper from the diary and read what it says.

'Akito hasn't come back. Everyone disappears from the manor, leaving me behind. I'm always the one who is left here, combing my hair impatiently. No matter how much I comb my hair, no matter how much I concentrate my feelings, he never returns. Could it be that the earring , the child, neither of them will convey my love to him?'

She exited the room and made her way to the ceremonial room that Luffy found with the human like sacks and lifted the lid on the floor to get down onto the under floor path to the third red room to get the third stake. Once she has it, she went back, only to encounter the rope eyed woman and fought with her for a while before she disappeared.

Once the ghost was gone, she headed back to the kimono room, took the stairs down to get to the four way hallways and headed to where the grave mounds are. She entered through the door and made her way to the small door, up the stairs and found a dresser blocking the door. 'Now this won't do.' She thought as she shoved it aside and entered through the door. 'Where was that last red room?' She opened the door to see she was outside, and carefully walked on the roof tiles to the other platform to find another room with a scrap of paper on the floor.

'The manor has been closed off due to the Unleashing, yet I'm not allowed to go outside. I wonder if I'm destined to remain in solitude forever. I can already only remember his face vaguely. That picture he left, that last earring he left, I left them all back in the manor. It's all so hazy now, it seems like it was all a dream. I at least wanted him to just see my hair.'

She looked around the room to find one part of the floor that's out of place and found that it was a lid to cover the ladder leading down. She took the ladder and found herself in the sunken fireplace room. But she felt the camera shake and saw the woman from the kimono room once more. 'Honestly…' She thought as she fought the woman once more and after that was dealt with, she headed to the ladder with the platform on it and entered through the door. She walked across the room to find the stairs leading down and found the last red room to get the stake.

"I got them all now…" She said as she made her way back to where the sacred tree is, opened the doors to the Rift, entered the other shrine and followed the path Luffy took last before facing another priest ghost before she got to open the doors.

~0~0~0~

'What? But Luffy…' She thought as she found herself, not on the path over the water, but a yard away from a different shrine. 'This must be where Tattooed Priest was laid to rest…' She thought as she held the stake in her hand. 'Almost now…' She walked up to the stone doors and saw that one of them was open.

She entered through, not able to see anything for a moment before feeling her body becoming heavy. 'What's going on?' She thought as she moved forward more before her eyes adjusted and saw bodies, tattooed bodies of women impaled everywhere around the room before turning to see a lone lantern on the only tattooed male in the room. She walked up, stake ready to impale first until the lantern showed that the man is still impaled. "How…?" She started to say when she saw the stakes on him lift up and off of his limbs. She was going to run back to escape, but the open stone door closed, leaving her in darkness.

~0~0~0~

Zoro woke up and jumped out of bed, ran out of his room and ran down the stairs and looked at the couch, only to see that Robin was there, covered in purple and blue tattoos. "Robin…" He said as he went up to see that she's still breathing… for now. He looked to see that the bag she brought was open and he pulled out her notebook and started to look through.

'I examined the lyrics of the third verse of "The Sleeping Priestess". It may be some kind of clue. Below are possible meanings besides "impaling the tattoo stake". Maybe the lyrics in the third verse don't mean "to make sleep" but rather "to send off" the Priestess. These lyrics certainly fit with the "Funeral Song" Kuina was talking about. They practice an ancient spirit world religion over there. At the Kuze Family mountain, it's said there is a sacred area called the Sea of Endless Night. On a certain map is drawn a huge sea-like area behind the Manor. Maybe it represents the other world. Could that be where the priestess is "relinquished"?'

He then found an old cassette tape and placed them both back in the bag and brought it up to his room to look over later.

The rest of the day was far too quiet for him. He made sure that Robin was comfortable on the couch, but the tattoos were a reminder that she's now in a deep sleep while she's somewhere trapped in the dream world. He noticed that she was holding something tight in her hands but he didn't bother to pry them open to see. In fact he didn't care what she had in her hand because it probably wouldn't matter. He also made sure that Luffy was comfortable as well, but the house was just too damn quiet for him. He's all alone with a cat that's gone into hiding and two people that are at death's door for all he knew.

Soon evening fell and he finally got around to listen to the old tape he found in Robin's bag.

'Yes, I'm Kaname, Kaname Ototsuki. …Snow was falling, there was a big manor, and inside it there was an old shrine… I could hear singing… He's in there… Kisho's in there. No, further in. It was much deeper… darker… like somewhere underwater… No, I'm talking about my dream. But it was a very vivid dream. It was lifelike… I've heard there was a place like that in the village where I was found… A place… where you can meet the dead… Like a rift… to the other side… There… is a shrine there… where you can offer up your pain… Huh? Yes! That's right. Kuze… The Kuze Shrine. There, Kisho… accepted… the tattoos… the pain… and in the end… I must go back. To the manor… I've got to see Kisho. If I see him… I don't know what I'll do… but, if I don't go… he'll…'

'Kaname… the man that entered the shrine? He sounds… like Luffy… only a bit older…' He thought. 'Could… could that ghost mistaken Luffy for this guy?' That's when he heard the radio he found a couple days ago start to act up. "The spirit radio?" He said as he went up and took it. 'I could hear a voice… Where could it be coming from?'

He walked out of his room to hear something coming from Luffy's room. He entered and looked up to see the sound was coming from another attic. 'That's right… Kuina used that room a lot as her office when she's trying to fool people to thinking she wasn't home. I haven't been up there since…' He sighed as he grabbed the chair, got the lid to come down, guided the ladder down to the floor, and climbed up to see the office where he could hear the voice coming from the corner. As he came near it, a ghostly figure of a man appeared, his back facing him before disappearing. 'He… He looks like the Tattooed Priest… without the tattoos…' He thought as he looked around the room and found a book about the tattoos.

' "Master and Snake"… The following is deeper speculation on the meaning of the tattoo design, "Holly and Snake" as in the Northeastern Japanese folktale "The Tattoo Master". Based on new research, a further change in the story was confirmed.

"The Tattoo Master (2)"… The girl who lost her lover goes to the mountain to confide in the Master about the pains in her heart. Upon hearing the girl's story, the Master engraves a tattoo on the girl. After that day, the girl dreams of the man. But then she falls in love with someone else. The tattooed dream becomes a nightmare, and the tattoo aches severely. The suffering girl goes to visit the Master again to see if she cannot remove the tattoos. The Master washes off the tattoos with water that gushes forth from a mountain spring. As she does this, the snake swims into the water and disappears deep into the spring. The meaning of the tattoo is essentially the same here, but the end of the story is very different: neither the girl who has her tattoos washed off, nor the Master, dies. Here the mountain and water spirit properties of the "snake" are clearly expressed, and it is likely a popularized version of the story that incorporates a happy ending. This is a very interesting legend in which all the properties of the "snake" appear – including "mountain and water spirit, envy and pathos".'

He then turned his attention to a box in the corner of the room and dug through until he got the earring, in which the voice silenced. He found a book describing what it might mean.

' "The Other World"… I'm solicitating test subjects for my research on dreams as the border between life and death. It was difficult to find someone who could speak clearly about their dreams, but I found someone who seemed to know of the "Other World". The man has had the same dream for several months now in a row. The dream is as I describe below.

1. He first notices he is standing before a small snow-covered shrine.

2. He has seen the shrine before, but only vaguely remembers it. He has, however, heard of a shrine like it in his hometown.

3. From deep within the shrine he hears the voice of the girl he left behind.

4. Beckoned by the voice, each day he goes a little further into his dream shrine.

Up to this point, this is a plausible dream generated from the desire for home and love. Next is where his statement becomes interesting.

5. An ancient ceremony is held there, and one can meet the deceased.

6. There is a huge cave deep in the shrine, and a river flows there. There is a large pit, and the base of it is the sea.

This statement is clearly about the "Other World", particularly the "Underworld". According to his story there is a legend in his hometown about the Other World and dreams, and much of his dream congrues with it. I recorded his talk on his dreams for four days, complied below.

He is from the Mutsu region, where they have an ancient legend about a sea called the "Sea of Endless Night" that exist in the mountains. There they have many legend related to dreams. For example, dreams are called "the Rift" and traverse "the border between the Other World and the real world." If you continue to have nightmares, the deceased apparently return from the underworld.

The shrine exist in order to prevent the nightmares. There resides a priestess who sleeps in the Rift and will take on the nightmare. The voice he hears may be that of the priestess that sleeps in the shrine of the Other World, communicating the existence of "the Rift".

The morning after the day I recorded his testimonial on the gramophone, he suddenly disappeared, leaving behind his luggage. Did he go to see the woman from his hometown? The earring he left is made of "Echo Stone" and since ancient times has been said to communicate thought. Perhaps I can use it to modify the Crystal Receiver.'

After that he headed to his sister's room and just sat on the bed, in deep thought about the whole thing. He thought about the night of the accident, seeing his sister dead before him. He felt the sneering pain on his back as the tattoo spread even more. "Kuina... Robin… Ace… Luffy…" He whispered as he started to lose hope. "Am I going to be next? Kuina?"

After awhile he headed back to his own room, where he saw Yoshino under his desk. He didn't react as he stared at her before she crawled under his bed while disappearing. 'Am I going to end up like her?' He thought as he just headed to bed and turned off the light.

Hour 13: Calling of the Tattoo

"I have to know, Kuina. Am I meant to be alive? Please let me see her so I… I…"

He blinked to find himself at the entry way as he looked to see the four way hallways. He walked up to hear a voice, similar to his own but different at the same. He took a right and entered the room to find the door that leads to the one with the veiled room where he saw the ghost of his double.

"I will shatter my memories. …these shards, these pieces of me…"

He walked over where the ghost stood and saw a mirror fragment, with something etched on the side.

'My longing… my memory…'

He picked it up and made his way to where the sacred tree is, where he heard the voice again.

"… I never wanted to leave you… I wanted to be with you… I'm here. I'll always be here…"

He found a small box containing another fragment piece of the mirror, again with something etched on the side.

'… I wanted us to be together again…'

'I may understand this ghost if I collect these pieces… And then what?' He thought. He picked a random route, only to find himself in the projector room and heard the voice and saw the ghost again.

"I can feel… so many people… etched into me. So many voices… pain. Please don't forget me…"

He went over to where he stood and picked up another piece.

'… All my pain… my longing…'

He picked another direction and found himself in the cage room where Luffy found and saw the ghost again.

"…again… I know I can see you again but… still, if I could just see you one more…"

He went inside the cage and picked up the next piece.

'I want to see you again…'

He wandered around until he found the ceremonial room, where he saw the ghost again.

"In my dreams… for so long… over and over… But… don't want this dream anymore…"

He looked to see the human-like sacks were on the ground as he went up to where the ghost once stood, until his camera shook and he fought with the ghost easily. Once he dealt with that, he found the last piece.

'This whole time… I've been dreaming…'

And he put the pieces came together. 'His longing…' He thought as he thought about his sister, and then about Luffy. Two people important to him, one he felt guilt over and the other he didn't want to lose. He then found a piece of paper and read what it said.

'I endure the Piercing of the Soul so people can was away their feelings. The pain of the holly engraved on me shows me many dreams. Many kinds of pain, and love. I take on the pain of being left alone, the pain of living. But these pains, these pains I bear, they do not fade, but are engraved somewhere hidden, and remain. Of the various pains, the more vivid ones ache most intensely. Nobody will take my Holly. It is mine alone. I engrave my feelings, my holly, in these mirrors and break them here. Because they are my feelings alone. But if it were in my power, I would see him one more time.'

Then his vision became white. "Kuina… I want to see you…"

~0~0~0~

He blinked to find himself in front of the doors that would lead him to the Rift, to the hidden shrine… to where Robin went last. He entered through and saw the ghost, this time covered in tattoos at the entrance of the shrine before disappearing as he turned, as if entering it. He followed and entered, only to end up fighting another priest ghost before watching it disappear and placed the mirror onto the altar stand, which made the reeds open a way to go in once more.

He took the way both Luffy and Robin went before he faced the doors with the talismans on them. At that moment he chuckled to himself. "From this point, there's no going back… is there? You took Luffy… and you trapped Robin… What do you have in store for me?" He said as he opened the doors.

Final Hour: The Abyss of the Horizon

Zoro blinked, unsure of what to make of it. "Both Luffy and Robin were met with a spiral staircase down…" He saw the path over the water leading to a stone door at the end. "This isn't like what Luffy walked on…" He said as walked to the doors and entered, only to seem to have a memory thing happening.

He was standing by the door, looking at the cage as two priests appeared beside him and he walked up to the cage.

Then there was a memory of Kisho in the cage, tattooed and looked dead. Then he reached out his hand while the priest mentioned to lower the cage. He saw nothing at first, but then another man that resembled an older Luffy appeared, reaching out to him, but the cage was lowered and the man disappeared.

Zoro came too to find the spiraling stair case and heard the song being sung at the very bottom. 'We're both… the same…' He thought as he went down, being attacked by the three shrine maidens and taking care of them to continue to the bottom of the pit.

He found another piece of the diary and it was about the vision he had.

'I had a dream about him. In the Rift, that hell of Holly, he came before me, as I was to be lowered into the Abyss. The mistress does not notice. It's my dream after all. He extends his hand. I do too. Just as our fingers are about to touch, the Holly abates, just a bit. I didn't lose myself. But we couldn't touch. Even I, who have been engraved with the Holly of so many people, even I might still be able to dream of him. In my eternal sleep.'

He then headed to the doors and opened them. Then he saw another path over the water, the one he remembered Luffy walked on. 'I must be getting close…' He thought as he went up to the door at the end, only to see the ghost double again and knew that behind those doors is where Robin was last seen. He opened the doors and his guess was right and he saw the ghost turn towards it as he disappeared.

He went up to the shrine and paused in his momentum to look at it before walking up and entered through the open door. He immediately felt the pressure weighing on him as he walked into the dark before suddenly seeing a lantern appear along with another person. He stopped to see, within the faint light that it was Luffy's older look alike as the man walked carefully over the bodies of the women.

Kaname then bent down to his knees when he saw the man, laying there. "Kisho…" He said calmly before repeating the name a little louder.

Kisho opened his eyes a little more to see his dearest friend and smiled.

He returned the smile as well, not realizing that there was someone behind him. "Kisho, in my dreams I-" He was cut off when a cleaver went down and slashed him on the back.

Zoro's eyes widened as he saw the body fall next to the very awake Kisho.

That seemed to have finally done it as the eyes became tattooed and caused a burst of energy to come off, harming the one who slain the man.

Zoro blinked, finding everything as peaceful as he first entered. But he knew as he stepped back and stared at the tattooed man, that it was anything but peaceful when he saw the man suddenly got up, like a puppet, and was moving towards him. He got out of the room and turned to see the doors opening wider.

The camera shook violently like never before as he took the camera up and had the ghost in his sights. 'This is it… You or me?' He thought as he got a couple good shots in, but then he saw the ghost flying like an owl or an eagle and had to dodge roll at every swooping attempt. Then the strange energy surrounded him and he was trapped in a world where he could hear people's pain in high stereo as well as visions of the associated pain. 'This is what he had to deal with all this time.' He thought as he saw the ghost and realized the camera couldn't work in this area and started to run, but everything seemed like it was in slow motion. 'Shit!' He thought but thankfully it didn't last long as everything became back to normal.

~0~0~0~

This went on for quite a while until he heard the ghost's final scream as he went down and disappeared.

He fell to his knees and breathed before looking at the open stone doors and got up to find the tattooed man and closed his eyes. "You can close your eyes now…" He said as he heard water from somewhere in the room and followed to find a small stair pathway leading down to a hall and he followed this to find what looked like the ocean. 'So this is the Rift…' He thought when he noticed the small boat on the shore and went back to carry both Kisho and Kaname and placed them on the small boat, hand in hand, face to face. As he casted the boat off, he recited the final verse of the song as he watched the boat getting further out to the horizon.

"Go to the other side. Go to the other side. Cast the boat… Take a ride… Cross the rift… To the other side… Further, and further to the other side. It must sail bearing your tattoos. And our offering of tears."

Then he noticed that it suddenly got a little brighter and looked up to see shadowed figures on the horizon and then looked to his side to see more shadowed figures going towards the horizon. He saw Kuina in the mass and he stood there for a moment before shouting out her name and chasing after her.

"Kuina! Don't go! Don't leave me like this!"

Kuina looked back to see the other, thigh deep into the water and his tattoos showing that they've nearly consumed his whole body.

He stopped when he saw that he has her attention, and tears fell. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry for what happened… I should've have died as well… So take me with you… It's not fair that I have to live while you died. Both of us were there, so how come…? And that argument…" He was rambling now as he looked up to see his sister standing before him. "Kuina… I'm so sorry for everything… So, please…"

Kuina smiled her rare gentle smile as she embraced her younger brother. "Thank you, Zoro. I know how you feel. I would've felt the same if our positions would've been different."

Zoro held her as he felt a weight on his chest lifted a bit before his sister backed up from the embrace, but still close.

"But I can't take you with me." She said as she saw the look of shock on his face. "I have to go alone."

Zoro then noticed that the tattoos were moving onto his sister as she just smiled.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes…" She said as she got up so that her feet were on the water's surface. "When you die before your time, I'll be gone. That's why you're alive, Zoro."

He stood there as his sister was moving away, getting closer to the horizon.

"As long as you remain alive, a part of me will still be around." She said with a grin her brother will know well enough. "That, and someone has to watch out for Luffy… He's now your reason to live, and you're his now." She smiled gently. "Ace and I need you to live. And that's why both of you are still alive."

His vision went black as soon as she turned away and mended with the rest of the departed.

~0~0~0~

He opened his eyes to see that he was back in to his room, the sound of rain is gone and saw that the sun is finally shining through his window. He got up and saw that the pain from the tattoo was gone and he looked down at his hands before he started to cry. He felt arms wrap around him and he looked to see Luffy, who was also crying and he wrapped his arms around the teen as they both cried.

Robin got up from the couch and could hear them crying but didn't want to intrude in their moment as she felt the phone in her pocket vibrate and saw the number before answering. "Nico speaking." She said as she seemed both surprised and happy. "Thank you doctor, that is good news." She said as she nodded. "Yes… I'll be there a bit later." She said as she disconnected and looked up to where Zoro's room is. "You saved all of us, even when you wanted to go." She said as she got up, folded the blanket, and left a note for the two men that she's going to the hospital to pick up Nami and will be back later. 'All of us would need to heal now.' She thought as she walked out of the door.

~0~0~0~

Later that day, Zoro and Luffy were on the sandy beach, hands clasped together.

"I never understood why people like us were allowed to go on living with this pain. But now I do." Luffy said suddenly.

"I know… It makes sense in a way… but it still hurts to know that." He ran his thumb over the other's knuckles. "You think Ace would kill me if he knew about us?"

Luffy grinned. "Probably, but then he would have to go through Kuina before that happens."

With that they both laughed at the visual before calming down.

"We'll go on living, even with the pain…" Zoro said as he stared out at the sunset as he felt the other lean up against him.

"I think they expected that much."

Finally!

Zoro: This is the third time you made me OC.

How would you handle having ghost filled dreams every night?

Zoro: Better than that!

Be glad I made you anything that's better than last years.

Zoro: At least I died a fighter in that one, this one is just-

And we're out of time! Better get that next belated gift up.

Zoro: Oi! Don't you change the subject!

Just did. Laters!

Zoro: Oi!