Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

Continuing a chapter right after the end of the last chapter sometimes doesn't work well for the story. This is one of those times. Thank you CuddlyChristina.

X_X_X_X

"Sure. How about Pete?" Pete replied.

"Okay, sounds cool." Etoile said, nodding her approval.

"So why are you here, Pete?" Fritz asked.

"I've been here in secret since Monkey D. Luffy was here."

"So you know some of those Straw Hat Pirates?" Etoile inquired.

"Not really. I never left this court room and he never came back to it."

"Huh...barely acquainted, huh?" Fritz said, cupping his chin. "But how did you end here, anyway?" Henry asked.

"Well...that's a question that's been troubling me for twenty-seven years."

"You've been in this court for twenty-seven years. Damn are you stupid or what." Fritz remarked.

"Sorry for my response. Truth is, I've never been out of here before all my life." Pete said with a small frown.

"That sucks, but I also get stuck in a small space being a professor and not seeing the world until now. Henry, what about you?"

"I said I was going to give my life for the Marines...my superior said that wasn't worth anything." Henry said, changing the mood from mystery to forlorn.

"And at the end of the day...I've been nothing more than a coward." he added. Pete patted him on the shoulder with a reassuring smile. "Aw...it's gonna be alright. I bet you're secretly brave on the inside." he said.

Henry liked this nice Pacifista. He only wished he wasn't a machine designed to kill pirates so he could say their pirates.

"Where is your Marine base?" He asked.

"Uh...well, I can't seem to recall where, since I'm working alongside these two and their leader Charlotte as a pirate." Henry replied, scratching his head.

Fritz and Etoile just freaked out the moment Henry said the P work. When Pete heard that word, his mouth started to charge up energy and he was looking down at Henry. Henry would have lost his head from the beam Pete was going to make if Etoile didn't push him down...the beam exploding through the wall behind him.

"How many times do we have to be chased and shot at before you goddamn you-know-what's stop saying the P WORD?!" Fritz shouted.

"S-S-Sorry! I didn't mean to say it!" Henry stammered as he was almost freaking out. "Sheesh, you've should've known better than that!" Etoile told him, crossing her arms with a look of slight annoyance.

Fritz stayed calm, but the Pacifista was still looking for them and the blood churning sound of him charging his mouth beam was apparent through the building.

"Just who emitted that beam...if it was me, then my sincerest apologies." Pete told them.

Fritz put his hand over Henry's mouth to keep the blabbermouth in check.

"Why no, you didn't do us any harm."

"Thank goodness for that." Pete said, a sigh of relief escaping him.

"Well nice meeting you, but we need to explore this whole area and then return to our friends." Etoile said.

"Okay. Then let's go." Pete said, nodding his approval. The others had agreed, and they all eventually began heading out again.

X_X_X_X

Charlotte and Hardy had to hold Herbert tightly while Jio stroked the walls.

"So many wails were in here...of hunger." He said.

"Where could all that come from? I wonder?" Charlotte asked.

Then they smelled smoke. Someone was eating something in this court.

Hardy sniffed as he looked around, before asking, "Hey, where's that smell coming from?"

"I don't know. Any ideas?" Charlotte replied.

Charlotte followed the smell. She finally saw the gray skin and white musty hair of an undead person, the kind of person she didn't see in Thriller Bark.

"Oh, shit..." she muttered under her breath.

"Is that a corpse?!" Hardy asked.

"Indeed." Herbert said. "It seems that people once lived here, became so hungry for a lack of food they started eating each other but they became a new kind of corpse creatures called...the Wendigo's. It was believed eating someone would make you a Wendigo, but it's really being on the brink of starving to death and resorting to eating another starving to death person that turns you into one."

"Sounds like we might either have to narrowly avoid them or hunt them down. Any ideas?" Hardy asked.

Charlotte responded by taking off her bra. She just yanked on the back of her shirt and the bra came off. Then she picked up a stick and slipped the bra on the pointy end.

"Your hat please; Hardy."

Hardy handed her his hat. She shook it until a stick with a red end came out. Next she put the stick in her armpit. Soon a small kindle of fire on the stick came out. With her match on fire, she burned her bra on the stick.

"Charge!"

Charlotte throttled towards the Wendigo with her stick/spear blazing with her bra ready to pierce its heart, however, the Wendigo noticed her...he disappeared like a mist before her.

Charlotte was spinning with her weapon. Even if the Wendigo was faster than anyone she's encountered so far, she still had a chance to spear it.

The Wendigo appeared claws in fierce fury. Charlotte didn't have time to react to his bloody weaving claws, however, the monster was soon struck by a flying katana blade in his right arm.

Although Charlotte was saved by this unknown person, the first footstep he made made her shudder in fear. Then she saw the back of a man wearing the puffiest yutaka with a sash around his arm, the longest brown hair she's ever seen, and the sharpest claws that made a werewolf like her look trimmed.

"Are you alright, young lady?" he asked her.

Charlotte looked at him with one of her eyebrows raised, as she asked, "Yeah...Yeah, I am. But just, who are you?"

He sheathed his blade into his scabbard. It was one of two katana's dangling on his green obi before looking at her with the green under color in his eyes with completely black eyeballs.

"Captain Vein. Although some refer to me as Vein the Vampire. Who are you?"

"I'm Charlotte, captain of a group of...fighters that will fight alongside me for years to come!" Charlotte replied, careful so as to not say 'pirate'.

"Right. I'm also a captain of 'fighters' that is after someone. They will be beheaded and their body will be mine."

"I highly doubt you might find who you were looking for here. This place has been almost empty for years...or something like that." Charlotte told Vein.

He closed his eyes letting his tranquil words brisk in the breeze. "No, it hasn't. This place is just a replica of the original court and it hasn't been abandoned...their just smart enough to know where to hide."

This instantly caught Charlotte and the others off-guard. "Really? Is that so?" Jio asked.

"Why take a word of a stranger when you have the greatest earth spirit on the tip of your staff." Rollica reminded.

"R-Right!"

Vein turned his back on Jio when he kneeled down, hand touching the dirt, and began activating Rollica's glowing amber powers creating a seismic reaction in the ground. When the shard stopped glowing, Jio jumped to deliver his answer.

"He's right. This ground is old but the walls in here are less than a year old!"

"Suddenly you can tell how old walls are? Convenient." Herbert remarked.

"The walls are young? What folly." Vein replied bluntly.

"Rollcka is able to tell as to how long these things in the court had lived. But the walls are much more younger than the ground itself." Jio told him.

"Who are you talking to?" Herbert asked.

"Who do you think? The white haired guy with the strange complexion wielding two katana's." Charlotte answered.

"I don't see anyone like that."

"He can't, but you three can because only virgins can see me. That skill your using is pretty useful, but can it detect something like..." Vein unsheathed his katana and plunged it with both hands on the hilt in the wall. The blade itself disappeared into a void, but was pried out with it sticking into the neck of another Wendingo. "This."

Charlotte and the others were baffled as to why virgins could only see Vein, but were even more so when Vein's katana emerged whilst inside the Wendigo's neck.

"Please tell me you saw that creature." Charlotte cried.

"Of course I can. Nice work, Charlotte."

Herbert could see the creature but he got the person who slayed it wrong. This man was the biggest mystery Charlotte ever met. He sheathed his blade in and started walking in a nonchalant way.

"Once you enter this place you cannot leave through the front door. If you ever want to get out of here, I suggest you follow me."

Charlotte, Hardy, and Jio didn't move. Vein moved on his own, disappeared from their sight, and only when they couldn't see him did they decide to follow after him. However, no sooner did they try to find him did they hear the slicing sound of his sword. They ran up to his location to see him slice a wooden draw bridge with two horizontal slashes breaking the bridge apart.

"I see you've thought it over, I assume?" he asked, looking over at the group.

"I guess so." Charlotte replied.

"Now why the hell did you slice the bridge apart?!" Hardy shouted.

"Other than vampire's cannot pass crossing water, this area was made by someone who plays tricks on people so crossing a bridge is more a trap. Now, do any of you have any sticky powers?"

"Well, I can actually morph into this gooey bubblegum-style creature." Hardy replied, before transforming into his bubblegum goo state.

"Thank you. Now forgive me for what needs to be done."

Vein reached out his hand to grab Hardy, but before his hand touched him sharp claws extended from his fingernails. He used those claws to scrap Hardy forward, agonizing pain and all as Hardy wailed.

"What on earth is he doing?" Herbert asked as he and the others watched.

Finally, Vein's eyes turned bulging red with yellow irises as he threw Hardy over the gap. Hardy's body stretched afar until his butt was on the other side and his face was in the front where Vein put his claws down.

"Are we done yet? Cause that hurt like hell!" Hardy asked. "Not just yet, young boy." Vein replied.

He made everyone move over Hardy which wasn't as painful as the stretching. After everyone was across, he twirled Hardy up until his pink form was wrapped around Vein's cocked left hand.

Once everyone, including Hardy was on the other side of the bridge, Vein was able to pull Hardy off of his hand. Now on the ground, he reverted back to his human form.

Vein hurt Hardy to get to the other side, by leaping off the ground and midair. Once he turned Hardy's pink goo form into a steel ball, he smashed right through the roof and landed on the ground.

Everyone was amazed at how powerful Vein really was, but all Hardy could do was shake his legs while he was bent over on all fours.

"Wow...that was awesome...and at the same time, it hurts!" he exclaimed.

"Here." Vein handed Hardy a small leave with a dot of red liquid on it. "Chew this."

Everyone stood still giving Vein time to make his way back up front, where he wanted. His steps slow and steady like a geisha girl swerving her drunk patrons.

Hardy seemed confused at first, but shrugged before beginning to eat the leaf. "Just what is that that you had given to him?" Charlotte asked.

"Worriment for your nakama. I had that for my friend, despite him being a real giant with an army at his side. Not to worry, it's a healing herb. Think of it as a reverse vampire effect, giving life back instead of sucking it dry."

Vein was right. After Hardy chewed, he shot back up with his arms in the air, smiling.

"Whoa! That was pretty cool, thanks!" he exclaimed.

"You're welcome, kid." Vein replied, smiling back.

Vein took three steps ahead of the group, but stopped and stabbed the stalagmites. Again, a monster was left with a puncture hole through his back and dropped dead.

The mystery on Vein was how he was so overpowered. A vampire using as much energy as his eyes alone seem to use would be bloodthirsty by now, but he didn't look thirsty.

"How long did it take you to find all this information about this cave?" Jio asked.

"One month to learn about this place before reaching the island, three months on the island to learn all this."

"What made you decide to study for three months!" Charlotte asked.

Herbert was very confused with Charlotte leaning to empty space.

"I had no choice. I can only see the light a day one month than have to stay away from the light for three months." Vein stopped, noticed a shadow on the wall, fell silent to show he was in deep contemplation.

Vein dashed towards the shadow; his body disappearing from sight in a misty way. In the shadows, the crew heard the pleading cries and last heroic roars of other people Vein was fighting all by himself...they're not standing a chance.

Vein walked slowly in his very geisha way out of the path, splattered blood all over his kimono. If he licked it off, Charlotte would squeal.

"How did you know there were people...no, how did you know to walk down there?" Hardy asked.

"Know what?" Herbert yelled, still clueless of Vein.

"I was made to lurk in the night, I can tell shadows from caverns any day." Vein started walking back to the group. He froze when he was one step away from Charlotte. His eyes twitched a little through his statue composure. "I missed one."

Charlotte sharpened her teeth, Hardy molded his hands into a shark face looking hammer, and Jio raised three giant slabs of rock off the ground ready to launch.

However, the one who walked out of the shadows was a limping elderly man with a long wizen beard and a gash on his shaven head.

"Help...please help me. This vile man walked into my home, killed my family, and plans on killing you with me. You must stop him before he does."

The old man's words had everyone turn their attention to Vein, unwavering and not even dripping with sweat hearing the old man's accusations. His body seemed to be like a lizard camouflaged on a tree waiting to eat bugs.

"He's lying." Vein said, not even a faint sound of dread or stress.

The old man raised his arms up and moved faster towards Charlotte. She found one thing missing about this man compared to other old men. He fixated on that lingering memory not found on this man...Vein struck him in the chest with both his katana's.

Herbert didn't see Vein, but he did see the old man and he saw the horrified twisted look on the man's face while blood dripped from his chest. Slowly he saw the man twitch as his beard mysteriously shed from his chin.

Soon, he wasn't looking at an old man anymore. All he saw was the face of a werecat, a black cat with the black fur of a dragon with black and red in its pupils and fangs ready to bite.

He let out a long growl as he brandished his claws, and was ready to charge at him.

That didn't work as Vein grabbed the cat in one hand and lifted it to his face. The face furiously clawed and hissed at Vein trying to get free. Vein was just staring at it waiting for it to be drained of its energy, when the neutral look on his face turned into a wave of wrinkles and his teeth turned into giant dagger-esque fangs. He chewed through the face of the cat.

The werecat growled in pain as Vein's fangs chomped through his face, causing Charlotte and the the others to watch in surprise at his transformation.

Once he completed devoured the werecat's face, he tossed it to the ground.

"Forgive me. I didn't mean to show you something so...abysmal." He opened a steel fan from his sleeve to check on his face. Through the metal reflection, Charlotte saw no image of Vein.

"How come you don't see your reflection through that fan?" she asked.

"Some say it's because my soul has been taken away when I died and was brought back to life. Or it could be from how sun cannot touch me so a reflection can't either. Enough about me, do any of you want to look at my fan?"

"Um...no. I doubt there would be any fancy patterns on it." Charlotte replied, shaking her head 'no'.

He put his fan away in his kimono. "The next path will lead us to the big boss. Be prepared."

"A big boss, huh? Chances are, we might meet up with our other nakama for this one." Hardy said, referring to the other group that was investigating the courtroom.

Hardy had no idea how right he was. Although they didn't get as easy a walk as their group had. Pete wasn't as reliable or capable of a fighter like Vein.

"Well...I think we should press on." Charlotte told them.

"Agreed; but we should be careful...I think." Hardy replied.

Being careful wasn't what Fritz was doing. He just walked through any corner in his path because he believed there was no transgressions his powers couldn't overcome.

"I'm all for taking risks, for your information." he told Charlotte.

"That's fine; you do you." she replied.

Fritz, Etoile, Henry and Pete were encountered by a flying object. Fritz peeled this small thing off his shoulder and stared at...a cute little riceball with small hands and feet.

"Eat me." It said to Fritz in a cheerful voice. Fritz just shook his head. Then the riceball acted in an uncute, demonic way frowning at the former professor. "I'm going to kill you."

"A flying riceball?! And it wants to kill us?!" Etoile asked.

The riceball opened its little mouth and started chewing on Fritz's cheeks, who in turn started screaming like a girl. After that, more little riceballs rained down on top of Fritz, swarming him like termites.

"We can't just stand there, we've gotta find a way to repel this damn thing!" Henry exclaimed.