Alright, I present this chapter as a birthday present for em182, who turns 18 today. I hope that your day will be filled with joy, cake and lots of presents. Happy Birthday. :D

I don't know if I managed to keep up the same angst as in the previous chapter, but I tried... Anyway, read and try to enjoy it.

Oh, right! Also, if there are any words crammed together, it is all because of the edit-tool. I'vechecked this chapter five times on different occasions, word by word, so I'm sure that there are no run-ons when I upload it. I don't know why the quickedit likes to add them, but it's really annoying...

Luffy stared at the cloaked stranger for a moment, slowly raising one eyebrow as he tried to process the words the man had just said.

"The King of Pirates..?" he said after a while. "So…You're Gold Roger?"

The stranger tilted his head lightly to the side in a gesture Luffy recognized as the way his nakama reacted to some things he said. But instead of screaming at him or correcting him, the cloaked man started to laugh. It was a hollow, emotionless laughter that made Luffy's skin crawl.

"Just the kind of reply I expected to hear from you," he said in a voice that seemed to have been meant to sound cheerful, but really wasn't. Then, he continued in a fuller, more serious tone. "No, I'm not Gold Roger. I'm the new Pirate King."

"Not for long," Luffy stated, moving his left hand to his chest, where the pain still made itself known. It felt almost as if something was gnawing on his insides, and it wasn't a nice feeling. "I'm the man who's gonna be the King of Pirates!"

"So I've heard," the stranger said casually and laughed again. Luffy didn't join in the laughter. The hollow sound of the laughter made his skin crawl and he couldn't have laughed even if he wanted to. The image of Zoro being executed was still too fresh in his mind and was putting a heavy damper on his usual cheerful mood.

The sound of the laughter echoed eerily around them, and to Luffy, it sounded as if they were surrounded by invisible walls that were closing in on them. When he looked around to try to spot one or two of the walls, he noticed that the execution pole and Zoro's body was gone. He couldn't see any trace of his swordsman anywhere in the blackness that surrounded him, and that made him angry.

"Where. Is. Zoro?" he demanded to know, reaching out a hand to grab hold of the stranger's white cloak. His other hand clutched the red cloth of his vest tightly as the pain in his chest gave an extra nasty throb. "What did you do with him? Why did you do this to Zoro?"

His rage still didn't seem to have any effect on the stranger. The man's face was still concealed in shadows, even from the short distance, but Luffy didn't feel any sign of fear from him. In fact, he realized that he didn't feel a thing, except for the occasional change in the man's facial expressions.

Not only was it really odd that he could feel the changes in his facial expressions, but it was even weirder that the man in the cloak didn't seem to feel anything at all. It was either that, or that he just was very good at hiding his feelings.

No matter what the reason was, Luffy didn't like it. It felt like he was talking to a moving statue, and everyone knew that you never could be sure what a statue would do next. Especially not one that moved.

"I haven't done anything to your nakama," the cloaked man said seriously, and Luffy could feel the stranger's eyes meeting his through the shadows of the hood. "Like I said before, I know how you feel. I've already lost all of mine…"

"All your nakama?" Luffy's body relaxed a bit, and his hands dropped to his sides, but he still stared furiously at the man in the white hood. "How?"

"Never mind that," the stranger said abruptly. "We don't have all day. Let's go."

"Go?" Luffy blinked as the stranger walked past him. He still couldn't feel anything from the man, not even the tiniest bit of wind as he walked by. "Go where?"

The man in the cloak didn't answer, but Luffy got the feeling that the stranger was smiling again. He watched silently as the cloaked man lifted one hand and moved it in a wide circle in the darkness. The shadows that surrounded them suddenly parted and faded away, revealing a completely deserted street in a small town. Luffy stood silent for a moment, but then his jaw dropped out of amazement and the other man laughed again.

"How did you do that?" Luffy asked excitedly, momentarily forgetting about the pain inside him. "It's like magic!"

"It doesn't matter," was the only reply he got. Thinking for a second, Luffy decided that it really didn't matter. It was probably just as complicated to understand as when Luffy had asked Nami a simple question about clouds. He couldn't remember a word his navigator had said, but her explanation had sure been long and very hard to understand. Therefore, he had decided to add clouds to his growing list of mysterious things in the world, and be happy with that.

He followed the man out onto the deserted street, looking around for any people who could be hiding inside the wooden houses. There didn't seem to be a single soul nearby, and the only sound that was heard except Luffy's footsteps against the cobblestone street was the sound of a door creaking somewhere along the street. When he turned his head forwards again, the man in the cloak, who had been walking in front of him, was gone. Blinking, Luffy wondered where the mysterious man could have gone in such a short time.

The sound of angry voices pulled his attention to the end of the street, and he turned towards the noise, looking at the approaching figures with wide eyes. So the town wasn't completely deserted after all?

"Come back here, you thieving bitch!" one of the angry voices called out, loud enough for Luffy to hear it. The pirate captain frowned. A thief? Was he supposed to do something about it? Well, he thought to himself, if they need help, they'll ask for it.

But as the four people came running closer, Luffy saw that the one being chased was a girl. He stepped aside as the girl ran past him with the three suspicious-looking men closing up on her, and he let his eyes follow her as she continued down the street. When the men passed by him, Luffy could hear them argue between themselves.

"This is bad," one of them said. "We have to catch her before she gets away with the map!"

"You dun' have to tell me that," another one replied with a growl. "You know as well as I do what the captain will do to us if that girl gets away with the map!"

"Don't talk, just catch her!" the third man panted, pushing the two others to run faster.

Luffy looked after the running people, wondering why no one paid attention to him. Shrugging, he decided to follow the running people. After all, whatever it was Nami had got herself into, Luffy figured that he might be able to help her. He was also very curious about the map they had been talking about. Maps usually meant treasure or adventures, or sometimes even both.

As he walked through the town, Luffy looked at the empty, dark houses with a blank look on his face. There really was an eerie silence hovering over the whole town – a silence that wasn't even broken by the twitter of birds. It felt like every living being had left the place in a hurry. But why would anyone leave such a nice-looking place?

There was even the faint smell of burned food coming from a few of the buildings, which was a smell Luffy wasn't used to, at least he hadn't felt it in a while. Not since the day he got Sanji as his cook.

Luffy missed the Going Merry, and he wondered if Sanji had noticed that he had stolen food again. He really hoped that he'll find both his hat and his ship soon, because he was getting tired of coming to new places all the time. New places that seemed really familiar in some way.

The sound of his sandals slip-slopping against the cobblestone street bounced faintly between the houses while he walked, but as Luffy came out on a small market square, the echo died out. In front of him, the first thing that caught his eye was a small white dog sitting quietly on the stairs to one of the buildings, looking at nothing in particular. The dog turned its head towards him when he came closer to it, and it growled silently as it followed him with its eyes.

"The dog…" Luffy said quietly, looking up at the large sign which announced that the building housed a pet food-store. "Its treasure still stands…"

He looked down at the dog outside the entrance to the old store as he walked by, the memory of the building engulfed in flames and the dog's heartbreaking wails echoing between the walls of the surrounding houses rising to the surface of his mind. But everything seemed to be fine at the moment, so Luffy decided to try to find Nami and those other guys who were chasing her instead.

A high-pitched scream suddenly rang between the walls and Luffy immediately recognized his navigator's voice. Running down the nearest alley, he caught a glimpse of the men who had been chasing Nami as they turned around a corner further down the street, the captured girl held tightly between them.

"Nami!" Luffy called out as he ran down the alley, skidded over the cobblestone and turned the corner on one foot.

The street was deserted. There wasn't even a single sound that betrayed where Nami and her captors had gone. Luffy clenched his teeth as he kept running, allowing his instincts to lead the way.

Turning around another corner and then another and another, Luffy could always feel Nami ahead of him, just out of sight. Therefore, he kept on running without even stopping to catch his breath.

Just as he thought he had lost them, because he couldn't sense Nami anymore, Luffy came out on another small market square, which was a little more crowded than the first.

Everywhere he looked, he saw clowns walking, bouncing and tumbling into each other in what looked like party activities. Over the noise the clowns were making, a very familiar laughter echoed down from the roof of one of the nearby buildings, and Luffy looked up towards the sound.

"Wa ha ha ha! You caught the thief! Well done, boys, now enjoy yourself, it's a party!"

Spurred by the familiar voice that reached him even from such a distance, Luffy reached up towards the roof of the nearest building and rocketed himself into the air. None of the clowns made any movement that showed that they had spotted him, even when he landed on the roof and almost fell backwards off the building because his foot slipped.

When he had steadied himself, he set off running towards the next building, leaping from house to house while he always kept his eyes on the large crowd that had gathered around a tent on the roof from which the familiar voice had come from. That voice meant trouble, and he could feel it in every muscle in his body.

"Thief? No, no, you're mistaken," he heard Nami say while she laughed nervously. "I just wanted to return it to you, Captain Buggy, sir. But these three tried to take it, so I ran…"

"Mistaken? Oh no, I don't think so," said the voice that had laughed earlier. "You see, we saw you stealing the map we stole. Do you know what I do with thieves who dare to steal what is mine?"

There was a short moment of silence before the clowns outside the tent broke out in cheers. Luffy leaned out from the roof to see better, and his fingers gripped the edge firmly as he watched the crowd split up and move aside as Nami floated through the air, her hands clawing wildly at something by her neck.

Luffy's eyes widened and he threw himself off the roof onto another, lower one, from which he could reach the platform where the clowns were standing. He landed hard on his feet, catching himself with one hand against the ground, and looked up at Nami, who was floating freely in the air, supported only by a body-less hand clasped tightly around her throat.

Coughing and fighting to get free, Nami clawed at the hand around her throat, her eyes wide in shock as she clearly tried to come up with a plan to escape.

"No! I -gkh-… I'm serious…" She coughed, keeping her eyes locked at something still concealed inside the tent. "You see… -kh-… My boss… He told me to st… to steal the map, but… agh… We had a fight and… and now he's dead, so…"

"Whose nose is red!" shrieked the other voice from inside the tent. Luffy turned his head towards the voice just as a loud crash of a chair falling over was heard.

A tall man wearing a long, fur-edged orange cape, an orange hat with something that looked like blue tassels hanging down at the sides and clothes with very clashing colors stepped out from the tent, a very smug expression all over his face. He had painted a crossbones-sign in his forehead and had a big, round and red clown nose. This was someone Luffy recognized, but he couldn't think of the man's name. He thought he remembered that it began with a B, but he wasn't sure.

All he was certain of was that this was a man whom he had seen on more than one occasion, and he came to think of knives and, surprisingly enough, of Shanks when he looked at the pirate in front of him.

"Guys! Let's show her what happens when someone pisses me off! Take out a Buggy Ball!"

It wasn't until now that Luffy noticed the large cannon standing in the middle of the roof. Neither had he noticed that Nami was hanging in mid air a few meters in front of the barrel of the cannon, and now one of the clowns was walking up to it to light the short fuse.

Luffy quickly jumped up and ran towards the man lighting the fuse. What was going on here? First he had been forced to see Zoro die, even though he knew for sure that Zoro was alive aboard the Going Merry. And now Nami's life was threatened as well, even if Luffy was pretty sure that a long time ago, she had been the one being forced to light the fuse of a similar cannon aimed at him. He could still vaguely remember being enclosed in a small cage with people around him chanting "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" over and over again.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" he shouted, letting his fist fly towards the clown holding the box of matches. No one took any notice of him, but he didn't care. All he cared about was to stop the clown from lighting that fuse.

The clown didn't even flinch as Luffy's fist reached him - and passed right through him as if he was nothing but a mirage or a veil of smoke! Surprised by the lack of an actual body to land his punch against, Luffy yelped as he was pulled along by his own attack and flew through the clown pirate's body to land in the dust on the other side.

The moment he landed on the floor, he pulled up his legs under him and jumped up again. Very well, if he couldn't stop the clown, he just had to stop the cannonball.

Just as the fuse disappeared into the cannon, Nami gave up a choked cry and Luffy threw himself in the path of the cannonball.

The explosion was deafening, and alongside the cannonball, an enormous tongue of fire shot out from the cannon. It didn't even singe Luffy's hair or clothes where he was located right in front of the weapon's mouth, but he could still feel the smell of burned hair as Nami's scream pierced through the ringing in his ears.

"Nami!"

Luffy braced himself to capture the cannonball and keep it from hurting Nami. Like in slow-motion, he could feel his body stretching as the cannonball hit him - the feeling of a heavy, round object pushing against his insides was all too familiar to him - but just as he thought that he had it under control, he felt the weight of the projectile sinking right through him, and his pounding heart skipped at least three painful beats.

Just as Luffy landed on the floor again, one last scream was heard through the thick wall of grey smoke that had formed after the cannon had been fired. He looked up, calling his navigator's name, but received no answer. Waving his hands in front of his face, he tried to get rid of the smoke that made his eyes sting and his lungs burn, but the haze only thickened, drowning out everything but the cackling laughter of the clowns as they returned to their party.

Once the smoke had settled, and was no longer irritating his eyes, Luffy looked around only to find that the place was completely deserted. The clowns were gone and so was the tent and the large cannon. Nami was also gone without a trace.

Luffy froze where he was standing as he heard a soft chuckle coming from behind him. He turned around and found the man in the white cloak standing in the exact same place as where the cannon had been placed only a moment earlier. The man's face was still hidden in shadows under the hood, but there was no way Luffy could fail to notice the light, cheerful tone in his hollow laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Luffy asked hotly, feeling the rage bubbling up inside him again. "Where's Nami? I can feel her. She's not dead, so where is she?"

The man in the cloak stopped laughing and made a movement that looked like a shrug. "You're right, she isn't dead. The cannonball miraculously missed her. Can you believe it? Your precious navigator was forced to live."

Luffy blinked. He was relieved to know that Nami wasn't dead, and that he wasn't imagining the feeling of her being close by, but he didn't like the carefree way the person in front of him was talking about his navigator.

"Wha--" he started, but was cut off as the other man raised his hand from under the cloak and pointed over Luffy's shoulder. Luffy's eyes lingered on the man's hand for a brief moment before he turned around, taking in the image of the lean, bony hand and wrist, both which were covered in rough scars that didn't seem to have healed properly. Something about that sight only made him feel less comfortable around the man in the cloak. He didn't like that he couldn't see who he was dealing with here, and his instincts told him that the man had something to do with what was happening to his nakama, no matter how much he was denying it.

When Luffy reluctantly turned around (not without wishing for a pair of eyes in the back of his head so that he could watch the stranger's movements), he saw that the surroundings had changed completely. They were not on the roof of a deserted building anymore, but they were standing by the window inside a small, dark room, where the walls were covered with maps, and piles of paper rose to the ceiling from all over the floor.

Glancing at the man in the white cloak, who was standing perfectly still and watching him, Luffy moved towards one of the smaller piles and looked down at the papers. The topmost paper was a detailed drawing of a group of islands that Luffy had never heard of before. Still, he could somehow recognize the maps, and they made him straighten up and look around in the room.

"Nami..."

He turned around towards the door by the sound of a choked sob. Leaning to the left and peering between the mounds of paper, he could see a small writing-desk by the opposite wall, and someone who was sitting hunched over it. Looking closer at the person, he recognized Nami, but she looked very different. Luffy's heart abandoned its usual rhythm as he walked closer, and seemed to be beating much slower and harder than before.

Nami was wearing a thick bandana wrapped tightly around her head, and Luffy couldn't see a single strand of her orange hair sticking out from under it anywhere. Her face, lower arms and chest wore severe burn marks, almost as if parts of her had been on fire. She was crying while she moved her pen across yet another paper, and she constantly wiped her eyes to keep the tears from staining her new map. Not that it would have mattered, Luffy thought as he saw the smeared drops of blood already staining the paper in several places.

She didn't even notice that Luffy was there, not even as the captain leaned forward to look at the map she was drawing. This time, he didn't have to read the name of the island that was depicted on the paper to know why he recognized it. It was a perfect drawing of the island where he had grown up. Even the little harbor where he had once met Shanks for the first time was there. Luffy didn't know how to read maps, but the navigator in Shanks' clan had once showed him a map over the island and tried to teach him about mapping. The image of the island seen from above was somehow the only thing that had been imprinted in his mind.

Suddenly, Nami sat up straight in her chair, clutching her left upper arm with a pained expression on her face. Luffy had quickly backed away to keep his face from colliding with the back of Nami's head, and when he turned to look at her, he noticed something blue on her arm beneath her fingers. It was her tattoo, but as Nami removed her hand to wipe her eyes once more, Luffy could see that it wasn't the shape of a pinwheel like he was used to see every day. It was the picture of a sawfish, which Luffy remembered as Arlongs mark, the mark that had caused Nami so much pain once.

Yes, Luffy could remember Arlong well. He could remember being thrown into the water with a block of concrete around his feet, and he definitely remembered this room. The room where Nami was held as a prisoner against her will. But he could have sworn that he had destroyed this room. He could remember how the ceiling had come crashing down over him and that the whole building finally had collapsed completely.

"I want to be free…" Nami mumbled, covering her scarred face with her hands. "Bellemere… help me…!"

Tears were flowing down her cheeks again, but just as Luffy reached out for her, he could hear steps outside the door and looked up. The door opened with a loud bang and darkness flooded the room in a matter of seconds, blinding Luffy while a hard, ruthless laughter rang in his ears.

"Sha ha ha haa!"

Groping blindly in the darkness that was now surrounding him completely, he tried to find his navigator. But his fingers found nothing but emptiness when he reached out for her and his voice only echoed hollowly when he called her name, and there was no answer. This didn't discourage him in the least. He could get Nami back, and that was what he would do. As long as she was alive, he could find her.

Luffy stopped turning around as he felt the presence of the man in the cloak just behind him.

"What do you want?" he asked resentfully without turning around. He wasn't even going to look at the man who clearly wanted him to give up about his nakama. Why else would he show him these horrible things that just weren't true?

"Nothing," said the other man calmly, but his voice had an amused tone that hadn't been there before. "Why do you think I have something to do with this?"

"I want my nakama!" Luffy demanded, clenching his teeth until his jaws started to ache. What wouldn't he give up, just to be able to kick this smug bastard's ass and be sure that he would get back to Going Merry, his hat and Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Vivi and Carue afterwards?

"I don't have them," came the calm, amused reply. "If you want them so bad, then go and find them. However, it's easy to get lost in the darkness around here."

Luffy didn't reply. That was all he needed to know. So he just had to look carefully? His nakama were somewhere in the darkness around him, and that meant that he could find them.

He didn't turn around to look at the man in the cloak as he ran into the darkness, determined to find his nakama - no matter what.

Who is this man in the white cloak? Is he really the new Pirate King? Why does he want to show these things to Luffy, anyway? Will Luffy find his nakama and get to kick the cloaked guy's ass? I'm afraid you won't get to know the answer to these questions in the next chapter, but do continue to read this story, because seeing the number of hits rising makes me happy.
The last chapter only got one review, so it will be easy to reply to that.

em182 - Yeah, they shot him... No, I shot him... I could just as well have been holding the guns myself.Gomen ne, Zoro-kun...

(Zoro in the background: Don't call me that, bitch!)
Hey, maybe that would be a neat thing... San-gun-ryu, the three gun style! Nah,I'm just beingstupid.
(Zoro: What's the difference between that and the things you usually say?)
e-e; Hush, Zoro-kun, or I'll tell everyone what I saw you hide under the loose plank in the storage room.
(Zoro: ...)

Anyway, I know a lot of people who gets depressed in fall, I don't know why. I love fall as well, with the fresh, clear air in the morning, the yellowing and reddening leaves and the rainy nights. Awesome.
Happy Birthday once again.