It is just me, or does everyone seem dead? I didn't get any reviews for chapter five, and I just assumed it was too short. (I thought it was too short, at least. It didn't really have much in it.) The funny thing is, Neverland still has more collective reviews, which I automatically take to mean that WBSB isn't really what it's cracked up to be.

I am working on it, though, and I am acctually open to suggestions not so much for the over-all plot, as for how I'm doing so far, and what you think could be left out, or is missing something. Anyway, here's chapter six (which is really the original ch. 6 and 7 combined, so it's about twice as long).

Weirdo Base Strikes Back

Chapter 6. The Meeting

Nami could see them before they came into view. Her image of a green-haired swordmaster, a cool and collected fighting cook, and a brightly grinning captain was only slightly far from the visual truth.

First came Sanji, stepping out of the forest edge. He wasn't smoking, he was wearing brighter clothing- patchwork jeans and a white t-shirt- and his stride was less pronounced, but when he saw her, the exact same Sanji that she used to know was still on the inside.

"NAMI-SWAN!"

He bolted straight for her, clearing the long space between them in seconds. When he reached her, he, without thinking, gave her a tight bear hug, rocking lightly from side to side. Well, maybe he acted a bit different. In that embrace, Nami no longer felt like the untouchable goddess Sanji made her out to be, but rather a dear friend that had finally been found after years of searching.

Gasping, he jumped back as if shocked by electricity. His eyes wide, (for his hair was out of his face and both eyes were showing, both with un-curled eyebrows) he started mumbling, "Forgive me my disgraceful actions, Nami-san, your divine self deserves so much better... Oh beautiful Queen of mortals! How I dare to act so brutishly, may I be punished by the gods-"

"Sanji-kun," she interrupted firmly. He paused and looked up at her from his low bow. Then she gave him a warm smile. "It's alright."

"I forgive you," she added, at his unconvinced look. He stood, and after a moment, also smiled, a look of gratefulness spreading across his face. Not for her forgiving him, she thought, but for her being happy.

Zoro's entrance wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but Nami could spot his poorly contained grin a mile away. He looked as much different as Sanji did, if not more. His hair was a strange shade of brown that didn't suit him at all. Speaking of suits, Zoro wore a shirt that was black with gray newspaper text all over it, and kahki knee-length shorts.

Zoro didn't bother saying anything, he just stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall of the house, smiling uncontrolablly.

What happen next is what suprised Nami the most. A black jacket flew towards her at top speed yelling 'NAMI...!' in much the same way Sanji had. She heard the sound of pounding feet, and the swish of clothes. It got closer until it was right in front of her, and didn't stop. Barreling her over and latching onto her, she felt thin, rubbery arms and legs wrap around her. Something that felt like a head of hair nuzzled against her cheek. Something else poked lightly at her head just above her hairline. It felt like straw.

"Luffy..." she breathed. Then, much more loudly, "You're alive? Luffy, you're alive! You're invisible! You're squeezing me too tight, get off. I need to breathe, you know."

The jacket backed off and Nami stood back up. She looked at it with a tilted head for a second, then her eyes grew large as she looked first from the jacket to Zoro and Sanji, and back again.

"You're not- He's not- Is he- he's a ghost?" she finally managed to get out. She had felt Luffy, but, then again, she hadn't. It was hard to explain. It was as if she should have, and her mind knew it, but her body didn't agree.

Hesitantntly, she reached out a hand and slowly, she poked the air where his stomache should be.

There it was again! She almost felt the rubbery texture of his skin, hidden behind his almost-shirt. 'Hehe, that tickles, Nami...!' his almost-voice giggled.

"As far as I can tell," Zoro replied to her rhetorical question, "I have no idea. It might be an illusion. He might be living, breathing, warm and solid right in front of us, or he might not really be there at all."

He reached to somewhere at the side of his almost-haramaki and drew his almost-sword, the almost-sound ringing through the air. He almost-brought it back down and almost-resheathed it.

'Hey...! I'm real, Zoro...! Let's go to the beach, come on...'

"Beach?"

"Yeah. Could you get Usopp so we can go?"

"Oh-! Sure, I'll be right back."

Nami ran inside and charged into Usopp's room, where he had been sleeping. She wasn't really sure why they were going to a beach, but she suspected they weren't going to tell her. Not yet, anyway.

"Usopp, Usopp wake up, they're back, the others are back, Luffy and the others!"

"Nami...?" He blinked up at her groggily as she shook his shoulder. "Wassa matter?"

"Luffy and Sanji and Zoro are back, they're right outside!"

He jumped up, fully awake. "Then let's go down!"

He bounded down the stairs, alternatively taking three and four steps at a time. Nami had to run to catch up.

Outside, Usopp had burst out of the house so fast that he had to skid to a stop. Sure, the sight of his crewmates wasn't exactly what he had been expecting, but then again, it was. Most things that made them seem recognizable and familiar were gone- Zoro's earrings, Sanji's cigarette, little things, but many.

Usopp received the same treatment as Nami.

'USOPP...!' The captain-turned-jacket leaped at him and destroyed any chance of ecsape, hugging him to death.

'We found everyone...! Hey, Usopp, good to see you...!'

"I'd say the same, but I can't see you. Gerroffa me, would you?"

Luffy hopped to the ground and proceeded to hop up and down in front of Zoro.

'Beach...! Let's go to the beach...! Beach, beach, beach beach beachbeachbeach...'

The swordsman wasted no time in pulling Usopp by his sleeve and half drag him down the path in the forest.

"You heard the jacket," he called to the others, grinning, "let's get going!"

Usopp struggled against his grip in vain and peered indignantly up at Zoro's face.

"Hey," he called with a disgruntled tone, "Let me go would you? Why are you dragging me?"

"You're going to be my guinea pig," Zoro mumbled back distractedly, not taking his eyes of the path ahead of him.

Usopp swallowed hard and, having no say in the matter, started stumbling through the woods, Zoro's strong hand not relinquishing its hold on Usopp's sleeve whatsoever.

---

Usopp had a sudden change of heart. He wouldn't mind if Zoro held fast his iron grip at all. In fact, Usopp quite wished the swordsman was holding onto a part of him that he was less likely to let go of than his sleeve. Maybe it was because his entire body was dangling over the side of a enormous cliff, the only thing solid touching him being Zoro's hand.

Maybe. It was hard to tell.

"Zoro, get me down! Don't let go! Please, Zoro,-" he sputtered in panic, all the desperation that he had been able to hold onto was now spilling out of him like a waterfall, and it was apparent.

He glanced behind him, and promptly wished he hadn't. He shut his eyes tight and tried not to whimper.

"Zoro... Zoro let me back on land, please, I'm begging you, I'm gonna fall-!" True, his hand hadn't slipped a centimeter, but Usopp was getting antsy to extreme levels.

"Alright, alright. Don't wet yourself."

He was flung uncerimoniously onto the grass behind the swordsman, and he dug him fingers into the ground, as if to never let go again. Panting heavily, he twisted his head around to glare icily at the innocent-looking 'hill'.

"Scardy-cat," laughed Zoro, entirely unapologetic.

"When is a hill not a hill? When it's two cliffs in disguise. Or in this case, half a hill pretending to be a whole one. Or something. Right, Mr. Mad Scientist?"

"That's right, Guinea Pig. Now for the test results. What did you see on the other side of the fence? Tell the others."

Usopp sat up and regarded Zoro for a moment. Deciding it wasn't enough to get angry over, he turned to Nami, Sanji, and Luffy.

"I saw it all as it should be. You guys... I saw Sanji's eyebrow and cigarette and bangs, Nami and Zoro's hair color, and Zoro's proper clothes and sword. I saw Luffy, he has his hat and everything, and he actually looks preaty cool in Sanji's jacket." At his last testimony, Usopp grinned at Luffy and could feel him grinning back.

"Very good," nodded Mr. Mad Scientist, "What did you see behind you, Guinea Pig?"

'Zoro...'

"Hey?"

'Can't you just SHOW them...?' an exasperated and impatient Luffy whined.

"Your wish is my command, oh great and powerful King. The only way down to the beach is the cliff, just so you know."

"Great," muttered Nami sarcasticly.

She stepped curiously forward to the metal gate that seemed to enclose the illusion. Slowly placing both hands on the rail, ("Careful, Nami-swan.") she leaned over so that her head was past the railing.

She imediantly gasped and leapt back.

"Th-th-there's no floor," she stuttered dumbly, "I... It just went... Gone."

Sanji, after giving Nami a reasuring look, climbed over the fence without a backward glance and was on the other side. He hung there for a moment, looking over his shoulder.

"Wow... That's a long way down."

He let go of the railing, and dropped out of sight.

"Sanji!" yelled Nami and Usopp simutaniously, rushing to the fence. Zoro merely peered over the edge with mild curiosity.

Standing on a small ledge about halfway down the side stood Sanji, smiling and waving up at them.

"If you jump, Nami-swan, I'll catch you. It's not really as far as it looks. Really!" he added, at their skeptical looks.

As Sanji set Nami down on the ledge after catching her, he turned to face the beach and found Zoro and Luffy already standing there, they having jumped straight down the side. As Usopp and Nami dropped onto the sand, Sanji followed suit, watching the four of them.

There was his captain, laughing and running around on the sand. He did actually look good in Sanji's black jacket, but contrasting with his grinning face, it almost looked as rediculous as the boy himself.

There was Zoro, his crossed arms and steady stance not taking away from the happy expression on his face. Looking at the swordsman, Sanji realised that although Zoro had hardly ever strayed from his sight, it felt as if he hadn't really seen him for a long time. This could be because of the lack of an ilusion, he wasn't sure. But, it was nice to see green hair again, even if he would never admit it.

As for the changes in Nami and Usopp, the sniper's hair was once again longer and uncurably curly. His goggles and bandna were back, as were his overalls and his bag of goodies, not to mention his long nose. Nami's hair was also returned to its normal color and length, and her high-heels and bo staff were visible.

Zoro caught Sanji's eye and held it there for a moment. See? I was right, wasn't I?

Sanji snorted and shook his head, neither in agreement or disagreement.

---

Pooling together memories, facts, guesswork and speculation, The StrawHat Pirates were able to come to a theory on what the heck was going on.

This is what they decided upon.

It started with the marine battle that they had lost. Each of them had been unconsious on the deck of the Going Merry at the end, except for Usopp. When the marines dragged off Zoro, Nami, Sanji, and Luffy, Usopp fell to what the marines thought was his doom, so they left him there.

The marines had put the remaining four into the underwater Weirdo Base and left them there, to keep them safe and in one spot for as long as they needed. The marines took extra measures with Luffy, putting him in a freezing tank filled with seawater, and injected him with an- as of yet- unknown substance. The three of them remaining had also been injected with whatever it was, or otherwise had been forced to drink it when they were unconsious.

The substance, or 'Weirdo Base Punch', as Usopp calls it, (named after the odd fruit smell of the poison back on the Going Merry) is what makes them effected by the ilusions, and what made them forget things. It took effect after Usopp rescued Luffy and the others from Weirdo Base and got back to the Going Merry. The Punch's effects only took place after the consumer touched sea water, or the ocean. That's also why it stopped working- the ocean activates it, and the ocean gets rid of it.

Sanji had already figured out that all the food from the store was spiked with Weirdo Base Punch. Just smelling it cooked can trigger the effects.

The purpose of the Punch was to keep them in the Cage. The Cage wasn't really a cage, save for the fence around the border. What it did was hold the ilusions. The ilusions were there to get rid of anything familier- anything that might trigger memories to return. Usopp's nose for instance, and Sanji's curled eyebrow. Aparently no part of Luffy was acceptable at all, so he couldn't be seen inside the Cage. He could hardly be felt, like all almost-things. 'Almost-things' were things that the ilusion hides. Luffy himself could hardly feel or speak.

The purpose of the Punch was to keep them in the Cage. The purpose of the Cage was to keep them in the games. The games consisted of matches, and matches happen about four times a week. They played against people who were probably trapped there too, and, by the way they fought, pirates.

Every match, there was a losing team. Every losing team, there were two more people dead. Usualy. Sometimes no one died, but that was a rare case.

The only thing they couldn't figure out was WHY all this took place. There was no point, it seemed. Marines pitting pirates against eachother like fighting dogs? Also, no one remembered the transition from escaping Weirdo Base to being in the Cage. It was as if they were always in the Cage, but they now knew it wasn't true.

All five of them agreed on one thing, though. Those were some psyco marines.

"Another reason why they didn't want Luffy to participate in the games is probably because he was the most likely to start remembering. He had already been exposed to ocean water twice, right?" mused Nami, "Once when he was in the ice tank, and once when we escaped the Base."

"Or maybe they just didn't have enough people to make even teams."

Usopp dodged a blow to the head. "I was being serious!"

"Hey Luffy." Sanji looked at the captain with a look of bemusement, frustration, and bewilderment all at once. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't dead? I had been talking to you for almost months now! I thought it was just your spirit contacting me."

He shugged apologecticaly. "I didn't know either, Sanji."

Zoro, who was floating on his back in the water, watching the sky, now called to no one in particular, "Maybe we should try to find the Going Merry."

"I don't think so. It could be anywhere, and it could take quite a while to find it. If none of us show up for the matches, the marines or whoever's in charge is going to know something's up. Especialy if we screw up the whole system."

"We don't have them every day, Nami-san," Sanji reminded her, "If we come back in time for each match, we could find Merry in no time."

Zoro swam back to the shore. "He's right. When's Usopp and your next match?"

"Ah, two days from now."

"Ours is tomorrow. You two can search while we're away, and vise-versa. Luffy can go with whoever is free for the day."

"Sounds good." Usopp bobbed his head in agreement.

Sanji turned his gazed towards the horizon, where the sunset was casting colorful light on the long clouds. "It's getting late. We should go to bed for now."

As if to prove his point, he was met with four yawns. The crew murmered goodnights and good lucks before meandering up a small (previously unnoticed) path to the top of the hill, and then to theirs respective houses. Luffy bunked with Zoro and Sanji for the night, shamelessly taking over his swordsman's bed. Sanji fell asleep listening to his crewmates' snores, and, as he was drifting of to sleep, almost managed to convince himself that he was back on the Going Merry and safe in his hammok.

To Be Continued...

I hope it wasn't too long. I just thought that the chapters were just too... I don't know. Anyway, I'd be happy to hear what you think!