Warning in AN at end of chapter.

The House on the Hill

A Way Out Part 1

Sanji jerked back, blinking rapidly as he met Usopp's concerned gaze. Usopp— who was alive and well. Who had never been in that room before. "I-I'm sorry, I…." He looked around and realized he was in the study with everyone else.

"That was interesting," Robin commented, scribbling the information into her notebook.

Sanji shuddered. He didn't want to see anything like that again. Usopp pressed a hand to Sanji's arm. "I'm fine, Usopp. Are you sure you are okay? You're not…." He swallowed heavily. "You're not hurt?"

Usopp let out a huff of breath. "What?" He smiled but wouldn't meet Sanji's eyes, making the cook frown. "I'm fine. Not a scratch on me." He laughed loudly, much more awkward than the situation should have allowed, as he stepped away. "I'm just fine."

Usopp stepped beside Law, hiding his face against his shoulder. Sanji narrowed his eyes at him, studying him for a moment longer before turning to the others.

"Was that everything?" He asked, wishing that he could have a cigarette.

Everyone muttered their assent.

"Then let's head to the basement. We have the last key, which means there is nothing left upstairs for us."

"Moss-head is right," Zoro said flatly. He was pale and slightly sweaty, and Sanji wondered what kind of memories would do that to the usually unflappable man.

"Let's go."

~o0o~

The basement door led to a small antechamber, an unfinished stairwell down to a second antechamber. There were two passages out aside from the stairs. Across from the staircase was a door that led into a small study.

"Just how many studies does this damn place have?" Sanji muttered to himself as he went inside to search it while the others stood watch, aside from Usopp, who came in after him and shut the door firmly.

Sanji glanced up at him before turning when he saw the look on the sniper's face. "Usopp, what's wrong?"

Usopp worried his lip between his teeth, his body pressing hard against the mahogany door behind him. "I know you're worried about me, but you need to forget whatever you saw. Those memories aren't real. You know that, right?" He smiled, but it didn't meet his eyes. "I know they can be upsetting, I got some terrible ones too, so I know that they're horrible. But whatever you saw didn't happen, and it's best that you just forget about it!"

"I can't just forget about it, Usopp!" Sanji snapped. "What if there was something important in what I saw. The memory was in a room upstairs that none of us had been into yet. If we end up there, you'll–"

"I said forget it!" Usopp snapped. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth and stepping forward in what was probably the most threatening way Sanji had ever seen from him. Usopp stopped suddenly, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Sanji. This is all upsetting, and you know how anxious I get." He motioned towards the door. "There isn't anything in here, so how about we just go outside and not worry about such things. It won't help us to worry, will it?" Before Sanji could answer, Usopp had turned and opened the door again.

"See Law. It went fine, just like I said it would. I'm okay."

Sanji narrowed his eyes. Usopp worried very easily, but having known him for so long and the many things they've gotten into, he had never seen Usopp react so violently. A lot about Usopp was off now that Sanji stopped to think about it. The usually boisterous sniper had been unusually quiet, neither boasting of his limitless bravery nor telling tales of how this was nothing compared to his one time he– whatever it was. Other than particular moments, Sanji couldn't remember Usopp talking at length since they were last on the ship.

That honestly worried him more than the outburst itself.

Sanji was about to leave the room when something caught his eye on the desk. He walked over, smiling as he caught sight of another key. He looked it over, but there was no indication of which lock it was to. He pocketed it with the others and left the room.

"There was another key," he reported. "There is no indication of what it is for."

Franky gestured towards the corridor by the stairwell, "Maybe it's for one of the rooms down there."

Chopper went over to the wall, jumping up on the railing and flipping on the light switch he found. It gave very little light, but it was better than nothing. "Usopp, do you have a flashlight?"

Before Usopp could answer, Franky activated something on his body, and lights flooded from his nipples.

"Why your nipples, you damned idiot?!" Sanji exclaimed, giving the cyborg a swift kick to the head.

Franky grinned sheepishly, "it's at the perfect height!"

Sanji muttered under his breath before walking ahead of the group, walking in the halo of Franky's nipple flashlights.

"Zoro, how are you feeling down here?"

Zoro grunted, "Same as before. I feel uncomfortable. There isn't much energy down here either."

Sanji frowned. "Has anyone seen any signs of life besides us? Mice?"

"Nothing," Chopper answered, sniffing. "I can't smell any mice, rats, or even insects. The floors are spotless, and none of the linens seemed to be nibbled on. If they were here, they wouldn't have stayed very long."

"There was the den den mushi upstairs, but other than that, nothing." Usopp offered.

"If the only thing, other than us, was the den den mushi, then what broke the plate?" Robin asked.

"What plate?" Zoro asked.

"When we first came in," Law explained, much more calmly than Sanji himself felt. "We were in the entryway when something broke in the kitchen, and Sanji went to investigate. While he was gone, the monster attacked us, and we scattered, but Sanji didn't hear us or come."

"There are two hallways up ahead," Chopper called back. "Do we go left or straight?"

"To the left?" Usopp suggested. "If we go straight, we're even further from under the house than we started."

"Anyone else?" Chopper asked.

There was a general agreement, and Sanji turned back to Law. "It sounds like it was trying to separate us," he said. "If the monster is what broke the plate."

"But why you, specifically?" Zoro asked. "It didn't know who would investigate."

"It didn't have to, did it?" Sanji said with a shrug. "All it needed to know was that someone would go."

"If that were the case, why didn't it merely attack you? You were the one alone." Law asked.

Sanji could only shrug his shoulders. How the hell was he supposed to know what that shit-monster was thinking?

The left corridor led to a living room. In the middle of the room, atop a decorative rug, was an expansive coffee table and two leather couches. Along one wall was an alcove. The other walls were empty. The pirates spread out to look around the room, and Sanji walked to one corner, a confused look adorning his face. It didn't look right to him, but he had no idea why. Zoro was beside the table, a distracted look on his face, and Chopper was examining the alcove.

It took a while, but Sanji finally noticed a rip in the wallpaper, high above his head. He stood on his tiptoes and even tried to jump for it, but the tear was just out of reach.

"Franky, can you get that for me?"

"Hm?" He turned towards Sanji and examined the wall. "Oh." He reached up and ran his hand along the border. He ran his finger against the rip and pulled the wallpaper down, revealing a door. Franky reached out and opened the door, revealing yet another dark corridor. He turned on his nipple flashlights and stepped inside.

"You are moving those when we get back to the ship!" Sanji snapped, biting down the protest of entering the new door.

"Another door?" Law asked, "Of course." He studied the corridor through the dim light and frowned. "I don't think this is going where we want it to go. Does anyone see where it leads?"

Franky walked further, and in the dim light, they could just see the outline of another door.

"There is no way the others came through this way if it was papered shut."

"Could simply be another way to get to the same place," Franky commented before nodding to Robin. "Come with me?" He asked her.

Franky stared down the corridor with Robin and Sanji on his heels. The rest followed along, and, at the far end, Franky got the door open and revealed yet another sitting room. This one had a larger table and bookshelves full of old journals. Franky and Robin went out a door on the right-hand side while Zoro approached the table.

"Ah."

Sanji followed him, looking over his shoulder at the table. His eyebrows drew together as he studied the burnt images before him. "What the hell is this?"

"You'll need to ask Usopp and Robin to be certain, but those here—" he pointed to the images of stars with seven points, "Look to be some kind of containment spell."

"Usopp!" He called sharply, causing the boy to jump before walking over to them.

"What?"

Zoro merely waved his hand in front of the images, and Usopp looked down to study them. "Hm, containment spells. This one here seems to be referencing an animal, and the other one, with the square above it, is for something much stronger. Although they are both very complex, I can't think of anything that would require this much complexity."

"So you're familiar with this type of magic."

Usopp shrugged, "Some of it? I can recognize the symbols from my mother's old books, but I wouldn't call myself an expert. Robin may be of more help."

A tanned hand slipped past Usopp's arm and traced a half-smeared line written in an ancient language. "Some of this is from before the Void Century. It seems that whoever owns this house is familiar with what happened before then and has access to much of the magical information that was lost during that time." Robin pursed her lips as she studied it.

"We do have the workings of more modern magic in there as well," Usopp pointed out, running his finger below another portion of old text. "Seems he modified the old magic so that it holds aspects of modern magic."

Chopper appeared in the door, cobwebs hanging from his snout. "The hallway connects. We can get back to where we were. The other path would have taken us here too."

"That's good to know." Sanji looked around the room, eyes landing on Usopp and Law, who were investigating the other exit in the other room. "What's there?" He called to them.

"A locked door," Law said.

"Do you have that other key?" Usopp asked.

Sanji walked over to them, passing the key to Usopp.

The sniper unlocked the door before handing the key back to Sanji.

Zoro and Robin walked up to the group, looking over Sanji's shoulder to the door. "If all of the doors down here were locked, then how did Luffy and Nami get down here?"

"Sanji got locked in the Library," Franky pointed out.

"Some of the doors are set to lock automatically," Sanji added.

"Like the front door," Usopp pointed out. "Maybe this is how it is trying to separate us?"

"Has anyone checked to see if any of these doors do that?" Robin asked.

Sanji blinked before pushing open the door, "We didn't"

"Then let's hope we don't get stuck down here, Dart-brow," Zoro growled.

Law opened the barred door and stepped through. He looked both ways and turned around to face the rest of them. "It's another hallway. There's a door on either end."

"Let's go right this time?" Usopp suggested.

"The energy from the left is different; I should go see what it is," Zoro said immediately. Robin echoed his sentiments.

Usopp, however, scrunched up his nose. "We really should check the right first. All of us." He ran a hand through his hair. "If the creature is trying to split us up, we shouldn't make his job easier. It doesn't feel like bad energy anyway. It can wait."

Zoro shrugged, and Robin stared at Usopp, studying him as she did one of her poneglyphs. Usopp shrank away, unable to meet her eyes. He turned quickly and led the way into the next room.

"Nami! Luffy!" Usopp said happily. "You're okay!"

"Hey!" Luffy shouted back, waving wildly.

The rest of the crew filed in behind Usopp. Behind a set of iron bars, Luffy and Nami were both alive and well inside the room.

"What took you so long?" Nami asked, glaring at them. "You'd think we wound up somewhere back in the East Blue!"

Sanji reached into his pocket, trying the keys until the one from the study slipped into the lock and allowed it to swing open. Nami threw herself into his arms with a cry, and Luffy darted out and hugged Zoro, Franky, Chopper, and Usopp in rapid succession. He reached over and hugged Sanji, then tried to hug Law, but paused when the man pressed a hand to his face.

Usopp caught Nami, hugging her tightly as she tripped into him. "Is everyone here?" She whispered to him, her eyes scanning the crew.

"All are accounted for," Franky confirmed. "We ran into each other shortly after you and Nami disappeared."

"It was troubling to have lost you," Sanji said with a frown. It was a relief to see Nami and Luffy alive and well.

Luffy shrugged, "Yeah, well. You know how it goes with stuff like this."

Sanji and Usopp narrowed their eyes at the captain. Of course, they did not, but it was hard to understand Luffy on a good day, so there was no point in questioning him.

"How did you get down here?" Zoro asked.

Nami sighed heavily, "This idiot tried breaking down the door of the room I was in."

"I didn't know you were in there!" Luffy protested loudly.

"I was scared, for obvious reasons, but once I saw it was Luffy, we talked about what happened since they arrived. We were ambushed by that monster and ran downstairs. Well, I ran downstairs. Luffy tried to fight the thing, and somehow they ended up downstairs, and I got dragged into it!"

"You tripped over me!" Luffy snapped. "I wasn't trying to kill you or anything!"

Nami rolled her eyes, "In either case, I dragged Luffy away from the thing, and we found the nearest door to run through. It wound up chasing us through the tunnels until we got to this cell. Unfortunately, it locked behind us, and we've been stuck ever since. The creature did leave us alone once we were stuck in here, though." Nami shrugged. "After he was gone for a bit, we tried to get out but couldn't."

"Now that everyone is here, we can leave, right?" Chopper asked, holding onto Luffy's head from where he sat on his shoulder.

"We should explain what we found out first. Then, make sure everyone is informed before we move forward," Robin pointed out.

"I'm not waiting for that," Zoro snapped, starting towards the next room. "I'm going to check out that other room and see if it leads to a way out."

"I'll go with Moss-head." Sanji rolled his eyes and followed behind him, stopping when Usopp pulled on his sleeve.

"Be careful," Usopp warned, talking to him quietly as not to draw attention. "We can't lose you both."

Sanji smiled softly and gently reached over to undo Usopp's grip from his sleeve. "I will make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." He nodded towards the group. "Make sure they are well informed before we get back."

"I– of course," Usopp nodded. His agreement was weak, but Sanji didn't have time to argue with him as Zoro had already disappeared.

"We will be right back," Sanji said before rushing after the swordsman.

"Wait! I'm coming with you!" Luffy rushed after them.

"Luffy!" Usopp called, reaching out to grab but missing.

"Sanji can explain it to me! I don't want to miss out on the adventure."

"But this isn't a—" a door slammed shut. "...game." Usopp sighed heavily. He just hoped everything would go okay, but with the Monster Trio, at least it wasn't likely to go wrong.

o0o

"Sanji, wait up! I am coming with you!" Luffy ran up to him and Zoro, stopping next to Sanji. "You can explain everything to me."

Sanji sighed heavily, "You idiot, you could have stayed behind for that."

Luffy blew a raspberry, "boring. What took you so long anyway? Nami was being such a pain!" He whined, following Zoro into the room he had wanted to investigate.

"We only just found the key. We've been running around in circles upstairs for hours."

Luffy cocked his head to the side, "Huh? Was it locked? That's weird. It wasn't locked when Nami and I tried it."

Sanji huffed, "The randomness of the locking and unlocking doors is the least weird thing that has happened."

"Huh?"

"There is no way to tell if, or when, a door will lock. It does so of its own volition. It's happening all over the mansion."

"Hmm." Luffy turned to where Zoro was in the corner. "Oi, Zoro, find anything?"

It was yet another sitting room with a coffee table and bookshelves lining the mahogany walls. Zoro was looking over a bookcase to the immediate right of the door.

Zoro grunted, "I don't know."

Sanji looked over his shoulder, hands in pockets. "Luffy, check out the rest of the room."

Luffy started looking on the other side of the room. In the corner on the left, he found yet another door. "Another door, it's open." He peeked inside, "I wonder where it goes?"

"Oi, Dart-brow, don't walk away from me!" Zoro growled as he walked up to them.

Sanji ignored him, following Luffy through the door and into another corridor. The corridor was unfinished, unlike the rest they've encountered. The walls were made of rough wet stone. The floor was made of dirt. The whole place smelt earthy and moist.

Sanji lit his lighter and held it before him, squinting in the darkness. The only other light source came from the room ahead of them."There's not much light down here. Make sure to be extra careful."

They slowly made their way towards the far end of the basement. It was not the first time Sanji wished they had Usopp with him. The boy may be a coward at times, but he came prepared.

He studied the area, hoping that there weren't any spiders. Rats be can deal with, but not fucking spiders.

Zoro slipped in front of him, apparently tired with how slow Sanji was walking. They continued for a minute more before the swordsman stopped suddenly, causing Sanji and Luffy to stop in their tracks. "Zoro, what–"

"Listen."

Sanji and Luffy cocked their heads to the side and listened carefully. It was faint, but… "rain!"

Luffy exclaimed, suddenly bursting forward and running towards the noise source. "You have to see this!"

Zoro and Sanji looked at each other before quickly following Luffy's voice. Sanji gasped in shock. He couldn't believe it. Some fifty feet ahead was a rope ladder. He stopped beside Luffy and glanced up. Above them was what looked to be an entrance to a cave of sorts.

"It's a way out," Sanji said, hardly believing it.

"Hm…" Zoro crossed his arms and stared at it with suspicion. Something didn't feel right. It wasn't magic, not that he could sense, but…

"I need to try something," Sanji said suddenly. "Don't move. I'll be right back. I just need to check something." He ran up the passageway, Zoro watching him until he was out of sight.

Zoro stared up at the entrance, blinking when Luffy suddenly swung in front of him, "Shishishi! It can definitely hold us!" Luffy was hanging off the ladder upside down and grinning widely in Zoro's face. "It's almost brand new! I don't think even Sunny has ladders this good." He frowned, noticing Zoro's face. "What's wrong? We can get out now."

Zoro shook his head, "I don't think we can."

Luffy jumped down, his frown deepening. "What?"

"It's too… easy. The Monster would know this is here, and after everything it put us through, there is no way that this is the exit." His frown deepened. "I don't feel magic around it, but–"

"Well, if you don't feel any magic, it's fine!"

"I need you to try something for me," Zoro said after a minute of silence.

"Duh, what do you need?"

To be Continued…

Warnings: Character Death

AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!

Keep it classy, make good choices, and I hope to see you soon.

Chandlure