A.N: Sorry for the long wait, but this chapter was quite a long one, and I got distracted 1/2 way through. But here it is; An action filled chapter! BTW: I apologize in advance for any confusion. I really suck at writing action sequences.

Ch. 14
Down the Rabbit Hole.

Bursting forth from the undergrowth Luffy grinned widely as he discovered his missing Nakama. "Zoro, Robin! I found you! I knew you weren't dead Robin!"

"Dead? Why would you think that I was dead?"

"Because Sanji and Nami found your 'body.'" Luffy explained with the accompanying air quotes.

"Saros…" Kaicen, Robin and Zoro chimed in unison, looking at one another.

"Hey, who are you?" Luffy asked as he noticed Kaicen for the first time. Elongating his neck far past its original length, he looked Kaicen up and down, before retracting his head, and holding his nose. "You stink!"

"Luffy!" Robin exclaimed as Zoro sniggered.

"But he does!"

"He's right, I do." Kaicen agreed. Holding out his hand to Luffy, he introduced himself. "My name is Kaicen Aliotto, entertainer extraordinaire, and resident ghost of Solstin isle."

"Wow! The little boy from the Ossan's story?" Luffy asked in excitement. With a huge grin plastered on his face he took the proffered hand and shook it enthusiastically. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy; I'm gonna be king of the pirates!"

Without warning Kaicen was suddenly gone as a huge rush of air tore through the woods. "Um… guys?" Luffy asked as his right arm stretched off into the distance. "What's going on?" and with that confused question Luffy himself was gone in the blink of an eye.

"Oh great…" Zoro muttered darkly.

As he sped through the air Luffy's face broke into a huge grin. He had never traveled this fast before, not even when he used his Gomu Gomu no Rocket. It was awesome! Ok so there was a part where he smashed into the dirt and had gotten slammed around a bit. But then there was the even cooler part where he was zipping through a tight space and it seemed that he was going even faster! But then the fun ended when he crashed into something hard and came to a stop on the floor, dazed and covered with a fine white powder.

"Damn you Mugiwara!" Saros groaned as he picked himself up off of the floor, where he had landed when Luffy had crashed into him. He was furious, and the glare he shot Luffy was one of pure hatred. "You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?"

"What are you talking about" Luffy asked in confusion. Turning to Kaicen, who was rubbing his neck where Saros had grabbed him, and struggling to his feet. "What's he talking about? Where are we?"

The room they were in was a place unlike any other that Luffy had ever seen. Golden tubes covered the walls and ceiling of the circular room, extending from who knew where and going to a number of equally mysterious destinations. Thrusting down from the apex of the dome was a giant crystal, easily the size of a man. There the walls and floor met there sat rows and rows of odd machines.

"…This is the control room." Kaicen explained to the puzzled Luffy.

"Control room?"

"Of the Solstin cannon." Added Saros as he rooted around in the small bag he wore underneath his white navy jacket, searching for the perfect combinations of powers to use against his captive, and the clueless pirate.

"Solstin cannon?"

"Jeez you're dense!" Saros barked, loosing what little of his temper he had left. "This island that you're standing in… er, on… whatever! It's a weapon, Baka!"

"It is?"

"Yes, and Saros is trying to activate it." Kaicen explained.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because you idiot, I'm going to end the Age of Piracy! I'm going to purge the seas of your filth, make the world a utopia where pirates and pirate sympathizers don't exist! I will change the world!" Saros cried, exulting in his plan.

"I can't let you do that." Luffy said, pulling his straw hat down over his eyes. "Everyone deserves to live, deserves the chance to achieve their dreams, no matter what they are."

"It isn't your place to choose, Saros." Kaicen agreed as he walked over to Luffy's side. "You've already caused enough pain with your choices."

"Interesting choice of last words, pirate sympathizer." Saros snarled, quickly swallowing three essences. "Then you can die with your new comrade. Nothing will stand in the way of my utopia, my perfect world!"

Using the powers of the Bara Bara essence, Saros split his body into countless pieces and sent his body parts whirling through the room.

"I've already seen this." Luffy said, unimpressed. As almost an after thought he reached out and grabbed Saros' feet. He knew how to handle this. Without warning the feet in Luffy's hands exploded in his face, leaving him surprised and blackened, but largely unscathed. "That's new though!"

"Careful Mugiwara…" Saros mocked as he sent more exploding body parts at the young captain. "You never know what I'm capable of."

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy bellowed as he knocked away the floating chinks of flesh. With each blow a loud explosion rang out. After all of this Luffy's hands were red and raw, while Saros only looked slightly battered.

"I'll bet that hurt…" Smirked Saros, unaware that Luffy's robber flesh protected itself from the explosions much better than normal flesh could. "Now… about that Aliotto brat!" Casting around he searched for Kaicen, but he was nowhere to be found. He must have run away. It was just like that little coward to flee.

"You're fighting me!" Luffy shouted, snagging Saros' head when the other man wasn't looking, he delivered a devastating head-butt. The resulting explosion sent Luffy flying back senseless.

Dazed himself, Saros reformed his body, and held his badly ringing head between his hands. Damn! That boy could hit HARD! But, even with the freakish strength that his opponent possessed, Saros remained standing. Walking over to Luffy's still form, he smiled. It felt good to have brought down the mighty Mugiwara, but he felt that he needed a trophy, for bragging rights. Bending down, he snatched the straw hat from off the young pirate's head, and set it at a jaunty angle upon his own.

"Don't… don't touch my treasure!" Luffy groaned.

Didn't this monkey ever give up? Saros wondered. Even unconscious he was annoying, and somehow concerned about his 'precious' hat. With a scowl Saros kicked the grasping hands away, and brought his fists slamming into Luffy's face and body, striking with explosive force. He fully intended to kill the rubber brat, and would have, if he hadn't been distracted.

"Saros!" came Kaicen's voice, ringing out from somewhere unseen, causing Saros to pull back his fist in surprise. "Leave the boy alone!"

"Jeeze… Leave the girl alone, leave the boy alone, leave me alone! You sure are picky for a dead man." Saros snapped.

"I'm not a dead man." Kaicen replied as the wind from his passing blew by Saros, ripping the straw-hat from his head. Glancing down, Saros saw that Luffy was gone. The sound of a door latching shut brought his gaze back up to see Kaicen leaning against the door, hat in hand. "…At least, not yet."

"Details…" Saros replied, clasping his hands behind his back, hiding them from view of his enemy, and striding towards Kaicen. "A detail I intend to rectify shortly."

The two men were a study in opposites, both 25 years of age, yet as different as possible. Where Saros had violet eyes, Kaicen's were a piercing green. Where Kaicen had Long and flowing, dirty white tresses, Saros' hair was short and black. Where Saros was immaculate, and well dressed in his navy uniform, Kaicen was disheveled and dirty, clad only in his torn and tattered pants of an indeterminate color. Where Saros was muscular, Kaicen was slight, and reedy. But all that didn't matter, all that mattered was the fact that only one of them was leaving this room.

Looking down at the hat in his hands, Kaicen smiled bitterly. He could sense power in this delicate garment, perhaps not as much as would be in an afro, but power none the less… Mugiwara, Lend me your strength! Help me fight to protect the world, protect Solstin and Quinox, to protect Lady Nico! With a newfound grin, he jammed the hat down upon his head, and streaked away from Saros. There was no way he was going down without a fight. "Can't kill what you can't catch!"

"Noro Noro beam!" Saros snapped, sending a pair of purple beams streaking out from his strategically placed disembodied hands just as Kaicen passed them, bereaving the speedster of his velocity. Kaicen wasn't stopped dead in his tracks, but he was slowed to a human's normal pace.

"Dammit!" Kaicen exclaimed a second before the floating appendages exploded, not a foot away from him. Rolling away, he clambered to his feet once more, smoking and soot covered, an inner fire glowing in his eyes. He didn't know how, especially now that he was so slow, but he was determined that Saros would not have the dreadful power he so craved, Even if it cost Kaicen his very life. "Do you even realize the power of the cannon, the terrible destruction it causes?"

"Yes!" replied Saros, flinging his explosive bits as his foe, none of which struck home because of Kaicen's acrobatic dodging. "The power of a buster call with the push of a single button! Enough power to tear this ragged world apart, and reshape it! Ultimate power for ultimate justice!"

"There's a fine line between justice and tyranny!" Kaicen spat, "It wasn't justice that killed my family, and destroyed my home, my life! It was evil!"

"Yes… I meant to ask you about that. How did this isle survive? I mean… O'Hara was completely decimated."

The feeling of returning strength brought a cruel smile to Kaicen's lips. "Figure that one out for yourself." With those words he was off again, moving too rapidly to be seen.

"What a coward you are." Saros accused, not impressed at all. Dividing himself into smaller and smaller pieces he caused the very air in the room to burn with explosions, and oddly enough there was no sign of the Aliotto brat. "Hiding in plain sight, like an unimpressive milksop."

"Oh, anyone can do that." Kaicen said, coming to an abrupt halt in front of Saros' floating head. "But can they be in five places at once?"

Seemingly out of mid-air stepped a four more duplicates of the snowy haired young man. Saros couldn't believe his eyes, the damn fool was multiplying! With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, which was floating somewhere overhead at the moment, Saros groaned. One thorn in his side was bad enough, but five? This battle had definitely taken a turn for the worse, at least for him. Saros had only one chance, or so he thought. In desperation, he fired his Noro Noro beams at the five, but the light seemed to only pass through them harmlessly.

With a laugh, the five surged forward and with their vulgar hands seized Saros' head in a grip that felt, to the soon to be hurting Vice-admiral, ethereal and yet all too solid at the same time. Saros caused his highly volatile head to explode over and over in an effort to get the freaks off of him, but just like the beams, it didn't seem to have any effect on his tormenter. When the first fist connected with his head the only thing worth focusing on was survival.

After the brief, but furious barrage, Kaicen took aim, and flung Saros' head at the marine's floating stomach as hard as he could. The results were spectacular; When he head-butted himself in the stomach Saros coughed up the three essences that he had consumed, causing his body to throw itself together hastily with a sound that could in no way signify anything healthy, and when the essences connected with the metal pipes that composed the walls and ceiling, they shattered into a fine powder that rained down over the two combatants.

Coming to a halt, Kaicen sagged, barely able to stand. Moving so fast was exhausting. No wonder he had never tried it before this moment. Hopefully it had done the job, and Saros was out of commission. With blurry eyes he tiredly made his way to the door, but a sound from behind made him pause and look back.

There was Saros, battered and bloody, but once more surging to his feet. There was murder in his eyes, and one more essence in his hand. "Damn you! I won't… Let you stop me!"

"Saros… give it up…" Kaicen panted, pushing himself fully erect with his hands. Biting back a yelp of pain, he looked down and shuddered to see the shape his hands were in. Blood was dripping off of them in what, to his exhaustion-addled mind, were torrents, and the parts that weren't bleeding were blackened and charred. Even though they felt like they were on fire, he couldn't back down. He had sacrificed his hands, but it couldn't be helped. He had to stop Saros. "We're both wounded… It's time to stop this farce…"

Bellowing in rage, Saros charged Kaicen intent on bringing his foe down. Kaicen tried to dodge this, but could only bring himself a few faltering steps before Saros crashed into him.

"Now, you little bastard!" Saros growled as he pinned the slighter man to the ground, his legs crushing Kaicen's already battered arms into the ground, one hand around his throat. Swallowing one more essence he grinned. "You're going to activate this thing, or you're going to regret it!"

A.N: SO, what did you all think? a bit of action, with a side order of action. What's gonna happen next? Hope you all didn't mind the very minor cliffhangerness of this ending. One note; The Noro Noro beam had no effect because it only seemed to strike Kaicen. He was not actually struck by it, he simply moved out of the way. The explosions though... those hurt.