"This cave really is full of wonders," Sora commented as they continued walking around the massive cave full of golden statues, giant booby traps, trap doors, and hidden rooms. They'd defeated the Heartless lion guardian outside the cave, but inside was just as difficult if not more so because the swarms of Heartless kept coming out nonstop.
They rushed through another large doorway, and showed up in a room with a risen platform on their left where enemies awaited them, but in front of them was a puzzle that they could do to make it to the other side of a giant crevice in the middle of the room. Nami looked to her right and saw nothing but black for as far as she could see. She walked over to the edge and looked down, trying to see the bottom but the darkness was too thick.
"Let's try it!" Sora exclaimed, pointing at the blocks that pushed out of the wall every once in a while just far enough that they could be stepping stones to get across. "Just, don't fall down again Luffy." The two of them were already soaked, as the first time Luffy fell into one of the holes, they realized the bottoms were full of water. The farther down rooms were all darker too, and needed a lot of swimming, so Sora wound up dragging the rubber pirate who couldn't swim through most of them.
"Yeah," Luffy said, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish laugh.
"We mean it!" Donald shouted at the pirate who looked like he was having a good time. "We've got to find the King!"
"And close the Keyholes, hyuck" Goofy added, lifting up a finger.
"And find my friends," Sora agreed.
Luffy tilted his head back, "Huhh? You guys want to rush through this, we'll miss out on all the fun!"
"Luffy," Sora started, "we can have fun, while still rushing. I know you like to take your time enjoying everything, but we can't keep exploring every room. We need to get to the Keyhole fast, and then get on to the next world."
Luffy frowned. He liked to enjoy himself on each island he stopped at back on his world, but these guys wanted to rush everything along way too fast. "Hmph, you want to get over there fast? Then let's skip the puzzle," Luffy got an evil glint in his eye for a second and the others all went wide-eyed. "Gum Gum," he started, throwing his right arm across the room and grabbing a pillar next to a door on the other side. "Rocket!" he yelled, while at the same time wrapping his left arm around all the others.
"LU-" Nami started shouting, only to get her voice cut off as they were sent flying across the chamber.
The whole group of them landed in the next room down from the large dark hall, and everyone but Luffy sat down with dazed expressions for a minute. "Shishishishi," Luffy laughed, enjoying taking a faster path already. His jaw dropped though while he was laughing, the room becoming silent.
Nami regained her composure fast and jumped up, "Luffy you id-id-id," her mouth started moving up and down, no words able to come out anymore as she looked around her at the room they just entered. There were huge gems, large enough to make a fortune, being held by monkeys made entirely of gold. Abu ran up to one and rubbed the side of it, only for munny to rain down from the ceiling. "Gold," Nami whispered, then saw all the munny and had a sudden thought. Munny can buy us things all over the worlds, but this gold, well, it's GOLD! She started drooling and she didn't even notice it.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy explored the room a little while Abu, Nami, and Luffy all tried to grab as much treasure as they could. After searching the place for something hidden that could give them an idea as to where they needed to go, Sora noticed a large pillar on one side of the wall that did not look like it belonged. He walked over to it and his Keyblade formed in his hand, "Ha! Raaa! Hi-ya!" He bashed back and forth, and the pillar shook, but he got nowhere with it.
"I've got this," Luffy said, standing up with a golden crown on his head, along with a shiny golden necklace that had a cross-like object on the bottom, only with a loop at the top. The ankh had a red gemstone in the center of the top loop of it, and it looked really cool which is why the pirate had it. He walked over towards Sora with his right arm lifted up, grabbing his bicep with his free hand. The pirate in the straw hat pulled back, and then slammed his fist forward, making the entire pillar shake even worse than when Sora hit it, but not break the giant pillar that stretched all the way up to the ceiling, and it looked like it went below the floor even, maybe down to the lower levels they'd already visited.
Sora lifted his eyebrows at Luffy, crossing his arms with a grin. "Oh you've got this huh?" the fourteen year old asked the pirate.
"Here, let me do it," Donald called out, making Sora and Luffy turn to see the duck walking forward and pulling the feathers up on his arms, almost like he was rolling up his sleeves. "Waawawawawa!" he quacked, sprinting forward and jumping straight into the pillar. This time, it didn't even shake, though it did make everyone laugh as Donald fell on his back with swirls over his eyes.
Luffy smiled, "I've got an idea," he said. The pirate lifted up his right thumb towards his mouth, and the others who were gathered around him ran away, just in time too as a giant fist puffed out of nowhere. Luffy bit down on his thumb, "Third Gear, Bone Balloon." He pumped his bones full of air and made them huge, then held his right arm back behind him. "Gum Gum," he began, and finished shouting, "Giganto Pistol!" smashing his fist into the pillar in front of them. He did it from up close, and his fist slammed into the hard stone for a few seconds, the pillar trembling against the pressure. Then, the pillar cracked, and more cracks formed right after.
The pirate pushed harder, yelling out as he did to follow through with his fist. His whole body started letting out air as he was done, and he spun around like mad in the treasure room before hitting the top of a pile of gold and bouncing down it to the bottom. His golden crown and necklace shrank along with his clothes, and the tiny pirate moaned as he got back up to his feet and looked forward.
"Nice one Luffy," Sora said, looking back at the pirate. He had to lift up his right hand to cover his mouth for a few seconds, but wound up bursting out in laughter anyway at the sight of the five inch tall pirate running towards them as fast as his tiny legs could take him.
"Hey, what's the big deal?" Luffy shouted at him, his voice coming out ridiculously high-pitched in this small form. "I broke the wall! Ha!" he laughed, his squeaky voice still managing to make Sora frown at that one as he wasn't able to do that himself.
"Maybe there's more treasure in this room!" Nami exclaimed as the tall pillar broke outwards, showing there definitely was an opening behind it. She wanted to be the first one in, so she charged through while the pillar was still falling. Donald, Goofy, and Sora chased after her, while tiny Luffy tried to keep up, annoyed at the setback of his Third Gear form.
The five of them ran into the room behind the pillar and found it to be the largest room so far. Nami frowned upon seeing there was no gold in the room, but her eyes turned huge at the sight far ahead of her. She slowed down, letting the others run ahead of her as her mouth dropped and her eyes started shaking. She lifted up both hands to her mouth, and then screamed, "ROBIN!"
Robin stood a hundred feet in front of her, up a small flight of stairs leading to a huge blank wall. She turned around and looked at the group of five running towards them, before looking back at Jafar who held the lamp in his hand high. "Genie! For my first wish: Show me the Keyhole!"
"What? How did he get Aladdin's lamp?" Sora asked, coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairs with the other fighters. The blue Genie emerged from the lamp, and despite Luffy thinking it was really cool, he still couldn't smile as he glared ahead at the top of the stairs. Genie hesitantly pointed a finger at the blank wall, and then it was as if the outer wall vanished, revealing the enormous Keyhole behind it.
"Jafar!" Sora yelled up at the man, who was smiling victoriously now that he found the Keyhole. "We've come to stop you!" Sora lifted his hands and got into a fighting stance, making eye contact with the evil man who turned and looked at him.
Jafar cackled as he looked down at the fools facing him. He had his red parrot Iago on his right shoulder, and Nico Robin standing on his left side. Up above him floated the Genie, a creature he believed to be but a myth until only recently. "You? This world is under my command. The Heartless are under my command. Even the Genie is now under my command. What can you possibly do to stop me?!"
"We're gonna kick your ass!" Luffy yelled, turning back into his normal size and punching his right fist into his open left palm. The pirate glared up at the power hungry Sultan with furious expression, and Jafar actually felt a little nervous.
Then, Jafar had a great idea, "Genie," he began, making the reluctant Genie look down at him. "For my second wish, take care of these fools for me!" He laughed loudly as the Genie went wide-eyed and tried pulling back, but got tugged towards the others anyway.
"I'm sorry about this you guys," Genie shouted, hoping it would make a difference as he floated down towards Aladdin's friends.
"Robin!" Nami shouted up at the quiet woman again. "What are you doing with Jafar?! Weren't you supposed to take care of him at the palace? What happened to Usopp and the others?!"
Jafar laughed even harder at this, making Nami's eyes widen even more while Robin just stayed silent. "She had you fooled the entire time," Jafar yelled down, his voice condescending. "My apprentice delivered more than what she promised, and she will be rewarded for it." He continued shouting while Robin turned her head a little towards him, "Now she will get the reward of watching all of you die!"
Luffy was frowning deeply as he jumped backwards away from the Genie's large blue fist. His fist hit the ground where they just were, and turned it into a small grassy area full of flowers. He lifted up his other hand, and it turned into a blue hammer to slam down at the good guys, while shouting at the same time he didn't want to do this. "Robin wouldn't," he whispered, not loud enough for anyone in the room to hear him. "She wouldn't consider that a reward!" Luffy growled, snapping his head up and glaring across the room at the cackling man. "Gum Gum," he started, throwing his right leg back, "Stamp!"
Jafar got a foot straight to his face, and was thrown backwards. The evil Sultan got up with a furious expression on his face and charged down the stairs, slamming down his staff at the bottom and creating Heartless Bandits to attack his enemies as well. The Genie he told to fight them was incredibly strong, and all of the heroes' attacks did nothing to hurt it, but it was holding back on its punches, trying to resist hurting these people while its restraints forced it forward. The Heartless soldiers battled against the four strong fighters while Nami stood aside and stared straight up at Robin who watched the fight the whole time.
Sora charged at Jafar, but the tall man blocked the boy's first swing with his Keyblade, then knocked him backwards with the top of his staff. "Alright," Sora said, getting back up to his feet and healing himself so he was at full strength. "How about you try this," he yelled, and his entire body burst out with bright light.
Robin stared down at the floor below where this boy who back on his island fought with a wooden sword like a child, started sprinting forward at incredible speeds and slamming his strange weapons into Jafar hard enough to lift the grown man off the ground and knock him backwards. He finished his combo and the final swipe from the boy now dressed in all red sent a flying slash across the room that collided with a recovering Jafar. Meanwhile, Luffy had pumped his legs down to make steam come out of his body, and was now racing around dodging Genie's attacks at high speed, while destroying the Heartless below in one strike each.
"I can't believe we let you in our crew," Nami growled up at the older woman, who looked back down at her. "I- you tricked me into trusting you with jewels, but, I never should have fallen for it. At any time during those weeks we spent together, you could have killed me. And you would not have felt any remorse for it, would you?" Nami's words fell on deaf ears, as Robin said nothing in reply. "Answer me Robin! Did we really mean nothing to you?! You were supposed to be our nakama!"
Around the room, more Heartless formed, but Sora turned and battled the whole lot of them, while Luffy rushed in and rescued Goofy from the apologetic Genie who was about to hit him. Nami got rushed by two dark creatures, and she lifted up her wooden pole to try and fight them, but got pushed back quickly by their strength. "Damn it, Robin!" she yelled.
Jafar was stumbling his way back up the stairs, and he had to use his staff to help him get up. That boy's strange power that let him power up to this newfound strength was beyond what he thought the young Keybearer capable of. Sora's Valor Form was wearing off as he reached the top of the stairs, but the damage had already been done. Jafar was wounded, the Heartless were being destroyed, and Genie was still being ineffective against the warriors.
"Damn it," Jafar growled, reaching back behind him for the lamp again. "Having to make my third wish so soon," he muttered, wanting to save it for later.
"Allow me," Robin offered from behind Jafar. He heard her voice and looked back to see the woman walking forward smiling just a little as she did. Nami's eyes widened at the sight of Robin walking closer, and Sora gripped his Keyblades tighter, grinding his teeth as he didn't want to fight the woman who was nice to him back on his island.
"Ahh yes," Jafar said, finding the way out he was looking for. "Dear Robin, I definitely made the right decision when I chose you to be my apprentice." He looked forward and pointed down at all his enemies, "Now! Dispose of these fools at onc-" Jafar stopped, Genie and Luffy stopped, the steam stopped coming off of Luffy's body at that moment too.
Donald and Goofy shared completely confused looks, while Nami just stared dumbstruck at the sight in front of her. Luffy however, started smirking and then smiled outright from ear to ear. I knew it!
Robin stood directly behind Jafar, with a knife plunged into his back. His mouth had frozen mid-order, and he twisted his head around a little to look at the woman, but she had her hair shadowing over her eyes as she held the blade in his back. "No," she stated, releasing the blade and allowing Jafar to fall to his knees. The evil man reached behind him for the lamp, but Robin crossed her arms and two hands appeared out of Jafar's back, grabbing the lamp and tossing it to her.
Sora smiled wide, finally realizing what was going on. "It's over Jafar!" Sora shouted triumphantly. His red clothes turned back to normal but he didn't care, he didn't need Valor Form anymore; they had already won.
The man on his knees was shaking violently. Genie stopped fighting completely now that the lamp was no longer in Jafar's hands. Everyone looked over at Robin with smiles, and she looked back at them, lowering her own for a second, "I am sor-"
"Hehehe, HEHEHE!" Jafar's voice started echoing around the room, sounding like the man had snapped from the tone of it. "Raaa!" Jafar snapped his head up and his eyes were black, darkness seeping out of them as he did. Everyone panicked, but they were too slow as two eight-foot tall black demonic forms holding swords ripped out of the ground on either side of Robin and grabbed her by the arms.
Robin's eyes widened as their grips were tight, and they dragged her towards Jafar quickly. "Robin!" Luffy shouted from across the room, starting to sprint over as fast as he could. He was a little tired though after using Gear Second twice since arriving on this world, and Gear Third took it out of him as well. He wasn't running as fast as the Disney creatures and Sora who ran up the stairs towards the evil beings attacking Robin. Nami couldn't move as she stared at the demonic forms that were like no Heartless she had ever seen before. Their entire bodies were black, but they stood on two legs, with two arms, and each held a giant sword with relative ease.
Robin squirmed and tried to let go, even creating a few limbs on the creatures' faces trying to snap their heads back, but they were too strong for her. Her struggles stopped as Jafar stood up right in front of her. "So this is what Maleficent warned me about?" he asked in a dark, creepy tone. "This power has taken over, but I know how I can fix it," the man with empty black eyes reached his free hand forward and snatched the lamp from Robin's hand.
"No don't!" Sora yelled, as the man brought back his staff. He was too late though and Jafar slammed it into Robin's face and sent the woman sprawling backwards with blood coming out of her mouth. "Robin!" Sora yelled, diving towards the woman falling out of the air. He caught her and fell beneath her to soften her landing, but rolled down the rest of the stairs anyway. When he got up, he looked up top to see Donald and Goofy trying to get past the two tall Heartless demons, but while they tried attacking, the monsters became invisible, little wisps of them all that remained zipping through the sky. After a few seconds, the wisps formed in spots right above the two Disney creatures' heads, and slammed their swords right down on them, knocking them down the stairs towards the others and Luffy who just arrived.
Jafar laughed down at them with the two demon forms at his side, his red parrot squawking like mad above his head, and the blue Genie now making its way back over. "Genie!" Jafar yelled, looking down at his enemies, "Genie! For my final wish! I want you to make me, an all-powerful Genie!"
Everyone gawked as Genie covered his eyes with one hand, then pointed a finger with the other hand at Jafar. Some bright lights zapped out of his finger, and then bing, bam, boom! Jafar's body started to get bigger and bigger, making his opponents step farther and farther away from him. His little demons vanished, only little because his body had turned red, muscular, and a hundred feet tall. His lower body lost all human form and became one long tail that got narrowed closer to the bottom.
The floor in the room started to crack, as the heroes made their ways as far out as they could. Luffy reached for Robin, but those two Invisible Heartless reappeared right on top of her, one swatting away his hand and the other grabbing her. "Robin!" he and Nami shouted, but Goofy and Donald pulled them backwards as the floor they were trying to get back on was crumbling away.
"Hahaha! HAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAAAAaaa!" Jafar's maniacal laugh grew quieter as he lowered down into the giant hole on the floor. He went down and down until he reached the bottom, and everything finally stopped shaking so bad. Sora, Luffy, and the others stepped up to the ledge and looked down, to see another room far below, hundreds of feet down in the cave. In this hidden room, most of the floor was full of bubbling lava, and Jafar emerged from the lava, his body even bigger than before as he sat in it.
"What are we going to do?" Sora wondered aloud.
"We should close the Keyhole and get out of here!" Donald exclaimed.
Nami looked over at them, and her eyes were sad as she whispered, "But, they have Robin."
"Who cares?" a voice asked from behind them. The group spun around, Luffy and Nami looking furious as they did. Standing behind them was Aladdin, with Smoker standing to his left, holding an unconscious muscular figure on his shoulder. Aladdin didn't care about the cold looks the pirates were giving him, and he continued, "She left us alone with that witch, and she took Jasmine!"
Aladdin's eyes were full of anger and sadness which made Luffy and Nami lighten their glares. He continued in a rage, "She tied us up, and handed us right over-"
"That was the plan-" Nami began.
"But then she stayed on their side! She was supposed to get behind Jafar and take him down, but instead she took down Smoker, and let us get surrounded!" Everyone was shocked she managed to take down Smoker, but from the ashamed look that appeared on the tssking Marine's face, it showed Aladdin was telling the truth.
"But, but," Sora started confusedly, looking around at everyone. "But she just turned on Jafar. We saw her stab him in the back..."
"For the same reason she stabbed us in the back," Smoker interjected, "because it was convenient for her at the time. Give her another chance, and she'll do the same thing all over again." The white haired Marine looked to the back of the room, across from the giant hole with lava all the way at the bottom. "If you close that Keyhole, what do you think will happen to this place?"
Sora stayed quiet for a few seconds, then whispered, "I don't know."
"What if it makes this place come down on itself?" Nami asked, looking around in a panic. "This place is unsturdy enough as it is, and we're deep underground. Even if we manage to escape, what about Robin-"
"Exactly," Aladdin said, "we can trap Jafar down here as well." He received a shocked look from Nami, but continued while lifting his hands for emphasis, "We saw the wish he just made too! What could any of you do against an all-powerful Genie?"
Luffy wanted to shout 'punch it,' but he just tried that with their friendly Genie, and that did not work out well for him. None of his attacks could do any damage, and he doubted they would start now just because he wanted them to more.
Donald looked at Sora and whispered, "We came to close to Keyhole Sora. We've gotta save this world."
"I know, but," Sora looked over at the giant Keyhole, waiting for him to close it. His face calmed down though, and his expression became serious, "But we are not done with this world yet. I want to go save Robin, and ask her why she did those things myself!" Sora turned, and as everyone shouted at him, the boy sprinted off the edge, diving head-first down into the huge pit full of lava.
Why am I hesitating?! Luffy thought, almost hitting himself for not already being down there. "Geronimo!" he yelled, jumping in after Sora.
"After them Goofy!" Donald shouted, waddling fast to the edge and hopping off.
"Gawrsh, alright," Goofy leapt off, "Ooohhoooo hoo hoo hooo!" His voice became quieter as he dropped farther into the pit down to the room below.
Aladdin gripped his fists tightly, then ran over to the ledge as well. "Where are you going?" Smoker yelled over at the man who he carried all this way from Agrabah.
Aladdin paused at the ledge, then looked over his shoulder at them, "Jafar started all this. I'm going to make him pay." He turned and jumped off the side, falling down and down until he reached a small area of land above the lava pit below. Around him were the other fighters who already dropped, all staring straight ahead at the monster in front of them.
"HAHAAHAA! I knew you fools would not be able to resist," Jafar laughed at them. He crossed his arms, the giant muscular red genie with creepy black facial hair grinning at his prey. Lava shot up in pillars on either side of him and swirled around in the air.
Sora saw something out the corner of his eye though, "The lamp," he whispered. He saw Iago, the red parrot, flying around holding a new black lamp in its beak. "If we get it, we can send Jafar back in his lamp." Donald, Aladdin, and Goofy nodded with him, while Luffy cracked his knuckles.
"You do that," the pirate captain said, making the others look to him wondering what he was going to do in the meantime. They followed his gaze up above Jafar's head, where an unconscious Nico Robin floated helplessly. "I'm getting back my nakama," the rubberman stated.
Luffy took off like a missile to attack Jafar, and in the meantime the others all raced towards Iago. The sections of floor they were on kept lifting up and dropping back down, as if the lava below was lifting the platforms. Out of the walls all around them were waterfalls of lava, and blazing torches filled this lower room.
"Is it hot in here or is it just me?" an annoying squawking voice yelled out, as the parrot flying around down here flapped over a platform that was particularly high up. Sora made it up top of that platform first and jumped up, swinging right at the bird for a combo, but every one of his strikes seemed to bounced off of a light white forcefield that surrounded the bird. He could feel it weakening, ever so slightly, but he glared over at Jafar who was being smart by keeping that lamp protected.
Aladdin pointed up at the parrot as it flew over a section too low for them to jump up from it and swipe at the bird. "We have to get him down here somehow!"
"Aladdin watch out!" Sora yelled over at the man, running over and tackling him away right as a giant boulder of molten rock smashed down where Aladdin was just standing. Jafar laughed in the background, then rose a hand and swiped Luffy out of the air as the pirate got a little too close to his victory trophy. Luffy slammed down near them, and Sora started yelling something at him, but Luffy was already rocketing himself back at Jafar again.
Luffy reached up for Robin where the demons were holding her over Jafar's head. His arms got close, but Jafar did not even need to attack Luffy this time. Both of these demon-looking black Heartless were very powerful, and one of them flew backwards while holding onto Robin. The other flew towards Luffy and swung a sword into his face, knocking the pirate out of the air and down into the area below.
"Luffy be careful!" Sora shouted over at the pirate, while jumping up in the air over a huge ball of molten rock Jafar threw at him. He jumped too early however, and as he came down the rock crashed into the solid ground beneath him and exploded. Chunks of rock slammed into the boy and he flew to the side, yelling out in pain.
"Sora!" Goofy shouted, tossing him a potion.
A green light shimmered over Sora while he got up, and he felt health flowing through him. "Thanks!" the kid shouted, then continued running over to a platform that was rising up in the lava below them. He leapt up on the rising platform, then jumped up after getting on it. He lifted up high near the parrot flying around, and he slammed his Keyblade down on Iago's head. He swiped back and forth, but a white forcefield kept appearing every time he tried hitting the red parrot. Finally Sora dropped out of the air and Donald jumped up next to him with his wand lifted up, quacking loudly as he brought down a bolt of lightning at the parrot.
Iago squawked in fear and flapped away, even as the forcefield surrounded him and he stayed safe. "It's not enough!" Aladdin called over from where he was dodging Jafar's lava attacks. He dove to the right just as a pillar of lava flew over his head and the street rat felt the burns on his back. He did a roll and got back up to his feet, turning towards an insane-looking Jafar angrily. As he was looking, his eyes widened as Luffy, covered in steam, appeared back in front of Jafar's face.
Even Jafar looked a little surprised as Luffy clenched his teeth in extreme pain. Gear Second puts too much strain on my body! But, ROBIN! Luffy's eyes darted to the demon Heartless flying behind Jafar's head and he punched a fist out towards it. This time, the demon didn't back up fast enough and the fist hit it in the face. Luffy grinned through his clenched teeth, but he grimaced as his punch did not destroy the strong Heartless in one blow. Still, while his fist was out there, he grabbed onto the shirt of the woman in the demon's hand, and when he snapped it back, Robin came flying with his hand.
"I don't think so, not after that woman stabbed me in the back," Jafar roared. His huge red form lifted up both arms to his sides and pillars of lava rose up in the air. Luffy's eyes widened and he spun around, right before Jafar slammed the lava down into him. He held Robin in his arms tight to protect her, even as he screamed out in pain from the lava burning through his shirt and his back. Now there was a different reason why his skin was steaming other that Gear 2.
Luffy dropped out of the air, and the two tall dark Heartless came flying at him from opposite directions of each other. As one of them was about to slam its sword into him, the air around it sparked, and then flames ignited and burned all around the creature. The monster coming from the other side was almost there, but stopped and looked up right as a loud, "Hyuck!" was shouted. Goofy came down with his shield pointed down, having jumped off a platform higher up that the one Luffy landed on. His shield bashed straight into the demon's head and slammed it down into the floor, continuing to push down as he descended with it until he had it pinned between his shield and the floor, which shattered it into dark shards. The one surrounded by flames moved out of the fire, but got slammed in the face by the wand that created the flames in the first place, and exploded into dark fragments itself.
"GRRRR," Jafar growled, his voice making the walls of this underground room shake. Even the people still up above felt the floor and walls all around them shake as Jafar's growl echoed through the Cave of Wonders. The red genie looked down where his two Heartless were destroyed and he roared, "If you want something done…" he rose up both arms and held an enormous molten rock that looked like a small meteor in his hands. It was easily the size of the platform Luffy, Robin, Goofy, and Donald were on, and they wouldn't be able to dodge it fast enough.
Luffy moaned and looked up, rolling off of Robin and trying to get to his feet. He had blood coming out of his mouth and nostrils, and his eyes looked droopy as he was thoroughly exhausted. They opened a little wider at the sounds of Donald and Goofy's panicked screams, and at the sight of the huge mass of molten rock about to get slammed down at them.
"Hey Jafar!" a voice shouted a dozen yards to the left of Luffy and the others. They all looked over to see a raised up platform where Aladdin had the red parrot pinned to the ground, and another figure was standing closer to the edge where Jafar was floating over the lava. Jafar looked over and went wide-eyed at the sight of Sora smiling up at him, pointing a black lamp straight at him. "Back to your lamp!" Sora yelled at the genie who he now had power over.
An orange funnel of light shot out from the lamp and surrounded the bottom of Jafar's long red tail that made up his entire lower body. "WHA- AHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh," the giant genie started spinning around and around and around as he was funneled back into the lamp in Sora's hand. The orange swirling vortex got smaller and smaller and then 'Pop' it vanished back inside the lamp that Sora held victoriously over his head with a wide smile on his face.
The platforms all shook again and the lava kept pouring into the room from the holes in the side walls. "Hey Donald," Goofy began, "I think we should get out of here."
"You think you big palooka?" Donald asked, still a little sweat on the duck's feathery face from almost taking Jafar's huge attack there at the end. The court magician lifted up his wand and the platforms down floating over the lava became surrounded in little sparkling white lights. After a few seconds, all of them started lifting up in the air.
Sora turned to Aladdin and walked over to him. "Here," the boy stated, holding out the lamp. "Find somewhere to put him."
"Yeah," Aladdin agreed, taking the lamp from the younger boy. "I'll put him somewhere no one will ever release him."
The kid smiled, then turned and ran over to Goofy and Donald, but more importantly the two lying on the floor between them. "Luffy! Robin!" Sora dropped down next to his friends, and thought he had recovered enough magic power now to try something. "Cure!" he called out, raising up his Keyblade and letting green light shimmer down over the bloody pirate captain and his unconscious crew member.
As the platforms rose up near the top, Aladdin, Donald, and Goofy hopped up on the ledge of the large circular hole in the floor. Sora came walking over next, looking exhausted, but smiling nonetheless. The boy with spiky brown hair walked right past Nami, and Usopp who was sitting up now but looking totally beaten up. Both of them looked in a little as Sora walked past, and Smoker turned in next to look at the kid walk by him. Over near the stone platforms at the top of the hole, Robin stood up feeling dizzy, and Luffy looked pale but was able to get to his feet after Sora healed him.
Everyone looked over as Sora held up his right arm and a Keyblade reformed in it. The boy stood directly in front of the indented part of the wall that Jafar made disappear before. Behind that missing wall, was an ornate area with two pillars covered in strange designs that all had the shape of a Keyhole involved in it, but it was directly between these two pillars that a giant, ten foot tall, Keyhole-shape carving sat in the wall. In the middle of the carving was an actual Keyhole as if this was a doorway, and the outline of the hole glistened white light for a second. There did not look to be anything behind it, but Sora pointed his Keyblade at it anyway and his Keyblade began to glow. It shimmered and shook, and then a beam of white light shot from the tip of his Keyblade over to the hole where a bright orange light emitted from it and expanded out to get brighter and brighter. The entire ten-foot tall carving around the actual Keyhole started to glow and golden shards rained down like gold to fill up the entire indentation. A clunk noise that sounded like something locking came out from inside the light, and the light grew brighter and brighter, before vanishing completely. It left the Keyhole-shaped wall bare behind it, the actual Keyhole gone.
They all took a deep breath of relief as it seemed to finally be over, but then the ground started shaking beneath their feet.
"I knew it," Smoker growled. "We need to get out of here now," the Marine shouted.
"Carpet!" Aladdin shouted, and the flying carpet came out of nowhere. They all ran over to it while the walls and everything shook worse and worse. Rocks came loose from the walls and fell towards the group as they made their way to the carpet.
Luffy stumbled, almost falling to the ground, but two arms reached down and grabbed him. He looked up a little and saw Robin holding him up. She pulled him towards the flying carpet and handed him up to Sora, then hesitated as she looked at the carpet that was pretty packed in front of her. Her eyes darted around and she saw Aladdin glaring at her, harsher than both Smoker and Usopp, though both of them looked pissed as well.
"Get on!" Sora yelled at the woman, leaning off himself and grabbing onto her, before pulling her up on the carpet.
The carpet seemed to drop down a few feet with this many people on it, but as the building trembled around it, it knew it had to get moving. They flew up in the air, and they were moving very slow as they tried to escape down the corridors that the carpet took to reach them so fast. "Come on, go faster you dang carpet!" Donald exclaimed, ducking his head and covering it with his hands as a rock had just bonked him on the blue wizard hat he was wearing.
The monkey Abu had his hands covering his eyes, peeking through his fingers as the carpet swerved between falling rocks.
"What's weighing us down so much?!" Sora shouted as the carpet kept dipping.
"Maybe we should kick someone off," Smoker suggested, looking over at Robin with an angry glare, and bloody wrists from escaping her restraints that she used Sea Stone for.
"No," Luffy growled over at the Marine, protecting his nakama who had the doubtful looks of the three people who went with her to the palace.
Nami was looking around nervously as it seemed like they weren't going to make it, and finally when the orange haired woman saw a hole explode in the wall to her right, lava pouring out of it, she gave up. "Aghh!" she yelled, lifting up her shirt and making a few of the men look at her in shock. Their shock turned into even more shock as hundreds of gold coins rained out from under her clothing.
"How much did you take?!" Sora yelled with a laugh, watching as it seemed like the entire treasure room emptied out from under Nami's shirt.
The carpet sped up faster, and faster, and before they knew it they flew out of the sand lion's glowing mouth and up into the night sky. The whole lot of them let out a collective sigh of relief, then all at once, about half of them fell unconscious. It had been a long day.
Inside Aladdin's house, the entire group was gathered in the man's living room. Aladdin was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a sad look on his face, while everyone else sat in different spots around the room. Sora, Goofy, Donald, and Abu were sprawled out on the couch, while Usopp and Luffy lay on the floor, Usopp leaning up on the wall a little, while Luffy was still flat on his back unconscious. Nami sat on a chair across the room with a nervous look on her face as she saw the way Usopp and Smoker kept glaring at Robin, who was leaning against a side wall with her eyes closed.
"Why did you do it?" everyone looked over to Usopp who was the one to speak. He knew Robin was awake, and as he asked, her eyes opened up to look straight into his. "Why did you betray us?"
She stayed quiet. The black haired woman stared silently at Usopp for more than a few seconds. She had some speech ready to say that she had been thinking about, but the look in his eyes made her hesitate. "I trusted you!" She remembered him shouting at her the day before, how betrayed he sounded as he told her he wouldn't make the mistake of trusting her again. That's probably for the best. Staying close to me would only get them hurt.
"Answer the question Nico Robin," Smoker growled, the white haired Marine sounding really pissed. "Depending on your answer-"
"What?" Nami snapped over at the Marine, making him look to her now with his angry expression. She didn't back down as she yelled at him, "What do you plan on doing with her? Arresting her? And bringing her where?"
The Marine Captain snarled angrily as the younger woman yelled at him, but she was right. He had nowhere to bring the black haired woman even if he were to arrest her right here. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then snapped them open. "She helped with the overthrow of this wor-" he stopped himself as Aladdin was still in the room. "Of this country's government. Whoever takes charge after finding out Jafar has been deposed, will be able to figure out a fit punishment for her."
Robin was staring to feel a little nervous. This world did not seem very forgiving, and she doubted any punishment would be less than death for her here.
"Why did you do it?" Usopp asked again, making Robin look back towards the muscular man. He was so much different than the skinny teenager she met on the Straw Hats' ship a few weeks earlier, or what had been three years for him. "Just answer the question. Did you plan on betraying us the whole time?"
"No," she stated, making Smoker grunt in disbelief, thinking she was just lying to them now. She continued, as to make her case to the others, "I believed we could take on Jafar on our own. However, Maleficent turned out to be in the room, and I deduced that we did not have a chance to beat her. If I had betrayed Jafar then, we would have lost the upper hand against him in the long run, all for nothing."
"You don't know that we couldn't have beaten them," Aladdin snapped, lifting up his head to look at the woman. She expected to see an angry look from him, but was surprised to see only sadness on it. "Not that I would have helped much anyway." He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, "Jasmine," he whispered longingly.
"Uh, Earth to Al? You still have one wish left!" The magical blue genie appeared behind Aladdin and swooped in front of him with an excited look on his face. "Look, just say the word. Ask me to find Jasmine for you."
Smoker's eyes widened as he heard this come from the Genie, as did most of the people in the room. The Marine thought, If he could find Jasmine, then he could find Tashigi too. After this kid makes his wish, I'll take the lamp next and make my wish.
We could find everyone else on the crew! Nami thought excitedly. And with my final two wishes we could wish for more munny than there is in the whole universe!
Aladdin lifted up his head a little, "I… I wish…" everyone looked closer, and then Aladdin turned to the blue genie getting ready to fulfill the wish. "For your freedom Genie."
"What?!" Nami and Smoker shouted at the same time.
Sora smiled and watched as Genie exclaimed, "Al!" The genie leaned backwards and yelled, "AOOOO!" Pink shards of light surrounded him and exploded off like fireworks, and finally when they stopped, the two golden shackles on Genie's wrists lit up bright, and then vanished.
"A deal's a deal Genie. I promised I would use my third wish for your freedom, and that's what I did." Aladdin said, smiling softly at his friend. "Now you can go anywhere you want. You're your own Master." Aladdin hesitated for a second, then continued, "But, if you can, it'd be great if you could go along with them and help Sora find Jasmine."
The genie whose blue tail-like lower body had turned into two legs turned away from his old Master. "Sorry Al, I'm done taking orders from others." He hesitated for a few seconds, then looked playfully over his shoulder, "But… A favor, that's entirely different." He grinned over at Sora who smiled bak at him. Genie continued, "I guess I could give that a try." He rushed over to Aladdin's side, "After all, we're pals right Al?"
"Genie," Aladdin said, in a way that showed he couldn't thank him enough for this.
"Just leave it to me!" Genie said, grinning wide and getting a smile out of Al too.
While Genie went over and talked to Sora about the Keyblade and being able to call on him if he wanted, Usopp got up to his feet and made for the hole in the wall. He was covered in cuts and bruises, even after a few healing spells from Donald and Sora. The man dropped down to the street outside and walked down the sandy road, a deep frown on his face. "Long-nose-san," a voice said from behind him, making him spin around to see Robin had followed him outside and was standing right there.
"Oh," he muttered, seeing the black haired woman there. "What do you want?"
"I want to apologize," she stated, the same calm look on her face as she had from before. She took a deep breath before speaking, then continued, "I should have believed that you could take them both-"
"No," Usopp started, his voice low as he looked away from Robin. She paused and did not know what to say to that, but Usopp continued while looking away from her. "I know I told you I can't trust you anymore, but, but that was when I thought you had completely betrayed us." Her eyes opened wider, as he had been looking at her angrily even since they met back up. He turned around to face her and could see how confused she was, "You were right not to go with the original plan. I couldn't handle Maleficent," he admitted, a look of shame coming to his face as he did. "I fought her, and couldn't get any damage in. She, she was too strong. And after hearing what happened with Jafar, even after you stabbed him in the back…" he shook his head while looking down, "we never would have been able to take them both at the same time without Luffy."
Robin stayed quiet for a few seconds, and then added, "And Sora."
Usopp looked up in surprise, but then nodded his head as well. Robin walked towards him and made a small motion with her head down the street. He understood what she meant and started walking once she got to his side, and the two of them walked down the road together. "I was amazed that Sora became so strong in such a short time," she paused and glanced at the man on her right, "but I was more amazed about you."
"I know," he said, a small smile coming back to his face as he lifted up his muscular arms. As he thought back on the day before, he lowered his arms ashamedly, remembering how it didn't mean much when it came down to crunch time.
"Usopp-san," she started, stopping for a moment and turning to face him completely. The muscular man with tan skin and a white toga on turned to face her as well, and she had a small frown on her face. "That woman, Maleficent. I heard her mention Zoro's name."
Usopp grimaced deeply and looked back over his shoulder, checking if he was far enough away from Aladdin's house to be speaking about this, especially since he hadn't told Luffy yet. He looked back at Robin darkly and then moved the white sash covering most of his torso to the side. Her eyes widened at the sight of the huge scar on his chest, and then Usopp covered it back up just as quickly. "Zoro is not someone you want to run into. He's one of them."
"One of who?" Robin asked.
"An agent of darkness," the long-nosed man replied, scratching his stubble beard as he did. "I knew barely anything about them before Sora and the others showed back up on the world I was on."
"And that was after, three years of being apart?" she asked, wondering if she had gotten it right.
He nodded his head, then muttered, "It's been much longer than that for Zoro."
Robin shook her head, trying to take all of this in. I rationalized everything that happened after Sora's island… got destroyed. But, this truly wasn't our world. We were scattered across worlds, some of us for longer than others. Usopp opened his mouth to say something else to her, both both of them heard noises from behind them and looked back to see Sora, Donald, Goofy, Luffy, Smoker, and Nami coming out of the first floor of Aladdin's house, using the door instead of the hole on the second floor's wall. The long nosed muscular man decided to hold off on this conversation for a different time and the two of them walked back towards the others.
"How are you feeling Captain-san?" Robin asked as Luffy walked forward, his skin still a little pale, but looking better than earlier this morning.
"Meat," Luffy groaned. He looked around at the others, but no one had any food for him. "MEAT!"
Smoker growled, getting infuriated by the pirates all around him. Luffy's eyes slowly looked over towards Donald, and the duck's eyes widened at the saliva dripping down the sides of Luffy's mouth. "Where's Sanji when you need him?" Usopp muttered, laughing as Luffy started chasing the quacking duck around in circles.
"Let's get to the Gummi ship," Nami suggested loudly, sticking a hand out and slamming it into Luffy's face as he tried running past her to keep going after Donald. "Cid stocked up our fridge a lot after our last visit to Twilight Town, so we should have enough to feed this idiot."
"Yeah! So stop trying to eat me!" Donald yelled over, swinging his wand and calling down lightning at the pirate. A bolt of lightning crashed into Luffy, only for him to stand there and take it as if it didn't affect him at all.
"Oh," Nami muttered, having looked at the Captain in surprise for a few seconds but now figuring it out herself. "He's made of rubber, so I guess that won't work."
"Who knew?" Usopp questioned, shrugging his shoulder and laughing a little.
The entire crew made their way back out of Agrabah towards where they parked the Gummi Ship. Once they got inside, they all agreed to eat before lifting off, and they opened up the fridge and tried to make an orderly dinner, despite being in a ship that got more cramped with every world they went to. Donald looked around angrily and opened his beak to shout something, but then sighed and collapsed, starting to eat some food. In between bites of his cereal, Donald looked around, "We can't keep letting people on the Gummi Ship."
Most of the crew groaned hearing the duck bring this up again, but that only made Donald quack louder. "Meddling with other worlds is bad! It can have catastrophic consequences!"
"As long as they're people from our world," Sora brought up, "it seems like it's fine." He looked around and their crew consisted of only people from their world, and Donald and Goofy. "So we should be able to bring along Riku and Kairi when we find them too."
"An' Sa-ji, an' Cho-per -nd, Zoro!" Luffy mumbled between bites of his breakfast.
"Roronoa Zoro?" Smoker asked, turning to Luffy. "I hear he's with that witch."
Usopp dropped his jaw and some milk from his cereal splashed out. Nami's fork hesitated near her mouth, and Robin continued to eat casually, the only one not to overreact.
Luffy stopped eating for a second and turned to Smoker confusedly, "Huh? Where'd you hear that?"
"I heard her talking about it," he looked over at Usopp and Robin who were sitting next to each other. "They heard it too," he said, to back up his claim in case the pirate wouldn't believe him. Smoker was sitting closest to Donald and Goofy, the only two on the ship who weren't pirates so he didn't feel so shitty eating next to them. He took another bite of his food, while Luffy looked over to Usopp who tried to avert his gaze with a guilty look.
The pirate captain had food in his hands, ready to keep eating, but now that he saw Usopp's face he lowered down his food back to his plate. "Usopp? What did Smokey mean?" Smoker's forehead scrunched up in annoyance at the nickname, but he did not acknowledge the pirate and just continued to eat, though he did look at Usopp a little to see what the muscular pirate would say.
Usopp stayed silent for a few seconds, then looked Luffy straight in the eyes, "Zoro's with Maleficent." Sora and Luffy both gasped at this, and Usopp continued darkly, "He's evil."
"Aa, ahhh. That smarmy vizier could of had 'em…" Hades, the ruler of the Underworld, chuckled. He looked across the table, "If maybe someone had stuck around to give him a hand."
Maleficent stepped up closer to the table in the middle of the room that had an image showing Agrabah in the middle, repeating the final confrontation the Keybearers had with Jafar over and over. "Perhaps. However, the fool trusted an apprentice who so quickly betrayed him. Jafar was beyond help, consumed by his own hatred. One should beware of letting it burn too fiercely," she added, making an obvious remark to the blue flames on top of Hades head.
"Whoa whoa, whoa. Lighten up. I'm as cool as they come, okay?" He turned to his right, "By the way, kid. Have we got something special for you."
A boy with long silver hair spiked out behind his head walked up from the shadows. "Her?" Riku asked.
Riku looked across the table over to Maleficent who was turned away from him. He heard her speak, "We had a deal, yes?" On the table in front of Riku, a green circle glowed and an image appeared while Maleficent kept talking. "You help us, and we grant your wish…"
Above the green circle floated a holographic image of a girl with red hair and Riku leaned forward, "Kairi!"
"Go to her," Maleficent stated. "Your vessel is awaiting."
Riku turned hearing footsteps coming from behind him. Walking his way was a man in a red coat with a bunch of buttons on it. The guy had a strange black mustache that swirled up on the sides and he was messing with a point of it with his hook hand. Captain Hook glared at the young boy, "Just remember, this is no pleasure cruise. It won't be a pleasant voyage."
"Why are you doing all this for me?" Riku turned back to Maleficent. "What's the catch?" He had a skeptical look on his face that the woman could understand.
"Catch? What's the catch?" she turned around and walked over towards Riku, putting a smile on her wicked face. "Silly boy. You're like a son to me. I only want you to be happy." She brushed a hand along his cheek, but he slapped it away and jumped back.
"I seriously doubt that," he muttered.
"Believe what you wish," Maleficent stated. "But lest we forget, I kept my end of the bargain."
The two of them looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds, then Riku turned around and walked away. She watched him go and waited for him and Hook to leave the room before losing the fake smile on her face.
Hades started laughing from over at the table he leaned on. "You really expected him to believe all that 'Mommy loves you' crap? Kid doesn't seem that stupid."
"No, he is not," Maleficent admitted.
The blue-skinned man with flames coming off the top of his head looked at Maleficent oddly. "I gotta ask, what's the deal with helping the kid? Thought he was going to help us get the princesses, but the vizier got us the last one on his own."
"Princess Jasmine was not the last princess," the witch began, looking out towards the door that Riku just left. "Soon, that boy will realize he has a bigger part to play if he wants to save the girl." Maleficent looked back at the table where Kairi's holographic image lay, her eyes closed as she floated there above the table. "The only problem, are the Keybearers," Maleficent snapped, and the hologram started showing the battle against Jafar again, with that pirate who could move extremely fast, and the boy who could wield two Keyblades in his special form.
"Whoa whoa!" Hades laughed. "You really think those brats are going to be a problem?"
"Yes," Maleficent stated, narrowing her eyes at the images playing before her.
"Then, why don't you send him after them?" Hades suggested, grinning menacingly as he did.
She hesitated a moment before responding. "Zoro must protect the final Keyhole for now. King Mickey has left his castle. As he is not with the Keybearers, we do not know where he is. We must be careful." She snapped her fingers and the images over the table changed, "In the meantime, we must find some other way to distract our heroes." The two of them looked at the monster on the screen and Maleficent looked up at Hades, "Do you think you can arrange this?"
Hades laughed and tilted his head back, his blue flames burning bright. "No sweat."