"Wealth, fame, power. The man, who once owned everything, the Pirate King, Gold Roger. The words he said before his death sent all the people of the world out to the seas."

"My treasure? If you want it, I'll give it to you! Find it! I left everything in that place."

"Men, searching for romance, pushed forward towards the Grand Line. The world is now in the Grand Age of Pirates!"

Chapter 06: Sudden Enemy, Caught Within Caramel Web

"YAHOOOOO!"

The Straw Hat crew watched as Luffy sped ahead on his syrup snail, the shelled creature propelling itself by working its syrup glands overtime. The crew had only rented the snails a moment ago, but Luffy was already nearly out of Candytown and nearing the road headed towards Marshmallow Marsh. Nami and Zoro could only facepalm as Chopper began to panic. "L-Luffy! Wait for us!"

"That idiot, I swear..." Sanji gritted his teeth as he climbed about his saddled syrup snail, looking it over curiously. "Oi, how do I make this thing go?" As he did this, a series of female hands rose up from below and offered him the reins. Immediately, Sanji was overcome with joyous lust. "Robin-chaaan! Always looking out for me!"

Robin merely smiled back sweetly before looking on ahead. "Perhaps we should follow Luffy before he gets too far ahead?"

The stable master waved to the crew as they began to disembark. "Safe travels, friends! Enjoy the syrup snails, but don't forget to stay away from..."

His voice had trailed off as the snails busily made their way up the road, ascending up the cocoa-coloured dirt trail, prompting Usopp to look around nervously. "Did he tell us to avoid something!?"

"Nah!" Franky grinned as he lowered his shades. "He told us to have a SUUUPER trip!"

"Still..." Usopp glanced back, almost worryingly, before watching the road ahead once more. Had he misheard the stable master?

"Oooooh! I can see everything from up here!" Luffy pointed over the edge of the cocoa-coloured mountain trail. "There's that lollipop forest! So cool!"

Zoro's snail oozed over as he looked down and groaned. "Making everything out of candy... what weird people."

"Ohohoho! A conundrum!" Everyone turned to see Brook's syrup snail oozing toward a fork in the road, with the left road descending back down towards ground level while the other continued to rise. "Which route do we take?"

Nami oozed her snail over as she glanced back and forth between the two, stroking her chin in thought. "Hmm... were we told which route to take? If we're destined for Marshmallow Marsh, then it is probably below us near sea-level." Her eyes danced back and forth between pointing towards the left trail. "That trail should be the way."

"Oi."

Everyone turned to look at Sanji as he looked around idly. "Where's the idiot swordsman?"

Chopper raised both of his little hooves to his face in shock and disbelief. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HE'S LOST ALREADY!?"

All Luffy could do was laugh at the sight of Zoro being absent. "Hahahaha! It's okay, Zoro's strong! He'll be okay by himself, and we'll find him later! C'mon, let's start going down Nami's trail!" Everyone sighed at Zoro being lost but, as Luffy began to descend down the trail that Nami had selected, everyone quickly followed in pursuit before he could get too far ahead.

Five minutes later, Zoro's syrup snail oozed into the same location that the rest of the crew had been at. "Damn it, how far ahead did they get while I stopped to piss!?" Zoro growled to himself as he looked ahead, staring at the two trails ahead of him. "Did everyone go left or right?"

Zoro simply stared blankly at both forks for a moment before, finally, he tugged on his snail's reins and led it up the trail that led higher up the mountain.

"Nami." Luffy looked around curiously. "Is this really the right path?"

The route that the crew had taken had grown significantly darker and, while they were now near ground-level, they weren't in any kind of marsh. Instead, they seemed to be in a dark, dim forest. Nami shook her head as she looked around worryingly. "It has to be. There wouldn't be a marsh high up on a mountain, Luffy. Maybe it's just after this forest?"

"Eh?" Franky halted his snail as he peered off towards a large, brown spider web hanging from nearby trees. There was something odd about the web, ad Franky couldn't help himself. As the crew watched him approach the web, he reached up and tore a chunk off and stuck it in his mouth.

"AHHH! FRANKY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Chopper couldn't help but panic at the sight of Franky stuffing brown spider web into his mouth but, after swallowing, Franky merely turned and grinned, prompting Chopper to settle down, but remain confused. "W-Why are you smiling? Franky!?"

"Relax!" Franky thumbed to the web. "I could tell by looking at it what it was. It's caramel."

All Straw Hats suddenly chimed in simultaneously ."Caramel!?" Confusion was etched upon all of their faces as they tried to comprehend why there was a spider web made of caramel in the forest. Finally, Usopp piped up. "It's... probably just another candy decoration from the villagers? ... right?"

... and then there was a loud hiss. Everyone frantically looked around, trying to determine what the noise was. Robin narrowed her eyes slightly. "I don't think the web is a decoration, Usopp."

And then, it appeared. Dropping from the trees was a large brown spider, covered in what looked like hot, steaming caramel that also seemed to be dripping from its spinneret. Luffy and Franky immediately responded with excitement, admiring the spider as the rest of the crew expressed either apprehension or fear. Suddenly, Usopp let out a blood-curdling scream that he had been trying to restrain, which attracted the attention of the spider. Without any warning, it whipped a string of caramel at Usopp, immediately coating him and pulling him back to the spider. All the while, Usopp screamed as loud as possible. "H-HELP! LUFFY! FRANKY! SANJI! IT'S GOT ME!"

As soon as the spider revealed itself to be a threatening presence, Luffy grinned to himself. "Yosh, I'm gonna make you pay for that, big spider! Gomu gomu no pistol!" Luffy's arm shot straight at the spider and, upon connecting, merely stuck to its sticky caramel-covered body. Luffy's eyes widened in anger and confusion. "H-Hey! Let go of me! Damn spider!"

"Luffy, hold still!" Sanji ran forward, straight for Luffy's arm, and leaped at it, delivering a swift kick to the area that Luffy's arm was stuck to. "Mouton shot!"

With that, both Luffy and Sanji were stuck to the spider as Sanji dangled awkwardly from his stuck leg. He growled angrily, his cigarette falling from his mouth and dropping to the ground. "Shit!"

As Luffy and Sanji both struggled to free themselves from the surprisingly sticky caramel that covered the spider, another two shots of caramel from the spinneret wrapped around both Brook and Robin and quickly dragged them away, Robin crying out in surprise and Brook yohohoing until he was no longer in sight.

"Robin!" Nami swiftly he Clima-Tact and she swung it towards the spider. "Thunderbolt Tempo!"

The spider was immediately jolted by the attack, the caramel on its body immediately burning, hardening, and then cracking. Franky swiftly raised his hand and began firing around where Luffy and Sanji were restrained. "Weapons Left!"

The caramel cracked and began to break, prompting Luffy and Sanji to both drop from the spider. Luffy turned his gaze towards the spider and glared at it. "Okay, now you're gonna get it! Gomu gomu no bazooka!"

As both of Luffy's arms collided with the spider, it was swiftly sent flying backwards, rolling several times before it jumped up and then skittered away into the treetops. Luffy began to give chase before Sanji grabbed his shoulder. "Wait, Luffy. It's moves too fast and we can't even see where it's going."

Surrounded by Chopper, Franky, Nami and Sanji, Luffy breathlessly huffed as he glared off into the distance. "Brook! Robin! Usopp! I'm gonna kick that spider's ass and rescue you!"

Zoro pulled on his reins to stop his snail as he glanced at the sign ahead. "Marshmallow Marsh? A marsh on a mountaintop? What the hell is up with this island?" With a sigh, he resumed pressing forward with his snail. "Whatever, everyone's gotta be up ahead somewhere."

TO BE CONTINUED