"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 08: Conis' Fate and the Caramel Catacombs

Pearl walked along the beach, looking between the Spicetown workers with disdain as they worked tirelessly to assemble ship parts for the Krieg pirates. It would soon be time for them to assemble the newest vessel to join Don Krieg's fleet and, then, they could move onto the next island to repeat the process all over again. Something unusual then caught Pearl's attention, causing his eyes to drift towards an exhausted man who was trying to drink the salt water that splashed against the shore. To drink salt water reeked of desperation - desperation that disgusted Pearl. He quickly marched over and looked down at the man with a smug glare. "What do you think you are doing? Your job is to sand planks, not refresh yourself!"

"P-Please, I'm so tired!" The man looked up at Pearl with pleading eyes. He was clearly extremely exhausted, but all Pearl did was curl his lip at the man before raising a foot and promptly stomping on him, pinning him to the ground.

"You dare to make demands? Eh!?" He pushed hard on the man's back, causing him to cry out as he laid in the sand. Nearby workers kept working tirelessly, fearing what may happen if they were to stop, but their attention was fully directed towards the scene before them. Pearl growled as he started stomping on the man repeatedly. "You will get water if and when we decide to allow it, you miserable cretin!"

"Please! S-Stop!" The man tried his best to curl into the fetal position, but it was no use. Pearl's anger only grew at the sight of the man, which caused him to stop stomping and rear his arms back for an attack.

"Dameoshi Pearl Present!" Both shield-laden arms slammed into the man's back as hard as Pearl could manage. The man breathlessly let out a horrid gasp of pain as blood projectiled from his mouth. After Pearl composed himself, he sneered at the man as he laid still on the ground. It was evident to all of the onlookers that the man was not going to be moving again - ever. Pearl's eyes raised as he glanced around to look at all of the workers before letting out a loud shout, his voice full of arrogance and hate. "That's what happens when you defy the Krieg Pirates! You'll get whatever we want to give you, and you'll get it when we feel like giving it to you! If you don't comply, well..."

"Pearl!"

Turning his attention away from the Spicetown workers on the shore, Pearl spotted Claudio just past where the sand met the grass. "What do you want? Eh?"

Claudio motioned back towards Spicetown, where the Kreig Pirates had set up shop. "Sabrina's back, you gotta see what she found!"

Within the Spicetown jailhouse, the Krieg Pirates stood gathered around the holding cell they had thrown Conis into as they looked her over excitedly. Claudio, Pearl and Valdivina stood near Sabrina, who looked quite content and full of herself after bringing Conis in. Beside them was the rest of the Krieg Pirates: Bonne Blight, Juzo and former Marine Captain "Axe-Hand' Morgan.

Bonne Blight was the newest recruit of the Krieg Pirates. A scheming mad doctor, he was a warped looking man with stringy black hair who always wore stained scrubs and an air filtration device over his mouth, the latter which he claimed would keep him free of taint. As a mad doctor, he was more less focused on healing people and more interested in creating bacteria and poisons to harm instead. With Don Krieg's past underhanded nature involving poison gases, Bonne Blight was a perfect fit into the crew.

Juzo was an enormous man, standing nearly ten feet tall and resembling a professional wrestler with his bulky physique and white spandex pants with black bear paw prints. Head always shaved, he wore a permanent grin on his face.

Morgan, a former Marine Captain, had been stripped of his rank after abusing his powers and was deemed a criminal. After fleeing from the ship that had been transporting him to his imprisonment, Morgan wandered the seas until he crossed paths with Don Krieg. Morgan was enticed by the man's disposition towards him, as it was refreshing to finally be viewed as a human being again rather than a fugitive. Wishing to see the Grand Line in its entirety, Krieg then appealed to Morgan's darker impulses by mentioning his method of expanding his fleet via slave labour. Morgan wasn't long agreeing to side with the Krieg Pirates, at least to further his own means and guarantee his own safety for the foreseeable future.

"What a fascinating specimen." Bonne Blight tilted his head as he regarded Conis curiously. "I wonder how resilient she is to poison? Perhaps Captain Krieg will allow me to use her after he is finished with her?"

Juzo grimaced at Bonne Blight's words, though his grin mysteriously remained fully intact. "You are a strange one, Blight! Is what the Captain will do to her not enough of a punishment?"

Claudio and Morgan, choosing to simply observe rather than spout nonsense to one another, simply gave each other curious looks before diverting their gazes back to Conis.

"Hey, Pearl." Sabrina glanced sideways to Pearl with a sly grin. "Captain Krieg is gonna love this, you know. You've just been coasting as first mate lately, doing... what, exactly? I'd be watching your back if I were you."

Pearl glared towards her before spitting back. "Peh, Don Krieg values loyalty over all else."

"What I value most..." Everyone turned to see the silhouette of their captain in the door, now adorning a cape that shrouded in darkness. He raised a hand and ran his fingers down something that appeared to be covering the cape's material. "... are good omens."

Don Krieg walked into view, staring towards the cell with a devilish smirk. As his cape came into view, Conis' eyes widened in horror as she placed her shackled hands over her mouth. "W-What!?"

All that followed Conis' shock was a villainous laugh from Don Krieg that echoed throughout the jailhouse.

"Ungh... where... ?" Robin's eyes opened slowly as she looked around curiously, barely able to see anything in the darkness surrounding her. She tried to move, but found that the caramel on her body had hardened like a rock.

"O-Ow..." Usopp had also awakened, his head throbbing as he blinked to adjust his vision to the darkness. After a few seconds, he screamed out in shock. "Aaaaahhhh! We're surrounded!"

"Surrounded?" Robin looked around more, her eyes adjusting as well and allowing her to spot the dozens of caramel sacs hanging from the ceiling of the cave they were in. Her eyes widened slightly. "Those are..."

"PEOPLE!" Usopp shook uncontrollably from his upside-down position. "WE'RE GONNA BE ENTOMBED AND EATEN!"

As Usopp panicked, Robin narrowed her eyes and looked all over as best she could, but she couldn't figure out a way to escape from her the caramel carapace that had formed so tightly around her body.

"Yohohoho! It is so dark in here that I cannot see! ... but I don't even have any eyes."

Robin and Usopp turned their gaze towards Brook, their eyes wide with surprise as he was standing idly in the center of the room.

"H-Huh? Oi, Brook!" Usopp shook back and forth as best he could, trying to get Brook's attention. "How'd you get out!?"

"Get out?" Brook turned and looked up at the two and, for a moment, there was silence until Brook finally piped up. "Oh yes! I'm a skeleton, so I slid out of the caramel! It was easy, yohohoho!"

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED T'DO THAT!?" Usopp began to wobble wildly as he grew frightened and upset, leaving Robin to simply dangle quietly as she looked towards the casing that once housed Brook and then back to the skeleton himself. She blinked a few times before it dawned on her.

"Brook, do you have your sword?"

"Hm?" Brook checked his sides before finding his blade and holding it up. "I do! Is there something that you would like me to do? What shall I do with it?"

Robin nodded towards Usopp. "Cut Usopp and I free, Brook. Your sword should be able to cut this caramel."

Brook responded with a hearty dose of yohohoing because he leaped up and sliced at Usopp's carapce. Usopp, predictably, responded by screaming like a maniac until a large hole appeared in the caramel and dropped him to the ground, silencing his screaming as he fell flat on his face before toppling over into the dirt. Robin nodded in approval as Brook then moved to slice her carapace. Naturally, she was more graceful in her drop and managed to spin herself and land on her feet. She turned her gaze to Brook and offered him a warm smile. "Thank you, Brook."

"Anything for you, Robin. We must depart from this horrid place at once, but... first, may I see your panties?"

As Usopp's legs twitched ever so slightly, Robin simply shook her head. "Not at this time, Brook. The fall may have knocked Usopp unconscious, can you carry him?"

"Yohohoho, I can do so! I am always happy to assist!" Brook hopped over to where Usopp laid upside down, face stuck to the floor, before Brook lifted him and threw him over his shoulder. "Onward then!"

Robin gave a firm nod as she began to lead the way, the trio exiting the chamber of hanging caparace sacs and entering a long, winding tunnel. Robin looked at the bits of caramel all over the walls in thought as she walked. "How deep into this cave did that spider take us?"

Just as Brook started to answer, there was a strange scurrying sound that prompted both to stand completely still and listen. It quietly grew closer and louder as Brook and Robin looked back and forth between one another, knowing quite well that something was coming their way. As the sound grew louder still, Brook quietly drew his blade once more and Robin took a stance in preparation for her to use her Hana Hana no Mi powers.

Just as they readied themselves, the source of the scurrying appeared and caused both to take a step back in shock. Flooding into the tunnel before them were not dozens of large spider hatchlings, but hundreds.

TO BE CONTINUED