"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 13: Where's the Exit? Outrun the Hatchlings!

A breathless Robin ran as fast as she could, peering towards Brook as he ran alongside her with the unconscious Usopp over his shoulder. "Brook? I can't run much longer."

Brook could tell that Robin was starting to tire as she panted heavily. They had been trying to find the exit to the cave for some time now and, all the while, the spider hatchlings had been chasing them down. He looked over his shoulder at the horde fo hatchlings that were hot on their heels. If only he didn't have Usopp, he would try to hold them off. "Yohohoho! You can last, Robin! I believe in you!"

Robin swallowed hard and continued to run. She would try her best, but even she knew what was bound to happen. Her pace was already slower than it had been when they started running. She glanced towards Usopp and furrowed her brow. He had groaned a few times, but he had not yet woken from his fall. "Brook, we should try to wake Usopp up. We may nee-"

Both were brought to a full stop as the spider broodmother from the forest reappeared in front of them, hissing angrily. Its caramel coating had still not regenerated from before. As the broodmother hissed, the hatchlings stopped as if to obey their mother. The loud sound of the hissing was also enough to cause Usopp's eyes to open groggily. As the blur from his vision faded, he was left staring at the hundreds of hatchlings behind them, which prompted...

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH! SPIDERS! WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SPIDERS!?" He started to shake dramatically out of sheer fear, but that wasn't enough to stop him from acting desperately. He fell off of Brook's shoulder and promptly reached into his pouch to pull out several small balls which he immediately launched at the hatchlings. "Kaen Dama! Kaen Dama! Kaen Dama! Kaen Dama! Kaen Dama!"

With every successive ball launched, a blast of fire appeared within the crowd of hatchlings, causing them to panic. "Kokkara Koko Made Hairu na no Jutsu!"

Without warning, Usopp fired a blast of oil into the crowd of spiders, setting the entire room alight behind them and forcing all of the hatchlings to scurry away in the other direction. Breathing heavily, Usopp suddenly stood proudly and pointed to himself. "Ha! That was a piece of cake! Captain Usopp fears no spiders!"

Robin blinked. "Usopp."

"Yes! I, Captain Usopp, vanquish spiders for a living! Haha!"

Brook shifted uncomfortably. "Usopp."

"Haha! I welcome all spiders to challenge me, the great Captain Usopp! I will defeat all of you!"

Robin and Brook, both growing tired, joined in together. "USOPP."

"Eh?" Usopp turned to face them, immediately being greeted by the gargantuan broodmother as well. "AAAAAAAAH! T-T-T-THE G-G-GIANT SPIDER FROM B-B-BEFORE!"

Robin sighed and looked at Brook. "Are you ready, Brook?"

Brook gave a firm nod in response. "Mm!"

Turning their attention towards the broodmother, Brook ran forward as Robin readied herself. "Treinta Fleur! Clutch!" As thirty hands quickly sprouted along the cave walls, the broodmother's front four legs were quickly grabbed and held in place, prompting it to grow agitated.

Brook leaped into the air, withdrawing his blade from his cane and slashing at the broodmother. "Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri!"

One of the spider's legs was swiftly cut off, causing it to become uncontrollably aggressive. Robin grimaced as it struggled against her hands, breaking free in the end and swatting at Brook with another leg and just narrowly missing him, but still causing him to careen into a wall. "Yohohoho, that was close!"

Robin promptly ran forward, darting undearneath a leg and sprouting more arms along one side of the wall and giving the broodmother a sudden shove. The giant spider toppled to the side, violently colliding with the opposite wall as it hissed hatefully. Brook leaped forward again, slashing at the spider's face and cutting off its mandibles. This prompted further rage as it swung at Brook, this time hitting him and sending him flying.

"BROOK!" Usopp, finally overcoming his fear enough to be even remotely dependable, starting digging through his satchel. As the broodmother turned its attention towards Robin and swung a leg at her, Usopp found what he was looking for. With a grin, he pulled out an impact dial. He quickly set it in his slingshot and released it, firing it straight at the broodmother. The dial collided with the spider's face, causing the dial to trigger and release its stored power. There was a colossal blast as the spider was sent flying backwards, slamming heavily into the wall dozens of feet back. The rock formations above gave way and quickly buried the broodmother.

A breathless Robin looked at Usopp with a satisfactory smile. "Well done, Usopp!"

Before Usopp could replace his fear with gloating, more rocks started to tumble from the cave's ceiling. Brook ran back to Robin and Usopp. "Yohohoho, Usopp damaged the entire cave, how perilous! it's dangerous to stay here!"

"Let's go!" Robin motioned forward as the three started running. She peered towards Usopp curiously, feeling the need to ask what was on her mind. "Usopp, what was stored in that dial?"

"Ah, yeah! When Luffy and I fought, we realized how strong the dials are when we stored his punches, so he used Gear Third on a few for me and... ha, I didn't expect it to be so strong!"

"I see." Robin turned her gaze ahead once more. "Hurry, we need to escape before this cave collapses on us!"

"Uuunngghh..." Luffy opened his eyes, staring up at the sky above.

"Oi, the boy's awake! Boy, can you move please?"

Raising his head, Luffy spotted several workers who were busily foraging the grasses around him. Luffy peered all around, noticing that he was in a giant fjord covered in all sorts of grass of different colours and shades. A magnificent et slow moving river of white liquid ran through the valley in the bottom of the fjord, which is where Luffy had awoken. He jumped up and looked all around. "Huh? Where am I?"

One of the workers scurried over and started foraging where Luffy had been laying as another motioned around himself. "This is Sugarcane Fjord, where we harvest our supply of sugar! You won't find more sugarcane anywhere on the Grand Line!"

"Sugarcane... Fjord?" Luffy stared off in space for a moment before looking around. "This isn't where I wanna be! Old guys, how do I get to Marshmallow Marsh?"

"OH! I CAN TAKE YOU THERE!" A large man appeared nearby, munching on sugarcane. "I AM BEEK! I RUN A CAFE IN MARSHMALLOW MARSH, BUT A PURPLE LADY DROPPED ME THROUGH A SHADOW HOLE AND I ENDED UP HERE!" Beek looked all around before staring up at the cliffs above. "BUT... WE NEED TO GET UP ABOVE IF WE WANT TO GET BACK! THAT MIGHT BE HARD..."

Luffy only grinned from ear to ear as he ran over and grabbed hold of Beek. "Nah, I can get us up there! Hold on tight! Gomu gomu noooooo -"

TO BE CONTINUED