The Thousand Sunny headed slowly into the dark caves, lamps lit up on the ship to light their way, Franky steering carefully to ensure the jagged walls didn't catch any part of her. They were just barely small enough. On the ship, the only Straw Hats missing were Chopper – he was asked to stay behind to watch Dextra since she was too injured to risk a fight and Chopper wasn't keen on going in – Zoro, and Brook. Law brought with him a select few of his own crew; Bepo, Shachi, Penguin, Jean Bart, and Thursday, the latter only because she felt she needed to get back in action so as not to go stir crazy. Law only agreed after a few of the Straw Hats promised to keep an eye on her.

Once the entrance was barely a light in the background, they came across a sort of shore inside the mountain, forcing the ship to a stop. Several tunnels led further into the mountain, snaking out of sight in any possible direction. It had to be man-made, as one path had a visible stairway going back up towards the mountain peak, and everything was smoothed and lined with dim lanterns. It seemed as though a village could potentially live in the mountains, but all the pirates could think about was Maleficent's foreboding words. Plus, they saw not a single living being roaming the rocky paths.

Toshiro moved to stand at the front of the ship, minding where Luffy's spot was on the lion's head since said Captain was sitting there with a focused expression and a frown. There the Nobody looked between the tunnels with his own thoughtful look, Hyorinmaru at his shoulder looking intrigued.

"Sense anything?" Law asked him, as Toshiro's perception was capable of being more focused than Observation Haki. Those who had it were still watching out, tense, but until it was a threat closer to them there wasn't much they could do. Usopp looked nervous though. His Haki skills were still new and in need of training, but he had a much wider range on par with the Soul Reaper's ability and he caught wind of something the same time Toshiro did.

"It seems like there's a few people moving through the tunnels. I can't seem to find whatever it is I'm looking for, however… it's likely it won't have a noticeable presence."

"So other than a gut feeling you're going blind." Sanji mused. "I wonder who those people are, they might not be a threat at all and she wanted us to think they were to pick a fight."

"They definitely seem… odd." Toshiro responded with a frown, trying to narrow his search and figure out what was so strange.

"Odd?" A couple people spoke up and asked.

"It's a similar energy as those of you with Devil Fruits…" He had more, but couldn't figure out how to explain it. The Devil Fruit users all had the same add on to their aura, but otherwise they were still unique signals, these were not. If he used the Spirit Ribbons he could probably track down the source as then he would be able to sense them better, but before he could, someone stepped out of one of the tunnels. She hadn't been there before, both Toshiro and Usopp could only think she came out of the walls somehow, her presence suddenly very apparent where it hadn't been before.

She grinned underneath her blood red hood and everyone tensed. Some of her purple hair was sticking out, the red and black jacket fitting over her slim form open at the bottom to show red stockings and boots to match her hair. She lifted her hand in a 'come hither' motion before turning to run back into the tunnels with a giggle.

"I'll follow you anywhere, sweetheart~" Sanji did indeed seem ready to leap off the ship after the woman until Nami grabbed him by the scruff and made him sit in place.

"She's not even in the same tunnel anymore." Toshiro warned them. "That must be what the other presences are, something she can switch to, which is why they feel the same."

"It's not an impossible ability, which means we'll definitely need to keep an eye out." Robin looked concerned by this teleporting foe. "Perhaps we split up? She may have the answers you need and we would have a better chance of catching her using more tunnels."

"Is splitting up really a good idea?" Usopp wasn't so sure about a plan that weakened their group.

"She can't be all that strong." Nami looked fairly confident considering she was usually with Usopp on staying out of a fight, but it seemed if teleporting was all their opponent was capable of she wasn't too worried. "I can still make some fun weather in here with my climatact, let's see her get away from a quick zap!" She winked.

"It's definitely helpful that you can still manipulate weather, since I'll be limited in a tight space with little water." Toshiro spoke up and she beamed at the compliment from someone capable of making a powerful blizzard on command. She stood a little taller, definitely confident against their opponent.

"If she's with the gray hag I'm gonna kick her ass!" Luffy was, naturally, ready to go and wasting no time, somehow latching onto Law as he launched off the ship and right into the tunnel they had seen the woman vanish into. They could hear Law's angry shouts go quiet the further they went in as everyone stood on the ship watching, processing the event.

"Luffy really is the only person Papa can't handle." Thursday finally said with a giggle. A few others snickered in agreement while Toshiro just shook his head, having seen such attitudes before.

"I'll hang back with the ship in case this SUPER teleporter tries to sabotage us." Franky said firmly, not one to leave the beloved Sunny unguarded.

"Oh, we can too, if that's alright." Shachi spoke up for himself and Penguin. As fellow engineers they felt they would be most useful with a ship. Franky gave them a thumbs up to say he was cool with it.

"Allow me to protect you, wonderful ladies~!" Sanji crooned, spinning over to the three girls present.

"Very well." Robin agreed with a smile, though her goal was more to protect Sanji from the whims of their female enemy than to let him protect her, and she wanted to keep an eye on Thursday since Law had been dragged off by her Captain.

"Oh, I was going to go with Toshiro, the cold air he makes will be helpful for me." Nami said with a wink. Sanji looked betrayed while the Nobody being spoken of gave Nami a suspicious look after hearing she wanted to use his powers for her own. As they were talking, Jimbei reassured Usopp while they took off down a tunnel and Bepo went with his crewmate Jean Bart down a different one, both groups choosing a different one than the tunnel Luffy had sprinted down. "Can't just let him go alone now can we?"

"Damn you, midget…" Sanji growled.

"How is this my fault, twig leg?" Toshiro shot back, bristling at the insult. The air had a static feel as cold settled into the air around one and heat rose around the other.

"Let's not waste any more time, shall we?" Robin walked between the two and, with Thursday close beside her, headed off the ship. Sanji was quick to follow, back to his usual self, leaving Toshiro to follow him with only a glare.

"Don't mind him, he pretends to be every girl's knight in a suit." Nami chuckled. Though still peeved, Toshiro let the temperature return to normal with a grumble and let it go. "So, which way is your gut telling you to go?"

Calming down, Toshiro thought about it for a moment, focusing on the tiny soundless whisper beckoning him into the mountain. Hyorinmaru lifted up his head for a moment before taking off.

"We follow him." Toshiro turned back to Nami with a shrug. "Oddly enough, ever since he turned into a Heartless, he's remembered more than I have about his first partners, my predecessors, so he likely can locate it better."

"Fair enough, as long as he doesn't get big and block the tunnel." Nami waved to the trio staying behind before she and Toshiro hopped off the ship and followed after the black dragon. He ended up going into the same tunnel Law and Luffy had gone through, but it became clear even then there were multiple paths beyond the ones at the start, a true maze.

This was going to be a difficult hunt.

With the first group, Luffy finally skidded himself to a halt and Law was able to finally get loose from the rubber man's grip and stand on his own to catch his breath. Needless to say, the doctor was extremely irritated and had no qualms showing every bit of it with a vicious scowl and killer glare.

"What?" Luffy asked, oblivious to why Law would be so mad at him.

"We are now COMPLETELY lost." Law growled. "If she can teleport what gives you the idea running randomly into a tunnel will get us any closer to her!?"

"But she went down this one, it's not random." Luffy pointed out as if that was obvious.

"It doesn't matter which one she ran down, if she teleports, she could be in any of them!" The surgeon tried to explain, still very angry and getting worse by the minute.

"Then we gotta run down all of them." Luffy still didn't seem too concerned with his plan, picking at his nose without a care. Law continued to fume for a moment before he forced himself to turn away and take a few deep breaths before he killed his fellow Captain.

As Law stopped to recover his usual composure, Luffy turned to look ahead into the tunnel, wondering where to run to next. There was another opening into a separate tunnel a little bit ahead of them, and a different one even further up before it curved out of sight. They had passed under a tunnel that went straight up, but he ignored that one since there wasn't anything to climb on. While he was picking a route randomly from the choices he could see, he spotted a tall figure round the curve and start heading towards them. In the dim lights provided by the lamps within the tunnels, Luffy could see a white coat resting on the figure's shoulders, and a suit of red. His heart sank and all thought left him.

At the same time, Law spotted someone making their way towards them from behind, trapping them, and he had to remember to breathe again after his breath caught at the sight of a familiar pink feather jacket, his eyes wide in shock.

Similar scenarios were forming with each group as the multiple presences they had noticed earlier appeared before them all, trapping them. Their target had not been alone, and they could only assume her teleporting ability allowed her to set this up. At least one enemy of the past appeared before each group, sometimes two to match the number of people in the group. Usopp shuddered under the stare of Kaku, the man who tried to have the Going Merry, the predecessor of the Thousand Sunny, unfairly scrapped and destroyed. Robin froze in place when she spotted Lucci standing calmly in their way, the cat man's presence bringing forth terrible memories for her. Sanji scowled back at the blue haired Niji, one of his brothers from a family he had disowned and left behind and had hoped to never deal with again after they had disrupted his life once already. A gross figure of a woman held an iron bat threateningly towards Thursday with a leer, and the tall teen cringed back. Everyone but Jimbei had a cruel face of the past in front to haunt them.

Nami herself had Arlong, the Fishman sneering down at her over his saw tooth nose and looking ready to force her back into stealing for him, tossing an orange up in the air casually before just tossing it to the side. He was still every bit as threatening as he was when she worked for him before.

But she had vastly matured, and while shaken from his sudden appearance, she steeled her nerves and held up her weapon in preparation to defend herself. Toshiro made no move to help, but she did not look behind her to see what he was up to, as she didn't want to let the shark have an opening on her in the narrow tunnel.

However, she couldn't ignore the deathly chill that took over the tunnel just as she unleashed what seemed to be a thundercloud from her climatact. She gasped, tensing up, and her opponent donned a frown as he looked past her nervously. The thundercloud seemed to grow a face and made a surprised expression of his own at the current situation, sensing something dangerous to his existence. With the sudden shift, Nami couldn't help but look behind her now.

The man himself didn't look like much, dressed in white, plain brown hair, and simple square glasses. But when she looked to his eyes, the stare she got back made her break out into a cold sweat. He smiled at her, almost kindly, but the look in his eyes was pure, untamed evil. She was a flea to him, and under his stare she definitely felt like it.

"What an interesting group you've managed to get stuck with, Hitsugaya." The man's voice was smooth, almost hypnotic, but it made her shudder.

"M-m-master, who are these scary spirits?" The thundercloud asked of Nami.

She couldn't answer, still shaking before this strange man. Behind her, Arlong took a few steps forward with an angry scowl.

"Oi, this one's mine to deal with, take the runt and bug off." The fishman snarled. The stranger just smiled a tiny bit more and Nami suddenly felt a huge weight lift off of her, allowing her to breathe again. She was able to glance at Toshiro now, the small figure not moving where he stood and dark blue frost spreading out over the rocks from his position. The man in white didn't look at all concerned about the chill.

She was concerned for the Nobody, worried who this terrifying man was to appear before Toshiro and cause such a sharp reaction from him, but she forced herself to look back at Arlong. The Fishman was grinning again, apparently not caring about the stranger at all anymore. Though still spooked at the peculiar circumstances of this fight, the thundercloud hovered by the woman, ready to assist her.

Toshiro himself was still trying to understand the possible reasons for the presence of Aizen Sosuke on this world. The cold he was not able to help, his hatred of the man too strong to completely disregard, even as a Nobody. He did, however, manage to hold himself back from attacking immediately, hands clenched tightly in fists to help keep him grounded. His fight with Xemnas many weeks ago had not faded from his mind, he could not immediately believe that the man in front of him was actually Aizen. If their enemy's ability was truly teleportation… there was a slim, but almost insignificantly small possibility she was able to get Aizen out of his bindings and bring him here. That would mean she had to know him, and Toshiro doubted Aizen would extend his reach to this world when he was already plotting with Xehanort and his two halves as well as trying to take over Soul Society. Aizen had many plans, but there was no way he could have gone this far.

The hatred subsided a bit as he determined this couldn't in any way be the real Aizen, but his guard was still firmly up since he didn't know who would show up pretending to be the traitor.

"The longer you stand there thinking, Hitsugaya, the more you are likely to lose." The enemy chuckled, the only thing that contradicted the otherwise kind tone. "Though I commend you for not immediately going for the kill; I suppose you don't want a repeat of what happened to dear Hinamori."

Toshiro stiffened again, donning a scowl even as his thoughts were thrown for a loop. Very, VERY few people among his enemies knew about that. Could it be Xemnas again? Had his hunch been right about the Nobody not being dead? Between him and Aizen, Xemnas was more likely to have allies on multiple worlds, and therefore more capable of controlling the darkness.

Following his thoughts, Hyorinmaru leaped from his shadow in the biggest form he could take in the narrow tunnels and still move freely, fangs bared at what was potentially the being that placed a collar on his master and controlled them both. Aizen didn't so much as flinch at the oncoming Heartless, simply grinning instead, and as the red flags went up Toshiro shouted at his dragon to stop, hoping he wasn't too late.

Elsewhere, similar fights were breaking out. With Sanji, as he focused on dealing with his brother and ignoring the constant verbal jabs and threats sent his way to rile him up, Robin held her own against Lucci and the strange woman going after Thursday. In fact, the woman wasn't all that hard to deal with, and ended up taking off at some point. Lucci cared little, the well-dressed CP9 agent focused on his own target as if the hag didn't exist. Thankfully, his huge leopard form was a disadvantage to him in the tunnels, and Robin was able to hold him back and fend him off with relative ease. She had plenty of walls and other surfaces to place her extra limbs.

"You did better when you were alone." The leopard man growled out, choosing to keep a bit of distance now where she was less inclined to strike.

"Being alone were the worst years of my life." Robin argued back, trying to make sure she stayed between the agent and Thursday.

"You're alone now, so stop acting like a guardian."

Confused by his word, Robin dared a glance back, gasping when she noticed Thursday was not behind her as she had been a moment ago, and Sanji was realizing this as well pinned to the wall by Niji.

"Some gentleman you claim to be, can't even take care of a kid." The engineered human sneered at the blonde.

Scowling, Sanji put a foot up on the wall and pushed off as hard as he could, using his shoulder to shove his brother into the other wall. He could care less about the bastard right now, he had to figure out how Thursday vanished when there were only two directions. She hadn't gone past either of them and there were no other tunnels, so where could she have gone?

Thursday herself wasn't quite sure either. She had been behind Robin with her favorite knife, one intricately carved with a wolf's head, at the ready to help, when she noticed a tunnel open up next to her and a blur of feathers pull her inside. Now she was in a small room within the mountain with no tunnels out, and across from her holding the only light source for them both was an odd figure. She wasn't the red and black cloaked woman who ran into the tunnels before, but Thursday still kept her guard up. The feathers came from a pair of large white wings on the woman's back, and her lower legs were bird legs. Was she one of those humanoid animals like Bepo, a Mink? But the rest of her was human, with wavy green hair and semi-fair skin from head to her knees before the scales. Thursday imagined she wore shorts due to her odd leg shape and a dark shirt.

"Who are you?" Thursday demanded, if a little shaky as she still wasn't fully recovered, as well as a bit spooked by her sudden change in location. She raised her dagger to at least put up a front that she would fight back.

"Whoa, uh, not your enemy." The winged woman backed up a step and tucked her wings to look smaller, hands up in surrender. "I was just getting you out of there. If you get in a small room like this, the puppets can't follow you."

Thursday blinked, confused. Multiple questions were forming, such as how they got in a small enclosed space to begin with, but one pushed itself to the front and came out before the others.

"Puppets?"