Disclaimer: I only own the storyline.

I know it isn't the time of the year for a Halloween chapter but... Deal with it.

A few weeks have passed since the Arlong incident. Nami and Nojiko have moved in with their Uncle Genzo and Usopp joined the group in their school. The six teens had become even closer and hung out all the time, supporting each other in a hard time, like what Nami had been through at her mother's funeral. Zoro and Sanji were both having a hard time at home, but the medium of the group didn't know how he could help yet. Kuina and he had talked a few times about it, Sometimes with Sabo too, but they couldn't find a solution.

For Sanji's case, it was even harder. He had to make sure Sanji trusted him before trying anything. He would hardly talk about his family, if ever, and changed the subject when it came out.

They had planned to go at Luffy's place for a sleepover for Halloween and watch a few horror movies. Luffy was decorating the house with Ace. His friends would arrive in a few hours.

"Ace! Check this out!" He lifted one of his arms in the air and brought the other one to his temple. Luffy narrowed his eyes at a pumpkin. Ace chuckled as the boy made silly faces as he tried concentrating.

"Stop laughing!" He took his stance again and lifted his arm. The pumpkin followed his gesture. Luffy smiled and started making the pumpkin spin.

"Good..." Ace said with an unimpressed shrug. Luffy rolled his eyes.

"That was really good Luffy! You got even better than last week!" Luffy at Sabo's praise.

"You see, Sabo is nicer than you!" He stuck his tongue at his older brother who took a fake hurt look and continued decorating with a smirk.

The two ravens continued their task while the blond spirit tried, and failed, to grasp any object to be of any help. Luffy was making things float around and tried to control it the best he could, but he was still learning how to do it. Ace could see Sabo more clearly now than before without concentrating too much. Instead of the blurry silhouette, he had in the beginning of the month, he sees Sabo clearly, even if the details of his figure were not very refined. Nevertheless, every time his eyes landed on Sabo's stab wound, he flinched and clenched his fists subtly, not that the ghost hadn't noticed his best friend's small tics.

"I am going to go buy some snacks for me and my friends, are you going to be fine on your own for the decorations?" Luffy said as he put on his coat.

"Hey, I am here too!" The blond said.

Ace rolled his eyes. "You are literally a dead-weight."

Sabo stuck his tongue at Ace and Luffy chuckled. "I am coming back soon!" Then, he bolted out of the room with his bag to the closest shop to get snacks.

"Are you going to stay here tonight or are you going to that party at your work?" Ace smiles as he hung the last decoration.

"I am probably gonna go, Luffy's not a kid anymore. He can stay at the apartment without me without trashing it." Sabo chuckled.

"What?"

"I would be more worried about you trashing it!" Ace shook his head and threw a small plastic ghost at his friend, only for it to pass through him. Sabo looked behind him at Ace's pathetic attempt to bug him and giggled.

"You know, this is kind of offensive, we don't go around with blankets over our heads." Ace shrugged.

"Well, I think it looks exactly like you." He said smugly.

Sabo took a few steps back and pointed at a green-faced decorating witch on the wall. "Well, I think that looks exactly like you."

"... Well, you are a dork." They both looked at each other, not really capable of finding better insults when they both started laughing. They hadn't laughed together that much for a long while and the two best friends couldn't help but think they were really happy right now. They shared a bond that even death couldn't break and it made them feel so warm to think of that.

The doorbell rang and both of their heads snapped to the front door. "Do you think Luffy forgot his keys?" Ace shook his head.

"Highly unlikely. It's probably one of his friends." Ace went to open the door only to see Luffy's green haired friend Zoro and could sense a second faint presence following him that he assumed to be Kuina.

"Come in, Luffy went to buy some snacks, he'll be back soon, but you are a bit early." Zoro rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I didn't want to get lost so I left early, but I got here easily..." Sabo's eyes were focused on the green-haired teen. He knew there was a bit more to it than just that. Kuina looked at Sabo and saw his expression. She bit her lips and nodded, conforming his theory. Zoro didn't want to stay at his home an extra minute with how bad his parents were these days.

"Well, make yourself at home, Luffy won't take much longer."

While this was happening, at the grocery shop, Luffy was walking down the isles until he bumped into Sanji. The two looked surprised then smiled.

"Hey, what are you doing here Sanji?" The blond pointed his basket.

"I have been shopping for snacks for tonight, knowing you, you only thought of buying meat and sweets." He chuckled as Luffy hid his own basket behind his back and looked away, a bit red in the face.

"... I didn't buy only meat and sweets, I bought chips and popcorn too, those are salty, not sweet." Over the few weeks, since they had expanded their group, Luffy had opened up a bit more to them. He had been less shy and more himself. The more the time passed, the more of a happy go lucky goofball he had been. He would smile more often and get excited over small things. His quirks and cheerful personality had warmed all of their hearts through their own tough times. He had also proven that he liked to eat. A lot. It was a mystery in itself that Luffy was still healthy and wasn't monstrously fat, but they had theorized Ace was trying to help him follow a healthier diet that included vegetables and fruits.

"Well, do you want to finish shopping together and head directly to your place?" Luffy smiled and nodded. The blond teen had been less guarded around him and it was a huge improvement, however, he would still, from time to time, throw him one of his looks of suspicion or confusion, like he was trying to read Luffy and it could make the young psychic uncomfortable.

"Good idea!" The two teens continued shopping together for a little while until they were done and started to head back at Luffy's and Ace's apartment.

"Hiya Ace, I am home! I met Sanji at the store, so he is early." They entered the house and noticed Ace and Zoro were talking in the living room.

"Zoro! How long have you been there?" The green-haired teen stood up and walked to his two friends who had just come in.

"Around ten minutes, not too long." Ace looked up at the trio and frowned.

"Where are your costumes?" The three of them were in casual clothing and were sitting on the couch like it was totally normal to look normal on Halloween.

"We didn't want to dress up," Sanji said as he shrugged.

Ace looked flabbergasted. "How can you not want to dress up at Halloween? Is it because you think you are teenagers now and are 'too old to dress up'? Guess what, at my grown up party, everyone has a costume." He added smugly. Luffy laughed.

"Don't call it a 'grown up party', everyone at your work is overgrown 9-year-old!" It wasn't exactly true, but the few people Luffy had actually met weren't the best examples of maturity.

"Whatever, I am going now." He waved.

"Wait is Sab- is he going with you?" Sanji blinked at Luffy's hesitation.

"Dunno, I'll ask him." Sabo turned to Luffy.

"Yeah, I will, have fun with your friends." Luffy smiled and took the bags in the kitchen.

"See you later then!"

"Have fun!"

A few hours later, when Vivi, Nami and Usopp had joined the group, they had settled on the couch and on a few mattresses they had taken to the living room in a mess of pillows, blankets and bowls of different snacks as they watched a few horror movies. Usopp always shrieked in terror, Sanji was keeping Nami and Vivi close as they both hung onto him every time there was something scary coming on, Zoro was looking like he was enjoying the movie and Luffy, he was just pouting.

"This movie wasn't realistic at all." Luffy blurted when the generic started. Vivi had stood to switch on the lights before she started cleaning up a bit.

"It's a movie, of course, it's not realistic and ghosts don't exist," Nami said as she rolled her eyes at the other teen.

"Nah, I didn't have a problem with the ghost part, it's the characters. They are pretty stupid." Zoro lifted an eyebrow.

"What makes you say that?" Luffy sighed.

"Well, first of all, they should have never been there, to begin with, the place looks like there have been several murders in there which screams haunted. Second, hear a scary noise and you know none of your friends made it, you don't start yelling and asking who's there while flashing your light around, you get out as soon as you can or you take off the light and hide. Third, you should never stray from the group and be alone, that is just asking to get killed. Fourth you don't make out while your death is imminent, you try to find a way to save your skin, fifth-" Usopp cut him.

"I think we get it. You don't like horror movies." Luffy laughed.

"I like good horror movies, not that. Hey, how about we tell each other scary stories?" Luffy said with a dangerous grin.

"That could be fun," Sanji said as he helped Vivi clear up the living room a bit. They reinstalled the mattresses in Luffy's room, where they were all going to sleep and Luffy closed the curtains, the lights, and the doors before taking his flashlight. They were all huddled up in a circle on the two large mattresses they had brought closer together. Luffy grinned.

"Who wants to go first?" Vivi lifted her hand to take the flashlight.

"I will. It's not really scary, but some people swear it's true."

They all came a bit closer.

"A long time ago, there was a man who was sailing the seas. He would always come back to his country on the other side of the ocean to play the violin for his beloved. Would it be night or day, the sailor sang his song in the hope his beloved could hear it from anywhere in the world. However, one faithful day, his crew met its demise in a storm, never to be seen again. The wreckage of the ship found it's way to our coast. Sometimes, when you walk in the cemetery, you can hear the violinist play his violin to his beloved, trying to reach her beyond the ocean."

Nami smiled. "I heard that story, it's actually an old legend that is pretty famous."

Luffy was looking at the blue haired girl with wide eyes, even if he couldn't see well in the dark. Maybe the ghost who was always haunting the cemetery was the one from this legend?

"So, who's going next?" Usopp took the flashlight and brought it under his chin.

"It was a Halloween night, exactly like this one." He took a low voice and tried to sound scary, but the rest of the group only chuckled.

"A group of teenagers was hanging out like everything was okay and normal... But things weren't normal that night." Usopp closed the flashlight and started talking in a voice close to a whisper.

"They were having fun, eating snacks, watching horror movies and telling each other scary stories when suddenly..."

Usopp stood up and started talking really loudly. "A MAN WITH A CHAINSAW CAME FROM THE WINDOW AND KILLED THEM ALL! THEN ZOMBIES CAME FROM THE FRONT DOOR TO EAT THEIR BRAINS! THEN MONSTERS CAME OUT OF THE CLOSET AND FROM UNDER THE BED TO SCARE THEM TO DEATH!"

Zoro shrugged. "How can the monsters scare them to death if they were already killed by a chainsaw and eaten by zombies?"

Usopp sighed. "I guess the monsters come first, then the zombies... no. The zombies are last. You know what? Forget it. Try to tell a good horror story yourself!" Usopp said playfully as he tossed the flashlight at Zoro.

"Nah, I don't know any good ones. Sanji?" The blond nodded and took the flashlight. To put it under his chin the same way Usopp had done.

"A young boy is sleeping in his bed on a usual night. He hears footsteps outside his door and peeks out of his eyes to see what is happening. His door swings open quietly to reveal a murderer carrying the corpses of his parents. After silently propping them up on a chair, he writes something on the wall in the blood of the dead bodies. He then hides under the child's bed." Usopp started to shake as he listened to Sanji's story.

"The child is scared beyond belief. He can't read the writing on the wall and he knows the man is under his bed. Like any child, he pretends that he slept through the whole thing and hasn't awoken yet. He lays still as the bodies, quietly hearing the breaths from under his bed. An hour passes, and his eyes are adjusting more and more to the darkness. He tries to make out the words, but it's a struggle. He gasps when he finally makes out the sentence." Nami and Vivi shift as they listen to the next words.

"'I know you're awake'. He feels something shift underneath his bed." He closes the flashlight and Usopp yelps.

Luffy chuckles. "I don't think I heard that one before, it's good!"

Usopp looks at him, bewildered. "How can you laugh at a horror story? Those are scary!"

The raven haired teen just shrugs. "These aren't real so they are not scary. I am only scared when there is a real danger."

Sanji scrunted his eyes." Really? Do you have an example?"

"Well... This is the story of how I got my scar."

Luffy looked at his closet door with wary eyes. Every night, the scary man would come out of the closet and scream at him and hurt him. The little boy hid behind his covers. He was shaking a lot. All he wanted to do is bolt out of his room and go sleep with Ace since Ace would protect him.

The closet door started opening slowly. The creaking of its slow movement made the young medium's heart beat go faster and faster with every second.

"Why can't people just see I am in pain?!" The poltergeist turned his head sharply at Luffy.

"YOU CAN SEE IT? Why aren't you doing ANYTHING?" He ran to the bed and put his hands around Luffy's neck.

"Stop... Please..." Luffy's voice was low and mostly cut by the poltergeist's action. The ghost lifted the boy and slammed him against the wall. Luffy's legs were struggling to get free as they dangled in the air.

"You can see my pain and you are doing nothing. You can see... You see... I won't let you do that. A person like you who does nothing shouldn't be permitted to see at all!" He removed one of his hands from Luffy's neck, letting him breathe a bit better and looked at his hand. His fingernails became a bit sharper as he slowly crept it closer and closer to the boy's face.

"I'll tear your eyes out." He slid his sharpest fingernail under the boys left eye with a sick smile and cut deep.

"A...ce... Ace... ACE!" He felt himself fall to the floor and the world became blurry. The sound of his door being opened sharply and footsteps running closer and closer to him came to his ears.

"What the hell did you do? You are bleeding!" And everything went black.

"And I never saw the man again." Everyone was silent as they looked at Luffy. Of course, he had modified the original story. Instead of saying a ghost, he had said a runaway from a mental institution and instead of saying he came from his closet, he said the man came from his opened window. Instead of saying sharp fingernails, he had said knife. Finally, instead of saying the man came back every night, he said he never saw him again.

"You are lying!" Usopp said as he was clutching to an annoyed green haired man and shaking. Kuina looked at Zoro's expression and started laughing.

"That isn't possible, it only happens in the movies," Nami said, almost equally terrified as the curly-haired teen.

"It's true, but if you don't believe me, I don't mind," Luffy said as he chuckled. Sanji was wearing a perplexed expression. He knew the story was false, but he couldn't help but think it wasn't entirely false by the way Luffy's eyes would shift and twitch while he was telling the story. Like he was remembering something awful.

"Well, I think we are done for tonight right guys?" Vivi said softly. They all nodded and started getting ready for bed. It was a bit after midnight and if they wanted to hang out tomorrow- well, today, they would need to be able to wake up.

As they all went to bed, Luffy smiled. It was relieving to confess this story to someone, even if it wasn't the entire truth. They would know probably, one day, the real story, he thought.

That is it for today! Hope you enjoyed this Halloween episode even if we aren't close to Halloween at all. I just wanted them to share scary stories and didn't know how else. Still, it doesn't really matter.

I still don't know how to call Luffy's mother. I am really bad at finding names like that for a character. Please leave your suggestions!

Until next time!