As you know, this is the Halloween chapter. And, as you should also know, this is what comes out of my brain, and will most likely get very dark. Just telling you now, if you didn't know.

Anni's POV

Halloween! I love Halloween so much! Costumes, and parties, and no romance whatsoever!

Although, just to be sure, I'm waiting to see if Nami tries to pair anyone up. That's the only reason I'm hiding in our bedroom. She was unclear yesterday...

Flashback to Yesterday

"Do you know what day it is tomorrow?" Nami asked, bouncing along the Going Merry's deck.

Lounging in my deckchair, I thought long and hard.

"Nope. I don't even know what day it is today," I answered.

She bent and whispered in my ear, a cat-like grin spreading across her face, "Tomorrow's Halloween. And holidays are very special days. Don't you remember the last holiday? I'm going to make sure this is even better!"

I swear my eyebrows were going to fly right off my face.

"The last holiday?" I thought about the Valentine's Day fiasco. Not that it ended badly, but the entire concept was... awkward. To say the least.

"Yup!" Nami smiled, skipping away like she hadn't just scared the living daylights out of me.

Back to the Present!

So, like I said, I'm not scared of being forced on a date with someone at all. Okay? I just dislike it. A lot...

But anyways! I hadn't heard any screams of protest, so I assumed that it was safe for me to exit the room.

I snuck up the stairs and slowly lifted the trapdoor. Seeing nobody, I crept out the door onto the deck, and sprinted up into the kitchen, where I was met with a scene that reminded me quite a lot of my Valentine's Day morning.

The kitchen was decorated from top to bottom in orange and black. Zoro sat at the table with his head down on his arms, snoring. I walked over to him, only to burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of what I saw.

The top of the swordsman's previously bright green hair had been sprayed an obnoxious orange, while the back was sprayed black, giving the appearance of a small wig placed on his head. Painted on the back of his white shirt was a huge bat with little fangs. It looked adorable.

In the background, Sanji, looking extremely pleased with himself, stood stirring a pot.

"What'cha doing?" I asked, peering over his shoulder. Inside the pot was a thick red liquid, and it smelled deliciously sweet.

"Ah! Anni-chwan! I didn't see you at breakfast today. I decorated the room for you and Nami-swan! What do you think?" He said, gesturing grandly at the decorations with his free hand.

"I see you dyed the plant," I laughed, "Personally, I think it might even be an improvement!"

Sanji burst into laughter. "Me too."

The door banged open and Luffy rocketed in.

"Sanjiiiiii! I'm hungry!"

"Wait," I said, looking around for a clock, "Is it lunchtime already?"

"No, you still have about an hour," Sanji replied, fending off the hungry Luffy.

"Ah, okay," I said, wandering out of the kitchen. I walked down to the front of the ship, wondering what Zoro would do when he wakes up. Or if he would notice at all.

I sat down in my chair, listening to the familiar sounds of Luffy being kicked out of the kitchen and onto the deck.

A minute later I felt restless and felt an urge to sit up in the crows nest. It was empty, which was strange. I picked up the spyglass and aimed it at the horizon directly ahead. Not that there were any landmarks to judge by, but I felt that we were slightly off course.

Soon I was bored, so I got up and walked over to Usopp, who was fishing alongside a big bruise, who I assumed was Luffy. I sat down next to them, picking up a spare fishing rod.

"Do you really think it's okay to let Nami be in charge of Halloween tonight? I mean, it might be better to let Chopper handle it... He won't do anything freaky like Nami..." Usopp was saying, shaking.

"Shishishi~" Luffy laughed, "It'll be fine! I bet Nami will have vampires," -Usopp shivered- "Werewolves," -Usopp nearly dropped the fishing rod- "and-"

"Wait," I interrupted, "Nami is in charge of Halloween?"

Luffy nodded. "On the ship. She specifically requested it, since we're not going to reach another island anytime soon." he pouted, "And Sanji said we're running out of meat."

"Maybe you're sleepwalking again," I mused, remembering my warning I received from Nami when I first joined to not sleep in the kitchen for fear of being eaten.

With a chuckle from Luffy, we lapsed into silence broken only by the occasional fish jumping out of the water.

That was when the world went black.

XxX

I sat up rubbing my head. Looking around, I took in my surroundings. I was in a small dark room that smelled like... like what exactly? It was metallic and stale. I knew I had smelled it before, but I couldn't place it.

Am I still on the ship? I don't recognize this place.

I walked about two steps before tripping over something lumpy. I went crashing to the floor as the lumpy thing went "Ouch!"

Chopper sat up looking around frantically until his eyes landed on me. He launched himself into my arms wailing, "Anni! What's going on here?"

"I don't know!" I replied, "But we should find the others."

Chopper stood up, then promptly fell back over clutching his nose.

"It stinks of blood in here!" he cried.

I pinched my nose, immediately recognizing the smell.

"Where are we?" I asked, not expecting an answer, but to confirm that Chopper didn't know either.

He opened his mouth to reply when a scratchy voice echoed through the room.

"Welcome to your grave. Or, if you're lucky, the place that will send you to the crazy house. I am your host, the person who will oversee your probable deaths. Call me Host. Yes, I think that fits."

"What the hell?" I addressed the room, "What the fuck is this?"

"And where are our nakama?" Chopper added.

"Heh heh heh..." the voice, Host, chuckled, "All questions will be answered at the end."

"The end?" I asked incredulously, "Isn't this getting really cliché, Host?"

There was a silent pause, and the static-y sound of an impact.

"Host?" I asked cautiously.

There was no answer, but a door slid open ahead of Chopper and I. The new room was also dark, but a dim red glow shone from somewhere inside. I glanced behind us just to check for other escapes.

Finding nothing, I continued on into the room while Chopper followed behind me.

"This is Room One."

Ah, so Host was back. It was too much to hope they were gone.

The red light was coming from behind a huge silhouette. The light slowly shifted from red to blue, and a chill filled the room. I soon recognized the hulking figure as that of a Lapahn.

"Chopper...?" I whispered quietly.

There was no answer, so I slowly turned to check on Chopper. The tiny reindeer was staring at the giant rabbit, a look of terror on his face. His nose quivered.

That look steeled my nerves. I wanted to protect Chopper from whatever he was scared of, even if that meant facing my own fears. The cold wind whipping around the room bit into my arms, but I my mind subconsciously drifted to Ace... and how warm he was...

No. Back to focusing!

The rabbit's ear twitched, making both Chopper and I flinch. A split second later, I leaped at it, hands unlit. I hit it in the stomach, throwing it into the wall, shattering the light. The room was plunged into darkness, but I kept fighting.

Until Chopper suddenly shouted, "Anni, stop!" and I paused.

"What, Chopper?" I asked warily.

"It's not a Lapahn!" Chopper shouted, "It's Luffy!"

"What?!"

I felt around cautiously and carefully ripped off the head of the Lapahn costume to reveal an unconscious Luffy. Pulling him out, I shook him gently until I felt him move.

"Congratulations, you passed Room One of Three. From now on, you might want to learn from your mistakes if you hope to have any semblance of success," Host's voice sounded through the room.

"Are you really supposed to be helping us?" I asked snarkily, "I mean, I thought you were some sadistic person who just wants to watch us die."

"That would be a mistake you should learn from."

Shit.

The door we came through slid open again, only this time to reveal a dim orange room. The structure was completely different from where I had woken up. It was almost as if something supernatural had changed where the door led to.

Chopper quietly filled Luffy in on the situation. I couldn't tell if he looked excited or nervous in this light, and the sound he made didn't help differentiate the two.

Stepping into the room, I nearly gagged on the smell of blood. Inside the room was a horrific slaughter scene. Silhouettes of severed limbs lay strewn everywhere and enormous bloodstains splatter-painted the walls. A single orange light swung from side to side in the center of the ceiling. There were four doors lining the walls.

A lone table lay in the middle of the room with two figures strapped down. Luffy bounded up and I quickly followed. Upon closer inspection, I recognized the two as Zoro and Sanji. The moment Luffy touched the cuffs around their hands, he slumped down onto the floor.

"Kairoseki..." he muttered.

Of course, Chopper went to try next, and met the same fate as Luffy. I remembered my first encounter with the stone when I was trapped in Rain Dinners.

I stepped up to undo the cuffs, when one of the doors burst open and a dark figure ran unevenly across the room into one of the other doors, slamming it behind him. I jumped back, my heart racing. That was the scariest thing I had seen in a long time because it had no reason. Things with no reason are the scariest, in my opinion.

My heart continued to pound and my hands shook as I undid the cuffs. Zoro, his hair still orange (I snickered at this), rolled over onto Sanji, who I was untying. I pondered waking them up, or moving Zoro back just out of respect, until Zoro started to snore extremely loudly into Sanji's ear.

At this, I cracked up and bent in half laughing. I continued until Sanji jolted upright and took in his surroundings. He looked around at the bloodstained room, the scattered limbs, and at Zoro sprawled on top of him.

Then he looked up at me, still trying to contain my grin, and said, "Anni-chan? Am I in hell?"

Luffy and Chopper chose this moment to get up, which I suppose must have looked like them appearing out of nowhere. Sanji's unbelieving gaze turned to them as they grinned sheepishly.

The events for poor Sanji just snowballed into a massive pile of disbelief as Zoro at that moment woke up, still sprawled all over him.

I will spare you readers the detail of Sanji's mental breakdown, Chopper's frantic attempts to calm him, and Zoro's 'helpful' comments about Sanji being a wimp.

But when we were finally done, we pondered about what to do next. The limping man had run across the room a total of four times now in no pattern at all, and I freaked out every single time.

We decided to each try a room, and there would be one group of two. We had 'collectively' decided that the two mentally disturbed people (Sanji and I) should go together. We each stood in front of one door as, you guessed it, Host decided to show up again.

"Well, I see you are quite bold, splitting up. Should you stay apart? Or maybe staying together is better? Or is this just multiple layers of reverse psychology?"

Ignoring the voice, I boldly opened the door and stepped into one of the four final rooms. There was one chair in the middle.

"Do you want to sit down?" I asked Sanji awkwardly, "Or should we just stand around?"

Sanji robotically walked over to the chair and sat down. Immediately, he disappeared.

Confused and worried, I looked around the room. Finding nothing, I opened the door and walked back into the massacre room. A quick look around confirmed my suspicions that everyone else was gone.

I looked towards the wall that had no doors – correction now - one doorway. An eerie light filtered out of the curtain that obscured the contents of the room. I figured that there was nowhere else to go but forwards, so I pushed the curtain to the side and stepped in.

Immediately, I was consumed by whirling gray lights. Small specks of colour spun in circles around me until I couldn't tell left from right or up from down. An image seemed to appear in front of me, but I couldn't be sure whether it was really there or not.

A scene started to unfold. My nakama and another me appeared in a line, smiling peacefully. Then every person lifted their right arm holding a pistol and blew out the brains of the person next to them.

The blood seemed to fall in slow motion and splattered on the gray background. It slowly seeped in and spun around and around with the lights until the entire place was shades of red. The bodies fell backwards and faded out of sight.

I stared in disbelief, then screamed and lunged forwards as if I could catch them, but the room tipped upside-down and I fell, not down, but up. My body shot up and up, but a sudden jolt stopped me.

I still felt like falling, but something was gripping my ankle. Looking down, I shrieked in terror. It was myself. The one that had shot Chopper in the head.

It grinned up at me with flat blue eyes. I struggled in its grip, but it just squeezed harder. The pupils of its eyes widened, as did its smile. Its lips pulled back tighter and tighter into its cheeks until it didn't resemble a human face anymore. Small cracks formed and blood dripped out from the taught skin.

Its pupils expanded, running over the pale blue irises and through the white. The black continued to spread over its skin until it was completely black, except for its lips and teeth. The blood dripping down started to glow brighter red and its teeth sharpened.

The hand clutching my ankle released and I flew up, crumpling against the ceiling. I frantically scrambled to my feet as it sprung around the room, landing on invisible ledges and defying gravity.

"Run, little human. Entertain me."

A gravely voice, unlike Host's, came out of its mouth. Unnervingly, its mouth only opened and closed as it spoke.

I screamed and ran as fast as I could. There was no hope in defeating that thing. I would not even take the chance of stopping to attack it.

As I ran, the red lights swirled faster and faster. New colours began to appear. Neon colours spun the opposite way, and I couldn't find the wall as I ran.

The colours began to make me dizzy, and my legs involuntarily slowed down. I struggled to keep going, but my eyes drooped and my limbs felt like mud.

I slumped to the ground, and the last thing I saw was the enormous, bloody, pointy-toothed smile rush at my face.

XxX

"Goddammit, Anni! I swear, we need to keep a tracker on you!"

The noise of voices woke me up. I opened my eyes and sat up, and upon seeing that I was in a normally lit room, I relaxed a bit. The entire crew was clustered around me.

Nami leaned into my face and said, "Do you realize how long we were looking for you?"

I shook my head, confused by the turn of events.

"Maybe you should explain what's happening," Sanji interrupted gently, "See, Anni-chan, Nami and Usopp made a haunted house. You know, the one with all the rooms? Well, the last room was supposed to take all of us to the end. You didn't sit in one of the chairs, which was Usopp's mistake for not making enough, so we couldn't find you. Then when we were searching, we found you on the table in the second room."

"Uh," I started, "Two questions. First, where the hell did you set this up? Second, how the hell did you do the stuff behind that fifth door? That was terrifying!"

Usopp cleared his throat. "I set up the lights and Den Den Mushi and props in the boy's bunkroom this morning. Nami was very... strict about all the props."

"As for your second question," Nami interrupted, "Wait, what fifth door? There were only four."

"The fifth door going out of the second room. You know, the one with the spinning lights?" I said.

The entire crew was silent.

"Um... Anni," Nami started, "There was no space for us to make a fifth door. There were only four doors."

"What?! Then what about the shooting, and the second me that went black and tried to kill me?" I asked, agitated.

"Anni. There was no fifth room. You must have imagined it."

A/N

I'm baaaack! And extremely ashamed that I couldn't find more time to write. I'm working on the next chapter, which should be up soon. I hope to not have such a long break again.

Oh, and if this was too weird, or not scary enough, I'm sorry. It's whatever comes into my head.

See ya!