Coco: Hello, everyone. Good to see you all again! Quick announcement before we get on with the chapter. There has been an update to the previous one I made. It's posted on my profile along with the poll that I mentioned. I've been working more on my stories lately and you should have the rewritten Demon Slayer story up soon enough and the first chapter to my new story Hit Rewind (which is a Tokyo Revengers story) should be posted soon. I do hope you enjoy it when it comes out.

Now, shall we get started?

'So, they've finally entered,' Micah thought as he stared down at his prey from his perch above them.

Well, staring down at them wasn't entirely correct as the priest hasn't seen anything in years due to his blindness. However, his mantra, which was the strongest out of all the priests, made it easy for him to pinpoint his prey. Though the feline was difficult to track.

He couldn't sense him as he did the blonde cook and the girl. Whatever had been blocking her before from being sensed using mantra was gone. Which was good for Micah, or he wouldn't have been able to keep track of her at all. He just hoped he didn't lose complete track over the feline. However, he wouldn't worry himself over such things as he had some fun to enjoy.

'It looks like I can start having my fun.' Micah thought with a smirk. 'How shall I end their lives? With pleasant dreams? Or hellish nightmares?'

Unlike his fellow priests, Micah—like Enel—had eaten a devil fruit. They weren't common here in the sky, but Micah had stumbled across one by chance. And it granted him an interesting power. The power over dreams. All he had to do was lull his prey to sleep, which was made easier by the darkness of the caves as it made it harder for people to stay alert and focused when only pitch blackness greeted them.

Once asleep, Micah could control their dreams to be whatever he wished. Perhaps he showed them dark visions of the past. Or futures where they gained their hearts' deepest desires. He could see—yes, see because within the mind, he had the use of his eyes once more—it all once he entered their minds. And once they were asleep and locked away in a dream of his choosing, he could easily pick them off. Hence why no one has ever escaped his ordeal before.

'So many decisions to make,' Micah thought. 'The man and woman are such interesting toys. As for the feline…well, he's something else entirely. To think he's lived such a long life. Plenty of past regrets for me to use against him.'

Micah mentally chuckled as he didn't wish to make any noise that might alert those below him of his presence.

"Wren-chan, stay close to me," The blonde—Sanji—told the woman. "I don't want you to get lost in here, darling."

Hearing the man speak so softly and caringly towards the woman had Micah smirking cruelly as a thought came to mind.

'Instead of locking them in visions of their own pasts, perhaps they'd like to learn more about each other before they take the eternal slumber by seeing visions of each other's lives?' He thought. 'Yes, that should work out quite well and be plenty entertaining for me.'

Wren let out a breath as she started to feel a bit more aware of her surroundings and feel some of her strength return to her body. She clenched and unclenched her hand with a small frown on her face. She wasn't as weak as before, but she definitely wasn't 100%.

'And all because I lost my composure,' Wren thought. 'I won't allow that to happen ever again.'

She then shifted when she thought she sensed a voice within the darkness. It was hard to pinpoint, but the longer they spent in these pitch-black caves, the better she became at sensing this odd presence.

'I need to find out where this presence is originating from.' Wren thought as her eye shifted trying to see anything but the darkness around them.

Wren placed her hand on her sword when she felt the presence become stronger around them.

"Oi, Furball, any clue how much longer until we find an exit?" Sanji asked Havel who was riding on his shoulders.

The feline's nose twitched and his ears shifted as he took a moment to survey the area.

"I believe we'll find a tunnel leading out soon enough." Havel replied. "The air isn't tasting as stale now."

Sanji let out a sigh while glad to hear it as he was tired of stumbling around in the dark. That and he didn't want to run into whatever danger lay in wait when he couldn't see well enough to fight. Even though Wren has the advantage with her haki that did them little if the danger had a way of masking their presence even from her. Said woman has been awfully quiet for a while now, and Sanji wasn't sure if he should be concerned or not.

He gave her hand a squeeze and when she squeezed his hand back, he felt a bit more at ease. He didn't know what was going on in her head. He wanted to talk things out with her, but now probably wasn't the time. They could talk after this entire situation was behind them. He then blinked when he could have sworn that he saw a light to his right.

"Hey, what's that?" He murmured keeping his voice soft.

Wren turned to where he was looking but saw nothing. However, she stiffened when a light flickered in the distance. Like light shining off a reflective surface.

"What could that be?" Havel wondered out loud.

Wren frowned not sure if they should investigate it or not. Lights in the dark weren't always a good thing. Wisps were proof enough of that. However, before she could voice her opinion, the light grew before it flooded the entire area thus blinding the trio.

'What's going on?!' They all thought in unison.

Sanji blinked looking around at the space around him in confusion. No longer was he in a cave, but what looked like the cargo area of a ship. It smelled putrid and it was dark and damp, which had his nose curling up. He heard whimpering, which had him whirling around. His eyes widened when seeing a younger version of Wren curled up in a holding cell. Her hair was matted with dried blood and who knows what else making it stick to her scalp. Her skin was dirtied, and he could see deep, half-healed lash marks on her back from where he stood. The clothes she wore couldn't be called clothes anymore, but a simple rag that barely covered the poor, frightened child.

"Wren-chan," Sanji whispered feeling his heart-wrench at the sight.

He went to try and pull at the door to see if he could open it, but when his hands fell through the door, he frowned in confusion.

'Is this some kind of illusion?' He wondered as he stepped fully through the bars to get closer to the little version of his darling.

He then took note of the flowers growing at the girl's feet. Though inside a ship with no soil for nutrients and no sunlight, a small cluster of orchids grew around Wren.

'…is that…her mother?' Sanji wondered growing pale as he remembered Wren explaining what happened to her mother after her death.

He took a step closer noticing there were other patches of flowers or of some kind of plant life in the cell. Like a small tree in the back corner, or the ivy growing along the walls.

"They're…they're all gone…" he heard her whimper, which brough Sanji's attention back to Wren. "Dead…or taken away…what…what did we do to deserve this?"

Sanji felt like he couldn't even breath as he knelt by the little girl. Seeing Wren so small…so afraid and vulnerable made him feel heartache for her…and anger. Angry at whoever could do something so cruel to anyone. Treating someone like they were an animal…putting them through such suffering…whoever did this couldn't be human.

"I want my daddy." Wren cried as she curled up even tighter into a ball. "I want to go home…"

Wren then flinched when the trapdoor above slammed open. Her one uninjured eye widened in fear as someone came stomping down the steps into the room. Her breathing quickened as she scooted away from the bars and tried to make herself as small as possible against the wall.

"You awake in here, freak?" A voice called tauntingly.

Sanji glared in the direction of the voice as a man who appeared to be in his late thirties with greasy looking hair and a sneer on his face walked up to the bars.

"Looks like you're the only one we have left, huh?" The man told Wren. "Pity the others couldn't make it to the next auction house…I heard the Tenryūbito were going to be there. Bet we could have fetched quite a bit of money for your momma and your friends."

Wren just kept quiet as her uninjured eye watered with tears leaking out to run down her dirtied cheeks.

"But oh, well," The man said. "We're still looking to make a killing off you. We're to meet your soon to be owner on the next island, isn't that exciting? I was told he's a pirate. Wonder what he has planned for you?"

The man's smile was not friendly, which had Wren whimpering. Though she quickly put her hands over her mouth to silence herself. However, the little noise seemed to bother the man as he glared at her. It was like a switch was flipped as anger took over the man's features. He quickly unlocked and wrenched open the door while taking a whip off his side.

"What did I tell you about staying quiet, freak?!" He demanded as he snapped the whip at Wren.

Wren cried out as it hit her across the leg. Sanji jumped to his feet to attack the man but passed right through him just as he had done the bars.

"Stop it!" Sanji demanded but went unheard as the man continued to harm Wren. "That's enough, bastard!"

But nothing stopped what was happening. Leaving Sanji to watch as the younger Wren was brutally beaten by a man three times her size.

'What kind of nightmare is this?' Sanji wondered. 'Please…please, don't tell me this is one of Wren's actual memories.'

Wren stared at the young boy in front of her as he was crying all alone in a cell. Her gaze was soft as she sat across from Sanji, who had the appearance of a child, as the boy was leaning against the wall of behind him. A helmet was wrapped around his face. His father having ordered that Sanji's face be covered as he spent out his days here in this hell.

'To think Sanji is the son of Vinsmoke Judge,' Wren thought as she's already seen bits and pieces of Sanji's life, which led up to this.

That would explain how he got to the East Blue from the North. The Germa Kingdom had the means to basically travel wherever they please. Not to mention, the strength they possess.

'But even being born royal doesn't seem to save you from cruelty.' Wren thought as she continued to watch Sanji cry.

Wren used to really hate royalty as a kid. Lumping them in with the Tenryūbito and for the most part they were just like them. Cruel and thinking themselves above others and not actually caring about their own people. Sanji's brothers and father were prime examples of that.

'Sanji is different though,' Wren thought. 'Someone as kind as him doesn't deserve this.'

Wren then shook her head because she couldn't linger here. Something was wrong. She suspected they were trapped in the Ordeal of Darkness that Sanji and Usopp mentioned. Nimue mentioned the ordeals as well. The Ordeal of Spheres the boys already conquered. Chopper mentioned Gan Fall fighting a Priest who used String, but what happened to him afterwards is unknown. So, he might still be running around.

'Which leaves the ordeals of iron, swamp, and darkness,' Wren thought as she stood. 'Considering we were just in a dark cave before all this, I would suspect this is the Ordeal of Darkness, and that whatever these illusions are, are caused by a devil fruit…or perhaps some kind of magic.'

However, when was certain Nimue would have been able to tell if another mage were on this floating island. And though there were some Fae who could create illusions and induce dreams, she didn't see any of them working for Enel. Which is why she believed it was a devil fruit ability at play here.

'And I need to figure out exactly how it works before it gets us all killed,' Wren thought.

Wren cast one more look at young Sanji's crying figure while feeling her heart ache for the poor boy. How she wished to change things for him, but the past is the past and it cannot be undone. Besides, this wasn't real. Wren then moved towards the iron bars while phasing through them. However, as she did so, a new seen came to view in front of her.

She blinked and frowned when seeing she was suddenly on a large rock in the middle of the ocean. She looked around seeing no other land mass in sight or any signs of ships. This had her wondering if the person controlling the illusions was trying to make it harder for her to look around and find a solution.

"I'm so hungry."

Wren looked down seeing a slightly older than earlier Sanji laying at her feet. The poor thing was nothing but skin and bones. Even when Wren was kept hostage and starved, she had never gotten to this point.

'Was he stranded here?' Wren wondered. 'But how did he even get here?'

At first, she wondered if his father had dumped him here, but then took note of his attire. Though ripped and torn, she could tell the clothes belonged to a kitchen chore boy. As Sanji remained on the ground, he looked up at the starry night sky with a distant look in his eyes.

"Even when imprisoned by Father…I still had good food to eat." Sanji murmured. "I never knew what it was like to be hungry…but now…"

He trailed off as his stomach gave a loud growl. Sanji placed his hand over his stomach while clutching the fabric over it tightly. His tiny hand shook as his eyes began to water.

"What…What did I do to deserve this?" Sanji whimpered.

Wren felt her stomach drop at those familiar words. Words she muttered quite often as a child as she had tried to put some kind of reasoning behind the cruelness that she was delt in life.

"You did nothing wrong," Wren said to the young Sanji though he couldn't hear her. "This world is just filled with cruel people and…unfortunately, if you can't or won't play their wicked games, you become a victim."

Which is why she had tossed aside her emotions when she was so young and put herself in the game. Completely making herself hollow, so not to falter even when she committed terrible acts to get ahead of her adversaries. If she hadn't, she would have drove herself mad all those years ago. She told herself in the beginning that it was the only way for her to survive in this world and get her what she wants. However, that was just something to make herself feel better.

"You didn't do that though," Wren whispered as she looked down at the young Sanji. "You've remained a kind, generous soul all this time…despite your hardships…unlike me."

Wren sighed as she lifted her eyes up towards the endless sea around her. She wasn't enjoying this little adventure one bit. She wanted out of here, which meant she needed to try and understand just how this devil fruit ability worked.

'There has to be a way out,' she told herself.

Havel sniffed along the ground as he tried to find any trace of Wren or Sanji. He then lifted his head to see the familiar surroundings of Magus. He had no idea how he ended up back here, or rather how the person who put him in this illusion knew of this place…however, he couldn't sit around and think too hard on it.

'This is my own mind,' Havel told himself. 'Which means there's an end.'

He's been in a similar situation before when dealing with Greylock. That pain in his tail fae who likes to play his games. Havel thought someone of Greylock's age would eventually tire of such games, but in the centuries the two fae have known each other, Greylock was never satisfied and looking for something new to play with.

Havel supposed that actually worked in his favor this time around. He just had to keep searching for his subconscious. If the person, who is behind this, is using the same trick Greylock used then he'll be headed towards their subconsciouses to snuff them out. Of course, he could always kill their physical bodies as well. Either way, it'd do the trick. However, Havel had the feeling that that attacker wasn't the type to get his own hands dirty if he can help it.

'I just hope I can wake myself up before something happens to the others,' Havel thought. 'Or that they can figure out how to save themselves.'

Wren, he had high hopes for. The girl was very intelligent and was an excellent problem solver. Sanji wasn't exactly unintelligent but has no experience in such matters.

'Of course, waking up is the tricky part,' Havel continued to think. 'Even when you are aware that you are asleep, it isn't so easy to escape induced sleep such as this. I lucked out the last time because he was there to save me.'

Havel mentally frowned thinking of the man that he knew very long ago. One he hasn't seen in several decades.

"Havel, there you are."

Havel froze at that familiar voice with all his fur starting to stand on end. He didn't dare turn around as a shadow fell over him.

"What are you doing out here? You're usually with Starling."

Havel slowly turned his head with his eyes widening when he saw the familiar man behind him. The man stood at an impressive height with thick, white hair falling in waves around his neck. It was slicked back with a few stubborn strands falling between his eyes, which were a vibrant red. Growing from the top of his head were black horns that looked as if they belonged to a goat. The man's skin was pale, and he had muscular figure with a scar going across his slightly pointed nose.

He wore black dress pants with a matching black vest. Tucked into the vest was burgundy cravat and underneath that a white dress shirt. He also wore white gloves that covered his hands and the black shoes he wore shined under the sunlight that trickled through the branches of the trees.

"…Cain…" Havel murmured.

Cain…One of the mages he served as a familiar in his long life. And the first halfling he swore to watch over. Some mages if powerful enough and who are in tuned with nature at the same level as the fae can live very long lives. Some almost seemingly immortal like the fae. Cain was one of those mages. Of course, his fae half helped prolong his life. Havel had served Cain for over a century before the man had come across Starling and decided to live a human lifetime with her. The man in front of him had aged slightly from the young mage that Havel had first encountered.

"Are you alright?" Cain asked with a quirked brow. "Is your old age finally getting to you? An old fleabag like yourself should probably stick to resting by the fire and not be out exploring."

Havel felt his ear twitch in annoyance as his tail swished across the ground behind him.

'I forgot how annoying this cheeky brat was,' Havel mentally growled.

Still, it felt good to see him again as he once was and not the mindless beast he was today.

"Don't you mind where I'm going, boy," Havel huffed at this illusion of Cain.

The right corner of Cain's lips turned up at Havel's jab as Havel forced himself to stand. He couldn't become distracted here. He needed to keep moving. Needed to find the end of this dream.

"Someone is grumpy this morning," Cain said to Havel as he placed his hands in his pockets. "And here I was being concerned about you."

Havel, who turned to keep going on his journey, snorted and mentally rolled his eyes while knowing Cain wasn't concerned in the slightest. However, he didn't get far before Cain scooped him up.

"Oi, furball, I need you to stay home today," Cain told Havel. "Starling is due to have the baby any day. You're supposed to be keeping an eye on her. Or did that slip your elderly mind?"

He tapped Havel on the nose as he spoke causing the feline to mrrow in annoyance. Though at the mention of Starling, Havel's ears involuntarily quirked. He remembers watching over Starling during both of her pregnancies.

'However, I can't do that now,' Havel thought as Cain started walking him back towards their home.

Though he doubted the one controlling these dreams would simply let him walk away. Which is probably another reason why this person was using a person from his past to try and keep him from exploring or trying to find a way out. Maybe he was hoping Havel wouldn't retaliate against Cain because of their shared past and because of the connection they once had. However, Havel has someone else who was of great importance of him who needed him to look out for her. And she was alive and had her entire future ahead of her.

'That won't be the case though if I can't get out of here,' Havel thought. 'Which means I'll have to get rough if I want to escape this place and return to her.'

"Hmm, it looks as if the feline might be a problem," Micah commented as he continued sit up in his perch above his three victims. "Which means, I won't get to enjoy having my fun with him."

Micah sighed. He enjoyed having his fun with his prey. He liked watching them and their dreams before he either put them out of their misery and ended their nightmares or ripped away the happiness he had granted them by giving them blissful dreams. However, playing around with the cat could prove to be a problem, which means best to end him now.

"And perhaps the girl as well." Micah hummed to himself. "She's already starting to put the dots together, and she's a dangerous one. If she hadn't been stopped before, she might have ended our dear god."

Micah took in a deep breath before letting it out. What came from his mouth was black mist that whirled around the three sleeping before seeming to sinking into their heads.

"Let's see how you can handle the nightmare beasts." Micah said with a cackle. "They're quite strong and should be more than enough to end your lives."

He could enter their dreams himself, but to do that meant putting himself to sleep. Something that would leave him vulnerable. The chances of anyone—including any allies of theirs—stumbling across them was very low. However, he'd rather not take the chance. Nor would be leave his perch to end them with his own two hands.

'It'd only be wasted effort on my part,' Micah thought. 'Why would I want to create such a mess anyway? Especially when I can just as easily end them within their dreams without having to lift a single finger.'

He smirked while settling back in his perch with his hands behind his head. A complete show of relaxation. As if the priest had no worry that the pirates and feline below him could be of any threat to him. He was so sure of his abilities that he missed the slight twitch of Havel's body. The feline's consciousness started to rouse, which also went unnoticed by Micah. The priest blissfully unaware of what kind of danger he was in as the being much older than him began to wake slowly but surely.

Coco: And there you have it. Another chapter wrapped up. In the next chapter, Sanji and Wren will learn more about each other and Havel will be taking action. I feel like he's been too sideline until now. It's time for him to see some action, don't you think? So, as he's fighting and protecting his friends, more of Wren's past will unfold. Who knows...perhaps Sanji will learn of a long-buried dream that Wren once had before her goals shifted to what they are now, which is taking down Doflamingo. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

Now, as always, I hope you are all staying safe and remembering to be your beautiful selves. Until next time~