A/N: Shorter by a bit.

Luffy and Usopp were exploring some nearby shipwrecks, Robin and Henzo were talking about the strange mist, Grace was looking around trying to look neutral but was sweating a bit at the thought of being stuck inside the mist, Zoro was still sleeping, and Vivi was sitting against the mast in a sad funk.

'What do I do?' Vivi thought with her knees to her chest. 'Even if I go, what proof do I have that they won't rat me out later? My country...my people...they could suffer because I had to open my big mouth!' She covered her head with her hands as her eyes welled up. 'What do I do?!'

"HEY!" Luffy's yelling snapped her out of her thoughts as she and the others looked to see him and Usopp carrying a huge chest. "Look what we found!" he said before he and Usopp tripped and slammed into the deck, the chest spilling its contents of jewels.

"My word." Henzo said as he stared at it.

"Where'd that come from?" Grace asked as Luffy looked up at them all with a grin.

"From one of the shipwrecks. There's tons more in the other ships!" Luffy said.

"It may not be a paradise, but it certainly has a massive amount of treasure, Professor." Robin said with a smile, the book of Rainbow Mist in her hand. Henzo just crossed his arms with a sigh before a chime was heard. The crew and Henzo began to look around as Vivi walked over towards her friends.

"Heed my words, intruders who wish to disturb the dead!" echoed a voice.

"What's that?!" Usopp said in panic as everyone looked around.

"Relinquish the chest and leave this place, or forever be cursed!"

"I really hope this is a bad dream." Grace whispered as Luffy looked up with a grin.

"Where are you?" he shouted. Suddenly, ghosts began to appear, causing Usopp to scream.

"Now, hand over the chest and leave, otherwise..." said the voice before an arrow was shot and hit just above Zoro's head, causing the others to freak out. Luffy's brow furrowed before he vanished from the ship, which was shortly followed by a scream. Everyone turned to see Luffy holding a fat kid with a dark yellow shirt up by his supspender strap.

"Who's that?" Vivi asked.

"Pukau!" Everyone looked behind them to see two kids had jumped onto the deck. A little boy with a sword being held back by a girl with pink hair. "Leave him alone!" shouted the little boy.

"Calm down, Longo!" said the girl as she kept him from running out and doing something stupid, while Henzo stared wide eyed in shock at the children.

"Let go of Pukau!" Longo shouted as he slipped out of the girl's hands and rushed towards the railing of the ship, looking at his friend that was in Luffy's hand.

"Hold on." Luffy said before he threw the kid into the air towards the ship, making almost all of them scream in shock.

"PUKAU!" screamed the two kids and another one wearing a grean jacket up in a crow's nest. The one with the green jacket had leaned too far forward and had tumbled out of the crow's nest, but had grabbed a rope and was now swinging towards Pukau just screamed and flailed in the air while Usopp shut his eyes before Luffy appeared out of nowhere on the deck of the ship and caught Pukau with ease, stunning a lot of them.

"Safe." Luffy said as he put him down.

"Warn us next time you're gonna pull a stunt like that!" Usopp shouted with comical shark teeth.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Everyone looked up to see a tall boy with blond hair and tan skin holding up a small black orb.

"Lapanui!" shouted the kids.

"Ape's Concert is the sole property of the Pumpkin Pirates!" Lapanui said. "Hand over the chest and let us leave, or die!"

"A bomb?" Vivi said while Luffy grinned.

"Whoa, whoa! Wait a moment! You'll blow yourselves up as well!" Usopp said.

"Even in death, we'll stay together!" Lapanui stated before jumping onto the ship and walking towards his friends. "Let's go."

"Right." said the girl before Henzo stepped forward.

"Lapanui!" Henzo said as he stared at them all. "Isoka! Akibi! Longo! Pukau! All of you are still the same." All of them stared at Henzo in confusion as he spoke. "Don't you recognize me? I used to play with you guys at Ruluka Cape! I'm Henzo!"

"Henzo?" Lapanui said as the others looked at Henzo.

"You know these guys?" Usopp asked.

"Henzo? Does he mean...?" Isoka said.

"It can't be! No way could he be our friend." Lapanui said as Henzo approached him. "Hold it! Stay back! I-I'll detonate this bomb!" Lapanui threatened before Henzo pressed the button on top, sending a bright light around them. Everyone shielded their eyes before the looked and saw the bomb pop open with a tiny flag of a skull and crossbones, a pumpkin for a skull, sticking out on a spring.

"Huh?" Usopp said as they stared at it.

"Boom #3." Henzo said. "One of my inventions used to scare people." Lapanui just stared at him while the other four kids looked back and forth between them before he pulled something out of his pocket and threw it on the deck, releasing a smokescreen everywhere. The kids vanished while the crew was coughing.

"A smoke bomb!" Usopp coughed while Zoro yawned.

"Hey, what's the deal making all this noise?" he asked.

"Now you wake up?!" Usopp snapped.

"Who's the old man?" Zoro asked.

"It'll take too long to explain it to you." Usopp said.

"Who were those kids?" Vivi asked as Henzo stared off into space.

"Those kids...they're my friends." he said before he began to explain what happened 50 years ago.

-Outside-

Nami and the others had run towards the Rainbow Tower before staring up at it from the ground floor.

"This thing is HUGE!" Valerie said as they all looked up.

"How do they plan to get this thing into the mist?" Gin asked.

"Don't know. Don't care." Nami said. "If it was designed to get into the mist, then we're gonna get it in there!"

"No you're not!" They all turned to see Whetton in his Flame-Suit glaring at them all. "I've told you before that none of you will enter the Rainbow Mist without my permission!"

"Why should we listen to you anyway?" Alvida asked.

"We're pirates." Gin said with a dark smirk. "We do what we want, with or without anyone's 'permission'."

"And if Nami say's we're going into the mist, then we're going." Sanji said as he lit his cigarette.

"That's it!" Whetton roared. "I've had it with you little pests!" He then lifted one of his mechanical arms and shot flames towards the group, who all began to run to avoid the fire. "Every scrap of treasure inside that mist is mine!" he yelled before he grinned. "And soon, all of Alabasta as well for putting up with your bullshit!"

"Come again?!" Nojiko said. All of them were glaring at him. Even Nami snapped out of her lust for treasure at Whetton's words.

"I know we want their treasure Gran- I mean, Mayor Whetton." Reik said. "But I don't think they'll give us the whole country."

"We won't be taking it." Whetton said. "We'll be inheriting it through yours and hers marriage." A pregnant pause filled the air as everyone turned to Whetton.

"Huh?!"

"What?!"

"NOT ON YOUR LIFE!"

"Is this guy senile?"

"WHO SAID THAT LAST PART?!" Whetton roared as he glared everyone. "WAS IT ONE OF YOU?!" he yelled as he looked at his men. Sanji saw this as an opportunity and dashed towards Whetton before giving him a swift hard kick in the ass, sending him barreling into his men. "Agh!"

"No way am I gonna let Vivi marry your asshole of a grandson!" Sanji roared before glaring at Reik and yelling frantically. "She's far too good to be with someone like you!"

"I didn't say anything!" Reik yelled back. "And's what's wrong with me anyway?!"

"Plenty!" Sanji snapped. Now the two of them were in a screaming match, causing a collective sweatdrop from the rest of Whetton's men, along with a few Straw Hats.

"How'd this happen?" Gin asked, causing Johnny and Yosaku to shrug in response, none of them seeing Nami slipping away undetected into the tower. She looked around for anything to get the tower moving, or whatever it was supposed to do before she saw three levers.

"This is it?" Nami asked as she stared at them before smiling. "Simple's good enough for me!" she said before pulling one of the levers. The tower shook, knocking off the riggings, ladders, and giant yellow tarp off the top, revealing a giant pumpkin.

"What's happening?!" Phillip yelled as everyone ran away from the tower in a panic.

"Nami!" Nojiko yelled in worry as she immediately noticed Nami wasn't there.

"Is she in the tower?!" Valerie asked before the tower began tipping over towards the water, scaring the sea king that was about to pop up away.

"Timber!" Yosaku yelled before the tower hit the water with a large splash, sending a wave of water from both sides of the tower.

"What's happening?" Chopper asked before the tower began extending out towards the mist.

"How's it doing that?" Johnny asked as he and Yosaku scratched their heads.

"Who cares?!" Sanji said before running towards the entrance. "Everyone inside!" All of them ran towards the entrance, with an enraged Whetton hot on their heels.

"Stop right there!" he yelled before Alvida launched her mace at him, knocking him back while it flew through the air and landed back in her hand.

"How do you get it to do that?" Chopper asked as Carue quacked, most likely calling out for Vivi. While Whetton and his men were busy, the rest of them ran inside to see Nami already running down a long corridor on a conveyor belt.

"Follow Nami!" Valerie yelled.

"HAI~!" Sanji yelled in joy before they all took off down the long tunnel into the mist.

A/N: Trying my hand at mixing it up a lot from canon.