A/N: Here's the new version of chapter eleven. You might notice that the end is almost identical to how it was before, but that's because it was the only bit that wasn't completely OOC. (How crappy is that, getting my OWN characters out of character...? *sigh*)

Well, enjoy!

The next day, Morgana was expecting to have to spend most of the day searching for an entrance to the caves, but they didn't. After perhaps half an hour of walking, they came across a game trail. Curious, they followed it up the mountain, and it led them right to the mouth of an extremely large cave.

"We could fit the Freedom through that!" Morgana exclaimed, whistling in admiration as she tilted her head back to look up at the top of the cave mouth. Something shiny caught her eye and she squinted, shading her eyes with her hand in the hopes of seeing better. "It looks like there's a plaque or something up there." She said eventually.

Merry followed her gaze, then pulled a telescope out of his bag and focused it on the plaque. "It looks like gold." He said after a moment. "Um… there's a strange symbol on it… Like an X with an M on top." He stated.

"Could be like a 'danger, keep out' type warning." Morgana suggested

"On a gold plaque?" Merry asked, his expression doubtful.

Morgana shrugged. "Maybe not then." She said with a sheepish grin. "Uh… stylised pirate flag?" She suggested. Merry blinked, then nodded, smiling slightly. "So now we know we're in the right place!" Morgana declared brightly. "Let's go!"

"Wait, Gana." Merry said, peering into the cave. "If you're right about the caves being all over the place, then we need to be careful. If we just charge in, we could get lost and end up dying in there from starvation or something." He pointed out.

"Oh, good point." Morgana replied, frowning as she considered the cave.

"I can draw a map as we go along." Adonis suggested. "That way, we can always find our way out again." He added.

"Brilliant!" Morgana declared, and Adonis smiled bashfully as he reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper, a board to rest it on, and a pencil. "Right, we ready?" Morgana asked of the others. Merry took a moment to put his telescope away and pull out a torch instead. "Oh, good idea." Morgana exclaimed, and pulled out her own torch, along with a little contraption that Merry couldn't identify. She clipped the contraption to her belt, looking very smug.

"Morgana… What is that?" Merry asked, a little nervously while Adonis fiddled about, attaching a little clip-on light to his board.

Morgana glanced at him, and he noticed her eyes were that dangerous mauve colour that meant she was planning nasty things and enjoying it. "A mini flame-thrower, of course." She said, smirking. Merry's eyes widened. "In case the Nightfangs decide they don't wanna play nice."

"I guess that's a… good precaution…?" Merry said, not sounding very convinced.

Morgana shrugged. "I just figured, seeing as they seem to be nocturnal or something, then they probably wouldn't like fire. And when I saw this in an old junk shop, I just had to get it. it's so perfect." She said happily, patting the flame-thrower as if it were a kitten, not an inanimate object.

"Ok, Gana, but… just remember; you might be fire-proof, but we're not. Ok?" Merry prompted.

"I know." Morgana dismissed. "Now, lets go already!" She declared, and set off into the cave without waiting for the other two. Merry and Adonis exchanged a look of mixed amusement and exasperation, then hurried to catch up with her.

As they walked deeper and deeper into the mountain, the cave narrowed until the ceiling was only just high enough for Adonis to walk without stooping, and it was no longer comfortable to walk three-abreast. Morgana took the lead, with Merry sticking next to Adonis and watching with interest as the other boy drew a rough map of the path they were following.

All of a sudden, the tunnel opened up into a wide cave. There must have been an opening somewhere above them, because a small amount of light was trickling in and reflecting off shards of crystals in the walls, making the whole place glitter. They could hear the sound of running water, and there were a few natural pools gathering in indents along the cave wall, usually surrounded by patches of moss and fungi. There were two relatively large tunnels leading off the cave, as well as a much smaller one off to the side.

"Which way do we go?" Merry asked, looking around with his torch hanging uselessly by his side. With all the light reflecting off the walls, he certainly didn't need it at the moment.

"Well, that tunnel would keep us close to the outside of the mountain." Adonis said, pointing at the first of the two large tunnels, with his eyes on the map. He glanced up, and went back to sketching the cave. "And the other two lead deeper into the mountain." He added, sounding a little distracted.

"The floor over here is worn." Morgana stated, pointing to the narrower tunnel. "Which means the Nightfangs probably use it a lot." She added, and Merry nodded his agreement. "So we go this way, then." Morgana concluded, heading down the narrower tunnel.

"That doesn't look very safe." Merry muttered, looking at how narrow the tunnel was. It was perhaps three feet wide, five feet high and extremely twisty and winding.

"The Nightfangs use it, so I'm sure it's fine!" Morgana stated cheerfully, clambering into the tunnel without a second thought.

"Yeah, but for all we know, the Nightfangs are as big as bunny rabbits." Merry muttered, rolling his eyes and stepping up to the edge of the tunnel. He leaned forwards and watched as Morgana made her way through, round a bend and out of sight. "What does it look like?" He called.

"It widens out a bit further up!" Morgana called. "Come on!"

Sighing, Merry glanced back at Adonis, who gave him a small, half resigned, half encouraging smile that surprisingly did make Merry feel a little better. Marvelling at Morgana's ability to drag him into danger, Merry clambered through the tunnel after her.

When he rounded the sharpest bend, he found that Morgana had been telling the truth. It did wide out, enough for them to walk comfortably in single file, at least. The walls were rough, craggy and slick with water, while the ceiling had a great many stalactites hanging from it. However, while there were a few matching stalagmites at the edges of the tunnel, the center of the floor was worn smooth, as if many creatures did indeed walk this route somewhat frequently.

Morgana waited for Merry and Adonis to join her before setting off again, once again taking the lead. She swung her torch continuously, taking in as much of the tunnel as she could. Occasionally, the tunnel would branch off, with small tunnels leading elsewhere, but they were either too small for any of them to crawl through, or so completely undisturbed that they weren't very promising.

After what felt like hours of walking, they came to yet another branch tunnel, but this one was just about big enough for them to get through if they were bent double, and the floor was worn smooth down that tunnel as well. "Should we have a look at what's down there?" Morgana asked, but before Merry could answer, she had stuck her torch in her mouth and dropped to her hands and knees in front of the tunnel.

"That was a rhetorical question, then?" Merry muttered to himself as Morgana disappeared into the tunnel, making Adonis chuckle. He waited a few more seconds, then dropped down to crouch in front of the tunnel. Cautiously, he made his way along it, following Morgana's silhouette. Once he was inside the tunnel, he realised it was bigger than he had estimated, and it wasn't a tight fit at all with them crawling through on all fours.

Quite suddenly, the end of the tunnel was upon them, and Morgana straightened, taking her torch in hand again and shining it around the cavern they had ended up in. As Merry scrambled out after her, he followed the beam of her torch and tried to take in the appearance of the cave. It was small, but there were cracks and fissures in the walls that extended deep into the rock face. The most fascinating part was the shimmering, milky shards littering the floor. They looked, to Merry's novelist's eyes, like the fragments left behind when moonstone was cut from rock.

"Wow…" Morgana breathed, letting the beam of light from her torch sweep the floor, highlighting the shards and filling the cave with soft, reflected light. She bent down and picked up a small shard, turning it over in her fingers. The shiny, milky parts were smooth and almost silky, while the rest was rough and craggy and porous. The shard itself was small, half the size of her palm and oddly disk-shaped.

"This place is beautiful." Adonis murmured, looking around in awe. "Do you think this could be the treasure?" He asked.

Merry shook his head. "No… This doesn't look like it's ever been touched by human hands before." He stated, nudging a few of the shards with his foot. They clacked together softly, and Merry raised his eyes and spotted something on the wall of the cave that caught his interest. "Is it just me, or does that crack actually look like it leads somewhere?" He asked suddenly, pointing to the opposite side of the cave, which wasn't too far from them.

"Lets go look!" Morgana exclaimed, immediately setting off across the mounds of glistening shards scattered across the floor. Halfway there, however, she got distracted. "Hey, look at this…!" She breathed, bending down. After a moment, she stuck her torch in the back pocket of her shorts and picked the whatever-it-was up and turned to face the other two. Merry pointed his torch at her, and saw that she was holding a large lump of what Merry took at first to be plain old rock. Then his torchlight caught the small patches of reflective, milky surface, and he realised that it was actually a huge lump of whatever the shards were made of.

"Oh, wow." He and Adonis breathed in unison, closing the gap to take a look at the large stone. It was about the size of a watermelon, but from the way Morgana was holding it, it seemed it didn't weight as much as one.

"I'm gonna keep it and use it as a nightlight." Morgana declared happily, and proceeded to shove the rock into her backpack. It just didn't fit, so Morgana pulled one of her pre-cooked steaks out and began gnawing on it as she finally managed to do up the straps of her backpack.

After that distraction had been taken care of, they got back to exploring. It turned out that the crack did lead somewhere. In fact, it widened out into a huge cave that had several stalactites that had actually gotten so big, they'd joined up with their stalagmite counterparts, forming huge pillars throughout the cavern.

They spent a long time wandering around it, exploring it slowly and letting Adonis draw his map of the place. The cavern was full of interesting sights and objects; bioluminescent fungi, strange gems in the walls, mushrooms that squeaked when they were touched, and moss that looked lush and brilliant green, until Morgana tried to touch it, at which point it shrivelled up, going a dull grey that blended perfectly with the rock face.

Suddenly, the Nightfangs began their strange, keening howl again, and the three of them stopped what they were doing and looked round. Down here in the caves, the sound echoed eerily, making the sound reverberate oddly in their ears and adding an even stronger otherworldly edge to the sound.

"My god…" Adonis breathed, looking floored.

"I guess the sun's gone down." Morgana muttered, her eyes drifting closed as she swayed slightly in time to the rise and fall of the howling.

This statement caused Merry to check his pocket watch, and he was startled to see that it was indeed already well into the evening. "We should set up camp." He suggested, and the other two nodded their agreement.

They settled down, eating a cold dinner – not that any of them actually minded – and then clambering into their sleeping bags. A thought occurred to Merry, and he sat up again. "Do you think we should set up a watch?" He asked. "In case the Nightfangs jump us in our sleep." He added, drawing a snort from Morgana and a small chuckle from Adonis.

"Good plan." Morgana agreed.

"I'll take first watch, if you like." Adonis offered.

"Cool. I'll take second." Morgana put in.

"Sure. Here, take my watch and wake Gana at one." Merry said, passing Adonis his watch, then turning to Morgana. "And you wake me at four, ok?" Morgana nodded solemnly and lay down, snuggling deep into her sleeping . "Night." Merry called to the others.

"Night." Morgana replied.

"Sleep well." Adonis added, and then silence fell between them as Morgana and Merry tried to sleep, and Adonis tried to stay awake.

Merry lay there in the dark, listening to the Nightfangs, his mind drifting through what could only be called daydreams. Fantastical stories played out behind his eyelids as he waited for sleep to come to him. He was just beginning to relax when he noticed that something was off. Usually, Morgana dropped right off to sleep, the moment she decided she wanted to, but there was a distinct absence of her soft, breathy snores. Curious, Merry rolled over and looked at Morgana's sleeping bag.

Morgana was lying on her back, her sleeping bag drawn up to her armpits, with her arms draped over the top of the fabric. Her eyes were open, but half-lidded and a dull grey, gazing up at the ceiling of the cave without really seeing it. "Gana?" Merry whispered, only just loud enough to be heard over the Nightfangs, and Morgana blinked and turned her head towards him, smiling a little. "What's wrong?" He asked, not interested in beating around the bush.

For a moment, Morgana didn't answer, and Merry knew she was wondering if she could bullshit her way out of having to answer. He gave her a very unimpressed look, and she chuckled self-mockingly, and sighed. "I just… miss Pops." She said eventually. "I miss our little boat with the woodstove and my box-bed on top of the kitchen cupboards. I miss the smell of cigar smoke and the way Pops still managed to burn the toast after cooking for me all my life." She sighed and shrugged. "Just… homesick."

"My dad can't cook either." Merry said with a fond smile, his voice full of nostalgia. "When he tries, stuff usually ends up exploding." He added, and he was glad that Morgana laughed. "Mom can cook, though. We were rich enough to hire a cook, but mum always said she liked to do it herself. She said it made her feel like she was really and truly looking after us."

"Us?" Morgana asked, and at this Adonis looked up at them both, curiosity shining in his eyes. "You have sibling?" Morgana continued, smiling a little.

"Yeah." Merry nodded, thinking of his family. "All younger." He added, and the other two continued to look at him expectantly, so he sighed and attempted to describe them. "Katsumi is my little brother. He's eight now, and looks a lot like Dad. Then there's Rowan and Willow, they're three now." He said with a fond smile.

"They're twins?" Adonis asked, and Merry nodded.

"What about you?" Merry asked of Adonis. "Do you have any sibling?"

Adonis shook his head. "Nah. Mum and dad never wanted kids in the first place. They got a lot more careful about it after I was born. Gana?" Adonis asked, before he winced. "Oh, sorry." He apologised quickly.

"It's alright." Morgana waved him off. "Pops told me that even if dad had lived, he wouldn't have wanted more kids anyway. I was enough of a handful." They all laughed a little at that. "But apparently, Dad thought more kids would be a brilliant idea. He wanted a massive family, according to Pops, but at least two. He didn't want me to be an only child." Morgana paused, looking thoughtful, then she shrugged, and smiled a little lopsidedly.

Merry nodded in agreement. "I was an only child until I was eight." He said. "And I'm kind of glad I've got siblings, but there are always days when I wish I could just give them back." He added, and was pleased to see Morgana almost cackling with laughter at that.

"Oh, yeah!" Morgana said suddenly, rolling over to face Merry. "While we're on the subject of families." She said, and Merry looked at her curiously. "I've been wanting to tell you who my pops is." She stated, and Merry felt his jaw drop.

He was curious, he would freely admit that, but he had accepted that there were some things that Morgana just couldn't tell him, this being one of them. He had never imagined that she would turn around and decide to tell him after all. "Are you sure?" He asked. "I mean, I thought you didn't want-"

"I trust you." Morgana said simply.

Merry gaped at her, a blush slowly rising in his cheeks. "Um… thanks." He said eventually, making Morgana laugh a little.

"Smoker."

For a moment, Merry had no idea what she was talking about, but then his brain caught up with the conversation, and he froze in shock. Commodore Smoker, one of the most famous marines of the last age, was Morgana's pops? Merry attempted to deny it for all of a second, before he began piecing together the clues. Morgana's jitte, her comment about cigar smoke, her attitude towards the marines – which wasn't loathing, as it seemed at first, but something closer to pity with a hint of disgust."Commodore Smoker?" He checked. "Born in Loguetown? Stationed there for most of his marine career?"

"Yes." Morgana replied simply.

"Commodore Smoker, famous for his rigid policy on pirates… slept with Fire-Fist Ace, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, and son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger?" Merry asked again, just to be absolutely sure.

"Yes." Morgana said again.

Merry took a moment to sort this out in his mind, and match it up to everything he knew about the people involved. Finally, he nodded and let out a sigh. "Ok." He said simply, and Morgana was apparently satisfied with that, because she nodded happily and rolled back onto her back. She was snoring in moments.