Mystery

disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Lord of the Ring's copyright.

000ooo000

The sea was an open, crystal blue buffed by the high wind that skipped over the waves. The horizon stretched forever, broken only by the small ship moving briskly with its full sails.

"Oho!" Cried Luffy, holding onto his hat as he sat high up on the figurehead. Grinning from ear to ear, he waved at his navigator at the wheel and shouted to be heard over the wind. "How much longer to the next island, Nami!?"

Nami huffed and checked her log pose again.

"For the fourth time, Luffy, Two Days! Ask again and I'll make Sanji skip your lunch! Idiot!"

"Shishishi!"

Sanji stepped out of the kitchen, glaring.

"Oi oi! Are you annoying Nami-swan, idiot?"

"He's fine." Nami muttered, not really wanting them to fight. "He's just developed a worst memory than usual, is all." Sanji danced his way to her side and presented her with a melon smoothie and Nami took it, smiling. "It's going to be two days of hell if he keeps up all this energy." Sanji made a small hum of agreement and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it up.

"It's only been a day since we left those pirate hunters behind."

"And it's the first calm morning we've had since leaving Sabaody… do you think he's just getting bored?"

"Luffy? Probably but he always seems to find a way to entertain himself." Nami sighed and ran a hand through her hair and fixed Sanji with a look.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed." She said quietly as the both watched their captain. "He's… different. He's always liked fighting but now," She paused. "Now it's like he doesn't know what to do when he's not fighting."

"Rayleigh probably worked him hard. We all did. Which is why we all deserve this moment of rest." Sanji smiled and slid an arm around her shoulders.

"Nami!"

Startled, Nami swallowed her reply and turned to where her captain was standing tensely on the figurehead.

"What is it?"

"The ocean is glowing!" He cried, sounding delighted.

"Glowing?!"

Worried, she slipped down the stairs, Sanji hot on her heels, and peered over the railing for a better look. Sure enough, straight in front of the Sunny was a large patch of glowing water.

"What the hell?" She muttered, pulling out a telescope to get a better look. Luffy jumped down next to her and tried to peer through it with her. Batting him away with one hand, she focused in on the anomaly.

"Let me see, let me see!" Luffy whined.

"Quiet!" Nami muttered. "It's like there's something under the water making a light. A submarine, maybe?" Luffy jerked slightly and leaned over the railing as if he could look under the water.

"Oooh, do you think it's Law? Maybe he wants to fight."

"Oh joy." Nami huffed and clicked the telescope closed. "We shouldn't get closer until we know more about it. For all we know it's a sea king trying to lure in prey." Turning she pointed at Sanji. "Quick, drop the anchor and let Franky know what's going on. Luffy, go get the rest of the crew and bring them up to the deck. We'll need everyone's opinion." Luffy put a hand on his hat, eyes glinting as he followed her order.

"Lunch!"

000

"What about the Shark sub?" Franky asked, using his bionic eyes to zoom in on the light. "A couple of us could go below and see what's causing it. It'll be super!" Nami rolled her eyes.

"And if it's a sea king? What then?"

"Then we eat it!" Luffy shouted, drooling at the idea.

"Noo!" Cried Chopper looking frantic. "It'll eat us!"

Usopp nodded in agreement, looking a little ill at the idea. "One snap and we'd be goners!"

"A glowing sea king would be a rare find." Robin murmured, almost to herself. "I would like to see it, if I could."

"Food!" Luffy shouted in agreement, throwing his hands up." Zoro snorted, looking bored by the whole conversation.

"I go wherever Luffy goes."

"Fine." Nami said, giving in to Luffy's gleeful shouts. "Why don't you three take the sub. The rest of us will stay here and monitor the surface." She smiled evilly and joked. "That way if you die, we can make a quick getaway."

It didn't take long for the sub to pull away from the ship, its occupants watching out its windows for any sign of life. Their baby den den mushi sat on the dashboard, an open connection to the Sunny.

"See anything?" Nami's voice asked through the snail.

"Nothing yet, but there appears to be a reef here. It is good that we stopped or it is possible we might have run into it." Robin replied, looking at the almost transparent plant life surrounding them. As the girls discussed the reef in the background, Luffy pushed his face against the glass and tried to make out where the light was coming from. Like the surface, the light was contained in a single area and seemed to be part of the coral. However, none of the other coral was glowing. Suddenly, the coral fell away, revealing a large open space in the reef. The coral had formed a bowl shape and at the bottom was the source of the light, a glowing circle. As they watched, fish swam past the light and disappeared only the emerge again a few moments later.

"Oho!" Luffy cried, jumping with excitement. "I wanna go too!" Robin quickly explained the situation to Nami who instantly replied.

"No! Luffy you are not going to explore a glowing hole in the ocean."

"Aww, but I want to look inside the mystery cave!" Luffy whined.

"Ms. Navigator, I do believe its safe. The fish seem to be unharmed, at any rate." Robin said, smiling at her captain who was still jumping up and down.

"And what's going to happen if you get sucked into whirlpool or run out of air?" Nami groused.

"We will only be an hour. "Robin promised, looking at how much oxygen they had available.

"If we do not return in that amount of time, we should have enough air for you to come find us."

"How deep is this hole?" Nami asked, thinking it over.

"Only twenty feet below the surface, I would estimate."

"Alright, Luffy. But if you're not up in an hour I will rip your arms off."

Luffy let out a whoop and pushed the controls forward, sending the ship downwards. "Mystery cave, mystery cave!" He sang happily as the ship got closer to the light.

"We didn't bring any food," Robin warned him. "If we stay too long you won't have anything to eat."

Luffy stopped singing but didn't let up on their decent. "One hour." He agreed, nodding his head seriously. There was a split second before, "Mystery cave then lunch! Mystery cave then lu~nch!"

He was still singing when they passed through the hole and all hell broke loose.