A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you're having an awesome day!

Here's the deal:

1) I probably won't be uploading this story much until I finish my other one, if I even decide to follow through with this, but who knows? Maybe I will… This first chapter is just a teaser of sorts.

2) This will be a spin-off (not sure if this is considered a crossover, but whatever) of the visual novel game: 999. If you're into video games like me, 'cuz I'm a nerd, I recommend you play it because it's awesome… I will simply be replacing its characters with the straw hats, so if you don't know anything about 999 (which I bet most of you don't), you can treat it as an AU or whatever. ALL RIGHTS, IDEAS, AND CHARACTERS GO TO THE CREATORS OF BOTH 999 AND ONE PIECE. I don't own anything. Please, credit them, not me.

3) The only thing 999 related in this story is the plot and setting, so none of the characters will be in this. As for the straw hats, I tried to match up their personalities with those of 999, but they'll still be a bit off. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do. All straw hats are post-timeskip EXCEPT Franky.

Brook...Brook's…sniff...Brook's not in this story! I'm sorry! I wanted one straw hat to sit out and I just couldn't fit Brook in… I'm sorry, Brook. I love you…

4) This story is rated M for a reason. (Language, violence, disturbing detail, NO LEMON! But there will be some moments...) (999 is an M-rated game)

5) This story follows the main character, in this case Luffy, so it will be in his point of view most of the time. (Just pretend you're Luffy!)

6) Thank you Eichiirio Oda and Kotaro Uchikoshi for your awesomeness.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or 999.

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BOOM!

A loud noise startled Luffy awake, and his eyes snapped open. As they adjusted to the light, he realized that he didn't recognize his surroundings.

"Ow!" With a crack, Luffy's head connected with something metal. He rolled over and threw out his hand to steady himself, but he found himself groping at empty air. His balance lost, and his still-fuzzy mind struggling to understand what was going on, Luffy tumbled down to the cold, grey floor.

"OOUUCH! GOD DAMN IT! Gah! What the hell!?" Luffy glared around the room, still trying to determine where he'd woken up. The fall had shaken the last cobwebs of sleep from his mind, and finally he understood where he'd fallen from. It was a bed. A 3-level bunk bed, in fact. Luffy had fallen, apparently, from the topmost bunk. His shoulder hurt, his knee hurt, his hip hurt… His entire body hurt. He could feel a bump forming on his forehead, where he'd slammed it against the low ceiling. He wondered if that bump was the reason he felt his vision wavering a bit, but that seemed unlikely.

At first, he thought the tremor that ran through his legs was just another effect of his rude awakening, but as he looked around, he realized it was real… The whole room was shaking. He wondered if it was an earthquake. It didn't seem likely. It was shaking far too quickly for an earthquake. Then again, Luffy had no idea what it was, if not an earthquake. He tried to tell himself it was important.

Luffy rubbed the growing bump on his head and gingerly climbed to his feet. His balance regained, he finally took his first god look around the room…and muttered to himself.

"Where…am I…?" He gazed around the small, cabin-like room, noting the flimsy bunk bed, a sink,

His pain momentarily forgotten in the face of the confusion of his circumstances, Luffy looked around the room once again. Minutes passed while Luffy struggled to get his bearings. Then, as suddenly as they had begun, the tremors stopped. A cold silence fell over the room. From somewhere far away, Luffy could hear the sound of metal squeaking.

He felt his stomach tighten. There were a thousand things the sound could have been, but none of the things he could think of were good. In an attempt to distract himself, Luffy looked around the room once more. There was a stove that looked more antique than functional. The 3-level bunk bed had mattresses that were so thin that they were little more than blankets. On the other side of the room was an identical bed, and set in the wall between the beds was a slightly dirty iron door.

The first thing Luffy noticed about the door was the eerily sketched number roughly emblazoned across it. On the surface of the door, in red paint, someone had written…

5

"5? What's this 5 mean…?" Suspicious, and still utterly confused, Luffy approached the door, slowly. Standing in front of the door, Luffy grabbed hold of the L-shaped handle. A push yielded no movement, and a pull the same result. A few more tries cemented the truth in Luffy's mind: it wouldn't open. It didn't matter how much he pushed and shoved. The handle wouldn't budge.

Next to the door was an odd-looking device that reminded Luffy of a card scanner. Even Luffy could tell that it was the thing keeping the door shut. Luffy knocked, hard, on the door.

"Hey! Hello? Is anyone there!? Open the door!" he barked, continually banging on the hard, metal door.

There was no response. Luffy threw his left fist into the door —and stopped.

"What the hell is this…?" He wasn't really sure what else to say. On his left wrist was a bracelet of a sort he'd never seen before. In the center was a large LCD display. It looked like nothing else so much as a watch, but it clearly wasn't that. After all, it showed only a single, digital number.

"5… That's…that's the same as the door…" True, the numbers were the same, but he had no idea what that might mean. All he knew was that it was strange, and new, and he wanted it off. Luffy flipped his hand over, as if to remove a watch, but…

The other side of the bracelet was solid: no buckle, no clasp, nothing. He sighed, and flipped the thing back over. There were a number of rivets around the rim of the face. Perhaps…

*Click* *Click*

He pushed them, but nothing happened. On a watch, they might be dials for adjusting date or time, but on this bracelet they did nothing. Luffy was at a loss. What was he going to do? Growing more desperate, he started to tug at it. However…

"Urrrgh! Damn! Ugh! It's no good… Stupid thing won't come off!" A steel ring ran from the face, around Luffy's wrist, and back in to the face. He wouldn't be pulling the bracelet off any time in the near future.

"What is the deal with this thing!?" Frustration and desperation were beginning to mix as the reality of the situation began to dawn fully on Luffy. So much was happening, and none of it made sense. Luffy felt as though he were about to explode.

"Where am I!? And why am I here!? Why!? Why!?" It was at that moment that he noticed the window. The window was round, rimmed in riveted brass, like a window from an early century ship.

"What…? Wait… Am I in a ship?" Luffy walked toward the window. He could see nothing beyond it but thick, impenetrable darkness. Luffy squinted, trying to see something…anything… It was at that moment—

"What the—!? …You gotta be kidding me!" he complained, watching as the glass slowly cracked.

"What is going on here!?"

A crack split the glass of the window, and for a moment Luffy stared at it. Then the window burst, and water began to pour into the room.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Luffy yelled, and spun around. His sandaled feet feeling the water already coming through the window, he ran for the door.

"Hey! Anyone! Is anyone there!?" he yelled and banged desperately, "Come on, if you're there, say something!"

There was no reply. As Luffy screamed, and pounded on the door, the water began to rise. It was now ankle-deep on the floor, and rising quickly toward his knees. Things were not looking good for Luffy. Not good at all. He needed to find a way out—and fast!

Luffy ran a hand across his forehead, brushing the sweat out of his eyes, and looked around the room.

SEEK A WAY OUT!

Luffy looked around the room near the window. The water was rushing onto a small table just below the window, and next to it was a sink. In the corner of the room on the wall and ceiling were thin pipes running through the floor and ceiling.

"I know! I'll climb through the pipes to escape!" he grinned and snickered at his pathetic joke. He frowned afterwards, "There's no one here to laugh at my jokes… This sucks…"

He walked over in front of the sink and noticed a shelf above it with a small picture frame sitting on top. He picked it up to get a closer look. It was a faint picture of a large ship surrounded in fog. The frame had small screws in the back, clearly keeping it together. He put it back.

Above the shelf was a small bulletin board with a slip of paper stuck to it. He quickly snatched the paper and examined it. It showed two red right triangles, one solid and one outlined, on one side and the same blue triangles on the other side, these two facing different positions.

Luffy frantically put the slip of paper into his pocket and moved back into the middle of the room. He quickly began tearing the sheets and pillows off of each bed on one of the bunks and found a similar slip of paper underneath the lower pillow.

"Hey! It's just like the other one! Shishishishi…" he exclaimed happily. This slip had red and blue shapes as well, except each color had one square and one triangle. He turned towards the other bunk only to notice a blue suitcase on the bottom bed.

"This must be something important…" He tried to open, but to no avail. He frowned and looked at the keyhole near the handle, only to see a four slot combination lock with numbers zero through nine on each slot. A small keyhole was next to the slots.

"Guess I gotta find a key first…" He sighed, taking off his straw hat and scratching his head. He quickly searched the other beds with no luck before moving to the back corner of the room, across from the sink and window. The water was up to his knees, forcing him to practically leap across the room rather than walk.

He eyed the incredibly old stove and knelt down to it. Curiously, the black haired boy opened it, only to find a lone…screwdriver?

"What is this doing here?" he mused to himself. Shrugging, he took it and shoved it into his pocket.

An idea suddenly jolted through his young head, and he quickly sprinted back towards the sink. He grabbed the picture frame of the ship, turned it over, and smiled upon seeing the old screws. Luffy quickly unscrewed the frame and pulled the picture out. Turning the paper over, he saw ten shapes of squares and triangles with numbers next to each. Some of them were solid and some were outlined, just like the two slips he had found. Not able to make sense of it, he shoved the papers back into his pocket and continued searching.

On top of the stove was an ancient teapot, giving the stove's age a run for its money. He took the lid off and peered inside.

"Sweet! Shishishi…" he laughed upon seeing a blue key. "This must be to the suitcase!"

He eagerly turned to walk towards the suitcase but noticed a curtain hanging from the ceiling next to the stove. He flung it open, revealing an empty closet, and also revealing a red suitcase on a shelf.

"Another suitcase!? Ah man… Now I gotta find another key!" the boy yelled. He ran across the room towards the door, the only part he hadn't yet checked. He looked at the door again. The sloppy, red 5 seemingly glaring back at him. He looked at the card scanner thing next to it and saw a lever attached to the side of it.

"Maybe if I just pull this…!" he pulled, but the thing just made an insulting beeping noise and its small red light still glowing. The digital display showed nothing. He backed away and turned to the left, seeing a drape covering the corner of the wall. He pulled it up and saw a red key taped to a human-sized mirror.

Luffy grabbed the key and shoved it into his pocket happily. He intended to leave immediately, but… Something stopped him. His reflection stared back at him from the mirror, but he had scarcely recognized himself.

"Whoa… What happened to me?" His confusion was well-justified. His face was drawn and pale, and the dark circles under his eyes made him look as though he was nearly dead. His hair seen under his straw hat was messy and unkempt, and his red vest and shorts were disheveled.

"How did I end up here…?" Even as he said it, something in his mind opened, and a memory bobbed to the surface. It was the last thing Luffy remembered before waking up in the strange room.

It was past midnight when he came home. Luffy shuffled through the door, not bothering to check if Ace was home. Inside was his house. A small, two-bedroom affair where he and his brother currently stayed in Foosha Village. He stepped inside his room and turned on the lights. They flickered slowly, as if waking from a deep slumber. Everything was as he'd left it. His bed a complete mess from the morning. His punching bag sitting in the corner, unhooked from the ceiling. His other pair of clothes forgotten on his floor.

There was a breeze. Breaths of cold night air wafted into his room, carrying the smells of autumn with them. The white curtain framing his window swayed gently in the wind.

"Huh… That's weird… I don't remember leaving that open…" Luffy walked towards the window, guessing it was Ace. He stuck his head out and looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Luffy shrugged and closed the window.

Then it happened.

Luffy turned, and found himself face to mask with a man dressed all in black. The man wore a deep hood, and a bulky gas mask—his face entirely hidden. Luffy grit his teeth before pulling his arm back for a punch, but his legs could no longer support his weight.

Luffy collapsed to the floor—a crumpled heap of limbs, like a discarded, rubber puppet.

Too late, he noticed the white smoke that was quickly filling the room. A small object, shaped distressingly like a shell, sat on the floor in front of his face, hissing. The white smoke poured out of it at an incredible rate. The smoke had grown so thick that the details of Luffy's room began to fade into the white haze. He could feel his mind begin to fade as well, a white haze that was not the smoke creeping into the edges of his vision. Ace…no…

"Consider this a privilege. You have been chosen," a rasping voice wormed its way out of the mask. It was cold and harsh, and distorted in some way Luffy couldn't put his finger on.

"You are going to participate in a game. The Nonary Game. It is a game…where you will put your life on the line."

That was the last thing Luffy remembered. The white smoke overpowered him, the masked man faded from his vision, and he felt his consciousness fall away into the white mist.

"That's right! That bastard with the mask! When I get out of here I'm going to kick his ass!" Who's ass he was going to kick, he wasn't quite sure. Indeed, he wasn't even sure that his assailants had been a man. The voice had been cold and mechanical—likely passed through a voice-changer—and the body had been covered in a thick cloak.

Who was the man in the mask?

'You have been chosen."

Luffy remembered that much, but… What it might mean was beyond him.

Luffy had no idea where he was or why he was there.

"The Nonary Game, huh…? What the hell does that mean? Sounds stupid to me…" he grumbled.

He backed away from the mirror, the water almost up to his waist. He grabbed hold of everything in his pocket and waded over to the blue suitcase.

"Forget that stupid mask guy! I gotta get out of here first!" he panicked and juggled for the blue key in his hand. Putting the key into the key hole, he twisted and turned it but got nowhere. He pouted and looked at the four number slots. He laid the slips of paper out on the bottom bed, the water almost reaching it. The two slips of paper had two blue shapes on each of them. One had two blue shapes on the left and the other had them on the right, both with an arrow pointing from left to right.

He creased his forehead in deep thought, distorting his face into an unnatural thinking position. He eyed the back of the ship picture, seeing the filled and outlined shapes with numbers next to them. After a few minutes, he grinned and snapped his fingers together.

"That's it! I just match the shapes on the slips with their numbers, and that should be the four digit code!" He smiled, hoping his plan would work. He compared the slips' shapes to the ones on the picture and matched their numbers, coming away with 0263. He eagerly punched the numbers in the slots.

"Alright, now I just have to turn the key and…hey, looks like it's working! Yahoo! Let's open it up!" he laughed. He opened the suitcase and found a red book.

"What!? A book! That's it!?" he complained, picking up the book and opening it.

"Well, let's see what's in this stupid thing…" he talked to himself before reading the first page aloud.

Digital Root. Compute a digital root with the following steps: First, add all the numbers in question to one another. If you end up with something greater than a single-digit number, add the digits to one another. Keep adding digits in this manner until you have a single digit answer. That final single digit is you digital root.

Ex: The digital root of 6, 7, and 8 would be…

6 + 7 + 8 = 21 ; 2+1 = 3

Therefore, the digital root of 6, 7, and 8 is 3.

Ex: The digital root of 1, 2, 3, and 4 would be…

1 +2 +3 +4 = 10 ; 1 + 0 = 1

Therefore, the digital root of 1, 2, 3, and 4 is 1.

After reading it about five times, Luffy rubbed his chin in understanding.

"A mystery root…" he joked with himself. "So I just keep adding numbers until I get a single digit number… I hate math…" the boy pouted, before turning the book over.

"Hey, there's some stuff in the back! Some paper, a pencil, a calculator, and…a stack of blue cards? They say 'key cards' on them… Whatever that means…"

Luffy stuffed the notebook into his vest and ran back over to the red suitcase in the closet. Following the shape key and the slips of paper, he came out with a code of 7485. He punched them in and turned the key.

"Yeah! It worked!" He quickly opened it to see an entirely empty case, save for a stack of red cards.

"Not more cards! These say 'key cards' too…" He put the stack of red, numbered cards into his pocket and quickly looked back around the room, the water now up to his waist.

"Uhh… Now what!? I already checked everywhere! What am I supposed to do!?" He nervously panicked before 'swimming' to the door. Luffy looked at the card reader and quickly pulled out his cards.

"I guess I'll just swipe some of these…" he stated, swiping the first red card he saw in his hand. He swiped it as a red asterisk appeared on the scanner, and pulled the lever. Nothing happened, save for the insulting beep again.

"Gah! Why isn't this working!? I'm gonna kick this thing's ass!" He yelled punching it. He quickly looked down to the pile of red and blue numbered cards in his hand. He concentrated and thought back to the page in the notebook he just read. The digital root… To find the digital root, add up all the numbers…

The digital root of what?

He looked to his side, gazing at the ugly red 5 on the door.

The digital root of 5?

"Uhh… So… I have to add some numbers to give me 5? Uh… What is that…" he thought, counting on his fingers clumsily, "Let's see… carry the one…and the… Uh… What is that, like 6 and 3 or something?" He smacked his head. That wasn't right. He hadn't done math in…forever, really. Shanks taught him some basic stuff, but he couldn't remember very well.

His face shined brightly as he whipped out the small calculator from the book. His fingers worked at the speed of light, plugging in any possibilities of numbers that would get him 5.

"Aha! That's it! 4 and 1! How could I forget!?" He smiled, grabbing the 4 and 1 cards from the pile and scanning them. Two asterisks now appeared on the scanner and he pulled the lever.

Damn that beep…

"Why didn't that work!?"

Maybe he did his math wrong? Back to the calculator…

He plugged in numbers as he felt the water rise ever more.

"Let's see… 7 + 6 + 1 = 14… 1 + 4 = 5" he calculated, "That's the same that I had before, but it's worth a shot…" He swiped the three numbered cards, revealing three asterisks, and pulled the lever. The red light turned blue and beeped a higher pitched, more positive, noise.

"Wha-What happened!? Did it work!? The light's blue and it sounded like it did! Time to get out of here!" Luffy screamed and clutched the door latch as hard as he could.

This was it.

The lever turned and the door creaked open…

A/N: Hooray! Done! Weird, right? It'll only get better from here on out, trust me!

Some reviews would definitely make me update faster... How 'bout it?

Hahaha... See y'all next time!