A/N: Update!

"Ooooowwwww!" The sentiment was echoed by the other crewmembers in the pile that they landed in after tumbling through the darkness. "Where the hell are we?"

"It's too dark to see anything in here."

Usopp whimpered a little and the others could practically feel him trembling. "What do you think is down here? I think my 'Can't-Wander-In-Creepy-Dark-Tunnels' Disease is acting up again…"

"I've never heard of that disease!" Chopper gasped.

"That's because it isn't real," Zoro muttered. There were several clicks nearby and then Sanji's lighter ignited. It wasn't much light but it was enough to see that everyone looked, for the most part, no worse for wear. A few bruises and scrapes but nothing too bad. Zoro glanced around in the dim light and noticed that they seemed to be in some room that had essentially nothing in it. There was a door that was closed and a few scraps of old ropes and pieces of wood but that was it.

It took a moment to find the torches where they'd been dropped and light them again but at least they still had the torches instead of none at all. Sanji's lighter wouldn't last for too long nor did it provide that much light. "Alright, so how do we get out of here?" Sanji asked as he lit a new cigarette off of the torch he was holding before raising said torch up to see better.

"We can't go back the way we came," Robin said looking up at the darkness they had fallen through. "Without knowing how far it is, at least."

"That's okay! We can just go through this door," Luffy said as he pushed the door open carelessly. As the door swung open, there was a distinct clicking sound. Suddenly, spikes shot down from the ceiling. "Aaaah!"

"Oh God!"

"Luffy!"

Luffy glanced over at his crew with wide eyes. It was only his fast reflexes and rubber body that saved him. He was twisted in an awkward position around several poles and a bit of sweat rolled down the side of his face. "That was close…"

"Idiot! How many traps are you going to set off?!" Nami demanded before punching the back of the captain's head.

There was a loud clunk sound from the impact as Luffy's head snapped downwards. "I didn't mean to!" he whined as he unwound himself from all of the spikes he'd just narrowly avoided. He'd even gotten a few rips in his clothes in some places from when a pointed spear got a little too close a little too fast. "How was I supposed to know that would happen?" he asked as he adjusted his hat to sit more firmly on his head.

"We're in ancient ruins, Captain-san," Robin pointed out.

"Exactly! Everyone would know to be careful of traps!" Nami snapped. "I didn't even get a chance to get any of those jewels from up there!" Nami added, pointing upwards at the darkness.

Luffy blinked and followed her arm to look up. "Jewels?"

Zoro sighed and pulled out his beloved white sword. "Let's just go. There might be something even better further ahead," he reasoned before a quick slice of his sword chopped the spikes away. They fell out of the way with a clatter even as Wado was sheathed again.

"Yosh! Maybe we'll find meat!" Luffy suggested with his typical huge grin.

"What good will meat do!?" Nami shrieked.

"To eat, of course!" Luffy said before laughing. "I'm getting hungry!"

Sanji sighed. What else was new? Luffy had already torn into the lunch boxes that Sanji had made before leaving the Merry that morning so there was little that anyone could do about their Captain's bottomless pit of a stomach. Luffy would just have to wait until they got back to the ship.

After another few moments of berating Luffy for getting them into the mess they were in in the first place, the crew set out into the unknown. The halls and rooms that they found weren't at all like the first hallway they'd discovered. There weren't any carvings or bejeweled decorations. If anything, it was a lot more like what Sanji had expected in the beginning. Stone blocks for the walls, floors, and ceilings… and that was it. A few scraps of junk were scattered here and there but for the most part the system of rooms and halls were utterly empty. None of the rooms were terribly large and some didn't even have doors anymore. There wasn't even an easy way to tell what the rooms might have been used for.

They wandered aimlessly through the halls until they heard the distinct sound of falling water. "There's a water fall down here?" Chopper asked as he looked around as if he would spot it.

"There's probably an underground spring that forms a river and goes out to the ocean," Nami supplied. "We might be able to follow it and find a way out.

"Aaah, Nami-swan's so smart," Sanji swooned.

"Idiot."

Sanji snapped around instantly. "What was that!?"

"Hey guys!" Usopp called from up ahead. "You gotta check this out!"

The rest of the crew glanced between each other. It was a bit surprising that Usopp was the one that wandered off but then it suddenly occurred to them that Luffy was gone too. Wonderful that made three times on this little outing already. Oh well, they'd find him sooner or later. "What is it, Usopp?" Chopper asked as he hurried forward and around the corner. "Woooww!"

The rest of the crew went to see what the fuss was about as well. The minute they turned the corner they all stopped and stared. The room beyond was huge and slightly dome shaped. There were pillars and paths and doorways sprinkled throughout along with small buildings. But what was truly attention getting was the huge light fixture in the room. It was a gigantic red coral hanging upside down from the ceiling.

The red branches were knobby and went in almost every conceivable direction. The massive stem of the thing had to be as wide as one of those trees from Vearth up in Skypeia. The thing was positively massive, and while it wasn't lit up too brightly it was bright enough to see into the cavern fairly well.

"How is it glowing?" Chopper asked with his wide eyes sparkling in amazement.

Usopp, who was fiddling with his binoculars, turned his attention to the coral light. "There aren't any lights on it or in it that I can see," he supplied.

"It's probably got some sort of biolight," Nami offered.

"Biolight?"

"Certain deep sea fish are said to have a way that makes them glow on their own," Robin chimed in. "Some plants have it as well. This coral may be from the deep sea which would account for the glow and the large size of it."

Chopper's eyes went even wider. "Wow! They have fish that glow too!?"

"Yeah," Sanji answered. "Some fish even fish for their food with lures that glow. I've heard about them but I've never actually seen any for myself." The explorer who wrote about All Blue said that he'd seen fish like that. He'd even drawn some of them but none of the fish he said he saw sounded all that appetizing. And the ones he'd drawn looked down right ugly. Sanji had no idea what he'd do if he found a fish like that but he was sure that there had to be some way to cook the creepy ass thing so that it tasted good. There was always a way.

"But… if this coral is from the deep sea how did it get here?" Chopper asked.

"Who knows," Zoro answered casually. "Maybe whoever lived here found a way to grow it upside down like that. We should worry about getting out of here instead of glowing rocks."

"Coral is an animal not a rock, moss head," Sanji said.

Zoro glared at the cook. "Who the hell cares? It can't get us out of here."

"Like you can?" Sanji replied dryly. If they were to depend on Zoro to guide them out of the place they would get lost in an instant and probably starve to death trying to find the way out. Either that or they would run into a trap and get squashed or skewered or something.

"Robin? What is it?" Nami asked curiously, attracting the rest of the crew's attention as well.

The others looked over to see the archeologist studying something on the wall. "There are carvings here," she said as she traced the deep gouges in the rock with her fingers. "Like the ones up in the other areas they are quite old."

"What does it say?" Chopper asked, going over to stare at the carvings on the wall as well.

"It's describing the people that used to live here," Robin answered. "They called themselves Nereid and came here after they were chased out of their old home. They built this place underground because they didn't want to be found. Apparently, they didn't like other people knowing where they were."

"Being chased out of their home is bound to do that, I guess," Sanji commented as he glanced at the huge glowing coral that was dominating the cave.

"Any chance that tells us how to get out of here?" Zoro asked.

Robin read the different carvings for a moment. "Unfortunately not, Swordsman-san." Zoro nodded, not terribly surprised.