Why do I have ideas when I'm half-asleep?

Takes place shortly after entering the NW . . .

It was the sound of moaning that woke up Usopp.

He sat up, bleary-eyed and trying to see what was going on in the dark room. He was able to make out a figure sitting next to the bed Luffy was sleeping in, which was the general area of where the moans were coming from.

Usopp slowly got out of bed and turned on a low-light lamp. The figure looked up—it was Zoro. He was holding Luffy's hand while the rubber man tossed and turned and moaned in his sleep.

"What's going on?" Usopp mumbled. "Zoro, what's wrong with Luffy?"

Zoro glanced back at his captain and sighed. "This has been happening almost every night since we got to this sea," he explained. "I think he's having nightmares, but he clams up when I ask him about it. Being with him like this usually calms him down after a bit."

Usopp silently went over to the other side of the bed and held Luffy's other hand, pushing back his friend's slightly sweaty hair back from his forehead as he did so. Slowly the sounds died down and Luffy calmed down, peace returning to his face.

"Thanks," Zoro said, letting go of Luffy's hand—but the man just reached out and grabbed Zoro's hand again in his sleep. Zoro sighed resignedly.

Usopp smirked. "Aw, big brother Zoro . . ."

Zoro glared at him and he shut up.

"Guys, why're you up?"

Chopper was peering over the side of his bed down at the three. Zoro quietly explained.

"Oh," Chopper said softly. "I don't know if I can make medicine for nightmares . . . but I can try."

"Brook's a light sleeper," Zoro said. "He found out about this yesterday. Then he said something about music . . . I dunno."

"Y'know, at this rate, he's gonna wake up."

They all looked up to see Sanji watching them from his bed. Franky was sitting up, too, having just woken up.

"Eavesdropping, cook?" Zoro muttered. "Anyway, you know Luffy, he'd sleep through a typhoon."

Sanji smirked. "Yeah, that's true."

"So are we allowed to go back to sleep?" Usopp asked.

Zoro slowly took his hand away and this time Luffy didn't grab him. "Yeah, I guess so," he said, yawning. "Someone else take care of him if it happens again tonight."

"I'll let the girls know what's going on," Franky offered, having picked up on what was happening. "See ya tomorrow."

He turned over and went back to sleep as the others did the same.

The next day at breakfast, Luffy looked exhausted, but acted like his usual cheerful self. Most of the men were tired from the night before—Zoro and Sanji had had to get up another time to comfort Luffy. Judging by the way Nami and Robin were throwing slight glances at Luffy, Franky had already told them about what was happening.

"Hey," Sanji said as he served up breakfast. "Luffy, is there anything bothering you?"

Luffy stared at Sanji as if he didn't understand the question. "Huh?"

Sanji repeated the question.

"Oh! Um—well—not really! Everything's fine!" he immediately started eating. "Wow, this is really good! Can I have seconds?"

"You haven't even finished what you have," Sanji pointed out.

Luffy stopped eating and blinked. "Oh, you're right."

And he went back to eating. The others glanced around at each other but said nothing.

As soon as he was done, Luffy pushed back his chair and said, "Usopp, let's go fishing! I'll grab the stuff!"

"Don't fall in the drink!" Usopp called after him as the door slammed shut. "Geez, he's still so high-maintenance."

"And he's still a terrible liar," Nami added.

"Why won't he tell us about it?" Chopper asked dejectedly. "We're his friends!"

"It might be something personal," Brook pointed out.

"It could be he's having nightmares about the war," Robin suggested. "But I'm not sure why he wouldn't confide in us."

"Going through that would give anyone nightmares," Zoro agreed. "You'd think they'd have stopped by now, though . . ."

"I wish we could help him," Franky muttered, staring at his food. "He's helped all of us so many times. Now it's our turn, but what can we do?"

The others voiced their vehement agreement—yet none of them could think of an immediate way to aid their captain.

The next night, not long after everyone had gone to bed, Zoro opened his eyes and sat up quickly. He had the oddest sensation of floating, yet he could feel himself still lying on his bed.

"Am I dreaming?" he mumbled. "What the hell is happening?"

He seemed to be in some kind of white room with a single door leading outside. Surrounding him were his crewmates—everyone except Luffy was lying on the floor, eyes closed.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, shaking Chopper. "Chopper!"

Chopper sleepily opened his eyes and sat up, looking around. "Where . . . ?" He mumbled. His eyes snapped open suddenly and he yelled out in shock. "What's going on!?"

"I think we're dreaming," Zoro said. "I dunno how or why, but we're having the same dream."

Chopper tentatively took a step forward. "I can still feel myself in bed . . . this is weird . . ."

The two went around and woke up the others, explaining the situation.

"This is so bizarre," Usopp exclaimed. "How are we all dreaming the same thing?"

"And I dunno about you guys, but normally I'm not, like, aware of what's happening when I'm dreaming," Franky said. "This is the weirdest thing ever."

"I believe this is called a lucid dream," Brook said with a chuckle. "When one is self-aware in a dream and can control their actions and what happens to a certain extent. I've never experienced one myself before now, however, and it certainly doesn't explain why we're all having the same dream . . . unless you all are figments of my imagination at the moment!"

"Who's a figment!?" Sanji demanded.

"Wait!" Nami exclaimed. "Zoro, if you're here, then . . ."

"Huh?"

She hit him over the head. "You fell asleep on watch again, jackass!"

"Ow! You witch, I didn't mean to—" he paused and grinned. "That didn't hurt."

"What?"

Zoro punched Sanji in the gut. The cook doubled over at first, but quickly straightened when he realized he had felt no pain and the wind hadn't been knocked out of him.

"See?" Zoro said. Sanji glared at him but didn't retaliate, knowing it was futile.

"Excuse me," Robin said. She stepped away from the group and opened the door, peering outside. She shut it after a moment and turned back. "Luffy's out there."

"What!?"

"He's looking at something to our left," she said. "He didn't seem to notice me. Hasn't he been having nightmares every night for a while?"

"Ah," Usopp said in understanding. "So . . . we can help him?"

"Or at least find out what he's dreaming about," Robin said with a nod.

"I dunno," Sanji said. "If it's personal, then . . ."

"Do you want to help our captain or not?" Zoro demanded. "This is our chance to do something, and I don't want to waste it. I dunno about you guys, but I'm going out there."

He marched out the door. The others followed him quickly.

The entire place was completely black except for Luffy, who was staring at something hopelessly.

"Hey," Zoro said, placing a hand on Luffy's shoulder.

Luffy didn't turn around.

"Luffy, it's us," Usopp whispered.

No response.

The others tried to get his attention, but nothing they tried could evoke any kind of response from Luffy.

Finally, they stood behind him and off to the side and turned to see what he was looking at so despondently. Everyone gasped—some of them began to cry.

"You can't save them," said the figure of Aokiji, freezing solid the figure of Robin and coldly snapping her in half.

"You're not strong enough—" continued the figure of Lucci, piercing the figure of little Chopper's heart with his claw and throwing the reindeer to the ground.

"—And neither were they," said the figure of Crocodile silkily, catching the figure of Usopp through the neck with his hook as the sniper tried to run. He casually held up the body as the blood dripped down.

"How do you expect to save them?" asked the figure of Moria with a cackle, cutting off the shadow of the figure of Brook and gleefully watching the skeleton go up in flames, leaving a pile of ashes.

"You couldn't even save your brother!" exclaimed the figure of Eneru as he touched the forehead of the figure of Sanji lightly, frying the cook to a crisp and letting him drop to the ground, unmoving.

"Don't even bother trying," said the figure of Kizaru lightly, easily shooting a hole through Franky's metal body. The cyborg collapsed.

"There's no point in struggling," the figure of Kuma said stiffly, swiping his great paw across the figure of Zoro, who vanished—only to reappear, lying on the ground, covered in blood.

"You can't do a thing," the figure of Magellan said, seizing the figure of Nami. She screamed as her skin bubbled and melted under his touch—and then she was silent.

And then, walking through the bodies, Fleet Admiral Akainu strolled up to Luffy, kicking aside anyone in his way. Luffy stared up at him dully as if he was expecting the worst.

"You can't save anyone, can you," the Marine taunted. "Not your brothers, not your friends—you and your friends are all too weak for this world, Strawhat! And do you know what happens to the weak?"

He leaned closer to the rubber man. "This," he whispered, and he shoved his fist of magma directly through Luffy's torso.

As Luffy's body slumped and he fell to the ground, his crew watched in horror.

"W-Why—" Chopper whimpered, crying. "—He should've told us—!"

Usopp, also crying, picked up Chopper and hugged the little reindeer. "It's okay," he murmured. "It's just a dream . . ."

"This explains it," Robin whispered, shocked from the sights.

Nami gasped quietly as tears poured from her eyes. "All this time, he was . . . oh, god . . ."

"He's been so worried about us," Brook murmured, tears pouring from his eyes—though he had no eyes in the beginning.

"I-I'm not crying!" Franky exclaimed, bawling.

Sanji gritted his teeth. "That jerk . . ." he muttered.

"So are we going to do something about it?"

Everyone turned to look at Zoro, who had set his face and was staring at Luffy's body.

"D-Do something?" Chopper whimpered.

"Yeah," Zoro said, unsheathing his swords. "Look."

As they watched, the figures slowly returned. The images of the crew were whole and pristine once more, and Luffy was alive as well, back to staring despondently at the scene about to unfold.

"Hey," Zoro said firmly, stepping directly in front of Luffy's line of sight.

Luffy stared at him, finally seeing him. "Zoro," he whispered. "But you're . . ."

The figure of Zoro was flickering behind the real Zoro.

"Don't listen to those lies," Zoro snapped. "What kind of crew do you take us for? What do you take yourself for?"

Luffy stared at him as Robin understood and stepped in front of Luffy as well. Her image behind her flickered.

"We'll all be fine," she said soothingly. "Just wait here for a bit."

"Y'know, I've beaten two fishmen," Usopp said, stepping in front of Luffy. "I've helped defeat god and a mole-woman, I beat up a negative girl, and I can hit a target from fifty meters away. It's time I added something else to my list of accomplishments, right?"

"I know I'm not as strong as you," Chopper exclaimed, jumping up and down in front of Luffy, "but I can still pack a punch!"

"Did you think we were just twiddling our thumbs for two years?" Nami demanded, staring at Luffy. "Honestly . . ."

"The SUPER General Franky can defeat anyone!" Franky exclaimed, striking his signature pose as Luffy watched silently, some of the despair vanishing from his expression. "No matter if they're real or imaginary!"

"My sword is sharper than ever," Brook remarked, unsheathing it as he spoke. "I could use some exercise, Luffy-san."

"This isn't the same as two years ago," Sanji said calmly. "We're stronger, and so are you."

"Luffy!" everyone exclaimed.

"Wait here and watch," Zoro said firmly.

Everyone turned around and strode confidently to the enemy figures.

Zoro charged and sliced the figure of Kuma into pieces. The robot fell to the ground, his metal parts completely exposed and buzzing. There was a small explosion and he was gone.

Nami spun around the Clima Tact and a great raincloud came, pouring buckets on the figure of Magellan. The poison man melted—now a puddle of goo, he sank into the ground and vanished.

Usopp shot something at Crocodile's feet. A large plant sprouted up and completely ensnared the sandman in green vines, squeezing him until he crumbled to dust, leaving behind his clothes and gold hook.

Sanji set his leg on fire and delivered a roundhouse kick into Eneru's side. The lightning man caught on fire. He desperately tried to put it out, but he was engulfed in flames and went down.

Chopper changed into Monster Point and easily batted away Lucci. The leopard man flew into the distance and did not return.

Robin turned Aokiji's hands onto himself, causing him to freeze himself solid. She snapped the ice man in half and left him to melt.

Franky fired a cannon-like projectile into Kizaru. The light man shimmered and flickered and vanished into nothing.

Brook seemed to merely walk past Moria. But when he sheathed his sword, the shadow man shrieked and fell to the ground, cut nearly in half, burning up in flames.

Finally, their respective enemies defeated, everyone turned to look at Luffy. He was staring at them with a kind of childlike amazement, so endearing that they had to grin.

"Luffy!"

The image of Fleet Admiral Akainu approached Luffy. "You can't save anyone, can you," he taunted as before, like a broken record. "Not your brothers, not your friends—"

"SHUT UP!"

Luffy was finally smiling. "I get it . . . I get it!"

The image of Akainu was silent.

"My friends can protect themselves," he said to himself, still smiling. "And we gotta help each other out sometimes . . . but we're all stronger now! Why did I keep seeing this? Why was I so worried about this? We can beat all of these guys by ourselves!"

He smirked up at Akainu. "And I can beat you!"

He threw back his arm, going into Second Gear. "Gum-Gum . . . JET PISTOL!"

The image of Akainu went flying, skidding on the ground far away and lying still at last. Luffy's skin went back to normal and the steam dissipated. He faced his friends with an enormous grin.

"We did it!"

That morning, everyone woke up normally on the Thousand Sunny. No one spoke about last night's dream, but everyone could tell that it had really happened, that they had all really experienced that strange event.

And Luffy was happier. He stopped looking so exhausted, and it was a sure thing that if he ever had that nightmare again, his friends would appear in his dream to support him and comfort him, to let him know they were there for him. Though it was uncertain whether or not he was aware of himself the night before, he seemed to know what had happened and was extra-affectionate. No one seemed to mind his hugs that day.

They were finally ready to take on the New World together.