Asteria Nightmare

Part ten of a fanfiction by Velkyn Karma

Amusement: I was watching a commentary episode with Eric Vale (Funimation's Sanji) on my new One Piece DVD's. Apparently he's more than familiar with his Japanese counterpart, because when he was talking about character range and explained the characteristic high-pitched Sanji, he practically squealed 'Nami-swan.' I had to laugh since it sounds bizarre in English XD

Note: Well Robin did say there were four...
h t t p : / / tinypic . com / r / ng6k9k / 7

Disclaimer: I do not own, or pretend to own, One Piece or any of its subsequent characters, plots or other ideas. That right belongs solely to Eiichiro Oda. The only thing that belongs to me here is the concept for the story.

"When in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns."
~Raymond Chandler

The Nightmares surged forward in a violent, hissing rush from the trees, scrabbling forward with hundreds of click-clacks and thud-scrapes as they ripped free from the brush. Nami still didn't know how such large things managed to move so silently through the trees, but they obviously didn't care about that now, and leaves rustled and branches groaned and cracked under the unexpected onslaught.

There were more than three of them. There were more than a dozen of them. Nami stared in horror as the creatures streamed toward them. More emerged from the trees, shuffling dozens of inappropriate, ugly limbs as they moved, emitting dozens of low hisses and short barks. The majority of them were the Harvesters—Nami could tell by now they were the grunts of the Nightmare 'army'—but dotted here and there were Shepherds, obviously divided up to accurately herd their respective charges. And something else slithered out of the darkness of the trees as well: a strange, snakelike creature, with dozens of arms bursting from its twisting frame, arms that it walk-slithered on with surprising surety.

"Robin?" Nami gasped, sounding panicked, as she stared at the new creature with wide eyes.

"It isn't me," the archaeologist said curtly from nearby, but Nami could all but hear the tension in her voice. Then, much louder, came "Ochenta Fleur!"

Arms sprouted all over the ground around around the five pirates, reaching up and snatching at the many limbs of the Nightmares surging towards them. Some of the creatures, especially the Harvesters, Robin managed to bring to an abrupt halt and fasten even more securely with still more arms. But many more of the creatures broke her attacks, or slashed at her limbs with scythe-arms, tail blades, and clawed legs, causing her to groan and the arms to vanish in swirls of petals.

"Too many," Robin gasped. "Get out of—"

Whatever she had been about to say, Nami never heard it all. The Nightmares were still surging forward, screeching all the more angrily now that some of their kin had been stopped, and others farther back in the lines simply clambered over their incapacitated brethren to make for the Straw Hats. Nami dodged right wildly as a Harvester's mandible-jaws reached out for her, and found herself sharply bowled aside as the creature plunged between her and their archaeologist.

Nami tried to turn around, to go back and help, but the hit from the Harvester—even while glancing—sent her spinning. She crashed to the ground, and it was only thanks to the painfully tight, white-knuckled grip on her Clima-Tact that she managed to keep it from flying off into the crowd of creatures. Disoriented, she tried to stagger to her feet, aware that she had only a few precious seconds to protect herself and her dream and she was wasting them—

A black shape darted out of the screeching, writhing, horrifying mess around her, heading straight for where she was crouching on her hands and knees. She screamed in a panic, tried to raise the Clima-Tact up to defend herself, knew she wouldn't be fast enough, and that horrible thing was going to get her—

"Nami-san!" Sanji-kun yelled, and the navigator realized with a start that the shape was far too small to be a Nightmare, and that none of the creatures wore suits or had blond hair. Before she could so much as breathe a sigh of relief, Sanji-kun had hooked an arm around her waist, crouched low, and propelled the two of them straight up in perhaps one of the highest jumps Nami had ever seen any pure non-Devil-Fruit using human perform, ever. She screamed again as her stomach was left behind on the ground—and Sanji-kun's arm looped around her waist didn't help matters any, tight as it was—but still had the presence of mind to keep a firm hold of her own weapon, at least.

"My apologies, Nami-san," Sanji-kun yelled over the screeching Nightmares to her. "I didn't mean to grab you so brutishly, please forgive me!"

"Whatever, I'm alive!" she shouted back, as she tried to reorient her vision to suddenly being above the battle. They were reaching the apex of Sanji-kun's jump now, which meant they'd be going down shortly after, and she wanted to use the moment as much to her advantage as she could.

The creatures were still swarming out of the trees, a disgusting, wild mass of ugly bug-parts (she shuddered) and other nasty attributes out of a person's worst nightmares. Right where they'd been just a few seconds ago, a Harvester was now standing, clacking its mandibles in disappointment at the meal it had just missed (Nami shuddered again, and mentally thanked Sanji-kun profusely for his timely save). Eyes flicking about the battleground frantically, Nami looked for some sort of hint, any sort of hint, as to how they could get out of this situation alive.

Her eyes fell on a writhing mass of shadow, back up the road, the way they had come. It wasn't the shadow that caught her attention, however, so much as the glittering within the mass. Confused, she narrowed her eyes and squinted, trying as hard as she could to make out the details as they hit their peak and slowly began to be dragged down again.

The shape resolved itself in a sudden flourish, and Nami gasped in surprise. It was hard to describe as a creature, really, although she was sure it was a Nightmare, another new kind they hadn't seen yet. This one seemed to consist more of shadow than of real, living flesh. It had a long, whipcord-lean body, a tiny head with far too many eyes set on a long, maneuverable neck, and the vaguest hint of a humanoid torso and shoulders, although it quickly descended into a snakelike lower half where the hips should have been. Nami had read about some old fairy tale creatures called nagas in her younger years, and this was vaguely reminiscent of that. But instead of humanoid arms, it had two long, whiplike appendages, which twisted and curled like snakes and seemed to have lives of their own.

One of the long vine-like arms was curled many times over, delicately supporting what appeared to be a small, dark basket in its spiraling coils. And although Nami couldn't see the contents of the basket, she could see the bright glow they were casting on the inner walls of the dark little container. She had only seen a few things glow like that in her time, and could think of only one thing on this island that could cause such a brilliant light.

Dreamshards, she thought. That thing is their collector. I bet Luffy's and Zoro's dreams are in there!

She opened her mouth to tell Sanji-kun about her discovery, but an ear-bleeding, loss-drenched scream interrupted her. Nami's eyes widened in horror. She had only heard it twice, from two different people no less, but she knew what that sound meant—and she also knew who was making it.

They were still dropping back towards the horde of Nightmares, but Nami looked around frantically all the same. A little behind her she spotted the snake-arm...thing...its reptilian mouth opened in a macabre parody of a pleased grin as it held something in its many arms out to one of the Harvesters. Nami realized with a twist of frustration and fear that it was Robin—and that, just as she had realized, the archaeologist was the source of the screaming.

The flash of the Dreamshard being removed hit them just as Sanji-kun hit the ground, screaming frantically, "Robin-chan! Robin-chan!" over and over. He automatically steadied Nami as they landed, and they both charged forwards the Harvester attacking their fellow pirate, fury in their eyes.

"You give that back," Sanji-kun snarled, and leaped into the air, kicking down sharply to smash the Harvester into the ground. As in their other encounters, the creature was momentarily stunned, but began to recover with frightening speed, and did not relinquish the glittering shard in its mouth.

Nami began shifting her Clima-Tact into the Cyclone form once more, hoping to blow away some of the danger so that the crew could—hopefully—regroup. Unfortunately, she'd forgotten to take into account the snake-arm, which emitted a laughing hiss and dropped Robin's limp, groaning form to the ground without a shred of care—and surged towards the navigator.

Nami shrieked in surprise and hurled the two ends of the Clima-Tact at the creature with a squawk of "Cyclone Tempo!" The snake-arm took the blast full in the chest and was hurtled backwards, but almost as soon as it smashed into the ground it righted itself and began to slither forward over its brethren once more, still chuckling. Still, the move had bought her a few seconds, and she turned her weapon on the Harvester Sanji-kun was still fighting, hoping to aid him in retrieving the Dreamshard. He was kicking the creature repeatedly in the head and neck, dodging its stabbing tail, limbs and fangs in his attempts, but the creature furiously refused to relinquish its prize.

A high, piercing whistle resounded up and down the road. Nami jerked suddenly as she recognized the sound from the night in Remia when they battled three of the Nightmares—it was the same sound that had abruptly called the creatures away. This time, Nami was able to draw a bead on where the whistle came from—back up the road, towards Remia, where they'd come from. And just as before, there was an almost immediate reaction from the Nightmares: the Harvester fighting Sanji-kun spun and hurtled itself away from him and back up the road towards the noise, while the snake-arm abandoned its beeline for Nami and turned around to meet it, as though escorting it back.

They're going back to that...that basket-monster, Nami realized. It must've made the sound. I bet it can control them...and it makes a priority of retrieving Dreamshards. That's why the creatures left last night...they had Zoro's shard, and they didn't want to risk losing it!

"Sanji-kun, regroup!" she ordered sharply, and sent another cyclone burst into the hordes of Harvesters swarming around them in the general direction of where she thought Usopp and Zoro might be. The creatures scattered like bowling pins, shrieking angrily, and Sanji-kun stooped to pick up Robin's limp form before darting after Nami through the temporary clearing.

Usopp was doing little better than they. He'd managed to put up a surprisingly good defense against the Nightmares by utilizing his flash dial and powerful explosives, so thankfully the creatures hadn't been able to reach the pirates yet due to the regular stuns. But they were edging closer in between every one of Usopp's frantic attacks, and the sniper had been backed up against a thick red-leaved tree on the far side of the clearing. Worse, Zoro was leaning back against the tree as well with a dazed expression on his face. His fists were raised, but they were loose, and it was clearly only with the trunk at his back that he could even stand under his own power. He was obviously no help at all in the fight, just as Nami had feared, and had in fact turned into a liability as Usopp struggled to keep the creatures from seizing the not-swordsman and dragging him away to their Queen of the Night.

"Usopp!" she called out to the sniper, as another series of explosives flew over her and Sanji-kun's heads and sent a burst of flame-created light up behind them. The creatures shrieked, temporarily stalled in following them, and it gave them the precious seconds to join together once more. Sanji-kun placed Robin gently against the tree's trunk, sitting up—her eyes were open now, but they were confused, unfocused—and as one the pirates huddled into a loop with their backs to the tree, keeping Zoro and Robin encircled protectively.

Usopp moaned at the sight of Robin's dazed form. "They got her too? I thought it was her but I hoped not—"

"Focus," Nami ordered sharply, and threw another Cyclone Tempo out to her left, while Usopp took over guarding their right side with his explosives. Sanji-kun crouched at the ready, fending off the occasional Harvester that managed to crawl too close, and for a moment at least their defense seemed like it was working. But Nami knew it wouldn't last, not while they grew exhausted and the swarm continued to grow. They needed a plan—but Nami thought she might have one.

"That thing in the back," she said quickly to the cook and sniper. "Do you see it? It's all shadows and weird octopus arms." They both glanced over and, after squinting through the haze of smoke residue from Usopp's explosives and the shadows on the path, nodded. "It's the leader, I'm sure," Nami said, sharing her observations as she swung the Clima-Tact again—her arm was starting to get tired, but she'd be damned if she gave up this early. "See how it's avoiding battle, it's not even coming into the swarm? I don't think it's much of a fighter—just a director, like a tactician. And—and I think it has Luffy's and Zoro's Dreamshards. By now, probably Robin's too."

Both Zoro and Robin groaned behind her at the mention of the missing shards, and Nami realized a bit too late it probably touched too closely to the holes now in their heads, but there was nothing to be done about it now. Usopp and Sanji-kun were both giving her their rapt attention, even while fending off the creatures to the best of their ability, and Usopp asked sharply, "So what do we do about it? There's no way we can get to them!"

"Not if we move fast," Nami said quickly. "They don't have very sharp reactions, I've noticed by now. And the Harvesters can't turn fast—they don't have a neck, so they have to rotate their whole bodies, and that takes them a while. As long as we avoid that...that arm thing...and the Shepherds, we should be fine."

"We'll never get Zoro and Robin through that, even so," Usopp shouted back, firing another series of flame stars. Nami hoped he wasn't going to run out of ammunition anytime soon—he was using far more than he usually did in this one battle.

"No, we can't all go," Nami decided. "You're right, they'll get hurt, and they'll slow us down. And we can't leave them unattended or they'll die. Usopp, you'll stay here with them. Sanji-kun, you jumped pretty high earlier—think you can get me over this swarm to that thing in the back?"

"Of course, Nami-san!" said immediately, and even in the heat of battle she could hear the vaguest hint of delight at being useful to her.

"Wait, wait, I could barely keep them off Zoro before, and there's more of them now!" Usopp hissed. "How do you expect me to protect them both?"

"Don't need any protection," Zoro slurred from behind them, and attempted vainly to stumble to his feet and stagger forward to join the fight next to Sanji-kun. The cook kicked him backwards (very lightly, for Sanji-kun), and the not-quite-swordsman grunted as he collided with the tree trunk again and sank down next to Robin, who was muttering in confusion under her breath. The not-swordsman swore profusely, but did not attempt to get up again—probably, Nami thought grimly, because he couldn't.

"You're right," Nami agreed after a moment. "There's no way—Sanji-kun! Can you lift them both up into the tree here, while me and Usopp keep the Nightmares away?"

"If you want, Nami-san," he said, though he looked a little doubtful. "How will that help?"

"They'll just knock the tree over," Usopp agreed, looking frightened. "Look at how huge they are!"

"I don't think they will, if you're in there too," Nami said grimly. She was starting to understand how these abominations worked a little more, and it seemed that the Dreamshards were paramount to them, above all other things. "You still have a potential shard for them to steal, so they won't risk killing you by smashing the tree over and you with it. And I think they're too big to climb the trees, the Harvesters anyway."

Usopp paled, and his whole body was shaking, though his hands were oddly steady as he fired off another round. "Okay...okay, yeah. That...that makes sense...just...just hurry, okay?"

"Right. Sanji-kun!"

"Right away!" the cook said. Stooping quickly, he scooped Robin up in his arms once again and, with a powerful leap, disappeared into the red-leaved lower branches of the tree trunk they were backed up against. Nami and Usopp were hard-pressed to keep the closer Nightmares at bay with combinations of weather and artillery, but by some miracle they managed it, and moments later Sanji-kun dropped out of the tree again and headed for Zoro.

"Not runnin' away," the not-swordsman hissed, weakly attempting to fend off Sanji-kun's hands.

"Just shut the hell up and follow the damn plan, marimo!" Sanji-kun snapped at him, and with a quick twist he managed to knock the wind out of Zoro with a knee to the stomach and in the same instant hook the pirate's arm around his shoulders before leaping back into the trees again.

"Done!" the cook shouted, a few moments later, as he dropped down for the second time. "I fit them into the forks of the branches so they won't fall out, they both passed out anyway. Usopp, switch!"

"Right!" The sniper shouted, and with a quick boost from Sanji-kun he too scrambled up into the tree. "Good luck guys, hurry!" he added, from within the depths of the red leaves.

"Let's go, Sanji-kun!" Nami shouted, refitting her Clima-Tact for battle.

"Of course, Nami-san! If I may?" he added, holding out his hands, and even in the fight he was grinning slightly. Nami fought the urge to roll her eyes and nodded—she needed Sanji-kun to get her close enough, after all. He lifted her quickly in his arms before charging forward and leaping into another high jump, straight over several of the Nightmares.

The leap took them very far, but it still made Nami dizzy to look down and see the things swarming hungrily towards the tree they had just left, moving like a living sea beneath her. For one terrifying moment as she looked back, it seemed as though the Harvesters would knock the tree right over and try to rip Usopp and the others free from it. But seconds later several of the Shepherds emitted sharp, frustrated barks, and the Harvesters ground to a halt at the base of the trunk, clicking and rustling in impatience. They were lit up seconds later from several explosions, and Nami hastily looked away so that she wouldn't blind herself in the process. The things shrieked behind her.

"Sounds like Usopp can hold," she said out loud, looking forward.

"That's good," Sanji-kun said, although he sounded distracted. "Hold on, this is gonna be tricky—"

They were going down, and with a shriek of surprise Nami realized they were about to land on the very back of one of the nasty creatures they'd been fighting. She threw her arms around Sanji-kun's neck entirely out of panic (he actually giggled almost gleefully) and barely managed to keep the Clima-Tact from smacking into the back of his skull (it would do no good to give her only current bodyguard a concussion, after all). They landed, and for one sickening moment her stomach lurched as the creature rumbled onward beneath them and Sanji-kun crouched. Then they shot forward again, and were suddenly in the air once more.

They leapfrogged between four other Harvesters, and the creatures barely seemed to notice their presence each time. They didn't seem able to jump, their neckless heads were incapable of looking up, and while they had many bulbous eyes, they didn't appear able to see above them that well. Nami felt her hopes rising as they got closer, and she could see the crazy shadow-monster and its precious basket growing larger as they grew near. They were going to make it—

There was a hissing rumble to their left, and Nami whipped her head around in time to see the snake-arm hurling itself at them from the low-hanging branches of a golden-leaved tree, its many arms outstretched. "Nami-san!" Sanji-kun yelled, twisting furiously, but they were still in midair and unable to dodge. Realizing they would take the hit regardless, the cook curled himself protectively around their navigator, and grunted in pain right in her ear as the creature slammed into them.

Then they were falling—Nami couldn't really see how, with her face pressed painfully into Sanji-kun's shoulder, but she could feel that much. At the last moment Sanji-kun shoved her away, and she crashed to the ground several feet from him, groaning in pain at the impact. She'd landed in an area relatively clear of the Nightmares—probably Sanji-kun's doing, seeing as he'd thrown her—but the creatures were already swarming towards her again. She threw another Cyclone Tempo in their direction to drive them back, and then froze in horror as another loss-filled shriek met her ears, from not too far away.

"Sanji-kun!" she screamed in surprise, and made for the sound immediately. Damn it, and he wouldn't have been hit at all if she hadn't suggested this stupid plan! Of course the stupid Nightmares would guard their non-combatant leader, what had she been thinking—

Another Cyclone blast cleared the way for her, and there was Sanji-kun, pinned to the ground by the snake-arm with a Harvester crouching over him, mandibles buried in his chest. His back was arched painfully up off the dirt, and seconds later another flash was emitted—she remembered to cover her eyes, just in time—as his Dreamshard was ripped free.

"Don't you dare," she gasped, as the creature bent for Sanji-kun again—his eyelids were fluttering dazedly already, and while that was the fastest recovery she'd seen yet he was still in no condition to defend himself. Thinking quickly, she activated the thunder charge on the end of her Clima-Tact and began swinging the weapon, running straight for the Harvester. The snake-arm tried to intercept, but she ducked under its grasping hands and lashed out with the fully charged Clima-Tact, hissing, "Swing Arm!"

The creature shrieked in surprise as the blinding electricity temporarily stunned it, and it froze. The snake-arm was turning for her again, but Nami was already moving, shifting the poles of the Clima-Tact by feel and experience alone. "Cool charge," she murmured under her breath, and swung the weapon as she dived for the prone Sanji-kun. Just as her fingers dug into the fabric of his collar, the dense cooler air she had forced into creation took effect, and with a shimmer the two of them disappeared into an illusion.

"Mirage Tempo: Fata Morgana," Nami finished, as the illusionary replicas shifted into being. In addition to her own four warped forms and normal appearance, Sanji-kun had also been replicated, due to his close proximity when she'd begun the defensive move. Five different Namis began attempting to drag off five different collapsed Sanji-kuns, searching desperately for some sort of escape. The move clearly had the creatures confused—the Harvesters, Shepherds, and even the snake-arm were regarding the ten humans curiously, unsure what to make of their sudden appearance—but Nami knew it was only a matter of time before they discovered the weakness, and she had to find a safe place by then. Stupid, stupid plan of hers, to plant themselves right in the middle of the stupid horde of Nightmares.

Sanji-kun coughed and groaned, but to Nami's surprise managed to stagger drunkenly to his feet. "M-my apologies," he rasped slowly—it sounded like he hadn't drunk in days, and already he, too, looked as pale as Zoro had earlier. "I d-didn't mean to throw you like that, N-nami-san..."

"Fine," she gasped. "How are you standing? You can't fight, can you?"

"I th-think I can," he managed to stammer. He tapped his foot, a familiar gesture, although he looked so weary Nami didn't think his attacks would have much effect. "I think—"

The snake-arm lashed out at one of the illusionary Nami and Sanji-kun pairs, prompted to attack by Sanji-kun's unexpected recovery. The illusion vanished without a sound, and Nami yelped in surprise—that one had been very close. The creature started to pace closer, but once again the high, cold whistle sounded, and with a hiss of obvious disgust the arm-creature turned on its many limbs and scuttled after the Harvester bearing Sanji-kun's Dreamshard, escorting it to the leader.

And yet even without it being there, its attack had a deadly effect all the same. Heartened by the creature's progress in vanishing one of the illusions, the other Nightmares began swarming forward, clacking mandibles hungrily. Nami repelled several of them with another liberal usage of her Cyclone Tempo, careful where she thew it lest she displace the cool air creating their own defense, and Sanji-kun actually managed to stun two of the creatures with a pair of well-placed—if significantly weaker—kicks. Nami was surprised at his ability to put up a fight when Zoro had been completely useless, but that was a question to pursue later.

If there was a later. The creatures were getting still closer, and even with the two pirates back to back there was no way they could fend off so many Harvesters, and Nami could see a pair of Shepherds approaching too. Fear filled her chest like a ball of heavy iron. It had been a good attempt, but they were going to die, there was no way to avoid it—

"Do you hear music?" Sanji-kun asked, with the slurred tone and absentmindedness that Nami had already come to associate with Zoro's new behavior. At first she thought nothing of it—clearly Sanji-kun was just suffering from the nightmare-illness—but moments later she realized with surprise that she could hear music. Violin music.

"Suuuuuupeeeeeeeeer!" came an all-too-familiar warcry, and seconds later Nami was stunned to see Franky, Chopper, and Brook come bursting out of the shadows from down the road in the direction of their ship, all looking positively furious. Franky had an enormous wooden board clenched in his meaty fists, while Chopper charged at the creatures in Walk Point, leveling his horns—tangled with cloth, or something like that, Nami thought in surprise—at the nearest Nightmares. Brook rode on his back, running his bow frantically over the strings of his violin as he played ditty after ditty furiously, yohoho-ing like mad.

It was a suicide run. Nami wanted to scream a warning to them, tell them to run as far as they could, to take the Sunny and get the hell out of their with their dreams still intact while they had the chance. But that heavy lead feeling in her chest had apparently seized hold of her voice as well, and she found she could barely whimper, let alone scream.

Which was why all she could do was stare in surprise as the creatures nearest to the small attack force froze in place, offering only muted whines as they trembled and struggled to move and found themselves completely unable to.

"Yohohoho! Your taste in music needs a little work, I think!" Brook shouted delightedly, as he shifted to a new fast-paced song, his bony fingers flying over the strings with such speed all Nami could see was a white blur. He managed to cling to Chopper with his knees, not missing a note as the reindeer charged into the fray, antlers level, and met the nearest stunned Harvester head on. The creature screamed in surprise and began to smoke all over, and with a furious toss of his head Chopper threw the thing into the air and watched with grim satisfaction as it burst into flames and vanished completely.

"No...no way," Nami gasped, stunned. "He...how did he..."

"I...I have no idea, Nami-san," Sanji-kun offered, sounding just as surprised as she did.

Franky plowed into the mass of unmoving, whining Harvesters next, and swung his plank fully around with another 'super' warcry. It smashed into four of the creatures, and as with Chopper, each of the four shrieked, smoked, and then burst into flames, dissipating completely. Without hesitating, the trio pushed in further, playing, swinging, and charging wildly, and everywhere they approached the creatures froze, and then burned.

The ranks of Harvesters around Nami and Sanji-kun scattered, the creatures shrieking wildly as they backpedaled and scurried back towards Remia before whatever was stunning them could take hold. The Shepherds barked angrily and tried to drive them back, but it was clear from their body language that they, too, were affected by the music, becoming sluggish and worried. The snake-arm alone seemed unfazed, and threw itself angrily at Franky, all its arms outstretched to grasp. Franky met it head on, smashing his plank into the creature's scaly head. It took several smacks to kill this one—evidently the snake-arm was stronger, and would not go up in flames from one hit alone—but in the end it was beaten into submission, and with a last, rumbling hiss, vanished into smoke.

"Girlie!" Franky called to her, almost cheerful. "You alright? How's curly-cook?"

"Not great," Nami shouted back, "But at least we're alive! How are you doing that?"

"They don't like the Thousand Sunny," Chopper yelled to her as he bodily rammed another creature, this one a Shepherd, with his entwined horns. Nami could see now that it was sailcloth, wrapped carefully around every surface of each horn. The Shepherd stumbled back—it, too, could withstand at least one blow—but another attack from Franky's plank finished it completely.

"Like Zoro's sword," she said, bewildered. What was the connection between the two?

It hit her suddenly, like a whirlwind, but before she had time to shout her realization to the others a cold, wailing keen reverberated through the air all around them. "No!" Nami shrieked in surprise, as she spun around, and glared furiously down the path towards Remia. The shadow-creature, the one with the basket, had raised its reptilian head and was whistling into the air, calling for a retreat to protect its precious cargo. If that thing got away, then Luffy's, Zoro's, Robin's, and Sanji-kun's dreams would go with it.

"What the hell is that?" Franky yelped in surprise, pointing at the shadow-creature with his plank.

"It's important," she snapped back, as the trio of pirates got closer. "No time to explain—just cover me with those weapons of yours, okay? We have to stop that thing!"

"You got it, sis!" he yelled back over the keening, as he finally reached the two of them. He was staring in confusion at the illusions, and Nami hastily dispelled them with a few slashes of the Clima-Tact, regarding the cyborg curiously. Besides the addition of the plank as a weapon, he also had a thick bundle of sailcloth wrapped over his shoulders and around his back, which looked weighted down pretty well. She wasn't sure what that was about, but as long as he could maneuver fine with it on, she didn't really care.

Regarding his own burdens reminded her of her own, and she hastily un-shouldered her pack, dropping it to the dusty packed road—less weight would make a chase a little easier. To her surprise, the thud of the pack was accompanied by several familiar clatters as something else hit the ground, and she looked over her shoulder in surprise to see Zoro's three swords sprawled on the dirt.

That's right, she thought in surprise. I'd been carrying them when they hurt him—

They hurt him, but that white one had hurt the creatures too. With barely a second's hesitation, she re-holstered her Clima-Tact and snatched up the white sword, sheath and all. Zoro couldn't complain, not if she used it to get his own damn dream back so he could remember why the weapon was even important to him to begin with. "Let's go!" she ordered, and Franky fell immediately at her heels, plank at the ready.

They charged forward at a record pace, and even though Nami was exhausted and her feet hurt from all this running around and she wanted nothing more than to just drop to the dirt and sleep for a bit after that long, exhausting night of no rest, she pushed herself harder for still more speed. Several of the creatures turned around and frantically tried to put a halt to their progress as they came closer and closer to the shadow-Nightmare, but Franky made short work of them with his plank, and they shoved through the fray of frightening, mismatched creatures in a spray of flames and smoke.

It was difficult to see through the quickly forming clouds of the creatures' smoky blood, and Nami yelled in surprise as the shadow-creature suddenly loomed out of the darkness ahead of her. But she still didn't hesitate, and with the skills of a well-trained thief kept her eyes on the prize: the glowing basket, and the four valuable gems sitting within.

The creature gave a long, low whistling screech and lashed out at her with its free whiplike arm. Nami screamed in pain as the creature dug a six-inch gash into her right bicep, tearing straight through her coat to the skin, but she didn't let it slow her down an inch. She didn't know if it was because she was holding Zoro's sword, or if it was because her own pent up exhaustion, fear, and adrenaline rush was causing her to start acting more than a little crazy, but she threw herself at the creature's other arm and the delicate basket it held. She had no idea how to use the weapon in her hands, and doubted it would help anyway, so she wound up like a batter at plate and swept out with the white sword, sheathe and all.

Even with the blade still safely sheathed, the white sword sliced through the creature's whiplike arm like it was made of tissue paper. The shadow-monster gave a high pitched scream and thrashed wildly; the stub of its arm was already leaking liquid-like, smoky blood, and its severed limb was already beginning to dissolve into flames. The basket was sent flying, and Nami reached for it with a dexterous hand—and grunted in surprise as the second whip-arm slammed into her back, smashing her to the ground and knocking the sword from her hand. The basket flew through the air, flipping end over end, and its precious cargo was flung out chaotically onto the packed dirt road.

Nami groaned and recovered her wits quickly, raising her head to stare at the four gems before her. There was no mistake—they were definitely Dreamshards, and the tiny part of her mind that had really, really hoped it wasn't the case sighed and threw up its hands in frustration. But there was something about these Dreamshards that was distinctly different. These were much larger, and much brighter, than the ones she'd seen in the shop on Adamantina. Unlike the ones she'd handled bare days ago (had it really only been a few days?), which merely caught light and reflected it in a myriad of colors, these ones seemed to possess their own inner light, shifted independently through their own ranges of color even when laying in the deepest shadows of the road.

They're living dreams, she realized, with a mixed feeling of relief for her friends and horror for the shards she'd seen back on the other island. The people they belong to are still alive and there's still hope. The other ones were dead dreams...there was no chance they'd ever be realized or remembered...

But it gave her hope at the same time—if these ones were still 'living' Dreamshards, then there was still a chance they could restore those dreams to their rightful owners. The closest shard was only a few feet from her, so she threw herself forward in a lunge before the shadow-creature behind her could approach, and slapped her hand over the little gem, dragging it close to her hunched body for protection.

Almost immediately her mind was assailed by a number of senses, images, thoughts, scents, emotions, all of it smashing into her consciousness with every sense of being real at that very moment. I can smell the sea. Sea-salt, ginger, basil, cloves, pepper she knew every scent automatically even though she shouldn't God I'm so hungry, get me off this rock, I'm begging you, despair-loathing-hunger-abandonment-fear-rage-depression-diedyingdeath she didn't know what the hell was going on, this wasn't right, this wasn't Elephant Tuna, Red-finned Albacore, Granite Rockfin, Thundershard Eel, Blazer Sharks oh God, this really couldn't be that's a lot of fish, isn't it? Yes, and there's more, all over the world, but they're from all the different seas oh God it was, it had to be, but it wasn't right unless you get lucky enough to find the All Blue, but nobody thinks it actually exists, kid, y'know?

Well, I'll find it! I'll find All Blue!

Oh, God.

Nami pulled her hand up immediately, until her skin stopped brushing the surface of the little gem cradled beneath her. Almost at once the rush of thoughts and memories and feelings that were not her own stopped, and she breathed a minute sigh of relief. Sanji-kun's dream. To find the All Blue. Of course it made sense—with the dreams stolen, they had to go somewhere; why not in the shards themselves?—but it was still unsettling. She supported Sanji-kun's dream, and as the crew's navigator she would definitely help him find it, but dreams were still deeply intimate and personal things. Feeling it, experiencing it, that deeply...it had almost felt like peeping, like prying, and made her feel a little ill despite herself.

But she couldn't give up. The other shards were still in front of her, scattered over the ground, and she had to reclaim them too for her nakama. So she grit her teeth, scooped the little gem up in her bare palm—a cook's paradise, every type of fish imaginable, all together in one location—and scrambled forward on hands and knees to reach for the others.

The shadow-creature swept beside her, shrieking furiously. It snapped at her with its remaining whip-limb, and she jerked back hastily, reaching for the sword—but she'd dropped it, that was right, and it was some distance from her on the road. She yelled for Franky, but he was preoccupied keeping dozens of Harvesters off her back, and couldn't come to her aid. So she screamed at the shadow-beast furiously, and scrabbled after Zoro's sword, knowing already she would be too late. With another shriek the creature scooped the remaining three Dreamshards up into its basket and whirled to dart down the road, with a shield of Harvesters and Shepherds already forming between it and Nami.

She collapsed to her knees again in frustration, clutched the lone Dreamshard in her hand—don't care if they don't believe it, I know it exists, I know it—and watched through a blur of furious tears as her friends' dreams were carried away again.

Notice: You may or may not have noticed, but I have a livejournal now! It's linked in my homepage slot on my profile page here. I'm using it as a writing/idea journal, so if you're interested you can see how my writing process works, or find snippits that didn't quite make the cut. If you're on LJ, go ahead and friend me—I don't bite! Just let me know who you are :)

~VelkynKarma