Nami woke with a start as she heard gun fire, likely from a marine's gun. She looked down at Luffy who was holding his ears and gritting his teeth. "Why didn't they give a little heads up before hand?" he whispered a little angrily. I fell asleep here? she thought nearly face palming till she heard more gun shots follow the first as well as sounds of howling and hissing. "They must be attacking!" she said standing up suddenly. "Whoa." Luffy said, stopping his fall to the ground.

Without thinking she had run out of the room, pulled out her weapon, and went to join in the fight. It hadn't hit her that she was a target, and a more easily obtained one compared to the others, till she made it on the deck. She was pushed over, claws going straight into her side. She screamed in pain, before looking up at her attacker. All she could see was teeth as she stared up in utter fear. Her attacker froze, about to bite her head, before collapsing.

Sitting up she saw that several others where down as well. Zoro and Sanji smiled "Looks like we all decided to use it at once." Sanji said. Zoro frowned as he looked around at those still standing "Looks like even with three blasts at once isn't enough for some of them." he growled. "We need to finish them fast." Luffy said rushing out from below deck. Several of the enemies looked at Luffy with wide eyes, thinking he had been dead.

Luffy sighed as he leaned against the railing. "W-was that the last of them?" one of the marines asked, panting. Luffy frowned as he picked something up with his haki. They all seemed to turn as one of them, though highly injured, ran off the deck; jumping into the water and not resurfacing. "That bastard!" Sanji shouted, about to jump after him. However Luffy grabbed him, stopping him. "What are you doing? We need to stop him!" Sanji shouted. Luffy shook his head "I'm sick of hiding! Besides, wont they figure something out either way?" he said with a pout.

Sanji sighed and nodded "Fine, fine. But wont that mean they'll come in full force next time?" he asked. Luffy shrugged before he began picking his nose. "Don't know, maybe. Somehow though, I don't think that's what's going to happen." he said, flicking the booger off his finger randomly. His crew sighed, knowing was still his normal, carefree, self. His eyes widened, as did several others. Several of them began moving away from the starboard side of the ship.

It didn't take long before they found out why they were backing up as a box was thrown onto the deck. It fell over on its side as it hit the deck, revealing to be completely full of crosses. As they fell out of the box most of those afflicted with vampirism jumped straight off the ship onto land, where they continued to move away. Luffy gritted his teeth as he fought against that instinct, knowing it was a trap to separate them. Zoro made a move to try to get rid of them when he felt a slight burning. His eyes narrowed as he noticed a few silver crosses in the bunch.

Franky noticed this too and made a move to try to dispose of them when Luffy stopped him. He pushed his sunglasses up and looked at him confused. "It's a complete trap. I'm sure, if you try to touch it, something bad will happen." Luffy told him, shaking. "Then what are we suppose to do?! With this here no one is safe even without an attack!" Usopp shouted, grabbing his head in panic. Zoro growled "We need to leave the ship, if we stay no good will come out of it."

Franky looked at Zoro a bit angrily "Hey, your saying leave the Sunny?!" Luffy raised a hand "He's right. We need to leave. No one will hurt the ship with those here. The only ones who can get near it are humans and zombies, and something tells me their not that smart to damage a ship like that." he said before jumping down off the ship. The others followed quickly after, however reluctant some were. However, Usopp was curious about something "Wh-what are z-z-zombies like here?"

Everyone looked at Luffy confused when he didn't answer. He stopped in his tracks and turned slightly to look at him sadly "Lets hope you never find out." with that he continued to walk straight; leading his crew, Smoker, Tashigi, and a handful of navy men. "Where are you leading us Straw Hat?" Smoker asked irritated. "The only decent source of water on the island." Zoro looked at him confused, it didn't make sense how Luffy knew this sort of information at the moment.

Franky seemed to feel the same way and forced Luffy to turn around. Luffy looked at them with wide eyes, just as they did to him. He sighed and looked at the ground. One eye his normal near black, and the other red. "We seem to be merging. I guess I should have figured you'd notice something." he said with his normal grin. The others sighed "For a moment I thought we were being led by a fake." Zoro said pinching the bridge of his nose.

He lead them on till Robin a thought. "Won't they expect us to go to water?" Luffy nodded "Yes, however we have little choice. We will need to go eventually. What they may not expect is us going so quickly; if this happens we can scout around and have a better chance." he told them. Nami felt a bit uncomfortable looking at Luffy from how his eyes were, it was like he was becoming someone else. Rather, actually, it seemed like he was hiding something.

When they got close to the water Luffy sighed and sat down, his breathing seemed slightly labored. "You alright, what's wrong?" Chopper asked, trying to look him over. Luffy shook his head, his eyes closed. "Just a bit tired. The merging thing can really wear you out." he said with a small laugh. However, Sanji began to really wonder if that was what was really wrong; he was beginning to doubt it. Luffy stood up and stretched "Kay, now we need to build a shelter for everyone still human! We should try to finish it up quickly, I think it might almost be about the time me and Sanji will end up passing out."

Now Sanji was really beginning to wonder. He didn't feel tired one bit, yet at the same time he knew Luffy was right about what he had said; it was about that time. Luffy got a serious look on his face. "Alright, Franky. Your really good at this sort of stuff. We need it big enough for everyone of you guys that's human, and sturdy too. Brook, Nami, Zoro, Robin, I need you to go to the ship and get the crosses from the box Usopp had put ours into. Sanji, go with Usopp and Chopper to go get the food and medicine from the ship; be careful to keep away from those out to get the crosses. If you can, try to get some silver too. Everyone else, we need to get the supplies for Franky."

Everyone stared at him so he smiled and pointed at his red eye to let them know it was the other half speaking. However, Sanji paused and continued to stare at Luffy. His eye widened for a moment before he shook his head and tried looking again. For a moment, he thought he saw a certain look he had only seen once on his captain. It had not been a good look, or a good moment either. His hand went to his neck subconsciously before he noticed that he felt a little weird. Going over to the water he went to look into it, only to realize he didn't have a reflection. "It's turning red." he heard Luffy whisper to him. Sanji let his hair go back into place over his eye. "We're running out of time, we need to hurry." he told Sanji as he walked off to look for the resources Franky would need.

After a short time Franky finished what he considered to be a large enough and sturdy building. However Luffy shook his head as he sat against a tree, "Can you make it any stronger? It would be a good idea if you added a floor too." he asked. Franky looked at him confused before looking at Sanji who seemed to be acting similar to how Luffy had been when they had first gotten there. "I suppose I could do that, but what are we up against here? The others are already setting the crosses and silver up on the inside of the building." Luffy didn't answer the question, all he said was "We need it as strong as we can get it."

Franky went to get to work when he heard Luffy call Sanji over. "I need your help with something." he could just barely hear Luffy whisper, and he sounded like he was struggling with something. Sanji nodded and followed him. Franky didn't turn to look though; he wasn't sure what was going on, but he trusted his captain-and he said the place needed to be stronger.

Sanji looked at Luffy with wide eyes. "Please, I need you to do this for me." Sanji noticed the look in his eyes again and could feel himself growing weaker as well. "It wont be able to hold you very long." he told him. Luffy nodded "I know that, but; if I do falter soon; it will give them more time than if you don't." Sanji nodded and smirked slightly "What am I to do then?" he joked. Luffy smiled "Hopefully, you can hold out longer enough for them to finish." Sanji nodded and began to tie Luffy up to one of the trees far from the others. Sanji was about to leave when Luffy said something he didn't quite catch. "What was that? I didn't quite catch that." Luffy took a deep breath so he could say it a bit louder "Make sure Nami stays inside, no matter what."

Everyone looked at Sanji slightly confused as he came back alone. "Hey, dart-brow! Where's Luffy?" Sanji looked at Zoro annoyed "He saw something and went running after it, mutt-face!" However, at this point everyone was beginning to question Luffy's strange behavior. However, Zoro and Robin were beginning to understand a bit better as they began to feel strange themselves. Sanji looked over at the building and could see the floor from where he was "How thick is that flooring?" he asked, his vampric half beginning to tell him what was coming like it had to Luffy before. Franky grinned "Over a foot deep and made of the strongest rocks we could find around." Sanji nodded as he looked at the wooden walls in worry. "I hope it's strong enough."

Franky began feeling like he and Luffy knew something, but didn't want to share it. So, as an added precaution, he began making things thicker and thicker as to make sure they were prepared for whatever it was. Sanji smiled as he leaned against a tree facing the building. Zoro and Robin panting with slightly glazed eyes not far from him. Sanji looked over at them and whispered "You should go, you two don't look like you've got much longer."

Tashigi looked at the two leaving figures in confusion before she noticed something. "Where's Smoker-san?" she asked looking around. Sanji jumped when he heard her voice. She turned and looked at him before walking over. "Where did Smoker-san go?" she asked with narrowed eyes. His breathing became accelerated "P-please, go inside. Quickly." he told her. She looked at him confused before she noticed his uncovered eye slowly changing red as he looked at her.