Hello! So it's finally time for chapter 25! I'm so glad that you all liked the last chapter but this chapter isn't going to go too deep into Nightmare's indirect confession I guess you could call it. Either way a chapter is a chapter so let us get on with the review replies now shall we?
Connie-Ts: YES WE MUST ALL HAIL NIGHTMARE'S EPICNESS! Don't worry I won't be so mean as to make Law just shoot her down or something. And I started the Halloween special so don't poke my cheeky cheek! :D Mille Feuille!
sereneskydragonslayer: Is it like an "eEEEeeeppp!" squeal because I get that a lot ;D I hope you like this chappy!
Kaappimorso: Thanks! And didn't I already tell everyone I'm the cliffhanger queen? XD
MsWildLuck: Thank-you!
10th Squad 3rd Seat: :3 Thanks... oh wait you meant the ending to that chapter didn't you...? Yeah, that was cute too. I'm still cute though.
nannas-onepiece-adventure: Yuppers :D Imagine being Nightmare... that must've felt awkward for her.
MuffinMan9223: Omg XD Armstrong is just too much for me XD I could totally see him saying that as well! And I'm not going to dig too deep into what Nightmare said at the end of the last chapter just because there are things going on with the whole Luffy thing but I will go into it later!
DragonClanMaster: I can't wait for the lovey dovey chapters either but a word of warning that I'm not very great at mushy kissy scenes but I shall try my best when the time comes! I'm glad I've gotten you so hooked :D
dat guest: Well I'm glad you weren't drinking anything or then it'd be my partial fault that a beverage would get all over your screen!
Dhalmi93: The reaction may not be as great as everyone expects but I hope it's okay! Thanks for le review!
(Okay so two other guests reviewed so I'm going by date of review.)
Guest 9/16/13: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!
Guest 9/17/13: Why thank-you kind sir/ma'am. I thought that it was the only way that Nightmare would ever even try to confess to someone.
LazyDude: Thanks! And riding into the sunset on horses is always laughable! It's fine if you give me a short review, as long as you review I'm cool with it. Good luck with all your super duper busy stuff! Thanks again!
Nagisaa: Thanks! And it's fine if the review was late, I understand if my readers are busy so don't be sorry :) Thanks again and please enjoy!
Okay that's it for the review replies! I've got good news you guys! I finally started on the Halloween Special and am confident that it will be complete before Halloween :D! Now if I can only catch up on writing up some new chapters that'd be great... Wish me luck! Please enjoy this wonderful installment of Everyone's Favorite Nightmare!
Chapter 25: A Change in Bounties
Law stared down at Nightmare in surprise. Did she just say what he thinks she said? Sure, they kissed a couple times but to think the Nightmare would just admit that out loud like that was something else. She probably didn't believe what she just said right now either. That she harbors some sort of feelings for him.
"Don't even comment on what I just said. Because you'll either make fun of me or somehow find a way to make me angry," Nightmare grumbled. Law's eye twitched, is that really all she expects from him? "Ugh this is so damn frustrating."
"How so?" Law questioned.
"You see, I was all confused and shit so then I had a talk with the Snake Empress and then she went on talking about how much she loves Luffy and more shit. So then I asked her a question and she answered the question and god damn this motherfucking hat!" Nightmare rambled on and then ended up throwing the completed straw hat to the ground. Law couldn't help but chuckle at the scene before him. This was the first time he's ever seen the woman so rattled in a way that she just keeps rambling on like that. It was quite a sight to behold for him. "Shut up," she seemed to have calmed down a little now but he could tell that her mind was a mess at the moment.
"I'll shut up on that topic for your sake but would you care to explain what that whole thing was about earlier at the marine headquarters?" Law went on to a different subject.
"I was just having a little fun, you'll probably see it in the papers pretty soon," she explained with a smirk.
"I doubt that what you did could possibly be able to fit on the papers with everything that just happened in that war," Law noted.
"It may not be the top story but I'm sure it'll make it onto the paper." She seemed very confident that what she did would cause some sort of minor commotion. Plus she knew for a fact that her bounty would heighten. Before the two could talk anymore, the submarine arrived at the cove on the island of women. Law left the laundry room to let Nightmare just do whatever.
Nightmare just stayed in the laundry room staring off into space. She still couldn't believe that she had feelings for Law. It was unheard of for her to fall for someone ever since Axel died. She hated all humans, including Law. Yet, for some reason, that sarcastic, cruel, egotistical demeanor reeled her closer. "Is this what it felt like when I liked Axel?" she questioned herself aloud but then chuckled. "That's funny… I can't even seem to remember."
After about an hour of just sitting down doing nothing Nightmare got up and brought the hat along with her. Before walking out onto the island she stopped by her room to get one of the books she was in the process of writing and then went outside. Most of the guys were just sitting around talking about all the women that were probably on the island. "Pigs," Nightmare mumbled under her breath referring to all the guys. She passed by them without sparing a glance and sat down on the grass alone. She opened up the book and began writing. Once she wrote two pages someone came up next to her and sat down.
"Why hello there Miss Traitor," Cain said as he sat down. It seemed as though he would be sticking with that nickname for a while. Nightmare blew on the page she had just written to make sure the ink was dry before closing the book.
"Good afternoon Mister Darkside," Nightmare decided to give him a nickname. "Would you mind telling me why you're bothering me?" she sounded rather annoyed. Cain sighed and leaned back while looking up at the sky. His voice dropped into the deeper tone of his normal voice.
"Well I was thinking back and I do recall that you told me I could talk normally to you whenever I wanted," he explained.
"Aw, are you having a rough time fitting in?" Nightmare teased. "And here I thought that for sure they'd be letting up to you," she muttered at the end.
"It's not that they disapprove of my actual demeanor. I think they got past that easily. They're just mad because I've practically been lying to them this whole time," Cain told her. He lied down on his back with his hands under his head and just stared at the clouds.
"Don't expect any advice from me, I've had enough of people expecting shit like that from me," Nightmare grumbled and he chuckled.
"I'd have to be batshit crazy to ask for advice from a psycho like you," he told her.
"Well then you better watch out because there are some batshit crazies living on that submarine," she bluntly stated.
"Isn't that exciting?" he muttered in a bored expression.
"So exciting that I might explode," was her response in the same bored tone.
"Anyways the real reason I came to talk to you was more for asking a question," a smirk played onto Cain's lips as he rolled onto his side so he could look at Nightmare.
"What is it?" She knew she would regret asking that. She could tell by the smirk on his face that she would hate whatever he was about to ask.
"About you and the captain…" before he could even finish Nightmare stood up and kicked him in the stomach. "Alright…" he choked out while holding his side "I got it… no more asking about that."
Without saying anything Nightmare just walked away and sat down somewhere else. No one bothered her anymore and lunch came soon enough. The women from the island came with baskets of food to feed the hungry men of the Heart Pirates. Once most of the guys got their food Nightmare decided to finally get up and get her own lunch.
"I didn't know there was a girl with all those pirates," the woman serving Nightmare's food, Aphelandra, said.
"Well considering that I am of the gender female type then I suppose that you were wrong," Nightmare blatantly told her.
"What is it like being on a ship full of men all the time?" Aphelandra questioned seemingly interested by Nightmare.
"Where do I even begin?" Nightmare mumbled to herself. "Well for one thing, all the guys are greedy pigs. They can get their clothes dirty by just sitting in a chair all day, and some of them have zero table manners," she listed off. "Some aren't as bad as others but all of them are a handful together," she added.
"Aphelandra I told you not to talk to those pirates!" Kikyo, the woman with long black hair chopping the meat, said.
"But this one's a woman, you said I couldn't talk to the men," Aphelandra corrected. Kikyo looked over to Nightmare.
"Fine then, but we're leaving soon anyways so finish up," Kikyo grumbled under her breath. Aphelandra smiled and then turned back to Nightmare.
"It was nice talking to you," she said kindly. Nightmare, not really caring, just walked off with her food. Nightmare found her captain sitting under a tree with a bottle of sake in his hand so she just decided to go sit by him, but before either of them could share a word a blonde girl from the island came up to Law.
"Uh, has Luffy woken up yet?" she asked with a worried look on her face. Law just looked up to her and shook his head. "I see…"
"If he wakes up at all it will be because of the Straw Hatter's will power. It depends on whether he's got the will to live," Law then answered fully.
"Margaret! We're going now!" someone yelled to the blonde to inform her of their departure. Margaret turned her head to the other girls.
"Alright!" She then turned back to Law. "Pardon me. Please keep looking after Luffy as you have," she told him before running off to the others. Nightmare chuckled at that.
"What is it?" Law questioned her with a raised brow.
"I think they're giving you a little too much credit for this. It's not like you're looking after him because you want to save a life," she explained.
"Oh really now," Law gave her a smirk. She just continued eating her meal in silence for a while before speaking up again.
"You plan to form an alliance with him in the future, right?" she stated out of the blue. Law looked over to Nightmare wondering where she was going with this.
"Yes," he answered.
"Then I think I should tell you something that I think will happen." Law raised a brow. "I'm not saying it's a bad idea but I just have to let you know that the Strawhat Pirates had made an agreement to return back to their ships within three days."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Law inquired.
"Well I'm not certain of it, since I can't see the future or anything, but after this episode I think Luffy might change that so that they can each train for a while," Nightmare informed him.
"For how long do you suppose that will be?" he asked. It's not like he was in a hurry or anything, but knowing may be easier for him. Plus he still had other things to do before his plan could even go into motion.
"I can't tell you that much. It can range from one to two years," she shrugged.
"That should be enough time," Law muttered to himself. Nightmare suddenly sat up and looked towards the submarine. Law saw her sudden action and brought his eyes over to the submarine. The yellow submarine began to shake violently.
"Well… shit," Nightmare bluntly stated. The two got up and ran towards the submarine. Nightmare already knew that it was Luffy's doing but she still had to urge to go see it up close. Right when they reached the edge of the island, the submarine shook again and Luffy shot out through the top. Everyone watched his flying figure as he crashed down into the ground leaving them all speechless.
"Luffy-kun," the shock and surprise was evident in Jimbei's voice as he stared at the boy's tattered figure. Luffy's hand balled into a fist as he started to sit up.
"Ace…" Luffy muttered still completely forgetful of today's earlier events. His head shot up "WHERE IS ACE!?" Luffy cried out into the sky. After that Luffy began running around in search of his dead brother with a majority of the Heart Pirates in pursuit. Law, Jimbei, and Nightmare all just sat down calmly. Law kept drinking his sake, Jimbei watched, and Nightmare watched, almost enjoyably, as the Heart Pirates chasing after him were thrown into the air.
"What'll happen if we just let him be?" Jimbei questioned looking over to Law.
"Well, to put it bluntly…" not that he could put it out there any other way "Like I said when we came to this island, if his wounds reopen he'll probably die," Law stated. As they spoke Nightmare just watched the scene before them. Luffy had just tripped and fell to the ground giving the Heart Pirates a chance to pile on top of him in hopes of stopping him. She honestly could not see how jumping on top of the poor boy would actually help him but whatever. They were trying to argue with him to calm down but he just flung them off of his body as they were nothing but little pebbles. Soon enough Luffy ran out into the island where the Heart Pirates were told not to go. Jimbei calmly got up and walked after him.
"Aw… it's over already," Nightmare mumbled in slight disappointment.
"You really are sick in the head aren't you," Cain, who was standing nearby commented. Nightmare got up and looked over to him.
"Come on, you can't say that it wasn't high quality entertainment," Nightmare pointed out. Law just stayed put on the ground and watched them talk to each other. Since when did they have normal conversations like this?
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't," Cain chuckled while looking at the hopeless guys who had been flung to the ground by Luffy.
"You see," Nightmare started. "We're all a little bit sick in the head," she told him.
"Yes, but no one is as sick-minded as you," he noted.
"I'll be taking that as a compliment," she stated.
"Since when did those two talk so normally to each other?" Shachi asked while staring at Cain and Nightmare. Robert (yes a random OC), who was standing next to Shachi was the one to answer.
"Well, considering the fact that both are psychotic killers I suppose that they've found a way to get along nicely now," he explained. Shachi just sounded out an 'oh' sound of understanding and then turned to the others who were staring at the gap in the dividers, which led to the rest of the island.
"You know I heard that if men enter the Island of Women, they turn to stone and never come back, but it might be worth risking our lives for!" Shachi said as they all stared at the gap trying to imagine himself surrounded by girls.
"According to Aphelandra-chan, at the port we only saw a small portion of the girls living on this island!" Penguin said excitedly.
"The kind of women I've always dreamed about… I'd at least like to take one quick look at it…" Shachi said looking like an idiot with a shade of pink covering his cheeks.
"You're going to die. You sure are dumb," Penguin stated with the same idiotic face.
"I wonder if there are female bears…" Bepo trailed off in his own imagination. Shachi and Penguin immediately turned towards the hopeful polar bear.
"It's the island of women!" they yelled in unison.
"I'm sorry," Bepo apologized quickly after.
"Human girls only! Human!" Shachi yelled at him.
"I'm very, very sorry…" Bepo told them while bowing his head. Nightmare walked up next to Bepo and comforted him.
"Don't worry Bepo, they're just mad because they have no chance of ever getting a girl in their life," she told he bear.
"Hey! Nightmare that's rude! I'll be able to get a girlfriend someday!" Shachi yelled defensively and Penguin nodded in a way to back him up. Nightmare ignored them and kept trying to comfort Bepo.
"They're upset because they'll have to live alone for the rest of their lives and be forced to get cats to fill the void. While you, on the other hand, will be surrounded by the prettiest female bears on the island," she told the bear. Bepo was chuckling in the middle of the whole thing while watching how angry Penguin and Shachi were getting.
"Well if that's the case then you'll probably never get a guy either!" Shachi blurted out in the spur of the moment. Nightmare stopped comforting Bepo and turned to face Shachi.
"And why should I care about that?" she questioned in an impassive tone.
"Y-You should," Shachi tried to argue but it didn't really work out in his favor. Law ignored them all and just looked over to the straw hat that Nightmare had brought out from the submarine. He stared at it in deep thought wondering about the Strawhatter.
"Aw, Mister Captain, are you worried?" Nightmare teased as she went to sit down next to him. The others had gone off to have their own conversations with each other so Nightmare just decided to go to him.
"Not in the slightest," Law grumbled while dragging his eyes away from the hat and over to her. Nightmare was looking towards the forest, listening to the agonizingly loud screams coming from Luffy. They all heard his screams, but decided to ignore it and leave it to Jimbei.
"Just curious then?" Nightmare suggested with a raised brow while looking over to him. Law smirked and looked back down at the hat.
"Just curious," he confirmed.
After things seemed to calm down, some of the guys thought that they'd fish to pass the time until the submarine was fixed. Nightmare just sat silently next to Law staring at the vast ocean. The screams coming from the forest soon stopped, noting that Luffy had finally calmed down. While everyone was momentarily distracted with the fish Shachi just caught, Nightmare was giving the ocean a questioning eye. 'That man's here now?' Nightmare queried in her mind. Law noticed Nightmare's quizzical expression but wasn't able to ask anything when a wave of haki brushed past them. Everyone who sensed it looked out towards the ocean.
"What is it?" Shachi asked, turning to look at Penguin. Penguin brought his handy-dandy, and awfully convenient, binoculars up to his eyes in order to search the water.
"I just saw the shadow of a fish…" Penguin muttered while searching the water through his binoculars. A huge eel-like fish suddenly jumped out of the water. "I-It's huge!" Penguin yelled when he saw the fish.
"Poor fish…" Nightmare murmured under her breath. Law, being the only one who had heard that, glanced over to her inquiringly. He had to bring his eyes away from her quickly because of a sudden splash in the water. The fish popped up again looking completely beat up.
"Look, it's a giant sea king!" Penguin said after seeing the fish more clearly.
"What is it doing? Fighting?" Shachi questioned. When the sea king floated back up to the surface it was lifeless.
"It's dead! Something managed to kill it!" Penguin noted.
"Something that huge?" Shachi asked incredulously.
"I couldn't see its opponent," Penguin told everyone. Nightmare didn't have to see to know its opponent though.
"This is such a terrifying sea!" Shachi seemed scared out of his wits just wondering what had killed the sea king. Everyone saw a hand emerge near the shore in the water causing their eyes to widen. "A human?" Shachi questioned.
"Hey who are you?" Robert asked (yes he shows up twice!).
"Phew, I'm beat," the man said after climbing up to the island. "There we go," he sighed out.
"The D-… the Dark King, Rayleigh?!" Bepo yelled out in utter shock. Everyone yelled out 'what!' in unison while looking at him.
"Oh it's you? We met back on Sabaody Archipelago, didn't we?" Rayleigh said while looking at Law. By this time everyone was standing up in shock except Nightmare and Law who were just staring up at him like he wasn't a big deal. "You see, my ship sank in a storm so I had no choice but to swim here."
"A storm?! The Calm Belt never even has a light breeze! There are no storms!" Penguin exclaimed.
"That means you must have been shipwrecked on a distant sea, and swam all the way from there?!" Shachi yelled out.
"I'm good at the breaststroke after all," he answered as he wrung out his sopping t-shirt.
"That's not the issue here!" Penguin yelled.
"Does that mean the one fighting the sea king was you?!"
"That's a legendary pirate for you!" Bepo said and then suddenly apologized.
"So then," Rayleigh said while looking back over to Law. "I assume that Luffy-kun is on this island." Law seemed slightly surprised that he knew but then realized that he was holding the Straw Hat. Nightmare got up from sitting next to Law and brushed the dirt off of her.
"He is, albeit the dramatic meltdown in the woods and various injuries, but nevertheless he's here," Nightmare answered in Law's stead.
"I see, so I guess that incident was quite traumatizing for him," Rayleigh muttered while looking out to the forest.
"Well he should be alright now…" Nightmare trailed off, also looking out to the woods. Rayleigh brought his attention to the girl.
"You're that Nightmare girl, correct?" Rayleigh questioned.
"Yes," Nightmare plainly answered.
"I've also read some things about you in the recent papers," Rayleigh noted. Nightmare smirked.
"Oh really, like what?" Nightmare was eager to find out what the marines had decided to do with her.
"Well it seems that your bounty has increased all the way up to 250 million beli and you're officially wanted dead or alive," Rayleigh told her. All the guys looked at Nightmare skeptically just wondering what she had done. "Ah, and one more thing," Rayleigh got their attention "it seems that there is a new bounty for a nameless woman given the alias Angel, would you happen to know anything about it?" Rayleigh already knew that the angel had to do with Nightmare somehow. The marines probably didn't figure it out even if they saw her as Nightmare for a quick second while she was freefalling.
"That depends on the bounty amount," Nightmare told him.
"A total of 155 million beli, wanted dead or alive," Rayleigh said. Everyone became instantly surprised. That was rather high for a first bounty. Law, who had already gotten up as well, looked over to Nightmare slightly annoyed. He didn't have to ask if the Angel was her. He was already somewhat irritated that someone on his crew had a higher bounty than him, the captain. He didn't need to be hearing that the same person had two separate bounties at the moment. Law's irritation immediately let up when he heard Nightmare's light laughter. Maybe it was worth hearing this news if it meant he could hear that mellifluous sound when she laughed.
"That's a better outcome than I had originally expected," she said with a small smile.
A/N: Tadah~~! Nightmare finally got her bounty up so that's good! As for the response to the confession well like I said I'm not going very deep into it so I had Law change the subject out of the "goodness" of his heart... if he has any of that. Robert won't become anything important. I just felt random at the moment and thought "oh, why don't I just slip in a random OC with no description at all :D" So it happened. And when I was rewatching the episode when Rayleigh appears I seriously thought how freaking random it was for Penguin to just pull out a pair of binoculars out of the blue.
So what are your thoughts on the chapters? Cain is becoming more important so hurrah for that! I guess...
So to summarize this chapter we got to see a rambling Nightmare, a jelly Law (jealous), Nightmare chuckling at "high quality entertainment", Bepo thinking about female bears, and a new bounty!
Please FOLLOW, FAVORITE, AND REVIEW! If you do I'll love you forever!
Till next time,
~Super Agent Zella!