The night was calm like any of the others before it, and yet it almost seemed too still. The girls, Dextra included, were peacefully asleep in their room. The boys were in theirs save for Jimbei, who preferred the ocean breeze, and Zoro on watch as usual, the swordsman outside and alert even if he was clearly asleep. His sharp senses would wake him up, so the fact he slept quietly meant all was fine. The only other Heart Pirate on board was Puffin, choosing to rest in Chopper's area, having come to watch Dextra while his Captain went back to the ship to deal with some things. The nurse was one of the few the eagle girl liked almost as much as her Papa and siblings, so he could still keep her comfortable while she stayed away from the submarine. Even still, poor Puffin was in an odd state of mind with one of their own missing, and while he never acted upset with their Nobody guest, the occasional glances let Toshiro know that some of them thought it was his fault… and he could hardly blame them, if he hadn't come to this world, they never would have known about Heartless or been threatened by them.

It was one of the reasons he stayed with the Straw Hats as Dextra did, meaning Law had to move to the ship as well if he wanted to make any progress on fixing his condition. Even if they got annoying at points, he felt more comfortable in their cheerful world than the confined space full of grief on the other ship. He'd caused them enough trouble, so he gave them their space and simply offered what he could to help, knowing it would never be enough. Law at least held no blame over him, but seeing the Captain clearly distressed did not convince Toshiro he was free of any guilt.

Perhaps it was those nagging thoughts in the back of his mind that set it off, or perhaps it was the silent figure that appeared briefly above them, leaving behind something and vanishing just before Zoro could open his eyes and notice them. The swordsman looked around with a frown for a moment before deciding it was nothing and returning to sleep. Bearing no threat, the dark wisps warranted no attention from those on board as it twisted around its target, the snowflake charm immediately turning a pitch black.

It wasn't until this sudden, gentle brush of shadow catalyzed an event already in motion, speeding it along, that the ship went on alert.

Not immediately, but the air felt tense, and Zoro twitched in his sleep.

It started with a decline in temperature as the only other figure outside became highly stressed. He'd barely managed to fall asleep in the first place, still having a hard time getting any rest even with Hyorinmaru near to comfort him, the darkness still cruel and unforgiving in his thoughts. Toshiro's expression became pained as these terrible thoughts increased, unable to escape, trapped in a slowly worsening nightmare of crippling past memories and horrible future possibilities. Once the air dropped below freezing, the bit of ship wall he leaned against began to creak and groan as pitch black ice spread across its surface, the grass below him hardening into dead spikes.

Hearing the cracking sound as the ice continued to spread, Zoro snapped awake again, taking notice of the sinister feel of the cold in the air. With a shiver, Jimbei woke up too, the spray of sea water on the sides of the ship sounding more like rocks hitting the wooden sides. The swordsman moved first, standing and taking notice of the black spreading over the ship like an infection. He would have considered it to probably be a Heartless if he hadn't noticed the freezing air and shine to the moving darkness to show it was ice, as well as the shaking figure at the center of it all.

"Oi, wake up!" Realizing this was a bad situation if the ice kept spreading, Zoro jumped up and moved to go near and wake up the Nobody.

The moment his foot touched the ice a sharp, piercing chill ran up his body. Not only did he feel like he just went through a blizzard, but there was an odd feeling of being… hunted. That was the only way he could describe it. His foot had also immediately frozen to the black ice creeping underneath him. In hindsight, considering the circumstances, it was probably not his smartest move. The hunted feeling was easy to shake off at least and he wondered if it was just a flash from the ice user himself, transferred through the shadows in the ice from his nightmares. Whatever it was, it was bad to keep around, he needed to wake Toshiro up to stop it. The ice was easy to break away from as well, just a light layer that didn't at all match the chill he'd just experienced, but since he didn't want to step on it again and possibly freeze for sure, he settled for some more yelling.

Jimbei had hurried over at all the noise, gasping at the eerie winter settling over the Sunny. Shadows crept up over Toshiro's form as they watched, and the more they chained him the more he shook and whimpered, terrified of something they couldn't see.

"Don't step on the ice." Zoro warned as Jimbei approached.

"But then how-" About to question how to snap their guest out of this state without being able to touch him, Jimbei was cut off as a large shadow leapt into the sky right out of the ice.

Hyorinmaru landed on the railing of the ship in his small form with a low rumble of concern in his throat. Heartless or not, the shadows overcoming his other half made him uncomfortable, the ice not harmful to him but unwelcoming all the same.

"Hyorinmaru, any chance you could wake him up?" The fishman questioned, catching the dragon's attention. Hyorinmaru gave a flick of his tail, listening but perhaps not understanding. "The ice will catch us if we approach, can you wake him up for us? To make the ice stop?"

Hyorinmaru looked back at Toshiro, head low and letting out another worried rumble. He almost seemed… afraid?

The commotion was waking up the rest of the ship. Concerned gasps were heard in the air as they all saw the pitch black ice swallowing both the ship and the user. Zoro had a scowl on his face as he took another step, shivered, and broke out of the ice taking his legs to back up again, Jimbei having to back up step by step as the darkness continued to creep outwards, Hyorinmaru refusing to approach his master.

Dextra acted first, shifting into her eagle form and flying over. With her wings she could hover above the ground out of the way of the ice.

The shadows, however, did not like her getting close. Hands reaching up to fist in his hair, Toshiro let out a noise of fear at her approach and the darkness lashed out. She was forced to move up higher, unable to touch him.

"You tried, Dextra, but don't get too close!" Sanji called out in warning, looking at the chaos warily. The ice would try to freeze anything it touched, and the darkness surrounded Toshiro himself from any other direction, trapping him in place and continuing to feed into the spreading ice. This was as bad for all of them as it was for the Nobody stuck as the catalyst.

"But if I could just get to him, I can wake him up!" She called back. Concern filled her eyes, and perhaps even understanding, as if she knew what the boy was going through. She wanted so badly to help him.

"Here's a wakeup call!" Winding up his arm, Luffy let it shoot forward. He wouldn't punch too hard, hopefully just enough to snap the Reaper awake.

Hyorinmaru, however, did not take kindly to any form of attack on his master, jumping from the railing and knocking himself into the arm to throw it off course. The rubber man hit Zoro instead.

"Oh hey, this isn't too bad." Luffy was annoyed with the dragon, but took the opportunity to grab the now grumpy swordsman and pull hard, launching the swordsman backwards up to the others. Zoro gave a fierce scowl at his Captain for the treatment but figured he wasn't any good down there with the dark ice keeping him back. Jimbei made a short retreat up to where they were as well though there was still some distance before it would be any trouble since Toshiro had been near the front of the ship.

Apparently blocking the punch had given the dragon some of his protective determination back, letting out a roar as he launched himself back towards his master and vanished into the shadows. Unable to touch the Heartless, the tendrils just focused on keeping away the harpy eagle and chaining down their host, clearly hurting him as he let out a pained cry when one tendril coiled too tightly around his arm.

There was a shift in the air and Law appeared with them, having used his ability to get across faster when he came out of the ship and noticed the trouble.

"Another nightmare." He scowled. "This one seems a lot worse though."

"He's done this before?" Usopp asked in a panicky tone.

"Not this badly, it was when we realized he was weak to heat. While he was unconscious, he seemed to have a nightmare and started freezing the ship. We got him awake before it got to this level, though. The second time I pushed him too far but the Keyblade seemed to keep him safe from that one since he was awake."

They wanted to ask for hints on how to get him out of this one, but before they could, they all gave a start as a scream ripped through the air.

It was filled with so much terror, so much hatred and despair, it gave them all shivers up their spines, and a few of them even paled. Turning to look, they noticed Toshiro's hands had moved to his neck, as if he felt something there, tearing at his skin. His eyes were open, but the usually alert teal was clouded over in a sleeping terror, fighting vainly to escape the nightmare but not succeeding quite yet.

"Oi!" Luffy called out, shocked as he saw blood begin to flow. When he got no response and no signs of stopping, Luffy was about to jump down and run over, but Sanji stopped him.

"That darkness is bad news, Luffy, we can't just run up to him." The cook reminded, though he looked a bit spooked as well. Sitting there watching someone hurt themselves and being unable to stop them was a terrible feeling. He could use Sky Walk to avoid the ice floor, but he would probably meet with the same problem as Dextra and be pushed back by the same darkness constricting around Toshiro. They had to think about this.

Seeing him tear at his own neck, Dextra steeled herself and dove straight down. She couldn't watch anyone else die, especially not by their own hands.

The dark tendrils twisted violently, constricting painfully around Toshiro, at the least forcing his arms away from his neck by pulling them down at his sides instead, several more rising to the sky as he looked up. His eyes were still clouded, but Dextra saw terror hidden within them, seeing her as a threat in his hazy nightmare and the darkness reacted accordingly. In the next moment pain shot through one of her wings and one of her legs, and her vision spun until she saw only ocean.

"Dextra!" Law's panicked shout was all he could do as she fell into the water, unable to follow or he would drown as well. He was about to take the risk anyway when a blur of black shot past him, keeping to the air to avoid the ice before diving right into the water. He put his hopes in Sanji to get her out before she sank too far.

"We still need to do something about him!" Franky had to shout as the wind was picking up even more, carrying with it a chill that nipped at their skin painfully. Whatever was going on in Toshiro's head, his panic was fueling the darkness, which consumed his power to create a slowly worsening storm.

The darkness seemed to expand over Toshiro's form. At first they all tensed for something worse, perhaps even a fight, but a relieved sigh left them as it was Hyorinmaru showing himself in a larger form, still fitting on the ship but now taking up all the deck space. With a growl he settled somewhat unsteadily on the deck of the Sunny and reached a forewing over, latching onto his master with his talons and pushing him to the ground. The tendrils dispersed for a moment as the Heartless let out a cold breath, but Toshiro did not seem to recognize his dragon trying to restrain him. Their roles now reversed, Hyorinmaru could only do his best to keep his master in place so he wouldn't hurt himself or anyone else, the dragon unable to make any other move that might harm him.

He turned his golden gaze back on the pirates behind him as Sanji returned, helped up out of the water by Robin's hands with Dextra in his arms. Despite there clearly still being a threat, Law's only concern was making sure she was okay, and while Sanji shivered in the intense cold wind hitting his soaked body, he kept Dextra close to hopefully keep her warm. Her arm and leg bled heavily and Law was not about to let it get worse, the doctor leading Sanji away into Chopper's room at the reindeer's invitation.

The dragon looked over them all before settling on a surprising figure, Nami blinking a few times to make sure that yes he was looking at her. Chopper, thankfully still outside, translated for her.

"He wants you to go help!" He said to the navigator.

"Me!?" She was understandably taken aback. Next to the dragon a storm was raging, and the darkness was lashing out again as Toshiro struggled, at risk of hurting himself against his dragon's talons with his panicked thrashing. There was nowhere safe in that mini arctic-hell he'd created around him.

"He mistook you for someone before, perhaps Hyorinmaru thinks you can calm him down." Robin spoke up, understanding what the dragon might be getting at. "Pretend to be her for a bit?"

"But I don't know who Rangiku is, he totally would know she's not me!" Nami argued. She did not want to go anywhere near someone so dangerous. But… she glanced over for a moment, seeing the blood flow down his neck. That darkness was definitely dangerous, but the one hurting the most was the child himself, if anything they would be saving Toshiro by waking him up and not just themselves.

The dragon gave a low, sad rumble and Chopper listened intently. Nodding confidently to the Heartless, he turned back to Nami.

"He says he'll protect you, and that you just have to talk to him. Rangiku saved his life once, if he thinks you're her, he won't feel threatened and might wake up."

"Still, that's…" It was a lot to ask, and while protection from the dragon was a nice thought, those black spikes looked… deadly.

There was a split second where the wind stopped, and everything went still. It didn't last long, barely long enough for them to notice, and then it was back full force as Toshiro screamed again, his free arm curled up over his head as if he was trying to hide. He was shouting words this time, and over the rising storm they heard 'I didn't do it, I didn't mean it' repeated over and over again.

Hyorinmaru snarled at the darkness clinging to his master so painfully to clear it away again, and the mantra subsided to a whimper.

With Nami still looking uncertain, Robin took charge instead, hating to see a child – even one older than them – suffering in such a way. He held up a cold exterior towards them, but living the life she had, it didn't fool her one bit. She may not look like anyone precious to him, but she would give it her best, using her ability to make a bridge of arms over to the dragon's back. He didn't seem to mind, leaning down a bit so she could step over his icy wing towards his master.

"Hey wait, I didn't say no!" Seeing her crewmate's brave charge right into the storm, Nami jumped the railing and followed, Robin having left her arms up to do so. They vanished behind the navigator, though, which left a pouting Luffy behind.

Upon the dragon's back, the cold felt less harsh, the wind held back and not threatening to throw her off. A subtle aura surrounded the beast to protect them, just as he promised, and allowed her to catch up with Robin. One short slide down Hyorinmaru's leg and they'd be next to Toshiro, but right next to him they would not be as protected, and the dark spikes were growing. They seemed to be forming some kind of barrier, rising up and over top of the small figure, and only Hyorinmaru's hold on Toshiro himself kept it from covering him completely as his talons blocked that side from rising. His arms still covered his head, hiding from them.

Robin slid down first, gasping a bit at the sharp shock of cold that went over her as she touched the ground. Thankfully, right next to the source of the ice, it did not freeze those who touched it, at least not immediately, frost nipping at her limbs not covered by clothing. They would not have long even with Hyorinmaru's protection. Worse than that, the intensity of anxiety and fear that hit her with the cold air made her breath catch, her heart beating fast as she tried to force it down. She could have sworn she heard screams in the distance, but with a shake of her head they went away. Flashes of what Toshiro was seeing? She couldn't be sure. She looked up to Nami, the orange-haired woman already looking shaky both because she wore less than Robin to protect her from cold and because she was not sure she wanted to face that same darkness Robin had just powered through.

Figuring Nami would come down in her own time, when she had a bit to collect her thoughts, Robin focused back on the white-haired child trapped under a frozen wing. The black in his hair was starting to increase as black frost collected in the boy's hair.

"Hitsugaya, I need you to listen to me." Despite teeth chattering from cold, she kept her voice soft, calming.

He did not respond, knuckles turning white as he grasped more firmly at his hair with a whimper. Black ice had covered his neck, and while it stopped the bleeding it was clear its presence there greatly upset him, his breath heavy and suggesting he was having trouble breathing now with it there. He didn't necessarily need to breath in his current state, but not being used to it, the choking sensation frightened him.

"It's alright, no one is here to hurt you." Robin tried again, reaching out and putting a hand on his arm.

"No!" His shout thankfully warned her of trouble, letting her pull her hand away before the darkness could latch onto her as it thrashed wildly from his fear.

"I just want to help, it's alright."

"You'll get killed…" He was responding now at least, but she couldn't see his eyes to see if he was awake or just reacting to what he thought was still a nightmare. "Just like them…"

"No one here has been killed, but you're going to hurt yourself if you keep this up." Though curious what nightmare he was living through to be afraid of killing others, Robin kept her tone soothing and focused on trying to bring Toshiro to reality.

"I didn't mean it…" With that response it was definitely clear that he was still mostly unconscious.

"We know, Hitsugaya, it's alright. You must wake up."

To her surprise, he laughed. Still hidden under his arms and sounding quite unstable, Toshiro laughed.

"I had to, though… didn't I? They made me… argh, stop!"

Robin had to back up a bit as Toshiro, in what seemed to be a mental battle against himself, hit his head against the frozen floor. Red stained into his hair, the ice sharp and brittle.

Concerned, Hyorinmaru loosened his hold slightly, Nami having to hold on a little tighter as he shifted. In the brief relief from his dragon's talons, Toshiro pulled his way out and shoved himself against the icy wall slowly rising up around them, curving over to form a cover. It blocked the wind at least, but that didn't make it any less cold.

His back up against the wall, Toshiro's blank eyes stared in fear at the ground just in front of him, hands back at his neck to claw at the ice covering the wounds he had already made. Robin acted quick, choosing to use her ability to make arms up against the ice wall and pull the boy's hands away, acting as human shackles so he couldn't keep hurting himself.

"N-no, let me go!" He cried, shutting his eyes as he pulled against the arms. He still held surprising strength for his size, probably more so just because he was so panicked, causing Robin to add a few more hands to hold him against the wall. "Don't make me hurt any more of them, please… just let me die!"

Robin wanted to reach out, even as his hands began to give off an icy mist that warned of a magic attack ready for use, but someone beat her to it. For a brief moment, Toshiro's crying faltered, shocked stiff as he was embraced by Nami. He still looked terrified, whether for himself or her they couldn't be sure at this point, but all his line of sight could see was orange. Nami could feel him shaking like a leaf, was worried about how bizarrely cold he was, but she kept her hold. The dark tendrils rose up and she braced herself, wondering if this was a bad idea after all, getting trapped in this cocoon of ice with an ice monster… but then they shrank away. The glow around his hands flickered out, freeing them from the threat of being frozen.

"This is extremely terrifying and I'm not going to ask what happened to you, but you're okay now. No one is going to make you do anything." Her tone was a little less certain than Robin's had been, but he was listening.

He didn't respond, but he seemed to be listening, his eyes beginning to lose some of the haze. The storm outside had begun to still and there was no more creaking of ice as it stopped its slow crawl over the ship. Hyorinmaru lowered his head over them, curious and hopeful. The sound of a hurr from the dragon made Toshiro look up slightly, as if seeing the creature for the first time. The girls didn't say anything else, just let him return to the waking world on his own now that he'd been shocked out of his nightmare.

"…I'm sorry." The terror seemed to be gone, but the sadness in his tone did little to stem their worries. Nami shifted back out of her hug and just left her hands on his shoulders, seeing him look down at the ground. He was fully lucid now, but the shame and sadness in his expression concerned them. "This is… I should have controlled this better."

"No one got hurt, it's alright." Robin tried to reassure him, choosing not to mention Dextra's injuries.

"It's anything but alright, I haven't had an episode like this in decades… Soul Society would never allow this, this is an absolute failure."

"Hey, you had a nightmare, and a pretty bad one by the looks of it, who cares what they say?" Nami snapped with a huff.

"A Captain doesn't let nightmares almost destroy everything around him…"

"You're a kid!"

"That doesn't matter!" Anger flashed across the Nobody's face and the navigator backed away a bit, startled. "This… all of this," he slammed a fist against the half-cocoon wall around them and it shattered apart, turning into an icy mist that vanished into the air, "I'm supposed to be better than this! I used to have control, and now-"

He cut off when his voice cracked and he ducked his head down again, hands gripping at his hair once more. He did his best to hide them, but they could still see his shoulders shake from the suppressed cries. Understanding his anger had risen due to self-loathing, Nami forgave the outburst and patted his back. He didn't refuse her, just let her rub his back calmly while he dealt with his inner turmoil.

The ice was at least beginning to free the Sunny and the water around them from its grip. No one said anything, not even Luffy, as they gave the Reaper his space for the night.