Asteria Nightmare
Part fourteen of a fanfiction by Velkyn Karma
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.
"If you find yourself in a fair fight you didn't plan your mission properly!"
~Military Saying
Half an hour later, Nami and Sanji-kun finally managed to stumble their way to the tree-line where their temporary shelter was located. She couldn't see any traces of it in the dark, although she was sure she was at the right place. She was proven right moments later when a pale face seemed to drop out of the trees ahead of them and float towards them, dark eyes wide.
Nami almost screamed for a moment before she realized the face was in fact Brook's; his pale white bones stood out alarmingly against the dark and his own black clothing and afro. Sanji-kun visibly relaxed beside her. Clearly he'd been caught by surprise, as well.
"Nami-san! Sanji-san!" Brook greeted with his usual energy, although he did make an effort to lower his voice. "It is very good to see you back safe and sound! We were beginning to worry that the Nightmares had left you for dead in the city...and not in a good way like myself, yohohoho!"
Nami was too tired to even bother reprimanding Brook for the ill-placed skull joke. "Wasn't Usopp on guard when we left?"
"Of course he was, Nami-san, but it has been nearly three and a half hours since you left," Brook said. "We decided to relieve him of watch since he was a part of your group and probably needed the rest more. Naturally I volunteered to take his place."
"Is everyone else inside?" Nami asked next, looking around for the reinforced shed. It was very difficult to see in the dark, even as close as it was.
"That is correct, Nami-san," the skeleton answered with a nod. "Might I suggest you retire as well? As I said before, you look—"
"Dead on my feet, I know," she answered with a scowl. Brook yohoho'd with a little more volume than she would have liked in response, and she said, "But you have a point, we are really tired." The evidence being that Sanji-kun hadn't even tried to kick Brook for his stupid skull jokes, and was just standing obediently behind Nami, wavering a little on his feet. She wasn't really surprised. The day had been especially rough on their cook; no sleep, two fights, losing and recovering his Dreamshard, and finally an exhausting full-day trek finished up with a very difficult reconnaissance mission in an infested Nightmare city. It was only thanks to the infamous levels of stamina the Straw Hat crew's three powerhouses possessed that he was still standing at all, most likely.
Brook nodded and retreated back to his tree, climbing back into its branches easily thanks to his long limbs, and within seconds he was all but invisible again as he kept watch. Nami and Sanji-kun made their tired way to the shed and cracked open the door slowly before stumbling inside.
Franky greeted them with an outstretched arm, his hand folded back to make a scope as he aimed his built-in cannon straight at them. Nami froze in surprise, and Sanji-kun leapt forward in front of her, hissing angrily, "What the hell do you think you're doing, aiming at a lady like that, you shitty tin can, huh?"
Franky blinked and almost immediately retracted his arm, folding his hand back into place automatically. "Sorry, Curly-Cook," he said with a shrug. "Can't be too careful on this island, y'know?"
Sanji-kun was still bristling, and Nami pushed him forward hastily so she could shut the door. The inside of the shed was lit up brightly with several of Usopp's and Franky's collapsible lanterns, and she didn't want to light up their position to outside watchers. She was surprised enough as it was that they hadn't even known there were lights on from the outside. "How did you conceal the lanterns, Franky?"
He grinned at her. "I fixed up some blackout curtains with a little help from Usopp. We found all the holes in the shed and patched them up too. Feels a little more comfortable with the lights, right?"
Nami had to nod in agreement, watching the shadows flicker as the flames in the lanterns danced back and forth. It wasn't much, but even a few measly flames made the whole shed seem much warmer and safer, calmed her crawling, anxious nerves a fraction.
It also lit up their surroundings enough for her to look around. She could see their packs stowed carefully in the far corner, with the food pack most prominently in front. Usopp was sleeping curled up not too far from the bags, resting his head on his own bag of artillery, and Chopper slept snuggled up next to him, probably for comfort more than warmth—the shed felt fine to her, anyway. Closer to the center of the shed their three dreamless nakama were laid out; all three looked extremely pale, and reminded Nami of corpses more than people. She shivered.
Sanji-kun was glancing around as well, and seemed to have noticed the food bag. "You guys eat after all?" he asked, eyeing the food stores critically—probably trying to estimate how much was left.
"A little," Franky said with a shrug. "Not much, we didn't want to start a fire for cooking in case the food scents attracted Nightmares."
Sanji-kun nodded in agreement, then gestured to the three dreamless nakama in the center of the room. "What about them...and don't you dare tell me you let Robin-chan go without dinner," he said with a scowl.
Franky held up his hands placatingly. "Woah there, Curly-Cook, calm down a little! We tried to get'em to eat, all three of them, including Robin. It didn't exactly work so well. None of them really wanted to eat. I guess not having a Dreamshard kills off your appetite pretty quick."
Nami frowned. "I guess that makes sense in a way...the stories back on Asteria did talk about the victims they found eventually wasting away for various reasons."
Sanji-kun's expression was dark. "Nobody ate?" he asked, very seriously.
"I didn't say that," Franky said, looking surprised at Sanji-kun's response. "We got Zoro and Robin to eat a little, although that was mostly only because Chopper practically begged them to do it. Luffy though...he was still real out of it. You could drape a first-class super steak across his face right now and he wouldn't budge a muscle." The genuine concern in his voice was all too clear by the end, and put into perspective just how badly off their captain was right now. Luffy would never pass up a meal for anything—not even being unconscious for days after a fight could do that.
Sanji-kun was clearly not happy with this new bit of news as well, but it only made him look more determined, and Nami could understand why. The sooner they beat the Nightmares and retrieved those Dreamshards, the sooner everyone would be back to normal and they could leave this whole mess behind.
But that wouldn't be until tomorrow, and for now Sanji-kun seemed to have other plans in mind. Striding over to the food pack, he said casually, "That's only because none of you can cook for shit. Wake'em up, and I'll make something for my darling Robin-chan...and the others too, I guess—"
"Won't work, Curly-Cook," Franky said with a sigh. "They're out for good. Right around the time dark hit, they just...dropped. All three of'em, at the exact same time. Robin was sitting up and she just fell right back. Sword-bro—um, I mean, Zoro—he was standing at the time, and he went down like somebody whacked him in the head, we had to drag him back over. And Straw Hat...well, his eyes've been open pretty much all day, but they closed when the dark came." The cyborg shook his head tiredly. "Haven't been able to wake any of'em up since. And they're dead silent unless the captain starts ranting...for some reason it starts them all up."
Nami paled slightly at that, and glanced down at Luffy, Zoro and Robin with concern. Now that Franky mentioned it, Luffy's and Zoro's snores were conspicuously absent once again. And Nami knew from experience that Robin was a very light sleeper, but the woman looked so heavily asleep now it was unnatural. It reminded her all too strongly of the first night they were here, with the anxiety of not understanding what was wrong with their captain. Or last night, when Zoro's unnatural chanting had nearly exposed them to the hungry Nightmares above. And now that they knew the cause of it—knew exactly what was stolen, and why it pained their nakama so badly—the situation was all the more dark and wrong than before.
Sanji-kun grit his teeth at the cyborg's announcement, and withdrew one of his cigarettes, lighting up with sharp, jerky movements. He breathed deep, exhaled a cloud of smoke with a tired sigh, and seemed slightly more in control seconds later when he said, "Okay, then. We'll try them tomorrow at breakfast. Nami-san, you must be hungry, allow me to make you something worthy and delicious after all your hard work today!"
"Only if it's quick, Sanji-kun," she said, voice flat. "I am not staying up any longer than I have to." And she looked over longingly at their packs, where she knew at least one blanket was left that wasn't being used for Luffy, Zoro or Robin.
"Of course, Nami-san!" Sanji said immediately. "I'll have it ready in but a moment, I wouldn't dare interfere with Nami-san's beauty sleep!"
"Whatever," she answered with a yawn, and let the cook get to it while trying her best to not look at any of her dreamless nakama.
"So, did you find anything useful, girlie?" Franky asked after a few moments, clearly trying to break up the uncomfortable silence.
"Some. We've got a route and we know what we're up against now," Nami said with another yawn. "I'll explain more tomorrow...too tired to do it tonight. Whoever's on the last watch, make sure they wake us up before dawn, so we have enough time to explain and get ready and can use all the daylight to our advantage."
"You got it, sis," Franky answered with a nod. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll have a super plan to break in there tomorrow and get those Dreamshards back."
The mention of the gems seemed to be just the trigger needed to set Luffy off. The captain gave a soft moan of what sounded very much like pain, and began to rasp softly, "Lost...c-can't f-find it...t-taken...lost...can't f-find it...stolen...stolen...stole it, they stole it, they stole it..." Over and over, just like before, only how there was a real edge of desperation in his voice that Nami was sure hadn't been there two days ago when he'd first been hit. Luffy was getting worse...there was no denying that.
And just as Franky had said, although Zoro and Robin had remained unresponsive to any other outside triggers, refusing to wake no matter how much they were poked, prodded, shaken, or yelled at, it seemed Luffy's voice alone could break through that otherwise perfect shell. When his desperate cries began, Zoro and Robin almost immediately joined him, ranting with regularly increasing volume about how their dreams, too, couldn't be found, were lost to them...were stolen. Neither of them had quite the same edge of desperation, of pleading, that Luffy's voice had just yet, but Nami was sure it was only a matter of time. Even without it, the sight was one of the eeriest things Nami had ever seen in her life.
"Nami-san," Sanji-kun said, and she snapped out of a daze she hadn't realized she'd even been in, wrenched her gaze away from Luffy and the others. Sanji-kun was standing right in front of her, holding out a cloth napkin with a large sandwich balanced carefully atop it in one hand, and one of their canteens with water in the other. "For you," he added, and she took the two items hastily, trying very hard to not listen to the dreamless pleading of her nakama.
Sanji-kun walked away from her again to retrieve his own food and pack up the food bag again, and Nami looked down at her late dinner. Even without the ability to cook anything, and limited to whatever was transportable in food packs and the small cooler Franky had brought, Sanji-kun's ability to deliver a fantastic meal was still extraordinary. The sandwich looked delectable and smelled heavenly, and Nami realized when her stomach rumbled angrily just how famished she really was. She dug into the meal with gusto, and when Sanji-kun came over and sat next to her moments later with his own sandwich he looked absurdly pleased, like he always did whenever he managed to get anybody to eat anything.
Nami polished off the remains of the sandwich quickly, and though it was entirely unladylike, licked the crumbs from her fingers as well. By the time she was completely finished, Luffy's ranting had finally slowed, quieted, and eventually trailed off, and without him to encourage the others Zoro and Robin eventually fell silent as well. The navigator decided she definitely wanted to be asleep before they started up with their creepy chanting again, so she returned the cloth napkin and canteen to the food pack, retrieved the last of the blankets, and staked out a patch of dirt in the shed for herself. Sanji-kun enthusiastically offered to keep her company. She vehemently refused, but did accept his offer of his suit-jacket to use as a pillow; no sense in dirtying up her hair and face if it wasn't needed.
"Remember...up before dawn," she said sleepily, as she wrapped herself in the blanket.
"I remember, Girlie," Franky said. "Get some sleep. You too, Curly-Cook. You guys need it."
"Yeah," she murmured softly, settling her head down. Sanji-kun's jacket was soft and warm, and smelled comfortingly of the cigarettes that she still associated with Bellemere more than him. The warm glow of the lanterns made her feel irrationally safe, and with all the crew together again—even if some were in less than perfect shape—the night felt somehow so much more different than the previous one. The combination of the illusion and her own exhaustion made it much easier to ignore her fears, and sink deeper than her nightmares, and she was asleep not long after her head touched her improvised pillow.
Whatever happened tomorrow, they would be ready for it.
Nami came back into awareness hours later, when a timid Chopper shook her carefully by the shoulders. She blinked sleepily as she woke, and the little reindeer said quickly, "Sorry to wake you up, Nami, but it's about an hour before sunrise, and Franky said we needed to get up to plan then—"
"It's fine, Chopper," she said with a heavy yawn, and pushed herself slowly into a sit, drawing the blanket a little further around herself. It was chillier than she remembered, in the early hours of the morning. "I told Franky that myself. "
"Oh!" the doctor said. "Alright, then. Did you sleep well?" He studied her carefully, and she could tell the question was clearly more clinical in nature.
"Yes, surprisingly," she answered, and it was true. She'd slept like a rock since the moment she'd lain down, never waking up once. And although she could still feel a cold, tight grip around her heart, the wispy remains of unsettling and uncomfortable dreams that had come in the night, she couldn't remember dreaming about any nightmares—or nightmarish memories. It definitely wasn't the most restful sleep she'd ever had, but she definitely felt ready for the big fight today.
Chopper studied her for a moment more, apparently trying to discern if she was hiding the truth or not, but then nodded in acceptance. "Okay. In that case I should go wake the others up," he said, and scrambled off in the direction of what sounded like a small thundercloud curled up in the corner, but which actually turned out to be Franky when Nami turned to take a look.
She shook her head in exasperation and tiredly looked around the rest of the shed. Not much had changed, other than the fact that Brook was now stretched out to nearly full length over next to Usopp, head carefully pillowed on a bag to protect his afro as he slept. Sanji-kun was already up, rifling through the food pack again and muttering under his breath around the cigarette in his mouth as he started preparing breakfast. With the world outside cut off by the blackout curtains, and the still cheerfully flickering lanterns, Nami almost would have thought it was one of their camping or exploration trips on the deserted islands they'd found before on the Grand Line. Almost, but for the fact that Luffy, Zoro and Robin were still laid out in the center of the shed, silent as the grave, and not a one of them looked like they'd moved an inch since she'd seen them last night.
Nami's face fell at the sight of them, and she hastily looked away. They would have their nakama back in full today, come hell or high water. They were not leaving without those Dreamshards, not even if they had to tear the entire Temple of Dreams apart to find them. Then the three of them would have their goals back, and...damn it all, by this rate Nami would barely be able to keep herself from giving Luffy an enormous hug the next time he declared he'd be King of the Pirates at exactly the wrong moment, just because it would be so good to hear that unhesitating confidence again.
But for now there wasn't much that they could do for the three, other than leave them be. If Zoro's actions yesterday were anything to judge by, then the three of them wouldn't even wake up—if one could call it that in Luffy's case—until the sun had risen enough. Nami had seen enough by now to realize the dreamless state was heavily affected by the sun, or lack thereof in the present case.
So she gave Luffy one last glance and dragged herself tiredly to her feet. Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders for now, she stooped to retrieve Sanji-kun's folded jacket and, brushing it off, walked over to return it.
"Nami-san! Good morning, my heavenly flower, did you sleep well?" Sanji-kun greeted enthusiastically at her approach. "I'll have breakfast for you in just a bit, never fear!"
"Fine," Nami answered. "Here, thanks for this, it was quite comfortable."
She handed over the jacket, and he accepted it gleefully, clearly pleased that he was able to add to her level of comfort in any way. "I live to serve, Nami-san," he said, as he swept the jacket back on and expertly buttoned, straightened, and smoothed the fabric until he looked presentable again. Considering he'd been through a number of fights, taken more than one beating, and had been slammed into the ground several times, Nami privately had to admit that he was covered in shockingly less dirt and fewer tears than she would have expected.
But it would never do to tell him that and boost his ego even further, so she said instead, "When everyone is awake we'll discuss what we found last night and make an attack plan."
"Of course, Nami-san!" the cook answered, but he sounded more serious than before. "I thought a bit on it myself last night when I was falling asleep."
"Good," she said grimly. "We'll need all the ideas we can get." He nodded in agreement, face dark, and she knew he was remembering the Temple of Dreams and its swarm of unnatural guardians, because she was herself.
Half an hour later, everyone was awake and preparing for today's assault on Oneirosa city. They packed up the blankets, lanterns, and other supplies, leaving only the blankets their three dreamless nakama were laid out on for their comfort (not that they could really recognize it in their present states). The Sunny-based defenses set up all around the shed were left in place for now, although it was unanimously agreed that they would be stripped down before leaving to attack, to be used as additional weapons or tools somehow in the assault. Franky did remove the blackout curtains, however, hollowing out a small space in the shed's old walls for them to keep watch through while meeting. The curtains he packed in one of their bags, which would remain in the shed; survival supplies would be of little use where they were heading, and the extra weight would only bog them down.
Weapons were checked, Chopper counted his medical supplies no less than six times, and Franky once again made sure everyone's Sunny-based 'upgrades' (as he called them) were in good condition and ready for the upcoming fight. By then Sanji-kun's breakfast was prepared, and the remainder of the crew sat in a circle near their dreamless members, while Usopp, with the sharpest eyes, ate standing and watched the world outside through the cracks Franky had made.
And while they ate, they planned. Nami and Sanji-kun reported everything they'd seen, from the twisting, confusing streets to the heavy opposing numbers and the beautiful, but clearly dangerous, Temple of Dreams. The others looked more than a little stunned when Nami described the sheer quantity of Nightmares they would be facing, and Nami wasn't surprised. It sounded like one of Usopp's over-exaggerated tales to her, too, and only the fact that she had seen it first-hand made her believe it.
The crew did not look very confident about their chances, and more than once they glanced over at Luffy and the others. "If Luffy was with us..." Usopp muttered out loud, knees knocking as he shivered in place. "Maybe then..."
He didn't have to finish his sentence; Nami understood. If Luffy was with them, perfectly healthy, dream intact, even that vast quantity of Nightmares would seem impossibly easy to beat. Luffy had a knack for making the impossible happen, and time and time again had done things, defeated people, changed lives, that everyone insisted couldn't be done, defeated or changed. Their captain would probably laugh at their perfectly logical, cautious attempts at planning, plow straight through the hordes of unnatural creatures without hesitation, and inquire as to when lunch was immediately after. Or maybe even during. His appetite was atrocious.
"But he isn't here," Nami said flatly, voicing her thoughts. "And if we don't try to make it through this, he won't ever be again. The others, too."
"It would certainly be most cruel to leave them as they are now," Brook said with a nod. "Even crueler if we never once tried, I think. Luffy-san was perfectly willing to try to help me regain my shadow, no matter how much I warned him to the contrary. I feel I owe him at least the attempt to recover his dream."
"Skelly's got the right idea," Franky said decisively. "And it's not like we're not prepared. We've got the Thousand Sunny with us, too. We can do this." Emboldened, the more timid Chopper and Usopp nodded, and even Sanji-kun—who had seen the opposing numbers with his own eyes—smirked a little.
"I think we can do it," Nami agreed, sounding more confident than she felt, "But it'll be tricky, and we'll have to be careful. Now listen up. We'll have to go in by the font gate, which is already pretty well guarded, and no matter how well we hide they'll see us long before we get there. There's just no way we'll be able to get everybody through the crack me and Sanji-kun used last night. So right away we're going to have to blast our way through just to force our way into the city.
"But," she continued, raising a triumphant finger and grinning around at the others, "once we're in, things'll get a little easier. The streets are very winding and confusing, but I mostly figured out the route last night, so we'll be able to head as straight as Oneirosa allows for the Temple of Dreams. And even better, the route I worked out has as many narrow streets as I could possibly find along the way. That means the Nightmares will have a tough time squeezing themselves in at us, and they won't be able to overwhelm us with sheer numbers. That's our first advantage."
"Won't they jump down at us from above?" Chopper asked with a frown.
"Maybe a few, if they try to crawl up the walls—the Harvesters can do that, like normal spiders," Nami said, with a shudder. "It'll be up to Usopp to take care of those, since he's the only one of us who can use a dream weapon at range." The sniper shuddered, but then took a deep breath and nodded determinedly. "But for the most part, they won't be able to, Chopper. Only the Generals seem able to travel on the city rooftops...I think the others are too heavy to manage it. As long as we keep an eye open, we should be fine."
"Right. Okay!" Chopper said, clenching his little hooves with determination.
"This route will also let us conserve our strength," Nami continued, "Which will be our next advantage. Since we'll have the narrow streets to keep us from getting overwhelmed, that means we can use smaller, more precise attacks to keep pushing forward. So remember to save all of your strength and your big attacks for when we get to the Temple of Dreams, and the big swarms." She glanced around the room at all of them, but in particular at Sanji-kun and Chopper, both of whom she knew had powerful short-duration attacks.
"I understand, Nami-san," Sanji-kun said with a nod, and Chopper nodded again as well, patting the small pocket where he kept his Rumble Balls.
"We'll still have to bring Luffy, Zoro and Robin with us," Nami went on, "and that'll definitely be our biggest weakness when we force our way into the city. Remember, the Nightmares will want to kidnap them to take them to their Queen of the Night, so we have to make sure they stay safe." Leaning forward over her breakfast, she sketched in the dirt with one finger, making quick 'x' marks for each member of the crew. "I have a few different arrangements in mind, but basically, it's important that we keep them surrounded by us at all times. If they're exposed to the Nightmares at all, there's a very high chance we'll lose them."
"We ain't gonna let that happen, Girlie," Franky said with confidence. "I can still carry Luffy on my back in his Sunny-sling, they'll never get at him that way."
"Right," Nami agreed. "I think that'd be best, since you could still fight while carrying him yesterday. Zoro and Robin are going to be more tricky. Just in case something happens, I think it's important that both of them have one of us assigned to protecting them until we can get them back to the safety of the group. Volunteers?"
"I would make an excellent guard for beautiful Robin-chan!" Sanji-kun predictably said, almost immediately.
But Nami shook her head. "No no, Sanji-kun," she said firmly. "We can't have that. You are our strongest fighter right now, with Luffy down—" (she very carefully avoided mentioning Zoro) "—and we'll need your strength elsewhere in the battle. You wouldn't leave us—me—up against hordes of Nightmares without backup, would you?"
Sanji-kun looked both flattered and delighted by her carefully-worded veto instead of upset that he couldn't guard Robin, and said enthusiastically, "I'll flatten every single one of those shitty spiders that comes your way, Nami-san, I promise! And towards you guys, too, I guess," he added to the others, almost as an after thought.
"I can watch Robin," Usopp offered instead. "I am the Great Captain Usopp after all! Uh, and she's easier to carry than Zoro, he's kinda heavy..."
"That works," Nami said, after a moment's consideration. "You can still help out at range too with your slingshot, even if we are separated for a bit."
"I can watch Zoro," Chopper volunteered. "He's not so hard for me to carry when I'm in Walk Point or Heavy Point. And I can probably keep him from trying to join the fight too," he added with a look that seemed to be half exasperation, half hero worship.
"Good," Nami said, and was grateful for a brief moment that Zoro still wasn't conscious yet to argue the point. "That's all three of them. Everyone keep an eye on them just in case, but if something happens, you know who to protect, so try to stay near them."
"You got it, Nami!"
"I'll make sure nothing gets Zoro, I promise!"
"This'll be easy, no problem, sis. I've been feeling especially protective this week, anyway."
Nami nodded. They were all so determined; hopefully it would be enough. "Brook," she said next, "You should try to stay in the middle with the others as well, if you can. Your music stuns the Nightmares, and that's another advantage we can't afford to give up, so you need to stay safe as well. Plus, if you're in the middle, your music will carry all around us and affect the Nightmares behind us as well as in front."
The skeleton swept to his feet with surprising grace and made a low, old fashioned bow in acknowledgement before declaring, "I will give the performance of a lifetime! Ah...even though I am already dead! Yohohoho!"
"Right," Nami said with a roll of her eyes, although she had to admit that Brook's jovial tone and oddball humor was uplifting for once. "I'll be towards the front, directing our movements. Make sure you keep pace with me, because we need to move fast, and keep the Nightmares off me if you can so I can focus." Not to mention, she didn't want the ugly things—especially the spider-like Harvesters—anywhere near her if she could avoid it. "The last six blocks will be the trickiest, because they'll be heavily infested with Nightmares, and I didn't have a chance to map that part out. We couldn't get close enough last night without being spotted. I think I understand how the city works, but we'll just have to do our best and hope we don't hit any dead ends."
Usopp audibly gulped at that, but nobody said anything, and Nami finally finished with, "Once we reach the Temple of Dreams, it'll probably be open ground. Just bull through, don't stop for anything, and keep Luffy, Zoro and Robin safe. If we push fast enough we should probably be able to make it to the Temple, and from there..." she shrugged. "I don't know. The Dreamshards have to be in there..."
"...But the Queen of the Night is probably also there, too, whatever she is," Sanji-kun added, when she trailed off. "And likely a lot more Nightmares, as well."
"Can we beat something like that?" Chopper asked nervously.
"With luck, we won't have to find out," Nami said firmly. "Don't forget, everyone...this attack isn't about cleaning up the island, or beating the Queen of the Night. This is about getting Luffy's, Zoro's, and Robin's Dreamshards back. That is our first priority, above all else!" Leaning forward, she sketched an Attendant roughly in the dirt with her finger next to the diagrams, and explained, "These creatures are what we're looking for. There are only three of them, according to the writings Robin translated. Look at the baskets. If they're glowing, there's a Dreamshard in there...get it at all costs! If you can, distract it for me and I'll steal them back. I already know what to expect and I have a better chance of getting them than you guys do, since I have more...practice at it. But if you think you've got a chance to destroy it and get them yourself, don't wait for me, just grab them and be prepared for a shock when you do. Attendants don't fight well, so there might be a chance to just steal them and run."
"If we can replace any Dreamshards we find back in Luffy-san, Zoro-san and Robin-san, our chances of escaping or even winning may rise, as well," Brook observed. "Adding any of them to the fight would be a great advantage."
"Not much of one," Sanji-kun warned. "All three of them will be dazed when they get their Dreamshards back. They might not be able to fight well right away. Or even at all—they've been dreamless much longer than I was."
"Anything is better than nothing," Nami countered. "Even if we don't have to babysit them anymore and can focus more on the fight, that's a plus. And the faster we return their Dreamshards to them, the faster we can get out of there, before the Nightmares have a chance to overwhelm us completely."
The navigator took a deep breath, and concluded, "That's it. Anything else? Any questions?" As one the boys silently shook their heads, and she nodded, glancing out their improvised 'window' that Usopp was guarding. The sun was just beginning to rise, creating pink and orange wisps over the tops of the red-gold trees that she had admired so much when they first arrived. "Good. We'll give the sun a chance to get a little higher, to give us the maximum advantage possible...and for these three to wake up," she added with a sigh. "Then we're out of here, and we're not coming back until we've got all of our nakama again!"
They cheered determinedly, the most dangerous and ferocious group of pirates Nami had ever known, much less associated herself with, and the navigator wished she could be half as confident about the plan as they looked.
Here we go guys...from here on out, asses will be kicked.
~VelkynKarma