Asteria Nightmare
Part fifteen of a fanfiction by Velkyn Karma
Note: This chapter is ridiculously long. Don't read it if you have better things to do with your time. :P
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.
"Storm the gates, raise the flags
Seize the throne, subjugate
Some might say we've lost our way
But I believe we've not gone far enough."
~"A Gentleman's Coup," Rise Against
The Straw Hat Pirates charged towards Oneirosa city, weapons at the ready, fury on their faces. The Southern Gates of the ancient, crumbling wreck of a city towered over them, looming and oppressive, unknowing and uncaring of their mission. And covering every possible surface of the roads, inside of the gates, gatehouses, and even portions of the city wall itself, were the Nightmares. The Harvesters perched like fat, hungry spiders everywhere their eight mismatched clicking legs could find purchase, tapping mandibles together and hissing delightedly at the meal that had decided to come to them. And on the old cobblestones of the city's interior, a dozen Shepherds and a pair of Generals waited as well, watching hatefully with far too many sets of eyes as they approached.
Sanji-kun snorted in disgust. "They don't even know how to properly greet their guests. Shitty Nightmares." He was running at the front of the pirate crew, easily keeping up a loping but still fast pace as he charged towards the dozens of aberrations in front of them.
"That's too bad," Nami said lightly. They were still many yards from the Gates themselves, and the creatures waiting patiently for them, but that hardly mattered to some of their number. "Usopp, why don't you show them how it's actually done?"
Usopp nodded at the signal, and even though he was obviously terrified, charging at so many murderous, dangerous creatures, he grinned widely; that was an order he knew he could follow. Nami allowed him to pass the job of supporting Robin to her temporarily—the archaeologist was awake, but having trouble keeping up with the crew due to her dreamless state, and required assistance. Then he whipped his Kabuto from his back, stuffed his hand into his bag, and pulled free a handful of glinting bits of metal.
"Multiple Dream Stars!" he yelled. The nails from the Sunny arced overhead, racing with unerring accuracy for the heads of the closest Nightmares, sitting smugly inside the gate. The Harvesters and Shepherds did not even bother to try and dodge, probably considering themselves immune, until it was too late; then the dream-weapons ripped into them with surprising fury. Harvesters and Shepherds screamed and howled as the painful attack of Franky's Thousand Sunny dream tore them apart, and they burst into oily flames, thinning the ranks ahead by a tiny fraction. The Generals ahead narrowed their three sets of eyes at the Strawhats and emitted their rumbling hisses, already splitting up and screeching frantically to their followers.
Usopp fired a second time, this time aiming for some of the creatures on the walls. These Harvesters did try to dodge, now understanding the painful accuracy of the Straw Hat sniper, but it was still too late for them: even if Usopp's aim wasn't already impeccable, the Nightmares presented enormous targets that would be difficult to miss at this range. The Harvesters dropped from the walls with more shrieks, burning to a crisp before they'd even hit the ground.
Usopp fired a third time, aiming at the walls as before. With the resulting chaos he was causing none of the Harvesters or Shepherds even seemed to realize that the Straw Hats were drawing still closer, charging without stopping at the gates. They were almost within range of the entrance now, close enough that the rest of them would soon be able to add their own abilities to the assault.
The Generals were cleverer than Nami liked to admit, however, and while the Shepherds and Harvesters clearly fell for the distraction, the snake-arm creatures did not. They darted back and forth just behind their servants, rumbling and hissing without breath, slapping and punching Shepherds and Harvesters alike as they gave what were unmistakably orders, and Nami felt their red, reptilian eyes on her and the rest of her nakama more than once.
Then the Shepherds acted. Despite their clear confusion, they were disciplined enough to obey orders, and as Nami watched each one raised their jackal-like faces and uttered a single, booming bark that she recognized all too well from two nights ago. The Harvesters around them, dozens of the spider-cat creatures, raised their heads almost immediately, waved their tails, and opened their jaws wide.
"Now, Brook!" Nami ordered sharply. "Now, before they start!"
"At once!" Brook said immediately, and yohohoing wildly—the musician was clearly insane—he raised his violin and began playing something fast and lively. Crazy as he was, Nami had to give him credit where it was due: the fact that he could still flawlessly play a violin while charging forward into what was probably a suicide mission was pretty praiseworthy.
The terror-call of dozens of Harvesters blasted straight into them, and for the barest of seconds Nami felt the chill of fear, the sharp spike of anxiety and terror as it drove into her heart like an icy stake. But a second later Brook's fast-paced violin countered it, sent a thawing warmth through her heart, mind and body, and she was able to push forward with renewed determination. The others around her did the same, barely faltering as they pushed ever forward...but there were a few unexpected hitches. Robin gasped sharply beside her, and staggered slightly as they ran—Nami was barely able to secure the not-archaeologist's arm around her shoulders before she went down completely. And from a short ways behind her she heard Zoro groan and stumble, and Chopper yelp in alarm.
That was new. Apparently the terror-call of the Harvesters was more potent if one lacked their dream. She would have to keep an eye out for that in the future...assuming there was one, anyway.
But the majority of the Harvesters' attack had been useless, and Brook's musical shield against the scream of fear had also become their counterattack. The Harvesters went rigid as the first of the sharp, cheerful notes hit them, and trembled with the visible effort of trying to move. The Shepherds were able to resist a little, but still looked like they were trying to walk through quicksand, their movements dulled and sluggish. And even the Generals, though still able to move, looked agitated at the noise, and clawed at what was presumably their ears with several pairs of hands, screeching angrily.
And in that moment of inaction the Straw Hat Pirates descended on them, screaming with no-holds-barred fury as they attacked the gates of the Nightmare-nest of Oneirosa.
Sanji-kun hit the wall of Harvesters first with a wordless roar. He spun quickly, releasing a sharp pair of kicks that, enhanced with the sailcloth tied to his dress shoes, caused two of the music-stunned spider-cat creatures to explode into flames and oily smoke almost upon impact. Without a moment's pause, the cook leapt onto the back of a third creature behind where the first two had been—even standing on the creature caused the Nightmare to emit thick, foul-smelling smoke from its contact with Franky's dream—and used it as a vaulting board to leap into the air above the rest of the Nightmares. Spinning quickly, Sanji-kun built up a furious momentum until, with a roar of "Concassé!" he rocketed down from the air and brought his heel smashing into the closer of the two Generals. The creature screamed in surprise and thrashed wildly, but Sanji-kun's move, when enhanced with a strong dream, was too powerful for even the enduring master Nightmare to bear. It, too, dissolved into oily smoke, leaving behind an overwhelmingly putrid scent of charred meat.
The rest of the Nightmares looked surprised—those that could move, anyway—and the second General turned on its many hands to run, or perhaps call for help. Sanji-kun gave chase, and the rest of the Straw Hats plowed into the stunned wall of Nightmares with Sunny-based weapons bared. Franky, with his large size and equally large weapon, and Usopp, who still had the advantage of range, were targeting the much more dangerous Shepherds first. As long as Brook's music wasn't interrupted, he could keep the Harvesters stunned indefinitely, while the Shepherds would pose much more of a threat to the weaker members of the crew, especially Zoro and Robin. But Franky and Usopp were able to dispose of them with only a little bit of difficulty—it took a few extra whacks of Franky's Adam-wood planks, and two or three of Usopp's nail-shots instead of the one it required to down a Harvester. But the more Shepherds that were eradicated, the better their chances would be later.
And while they took care of the more dangerous Shepherds, Nami and Chopper—remaining behind for the moment to provide a last defense for Brook, Zoro and Robin—proceeded to smash up as many of the Harvesters as they could. Stunned as they were, the creatures were unable to defend themselves or even run away, and all it took was one powerful smack to the head with Nami's cord-wrapped Clima-Tact, or Chopper's smaller Adam Wood plank, to finish them off. Nami would have preferred to not waste time with the creatures, personally, but the Harvesters formed a veritable wall that needed to be cleared away before the Straw Hats could break into the city. And anyway, the more of the creatures they destroyed now, the less of them would be attacking them from behind, later.
"Gimme something to fight with," Zoro growled to her right, and after smashing in another Harvester head and leaping away from the burst of flames Nami glanced over at him. The not-swordsman was, unbelievably, attempting to pull himself to his feet and push forward to fight, dangerously close to the nearest stunned Harvester.
"What are you doing!" She shrieked, and dragged him back hastily by the collar, a feat still made difficult by his sizable weight even if he was considerably weaker than usual. "Don't be stupid, Zoro—you can't fight, you can't even touch any of the dream weapons or they'll burn you!"
Zoro winced at the mention of dreams, but looked positively sullen when she met his gaze. "This isn't fair," he scowled at her, sounding once again petulant in a way that, in any other situation, would have had Nami busting a gut laughing. "Curly-brow gets to fight, why can't I?"
"Because Sanji-kun can actually touch the dream weaponry without hurting himself," Nami said in exasperation.
"He doesn't use weapons at all, just like me," Zoro said, still remarkably sullen, and Nami inwardly winced at how utterly incapable their not-swordsman still was of acknowledging his own dream and abilities. "Jackass...feh, speak of the damned devil now..." He wavered on his feet, clearly getting close to another passing-out fit, but his gaze held remarkably steady as he looked ahead.
Nami looked through the gates as well, and spotted Sanji-kun leaping over and through the crowds of Nightmares again, looking furious. She saw him vent his anger with a well-placed Mouton Shot to a nearby Shepherd, which dissolved into flames instantly. Then he shouted over the crowd to the crew, "Shitty General got away. Couldn't follow it too far without getting separated. We need to hurry, reinforcements are definitely coming now."
Nami cursed under her breath, but couldn't really blame Sanji-kun. The Generals were called as such for a reason, and were clearly more intelligent than they had even first guessed. "Then let's clear these things out fast," she shouted back, and the others yelled back in agreement. With Sanji-kun's additional help alongside Usopp's and Franky's own attacks, the Shepherds were cleared out at much more rapid-fire pace, and with Nami and Chopper smashing up the Harvesters as fast as they possibly could the entrance to Oneirosa began to clear up enough that they could force their way forward.
"Move, guys!" Nami yelled over the panicked hissing of the Harvesters, and the frantic fast-paced wail of Brook's violin. "Hurry, before more come!"
The rest of them knew the plan, and moved quickly to get into position. Sanji-kun and Franky took the lead, forming an arrowhead of powerful offensive maneuvers and sheer stability that would let them carve a path through the crowds of Nightmares for their nakama behind them. Brook leapt forward to follow directly behind them, keeping his music within earshot to defend them from the terror-call and stun the weaker Nightmares. Chopper ducked back to them quickly, slinging his Adam Wood plank over one shoulder as he bent to snatch Zoro up under his other arm. The doctor was careful not to let the not-swordsman's skin touch the three katana bound across his furry back—they had decided to bring Zoro's swords with them, under the assumption that he could still be of assistance when his Dreamshard was returned, if he could be armed. Chopper was just in time, as Zoro wobbled abruptly and passed out from the growing strength of his dreamless state. Nami grimaced at that; like Luffy, Zoro was starting to get worse too.
Usopp darted back to them as well to recover the pirate that had been assigned to him, and Nami moved to help Robin to her feet to speed up their charge. But Robin went stiff, and abruptly whispered, "A waste."
Nami started in surprise. Robin had spoken very little since her Dreamshard had been taken, and never before without being addressed by one of the Straw Hats. "What was that?" she asked.
"A waste," Robin repeated tiredly. Speaking sounded like it was a struggle; like her thoughts came from so far away she could just barely catch hold of them to share. "Usopp...you shouldn't...waste things so important...not if you know you will...never...see them again...otherwise..."
"What?" Usopp asked, bewildered, but Robin was already crossing her arms, her signature move before using her Devil-Fruit powers. Belatedly, Nami realized what she was going to do.
"No, Robin, don't, you'll hurt yourself!" she yelled, but it was too late. Dozens of disembodied arms sprouted across the front of Oneirosa's gates and wall, dipping elegantly to snatch up the bits of twisted metal at their bases: Usopp's Sunny-based artillery. The not-archaeologist's back arched, and she yelled in pain as the dozens of dream-infused items burned her dreamless, exposed skin. But she held onto them gamely all the same, passing them along from hand to hand until the improvised projectiles had been tossed into one neat pile. When she dispelled the extra limbs, her natural hands were immediately covered in dozens of raw, red burns, and she grimaced in agony, hugging them close to her body.
"Robin!" Nami yelled in surprise, and stooped quickly, pulling the not-archaeologist up and drawing the elder woman's arm across her shoulders, careful of her now-damaged hands. "What'd you do that for? You didn't need to—"
"Too many," the non-historian rasped softly, "and not enough." She was still grimacing slightly in pain, and looked close to passing out again, just like Zoro had moments before. And there was another similarity to their not-swordsman, too. Her voice bore the same strain that Zoro's had, when he came too close to his dreams and his purpose without realizing it; when he had struggled in vain to explain how he had promised something to Luffy, but couldn't quite remember what. Robin was the same now, and Nami had a feeling that whatever the extra part of her unrelated to her missing dream was, it was fighting very hard to stay afloat, with the same desperate strength that had once caused the woman to want to die for them...or live for them.
Usopp was hovering anxiously, and Nami jerked her head to the pile of artillery. "I've got her for now, catch up, hurry!" she ordered, and the sniper nodded, only pausing to stuff the newly recovered Sunny-nails into his bag before running ahead to rejoin the rest of the Straw Hat crew's formation. Nami followed, more dragging than supporting Robin as the woman began to succumb to her dreamless-induced weakness. Which probably wasn't helped any by her frustrating attempt to help, although Nami decided her idea was still a good one; she would pass along the idea to collect Usopp's nail weapons if it was possible.
It took surprisingly longer than Nami thought to catch up to the others, which upon reflection was a good thing: it meant Sanji-kun and Franky were able to carve their way through the crowds of Nightmares ahead without too much difficulty. She caught up to them as they finished forcing their way through the wide wide clearing just inside the gate, and gratefully took her place inside the small zone of safety that the Straw Hat arrowhead and fast-paced music within it provided.
"Don't forget, Sanji-kun," she yelled ahead to him, as she adjusted Robin's arm around her shoulders again, "the second street on the left, quickly!"
"Yes, Nami-san!" he called back immediately, and destroyed an intercepting Shepherd with another furious kick as he moved to lead the way. Franky cleared out a few of the smaller stunned Harvesters, and Usopp hastily sniped four of the spider-creatures lying in wait on the sides of the buildings they were heading towards.
Then they dived into the safe confines of the narrow streets with a rush, and Nami breathed a sigh of relief as the open space around them vanished. The first part of the attack had been a success. But now that the Nightmares knew some of their strategies and had gone to summon reinforcements, she was sure the next parts would be anything but easy.
They forced their way ahead now with as much speed as they could muster down the narrow first street, and since only two or three Nightmares could come at them from the front, it was much easier to progress while fighting. She could hear furious Nightmare screams from behind them as the creatures swarmed after them in their wake. But they had prepared for that too, and the Straw Hats rearranged quickly into the new formation they had discussed earlier.
Franky took the lead, swinging his plank warningly at anything that came near them. In the confines of the narrow streets he was a veritable brick wall that no grounded Nightmare could get past, and it also left his vulnerable back—and equally vulnerable captain, still slung across it—under the protection of his crew mates. No Nightmare could get inside that protective forward defense. And that was if anything was even allowed to get close; Usopp had also stayed near the front, shooting Harvesters and Shepherds alike over Franky's shoulders, long before the creatures were ever close enough to hit. Nami stayed by the formation's front as well, yelling directions to their shipwright whenever a new turn or fork came up in the roads. On very rare occasions she would smash a neglected Harvester in the head, or help Franky with a too-intense attacking Shepherd. But mostly she helped by picking up Usopp's dream-ammo when they walked past the discarded nails, or assisting with the dreamless crew members during more difficult moments. Zoro and Robin had been pushed into the center of the formation for their protection, as planned. Zoro was presently awake again, leaning heavily on Chopper for support as he wavered drunkenly, while Robin, passed out again, was slung over the doctor's Heavy Point shoulder. Brook remained in the center with them, the bow of his violin flashing wildly over the strings, and he had stopped yohohoing a short while ago, replacing his laughter with a look of supreme concentration as he kept playing. And Sanji-kun alone acted as their rear defense. With Brook's music, the Harvesters couldn't approach them from behind at all, and the attacks of the Shepherds were slowed, allowing him to handle the more difficult monsters on his own.
They were making progress, and Nami felt a little hope growing in her as they pushed forward down another street, and another, and another. They were really pushing forward, and still conserving their strength at the same time; the boys didn't look tired at all, and she didn't feel exhausted either, even though they had been at it for some time now. Maybe it would be possible to make it all the way to the Temple of Dreams. Hell, maybe they'd even be able to get those Dreamshards back, and this wouldn't be a suicide run after all.
Then she saw the shadow flickering on the ground, a shadow with many arms, and her eyes widened as she looked up.
Generals. There were three of them up above, perching on the rooftops, staring down at them with cold, evil-looking reptilian faces and far, far too many eyes than should have been natural. The creatures hissed down at her, and seemed to almost be sneering as they kept pace with the attacking pirates on the rooftops. One leapt over them across to the building on the other side of the street, and Nami flinched automatically as it passed over her. The snakelike Nightmares noticed, and seemed to grin at her wickedly...before the second of their number vaulted off the rooftop and straight down towards the center of their group.
"Look out!" she shrieked in warning, and everyone in the center hurled themselves aside, Chopper dragging Zoro and Robin with him. The General smashed to the cobbles in their midst, scattering broken bits of stone that cut into the Straw Hats in all directions. Without a shred of hesitation the evil looking creature uncoiled itself from its landing and hurled itself at Brook, arms outstretched and hands wide.
Brook threw himself aside again, but staggered off balance, and for a few terrifying moments his cheerful violin music died as he struggled to right himself. Almost immediately the Harvesters in front of and behind them began to surge forward again, clacking their mandibles hungrily, and the Shepherds' pace picked up dramatically as well. The General in their midst raised its head to scream a new order in its rumbling, hissing voice even as it whipped around and lunged again, this time for Zoro and Robin.
Nami tried to scream a warning, but Sanji-kun was faster, and rocketed past her in a blur of black and blue. "Collier Shoot!" he snarled, and his high-force kick smashed directly into the General's neck, slamming the multi-armed creature into the wall of the adjacent building. It screamed again, this time clearly in pain, and its entire side where Sanji-kun had hit it was blackened and smoking even though Sanji-kun hadn't used his Diable Jambe move yet. Landing expertly, the cook whipped his leg up and added a jabbing kick to what passed for the Nightmare's chest, shouting, "Poitrine!"
The second kick was too much for it, and the General dissolved in a blaze of flames and rancid stench. At the same time Brook finally managed to recover from the creature's attack, and hastily brought bow to violin, just in time to prevent the wave of Harvesters and Shepherds approaching from both the ground and the walls from overwhelming them. Sanji-kun darted back to his post as rear-guard, smashing the nearest pair of Shepherds into embers furiously, while Usopp took care of the newcomers clinging to the walls and Franky returned to clearing a path for them.
Her heart still pounding, Nami nevertheless glared up at the two remaining Generals on the rooftops triumphantly. The creatures glared back, clearly not happy to see one of their brethren killed. They watched the Straw Hats for several more moments, and then one of the creatures disappeared over the roof edge...probably to go get reinforcements, or make new preparations after what it had witnessed. The other one slunk alongside them on the rooftops, keeping pace and watching with a critical eye.
Nami didn't like that thing watching them, not one damned bit. Although it was impossible to tell one General from another, the way they all looked the same, she was almost positive now that this was the General that had first escaped them. She didn't like the way it acted so safe and smug up there, or the way it watched them so calculatingly.
"Usopp!" She shouted suddenly. The sniper glanced back at her, surprised, and she pointed to the rooftops. "Kill that thing, hurry!"
He glanced up, saw the General glaring down at them all, and yelped in fear. But for all that, he was lighting-quick as he drew back the Kabuto's straps and fired one of Sunny's nails up at the creature. It shrieked in surprise at the speed of the attack and pulled back up onto the safety of the rooftops hastily, but Nami could still hear it screeching in pain from up above. At the very least Usopp had managed a glancing shot, then. The General was more careful after that, only poking its burned head into range occasionally and for little more than a few seconds at a time. Usopp would take a shot at it when he could, although it was obviously difficult for him to keep his eye on the creature and the other Nightmares he was helping Franky with. Besides, Nami decided after a moment, it was probably just as well; no use wasting their only effective ammunition, as long as the creature wasn't about to leap down and attack them.
The General didn't try leaping down at them like its brethren had, nor did any of the other Nightmares—Nami suspected it was the only one up there now. The thought was not encouraging. If the Generals weren't there, then that meant they were elsewhere, and that meant they were probably preparing a new counterattack.
And as they turned the next corner, she suddenly understood exactly what that counterattack would be. She hadn't realized just how fast they were moving, but the Straw Hats were already coming up on the first of two clearings that they would be forced to dart across, to reach the next part of their route. The clearing was, ironically, the same one that she and Sanji-kun had discovered the directional tablets in, and in the back of her mind she found it strange that the very spot that had helped them figure out how to decode Oneirosa was now going to be the first of their challenges navigating it.
"We've got a lot of the ugly bastards up ahead, Girlie," Franky warned over his shoulder. "Looks like a town square ahead, and it's packed with Harvesters and Shepherds."
"There's a General there, too," Usopp added with a grimace, adjusting his goggles slightly as he looked over Franky's arm. "Waiting right by the entrance."
As if it had heard them, the General still following them from above released a rumbling, hissing laugh that sounded mocking. Nami glared up at it furiously, and then shouted to the rest of the crew, "We need to get to the street directly opposite us now, on the other side of the square, here. Don't stop for anything! Don't waste time fighting the Nightmares...just push through as fast as you can, be ready for whatever trick they're gonna try, and try to keep Zoro and Robin surrounded and Franky's back guarded!" A chorus of acknowledgements reached her ears, and then they had plowed their way through the Nightmares choking the street to the clearing beyond.
Almost immediately the General lunged at them, arms outstretched, fanged snakelike mouth wide. Sanji-kun didn't hesitate to attack it, kicking out at the creature's head with a roar, but the General dodged back immediately. It seemed to almost grin at them, and then tossed its head back and gave a sharp, screaming order.
At once the Shepherds dotting the clearing barked in return, and the Harvesters in the back of the clearing, out of range of Brook's violin music, raised their heads, waved their tails, and released the terror-call that was their most deadly weapon. The eerie, terrifying sound flowed forward, and Nami's eyes widened in horror as the scream overrode the lively folk tune stunning the rest of the Harvesters in the square, just like how Brook's music freed the pirates from the stunning fear the creatures produced. The terror-call's effects moved like a wave, and Nami could see more and more of the stunned Harvesters begin to shuffle as they were freed from their immobility and raised their voices to join the call as well, strengthening it even further.
Even through Brook's music, the fearsome attack hit Nami like a cannonball, and she gasped out loud as the terror, the anxiety, the helplessness that blasted through her every sense. She staggered, and before her eyes she could see Bellemere dying again, could all but smell the blood, feel the stillness as she fell so, so slowly, could sense the raw, abject horror as an enormous shadow from her past loomed over her, grinning—
From far away she heard a hesitant, staggered sound of a bow dragging badly over violin strings, and then screaming, and somebody else yelling, "Louder, Skelly, play louder, stronger, now now now! Sing!" There was a minute pause, a soft gasp, and then the violin began screeching again somehow, louder than before, more energetic, more powerful, and she could hear a pair of voices singing at the tops of their lungs to a very fast-paced rendition of Bink's Sake.
Instantly Nami could feel the warmth spreading through her bones again. She blinked, shook her head to regain focus, and looked up—just in time to see an angry Shepherd bearing down on her, scythe arms drawn back to slice. The navigator screeched in surprise, but brought her Clima-Tact spinning around immediately to smash into the creature's side, like her old bo staff. Two of the three Sunny-cords made contact, and the Nightmare screamed in pain, trying to back away from her. Brook's music—and what she could now tell were his and Franky's voices as well—made the creature too slow to effectively dodge. With another expert swing she twisted the Clima-Tact and brought its Sunny-enhanced end straight down on the creature's jackal-like head, right between its six eyes. It howled in pain and vanished into oily smoke, and Nami cleared it with a third swipe of her weapon, trying to regain her bearings.
It was chaos all around them. The Straw Hats' movement had been effectively stunned by the powerful terror-call, enhanced by so many Harvesters being present, and even though Brook had managed to recover to start stunning the creatures once again and resist the call for them they were still under heavy attack.
Sanji-kun was dueling furiously with the grounded General. The creature kept dodging back too quickly to be hit, trying to lure the cook away from his position as rear-guard so that waiting Shepherds could attack them from behind. Sanji-kun was equal to that, and refused to let himself be led away, standing firmly in between the Nightmares and the rest of his crew, but his inability to kill the thing was clearly frustrating him.
The others weren't doing much better. Zoro and Robin had both collapsed to the dirty cobblestones, and even at a glance Nami could tell they were in obvious agony from the enhanced terror-blast, muttering and ranting under their breath. And Luffy seemed to be having problems as well. Even wrapped up securely in the Sunny-made hammock on Franky's back Nami could still hear him shrieking that something had been stolen, that it would never be returned, and he was thrashing so hard in the confines of his sling that the cyborg holding him had been forced to temporarily drop his plank to secure his captain more firmly.
Only Brook, Usopp, and Chopper seemed to be doing fairly successfully. Brook had finished Bink's Sake and was now playing something else extremely fast-paced, still singing along in a language Nami didn't even recognize. How he managed to increase the volume of his little violin was a mystery, but one Nami wasn't about to question. Usopp had, with surprising cleverness, fired several handfuls of his dream ammunition into the air ahead of them; they rained down on the Harvesters like deadly hailstones, killing the creatures by the dozen and simultaneously weakening the effects of the terror-call. And Chopper, opposite Nami, was determined to keep their dreamless nakama safe. He was smashing the life out of the Shepherds still trying to close in, destroying them furiously as the creatures tried to push forward for the kill.
It was close, far too close, but the combined efforts of the Straw Hats pushed back the onslaught of Nightmares, barely recovering from what would have otherwise been a catastrophic defeat. With the terror-call diminished thanks to Usopp, the Harvesters were stunned into immobility once more and gradually fell silent. Brook's music became overpowering once again, and Nami could almost feel her insides burning and her heart pounding in excitement from the clear, energetic notes. Zoro and Robin gasped in pain and looked dazed, eyes glazed over and barely focused, but they obviously weren't hurting anymore from the stunning Harvester attack. And on Franky's back the sling protecting Luffy slowly went quiet and stopped struggling, allowing Franky to arm himself with his plank once more.
"Get back here, you shitty snake!" Sanji-kun snarled from behind them, and Nami spun around to see the General, hissing and smoking from half a dozen glancing attacks on the part of their cook, retreating over the backs of the stunned Harvesters. His legs twitched as if he itched to chase after the thing, but he still knew better, and finally with a look of sheer fury on his face yelled after the creature, "Coward! Willing to attack someone helpless, but running when I fight back, huh? Shithead!"
"No time for that!" Nami said sharply. "Franky, move forward, hurry! Sanji-kun, you guard our backs. Chopper, can you carry Zoro and Robin in Heavy Point? I don't think either of them can move right now. Usopp, you and I will need to take the sides, just keep things from closing in on us. Brook, keep up the music, and the singing too, it seems stronger that way. Hurry, we need to get to that street fast!"
Everyone leapt into action. Franky began carving a path through the hoards of stunned or nearly-stunned Nightmares, smashing Shepherds and Harvesters alike with ease. Usopp, teeth chattering and sweating profusely, nevertheless managed to keep shooting into the crowds of Nightmares on their left, destroying approaching Shepherds and any Harvester that was just a bit too close. Nami tried a different tactic on the right side of their tiny formation. Since her Clima-Tact was all but useless for defeating multiple Nightmares, unaffected as they were by her controlled weather patterns, she fell back on the strategy she had first used against them: hurling a vicious Cyclone Tempo at the creatures over and over, knocking them back and away from her and her nakama, keeping their sides clear. Chopper ran in the center, Zoro and Robin jammed in an uncomfortable-looking position together under one arm, drooping like dead weight, while he balanced his Adam Wood plank under the other. Brook charged alongside him with violin at the ready and singing at the tops of his lungs (sort of). At their rear Sanji-kun destroyed anything that made one last attempt to stop them, and kept an eye out for more attacking Generals; but the snake-arm he'd been fighting had disappeared for good, and was no longer in the clearing.
At last, with an audible sigh of relief that Nami was sure every single crew member released, they plunged into the narrow safety of the next street. Once again they spread into their original formation, with Franky, Usopp, and Nami at the front, and Sanji-kun guarding the back, and things immediately became a little easier without the pressures of dozens of Nightmares surrounding them.
"Take a breather while you can, guys!" Nami encouraged. "We can't stop, but we've got a little while until the next city square, so conserve your strength while you can!" A chorus of ragged cheers went up, but the Straw Hats, though starting to tire, were encouraged nonetheless. They had made it past another obstacle, and were still going strong.
They pushed through half a dozen new turns, winding their way through the narrow streets as fast as they could. Nami could see another General on the rooftops again—she was sure it was the same one as before—following them easily while ducking out of range whenever it realized it was spotted. Usopp tried for it several more times, and Nami tried twice as well with a Cyclone Tempo, figuring a well-placed shot would still hit the creature with the Sunny's cord. But it was clever and on the lookout for such attacks now, and they were never able to do more than graze it.
Still, while that was worrisome, they had successes as well. Zoro was awake again and on his feet. He appeared to have decided that if he couldn't fight he was damn well not going to tie somebody up needing help walking, and was pushing hard to keep up with the group as they fought their way forward. Robin was awake as well, looking drained, but was able to support herself by leaning on Chopper's Heavy Point form, allowing the doctor the use of both arms with which to swing his plank and help with their defenses. Several times she tried to use her Hana-Hana powers to keep herself up as well, but it seemed it was difficult to sustain the extra hands in such a weakened state, and they never lasted long.
Regardless, every bit helped, and as they pushed forward—Nami had to guess they'd been attacking for at least two hours now, maybe more—they were able to get further and further into the city without being forced to stop. The next stretch of narrow roads were negotiated successfully, and soon they turned the corner towards the final narrow street before the second clearing they would be required to cross.
"The next challenge is coming up," she shouted to the others. "Another clearing. This time we need to get to the street on the far west. Just do what we did before, and be ready for another fear-scream trick like last time...if we did it before we can do it again!"
"You got it, sis," Franky called from the front. "Ready, everybody? Here we go...suuuupeeeeeer!" And the cyborg charged forward with his own brand of war-cry, Adam Wood plank at the ready.
They plowed into the second clearing, arranged protectively around their dreamless nakama, fully ready for combat. Expecting the Nightmares to try utilizing their terror-call again, the entire crew was raggedly singing along to all the folk songs Brook had ever taught them, hoping to combat the powerful wave of fear with any form of music they could create. Franky lead the way, charging forward, and Usopp and Nami did their best to clear the area before the cyborg with Dream Stars and the Cyclone Tempo, destroying or blowing away their enemies.
It was a good start, and they managed to push themselves into the clearing several yards before they realized the Nightmares weren't using the same strategy at all. The city square was packed with Harvesters and only one or two Shepherds; a foolish tactic on the part of the Nightmares, Nami thought, since the Harvesters were virtually useless against Brook's stunning music. But the General perched on the broken down fountain in the center of the square—the same one that had fought Sanji-kun in the last clearing, if the burn scars on it were anything to judge by—did not look particularly agitated, and seemed to grin at them nastily as they forced their way still further into the clearing.
Then it raised its head and gave a sharp, rumbling yell, and Nami realized too late that they had walked into a new trap.
Almost immediately the few Shepherds in the clearing began clapping their scythe arms together, making loud, rough banging noises that made it difficult to hear the violin, or the voices singing around her. Startled, Nami watched in growing realization as the Harvesters began to shuffle their multitude of limbs, regaining their movement, clacking and screeching loudly to block out the sound even further for their brethren. This time the creatures did not try the terror-call; instead, with several sharp barks from the Shepherds, the disgusting spider-cat creatures screamed in delight at the hunt, and charged straight at the Straw Hats in a violent, heavy wave.
The onslaught was far, far too strong for them to hold against. Even with her Sunny-wrapped Clima-Tact, Nami was only able to kill one of the monstrous creatures at a time; with dozens rushing at them all at once, they risked being crushed by the sheer momentum of the charge, rather than killed by the creatures' jaws or bladed tails. She swung out furiously with her weapon, but after only a few hits was bodily knocked aside by one of the creatures. Gasping in pain at the glancing blow—it had unfortunately hit her wounded arm, sending a shooting pain through her—she hit the ground, and hastily rolled aside and to her feet, trying to avoid being stepped on.
They needed space. They needed air, or they were going to get overrun. Furiously she realigned her Clima-Tact until it was in the right combination and hurled it at the nearest group of Harvesters, screaming, "Cyclone Tempo!" The creature she hit disintegrated into oily smoke with a screech as her well-aimed dream-enhanced weapon hit it, and several others were blown back by the enormous gust of air her weapon created. She caught the weapon and hurled it again, a and a third time after that, desperate to give her nakama at least a little leeway in the fight.
Not that they were doing well. This new bull rush strategy on the part of the Nightmares had been disgustingly efficient. Sanji-kun was practically buried in the creatures, kicking with wild abandon to keep the creatures from stealing his dream just as much as to kill the ugly things. Franky was being overrun; only his frantically smashing Adam Wood plank was keeping the creatures from seizing him in their jaws to remove his Dreamshard. Even worse, two Harvesters were slashing greedily at the sling on his back, screaming when their claws began to disintegrate at the touch of the Sunny's sailcloth, but trying all the same to rip their way into the captain protected inside. Chopper was currently trying to assist the cyborg, beating at the Nightmares on his back and at his sides to keep them off of Luffy, yelling frantically. Usopp had withdrawn into the center, crouching in front of Zoro and Robin as he tried to keep the Nightmares away from them. Both were swaying again, looking ready to pass out—as if they could have picked a worse time! And all the while the creatures were screaming, thrashing, clacking, and banging, doing their level best to drown out Brook's music and song, no matter how loudly he screamed the lyrics or how quickly he played the violin.
They needed to do something about the noise. If she could just stun them long enough for Brook's music to recover again...but what could she do? Her Clima-Tact was excellent against human foes, but all but useless against Nightmares, which could only ultimately be killed by dream items. Not even her Thunder Lance Tempo had been able to bring one of the creatures down the other day—she had barely stopped it for a few seconds!
A few...seconds...
Nami's eyes widened as an idea came to her, and she threw out one more Cyclone Tempo to keep the creatures off of her long enough to work. Ducking back into the slightly more open space she had just created, she shoved the electric piece of the Clima-Tact into her belt and, using the remaining two poles, began producing Cool and Heat balls as fast as she possibly could. She aimed farther down the clearing, since she knew she'd have little chance to control her plan once it was set in motion. The weather never listened to humans, after all, not even when it was artificially generated by her. If she just had enough time—
Usopp screamed a warning suddenly, and although she kept the Cool and Heat poles pointing forward to continue their work, Nami allowed herself to whip her head over her shoulder to see what was going on. She was just in time to see the sniper tossed aside as an unfortunately lucky Harvester charged its way past him, and without hesitation the clicking, screaming creature charged straight at Robin and seized her in its ugly, mismatched jaws.
"Robin!" Nami screamed, but she was too far away to help in time. The creature was already turning around, scuttling back the way it came over a panicked, scrabbling Usopp.
"Robin-chan!" came Sanji-kun's anguished, enraged voice as well, but he, too, was in the thick of combat, barely able to escape himself much less come to her rescue. Usopp was the closest, but he was down now, clutching at a slashing injury on his chest. Not even Robin could save herself: Nami had seen a few arms sprout for a fraction of a second, but they had dissolved into petals with a groan of pain from their owner as the Nightmare clutched her more tightly in its jaws. They were going to be too late—
Zoro, unexpectedly, hurled himself at the creature's head. Nami had not honestly expected him to be capable of such a maneuver, not when he could barely stand and had looked ready to pass out seconds before. But there was an enraged expression on his ashen face, and even the dark lines of exhaustion under his eyes looked more like the dangerous shadows his bandanna usually cast, when it was on. He threw himself at the Nightmare, wrapped his arms around the thing's thick neck, and scrabbled to drag it back, tried to force it to open its jaws and release his nakama.
His efforts were absolutely useless. Even if the Nightmare hadn't been immune to such attacks, Zoro in his present state was too weak to present much of a fight for anything or anyone, and Nami could already see his strength lagging even after a bare few seconds as he wobbled dangerously. Still he tried, and Nami was grateful to see that he was successful in one regard. The Harvester, with its limited intelligence, paused in confusion as it found a second human hanging off of its body, and seemed unsure as to whether or not it should try to claim Zoro also, or knock him aside. After several seconds it finally decided on the latter, and slashed out with its scythe-tail immediately, aiming for their currently not-a-swordsman. Zoro grunted as the thing's attack sliced a new gash into his shoulder, and the backswing of the stinger's dull side smashed into the swordsman's head, causing him to hiss in pain and finally be dislodged. Zoro hit the ground, rolled, and dazedly tried to stumble to his feet for a second attack, but his drunken swaying clearly indicated that wasn't going to happen.
That was fine, though, because with a cry of "Swallow Bond en Avant!" Brook suddenly descended from the air, sheathed cane-sword pointing straight down at the Harvester's armored head. The cane's shiny lacquered surface had been wrapped in cord since Franky's, Brook's, and Chopper's sudden rescue yesterday as a 'just in case' measure, although armed with his music none of the Straw Hats had thought he'd need to fight. Now, with his music presently ineffectual, Brook had decided to make himself useful in other ways. Using the time Zoro had bought with his unexpected attack, he'd vaulted into the air off of another Harvester and came down like an arrow on Robin's attacker.
The creature dissolved with a scream, and several of the Harvesters drew back in surprise. Apparently the Nightmares had not thought Brook capable of physically attacking, only of causing the music they loathed so much. The skeleton took the opportunity to drag Robin back to what passed for safety at the center of the group, and helped the still-groaning Usopp up as well.
Nami breathed a sigh of relief, but it would only be temporary unless they could stop this onslaught, and that required getting Brook's music active again. The Harvesters had been startled, but they were already pressing in again, still yowling and screeching to block out noise, and everyone was hard pressed to keep them at bay. Their progress had been halted completely.
It would be up to her to get it started again. Assured that her companions were safe once more, Nami glanced up, checked the progress of her own attack. She grinned to herself at what she saw; the cloud she'd created was quite large now, and just about ready for use. Snapping the Cool and Heat poles back together, she pulled the Thunder piece from her belt and set it charging.
"Careful, everyone!" she warned, as she drew her arm back. "There's a thunderstorm on the way...wouldn't want to get hit! Usopp and Brook, you especially get ready!" And with a hard swing of the Clima-Tact's final piece, she sent a fully charged Thunder Ball arrowing straight towards the cloud with a yell of, "Thunderbolt Tempo!"
The dark cloud hanging above the square lit up suddenly, and it began to roil with energy, crackling angrily at the sudden charge Nami had forced within it. The Shepherds looked surprised at the thundercloud above them, and the General, shrieking suddenly, darted to get out from underneath it.
It was too late. The crackling within the cloud grew stronger, and without warning dozens of thunderbolts began to smash down into the cobblestones below, sending broken stone flying and causing the ground beneath their feet to shake so much that Zoro and Robin were knocked off balance. Nami could feel the power of the artificial storm reverberating in her very bones, and watched with grim satisfaction as the bolts darted to the ground any way they could, over and over. A few of the bolts came towards the Straw Hats, and she saw several of her nakama ducking in a panic. Thinking quickly, she raised the Clima-Tact over her head to act as a lightning rod; like when she used it for her Thunder Lance technique, the Thunder charge would attract the lightning bolts and keep her friends safe.
The storm's thunderbolts smashed through the Nightmares in its path as well, uncaring of what it hit. The creatures screamed in surprise, and, although they weren't killed the attack still had its intended effect: like the Harvester that had been prey to her Thunder Lance, the creatures were temporarily stunned. Widespread confusion descended on the Nightmares in the clearing suddenly as dozens of the creatures fell silent, temporarily frozen thanks to the powerful electric attacks, and their drowning cacophony unexpectedly faded.
Forewarned, Brook and Usopp immediately leapt into action, taking advantage of the time Nami had bought them. Brook began playing his music furiously again, and the loud, energetic folk tunes caused all of the Harvesters, even the lucky few not hit by Nami's lightning bolts, to go rigid and immobile. And Usopp employed the same technique that he had in the last clearing, firing dozens of Sunny-nails into the air, allowing them to rain down on the stunned Harvesters like metallic hail from Nami's man-made storm. As before the creatures died in droves, ensuring their silence, and the strength of Brook's music, even further.
Encouraged, the rest of the Straw Hats managed to pull themselves together again, though by now they were a haggard and exhausted bunch. Sanji-kun had been injured several times in his wild attempts to both defend himself and his crew, and sported several gashes from the Harvesters' scythe-tails, but despite his new wounds he managed to smash his way back to the crew and help them clear their way forward again. Usopp's chest wound was dripping pretty badly, but Chopper was already taking care of it, wrapping it quickly and expertly now that Franky was being assisted by their cook. Robin and Zoro had managed to work together to pull themselves to their feet, and were now leaning wearily against each other, barely keeping each other up—but at least they were up, and at present not in danger again.
Somehow they managed to recover again, and pulled their ragged, falling-apart formation back together long enough to rush their way to the next targeted street. Nami suspected this was in part due to the confusion and chaos amongst the Nightmares now, still stunned by Brook's music and being struck by the remaining thunderbolts her man-made cloud had left. Whatever the reason, she was eternally grateful for it as they finally managed to dive into the next section of closed-in streets, and everyone breathed an audible sigh of relief when they did. They'd still be fighting, but it would be infinitely easier here than out amongst a swarm of the ugly brutes.
They pushed their way more insistently now through the narrow streets, all of their senses at the ready. Nami could tell that the same General as before was following them from above again, keeping pace while trying not to present itself as a target. She ignored it. By now she knew the creature would not leap down on them, and there was no use wasting energy or precious ammunition on its taunting presence. Usopp's bag of Sunny nails was already starting to get suspiciously smaller, for all her efforts to pick the spent bits up as they moved forward, and she didn't want to know what would happen if he ran out. Although at this rate it was looking more like 'when.'
So they kept going, and Nami was sure another hour had passed—at any rate the sun was starting to get high in the sky, though it wasn't quite above them yet—and the fighting became a blur of sights, sounds, and emotions all around her. She couldn't count now how many times she'd picked up some of Usopp's Dream Stars, or smashed an offending Harvester's head in, or helped Zoro or Robin to stagger forward as they grew weaker and weaker from the prolonged activity. All Nami knew was that all of them happened a lot, interspersed only with the occasional shouting of a direction to Franky as they turned down the next curving, twisting path.
Until suddenly she no longer knew where they were going. With a start, Nami realized that they had come up to the boundary, to the farthest point she and Sanji-kun had been able to reach last night, without being forced to reveal themselves. She was stunned they had gotten so far. When they first attacked Oneirosa's gate it had seemed hopeless, and now they were almost at the Temple of Dreams itself, so close to recovering Luffy's Pirate King ambition and Zoro's Greatest Swordsman goal and Robin's search for the True History. They had made it this far...and although it seemed utterly hopeless, Nami fixed her captain's laughing face in her mind and determined that they would make it.
"Just six blocks to the Temple of Dreams now, guys!" Nami yelled to the rest of the boys, and although they were starting to look very worn down now they seemed to regain a little strength at the announcement. "From here it's guessing games, but I'm pretty sure I can figure out where to go next, as long as Zoro doesn't jinx me."
"How th'hell would it be my fault," the not-swordsman slurred, and gave her a weak attempt at a glare from where Chopper was currently holding him up. "I dun get lost...things move."
Sanji-kun snorted from behind the navigator, and she was pretty sure she heard him mutter, "Idiot marimo," but thankfully he didn't start picking a fight. That would be the last thing they needed, after all they'd already made it through.
Concentrating now, and trying to envision the patterns of the city in her head, Nami directed Franky to the left down the first of the untested streets. They pushed forward quickly now, heartened that they had nearly made it to their goal, and even with more numerous swarms of Nightmares before them their speed was still barely slowed a fraction.
In the end they had to double back three times, once because of unexpected rubble that had long since blocked the street, and twice because Nami's most educated guesses had led them to dead end alleyways. All three times, it had been more than a little difficult to double back, with fresh Nightmares swarming in behind them. Sanji-kun had proved invaluable as their rear-guard then, blasting their way furiously back out of the holes they had dug themselves into until they could rearrange and push forward once again. Each time they did get stuck, Nami cursed Zoro vehemently and raised his interest by ten percent; she was absolutely sure he was clouding her normally flawless directional abilities somehow, even if he had been unconscious for two of the three misdirections.
But in the end they made it. After scrabbling amongst the streets searching for a solution, the crew suddenly found themselves at the edge of a vast open square, with the Temple of Dreams on the far side, its glittering crystal doors open and inviting. Or what would have been inviting, at any rate, if the doorways and the clearing had not been so choked with Nightmares it was impossible to see the cobbles on the ground.
The sight was daunting, but this time they were ready, and employed all of their hard-earned lessons for the crossing of the final enormous open space. From the relative safety of the confined streets Nami created a second enormous thundercloud, to counteract the inevitable cacophony the creatures would try to create to cancel out Brook's music. The Harvesters and Shepherds, ordered by the fast-learning Generals, immediately scuttled out from underneath the cloud to avoid the thunderbolts. But this time Nami had planned ahead for that, and as the creatures parted from beneath the cloud, exposing a clear path, the Straw Hats clumped together around her and charged forward. Nami once again raised her Clima-Tact high, attracting the dozens of powerful electrical bolts to her Thunder pole instead of her nakama. Though the resulting repeated impacts were enough to numb her hands as they ran, the price was well worth it; they were already halfway across the courtyard to the Temple of Dreams.
Realizing they had been tricked, the Generals and Shepherds herded what Harvesters were out of range of Brook's music forward to block their path. Once again Usopp utilized his wide-ranged Dream Stars attack, tossing dozens of nails into the air to let them fall like hail down onto their enemies. The price was again costly, but with a clear path to the Temple's stairs now, it was still worth it.
Then they were there, and forced their way up the steps wildly, furiously, destroying Harvesters, Shepherds, and even Generals alike in their wake. The realization that they were so close to their goal lit them up with renewed determination, and they kicked, smashed, shot, and sang their way forward with no hesitation, forcing their way to the crystal doors of the Temple, and further, within its shimmering depths.
"The doors!" Nami shrieked loudly, as she sent out a Cyclone Tempo, driving several of the ambitious Nightmares back into the depths of the Temple as the pirates darted into its confines. "Get the doors, close them, quick!" The Nightmares had avoided touching the Temple's crystalline surfaces last night, and she hadn't seen a single one crouching on the building itself even as they attacked. If they could close the many hundreds of creatures still outside off from entering through the main doorway, it was possible they wouldn't be able to enter at all, effectively cutting off their reinforcements.
Chopper and Franky seemed to understand her urgency as well, and dropped their planks quickly. Each seized one of the heavy-looking doors and began to push hard, struggling to shut the enormous structures. It went agonizingly slowly. Usopp was forced to face the steps outside and shoot down any approaching creatures to prevent them from getting in. Nami and Sanji-kun faced the inside of the Temple, trying to keep the Nightmares still inside from overwhelming them completely, and in particular from snatching Zoro and Robin, unceremoniously dumped behind them. Brook stood over their dreamless companions as a last defense, playing his music loudly, and now that they were indoors the cheerful noises seemed to bounce and echo wildly all around them.
It was slow work, but with their combined efforts they pulled it off. Franky and Chopper forced the aged, heavy crystal doors to move, dragging along the ground until, at last, they slammed shut with a loud cracking noise. There was a furious series of enraged screams from outside as the Nightmares found themselves abruptly cut off from their prey, and a ragged but still enthusiastic cheer went up from the Straw Hats as they managed, against all odds, to make it to the one place they had never expected to survive to see.
But it wasn't over yet. Narrowing her eyes in determination, Nami nodded to the others—all with grim, fierce expressions as well, other than the currently passed out Zoro and Robin. As one the Straw Hat crew turned to face the new, furiously hissing threats approaching from within the Temple, and raising their weapons, began the next stage of their attack.
The battle was far from over.
Now shit's about to get real. :D
This is totally awesome because a very special member of the cast is going to be introduced on Halloween...how fitting! (I did not actually intend for that to happen; it just worked out that way. Awesome).
~VelkynKarma