A/N

Yo. If the nightmares bother you, don't worry. They're going to end soon. And if anyone else stalls for time in the morning by talking in circles when someone is trying to wake you up, I'm glad to know you exist. I'm one of those people who just disagrees with anything that is said with the intent to get me up.

Enjoy!

Anni's POV

The nightmares were getting worse. This time, I was climbing up an icy cliff, and my nakama were just behind me. The wind howled around us, stinging my cheeks with tiny ice needles. My vision was blocked by the snowstorm, so I couldn't tell how high up I was. When I looked up, there was just a blank wall of white below them, but in the back of my head, I knew that I had to get to the top. With each step I took, I got farther away from the climbing figures.

A scream echoed from below, bouncing off the sheer wall of ice. I looked down in a panic, and saw a horrifying sight. The cliff was slowly crumbling from the bottom up, with icy chunks falling into a dark abyss. As it gained speed, my crew frantically climbed faster and faster, until the speeding cracks sliced through their hand and foot holds. With screams of terror, they fell one by one into the creeping darkness.

"Anni, you need to help us!" came the shrieks from below. They echoed around but didn't fade. Instead, they got stronger and started to burrow into my head, transforming into the only words that could possibly be worse. "Anni, why didn't you help us?"

"Anni, you could have helped us."

"Anni, you should have helped us."

"Should have helped us..."

"Should have helped..."

"Should have..."

"Should..."

As the words bounced around, I slowly let my grip falter and plunged down into the darkness to join my fallen nakama.

I jerked awake, but this time I kept my eyes shut. Tears pricked through my eyelids as I shook silently, my body rigid in terror. I could still see their faces as they fell, still hear their voices as they begged for help. I could still feel the icy snowflakes pelting against my face and for the first time in quite a few years, I was cold.

I shivered at this realization. It wasn't a big deal to most people, but to me, this was an issue. It meant that my state of mind was such that my powers couldn't unconsciously regulate my body heat. It was normally half a degree to a degree hotter than most normal people, but now I was shaking from the cold in the cabin. I lit a finger on fire cautiously, just to make sure that some terrible mental trauma had not caused my powers to disappear. I breathed a sigh of relief as the warm glow lit up the room.

Pulling my blankets closer to me, I snuggled down to the warmest part of my mattress. The heat made me feel safe and protected from all the terrible visions that haunted my sleep. As a result, the rest of the night passed without any... other scarring dreams.

XxX

"Anni, wake up."

"Blegh. Go away."

"Anni, you have to wake up now."

"No, I have to sleep. Go away."

"Anni, if you don't wake the hell up right now, I will drag you, your mattress, and your blanket to the side of the ship and dump you in the water. The cold water."

"Noooo... you're sooo mean to me..."

"And you're lazy."

"No. Just tired. Go away."

"Anni... If you don't get up now, I'll show the crew those yaoi books that I found in your bag."

I sat bolt upright, fully awake and terrified. "No! Don't! Anything but the yaoi! No, wait! They aren't..." I trailed off as Nami shook her head in disappointment, "mine...?"

"I can't believe that you read such atrocious things," Nami said, picking up my bag from beside my head and rummaging around in it, "But I'm glad that I now have blackmail."

I blinked. "So... you just guessed that they were there?"

She winked and smirked. "Yes. It was a wild guess, but it paid off."

I flopped back down. "Ugh. I'm going to go dig a hole, shrivel up, and die in it. Actually, I don't have the energy for that. I'll just die here," I moaned, curling up into my blanket.

"Don't you dare fall back asleep!"

BONK!

"Ow!"

"Get up!"
XxX

I stumbled out the door, blinking in the bright sunlight. Nami had shoved an outfit in my face and I had put it on out of sheer fear and obliviousness. I seemed to have a vague recollection of some atrocious pink frilly outfit that she had made me wear sometime, but I couldn't place when or where. The current outfit that I was wearing wasn't quite as bad, but it was definitely some kind of disguise. Or maybe this was what people wore here. I hoped that if that was true, it was only the girls who wore these. If I never saw another Okama in my life, it would be too soon.

I was wearing a red bikini top with black swirly designs on it and a long skirt in black and darker red that was similar to what I had seen Nami and Vivi wear yesterday. I also had a long dark cape thingy that kept tripping me, and a huge scowl on my face.

"Oh, Anni! Tell Usopp that we really are going to travel across the desert. Shishishi~, he won't believe us," Luffy laughed, completely oblivious to my foul mood.

I stormed past the two of them, emitting a dark aura that caused Usopp to run and hide behind Luffy.

"Do it yourself," I snarled.

"Why, Anni-chwan, what has put you in such a dismal mood? I promise I will do all in my power to fix this!" Sanji walked up to me with a plate of tall iced drinks.

I grabbed one and stomped off to my chair on the front of the deck. "Nami did it," I answered bluntly, tripping over Zoro, who was lying on the deck, right where I was walking.

"Dammit, Zoro! Move your lazy ass to someplace that I won't trip over it!" I muttered, stepping over him to walk up the stairs to my chair, only to find that it was already occupied by a certain lazy cowboy-hat-wearing pyro.

"Grrrr..." I muttered curses as I flipped the chair over, dumping Ace onto the deck. I then carried the chair up to the goat head on the front of the Going Merry and balanced it where no one would mess with it. I flopped down on it and sipped my drink, trying to relax. I didn't work though, so I put the glass down and rolled onto my side, shutting my eyes.

XxX

I only registered flashes of the scene going on before me. My nakama were lying in shallow graves made of snow. They were deathly pale and only breathing slightly. I rushed towards them, but before I could get to them, a metal pole struck me in the back, going through my stomach and pinning me to the ground. As I watched helplessly, items started to fall from the sky to their respective owners, but they were incinerated just a foot off the ground before they landed.

A slingshot fell down, but it never reached the ground.

A map floated down with the snowflakes, but all that landed was ash.

A thin crown and a bright yellow feather burst into flames.

A cigarette was consumed by the lit tip as it tumbled down.

Three swords clanked against each other before they were burnt out of existence.

A small bag with doctors supplies spilling out of it tumbled down before being incinerated.

Finally, a straw hat with a red band floated down from the sky agonizingly slowly. I tried to shut my eyes, but the nightmare wouldn't let me. I had to watch as it drifted down on the slight breeze. The sides caught fire first, and it burned from the outside in.

Nothing could be heard, except for the shallow breaths of my nakama. One by one, they were silenced until my own shaky breaths were all that echoed in my ears. My mouth filled with a metallic taste from my wound. I couldn't move because of the pole in my back, but if I could, I would have sprinted towards the silent bodies

One...Two... Three... I counted slowly, but my consciousness was slipping and all I wanted was to fall into the comforting darkness.

XxX

"Anni!"

"Is she alright?"

"Is it another nightmare?"

"She's doing that strange back-arch thing again."

"Oh no! She could become seriously hurt and her spine could become really fragile and-"

"Chopper, relax. We're trying to wake her up."

"Eh? What's going on with her?"

My eyes snapped open to reveal three worried faces and one confused one. Chopper, Nami, and Vivi were bent over in front of me with concerned looks while Ace stood behind my chair looking down at me. I blinked twice before Chopper, Nami, and Vivi crowded around me asking me frantic questions. I shrunk back in my chair as the close proximity made me feel intensely uncomfortable.

"How do you feel?"

"Are you all right?"

"Do you feel faint? Sore? Where does it hurt?"

"I'm fine!" I shouted, overwhelmed.

They backed off a little bit, but still looked slightly worried.

"I'm fine, really," I assured them, "I'm awake, so no more nightmare. 'Kay? All good."

"Okay, if you say so..." Vivi said, still looking unsure.

Nami nodded and Chopper fidgeted, but all three of them got down from the goat head in some way. With them gone, I sighed in relief and lay back in my chair and shut my eyes to contemplate my dream.

"Excuse me..."

My eyes opened again to stare into an upside down face with black hair.

"What?"

Ace blinked, causing a few more strands of hair to fall. He had a hand on his hat to prevent it from falling off his head, and was leaning over the back of my chair. It was quite disconcerting.

"What exactly happened? You were kind of twitching... and your back was really straight," he asked, swaying slightly but regaining his balance.

I looked away from the distracting sight of Ace's upside down face handing in front of me. "It's nothing, really. Just some nightmares that keep coming back."

He straightened up and moved to lean against one of the goat's horns. "Well, what are they about? I've had some pretty bad ones before."

I stared out at the river we were approaching and mumbled, "Well, I keep having visions about my nakama dying and I can't save them."

"Hmm... nope! I can't help you there!" Ace grinned, "You just need to build up trust with your nakama that they won't die, and bam! the nightmares will stop."

"Thanks..."

The moment was ruined by a shout of, "Out of my seat!" followed by two rubber arms grabbing the horns of the goat head and propelling their owner towards us. Our eyes widened at the sight of Luffy zooming at us at an incredible speed.

BAM!

Luffy knocked me and Ace off the boat, somehow missing my chair. I seemed to see it in slow motion; we were all hovering in the air before time sped up again and the three of us plunged into the water.

SPLASH!

I opened my eyes underwater and saw millions of bubbles flying upwards, then the two raven-haired brothers sunk past me, plunging into the darkness below. I had a flash of my nightmare from the morning; the one where I saw them falling. Shaking the vision away, I collected myself and dove down after them.

The water got darker and darker, but I caught up to them. I hooked an arm around each of their waists and kicked hard to bring them back up. I was halfway there when my breath started to run out and my strength suddenly took a turn for the weaker. I kicked frantically to get up to the tantalizingly close surface.

The little evil unhelpful voice in the back of my head suggested that if I let them go, I could save myself. I didn't give that voice a second thought as I mentally burned it into ashes. That gave me an idea though. I gathered up my remaining energy and forced it out my feet in the form of flaming jets, thrusting me, Luffy, and Ace out of the water and into the air. I managed to steer us towards the Going Merry.

With a thud, we landed in a heap on the deck. I gasped for air and coughed up lungfuls of water. Squirming out from under the wet heap that was Luffy and Ace, I checked both of them for pulses. I slumped down against the side of the deck and vaguely heard muffled voices. They called out to me, but I slipped away into the calling darkness.

XxX

When I awoke, I was in the comfiest bed in the world. I snuggled down under the puffy covers and smiled. Then I realized that I couldn't hear anything. I hit the side of my head a few times in case it was water in my ears, and it cleared.

That was when the snoring hit me. The loud, congested snoring that seemed to come from (not above my head! Get your minds out of my gutter!) the side of the bed. I frowned and squirmed myself to the side where it was coming from. I looked over the side of the bed and recognized the room. I was in Nami's bed, while Ace and Luffy were on mine and Vivi's mattresses.

"Anni! You're alright? How do you feel? Are you hurt?"

Chopper's voice preceded his frantic footsteps coming down the wooden stairs. He rushed down and hopped over the two snorers, jumping on Nami's bed. Before he said anything, however, I sat up and swung my legs over the edge.

"Chopper, I'm fine. What happened while I was out?" I asked, stretching my arms over my head.

"Well, if you insist that you're fine..." he started, "We docked the Merry on the edge of a river and met up with some things called... what was it again? Oh, yes! They were called Kung Fu Jugon. They look like a cross between a turtle and a seal. Usopp got beaten up pretty bad by one despite Vivi's warning that-"

Chopper was cut off as Luffy awoke suddenly and sprang up from Vivi's mattress, sprinting outside with sparkles in his eyes. I followed quickly, pausing only to pat Chopper on the head and praise him for being such a good doctor for which he danced around happily while insulting me.

"Luffy, wait for me!" I shouted as I ran after him, anticipating the sight of these turtle-seals.

I ran out the door and jumped off the side of the deck onto the sand. Usopp was lying at the feet of an adorably cute ninja-turtle-seal looking a little worse for wear. Well, if having a puffed up face and two black eyes could be considered a little worse for wear.

Before the little thing could have a moment to adapt to the sight of us, I grabbed it under the arms and spun it around happily. I could practically feel the virtual sparkles and bubbles floating in the air around us. Unfortunately, the moment was ruined when Luffy yelled,

"Fight me!" and leaped towards me.

The little seal eagerly jumped out of my arms and struck up a stance in front of Luffy. They started to fight, kicking up dust and sand in the process. Vivi shouted in protest, warning Luffy against the dangers of fighting a Kung Fu Jugon.

I felt a tap against my leg and I looked down. Looking up at me was another small ninja-turtle-seal. It raised its fists and jumped backwards, looking for a fight. Who was I to ignore that cute little guy's request? I jumped at it with flaming hands and knocked it over in one hit.

Before I could get a chance to check on it, three more requested to fight me. I defeated them in a short amount of time and the others that came at me after were demolished quickly. I started to lose control of my actions, letting the routines of the fight carry me on.

"STOP!"

Blinking out of my reverie, I caught a small fuzzy punch that was being thrown at my face. Vivi was panting and looked especially angry at us.

"Vivi, what's up?" I asked, hugging the small fuzzy ninja-turtle-seal that was hanging from my fist.

She, for lack of a better word, growled at us, saying, "It's dangerous to do that! It's the code of the Kung Fu Jugon to become the student of anyone who defeats it!"

I looked behind me to see four lines of seals staring at me attentively. I raised my hand, and they followed my action.

"Cool!" I exclaimed.

"Arf!" they replied.

Chopper ran up to them, past me, and started talking in their language.

"Hey... Hey, Chopper! What are you doing?" I asked as he started to dole out food to them.

He paused and visibly shivered. "I'm just doing what Vivi told me to! It's bad for them to come with us, so they have to stay here. I'm... well... bribing them with food?" he explained nervously.

I pouted. "Aw. Then what about this one?" I pointed to the one in my arms that looked very happy. "Can I keep him?"

Chopper shook his head and beckoned to it. "No, he can't. Come here little guy. I have food for you," he called as it jumped out of my arms.

I pouty-stomped over to Vivi, but before I could complain to her, I caught a glimpse of the city behind the sand dune. It looked to have once been a huge and prosperous city, but now it was reduced to a pile of rubble. Wind blew lazily through the collapsed archways, and sand piled up against the fallen walls. The sun beat down on the stone and bricks, almost disintegrating them before our eyes as a dead air hung over the now ruined city.

"Woah..." I breathed. "That's... really sad."

Vivi nodded, our impending conversation forgotten. "This was caused by the lack of rain in this place. It was once called Erumalu, the green city, and it was full of life."

A distant crashing sound came from the ship, and Ace came running out and jumped down onto the sand. Nami followed quickly, shouting, "Get out there and do something useful! We're almost ready to go!" Looking out at Vivi, she called, "Sanji's getting our remaining food ready, and Zoro's packing everything up. We can probably go in a few minutes."

The rest of the crew, who were lounging around on the sand, stood up grumbling. I turned back to Vivi and asked, "So, how come there's a city here if there's no rain?"

We started to walk through the ruins of the city. "There used to be rain, but the sea came into the river and now there's no fresh water. The river there, it's made of pure salt water, so it's useless for crops or drinking. The one place that always had rain was the capital, Alubarna. People called it the King's Miracle, until the day that Crocodile staged an incident. There is stuff called Dance Powder, and it makes clouds condense where they are so that rain falls in that spot. However, that prevents the rain from falling on the neighboring oasis."

"Huh. That stuff sounds dangerous," I commented.

She nodded. "Yes, it is. And one day, some of Crocodile's underlings tipped over a cart filled with it, saying that it was for the king. It was a time of drought, so the people were confused with hunger and thirst. A rebellion broke out, and everything went according to Crocodile's plan. He was behind all of my misery, and I want to make him pay for it." Vivi sniffled.

I looked in front of us. We had walked in a circle and returned to the ship, but the entire crew had heard the explanation of Arabasta's problems. They all had dark looks as they contemplated the situation.

"Don't worry, Vivi. We'll beat up Crocodile and throw him out of the country for good," Luffy reassured her, his hat placed low over his eyes.

She sniffled. "Thank you guys so much. You have no idea what this means to me."

Nami was the first to break the silence. "Well, we're ready to go. We should start walking over the desert before night comes."

"Ah, no, wait! I have suddenly caught a particularly vicious disease called the I-can't-travel-across-the-desert-right-now-or-else-I'll-shrivel-up-and-die-in-the-sand Disease. It's a really terrible one, and it really will kill me..." Usopp pleaded with Nami as she handed him the ropes of the sled-like device that we were using to pull the supplies across the sand with.

I looked towards the horizon where enemies, rebellions, and death awaited us, and grinned in anticipation.

A/N

I know, I know. You all want to murder me for that cheesy and abrupt ending. I'll try to make the next chapter longer, because that's when things will start to pick up. And I promise that I'll include that drinking game idea in the next one. I promise.

And as a side note, I'm starting to write a bunch of short one-shots about my deleted scenes and scrapped ideas that wouldn't fit with the mood of the chapter. I might post it later on, so please leave ideas, no matter how crazy they might seem. Also, for those of you that want different pairings, or like fluff...

See ya!