Towering Memories and Treasured Dreams

Floor 11: Revisiting Memories

"Ok, this isn't fun anymore!" Usopp cried out in panic as he and Brook both grabbed the other in a death grip. "I already saw this place once! And I didn't want to see it again! I have enough of that in my nightmares!"

"Luffy!" Nami yelled as she began shaking their traumatized captain. "Wake up! It's ok! None of this is real, remember!?"

But Luffy only continued to thrash about as he held onto his head, his eyes screwed up in terrible pain like he hoped that he could block out the bad images.

"What do we do?!" Sanji yelled out, struggling to make his voice heard over the sounds of gunfire and dying cries of pain around them. "Can't we break out?!"

"We don't even know where the door is!" Franky shouted back as Zoro was already trying to slice through the illusion. He mustered up all of his strength to send a flying blade off in one direction... which just kept going and going...?

"What is going on?!" Zoro demanded in frustration. "There aren't any walls here? Just how does this keep happening?! We're still in the tower aren't we...?! So why can't we feel a wall or anything?!"

Robin looked about, not sure what was going on anymore, but knew that they couldn't leave Luffy like this. "Usopp! Chopper! Pull yourselves together! Do either of you have something to put Luffy to sleep for now? At least until we find a way to get out?!"

"Huh...?" Usopp croaked out, tears streaming down his face. "Put him to sleep?"

"I do!" Chopper declared, who was already reaching into his bag. "I have an anesthesia! Just give me a minute!"

"I don't know if he's got that much time!" Nami cried, holding onto Luffy's arms as he continued to cry out, now screaming Ace's name.

"What's going on?! I thought... I thought that he was ok?! What happening to him?!" Franky yelled as he picked Luffy up and had him in a giant bear hug to keep him from continuing to thrash about. "We just saw him a few minutes ago! Why's he freaking out on us now?!"

"I guess reliving these memories of the Marineford isn't what he needed now!" Sanji shouted out, glaring in all directions. Something was wrong. Someone was setting this up, he just knew it! They lost sight of Luffy for just a few minutes! And then the door locking behind him and separating him from the rest of the group...? Someone was behind this and set this up as some kind of trap!

Zoro was grinding his teeth as he clenched his hands around his swords so hard that he knew that he was starting to draw blood. But it was hard to calm himself as Luffy continued to cry out as if he was being tortured. Chopper managed to prepare a needle as Nami, Usopp, and Brook all did their best to calm him down... with Franky struggling to hold onto him.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled as she grabbed Luffy by the face and glared at him until he looked at her with those wide eyes. "It's ok... you're safe! None of this is real! It's just a memory! Don't you remember?"

Luffy seemed to struggle just to remember to breathe at this moment.

"It's my fault..." he whispered back as tears began to fall and she felt her own eyes well up as her heart began to break.

"No, it's not, Luffy-san," Brook reassured him gently, holding onto his hand in a comforting way. "Don't you worry. Everything is going to be alright. Please, we just need you to calm down."

"Here is one of Usopp's specials!" Usopp called as he reached into his bag of tricks. "This is called a Sleep Star! It can make a powerful sleeping gas!"

"And put us all out?!" Sanji demanded. "Now isn't the time! Especially if we don't know what's going on."

"Besides, it might not be strong enough," Chopper countered as the syringe was filled. "Let me handle it. We'll use one of those if this doesn't work."