With different eyes

Faith can move mountains

Narrator POV

How was he supposed to defeat this thing? That was worse than with Teach! The bastard didn't take a single hit. Why didn't it attack? It did talk big, though. Ace snorts. He looked out of the corner of his eye at Lucia. In the meantime, the beast seemed to have left. He also made sure that he was always in direct sight of the demon. But suddenly he hears Lucia's voice? Is she crazy in the square now? Why does he draw all the attention to himself, if she does the same. With one difference, he could fight! He ignores the fact that he didn't land a single hit.

Lucia's POV

I stood up and walked towards the demon. Past Ace and caught the demon's attention. He growls and stays on the spot attentively, as if he knows something has changed. I smile, it was as if he had lost all his terror. "Attack me if you can" I say calmly to him. Ace by now had noticed I wasn't behind him anymore and looked at me like I had lost my mind. Maybe I have. The demon growls. But he doesn't attack. He backs away the closer I get. "Don't you want to fight?" I ask him. "LUCIA GET OUT OF THERE!!!" I hear Ace roar. I ignore him. "You can't do it, can you?" i ask him. Ace falls silent. "As you say, this is a dream world, our dream world, you can distort and disfigure it, but you can't create one of your own." I say quietly. I close my eyes and fill the void with an image: a meadow at the edge of a forest, sunlit and peaceful. I could feel the warmth and smell the flowers. A place of peace. When I open my eyes again, I, Ace, and the demon are standing in that same meadow. Ace looks around in surprise. A warm wind blows through my hair. I wipe one of the strands of my hair from my face and smile. I remember my mother's words and the story again. "You only have the power we give you. We invite you in through our pain and you hold us captive with our own doubts." I feel the demon grow more restless. "A long time ago, a wise woman once said to me that we create our own reality. And that's exactly what happened isn't it? A child, completely frightened, held his dead brother in his arms. He was alone and abandoned by the world. But how can a child understand the arbitrariness of a death? To give the emptiness a meaning, it does what all children do. They create monsters in darkness. And there was no one who told this frightened child that monsters do not exist, that everything will be all right. He firmly believed in a monster and created one: all his pain and despair took shape in you and directed against the real monsters in history, those who did not help, who abandoned him. And in the end against himself, because he could not help either. You fattened yourself on the fears and doubts, and with each new villager who fell under your spell, you became more real, more alive, because everyone began to believe that you existed. Not true? True enough to live, to endure, even without them. Until someone new comes and falls under your spell." I said it completely calmly. The demon hisses and charges at me. Ace wants to run at me but he wouldn't reach me first. I smile and close my eyes. I lock out all doubts and fears, here I was safe, in this meadow I played with my brothers as a child. I frolicked on the flowers and climbed the trees. I believed that the whole world was mine and that there was nothing I could not reach. I was safe.

Narrator's POV

Ace hears Lucia explaining something to the demon and the bastard becomes more and more aggressive, although it backs away. What she is saying is too much for him. And suddenly the beast runs towards Lucia. But this fool doesn't think of dodging, but shoots her eyes. He would not reach her in time! He tried to make his legs run even faster, but could only watch as the demon raises its claw and strikes at Lucia. NO! Was Ace's only thought. He didn't want to lose her. But the claw went through Lucia as if she wasn't even there. The demon backs away again, snarling.

Lucia's POV

I feel the demon strike at me, but it can't hit me. I open my eyes in time to see him back away again. I have to grin. I was right after all! He can't hurt us! At least as long as we don't let him. I stop grinning. He was still dangerous, the slightest doubt and we're back in his web. "That's the way it is with thoughts and doubts, they can only hurt us as long as we let them" I say more confidently than I feel. Now I just need my solution to work and for that I need Ace. I just can't believe the bullshit I'm about to fabricate. Let's just hope that Ace would swallow this crap as easily as Luffy. I imagine a dagger: With a silver handle and scabbard, on it were dragons in black with their wings wide open. At the end of the handle was an emerald inset. A silver glow emanates from the dagger. I imagine myself holding it in my right hand. I close this hand and grasp it with a cool grip. Ok first part of the plan succeeded. Now we come to difficult part: Ace. I turn to the fire fist and am startled when he stands right in front of me and looks at me strangely. What's wrong with him now? He raises his hand and pecks me in the cheek. Is he serious? "Funny, I can touch you," he mumbles. Nice he didn't get it again, good for us. "Ace, this is the dragon dagger, it was forged to bring creatures on a level with us. It is the only thing that can hurt him, that can kill him. You have to stab the demon in the heart" Oh please believe this nonsense, I think. Then I realize what I was thinking and hope that Ace here can't read my mind. Apparently not, because he takes the dagger and grins. Then he turns to the demon and smiles bloodthirstily. OK, scared? "Now I'm going to kick your ass!" says Ace darkly and charges at the demon with his dagger drawn. Now cross your fingers and hope my idea works or we'll have a problem.