Little dreamers

There was a flash of lightning as Nami awoke with a start-her eyes snapping open.

'That same damned dream again.'

She was drenched with sweat, adrenaline pumping through her veins as her heart threatened to pound its way out of her chest. Hand placed on her throbbing torso, she stared up at the ceiling until her heart went back to its normal pace. Glancing at the window, she observed the weather condition outside. It was drizzling a bit with the occasional crackle of lightning and the faint sound of thunder, but nothing too brutal. Nothing the ship couldn't handle. Nothing she couldn't handle.

It had been the same routine for the past 2 weeks. Every night Nami would be ripped out of slumber by the same horrifying dream. And each time it happened, the feeling was more intense and the dream was more vivid.

The dream consisted of only one being: Arlong. His menacing laughter seemed to have creeped its way into the depths of Nami's mind, yet again. But it wasn't seeing him that frightened her. It was just his laughter- his voice- that made Nami shiver with fear. It was his laughter that rung in her ears before and after he beat her for misbehaving. It was his laughter that carved its way into her ears as Bellemere was brutally murdered. It was almost as if it were permanently implanted in her mind, occasionally surfacing to remind her of him. To remind her that he would always be with her, no matter how hard she fought to get away.

Nami didn't understand why the dream kept re-surfacing, but concluded that it must have been due to the fact that they had just left Fishman Island. She was reminded of Arlong and his reign over Kokoyashi while visiting said Fishman Island. This was enough evidence for Nami to convince herself that that was the reason behind it all.
Another flash of lightning followed by a roar of thunder caused Nami to lurch up from her bed. Curious if Robin heard and had awoken, she glanced over at Robin's bed for some comfort, only to find that it was empty.

'Right. Look-out duty.'

Nami sighed. Now she was positive she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, tonight. Whenever she had a nightmare or couldn't sleep, she always felt more comfortable knowing that Robin was there with her. And knowing that, she would be able to fall back asleep with ease. But that wasn't the case this time.

Mulling over her current predicament, Nami thought about how she could get back to sleep without worrying about her constant dream.

'I could always go sleep up in the Crow's Nest...at least Robin would be there.'

But she couldn't shake the feeling that she still wouldn't get any sleep up there, regardless of whether Robin would keep her company or not. Then an idea popped into her head. It was a bit suspicious, but she had no doubt this would surely be her ticket back into a peaceful slumber.

Grabbing her pillow, she calmly walked toward the door and slipped outside. Water surrounded her feet as she stood outside the women's quarters. Hurriedly, she tiptoed down the stairs towards the men's quarters. Once she got off the stairs, she turned left and walked straight towards another door facing her. Once at the door, she lifted her hand up and gripped the knob. She hesitated for a moment, until another flash of lightning struck-for then she yelled out an, "EEP!"-and proceeded to fling herself inside. She was still jittery after having that dream.

Standing on the other side of the door, Nami was careful to turn around. Even with the knowledge that no rambunctiously loud noise could ever possibly wake the sleeping figure before her, she still wanted to be cautious.

Nami noted that the atmosphere was very still in comparison to the conditions outside. Just standing in that very room alone made her feel safe and secure. Almost as if just being near him caused Nami's hovering dream to flee in terror.