The dim, dust-choked interior of the collapsed shop offered little comfort. Nami lay amidst splintered wood and fallen masonry, the world a symphony of agonizing pain and the distant, terrifying pronouncements of Reina. Her consciousness was a flickering ember, threatening to wink out. The System's last, desperate message about emergency hibernation and partial stabilization echoed in the recesses of her mind, but it felt leagues away, a forgotten dream.
"Secure these three," Reina's voice, cold and final, drifted through the gaping hole in the wall. "The girl… is inconsequential for now. My priority has shifted."
Inconsequential?
A spark, hotter than any pain, ignited in the depths of Nami's being. Inconsequential?! After everything? After the "year" of torment in the Training Grounds? After facing down Buggy, after fighting Marines, after throwing herself at this impossible woman twice?
No. Not inconsequential. Not while she still drew breath.
With a monumental effort of will, Nami fought against the encroaching darkness. The System had said partial stabilization. It wasn't much, but it was something. She focused on that, on the faintest lessening of the searing agony in her arms, the slight clearing of her vision. Her right arm was definitely broken, probably in multiple places. Her left wrist felt like shattered glass. Her chest ached with every ragged breath. But her mind… her mind was a blade being sharpened on a whetstone of pure, unadulterated fury.
System, she thought, her mental voice a raw, desperate rasp. Status. Now. What can I do? Anything!
[HOST VITAL SIGNS: CRITICAL BUT STABLE (LOW). BIO-REGENERATIVE NANITES ACTIVE (DEPLETED). RIGHT ARM: MULTIPLE COMPOUND FRACTURES. LEFT WRIST: SEVERE COMMINUTED FRACTURE. INTERNAL BLEEDING: MINOR (CONTAINED). COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS: NEGLIGIBLE. RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL AND MEDICAL INTERVENTION.]
Negligible, huh? We'll see about that, Nami thought, a grim, almost feral smile touching her bloodied lips. Withdrawal is not an option. Not while my crew is out there. She had just under 900 GP left. Not enough for a full heal, not enough for any of the truly game-changing items in the Shop. But maybe… just maybe… enough for a distraction. Enough to buy some time. Enough to be… consequential.
She could hear the sounds of struggle outside. Zoro's guttural roars of pain and defiance. Sanji's furious shouts. Usopp's terrified, yet somehow still fighting, yelps. And above it all, Reina's calm, chilling pronouncements.
Reina was moving towards the edge of the plaza, towards the shipyards, towards Luffy.
"I won't let you!" Nami snarled, her voice a choked whisper, unheard by anyone but herself and the silent, ever-present System. System! Shop! Adrenaline boosters! Pain suppressants! Anything! Now! Expend all remaining GP if necessary!
[ACCESSING SHOP… EXPENDING GP… PURCHASING: 'BERSERKER'S BREW' (LOW GRADE – TEMPORARY PAIN NULLIFICATION, MINOR STRENGTH/SPEED ENHANCEMENT, SEVERE POST-EFFECT FATIGUE), 'CATALYST DART' (X3 – DELIVERS SYSTEM-ENHANCED STIMULANT/IRRITANT ON IMPACT). REMAINING GP: 15.]
A faint warmth spread through Nami's battered body, dulling the worst edges of the agony in her arms. It wasn't healing, not even close, but the pain receded from a screaming inferno to a dull, throbbing fire. A surge of artificial, jittery energy followed, making her muscles twitch.
She dragged herself to her feet, using a shattered piece of a support beam as a makeshift crutch. Her vision was still blurry, but her determination was a white-hot furnace.
Outside, Reina had reached the edge of the plaza. The Vice Admiral and his contingent of Marines were warily trying to subdue Zoro and Sanji. Usopp, from behind his barricade, was still launching sporadic, largely ineffective projectiles.
Zoro, his legs clearly useless, was nonetheless a terror. He was propped against a wall, Wado Ichimonji in one hand, Sandai Kitetsu in the other (Yubashiri lay nearby, knocked from his grasp earlier). He was using them like extensions of his will, parrying the cautious thrusts of Marine spears and swords, his upper body a whirlwind of desperate defense. Each movement sent jolts of agony through him, his face pale and beaded with sweat, but his eyes burned with an unyielding spirit. "Come on, you bastards!" he roared. "Is that all the World Government's got?!"
Sanji, though unsteady on his feet and favoring one side where he'd landed hard, was a dervish of flailing kicks. "Oi! Moss-head! Don't hog all the cannon fodder!" he yelled, though his voice was strained. He sent a Marine flying with a "Mouton Shot," then stumbled, clutching his head. "Damn… blurry… Nami-swan… Luffy…"
"How persistent," Reina observed, pausing at the plaza's edge, her back to the struggling Straw Hats. She didn't even deign to look at them. Her focus was clearly on reaching Smoker and Luffy. "Your efforts are meaningless."
It was then that Nami stumbled out from the ruined storefront, a wild, almost spectral figure. Her orange hair was matted with blood and dust. Her clothes were torn. Her arms hung at unnatural angles. But her eyes… her eyes were terrifying, burning with a feverish, almost insane light. In her good, albeit agonizingly painful, left hand, she clutched three small, needle-like darts – the Catalyst Darts.
"Meaningless?" Nami rasped, her voice raw and cracking. "You think trying to protect our friends is… meaningless?"
Reina half-turned, her ice-blue eyes narrowing slightly as she registered Nami's reappearance. A flicker of surprise, quickly suppressed, crossed her features. "You are still functional? The human body's capacity for enduring pointless suffering is… remarkable."
Nami ignored her. She looked at Zoro, at Sanji, at Usopp. They were battered, broken, but still fighting. For Luffy. For each other.
This is for them, Nami thought, the Berserker's Brew coursing through her veins, a desperate, artificial fire. She took a shaky breath, aimed her good left hand, and with a grunt of effort, threw the first Catalyst Dart. Not at Reina.
At Zoro.
The dart, small and swift, embedded itself in Zoro's shoulder, near the injury Reina had inflicted earlier.
"Ngh! What the—?!" Zoro grunted, startled. Then, his eyes widened. A jolt, like a miniature lightning strike, shot through him. The pain in his legs, in his shoulder, didn't vanish, but it was… muted, overshadowed by a sudden, intense surge of raw, savage energy. His muscles bulged. His vision, which had been blurring from pain, sharpened with an almost animalistic clarity.
"Nami… what was that?" he growled, but there was a new, dangerous edge to his voice. He gripped Wado and Kitetsu tighter, a feral grin spreading across his bloodied face.
Nami didn't answer. She threw the second dart.
It struck Sanji in the thigh.
"Oof! Hey! Friendly fire, Nami-swan— WHOA!" Sanji's complaint died in his throat as a similar jolt shot through him. The throbbing in his head, the dizziness, the aches in his body… they were still there, but a wave of heated energy washed over them. He felt… lighter. Faster. His eyes, though still a little unfocused, blazed with renewed determination. "This feeling… it's like… a triple shot of espresso mixed with pure fighting spirit!" He struck a wobbly but defiant pose.
The Vice Admiral and the surrounding Marines stared in confusion and apprehension at the sudden, inexplicable resurgence of the two heavily injured pirates.
"What is this sorcery?" the Vice Admiral muttered.
Nami swayed, her vision starting to swim again. The Berserker's Brew was a temporary fix, a dangerous gamble. She had one dart left.
"Usopp!" she yelled, her voice cracking. "Catch!" She threw the last dart towards Usopp's barricade.
Usopp, startled, fumbled but managed to catch the small dart. "Nami! What is this thing?" He looked at Zoro and Sanji, who were now radiating a strange, almost palpable aura of heightened aggression.
"Just… use it!" Nami gasped, leaning heavily against the wall, her strength failing. "Fight!"
Usopp hesitated for only a second. If it helped Zoro and Sanji… He jabbed the dart into his own arm. "YOWCH! Okay… okay… feeling… WOOOAAAHHHH!" A similar jolt shot through him. His fear didn't vanish, but it was overlaid with a manic, almost reckless energy. His hands, which had been trembling, suddenly felt steady. His vision sharpened. "Alright, you Marine bastards!" he yelled, leaping up from behind his barricade, his slingshot held high. "Prepare to face the full, unadulterated WRATH of Captain Usopp and his eighty million followers!" (The eighty million followers were, as usual, entirely imaginary, but he yelled it with unprecedented conviction.)
Reina watched this bizarre turn of events with an expression that might have been faint curiosity, or perhaps mild exasperation. "Stimulants? Desperate measures from a desperate child. It changes nothing." She turned her back on them again, preparing to depart. "The outcome remains the same."
"Not… if we have anything… to say about it!" Zoro roared. He couldn't stand, but he could still fight. With a savage yell, he launched himself forward from his seated position, using his arms and his swords to propel himself across the cobblestones like a wounded tiger, aiming a desperate, low slash at Reina's ankles. "Oni Giri! (Demon Slash!)"
Reina didn't even look down. As Zoro's blades swept towards her, she simply took a small, almost imperceptible step to the side. Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu hissed through the empty air where her ankles had been, striking sparks against the cobblestones. Zoro sprawled forward, his momentum carrying him past her.
Sanji, fueled by the Catalyst Dart and a desperate need to protect Nami (and impress Reina, a confusing, conflicting urge still battling within him), launched himself into the air, his good leg a black blur. "Collier Shoot!" he yelled, aiming a powerful kick at Reina's exposed back.
Reina, without turning, tilted her upper body slightly to the left. Sanji's heel whistled past her ear, missing by a hair's breadth. The force of his kick carried him past her, and he landed awkwardly, stumbling but managing to stay on his feet.
Usopp, meanwhile, was unleashing a barrage of projectiles from his slingshot with a newfound, manic accuracy. "Kayaku Boshi! Tamago Boshi! Shuriken Ryusei Gun!" Explosive pellets, rotten eggs, and volleys of shuriken filled the air around Reina.
Most of them detonated harmlessly against an invisible barrier that seemed to surround her. A few rotten eggs splattered against her pristine white coat, leaving unsightly yellow streaks.
Reina paused. She looked down at the egg stains on her coat. For the first time, a flicker of genuine annoyance, a microscopic crack in her icy composure, appeared on her face. She slowly brushed at the stains with a gloved hand.
"Insolent gnats," she murmured, her voice so low it was almost lost in the wind.
Nami, watching from the sidelines, felt a sliver of desperate hope. They were actually making her react. It was a suicidal, insane plan, but for a precious few seconds, they were keeping Reina here. Keeping her from Luffy.
The Vice Admiral, seeing his opportunity now that Reina was momentarily distracted by the surprisingly tenacious (and now chemically enhanced) pirates, decided to assert his authority. "Men! While Supreme Justice Reina deals with these… distractions… we will secure the primary target! All units, advance towards the old shipyards! Apprehend Straw Hat Luffy! Captain Smoker requires assistance!"
He and a large contingent of his men began to move, trying to bypass the chaotic melee.
"Oh no, you don't!" Zoro snarled, pushing himself up again, his face a mask of pain and fury. He threw Wado Ichimonji like a javelin towards the Vice Admiral's legs. The sword spun through the air, forcing the Vice Admiral to leap back hastily.
Sanji, seeing his chance, launched a new attack at Reina, who was still frowning at the egg stains. "Poêle à Frire: Spectre!" he yelled, a series of blindingly fast, feinting kicks aimed at her head and torso.
Reina simply sidestepped each kick with minimal movement, her body flowing like water around his attacks. It was like trying to punch smoke. Then, her hand shot out, not in a strike, but with her fingers spread. She caught Sanji's extended leg mid-kick, her grip like iron.
"Gah!" Sanji yelped as his momentum was violently arrested.
Reina applied pressure. There was a sickening crunch. Sanji screamed, a raw, agonized sound, as his ankle shattered. She then casually tossed him aside, and he collapsed in a heap, clutching his ruined leg, his face pale and contorted in agony.
"SANJI!" Nami and Usopp cried out.
Zoro, having retrieved Wado, turned his fury back towards Reina, but he was too far, too slow with his shattered legs.
Reina looked at Usopp, who was now desperately trying to load a "Hissatsu: Firebird Star."
"Your persistence," Reina said, her voice devoid of all warmth, "is becoming… tedious." She raised her hand, palm open, towards Usopp.
Nami knew what was coming. That effortless, devastating push.
"USOPP, NO!" Nami screamed, trying to get to her feet, to do something.