One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed Island of the Devil Fruit Gods ❯ Eyes Play Tricks ( Chapter 14 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

"What the hell is chasing me?!" Nami whimpered as she raced along the edge of the mountain, feeling the ground rumbling softly behind her as her invisible foe pursued her. "I thought I was the only one able to turn invisible!"
Reptile-like footprints were being left in the wake of her invisible opponent, and finally Nami felt a sharp impact directly on her back. Crying out and falling forward, she felt her jacket being ripped off of her and turned around to see her invisible opponent apparently throwing it aside. Throwing her already ripped shirt aside now, she was left in nothing but her skirt and a bikini top, much like she had in Skypiea. "Why is everyone ripping my clothes on this island?!" she groaned. A hissing voice cackled as the pace of the invisible Zoan continued, prompting Nami to scramble to her feet and keep running. "Oh, come on, Nami, what animals do you know who are invisible?!" Nami closed her eyes and tried to think. "Wait a minute...reptile footprints...and that thing that hit me felt like it stuck to my jacket...a sticky tongue...you're a chameleon!" Nami whirled around and brandished her Clima Tact at the invisible Zoan.
It cackled again. "You're right." it hissed in a male's voice. "Kamereon is the name! I ate the Hacchu-Hacchu no Mi, Model: Chameleon! One of the best there are!" he finally revealed himself, his skin tone changing back into a pale green, flaky-skinned human chameleon. "You better keep running!" he growled, and shot his tongue back out at Nami. But she'd been prepared for that, and smiled, taking her Clima Tact apart and throwing one of the sections at his tongue, as if allowing him to have it. But a pained scream from Kamereon brought a smile to her face; her plan had worked.
"That part is activated by my Heat Dial! Better be careful where you aim your tongue or you'll get burned...or worse!" Nami warned him, picking up the piece and reattaching it to her Clima Tact.
"Insolent wench...fine, we'll see how well you fight when you can't see me!" Kamereon roared, changing his skin tone again and blending in with his surroundings, bounding after her. But there were no more footprints to follow now.
"Wh-where'd he go?!" Nami gasped. Suddenly a few rocks began to fall from the cliff above her. "Up there!" she realized, diving out of the way just in time to avoid Kamereon's tongue slamming the ground where she'd been standing.
"We reptiles have no problem crawling up walls!" Kamereon laughed. "You really have nowhere to hide from me, I can stalk you from anywhere!"
"He's right about that..." Nami grumbled. "Even if I use my Clima Tact to become invisible, I'm stuck on the ground and he'll be able to follow my footprints..."
Kamereon jumped, and a pale shadow appeared over Nami. Shrieking, she rolled to the side as Kamereon narrowly missed crushing her. "Keep running! Tire yourself out! I'm not going to fall for your trick twice so you can't attack me!" he cackled again.
But Nami had a plan. "Fine." she stood up and dusted herself off. "If you aren't going to come out of hiding, I'll force you out." Nami said, raising her Clima Tact in both hands above her head and showing Kamereon the full extent of her weapon's power. Red bubbles and blue bubbles were coming out of each end, and they collided in the air, forming dark clouds.
"What the hell are you doing...?" Kamereon asked, though he wasn't about to attack, he was too curious as to what Nami was doing; even living on an island full of Devil Fruit users, he had never seen anything like that.
"Monsoon Tempo!" Nami announced, and the dark clouds spread over them like wildfire, cascading down rain. "Try hiding in THAT!" Nami laughed.
Kamereon watched the raindrops bouncing off of his skin; he realized his camouflage would now be useless against Nami. "No! You-you tricked me!" he growled. "This isn't an attack!"
"No, but this is!" Nami waved her Clima Tact in the air like a lightning rod. Electricity crackled in the rainclouds above and Kamereon realized now what she was doing. "Oh, no you don't!" he snarled, and shot out his tongue, grabbing the Clima Tact firmly and trying to wrench it out of Nami's grasp. Finally he succeeded and pulled it back so hard that he swallowed it completely. "SUCCESS!" He roared with triumph. "You're powerless!"
Nami trembled; he was right, she was now completely helpless...or was she? She had figured this might happen, considering that she'd lose every time in a contest of physical strength with Kamereon, so she took one part of her Clima Tact out of the contraption and hid it in her skirt. But what good would one piece of it do? She had to use it to either get the rest of it back, or finish the job. And with the prospect of getting anywhere near Kamereon being the only way to get it back, she decided on the latter. "You're wrong! But you can try to come get me if you don't think I'm still dangerous!" Nami challenged him.
"I'll call that little bluff!" Kamereon shouted, chasing after her again, not even caring that she could still see him in the rain.
Nami pulled the last fragment out of her skirt and held it up to the sky like an Olympic runner carrying the torch. The electricity crackling throughout the clouds began to travel in her direction, as though being drawn to a magnet. "Got to get up enough to knock him out..." she said to herself.
Kamereon shot out his tongue again, grabbing at Nami's foot, and ripped her shoe off. Nami cried out as she fell face-down in a mud puddle and coughed and sputtered as she struggled to get back on her feet and keep running. "Can't give up..." she panted, knowing he was closing in on her. "Only have one chance..."
She reversed direction, and ran back at Kamereon, defying all logic and even surprising Kamereon. "Come to papa! I'll finish you off now!" he declared, although Nami was looking at him with eyes that showed no sign of giving up whatsoever. "What the hell-?!" he cried, as lightning flashed and blinded him for a split second. But in that instant, Nami had activated that last piece of her Clima Tact, which was equipped with a Light Dial from Skypiea, and made it look like there were a dozen of her running in every direction.
"For someone who likes to fool people's eyes...you sure don't know how to protect yourself against it!" Nami teased him. "Come on...come find me." she giggled. A dozen Namis were circling him, teasing him and running around.
Kamereon was dumbfounded, spinning around, trying to find the real one but he had no idea which one it could be, and if he guessed wrong and struck, he'd be open to whatever else she had in store. "Wh-where are you?!" he demanded angrily.
"It doesn't matter where I am...what matters is that I have you right where I want you." Nami laughed. "Look where you're standing."
Confused, Kamereon looked down. He was standing knee-deep in a puddle of rain; he had been so caught up with Nami that he didn't even notice. "Why do you think I stopped running away when I did? I saw you even though you're trying to hide, but more than that, I saw where the water was deepest." she explained. "That's what a good navigator does, watching for things others don't see. I also happen to be a thief, so I know something good when I see it instead of what's just so-so. I needed just enough to knock you out but you owe me big time for all the clothing you've destroyed. So I'm going to make you pay with interest...in pain." she winked slyly.
Kamereon heard the rumbling in the sky above him and he saw the lightning collecting directly over him. "And guess what, big boy? You just swallowed a giant lightning rod! Here, you might as well have dessert!" she said, the others disappearing and leaving the original Nami right behind him, grabbing him around the neck and shoving the last piece into his eye before scrambling around him trying to jump off before she herself was caught in the electric storm. And she barely made it, though she fell down a steep, muddy hill as she went.
Roaring in agony, Kamereon swiped blindly at her, trying to find his way out of the puddle but falling backwards as he mis-stepped, and laying helplessly as the thunderbolt struck him, lifting him bodily in the air, and blowing him back into the side of the mountain. The rainclouds began to dissipate and Kamereon transformed back into his human form, but not before vomiting out the individual pieces of the Clima Tact as the one in his eye fell out.
Nami limped over to him and collected her weapon; she was exhausted, dirty and still soaking wet, not to mention sore from falling over so many times and being missing twice as much clothing as she'd had before, now left in only her skirt, a thin tank top, and one mud-soaked shoe, which she discarded. From where she was now, she could see Usopp above her fighting the bat man, and from a distance she could see Franky battling the wasp man, and making his way towards Usopp. Sanji was all the way over on the other side of the village fighting his opponent, both of them looking like mere ants from that distance, and Zoro was nowhere to be seen at all. Luffy was still at the very top of the cliffs over the village, tussling with Ryuumaoh, his condition unknown. "Can we really beat all of them?" Nami wondered silently.

"NAMI!" Luffy shouted from the top of the cliffs...but he didn't remain there for long, he stumbled, swaying, like he was having trouble staying on his feet, and he finally toppled over the edge of the cliff.
Nami gasped and looked up; Luffy was falling, fast, looking wounded, and he landed hard at her feet, breaking through the hard ground. But to her surprise, he crawled up out of it quickly and looked up at her. "Nami! I need your help!" he said, stuggling to his feet and grabbing her shoulders, a serious look on his face.
"What do you mean? I can't fight that thing!" she pointed up at Ryuumaoh, a horrified look on her face.
"No, I don't need your help to fight him! I need your help to get stronger so I can beat him!" Luffy told her, shaking his head. He turned around and showed her that his shirt had been ripped in the back, and three huge slashes had been made across his back, the biggest one in the middle, where his spine was. "I have an idea." he explained.
"And what exactly do you need from me?" she asked him, confused. "I don't get how you intend to get stronger! Didn't your Gear 2 work?" she asked.
"I tried it and I couldn't even make a dent in him. I would try Gear 3 but I know he'll be way too fast for me to hit him. And I can't afford to turn chibi when it's over, he'll be able to finish me off in no time if I show my weakness. I need to go beyond either of those." he said.
"B-but how? I can't think of anything that would make you stronger than Gear 2 or Gear 3 that wouldn't kill you if you tried it!" She then gasped and covered her mouth. "Luffy...?" she looked at him, stunned.
"I don't have a choice, Nami." Luffy told her, taking off his hat and putting it on her head. "I said it before...if I die in the midst of fulfilling my dreams, then I die. At least I tried, and at least I had lots of fun on my adventures." he smiled innocently. "Come on...we're going back up there. He said he'd wait for me because he wants a real challenge. I want the others to come too..." he explained.
"I...understand." Nami nodded.
"Luffy! Nami!" Chopper arrived back at the village.
"You made it!" Nami sighed with relief. "Let's wait here...we'll wait for the others to finish their fights."
"Luffy, you're hurt!" Chopper gasped, seeing the gashes on Luffy's back. "Let me wrap up those wounds!" He frantically searched through his medical bag for bandages but Luffy grabbed his hand.
"Leave them. I need to leave them open." he waggled his finger at Chopper.
Both Nami and Chopper were now very worried about Luffy; he'd never acted quite this solemn or serious before. Did he really intend to sacrifice his life to defeat Ryuumaoh? What exactly was he planning?