Touching Time (revised)

by Trafalgar Neo

It's black with glowing red veins coursing through its round body. It's trapped the pirates. Unable to defeat or get free, they black out. Waking up they find they're separated and on islands called Time Domes. But as they start with their assigned task they're given by their real captor, they find they're not on islands at all. They're not even in the New World. TimeTravel-ish

8. Into the Domes P1

Into the Domes

Part One

Law pulled back his fist. He swung it forward hitting the tree again and again and again. The leaves falling down from his hits started to look like blizzard of green snowflakes floating down to the ground. His skin split even farther apart. Blood dripped down his hand and all over the innocent tree in front of him. With each hit, he cursed under his breath. When he finally got his hands on that Pendulum guy, he was going to make him pay with his life.

"You need to calm down," Nami, the forgotten pirate, said.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do!" Law hissed. He whipped around to glare at the orange haired woman. He really didn't want to deal with her right now. All he wanted to do was find that man and kill him in several painful ways.

Nami flinched at his harsh glare but held strong in her stance. And despite the desire to run as far away from Law as she possibly could, she knew she couldn't. They were stuck here. They had to rely on each other. At least until they could figure out where exactly they are. Taking in a deep breath, she addressed him. "Look, normally, I wouldn't even think about thinking about telling you what to do because, quite frankly, you scare me, a lot. I know that you can easily kill me if you wanted to. But in this particular case I have to tell you that you need to calm down. You have a predictable tendency to get a little crazy and unfocused when Neo isn't by your side or with a member of your crew or with one of us Straw Hats. She needs you to focus right now. While I need that levelheadedness of yours right now, I'm not telling you to calm down for my sake. I'm telling you to calm down for Neo's sake. Obviously you want to get her back, we all do. And we will get her back. She knows how to take care of herself. Sure she's going to be scared when she wakes up, but she knows that you'll come for her. She knows that we all will come for her. And to make that happen we both need calm and clear heads. We have no idea exactly where we are or what dangers we're going to face while we're here. Since that guy went to the trouble of bringing your sword here too when you didn't have it with you before, it's a pretty safe bet to say we're going to run into some trouble here."

Law turned his back to her. He didn't want to hear anymore. He knew she was correct. He just didn't want to admit it. They were stuck here. They had no one else to rely on but themselves and each other. Reaching into the front of his suit, he pulled out the chain that his wedding ring was attached to. He ran his thumb over the engraving. The same exact engraving that Neo had on her ring he had bought her so long ago. He wondered if she was awake yet. He wondered if she realized that he wasn't with her, that no one was with her. Was she going to be okay? Could she hold it together when she realized they weren't going to be able to come to her immediately? How was her stress going to affect their baby? He clenched his hand over his ring. He had to force himself to stop thinking about that. Neo would do what she needed to do when it came to their baby. He knew she would use their baby to keep herself under control and as calm as she possibly could. And he couldn't be anymore glad that he had placed his hat on her head when he warped it to them. She had that with her. It would, without a doubt, help keep her calm.

"Well, we can't do anything right now anyway. The sun's starting to set. I'll gather up some wood and start a fire for us. Hopefully while it gives us warmth it'll scare of whatever creatures roam this forest at night. We should also probably take turns keeping watch until we know if we're in enemy territory or not." With that said, Nami turned away from her angry companion. Using what little light she had that was peaking through the leaves and branches, she gathered up enough wood to start their fire. She was very grateful she had gotten her weather baton back from those kids. It was already coming in handy. She twirled the baton then pulled down a lightning bolt. With a loud crack, the lightning hit the wood, setting it ablaze. She watched it to make sure it wasn't going to go out before heading off to look for more wood to get them through the night. Once she had enough for the night, she sat down near the crackling fire. Her eyes flittered to Law. He was still standing with his back turned to her. She sighed. "Look, Tra, it's really going to be okay. We'll get the shard as quickly as we can then we'll be reunited with her. It'll do you no good to just stand there brooding."

Nami sighed again when he showed no response to her words. She didn't think he heard her at all. So she was surprised when she saw him walking over to the fire and sit down across from her. His wedding ring was dangling outside of his suit, the fire flicking off of its shiny surface as it swung. Seeing that she knew he had been standing there the entire time just looking at it. "Hey, you and Neo still have your Projection thing. You can always project yourself to her. Surely she's close enough for that."

"No." Law shook his head. "We don't use that unless we know we're in a safe place and being guarded by at least one of our crew."

"Well, I'm here. You can try it if you want," Nami said.

"That would be stupid," Law said. "If I did Project myself to her we could get ambushed. And, let's face it, you're not the strongest pirate in the world. Leaving you alone could cause the death of us both."

"I guess you have a point there," Nami said. She placed her hands on the ground behind her and leaned back. "At least she can still Project herself to you."

"She won't do that if she doesn't feel safe enough to do it," Law said. "It's possible that we won't even see each other until we've gotten that stupid shard for that guy."

Nami sighed for a third time. She knew Law was correct. He knew Neo better than she did after all. She turned her eyes to the forest. Dark shadows were starting to take over it as the sun fell farther and farther away. Her stomach rumbled a little. It reminded her that it's been a while since she had eaten. And since those kids stole their stuff they all ran off without finishing their meals, except for Luffy who easily grabbed it all and ate it. She hoped that her stomach wouldn't keep her up all night. And she hope the locate towns had good enough food to eat. With nothing else to do or talk about, she stared into the fire along with Law. She only looked up occasionally to see if her male companion had fallen asleep yet. He hadn't. He was still staring off into the fire, his mind obviously where Neo currently was. wherever that actually was.

"You should sleep," Law said a few hours later. "I'll keep first watch."

"Okay," Nami said. She laid down on the hard ground, instantly missing her comfortable bed back on the Sunny. She closed her eyes, leaving Law to his guard as she drifted off.

…

Law was still staring into the fire way passed the sun rising in the sky. He didn't even notice that the orange haired navigator had gotten up until she spoke.

"Did you stay up all night?" Nami asked. "You were suppose to switch watch with me. Now you're going to be tired all day."

"I'll be fine," Law said.

Knowing arguing with him would get her nowhere she turned her attention to their monkey companion. It was right where it was last night. It hadn't moved at all. She narrowed her eyebrows at it. "You are really creepy, you know? Do you really have to stare off in space like that?" She sighed unsure of why she was expecting it to answer. "It's really going to get annoying having you follow us around and watch our every move. So, you going to show us where we're supposed to go? Or do we just follow you like a dog?"

The monkey's eyes lit up. A beam of light shot out forming a map for them to follow. Nami got up and walked over to it. Kneeling down, she rubbed her chin as she studied the map before her. She pointed at three dots and said, "I think this is us." She pointed to the other dot. "And I'm pretty sure that this lone dot over here is the shard. I wonder how far it is away from us. There are some kind of lines on the map too. I think they're words, but I'm not sure. We might be in a location where people speak a different language than we do. That's not going to be good. We won't be able to get information if we can't understand what they're saying."

"Then let's get it and get out of here," Law grumbled. He pushed himself to his feet. Loosened up his tie, he walked over to his almost forgotten sword. He rolled up his sleeves before picking it up. He turned back to Nami. "Let's go."

"All right, monkey," Nami said, standing up. She kicked dirt over the fire, making sure it was out completely before turning her attention back to the monkey. "You heard the man. Let's go."

The monkey turned and with the map fading away, it headed off into the forest. Nami and Law followed after it. The only sounds between them were the chirping of unseen birds, rustling of leaves as they pushing through bushes, and their footsteps on the forest floor. No words at all passed between them. Not that there was much to talk about. Law wasn't that much of a talker anyway. So the silence didn't bother him at all. Nami, however, was use to talking. She didn't care much for the silence. Still, she remained quiet. All she had on her mind was their friends and the shard. And right now they've said all they could about that.

"Is it getting hotter to you?" Nami asked about forty five minutes later. Both their bodies were almost soaked in their sweat. The combination of the smoke that clung to their clothes, hair, and skin didn't mix well at all with the sweat. She knew they had to stink. She grabbed the end of her shirt and tied it up to allow her body to cool off some. Law had removed his jacket and tied it around his waist. "I really think it's getting hotter. Are we in a desert? We can't be. Trees like these don't grow in deserts. Are we almost out of this forest yet?"

Law didn't answer. And neither did the monkey. They just continued to push through the thick brush for a few more minutes before finally finding an end to the forest. Nami let out a grumble sigh of relief. "Finally! I was beginning to think we were never going to get out of here! I really need some water!" She gasped when they broke through the last of the bushes. "Wow! It looks like Alabasta, minus the desert."

Down the hill from where they stood was a large mansion surrounded by a high stone fence with two large iron gates and soldiers lined up along the sides. On the sides of the mansion, but for the forest side where they were standing, was a city. Without a word, they descended down the hill of brownish green grass and made their way closer to the mansion. When they got about a hundred yards from the stone fence their monkey companion started to malfunction. It crackled, snapped, and screeched.

"What's wrong with it?" Law asked as Nami knelt down to look at the monkey.

"I don't know. It just started going berserk," Nami grabbed the monkey and moved it back a few steps in the direction they came from. It went back to normal and tried to move forward again. But when it got back to the hundred yard mark, it went berserk. She pulled the monkey back again and asked for the map. "Show me the map again. That's odd. It's working just fine now. It looks like the monkey can't get any closer for some reason. But the shard is in that place. Our dots are practically sitting on top of it."

"Then forget the stupid monkey." Law started to turn back towards the mansion. They were so close. They could get it in just a few seconds. Then he'll be able to get back to Neo. "We don't need it anymore. Let's just get the shard and get out of here."

"Halt! State your name and purpose for being here!" a voice demanded.

The pirates whipped around to see a couple people walking up to them. When they got closer the two pirates noticed the two people were dressed in guard uniforms and they weren't human. They looked like dragons with human features. One of them had green skin while the other had blue skin. The color of their hair was hidden under their hats, but their eyes were solid black with only a small fraction of light glinting off them. The one who spoke before spoke up again after releasing a puff of fire from his mouth, revealing his sharp teeth. "Speak! What is your purpose for being here?!"

"At easy, Uther," the blue guard held out his hand, revealing his two inch long claws. "They are obviously not from this sector. They must have gotten separated from their tour group. One just passed by a few minutes ago."

Uther let out a disapproval grunt. "This tourist drive is a bad idea. I've always said that. You'd think they would have learned by now how stupid is really is. They're just asking for trouble with it."

"Tourist drive?" Nami whispered to Law. "What do you think that means? Is this place famous or something?"

Law didn't respond. He kept his eyes locked onto the two dragon like creatures. He tightened his hold on his sword. He carefully studied their bodies. From the clothes they were wearing he couldn't decide if they were very muscular or not. But since they were like dragons and could obviously breath fire, he figured they were going to be rather strong opponents.

"Forgive my friend Uther here. He's on edge lately. We all have been." The blue guarded turned back to Law and Nami. "See, the family that lives in this mansion, their daughter has been almost kidnapped six times now."

"I see." Nami smiled sweetly at the guards. "Well, I'm sorry we gave you the idea we were up to something no good. I assure you we are not here to kidnap anyone. We just got a little lost, that's all. You were correct in guessing that we're not from this place."

"I can see that. You are much to pretty to be a heartless kidnapper." The blue guard smiled and Uther rolled his eyes.

"Ah, that's so sweet of you," Nami said. "My name is Nami." She gestured to Law. "And this is Trafalgar Law."

"My name is Volos. Welcome to Adalinda," Volos said.

"Adalinda? Where in the New World is that?" Nami asked.

"New World?" Uther laughed. "Are you ill or something?"

"What's so funny? All I asked is where in the New World we are." Nami raised an eyebrow at the laughing dragon like person.

"We have never heard of this New World." Volos shot a disapproving glance at his fellow guard before turning a warm smile back to Nami. "Is that the name of the sector you are from?"

Nami looked over at Law. He didn't return her glance as he looked around. His eyebrows were kneaded in confusion and worry. She turned her eyes back to the two guards. "Are we back in the East Blue? Or maybe the Grand Line? I've never heard of an island like this before."

"East Blue? Grand Line?" Uther laughed again. "You come up with some of the craziest names, little girl."

"Then where the heck are we?!" Nami demanded as panic began to settle into her stomach and chest. "What island are we on?!"

"I already told you that you two are in Adalinda." Volos was now giving her a concerned look, like she was mentally losing it. "The Hydra Sector of the Serpent Dome. Where did you think you were?"

"Come to think of it, neither of you look like nor smell like any serpents that I've seen," Uther said as he rubbed his chin and looked Nami and Law up and down. He then took notice of the monkey on the ground. He poked at it with his security stick. "What manor of creature is this?"

"It's my, uh, pet," Nami said carefully. She picked up the monkey and took a few steps backwards from the guards. She looked over at Law. He finally looked at her and nodded. They both had the same thought. They needed to get away from this area and find out more information on where they were and what they were really dealing with here. "Well, it was really nice to meet both of you, but we really have to go. Got to catch up with our tour group and all."

"Well, if you would wait a few minutes another tour will be coming by soon. You can catch a ride with them," Volos called to them as they started to walk off. "They'll be meeting up with the rest of the tour groups so you can join your friends."

"That's okay," Nami called back to him. "We'll walk! It's not that far so we don't mind! Thanks for all your help! Bye!"

The two pirates rushed towards the city. From their currently location, it was about a half a mile from the mansion to the city so walking wasn't going to be an issue except for the heat. They just really needed to get away from those two guards before they blew their cover. Nami held on tightly to the monkey as they quickened their steps. She glanced over her shoulder to see if the guards were following them. When she saw that they were walking back towards the mansion, she relaxed. "They're not following us. Okay, so where the heck did that guy bring us to? They've never heard of the Grand Line or the New World or even the East Blue. Did that guy bring us to another planet or something?"

"We're just going to have to ask someone," Law said.

"Ask? After the looks those two gave us back there? You really want us to ask? " Nami stopped walking. "Tell me you're joking. If we say the wrong thing the people here could lock us up in some crazy mental house." She then held out the monkey by its neck. "And not to mention this thing here. We have to watch what we say around it too."

"Do you have a better idea?" Law turned to her.

"We do the most logical thing," Nami said. "We go to the library."

Law sighed. Sure that was the most logical thing to do outside of asking since asking could cause them trouble. And with the looks those other two people were giving them, they really didn't need to take the chance of getting locked up. He was sure he could warp them out of trouble, but he still didn't need to take any unnecessary risks. He had to silently admit to himself that he was grateful the Straw Hat navigator was here. He really needed someone to hold him down like this and do the thinking for him until he could get his own brain to work correctly again. "Fine. We'll get to the city and find the library."

"Good." Nami nodded. The two then started walking through the sweltering heat. By the time they had gotten to the city, their clothes were stained with sweat and sticking to their hot skin. "I need a cold shower after this. It's amazing that it's this hot here when there's no desert. Or maybe this is their desert."

Law didn't reply to her as they passed through the invisible boarder of the city. He just scanned his eyes over the crowds of people. They all were just like the two serpent people they met before. Their skins were all kinds of colors, dark blues, greens, browns, reds, and even some pink ones. He gripped his sword tightly, wondering if he should have left it back in the forest somewhere. It could be illegal to carry around weapons here for all he knew. He carefully watched people's reactions, looking for any signs that would indicate to him they needed to run. But he didn't see anything. Not many people here even looked at the two pirates as they continued on bustling around the busy streets. Only a few shot them curious glances when they walked passed their booths.

"Well, other than the people here looking like dragons, there's not much difference between this place and any other islands we've been on," Nami said. "So where do you think the library is?" She looked up at a sign hanging over at storefront. She tilted her head in confusion at the marks on the sign. She couldn't read it at all. The words just looked like lines that were haphazardly thrown together. "Please tell me that's not the language here. They were speaking English. We both heard them."

"It's possible they speak more than one language here," Law said. "Look over there. That sign has a book on it. Surely that's the library or at least a bookstore."

"Hey, you're correct," Nami said, looking at the sign. "Libraries and bookstores often have books on their signs or in their windows. Good thinking, Tra."

"Let's go," Law said, leading the way over to the store. He grabbed the handle to the faded blue door and pushed it open. A brush of cooler air washed over his exposed skin upon entering. He found that the air came from a leaf fan that was hanging from the ceiling. A rope was attached to it and ran down to the old serpent lady sitting behind a counter looking really bored while she moved the fan with her tail. He shifted his sword on his shoulder when she glanced over at them from over top of her black rimmed glasses.

"Welcome to Hottie's Bookstore and Library," she said. "Feel free to look around as much as you like."

"Oh good," Nami said. "We found the correct place."

Law proceeded into the building. Walking silently through the isles of the store, his mind automatically went back to Neo, not that it ever left her. It didn't matter where he looked, everything reminded him of her. The hot weather that she would easily be able to push away with her crystals, the monkey thing they had with them would be such a disappointment to her since it was a machine, the creatures that lived here would fascinate her, and she would absolutely love all of the books in this store. He grabbed a book off a shelf and opened it. His eyebrows kneaded upon finding the same language on the sign was in the books.

"You have got to be kidding me." He heard Nami say. Placing the book back on the shelf, he turned to find the woman was flipping through a book. And judging from the small pile of books that were now laying on the floor, she had flipped through several before speaking up. "Why is it they can speak English but can't write in English? We're going to get no where like this."

Law let his eyes fall to the monkey at the navigator's feet. "We're just going to have to ask someone."

"And get thrown in whatever constitutes as the loony bin here," Nami grumbled, shoving the book back onto the shelf with angry shove. "I'm too hot and hungry to think right now. Let's get something to eat and drink. I think we'll both feel better after that."

"And what money are you planning on using? I highly doubt they use the same currency here that we do back in the New World," Law said.

"Not a problem. I've been working on that since the first step we took into the city." Nami grinned. Pulling her hand out from her pocket, she let a pouch dangle from her extended finger.

Law lifted an eyebrow at her.

"What?" Nami shrugged. "We're pirates after all."

Law nodded. They were. They could easily steal the money they needed to survive here. But that didn't mean they would know how much was how much. They were going to have to pay close attention to people when they paid for items so they could at least pretend they know what they were doing here. With nothing else to say, the two pirates headed for the door. The lady at the front bit them a farewell, but they didn't reply to her. Once outside, the silent surroundings of the library was over took by the chattering of the people. They looked down the streets before heading off to their right to see if they could find a food stand or restaurant.

Walking through the street they let their eyes roam over the booths. Several people were selling different types of handmade jewelry, soaps, some things they couldn't identify, and some uncooked foods that they also couldn't identify. Both were wondering why so many were selling uncooked food, but before either could question it, they got their answer when a young serpent breathed fire upon the piece he bought. There was no way they were going to be able to do that. So they continued on to find a place that would cook their food for them. Soon they came upon a white tent that had some people sitting underneath it eating. They decided to just stop there and eat. It seemed to be the only place they could find that wasn't selling uncooked food.

The shade from the tent was a welcome relief as they sat down at an empty table. Nami looked around and said, "I hope it's fine that we just take a seat here."

A minute later, a young serpent walked over to them. With a nice enough smile, she handed them menus and said, "Hello. Welcome to Baer. My name is Bindy. I'll be your host today. Now, what can I get for you to drink today?"

Law propped up his sword then opened the menu. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance upon finding the menu was in the same strange language that the books and signs were.

"What do you suggest for two tourists?" Nami asked. "Something that's really cool to drink would be nice."

"You're new around here, aren't you?" Bindy asked, placing her hand on her hip.

"It shows, doesn't it?" Nami smiled.

"Yeah." Bindy nodded. "I've worked here pretty much my whole live so it's easy for me to pick out tourists now."

Law bit the inside of his cheek. He knew this was where the girl was going to ask where they were from. He had no idea what they were going to tell her about where they're from. They really needed to figure out a plan for this, unless they figured out away to completely avoid people all together. But he figured that last one wasn't going to be possible at all.

"I think I know just the thing that will settle your stomachs," Bindy said. "That is, if you don't really mind me picking out your drinks and food."

"We don't mind at all," Nami said.

"All right then," she said before walking away. "I'll be right back with your drinks."

Law exhaled. He was slightly surprised that she didn't continue the conversation. But deep down he really didn't care. He sat his menu down on the table and turned his eyes out to the crowds. Neo, are you awake yet? How are you doing? I hope you're fine. I know you're strong. I know you'll be able to handle this. Just wait for me. I will be there as soon as I can. He sighed. He began to picture himself sitting beside Neo on the bed just waiting for her to wake up. He pictured her beautiful smile with her electric blue eyes and how innocent they made her look. His chest ached heavily to be by her side. He could feel his tears threatening to gather at the corner of his eyes. He closed his eyelids and took a slow deep breath.

"Here you go," Bindy's voice said, pulling him back to where he really was. His tears were immediately gone when she placed their drinks of bright green liquid down on the table. "I hope you like it. If not I can bring you something else to try. And, I'm really sorry for this, but it might be a while before your food comes out."

"Why?" Nami asked. "You don't really look all that busy."

"Well, we're a bit short handle lately," Bindy said. "But I promise I'll do my best to get it out as quickly as I possibly can."

"I see. Well, don't worry about it," Nami said. "We're not in a hurry to go anywhere."

"That's nice of you," Bindy said. "If you'll excuse me, I have other tables to attend. I'll bring your meal as soon as possible."

"Hey, this is good," Nami said after tasting the green liquid in front of her. "It kind of tastes like lime with a touch of lemon in it. It's a lot thicker than I thought it would be as well. It's almost like a smoothie."

Law turned his eyes back out into the world around him without even bothering to taste the drink. He was hoping for something to distract him from thinking about and worrying about Neo, but he knew that wasn't going to be possible. His mind was automatically going to be stuck on her until saw her again. Closing his eyes, he could feel her far away from him. He knew she was already awake by now. And she wasn't happy. If only he could reach out for her, to touch her with his body or mind, anything to let her know that he was still with her. He knew she knew all of that anyway, but he just want to remind her of it. He was really going to have to find something to distract himself if they ended up being here for an extended amount of time.

"I am so sorry about your wait," Bindy said. Her voice had once again pulled Law from his thoughts. He turned just as she sat down their plates down on the table. He stared down into the mess that was on their plates. There was a brownish grey liquid pooled around a hunk of something that resembled meat and smaller chucks of what looked to be potatoes. "Here are your meals. I hope you like them."

"Don't worry about it. We completely understand." Nami smiled.

Law looked over to the navigator. Despite the smile on her face, he could tell she was thinking the same thing he was: What the heck was this slop in front of them?

"Is there anything else I can get for you two?" Bindy asked.

"No, we're good for now," Nami said.

"All right then. Let me know if you need anything else," Bindy said before walking away from them with a wave.

"I hope this is eatable," Nami said, eyeing her goopy meal suspiciously.

Law nodded in agreement. Both hesitated as they picked up their two pronged forks and dug into the meat like substance. The substance easily pulled apart so at least it was cooked all the way through. He brought the piece up to his face, carefully eyeing it for any other foreign objects before slowly placing it into his mouth. The substance was soft and juicy with a bitter taste to it while the strange colored juice had a sweet taste to it. He stuck his fork into the potato looking thing and found it was a type of meat as well. It was slightly gamey and had a peppery taste to it.

"Well? How is it?" Nami asked, still hesitating to take her own bite.

"It's…not bad," Law said after swallowing.

"Okay," Nami said. She still hesitated but brought the food into her mouth. "You're correct. It's not bad at all. It's not really what I'm use to but at least it's eatable."

Law nodded in agreement. They weren't going to starve here at the very least. The two fell back into silence as they continued to eat their meals. They both ate rather slowly. Both knew they needed information so they took their time in eating and listened to what other people were talking about as they came and when from the restaurant and walked by them. Unfortunately, they didn't over hear anything that was useful to them at all. So he started cooking up a plan that would be believable for the people around here to accept. And amnesia was his answer.

"Are you sure there isn't anything else I can get for you?" Bindy asked, walking back over to them. "You've been here for quite while. I don't mind. It is rather hot today, but…"

"You can tell us where we are," Law said bluntly.

"Trafalgar!" Nami hissed. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I know it might sound like a strange thing to say, but we were in a battle and can't remember much of anything," Law added calmly, ignoring the harsh look Nami was giving him. He knew what he was doing after all. Amnesia was the perfect cover story to why they didn't know anything about the world they were in. "So if we really seem a bit lost or out of our minds then that's why."

"That's horrible," Bindy said with a sympathetic look.

"We talked to some guards before outside of some large mansion or something and they said we were in some place called Adalinda, Hydra Sector of the Serpent Dome," Law said. "Where is that exactly?"

"In the Time Stream," Bindy said. She pulled out one of the empty chairs at their table and sat down.

"We don't mean to interrupt your work," Nami said. "But we really could use some information on this place. It might help us regain our memories."

"Don't worry about it. I was about to go on break anyway so I'm happy to help." Bindy smiled at Nami. "The rush hour is now over anyway. So we won't have many people to disturb us. Do you two at least know your names?"

"Yes," Law said. "I'm Trafalgar Law."

"I'm Nami," Nami said.

"We can remember our names and names of our friends were fighting with and a lot about our pasts, but it just some recent events that are a big blank," Law said. "Among a few other things that we're not use to being around."

"I see," Bindy said. "That must be a real pain. So you have no idea where you are or where your friends are?"

"We don't," Nami said.

"Well, despite the circumstances that brought you here, it's nice to meet you both. Now, back to what I was saying, you're in the Time Stream. This dome we're on is home to the serpent people. From your looks and clothing my guess is you're from another Time Dome. You must have arrived here some time after the Time Spheres stopped working," Bindy said, pushed her chair back on two legs.

"Time Spheres?" Nami asked. "What are those? They sound kind of familiar but I'm not really sure."

"It's how we travel from Time Dome to Time Dome. I was just a kid when they stopped working about five hundred years ago." Bindy stared up at the ceiling so she didn't see the concerned glances passing between Nami and Law.

Nami mouthed to Law, "Five hundred years?"

Law was concerned a bit too. This girl seemed to be over four hundred years old or so but looked like she was somewhere between his and Nami's age. He figured time must pass differently here.

"Although," Bindy continued, "I don't believe I've ever heard of people or seen people who look like you two living in the Time Stream. But then there are a lot of Time Domes that I haven't been to so it's really not all that impossible. What are you exactly? If you don't mind me asking."

Law shrugged slightly when Nami gave him a questioning look. He didn't think it would matter if they answered that question or not. But they were still going to have to be careful on what they did reveal. His eyes slid over to the monkey sitting in the chair beside him. It hasn't shown any signs of life so he figured what they were saying was okay and didn't break any of the rules they were placed under.

"We're humans," Nami said carefully.

"Humans, huh? Definitely never heard of you," Bindy said.

"Like you said, we're not from around here," Nami said, trying to keep herself as calm as possible. "So, what happened to cause the, um, Time Sphere's to stop working so suddenly?"

"No one really knows for sure. The only thing we do know is that some guy is trying to take over the Time Stream." Bindy looked around the room to see if anyone needed anything. "But no one knows what exactly he's going to do with it if he does take over."

"What guy?" Nami asked.

"Pendulum," Bindy said, once again not catching the concerned glances passing between Nami and Law.

The pirates carefully glanced over at the silent spider monkey. Their panicking hearts skipping a beat inside both of their chests. What would Pendulum think of all of this? Surely he would already know that others in this strange place would know about him. And still, they weren't breaking any rules.

"Pendulum has actually been in constant battle for centuries with the Time Empress Futura. People assume one of their battles must have knocked out the Time Spheres. It's kind of strange that they're not working yet. You'd think, that after five hundred years, Empress Futura would have gotten them fixed by now. We've all been stuck in our own Time Domes since that time. Some people had to relocate here when the spheres stopped working. Some are fine with living in different Time Domes. But others are furious and really want to go home and see their families again. I can understand that. But there's not much anyone can do about it. I really hope this mess gets cleared up soon. I'd like to take a vacation to Desert Dome. They have such a nice and relaxing atmosphere there. I've wanted to go there since I was a kid, but it looks like I'm going to have to keep on waiting. Which is a real shame."

"Why's that?" Nami asked.

"I wanted to go so I could get as relaxed as possible. It would help me in studying if I'm ever going to pass my entrance exams to get into the brainery," Bindy said.

"I thought you worked here," Nami said.

"I do, but I'm really supposed to be studying for the entrance exams." Bindy sighed. "This is actually my family's establishment. We've owned it for years and never had a problem with anything. Then all of a sudden, people started quitting left and right within just a couple weeks of starting. I really don't have much choice but to help out. If I don't, then my family would lose this place forever. And it's my family's only source of monetary. So we'd not only lose this place but our home as well. Plus, my papa would be so broken, physically and mentally, if he ever had to close this place down. And to put an even bigger strain on things, our biggest client is hosting another ball in a few weeks that we're suppose to cater to."

"A ball?" Nami asked.

"I'm sure you noticed that big mansion just north of the city. You mentioned a mansion before. That's where this client lives. Their daughter is having her official coming out into society party. They always hire us to cater their balls. It's such a strain on Papa, especially since we can't keep many on our staff," Bindy said, sighing again. "If we don't get more help soon we'll have to tell our client that we can't cater this time. They're going to be so furious. They're use to getting what they want. They could completely shut us down if they want to. I mean, if we don't close down before then. It's such a mess."

"We noticed all the security around that place and a couple of the guards mentioned a kidnapping," Nami said. "What was that about?"

"Yeah, no one knows who keeps trying to take her. Probably just some low life punks who want to ransom their daughter off." Bindy dropped her chair back onto its four legs. "They've got some serious security there now. It's impossible to take any type of machinery within a hundred yards of the place without it malfunctioning."

Law and Nami glanced back over at their monkey. They now had an answer to what happened to the machine before.

"I'm sorry," Bindy said. "Here I am complaining about my family's problems when you two are worse off than we are."

"Don't worry about it," Nami said. "Sometimes we all need to just vent and get things off our chests."

"That's so true." Bindy nodded.

"And we might be able to help you out," Nami said.

"What?" Law and Bindy asked.

Law gave Nami a puzzling look. He crossed his arms when all she did was wave her hand at him.

"I mean, you're looking for help and we can't really do anything until we get our memories back," Nami said. "We can work for you."

"That would be so wonderful!" Bindy said. "But I can't just ask you to do that."

"You're not asking, we're offering," Nam said. "We might be here for a while. So we could really use the monetary."

"That makes sense," Bindy said. "Well, I'll have to bring this up to my papa, but I think he'll say yes since we're in desperate need of help."

"Great!" Nami grinned. "Why don't you go ask him now?"

"I will." Bindy stood up and walked away.

"What are you thinking, Nami?" Law asked with a displeased frown.

"Don't give me that attitude," Nami said. "You know we have to get into that mansion."

"We could just fight our way in," Law said. "Did you forget my warping ability? We don't have to sneak in like rats."

"True, but we have no idea where exactly the shard is," Nami said.

Law twitched. She was correct. They didn't know where the shard was exactly. They only knew that it was inside of the mansion. And they couldn't take their monkey friend in with them. They would be in some serious trouble if they went into the place and couldn't immediately find it. They still had no idea what these people were capable of doing yet. The serpents could be stronger than they were. Or they could have their own type of Devil Fruit powers here. They were going to have to sneak into this place under a disguise. The catering job offered them just that.

A few minutes later, Bindy walked back over to them. Her happy face told them they got the job. She said, "You got it! You can start tomorrow!"

"That's great!" Nami said.

"Do you need a place to stay tonight?" Bindy asked. "It's not much but we do have a couple small rooms that we could offer you."

"No, thank you," Law said before Nami could accept. "We've already have a place to stay."

"Oh, okay then. But if you ever need a place to stay just let me know," Bindy said. "Well, I should get back to work. If you have any more questions I'd be happy to help you folks out."

"Thanks a lot, Bindy," Nami said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"See you later." Bindy waved as she walked off. "We opened up at sith. So make sure you're here in plenty of time."

"Sure thing." Nami waved to their new friend before turning to Law. "What the heck is a sith?! And what were you thinking, Tra? We need a place to stay!"

"We're staying out in the forest," Law said.

"What?! I don't want to sleep on the hard ground!" Nami said.

"We need to keep people around us to a minimum," Law said. He nodded to their silent companion. "We have to be careful with that thing following us around. If we live in a building here then there's a high possibility that we will be over heard. You heard what Bindy said. People around here know about Pendulum. If they figure out that we're basically working for him, where do you think that will land us?"

"I never thought of that," Nami said.

"We can go shopping for supplies to set us up a camp out in the woods," Law said. "We'll move closer to the mansion so we don't have such a long walk to the city. We'll also pick out a place that will be surrounded by a bunch of bushes and trees. That way we should be able to hear if someone sneaks up on us. And since the forest is so dense, our fires shouldn't be easily seen."

"That's just great," Nami said.

"What's the problem? You're a pirate. You should be use to living outdoors," Law said.

"I know," Nami said. "I just didn't want to stay outside in this heat."

"You'll get use to it." Law stood up. Grabbing his sword, he shoved his free hand into his pocket and walked away. "Come on. We have shopping to do and have to get our camp set up before it gets dark."

"Yeah, I'm coming," Nami said. She placed some money down on the table and quickly followed after the surgeon.

With their monkey babysitter tagging along, they began to walk through the city to search for a store that would have camping equipment they needed and swiping as much money as they could to pay for their supplies. They went into at least fifteen stores before finally finding a store that had all they needed. After paying for their purchases, they headed back to the forest. When they reached the forest again, Law scanned for the perfect place to set up their camp. After fifteen minutes of searching, Law found a good place for them. There were three rather large trees close together with leaves like a weeping willow draping down like a curtain and a small creek they could use for water and washing up. No one would be able to sneak up on them from that direction at all.

"I guess this place will do," Nami said, dropping her heavy load on the ground. She glanced up at the tree limbs that were at least six feet high. "But it's going to be a serious pain climbing these trees to hang the ropes on. They're about six feet high from my head. There's no way the tarps we bought for walls around to be long enough."

"You're forgetting about my Devil Fruit power," Law said. He picked up a coil of rope and held out his free hand. "Room. Shambles." The rope disappeared from his hand and found itself inside of the tree's trunk. "Now all we have to do is sew the tarps together and place them on the rope. When that's done I'll just warp the other end into the tree trunks as well."

"Great. I did forget about that ability of yours," Nami said. Sitting down on the ground, she got busy with sewing the tarps so they could get their makeshift walls up.

Law went ahead and warped some more ropes into the trees like he did with the first one. Then, he walked away from their camp to gather up some wood for their fire. He found enough to get them through the night, but they were going to need more. Looking around, he found a smaller tree that looked to be on the verge of dying. Reactivating his Room, he divided the dying tree up then warped back to their campsite.

"There," Nami said when he returned. "The tarps are ready."

Law nodded. They both threaded the free ends of their ropes through the tarps before he warped the ends into the trees. When they were all set up, they both had makeshift walls to pull around them to give them privacy when they needed or wanted it. They also angled a couple tarps over their fire with just enough opening for the smoke to go through but very little rain would be able to get in. The trees would help shield them from rain, but this was added for extra security. They then rolled out their sleeping pads and placed their blankets and pillows on them.

"Well, it's not exactly the Sunny, but it should do for a short term living place," Nami said, running her eyes over their campsite. "And I do hope this is just a short term living place. Oh, shoot. We should have asked Bindy when the event was."

"You can ask tomorrow," Law said. He laid down on his pad with his hands behind his head, he once again thought about Neo. He didn't really feel like she was all that upset anymore. So she must have been able to get and keep herself calm. But how long would that be? Should he attempt to Project himself to her now?

"Hey, are you going to be able to handle working at Bindy's restaurant?" Nami asked.

Law glanced over at her with an annoyed frown.

"Don't give that look," Nami said. "You're a rather serious guy. Waiting on people isn't exactly easy. Some of them are going to be extremely rude."

"So? I know how to handle people," Law said, turning his eyes away from her

"Tra, we can't be pirates here," Nami said. "We have to be just normal, everyday people. You can't become your sadistic self here."

"I'll do what I must to get back to Neo," Law said. "And I'll hear no more on the subject."

"You're hopeless," Nami said with a sigh. "Sometimes you're too much like Luffy."

"I'm nothing like Straw Hat," Law said. "He's probably already gotten himself into a lot of trouble by now."

"Well, you have a point there," Nami said. Leaning back on her hands, she looked up at their roof. "I wonder who he got paired up with if anyone. I hope he did get paired with someone who's levelheaded enough to handle him. And I hope he doesn't get himself into many fights. Hopefully he won't get into any fights. But I'm not holding my breath on that. You're probably right. He's probably already in trouble as it is." She sighed. "Please, Luffy, for once in your life take this seriously, and don't get into any fights."

Law exhaled. His eyes wondered to their monkey. It was sitting several feet away from them looking as lifeless as ever. He really wished that Pendulum had made this thing to where they could communicate with the rest of their crews. While he knew they were all capable of handling themselves, he still wanted to know where they were and how they were doing. He had to wonder if Neo had one of these things with her. He couldn't see any reason for that, but he didn't know. This monkey was here to basically babysit them. Since Neo wasn't looking for any shard there really didn't seem to be a point to have one with her. Then, what did he know? He only knew very little. He just had to be patient for more answers and his reunion with his love. He was glad to be a patient man, but with Neo so far away from him he had no idea how long his patients was going to hold out. And he had to admit that Nami was correct. He really didn't need to be his typical sadistic pirate captain self. So far it didn't look like pirates existed in this place. But for Neo he was going to do his best to behave as much as he could, at least to a point. Once he got his hands on that shard, there was nothing going to hold him back from reuniting with Neo. If it became necessary, he would kill as many people as he had to so he could reunite with her.

…

After a restless night sleep and the two hour early arrival at their new workplace since they didn't know what a sith was, the last thing that Law wanted to do was deal with a lot of bratty people who swore up and down that he got their order wrong when they were the ones who wrote their order down in the first place. Once they started their first day of working at Baer Restaurant, Bindy had informed them that her father decided to put up devices on the tables where the customer could write down their order then clip it to the device where they, the waiters and waitresses, would come by and grab them to put the orders in. He and Nami felt a huge relief lifting off their chests when they heard that. There was no possible way they could learn the language here quickly enough to write it down. But the man had chose to do this also because three more of his staff had decided to quit some time after they had left the restaurant yesterday. That meant there was only three of them waiting on tables while three cooked in the kitchen. Luckily he and Nami got put on table waiting because of their amnesia. Bindy's dad didn't want anyone in the kitchen who didn't know what they were doing. While he didn't want to be out here dealing with a lot of crybaby people, he didn't want to be in the kitchen either. It reminded him far too much of Neo. He was already getting lost in thought with her constantly. Him being around sharp objects and flames wasn't a good idea at all right now.

"I'm telling you I didn't order this at all," the pink woman serpent said.

"This place use to be such high quality service," her friend said, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

"I apologize," Law said through gritted teeth and a forced smile. "There has been some bad luck keeping staff on hand here lately. We're doing the best we can with the number of people we have. And my friend and I are new at this."

"Well, that's not our problem, now is it?" the first woman said with a sneer.

Law ground his teeth together. So badly he wanted to tell her it was going to be her problem if she kept annoying him like she was. But he managed to swallow the words. It was very hard, but he did it. He sucked in a breath. The chatter of the people in the restaurant was adding to the headache this woman was causing.

She waved a piece of paper at him. "Now, are we going to get our proper food or should we just leave?"

Law bit down on his tongue. He wanted so badly to just tell them to leave. Heck, he wanted to warp their annoying, scaly butts right out of this place himself. But he knew he couldn't do that. It wasn't really his place to do so. So he swallowed his pirate instincts, took the paper from the lady, and headed back to the kitchen. He slammed the order down on the counter, causing people to jump, and stalked to the back storage room, slamming the door behind him, where he could calm himself and gather his calm façade he had been able to use for the two hours of working here.

"Having a bad day?" Nami asked upon entering the storage room.

With in the small room, the orange haired woman had to stand fairly close to him. He was easily able to smell all of the cooking spices on her clothes. He wondered if he smelled like that as well. He probably did. While they didn't cook it seemed that just stepping into the kitchen allowed the spices to gather upon them. He didn't even notice that he didn't smell all these spices while he was passing through the kitchen. But he wasn't exactly in a calm state of mind.

"I was able to speak to Bindy a little bit," Nami said. "And you're not really going to like what I have to tell you about the party."

Law sighed heavily and ran his hands over his face. "Just tell me and get it over with."

"The party is in a month," Nami said quickly.

Law released a string of curses. There was no way he was going to survive a month of snappy, rude customers.

"Just keep reminding yourself that you're doing this for Neo," Nami said, heading back out into the kitchen.

The ruckus of the kitchen interrupted his quiet sanctuary when the woman left him. The banging of dishes, the whooshing of the heat coming from the stove, the shouts of orders being put in, bombarded him for a few seconds before the door was closed, plunging him into welcomed silence. He stayed in the room for a few minutes longer, enjoying the solitude while he had it. Mentally, he started to tell himself that he was doing this for Neo over and over again and again. He could and would do this for her. He just needed to mentally prepare himself for it.

An unexpected chuckle passed over his lips. He could just imagine the fun time Neo would be having with him right now. She would absolute love seeing him waiting on people like this. And what about his crew? They would be laughing so hard if they saw him in a job like this that they would probably soil their boiler suits. He was going to have to threaten Nami and Neo to never mention a word about this to anyone. With another heavy sigh, he forced himself to leaving this peaceful sanctuary for the insanity that awaited him. The words, "I'm doing this for you, Neo", repeating over and over in his head.

…

Apple Bloom: Glad you're enjoying this so much.