Pendulum's Plan

Part One

"Hey! Don't you dare!" Franky and Zoro blinked. They were no longer on the Dome of Cyborg Slaves.

"Hey! Franky! Zoro! You made it!" Luffy waved to them.

Just then Law and Neo came walking out of the house. Franky's eyes widened. He shouted to them. "No! Get Neo out of here!"

"Huh?" Nami asked. "Why? What's t-"

"Law!" Neo's scream caused everyone to turn to her. She was once again wrapped up in that strange orb that had attacked them before. The orb jerked her away and had her flying towards a large, circle mirror that didn't reflect anything. She summoned her earth crystals. Using the vines to wrap around whatever she could grab and pushed some against the mirror, trying to keep herself from being taken.

"Those are the shards we picked up?!" Nami gasped. "How'd they get so big?!"

"Neo!" Law shouted and unsheathed his sword. They all ran over to her as the orb shot out parts of itself and sliced up her vines. It then pushed her against the mirror. It released her, leaving her attached to the mirror. The mirror began to absorb her into it. Once inside she summoned all her crystals and attacked the mirror with all she had. It did no good. She didn't even singe it.

When he got close enough, Law sliced his sword over the mirror, but nothing happened. There were no slice marks on it at all. The others tried their own attacks. Nothing. Neo pounded on the mirror. "Law!"

"Room! Shambles!" Law twisted his hand, but nothing happened. "Shambles! Shambles!"

Luffy jumped into the air, using his Haki and punched the mirror repeatedly. He gasped when he wasn't even able to put a crack in it. "What the heck is that thing made of?"

"Crap! Cressida said this thing was next to indestructible!" Franky said.

"Who's Cressida?" Chopper asked.

"A girl we met. She preformed tests on the piece of shard she had. It uses power, and possibly magic, from other sources. Pendulum didn't keep Neo here by accident. He was after her all along," Franky quickly summoned up.

"But why?" Shachi asked. "What does he want with her?"

"Law! Get me out of here!" Neo cried as she continued pounded on it with her fists.

"I will! Just hold on!" Law placed his free hand on the mirror. She placed her hands over his on her side. Before anything else could be said or done the mirror lifted into the air and flew over to the other building in the dome. They all ran towards the tower. "Neo!"

"Law!" Neo panic when the two pinchers began to move towards the mirror. They pinched the mirror, holding it in place. The building started to glow yellow.

"What's happening?!" Sanji asked. The glow started at the bottom of the building and when it reached the mirror Neo's wrists and ankles were bound by it, making her body into an x. She screamed out in pain when the glow engulfed her entire body. Her crystals formed, but not from her. The glow was forcing her to use her magic.

"Curse that man!" Elian hissed.

"What is he up to?" Velocity asked. Celeste shivered and dove into Sanji's shirt. "What's the point of all this?"

When Pendulum's laughter rang throughout the dome, Velocity and Elian dove for cover to hide from the man. The pirates stopped running when he appeared between them and Neo.

"Stop this!" Nami shouted. "She's pregnant!"

"She's what?!" Zoro and Franky asked.

"Is there a point to that?" Pendulum asked nonchalantly

"You knew she was?!" Robin asked with fear in her eyes. Pendulum just grinned.

Law gripped his sword and charged in blindly, with the others following close behind. "Give her back!"

Pendulum waved his hand, freezing all of the pirates in place. He chuckled. "Sorry, pirates, but you won't be able to stop someone who can control time."

Pendulum turned and flew up to the top of the building. He sat on the top of the mirror and began to laugh again in victory. "I've done it! Do you see me, Empress Futura? I have beaten you! And there's nothing you can do to stop me now!"

Elian and Velocity exchanged looks and nodded. They flew out from their hiding spots. Their bodies grew to a human's size. They spread their magic over the pirates, freeing them from being frozen in time. The pirates bodies all relaxed as they started to over come the strange sensation of being frozen in time.

"What just happened?" Nami asked.

"I feel so strange," Robin reported.

"That was a very strange sensation," Brook said.

"Captain, what happened?" Bepo asked while rubbing his head.

"Anyone else have the desire to fiddle with clocks?" Usopp asked.

"We don't have time to explain what happened," Elian said.

"Ack!" Usopp shouted and fell back onto his butt. "What the heck?! How are you so tall now?!"

"We don't have time to explain that either!" Velocity shouted. "But we are on your side!"

"Well, well, well, Time Guardians Velocity and Elian," Pendulum looked down on them. "I'm a bit surprised to see you here. But it's too late. No matter what precautions your ruler has put in place, they won't work. I already have the girl. My plan is already in the works. Just take a look at your friends there."

"Give Neo back to me!" Law demanded. He started to head towards Pendulum again, but Elian jumped in front of him. Law glared. "Get out of my way!"

"Listen to me! You can't go after him alone! He just froze you and your people in time!" Elian said.

"I told you to get out of m-"

"Captain!" Penguin suddenly shouted. When Law turned back to his subordinate his eyes widened. Penguin, Usopp and Nami's feet were slowly disappearing.

"What's happening to them?!" Luffy demanded.

"Crap! That's what he's doing?!" Velocity cursed.

"What is he doing?" Nami shouted. "I don't want to disappear!"

"He's altering the time line!" Velocity replied. "If we don't stop him quickly we all could disappear forever!"

"And he needs Neo to do that?" Robin asked.

"That's not all he's doing," Velocity nodded. She held up her hand. A small glowing ball appeared in it. In the ball they could see their world and the time domes. They could see their homes and people they know running around in a panic as the ground below them shifted and changed. Everything was changing, even on the time domes. Neo's crystals were, somehow, physically changing the world. They were causing storms and reshaping the world itself. "Pendulum has always been known as sadistic and full of himself, but who knew this was his plan."

"What's going on?!" Zoro demanded. "Spill it already! We don't have time for dramatics!"

"Pendulum is using Neo to reshape the world and the time line into his image. That's why some of your friends are disappearing. He's changing the timeline," Elian said. He looked right into Law's eyes. "I know you want to save her, but you can't do that when he can freeze you in place and time."

"I have to save her! I won't abandon her to him!" Law shouted.

"I know you won't! We will help you! We're the only ones who can!" Velocity said as she joined her brother's side. "We might not be as strong as Pendulum but we can keep you unfrozen! But you have to trust us!"

"Fine," Law narrowed his eyebrows at them.

"What do we do?" Shachi asked.

"We have to either destroy that tower or kill Pendulum," Elian said.

"Sorry, but I won't give you the chance to stop me," Pendulum said. A strange slit opened up in the air and several monkeys, just like the ones that followed them around, dropped down. Ten of them grew to the size of gorillas while four of them grew to be almost the size of the house leaving around a hundred regular size ones.

"What the heck?!" Usopp shouted.

"Well, that's unexpected," Brook mumbled, pulling out his sword.

"Divide up into three teams!" Velocity ordered. "One team needs to fight these monkeys, the second team tries to destroy the tower while the third team deals with Pendulum!"

"Since there's only two of us, there can only be two of you who can attack Pendulum. We won't be able to keep up with more than that," Elian added.

"Luffy and Law are the two strongest we have," Franky says.

"Yes! You ready?" Luffy punched his hand into his fist before looking at Law. Law nodded. "Then lets get her back! The rest of you, help the Heart Pirates!"

"You got it, Captain!" The Straw Hats nodded.

"We better act fast. We don't have much time," Franky said, noticing more of Penguin, Usopp and Nami's bodies fading away. "At this rate we're all gonna disappear."

"Then why are we still talking?" Zoro asked before place his sword in his mouth.

"Zoro, Sanji and Franky," Robin said while she formed several hands and smacked down some of the smaller monkeys, though the attack didn't do any damage to them. "You three should be strong enough to take the tower. The rest of us will handle the monkeys."

"Sounds good to me," Sanji said, standing ready.

"Help them," Law ordered his crew. They nodded. While Bepo and Shachi started attacking the monkeys, Penguin paused to look at his captain. "I promised her I wouldn't let you do anything stupid. This fight is mine. I will get her back. Help the others."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Penguin nodded before turning to help the others.

"All right then," Nami twirled her staff. "I really don't feel like disappearing from the world. So let's put an end to this. NOW!"

The 'Destroy The Monkeys' team pulled out their respective weapons and began to attack their adversaries while the 'Tower Team' headed for the tower, knocking over as many monkeys as they could in the process. Law and Luffy followed Elian and Velocity.

"Very well then," Pendulum spoke casually. He flew off the mirror and landed in front of the team pursuing him. "But this is futile. I've already seen the future. I win."

"You only see what you want to see!" Elian spat back. "You know that the future has many possibilities and is never set in stone until it has happened!"

"No," Pendulum shook his head. "I have seen the future and it is very clear that I will win this battle."

"You took my love from me. You put her and our child in danger. The only thing in your future is death," Law hissed with venom as he tightened his hold on the hilt of his sword. "Straw Hat…"

"Don't worry. I get it," Luffy cracked his knuckles. "I'll only help take him down. What happens after that…I'll leave up to you."