Nightmare Truth

Law sat quietly on the couch in the rec. room with a book in his hands. He was trying to read it but the girl sitting beside him keep stealing his attention. For the past three weeks that she has been sleeping in his room she would have a nightmare almost every night. It had become routine for him to get up when she had one. He never asked her about them though. For one, he knew she wouldn't answer him if he did. She still hasn't opened up to them about anything. And for two, usually all it took to calm her back down was a simple touch from him.

He had no idea why his touch calmed her down so much, but it did. It would calm her down back into a peaceful slumber for the rest of the night without even waking up. Some times he wondered if she even remembered them when she woke up the next day. But seeing the drained look in her eyes told him that she did. He wished she would tell him or someone about them. That way she wouldn't be carrying them around with her all day. Then he'd remember that she's been carrying around a nightmare for quite some time. Her entire life must have been a living nightmare with how people treated her back on Renata.

As he continued to watch her from the corner of his eyes, his mind started to wander onto something else. He wondered what she was thinking about when she sat there like she always did. Was she thinking about her nightmares? Was she thinking about how to escape from him? No, he knew that one wasn't possible. They had stopped at a small, uninhabited island last week. She had the chance to bolt out the open door, but she didn't even get close to it. She wanted to stay on the sub. And that was just fine with him. It was only a temporary stop from when a sea king hit the bottom of the sub anyway. They had to check it out to make sure there was no damage. There wasn't. So they headed back out to sea.

Then he wondered if she was possibly thinking about friends or family members, assuming she had any. He didn't think she had any friends. So it was possible she had family, everyone has a family whether or not their blood relatives are in their lives or not. She could possibly be an orphan. Maybe all of her blood relatives were dead, at least her parents. Maybe she had siblings somewhere. The chances of finding them were pretty slim though.

"Knock, knock," Penguin said upon entering the rec. room. The man was holding a plate of cookies in one hand and two cups of milk in the other. "I thought you two might like a snack."

Law closed his book. He opened his mouth but didn't get a chance to reply. The sub took a violent jerk, sent them all, the book he was holding, plus the cookies and cups of milk, tumbling to the floor with a chorus of clanks and clatters.

A surprise shriek erupted from the girl while she curled into herself on the couch.

On instinct, Law reached out for her. But before his hand could make contact with her body, he remembered she didn't like to be touched. He jerked back.

"Captain!" Bepo's voice rang out over the voice pipe. "We're under attack!"

The girl jumped again. Her eyes darted all over the room in search for Bepo.

"It's okay, sweetie," Penguin said, trying to mop up the spilled milk with a handkerchief. He pointed over to the voice pipe on the wall. "He's speaking through that. He's down in the control room."

She looked at the strange golden yellow thing mounted on the wall that he pointed at then curled back into herself and closed her eyes. Her body trembled from another dip of the sub and she rolled off the couch.

"Pirates or navy?" Law asked.

"Pirates!" Bepo replied.

"Battle stations!" Law ordered.

"Aye, Captain!" Bepo said.

Shrills of alarms went off, frightening the girl even more as she curling against the side of the couch and tightly shut her eyes. Law internally sighed. He really didn't want to leave Penguin behind to tend to the girl, but he couldn't leave her all alone. Bolting for the door, he said, "Stay with her, Penguin!"

"Aye, Captain!" Penguin said. He looked back at the girl. His instincts told him to pick her up and hug her as securely as he could. But his mind said to leave her alone. So he did. He continued to clean up the mess and just watched her.

Law formed his Room and warped up to the main deck. His crew was already in battle. Swords clashed, guns fired, punches were exchanged. The mix of blood and gunpowder tainted the salty sea air. Glancing up at the Jolly Roger on the opposing ship, he found there was moon shape scar over the left eye. That meant these pirates were the Moon Scar Pirates with a collected bounty of 160,000,000. Most of that went to their captain. For a human, the Moon Scar Captain could hold his own in a fight against other normal humans. But as far as he could recall, none of this crew had any devil fruit users onboard. So this should be an easy battle for his crew. And that was a good thing. The quicker this ended the quicker the girl would settle back down.

He surveyed the battle before him. The Moon Scar Pirates were holding their own against his own crew. They appeared to be about evenly matched, at least until the Moon Scar Pirates started pulling out dirty, underhanded tricks. His lips curled down when he saw one of the Moon Scar Pirates purposefully get hit, dropped to the ground, then threw a handful of dirt in his man's face.

His subordinate stumbled backwards while his opponent pulled out a gun. Law formed his Room, wrapped the gun into the sea, and then sliced the man in multiple pieces.

"Thanks, Captain," his subordinate said, brushing the dirt from his eyes and face.

Law nodded, making sure his man was fine before entered into the fight himself. He easily divided up several of the rival pirate crew before Shachi's voice cried out over everything. He said, "Crap! Eight of them went into the sub!"

Every single curse word Law knew flew out of his mouth, including some he invented on the spot. His heart pounded against his ribs. His lungs contracted. His head spun. Unfamiliar people, who wanted to kill them on the sub, that would do who knows what to the girl was not a good thing. They had to be stopped. Now. Dividing up as many rivals as he could, he stuck them to their ship while shouting out orders to his crew. He said, "Bepo! Shachi! Archer! Conner! Get into the sub and stop them! Everyone else, continue fighting! I want this battle ended! Now!"

"Aye!" they all shouted.

Law warped himself instantly into the rec. room.

"Captain," Penguin's startled voice said. "Is the battle over already?"

Law glanced at the girl. Tears had stained her red cheeks but she was sitting up now. Hugging her knees, she gave him a quick glance before looking back down at the floor. He turned his eyes back to Penguin and jerked his head towards the hall, telling his subordinate he need to speak with him in private. He walked over to the door and stepped out into the hall.

"What is it, Captain?" Penguin asked when he reached him.

"Eight of them got onboard the sub," Law mumbled.

"What?!" Penguin hissed as lowly as he could.

"Stay with her," Law ordered. "Bepo, Shachi, Archer, and Conner are looking for them right now. I don't believe they've gotten this low yet. I'll be standing guard right out in the hall so they don't be able to come in here."

"Aye, Captain." Penguin nodded.

Law then looked back to the girl. When she glanced up at him, he said, "I need you to stay in here with Penguin for the time being. I'm going to close the door but be right outside in the hall. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

Law gave Penguin one last look before stepping out into the hall. The door clicked behind him.

Penguin watched her from underneath his hat brim. She stared at the door for an entire minute before letting her eyes drop back to the floor. He stayed right where he was. Keeping his body as relaxed as possible but ready to strike if one of their enemies happened to get inside of the room. But he knew that wasn't going to happen. His crewmates would get them, if not them his captain would. Though he didn't know why, he knew his captain was already very protective of the girl. He figured they all knew that already. They just didn't know why.

Tapping his fingers against his thigh, he carefully listened for sounds out in the hall while bouncing his eyes between the girl and the door. Often he would find her glancing over at the door. He couldn't help but wonder if she was waiting for the captain to come back inside or if she was trying to figure out why the door had to be shut and why the captain was standing out in the hall.

A loud pop caused both of them to jump. Penguin knew it was a gun going off. And he knew it was none of them shooting the gun. The enemy was near. His eyes shot to the girl when she whimpered and curled back into herself. Taking a couple steps away from the door, he readied himself for a fight if it was need. Muffled sounds of screaming then sounded out in the hall. He swallowed the lump in his throat when they cut off. Silently praying that the captain, or someone, had taken the enemy out while he took a step closer to the door. Several heart pounding seconds later, the door slid open, revealing his captain.

"It's over," Law said.

Penguin relaxed with a sigh. "Good."

Law's eyes went to the girl. He walked over to her and squatted down. She took a timid peak up at him, avoiding eye contact. He said, "It's fine. There was a little fight caused by another pirate crew, but it's over now. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Good." Law stood up and headed back for the door. "I have to check the men for injuries. It won't take long. I'll be back in a little while."

After checking his crew for injuries, and answering their questions on how the girl was doing, he made his way back to the rec. room like he said he would. By the time he got back the girl had pulled herself off the floor and was once again sitting on the couch. She gave him a fleeting glance when he entered the room. Reclaiming his place on the couch he picked up his book and started reading again.

Soon after that they all went to the galley for their evening meal. Then Law, with the girl following him around like frightened puppy, made some rounds around the sub to check on it and his crew before it was time to go to bed. Leading her back to his room, they both went through their separate nightly routines before lying down. Like always he slept on his bed and she slept on the floor in the same spot she had since that first night. With one last look at the girl he clicked off his lamp and pulled the cover up over him. Closing his eyes with a low sigh.

Three hours later he was woken up again by the girl's whimpers in the otherwise silent water vessel. And like he always did, he crawled out of bed and walked over to her. Clicking on his lamp, he rubbed his hand over his face and through his hair to help him wake up. Kneeling down next to her he started to reach for her shoulder but paused. Something was different this time. Her cheeks were flushed and she had sweat beading on her face. Her fingers were clutching the blanket, that she always cocooned herself in, in a death grip.

Reaching out he pressed the back of his fingers against her forehead. Her skin was hot and clammy. He gnawed on the inside of his cheek in thought. She shouldn't be on the floor if she was getting sick. Eyeing the blanket and the grip she had on it he decided not to disturb her in trying to get it away from her. So he slipped his arms underneath her tiny body and pulled her into his hold. He stood up, walked her over to his bed, and carefully placed her on the mattress near the wall. As he laid her down her fingers shot to his shirt, clinging desperately to him instead. "N-no… st-stop…"

Law narrowed his eyebrows. She was talking in her sleep. But was it because of her nightmare or her fever? Or maybe it was both?

"I didn't do anything… please stop… Stop!" she screamed, her fingers almost poking holes into his shirt.

"Hey, wake up." Law grabbed her shoulders and lightly shook her. "You're having a nightmare."

"Stop it! I didn't do anything to him! I don't know where he is! Leave me alone!" she screamed again. The hold on his shirt got tighter, somehow.

"Come on! Wake up!" Law's raised voice caused her eyes to snap open on command. He jumped when they did, his heart taking a startled jolt in his chest. Instead of her dark, cloudy eyes looking back at him, her eyes were glowing a pure white. The glow hovered around her eyes before it shot out and into his eyes, engulfing his entire body as well.

His room and the girl faded from his vision and into a solid white void before the sounds of a baby crying slipped into his ears. He blinked, trying to get the white void to go away. But it didn't go anywhere. The baby's cries grew louder. Other voices started filtering in with the cries. He could only make out a few words at a time.

"Shut it…"

"…my fault… I didn't…"

"…just a baby…"

"…don't care…a freak…get it out…Now!"

With one more blink, the white void began to fade and so did the baby's crying and the other voices. A little girl with light blue hair, around five or six years old, appeared to him. She was squatting down with her hand hovering over a small patch of grass in an otherwise dirt filled field. She was wearing a torn, stained, dirty brown dress with a strange diamond shaped silver pendant hanging around her neck. With a closer look he found that each corner of the pendant held an unfamiliar crystal of different colors.

Looking at it clockwise, the one at the top was a light blue, the next one was a light green, the one at the bottom was a grayish blue and the last one was red. There looked to be some kind of writing on the pendant, but he was too far away to see what it said. The pendant looked to be rather valuable. His eyes dropped down to her hand. Underneath her outstretch hand was green crystal practically identical to the blue ones that appeared in the sub a few weeks ago. His eyebrows kneaded. This was the same girl that he had on his sub? Did she have more than just those blue crystals?

"What's she doing?" Law asked himself. He walked closer to her with no concern that she would see him. He had to get a closer look at her to make sure they were the same. Sure enough, he managed to get a better look of her. While she was still younger than she was in his room, she was definitely the girl he currently had in his care. The colors of her hair, skin, and not to forget the crystals, were unmistakable. The only real thing difference was the color of her eyes. This little girl's eyes were a stunning electric blue, full of curiosity to what was happening beneath her hand, instead of the lifeless gray they currently were. His eyes drifted down to her pendant again. He could see the letters clearly now. Engraved in the silver plate were three letters: Neo. "Neo? Is that her name?"

A light green glow was coming from the green crystal underneath her palm, pulling his attention to it. The glow beamed down to the ground. And much to his surprise, a small batch of yellow flowers sprouted up from the grass patch. A smile grew on her lips. Suddenly, while her attention was on the ground and his attention on her, something hit her on the temple. A small drop of blood oozed out of the wound and slid down her skin. His eyes dropped to the ground where a rock now laid. Anger flared up inside of his chest. He whipped his eyes to laughter the echoed through the air. Two boys were near. One of them was tossing a rock up and down in his hand.

"You're not supposed to be doing that." The boy, tossing the rock up and down, had black hair and dark green eyes. He was wearing a simple white and blue striped shirt with a small sailboat on it and light brown shorts and shoes.

"You're such a freak." The second boy was half a head shorter than the first one. He had dark blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a red shirt and black pants. "What kind of stupid powers are those anyway?"

"Th-they're not powers. They're-" The girl's head hung low, like she was ashamed now of what she had done since she was caught doing it.

"Shut up!" The first boy tossed the rock he was holding.

It hit her on the forehead this time. More blood dripped down her face to her lips. Brushing it away, she bit her lip, obviously biting back her pain and tears.

Law frowned deeply and clenched his fists. He stomped over to the boys, forgetting he wasn't wearing any shoes. But no pain came to his feet, something he didn't notice. "Hey, you brats! Don't do that to her!"

He shot out his hand to grab the black haired boy's shirt. His eyes widened when his hand when right through the boy. The kids didn't even hear him. He pulled his hand back to his face, his eyes widened with wonder and confusion. "What the heck? Why can't I touch them? Is this some kind of vision? Or is this the nightmare she was having? If it is, how is this possible?"

Law turned his attention back to the two boys. They had moved closer to the girl.

"Freak! Freak!" The second boy began to taunt her. "Why don't you go back to where you came from?!"

"How can she go back? She has no clue where she even came from!" The first boy walked up to her while laughing and taunting her just as much as the other boy. He grabbed the pendant and jerked it off her, snapping the chain. "I'll be taking that now."

"Give that back! It's mine!" The girl straightened up. Her small hands shot out to grab it in desperation. When the boy moved it farther out of her reach, she followed it, unaware of him bring his foot out. Her ankle caught on his causing her to fall to the ground. She laid there for a few second before lifting up. A small glare was in her eyes. "Give it back!"

"Why? You're not using it for anything." The boy smiled as he swung the pendant in circles. "I, on the other hand, could use it. It looks like it could be worth something."

"B-but it's mine." The girl pushed her body up halfway off the ground.

"Shut up!" The boy kicked her on the arm, forcing her back to the ground.

She whimpered and sniffled.

Law's anger returned. This was just wrong.

The boy looked at the word on the pendant. "Hey, there's something written on here. Neo? What the heck does that mean? Is it your name or something?"

"She won't be able to answer that." The second boy laughed. "She's nothing but an orphan. Been that way since she was a baby. How could she know if she even has a name? She's not like us. We have parents. She's just a parentless freak that no one wants."

Law growled, clenching his teeth and fists. It wasn't her fault she didn't have parents, assuming they were speaking the truth about her being an orphan since she was a baby.

"Give it back!" the girl screamed suddenly. More crystals then appeared around her, floating in the air like mini protectors. They were all shades of greens.

Law gasped, stumbled back a step, and narrowed his eyebrows at what happened next. The flowers that she had created before rapidly grew and cracked like whips at the boys while some of the vines wrapped around her like a protective shield. He was almost shocked at how these plants were protecting her that he almost missed seeing one of the vines actually striking the first boy in the face, right below his left eye. The boy cried and fell back on his butt.

"This is pretty much like what happened in the rec. room the other day. I get the feeling that it was her crystals that actually created the wind, not actually her in that or this situation." Law tapped his chin and wondered if his assumption was correct. The girl wasn't in any kind of defense mode. She was actually cowering away from them. "But how is it possible for crystals, lifeless crystals, to protect her? Are they somehow alive?"

"Y-you're going to pay for that!" the second boy screeched. He helped his friend up and ran off. "We're telling!"

When Law blinked, the scene had changed. He now stood in a house. There were several children standing around in a rather small room. The blue haired girl was curled up in a corner crying, but didn't make a sound. He noticed the color of her eyes had dimmed quite a bit from before. There was a woman standing at the door with several other adults who were screaming at her.

"She hurt my son!" a woman screamed. The boy who the girl had hit with her vine was standing with her. Law could tell the kid was only faking his tears now. The boy wanted the girl to get into trouble. "She's a monster!"

"She's a menace!"

"Our children at not safe around her!"

"She shouldn't be allowed around other kids!" a man demanded. "Send her away!"

"Yes!" the crowd agreed. "Send her away!"

"I am so sorry." The woman bowed to them. "I have told her time and time again not to use those freaky powers of her. I assure you, this will not happen again."

"It had better not." The woman, with the hurt son, huffed before leaving with the rest of the adults.

"I assure you it won't happen again," the woman said to the retreating adults. She closed the door then stomped over to the girl with an angry glare on her face.

Law felt his own anger rising up in his chest again. This girl was about to be blamed for something that wasn't her fault.

"What have I told you about those stupid powers of you?! How could you have attacked a defenseless little boy?!" The woman placed her hands on her hips and towered over the scared girl.

"I didn't," the girl whimpered, wrapping her arms tightly around her shaking body. The now dried blood remained on her face. "They attacked me."

"Shut up!" The woman raised her hand and slapped the girl.

Law clenched his hands when the woman hit the girl. He wanted to grab the woman and toss her through the wall of the house, but remembered his hand went right through the boy from before. This wasn't actually happening right now. This was a dream. A nightmare.

"I don't want to hear any of your lies! I welcomed you into this house! And this is how you repay my kindness?!" the woman continued.

"But I-"

"Go to your room!" the woman hissed, pointing to the hallway. All of the other older children watched with malicious smiles on their faces. The younger ones didn't seem to understand what was going on, but clearly feared the little blue haired girl as they clung to the older ones. "You do not get supper tonight! Get out of here now!"

The girl sniffed and left the room. The woman's voice instantly became cheerful as she turned to the other children. "Don't worry, my sweets. She won't bother any of you. How about we eat now? I made cookies for dessert."

Scowling at the woman, Law followed after the girl. Watching as tears streamed down her cheeks, no doubt blurring her vision. But she easily maneuvered through the small hallway and up a set of stairs that came down from the ceiling. They both entered into a small attic. Despite not being able to touch anything, Law still automatically ducked to keep himself from hitting the slanted roof. He looked around. There were two dust covered windows, one at each end of the house, several boxes, plenty of dirt and cobwebs, and no bed. There just a worn blanket and a pillow nestled between two trunks.

"Well, I guess that explains her confusion with my bed," Law murmured to himself. He jerked his attention to the side when he saw a rat scamper across the floor from the corner of his eyes. This definitely wasn't a place for a child to live. Her soft sobbing drew his attention again. When his eyes landed on her, he felt her sadness, her pain, her loneliness. He felt it all. And he knew exactly how she felt.

Things started moving forward then. Time passed him like he was looking at pictures or a visual transponder snail. They showed him more abuse the girl endured through her young life. The woman from downstairs was teaching the kids to read and write, but the girl was left out. She just kept to herself, huddled in a corner, or she would leave the house all together without anyone noticing she was gone. She was left out of everything. Picnics, play time, little field trips on the island they lived on, hugs, kisses. She got no attention other than getting picked on and bullied from both kids and adults.

"You're such a freak!"

"You should just kill yourself!"

"Die! You little monster!"

"Where did you even come from? You should just go back there."

All the while he was watching her through all of this, he couldn't help but notice that, since she got yelled at and hit for striking the boy, her crystals didn't appear. Not even when she was alone. She just sat by herself. Her eyes losing more color with each passing vision, memory, or whatever it was, that he saw.

The images stopped. They were replaced with the real life vision again like before. The girl was now sitting on an old swing that was attached to a tree branch. And she looked just absolutely miserable. Her eyes had become so lifeless as she sat there being lightly swayed by the breeze that was blowing. Something had happened to her. Something more than what he had just seen. He wanted to hold her. To wrap her up in his arms and tell her that it was going to be all right. That she was safe with him. But he couldn't. This wasn't real. Or it wasn't real right now. It had obviously happened.

A sudden sense of impending danger settled around Law. He whipped around. Coming towards them was the adults from before, plus a lot more, marching up to the girl with serious intentions. It looked like the entire village was after her now. All of their faces were twisted with anger and hatred, some even carrying weapons like brooms and pans.

Law clenched his fists, feeling even more helpless than ever.

The woman from before was crying now. Planting her hands on her hips, she screamed, "Where is he, you little monster?! Where is my son?! What did you do to him?!"

The girl slowly looked up at the woman. The second her face was high enough, the woman slapped her. It was hard enough to send the girl flying off the swing. The girl hit the ground and didn't move.

Law gritted his teeth and clenched his hands even harder than before, piercing his skin with his nails. If he could have hit that woman, he would have. No, he would have done more than that. He would have killed her. Without thinking.

"Where's my son?!" The woman demanded again. "You've attacked him once already! I know you did something to him! Where is he, you… you little monster?! What did you do to him?! You freak! I should kill you right here and now!"

Law stepped in between the crowd and the girl, despite it being a useless gesture.

"I don't know where he is," the girl cried. Finally lifting up, she held her swollen cheek tenderly, unable to bring her eyes up to the crowds hateful glares. "I haven't done anything to him." She sniffled. "I haven't done anything to anyone. Please, leave me alone."

"Don't you lie to us, brat!" a man hissed. He kicked at her, but only grazed her leg, splitting open the skin.

She whimpered at the pain, but didn't move to hold the cut now on her leg.

"Stop it!" Law demanded. He threw a punch at the man who had kicked her. Since he couldn't make contact, he stumbled forward. Catching himself, he whipped around to glare harshly at them. He reminded himself over and over that this wasn't real. It didn't help. He was too angry.

"You've been nothing but trouble since you got here!" another woman added.

The crowd agreed and started talking all at once to the point Law couldn't tell what exactly they were saying. All he could tell was they were going to hurt this girl, or worse. He felt painfully helpless watching this scene before him as the mob advanced on her. And despite knowing it wouldn't do any good, he moved in for another attack. But, before he could throw another punch, he stopped. The crystals had appeared again.

And just like before, the crystals were of all shapes and sizes. Only this time they ranged in colors of reds, greens, blues, oranges, just about any color you can find in nature was present in the crystals. There had to be about fifty of each color floating around.

And that wasn't the only thing he noticed.

Like the flowers before, the entire surrounding environment began to react out of character and in ways that shouldn't have been possible. The flora grew up way larger than it should be, they touched the darkening clouds that were gathering above them. Animals seem to go beyond their natural instincts and started attacking people. Wind whipped, ripping leaves off their branches, as thunder rumbled and lightning crackled above them. His eyes whipped to the sea. While he couldn't see the water, he could see the masts of the ships being rocked back and forth wildly from the waves crashing against them.

His eyes dropped back to the girl. She was the only one not being affected by this storm. That's when he realized she was this storm. But he got the feeling again that it wasn't really her doing this. It was her crystals. Her crystals were protecting her. "How can she… how powerful can she possible be with these crystals?"

Law had no idea how long the storm had raged on. He watched helplessly as people got blown away, as objects got shot through their bodies, blood flew everywhere, the elements continued to rage until only the girl and nature remained. She collapsed on the ground. Everyone else… was dead.

His steel orbs roamed over the island. His mind was having trouble processing what had just happened. And he was an adult, an adult who was use to killing and seeing terrible things. This girl… this child was not used to this at all. She was only a baby and had just killed an entire island of people.

He had no idea how much time had passed when a couple navy ships had arrived on the island. The soldiers scrambled off the ships. Law wondered if someone was able to get a call out to them or if they happened to be passing by and noticed all of the damage. They looked around for survivors, not noticing him at all. He watched as one navy soldier found the girl sleeping on the ground, picked her up, and headed back towards the other soldiers.

"Hey! We have a survivor here!" the solider called out. "She needs a doctor!"

"Let's get her to the ship's doctor!" another solider said, the leader of this group.

Law blinked. He was now standing in a hospital room with the girl. She was sitting up in bed, after sleeping for almost a week -how he knew that he wasn't sure-, staring blankly down at her lap.

A nurse was the only other one in the room. The nurse checked the IV solution that was pouring into the girl's arm. She looked at the uneaten meal on the table then turned a sweet smile to the girl. She said, "You really should eat something. I'm sure your hungry after sleeping for so long."

The girl didn't reply.

"Well, nurse? Has she said anything?" the doctor asked when he walked into the room. He walked over, but paused at the foot of the bed, taking in the girl.

"Nothing," the nurse replied, turning to the man. "She won't speak or eat."

"I guess it's to be expected." The doctor crossed his arms. "Whatever happened on that island must have been very traumatizing for her."

"What about the other survivor?" the nurse asked.

Law noticed the girl flinching. He flinched as well. How was it possible that someone else survived that storm of hers?

"He's too hysterical to answer any questions," the doctor replied. "He keeps saying things about a monster attacking him and his home with nature."

"With nature?" The nurse raised an eyebrow at the doctor.

"I know it sounds crazy, right?" The doctor laughed. His laughter caused the girl's breathing to increase, but neither he nor the nurse noticed. "He said plants grew as large as battle ships, animals turned against the islanders, things like that."

Law watched her anxiety increase.

"How strange." The nurse tilted her head. "Monsters using nature?"

"He said it's all because of some girl. He said she had some kind of freaky powers or something," the doctor said.

Law watched as the girl's eye widened and she started to hyperventilate.

The nurse and doctor turned to her at that point. The doctor said, "Are you all right, little girl? Calm down now. There's no such monster. The boy's just scared."

The doctor moved closer to the girl. When he reached for her, she flinched and stumbled backwards off the bed, pulling out the IV needle in her arm. The nurse gasped and rounded the bed to pick the girl up. "Hey, easy now, honey, it's okay. You're safe here. No one's going to hurt you."

When the nurse got too close, the girl bolted for the window.

Law's gut clenched and found his body moving on his own when it was obvious the girl was going to jump through the window. His eyes caught every shard slicing through her skin, her blood flew through the air. He dove out the window and tried to grab the girl, his hand when right through her leg. "Crap! I forgot!"

He had no choice. He could only watch her fall. Or so he thought. The crystals that appeared with the wind in the sub appeared here. The wind caught her and lowered her safely to the ground. Law then landing on the ground himself. He looked up to find people staring at her, mumbling questions. Fear whirled in her eyes when she noticed them.

"Hey! Come back here!" the doctor's voice rang out. He and the nurse came running out of the building.

She whipped her eyes to them before taking off.

Law watched her go, then followed. She ran and ran, through the town and then the forest, until her now bloody feet couldn't carry her any longer. Slowing down to a walk, she wandered into a cave. His heart skipped a beat. It looked just like a cave you would find a bear in. He looked around but found no bear in sight. He kept on his guard. Just because he didn't see a bear didn't mean one wasn't near by. Entering into the cave, he saw the girl holding a broken, splintered bone, most likely left behind by the bear or some other animal.

A painful cry erupted from her throat. She raised the bone over her head and slammed it down into her right thigh. She lifted the bone again, swinging it down into her thigh again, blood poured down her leg.

"Stop that!" Law rushed forward, desperately trying to get the bone away from her as she continued to stab herself repeatedly over her body. The air in his lungs was sucked out of him. She stopped stabbing herself. Her little body now housed fifteen, at least, stab wounds. One question ran through his mind: How has this girl not killed herself yet?

He stood there. His body numb. His mind silent. He didn't even react when a black bear entered into the cave. His eyes just remained locked on the girl while the bear sniffed her curiously before laying down beside her like she was its own cub.

The image slowly faded away. Then more pain came. He watched her growing up with the same results everywhere she went. She ran from just about everyone she met. Some people tried to be nice to her. She even accepted help for a while, but it all ended the same way. She'd reveal her abilities in one way or another then get branded a freak and try to kill herself.

Voices of hate and fear rang out at her all the time.

"What the heck are you?!"

"Get away from my kids, freak!"

"You're such a monster! Go away!"

"Freak! Freak! Freak!"

Everywhere this girl went brought more pain for her. The more pain she felt, the more attempts at suicide that would just failed. The world spun, everything blurring together in mash up of colors. Law's stomach turned. He felt like he was going to be sick. He had to look away from it. Closing his eyes tightly, he wished he were back on the sub, in his room. He didn't want to see this anymore…

Eventually the memories faded away from Law, the girl and his room shifted back into focus. His body was shaking from the event. Or maybe it was the girl shaking. His brain was to busy spinning for him to be sure. He blinked and found himself staring down into her tear filled eyes. The glow was still around their bodies but was slowly fading away from them. Tears were streaking down her cheeks like mini rushing rivers. Her eyes were clouded over more so than they have been before, so he wasn't sure if she really was seeing him or if her mind was still stuck back in that nightmare.

"S…sorry… I didn't mean to… I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to hurt them. I didn't mean to k… to ki...," she whispered. Her lips continued to move without sound. But she didn't need to speak. He knew what she was trying to say.

"Shh. I know you didn't mean it." Law placed his hand behind her head and pulled her to him until her forehead was pressed against his chest. He remained perfectly still when he felt her other hand grasping his shirt.

While he held her firmly to his chest, he tried to shake off the pain of hers he was still feeling. He couldn't. It was too fresh in his mind. It was too painful to deal with, even for him. Even with all he's been through. His former misery seemed like nothing compared to what she went through. He at least had Corazon for a while then Bepo, Shachi, Penguin, and the rest of the crew following soon after. She had no one. Not a single person.

His thoughts were broken when he felt her go limp against his chest. He pulled back a bit to find she had fallen asleep. He gently laid her back down on the bed. Or he tried too. Despite her falling asleep, she still had a death grip on his shirt. He had no choice but to lay down with her and allow her to cling to him until her grip loosened.

As he laid there, stroking his hand over her soft blue hair, he thought about what he had seen. His eyes lifted up when Corazon appeared on the bed. For a moment the two men just stared at each other. Corazon stroked his own hand once against Law's hand that was stroking the girl's hair. Everything finally clicked inside of his head. This was what Corazon wanted from him. He knew that now without a doubt. Corazon wanted him to help this girl, this girl whose past had similarities to his own.

Corazon lifted his eyes with a knowing smile.

As the man faded away, Law said, "Okay, Corazon, okay. I have no idea exactly why you want me to do this. But I'll do it. I'll trust you. I'll help her. I'll keep her safe. No one will ever hurt her again. I promise."

Corazon's eyes sparkled just before his image winked out.

Law propped up on his elbow to just watch the girl sleep, to make sure she didn't have another nightmare. While he kept his vigilant watch over his charge, who was still in his arm and clinging to his shirt as if her life depended on it, his mind drifted back to her necklace and what it had said. Usually when someone wore a necklace with a name on it, it was their name. So he assumed that was the case here. He mumbled, "Neo, huh? That's such a strange name for such a strange girl. Well, one thing is for sure…"

He paused. His eyes running all over her now peaceful face. He brushed her bangs away from her skin before they fell stubbornly back into place. "…you are definitely something new."