His Feelings

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Law sighed and leaned back in his chair. It had been six hours since he started studying the strange powder he found on Neo's face after she had been abducted. And he still had no clue what it was or where it came from. The only thing he could figure out about it was it had come from some kind of plant. But he couldn't tell what kind of plant it was. It wasn't familiar to him at all. Rubbing his hands over his face he glanced over at Neo. She was sound asleep in his bed despite the main lights still being on. He didn't want her sleeping on the hard ground tonight with her injured shoulder.

He reached up and rubbed his own throbbing left shoulder. It had been bothering him ever since Neo had been taken. But luckily his head throbbing had soon stopped shortly after he returned to the sub with Neo to take care of her. His eyes were tired and stress from looking into his microscope for so long. A break was severally needed. Actually, he just needed to go to bed. It was very late into the night. The rest of the crew had long gone to bed with the exception of three of his men that was on guard duty tonight.

With another sigh, Law forced himself out of his chair. He walked over to the light switches and turned the main one off. He shoved his hands in his pocket and walked over to the bed. Neo was laying on her right side, loosely cocooned in her blanket like she usually was. Only this time her left arm still snug in the sling. While he watched her shift in her sleep and wince, another light twinge shot through his left shoulder. He mindlessly rubbed it while continuing to watch her sleep for several minutes before walking back over to his desk. He sat down and crossed his arms and legs. He decided against sleeping in his bed tonight. He didn't want to crowd Neo after scaring her so much. He cast her one last concerned look before letting his hat fall over his eyes.

"I'm putting your training on hold for a while, at least for today," Law said as he helped Neo into her shirt. "I want you to rest after…" His voice trailed off when Neo flinched. He buttoned up the last button on her shirt, put her arm back in the sling, and then walked towards the door. "Come on. I'm sure breakfast is ready by now."

Neo followed after him without a word. Their walk through the sub was uncomfortably silent for them both. The silence was only broken when the chatter of the crew greeted them when they got close to the galley. The chatter stopped when they stepped into the room. The entire crew looked up at them. Some of them smiled and greeted the two with a hearty, "Good morning" while others remained quiet, but smiling.

Law nodded in response as he and Neo walked over to the table and sat down without a word.

Penguin watched Neo and his captain carefully while they all started eating breakfast. He then looked over at Bepo and Shachi. They both just shrugged and started to eat their own breakfast. Annoyed at not knowing what to do or say, he picked at his breakfast and mindlessly ate at it. Movement caused him to glance up. His captain had finished before anyone else and left the room without a word to anyone. He couldn't help but notice that despite Neo keeping her head down she watched the man leave the room.

One by one the crew finished up their breakfast then disappeared from the room, plunging the area into more silence. Neo was the last one to finish up eating. She grabbed her plate and stood up.

Conner walked over and took the plate from her. "I'll take that for you. You just sit and rest for now."

Neo raised her eyes to him. Before she could say anything to him, Penguin spoke up and said, "Why don't we go to the rec. room for a while? I'm sure the captain has put our training on hold for now. You can work on your writing and reading if you want to."

"Okay," Neo replied quietly with a nod. She moved around the table and headed out of the room.

"I'll take care of the dishes," Conner whispered to Penguin once she was far enough down the hall. "It might be best if you stayed with her."

"Yeah." Penguin nodded. "It might help, at least until she's comfortable with the captain again. Maybe I can talk to her about it."

"That's probably a good idea," Conner said.

Penguin nodded then left the room. A few feet down the hall he saw that Neo had decided to wait for him. The two them proceeded to walk in silence to the rec. room. He gnawed on his lip in thought on how to speak to her about this little problem. As Neo entered into the room upon reaching it, Penguin paused. He looked down the hall and wondered where his captain had disappeared to before joining Neo on the couch. She already had a book out when he joined her. He sat down and listened to her read out loud to him for a while before his mind wandered off onto the current problem of her being scared of the captain. There had to be something he could say to help her get over this. He knew, they all knew, that it really hurt and bothered their captain that he had frightened her. Mentally he whacked himself in the head and tried to figure out what to say.

When Neo's soft voice had stopped talking, he turned to see if she was stuck on a word. She wasn't. She had the book lying on her lap and was staring blankly down at the floor of the room. He might not have a clue what to say, but he knew he needed to say something. "Neo? Neo, will you look at me?" He smiled gently when she brought her eyes up to him before speaking again. "You don't have to be scared of the captain. He only freaked out like that because he cares about you. He will never ever hurt you. You do understand that, don't you?"

Neo didn't respond for a while as she dropped her eyes back to the book in her lap. When she did respond, her voice was low, timid, and worried. "Penguin…he killed that man. He's going to get in trouble now. He's going to be taken away from…from me." Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. "I don't…I don't want him to go away."

Penguin mentally slapped himself upon finally realizing what the actual main problem was here. While she was scared of the power and anger Law had shown, since she's never seen it before, she was more scared of him being taken away from her. He placed his fingers under her chin, feeling her tense, and turned her eyes back to him. "Neo, the captain killed that man to protect you. He's not going to be taken away from you or any of us."

"He…he's not?" Neo asked, her eyes pleading with him for the truth.

"Of course not, sweetie." Penguin tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled sweetly at her. "And, I'm going to be honest with you, he also did it because he lost control of himself when he saw you crying and for how that man was touching you."

"Why?" Neo asked. "You touch me and he doesn't do anything to you."

Penguin bit back a chuckle. He knew the truth about how Law felt when he touched Neo, but she didn't. "Because the captain trusts me with you. He knows that I would never hurt you, never touch you inappropriately, and never intentionally make you cry. The way that guy was touching you was very wrong. He shouldn't have done it. No man should ever touch you like that without you saying it's okay, especially if you don't know him. Trust me, we all would have killed that man for touching you the way he was if the captain hadn't beaten us to it."

"So…it's fine that the captain killed that man because he was protecting me? He's not going to get in trouble for doing it?" Neo asked. "He's not going to be taken away?"

"Of course he's not." Penguin reassured her. He then leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead. She stiffened against his touch, but didn't pull away. "The captain is going to remain right here, right by your side. Do you understand now?" He pulled back to look at her. He tilted his head at the confused expression she had.

Neo nodded as she raised her fingers to touch her forehead. "What...what was that? What did you just do?"

"That was a kiss," Penguin replied. "Sorry, I forgot you've never had one before. Did I scare you?"

"A little bit," Neo replied honestly. "But, it's okay. It didn't hurt. And I…I'm fine with it."

"That's good to hear." Penguin smiled. "Are you going to be all right now with the captain? It's really bothering him that you're distant from him. You should talk to him."

Neo held his eye contact for a while before letting her eyes drop back down to the book. "I think I'll be fine. I don't know."

"That's okay," Penguin replied. "Just think about it. The captain still cares about you."

They remained in the rec. room for another hour before finally putting their books up and made their way onto the deck. Not having run into any crewmates on their way out here, Penguin still wasn't sure where the captain was. Looking out at the beach he saw why they didn't run into any of his crewmates. They had all left the sub and were around the fire or sparring near the fire. And Law still wasn't among them.

The two walked over to the ladder. Penguin grabbed the railing. "Let me go first. I want to be able to catch you if you fall."

"Okay." Neo waited patiently as Penguin started to descend down the ladder before following him.

"Careful now, Neo. Just take it one step at a time. I'm here if you need me," Penguin coached as they climbed down the ladder. Once on the ground, he led her over to the fire where they were meet by the soft strumming of Conner's guitar playing. When they got over there Archer was placing more wood on the fire since it needed to be stoked from having been put out last night since they slept in the sub instead.

"Hey, how are you feeling, Neo?" Archer asked.

"I'm fine," she replied with a small smile as she sat down on the log. No one spoke for a few minutes after that. They just sat there listening to the fire snap and crackle to life and the soft song coming from Conner's playing. Then Neo asked, "What is the captain's powers? What can he do with them?"

Conner momentarily paused his song before continuing it.

Archer opened his mouth to answer, but Penguin cut him off. "I think he'd like to tell you that himself. Why don't you ask him about them? Would you be comfortable doing that? He won't mind you asking him at all."

Neo parted her lips to answer him but stopped when Law's Room appeared quickly followed by the obviously panicked captain. She gulped when his panicked eyes landed on her.

Law sighed upon seeing her, his body relaxing.

"Oh, sorry, Captain," Penguin said. He bonked himself on the head for being inconsiderate of how his captain would have felt when he didn't find Neo on the sub where she should have been. "I should have told you I was bring her out here."

"No, it's fine." Law's hat dropped over his eyes. He shoved his sword free hand into his pocket in an attempt to recover his composure. "You all know she has permission to leave the sub as long as she's with someone."

The crew refrained from speaking as they watched their captain walk away from Neo and sat down against a log. His hat remained over his eyes so no one knew where exactly he was looking but they were pretty sure he was keeping a close eye on Neo. The crew darted their eyes between Neo and Law several times before their eyes then when to Penguin. He smiled at them and mouthed his reply, "Everything will be fine. Let her go to him at her own pace."

They nodded in understanding and made themselves scarce. Once the fire was going good again, Archer also meandered off to give the two space by saying he was going to gather some more wood for the fire. Even Penguin took off at one point when he knew Neo would be fine being alone with their captain again, but stayed close so he could keep an eye on both of them.

With only the fire now between them, Neo fiddled with her shirttail while her eyes flittered back and forth between it and Law. Penguin's words spun around in her head. She wanted to speak to the captain, but had no idea how to do so. After sitting there for thirty minutes, rubbing her shoulder gently when it started hurting, she found herself standing up.

Law was staring blankly into the fire between his glances over at Neo. His mind spinning with thoughts and ideas to how he could correct his current issue with Neo while his hand lifted up to his left shoulder. He rubbed it a couple times before pausing as he sensed Neo standing beside him.

"C-Captain?" Neo's timid voice broke into his ears. He looked up at her, holding back his surprise that she was talking to him. She lowered her eyes to the ground, tugging on her shirttail. "W-would it be all right if I asked you something?"

"Yes, that would be okay," Law said carefully.

"I…" She paused and twisted her barefoot in the dirt. After swallowing she continued, "I was…wondering about…about your powers."

"What about them?"

"Will you show them to me?" Neo brought her eyes up to his at that point. She only held his gaze for a few seconds before dropping her eyes back down. "Y-you don't have to if you don't want to. I was…I was just...curious."

"Sit."

Neo looked at him before obeying his command. She knelt down then sat on her legs as she bent them under her. Placing her hand in her lap, she obediently waited for him to show her.

Law looked at her before looking around. Using his abilities on the crew was out of the question. He knew it would scare her seeing them divided and he didn't need her to be any more scared of him than she was right now. His eyes dropped to a rock nearby beside him. He picked it up between his fingers. "Room."

Neo's eyes wandered around the small blue bubble that appeared around them.

Law noticed a small amount of fear in her eyes, but there was also curiosity. "Shambles."

Neo eyes widened when the rock disappeared and was replaced with an orange primrose flower she had created along with the majority of the flora that now resided on this island. She watched intently as Law, using his finger like a knife, divided up the flower, arranged it incorrectly then put it back in the right shape. She slowly reached out to it. The tip of her finger tapped against the flower, testing it to see if it would fall apart. It didn't. "Is…is that all you can do? Take things apart and rearrange them then put them back?"

"No…there is more I can do." Law twirled the stem between his fingers. "But I think that's enough for today. I'll show you the rest some other time, okay? When you're better prepared for it."

"Yes, sir." Neo lightly nodded. "Thank you for showing me."

There was an intense pause between them while Law continued to twirl the flower before he finally spoke to her again. "Neo, I really didn't mean to scare you yesterday. I wasn't angry with you. I was angry at them for taking you and hurting you."

"I-it's okay," she squeaked, dropping her eyes to her lap. "I know you weren't going to hurt me. I was scared because you were so different. And…I was scared that you were going to be taken away…but Penguin explained to me that you only killed that man to protect me and no one can take you away because of that."

Law's eyes widened at her confession. He never thought about her being scared of him being taken away. He looked over at Penguin and raised an eyebrow to the man. Penguin returned a huge grin to him as well as a peace sign. He then turned his eyes back to Neo as she raised her fingers to her forehead.

She said, "He also kissed me here. He said you trust him with me and that's why he can touch me."

"I see." Law muttered. He shot a harsh glare at Penguin for doing such an intimate gesture to her.

Penguin was confused at the glare before noticing Neo touching her forehead. The color drained from his face when he realized she had told Law about the kiss. He chuckled nervously while waving at Law before dashing off in fear for his life.

"You won't hurt him because he kiss me, right?" Neo asked, even though she didn't seem him glaring at Penguin. "He said you wouldn't."

Law sighed and turned his eyes back to her. Like so many times she was giving him a worried look. He reached out and stuck the stem of the flower in her hair. He then took a strained of her hair in between his fingers, noting again how soft it was. He also noted the uncertainty in her eyes, but didn't say anything about it. "I won't hurt him for kissing you. I do trust him with you. I trust the entire crew with you. And I promise I won't scare you like that again. Okay?"

"Okay." Neo nodded. "I trust you, too."

Law's eyes widened as his heart took an excited and unexpected jolt in his chest. He wasn't expecting her to say that. He wasn't even sure if she realized she had said it, but he did see the sincerity in her eyes. She meant it. She really did trust him completely. He didn't say anything else as she shifted her position to sit beside him. Glad that she was close to him again he chose to just sit there quietly and steal glances at her.

About forty minutes after that a couple crewmates began to migrate back over to the fire. Law continued to watch her closely while his crew chattered amongst themselves. Soon he saw that she was on the verge of falling asleep. Her eyelids kept fluttering closed and her head bobbed a couple of times. Eventually, her head drifted down to his shoulder. His heartbeat increased from being so intimately close to her like this. He could feel heat rising to his face and did his best to keep it at bay. Glancing at his crew he could see that they were desperately trying to hold back their snickers.

Bepo wandered over at that point. He bent down, placing his elbows on his knees, he rested his chin in his paws with a smile. "Ah, she fell asleep. She's so cute."

"She must be tired after everything that's happened," Penguin said, apparently feeling it was safe to rejoining them now. He knelt down and inspected Neo. He smiled at how innocent she looked while sleeping. "I'm glad you two have finally made up."

The crew couldn't hold their chuckles in anymore. They snickered as their captain's cheeks burned.

"Hn." Law growled and gave them a disapproving frown. Lucky for them Neo was right there, keeping the captain's fury at bay.

"Hey! What's going on?" Shachi asked as he and the rest of the crew rushed over to the fire.

"Is Neo all right?"

"Is she napping? She's never napped before."

"She's not getting sick, is she?"

"I think she's just worn out from yesterday's events. I think we all are a bit worn out," Penguin answered. He then smirked at Law, easily seeing that the man was tired himself. "I think some of us haven't gotten much sleep since then. Isn't that right, Captain?"

The crew snickered again.

"All of you shut up. I won't be happy if you wake her up." Law glared at them.

"Aye aye, Captain," they all whispered with grins.

"Actually, she has taken naps before," Law then said. "But it's only been at certain points in time."

"Certain points in time?" Bepo asked.

"I didn't notice it until now, but the only times she has taken a nap is when she's been under a lot of stress," Law said. "She fell asleep now because she's been stressed out over me being taken away from her and from seeing my anger for the first time, she was stressed out when she had been taken by those mercenaries, she was stressed when she first used her earth crystal…"

"I guess that would explain why she slept a lot when she first came to live with us," Penguin said.

"Now that you mention it, she did sleep a lot back then," Archer said. "It only stopped when she got use to being around us. Well, it stopped until she got stressed again."

"So we all need to keep an eye on her stress level from now on," Law said. "It's still going to be a while before she's integrated back into society, but when that happens I want you all to make sure she's never left alone."

"You got it, Captain," Archer said.

"We already do that anyway," Conner said while he sat down and started playing his guitar again.

"How is your shoulder feeling?" Law asked.

"It's still a little sore," Neo replied, rubbing her upper left arm gently.

Law nodded. "Sorry I can't make the pain go away completely."

"It's okay," Neo said, adjusting the sling strap. "I know pain is just a part of life."

Law nodded again as he watched her. She was sitting beside him, but her attention was on the crew as they set up targets for her. It had been three days since she was taken away by those mercenaries. Even thought he really didn't want her to start training again and put stress on herself, he knew she needed to continue with her training now. He didn't want her to do anything physical yet, but decided it would be okay for her to work on her crystals again. So he ordered his engineers to build and to set up some targets for her to work on her sniper skills. He placed his hand on her head and stroked her hair, regaining her attention. "Are you all right with this?"

"Yes." Neo nodded with a light smile. "I'm fine. I'm still with you after all."

A smile spread across Law's lips when she said that. His eyes drifted to his hand on her hair, his heart skittered. These past few days he found that he wanted to touch her hair more. And found himself doing it on occasion without thinking about it. It was just so soft to the touch. Just like a flower's pedal. He never noticed it felt like that before. "Yes, you are still with me."

"Hey, Neo!" Bepo's voice broke between the two. Law quickly pulled his hand away at that point and mumbled something under his breath while his hat cast shadows over his eyes.

"Yes?" Neo inquired.

"Oh, Captain, the targets are set up," Bepo reported while struggling to stop his smile. "So whenever she's ready to start, we can."

Neo looked at their captain.

Law nodded. "You can go. Just stay in my sight. Do you understand me?"

"I do." Neo stood up and followed after Bepo leaving Law with his thoughts.

Law didn't like that she was leaving his side, but she was still going to be in his sight and she was with the crew. He's barely left her side since she started talking to him again. When he did have to leave her, he made sure that at least one of his crew would remain strictly by her side until he could return to her. He watched her carefully from underneath his hat. Eventually his eyes dropped down to his hand. His mind wandering back to how her hair felt. When he felt the desire, once again, to touch her hair his heartbeat sped up. It was becoming increasingly hard for him to deny his feelings. He rubbed the back of his neck and scolded himself. "Stupid...it's not possible."

"What's not possible, Captain?" Penguin's voice said, making him jump.

Law frowned at the intruding man.

Penguin bit back a smile, already guess what his captain was talking about. "It's not often someone catches you off guard. Is anything wrong?"

"No, nothings wrong." Law just about hissed. "Was there something you wanted?"

"I was just curious about the powder Neo had on her face," Penguin answered. "Did you ever figure out the type of plant it came from?"

"No." Law frowned deeper at his lack of knowledge on the issue that caused Neo such problems. "I'm a bit glad that we now know that she can't use her crystals when disoriented. We know that is a weakness before she gets pulled into a fight with us. But I don't like that I don't know what plant it came from. For all I know anyone can get their hands on this plant and use it against her."

"So probably something exotic then?" Penguin asked.

"Probably." Law sighed.

"Do you think they'll come back for her? And what about those people who hired them?" Penguin hesitantly asked.

"I don't believe those mercenaries will try to take her again considering I killed their boss." Law struggled to not get angry with them again. He failed. He clenched his fists and was glad Neo wasn't near him at the moment. "As for the people who hired them…if they tried once to hurt her, surely they'll try it again."

"But who hired them? And why?" Penguin wondered. "Is it possible that one person, who survived on the island she destroyed, is the one coming after her for revenge? Or is it possible it's someone else she knows or someone who knows her? Maybe its someone who has seen her using her crystals before and think they can use her for whatever reason?"

"We don't have enough information to attempt an answer for those questions." Law huffed. "All we can do is keep her close and keep a close eye on our surroundings. Whoever came after her most likely won't try it again any time soon, especially if they know or realize who I am. We'll just make sure she's with us at all times from now on. I won't allow her to go off on her own again like that. Someone will always be by her side."

"Good plan, Captain," Penguin said. The two went quiet for a while after that as their attention turned to Neo's sniper training. He couldn't help but also take a few glances at his captain to find the man was keeping a very close eye on the young woman. Unable to contain himself, he said, "She is rather cute, isn't she?"

Law's hat fell over his eyes. A deep frown was settling upon his features accompanied by a light blush on his cheeks, but that didn't intimidate or stop his subordinate.

"And she's very sweet, too. I bet it won't be long before she finally warms up to the world around her," Penguin added.

Law twitched.

Penguin bit his lip before continuing. "Without doubt she'll have a lot of guys wanting to flirt with her, wanting to date her. And then one day she'll take an interest in one of those guys. Hm…I'm not so sure I'll like that. But still, she won't remain this shy, scared little girl forever."

Law growled. "Penguin?"

"Aye, Captain?" Penguin collapsed his hands behind his back while trying to look as innocent as he possible could.

"Go do a perimeter sweep! And spread these orders throughout the crew!" Law hissed, causing the crew and Neo to look over at him. "Every half hour someone is to do a perimeter sweep around the island! I don't want anyone else landing while we're here!"

"Aye aye, Captain!" Penguin jumped and ran towards the rest of the crew with a huge goofy smile on his face.

"What was that about?" Neo asked when Penguin came closer to her. "Why was the captain yelling?"

"Nothing, nothing." Penguin chuckled. He pecked Neo's cheek then sent Law a sneaky grin, causing the captain to fume in place.

"You really shouldn't tease the captain like that," Bepo said while giving Penguin a disapproving stare.

Penguin just laughed and shrugged. He knew the captain wouldn't hurt him, especially with Neo close by.

"And you're the one who said we shouldn't try and set them up," Conner said while shaking his head. "Hypocrite."

"Tease? Set up?" Neo asked. "Why would Penguin tease the captain? What would you tease him about? And set up what?" Upon the crewmates laughing, she frowned and asked, "What? What did I say?"

"You are just soooo cute!" Shachi squealed with rosy cheeks.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie. We're just having a little fun with the captain." Penguin ruffled her hair then continued to carry out his orders.

"Where are you going, Penguin?" Neo inquired.

"Don't worry. I'm just going for a little walk around the island." Penguin smiled. "I'll be back soon. You continue working on those sniper skills of yours."

"I don't understand," Neo said. She turned her eyes to the remaining crewmembers around her. They just exchanged grins with each other. She huffed at their lack of answering her.

"Let's get back to work before the captain yells at us for slacking off," Bepo said.

Neo turned her eyes to Law. The man shifted when she looked at him, but he didn't say anything.

"Neo?" Bepo said.

"Right." Neo pulled her eyes from Law. She turned and faced the wooden targets the crew had set out for her. A few had painted targets on them while others had bottles sitting on top of them. She formed one of each of her crystals and started to fire at them.

After about forty-five minutes of stationary targets, the crew had her move on to moving ones. They had picked out different targets, such as bottles and rocks, for each element. She was to quickly determine which object they threw and hit it with the predetermined element.

When Penguin had returned from his perimeter sweep, he whispered the captain's orders to a couple crewmates. They began to spread the orders as Penguin walked over to her. "Good job, Neo. Let's move on to more harder targets now."

Neo nodded.

The next training segment consisted of the crew running around, doing acrobatic movements to try and avoid getting hit by Neo. Conner said, "Okay, for now you should just shoot straight at us. Controlling the elements to curve and hit us will be too easy. We can do that later."

"Okay." Neo nodded. Once the crew started running around doing their acrobatic movements, she tried not to get distracted from her awe of them. Some of the moves she recognized from watching them spar but a lot of them were unfamiliar to her. Shaking her head, she started firing her water and wind crystals at him, only tagging them a little if she managed to hit them at all. They proved to be a lot faster than she was. She huffed in annoyance.

"Don't get discouraged," Conner said. "Trying this. Aim your ammo a little bit in front of your prey before firing."

"Okay." Neo tilted her head. "I'll try."

Law shifted his position against the log as he continued to watch his crew the entire day without joining them. He noticed at times she was getting frustrated for not being able to achieve the goals she was suppose to. But that would quickly fade when the crew gave her tips on how to fix what she was doing wrong. Watching her improve right before his eyes made him wonder if she would ever be able to face up to him. With her control over the elements, he knew she could easily over take him. But her gentleness wouldn't allow it. He knew she would never raise her crystals or her hand to him or the crew. He didn't want to fight her anyway. He knew he wouldn't be able to even if he did want to. He never wanted to hurt her. Fighting against her was taboo. It would be impossible for him to touch her like that.

The only way he wanted to touch her was gently. The thought caused the desire of touching her hair jumped back into his mind. His heart fluttered in his chest at the thought of touching her soft tresses yet again. Law growled at himself. "Not this again...there's no way I have fe-"

"That was so much fun," Archer said.

Law cut his own voice off when the crew wandered back over. He didn't even realize the sun was setting. It was already half way below the horizon.

"Something wrong, Captain?" Bepo asked. "You looked a bit flustered."

"Nothing's wrong," Law replied. He frowned when the crew chuckled. He shot them a glare to silence them.

"You all are acting silly again," Neo noted. Her eyebrows were turned up as she looked at them individually.

"Don't worry about it." Penguin grabbed her shoulders, careful to be mindful of her injured one, and guided her over to their captain. "We're just hungry and tired. I'm sure you are, too. Why don't you sit here by the captain and rest?"

"But I haven't done much today," Neo protested as Penguin practically shoved her down next to Law.

Law had to use all of his strength not to react when their shoulders touched.

"You all are the ones who got the work out," Neo said.

"And we're grateful for it." Shachi nodded. "We have to train as well. You're helping us get stronger."

"I am?" Neo tilted her head.

"You are." Penguin nodded. "So just relax now. We'll have supper ready in no time."

"All right," Neo blinked a few times, "if you insist."

"Trust us! We insist!" the entire crew shouted then laughed.

"Are they okay, Captain?" When Neo looked at Law, he flinched.

"Just ignore them," Law grumbled. "They're just being dangerously stupid."

Law carefully scanned his eyes over the moon and fire lit surrounding area. One of his subordinates took off a few minutes ago to do a perimeter sweep. The crunching sounds of his footsteps quickly faded away leaving only the ocean, the creaking of the sub bouncing on the waves, crickets, snoring crewmembers, and the crackling of their fire as the only sounds. His eyes then scanned over his crew. He noticed they were sleeping closer to Neo since she had been taken. They all had been physically closer to her since that event.

His eyes dropped down to her.

Her right arm was bent up where her hand was near her head while her left arm was draped over her stomach still in the sling. He also noticed she wasn't cocooning herself so tightly in her blanket either. He watched her sleep peacefully until her face twisted up like it always did when she had a nightmare. Not wanting her to be woke up by the nightmare Law placed his hand on her head and whispered softly to her. "You're all right, Neo. I'm right here. You're safe. Nothing's going to hurt you."

When Neo settled back down Law dropped his hand to her shirt. He unbuttoned two of the buttons then carefully pulled the shirt aside. Her wound was already healing rapidly like the cut she did herself on her stomach. It was over half healed in just a couple of days. He buttoned her shirt back up just before she rolled onto her right side. The movement of rolling over caused some of her hair to fall over her face.

He lightly dragged his fingertips over her soft skin before tucking her hair behind her ear. A light smile, accompanied by a soft sigh, graced her features as she whispered his name in her sleep. "Law…"

An entire flock of hummingbirds suddenly appeared inside of his chest upon hearing his name on her lips. Mindlessly, he dropped his hand and started tracing her lips for several seconds until a sharp snore of someone's snapped him back to reality. He pulled his hand back and rubbed his neck. Grumbling to himself, he said, "What the heck am I doing? There can be no possible way I'm falling for this girl. She's just a child."

Law's eyes widened when a very clear image of Corazon popped into his memory. It was the memory right before the man was killed. Corazon had placed Law in that trunk of treasure. When young Law looked at him, the man had a huge, goofy, stupid grin on his face and said three certain words with much affection and sincerity: I love you!

Law pulled his hand from his neck. He rubbed his face with a heavy sigh. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, speaking to Corazon as if the man was right beside him, he said, "Dang it, Cora. I'm not falling for her at all, am I? I've already fallen for her."

Law sighed again and opened his eyes to the stars above him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you somehow planned this. Fine. You win. I admit it. My desire to protect her has nothing to do with me currently being her captain. I want to protect her because I have feelings for her and not brotherly or captain feelings. They are of a man. My feelings are romantic. I want her to be happy because she's had such a hard life. And I will make her happy. I will give her a happy life now. I will make that happen. I will protect her for the rest of my days. You gave me my life, I'll give her hers. I promise."

"I knew it! She's officially part of our crew!" Shachi whispered to Penguin with a huge grin on his lips.

"I think it's been that way for a while now. The captain just doesn't want to admit it to us." Penguin snickered quietly. "I bet it'll still be a while before the captain's ready to admit his feelings for her to us and that she's an official member of our crew. So don't push it."

"You two will never know the answer to that if the captain catches you awake," Bepo mumbled with his eyes still closed.

"You were ease dropping, too!" Shachi and Penguin hissed quietly.

"I'm sorry," Bepo muttered with a frown.

Shachi and Penguin sighed then closed their eyes. They knew Law wouldn't hurt them with Neo around, but it was best for them not to push their luck.