Intense Battle & New Crewmate

Neo remained silent as Shachi and Bepo resumed their positions around her. They then proceeded to escort her back down the arched hallway. She mostly kept her eyes on the floor of the auction house, but occasionally would look up and study the Straw Hat crewmembers as they headed out of the building. When they'd turned their heads to speak to one another or to look back at her, she would drop her eyes back to the floor, worried they were going to catch her looking at them. Before long the sun shone brightly in her eyes upon stepping out of the building. The second they were outside her eyes went directly to Law. He was standing with Eustass Kid and Straw Hat Luffy. Beyond them was a whole fleet of marines, some of which were already laying on the ground unconscious. Or she thought it looked like a whole fleet as she remembered there was a navy base on this island. Still, she was glad to see that the captain was unharmed. She relaxed with a sigh and leaned against Penguin's arm.

"Oh man," Shachi exclaimed. "The captain lost it again. No surprise there. Look at all the damage they did in just a couple minutes."

"That surprises you?" Penguin asked, taking a quick glance at Neo. "Remember we have Neo with us. He's going to do whatever it takes to protect her."

Neo barely listened to what the men around her were saying. She just kept her eyes on the captain as if he would disappear completely if she took her eyes off of him again.

"Right." Shachi smirked. He too took a glance at their favorite blue haired girl.

"See, Neo?" Bepo said giving her a confident smile accompanied with a tap of his elbow on her shoulder. "Told you he'd be fine."

Neo lightly smiled, eyes still locked onto Law.

Shachi hummed as the marines ran towards them and the other pirates on the stairs of the auction house. "Looks like we're going to have to fight after all."

"Yeah," Penguin agreed. "There's no way we can get out of here without fighting."

"We might as well get in there," Bepo said.

Neo's attention on Law was broke when Bepo suddenly took of down the stairs, like he knew what was coming next. She looked back at Law when she heard a man shout the captain's name. The man was a rather large marine with curly blonde hair. He had his sword out and ready to slice Law's head off. Her heart seized up in her chest as the navy man said, "Trafalgar Law! I'll teach you to treat us like your personal toys!"

"Bepo," Law said.

"Aye aye!" Bepo cried as he jumped into the air and sailed over Law.

Neo then understood why Bepo took off like that. She flinched when Bepo did several somersaults then slammed his boot into the marine's face. Her hands trembled on Penguin's arm. It took everything she had to keep her breathing and her stomach calm. Her stomach spun, though she wasn't sure if it was solely because of the fight that was happening or if it was that strange sensation that hit her inside the auction house.

"It's going to be fine, Neo," Penguin said, patting her hand comfortingly. She forced herself to look at her friend. "Just stay close to us. We'll protect you. And remember your orders."

"I will." Neo followed Penguin and Shachi's lead and allowed her body and mind to shift into fighting mode. She mentally went over all of her lessons they taught her about combat. She hoped she could remember everything and act accordingly while not freaking out. Her eyes then went right back to Law. He had walked away from the battle and was walking over to a large man sitting off to the side. The man was wearing tannish colored clothes with an explosive collar around his neck. She tilted her head when Law started to exchange words with the man. Without taking her eyes from Law, she tugged on Penguin's arm. "Penguin, what's the captain doing?"

"Hm?" Penguin hummed and looked over at their captain. "Looks like we're getting a new crewmate."

"Huh?" Neo gave Penguin a quick look before returning her gaze to Law. The captain had his Room out and warped the collar off the man's neck.

"Captain wouldn't have set him free if he didn't plan on asking the man to join us," Shachi said.

Neo's eyes turned up in worry over the thought of a new crewmate boarding the sub.

"Don't worry about it. You know the captain won't let anyone around you that he doesn't trust," Shachi said. "We'll work that out later. Right now we need to join the captain. We're leaving this place."

"Right." Neo nodded. She matched their pace as they finished descending down the stairs. They ran over to Law and the large man. She ignored the stranger and ran right up to Law. Looking up at him, she received a smile that caused her to smile back. She waited as he ran his eyes over her body; despite knowing she was safe inside the building with the crew. When his eyes landed back on hers her smile grew.

"Time to fight!" Shachi cried. He ducked a punch from a marine then landed a kick on his attacker's head.

One by one the Heart Pirates smashed their way through the wall of marines that surrounded them. Neo followed close by, ready to fight but hoping she wouldn't have to. The crew was keeping a tight circle her, doing their best to keep her protected from the battle. But, because of so many marines, they were outnumbered and got farther away from her then they had intended. A couple marines cut her off from the crew. Her heart hammered in her chest as she skidded to a stop. Forcing herself to remain calm, reminding herself that the crew and Law were nearby and would come back for her, she held her ground and lifted her trembling fists.

"What the heck?" the dark haired marine, who was staring at her, asked. "She's just a child."

"Doesn't matter! She's with those pirates!" another marine shouted. He charged at Neo with his sword. "She has to be a pirate, too! Attack!"

Still unable to look at anyone in the eyes, Neo kept her eyes on the marines' chest. She had to watch and know when they were going to come at her. Her heart rate sped up. She really didn't want to fight, but when the marine got close enough, her body instinctively reacted with the fighting moves that Bepo had taught her. She knew that all these marines were bigger than her so she was going to have to use their size against them. Moving her feet farther apart, she stood ready for the marine. When the right moment came she stepped aside, grabbed the man's outstretched arm and flipped him over onto his back.

She lifted herself up to find three marines charging after her with swords. It was at that point both Neo and Law realized she never really trained against anyone using weapons using only her physical abilities. Her only weapons were her crystals, and she was under orders to not use them. She backed up from the on coming attack and tripped over the man she just flatten and hit the ground with a hard thud.

"Die! Pirate!" the marines shouted.

She closed her eyes tight and screamed, "Captain!"

"Neo!" Law cried out. He held up his hand, on the verge of creating his Room, but didn't get to attack. Penguin, and his wonderfully fast reflexes, planted his feet into the closest marine, kicking all three of the marines away from her. The stressed out surgeon relaxed. She was safe.

"It's okay, Neo," Penguin cooed softly. Kneeling down beside her, he placed his hand on her back. "Sorry we got separated. It won't happen again."

She slowly opened her tear filled eyes to Penguin. "Penguin, I…I don't want to do this. I don't want to fight. I want to go back to the sub."

"I know." Penguin took her hand and helped her up to her feet. "We're getting out of here right now. We're taking you back to the sub. Come on."

The two started off running. They a crossed the grove and made it to a bridge where Law and the large black haired man were already were. Law turned back and called for Bepo. "Hurry up, Bepo! We don't have time for this!"

Neo was curious to what Law was talking about but didn't dare look back to see what Bepo was doing. The bridge below her vibrated, snapped, and cracked. Looking back over her shoulder she found that the large man had destroyed the bridge with a punch, trapping the marines on the other side.

Through the dust that was settling, Bepo and the large man appeared and ran behind her and Penguin.

"You're the new guy so you rank under me," Bepo said.

"As long as I'm not a slave fine by me," the large man said.

"Hey, Captain! Look there!" Shachi shouted out.

Neo looked up. She saw Eustass Kid and his crewmates facing off against someone. Through the cloud of dust she could see this person was even bigger than the man Law had freed.

"What's going on? Eustass?" Law said. The smoke cleared, giving them a better view of who was there. "Is that…? Oh no. What's he doing here?"

Neo slowed down and stopped when Penguin stopped running. Panting, she took the pause to trying to regain her breath and strength. Her eyes surveyed the scene before them. She clenched Penguin's hand when the man beside her let out a low growl. She turned to him and asked, "What's wrong? What's going on? Who is that guy?"

"That's Bartholomew Kuma," Penguin replied. He ran the back of his hand over his chin, brushing away some sweat. "He's one of the seven warlords of the sea we told you about. We're in so much trouble."

Neo turned her eyes back to Law. She watched as the warlord looked right at Law.

"Trafalgar Law," Kuma said.

Law pulled his sword off his shoulder and spun it before holding it in front of him. "Look at that. He knows my name."

Neo blinked. The warlord opened his mouth, revealing a strange light inside of him. It exploded. The light shot out right at Law. Ice ran through her body. She released Penguin's hand and tried to run towards Law. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she cried out in fear, "Captain!"

"No!" Penguin threw his arms around Neo's waist, pulling her back to him. "Neo, don't!"

"No! Let me go!" Neo thrashed against his hold with strength that surprised him. He never thought as small as her body was and with only a few months of training that he'd have such a hard time holding onto her. But then, her fear over possible losing their captain was a powerful thing. If she was able to use her crystals right now, there was no way Penguin would have been able to hold onto her. "The captain-"

"Is just fine. Look." Penguin said, struggling to keep his hold around her waist and keep his voice calm.

Neo stopped struggling against Penguin and relaxed when her captain walked out of the smoke without a scratch on him. She whispered softly, "He's okay. He's okay. The captain's okay."

Shachi appeared beside her at that moment. "We're going to have to help fight Kuma. The captain wants you to come to him."

"Okay." Neo nodded. "Be careful."

"We will," Penguin replied.

"Penguin, I'm sorry about…" Neo started.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry for." Penguin cupped her cheek. "You were just scared. It's okay. Go to the captain now."

Neo nodded with a small smile. She brushed away her tears while running towards Law as Shachi and Penguin ran towards the warlord.

Law watched Neo as she ran towards him. When she got to him, he looked at her tear-stained eyes and frowned. Someone had made her cry. No, this whole mess made her cry. Not wanting her to see the anger build up inside him, he placed his hand behind her head and pulled her to his chest. As she clenched a hold of his shirt, his anger continued to grow. He became furious at the Celestial Dragons for being the jerks they were, at Straw Hat for punching the Celestial Dragon despite the Celestial Dragon deserving it, anger at the marines for labeling them accomplices in the attack at the auction house, even at himself for bringing her here and not immediately removing her from this battle. She wasn't ready for this yet. She shouldn't be here in all of this mess. He tried to reason with himself.

He tried to tell himself that she needed this, but he just couldn't convince himself of it. Neo was too innocent for battles. At least for close combat. He was going to rectify that when they got back to her training. He should have thought of it before. She was going to be better suited in long distance position, in a sniper position. His thoughts were interrupted by Eustass's unwanted voice.

"Hm? Hey, it's that girl you were sitting with in the auction house. Who is she? Is she really on your crew, Trafalgar? She looks like a child. Why would you let a child on your crew?" Eustass said.

"She's none of your business," Law hissed. He grabbed Neo and pushed her behind him then stepped in-between her and the red haired man. He felt Neo grab onto the back of his shirt. He knew she'd stay like that and he wanted her to. "Keep your eyes off her and on the battle, Eustass."

"Touchy." Kid snickered. The two pirates turned their attention back to the warlord. "Whatever, Trafalgar. If you want a weak child on your crew then that's your business. It just means it'll be easier for me to defeat you when the time comes."

Law wanted to be angry with Eustass for calling Neo weak. But a smile formed on his lips instead. He knew full well that Neo wasn't as weak as she appeared to be. She was force of nature that was just starting to learn how to utilize her abilities. He knew, next to him, she was going to be the strongest member on his crew. He knew, in time and despite the fact she'll always hate fighting, she wouldn't hesitate to protect him and the crew when necessary. She would have his back as much as he had hers. He turned his eyes up to Kuma. For now, it was still his turn to protect her. And that's what he was going to do. He lifted his hand to form another Room.

The fight and everything else moved in slow motion for Neo. Unable to add any help without her crystals, she remained close to Law and watched as the pirates all attacked this Kuma guy. The Kid Pirates flew into battle, one slicing the tall bear like man with a spinning weapon that she didn't know the name of. Then another one shot out fire from his mouth before her own friends jumped into the battle. Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo all got in a few hits before Kuma knocked them away. Bepo got in a couple more before kicking at Kuma's leg. The bear screamed and grabbed his own leg. In a flash Bepo was away from Kuma and lying on the ground beside her and Law. She knelt down and placed her hands on him. He smiled at her despite the obvious pain he was in. She lifted her eyes back to Law. The captain had his sword now embedded inside of Kuma's chest. The man sparked and fell back onto the ground. "What is he?"

"Looks like an android, a cyborg, or something," Bepo said.

"Android?" Neo asked.

"A machine of sorts," Penguin said as he and Shachi rejoined them. "There's no way that was the real Kuma. We would have been dead by now if it was."

"At least the captain defeated it," Shachi said. "So let's catch up to him and get out of here."

The pirates headed off towards their captain. They about caught up with him when another Kuma dropped in front of them. The ground rumbled beneath their feet. Bepo said, "What the heck?! How can there be two of them?!"

"This is just great," Penguin said.

"Well, that first one was obviously some sort of machine," Shachi said. "So this one has to be one, too."

"Let's hope you're right," Penguin said as the two pirate captains engaged in battle once more. Kuma's lazar beam shot out at them. They jumped to avoid getting hit. The beam exploded when it hit the ground. "I don't think any of us are strong enough to go up against a warlord right now. This guy is bad enough!"

Neo watched the battle. The two captains were the main ones landing hits onto the second Kuma, drawing the man or machine's eyes off of them. Her eyes drifted up the trunk of one of the mangrove trees. If only she could use her crystals. She could easily wrap this Kuma thing up by using the massive roots of the trees. Though she wasn't sure exactly if that was a good thing. There seemed to always be buildings on the roots. She'd have to find one that didn't have anyone on it. Or maybe she could use the branches instead or even the leaves. But she couldn't. She had no choice but to stand there feeling completely useless. Shachi, Bepo, and Penguin charged in, landing a few hits onto Kuma before jumping away from him. The Kid Pirates jumped in and landed a few hits before the captains stepped up.

"Let's get rid of those beams," Law said. He sliced his sword at Kuma's hand when it lifted. The hand floated in the air until he moved it to the trunk of a tree where it could no longer do any damage.

Kid, using his large metal hand, grabbed the now damaged arm of Kuma and smashed it before knocking Kuma into a tree.

Kuma hit the tree with a loud crash and slumped down to the ground.

"Is it over?" Shachi asked through his huffing.

"I hope so," Penguin said.

"Doesn't matter," Law said. "We're leaving before that thing gets back up." Running back over to Neo, he grabbed her hand and took off in the direction of the sub. "You're on your own now, Eustass."

"Whatever!" Eustass called out. "I don't need your help anyway!"

"What a jerk!" Bepo said. "After all we did to help them get this far!"

"Never mind them," Law said. "Just run."

And they did. They ran all the way back to the sub and didn't stop until they were on the deck.

"That was…so intense," Shachi panted. He dropped to the floor of the deck.

"I hope we don't have to fight one of those things ever again," Penguin added. He was panting just as hard as Shachi was, their foreheads covered in sweat. He had his hands on his knees for a few seconds before dropping to the deck in exhaustion. "Who, or what, was that thing? Some kind of machine? A cyborg maybe?"

"It had to be considering there was more than one of them," Shachi said.

"Who cares?" Bepo added. "I'm just glad we're alive. I didn't think we'd make it back to the sub alive."

Neo, her body shaking from the fight, let her eyes run over the crew, checking to see how badly they were hurt. She too was out of breath, but not as much as her male counterparts were. Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin were sprawled across the sub's deck. Law was looking out at the island, contemplating something while scanning the area. And the large man was just standing there. While looking at the new man, she unintentionally caught his eyes. She flinched at the unintentional eye contact and shied away from his gaze by stepping closer to Law. Clenching a hold of his sleeve, she pressed her forehead against his arm.

"Well, it doesn't look like they're going to pursue us," Law said. "So we should be safe for now."

"That's a very good thing," Bepo said.

"It was Straw Hat who actually caused this while mess," Shachi said. "The marines are probably pursuing them instead."

"So what are we going to do now?" Penguin asked. "The rest of our crewmates haven't arrived yet. Surely they've heard about what happened and will come running back to the sub so we can leave."

"We're not leaving," Law said.

"What?!" the crew, but for the new one and Neo, asked.

"Like Shachi said, Straw Hat was the one who caused the problem," Law said. "If the navy really wanted to capture us they would have continued to follow us all the way here. Since they're not, we're safe." He turned to Neo at that point. He put his finger under her chin and lifted her to look at him. He ran his eyes over her face. "Are you injured?"

"No," Neo replied softly.

Law nodded, keeping his eyes on hers. He noted that even though she didn't fight as much as they did, she still got fairly dirty during their escape. He also knew a bath would help calm her nerves. "You did well for your first time against marines."

"Thank you." Neo dropped her eyes from his. "I did what I could. Though I didn't really do much."

"I want you to take a lengthy bath now. The hot water will help your body and mind relax," Law ordered. Well, he wanted her to take a bath. He knew that might not happen if she was too tired.

Neo nodded, but didn't move.

Law continued to watch her. She did look tired from all the stress she had went through, but wasn't suggesting taking a nap. So he took her hand in his. Maybe he could get a bath in for her before she needed to sleep. He didn't say anything as he pulled her towards the door of the sub, not giving the rest of his crew another glance as they disappeared inside.

"So who are you?" Bepo asked the new man onboard.

"Jean Bart," he replied. "I use to be a captain of my own crew before I became a slave."

"Well, welcome to the crew then," Shachi said.

"So what's with the kid?" Jean Bart asked. He looked to the door of the sub then turned back to the men and bear. "Why is there a kid on your, our crew? Is she all right? Doesn't seem like she should be on a pirate ship or crew if she hates fighting so much."

"She's not a kid!" Shachi snapped.

"How old is she then?" Jean Bark asked.

"She's…" Shachi's voice faded off. He had forgotten they didn't know how old Neo actually was. "Well, she's…honestly, we don't know how old she is."

"You don't know?" Jean Bart blinked.

"Yeah, we don't know. Her name is Neo," Penguin replied. Sitting up, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Its kind of a long story. We'll tell you about it later. She's just really shy and timid around new people. She'll need her space and some time to adjust to you being around. And it's very important that you don't ever corner her or touch her until she gets use to you being here."

"Also, be forewarned that the captain has strong feelings for her and is somewhat in denial when it comes to voicing his feelings for her to us. So whatever you do, do not upset her. And, most importantly, never ever make her cry," Shachi added. "Trust us on this. He's already killed someone who made her cry."

"Okay." Jean Bart blinked again in confusion.

"We should head inside now," Bepo said. "The marines still might come after us. We need to make preparations in case they do come. The rest of our crew should be here soon."

"I guess we can show you where the crew's quarters are and everything else on the sub," Shachi said as they entered into the vessel.

Law glanced over at the young woman beside him. Her hand was lightly trembling in his. He tightened his hold on to her, letting her know he was right there. Once they entered his room, he flipped on the main lights with his elbow. When Neo started to pull away from him, he tightened his hold even more. She turned back and looked at him. "Neo, I mean it. I want you to take at least an hour in the bath. Use your crystals to keep the water to the temperature that you like."

"Yes, Captain, I understand." Neo nodded lightly. Her eyes dropped from his. There was an intense, thick-aired pause between the two before she spoke again. Her voice was low, timid, scared, worried. "You are all right, right? You and the crew? You got shot at. That person…that thing…it shot at you with something. It was so tough. That thing wouldn't stop. It wouldn't go down. It hit the crew. Bepo and Penguin and Shachi…they all got hit by him…by it."

Law sighed. He placed his hand behind her head and pulled her to his chest. "We're all fine, Neo. But I'll check on the crew again while you're in the bath. Would that make you feel better?"

She nodded. Raising her eyes back to his, she said, "Thank you, Captain."

Law brushed a bit of dirt from her cheek before tucking her hair behind her ear. "That's a good girl. Get going now."

She nodded again and slowly stepped away from him. Law kept his eyes on her as she grabbed herself a change of clothes then disappeared in to his bathroom. He waited a few more minutes before finally leaving the room to check on his crew like he said he would.

With his right hand on his sword and his left hand in his pocket, Law trudged down the hall. He found his crew in the rec. room chatting with their new crewmate. "Bepo, Shachi, Penguin, come with me."

"Aye, Captain!" the three crowed and followed after him.

"What's up, Captain?" Bepo asked as they all trudged down the halls, up the stairs, and into the medical bay.

"I told Neo I'd check on you all," Law replied. He propped his sword up against the wall and turned back to his crew.

"She's worried about us," Penguin said, sounding guilty for having to fight.

"Hey, don't sound so depressed." Shachi elbowed his friend.

"He has a right to be," Bepo said with a sigh. "This was the first time she's seen us in such a terrible fight, plus the first time she's been in one. It's going to take her some time to wind down from it and process everything including the fact that we are all okay."

"And that's why I'm checking on you all right now. I know that you're not seriously injured, right?" Law said and the three nodded. "But I'm still going to check your bodies over to make sure. I want Neo to feel secure once she gets out of the bath."

Law then proceeded to check his crew out. Just as expected, they had no serious injuries, only minor cuts, bumps, and bruises. With the crew's minor cuts, he went ahead and put some disinfectant on them. And despite the hard kick Bepo did on the fake warlord, his leg was just fine. He did have a small bump and bruise, but his bone wasn't even cracked.

"You call can go now," Law said once he finished up with them.

"Aye, Captain," they replied back.

"Captain?" Penguin asked. "What about Jean Bart and Neo's back story? Should we go ahead and tell him? Or should we wait until Neo adjusts to his presence?"

"We'll wait. It's her choice when she wants him to know about her past," Law answered. He didn't turn around as he cleaned up his medical supplies that he used on his crew.

Penguin nodded then followed after Shachi and Bepo.

Law remained in the medical bay, to clean up a bit himself, before heading back to his room. He closed his door while looking over to the bathroom. It had taken him forty-five minutes to check on his three crewmembers and return to his room. It would be at least fifteen more minutes before Neo got out of the tub. He felt too restless to sit and wait for her so he spent the remaining time cleaning up his room a bit.

As he suspected, fifteen minutes later, he heard the faint whooshing of water. Neo was crawling out of the tub. He was finishing straightening up his desk when she finally emerged from the smaller room wearing a gray pair of lounge pants and a solid black shirt. He turned and looked at her.

Neo's eyes were down, but she was staring into some far off distant space still thinking of the battle. Using a couple fire crystals and a couple wind crystals, she was mindlessly drying her hair. He grabbed his sword and headed for the door with the intent to leave with her. He paused when he felt her small hands grasp a hold of the back of his shirt. He then felt her press her forehead to his back. One soft whispered word from her lips caused his heart to sink low in his chest with guilt. "Stay."

Law's shoulders dropped. Creating a small Room, he warped his sword to lean it against the wall. He then turned around to her. With one arm supporting her back, he slipped his other arm under her knees and lifted her into his hold. He could easily feel her tiredness as she rested her head against his shoulder and clenched the front of his hoodie. He sighed inwardly and carried her over to his bed. He sat down, kicked off his shoes, and held her solidly in place on his lap and against his chest as he settled into the bed with her.

"It's okay, Neo," he whispered softly, assuring their safety. "I'm right here. It's over. The crew is fine. I checked them over like I said I would. They have only minor injuries that will be healed in a couple of days. I'm fine as well. We're all back on the sub now. We're in my room. You do see that, right?"

She nodded against him.

"That's good. Close your eyes now. You're tired."

Neo shook her head lightly. "I don't…I don't want you to go away."

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay right here with you. I promise I'll be right here when you wake up." Law placed two fingers gently on her eyebrows. Slowly he dragged his fingers over her eyes, guiding her eyelids closed. "Sleep now. That's an order. You'll feel better after a nap."

Unable to disobey his orders and her fatigue from stress, she snuggled into his chest and fell asleep. He watched her sleep for a while before realizing he was fairly tired himself. He tilted his head so his nose came close to her hair. She smelt so good, so sweet. He didn't bother trying to fight the intoxicating feeling washing over him. He slowly let his own eyelids drop close while breathing in her sweet scent while holding her securely to his chest.

Law had no idea how long he had slept. All he knew is a tap at his door woke him up. In a slight panic, he looked down at Neo worried the noise had woken her up as well. It didn't. She was still fast asleep, snuggled into his chest. He couldn't help but smile at how cute and comfortable she looked sleeping in his arms. Another tap at his door brought him out of his trance. "Yes, come in."

A second later, the door opened, and Penguin's head poked inside. The black and white hatted man instantly realized he disturbed his captain's slumber. For as long as he had known the captain, he only knew Law to take naps when Neo was involved. Taking in the scene before him to be sure, she was the reason he was napping. Penguin bite back a grin and said, "Sorry, Captain, I didn't realize you two were taking a nap. It's just been a while since we saw you and Neo and…"

"You all are concerned about her." Law finished the man's sentence. Penguin nodded. "She was tired. I ordered her to take a nap."

"A bath and a nap, probably a good idea considering the day she's had." Penguin smiled. He opened the door a bit more and stepped inside. "But if she sleeps for too much longer she won't be able to sleep tonight. It's almost five."

"I won't let her sleep for too much longer," Law said returned his eyes to the girl when she shifted in her sleep. His entire body stiffened when her hand snaked up his shirt and landed on his shoulder while she nuzzled her nose against his neck in an obvious attempt to get closer to him and away from all the talking he and Penguin were doing.

Penguin had to bite his bottom lip again to keep himself from laughing or teasing the captain.

Law cleared his throat; obviously trying to pretend her sleep-induced actions wasn't affecting him at all. "She's still going to be a bit upset when she wakes up. Tell the crew to keep the noise down. I want everyone to remain calm around her until she feels secure again."

"You got it, Captain." Penguin nodded with a smile.

"Also, someone else is going to fix dinner tonight. I don't want her doing anything but relaxing," Law added.

"Don't worry about that, Captain," Penguin said.

Law raised his eyes to his subordinate at that point.

Penguin shrugged. "We've all ready decided she wasn't going to cook for us tonight." He turned to leave, but paused and turned back around. "Oh yeah…a couple more things I wanted to tell you about."

"What is it?" Law's eyebrows rose at the concern Penguin held in his face.

"Back at the auction house…Neo openly talked to one of the Straw Hat members," Penguin said.

"The reindeer?" Law asked and Penguin nodded. Neo shifted again. He patted her arm, calming her back down then signaled Penguin to come closer so they could speak in lower tones. "That's not surprising at all considering he's an animal. Animals have never hurt her before."

Penguin nodded. "I never thought of him being an animal. It makes sense."

"And the other thing?"

"Is the strangest of the two. The Dark King apologized to Neo. He said, 'I apologize about before, young miss. I didn't mean to knock you out. I didn't realize that you were a…' He paused like he was unsure about finishing that sentence then added 'I promise to be more careful if we ever meet again in a situation like this," Penguin said.

Law's eyebrows kneaded in worry.

"Do you think it's possible that he knows something about Neo?" Penguin asked.

"It sounds like it," Law said, his voice dangerously low. His mind going over all the possibilities of The Dark King being an enemy of Neo's or a possible friend.

Without knowing what else to say, Penguin waved to Law and excused himself to leave his captain alone with his thoughts and to continue to pamper Neo. Once the man had gone, Law turned his eyes back to the young woman in his arms. His brain was still going over possible dangers of the Dark King knowing something about his girl. If the old man were a threat to her surely he would have attacked at the auction house, right?

Neo's humming brought Law out of his thoughts. He looked down to see she was smiling lightly in her sleep from a good dream. Tension and worry released from Law's body at the sight of her smile. His body relaxed as he let himself feel every single emotion, every single stomach flip, every single heart flutter she stir within him in that moment. Whatever the issue was with the Dark King, he could worry about that later. Right now, she needed his attention more that theories and guesses.

He allowed her to sleep for about fifteen more minutes before deciding she needed to wake up. He raked his fingers through her soft hair then dropped his hand to her back. "Neo? Neo, it's time to wake up now."

She protested to his words by snuggling closer to him. She mumbled in her sleep, "I don't wanna. I wanna stay here…with you."

He chuckled. With a light shake, he tried again to wake her up. "Come on, Neo. Wake up."

"Hm?" She opened her eyes after another minute. Tilting her head, she looked up at him. Forgetting she was in his lap before falling asleep, she stiffened and blushed at their closeness, earning another chuckle from him. She lifted off of his chest and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. "I fell asleep. How long was I out?"

"Almost two hours," Law replied calmly. She looked at him with slight concern in her eyes. He smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear, making her tense again. "It's all right. You did nothing wrong. You needed to rest after that battle we were in. You feel better now, right?"

"Yeah, I do." She nodded. "I still feel a bit, um…"

"Insecure?" Law asked and she nodded again. "That's all right. You'll be fine in no time. If you want, you can stick with me for the rest of the day."

"Thank you, Captain." Neo gave him a grateful smile.

"Let's get up now."

"Okay." Although not necessary, Law kept his hand on her back to support her while she got up from his lap. He then stood up himself. After reclaiming his sword, he took a hold of her hand with his left. The two then left the room together. And as he said, he kept her by his side for the rest of the day. Everywhere he went, she went too.

Soon their sub travels led them into the rec. room where some of the crew had returned and were talking over the battle that happened on Sabaody with Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo. The crew, but for Jean Bart, greeted Neo. "Hey, Neo."

"Looks like you're feeling better."

"We're glad."

"Don't worry about dinner. We've got it covered. You just stick with the captain."

"Thanks, guys." Neo sat down with Law on the couch and hugged her knees to her chest.

"We're glad to see that you're okay. Sorry we couldn't help with that fight. Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo were just telling us about it."

"You look like your handling it okay."

"I guess so. I had to take a nap," Neo said.

Jean Bart sat calmly as he observed his new crewmates and the blue haired girl they were talking to. His eyes shifted from the men and over to the girl. She looked in his direction, but didn't meet his eyes. She flinched when she knew he was looking at her and turned into their captain's arm. His eyes wandered down to the captain's hand. He watched as his captain casually slipped his hand over to Neo's ankle and gently rubbed it. Neo's tensing was obvious and so was the in love look in the Surgeon of Death's eyes As instructed by Penguin and Shachi, he remained quiet and slightly confused about the obvious attraction between these two and the obvious they weren't a couple, yet.

Bepo noted the man's confusion and moved closer to him. "We forgot to mention, Neo also has feelings for the captain, but she doesn't understand them."

"Huh?" Jean Bart raised an eyebrow at the bear. He became more confused.

"It'll make sense once Neo is comfortable enough to reveal her past to you," Bepo replied. "Just be patient until then."

Jean Bart only nodded in response.

"Captain! Captain!" Archer's voice called out just before he came running into the room with a newspaper in his hand. "You're not going to believe this!"

"Keep it down," Shachi said. "Neo's been through enough stress today."

"What happened?" Archer asked.

"We got caught up in a fight," Shachi said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Neo," Archer said. "I'll want to hear about that later. For now, we have more important and serious problems on our hands."

"What are you talking about?" Penguin asked.

"Here, look at this." Archer opened the newspaper. "Fire Fist Ace is going to be executed."

"What?!" the pirates screamed.

"They can't be serious!" Shachi said.

"Do they have a death wish?!" Penguin asked.

"I was wondering why there weren't a lot of navy soldiers on this island," Jean Bart said.

Neo looked around at the pirates. "What's going on? I don't understand."

"Fire Fist Ace is one of Whitebeard's subordinates," Law said. "He's very protective of his crew. The Whitebeard pirates will no doubt go to navy headquarters to stop Fire Fist's execution."

"Execution," Neo said. "That means they're going to kill him?"
"That's right," Penguin said. "They've been after Fire Fist for quite a while now."

"Is this a problem for us?" Neo asked.

"It could be," Law said. "All we can do for the time being is wait and see what happens."