Strange Occurrences

"Huh? Where am I?" Neo asked. Her voice echoed through the strange purplish colored void that currently surrounded her. There was a faint glow from an unseen source falling down on her from above. It gave her enough light to see, but there wasn't much for her to actually see. The only thing that was around was her, the void, the light and strange black crystals that were rising up out of the ground. "Crystals? Why are they so dark?" She took a few steps and looked around. "Captain? Penguin? Where is everyone?"

When no one answered her, she started to get scared. She pressed her hands to her chest. "What's going on? Where am I? I don't like this. I don't want to be alone. Captain!"

Neo rushed forward. In desperation, she looked around for Law and the crew. But no matter how much she ran, no matter how far she ran, she couldn't find them. She only found more purplish void and more black crystals. She stopped when her legs started throbbing from all of the running. The black crystals then started to glow. They gave her a bad feeling. Like darkness itself was trying to reach out and grab her.

She folded her hands back against her chest with a shiver. "I don't like this. I want to go back to the captain. I want to be with the crew again."

She gasped and spun around when she felt and heard the roar of an ocean wave. Towering over her was a monster wave that was at least ten times the size of Jean Bart. She shivered at the dark magic that radiated off of it. It started to fall towards her. She summoned her water crystals in an attempt to gain control over it. Nothing happened. She gasped again when she couldn't take control of the wave. Before she could summon her other crystals the wave crashed down on her. It wrapped around her like a giant watery hand. She tried to force it away from her, but nothing happened. She was trapped in water that she couldn't control that swirled with such dark magic. She felt it squeeze her body. Air was forced out of her lungs as she tried to call out for Law. "Captain! Help me!"

"Help me…help me…Captain!" Neo called out in her sleep. She twisted and pulled at her blanket.

Law instantly woke up when he heard her call for him. He quickly got up and moved closer to her. Grabbing her shoulders, he said, "Neo, wake up."

"Captain!" Neo cried again.

"I'm here. Wake up now. Neo, wake up," Law called sternly. When it was obvious her dream had too much of a hold on her he switched to his captain tone. "Neo, I order you to wake up!"

She gasped in response to the order and woke up. She shot up and, with panicked breaths, she darted her eyes everywhere.

Law cupped her cheek to get her to look at him. "Neo?"

"Dream." Neo panted. "It wasn't real."

"That's right." Law nodded while brushed his thumb over her skin. "It wasn't real. It's over now." As he waited for her rapid breaths to slow down, he shifted his position so he could lean against the log. Once comfortable, he pulled Neo into his chest. She clenched a hold of his shirt like she always did when feeling scared or vulnerable. "Was it the same one?"

"No." Neo shook her head. "It was different. It was really weird."

"How so?" Law asked.

"I don't know. I was in some strange place with a bunch of black crystals coming out of the ground. The crew wasn't with me. You all were gone. You were gone." Neo shivered at the memory.

Law tightened his hold on her and stroked her hair soothingly.

She released a relaxing sigh then continued, "The crystals started to glow. Then there was this huge wave. It crashed down on me and wrapped around me like a hand. I couldn't control it at all. I was so scared. I don't know why I couldn't control it. It felt really dark."

"Dark?" Law questioned.

Neo tilted her eyes up to his. "I don't know how. It just felt like that. I know water's not dark. It's not evil. But it still felt like that. Why?"

"It was just a bad dream. They often don't make much sense," Law said. He stroked her hair a few more times before letting his hand rest on her back. "It's over now. The crew is still with you." He nodded towards his sleeping crew.

She turned her eyes to them. Her cries weren't loud enough to wake any of them. She was glad for that. She was also glad that they all were still with her. She turned her eyes back to him. "And you're still with me."

"Yes, I'm still with you." Law smiled sweetly at her. He then guided her head back down to his chest.

Neo noticed at that point that he smelled like the smoke from their fire. The smoke had clung to his clothes. She liked the way it mixed into his normal scent. He smelled so good. It was soothing.

"Relax now. It's over. You can sleep again," Law said. Sensing she wasn't going to fall asleep as quick as he wanted her to, he started to rub his hand on her back.

She tensed at his touch. After a minute her body relaxed again. Her eyes slowly drifted closed to the rhythmic rubs Law did on her. When he felt her body go completely relaxed, he shifted himself into a better position to hold her. He looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms. His heart fluttered wildly. With a content sigh that she was now sleeping peacefully again, Law allowed himself to close his own eyes.

Later that day Neo stood in front of the crew. With her crystals out she focused on creating an obstacle course with them. With her injured foot, Law didn't want her to do any hand to hand combat at all. Her foot was healing fast like always, much to the captain's satisfaction. She knew he was worried with all the moss, dirty water and dirt they had trekked through, she might have gotten an infection in the cut. He checked on the cut often.

So, being under restrictions, her own training today was to basically train the crew. She was only working on her 'moving target practice' while trying to tag the crew with water as they ran through a wild obstacle course of plants, dirt mounts, sand mounts and rocks that Law had shown her through a drawing he did. They had to climb over, dash around, run up, jump across everything all while trying to avoid getting hit by her.

The entire crew crashed to the ground panting and covered in sweat from their intense training session they just went through. She ran her eyes over them in hopes she didn't wear them out too much. They were getting use to her as a trainer but she still worried they might over do it and get hurt or sick. But today they looked just fine. Tired but find. She exhaled and allowed herself to relax. The ground and plant life she used lowered back to normal size.

Conner spoke up between breaths. "That…was…intense."

"No kidding," Archer said. "I didn't think we'd survive."

"You sure did give us a good workout, Neo," Shachi said between his huffing.

"Sorry." Neo smiled apologetically. "It's the captain's orders."

"We know," the crew said simultaneously and in a gloomy way.

Neo laughed.

"I say we call it a day," Penguin suggested. He looked out at the horizon. The sun was starting to turn reddish gold as it hovered just above the edges of the water. A cool breeze rushed off of the sea onto their skin. "The sun is going to set soon anyway."

"Good idea."

"Yeah, I'm hungry. Whose turn is it to cook?"

"Neo's!" the crew shouted. They all then laughed.

Neo smiled and shifted awkwardly at their praise. They had grown to love her cooking and wanted her to always do it. She loved to cook for them too.

"Not this time," Penguin said in his big brother tone. He pushed himself to his feet and brushed off the sand that stuck to his suit. "Captain wants her to take it easy on that foot. So no standing around cooking for any of you."

"We know," the crew said. "We know. We don't want her to over do it either."

"Sorry, guys," Neo said with her eyebrows turning up. "How about once my foot is healed I make you all some cookies? What kind would you like?"

"Yeah!" the crew cheered. They then started shout off what kind of cookies they wanted at the same time. All their words got jumbled up to the point Neo couldn't understand what they were saying.

"You guys are so silly." She giggled.

They laughed again before pulling themselves up off the ground.

"Silly and sweaty," Bepo complained while wiggling his nose. "You all stink."

"You stink too!" the crew shouted.

"I'm sorry." Bepo bowed his head.

"Will you stop doing that?!" the crew demanded.

"Oh, leave him alone, guys," Neo said with a little giggled on her lips. She flew over to Bepo and hugged him. "He's a bear. His nose is a lot more sensitive to smells."

"Yeah, we know," the crew agreed as they headed back for their camp. They were also obedient to her words and wishes even thought she technically had no authority over them. They loved her so much that they were growing to automatically obey her without realizing the transition. She didn't realize she was gaining their respect so much either.

"Thanks, Neo." Bepo smiled.

"You're welcome," Neo chirped with an innocent smile.

"Come on, you two. Let's go," Penguin called.

"Okay!" Bepo and Neo said. They turned and followed after the man. The rest of the crew was already back over at the fire where Law was waiting like always.

"Huh?" Neo paused. She turned and looked out at the sea.

"Neo?" Penguin asked when he noticed she was no longer beside him and Bepo. "What is it?"

"I don't know," she whispered. A cold wind blew off the sea. She wrapped her arms around herself with a noticeable shiver. "Something's wrong with the sea."

"Huh?" Penguin turned to look at the water. Nothing seemed out of place. "It looks fine to me."

"No," Bepo growled. His fur stuck straight up. "She's right. Something's wrong."

Penguin looked at the bear. When he noticed his furry companion wasn't joking around, he looked towards the fire. "Captain! You better get over here!"

Law was already on his feet and running over to them. Just as Penguin was turning back around, Bepo shrieked, "What the heck?!"

"Huh?!" Penguin's eyes about popped out from underneath his hat. A large wave had come out of nowhere. It was towering over them like a giant water monster.

Neo summoned her water crystals. She gasped when she couldn't take control of the wave. A cold sensation settled into her chest as her mind flashed back to last night. "No…my dream…it can't be."

"Neo! Move!" Penguin shouted when the wave started to come down on them. He reached out to grab her. Before his hand could touch her, the wave divided and slammed into his body. He felt like someone had swatted him away from her as he went flying through the air.

"Neo!" Bepo jumped toward her at the same time Penguin reached for her. The wave fell towards him as well. He easily dodged it. But, much to his surprise, the wave turned and followed him. It knocked him away from her. The wave now looked like it had three limbs. Three flowing limbs ready to crash down on Neo.

Neo was frozen in place. Law panicked when he realized how similar this was to her dream she had told him about. He knew she wasn't going to move without help. He shouted, "Neo! I order you to move!"

Neo snapped out of her catatonic state. She shot up into the air just before the wave limbs crashed down on her. No one was able to breath a sigh of relief as the wave followed her. It snapped up and wrapped around her ankle. The entire crew shouted when the wave jerked her towards the ocean. "Neo!"

"No!" Penguin bolted back towards the water just as she disappeared beneath the waves. He didn't wait for orders. Once he got back to the water's edge, he immediately dove in. He was quickly followed by several other crewmembers.

An intense fear wracked Law's body when he reached the edge of the water. For once in his life, he couldn't think straight at all. A sharp pain stabbed through his head. He didn't register it or the fact he ran right into the water. He got about ankle deep in the ocean when, somewhere in the back of his brain screamed at him that he was a devil fruit user. He didn't listen to it. He was still walking out into the water when Bepo's paws landed on his shoulders and he was jerked back onto the beach.

"Captain! Are you crazy?!" Bepo shrieked even though Law didn't hear him. Law's eyes remained darted all over the surface of the water. His chest tightened with each second the crew didn't resurface with her.

The crew stayed under as long as they could. But with the salty water stinging their eyes, they weren't able to find her. They popped back up and shouted for her. "Neo!"

"Where is she?!"

"She should be back up by now!"

"Why couldn't she take over the wave?! Why isn't she using her crystals now?!"

"Wait!" Jean Bart shouted. "Didn't you say that she had to focus to use her crystals?"

"That's right!" Bepo shrieked. He pumped his fists up and down like it would help the situation. "But we don't have time to discuss it!"

"I'm just saying that, if she's not back up here now then she's not using her crystals because she can't focus!" Jean Bart said.

"She must have hit her head or something!" Penguin panicked. "Captain! Do something! Please! She's going to die!"

Finally snapping out of this own panicked state at the words Penguin said, he raised his hand, but paused. Panic hit him again when he realized she could be farther out into the water than his Room could reach. Suddenly, his eyes landed on the area he somehow knew she was. He ran down the beach about ten yards before finally creating a room. He made it as large as he possible could to ensure she was in it. "Room! Shambles!"

"Neo!" the crew cried when she appeared on the beach. They all ran over to her and dropped to the ground.

"She's not breathing!" Shachi, being the first to reach her, shouted. He placed his fingers under her nose.

Law immediately abandoned his sword. He knelt down and parted her lips. He then pressed his mouth onto hers and breathed into her. He pulled back to place his hands on her. More panic stabbed his heart with each pump he did on her chest. "Breath! Breath, Neo!" He breathed into her again. He repeated his actions several times. Each time he got no results it sent another wave of panic through him. "Dang it! I said, 'Breath'! Do you hear me?! That's an order! I order you to breath!"

Actually obeying his order, she gasped, coughed and spit out some water then coughed some more. She took a couple raspy breaths before finally opening her eyes. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that she was awake and breathing again. She looked around at them through the slightly blurry vision she now had.

Penguin knelt beside her and placed his hand on her head. "Neo, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," she said with a shaky voice. She raised her right hand. Penguin took it in his and helped her slowly sit up. When she was up, her head began to spin. She slumped into Law's arms. "Captain, my chest and head hurts. What…what happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Law said, releasing a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"I'd like to say it was a random, freak act of nature, but that was a bit too freaky to have been a part of nature," Conner said while carefully scanning his eyes out at the sea. The crew exchanged worried looks. They all had the exact same train of thought, but no one spoke. They turned their eyes to their captain. He too had the same train of thought that they did as he slowly ran his eyes over their surroundings.

"I think…I think I hit my head," Neo said, bringing Law's eyes back to her. "I feel dizzy."

Law, ignoring his own throbbing head, carefully inspected hers. "You might have. There's a small bump here."

"It's going to rain," Neo said as Law stood up with her in his arms.

"Never mind that. Let's get you inside the sub for now," Law spoke softly. "I want to give you a complete check over to make sure you don't have a concussion." Neo could only nod slightly against his chest. Before moving, Law looked at his crew. "You all check and make sure."

"Right, Captain," Penguin said, already knowing Law would want them to do a perimeter sweep to make sure no one was on the island. His eyes were on Neo. "She needs your focus right now. We'll handle everything else."

Law nodded then turned to walk away. While walking back to the sub, Law asked her questions about how she was feeling. "How are you feeling?"

"A little tired. My head and chest still hurt a little too."

"Do you have blurry vision?"

"No."

"Do you feel dizzy?"

"It's going away."

Once inside the medical bay, Law gently sat her down. He continued to ask her questions. And she continued to answer them truthfully. While talking, he examined her head. He was grateful to find that there was only just the bump he found earlier. Her skin had not been broken.

"That's good." Law nodded. He sighed inwardly with relief. "You don't appear to have a concussion. But I still want you to take it easy thought. I don't want you using your crystals for the rest of today, that's an order. Just walk on your toes for now."

"Yes, Captain." Neo nodded. "Would it be all right if I took a shower now? I think I have sand in my clothes as well as my hair."

"I think that would be fine," Law replied. He took her back into his arms and pulled her off the table. He carried her to his room. Once inside, he sat her back down on her feet and watched her carefully as she gathered up a clean and dry set of clothes. She made sure to walk on the toes of her right foot as she moved around. When she walked over to the bathroom door, he spoke to her again. "If you start feeling dizzy or light headed at all, get out of the shower immediately. I'll be waiting right out here. Call if you need me."

"I will." Neo smiled lightly at him before entering into his bathroom. She laid down her clean clothes on the sink before removing her wet ones. She draped them over the dirty clothes hamper so they could dry out some then turned on the water. When it warmed up, she stepped inside.

She sighed contently while the just right temperature water flowed over her body, washing the itchy sand from her skin. She let herself linger for a few minutes before reaching for the shampoo. She winced when she hit the bump on her head. It caused her to move her hands more slowly through her hair. Once her hair was finally all lathered up, she rinsed it out then completed the rest of her shower.

Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her shoulders. She brought the soft fluff up to her nose and found it didn't smell as much like Law anymore. Disappointment settled into her chest, but she wasn't sure why. Shaking it from her mind, she finished drying off and pulled on her clothes. She had picked out a simple black short sleeve shirt and dark gray lounge pants. She dabbed her hair with her towel and stepped out of the small room.

Law greeted her with a light smile from his desk where he was obviously waiting for her. She returned him a smile of her own and walked over to the bed while he questioned her again. "Are you feeling dizzy? Any blurry vision? Nausea? Tiredness?"

"No, Captain, I'm feeling fine."

He watched her carefully as she sat down and grabbed her brush off his nightstand.

She let her eyes close as she ran the brush through her hair, unaware that Law was watching her every move. She winced when the bristles caught in her hair. "Ouch."

"What is it?" Law asked.

"I got a knot in my hair," she reported. "It won't come out."

Without a word, Law stood up and walked over to her. He sat down on the bed. When he held out his hand for the brush, she paused with a blink but handed it to him. She sat stiff as a board when he started to work out the knot. Eventually, her body relaxed at him being so close. While working at the task at hand, Law glanced at her face. She held a concerned look in her eyes.

"You know better than to keep your thoughts inside like that. You better start talking to me," Law said.

"Sorry," she whispered. "It's just that…I was scared."

"I know you were."

"Captain, was it them?"

"What do you mean?" Law paused his hand for a moment before continuing to work out the knot. He knew exactly who she was talking about. Something inside of him just didn't want to say it out loud. It was like if he didn't say it then it wasn't real. Like keeping quiet about it would mean that no one was out to kill her.

"The elementals? They can control the elements like I can. That wave was just like my dream. I couldn't control it. I think it was because of the darkness that was inside of it. Is that possible?"

"I don't know," he said just as he finally got the knot out of her hair. But he didn't stop brushing her hair. He continued raking the brush through her blue tresses, carefully being mindful of the bump she still had.

She sighed. "I do nothing but cause problems for you."

"Don't say that," Law said sternly, but softly. "You're not causing problems."

"But they're after me. Because of me you al-"

"Stop that right now," Law said more sternly. This time she looked at him. He had his eyebrows narrowed. His features softened at her gaze. He sat her brush down on the bed with a sigh. He then cupped her cheeks. "You listen to me…you are not causing us any problems. Nothing that's happened is your fault. If I didn't want you here then…you are here because I want you to be here. Don't you understand that? I want you here."

"I'm sorry, Captain. I do. It's just that…I know…you know what I am capable of doing with my crystals. I just don't want to hurt you all. I don't."

"I know. And you won't."

"But they will. They will because you are trying to protect me. How can you…how can the crew fight against them? How do you fight against the forces of nature? Humans have always been weak against it, right?"

Law cringed. He knew she was right. Human beings have never been able to over come nature when it was raging at full force. And these elementals were nature. He had no clue how they were actually going to over come these creatures. "Neo, I don't care if they are nature. I will find a way to defeat them. We already know that elementals are not perfect creatures. Remember you can't use your crystals when you can't focus. There's no reason to assume that that only applies to you. I believe that that's their weakness too. And no one has an unlimited supply of energy. The crew is training hard. They will be able to out last the elementals. We'll try and figure out how to make a powder of our own that will disorient them. And we also have you."

"But I'm so weak."

"You've gotten stronger. You don't see it yet, but you have. And you are developing a protective nature over the crew."

"What?" Neo raised an eyebrow.

Law smiled at her confusion. "You just don't see this because you haven't been in battle like we have. But think back to when we were at Marineford. When we were trying to escape from Aokiji's ice? You made the choice to try and stop it on your own. You did what you felt you had to do to protect us."

"I did?" Neo tilted her head as she thought about the memory.

Law nodded. "You are already protective of us. That will help you grow stronger."

"I want to. I want to get stronger. I want to protect you, all of you. I don't want to lose my family." Neo's eyebrows turned up in worry, a single tear slip slowly down her left cheek. "I don't want to lose you."

Law smiled again when she had unknowingly emphasized not wanting to lose him. He slowly brushed away her tear causing her to tense. "You won't lose anyone. I'll get stronger as well. I'll protect you and the crew. You won't lose them. And you won't lose me."

Neo nodded slowly. Her eyes locked onto Law's.

He noticed she was searching for something. He also noticed she had started glowing again. The glow slowly washed over his own body connecting them once more. Even though he wanted to inspect the glow, he didn't move his eyes from hers. Both their hearts were racing.

She swallowed before speaking. "Something's different."

"Hm?" Law tilted his head in question.

"Between us. There's something different between us. Something's happening, isn't it?" Neo asked softly.

Law nodded in response. She's starting to become aware of the fact my relationship with her is different from the crew. She's starting to become more aware of her feelings. He released her cheeks to let his hands trail down her arms. He noticed, but didn't break their eye contact, that her skin was cool to the touch. When he got to her hands, he took them in his. "Would you like me to explain?"

"I don't know. It's…it's scary. I'm scared. But I'm not scared. It's just you. You're not different. You haven't changed." Neo swallowed again. Her breathing became slightly more intense as she looked over his features. "I don't understand. I don't know."

"It's okay. You're not ready yet." He gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "We don't have to rush anything here. You'll be ready when you're ready."

A couple knocks came on the door causing them both to jump. The glow faded away from them at that point. Neither looked away from the other while Law answered the hidden caller. "Yes?"

"Captain?" Shachi's muffled voice filtered through the metal door. "The crew would like to have a word with you."

"Okay, I'll be right there," Law replied. He brushed his thumbs over her hands. "I'm going to go see what they want. You're cold. Put on one of my hoodies, okay? I don't want you getting sick."

"Y-yes, Captain," Neo stuttered.

Law nodded, but didn't pull away from her yet. He stayed for a couple more minutes before finally forcing himself away from her to go see what the crew wanted.

Neo watched him walk across the room, open the door, paused to look at her again before he finally disappeared into the hall. She pushed herself off of his bed as disappointment settled into her chest again. She walked over to his closet and pulled out his dark blue hoodie that she had become accustom to wearing. She didn't want him to leave. She didn't want him to be out of her sight. But she knew he was still there. She knew he wasn't leaving the sub. She could feel him walking down the hall and stepping into the control room. She tugged his hoodie over her head and paused. Realization slowly seeped into her brain. "I can feel him?"

"How is she?" Penguin asked, in his typical worried big brother tone, when Law had finally joined the crew in the control room.

"She's fine. I don't believe she has a concussion, but I'm going to keep a close eye on her anyway." He leaned against the wall while looking over his crew. They all held relieved expressions she was fine. He could tell by their expressions whatever they wanted to talk about didn't really have anything to do with the strange attack that just happened. They clearly found nothing out of place while looking over the island. If they had, they already would have told him about it. "What is it that you all wanted?"

"You know, Captain," Archer said. "It's coming upon Neo's one year anniversary with us."

Law tilted his head lightly and waited for them to continue.

Bepo, who was holding Law's forgotten sword, then spoke up. He said, "We want to throw her a surprise party celebrating her one year anniversary with us and to official welcome her to our crew."

Law's entire body flinched. To try and hide it he raised his eyebrow at them and crossed his arms.

Shachi snickered at his captain's reaction. "Come on, Captain. We all know she's been an official member of our crew for months now, even though you refuse to come out and just say it."

The corner of Law's lips dipped down as his eyes widened slightly. Had he really become that easy to read when it came to her? The entire crew snickered at his reaction. They all then composed themselves in a more professional manner. They wanted him to say, 'yes' and not kill them for reading him so easily. He sighed at their silent stares and silent pleas to let them do this for their girl. He rubbed the back of his neck. He knew it was becoming harder to deny to them that she was a part of their crew. With a surrendering sigh, he replied, "Fine. But do not upset her with all your secrecy. Remember, she's never been to a party and doesn't know what one really even is. All the sneaking around you're going to be doing will confuse her. So take it easy."

"Aye aye, Captain!" the crew cheered. They immediately started to chat happily about what they wanted to do as they exited the room. Bepo gave Law his sword back as he left. This left Law and Penguin the only ones who remained in the room.

Law had fallen into a rather deep thought about what just happened, the party, and the attack. He didn't notice one of this subordinates remained until he cleared his throat and started talking.

"I wonder what I should get Neo," Penguin said thoughtfully. "She loves reading and cooking. So books will always brighten her day. What do you think, Captain?"

"Whatever, that's fine." Law shrugged in an 'I don't care' way.

"Ya know…since this is her one year anniversary with us," Penguin continued, "it would be nice for at least one certain person to get her something special. She doesn't have any jewelry."

"Jewelry?" Law inquired. Penguin had somehow grabbed his attention with the word.

"A necklace or a bracelet won't really work since we get into fights. They could snag on something." Penguin tapped his chin in thought. "A ring would be more fitting. She might like that."

Law's eyebrow rose again.

Penguin smiled and started to walk out of the room with his hands collapsed behind his back. "And if I'm not mistaken…the next island we're headed to has a craftsman who makes custom rings."

Law huffed at what the man was obviously implying. Why in the world would I want to ever get her one of those?

The captain grumbled to himself. He pushed himself off the wall and shoved one hand in his pocket and placed his sword back on his shoulder. He left the control room. He mindlessly wandered around until he found himself at the galley door. He blinked in confusion as to why he had come here. A familiar, yet strange, feeling washed over him. He then realized he come here because she was inside this room.

He stepped closer to the door and peaked inside. Just like he felt, Neo was in the galley. And she was wearing one of his hoodies like he ordered her to. Shachi, Penguin, Bepo, and Jean Bart were also inside. He quietly watched them from the shadows of the hallway.

Penguin, being the protective big brother he was, ushered Neo over to the table and insisted she sit down. "You just sit here. We'll handle supper tonight."

"You don't have to," Neo timidly protested. "I'm fine."

"You should still rest," Bepo said.

"The captain would want you to," Shachi added with a huge grin.

Neo shifted and lowered her eyes to the table. A small smile played on her lips while a light tint of pink brushed across her cheeks.

Law felt his heartbeat rapidly increase at the sight of her smile. A smile pulled over his own lips as his hat dropped shadows over his eyes. A light blush appeared on his own cheeks as he forced himself to turn from the blue haired girl. Walking away from the room, he rubbed his neck. His mind was constantly going over Penguin's suggestion. "A ring, huh?"

His mind then went over the waiter back at the Sabaody restaurant they ate at. Anger and jealously flooded his chest. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew other men would take notice of her at some point. He knew he couldn't just keep her all to himself no matter how much he wanted that. But he still wanted to believe that she belonged only to him. He didn't want any other man to look at her in the ways that he did. She had feelings for him. He knew that. And he knew there was a chance she could develop feelings for another man. The chances of that happening were still very slim since she was still scared of people, but it still could happen. She wasn't ready for that to happen.

He knew apart of his thoughts and plans wanted to keep her all to himself because of his own feelings for her. However, he also knew he needed to protect her from the advances of other men. Many other men would take advantage of her naivety and try to kiss her. Or worse. They might force her into their bed. That thought lit up another spark of anger. This one was a protective anger. He didn't want anyone to touch her like that whether or not she returned his feelings. As least until she grew more aware of men's intentions and how to handle them if she found herself in a situation like that. He was going to have to give this ring idea some very careful thought.