Ambushed
Neo stood with her eyes closed. She had over fifty earth crystals out. They were hovering beside her before she mentally ordered them to fly out over the island. The crystals started glowing when she connected them to all of the plant life on the isle. She recalled everything Law had told her he wanted her to do. She envisioned trees growing up from the ground, their branches circling around the trunks to create stairs for the crew to walk up. A few branches bunched up together forming platforms in the trees. Opening one eye she found the trees doing what she wanted.
She stretched out vines for bridges and for vine swings. She enlarged flowers so the crew could use them as hiding spots and shields. She raised rocks to also provide shelters and shields while they could also be used as stepping-stones. She twisted bushes around to provide cover for the crew while also providing cover for herself and Law if they needed it. And, even though it wasn't a suggestion from Law, she created a variety of fruits around her mega forest so the crew wouldn't get hungry during their this training session they were about to do since it was going to take up most of the day. While the crew was going to build up their strength in their bodies by run all over Neo's wild jungle, she was going be hiding with Law and snipe the crew when she saw them.
Law, like always, was standing right beside her. He was carefully observing her for any signs of stress or pain from possible over use of her crystals. This was her first time creating a forest this big. He moved his eyes from her to the trees. The trees were now as tall, or taller, than a giant. His eyes went back to her. He didn't find any warning signs that he should have her stop. It made him wondered about the limits of her abilities. There had to be a limit to them somewhere, but so far it seemed she didn't have any other than the ones they've already discovered.
The thought vanished from his mind when he saw her raise her right hand to her left hand. He watched as she brushed the tips of her fingers over his ring. A smile pulled across his lips. She was subconsciously checking to make sure the ring was still there while working on her current task. He was noticing her doing this rather often since he had given it to her. At times it was obvious she knew she was doing it. While other times, she was doing it subconsciously like she was doing right now. The gift had a strong impact on her without her realizing it. In the past two days since he gave her the ring, she was sitting closer to him and taking a hold of his hand more. She wanted to be physically closer to him. Law never objected and never pulled away from her. He wanted to be physically closer to her, too. And things were starting to move more in that direction.
"Hm." Neo's humming pulled Law from his thoughts. She had finished up her job and was studying her work. "I don't think I'm going to be able to put this place back to the way it was before."
"It doesn't matter," Law said. He stepped closer to her and slid his hand into hers. She looked up at him and smiled, closing her fingers around his. "Even if someone was able to figure out it was you who did it, they'll be stupid to try and do anything to you. Besides, they'd have to get past me first."
Neo's smile got brighter as she shyly tucked her hair behind her ear. She then said, "Speaking of which…when will people start noticing me? I'm feeling anxious about it. I want it to happen, but then I don't want it to happen. That means more people will be looking at me. So many strangers. So many new people. So much newness."
"They'll start noticing when we start making more of a ruckus in public. For now we're still focused on getting you trained. It won't be long now before we start moving forward and head for the New World," Law said. "Try not to worry about it. If something becomes far too much for you to handle, I'll immediately remove you from the situation. I won't let you get hurt in any kind of way."
"I know you won't." Neo nodded slightly. "The New World, huh? I've been wondering… do you think my godfather will try something once we enter into that world? I mean that is where his territory is and all, right?"
"I doubt he'll do much of anything. At the very least he'll just make his presence known to us rather than doing anything like trying to take you away." Law brushed his thumb over her hand when he felt her tremble in his. He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers, making her tense. "Don't worry about it. From what we do know about him and your bond with him, I don't believe he'll do anything to upset you. He seems rather loyal to your people and to you."
"I suppose so," Neo whispered. She tilted her head a bit, causing their noses to touch. Both blushed at the unexpected move.
"Capta-Oh. Oops," Archer's voice caused them to pull back from each other, but they kept their hands linked. The crewmate chuckled nervously at the interruption he caused. "Sorry about that, Captain, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"What is it?" Law asked with some annoyance in his tone.
"Just reporting and checking in," Archer said. His eyes dropped down to Neo's left hand. A smile twitched on his lips, but he managed to keep a straight face. He, plus just about all his crewmates, were a bit shocked that their captain got Neo such an intimate gift. But they all noticed how much Neo really loved the gift so they kept a tight lid on their desire to question and tease the two on their growing connection and relationship. They also knew their captain had his reasons for buying her a gift like that. And they all trusted their captain to not take advantage of Neo's naivety towards the gift. Law would no doubt explain it to her at some point in the future. "We all were wondering how much longer this was going to take."
"She's done now," Law replied. "We'll start the sniper session soon. What else was there?"
"We spotted another pirate ship in the area a little while ago," Archer reported. Neo flinched at the report. She stepped closer to Law and clenched a hold of his sleeve with her free hand. Archer smiled at her when she did this. "Don't worry, Neo. They turned east and headed away from us. They might have noticed the jolly roger on the side of the ship and decided it was best to stay away."
"I don't think so," Neo said. Law shot his eyes back down to her. She had a concentrated look on her face.
"What do you mean?" Archer asked.
"On the east side of the island, there's a disruption coming from the wildlife." Neo closed her eyes. She summoned her earth crystals again. Spreading them out over the island, they started to glow. "There's someone on the island. I think there's about thirty of them. They're heading for the rest of the crew." Her eyes shot open. She looked directly at Law. "Captain! They're going after the crew!"
"Neo, fly us there," Law ordered.
Neo quickly banished her earth crystals and summoned her wind crystals. She wrapped her winds around them and flew them back to the crew as fast as she could. Their abrupt landing startled the rest of the crew.
"What's going on?" Penguin asked, noting the urgency in the small group that just landed.
"We got company!" Archer shouted. "Get ready for a fight!"
"Huh?" the crew asked with confusion.
"Neo?" Law looked at her.
Neo nodded in understanding. She once again summoned her earth crystals. The crew whipped their heads around when startled cries came from the forest behind them. When they turned, they found Neo had her vines wrapped around thirty pirates. She pulled them out from behind trees and bushes. A hawk circling above cried out, but stayed in the air.
"What the heck?" Shachi asked. "Where did they come from?"
"They must be from the pirate ship we spotted earlier," Archer said. "Apparently they circled around to land on the island's hidden east side so we wouldn't see them land."
"An ambush then," Jean Bart stated. His eyes roamed over the vines wrapped around the intruding pirate crew. "Not smart on their part, considering."
"How is this possible?!" one of the intruding pirates, with dirty blonde hair, demanded. "We had the element of surprise on our side! And we were up wind of you all! You should not have been able to detect us!"
"Does not matter." The one who was obviously the captain of the group, chopped away at the vine holding him. He dropped to his feet just as his crew followed his example. The hawk screeched again then landed on the pirate captain's shoulder. It flapped its wings a few times before settling down. It tilted its head in curiosity at Neo.
"Captain?" Neo spoke in a hushed voice. She noted the bird taking her in, but choose not to bring attention to it. She figured her crew already noticed the bird checking her out anyway.
"It's all right." Law gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "They're nameless nobodies."
"Nameless nobodies?!" the other captain hissed. He pointed his sword out at Neo. "We are the Silver Hawk Pirates! And we'll be taking that pretty little thing right there! We were watching you all for a while. She can do the most interesting things with plants, can't she?"
Neo swallowed nervously and took another step closer to Law.
One of the other Silver Hawks Pirates spoke up. He said, "What kind of devil fruit is it that you possess? I've never heard of one that can manipulate plants before."
"It seems they don't know about Neo's other abilities despite her flying you three back to camp," Penguin whispered when he stepped closer to Neo and Law. "Should we attack?"
Law quickly ran his eyes over his crew. All of them were ready to protect their girl if necessary. His eyes then dropped down to Neo. She sensed him looking at her and turned her eyes up to his. He studied her carefully. She was a little nervous, but other wise fine. He smiled at her. He said, "Why don't you handle them?"
"Me?" Neo asked.
"Trust me. They really are nameless nobodies," Law said with confidence. "You can handle them easily."
"I said, 'We are the Silver Hawk Pirates'!" the captain of the Silver Hawk Pirates shrieked. "Didn't you even listen to me at all?! Do you not see this hawk on my shoulder?!"
Law squeezed her hand again when a flash of concern passed over her eyes. "You don't necessarily have to hurt them. Just do whatever you feel like in getting them off this island."
"Captain, are you sure?" Bepo asked.
"It's fine," Law said. "If these nobodies were serious about attacking us they already would have. They're nothing but talk. Go ahead, Neo, get rid of them. You don't have to hurt them. Just remove them from this island and give them the desire to never come near us again. You can do that easily."
"Okay." Neo nodded before turning her eyes back towards the Silver Hawk Pirates. She focused in on the hawk first. "Go on back to your ship now."
The Silver Hawk Pirates, thinking the command was for them, laughed. One of them said, "That's it? You're just going to tell us to go back to our ship, little girl? And you! You're seriously going to let a little girl handle thirty grown men?! What kind of pirate captain are you?"
The hawk chirped and tilted its head this way and that before obeying her command. Law smirked when none of the opposing pirates noticed that the bird obeyed Neo's command. Law then said, "Obviously a better captain than your own. You all are in way over your heads here and you don't even realize it. If you really want to make a name for yourselves then you need to fight against other pirates who are weaker than you not stronger than you."
"Why you, little brat!" another Silver Hawk Pirate shouted. They all pulled out their weapons. Some had swords, others had spears, and a couple was holding knifes.
"This just pathetic," Conner said cracking his knuckles.
"They seriously don't have a clue how out classed they are here even though they were spying on Neo?" Shachi asked. He shook his head then stretched out his neck. "This is just sad."
"Charge!" the Silver Hawk Pirate captain ordered. His crew cried out as they charged forward.
Neo once again wrapped her vines around the opposing pirate crew.
Their captain shouted out, "Don't think that trick will really work, do ya? We can easily cut through these vines, child."
The captain raised his sword to slice away at the vine holding him. His crew followed suit. But before they could make the first strike, Neo called upon more vines. She wrapped them around their weapons and easily pulled them from their hands. She then opened up a large hole right there on the beach. The Silver Hawk Pirates eyes bugged out of their heads when the hole appeared. Neo dropped their weapons inside of the hole then sealed it up tight.
The Heart Pirates laughed at the distraught and sudden realization looks their enemies were getting in their eyes. Not wanting to reveal her other crystals to them, Neo used only her earth crystals the entire time. Feeling out where their ship was, she called upon more earth crystals. She easily lifted their ship up by the use of vines and seaweed and pulled it to their side of the island.
"What?!" the Silver Hawk Pirates shouted out when their ship appeared being carried around the edge of the island by Neo's vines and seaweed.
"This is your only warning to stay away from us." Law released Neo's hand and walked over to the other pirate captain on the island. He leaned in and hissed to the intruder. "She may show you mercy, but I will never show you any when you target her. Never ever do it again." Satisfied with the fear he had caused in the man, Law then walked back over to Neo. Reclaiming her hand, he said, "Go ahead, Neo."
"Right," Neo said softly. She then flung the Silver Hawk Pirates onto their boat. Once they all were on board, she lifted the ship into the air about twenty feet off the surface of the sea. With the help of some seaweed, she spun the ship around and around until she knew the pirates were all dizzy. She smiled at that point, which Law noticed. She then summoned her wind and water crystals. Using her vines, she unfurled the sails. Then with her wind and water crystals she pushed their ship out to sea until it caught in a current that pulled them even farther away from the island.
Once the Silver Hawk Pirates ship was completely out of sight, the majority of the Heart Pirates collapsed to the ground with laughter. One said, "Did you see the looks on their faces?!"
"I think a couple of them wet their pants!" another added.
"That was incredible," Penguin said while putting his arm around Neo's shoulders. He kissed her cheek. "You did so well! They didn't know what hit them! They'll think twice before trying to come after you again!"
"Thanks," Neo said, uncertainty lacing her voice.
"Neo?" Law looked down at her. He watched her as she ran her eyes over the crew. Her lips were moving slightly. Law was easily able to read her lips. She was counting the crew. Once she reached fifteen she sighed with a light smile.
"I'm okay, Captain." Neo looked up at him then. She tightened her hold on his hand. "It felt a bit weird directly confronting people like that, but I think I'm going to be fine. Like you said, I didn't have to hurt them to protect you all."
"That's right." Law nodded. He carefully studied her eyes before speaking again. "We should proceed with our training lesson then. Are you all right with that?"
"Yes, I am." Neo nodded.
"Very well then," Law said to her. He then turned to his crew. "Give us ten minutes to get inside the forest. Then you all spread out and start working your way to the other side of the island."
"Aye aye, Captain!" the crew chirped. "Good luck, Neo!"
"Don't hit us too hard now," Shachi added with a wave of his hand.
"I won't." Neo giggled. She waved to them all as she and Law disappeared into the jungle to get set.
…
The crew waited just as they were ordered. After their ten minutes were up, the crew started to wander into the forest. They all gasped at what Neo had done. "Wow!"
"This is incredible!"
"Amazing!"
"It's like some kind of fairy tale wonderland or something."
"She just doesn't fail to impress, does she?" Jean Bart asked. "What exactly is she capable of anyway?"
"I'm not sure we'll ever find out," Shachi replied with a shrug. "It seems that her abilities are limitless, even though I know that's just not possible."
"I hope one day we can finally get answers to what all she can and can't do," Bepo said.
"Yeah." Shachi nodded. "Well, we better get going."
"Right!" the crew quietly shouted. They then split off in different directions to proceed with their training session.
Penguin lingered behind. He watched as his fellow crewmates disappeared into the wild jungle before them. Most remained on the ground, weaving through the brushes and trees Neo manipulated for them places to hide and traverse over. Some immediately took to the trees. They jumped up to the stair branches that she had created. Some of those crewmates walked up the branches to check out what Neo had done on a higher level while a couple of them started to swing away from the area by the use of the vines hanging down from the tree canopy.
This place was a bit breath taking, but for some reason, something else was bothering him. Something just didn't feel right to Penguin. He just didn't know why. Maybe the pirate crew that Neo just ran off bothered him more than he thought. He shrugged. He didn't know why that would bother him. She did just fine in handling herself with them. And she was still safe under the watchful eye of their captain. Law wasn't going to let her out of his sight anytime soon.
"All right!" Penguin lightly patted his cheeks with his hands. "Nothing's wrong. She's fine and safe. Time to get moving. I've training to do."
Feeling a little better, Penguin raced off into the dense jungle. He ran on the ground for a while before jumping up into the trees. He just had to explore this wild place while he had the chance.
…
Law, leaning against the tree he was standing in with his arms crossed, watched Neo closely as she carefully flew herself from branch to branch. She had located another crewmate, without the use of her other crystals, and easily tagged him with her water crystals. Law's eyebrows rose high on his forehead. He was starting to notice that she was highly enjoying tracking the crew like this. He recalled how she also enjoyed toying with that other crew back on the beach a few hours ago.
When his mind pulled back into the moment, he realized she was gone. Forgetting he could easily sense her, he looked around in a panic. "Ne-"
"Gotcha!" Neo cried as she flew into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She looked up at him with a big amount of amusement in her eyes and a smile on her lips.
"What do you think you're doing?" Law asked, forcing himself to relax. He wrapped his arms around her, careful not to hit her with his sword. "You scared me when you disappeared."
"I'm sorry, Captain." Neo giggled. She pulled back from him a bit. "I couldn't stop myself. You just looked so distracted for some reason."
"I suppose I was. Well, despite that, you're being very playful today," Law said with a light chuckle on his lips. He stroked her hair. "It seems you might be starting to develop your own battle style."
"I am?" Neo blinked. "That's a good thing, right?"
"It's a very good thing. It'll help you remain calm in battle. Just like a few hours ago when those pirates tried to ambush the crew. Do you remember how you felt when confronting them?" Law asked.
"Um." Neo pooched out her lips in thought. Law's heart skittered in chest at how cute she looked. "Well, I felt nervous at first then I became strangely calm. I know I was with you and the crew so I wasn't really scared at all."
"True." Law nodded. "But you were also at ease confronting them because you knew you didn't have to hurt them to get rid of them."
"I think I understand. I don't have to hurt anyone if I don't want to. Being playful with them will end in the same results as being aggressive towards them. Is that correct?" Neo asked.
"That's correct." Law nodded again.
"Thanks, Captain," Neo said. Law sighed and shook his head. "What is it?"
"That's twice now you've called me 'Captain'," Law pointed out. He tilted her chin up with his finger and gave her a teasing smirk. "You're supposed to call me by my name when we're alone."
"I'm sorry…Law," Neo apologized. She tried to bite back her smiled but couldn't. "It's just so new to call you by your name. I forget."
"It's all right." Law chuckled again. He took off his hat and placed it on her head. "You'll get use to it soon. It just takes time."
A light pink dusted across her cheeks. She fingered his hat before putting her arm back around him and laid her head on his chest with a content sigh.
Law released a sigh of his own before tightening his hold on her. He buried his nose close to her hair, becoming light headed from her scent. "Mmm…you're supposed to be sniping the crew."
"I all ready did. They're probably heading back to the camp by now," Neo replied.
"Not all of them." Both Neo and Law jumped and pulled away from each other when Shachi's voice appeared out of nowhere. They turned to find Shachi, accompanied by Penguin and Bepo, standing on a nearby branch. All held teasing, but approving, grins on their lips.
Law cleared his throat before speaking. He said, "You all were supposed run through the maze Neo set up then head back to camp after getting tagged by her. How did you all even know where we were?"
"I figured it out after her last attack on our crewmate. I just followed the shot back to this tree." Penguin shrugged casually. "And we were going through the maze while heading back to camp. We just noticed that we all were tagged and decided to come up here so we could walk back to camp with you both."
"I'm impressed that it only took about six hours for you to tag us all," Bepo said. He looked down and around their forest. "I thought it would take a lot longer since you made this place so dense and you weren't using your crystals to find us."
"Well, I thought it was going to take a lot longer, too. But there are only fifteen of you for now. And none of you set up defenses for my aerial attacks. You all were too busy looking for us on the ground and behind trees and stuff that none of you bothered to even look up, despite knowing I can fly with my wind crystals," Neo explained. They all started at her. They were in slight shock at how precise she was being with her deduction of her success.
"Did you tell her about this?" All three turned their eyes to Law at the same times and asked the same question.
"Nope." Law grinned with satisfaction at how Neo had done all this on her own. "She figured that out by herself."
"But I don't really get why." Neo turned to Law. "Why didn't any of them look up for possible attacks?"
"That's because we don't have natural enemies lurking in the air," Law replied.
"I don't really understand." Neo tilted her head.
"Well, think about hunters," Law explained farther. "The majority of them set up stands in trees or climb to high places so they can get their target in their sights while staying clear of their prey's sights. A deer, for example, has no natural enemies that hang around in trees so they don't have a need to look up to see if a hunter, a wolf or other predator is waiting for them there. It's the exact same with people. If someone is going in for an aerial attack it's because they are using a devil fruit power or other source of flying means. People, physically, don't have the means to attack someone from the air without the aid of a weapon."
"Oh, I get it." Neo nodded.
"It looks like we're going to need to add that to our training sessions," Shachi said with a humorous laugh. "It'll be good practice for us in case we have to deal with someone who specializes in aerial attacks."
"For now let's just head back to camp," Bepo whined. His stomach rumbled loud enough for them all to hear. "I'm starving. We've been at this for hours."
"I'm sorry, Bepo." Neo's eyebrows turned up. "If I could have grown fish from trees and plants, I would have set you out some."
"Ah, don't worry about it," Bepo cooed. He jumped over to the branch that Law and Neo were standing on. He put his arms around her shoulders and rubbed his furry face against her cheek, earning a charming bell filled laugh from her. "I only just got hungry recently. Some of the others said they were going to start up supper as soon as they got back to the camp. They're making fish. It just smells so good. My tummy is rumbling."
"You have such a strong sense of smell." Neo giggled. "You're fur is really tickling me."
"I know!" Bepo smiled brightly as he rubbed against her even more.
Neo's giggled shifted into laughter at the attention.
"Let's get going then," Law said with an obvious jealous huff.
"Looks like the captain is getting jealous that someone else is getting Neo's attention," Shachi said with a snicker.
"Easy, Shachi," Penguin said in a warning, but obviously amused, tone.
"Jealous?" Neo blinked. "What's-Uh?!" She cut her own voice off when she felt something odd. She tossed a look over her shoulder.
Law narrowed his eyebrows. He asked, "What is it, Neo?"
The others went into defense mode when Neo didn't answer right away. After a few intense seconds, Neo relaxed.
Law stepped closer to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Neo?"
"I'm sorry." Her body tensed then relaxed under his touch. She looked up at him. "I guess it was nothing. Something just didn't feel right suddenly. It was like a storm wanted to pop up but quickly vanished before it could."
"Are you sure?" Law asked.
"Yes, Captain, I'm sure." Neo collapsed her hands behind her back and turned her body to him more.
Law carefully studied her eyes and her body posture. Whatever she had sensed, it was gone now. "All right. Let's get back to camp then," he ordered.
"Aye aye, Captain!" the crew shouted simultaneously. They all then started to descend the trees they were in by jumping down from branch to branch. Not wearing shoes, Neo flew herself down to the ground as she followed them. Before her feet could touch the forest floor, she sensed a creature in distress. She pivoted her body and flew in the creature's direction without a word to the crew or Law.
Law's heart jumped into his throat when he turned to find she was no longer by his side. Before his voice could surface, he easily located her spirit still nearby. He rushed towards her. He rounded a tree and a couple bushes before finding her squatting down. "Neo, why did you take off like that? You know you're not supposed to go off on your own."
She shot to her feet. Turning to him, she collapsed her hands behind her back. She gave him a guilty, yet innocent, pout. "I'm sorry, Law. I thought you were right behind me. I didn't mean to startle you like that."
"No, don't worry about it. I wasn't really paying attention either." Law walked over to see what had caught her attention. "What did you run off for anyway?"
"Oh, um." Neo turned back around to what she was looking at before. When Law got to her side, he noticed a small gray rabbit. Its right hind leg was caught under a fallen log.
"A rabbit?" Law questioned.
"The log was resting on this rock here." Neo pointed to the rock she was talking about. "It fell over when the bunny hopped by."
"And you sensed the creature's distress. That's why you took off," Law summed up as he watched Neo kneel back down.
"Yeah," she answered him before nodding. She then turned her attention back to the rabbit. Law watched her, very closely, as she eased her hand out to the frightened animal. "Easy now, little one. I'm not going to hurt you. It's all right now."
Neo brought her hand right to the rabbit's nose. She allowed the creature to take in her scent before stroking its head gently. She then carefully removed the log off the rabbit's leg and picked her up. Neo then turned to Law. "Is her leg broken? Easy now, little bunny. This is my captain. He's a doctor. He won't hurt you either."
Law mentally chuckled to himself. This was his second nonhuman patient she had brought to him. Instantly, he knew he wouldn't be able to deny her request to look at the rabbit. So he didn't even bother to try and deny her. He reached out his sword free hand and inspected the creature's leg. "No, nothing's broken. She'll be fine."
"Thanks, Law." Neo smiled sweetly at him, making him blush. Before she noticed the reaction she caused, she turned her eyes back down to the rabbit in her arms. She scratched behind the rabbit's ear while talking to her. "You'll be all right now. You just had the best doctor in the world look over you. Take care of yourself."
Law shifted awkwardly at her praise as he felt his cheeks grow even warmer.
Neo carefully lowered the rabbit back down to the ground. Once her four paws hit the forest floor, the rabbit took a few hops away from Neo. She paused to look back at Neo before disappearing into the underbrush. Neo giggled while standing back up straight. She started to turn back to Law. As she moved a bad, familiar feeling of darkness settled over her.
Law flinched at the scared look taking hold in her blue eyes. He rushed closer to her. Cupping her cheek, he asked, "Neo, what is it? What's wrong?"
"I-it's the darkness from my dream again," Neo whispered, almost too low for Law to hear.
"You mean the dream about the wave?" Law asked.
Neo started to nodded but suddenly stopped. She summoned her wind crystals. Pulling both her and Law off the ground, she rushed them back to their missing three companions. "Their after the crew!"
"Who's after the crew?" Law asked.
"I don't know! There's just someone here! Their presence is so dark! It's just like that wave was!" Neo said. Before they could share any more words, they caught up with Shachi, Bepo, and Penguin.
"There you two are," Penguin said. The three were walking back towards them. Both Neo and Law's eyes widened when, behind the three crewmates, vines started to grow up without Neo manipulating them. "We were starting to get wo-"
"No!" Neo cried out. She wrapped her winds around the three and pulled them away just before the vines came crashing down where they were standing.
"What the heck was that?!" Shachi asked once they recovered from being jerked forward by Neo. They all turned to see the vines had left a very big dent in the forest floor. The vines were also pulling back for another attack.
Neo summoned her earth and her wind crystals. She tried to take control of the plants with her earth crystals while simultaneously trying to push the attack away from her and her family. "Stop it! Stop attacking! Captain! It's not working! What do I do?!"
"Room!" Law called out. He swiped his sword over the vines multiple times, effectively shredding them. But more quickly took their place. He should have known that wouldn't have worked. He cried out, "Shambles!"
The small group of pirates was quickly warped away before the attacking vines became too much for Neo to hold back. The vines slammed on the ground. It sent multiple leaves and flower petals flying upward before raining down on the area. Cracks rippled through the forest floor and up the trunks of several trees.
…
"Crap!" Penguin cursed when they reappeared after being warped. "It's them, isn't it?!"
"The elementals that the Dark King warned us about?!" Bepo screeched.
"What do we do, Captain?!" Shachi asked.
Law mentally let off a string of curses, all the ones he knew and some new ones he made up on the spot. He looked down at Neo when she leaned into his chest. She was trembling. She was scared. Her electric blue eyes were looking up at him. Pleading for him to tell her what she should do. But…he didn't know. He still didn't know how to stop creatures that could control nature. He still had no clue what that powder was that disoriented Neo before. He had no plan. He was starting to panic.
"No!" Neo cried out when a vine wrapped around her waist and tried to pull her away from Law.
"Neo!" Law shouted. He grabbed her wrist just before she could be completely ripped away from him.
"Hold on!" Penguin added as he and the other two grabbed onto their captain. All four of them tried to pull against the vine. They didn't do much good. The vine easily pulled them several feet forward. They dug their feet into the ground, but it didn't do anything to help stabilize them.
"No! Let go of me!" Neo cried. She summoned her fire crystals. She burned the vine around her. The second she was free Law jerked her back into his arms. "Captain!"
"Room! Shambles!" Law formed another Room and warped them again. When they reappeared, he quickly scanned their area. He had no idea how many there were. He had no clue where they were. Neo obviously couldn't sense them for some reason. They had to get out of the forest. There were far too many hiding places for the enemy to hide in. "We have to get back to the beach. Neo, which way is it?"
"That way," Neo said, pointing out the correct direction.
The group nodded. Law took Neo's hand and headed in the direction she pointed. Penguin, Shachi and Bepo followed behind. The three formed a circle around Neo and Law, but none of them were sure if it was going to do any good. It didn't.
Several thorns, about six inches long, flew at them. The group dodged them easily enough. Law sliced a few while Neo adverted some with her wind crystals and, using her earth crystals, she raised some vines and pulled some branches and rocks in the way to block some from hitting her family.
Bepo's eyes bugged out when two thorns hit a branch near him. A strange green liquid spilled out from the thorn. It sizzled as the bark from the branch disintegrated. "Eek! We are so in over our heads! Captain, they have poison!"
"There are more thorns coming this way!" Shachi shouted out as thorns came flying in from his right.
"More vines and thorns are coming from this way as well!" Penguin added. He grabbed a broke limb and started to bat away the thorns.
Neo used her crystals to blow away and block them too, but more just kept coming.
Loud creaking made all of them look up. Four trees were falling towards them from different directions. Bepo shouted out, his arms and legs flailing wildly. "Ah! We're gonna get squashed!"
"Room! Shambles!" Law warped them a couple more times. When they reappeared after the sixth warp, he moved to warp them again. But a sudden down pour of rain drenched them just as vines wrapped around all of them. With their skin now wet, Neo was easily pulled from Law's hold. "Neo!"
"Captain!" Neo fruitlessly reached out for him. But they were just separated more by the vines pulling them and by flora rising up out of the ground. The flora boxed them in. She summoned her earth crystals again and tried to take control of the plants in the area. They didn't listen to her. "What's wrong?! Why can't I take control of this?! Let go! Let us go!"
Neo banished her earth crystals and summoned her fire crystals. Forcing her erratically pounding heart to slow down, she closed her eyes and located where her crew was. When she locked onto each one of them, she flared up her fire crystals. Starting with the vine around her, she moved the fire down it then out into the area surrounding her. She then forced the fire to spread out in the forest and headed for Law and the others. Breathing slowly, and deeply, she kept her attention on the crew so she wouldn't burn them while moving the fire in their direction.
She carefully looked up when rain started coming down. She could sense something dark hovering in the sky above her. There were about five of them. Carefully, she flared up her fire even more. She shot it up to the sky towards the five dark presences. Suddenly, the five scattered and the rain stopped. Before they could move in on her again, she moved even quicker with her fire.
…
"No!" Law growled as he sliced the flora that surrounded him into tiny little pieces. More rose up, but he just sliced them too. He ran in the direction he sensed Neo in. His heart pound so hard in his chest that he was surprised it hadn't cut off his circulation. He could easily feel that she was scared, even more so now that they were separated.
He tried sending her comforting thoughts as he sliced and ran through this thick brush that dared stood between them. He held out his hand and formed a Room. "Room! Shambles!"
Law warped away from his current location only to warp him into another area that was just the same as the last one. He did feel Neo was closer now, however. He held up his hand again to form another Room, but stopped when he felt and saw fire. All of the flora around him began to sizzle and crackle as the fire burn through their plant flesh.
…
Penguin, his own heart pound hard against his chest, stood in the middle of his plant room. He carefully looked around and looked up. The vines of this room were too far apart for him to ricochet off the walls in an attempted to get out of this thing through the opening above. He wasn't sure if he could make it up to the top of this room anyway even if he could bounce off the walls. The top of this place looked to be over a hundred feet tall. Still, he had to try. He had to get back to her. "Neo…just hold on. We're coming for you."
Scanning his options, Penguin bent his knees slightly then took off running towards one of the vine walls. When he got close enough, he jumped at it and pushed off towards a branch that hung low. He grabbed the branch and swung himself to another one. Just as his hand grabbed onto the second branch, a vine wrapped around it. Penguin's stomach turned when he heard a familiar snapping that wood makes when you snap it in half. His body plummeted back to the ground. He flipped a couple times before easily landing on his feet. He looked around to try and find another solution to his problem. Before he could locate one he heard the sounds of a fire crackling near by. Soon his plant room was snapping and crackling from the fire that engulfed it. "Neo…"
…
Bepo growled, literally, as he swiped his claws at the vine wall before him. They were getting him nowhere. His natural weapon of his teeth and claws were no match for the thickness of the vines that surrounded him. He jumped back from the wall before charging at it again. He jumped up and planted his feet on the vines. The vines just flicked him back like he was an insignificant little insect.
He landed on his feet with ease, but dropped to the ground in defeat. He didn't know exactly what he was doing. He knew this wouldn't work. He had no way of getting out of this. He sighed. Looking up at the sky, he said, "The captain is going to be so furious. I just hope he doesn't lose his cool while trying to get back to her. And I pity the poor soul who's separated her from him. If he get's his hands on them…Neo, I so hope you are okay for both yours and the captain's sake."
Bepo then sniffed the air. He smelled the smoke rolling through the air before he heard the crackling of the fire.
…
Shachi stood, as calmly as he could, in the middle of his vine room. He carefully looked around. He couldn't help but notice that these vines weren't attacking him. He also noticed that the vines were only aggressive when they were with Neo. He hummed. "That makes sense. It's Neo's people that are after her. There's no real reason to attack us unless we are directly protecting her. Directly interfering with them trying to get to her. We are of no consequence to them being separated like this. They are the embodiment of nature in a human like form. If they wanted to kill us, they already would have done it. It's obvious we are far too weak to fight against them. Neo's their real reason for attacking. She's the one they want.
"And where's the rest of the crew? I know they headed back to our camp, but we're not that far from it. They should easily hear all of this ruckus and know something's wrong. They must have been taken out so they wouldn't interfere. Oh man, I hope they're only knocked out and not…" Shachi started to walk around the room. He was trying to see if he could possible find a way out of this situation. He stopped walking when he heard the sounds of a fire and smelled the smoke from it. He soon felt the heat of the blaze on his face. With how the flames were moving, he could easily tell Neo was the one in control of the fire.
…
Neo slowly opened her eyes when she felt she had finally spread her fire to her crew. She divided the walls of her fire. She could feel Law coming closer to her. A wave of relief washed over her heart. If he knew this was her fire and she was in control of it, then the other three did as well. They would come in her direction through her firewalls. She could lead them to her that way with no problems.
"Law!" Neo cried out happily when Law finally did appear seconds after she divided the firewalls.
"Neo!" Law rushed over to her just as the other three appeared. Neo glanced at them before Law pulled her into his arms. "Are you all right?"
"Yes." Neo clenched the back of his shirt. She reluctantly pulled back from him. "But I don't know how long I can keep the flora at bay. They're a lot stronger than me."
"I know." Law nodded and cupped her cheek. He scanned his eyes over her. No cuts, no scratches, and no bruises. She was still wearing his hat, his ring, and her clothes were in tacked. She was just fine. He felt so relieved she wasn't hurt.
"Captain, we need to get back to the rest of the crew. They might be in trouble," Shachi said once he, Penguin and Bepo had reached Neo and Law.
Penguin stepped right up to Neo. His hidden eyes running over her body, making sure she wasn't injured.
"Let's go," Law said. He held up his hand. Quickly forming a Room as big as he could, he warped them out of the area. A couple more warps and the small group were finally back on the beach.
"Captain!" Neo gasped. Her eyes were locked onto their campsite. The rest of their crew was laying scattered about the camp. They weren't moving at all.
"Crap. I was right," Shachi cursed. "They went after the rest of the crew to keep them from helping us."
"Room! Shambles!" Law quickly warped them over to the rest of their crew. He immediately knelt down to inspect one of his subordinates.
"Captain, are they…" Neo started, but couldn't finish her sentence. She held her breath and bit her bottom lip.
"They're alive," Law reported.
Neo released her held breath in a relieved sigh. But her relief didn't last long. She felt the dark presences coming down on them again. Before she could do or say anything, a large wave rose up out of the sea. It crashed down on the beach, trapping Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo in its watery grasp. They tried to swim out of the water, but it was nothing but a large current constantly whipping them around and around inside of its watery belly.
"No!" Neo shouted. She summoned her water crystals and tried to make the water recede back into the sea. It didn't work. She summoned her wind crystals to try and blow the water away. It didn't work. She summoned her earth crystals to try and use the sand and dirt to dry up the water. It didn't work. She summoned her fire crystals to try and dry up the water with a large blaze. It didn't work. Nothing worked. More dark water just filled what little water she did manage to get rid of.
"Room! Shamb-" Law held out his hand to warp his crew out of the water. But before he could preform the act, a vine snapped out and knocked his feet out from under him. His back collided with the ground. When he went to pick himself up, he found he couldn't. His entire body was drained of his powers. He looked down to find his body was engulfed up to his chest in water, in seawater. They knew his weakness. He growled. He should have known they would know about that.
Neo's arms dropped lifelessly to her sides as her crystals faded away. Penguin, Shachi and Bepo could no longer hold their breath. She knew that. They were out of air as their bodies floated lifelessly in the water. The water pulled back from them, dropping their wet bodies onto the beach. Tears began to fall effortlessly down her cheeks. Her eyes drifted over to the weakened Law. She pleaded to him for help. To tell her what she should do. "No…what do I do? Captain…what do I do? I can't control it…I can't…"
Law just stared at her, helplessly. He could see in her eyes how scared she was. He could feel how scared she was as her eyes roamed over his weakened state. She knew of his weakness, but never really saw him like this before. He was always a strong, solid presence to her. Now, he just felt so helpless. He wanted to go to her. He wanted to hold her in his arms. But he knew he couldn't. He couldn't help his crew. He couldn't help her. His mind was racing over all the possibilities of how he could possibly get her out of this situation. He came up with no solution, but for one. One very painful solution. And he hated it to the idea's very core. She had to run. He had to order her to leave the crew. And to leave him.
He felt his heart stop. It literally stopped beating for an entire minute. The very thought of her leaving hurt him so much. But he had to do it. He had to protect her. They were after her, not him or his crew. Tears stun the back of his eyes as he forced his voice to speak the word he really didn't want to say. "Run…"
"W-at?" Neo's voice cracked.
His heart stung at the increase of fear he caused in her. Law's stomach lurched. He so badly wanted to take that word back. To pluck it back out of the air, rip it to shreds and sent it to be scattered on the winds, but he couldn't. He knew he couldn't. He struggled to force himself to speak again. "You have to…Neo, run. You have to get out of here."
"No! I won't go! I won't leave you!" Neo shouted. More tears poured down her cheeks, making Law hurt even more for having to do this to her. "I won't do it! I won't!"
Law choked back his desire to get physically ill. He took a deep breath. With every last bit of strength he had inside of him, he choked out the most painful order he could possible give her. "Neo…"
"Don't! Don't say it!" Neo pleaded. She shook her head. She knew what he was going to do, what he was going to say. And she knew she couldn't disobey an order from him. "Law! Please! Don't!"
"Neo! I order you to run!" Both flinched at his words. Both bit their bottom lips at his words. It had been spoken. It couldn't be taken back. Her orders were clear. He tightly shut his eyes. He couldn't look at her. He didn't want to see how much he had just hurt her. He knew how much this was hurting her. He could feel her pain so clearly now. And she knew how much this was hurting him. She could feel his pain so clearly now, too. They could feel each others pain through their bond.
Neo summoned her wind crystals. Covering her mouth with her hand to stop herself involuntary gagging, she wrapped her winds around her body and lifted herself into the air. She lifted herself away from her family. She lifted herself away from him.
She got about fifty yards off of the beach when a familiar dizzy feeling entered into her senses. Everything began to become blurry. Through her blurry vision, she saw someone swiftly moving towards her. Before she could process anything that was going on and how to avoid it, something hard slammed into her chest. It knocked her back down to the beach.
Law felt a gasp of air getting knocked out of him when the creature slammed its elbow into Neo's chest. He gasped again when her body collided with the ground. Rage built up inside of his body. He forced himself out of his watery cell and stumbled towards her. He only got a few feet before a sharp pain stabbed through his head. His own vision began to blur before everything slowly started to fade away. His body crashed to the ground. Through his fading vision, he could see their shoes. Some were gathering around her, while some were gathering around him. If he could have found his voice, he would have let out another string of curses at them. But his voice was gone. He was too hurt to speak. He was too angry to speak. All he could do was helplessly watch as one of them picked Neo up as his vision slowly faded away into darkness.
