Disobey

Part Two

Neo sat hugging her knees, warm tears dripped from the corner of her eyes. Her breath came in wheezing gasped when a cold grip grasp a hold of her chest. The wind whipped against the window, rattling the shutters. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she could start hyperventilating or lose control of her crystals. The wind died down. 'Law, I'm so sorry. I have to do this.'

She rubbed the tears out of her eyes before sliding to the edge of the bed. She placed her bare feet on the soft carpet, thankful she had taken her sandals off back in the flower field. If she had to sneak around using her feet instead of her wings or crystals, she would be able to do it more effectively this way. Pushing off the bed, she made her way over to the door. She paused when she felt Law opened back up to her. She felt that he had heard her before and decided to let her do what she felt she needed to without actually saying it to her. Though she still felt he was very upset with her decision. And, despite not saying anything, she knew he opened himself back up to her as a silent signal that he was still there if she needed him. The coldness in her heart vanished, but a large amount of pain still clouded her chest and mind. She did her best to ignore that for now and focused her mind on finding Bepo and the other animals.

Neo paused at the door, which the guy had left open despite not wanting anyone to know she was there. She listened for any and all noises. She heard voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. With her heart pounding, she poked her head out of the room. She glanced down the long hallways. Noting that the decorations were simple just like the bedroom. There were some pictures hanging on the wall and a long rectangular shaped table was on each side of the hallway completely void of anything sitting on them. There were six other rooms on this floor. She noticed that all of the doors were shut. She had no clue if anyone was inside of them or not. She turned her eyes to her left where she saw the top of the stairs and where the voices were coming from.

With a deep breath, she stepped out into the hall. She walked to the opposite side of the hall and pressed her back to the wall. She walked along it until her eyes caught a glimpse of one of the pictures hanging on the wall. It was of a white tiger. The tiger had a large collar around its neck and was tethered to a thick wooden pole. She kneaded her eyebrows when she noticed the tiger was sad. It didn't make sense for someone to have a picture of a sad tiger on their wall. But that's not what she was here for. She forced herself to pull her eyes away from the picture and move farther down the hall. Once to the corner of the wall, she carefully glanced around it. Looking down at the lower level, she saw five navy soldiers talking to Johan in the foyer. She glanced closer at the marine that was at the head of the group. She noted he was ranked as a commodore. Relief washed over her at the ranking. At least there wasn't a vice admiral or higher ranking here. Surely if there was, they would be inside the house instead of the commodore. These soldiers shouldn't be able to sense her there. She still knew she needed to be careful. She also knew she needed to let Law know this. 'There's only a commodore and four other lower ranking soldiers inside.'

Topaz took cautious glance at the seething man beside her. His hat was casting dark shadows over his eyes. His body with stiff as his entire right hand was white from gritting his sword so hard. A deep frown was settled on his lips. His entire body posture and energy was just daring someone to tick him off. She shivered. He was a storm waiting to erupt its fury on some unsuspecting victim.

She carefully shifted away from the captain then sensed someone coming up from behind them. She glanced over her shoulder she saw Jean Bart running through the flowers. She waved at him then singled him to get low. The large man immediately dropped down to the ground and inched his way over to them. He was about to ask what was up, but looked over to the cliff and saw the navy ship. He asked, "The navy? Where's Neo? Did they capture her?"

Law's body twitched.

Topaz looked at him before returning her eyes to Jean Bart. She swallowed and answered the questions carefully. "No. We're not sure why the navy's here. And Neo's still inside that house."

"Is she hurt?" Jean Bart asked. "She's usually with the captain by now."

"Yeah." Topaz rubbed the back of her neck. She wasn't sure if she should verbally answer that or not. So she didn't. She remained silent and hoped that Jean Bart would be able to piece it together himself. She locked eyes with him for a few seconds before looking away.

Jean Bart blinked multiple times in confusion. He ricocheted his eyes between the elemental and his captain. He studied the scene and the thick, dark atmosphere around his captain carefully before realization slowly donned on him. "You mean she actually…?"

Topaz nodded.

Jean Bart looking once more at his captain then settled in to wait and see what they would do or what would happen.

Neo stayed in her position until she saw Johan wave his hand towards another room. The commodore nodded then headed into the room that Johan gestured to. Once they all were inside the room, she summoned a wind crystal. Keeping tight control over her winds, she lowered herself down to the main floor. She ducked behind a large vase to make sure no one noticed her. She glanced around the room, wondering where she should go and where Bepo might be. From her location she could barely see into two other rooms, but had no clue what was in them. They didn't look like they had anything in them from what she could see.

Pushing away her thoughts, she tapped into her feelings, her instincts. She focused on the sad feeling, trying not to let it hammer her body and mind. Tears pooled in her eyes. It was almost over whelming to her on the lower level of the house. That had to mean she got closer to the animals. After a moment she was able to sense the sadness was coming from below her. She looked around the room again. She chose the closest door to her right. The sadness seemed to be leaking from that way so she headed there after taking another glance at the room the soldiers were in.

She rushed into the room, which turned out to be another hallway. She pressed her back against the wall. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears as she waited for any sounds indicating she had been spotted or heard. When she didn't hear anyone coming in her direction, she looked down the hall and located another room. She made her way to it. She peaked inside carefully to find it was a kitchen. There was a ton of doctor like tools lying around all over the table, counters and in the sink. Her body shivered at the sight of them. Her mind almost slipped back to waking up on Law's sub and being poisoned on Luminous. A cold grasp, panic and old memories started to filter into her mind. With a couple deep breaths, she shook her head and forced the thoughts away. She noticed a door on the far side of the kitchen. The sadness in her chest grew the longer she stared at it. That's where she needed to go.

She rushed over to the door. Without hesitation, she jerked it open and dove inside, careful to not slam the door behind her. The sadness slammed into her chest at the same time a bunch of chemical smells and blood hit her nose. It all was so strong that her knees buckled under her. She struggled to keep her balance while realizing she had found what she was looking for. She was about to find the answers to her questions. And she got the very strong feeling she wasn't going to like what she found.

With her hands shaking, her heart pounding, her stomach spinning, she tried to force herself to take the first step down the steep staircase before her. She couldn't. She pressed her back against the door. Her body turning cold. She wanted out of this place. Her lungs hitched.

'Just breath.'

Instantly, Neo drew in a breath. Some of the intensity she felt lifted away with just two words from him. 'Thanks, Law.'

Once again steady, she summoned her wind crystals and flew herself down to the bottom of the stairwell. She took in a sharp gasp once at the bottom of the stairs.

'What is it, Neo?'

'I don't know. Some of it looks like a bunch of the doctor equipment you have back on the sub. The rest of it…I'm not sure. There's a bunch of needles, scalpels, some green and some purple color liquid in beakers. There's a table, an operating table, I think. There are a lot of machines lining up against the walls with wires coming out of them. One of them is right beside the table.' Neo told him while she walked around the strange lab. She paused to look at some papers that were lying on a cluttered table before moving over to some filing cabinets. 'There's also a ton of paper work lying around on two desks. I don't understand what it all says, but I've seen some of the words in your medical books and it talks about animals. There's also a ton of filing cabinets and boxes full of more research. Law, what is this place?'

'Sounds like you found some kind of animal research facility. Is Bepo down there?'

Neo pulled her eyes from the papers. She looked up to see another door. Several types of animals were behind it. 'I think so. There's another door down here.'

She rushed over to the door only to find it was locked and no keys in sight. "Just great. Guess I'm just going to have to melt it."

Summoning a couple fire crystals, she turned the flame hot blue and melted the lock within seconds filling the room with the smell of hot metal. Not wanted to wait for it to cool down, she used a wind crystal and pushed the door open then flew inside the room. Her body jerked to a halt when she saw the animals. The room was line up with cages fill with all kinds of animals, wolves, foxes, rabbits, moles, some birds. Animals that were very sad and scared. Her mind started to darken with all the sadness that came from them that she almost didn't notice a familiar voice calling out to her.

"Neo?"

"Huh?" Neo blinked, her mind coming back into focus.

"Neo!" Bepo cried.

She looked up to see the bear staring back at her in a cage that barely gave him enough room to sit up.

"I was so worried about you! I was afraid he had hurt you," Bepo said, tears streaming down his furry cheeks.

"Bepo! Law, I found him!" Neo cried as she ran over to the bear. She wanted to hug him, but the cage prevented it. Summoning her fire crystal again, she had him free within seconds. The bars fell, clanking to the floor. When he exited the small prison, she jumped into his hold while burring her face in his thick stomach. "You're okay!"

"I am now. I thought I was never going to get out of there," Bepo said while looking back over his shoulder at his former prison. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say those bars were made of sea prism stone."

"Sea prism?" Neo pulled from him and looked at the bars. She made sure to keep her connection open to Law so he could hear what she was saying. "I didn't even consider that. But, no, they're not sea prism stone. I don't feel the sea at all in them."

"That's good. I don't want you to have to play weak if we get caught here," Bepo said. "How did you escape from that guy anyway? He knocked us both out."

"He thinks he rescued me from you," Neo replied looking around. "Do you know what is this place exactly? Law thinks it might be for animal research."

"He's right. It is some kind of animal research facility," Bepo replied. "That guy that took us is preforming some kind of experiments on animals with white fur and feathers. I tried to get more information from him, but he was just so excited about my fur being white. I'm not even sure he noticed I could talk. I think there's something wrong with him."

"Huh?" Neo looked around at the animals she could see. She stepped away from Bepo to look at more of them. She knelt down to a cage that held four white foxes. They huddled in the corner away from her, trembling with fear. Only then did she notice the color of their fur. "You're right. All these animals have white fur or feathers. Hey, easy now. I'm not going to hurt you." She slipped her hand through the bars and smiled. "It's okay. Come here."

One of the foxes slowly broke away from the others. It walked up to her, sniffed her outreached fingers before nudging her hand with its head.

"Can you tell me what's going on here? Why are all of you so sad?" Neo listened to the fox while Bepo looked around nervously.

"Uh, Neo, I don't mean to hurry you, but we really should get out of here. Did he tell you anything?"

"They're being experiment on like you and Law suggested. That guy, Johan, was hired by the navy to try and change the color of the animals fur with different patterns and such, change their eyes, their sizes, trying to crossbreed them and change them somehow for something. The fox isn't sure. He says some animals become two different ones, but they shortly die afterwards," Neo replied. "Law, what's going on here?"

'It sounds like he's trying to crossbreed them or combine their DNA or body parts by grafting them surgically.'

"The fox said that Johan breeds them nonstop. So many animals have died here during these experiments. He says that some dragon wants them as pets and wants their fur, but as different colors in patterns. But dragons don't exist." Neo looked up at Bepo. "Right?"

'It could be the Celestial Dragons. That would make this make more sense. The navy has no use for animals in this way. But if the Celestial Dragons hired the scientist to do this then that would explain why the navy's here in the first place. Neo, grab Bepo and the animals and get out of there before it's too late.'

"Right." Pulling her hand from the cage, Neo flew herself upon one of the cages so she could see them better. She summoned her fire crystals. "Everyone, listen to me, we're going to help you escape from here. I can use my fire to set you all free. Just relax and stay calm. I'm not going to hurt you."

Once she felt they understood her, Neo used her fire crystals to melt all of the locks on the cages she could see. While Bepo made sure the animals didn't go anywhere, Neo continued to free the remaining ones. She then joined Bepo's side. They started to head for the door, but stopped when a clanking sound came from the back of the room. Bepo raised his paws up as Neo readied her crystals.

A disembodied female voice hissed, "Shh! Be quiet! Are you trying to get us discovered?"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to drop it," a male voice said.

The two pirates stood ready as a very well hidden door opened up in the corner of the back of the room. Once the two were visible, Neo snapped out her vines and grabbed them.

"Hey! W-wait a second! We didn't mean any harm!" The man kicked his legs.

"Really, Max?" the woman, with short black hair and bright blue eyes, asked. "Really? We're sneaking into the basement with tools to break the animals free. You think these people are going to believe we're up to no harm? I told you to be more careful before coming in here."

"I was being careful!" Max, the shaggy blonde haired guy beside her shouted. His light green eyes glared at the woman with him before looking at the two pirates. Both were wearing a dark gray colored suit similar to Bepo's. "Hey! You're just a kid!"

"And a bear and a child?" the woman asked. "We haven't seen you here before. Who are you two?"

"We don't belong here," Bepo replied. "We-"

"Hey! Lena! The animals are all free!" Max shouted.

"Will you keep it down?" Lena asked. "We're trying not to get caught."

"We already are caught," Max pointed out.

"Just shut up," Lena said while turning her eyes to Neo and Bepo. "Look, there's a misunderstanding here. We're not here to cause any trouble."

'Neo, what's going on?'

'I'm not sure. These two people, a man and a woman, just came into the basement through some kind of secret passageway.'

"Who are you two? Why are you here?" Bepo asked.

"We're here to free the animals," Lena explained. "We sneak in here whenever Johan is distracted by the navy or has left the compound."

"Uh huh. Likely story," Bepo retorted.

"It's true!" Max insisted. "We've been watching Johan for along time! We're scientists too!"

"Keep it down, Max!" Lena hissed in a low voice. She then looked back at the pirates. "It's true. The navy approached us several years ago about doing experiments on animals to change the color of their fur, to combine them into hybrids. We turned them down and they moved on until they found someone who would do this."

"But why?" Neo asked. She picked up one of the foxes when it brushed up against her leg. "Why put them through so much pain? What does it gain?"

"Nothing," Lena replied with a shake of her head. "There's nothing to gain from doing this other than to stroke the bloated egos and vanity of the Celestial Dragons."

"All this sadness and pain for vanity?" Neo asked quietly. She looked down at the fox in her arms. Tears stung and blurred her eyes. "I can understand killing animals to feed yourself or your family, but this I can't understand. It's too much. Bepo, I want to leave here. I want to go home." She hugged the fox. "The animals want to leave to. They want to just die if they can't be free. They would rather be dinner or die than stay here and be tortured like this. They also said that these two people have helped others escape. We can trust them."

"All right, Neo. We're leaving now," Bepo said, rubbing his paw over her back. "You can release them from your vines."

Neo nodded. She pulled her vines back and banished her crystals.

Max straightened out his clothes. "Well, that was interesting. I assume you are a devil fruit user?"

Neo nodded again while still hugging the fox in her arms.

"We can talk about that later. Right now, we have the bigger problem of getting all these animals out of here now that you've set them all free," Lena said kneeling down to a young white wolf. "They're not going to be easy to control. Usually we just take one or two at a time depending on their size. Also so Johan doesn't notice some are missing. He doesn't seem to keep a close eye on how many he has since he breeds them constantly. Not a very good scientist in my opinion."

"Don't worry about them. I can control them easily enough with my mag-powers," Neo said.

"What are you going to do with all these animals? They've been living in cages for so long. And a lot of them were born here. They won't be able to survive on their own," Bepo said. "They never developed their survival instincts."

"We have a facility on an island that deals with neglected and abused animals," Lena replied. "We're going to take them there. We'll do what we can to teach them to hunt for themselves but we're always going to be around to keep an eye on them."

"We better get going before the navy realizes something's up down here," Max said as he head back to the door he and Lena came through.

"The navy?!" Bepo shrieked.

"I forgot to mention them," Neo said. "They're upstairs right now."

"Correction. We're downstairs," a deep voice said.

The group of animal liberators jumped and faced the door that led out to the lab. The navy and Johan had entered the room without any of them noticing.

"Ah! What have you done?! You've freed all my test subjects!" Johan shouted while waving his arms wildly. "But how?! The keys were with me!"

"It was her," the commodore said pointing a finger accusingly at Neo. "She's a blasted devil fruit user who can control the elements. She obviously used fire to melt the locks on all the cages. Attack men!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers raised their guns.

"Element Crystals, Fire Flare!" Neo summoned her fire crystals and easily melted the guns before they could fire a single shot.

"You little brat! Do you have any idea the kind of money you're costing the navy?!" the commodore demanded.

"I don't care," Neo said tilting her head. She summoned her wind crystals and lifted everyone, including the navy, off the floor. "Wind Lift!"

"What the heck are you doing?!" the commodore demanded. "Release us right now!"

"I don't think you want me to do that," Neo replied with a sharp look in her eyes. She looked down at the fox in her arms. "Not after what you did to these animals."

"Neo?" Bepo asked, concerned.

"It's all right, Bepo. I know what I'm doing," Neo replied. She then flew them all out of the room and into the lab. Angling all of them up the stairs, she turned her fire crystals on the lab. Her crystals flared up and shot out flames of fire over the lab. "Fire Flare!"

Everyone covered their faces with their arms when the hot heat washed over their bodies. Small explosions started going off from the burning chemicals. The gray smoke took on a green tint as it wafted through the air causing irritation to their throats.

"No!" Johan screeched wildly. He struggled against Neo's winds, trying to get to his lab. "Not my lab! What's wrong with you?! I saved you!"

"You didn't save me!" Neo snapped. She pushed them all up the stairs. She paused to set the kitchen on fire before taking them all outside. She dropped Johan and the navy onto the ship, melted the rest of the soldiers guns and cannons before pushing the ship upon the beach and lifting a large boulder from the ground to smash into the vessel, effectively stranding the navy. "Element Crystals, Fire Flare! Wind Lift!"

"You little brat!" the commodore bellowed. He shook his fist in the air. "You're going to pay for this! I'm personally going to place a bounty on your head once I get back to navy headquarters!"

"Yeah. Sure," Neo mumbled to herself. "Do whatever you want."

"Wow! Your powers sure do come in handy! That whole experience was incredible! We're actually flying!" Max crowed happily while flapping his arms like a bird.

"Can't you be serious for once?!" Lena questioned. She sighed when Max just kept laughing and flapping his arms. She turned to Neo. "Sorry to inconvenience you, but would it be possible for you to fly us to our ship? It's anchored at a cave on the cliff just over there a bit more north from our position."

Neo nodded and started to lift them up to the top of the cliff so she could grab Law and the others waiting for them.

Bepo asked, "By the way, how did you two get into that basement? How did you even know that passage way was there?"

"That secret passage way that leads to the cave that I just told you about," Lena replied. "That house actually belonged to my great, great grandmother. I own the only original blue prints of that place. All of the other blueprints don't have the passage on them. The house was sold a long time ago. It only came under Johan's control when he started all of these experiments."

"Friends of yours?" Max asked when Neo lifted up the three other pirates waiting on top of the cliff.

"That's our captain and two fellow crewmates," Bepo replied without looking at the man. His eyes were locked onto Law. Law's hat was still over his eyes, but Bepo could easily sense the anger coming from his captain. That's when he realized that Neo had come for him instead of going to the captain. He knew something wasn't right about that. He turned his black eyes to her. Her bangs were now casting shadows over her eyes. "Neo, did you disobey the captain to come find me and these animals?"

Gritting her teeth, she nodded slowly.

"Is something wrong?" Max asked. Both he and Lena easily noticed the tension within the pirate group.

Topaz, Jean Bart and Bepo all exchanged looks, but didn't answer the question.

A minute later, Neo had lowered the group on the ship that was tied to a rock formation right beside a cave like Lena had said. A couple more people were on the deck of the ship. They gasped up at the scene when Neo had lowered them to it.

Lena shouted out orders to the men gawking. "Don't just stand there! Get these animals safely secured for transport! I want this ship sailing in four minutes!"

"Yes, ma'am!" they shouted before scurrying around to carry out their duty.

Lena then turned to the pirates. "Well, I never thought I'd get assistance from pirates, but I'm grateful for your help. You made our job a whole lot easier."

"Glad we could help. We're just happy these animals are finally going to be free," Bepo replied. He glanced at Neo and Law. They were standing three feet apart, but it might as well have been three thousand miles apart. Bepo felt his heart sink low in his chest. He found it hard to believe they were having their first fight.

Neo nodded, but didn't say anything when a man walked over to her and took the fox from her arms.

Topaz stepped closer to her and placed her hand on her shoulder. She said, "We really need to leave now. Neo might have stranded the navy ship and melted their guns, but they'll still be calling for another ship. You all should get out of here too. They saw your faces after all. They could target you too."

"Don't worry it," Lena said with a wave of her hand. "I don't think it matters that they saw us. If they do come after us, we'll deal with it then. But, either way, we will be taking our leave now. Thanks again for your help."

"Not a problem," Bepo said as Neo lifted them into the air.

Neo flew them all back up to the cliff and kept them aloft while flying them back towards the town in uncomfortable silence. The tension was so thick that the three subordinates barely registered the winds whipping passed their ears while they repetitively exchanged concerned looks and stole glances at Neo and Law.

"Hey!" The group of three subordinates looked down when Penguin's voice reached them. He was standing on the ground, with Neo's sandals in his hand, waving his arms in the air.

Neo lowered them down to him.

"What happened? I got this strange feeling that something was wrong. And then that feeling got worse when I found Neo's shoes just laying on the ground and no one…what's going on? What's with the tension?" Penguin said.

The three subordinates exchanged looks again, still remaining quiet.

Neo lowered her head and gritted her teeth.

Law walked away from the group. The captain paused. Turning his head slightly back to the group. "Gather the crew. We need to leave immediately."

"Sure thing, Captain," Penguin said. Confusion plagued his mind as he watched his moody captain walk away before turning back to the group. His eyes went right to Neo. He noticed her entire body was trembling. Dropping her shoes, he rushed up to her when her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground. He put his arms around her shoulders. She grabbed a hold of his boiler suit and finally released all of her held back tears. "Neo…what happened?"

"She disobeyed the captain's orders," Bepo replied.

"What?!" Penguin gasped.

Bepo quickly filled Penguin in on what happened while Jean Bart and Topaz broke away from them to gather up the crew like Law had ordered.

Penguin rubbed his hand on Neo's back while Bepo finished up his story. Her crying dwindled down to soft sobs. "Oh geez. All right, well, uh, let's get back to the sub for now. Come on, Neo. We can't stay here."

Neo pulled away from him. She nodded then allowed him to help her stand up. With her hand firmly in his, he led her away from the flower fields.

Bepo grabbed her sandals and quickly followed after them.

Law trudged through the warm, quiet halls of the sub once he finally made it back to the vessel. Reaching his destination, he opened the door to their room and entered it. He didn't bother turning on the lights once he had the door closed. He walked over to his deck, letting his sword fall from his hold as he went. The clanking of his sword on the metal floor was distant in his ears as he sat down in his chair and just stared blankly at his paper and book covered desktop. His mind and body was cluttered yet, somehow, was also empty at the same time. Thoughts were buzzing around in his brain but he couldn't string any of them together into any sort of comprehensive sense. Only one thought was clear in his head: Neo had disobeyed him. For the first time since he had found her, Neo had disobeyed an order.

Penguin lifted Neo's hand to the ladder. When her fingers curled around it, he released her. "Climb up now."

Neo stepped upon the first rung and pulled herself up the ladder.

Penguin followed close behind so he could grab her if she fell.

Neo reached the deck. She waited for Penguin to join her side before they headed into the sub. Instead of heading for the stairs she turned and tucked herself in a corner on the floor. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she cried into her knees.

Penguin sat down beside her. Slipping his arm around her waist, he pulled her close to him. "It's okay, Neo. It'll be okay."

Soon the rest of the crew started filing into the sub. They all stopped, clearly worried about their girl. Penguin knew Topaz and Jean Bart filled them in.

"I'll get the sub ready for departure," Archer said before heading down the stairs. The rest of the crew followed.

"Do I need to get her anything?" Shachi asked.

"I don't think so," Penguin said. "At least not right now."

"We should make her something to eat," Topaz said. "Why don't you help me?"

"Sure." Shachi followed the elemental down the stairs, leaving Penguin to take care of Neo.

Bepo walked down the hall to the captain and Neo's room for the fifth time. He knocked on the door. It creaked open a little. With no reply he stepped into the dark room. "Captain? It's been a while since we left. We have some food ready. Would you like me to bring you something?"

Law didn't replay.

"Well, maybe later." Bepo left the room and headed for the galley. He entered the room where the majority of the crew was waiting.

"How's the captain?" Conner asked.

"The same. He hasn't moved at all," Bepo said. "He should eat."

"He'll eat when he feels like it," Conner said. "We should probably just leave him alone for now."

Bepo nodded. He sat down and started picking at the sandwich in front of him.

Later that night, the Polar Tang was sitting on the calm waters just off shore of an uninhabited island. The Heart Pirates were scattered about the stilled sub. They all were trying to go about business as usual, but it was impossible. The tension that was between Neo and Law was affecting them all. They felt like if they spoke a word about what happened an explosion would erupt on the sub. They had no clue what to do. They had no clue what to say. Even Law and Neo's best friends couldn't do anything to thaw the tension that stubbornly hung in the air.

Bepo had gone to Law and Neo's room multiple times to try and get the captain to come out and talk to Neo. But Law wouldn't budge from his desk. He wouldn't even answer the bear. He just sat, quietly staring down from his shadow-covered eyes. The bear would then leave the room. They would ask if he had any success with the captain. Bepo would shake his head and a round of sighs would pass through the group.

Topaz picked up the bowl of steaming soup and headed for the door of the galley. She went right to Penguin and Neo. The two hadn't moved since they arrived back on the ship. "I brought her some soup."

"She still hasn't moved," Penguin said.

"Princess," Topaz said kneeling down. "You need to eat."

Neo didn't move.

Penguin and Topaz sighed. They looked up when some of the crew appeared.

"What are we going to do?" Archer asked. "I hate this. It's been over seven hours since this whole mess got started. Shouldn't one of them have cracked by now and gone to the other?"

"What you all need to do is let it go," Tero said. They all turned towards him. "This is their first fight. And it's not a simple fight over sometime like leaving the toilet lid up or leaving something lying around where it shouldn't be, or whatnot. Neo actually disobey the captain. No way that was an easy choice for her to do no matter if she was doing it to save Bepo and the animals. And it certainly wasn't easy for the captain to deal with her doing that. He's use to controlling things. And he has control over Neo despite only using it when she needs to be controlled. Plus, I think you're all forgetting about their bond. They're fights aren't going to be like normal human fights. I think this is affecting them on a deeper level. A magic one. They just need time to work things out themselves. This disobeying thing is new to them both. They seriously got thrown out of their comfort zones today. The captain has been Neo's protective shield for, what's it been now, almost two years or so? And she's use to him being the protector for her. This is the first time that she's followed her own instincts and did what she knew was right. The captain is just going to have to accept that she's her own person now. She's not going to need him for every little thing that pops up. If she ever gets in over her head, she'll call for him just like always. But this was something she could handle. She knew that or she wouldn't have done it. And the captain was there to back her up if it was needed. Neo just needs time to adjust some more to making her own decisions. She's been doing that all along for a while now, but this one was way bigger than the decisions she's made before. She's too use to doing what the captain wants her to do. They'll be all right, though. They just need time."

"I suppose you're right," Shachi said. He sighed. "But it's still so hard to watch them both being this upset."

"Yeah." The crew nodded in agreement before forcing themselves to walk away from Neo and find something to distract themselves with until this mess finally blew over. Topaz took the soup away.

Tero gave Neo and Penguin one last glance before walking off himself.

Penguin watched as his crew walked away with defeated expressions on their faces. He turned his eyes back to Neo to find she had finally lifted her eyes from her knees. Her face was streaked with tear stains and her eyes were slightly red. He rubbed his hand on her back again, figuring she was all cried out. "Hey, let's go outside. You could use some fresh air."

Neo nodded. She allowed Penguin to take her hand and pull her to her feet. He guided her to the door, pushed it open, then led her out and over to the railing of the sub. That's when she pulled her hand from his. She crossed one arm over the railing while placing her other elbow on the rail and rested her chin in her hand. "Penguin, I hate this."

"I know," Penguin replied. He mimicked her position.

Neo stared down at the moonlit water while he stared out at the horizon. The moon was full, extremely big, and hanging low in the sky. It gave them enough light to easily see for over a mile. It also gave them a haunting feeling. It was like the night knew what happen between Neo and Law and was giving some ambiance befitting the mood.

"It'll be over soon. And look at it this way, at least your first fight with the captain has happened. It's over and done with. Well, it will be once you two have kissed and made up."

"I feel like we're never going to kiss again," Neo whispered. "I feel so messed up. I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry. How is that possible?"

"You're sorry that you're not sorry because you know you were right. You knew you needed to see what was going on in that place," Penguin said. "You did a good thing. The only reason you feel so bad is because you disobeyed the captain for the first time ever. You love him and want to make him happy and always do as he says, but that's just not possible, sweetie. You're an adult now. Decisions like today are going to happen again. You're going to get yourself into another situation where you're going to have to follow your instincts and do what you know is right despite the captain wanting to pull you from the situation."

"Being an adult sucks," Neo replied flatly.

Penguin laughed. He kicked the toes of his shoe against one of the railing poles. "It absolutely does. But it's life. No one ever stays a child forever."

"I guess your right. Still I-Uh!" Neo's eyes widened when she sensed Law opening himself up again from behind them. She whipped around to face him. He had his hands in his pockets and his eyes still covered in the shadows of his hat. She stared at his darkened face before dropping her eyes to the deck. She swallowed then chewed on her bottom lip nervously.

"Uh, you know, you're probably getting hungry by now. You both haven't eaten since breakfast after all. I'll head back inside and cook you up something yummy," Penguin said, taking his silent cue to get lost. He pecked Neo's temple before heading into the sub to let the lovers kiss and make up. He grabbed the door as he went but left it open about a foot to give them as much privacy as he possible could.

Neo pressed her back to the railing and grabbed a hold of it. She continued to stare down at the deck. Her head and heart was pounding, her mouth became dry as she tried to figure out what she should say. With a deep breath, she lifted her head and opened her mouth. "Law, I'm-"

Law rushed forward. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pressed her tightly against his chest, cutting off her words. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Neo blinked, confused. She wasn't expecting to hear an apology from him.

"I'm sorry I hurt you. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to make you feel so bad. I was just worried about you," Law said in a low, shaky voice.

Neo blinked again when she felt his body trembling against hers.

He tightened his hold on her before loosening it up so he could look at her. He cupped her cheeks in his hands. His shimmering eyes holding a whirlwind of emotions of regret, worry, self-loathing and of love. He had opened himself up completely to her at that point. All of his emotions flowed over to her.

"Oh, Law, don't put yourself down like that," Neo said. She gripped his wrists, feeding her love to him. "I was the one who disobeyed you. I was the one who-"

"Who did the right thing," Law said, cutting her off once more. "I was the one who was wrong. I raised you to always listen to your instincts. Then I turned around and tried to force you to go against that. I'm so sorry, love. I'm just so use to you being that scared little girl I rescued so long ago. The one who always came to me and clung to me when she was scared. But you don't need to do that anymore."

Law dropped his hands and eyes from her face. He was going to let his arms drop to his sides, but she grabbed a hold of his hands to keep him from doing that. He continued, "You've grown up. You don't need me to protect you anymore."

Fresh tears stung her eyes at his words. She squeezed his hands, desperate for him to feel her feelings on how wrong he was. "Law, don't say that. I'll always need you. I'll always need you to protect me no matter how much I have grown up or how much I will grow up. I just had to do what I did. I had to know what was going on. I had to free those animals. I had to save Bepo. Believe me…I hated disobeying you. I hated it so much. I hate what it did to us. And I wish I could say that I'll never do it again, but I can't. I can't say that I'll never disobey you again. I want to. I want to say it so badly…I just can't."

"I know, love," Law whispered. He pulled her forward to him. Releasing her hands, he wrapped his arms around her once more. Keeping one arm around her shoulder, he placed his right hand on the back of her head, holding her as close as he possibly could while she clung to the back of his shirt and cried into his chest. "I know. It's okay now. It's over. I'm right here. I'm sorry I closed myself off to you. I just needed time to think, time to process everything that happened today. I'll do better for you in the future when you tell me you need to follow your instincts. I'll try not to get so upset when you do too."

Law stroked his fingertips over her hair and held her comfortably to his chest until her cries died down.

When she finally stopped crying, she pulled back from him a bit. She looked up at him. "Are we done fighting now?"

"We are," Law replied. He loosened his hold on her more to reclaim her face in his hands before leaning down and capturing her lips with his. He placed several pecks on her lips before dragging his warm tongue over her lips seeking permission. She gladly parted for him, but didn't give him the chance to enter her. She slipped her tongue into his mouth before he could get the chance to claim hers. He smiled. It was rare for her to take the lead and dominate their kissing. He liked it when she did it.

Bending down a bit, he wrapped his arms around her waist, she slipped her arms around his neck, and lifted her up to sit her down on the railing. They temporarily broke apart for air. Panting softly, their eyes and lips smiled at each other before they leaned in for a deeper kiss. Neo wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him as close to her as she possibly could. Law ran his hands down her sides then slipped them under her shirt to run his warm palms over the soft skin of her stomach and back.

Knowing they both needed air soon, Law trial kisses away from her lips. He planted soft kisses along her cheek and jaw as he made his way down to her neck where he nipped and sucked. Hitting her sweet spot, he made her arch her back and tense against him. She angled her head a bit more to give him easier access. Minutes later, a cool breeze caused Neo to shiver and Law stopped his assault. He licked then kissed the now tender sweet spot before lifting up and kissing her lips. "We should go inside now. You're getting cold."

Neo pouted. "No I'm not. You're doing such a good job keeping me warm."

Law chuckled. He brushed his hands over the cool skin on her arm then grabbed his hat and placed it on her head, purposefully covering her eyes. "We're going inside, little girl. Besides, Penguin should have us something to eat by now."

"But I'm not-" As if on cue, Neo's stomach rumbled. She pushed his hat up right and sighed in defeat at how well he knew her. "I'd rather just have you."

Chuckling again, he wrapped his arms around and lifted off the rail. She tightened her legs around his waist. He said, "You have me. You just also need to eat. But don't worry, I'm not let you go."

"Good." Neo pecked his lips again while he carried her into and through the sub. Once in the galley, they noticed their hot meal was sitting on the table waiting for them to enjoy it. Law sat down in his chair, keeping his promise of not letting her go he kept Neo on his lap. The two fed each other while stealing kisses. Once they had finished up, Law carried her to their room where they got comfortable on the bed. With her still on his lap, he took her lips again with his while running his hand tantalizingly slow over her body.