Dangerous Weather

Part Three

"No," Neo gasped when she looked up at the storm clouds above her. She now noticed the small slips of warm and cold air currents leaving from Ren's crystals. Sleet started slicing through the air. It pinged off her face and fell to the ground below her. And she missed it. How did she miss that coming? She should have felt it coming. She should have felt Ren manipulating the wind. The elemental was right in front of her. And yet she missed such an obvious danger bearing down on her and her family, on the entire island. Neo gasped again. Her brain began filling with images of Mertensia and the people who lived there. Her breaths started coming in short, sharp gasps. Her heart pounded in her chest and her ears. She grabbed her head. "No…the entire island…not again…"

'Neo, calm yourself down. This isn't Mertensia. You're not that one who's out of control. Ren is. This island and the people who are on it are not going to be destroyed because you are here to protect it. You can take her down. Now do it!'

"Right!" Neo shouted, snapping out of her panic attack. "Stop it! Leave them out of this! You're here to take my crew and me down! So go ahead and face me! But leave this island's inhabitants alone! They're not involved in this at all!"

"That's very naive thinking there, Princess," Ren snarled. "You chose this life of a pirate, didn't you? You are on a pirate crew after all. This is what happens when strong people in this world clash. The innocent and weak will be destroyed because they are just that, weak and helpless. They have no right to live if they don't have the power to protect themselves and survive."

"I don't accept that! Everyone deserves to live no matter what their strength level is!" Neo shouted.

"Still with the naive thin-" Ren shook her head and spoke. Her voice was cut off when Neo picked up a boulder with her earth crystal and slammed it her back. Ren coughed up blood while dropping several yards from the air.

Neo raised her wind and water crystals to the clouds and took hold of the storm. When she started to disperse it, she felt Ren grabbing her ankle. She started to scream, but a strong gust of wind slammed into her stomach, cutting her panicked scream off. "Ah-"

"I won't let you take control of my storm!" Ren hissed. Her dark blue eyes bored into Neo's.

Neo kicked at Ren's head in desperation to get the woman to release her. But Ren's arm length was longer than Neo's legs.

"And I won't let you hurt my crew or this island's people!" Neo spiraled vines down towards Ren's body. She aimed for several pressure points, but stop short before hitting the woman. Before making contact, she snapped opened the vines and flared up her fire crystals again.

Ren's eyes widened. She hand dropped from Neo's ankle just as she wrapped water around herself to prevent from getting burned again.

Neo anticipated the move. She snapped out more vines. She grabbed Ren's ankles and cracked the vines like whips, using the wind as more force, and sent the woman's body flying down to the ground while using her earth crystals to summon up a large boulder. The boulder cracked and crumbled as Ren's body crashed into it. She then shot several water blasts at the woman before adding in a gust of wind to try and freeze the woman into place.

Ren gathered her crystals and absorbed Neo's attack into her crystals then fire them back at her. She frowned. "What the heck was that, Princess? Are you seriously trying to freeze me to death?"

"No," Neo said flatly, guiding the attack away from her. "I will not kill you."

"Seriously?" Ren cocked her head in disbelief. "You're on a pirate crew, I'm attacking you, your crew and trying to kill everyone and everything on this entire island and you're not willing to kill me to stop it?"

"That's right." Neo shot several medium size boulders from her earth crystals at Ren before one large one followed by a hidden fire and wind attack.

"Do you have any idea how stupid is of you to release that kind of information to the enemy? It gives them the upper hand when they know something like that," Ren said. She formed large icicles to block and shatter the boulders. She increased her icicles to form a shield when Neo flared up her fire and winds once the boulders were destroyed. "You're getting better with these combined attacks, Princess. But you are still far too weak. And no desire to kill makes you even weaker."

"I've never kept it a secret that I have no will to kill. That part should have been obvious when my crew has been in previous battles," Neo replied. With Ren blocking and shattering the boulders and trying to stop the fire and wind from engulfing her, Neo using the distraction spiraled more vines towards the elemental.

"Are you kidding me?! Why do you keep repeating the same exact moves?!" Ren hissed.

Neo smirked. Her vines shot open revealing a- half the size of a mountain -large venus fly trap. Ren's eyes widened in shock just before the flower chomped down on her. "Was that the same move?"

"Ah!" Ren's frustrated scream was muffled within the plant's thick walls but became louder when she shot out her winds and water, ripping the plant walls to shreds. Once freed, she glared at Neo with pure hatred as her crystals glow brightened and began to pulse. Whipping her winds and water around, she caused the storm to pick up strength. The sleet fell down over the island and the temperature dropped at a more rapid speed. Ice started clinging to their clothes and hair. "Are you trying to mock me or something?! You seemed so angry that I'm attacking your crew and yet here you are just joking around! What's wrong with you?!"

"Oh, I am angry. I'm just controlling it so I don't accidentally take control of this storm and cause it to grow in strength instead of losing strength." Neo cocked her head a bit. She closed her eyes. Cries from nature were erupting in her ears from the pain the storm was causing. Even animals that were buried underground were feeling the effects of this elemental's storm. Nearby, she could feel the reindeer shivering right next to Penguin. They were telling her they were trying their hardest to keep the man warm, but were starting to become very cold themselves. She knew if animals that had build in fur coats were having trouble in the storm then Penguin and the crew were having a harder time as well. She felt the reindeer gather around closer around Penguin, but they were growing desperate. I'm sorry for prolonging this battle. Just hold on a little bit longer, my friends. I promise I will stop her. Law, Penguin, everyone, all the animals and people of the island, just a little bit longer. Neo reopened her eyes and frowned. "I guess I'm just being a bit naive in hoping that you'll stop this on your own. You're connected to nature just like I am, but you don't seem to care that you're hurting it. And I really do hate fighting. If I never had to fight, then I never would. But I will always fight to protect my family no matter what the circumstances are. This ends now!"

Closing her eyes again, Neo focused on the reindeer and Penguin. She wanted to put some of her fire crystals down around them, but knew she wouldn't be able to keep them there and fight Ren full force. Hold on, Penguin. Reindeer, please keep him as warm as you possible can. I hope to end this battle soon. Just hold on for me. Focusing on the cries of nature and picturing her family being trapped in this storm, Neo gathered her fury once more. She opened her eyes. Slipping her body into the winds she created, she charged forward at Ren.

"Now that's more like it," Ren said with a smile. She slipped into the wind stream as well. The two elementals then clashed. Ren combined her wind and water to create more ice shields, ice shards and ice staffs, to fire at Neo. They traded blow after blow, trying to strike the other one down.

Neo kept her winds around her so Ren couldn't touch her again. She punched, kicked, and swiped each of her elements at Ren as fast as she could. She shot out vines, wrapped them around Ren's body. She then gathered all of her crystals. She swirled around all four of the elements towards Ren. The elements twisted and blended together as they flew through the air and crashed into Ren's gathered wind and water shield. She pushed them forward, trying to break through the barrier. An explosion of wind pushed Neo backwards. She caught herself just before her back could slam into a jutting out rock on a cliff. Panting hard, Neo wiped the sweat from her forehead before it could freeze there. What do I have to do to put a stop to this? I have plenty of magic left, but my physical abilities are still limited compared to seasoned fighters. My body is wearing down. Am I going to have to become the elements? That's mostly for defense and it drains my magic so fast. But I might not have a choice.

Neo summoned her solar crystal to give herself an energy boast. Just as it appeared, Ren's elbow slammed into Neo's chest, sending her flying to the ground. All the air in Neo's lungs was forced out when her back collided with the ground.

"No, no, Princess. Using your solar crystal to heal yourself and regain you're strength would be cheating. Play fair now." Ren gathered her air around her body and jetted herself down to Neo's seemingly unconscious form. Just as she was about to collide with her, Neo's body turned into fire. The woman screamed and shot herself backwards at the last second. Panting and gasping from almost getting her body completely roasted. She huffed. "Well, that was unexpected. I recall my parents telling me that royals had the ability to turn their body into the elements, but I didn't think it was actually true. This just got a whole lot mo-"

Ren's voice was cut off when Neo blended into the ground below her. The ground then rose up like a giant hand and grabbed the woman. Neo, as the ground hand, then punched into the ground, trying to knock the woman out. Neo slipped back into her normal form. Her knees wobbled as her breaths came in hard labored pants, the fog from her warm breath curled into the freezing air before becoming tiny frozen crystals that dropped to the mountain valley with silent plops into the snow. Looking up at the spot where she slammed Ren into the ground, she hoped that was enough to knock the elemental out. But it wasn't.

She looked up at the sky. The ice storm was still going strong. She looked back down when Ren's laughter came from the rubble. When the rubble fell down to the ground, Ren was standing there, unscathed by Neo's attack. Instead, she had formed an ice shield around her body, protecting her from damage. Neo pants increased as she stared at the woman in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me."

"As I was saying, this just got a whole lot more interesting," Ren said with a smile. She picked up the speed on the storm yet again. The temperature plummeted into the negatives. "But let's make it even more interesting. You've got three minutes to defeat me now."

"What?" Neo asked. The wind was whipping her hair around wildly. She almost wished she had her ribbon with her. But it probably would have gotten damaged in the battle. She didn't want that. So she used a couple wind crystals to guide the wind away from her hair so it didn't block her view.

"The temperature is now well below freezing, but that's not what you should be worried about. Take a look up, Princess," Ren said pointing to the sky.

Neo looked up. Her eyes widened. Through pauses in the storm clouds, she saw strange beams of ice were shooting down from the sky from several of Ren's crystals that were circling each other in the sky. Through the sheets of ice falling down, she couldn't see what the beams were hitting, but she could feel nature's shocked cries calling out whenever one hit something. "What the heck is that? What's going on?"

"It's a special little attack that I created about fifteen years ago while battling in the New World. I call it my Ice Beam Barrage. It instantly freezes whatever it touches into solid ice," Ren explained. "Do you know how quick the human body freezes? Your precious crew won't be able to survive once one of these beams hit them. The only way to save them is to knock me out or kill me."

"Stop it!" Neo screamed. Feeling her anger rising again, she focused on trying to pull the beams to her while trying to knock out Ren.

"That won't work, Princess," Ren said easily blocking Neo's element engulf punches. "You don't have enough skill to simultaneously fight me and try to redirect my ice beams."

Penguin sneezed and shivered against the reindeer that was still nearby him. Pulling his hat down lower on his head, trying to cover the remaining exposed skin of his that he was sure was turning blue. He looked out into the sheets of ice that battered down on him and his surroundings then looked up at the sky. He could no longer see Neo and Ren. And he hated it. Before, Neo might have been just a peck of dust in the air, but at least he could still see her. He was able to tell that she was fine and still able to fight. Now, he was in the dark about that battle.

He stiffened when he saw a dark figure moving towards him. He blinked when the figure divided into multiple ones. They walked through the falling ice and, once close enough, revealed themselves to be the rest of the reindeer. He smiled. "Well, hello."

He relaxed back down on the ground as they gathered around him. The baby reindeer walked right up to him until he was hovering over Penguin's lap. The baby reindeer then lay down on the man and curled up. The mother reindeer curled her body around Penguin's right side, making sure to block the howling winds with her head the best she could. One of the other reindeer copied the mother's moves and lay down on Penguin's left side, adding in more shield from the winds. "Let me guess, Neo told you to come here and do this. That girl. She's always so worried and protective of us when she should be focusing on her battles."

Penguin looked up at the sky again. "All well. She's always going to be like that. We are her family after all. She doesn't want to lose us. I get the feeling all you reindeer might know and understand that. I just hope the others are safe. Surely Topaz can keep them warm enough to survive this until Neo can stop Ren. I also hope the captain doesn't do something stupid like run right out into this stuff."

He shivered again when the storm picked up its force. Glancing back out to where the valley of the mountain should be, he wondered if the other pirates were still alive or if they had frozen to death yet. He figured if they weren't dead yet, they were going to be soon. There's no way a normal human being, or even most devil fruit users, could survive this kind of storm for very long. He ducked down against the reindeer. Turning his face away from the ice hitting him, he hoped and prayed this would end soon. He was starting to lose feeling in his limbs. "Neo's not going to be happy if I die here."

Law gasped when he felt like he got an elbow to his chest. It was Neo's pain. Every blow he felt being dealt on her made him growl hot with anger. Growling in frustration, he sliced more of the enemy before looking in the direction he knew Neo was in. He wanted to go to her so badly, but with the bombardment of the enemy constantly coming at them and the increasing strength of the storm was preventing that. Even if he could break free from all of this, he wasn't quite sure what he could be able to do to help her. He's never fought an enemy who could create a storm like this.

And for all he knew, Neo and Ren were engaged in an air battle. He wouldn't be able to help even if he could get to Neo. And that frustrated him even more. How could you possibly fight an enemy when they were out of your reach and your sight? He had to completely rely on Neo to fight this battle. And he hated that. He hated that he could feel her tiring. He hated that he could feel her wanting to use her solar crystal to heal herself, but the battle was too fierce for her to do that. And he hated that he couldn't do anything to help her. He couldn't even send her comforting thoughts out of fear of distracting her from her battle.

"Captain!" Bepo's distant voice cried out. Law looked up to see the bear plant his foot into an attacking enemy that was about to attack him. "Is something wrong? You don't usually get this distracted in battle…unless…is Neo hurt?! Is she okay?!"

"She's okay," Law replied. "But she's wearing down."

More ice and wind pelted the wearing down Heart Pirates. Conner said, "It's freezing! I can't feel my fingers anymore."

"My legs are about to go numb!" Archer shouted.

"We're in serious trouble," Tero added.

Law glanced at them. His entire crew too was wearing down as was the enemy in their probably custom made jumpsuits that were clearly more suitable for extreme weather, but were obvious not doing them much good now. He huffed. Topaz was right. That elemental has no loyalty to her men. They're out here freezing to death because of her. And she clearly doesn't care.

"Look out!" Topaz shouted.

Law looked at her seconds before she summoned her crystals right over him and Bepo just before an ice beam pounded down on them. She flared up her fire against the beam. The ice melted, giving off streams of steam that instantly froze in the cold air then melted due to the heat until the beam cut off. She spiraled her fire upwards to make sure the remaining water from the beam didn't fall onto her crew.

"What the heck was that?!" Bepo shrieked while flailing around. "That wasn't normal!"

"It wasn't normal," Topaz said as she ran over to them. She looked up at the sky. Another beam dropped down. It fell right on top of some of the enemy, instantly freezing them to death. A couple Heart Pirates were near the beam, but just barely missed getting frozen themselves. "Hey! Heart Pirates! Come over to me! Now!"

The crew kicked away their current battle partners and ran over to the fire elemental. Shachi asked, "What's going on?!"

"I guess that elemental really did have a few tricks up her sleeve. I've never heard of this kind of attack before. She really is powerful if she can create these beams and simultaneously fight Neo," Topaz said.

"How are we supposed to fight in this?" Jean Bart asked. He looked out at the invisible field. More ice beams were dropping down, freezing to death anything living thing touched before the beams faded away causing the temporary visibility of the sky to close up again.

"We're not," Topaz said. She created more fire crystal to warm up the crew while locking eyes with Law. "This is it. Neo and the elemental have locked into the final battle. This is the endgame."

Law dropped his eyes from the elemental's warm gaze. He looked down at the ground before looking in the direction he knew Neo was in. Come on, Neo. You can do this. You can stop her.

"Well, I thought I felt a fire elemental on this island as well," Ren said as she blocked Neo's attacks blow for blow. "She did very well in stopping that one ice beam. I wonder how long she can keep it up if I drop one on her continuously. Do you think she can protect herself and the rest of your crew long enough for you to defeat me? Let's find out."

Neo's eyebrow twitched. She slammed her fist into Ren's face, snapping the woman's head back. It almost took Neo by surprise. She's wearing down now too! I have to end this quickly! Topaz is strong, but I doubt she'll be able to constantly use up her crystal's magic for very long! She's most likely already tired from having to fight in this weather just like the rest of the crew!

Neo turned her body back into fire. She wanted to pause to see what Ren was doing when she moved her crystals, but she forced herself not to. Ren pretty much told her what her plan was anyway. The dual elemental was going to direct her ice beams down onto Topaz, onto the rest of the crew since they were together. She trusted in Topaz ability to protect them from the harsh winter storm. So she focused on turning her body into the elements and striking them at Ren. Jutting out vines, spinning leaves like knives, trying to burn anything she could touch, using her winds and water as back up to enhance her attacks, she nicked and sliced at Ren's skin and clothes. She then would switch back to fire when Ren tried to attack with her ice or water attacks. "You're not going to kill my family!"

Penguin sighed when his body stopped shivering. He looked out of the corner of his eye. He wondered how Neo was doing before dropping his eyes down to the little reindeer in his lap. All of the reindeer, despite behind designed for cold weather, was having a difficult time in this elemental enhanced storm. He pulled out his right hand from underneath his armpit. Despite it being gloved, he knew his skin had turned blue. He didn't need to see it. He could feel it. He could feel all the feeling leaving his body. Still, he patted the brave little reindeer in his lap.

With a humorous chuckle, he said, "You've done well. All of you have done very well. Neo would be very proud of you. Thank you for all you have done."

Curling up against the reindeer, Penguin sighed and closed his eyes.

"What is this?!" one of Ren's men asked. They looked up at the darkened sky as the ice pelted them nonstop. "Is she trying to kill us?! She knows were out here fighting for her!"

"I don't think she cares!" another one shouted. He pointed to two ice statues. "They're already frozen solid! We're all going t-"

Before the man could finish, an ice beam fell down on top of them. Some tried to run, some tired to raise their arms in defense, but all of them were frozen in place the second an ice beam hit them.

"Mommy! I'm scared!" a little blonde, pig tailed girl said. Her cries floated through the air. The other kids and adults looked at her with sad eyes. They were huddled together in a local hotel lobby. The power had been knocked out shortly after the ice storm had begun. The hotel staff had gathered their guests into the lobby around the fireplace to try and keep them as warm as they could.

"Hush, sweetie. It's going to be okay," her mother cooed while wrapping her arms around the frightened child.

"It's those blasted pirates!" a man growled. "That Heart of the Elements is the cause of this! Who else can control the elements like she can?!"

"We should alert the navy immediately!" another man cried.

"We can't," a third one pointed out. "The storm is interfering with the transponder snails. We won't be able to get the navy here until after the storm stops."

"We'll have to trap the pirates here!"

"They're ship is in the docks! We can block it from them!"

"Yeah!"

A strong gust of wind then blew down through the chimney, blowing out their warm fire. Chaos and panic washed through the room as some men rushed around to try and relight the fire. "Hurry! Get it lit again! We're going to freeze if we don't get it lit!"

"Mommy!" the pigtail girl cried and grabbed onto her mother. "I don't want to freeze!"

"It'll be okay, sweetie." The girl's mother hugged her tighter.

"That tears it! Once this storm is over we're holding the pirates here until the navy arrives! Who's with me?!" a man asked.

"Yeah!" The majority of the men, and some women, cheered and raised their hands.

"Well, at least it's warm in here," Shachi said. He let his eyes roam around the fire room. It was about eight feet above Jean Bart's head and wide enough to fit twenty or thirty more men inside comfortably. He and the other Heart Pirates were standing anxiously around the fire dome Topaz had put around them. For the most part, they remained silent so the elemental could concentrate on her fire dome. She had to make sure to keep it the right temperature to keep the freezing cold elements out while at the same time not frying her crewmates and captain. Shachi sighed, thinking of his best friends out in this storm. "I just hope they're okay. Neo can handle this, but Penguin…"

Shachi's voice trailed off as a solemn air washed over the crew.

Tero said, "They'll be fine."

"I do believe this is the first time I will not complain about the heat," Bepo said looking around their fire room. "That weather out there is insane."

"You're the one with the fur coat," Tero said. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the bear. "And you're complaining about the cold weather?"

"I'm sorry," Bepo said, bowing his head in a gray aura.

"For what?!" Tero demanded. "I was just asking a question! If you, the one with the furry coat is cold then…oh never mind! Forget it!"

"Crap!" Topaz cursed when she felt Ren's crystals shifting in her direction. She flared up her crystals even more as an ice beam fell down on top of her fire dome.

"What is it, Topaz?" Jean Bart asked.

"That cursed elemental! She's changed her attack! Those ice beams that she created a little while ago? Well, she's now focusing her ice beam attack completely on us now in one solid, continuous attack!" Topaz informed them.

"What?!" the crew shrieked.

"Don't worry!" Topaz quickly said, adding more crystals to the outside of her dome. She flared them up to their maximum strength, but was in a deadlock with the beams. "I can take it! She's wearing down now fast! It shouldn't be much longer before she's finally finished!"

"As long as Neo can hold out," Archer said, begged, prayed and pleaded. "Come on, Neo! You can take her!"

"Yeah!" the crew, but for Topaz, Tero and Law cheered. Topaz was too busy focusing on her own battle. Tero was cheering for her in his own quiet way.

And Law was too concerned about his love to cheer her on. He could feel her slowing down and her magic dropping dangerously low while her body was being pummeled with attacks. He tried to keep his face as neutral as possible so he wouldn't worry his crew on how many hits, and the type of hits, Neo was taking. If this battle kept up much longer, Neo wouldn't be able to protect herself from Ren or the harsh winter storm.

"Ho ho! Family, huh?!" Ren asked. She focused a hundred of her crystals over Topaz's location and repetitively shot down ice beams on her awaiting fire crystals. She then created ice shards to pierce Neo's skin to which Neo would flare up with fire then went back on the attack quick stabs of vines and thorns. "I do believe that is the first time I've hear someone call a pirate crew their family. You are a very odd little princess. If circumstances were different, I would really liked to have heard your backstory. But it is what it is. And a job is a job. Besides, I bet that one that was fighting just over there is already dead, along with the reindeer that you asked to protect him."

"Shut up! He's not going to die! He is forbidden to do that!" Neo hissed. Shifting back into fire, she tried to singe Ren's body again. But the constant switching back and forth between the elements had taken a huge toll on her magic. Her fire flickered out of existence as her real body took over.

Ren formed another ice sword. She jutted it forward just as Neo's body shifted back into her physical form. Neo's eyes widened at the sword making its way to penetrate her flesh. But before the icy blade could reach her, it faded out of existence. Ren huffed. "Well, it looks like my magic is just about out. It's all I can do to keep this storm going. And, since you're just about out of magic too, we'll just have to finish this the old fashion way."

With that, Ren snapped out her hand and grabbed Neo's wrist. In a fast, single move, she snapped Neo's body to the left, jerking her shoulder out of its socket.

Neo cried out when a sharp, burning pain ripped through her right shoulder and spread out through her entire body. "Ah!"

"Hn." Law dropped his sword and grabbed his shoulder when Neo's pain shot through him. He fell to his knees, clenching his shoulder while sucking air in sharply.

"Captain!" the crew cried.

"What's wrong? Neo's hurt, isn't she?" Bepo asked, kneeling down beside his captain and best friend.

"I think Ren just pulled Neo's shoulder out of its socket," Law informed them. Through the pain, he lifted his right hand to create his Room.

"Captain! We can't!" Bepo said. "That storm is still out there! We won't be able to fight even if we do get close enough!"

"I'm not waiting any longer!" Law snapped. The cloud circled around his hand and spread out over the fire dome. "Room! Shambles!"

Law warped them away from their current location. The second they popped into another area of the field, Law warped them again and again and again.

Ren then brought her knee up and jammed it into Neo's stomach. Allowing Neo to drop from the air and crumble to the ground, Ren looked back towards the town as her own altitude lowered. Panting hard, she studied how Topaz's magic was coming closer to their location. She turned to face back towards Neo only to get Neo's fist slammed onto her jaw. Ren's body spun twice before hitting the ground. She spit out blood and a tooth before brushing the back of her sleeve over the blood dripping down her chin. When she tried to stand back up, Neo, using all of her crystals, slammed the elements into Ren's stomach. The woman cried out as she flew through the air.

The second Neo saw the woman's back make contact with the ground again, she slammed one final, all four elements attack on her body. It forced all the air out of Ren's lungs and caused the ground around her to crack and crumble. She panted as she watched Ren's body dip down into the shattered earth around her. She'd summoned an earth crystal and wrapped a vine around her arm, holding it close to her body so it wouldn't hurt as much from all the moving around. But the dislocation of her shoulder was still shooting pain through her entire body. She summoned her solar crystal to try and stave off some of the pain. She knew she couldn't actually heal this type of wound completely with her solar crystal. And she knew she wouldn't be able to use her solar crystal if Ren stood up again. Please, just stay down this time. Stay down.

Neo looked up when the sun began to break through the dispersing clouds and the temperature started to rise. A wave of relief washed over her. The battle was finally over. And she could feel Law coming closer now. She wasn't going to have to fight anymore. She flinched when a loud bang resonated through the air just before a flaming hot pain pierced the lower left side of her stomach. She coughed. Blood shot out of her mouth. The warm juice trickled down her chin and landed on the snowy blanket at her feet.

"Ah!" Law gasped and collapsed to the ground again before he could do another warp. He grabbed his lower left stomach. His face twisted in pain.

"Captain?" the crew asked.

"It's Neo, isn't it?" Shachi asked.

"She's…she's been shot," Law replied. His eyes flickered with danger as heat bubbled up in his chest from anger. Multiple death scenarios flashed through his mind of what he was going to do to Ren when he got his hands on her.

"Ren's down! She's been defeated!" Topaz shouted. She banished her crystals as the ice stopped falling and the clouds faded away.

"Room! Shambles!" Law cried out. Holding up his hand once more, he warped his entire crew to Neo.

Neo placed her left hand on her stomach then raised her hand to her face. The entire palm of her black glove was now soaked in blood. Her eyes drifted over to Ren before her legs gave out on her. Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Her solar crystal's glow dimmed, but kept washing its healing magic over her injured body.

"Not bad at all, Princess. But you're still too weak to face off against the massive figureheads you're going to run into on these seas. You hesitate too much. I could have killed you just now. Well, I would have if I could see straight. You took far more out of me than I thought you would have." Ren huffed and puffed through her own tired body. She held out the smoking gun towards Neo before it dropped from her grasp and landed in the snow with a low thud. "I'm just about out of magic. I might have just enough to escape from your crew. Oh, look there they are."

Ren forced herself to sit up just as the Heart Pirate crew appeared mere feet from her and Neo's location. She summoned the dwindling remains of her magic. Her crystals flickered in view. She created just enough wind to lift her batter body into the air as Law's sharp eyes locked onto her.

Creating another Room, he warped only himself to her. When he appeared, he swiped his sword at her in an attempt to cut her head off. Her skin split opened, but she deflected herself just enough to avoid getting her head severed off. Forcing his Room to grown even larger than he's made it go before, Law hissed, "Get back here!"

Ren forced her winds to keep her body just above the boarders of his Room until the film stopped growing. But with the damage she sustained in battle, her winds died down and her crystals vanished. Her body dropped from the air and right into Law's awaiting Room.

"Room! Shambles!" Law warped Ren right in front of him. Once her body was in his sights, he ran his sword through her chest. Her arms dropped to her sides as the life drained from her eyes. His eyebrow twitched when Ren's lips curled into a smile.

Her voice cracked as she spoke out her final words. "At least I don't have to tell him anything now. I was actually conflicted on what I was going to report back to him. You have freed me from his clutches. But…be forewarned, Surgeon of Death. He is watching you. And he is watching her with peak interest."

"What?! Who are you talking about?!" Law demanded.

"You know who," Ren whispered. With the last of her strength, she pulled her body from Law's sword and fell to the ground. Her smile faded as her eyes closed for the last time.

"Where is he? Where is he?" Shachi asked repetitively to himself. He, Jean Bart and a few others had split off from the rest of the crew to find Penguin. His eyes darted everywhere over the mountain valley. But all he could see was white, white mounds of oddly shaped statues. His stomach turned at the thought of that elemental freezing her own men to death. One of them ice statues could be his best friend. One of them could be Penguin.

"Hey! What's that?" Jean Bart asked.

Shachi looked up to see a multi-bump bundle starting to shift. It stood up, shook off all the ice off its body to reveal an entire herd of reindeer. The reindeer parted to reveal Penguin's body. The baby reindeer slipped off Penguin's lap. The baby stood by his mother while the pirates rushed over to them.

"Penguin!" Shachi cried, immediately placed his fingers to Penguin's throat, flinching at how cold Penguin's skin was. His own heart raced in his chest as he tried to search for the slightest sign of life. A smile spread on his face when he felt the faint pulse of Penguin's heart. "He's alive! Let's get him back to the captain!"

"Right!" the crew shouted.

Penguin opened his hidden eyes and smiled. His teeth chattered as he spoke. "H-hey, guysh. 'bout t-time yoush gots h-here."

"Hey, Pen," Shachi said. "We're here now. The fight is over. Neo's a bit injured, but the captain is with her. She'll be fine. We're taking you back to the sub now."

"G-gweat." Penguin shivered. "I need shumm vewy, vewy hot te."

The crew laughed as the baby reindeer stepped closer to Penguin and Shachi. He nuzzled his black nose to Penguin's cheek then looked at Shachi. Penguin looked at the creatures. "You guysh w-were aweshome. Neo w-would be proud of you."

Shachi smiled. He added, "I get it. Neo asked you all to take care of Penguin, didn't she? Well, you all did a very good job. Thank you for your help. We'll take care of them from now on. Both Neo and Penguin will be just fine. Our captain is the best doctor in the world. He'll take good care of them. We need to go now. You can come with us if you want too. You probably want to see Neo once more before we go. But we have to hurry. The captain is fiercely protective of her and will want to take care of her wounds as soon as possible. Jean Bart, can you carrying him?"

"Yes." With a nod, Jean Bart picked the cold man up and they headed back to the rest of their crew. The reindeer exchanged looks like they were having a discussion on whether or not they should follow the pirates. The baby reindeer flicked his ears before rushing after the men. The rest of the reindeer followed soon after.

Now unable to get any answers from Ren, Law forced himself to turn away from the dead body at his feet. Neo was far more important than anything Ren would have to say. He walked over to the crewmembers that were gathered around Neo's unconscious body.

"Neo?" Topaz called softly. She placed her hand on Neo's forehead. Her heart gave a sharp jolt when Neo didn't respond to the touch. She glanced at Neo's solar crystal. It was hovering right beside Neo, casting its healing glow over the damaged princess. Law sheathed his sword and knelt down beside the women. "Is she going to be alright, Captain?"

Dropping his sword, Law didn't say anything as he ran his hands and his eyes over Neo's body. He first, and very quickly, checked out her dislocated shoulder. Since she was unconscious, he took the moment to untie the vine around her arm and body and popped it back into place. More pain shot through his own shoulder. He winced, half glad she was still unconscious so she didn't have to feel all that pain he just caused her. He then wrapped the vine back around her to keep her arm secure. Once that was done, he turned his attention to her stomach wound. He cursed under his breath. "The bullet didn't go all the way through. We have to get her back to the sub. Right now!"

"Why don't you just remove it with your powers?" Archer asked in confusion. "That should be an easy operation for you to do out here. You've done i-"

"No!" Law snapped. The crew went silent. Law's hat had cast dark shadows over his eyes. He wasn't going to use his powers on her. His body posture was stiff, but held the threatening pose of death should anyone defy him.

"Hey! We found Penguin! He's alive, but he needs medical attention!" Shachi called out seconds later. His smile faded when he noticed the tense atmosphere around the crew. "What's going on?"

Law pulled Neo into his arms. With dark shadows still cast over his eyes, he said in a low, very dark tone, "I'm taking her back to the sub. Don't ever tell me to use my powers on her. I won't do it. I won't!"