Enter:
Straw Hat Luffy
Neo released a puff of air through her nose. She dug into her pockets for her gloves and slipped them over her cold hands. 'Ultimate power couple, huh? I wonder what they'd think if I turned into the elements right in front of them.' She paused, her left glove hanging half on her hand, and blinked in thought of her words. Her heart skipped a couple beats as a cold rush of fear washed over her body. She had never thought about that being a possible way of killing. She shot her eyes over to Law. 'Do you think I could induce a heart attack by doing that?! Could I really kill in that way?!'
'Easy, my love. Unless they have a preexisting heart condition, you can't literally scare someone into a heart attack by revealing your magic in that way.'
'Oh.' Neo's heart gradually slowed down. She continued to pull on her glove. 'Okay. I suppose you are correct.'
'Of course I am. I am a doctor after all.'
'All right, doctor, turn your attention back to the battle. I'm stable again.'
Law chuckled before they both returned their full attention back to the battle at hand. Tashigi's broken sword had stopped spinning and was now sticking out of the snow. Law couldn't help but grinned at what he had just done. Feeling his satisfaction, Neo thought to him, 'You know, Law. Whether a person has a preexisting heart condition or not…'
Neo's voice trailed off in his head as she glanced over at the soldiers. The soldiers were standing stock still in shock at the power that Law had over them and at how he had just sliced their beloved captain in two. '…I think you could and would easily induce at heart attack in people if you could wield my magic. You already instill so much fear in people with just your devil fruit powers.'
Law smiled. Both knew for sure he would do just that, and do it on purpose. 'I guess we'll just have to keep a look out for other magic that can pass you're gifts over to me then. I'd love to see what I could do with your magic.'
Neo knew he was only half serious about that so she didn't address him about it. She did, however, address another part of what he did say. She hummed. 'I wonder if that is possible. They did warn us back on Luminous that other magical creatures exist. And a lot of books talk about magical talismans and spells. If they can take away my magic then it's possible for my magic to be given to you.'
'Debating theories during a battle? You are very distracted today, aren't you?'
'Sorry. I can't help it for some reason.' Neo shrugged with a smile. She returned her eyes to the soldiers' cries.
"C-captain got cut in half!" a soldier screamed.
"Hey! You're still alive, aren't you?!"
"Captain!"
Neo dropped her eyes to the fallen woman on the snow. The swordswoman lift her eyes to Neo at the same time. Neo couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy for the woman. She forced the feeling out of her head before the look could show in her eyes, and be revealed to the female soldier. It didn't matter that she felt a connection to this woman. They were still enemies.
Tashigi dropped her eyes from Neo. "How could this be? How dishonorable! I got sliced in half, but I'm still breathing! I'm still alive! I should have died!"
Neo's eyebrow twitched. She asked, "Why? Why do you want to die so quickly? You're alive. You should be happy about that. You can live another day and-"
"Shut up, pirate!" Tashigi hissed and glared at Neo. Ignoring the female pirate, she tightened her hold on the hilt of her sword and turned the top half of her body back towards Law. "Why didn't you just kill me, Trafalgar?! Why did you do this to me?!"
Law looked at the irate woman. He lifted and placed the back of his blade on his shoulder while he spoke to her. He said, "You talk as if you're a master swordsman or something. Well, let me tell you something, navy soldier girl. The weak do not have the right to choose how they die. You chose this for yourself when you decided to swing your weapon at Neo. I do not forgive anyone who tries to attack her. And it doesn't matter if that person is weaker or stronger than her. Besides, I've done you a favor in cutting you in half. Usually, I just kill whoever attacks Neo right out and with no second chances at life. You should feel grateful that I spared your life."
Tashigi gripped a handful of snow in her sword free hand. Anger clearly burned inside of her chest, she swiped the shortened blade of her sword at him. "You jerk! Are you trying to humiliate me?! You killed others outright, but left me alive?"
"Do you seriously believe you can reach me with that sword?" Law asked as the woman's blade cut through the air, several inches away from his body.
Tashigi fell to the ground after her failed attempt at hitting him. She glared up at him with fire and contempt in her eyes.
Neo tilted her head in confusion at the woman's words and actions. She couldn't grasp why this navy soldier wanted to die so quickly. It didn't make any sense to her.
"If you like being divided in half like this, I can chop you up some more," Law said. He raised his sword in preparation to slice her up again.
"Curse you, pirates! You stop insulting our captain right now!" a soldier shouted.
"Captain, don't worry! We'll riddle that fool with bullets!" The navy lifted up their guns to their faces. They aimed their barrels right at Law and pulled the triggers.
Neo's entire body twitched as the gunshots ran out into the air around them. She clenched her hands into tight fists and summoned more of her crystals. No one, except for Law, noticing what she was doing as her crystals began to pulse. He smirked at the impending danger getting ready to hammer down onto the unsuspecting navy soldiers after he had warped their bullets away from him and back to the soldiers.
"Bullets?!"
"Where the heck did those come from?! What happened to the bullets that we fire?! He doesn't even have a gun!"
"Those are your bullets. I switched them with the snow around you," Law said. He smirked at them when he felt Neo getting ready to close in on them. "And that was the stupidest thing you could have done. Haven't you been paying attention? Neo really doesn't like it when people do things like that to me."
"Huh?" The navy soldiers blink a couple times before drawing their eyes over to the female pirate.
Neo's bangs had fallen over her eyes. Her pulsing crystals were now engulfed with their elements. With lightening fast reflexes, she snapped out vines and grabbed the soldiers' guns, pulling them from their hands. She slammed the guns to the ground then brought her sharp glare up to the soldiers.
The soldiers flinched at her and stumbled backwards.
…
"What the heck?" Smoker asks himself. He carefully examined Neo before dropping his eyes down to the ground beneath his feet. He felt a slight vibration in the ground. He looked back up and took in the elements around them. The wind had become sharper. The air was colder and seemed to be dropping with each second that past. He glanced back at the ocean. The water was lapping up onto the shore like it was trying to climb upon the island. What's going on with her? Something's not right here. I've read the reports about her feeling inhuman. Though I never was sure what to make of those reports. But seeing her for myself, there is definitely something inhuman about her. I felt it when I first saw her walk out that door. But now? It's like nature just woke up and engulfed her. Somehow making her stronger. She seems even more inhuman now than she was before. What the heck did she just do? What is she doing? Is nature reacting to her because of her powers or whatever? Who is this woman really? No way she's a devil fruit user. I can see that now. But what is she?
…
"Wind Lift!" Neo wrapped her winds around the soldiers. They panicked and screamed wildly as she, swinging her arms and hands around for dramatic effect, guided up a wave of snow from the ground and from the flakes falling down over them. She moved her hands in the way as if she were creating snowballs. The winds and snow obeyed her commands and followed her movements. "Wind and Water Crystals! Snowman Snowmaker!"
"What the heck?!" a soldier shrieked as Neo rolled them up onto giant snowballs. She made sure to keep their heads out of the snow so they could breath and not suffocate from the compacted snow.
"What?! What did you do to us?!"
"Let us go!"
"Someone help!"
Law smirked as he calmly stood back and watched her make her snowman. 'Snowman Snowmaker? That's not in your arsenal of attacks the crew came up for you. You just made that one up on the spot.'
'Yeah, I did. But they don't know that. For all they know this is part of my arsenal. Or they could think it's a new move. Either way, they'll know better next time than to shoot at you.' Neo sent a smirk to Law. Once the three balls were complete, she placed them on top of each other. She moved to pick up a couple of guns to use as tiny arms for her creation. While raising the guns to the snowman with her winds, she tilted her head as she inspected the thing she just created. "I have to say, this is by far the ugliest snowman I have ever created. But it is the largest."
"Let us go!" a soldier screamed.
"It's your own fault for trying to hurt him," Neo said. She swiped her hand through the air, washing a small wave of snow over the soldier's face. "Don't ever try and shoot-" Neo plunged herself down just seconds before Smoker could slam the tip of his jitte into her back. She shot herself back up and spun a roundhouse kick at his head, but her attack passed through nothing but smoke. Her eyebrows twitched as she sensed Smoker trying to sneak attack her again by sending his smoking arm behind her. Using the wind, she back flipped away from the attack. Moving her crystals, she cried out her attack and pushed Smoker's smoke arm downwards. "Wind Gust!"
She then whipped out her water crystals and pulled four torrents out of the ocean in an attempt to disable his devil fruit powers. "Water Crystals! Four Torrents!"
Smoker gritted his teeth when Neo blew his arm apart. His eyes widened when her four torrents came rushing after him. He dissolved into smoke just before the four torrents collided on the spot her once was. He reassembled himself on the ground then huffed at her before speaking. "You might not be as physically strong as I am, but I can see you are clearly going to be a serious pain to fight with all those element abilities of yours. Lifting up seawater to try and disable my devil fruit abilities? I'm going to have to be careful with you."
"Yeah, well, what can I say?" Neo grinned. "I have a very good teacher who taught me well."
Smoker scoffed. "That doesn't matter. You are still an amateur in battles. That has been made very clear. You hesitate too much. And, with your refusal to kill anyone, that gives your opponent a huge advantage over you. It really is the most stupid thing you can do while in battle."
"A navy soldier giving a pirate battle tips?" Neo asked with a light smile. She slipped into the wind stream then reappeared behind him. "You don't seem like the type to do that, Vice Admiral Smoker. Or has my childlike charm and looks taken you by surprise to the point you have to give me advice as if you were a father figure to me? Wind Ringlets!" She trapped Smoker in her ringlets then brought a wave of water out of the ocean. "Ocean Wave!"
"Ah! Look out, Smokey!" a soldier cried out. "She's gonna smash the Vice Admiral with that wave!"
"Hn." Smoker dissolved into smoke and slipped out of her ringlets with ease. When she bought the wave down on where he was supposed to be, he used the opportunity to attack. He slipped around to her right, using the majority of his smoke to distract her while slipping his jitte behind her again. He threw several punches at her. "Don't flatter yourself, child. You are still a pirate. Your looks will never fool me. I was making a simple observation of you and your fighting style. I'm sure your captain or another crewmember has pointed out this flaw before."
"You might be right about that," Neo said while thinking back to what all Tero has told her and done for her. She dodged the punches from Smoker then blew a gust of wind at the smoke man. A smile started to form on her lips but it quickly vanished when, at the same time, she realized this battle was far too easy and she sensed a small amount of the ocean flying towards her in an odd manor. She turned around to see what it was. She caught a quick glimpse of something, surrounded by smoke, coming at her. She tried to dodge it but it managed to slam into the lower left side of her cheek since she didn't move fast enough to avoid it completely. She coughed up a little blood, faltered in her wind control, but caught herself, just as the rest of Smoker's smoke gathered together in front of her. She growled and summoned her fire crystals. She flinched at the same time Smoker's eyebrow twitched. Quickly, she banished her crystals and started to fall out of the air.
"Well, isn't that interesting little development," Smoker said while still pressing the tip of his jitte to her cheek just before grabbing her neck in his hand before she fell too far.
…
Law internally flinched and his heart skipped a beat when he felt a rush of pain flowing out from the lower left side of his cheek. Since he was still close to the divided navy captain, he forced himself not to show signs of the pain. He looked up at Neo when dread washed over her and passed to him. Before he could ask her about it or she could tell him about it, Smoker had his hand on her neck and was driving her towards the ground. 'Neo, what's going on?! Fight back!'
…
'Sorry, Law. I seriously just messed up big time.' Neo thought to him just before her back slammed into the ground. The air was forced out of her lungs from the impact. She peaked through her left eye to see Smoker's jitte falling right towards her head as she tried to refill her lungs. Her eyes popped up in shock just before he disappeared from her view. She blinked and found herself looking up at the sky instead of the navy vice admiral. She turned her head a bit and saw Law. Fury was radiating from his body as he held the pose he usually worn when he just warped something. 'Law.'
'Neo, relax for a moment and catch your breath.'
'I'm sorry, Law. I goofed up. There's sea prism stone in that weapon of his. There's only a small amount in it, just at the tip of the jitte. It blended in with the ocean wave I pulled up onto the island. I didn't notice the sea prism stone until it was too late. I think he noticed that my energy didn't drain from me like it should have. Couple that with his ability to sense my inhuman nature, I'm pretty sure he knows now that his assumptions are correct.' Neo pushed upon her right arm. She placed her left hand on her cheek, wishing she could use her solar crystal and that she was more use to getting hit. She could already feel the bruise starting to form on her cheek.
'Don't worry about that for right now. He still only has assumptions. He can't actually prove anything.' Law turned back towards the navy captain. He raised his sword over his shoulder in preparation to strike again.
…
"What in the world? Is that woman invincible or something?" a soldier asked. "Or does she just have a very strong body and is use to getting smashed like that?"
"Huh?" Another soldier looked at Law. He watched as the warlord raised his sword. "Look out! Everyone, get down! Now! He's going to cut everything up again!"
"Oh geez! Not again! Isn't there any kind of defense against his attacks?!" another soldier screamed as some began to dive for cover. "Or does he easily slice through everything with that attack?!"
A couple soldiers remained stand and watched the continuing battle. "That creep! He's going to cut the captain again!"
"Captain, run! Get away from him! Hurry! Get out of there!"
…
Tashigi gritted her teeth and held up her broken sword in a fruitless attempt to stop being cut again. The faded and distant voices of her soldiers crying in her ears became softer as her eyes lock onto Law's sword swinging down at her once more. "Captain! Move! Get out of there!"
The brunt clash of weapons hitting then rang through the air. The sound was quickly followed by happy cheers from the G-5 soldiers. "All right! The vice admiral saved her just in time! The captain is fine!"
Smoker huffed while pushing his jitte against Law's sword. Behind him, Tashigi released a sigh of relief that she wasn't in any more pieces than she already was. Smoker glanced at his soldiers, and then at Neo before bringing his eyes back to Law. He shifted his feet back to normal and set his boots back on the ground. "The Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law! Heart of the Elements, Trafalgar Neo! You two are just pirates! Stop messing with the navy! Let us do our job!" He shifted his arms back into smoke to once again go on the attack. He threaded his smoking arms behind the warlord.
Law notices the vice admiral's moves easily enough, but didn't move fast enough to deflect the attack. He turned around to get the vice admiral's thick hand clamped around his neck. He felt his body fly backwards until his back hit the ground.
...
Neo, now in an upright sitting position, was still adjusting to the blows she took from the vice admiral. Her back and stomach were still throbbing, but the pain was slowly subsiding. Her eyes were locked onto Law and Smoker. She flinched when Smoker grabbed Law by his neck and slammed him into the ground. Another, but smaller, dose of pain shot through her back. She ignored it when Smoker swung the tip of his jitte towards Law's head. 'Law! Watch out for the sea prism stone!'
Neo pushed herself to her feet just as Law switched himself with a piece of board from the ship. The board shattered. A small amount of anger began to build back up in her. She charged at the navy soldier. "Smoker!"
Neo wrapped her fist in her winds and swung her hand at the soldier, locking into a quick round of punches and kicks. She launched herself into the air when Smoker tried to hit her again with his jitte, but also because Law was on the attack again. She kept her eyes on the battle as she flew upwards.
"You have sea prism stone on the tip of your jitte, don't you?" Law asked while raising his sword towards Smoker. He swung it just as Smoker raised his jitte to block the attack.
A clank vibrated through the air as the two fighting weapons clash with each other. The clash sent Law's sword swinging backwards, slicing the sculpture he created in half.
Neo glanced over at the crumbling sculpture. She sighed, slightly disappointed. "Rats. I was hoping to order a camera then next time Caesar sent out an order for supplies. I want to take a picture of it and show the crew." Her eyebrows rose when she saw the navy soldiers running around on the ground. Their small voice just barely reaching her ears as they continued to panic.
A soldier cries, "Oh no! Look out! The recoil made the sword cut the artwork!"
"The ship's going to fall on us! We're all gonna die!"
"Let's just run! Do as the vice admiral said! We have to get out of the circle! He doesn't want us to be here anyway!"
A couple quickly ran over to their fallen captain. One picked her up and threw her top half over his shoulder while another soldier grabbed her bottom half. They then ran like crazy to the edge of the circle.
"Vice Admiral Smoker!" Tashigi protested despite having no ability to do anything to stop herself from being carried away from the battle. "No! Go back! We have to help him!"
Neo couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration for the female captain's determination to fight again despite her physical condition as she continued to protest against her soldiers.
"Captain, let's just get away from here right now! You can't fight right now!"
"But…"
"We're no seriously match for him or the woman!"
"Run! Get out of the circle! Pieces of the ship are falling like leaves off a tree!" a soldier says just as Law started moving some of the falling pieces to his will again.
"What about Smokey?!"
"Don't worry about the vice admiral! He can take care of himself!"
Neo sighed again when the debris was almost on top of the soldiers. With an easy redirection of her winds, she pushed the falling debris away from the soldiers so they didn't get hit. "Those soldiers. Honestly! How stupid can they possibly be? All they had to do was get out of the circle and they would have been safe this entire time. I guess smarts isn't very high on the navy's list when recruiting soldiers."
With a shake of her head, she turned her eyes back to Law and Smoker. She observed the battle and Law's feelings carefully and prepared herself to jump in when she had the chance or when Law wanted her to.
"I don't care if you are a warlord or not! Just get out of my way! I'm going inside that building!" Smoker demanded. Tapping into his powers, he fired several rapid punches at the warlord. "White Blow!"
"Wind Gust!" Neo guided her winds towards Smoker and blew his attack away.
"You really are a pain, woman!" Smoker hissed.
Neo smirked at him before wrapping her winds around herself and Law. "Wind Lift!"
Keeping her eyes on Smoker, Neo guided Law up towards some of the floating debris he had floating above them. Both Neo and Law threw pieces of debris at the navy vice admiral. Smoker easily weaved through their attacks. Neo summoned her earth crystals and tried snapping and wrapping her vines around the navy man.
Smoker blocked the snapping vines until Neo wrapped him up in some. He shifted into his smoke form and flew at her faster than she was expecting him to. He kicked his foot at her, catching her off guard and on her left shoulder. Pushing his entire weight into it, he kicked her away from the battle and down to the ground. She hit the ground hard, causing both her and Law to gasp and almost pass out from the impact.
Smoker tried to follow Neo, his jitte out and ready to slam into her body again, but with even greater force then before since this would be a direct hit.
Neo gritted her teeth, trying to get her body to move on her command.
'Neo!'
'Right!' Neo flew Law in front of her on his unspoken command.
Smoker narrowed his eyebrows just before his weapon clashed once again with Law's sword. "Well, are you two just the cutest little tag team ever?"
Law just cracked a smirk in response. Their weapons clashed again for a few more hits before they separated from the stalemate battle. Smoker landed on the ground as Neo lifted Law back up into the air. Smoker tapped into his powers before firing several streams of smoke up to the hovering warlord.
Law spun around in Neo's hold, slicing up the large part of ship that was hovering above him. With a point of his finger, the pieces obeyed his command and flew at the navy soldier.
Smoker dodged the pieces easily until Neo flew some of her own debris ammunition. The biggest pieces she flung at him he easily smashed into shards, but the smaller ones she was able to hit him with, cutting his exposed skin. This distraction allowed Law to land safely on the ground. She flew herself over to Smoker again. She threw several wind engulfed punches and kicks at him.
Smoker easily blocked her attempted hits with his regular human body. But, each time he tried to use his smoke abilities on her, her winds would just blow his smoke away and he had no choice but to fight her without it. He glanced over at Law from the corner of his eyes before bring his full attention back onto Neo. "I know you're just fighting me as a distract for Law to set up on another attack. I don't have time to play with you, woman."
Neo smirked. "He doesn't need me to distract you at all. He's far to powerful for you to handle for very long."
"Then why are you even bothering to fight with me?" Smoker growled at her. He punched several more times at her to which she easily dodged. "Why not just let him fight? You've revealed your secrets to me by fighting me."
"I've revealed nothing to you," Neo replied despite knowing that wasn't true. She threw a punch at his head. Her eyes widened and her heartbeat sped up when he went to grab for her. She quickly recoiled from him.
"You've revealed plenty," Smoker said. "I already know you're not a devil fruit user. I saw that you didn't react like you should have when my jitte touched your skin. And just now, when I tried to grab you, your eyes widened. I saw the fear flickering in your eyes. You're afraid of me touching you."
Neo gritted her teeth in a desperate attempt to keep her eyes from revealing anything else to him. She prepared herself to go on the attack again but stopped when Law halted her.
'Neo! Pull back for now! I want you in your sniper position!'
'Right!' Neo threw a couple more punches and kicks at the navy vice admiral before pulling back from him.
When Smoker tried to follow her, Law flung another piece of debris at him. It brought the soldier's attention off Neo and back onto him. Smoker flew towards Law. The smoke man fired several smoke punches at Law while the warlord ran around on the ground, easily avoiding them. Smoker dipped his altitude so he was flying right beside Law.
The two clashed their weapons again before jumping apart.
"Law, why are you two here on Punk Hazard? I never understood why you joined the warlords in the first place!" Smoker circled around Law, trapping the warlord. "What are you up to here?! What kind of interest can you two possible have in such an island?!"
"Wind Lift!" Neo cried out. She lifted Law out of Smoker's smoke.
Law pointed his finger towards the white haired man when he followed him into the air. Several large pieces of rocks flew at the soldier. With the soldier distracted by Law, Neo summoned all of her crystals. With their respective elements, she fired several attacks at the soldier man.
Smoker busted through one of the rocks Law flung at him. He halted in his flying when her fire almost singed him and his clothes. He 'tsked' at her. "She really is a pain."
Law, feeling a sense of pride, smirked and got distracted. This gave Smoker an opening to attack. He slammed into the warlord, knocking him down to the ground.
Neo wrapped her winds around Law, safely landing him on the ground. Before either could retaliate, Smoker shot another round of smoke punches at Law, forcing the warlord to do several back flips to avoid being hit.
Smoker disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
Neo blew a gust of wind at him, but he easily dodged it and jutted his jitte at Law. The two men then locked into a fierce battle with their weapons.
Neo raised her crystals to fire at Smoker, but with their rapid movements being far too fast for her to follow, she had no choice but to hold off on attacking at the moment. She couldn't risk hitting Law. She had no clue how long the two men swiped and sliced at each other as she continued to watch them. Suddenly, they jumped apart from each other. All three breathing hard as they stared at each other, waiting to see who was going to make the next move. Neo knitted her eyebrows at how tired Law was. This battle had been going on for several minutes and they were all obviously tired from it. It needed to end soon. 'Law, do you need my solar crystal? I can hide it behind you.'
'No. Don't risk that here. Smoker has already seen far too much of you. Better wait until we're back into the lab to use it. Besides, this battle is over.' Law smirked at her through their bond. 'I'm taking his heart.'
Neo's eyebrows rose upon her forehead. She banished her crystals. Law had this battle wrapped up with that single idea. She didn't need to fight with Smoker anymore. But she still kept her eyes locked onto the navy man and carefully monitored Law's feelings just in case she needed to be the Heart Pirate sniper or jump back into the battle directly.
Smoker then began to take steps around Law. He said, "I make it a general rule to never trust you warlords!"
Law smiled while letting his hat brim fall over his eyes. "That's probably a very good idea."
Smoker then charged forward again at the warlord.
Law, carefully watching, curled his finger to raise a rock formation out of the ground. He frowned when he saw Smoker saw the rock coming up and dodge it before it could hit him. He raised another rock formation only to get the same results of Smoker easily dodging it.
Smoker barreled through all of the rock formation jumping up out of the ground. He flew towards Law as fast as he could. He continued to dodge the rocks until one inevitably slammed into his stomach, causing him to grunt and drop his jitte. He sucked air back into his lungs before speaking to Law. He said, "Law? What is this place to you? No matter how selfish you pirates can be there's no real reason for you claiming this island for that woman of yours no matter how much you might claim to love her. There's nothing here for you. Even with her abilities over nature, there's no way she can change this island's climates. But with how you've hidden the truth about her not being a devil fruit user that might actually be possible. Despite that, who's really behind all of this? What are you two really up to on this island?"
…
Neo took a deep breath and slowly released it when she saw a rock smash into Smoker's stomach. All Law had to do now was take the man's heart and it was completely over. She relaxed for a brief second before she sensed Smoker's smoke on the move again. Focusing on Law and Smoker's location, she noticed some smoke that was blending into the snowy ground was moving towards Law's back. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.
…
Law's lips tugged down at their corners at the white haired man's words. Hiding Neo's secrets was becoming increasingly harder with each new and stronger opponent they faced. He started to wonder how much longer they were going to be able to keep her secrets before they were busted wide open for the entire world to see when Neo's voice cut sharply into his mind. 'Behind you!'
Law whipped around the block the on coming attack, but Neo had already lifted a piece of rock in the way.
Smoker flew up from the rock and grabbed his jitte. He jutted his weapon out at Law. The warlord easily blocked the attack then dove into another round of clashing weapons. While battling, Law asked, "Why don't you answer that first, White Chase?! What are you all up to?!"
Law and Smoker push against each others weapons until Law, with a heavy grunt, pushes the smoke man back away from him.
Smoker slid back a few feet before catching himself. He charged forward again.
Law, with a simple lift of his finger, raises one last rock from the ground. With a loud crack from Smoker's jitte hitting it, the rock cracked and crumbled while a large part of it flew off. Law ducked from the jitte, knowing Neo would blow away the rock to keep it from hitting him. While she did as he knew she would, he jammed his sword into the ground and held his hand in preparation for preforming Scalpel. "You should know that there are some things that you won't be able to see unless you change your vantage point, Smoker! Scalpel!"
He then threw out his hand and pierced the rock and Smoker's chest, popping out the white haired man's heart. Law felt a twinge of guilt when Neo's fear of him being hurt, from jamming his hand through a rock, rocketed through his mind and body. He relaxed when he felt her realize the hit didn't actually hurt them.
Turning his attention back to Smoker, Law warped the man's heart to his hand, then paused to take in the man's expression of disbelief and slight touch of fear, before reclaims his sword. He said, "I don't have to tell you anything."
Law then turned from the navy man and walked away from him.
Neo exhaled a breath she didn't even noticed she was holding. She rushed towards him as he walked in her direction. She lurched to a stop when her eyes, against her will, landed on the beating heart in her lover's hand. Her stomach churned while a tint of green flashed over her face. An unavoidable gag passed her lips. Her right hand shot up to her mouth while her left shot to her stomach. She gagged again and turned away from the heart. She hunched over as if she was really going to vomit. For a moment, she thought she was going to. She placed her hands on her slightly bent knees and took in several deep breaths while feeling Law's concern for her.
"Neo? Are you okay?" Law asked while shoving Smoker's heart into his pocket. He then placed his hand on her and rubbed her back. "You've never had a reaction this bad to a heart before."
"Yeah. I'm okay," Neo said once her gagging and deep breaths finally subsided. She straightened up on her legs and turned to him. With her eyebrows narrowed, her eyes sharp, she planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. "It's your fault! You could have given me a little warning about jamming our hand through that rock! What were you thinking? Do you realize how bad you scared me?!"
Law blinked at her snappy tone. "I'm sorry. You know I can't always tell you when I'm going to do something like that."
Neo took another deep breath to calm herself down. She closed her eyes and massaged her fingertips over her forehead. "I know. It's just that…I don't know. I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting it. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."
Law nodded slowly. He then said, "Let's go back inside now. You're just tired from that battle. I think it was a bit more than we both expected."
"Yeah." Neo nodded. "You're probably right."
Law nodded again before the two started towards the front door. He looked at her when he felt her perk up with curiosity. He asked, "What is it?"
Neo turned her head to her right. She replied, "It's Brownbeard. He's coming this way. And he's in a very big hurry."
Just then the two heard a distantly familiar voice calling out to them. "Hey! Hey!"
The two Heart Pirates paused when they saw Brownbeard running towards them with passengers on his back. Sitting over his shoulder was Straw Hat Luffy. The young man was grinning wildly while waving at them. He shouted, "It's you! Do you remember me?! Thank you for your help that one time!"
"Law, isn't that…" Neo trailed off.
Law finished the words for her. "Straw Hat."
"Uh." Neo flinched when her eyes lifted up from the pirate's face and lock onto the straw hat on his head. She swallowed hard. The story of her godfather giving Straw Hat that hat and the times she started to glow from looking at the hat pounded her head.
"Hey!" Luffy shouted again. He jumped off Brownbeard's shoulder when the man stopped and ran over to them.
Neo swallowed again and stepped closer to Law until her arm was pressed against his. Her eyebrows turned up in worry. 'Law, that's my godfather's hat! What if I start glowing again?'
'The times you started glowing you were concentrating on the hat. Just try not to concentrate on it so much. That should keep you from glowing. But, for safety's sake, just get behind me. I'll be your shield if you do start to glow. Try not to though. I can't shield you from everyone out here. The navy could also see you glowing.'
'Right.' Neo rushed herself around Law and to his left side so he was in between her and the Straw Hat pirates.
"This is incredible! I really didn't expect to see you here at all!" Luffy said once he was finally close enough to them. He placed his hands on his hips and smiled. "Thanks a lot for helping me out back then! Oh! Hey! Where are the talking bear and the others that were with you on Sabaody? Why is it just you two? Or are the others inside this building?"
Neo took a quick glance at Law when she felt something stirring with in him. 'Are you surprised he survived, Law?'
'No, not really. He was already pretty strong back then. I'm more surprised to see him and his crew here on Punk Hazard.' Law frowned then addressed Straw Hat directly. "You don't have to thank me for that. I was only acting on a spur of the moment kind of thing. We are both pirates here. Don't ever forget that, Straw Hat."
"Yeah, I know. We're all enemies when it comes to the search and fight for finding the One Piece treasure, but I owe so many people for helping me out two years ago. I wouldn't have survived that at all with out you. I just saw Jimbei and now you. I can't believe how lucky I am to see you both! Thanks so much!" Luffy looks at Neo. His smile became brighter upon seeing her. "Oh, hey! Why are you hiding behind Tra there?! You are that girl who was at the Sabaody auction house, right?"
"Uh, yeah. I was," Neo replied softly with a nod at him. Without realizing it, her eyes drift back up to his hat. She swallowed again. Her heart started pounding. She started to smell a familiar mixture of booze and Shanks' scent. Or she thought she smelled it. She wasn't really sure if she was or if she was imagining it. Suddenly, she felt her body moving. When she blinked it brought her attention away from the straw hat and back to her own body and to Law. She had started glowing. Law had caught it quick enough and started pushing her out of the Straw Hats sights with his sword. She ducked behind Law and forced herself to stop glowing.
"Hm?" Luffy blinked in confusion at her sudden disappearance. "Why did you hide for? Oh, I get it. You're shy, huh?"
"She is. So leave her alone," Law said.
"Ah, well, there's no need to be shy. We're not strangers after all," Luffy said with his ever present grin. Neo peaked out from Law's arm. The Straw Hat pirate locked his eyes on her. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy. You probably already know that since we've met before. But I don't think I know your name."
"It's Neo," Neo replied without thinking. She took a step out to let the young man get a better look at her.
Law raised an eyebrow at her in curiosity and concern on whether or not she was going to start glowing again. So far, she didn't. He did feel her struggling to keep her eyes on Straw Hat's face and not her godfather's hat.
"Hey! There's a navy solider on the ground!" Usopp suddenly yelled, pulling Luffy's eyes away from the two Heart Pirates. "Isn't that…could it possibly be…"
"Hey, help me out here, Trafalgar! They've taken me prisoner!" Brownbeard then shouted. He then smiled and waved gleefully at Neo. "Oh! Good day, Lady Law! How are you doing today?"
"Uh, I'm fine. I would ask the same of you, but…" Neo trailed off as she looked at the Straw Hats who were staring back at her with curiosity. She shifted on her feet.
"Yeah. I'm in a bit of a pickle right now." Brownbeard nodded.
Neo nodded back at him then turned her attention to the navy soldiers when they came running and shouting up to their unconscious leader.
"Smoker! No!" Tashigi shouted, her body now back to normal. She gasped when she saw him lying on the ground.
Neo almost felt sorry for them both. Almost.
"Smokey!" the soldiers yelled.
"The navy?! Oh? Wait a second, isn't she…" Luffy asked, his attention on the swordswoman.
"Oh no, Luffy! The navy's here!" Usopp shouted out.
"I thought so! It's Smokey and his clan! It's been a while!" Luffy shouted with much more enthusiasm than Neo thought was appropriate. She raised an eyebrow at the young man.
'Is he seriously being friendly with the navy?'
'You're one to talk considering how soft you are with them and how Jory is also in the navy.' Law shot her a smirk.
She smiled and stuck her tongue out at him. 'It's not the same. Straw Hat willingly and openly fights the navy without hesitation. I hesitate. Plus, Jory is one of my people and a friend. I wonder how he's doing. I hope he's okay and that no one has noticed he's not human. He's surrounded by a lot of powerful people.'
'I'm sure he's fine. Besides, he said before that if anything happens he could always return to Luminous.'
'I wonder if he really would. Or if he would risk his life to come warn us if something happened.'
'If something happened? Like what?' Law raised an eyebrow at her.
'I don't know. But you know people are starting to take more notice of my inhuman nature. Smoker already knows the truth about me not being human just from this little battle. And you know anything can happen. If it does, Jory will leave the navy, even if it's by desertion. Maybe I should have ordered him to go straight back to Luminous if anyone ever did find out the truth about us.'
'Relax, Neo. Jory is smart enough to make the right decisions if it happens to come to that.'
Neo and Law were forced out of their private conversation when the navy captain's voice shrieked out at them. She screamed, "How dare you! How dare you! How dare you!"
Tashigi, through her tears and screams, grabbed her sword and charged blindly at Neo and Law.
Neo took a few steps back as Law turned to face her. He said, "Calm down, woman. You really shouldn't get over emotional in situations like this. You're running in blindly. You should know better than that. It could cost you your life. Room." Law jutted out his sword twice, once at Tashigi and once at Smoker. "Shambles."
Tashigi collapsed to the ground while Law continued to address her. He said, "You just never learn, navy girl. Don't get so serious."
"Captain!" Soldiers voice rang out while they ran over to their fallen captain.
Neo narrowed her eyebrows and wondered if they were going to be stupid and try to fight them as well. But before she could think much on it, the Straw Hat sniper shouted out at his captain. "Luffy! Come one! Let's get out of here! Now! It's dangerous for us to stay with the navy around!"
"Right!" Luffy nodded to his subordinate then turned back to Law and Neo. "Hey, Tra, there's something I wanted to ask you about."
"Head around to the backside of the laboratory," Law said before Straw Hat could actually ask his question. "You'll find what you're looking for there. I'm sure we'll see each other again. We both have something we want to take back after all."
Law then walked back over to Neo. He locked eyes with her for a second before they simultaneously headed for the laboratory. He let her go inside first then closed the door behind them, ignoring the threats coming from the navy that lingered behind them. Once inside, they walk down the hall in silence for a while. She was searching for Chopper's location. When she found him outside, she said, "Well, this just took a seriously unexpected turn. Didn't it?" When Law didn't reply to her, she continued, "I can sense Chopper. He's outside, just outside the back of the lab. If the kids are with him, then they're outside too. They're probably freezing."
Law sighed heavily. With his eyebrows narrowed, he turned to her. "Neo, you have got to stop worrying about those kids so much. They are not our responsibility."
"I know that, Law," Neo said. They stopped walking. She looked up at him. "But they're just children. If the navy is here then it's best for them to take the kids. I just want them to be safely returned to their-"
"Neo! Enough!" Law snapped. Neo flinched and recoiled from him. "I don't want to hear another word about those kids! For the last time, they are not our responsibility! You need to distance yourself from them! I don't want to have to order you stay away from them, but I will if you keep on insisting on helping them escape from this place!"
Neo held Law's harsh gaze for a second before dropping her eyes from his. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. Tears stung her eyes. She closed them and willed herself not to cry.
Law turned from her and started back down the hall towards Caesar's lab. His heart took several painful beats. His head was trying to spin with guilt at snapping at her and threatening to order her away from the children. But he was right. Wasn't he? He sighed internally when he felt her close herself off to him. I'm sorry, Neo. But you have to stop worrying about them so much. It's for your own good. Please, understand that.
Law slowed his walking a bit until he felt Neo finally heading towards him. She kept her mind and her body distant from him during their walk. The thick, painful silence between them seemed to grow thicker with each step they took. When they had reached their destination, Law paused and pulled out the two hearts he had acquired since arriving on this island.
Neo glanced over at him. Still closed off to each other, she had no choice but to use her voice to speak to him. Cautiously, she asked, "So…what are you going to do with those?"
'I'm going to give Caesar Monet's heart.' Law thought to her, opening himself back up to her so they could talk privately. He knew she needed to be aware of what he was planning.
'What? Why?'
'White Chase might be useful later on. He'll need his heart back.' And that was all he said in the moment. Law then pocketed Smoker's heart and turned to the door. Without another word or thought to Neo, he opened the door for them. He allowed Neo to go inside first before stepping into the room himself.
"What the heck have you done, Law?!" Caesar's very upset voice echo through the air when they entered.
"I'm the one who should be complaining here," Law replied.
Neo ignored both of them. She just when directly to one of the couches in the room and sat down without a word or a glance at anyone. She felt Monet's eyes on her when she sat down, but she just ignored the woman. She really didn't feel like dealing with the fake harpy's bizarre attitude towards her. She crossed her arms and legs, doing her best to keep her face neutral so she didn't give anything away to the bird woman.
Law and Caesar's arguing was fading in her ears as her mind became jumbled with the current mess she found herself in. Part of her knew that Law was right. She didn't need to get attached to these kids. They didn't know who these kids really were, where they were from, or who their parents even were.
But another part of her knew that Law was wrong. She had the right to become attached to these children. And she did. It just happened without her really noticing it. Her family, after all, wasn't here with them. They were on Zou, weeks away. She needed the distraction to help keep her sanity in tack and her homesickness a bay. She knew playing with the kids was a much-needed distraction. The only other way she would have been able to survive this would have been to cling to Law ever second of ever day while they were here. But she knew that wasn't possible. It just wasn't humanly, or elementally, possible for them to do that even with their bond.
Their bond. Neo flinched at those two words spun in her head. In this moment, their bond felt broken to her. It was rare for them to fight. She hated every second when they did fight. But maybe their bond was an issue this time. They had been trapped on this island for months without any real breaks from each other, without the crew to separate them and distract them with other tasks.
Neo swallowed hard. Her mouth had become dry, her head was spinning with a painful thought that just passed through her mind. Forcing back the tears that pressed against her eyes, she forced herself to look over at Law who was still arguing with Caesar. The painful thought repetitively hammering into her brain. Even with our bond, is it possible Law and me are spending too much time together?
…
Author's Notes: Sorry another bad fighting chapter. I just can't get the hang of these things. :
KittyCCCC: Yup. True.
SilverHerron: PMed ya.
inazumame1997: Glad ya liked it.
rodinaashraf: So close to Chopper and Neo cuteness. Soooo close!
PuddyKatz: You might be right. It's never over until the last chapter.
Apple Bloom: That would be nice, but Lin already has a family.
loveanimation4life: Hi! Never heard of the transferring M thing before. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks. Though I think that is all the M I'm going to do. I think. It's more natural for me to just imply. I got done what I wanted so I'll probably go back to that. Law only read that one part of the book, not the entire thing. Plus, he's distracted with their mission. That way I keep Law human. He can't always notice 'everything'. It wouldn't be realistic if he did. And it adds suspense.
