Chasing Fairy Thieves
"Oh! Come on!" Usopp shouted. "We can't cross over that thing! Didn't you hear what that guy said?! Those fighting fish attack an iron bridge! We're not that strong! We'll be like toothpicks to those things!"
"No. We're not changing anything," Law repeated, taking a drink of his coffee. He jerked his thumb to the passing people around them. "What concerns me more is the state this country is in. Their king just quit suddenly. Yet, they're carrying on like nothing has happened."
"That's what I'm worried about!" Usopp hissed at Law. He then turned to Robin when he noticed she was pulling her hat lower over her eyes. "What's wrong? What are you doing, Robin?"
"Shh." Robin placed her finger over her lips. When she did this, the group looked around to see what caused such a reaction from the woman.
Caesar screamed, his eyes and tongue popping out of his mouth, when he saw what Robin did.
"Who is that?" Usopp asked when three very tall people, dressed in white coats and tribal masks painted on their faces walked by them.
"CP-0," Law replied.
"CP-0? Do they have anything to do with CP-9?" Usopp asked.
"They are the strongest intelligence organization in the world. Cipher Pol Aigis Zero. They're the greatest of all of those organizations," Robin replied in a hushed voice.
"What?! CP-9 about wiped us out! And this group is stronger than them?!" Usopp struggled to keep his tone low so no one could hear him. He didn't want to draw any attention to them, especially from a group of people that were stronger than CP-9.
"Nothing good can come from them being here," Robin said.
"Indeed," Law said. He pulled his eyes from the people of the town, trying to push their bizarrely calm attitude about their king abandoning the throne and the presence of CP-0 from his mind as the men from that organization walked away from them. I hope they don't run into Neo while they're here. Judging from where she is and the location of the docks, they shouldn't run into each other. Hopefully. "Drink up. We need to get going soon."
"Fine! But get Neo back here!" Usopp demanded. "She's good with animals! She surely could tame the fight fish or something! Then we could easily cross over!"
"That's right!" Caesar chimed in. "Or, at the very least, she could use her water crystals to push back the ocean! That way the water will be pushed back away from the bridge and we can cross safely! The fighting fish won't be able to get close enough to hit us or the bridge."
"I'm not putting Neo under that much stress," Law replied. He glared at the scientist and the sniper from behind his sunglasses while trying to keep his protective rage under control. He couldn't let himself drop any hints to anyone, outside of the Straw Hat crew, that he's more worried and protective of Neo than usual. He was pretty sure Caesar would connect the dots easy enough, if giving enough clues. And he knew without a doubt the man would tell Doflamingo the second he could. And that was the last thing he wanted.
"What are you talking about?!" Caesar asked. "I know she's a lot powerful than you have been letting on! She could easily push back an entire ocean! I know she could! Don't lie to me, Law! Why did you even let her take off on us like that?! She's supposed to be part of your team! Get her back here! Pronto!"
"You should know better than to tell me what to do by now, Caesar. Besides, Neo can do as she pleases," Law replied. He picked up his coffee and took a sip. "She'll come back to me when she's ready."
"Oh! Come on!" Usopp whined. "I know you can call-Ouch!"
Law shot Usopp a glare from behind his sunglasses while kicking the sniper in the shin. Shut up, you idiot! Caesar doesn't know everything about our bond! Do you want to ruin everything?!
"What's wrong with you?" Caesar asked the sniper.
"I was just-" Usopp started but paused when Robin elbowed him in the ribs. He started to protest again, but quickly realized he almost blew Neo and Law's secret wide open. He sighed. "Never mind. Let's just get this over with."
Usopp took his straw into his mouth and looked over at the damaged bridge. He certainly was not looking forward to this.
…
Neo glanced up from her running. Her eyes roamed over the wavy roofs of the buildings that made up Dressrosa. All these buildings look like where built to look like cakes and gingerbread houses. That one looks like an ice cream cake. Those stairs looks like taffy. Those cluster of buildings look like gingerbread houses. Oh! And that one looks like that cinnamon cake I made for Shachi's birthday that one time. Man, I really loved that cake. It took so long to decorate it. Still kind of sad that most of it ended up on the crew instead of in their stomachs. But, all well, I guess it doesn't matter. We still ate the majority of it. And the crew looked so cute. They looked like cakes themselves. She giggled when images of her crew spotted in cinnamon cake, white icing, and burning candles on their heads and shoulders popped into her mind. Law wasn't happy with the minor food fight- that was started by accident when a crewmate tripped and smashed his cake into Tero's face- but she easily settled him down when she licked icing off his skin and promised the crew would eat as much of the cake as they could salvage.
"What's up with you?" Zoro asked when Neo suddenly started giggling. "If you keep giggling like that, people are going to notice your bells."
"I can't help it," Neo replied, her eyes trailing hungrily over the buildings around them. A bright smile appeared on her face as her stomach rumbled. "I just noticed that all these buildings look like cakes and gingerbread houses. It reminded me of a little food fight that my crew got into on Shachi's birthday. And it reminded me that I'm still hungry."
"You sound just like Luffy. I guess this just happens when a woman is preg-Ack!" Zoro clamped his hand over his mouth to silence himself. He peaked over at her from the corner of his eye, wondering if she caught his almost slip up. She did.
"What were you about to say about women?" Neo asked. She forced herself to pull her hungry gaze away from the buildings so she could look at the swordsman. Her sunglasses fell down on her nose so her electric blue eyes were revealed to the man beside her. They sparkled at him with innocence and curiosity.
"N-nothing," Zoro replied. He focused his gaze ahead of him. He knew he shouldn't look at her. If he did, he knew he wouldn't be able to lie to her. Curse her and her big blue eyes! Why does she have to make me so weak?! I have to be more careful about what I say around her. I definitely do not want or need a hysterical woman on my hands. Focus on running. Focus on getting your sword back. But, he couldn't stop himself from peaking over at her. She was still staring at him with curiosity and pure innocence and an insanely sweet smile that should not have been possible for anyone to pull off. She blinked. He twitched. Mentally growling at himself, he forced his eyes away from her. Focus, stupid! Just keep your eyes ahead of you! Don't let her wrap you around her finger with those eyes of hers! "It's nothing. Let's just focus on catching up with that little thief."
"All right then," Neo said. She pulled her eyes away from the swordsman and looked forward. "Turn right here."
"Right!" Zoro nodded, grateful to feel her gaze leave him. At least she's not the type to push when someone doesn't want to talk about something.
Unable to stop herself, Neo's eyes returned to the cake style buildings around them. Her mind, and stomach, bombarded her with a list of food she would have liked to eat right there on the spot. Pizza, ice cream, turkey sandwiches, pickles, grilled fish, fried rice…Geez. I'm so hungry. And tried. Neo's eyebrows perched up when she realized she was panting and very tired. That's weird. Why am I so tired all of a sudden? Am I getting sick? Is my magic messing up again?
"Hm?" Zoro peaked over at Neo as they continued to run through the town. He noticed she looked a little out of breath, worn down, and was starting to drop a little behind him. Great. Her pregnancy symptoms are in over drive. Food cravings, tiredness, playfulness, if the cook is right on that one. What next? I hope we don't get into a fight any time soon. "Hey, are you okay? You look kind of tired. You don't have to come with me if you need to stop. I can find that thing on my own."
"Don't worry about it. I'm just fine," Neo replied with a little smile.
"Don't over do it. If you need to stop, just say so. That cook is still following us. He can stay with you," Zoro said.
"That's not necessary," Neo replied. She glanced over her shoulder to check on Sanji. The blonde man was still trailing behind a few yards, but was steadily catching up to them. "There's nothing wrong."
"Well, if you say so. Are we still on its trail?" Zoro asked.
"Yeah." Neo nodded. She pointed ahead of them. "It went down those stairs."
"Right," Zoro said while moving closer to Neo.
"Huh?" Neo glanced at him when he got closer. "What are you-Oh!"
Neo tensed, her heartbeat increased, when Zoro suddenly scooped her up into his arms. He said, "Hold on! We're taking these stairs in one step!"
"We're doing what?!" Neo asked before Zoro launched them into the air. Out of reflex, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gasped in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Zoro asked, enjoying her expression. "I thought you were use to flying."
"Jumping down a huge flight of stairs is not flying." Neo smirked at him before playfully pinching his cheek. Her heartbeat went back to normal as her body relaxed in his hold. "You're really a silly swordsman, aren't you? You should show this side of you more often."
"Sh-shut up!" Zoro tried to snap, but his voice came out as a stutter instead. He felt his cheeks heat up and became even warmer when Neo noticed.
"You're blushing!" Neo squealed. She tightened her hold on him and nuzzled his red cheek, completely comfortable in his arms. "You're cute when you blush! I really want to see this side of you more often!"
"Shut up!" Zoro growled through gritted teeth. Cursed pregnant elemental playfulness! Why me? I should just dump her on the ground right here and now! Why am I still holding her?! Ah! Crap! She's got me whooped too! I'm just like that stupid cook! How is that possible?!
…
"So which way did it go?" Zoro asked when they finally descended from the air and landed back on the stone streets.
"To the right. Over there," Neo replied. She pointed to in the direction she was talking about between two buildings.
"Right." Zoro nodded before running of in the direction Neo pointed in.
"Hey!" Sanji growled when he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Who said you could carrying her like that?! You put Neo down! Right! This! Second!"
"Shut up! She was feeling tired!" Zoro growled back.
"Then let me carry her!" Sanji said.
"No way! You're covered in smoke!" Zoro replied.
"Fine! Carry her! But don't drop her!" Sanji's eyebrow twitched in annoyance that he had no real comeback for Zoro's remark. It was true. His clothes did smell like smoke. And carrying Neo would put her far to close to it. He wouldn't put her or the baby in danger. "And forget about that stupid sword! You don't need three of them anyway!"
"What?! I do too! I use Three Sword Style!" Zoro glared back at Sanji from over his shoulder.
"You two are so funny! And you're so cute!" Neo squealed again. "I want to keep you two! You are officially a part of our crew!"
"What?! Of course you can keep us, Neo!" Sanji cooed. Hearts popped into his eyes as he picked up his running and came to be side by side with Zoro. "We'd love to be apart of your crew!"
"What are you two saying?! We're already part of the Straw Hats!" Zoro said. "We can't be part of the Heart Pirates!"
"Yes. You. Can." Neo pouted. She then giggled at the nervous look Zoro gave her and tightened her arms around his neck. She pecked his cheek and said, "I like you. You're cute."
"Trafalgar won't like you going around trying to recruit new crewmates," Zoro pointed out in a desperate attempt to save himself. "He's the captain of your crew. It's his decision who gets added on."
"He won't mind. I'm co-captain after all," Neo replied. Her eyes grew around and very puppy like. She batted her long eyelashes at the swordsman while making circles on his cheek with her finger.
"She's got you!" Sanji laughed when Zoro's cheeks turned red.
"You're co-captain? Shut up, you stupid idiot cook!" Zoro asked, his cheeks growing warm once again and causing Sanji to laugh even more at his distress. Trying to ignore the playfulness Neo was doling out on him, he turned his eyes back to her. "I thought crews only had captains and vice captains. How are you on the same level as a captain?"
"Well, I am his wife, right?" Neo moved her finger up Zoro's cheek to his hair. Pinching a lock of his green hair, she tugged on it. "He loves me. So he gave me the same position as him over our crew."
"You command your crew?" Zoro asked. "Get your hand out of my hair!"
"I won't. And, yes, I have command over our crew. Despite never really giving them actual orders, I'm their captain just as Law is. They listen to me out of love anyway," Neo replied, trailing her finger to his earrings. "Your earrings are cute, but I like Law's better. If Law wore a style like this, I think I'd choke on them when I suck on his ears. I know he wouldn't like that. So he'd never wearing a style like this. It looks good on you, though."
Sanji snorted then laughed even harder at the predicament Zoro was in. When the swordsman growled at him, Sanji said, "What? You are the one who insisted on carrying her!"
"I didn't think she'd do something like this," Zoro said through gritted teeth. Suddenly, he realized they got distracted and skidded to a stop. He looked around to try and find the thief, since Neo was preoccupied. "Just great. Hey, Neo! Where did it go?"
"Hm? Where did what go?" Neo blinked innocently.
"The thief fairy thing that stole my sword," Zoro replied.
"I dunno," Neo said.
"What do you mean by that?!" Zoro demanded. "You said you could sense it!"
"Why are you yelling at me?" Neo asked, her eyes watered while her bottom lip pooched out. She sniffled. "I didn't mean to make you angry."
"Moss head!" Sanji whacked Zoro over the head. "You made her cry!"
"I didn't mean too!" Zoro gasped. His heart took a couple fast beats at the tears in Neo's eyes. He definitely did not mean to make her cry.
"Apologize, you stupid swordsman!" Sanji ordered.
"I have no reason to apologize!" Zoro growled.
"Y-you hate me, don't you?" Neo asked. Her tears bubbled up over her eyelids as her sunglasses fell down on her nose again. "I wanna go back to Law! You're mean!"
"What?! I am not!" Zoro gasped.
"Apologize!" Sanji hissed.
Giving in with a disgruntled sigh, he said, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"R-really?" Neo sniffed. She brushed her finger under her eyes, wiping away her tears.
"Yes! I'm very sorry! I didn't mean to upset you!" Zoro looked around, trying to find something that would help him solve this problem. He spotted a little blonde girl with an ice cream cone in her hand. Sure Neo didn't care much for sweets, but it had to help, at least a little. Right? "I'll, uh, buy you an ice cream! Would you like that?"
"Yeah! Ice cream!" Neo threw her hands up in the air and kicked her feet. "I want vanilla!"
"Well that was easy," Sanji said with a satisfied smile.
"Shut up," Zoro replied while Neo wrapped her arms back around his neck with hearts floating around her.
"Fine. Let's find her some ice cream then get going," Sanji said. He looked around for an ice cream vendor, but stopped when his eyes landed on a beautiful black haired woman with curves to spare. "Oh, that's…"
"What is it? Did you see the fairy?" Zoro asked.
"No. That's no fairy. She's must be a goddess," Sanji said in a low, mesmerized tone.
"Goddess?" Neo blinked. She looked at the woman that Sanji was talking about. She tilted her head and turned her eyebrows up in confusion. "She's just a human. She's not a goddess. I don't understand."
"Ignore him, Neo," Zoro said, shifting her into a better position. "He's just being a stupid, perverted cook again."
Neo squealed when she saw the love struck look on Sanji's face. She pointed at him and said, "How funny! He looks just like the crew when they're trying to get a woman and have se-hmmph!"
"Just stop talking," Zoro said, quickly setting her back down on her feet and clamping a hand over her mouth.
Neo blinked at him, but didn't try to remove his hand from her lips. She turned her eyes back to the dark haired woman when one of the men beside the woman started strumming a guitar and the other man started singing in a language she's heard before, but didn't understand. She watched as the woman began to dance, in her option, a very complicated dance. The woman stomped her feet, clapped her hands, took spins, pivoted her hips, while holding a rose in her mouth. "What's the point of the rose?"
"I don't know," Zoro replied. "Who cares?"
"Hm?" Neo blinked when the woman stopped dancing and tossed the flower to Sanji while the crowd paid her off with claps of enjoyment at her performance. A frown formed on her lips as she spoke. "Does that mean she likes Sanji? I won't like it if she tries to take him away from me."
"You don't have to worry about that," Zoro replied.
"Why not?" Neo asked, bring her eyes back to him.
"Trust me. There's no need to worry," Zoro said.
"She's beautiful!" Sanji then said.
"Did you forget that women stab men in this country?" Zoro asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "A guy like you will definitely get stabbed if you try anything here."
"I forgot about that," Neo said. Her frown turned into a smile. "Sanji's not going anywhere then. He can get stabbed. Law will fix him."
"Well, I didn't realize you had such a devious side to you," Zoro said to the blue haired woman beside him. "I like it."
"Maybe I do. But Law will fix him if he get's stabbed. Anyway, that was a nice dance," Neo said, her eyes wandering cautiously over the crowd of people around them. She took a nervous step closer to Zoro and tugged on his sleeve. "But I'm bored. Can we get my ice cream now?"
"Yeah. Let's go," Zoro said. He turned from the dancer and walked away with Neo following close behind.
…
"I don't mind getting stabbed!" Sanji shrieked. When he got no snide remark from Zoro, he whipped around. His heart about jumped into his throat when he realized Neo and Zoro were gone. "Ah! That stupid moss head! He wandered off again! And this time with Neo! She's going to be lost to us forever! How could I be so stupid?! I just took my eyes of him for a second! If he get's Neo into trouble I'm going to flambé him!"
Sanji huffed and puffed while imagining Zoro being set on fire. He snickered at the pleasure his imagination gave him before looking around. "Geez. How the heck am I going to find them? They could be anywhere. Law's going to kill me for letting her wander off like this. Wait a second. Neo can sense where Law and Luffy are."
Sanji released a relieved sigh. He put his hands on his hips and smiled. "I was worried for nothing. Neo will be fine. She can always go back to Law. That was her plan to begin with anyway. I can look around. Zoro? Who cares about him? I can say I tried to find him. The crew knows how hard it is at times to find that jerk when he wanders off. Maybe we'll get lucky and leave him here. But then, that would probably make Neo cry. I guess we'll have to find him before leaving. Man. I was so close. Might as well look around for a while. Maybe I'll get unlucky and find him."
Sanji shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away.
…
"Well, that's just weird," Usopp said once his group finally reached Green Bit after a hard struggle with the fighting fish as they crossed the bridge. Someone on the other side of the damaged bridge caught and killed one of the fish then drug it to the island. They all stared down at the drag marks in the dirt where the giant fish had been pulled. But the fish was nowhere in sight. It looked as if the fish disappeared somehow. "What the heck do you think happened back there? Who caught that fish? And where did a fish of that size go? It couldn't have just disappeared, could it?"
"I have no idea," Robin replied.
"Who care?" Caesar grumbled. "I can't believe you took my heart and made me fly all three of you cross that bridge! If you wanted to fly you should have brought Neo with you! Her winds would have been far more effective in flying you lazy bums over here than my gas!"
Blatantly ignoring Caesar's complain, Law listened to others voice the questions that he had too but didn't voice them until he felt Neo's mood becoming extremely playful. Already knowing it was because of her pregnancy, he wondered which of the Straw Hats was at the end of her cuteness attack and what, exactly, she was doing to them. Straw Hat would, undoubtedly, love her playfulness and would be joining her in whatever she was doing. Blackleg would probably love it too and flirt with her, the idea made his chest tight with jealousy. Forcing the Straw Hat flirt from his mind, he wondered how the other three would handle it. Franky appeared to be the type to just laugh it off while indulging her. Kin'emon, he had no idea what the samurai would do. He hoped he didn't try anything inappropriate. But with the others with Neo, he shouldn't. The last was Zoro. The swordsman didn't seem like the type to deal with such playfulness willingly. But Law figured Neo could handle him easily. She had a gift that weakened several powerful men with just a look. Law's jealousy came back at that thought.
"Hey, Trafalgar," Usopp said, sliding up beside the warlord. Lowering his voice, he asked, "Do you think that Neo could have sensed whatever those things were that caught that giant fish?"
"How should I know?" Law asked, grateful for having his thoughts interrupted.
"You're her husband!" Usopp snapped.
"That doesn't mean I know the answer to that," Law replied as he glided his eyes over the fog that was lifting off the island. "We don't even know who, or what, those people were. They could have been humans for all we know."
"I suppose your correct," Usopp said with a sigh. He pulled his eyes from Law and looked around the clearing island. He gasped when the fog lifted. Building size vegetation greeted the pirates' eyes. "What the heck?! Wow! This is one wild looking forest!"
Law smiled at the large greenery before him. He easily knew that Neo would have loved this place. He could picture her sliding around on the large plant vines that dipped and curved around this crazy forest, diving off the large leafs, dancing around on the large pumpkins and mushrooms. And she would definitively be playing with the animals here. He almost started to feel guilty that he didn't bring her with him. Almost. He wanted to call out to her to come to him. But he didn't. The ominous thought of Doflamingo coming close to her quickly stemmed any desire he had to call her to him. In just about fifteen minutes, the older warlord would be arriving on this island to reclaim Caesar. Surely he could get Neo to stay away from the island long enough for this exchange to happen.
…
"Hm?" Neo hummed while looking over her shoulder. She saw plenty of blonde men in the crowds around them, but none of them Sanji. "Sanji's not following us anymore."
"Don't worry about him. He's probably still back with that dancer woman," Zoro replied. With his hands in his pockets, he looked around for the thief. His eyes trailed over adults, kids, dogs, toys, buildings, food vendors, but no fairy thief. "I'm sure he'll show up eventually."
"I guess your right. Now for some yummy ice cream. You said I could have some. Remember?!" Neo said as she skipped along beside the swordsman. She poked him on the right shoulder. "Right? Right? Right?"
"Only if you find that fairy again," Zoro said. He cast a sideways glance at her. "Promise?"
"Okay! I'll find the fairy for ice cream!" Neo threw her hands up into the air. She skipped a few feet ahead of Zoro. When her eyes landed on a brown haired man wearing a white shirt selling ice cream cones, she squealed and pointed at him. "There! There! Ice cream!"
"All right, all right," Zoro said. He then gasped. What the heck?! I sound like I'm her father!
"Let's go!" Neo shouted. She grabbed Zoro's arm and pulled him towards the ice cream vendor.
"Good afternoon," the man said. "What can I get for you today?"
"A vanilla ice cream cone!" Neo cheered. "Two scopes, please!"
The man laughed at her enthusiasm while opening the lid to the ice cream cooler in front of him. He grabbed a cone and scooped out the ice cream while saying, "Well, aren't you just the cutest thing ever? I'll give you an extra scope for free because you're just so cute."
"Yeah! Thank you!" Neo cheered again. She took her ice cream when the man held it out to her and took a lick. The cool creamy treat melted over her tongue. "It so yummy!"
Without thinking, and with a sigh, Zoro pulled out his wallet and paid for her ice cream. The ice cream vendor took his money then bid them a farewell. "Have a nice day. And keep a close eye on your little sister. This is a nice place to live, but we do have some shady characters around here. And I know plenty of them wouldn't think twice about taking such a little cutie as she is for all kinds of dirty deeds."
"Yeah. I'll keep an eye on her. Good day to you too," Zoro said, waving with his left hand while putting up his wallet with the other. While they walked away, he finally realized what just happened with a jaw dropping gasp. "What the heck?! How did I end up paying for her ice cream?! And I just practically admitted she was my sister!"
"You're funny," Neo said while licking her ice cream and taking in his jaw dropped expression. "If you keep your mouth hanging open like that, you're going to end up eating bugs."
"Shut up. Eat your blasted ice cream. And tell me where that fairy is," Zoro said with clenched teeth and forced control. His eyebrow twitched when all she did was stare at him with a smile while licking her ice cream. "Well? Tell me where that fairy went."
"But you said to shut up," Neo pointed out. Her eyes sparkled behind her sunglasses when Zoro's eyebrow twitched again. "I can't tell you and shut up at the same time. So which is it?"
Zoro growled. How in the world does Trafalgar put up with this? With a deep, some what relaxing breath, he said, "Don't shut up. Tell me where the fairy is."
Neo hummed and focused her magic on the world around her. Within a few seconds, she turned southwest and pointed. She said, "It went that way. It's slowing down a bit. So it probably ran into a fairly big crowd that it has to dodge around. You know, I think it would be smarter if it ran across the rooftops. No one ever looks up. I learned that a little after I first started training with the crew. It's a good place for an ambush. Plus, the creature wouldn't have to keep dodging everyone."
"Let's just go," Zoro said. He grabbed her wrist and took off running.
"There it is," Neo said taking another lick of her ice cream.
"What?!" Zoro looked up to see the bundle they had been chasing zigzag out of a group of people. "Wait! You thieving fairy!"
"Yelling is not the way to get their attention. They're just going to keep on running," Neo said.
"Just eat your ice cream and follow me!" Zoro replied.
"Okay!" Neo chirped. She turned her eyes down to her ice cream, noticing she already ate half of it. That's odd. I usually don't devour sweets like this. But it's just so yummy. At least it's not making me feel sick. I wonder, if I don't eat all of this, will Zoro finish it for me like Law would? I wonder what Law is going right now. I can sense him to the north near large plants. They must be on Green Bit by now. I think. How long until the exchange happens? I really don't want Law alone when Doflamingo arrives on that island. Her eyes brought her attention back to her ice cream and problem on whether or not it would get finished. "Hey, Zozo?"
"Zozo?! What the heck did you call me that for?!" Zoro demanded.
"I felt like it!" Neo sang.
"Never mind. What did you want?" Zoro asked.
"If I don't finish all my ice cream, will you finish it for me?" Neo asked.
"Huh? Why would I do that? Just throw it away if you don't want it," Zoro said.
"That's a waste of food. I will not," Neo said with a pout. "You'll finish it if I don't."
"Fine. I don't have time to argue," Zoro said with a huff. "If you can't finish it, I'll finish it for you."
"Yeah! Thanks, Zozo!" Neo cheered.
"Good grief. If she keeps this up, I'm sending her back to Trafalgar," Zoro grumbled to himself.
…
"I'm not going to let you get away, you thief fairy!" Zoro growled when he spotted the bag again.
Neo smiled while she nibbled on her cone. I know I shouldn't be enjoying this, but I can't help myself. Zoro is huge compared to whatever that fairy thing is. And yet here he is basically getting his butt kicked by it. Penguin and the crew would rib him about this for weeks. I wonder what they're doing. Sadness trickled into her chest. Oh, great. Don't think about them. You'll cry again. Focus on your ice cream and Zoro. She looked up just in time to see Zoro catching up to the thief. But the thief picked up on its own speed and pulled a head of the swordsman. "You almost had it."
"Almost is not good enough!" Zoro replied, picking up on his own speed again.
"If he picks up on his speed too much I won't be able to keep up without my crystals," Neo said as she watched Zoro skid passed the alleyway that the fairy made a sudden turn down. She caught up to him when he stopped and stared at the crowd in the alley.
"Ah! Where did it go?!" Zoro asked.
"Up on the roofs," Neo replied far too casually for Zoro's liking.
"Why didn't you say that sooner?!" Zoro demanded.
"It just went up?" Neo offered, nibbling on the last few inches of her cone. She pointed up to the roofs. "Are we going after it? There it is."
"You're driving me crazy!" Zoro scratched his head in frustration before running after the thief again. He bolted forward, dodged a couple people, and jumped up onto a red and white painted stone ledge jutting out of a building.
"Hm. Looks like I'm going to get a pretty good workout today," Neo said. She popped the last bit of her cone into her mouth and followed after Zoro. She bent her knees in preparation to follow Zoro's ascend. "Well, Tero and Bepo, let's see if all that training you two put me through will help me keep up with a Straw Hat."
With a good, hearty push, Neo shot herself into the air, without her crystals. She landed on the same stone ledge that Zoro did and followed his path cross the ledges of the buildings while humming a happy tune to herself. Landing on the roof, she started after the swordsman again. Skipping along before she suddenly felt Luffy moving around in a very fast pace. She paused and looked northeast of her position, wondering why Luffy would be moving like that. She heard Zoro cry out and pulled her eyes back to where he was. She gasped when she saw him going flying, head over heels, over the ledge of the roof they were on. "Ah! Zoro!"
Neo summoned her wind crystals. Wrapping the wind around her, she flew herself over the edge. Her heart racing with worry that he had gotten hurt when she could have prevented it. Her eyes filled with tears as she descended back down to the ground and saw him laying on his back. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but stopped when she noticed something blue and out of place sitting on top of Zoro's stomach.
"I have to get out of here! Otherwise this human will… Huh?!" it say before pausing when Zoro lifted his head, his sunglasses falling off, and looked at it. Neo hovered in the air. Her head tilted in curiosity while the little blue thing started crawling backwards away from Zoro. "Excuse me."
Zoro shot his hand out and grabbed the creature before sitting up. He asked, "Who, or what, are you?"
The creature whimpered then started crying. Her tiny, scared, upset voice made Neo's heart squeeze with sympathy. The creature cried, "I'm so dumb! So dumb and stupid and blockheaded! I knew it! I knew that I would fail like this someday!"
"What is this thing? Is this really what they call a fairy?" Zoro asked.
Neo lowered herself to the ground. Bending her knees, she sat down on Zoro's right side while her eyes remained locked on the blue haired, blue clad creature in the swordsman's hold. The creature looked like a tiny human with a pointed nose. Tugging off her sunglasses, she slipped them on the bill of Law's hat and said, "Oh, she's so cute. But what is she?"
"I have no idea," Zoro replied. His eyes, too, were locked on the creature in his hand.
"Oh! Are you all right? You took quite a fall," Neo said, but kept her eyes on the creature.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Zoro replied. "Hey, are you a toy?"
"I'm not a toy! I'm Wicka! A Tontatta!" the creature replied, tears pooling around her blue eyes as she pleaded to them. "Please! You can't tell anyone that you saw me! I'm begging you!"
"I have no idea what's going on here," Zoro said.
"I don't have time for this!" Wicka suddenly bellowed.
"Oh… there, there," Neo cooed while Zoro sat the creature down on the ground. "It's all right."
"What? Did you think we were going to eat you or something?" Zoro asked. "Just tell us what's going on."
"I'm sorry. I can't share any information with you big humans," Wicka said, folding her hands in front of her like she was praying. "I'm sorry. I have to go now."
Neo blinked just before Wicka took one step and suddenly screamed. "What is it?"
"What's wrong?" Zoro added.
"I can't walk! I think I twisted my ankle earlier!" Wicka said, dropping to her hands and knees. She dropped even lower to the ground and started pounding on it with far more force than her little body should have allowed. "I'm so dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb…"
"Is she causing an earthquake?" Zoro asked when the ground around them started shaking and cracking.
Neo linked to the earth around her to make sure that this little creature really wasn't causing an earthquake. She relaxed when she found the damage was only being done near them. She said, "No. She's just really strong. No one else is feeling this. We're lucky. This would be hard to explain if someone else noticed."
"She sure is strong. She's smashing the ground to pieces," Zoro said, eyeing the cracked stone around them.
"Come here, you," Neo said, scooping her hands under the creature's body.
"Careful, Neo. If she can damage stone that easily, just imagine what she can do with bones," Zoro said.
"She won't hurt me," Neo replied. Just as she knew, when she lifted Wicka up off the ground, the little blue haired creature stopped pounding her fists. She smiled when Wicka looked up at her. "That's better. You're a cute little thing. I like you better when you're not crying."
"I'm… I'm sorry," Wicka replied. She brushed the tears out of her eyes then gave Neo a small smile of her own. "You're pretty cute too. I love the color of your eyes. They're so electric. Huh?"
"What is it?" Neo asked, curiously.
"You… you're not human," Wicka stated.
"No. I'm not," Neo replied. "You must be pretty strong if you noticed that immediately. Uh, what did you say you were?"
"A Tontatta," Wicka replied.
"And your name was?" Neo asked.
"Wicka," Wicka repeated with a pouty lip.
"Okay, Wicka." Neo nodded. She then pointed at herself then at Zoro while introducing them. "I'm Neo. And this is Zoro."
"Hi." Wicka waved.
Neo shifted Wicka into her left hand while reaching for the little person with her right. Curiously, she brushed her fingertip and eyes along Wicka's puffy pigtailed hair, her arm, her hat, then down to her back where she noticed a tail sticking out of the little body. She said, "Is that a tail?"
"It is." Wicka nodded, seemingly fine with the curious inspection Neo was bestowing upon her. "It helps me run fast. It can also be used as a weapon."
"Wow. You're so incredible," Neo said. "And your hair is so fluffy and soft."
"Okay, okay. You two girls can chitchat later over how pretty you think each others hair and eyes are," Zoro said, interrupting them. "I want to know what's going on here."
"Zoro! You're being rude!" Neo snapped.
Zoro flinched and recoiled at Neo's unexpected snappy tone. "S-sorry."
"Now, Wicka, will you tell us what's going on?" Neo asked, turning back to the blue hair Tontatta.
"Oh, um, please! You have to take me to my commander!" Wicka dropped to her knees. Placing her hands on Neo's, she begged them for help while giving Zoro a pointed look. "When you come right down to it, this is all your fault."
"Hey! You're the one who stole my sword!" Zoro snapped. "This is your fault!"
"What do you mean by that? We manage the greenery of this land." Wicka placed her hand on her chest and glared at Zoro. "The big people of this kingdom call us "fairies" and give us things!"
"They're not giving you anything! You're stealing them!" Zoro replied.
"Waaa! What am I doing?! I said too much again! I have to go! I'm a member of a scouting unit! I have to report the Don Quixote Family's locations to my commander!" Wicka cried.
"What's she talking about?" Neo asked.
"How should I know?" Zoro blinked. "I haven't understood a single thing she's said this entire time. I'm not even sure if she knows what she's talking about."
"Now is our chance! I saw the Don Quixote Family on their way to attack the Straw Hat's ship!" Wicka continued.
"What?!" Zoro shouted.
"They're attacking the ship?!" Neo gasped. She brought Wicka up closer to her face. "Are you sure?!"
"Yes! I saw them myself! I have to go!" Wicka said before gasping in realization. She grabbed her hair and started tugging on it. "I'm so dumb! I told them everything!"
"Hey, is that true?! I'm a member of the Straw Hats!" Zoro said, his eyes widened in worry as his heart thumped in his chest.
"I'm so dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! I'm a blockhead!" Wicka cried, still pulling on her hair.
"Stop that!" Zoro hissed, grabbing the Tontatta from Neo's hand.
"Be careful, Zoro!" Neo warned.
"I'm not hurting her. Now, calm down, fairy!" Zoro ordered. "Is what you said really true? Is the Don Quixote Family really going to attack the Sunny?!"
"Yes. It's a secret. But I saw it! Oh, I did it again!" Wicka whined upon realizing she just spilled everything, again, to the pirates.
"What do we do, Zoro?" Neo asked. Her own heart started to increase its beating. She took a couple slow breaths to calm herself down. She didn't want to alarm Law again.
"I don't know. We don't have a transponder snail on us," Zoro replied. He looked over Neo's shoulder and into the town of bustling people. "I can't believe out of all of us, they're going to go attack those four."
"I could go warn them. Or I could send Chopper a mental message," Neo said.
"Mental message? Can you do that?" Zoro asked, setting Wicka down on the ground.
"What do you mean?" Wicka asked.
"It's a long story," Neo replied, looking down at the Tontatta. She then looked back up at Zoro. "I could try. I've never done it this far before. I can barely sense Chopper from this distance."
"Try," Zoro said.
Neo nodded. She closed her eyes and took a relaxing breath. Chopper? Chopper, can you hear me? If you can, the Don Quixote Family is planning to attack you! Chopper! Please! You have to get out of there!
"Well?" Zoro asked when he couldn't wait any longer.
"I don't think he heard me," Neo replied with a sigh.
"All right, I'm going back to the Sunny," Zoro replied, pushing his glasses back up on his face. He jumped up to his feet and took off running.
"That's the wrong way," Neo said.
"Wait! Take me to the Flower Field first!" Wicka called out. "I'll take you to your ship after that!"
"No, I'm going to head to the ship right now!" Zoro growled.
"But that's the wrong way," Wicka and Neo said. "The sea is in the other direction."
"What?!" Zoro skidded to a stop and turned back to the girls.
"You don't know which way to go, do you?" Wicka asked.
"Well, he does have a terrible sense of direction," Neo replied.
"Really?" Wicka looked up at Neo.
"Yup." Neo nodded.
"Hey! I do not!" Zoro protested. "I'm just fine with directions! I always get where I'm going!"
"Zoro, take Wicka to the Flower Field," Neo said, ignoring Zoro's rant.
"What? What are you going to do?" Zoro asked, walking back to his friend.
"I'm going to go inform Luffy of this," Neo replied.
"What about Trafalgar and Chopper?" Zoro asked, a bit stunned she was going to Luffy instead.
"I can…" Neo took a quick glance at Wicka from the corner of her eyes before looking back at Zoro. "…tell Law too. You'll take care of Chopper. I just need to go see Luffy. Something isn't right. He's moving around very erratically."
"What do you mean by that?" Zoro asked.
"I think he might be in a fight," Neo replied.
"What?! With the Don Quixote Family?!" Zoro shrieked. "How long have you known about this?"
"Just for a minute or two," Neo replied. "I felt him when I was still on the roof."
"And you're just now saying something about it?!" Zoro demanded.
"Sorry," Neo replied, giving him the most innocent look possible. "Are you upset with me? I didn't mean to not tell you. I just got distracted. Wicka is just so cute."
Zoro's eyebrows twitched. Knowing he didn't have any defenses that would work on her when she got like this, he sighed. "It's fine. You go ahead and go tell Luffy and Trafalgar about this. I'm heading back to the-"
"Flower Field!" Neo butted in while placing Wicka into Zoro's jacket.
"What?! I have to get back to the Sunny!" Zoro snapped.
"After you take Wicka to the Flower Field," Neo replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "It is your fault that she got hurt."
"What?! It is not!" Zoro protested. "She's the one who took my sword!"
"Please, Zozo," Neo cooed as she placed her hands onto his chest, careful to not squash Wicka as she did so. She smiled sweetly at him while batting her eyelashes. "Please?"
"Uh, I… um… w-why are you so instant on this?" Zoro asked, doing his best not to get pulled in to her cuteness, but failing miserably. "You don't even know this creature."
"I know. But she's telling us the truth. She's a good person," Neo said looking down at Wicka. "I can tell."
"Thank you! Thank you!" Wicka cried, tears running down her cheeks. "Thank you so much for taking me to the Flower Field!"
"Fine." Zoro huffed while recalling Law telling them about Neo's instincts back on the Sunny. "I'll take her. And what about you? You're not supposed to be alone."
"It'll only be for a minute or two," Neo said. Focusing on Luffy, she estimated him to be a lot closer to her than Law was. "And there's about fifteen minutes left until Law hand's Caesar over to Doflamingo. That's plenty of time to inform Luffy and get to Law."
"Are you sure?" Zoro gave her a skeptical look. "From what I can tell, you've never been alone since you came to live with the Heart Pirates."
"Are you saying I can't take care of myself?" Neo planted her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyebrows at him.
"No, it's just…" Zoro paused. Wicka looked up at him then over at Neo, but said nothing. "Look, if you get freaked out, go to or call Trafalgar immediately."
"I know that," Neo said. She tilted her head when Zoro didn't move. "It's fine, Zoro. I'm always connected to Law. I'll be fine. Go on."
Zoro took a half step turn. Keeping his eyes locked on Neo before he finally forced himself to turn away from her completely. Without another look, he bolted out of the alleyway.
Neo watched him go with a smile. With a light shake of her head, she headed for the exit herself. She felt her heartbeat steadily increasing with each step that took her closer to the lively streets of Dressrosa. Her body automatically paused when she was three feet from stepping out of the concealing walls of the alleyway. Her body temperature dropped. Her hands shook and became clammy. Her vision blurred as the laughing and chatters of the townspeople became loud and pounded her ears. Her stomach took a violent turn. Stumbling back from the crowds, she placed one hand over her mouth and the other over her stomach.
'Neo? What's wrong? Your blood pressure is too high.'
Neo gagged.
'Neo?'
She gagged again.
'Neo, I order you to take a deep breath.'
Neo's lungs drew in air and released it slowly. Pressing her back to the wall, she slid down and wrapped her arms around her knees.
'Now, tell me what happened.'
'I just got a bit scared.'
'Of what? You're still with the Straw Hats, right?'
Neo flinched.
'Neo.'
She flinched again with Law took on his captain tone with her. Sighing she said, "I'm sorry, Law. Don't get upset with them. This was my decision."
'What do you mean? What decision?'
"The group kind of got split up," Neo replied. She waited for Law to reply, but he didn't. She felt him fuming and saw thousands of murder scenarios running through her lover's mind. "Law, please, don't get upset. I've been with at least one of them until now."
'So why are you alone now?'
"Well, we have a little problem," Neo replied, grateful Law forced himself to stop thinking about how he could painfully torture then murder the Straw Hats. "The Sunny is under attack."
'What?!'
"The Don Quixote Family is there or heading their right now," Neo explained. "It's kind of hard to say how I know this, but I was told by a reliable source. Zoro is on his way there after running a little favor for this person. I'm heading, or I'm trying, to head for Luffy to tell him about this."
'Straw Hat? What the heck is he doing?! I figured he would surely stay with you! I never should have trusted him to take care of you!'
"Law, enough. This isn't Luffy's fault. I told you I'm on my own because I chose to be. I just freaked out a little bit since this is the first time I've done this," Neo said. She turned her eyes to the people passing her by. She swallowed and quickly looked away. "But I know I'm fine. I'm not hurt. I'm scared, a bit, but not hurt. I know you're still close enough to me. Luffy's not that far away from me either. I can get there just fine. I just needed a minute to speak to you. And you came through for me like you always do. Although… you seem a bit more intense this time. Are you okay? Has anything gone awry on your end? You are on Green Bit, right?"
'Yes, we've arrived at Green Bit. And nothing's wrong.'
Neo kneaded her eyebrows. She knew Law would never lie to her, but something in his tone didn't seem right. While his thoughts were very distant from her, they weren't really blocked. "Law-"
'You should get to Straw Hat. I accept you being on your own. You've proven many times you are capable of making your own decisions. I'm proud of you, love.'
"Thanks, Law." Neo's lips curled into a light smile.
'Go ahead and fly to Straw Hat now.'
Neo's smile vanished. Her eyes turned back towards the people. She swallowed despite her dry throat. "I'm walking."
Neo bit back a giggle when she felt Law's blood pressure spike. She held her tongue while letting him process her willingness to walk around with a bunch of strangers, alone. She knew she made the right decision. She had to do this. She wanted to do this. She might never ever do this again, under her own choice and power, but she was going to do this now. She needed to do this. She needed to know if she could.
'You don't need my permission. But you have my support.' Neo's heart fluttered at Law's words. It was clear to her that he knew why she was really doing it. And he knew without the help of their bond. 'Just take it one step at a time. And breathe. If you need to, you can always take to the air with your crystals and fly to Straw Hat. And you know you can always talk to me.'
"Yeah. I know, Law." Neo nodded. "Thanks."
Conversation ended, Neo pushed herself back up to her feet. She placed her sunglasses back over her eyes and stared at the end of the alleyway. People. So many people were passing by. So many people with no idea what would happen if they touched her. She shook her head. That wasn't going to be happening. This country might have a lot of people, but it wasn't over crowded. There was plenty of room for her to walk through without getting touched.
She took one step.
Her hands trembled. She clenched and unclenched her hands to steady them.
She took another step.
Sweat started to bead on her forehead. Her head pounded in beat with her racing heart.
Her stomach spun.
She took a deep breath and took another step and then another and another and another until she was standing at the edge of the alleyway.
Deep breath in, deep breath out, she looked around.
Her pulse hammering just under her skin as she carefully surveyed the people and town before her. No one seemed to notice she was there. A couple looked her way, but quickly turned back to their own conversations without another look in her direction. Her pulse slowed down to a steady beat until someone passed by her causing it to pick up speed again. But she didn't run. She didn't flinch.
She took one last deep breath before lifting her right foot up. Releasing her breath, she took the last step that put her out into the world for the first time alone. A smile formed on her lips before she started walking, slowly, through the town.
…
Author's Notes: Finally! I've wanted to torture Zoro like that for so long now!
Inazumame1997: Yup.
AoiAi: They sure are.
Apple Bloom: More coming!
Chasegirl11: Not really. They just feel really weird to Neo. She's fine once she adjusts to them. It's not something could ever use against her.
