Rebecca

Neo drew in a shaky breath as her vision blurred and the world around her started to sway and split. She closed her eyes and rested her head on Luffy's shoulder.

"Hm? Hey, are you feeling okay?" Luffy asked as he bolted down the hall with her in his arms. He cast a sideways glance at her, inspecting her drained expression, when she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Why do you ask?" Neo questioned, lifting her head off his shoulder. She noticed her vision had cleared up, but she still didn't feel very good.

"You look a bit flushed and tired," Luffy said, eyeing Neo's pink cheeks. "I know you were just crying, but you also feel kind of warm."

"Oh, yeah. I think I do have a bit of a fever. And I did get sick earlier when I was waiting for you," Neo replied with a nod. She lifted her fingers to her forehead. Upon touching her skin, she found that she was a bit feverish. She lowered her hand back down and put it back around Luffy's neck. "But I'll be okay. It's probably just from worrying about Law and getting so upset earlier. I'm sure it'll go away when my magic is working again and I know that Law is safe. We have more pressing problems to worry about. Like how we are going to get away from those men who want to fight you." She looked back in the direction they had just come from. The old man was still on the ground, but the blonde man had started running after them again. "What are we going to do now? The one with the sword has started chasing you again."

"Wait, Straw Hat!" the blonde man screamed. "Hey, you can't run from a fight! Now, put that woman down and fight me!"

"What's wrong with them?!" Luffy asked, picking up his speed. "They're so persistent!"

"What exactly did you do to get them so angry with you?" Neo asked, turning her eyes back to the group of men now chasing them. She noticed that along with the four that had confronted Luffy before, a fifth man had joined the chase. "There's another now too. He has some wild green hair. It's kind of funny looking. Reminds me of a rooster. It's cute. Do you think he's friendly or does he want to fight you too? I can't tell. But what did you do to them to get them so angry?"

"I didn't do anything to them!" Luffy wailed as he turned a corner.

"Wait!"

"Hold on a second!"

"Come back here!"

"Please wait!"

Neo forced herself to pull her eyes away from the small group of five chasing them when they rounded the corner. She turned her eyes to her surroundings and tried to make a mental note of where she was and were the exit was. But with how fast Luffy was running she barely caught a clear glimpse of anything. All she could see was a bunch of fighters standing around, the muddy colored stonewalls, and the candles that were lined up on the wall for light in the dark halls of the coliseum. Just then Luffy took them into a large room that was void of people. "Where are we?"

"I'm not really sure," Luffy replied. He sat her down on her feet, but took a hold of her hand. "I was looking for a safe place to hide from those guys. But there doesn't seem to be such a place that I feel comfortable enough."

"I'm not really familiar with these types of places. I don't know where we are or where we could go. And it doesn't help that I don't have my magic," Neo said as she looked around the room. There were a couple doors, plus the one they just ran through, in this room, but nothing else. She had no idea where any of the doors led to, with the exception of the door they just ran through. And they certainly weren't going to go back through that one. Taking a small step away from Luffy, she carefully scanned her eyes over the room. A cold chill ran down her spine from the room. For the first time she noticed that there was a lot of darkness in coliseum and not from the lack of lightening. She felt like voices from the past were trying to reach out to her and tell her all of the gritted details that went on in a place like this. She had the strange feeling that this seemingly happy country wasn't as happy as it appeared to be. It made her shiver and step back towards Luffy.

"Hm? What's wrong? Are you cold?" Luffy asked upon seeing her shiver.

"A little bit," Neo replied, rubbing her free hand on her arm. "It's nothing. Let's just get going."

"Yeah. But which way?" Luffy asked, looking around the room.

"This way, Lucy!" a soft, female voice said.

Neo turned her eyes towards the voice just as a young woman with pink hair appeared, grabbed Luffy's arm, and pulled him down an unfamiliar hall. Without question, Neo followed since Luffy was still holding onto her hand. She remained quiet as Luffy said, "Oh, aren't you… um… uh…"

"It's Rebecca," the girl said with a smile. "I've noticed you've made quite a lot of enemies. Just follow me."

"Sure. Thanks a lot," Luffy said.

"Uh, Luf-cy?" Neo said.

"It's okay," Luffy said. He turned his eyes to Neo and smiled. "I've met this girl before."

"You a friend of Lucy's?" Rebecca asked, turned her eyes back to Neo and Luffy. "Wait a second. You're not one of the fighters that signed up for the fights today. How did you manage to get in here?"

"Uh." Neo blinked. I have no clue what to say. I never planned on staying in here long enough to need a back story for the reason of being here.

"She's a friend of mine," Luffy replied. "She came to get me because Law is in troub-"

"Lucy!" Neo hissed. She gave his hand a sharp squeeze and pulled him closer to her. Lowering her voice, she said, "You can't mention Law. Or that he's fighting Doflamingo."

"Oh! Right! I'm sorry!" Luffy replied.

Neo sighed internally. She turned her eyes back to Rebecca. The young woman didn't seem to catch their conversation as she continued to lead them through the coliseum.

"By that logic, Shiryu is no different!"

"Huh? Ah!" Neo gasped when Luffy suddenly skidded to a stop and she flew past him only to be anchored down by his hold. She stumbled back to him, just barely missing tripping over her own feet as she did. "Lucy? What did you suddenly stop for? You could have given me a little warning before doing that."

Neo paused when she noticed Luffy's intense expression. She followed his gaze to a man wearing a black and orange mask with long purplish colored hair and beard sitting on a stone bench with a transponder snail in his hand. She shivered at the intense, dark aura the man was giving off. Feeling insecure without her magic, and without knowing what was going on with Law, she stepped closer to Luffy. She looked down at their connected hands when his squeezed hers. She wasn't sure if he did it to let her know he was there or if he did it out of tension because of this strange man.

"But I don't trust Aokiji at all!" the man screamed into his transponder snail.

Neo kneaded her eyebrows. Aokiji? Does he know the former admiral somehow? Wait… that man looks familiar. I think that's Burgess of the Blackbeard Pirates. What's he doing here?

"Huh? Oh, hold on a second, Captain," Burgess said when he noticed Neo and Luffy standing there. "Straw Hat is here."

"Are you really there?" Blackbeard asked from the transponder snail. "Straw Hat Luffy?"

Neo shivered from the sound of the pirate's voice and the sight of the transponder snail when Burgess turned it towards them. She's never met this man before, but she's heard plenty of things about him. And none of them were good.

"You… you're Blackbeard!" Luffy growled.

Neo took a glance at Luffy before quickly returning her eyes to Burgess. If I remember correctly, Blackbeard was at the Marineford war when Luffy's brother died. I'm assuming with the dangerous aura Luffy is putting off right now that he has some history with Blackbeard. I wonder if it has something to do with Ace.

"You're Blackbeard, aren't you?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, it's me! It's been a while! Hasn't it?" Blackbeard said. "I heard that you were taking part in the competition today, Lucy! But my man, Burgess, is going to win the flame flame fruit! This will be great! I can't wait because it'll be like having my very own Fire Fist Ace in my crew! He turned me down in the past, you know?!"

"You're not going to get that devil fruit, Blackbeard! You guys are the last people I want to have Ace's power!" Luffy declared, causing both Blackbeard and Burgess to laugh.

"Only time will tell, Lucy. I can't wait to fight you in the finals! Make sure you rest up well for that!" Burgess then said before getting up and walking off without another word.

Neo kept her eyes on Burgess as he walked away from them until she sensed Rebecca walking back over to them. She then turned her eyes to the young, pink haired girl. Finally getting a good look at the young girl, she couldn't help but notice something familiar about the girl. She also noticed that it was the same feeling she got from Sanji when the cook was teaching her how to dance. She kneaded her eyebrows slightly and wondered why she would get this feeling from them, and what this feeling actually meant.

"We better get going," Rebecca said, pulling Neo from her thoughts. "Those guys are still after you."

"Hey, Lucy, let's go," Neo said. She squeezed his hand when he still didn't respond. "Lucy?"

"Lucy!" Rebecca called.

"Right." Luffy nodded, finally hearing them.

"Let's go then," Rebecca said as she turned away from them.

"Lucy?" Neo asked, looking at Luffy. She started to become worried when all Luffy did was stare off in the direction that Burgess walked off in. She stepped closer to him and leaned in towards his ear. "Luffy, are you all right? What's wrong?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Come on," Luffy said. He gave Neo a quick smiled before once again taking the lead in following after Rebecca. While they ran to catch up to their new friend, Neo watched Luffy's expression.

"Do you know that pirate?" Rebecca asked a minute later.

Neo turned pulled her attention off Luffy and onto Rebecca. The pink haired woman was looking back at them from over her shoulder. Neo tilted her head. She noticed that Rebecca was just a teenager, probably younger than Luffy. She wondered how old this girl was exactly and why someone so young was fighting in a place like this to begin with.

"Yeah. I know him. And he's the last person that I want to win Ace's flame flame fruit," Luffy replied before suddenly stopping when they came upon a food vendor.

"Ah!" Neo cried as she bumped into him. She stumbled backwards a couple feet before catching herself. "Lucy! What did I tell you before about suddenly stopping?!"

"I'm sorry," Luffy said with a laugh. He reached out to the food vendor and grabbed a toothpick that was jammed into small pieces of food before he held it up to Neo's face. "Hey! Look, Neo! They have food samples! Do you want some too?!"

Neo took one look at the sample in Luffy's hand. It looked to be some form of breaded meat that was wrapped with onions. The smell and the sight of it caused her stomach to turn. She shot her right hand up to her mouth to try and keep herself from gagging while taking a step back from the offensive food.

"Huh? Is something wrong? You look a bit pale," Luffy said upon seeing Neo's usual dark skin turn white. He lowered the food a bit, but didn't remove it from her face.

"I'm okay," Neo said. Using her free hand, she pushed the food and Luffy's hand away from her face, and then dropped her own hand down to her stomach. "I think I am getting sick. The sight and smell of the food is making me feel very nauseous."

"Huh? Are you sure? It's really good," Luffy said, finally taking the offending food away from Neo and shoving it into his mouth. "So yummy. Not as good as Sanji's, but still very good. Are you sure you don't want any?"

"I'm sure." Neo nodded. She forced herself to look away from the food. She didn't think she would retch again, since she didn't think she had anything left in her stomach to give up, but she didn't want to take the chance. She busied herself by looking around the room. Several tables and chairs with yellow umbrellas, which she thought was pointless being indoors, were scattered near the vendor for fighters to sit at and enjoy some lunch. Some of the coliseum fights were currently sitting at the tables talking among themselves and eating. The fighters didn't seem to care that they were there, but she still jumped when one of them looked at her. She turned away from them and continued to run her eyes over the room. So far it seemed that the only people around were fighters and the vendor lady, but she knew there were official people running around the coliseum somewhere. She wondered what she would do or say if or when they finally ran into one of them. She still didn't have a story to explain why and how she got into this place. All she could do was silently hope that Rebecca got them to a good enough hiding place and that her magic returned soon. If she had her magic, she could easily pull the air out of peoples lungs if they tried to remove her from Luffy.

"Hey, old lady, are there no more samples?" Luffy asked, pulling Neo's attention back to him.

"Hey! You're just going to keep on eat and not buy anything, aren't you?!" The old lady pointed at Luffy accusingly.

Neo inspected the old woman. She looked nice enough, but was clearly getting annoyed at Luffy's continuous sampling of her food with no intent of buying anything. She reached into her pocket to pull out her money, but stopped when Rebecca's voice rang out.

"Hey! Just a second!" Rebecca called as she ran back over to them. "I'm sorry, ma'am! Which one do you want, Lucy?"

"What?! Are you going to buy it for me?!" Luffy screamed in delight.

"Or you could just buy it yourself, Lucy," Neo said, but he didn't hear her. She sighed. All well. He probably doesn't have any money with him. She continued to pull out her own money. Silently she counted how much money she had with her. She then looked up at Rebecca. "Rebecca, you don't have to buy him anything. I can do it."

"It's fine," Rebecca said with a smile. "I don't mind at all. You just save your own money for now. You'll probably need it later."

"That's nice of you," Neo said. She glanced at Luffy, who was drooling over the lunch boxes on the counter. "But Lucy's not your responsibility. And he's being a bit rude. I'm sorry. He's just like that, I guess."

"I really don't mind. Beside you two are guests here," Rebecca replied.

"Oh, Rebecca, are they friends of yours?" the old woman then asked.

"Sort of. Lucy is a competitor in the fight today," Rebecca replied with a smile for the old woman. She then turned and looked at Luffy. "Go ahead, Lucy. Pick out what you want."

"Great! Thanks a lot!" Luffy smiled. He turned to the vendor booth and swiped a couple lunch boxes off the counter. "I'll take these!"

Neo sighed. She shoved her money back into her pocket and stared down at the floor. She really didn't feel like dealing with any of this. So she didn't argue. She was more worried about Law anyway. She wondered what and how Law was doing at the moment. Was he still on Green Bit? Did he get off Green Bit? Was he still fighting Doflamingo? He did get a hold of Nami? How were the others doing? Was he with the other Straw Hats by now?

"What about you?" Rebecca's voice asked, breaking through Neo's worried thoughts. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Huh?" Neo lifted her eyes to Rebecca upon noticing the girl was talking to her. "Oh, no, thank you. I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure?" Rebecca asked.

"I'm sure." Neo nodded. She rubbed her hand on her stomach. "I'm not really feeling well at the moment. If I eat right now, I might get sick again. And I don't want that to happen."

"Again?" Rebecca blinked. Her eyes filling with concern as she scanned her gaze over Neo's face. "You do look a bit pale. Do you need to see a doctor? They have some medics here in the coliseum for fighters once they're done with their fight. I know you're not a fighter here, but if you're really sick I'm sure they'll take a look at you. Or they might let you leave the coliseum so you can go to the hospital."

"No, thank you. I don't need to go see anyone. I'll be all right," Neo replied with a smile.

"Well, if you're sure," Rebecca said with a slow nod.

"I am." Neo nodded firmly. "I can always come back and get something later if I feel like eating then."

"Very well then. But if you really start to feel sick, please let me know." Rebecca said.

"Sure. I don't see why not," Neo replied.

"Great." Rebecca said with a relieved smile. She then turned to the vendor and paid for Luffy's lunch boxes, using up all of her money in the process.

"Thank you," the old woman said with a happy wave. "Come by any time."

"Let's go now," Rebecca then said to Neo and Luffy. The two pirates nodded and started to follow the young woman once again.

Neo carefully made sure to keep an eye on her surroundings in her typical effort to know where she was and how to escape, but also to keep herself distracted from the smells of Luffy's lunch boxes. The food was still making her feel very nauseous. She glanced back behind them at the rounded halls of the coliseum. She hadn't heard those men yelling anymore so they had lost them at some point in time. She wondered if it would stay that way or if the men would somehow find them.

"Here," Rebecca's voice said.

Neo pulled her eyes back to the girl. The female fighter was pulling open a large door. She hesitated a bit when Rebecca signaled for them to go inside. But she quickly followed after Luffy when he stepped inside of the new room. Upon stepping into the room, she noticed it was more musky smelling that the areas that they had been in before. She also noticed a faint, familiar smell of medical supplies and blood. She kneaded her eyebrows and carefully took in the room. The walls to her left and the prison cells to her right were curved so she knew they were on the outer edges of the coliseum. She also carefully noted that lined up again the left wall were weapons. There were a variety of axes, swords, spears, and hatches, just waiting to be used. Weapons? At least they have swords here. If I need it, I can borrow one until my magic comes back.

"It looks so yummy! I'm going to eat now!" Luffy announced, breaking Neo's concentration of studying the room they were in. She glanced at him just as he picked up his fork, speared him a bite of food, and then shoved it into his mouth. She noticed Luffy and Rebecca was sitting on a bench just in front of the cells before her stomach turned at the sight of Luffy's lunch. She quickly looked away and took a deep breath, relaxing breath.

"Sorry that I don't have that much money," Rebecca said. "I could have bought you a couple more if I did."

"No, thank you for buying me lunch, Rebecca," Luffy said with his mouthful.

"I'm sorry he made you buy him lunch," Neo said from the opposite side of the room. She ran her eyes over all of the weapons lined up against the wall again before she turned towards Rebecca. She put her hands behind her back in her typical habit of tugging on her hair. But she forgot once again that her hair was tuck back into her disguise. She had to settle for tugging on her raincoat for now. So she pinched a hold of the fabric and tugged. "I have enough money on me to pay you back. Please, let me do that. I can always get reimbursed from Lucy later."

"Don't worry about it. I really don't mind at all," Rebecca said with a smile. "You keep your money. You'll be leaving this coliseum later today and might need it."

"Oh, well… okay then. If you really insist," Neo said with a small nod. "But I really would like to make it up to you later. Maybe I can buy you lunch sometime in return? Or maybe dinner since this fight will go past lunch time."

"Yeah." Rebecca said. She lowered her eyes to the floor.

Neo tilted her head. She noticed Rebecca's eyes turned strangely sharp with hate for a split second. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing," Rebecca replied. She brought her eyes back up and smiled. "And, if you really insist on paying me back in that way, then I won't stop you."

"Okay." Neo studied Rebecca's soft eyes. I know I wasn't imagining things. Rebecca's eyes did change. They were filled with such hatred and anger. I wonder why. And who were those emotions directed towards? She turned from the female gladiator, knowing she most likely won't get any answers, at least at the moment, and started walking around the room again. She continued her inspection of the weapons and her surroundings while she heard Luffy speak up.

Luffy chewed up his current bite of food, swallowed, then looked around the room they were in. "By the way, where are we? What is this place?"

"This is a quarter for us gladiators of the coliseum," Rebecca replied. "But some people have called this place a prison."

Neo felt her body twitch at the female gladiators words. A prison seems fitting. That was what I first thought when I saw this place outside. She ran her eyes over the room once more. Noticing for the first time how unkempt this place really was. Along with the weapons there were empty bottles and scraps of paper scattered over the floor, and a barrel with a rag draped over the side around the area. She tensed and turned her eyes back to Rebecca when she caught a glimpse of movement. The gladiator was taking off her helmet. She relaxed upon fully seeing the harmless move. I guess other people have thought the same thing.

"Guest competitors don't come in here so you can stay here and rest until your next match," Rebecca said once her helmet was removed. "Neither of you will be bothered."

"Yeah. Okay," Luffy said between mouthfuls. "That's great. Thanks a lot."

"You're just a child," Neo said without thinking when her eyes landed on the young woman now helmet free. "I knew you were young compared to the others, but still…"

"That seems a bit odd coming from you," Rebecca said as she turned her eyes to Neo. "You look younger than I am. But I must say that you have very beautiful eyes."

"Uh, thank you," Neo said, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious for speaking out like she did. She tapped the toes of her right boot on the floor, feeling her feet starting to throb from being confined for so long. "But I'm not as young as you think. I'm twenty two."

"Really?" Rebecca blinked in disbelief. She scanned her eyes over Neo's face again. "But you look so young! I seriously thought you were around twelve years old or something! I'm sorry!"

"It's nothing to apologize for. I get that a lot." Neo tapped her boot on the floor a couple more times before stopping. "It's a fairly common mistake that people make with me. So I'm use to it."

"I see. Well, whatever you're doing to keep such a young appearance, it's working," Rebecca said, still taking in Neo's youthful appearance with a small amount of disbelief in her eyes. "I know a lot of women who would love to use a product like that. What do you use?"

Elemental blood. Neo thought before saying, "I don't use anything. I just naturally look this young. I guess you could call it a gift."

Neo flinched when Rebecca tilted her head and took a closer look at her that she's seen many times before. Rebecca was finally taking notice of her inhuman nature. She said, "There's something… different about you."

"Uh, yeah. I get that a lot t-" Neo paused when she realized that this girl was using observation haki on her. Her pulse started pounding under her skin with each passing second that Rebecca was inspecting her. Her heart skipped a beat when the pink haired girl's eyes landed on her stomach and took on a confused expression. She lifted an eyebrow before Rebecca returned her eyes to her own. She forced a flinch down when they locked eyes. She studied Rebecca just as hard as Rebecca was studying her. Her heart rate slowed down. She didn't feel threatened at all by this stranger. She knew she could trust Rebecca. So she cleared her throat, took a breath, and said, "That's something else I get a lot of. As I'm sure you just noticed."

Rebecca nodded. Neo expected her to ask questions, but she just turned to Luffy instead and said, "Your fight was amazing! I was really surprised at your strength!" The pink haired woman smiled when Luffy just took another bite of his lunch. "Is it that good? You haven't put it down once since we got here."

"Yeah, this coliseum lunch box is so good!" Luffy exclaimed before turning to her. "Aren't you hungry? You've bought this for me and offered some to Neo, but you haven't gotten yourself anything to eat yet."

Neo's eyebrows lifted up when the cheerful atmosphere around Rebecca suddenly changed to a gloomy one. She watched as Rebecca's bangs fell over her eyes.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about me. I don't get hungry," Rebecca said softly.

"Huh? It sounds like you're a samurai or something," Luffy said.

It sounds like it, but that's not what it really is. Neo thought to herself. She looked back over at the weapons that lined the wall. Rebecca doesn't appear to be the type of person who'd want to be in a place like this. So why is she here? A crash caused Neo to jump and turn her eyes back to Luffy. She gasped when she noticed two arms were wrapped around Luffy's body from the cell bars behind him. "What's going on?!"

"I got you!" a man's voice yelled. "Rebecca, do it now!"

"What?!" Neo asked. She jerked her eyes towards Rebecca. The gladiator was now standing up. The bench she and Luffy was sitting on got turned over when Luffy was ambushed. The two lunch boxes that were also on the bench was now spilled out on the floor. "Do what?! What's going on?!"

"Hurry while the girl is confused!" the man's voice said.

"What?!" Luffy screamed, his hands desperately trying to hold onto his lunch box while his body was being pinned to the bars behind him.

"You brought them here to do it, didn't you?!" the man's voice asked.

"Hey, what's going on here, Rebecca?!" Luffy asked, struggling to get free.

Neo's heart leaped in her chest when Rebecca's reply was just picking up her sword and holding it in preparation to attack.

"Hey! My lunch is going to fall!" Luffy shouted.

"Do it! You're hesitating too much! The girl's going to come to her senses!"

"What's wrong?! If you don't do it, you won't be able to continue with your plan!"

"No, don't," Neo whispered. What do I do? I don't have my crystals. And I can't fight hand to hand without them. I'll freak out if I touch her. I won't be any good for Luffy if that happens. So what do I do? The weapons! Neo jerked her eyes towards the weapons in the room and reached for them.

"Her plan?" Luffy asked.

"Do it, Rebecca!" a voice screamed.

"No!" Neo shouted as her hand grabbed the nearest sword. She turned just in time to see Rebecca pointing her sword towards Luffy with a desperate look in her eyes. She gripped the hilt of the sword with fury and charged towards Rebecca just as the gladiator jutted her sword towards Luffy. Neo's arms tingled with vibrations when she clashed her sword with Rebecca's. A loud clank resonated through the room. She pushed Rebecca back away from Luffy. Her eyes taking on a storm even if her magic wasn't working. "Stay away from him!"

"Uh!" Rebecca flinched at the violent storm that replaced Neo's calm expression. She gritted her teeth and pushed back against Neo's sword. "I never would have guessed you were a fighter! I guess there's a lot more to you than meets the eye than what I saw before! But I don't have time for this! I can't allow him to reach the finals!"

"I won't let you hurt him!" Neo hissed.

"I'm sorry," Rebecca replied.

"Huh?" Neo's eyebrows narrowed slightly upon seeing the genuine regret in Rebecca's eyes. She's not trying to kill Luffy. So why is she doing this? What's up with this girl? She pushed Rebecca back a few feet before swinging her sword at the gladiator. Their clashing swords clanked multiple times before the two locked into just pushing their swords again each other. "Why are you doing this?"

"I have to," Rebecca replied. She pushed against her sword, causing Neo to take a step back. "This is how this kind of tournament works. It's kill or be killed."

"You're lying." Neo's lips twitched into a small smile when Rebecca flinched at her words. "You don't want to kill. I can tell. I can see it in your eyes."

"You don't know anything. And you certainly don't know me!" Rebecca snapped. She pulled back her sword and swiped it a couple times at Neo.

"True." Neo easily blocked Rebecca's attacks before pinning her opponent's sword down, tip pressed against the floor. She quickly noted Rebecca's shocked expression at her skills with a sword before saying, "I don't know you at all. But I do know when someone's being resistant towards fighting."

Rebecca gritted her teeth. "And how do you know that I am?"

"Because, unless I'm fighting to protect someone I love, I'm resistant towards fighting myself," Neo said. "You really don't like fighting, do you?"

"Shut up!" Rebecca hissed. With all her strength, she pushed back against Neo's sword, throwing the elemental off balance.

Neo stumbled a bit. Bending over backwards, Neo planted her left hand on the floor just as Rebecca attempted to jump over her. She used the momentum of falling, to kick her feet up at Rebecca. She clipped the gladiator's boots, causing the young woman to get thrown off balance and land awkwardly on the floor. She quickly righted her own body position and swiped her sword at Rebecca. Their blades clashed again when Rebecca turned back towards her. Neo easily started to herd Rebecca back against the cell bars, but was halted when the sharp pain from her come and go headache stabbed her head.

"Neo!" Luffy's distant voice called out, but Neo couldn't reply to him.

The gladiator used the opportunity to push against Neo then pulled back before swiping her sword upward, knocking Neo's sword from her hands before turning her blade back towards Luffy and rushing forward. Neo gritted her teeth in frustration from her headache and from letting Rebecca get away from her. She pushed through the pain and bolted for her sword as it flew through the air. She grabbed it and turned around just in time to see Luffy sink his teeth into one of the men holding him against the bars. She watched as Luffy expertly continued the consumption of his meal while he easily avoided Rebecca's sword swipe. She relaxed, as much as she could with her head pounding from her headache, when he then planted his feet on Rebecca's arms and easily pinned her to the floor with in just a few seconds. She sighed and reprimanded herself. You shouldn't have let her get away from you. You were too soft on her. Tero would not be pleased with how you handled that and having a headache won't matter. It shouldn't have mattered that she didn't want to fight. You could have easily pinned her. I'll have to correct myself on that later. Law won't be very pleased either, but at least it's over. Wish I could say the same for this headache. Shaking it off, she walked over to Luffy.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Luffy asked when Neo got close enough. "You looked like you were in pain."

"No, I didn't get hurt. Not really anyway. I just keep getting this headache," Neo replied, rubbing her fingertips on her forehead while pointing the tip of her blade at Rebecca's neck. She looked down at the caught gladiator.

Rebecca looked at Luffy then at Neo before turning her eyes away from them both.

Neo felt a twinge of sympathy for the gladiator when she saw the guilt in her eyes before she looked away from them. Rebecca… I was right. You don't want to fight us at all.

"Rebecca got caught! I can't believe he moved faster than her!"

"I know! That other woman moved really fast as well! Who are these two?!"

Neo glanced over at the bars where the shocked voices were coming from to see who else was in the room with them. But she turned her eyes back to Rebecca when she said, "Do whatever you like to me. I accept your retribution."

"What are you talking about? I'm not going to do anything to someone who bought me food," Luffy said after a couple more bites of food.

Neo looked at Luffy and smiled. He was still standing on Rebecca's arms and eating his food happily.

"But I tried to kill you!" Rebecca snapped. "And I was going to kill your friend too!"

Neo moved her sword back a little bit when the gladiator turned her head to look at Luffy, she didn't want to accidentally poke her in the face after all. She wasn't even sure why she was still holding the sword this way.

"Eh, that's okay. Neither of us are dead," Luffy said, wiping the crumbs off his white beard. "Besides, you weren't going to kill either of us. Neo will even remove her sword from your neck. Neither of us is going to hold a grudge against you. Right, Neo?"

"Yeah." Neo nodded while retracting her borrowed sword. "I saw it too. She wasn't really trying to kill either of us."

"Ouch. Getting beaten then being shown mercy by the one's who beat you," a voice said. "It's very clear who's the superior fighters are here, Rebecca. If we could beat one devil fruit eater here, there was still a slight hope for us. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen."

"Hm?" Neo turned her eyes back to the voice coming from the darkness behind the bars. She noticed the silent people for the first time. "Who are you people?"

"Huh?! Mummies?!" Luffy gasped upon seeing the men behind the bars.

"No! We are not!" the men snapped.

"Who are you people?" Neo asked. She eyed the severely wounded men. Every single one of them was practically covered from head to toe in bandages and was missing limbs or eyes. That accounts for the smell of medical supplies and blood. But who are they? "Why are you locked in there?"

"We are convicted gladiators," a black haired man replied. He had several bandages wrapped around his body. Neo noticed he was missing a hand and probably an eye considering how the bandages were wrapped around his face. "And so is Rebecca. We are forced to fight in this place. And we'll most likely get killed someday in the ring, as part of this stupid show, just because we protested against the Doflamingo family even just the slightest little bit."

"You got thrown in here just because you spoke out against Doflamingo?" Neo asked.

The black haired man nodded. "Yeah. The king said that we would be released if we ever won a thousand times in a row."

"So he says. But it doesn't matter how tough you are, you'll die long before you come close to winning a thousand times," a blonde haired man said. "It's a hopeless endeavor for the amusement of the king and the people of Dressrosa."

"Can't you escape from here?" Neo found herself asking despite already knowing the answer. If these men could escape, they wouldn't have been locked up right now.

"No. Anyone who's ever tried to escape from this place has been shot and killed," the blonde man replied with a shake of his head.

"There's no where for us to run," the black haired man added. "Before Doflamingo became the king of this country a decade ago, these gladiatorial matches were not fought to the death. But now, in this kingdom that he governs, there are two different sides to everything. There's a very bright side and very dark side to the country."

"And that's why I'm going to win today's competition. No matter what it takes, I will win and kill Doflamingo with the flame flame fruit power!" Rebecca declared.

"What are you talking about?" Neo asked. She looked at the female gladiator and noticed a familiar fire burning in her eyes.

"Today, an army led by Soldier will come here to let us out of this place by provoking a battle against the current king, Doflamingo! Soldier is willing to sacrifice his life to destroy this kingdom! I'm not going to let him do that! I'm going to do it before he does! I don't want to be the one who's always getting protected anymore!" Rebecca replied.

"Hn." Neo flinched at Rebecca's determined words. She's fighting to protect someone she loves. Just like I do.

"I want to protect Soldier this time!" Rebecca cried. She covered her face with her hands to hide her tears. "He's going to die if he fights against Doflamingo!"

"Soldier?" Luffy asked.

"Who's that?" Neo added.

"He's a one legged toy soldier," Rebecca replied.

"A toy?" Luffy said thoughtfully.

"What is it, Lucy?" Neo asked noting his thoughtful expression.

"I met a toy like that in front of the coliseum just before entering in the tournament," Luffy replied. He turned to Neo. Noticing she was still holding the sword she borrowed, he pointed at it. "You don't have to use that thing anymore. She's not going to attack us again."

"Oh. Right." Neo looked at the sword in her hand. She then walked it back over to the opposite wall. She put it back where it belonged before walking back over to Luffy and Rebecca. She looked down at Rebecca when the teenager crossed her arms over her face. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Rebecca shook her head. "I was the one who attack you first. You were just defending yourselves. And I'm the one who needs to apologize. And, yeah, that should be him that you met. As far as I know, he's one of a kind. The only toy soldier with a missing leg."

"We would really like to help in the fight against Doflamingo. But we're not allowed out of the coliseum," one of the prisoners said. "So we can't do anything if something does happened out there in the town at any point in time."

"So you are worried that a toy is going to die?" Luffy asked. He tilted his head in thought to those words. "An actual living toy seems really odd to me."

"Well, you are not from here so it's normal for you to not understand how we feel," Rebecca said as she sat up. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. "The toys here, they're just like humans. They have become friends to people who don't have any friends. They have become siblings and playmates for kids who are only children. They become lovers for the loveless. They've brought a lot of light and love to the people of Dressrosa. But we are not allowed to live together. It doesn't make any sense. I don't understand at all why they aren't allowed to live with us in our homes.

"You sound like you're really attached to this toy soldier," Neo noted.

Rebecca nodded. "I am. Since the day I lost my mother, who was the only family that I had, this particular toy soldier has raised me. He's become like a father to me. That's why I want to protect him so much. He's my family."

"Toys that are like humans and like family to people really sounds- Huh?!" Neo gasped upon remembering the toy she had met before, the one that had an elephant inside of it. "It can't be! It's not possible!"

"What is it, Neo?" Luffy asked. "What's not possible?"

"Oh! Uh, it's nothing," Neo replied. She forced a smile to appear on her lips. I almost forgot about that elephant before. If a toy can really be an elephant, then wouldn't it be possible that a toy could really be a human? That elephant said that someone touched it and it was suddenly a toy. The same could be for humans. But why? And how? That toy at the restaurant said that it had no idea who made it or how it could move and talk on its own. Was that a lie? All of these toys had to come from somewhere. Let's just assume that there really is a kid with the power to turn people into toys. All of those people would have had to come from somewhere. Were they citizens of Dressrosa? They have to be citizens of Dressrosa. If they were from other places, then people would have come looking for them. But the same should be for the people here. If these toys really are people who lived here, why isn't anyone looking for them? Why isn't anyone questioning anything about this? Wouldn't people go looking for love ones who've disappeared? This has to be a devil fruit. But what kind of devil fruit is it that can turn people into toys and possible cause people to forget others? Is that even possible? Or is my fever talking now? Neo placed her fingers on her forehead. Her headache had disappeared at some point, but her skin was still warm with her fever.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rebecca's voice asked.

"Huh?" Neo broke free from her thoughts and looked at the girl.

"You seem a bit shaken up, uh…" Rebecca replied, carefully examining Neo. "What did Lucy call you? What's your name?"

"Neo," Neo replied. I guess it doesn't matter if she knows my name or not. She's not a bad person. And I don't think these other guys are either. She walked closer to Rebecca and sat down in front of her. "I'm sorry about before. I didn't mean to yell like I did. It's just… I know this is going to sound a bit weird, but…"

"What is it?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah. What's going on, Neo?" Luffy asked. He grabbed a hold of his ankles and leaned towards his blue haired friend.

Neo looked at Luffy then at Rebecca. I don't know if I should say anything about this. It's not like I have proof, other than the elephant. But I can't say anything about that in front of Rebecca and these other gladiators. Besides, I'm just making guesses on what that elephant told me. This could be some form of magic at work instead of a devil fruit. I should just keep quiet for now. At least until I talk to Law about this. I don't want to cause trouble. "I'm sorry. It's just… you're story kind of reminds me of my own."

"Really? How so?" Rebecca tilted her head.

"My parents were killed when I was born," Neo replied. "I never got to know them at all."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Rebecca replied with a sympathetic look.

"It's okay." Neo shook her head. "I miss them a little bit, but not much because I didn't know them. I did learn a little about them when I found my brother, Kailen."

"Found your brother?" Rebecca asked, confused.

"It's a long story," Neo replied. She paused for a moment to study Rebecca's eyes. Her instincts were screaming at her that she could trust this girl completely. And she did. Her fingers danced over Law's ring on her finger, causing her heart to flutter with love and worry for the man. She was grateful for the distraction with Rebecca but she was starting to grow concerned again. "I would like to tell you it, but I can't. Maybe some day I can. But I can understand how you feel about this Soldier. I want to always protect the people I care about as well, especially Law and our crew."

"Law?" Rebecca asked. "Who's that?"

"My husband," Neo replied quietly, her fingers still dancing over his ring.

"You're married?" Rebecca gasped. She looked down at the ring on Neo's finger. "Wow. You really are just full of surprises."

"I guess so," Neo replied with a small smile.

"I see. So that toy is…" Luffy started while he reached over and picked up part of his spilled lunch off the floor and ate it.

"Thank you for waiting! The ring has now been fully repaired!" the announcer's voice then said. "Will the contestants for the next match please make their way to the ring?!"

"Rebecca, the match is going to start soon," the blonde man said.

"Uh huh." Rebecca nodded then stood up. She gasped when she saw Luffy eating the spilled food off the floor. "Hey! What are you doing, Lucy?"

"That little scuffle earlier knocked over the lunch boxes," Luffy said around the food in his mouth. "Sorry about that. You emptied your wallet to buy these for me. They might be on the floor, but they still taste good. You know, you really don't look like a prisoner to me."

"Huh?" Rebecca gasped slightly.

"Buy me lunch again sometime," Luffy said, turning his eyes to her and laughed.

"Lucy," Neo said with a smile. "You goofball. All you ever think about is food, don't you?"

Rebecca smiled. She picked up her helmet and walked away from them while putting it on. "I'll see you at the finals, Lucy."

"Yeah!" Luffy called. "Good luck!"

"And Neo," Rebecca said as she paused to look over her shoulder with a smile. "I hope to see you again. I really would like to hear your story sometime."

Neo locked eyes with the young woman before smiling herself. "Yeah. I hope to see you again too."

Author's Notes: Sorry. Another dull chapter. I couldn't get Neo and Rebecca to connect right like it came out in my head.

Inazumame1997: Ah, okay.

Apple Bloom: Thanks. Glad ya like them. I think they're coming out dull. I see a break from this story in my future.

Noble Pirate: I am too. I keep bouncing around with how he's going to handle her. I'm not sure what to do with him. Maybe he needs to resist her until Luffy says other wise?

Silver Pride: I figure it would be better to have her realize her behavior rather than remain completely blind to it. And, hm, that's a tricky question to answer, but it probably won't be confirmed until after they leave Dressrosa. Maybe.