Scrambling
Neo watched nervously as Rebecca turned and walked away from them. When the pink haired woman disappeared from her view, an uncomfortable feeling washed over her. For some reason a strong desire to run after Rebecca and wrap the girl in her arms consumed her body. She wanted to follow her, to protect her from harm. She took a couple steps after Rebecca then managed to stop herself. It wasn't her place to tell Rebecca to not fight in the tournament, but she still wanted to do it. To keep herself from actually following Rebecca, she looked down and picked at her raincoat while shifting from foot to foot. "She'll be okay. She'll be okay. She'll be okay."
"Hm? What is it, Neo?" Luffy's voice then asked. "You're very fidgety all of a sudden. You feel sick again?"
"Not really. I'm just really worried about her," Neo replied. She forced herself to turn away from the direction Rebecca went and look at Luffy. She paused and studied Luffy's calm expression, wondering how the rubber man could be so relaxed at a time like this. Their new friend was getting ready to walk into a battlefield and Law was already in one. And there was nothing they could do for either of them all because her magic refused to work right. Clenching her fists, she tried to push the worrying aside. "It's just… she's just a kid, a teenager, fighting in a tournament with seasoned fighters. And she's a normal human with only observation haki to help her. Will she be all right fighting like that? I know some of my crew don't have any kind of powers, but they have us backing them up. I can help them. But here I'm powerless, literally."
"Ah, no worries," Luffy said with blind cheerfulness. He planted his hands on his hips and smiled. "They'll both be all right. You'll see."
"Of course she will be all right," the black haired prisoner then said. "She might not look as tough as some of the other competitors, but she's fast. She'll be just fine."
"You don't look very convinced yourselves," Neo said as she noted the worry that was present in the prisoners' faces. Among the worry, she noticed something else. They were keeping a secret from them. "What haven't you told us?"
"Yeah. Well…" one of them said. They all then looked over at the screen just as Rebecca stepped out of the coliseum for the crowd to see. Then the already dark side of the coliseum turned even darker.
"Screw you, Rebecca!"
"Cut her to pieces!"
"King Riku's line-burn in hell!"
"You're a corrupted family! Die, Rebecca!"
"What's going on?!" Neo demanded when the crowd started jeering and booing at Rebecca as she walked along the bridge to the ring. Her anger and concerns were over shadowed by her confusion. "Why are they yelling at her like that?!"
Luffy didn't have a problem with his anger. He grabbed onto the bars of the prison and shouted at the crowds through the screen. "Why does everyone hate her so much?! She's a very nice person! Screw her? Screw them! She bought me lunch!"
"We know all of that! But Rebecca's grandfather is despised by practically everyone in this country! He was the former king before Doflamingo came!" the black haired prisoner said.
"Rebecca's grandfather is a king?!" Neo gasped. "Then that means that Rebecca is a pri-pri…"
"That's right." The black haired man nodded. "Rebecca is royalty. She's a princess."
That's it! That's what I sensed from her before! Somehow I knew that she was a princess like me! Can I actually sense that from people? I don't understand. Neo's eyebrows twitched. Her eyes dropped from the screen and to the floor. But… this is the same feeling I got from Sanji when he was teaching me how to dance. And he's not royalty…is he? He never mentioned being a prince before. He wouldn't… be keeping it a secret from his friends, would he? Neo looked over at Luffy. The rubber man was still glaring and shouting at the screen as if the crowd could hear him. If he really is a prince, wouldn't he tell his friends? Do they know? Or am I mistaken?
"Drop dead, Rebecca! Die!"
"You horrible wench!"
"Today will be your execution day!"
"Set her on fire! And see how she likes being burnt!"
Neo flinched at the words the crowds kept shouting, at the hate in their glares, at the ill intent they had against one little girl. She forced herself to turn away from the screen. Covering her ears to block out the hateful voices when flashbacks of her own painful past began to pass through her mind. She bent down and rested her chin on her knees. Pulling Law's hat down over her eyes to help herself remain calm, she clenched her eyes shut in an attempt to keep herself from crying. "Stop it! Please stop talking like that! She didn't do anything wrong! It wasn't her fault!"
"Neo?" Luffy asked. He turned to Neo before squatting down beside her. He placed his hand on her back and rubbed it.
"Is she all right? She just kinda freaked out suddenly," a prisoner asked.
"This is reminding you of your past, isn't it?" Luffy asked.
"It… it is." Neo nodded. She lowered her hands from her ears and wrapped her arms around her knees with a tense sigh. "I'll be okay though. I just need a minute. I wasn't expecting the crowd to be so hateful. It caught me off guard."
"All right. You just take your time. If you need to get out of here, we can go find somewhere else to sit." Luffy nodded before standing back up.
"The battle royal in the Corrida Coliseum- Block D is about to begin! And Rebecca is really heating up the crowd!" the announcer said. "Will this be her last fight?! Will someone finally take down the granddaughter of the hated former King Riku?!"
Neo gritted her teeth. Taking some deep relaxing breaths, she reminded herself that she wasn't hurt or being hurt. She reminded herself that she was fine and safe with Luffy before she stood up and faced the screen again.
"Even if she's the former king's granddaughter, whatever he did has nothing to do with her!" Luffy growled. "They should just leave her alone!"
"Yeah, you're right," the black haired prisoner agreed.
"I never would have expected to hear that come from you since you're a fighter here too. But even though her grandfather is the former king who is hated by the whole country, Rebecca is still our hope," another prisoner said.
"Your hope? What do you mean by that?" Neo asked.
The blonde haired man nodded. "We've all be stuck in this darkness together for a long time. We've all been fighting desperately to claw our way out of the darkness but with no way out."
"We were not strong enough to fight our way out of here and we ended up getting hurt like this. Rebecca is the only one who can still fight," the black haired man said. "She's been the one who's kept our hope alive. If she can win this thing and get the flame flame fruit things will get better here."
Neo ran her eyes over every single one of the prisoners. They seem so hopeful that she can win this. But it's clear that she won't. Luffy alone is far too powerful for her to defeat. And I know he knows that. So what is Luffy going to do? I know he won't let her have that fruit. Will he fight for her? We're already in a fight with Doflamingo. Law's out there right now. She let her eyes move from the prisoners to Luffy as she started to fiddle with Law's ring in worry. Luffy was holding onto the bars again, but let them go to cross his arms over his chest. She wondered what he was thinking about when he suddenly looked determined about something. Her attention was pulled from him when the announcer started talking again. She looked to the screen just as the blonde man, that was chasing Luffy before, made his entrance on the back of a white horse. "He has a horse?"
"Oh! And coming into the ring now is the captain of the Beautiful Pirates, Cavendish of the White Horse!" the announcer said.
"Cavendish, huh? I thought you said his name was Cabbage," Neo asked Luffy before the man on the screen recaptured her attention. She tilted her head to the side and tried to recall his name while he yelled at the crowd through a bullhorn, but couldn't. She found a smile curling on her lips when the blonde man defended Rebecca against the jeering crowd. It made her feel a bit relieved knowing that there was someone in the ring that wasn't out for Rebecca's blood. She stopped her nervous fiddling with Law's ring and let her hands drop back to her sides. "I don't know what you did to upset that guy, Lucy, but he doesn't seem like he's that bad at all. He stood up for Rebecca."
"I guess so," Luffy replied to her before yelling at the screen. "Wow! That was so cool, Cabbage! I still hate you though!"
"The crowd changed their tone really fast," Neo said when the crowd started cheering for Cavendish. "They seem to really like that guy now."
"Yeah. They do that," one of the prisoners said with a nod. "The crowds here can be very fickle."
"Huh?" Neo eyes widened slightly when she had a strong feeling that something was happening to Law. Instinctively, she turned north. Lifting her left hand to her chest, she pressed it against her and fingered Law's ring with her right hand. "Law."
…
Law grunted when Doflamingo's strings caught on his sword and pulled him backwards off his feet. He gasped as the air was expelled from his lungs when his back slammed against a tree. He growled when he saw Doflamingo stalked towards him through his blurred vision. Part of him, his wild, sadistic side, wished Neo were with him so she could turn a storm on the man hunting him. But his other half, the more logic and protective part, was glad she wasn't anywhere near him. He knew she was already having a hard time not knowing what was going on with him. He wondered what she was currently doing. He hoped she found something to distract herself with. It would help her to get through not knowing until her magic came back.
"What are you thinking about, Law? Are you thinking about that precious lover of yours?" Doflamingo asked. "I'm beginning to think that she's not really here. From what I know about her, she can't handle seeing someone she loves in such pain. And yet, she hasn't come out here to stop me. So where is she, Law? Are you speaking with her right now? Are you forming some kind of plan? I know you can feel each others pain. What else can you two do? Is she helping you by attempting to destroy the factor in town? You're so protective of her. I'm having a hard time seeing you letting her wander around on her own. Is she with the Straw Hats? Is that it? I suppose it doesn't matter. I can easily find her. After all, she's not human after all. And her coloring is so different from everyone else. She's probably wearing some silly disguise. But that won't stop me from finding her, Law. I have men all over this country."
Law scoffed. "It won't matter if you can find her. You'll never be able to catch her. She's far to fast for you to catch. And she's a lot smarter than people give her credit for."
Doflamingo chuckled. "So you think. I have no doubt that she's smarter than people think. I know that people often underestimate her because she looks so much like a child and she uses that to her advantage. I know you have trained her well, Law. You wouldn't have brought her here if you didn't. But I have my ways of getting what I want. You should know me well enough to know that. So you shouldn't be surprised when I tell you that she's already decided to join me."
Law about choked on his own spit when Doflamingo said that. He bit back his desire to laugh in the older warlord's face. "Did you really think that I would fall for a lie like that? Neo would never willingly join someone like you. The only way would be to force her to join you. And you've got nothing to hold over her, not even me. But, even if you managed to take her by force somehow, you would never be able to keep her. There would be far too many powerful people that would come and take her back. If you try it, you'll be signing your own death warrant."
"Powerful people, huh? I assume you're talking about her people, the elementals. I suppose you might be right. But they would have a hard time in taking her away from me. I know not many venture into the human world. So they aren't prepared to handle people like me. I'd have to say that I would love to see that happen. Once she's under my control, I'll be sure to spread the word that I have her. I'd love to test my strength against an entire army of elementals," Doflamingo said with a confident smirk.
You have no idea how ignorant you are of her, Doflamingo. You just keep thinking that. It's not her people that you'll be facing. It would be her godfather and his entire empire. And you already fear making one emperor angry. Just imagine what Red Hair Shanks will do to you if you ever hurt his goddaughter. Law mentally smirked. His eyes took on a sharp glint as he envisioned what Shanks would do to Doflamingo if this scenario ever did come to pass. I have never been so glad that Neo is under the protection of an emperor. If I ever fail in protecting her, he'll come for her.
"It's over, Law. I know all you've been doing is stalling for time. But you can't buy anymore time," Doflamingo said.
Knowing he still needed more time, Law tried pressing a different matter. Anything to keep Doflamingo talking, anything to keep both his and Doflamingo's minds off Neo. "I'm curious about something you said before. You said things were more complicated. What were you talking about? What did you mean by that? How could being a Celestial Dragon be complicated?"
"If you really feel like chatting with me, hand Caesar and his heart over first," Doflamingo said holding out his hand towards Law. "You have no need for them anymore."
Law clenched his fist. He wiggled his arm around to see if he could get loose from Doflamingo's strings, but failed. There was only one way to get out of this situation. "Of course you want them back. Caesar is… I mean, the Smiles are very important to you after all. If you lose all of the Smiles, Kaido's will kill you for it."
"Perhaps. If I lost them," Doflamingo said. "But I won't. I'll get Caesar back. And once I do, I'll even have an elemental to add to my crew. And with her powers, she'll be able to grow fruit so fast for me. It'll actually double, maybe even triple production."
"She will never obey you! Room! Shambles!" Law, ignoring Doflamingo's taunting, formed his Room and warped away from the tree he was tied to. He only got a few feet before Doflamingo's strings wrapped around his ankle. He turned to face the older warlord only to have the man pin him down to the ground by sitting on his chest.
"You blasted brat!" Doflamingo hissed. He lifted and stiffened his fingers before going in for the kill. Before he could make the hit, Fujitora's sword came between his hand and Law's face. He looked up with a frown when the admiral using his devil fruit to pin them to the ground. "Fujitora?"
"Excuse me for interrupting," Fujitora said.
"What are you doing? Why are you helping him now?" Doflamingo asked.
"Pardon the intrusion, but I'm going to have to stop you right now, Heavenly Demon," Fujitora replied. "I'm here to arrest him and his wife, not to kill them."
"Hm?" Doflamingo got up off of Law and stepped towards Fujitora. He carefully inspected the navy man before him. A smile curled on his lips. "I get the feeling you have ulterior motives in catching these two particular pirates. Their wanted posters say dead or alive. And you clearly want them alive. What's going on in that head of yours? This has to do with Law's lover, doesn't it?"
"I will not deny that I want to talk to the woman pirate," Fujitora said.
"What?" Law asked. His eyes shot to the admiral. His brain going over multiple, possible reasons for a navy admiral wanting to talk to a pirate. He came up with none.
"Interesting," Doflamingo said with a light chuckle. "What could you possible have to say to that woman?"
"That is a conversation that will happen between me and her," Fujitora replied.
"Fine," Doflamingo said. "Do as you wish."
What in the world could a navy admiral want with Neo, other than to capture her? Is he going to try and get the truth out of her? That can't be right. If he's been following along with our journey and reading the newspapers then he would know that she won't talk. So what's he thinking? Law grunted when Fujitora increased the gravity on him. Hn! While I hate not knowing what's going on with her, I'm actually pretty glad that Neo's magic isn't working. I know this is actually happening to me, but the stress of this gravity might be too much for her and our baby. But how long is that going to last? Once her magic comes back, she's going to feel this. I know she already senses something's wrong despite her magic not working. I've got to get free of Fujitora and get Caesar back to the Straw Hats' ship before her magic straightens out again. I don't want her under this stress.
"But I need Caesar's heart. So I'm taking it back," Doflamingo continued while running his eyes over Law's body. Once locating the heart, he used his strings to pull it out of Law's pocket. "By the way, you seem quite curious about that complication that I mentioned earlier. Are you sure you want to hear about it, Law?"
Law gritted his teeth from both the heavy pressure on his body and from Doflamingo's words. Half of him wanted to know what Doflamingo was going to say, while the other half didn't want to know. He wasn't sure which would be better for him and Neo.
…
"Hey! Robin! Usopp!" Franky called when his friends entered into the command center of the Tontattas with more little friends. He watched as they climbed off the large foxes they were riding.
"Hey, Franky," Usopp said as he and Robin walked over to him. "What's up?"
"Not much. Just preparing to go to war with these little guys," Franky replied giving the Tontattas a glance. He then looked back at his friends. "Oh, right. You'll probably be wondering about Neo."
"How is she?" Usopp asked. "I have been wondering about her for a while."
"Do you have any word on her?" Robin asked. She heart rate increase slightly. She was hoping Neo was still safe with the rest of her crew, but had no idea. "Last we heard she was with Zoro. Is she still with him? You were with her before too, right?"
"I was with her for a while. And she was with Zoro." Franky nodded. "But she should be with Luffy right now. Zoro was here a little while ago and said she was going to go tell Luffy what all has been happening here while he came here to help deliver one of the Tontattas."
"I hope she's safe," Usopp said looking down at the floor with concern.
"I'm sure she's just fine." Franky looked at the sniper's concerned expression then looked to Robin. "Am I getting the feeling that you told him about Neo?"
Robin nodded. "I did. I felt it was the best thing to do with everything that's happened."
"That's cool. Sanji told us too," Franky replied with a nod of his own. "We also told these little guys about her being pregnant. They're going to keep an eye out for her. We thought it would be best for them to know about that and that she was a friend of ours."
"That's probably for the best," Usopp said, bring his eyes back up to the cyborg. "I know her body is… different than ours, but it's comforting to know that she'll have plenty of back up."
"The time has come, Commander!" Leo said, breaking into their conversation.
"Indeed." The Soldier nodded. "Let's gather around, everyone. We have a lot to go over before the battle starts."
…
"Zoroland, we're going to turn left soon," Wicka said as they rushed down the streets of Dressrosa. She looked down at the swordsman from her perch on the pink bee she was riding. "And the left side is the side that you don't have your swords on."
"What?! Why are you telling me that?! I know my right from my left!" Zoro growled. "Don't you trust me at all to know right from left?"
"If you did know you wouldn't keep getting lost," Wicka replied. "So, no, I don't trust you at all with directions."
"Hey!" Zoro snapped. He huffed in aggravation but kept on running and didn't reply anymore to Wicka's berating him on his horrible sense of direction.
"But I sense that you are distracted for another reason," Wicka said. She carefully studied the swordsman face while they continued their way through the town. "You're worried about Neo, aren't you?"
Zoro scoffed, but his expression said other wise. He sighed. "Yeah. I am a bit concerned about Neo. Something just doesn't feel right."
"Do you want me to go find her after I drop you off at your ship? I've been a bit concerned about her too. She seems like such a nice person," Wicka said with a smile. "I'd like to see her again. She was going to the coliseum, right?"
"Yeah." Zoro nodded. He thought about her question for a minute before replying to it. "No, I don't think that's necessary. She should be with Luffy by now. If anything goes wrong, he'll keep an eye on her."
"All right," Wicka said with a light nod. "If you change your mind, just let me know. This pink bee and I can easily fly into the coliseum. She'd be easy for us to find. And I could always ask for help from other Tontattas. Turn left here."
Zoro ran right passed the street that Wicka told him to turn down. He quickly righted himself then caught up with the little Tontatta. He growled at Wicka when she gave him a smug look. "Oh shut up! Tell me, who's attacking our ship?"
"It's one of the executive officers of the Don Quixote Family. Her name is Giolla," Wicka replied. "She's an art woman who attack and disarm an opponent with artistic attacks. Her devil fruit is the art art fruit."
"How do you know all of this?" Zoro asked.
"I told you before that I was on the recon team. I've memorized the names and faces and abilities of those at the executive rank and up as much as I could, especially the top three executives who destroyed the entire Dressrosa army ten years ago. They're names are Trebol, Diamante, and Pica. I will never be able to forget those faces," Wicka said.
"That happened ten years ago? How old are you anyway?" Zoro asked while taking a glance at his companion.
"I'm twenty seven," Wicka replied.
"You're twenty seven years old?! Geez! First Neo and her young appearance and now you?!" Zoro gasped. He turned right, but quickly turned around when Wicka yelled at him.
"Hey! You're going the wrong way again!" Wicka called.
"Hm?" Zoro looked up when he caught a glimpse of Sanji and Kin'emon.
"Hey! Sir Zoro! Sir Zoro! Over here!" Kin'emon called when he saw the swordsman running towards them.
"Hey! Stop shouting! Do you want us to get caught?!" Sanji screamed as he kicked Kin'emon on the leg. His own voice and panic rose when turned and he saw his favorite blue haired elemental wasn't running towards them. "Huh?! Ah! You stupid moss head! I thought Neo was with you! What did you do?! Where is she?!"
"I thought you didn't want me to yell," Kin'emon said with a frown.
"Shut up! Stop yelling!" Zoro hissed when he go close enough. "Neo is fine. She's with Luffy right now. Or she should be."
"What do you mean by that?! So help me, if you lost her because you got lost yourself…" Sanji started.
"Calm down, you stupid cook. I didn't lose her at all. We split up. She went to inform Luffy of some stuff that's happened. Listen up. There's a lot that's been going on," Zoro said. He then quickly informed them of everything that's happened on his end of things. "And there you have it. The Sunny is under attack right now."
"What?! Nami's under attack?!" Sanji shrieked. "So I was right. That's why she didn't pick up the transponder snail when I called earlier. All right. I'm going with you then."
"Wait, Sir Sanji!" Kin'emon said. "We're here to tell Sir Luffy what's going on."
"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Sanji said, glancing at Kin'emon. He then turned his attention back to Zoro. "I spoke with Law a little while ago. I already told him this, but you need to know too."
"What is it?" Zoro asked, noticing the seriousness in the blonde man's face.
"Doflamingo is planning to do something to Neo," Sanji said.
"What?!" Zoro gasped. "What's he planning?"
"He's going to do something to Neo?!" Wicka shouted. Her eyes widened while her little heart pounded hard in her chest.
"I don't know what he's planning. All I know is, an unfamiliar man has been living at the palace for a while now. A new friend of mine said he and Doflamingo were talking about Neo one day," Sanji informed them. "We need to make sure she stays safe."
"Why don't Trafalgar just call her back to him?" Zoro asked.
"Are you kidding?! Think a little bit!" Sanji snapped. "Doflamingo is the last person Law wants Neo around right now! He's going to order her to stay away from him, but with how protective she is of him, she could easily break through his orders if his life is in danger! Law wants us to keep a close eye on Neo from now on!"
"That shouldn't be too hard," Zoro replied. "She's with Luffy right now. And he's one of the strongest of our crew. As long as she stays with him, she'll be fine."
"As long as she really is with him and nothing went wrong," Sanji said. "If only there was a way we could know for sure."
"Blackleg!"
"Huh?" Sanji turned around upon hearing his name being called. Hearts filled his eyes when he saw Violet coming out of an alleyway. "Violet, my dear!"
"I wish you'd just get stabbed already," Zoro mumbled to the incurable flirt.
"I don't have much time. My colleague, Giolla, has attacked your ship," Violet said. "And she's taking the ship to Green Bit."
"What?!" Sanji asked. "We have to get back to the ship!"
"Uh, yeah! I just told you that. And that's what I've been trying to do until you distracted me!" Zoro said. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the blonde haired cook. "So I'll just be leaving now!"
"Hold on a second! Nami will want me to come save her not you!" Sanji growled.
"Fine. Then you go," Zoro said. "I don't care either way."
"I will go to the ship while you go tell Luffy what's going on. But once you get inside to Luffy and Neo, do not let her out of your sight!" Sanji said. His expression turned serious. "I mean it, Zoro! You tell Luffy what I've told you about Doflamingo coming after her! And, whatever you do, do not let her go to Law! She is to remain in your sights at all times! Do you understand me?!"
"Yeah, yeah! I got it! Will you just go already?!" Zoro screamed. He twisted his pinky finger in his left ear in a very annoyed fashion. "Your yelling is getting on my nerves! Just go already!"
…
"Hey! Hold on a second! That's not fair!" Luffy shouted, pulling Neo from her worried thoughts. She looked up at the scene to see a small group of men circling around Rebecca. "All five of those guys are going for Rebecca at the same time! They're ganging up on her!"
"Yeah. It's always like that when Rebecca enters in one of these competitions," the blacked hair prisoner said. "She's the first one people want to take out."
"Most of the time, Rebecca is the only woman competing among all of the men," the blonde haired prisoner added. "They automatically think she'll be easy to beat."
"In addition to all of that, everyone in the coliseum, both fighters and spectators, wants to see Rebecca get beaten," a third prisoner said. "So it's only natural for them to go after Rebecca first. And they have a greater chance of taking her down when they gang up on her."
Neo flinched at the man's words. The actions of the fighters pinning down Rebecca were causing bad memories to resurface again. She took an extremely deep breath and let it out as slowly as she could while reminding herself that she was safe. But it wasn't working this time. With the negativity, and similarities between herself and Rebecca, coupled with not knowing what was going on with Law she was starting to make her feel very over whelmed. Her heart was taking too many painful beat inside of her chest that it was making her lightheaded and she felt like she was going to pass out. She needed to get away from all of this.
She wrapped her arms around herself and walked away from the screen and the men. She walked to the farthest end of the room, the opposite way Rebecca went, before turning around and heading for the exit. She paused when she reached the door to the quarters. Her eyes lifted up to the door as her hand, seemingly under its own power, reached up for the handle. Less than an inch from the handle, her hand paused. Her chest throbbed with the decision to leave this room or stay. Deep down, she wanted to leave. She wanted to go to Law, despite his orders to stay away. And she would have. She knew if her magic was working right she would leave this coliseum and fly to him. She didn't care about his orders. They were married. That meant they were in this together.
Neo kneaded her eyebrows. We're married. We are supposed to be together and help each other no matter what comes up. I can understand him giving me orders to stay away from him or a certain battle in the past when I wasn't able to handle it, but this time doesn't match up to that. I know I don't have any attacks that will stop Doflamingo's strings, but I can still cause him trouble. He's still a human. And humans are always weak against nature. There's something else Law is keeping me from. But what is it? What's he hiding from me? Is he hiding something from me? He's never done that before. So why now? What changed? Is it just because of his history with Doflamingo? No, I don't think that's it. If it was he never would have let me come to Dressrosa in the first place. Law knows I can help him in ways that others can't. So what happened? What caused him to change his mind? Why is he keeping me away from him?
"Go get them, Rebecca! Don't let them touch you at all! Don't lose to them!" Luffy cheered. The prisoners instantly joined in cheering for Rebecca. In just a second their happy cheers filled the area to the point they were drowning out Neo's thoughts.
Neo dropped her hand from the door and turned back towards the men. She couldn't see them due to the curve of the building, but she didn't need to. She knew they were there. They knew she was here. But they didn't notice she had walked off. Her eyes drifted back to the door as her fingers started tracing Law's ring again. How long would it take Luffy to notice she wasn't there if she did leave this room?
…
Doflamingo laughed as he tossed Caesar's heart in his hand up and down. He was enjoying seeing Law in as much pain as he was under Fujitora's gravity. "Tell me something, Law. How much pain does Neo feel when you're in this much pain? Does she feel it all? Or just some of it?"
Law gritted his teeth and growled. A small part of his fury vanished when Fujitora's gravity lightened up on his body. What the heck? He's trying to keep me from escaping. Why would he lighten up on his attack like that?
"How much pain does she feel when you're the one being hit?" Fujitora then asked.
Law's eyebrow twitched. He saw Neo earlier today. And he has observation haki. Did he use it on her? Does he know she's pregnant? That's how Blackleg confirmed her pregnancy. And if Fujitora did see her, it's a safe bet to say he did use his haki on her when he noticed her inhuman nature. I have to assume that he knows. And that would have to be why he loosened up his attack here. But that doesn't make sense. The navy hates children born from pirates. Is it possible he's different from everyone else and won't blame our child from being born from pirates? Neo does have a way of getting people to care about her with her innocence. She did that to Smoker back on Punk Hazard. Could she do that to an admiral too? Fujitora did say he wanted to talk to her. What's he up to?
"It's a waste of time, Fujitora. I'm sure the navy is smart enough to know how protective Law and Neo are of each other. They guard their secrets tighter anyone else. You should know that seeing how long it took for anyone, including myself, to find out as much as I have. Let's move on to something else. I'm sure that you, Law, are just dying to know how I became a Celestial Dragon. You asked about that complication before. Well, it all happened a long time ago… it actually goes back eight hundred years, Law," Doflamingo said, still tossing the heart up and down. "When twenty kings from twenty different countries came together at the center of the world to form one giant organization…"
…
"Yeah! Go, Rebecca! You did it! Way to go! She made another guy drop! Go, go! Come on! Get them, Rebecca!" Neo sighed upon hearing Luffy's cheerful voice cheering on their new friend again. She wondered how it could be possible for him to be so excited when they had no clue where any of their friends were or how they were doing. They could all be in some serious trouble, they were in serious trouble, yet here he was cheering his heart out over a person they just met.
"Hey, Lucy, where did your friend go?" Neo heard a prisoner asked.
"Huh? She was just right here," Luffy said before his voice took on a touch of concern. "Hey! Neo?! Where'd you go?!"
"I'm here," Neo called back. She forced herself to walk away from the door and back over to the cells. All well. It's not like I can get out of here. I'm still trapped without my magic.
…
"You weren't supposed to come here! I told you to wait for me at the harbor!" Sanji said to Violet once they had separated from Zoro and Kin'emon.
"I know. But there are navy soldiers all over the harbor. So you and your friends might want to change your rendezvous point," Violet told him.
"I see. The navy, huh?" Sanji said. "I shouldn't be surprised at that."
"There are currently four navy ships there. That means there are at least three thousand navy soldiers here now," Violet said.
"How did you manage to find all of that out in such a short amount of time?" Sanji asked.
"It's one of my abilities from my devil fruit. Clairvoyance," Violet explained. "With this power, I can see things within a 4000km diameter from a bird's point of view. I can see everything that's going on in this country from here. So there's no need to worry about me. If someone is coming for me, I'll see them before they can even find me."
"Really? That sounds like a useful skill to have," Sanji said. "Can you also see inside of buildings?"
"I can." Violet nodded. She glanced over her shoulder upon noticing a concerned tone in his voice. "Was there someone you wanted me to check on? Like your friends back on your ship?"
"Yeah. I want to know how they are doing, but there's someone else I'm a bit more worried about," Sanji said.
"Neo?" Violet asked and Sanji nodded. "Very well. I can check on her for you."
"That would be so great. She should be in the coliseum with Luffy," Sanji said, feeling a bit relieved. "I just want to make sure she's there."
"Let's take a look then," Violet said before closing her eyes. She looked around until she reached the coliseum then made her way into the building until she found Neo. "I found her. She looks a bit upset, but other than that, she looks just fine. She's with Straw Hat Luffy in a part of the coliseum that houses prisoners."
"Prisoners?! Why would Luffy take her among criminals?!" Sanji growled.
"They're not the type of prisoners you think they are," Violet replied. "They're just some people that spoke out against Doflamingo. They're forced to fight there against their will. But they're not bad people. Your friend is safe."
"That's good. I'm glad she's safe and with Luffy," Sanji said with a light smile. "What about you? You're no longer safe in this country. Will you be leaving?"
"Don't worry about me, Blackleg. I'm going to… this is odd," Violet said.
"What is it?" Sanji asked.
"I can't find your ship anywhere!" Violet replied.
"What?!" Sanji gasped.
"Wait! I see your ship! It just emerged out of no where and was hit by lightning!" Violet told him.
"What?! Lightning?! Wait that's…" Sanji said.
…
"Finally. It's over. But what should we do with this?" Nami asked as she dusted off her leg. She looked down at the devil fruit woman she just took out with her attack. "Seem too cruel to just dump her over board."
"Yeah, she's a devil fruit eater after all," Chopper said with a nod.
"And I have no desire to see her panties," Brook said, waving his hand in front of his face.
"Wh-who did you call Miss Universe?!" Giolla asked from her spot on the Sunny's lawn.
"No one said that!" Brook screamed.
"Should I hit her again?" Momonosuke asked as he swung his weapon.
"Just leave her alone," Nami said. "We got to hurry up and get to Green Bit to meet up with Tra."
"But why does he want to leave Caesar with us?" Chopper asked. "It doesn't make sense."
"Are you all right, Chopper?" Nami asked when she noticed the concerned look in Chopper's eyes.
"I'm worried about Neo," Chopper replied. "I have a bad feeling. Something about this just doesn't feel right."
"I'm sure she'll be okay," Nami replied.
"This whole thing doesn't feel right," Brook said. "Doflamingo resigned from the seven warlords just like Mr. Tra requested for him to do. We should be returning Caesar to him, not picking Caesar up."
"You people are brainless idiots, aren't you? You don't have a clue of what's going on," Giolla said with a deep cough from the smoke in her lungs from Nami's lightning attack. "Young Master never planned to honor that agreement. Did you really think he'd obey little brats like you? He never resigned from the seven warlords. It was all a set up."
"What?!" Chopper gasped, his bad feeling suddenly growing worse. Neo… she took off with the others shortly after we arrived here! Don't panic! Don't panic! She's with of our three top toughest fighters! She'll be fine! She will be fine!
"What do you mean by that?!" Nami demanded. "What are you talking about?!"
"Tell us what you are talking about!" Momonosuke said before whacking Giolla on the face again. "Tell us!"
"You rotten brat! That hurt!" Giolla snapped.
"O-Nami!" Momonosuke cried. He ran to the orange haired woman and grabbed onto her leg.
"You people have been fooled! Our comrade, Violet, has unearthed all of your plans by now and all of your friends would have been captured!" Giolla said.
"What?!" The Straw Hats gasped.
"That's not true! It can't be!" Chopper said.
…
Neo fiddled nervously with Law's ring while coming to stand by Luffy's side again. Her mind was buzzing with the unknown and hundreds of questions on what was happening outside of this building, on Green Bit, and how they could possibly escape from this place if her magic didn't return soon.
"Get out of the way, Cabbage!" Luffy demanded. "I don't want to look at you! I want to see how Rebecca's doing!"
"Yeah! Get out of the way!" a prisoner said.
"We don't want to see your ugly mug!" a second prisoner added.
"That guy sure seems to like the cameras," Neo noted as she watched Cavendish dance wildly around the ring. When the man finally moved, her eyes locked onto the youngest person in the ring. She tried to use the fight as a distraction from not knowing what was happening to Law. She kneaded her eyebrows while she watched Rebecca repetitively dodge attacks. Her ears were barely registering the words that the announcer was saying. Her heart skipped a beat when a man snuck up behind Rebecca.
"Behind you, Rebecca! Look out!" Neo jumped when Luffy screamed at the screen. She glanced at the Straw Hat captain beside her then turned her own eyes back to the screen before her. She knew Luffy was just being supportive of their new friend, but at the same time, it was pointless. Rebecca couldn't hear them from here. She almost felt like verbally cheering herself, but stop when her knees suddenly gave out on her and her body became extremely heavy. She gasped and dropped to her knees under the bone crushing feeling. "Hm? Neo, what's wrong?"
"Hey, is she all right?" a prisoner asked when he noticed Neo's painful expression.
"Neo?" Luffy bent down to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Why are you in pain?"
"Its… its Law's pain," Neo whispered to him.
"What's wrong with her? Does she need a doctor?" the prisoner asked.
"No, she'll be fine," Luffy replied to the man before turning his eyes back to Neo. "Neo?"
"S-something's happening t-to Law. It… it hurts so much. What… what's happening to him?" Neo choked out just before her magic disappeared. She covered her hand with her mouth when she felt like she was going to be sick. She forced herself not to gag when she felt her stomach turn.
"Hey, you're not going to get sick are you?!" Luffy asked in a panicked voice.
"No." Neo shook her head and moved her hand from her mouth to her stomach. "My magic is gone again. I'm just worried. I can't sense Law again. He was in a lot of pain. Luffy, we have to get out of here. We have to go to Law."
"Law will be fine," Luffy said firmly. "He's tough. You know that."
"I know he's strong, but," Neo started. She dropped her eyes from Luffy's, unable to keep contact with him while thinking about the real reason they were going after Doflamingo. But there is so much you don't know about him. This isn't just because of the Smiles. Law has a vendetta against Doflamingo.
…
"So that's how you became a Celestial Dragon! Doflamingo!" Law said just before he felt himself connecting again to Neo. He felt her feeling his pain for a few seconds before the connection faded again. Neo… He grunted when Fujitora increased his gravity slightly. Curse you, Fujitora! I don't care if Neo only felt this pain for a split second. If this causes any harm to our baby or her, I'm going to kill you.
"Technically, I was a Celestial Dragon," Doflamingo said as he walked passed Law. "Tell me something, Law. What is bloodline? What is destiny? I don't believe there are many people in this world that have such a checkered past as my own."
"Then explain it to me so I can understand!" Law demanded.
"I'm sorry, Law. I really do wish that I could tell you and your lover all about my past before I met you over some drinks. But there isn't time for that," Doflamingo said. "I've got to do something about the Straw Hats back in Dressrosa before they do any damage. I know there are a lot of people who have underestimated them and have gotten burned." He looked over his shoulder when the crackling of the ground under Law stopped. "What is it, Fujitora?"
"Well, I thought I heard a clap of thunder in the direction of the sea," Fujitora replied as he reapplied the gravity to Law. "Tell me how the sky looks."
"Thunder?" Doflamingo asked, taking a couple steps towards the sea.
"I've always been able to discern the weather. But maybe I'm getting too old now," Fujitora said.
It has to be Nami. The only other one here that can manipulate the weather is Neo. And her magic is out again. The ship must be near Green Bit now, Law thought to himself.
"Hey! Joker! That's my heart! Give it back to me already!" Caesar said as he popped up out of the bushes. "Give it to me! My beautiful heart!"
"I don't recall telling you that was Caesar's heart," Law said.
"What?! You've been holding that thing over me all day long! It has to be mine!" Caesar hissed. He grabbed a hold of the front of his outfit. "My heart is still missing from my body!"
Law force back a smirk when Doflamingo squeezed the heart in his hand and Caesar screamed out like a baby followed by the real painful cries of the navy soldier the heart really belonged to. "Room! You better apply the gravity, Fujitora! Or else I'm going to escape from you! Shambles!"
"Joker! Help me!" Caesar cried out when Law grabbed him.
Law tuned the man's cries out. His focus was on escaping. Finally got away. At least now Neo won't be put under that kind of pain anymore. Now I just have to get Caesar back to the ship.
"How do you still have this much energy, Law?" Doflamingo asked.
Law ignored him and the complaints and demands from Caesar. Warping through the forest, he made his way to the beach and planned out how he was going to handle everything from there. He knew he needed to get Caesar on board the Sunny before he could fight Doflamingo. He figured he'd fight the warlord on the bridge, but there was still one problem that he couldn't figure out. And that was Neo. He had no clue what he should do with her. He wanted to order her onto the Sunny and go to Zou with the Straw Hats. But he knew that was one order she wouldn't obey.
Law cursed under his breath when the Straw Hats screamed too loud and Doflamingo heard them. "No! You idiots!"
"I see. So that's what's going on," Doflamingo said before taking off towards the Sunny.
"No! Wait, Doflamingo! They've got nothing to do with this!" Law called out. "Crap! It's too late! Neo's not going to be happy if I let anything happen to them!"
…Meanwhile, over on Zou…
"This is so stupid!" Penguin shouted before slamming his fist into the tree in front of him. With each word he screamed out, he jammed in fist into the thick tree trunk. "I hate this! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!"
"Shouldn't someone stop him?" Uni asked as he started at his angry crewmate.
"Why don't you stop him?" Clione asked.
"Why don't you?" Uni shot back.
"Why don't both of you shut up if you're not going to do anything?" Ikkaku snapped before crossing her arms over her chest and turning her eyes back to the irate man taking out his frustration on innocent tree. "Sheesh! I'm surrounded by idiots!"
"Hey! We're not idiots!" Uni and Clione shouted.
Ikkaku didn't reply. She just turned to the sound of footsteps coming up from behind them.
"Is he still going at it?" Shachi asked as he, Bepo, and Topaz wandered up to their crewmates. Their eyes locked onto Penguin and the tree. He eyed the damaged bark on the tree and the small spots of blood that came from Penguin hitting it for so long.
"It's been like that since we got the newspaper," Topaz said even though it wasn't necessary. They all knew how long it's been since Penguin bolted away from them and started hitting this tree. Fifteen minutes ago when the newspaper brought some very disturbing news of Doflamingo leaving the seven warlords wasn't true. The entire crew was distraught, but Penguin took it the hardest. The entire crew wanted to run after him. They didn't. They decided to give him space to vent things out before even thinking about approaching him. They knew if they went to him too soon, he'd turn and punch them.
"It's not surprising considering he's so close to Neo," Bepo said in a low tone. "We're all worried."
"We need to do something," Ikkaku said. "He's starting to tear the skin on his hands. Neo won't be happy about this."
"Yeah." Shachi nodded just before they all turned their eyes to him. "What?"
"You two are best friends," Uni said pointing a finger at Shachi.
"You stop him," Clione added while also pointing a finger at Shachi.
"You've got to be kidding!" Shachi screamed.
"Well, we got to do something," Bepo said before anyone else could speak. "He's ripping his hands up even more. I can smell all of the blood from here."
"Just great," Shachi grumbled. He looked at Topaz. A nod of understanding passed between them before they walked over to Penguin. Setting themselves up on opposite sides of him, they shared another nodded before they lunged forward and grabbed their friend's arms.
"What are you doing?! Let go of me!" Penguin hissed.
"Sorry, Pen, that's not going to happen," Shachi said while struggling to keep his hold on his struggling best friend.
"Hurting yourself is not the answer to any of this, Penguin," Topaz said.
"Shut up! I don't care!" Penguin snapped back. "Let me go! I want to see her! I want to go to her!"
"You can't do that, Penguin," Bepo said. He rushed over to help his friends pin Penguin down. He grabbed the man's ankles and pinned them to the ground.
"Think about it," Ikkaku said. "If you go there, you'll only get in the way."
"I don't care! I hate all of this waiting!" Penguin said as he continued to thrash against his crewmates. "I'm going to Dressrosa! Right! Now!"
"We're going to have to sedate him, aren't we?" Uni asked.
"That might not be a bad idea," Clione said.
"Penguin, calm down and think about Neo," Topaz then said. "She wouldn't want you to defy the captain's orders. We're supposed to wait here. I know it's hard, but that's all we can do. You want to be here when they arrive, don't you?"
When Penguin's thrashing slowed down, Topaz continued. "We have to stay here. We have to stay safe. Right now, this is where we belong."
Penguin completely quit struggling. They released their hold on him, but stayed in position to grab him again if necessary. They watched as his chest heaved up and down with each breath that he took. Under his breath, he mumbled, "I hate this. I hate feeling like this. I hate all of this waiting. It's killing me not knowing what's going on with her."
"We understand that, Penguin," Topaz said. She sat down beside him and took one of his hands in hers. She pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and started to clean his hand. "It's killing us all not knowing what exactly is happening. And it's worse for you because of your relationship with her. But it will get better. They will take care of things there and then come home. She'll want to see you first. And you'll be here for her, right? Completely whole and intact?"
Penguin nodded. "Right."
"Good. Now, no more punching tree," Topaz ordered as she continued taking care of his hands.
…
Author's Notes: I'm ready for Neo to get out of the coliseum. And for the story to pick back up in action.
Inazumame1997: Me too.
Apple Bloom: Yes, they can.
Deideitk: Glad your liking them. I think they're coming out boring. I'm trying to decide how to handing Barto and Neo. I can't decide. Guess I'm just gonna have to let my fingers do the talking on that one and see what happens when I write that part.
