Closing In

"Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!" Law cursed to himself when Sanji appeared dashing across the sky. He watched as the blonde man directly charged at Doflamingo. He knew that the Straw Hat cook wasn't going to be strong enough to handle the warlord. He didn't even know about Doflamingo's devil fruit powers. He knew Sanji was going into this fight to protect his friends, but he was also going into it completely blind. And it was his entire fault. He didn't inform the Straw Hats of Doflamingo's string powers at all. A very stupid, rookie move that would haunt him later if he let anything happened to the Straw Hats, but also because of Neo. Mostly because of Neo.

He's heart skipped a beat when Sanji got closer and moved in for the attack. He forced himself to pull his eyes away from the two men clashing in the sky. He ran his eyes around the beach before him. He had to find something he could use to get himself up there and get Doflamingo away from the Straw Hats. Luckily, laying there on the beach, as if someone left it for him, was a log. Snatching it off the ground, he turned and, with all his might, threw it into the air as hard as he could. His heart skipped another beat when he saw Doflamingo strike out at Sanji and the cook's blood went flying through the air. Then Sanji's body got stretched out like he was pinned with invisible needles. But they weren't needles. They were strings. The Straw Hat cook, a new friend of Neo's, was trapped and Doflamingo was going in for the kill. He could hear the rest of the Straw Hats' cries from where he stood on the beach screeching out over the air as they watched their friend helplessly. His heart clenched, his breathing stopped when an image of Neo crying over the loss of a friend passed through his head. He wasn't going to let that happen. He held up his hand, formed his Room, and then warped himself and Caesar into the air. "Room! Shambles!"

He breathed out a sigh of relief when he took Doflamingo's place in the sky beside the Straw Hat pirate. His hand landed on Sanji's arm and he completely relaxed. Neo's friend was safe, for now.

"Law!" Sanji gasped with his own relief when the Heart Pirate appeared out of now where and saved his life.

"I'm sorry," Law replied, glancing at the man. His eyes ran over the blonde man's injuries and the blood dripping down his face. He could tell that none of the man's injuries were life threatening, but he might have had a few cracked bones here and there. He could take care of that later or leave it to the Straw Hats' doctor. "This was my fault. I made a mistake. We're heading back to the ship now."

Law, still with his Room active, warped them back to the ship in a flash. He released Sanji when they reappeared, letting the man fall onto the deck while he landed on Caesar's body. He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring Caesar's protest of rough treatment, just as Chopper ran over to him and Sanji. The reindeer said, "Sanji! Law! Where's Neo?! Where is she?! Is she all right?!"

Law felt himself falter. He almost opened his mouth and told the reindeer where Neo was. Luckily, Sanji spoke up for him and he didn't have to reveal anything to Caesar and Giolla. "She's fine, Chopper. She's with Luffy right now. Zoro and Kin'emon are also with her. So she has plenty of people with her."

Caesar scoffed. "You people are so ridiculously protective of her. She's actually stronger than all of you put together since she can control nature. She just doesn't utilize her powers because she's so afraid all the time. Unless… there's something else going on with her right now. I do find it very odd that she's been missing from this battle with Joker. She hardly ever left Law's side while they were living with me on Punk Hazard. So what is it, Law? Where is she? I know she's far too protective of you to let you face Joker alon-Ack!"

"Shut up!" Sanji hissed with a strong kick to Caesar's side. "Neo is none of your concern!"

"Stop kicking me! What's the matter with you?!" Caesar screamed. "I'm not your personally ball to just kick whenever you feel like it! I can't believe I'm on this stupid ship again!"

"Caesar!" Giolla said.

"Huh?! Giolla! Help me!" Caesar said.

"What?! How?! I'm just as much of a prisoner here as your are!" Giolla said, showing the man her own shackles that bound her.

Turning towards the cabin where he hid his heart, Law walked over to it, ignoring the annoying complains of Caesar about being on the Straw Hats ship again and his guesses on where Neo was. He stepped inside the room. Pulling out his heart from the wall, he paused to stare at it pulsing in his hand. Relief washed over him now that he had gotten it back before Neo returned to him. He still felt guilt for removing it. He was definitely going to tell her about it and make it up to her. Holding and staring at it, he left the room and headed back out onto the deck. Just as he got back to the door he heard Chopper's panic voice shouted. "Ah! Doflamingo's coming back! What do we do?!"

"Blackleg!" Law said just as the cook cursed and took a step towards Doflamingo. Sanji stopped and looked back at him. "What about the factory? Has it been destroyed yet?"

"No. We know where the factory is, but Franky told me that it's going to be harder to destroy than we thought," Sanji replied.

"And what of my father and Kanjuro?!" Momonosuke asked. He ran over to the cook. Grabbing onto his pant leg, he looked up at the older man with tears in his eyes. "Please, tell me! How are they?! Are they fine?!"

"Momonosuke," Sanji said, looking down at the boy. He placed his hand on the boy's head with a smile. "They're fine. The samurai should be heading to the factory soon. I'm sure your friend will be saved once he gets there."

"Then we still need more time," Law said with a frustrated growl. His heart pulsed in his hand in tandem with the pulsing in his skull. He barely heard Caesar screeching at him about it over the pounding in his head. He was hoping they were farther along in their plan than that. He was hoping to get Neo out of here as quickly as he could. The only way that was possible was to send her away with the Straw Hats.

"Hey! That's my heart, isn't it?!" Caesar said. "You hid it on the ship?! Wait! That's not possible! You took it out while we were on the bridge!"

"No. This one is mine," Law said, turning to the scientist. He rested his sword on his shoulder and pulled out the man's heart from his chest before tossing it onto the floor of the ship. "I had yours with me the whole time."

"Curse you, Law!" Caesar growled before diving for his heart. "You're going to pay for this! So help me! You will pay for the way you've treated me!"

Law ignored the complaints. He looked up at the Straw Hats crewmembers that were with him. It was time for him to send them on their way to Zou. But he hesitated to speak up. His mind was spinning around his painfully strong desire to send Neo with them. He looked towards Dressrosa and wondered when Neo's magic would come back. When it happened before it wasn't very long before it came back. It only lasted just a few seconds to a couple minutes. Now it's been several minutes, ten to fifteen minutes to be precise and it still hasn't come back. He was divided on whether he was upset or glad for that, especially with what he was about to do next. Despite all that, he knew she was stuck in the coliseum until it did come back, unless Luffy could get her out somehow. So even if he did decide to force her to go with the Straw Hats, she couldn't leave while being stuck in that place. He pulled his eyes away from Dressrosa and looked at the Straw Hats. "Listen to me, everyone. I want you all to take Caesar and head to Zou now."

"Zou?!" Nami asked.

"I gave you the vivre card that'll lead you to the island," Law said, ignoring the shock in the orange haired woman's face. They already talked about this. She shouldn't have been surprised at his words. She should have expected it, especially since their plans got turned upside down on them.

"Yeah. I still have it. It's right here," Nami said, pulling the paper from her pocket.

"You want us to head to Zou now? What about Luffy and the others?" Brook asked.

"And what about Neo?" Chopper added. He stared up at Law. His eyes were swirling with worry over Neo and the baby. If they were leaving, he wanted her to go with them. But he knew that was highly unlikely. Neo was far too attached to Law to leave. He sighed and dropped his eyes to the floor before Law even answered him.

Law stared into the animal's eyes when he started talking. He could easily see what Chopper was really saying to him. He knew the thoughts and worries going through the animal's head were the exact same ones running through his own mind. With an internal sigh, he stepped closer to Chopper and knelt down. Lowering his voice, he said, "Tony, listen, I understand your concern. But you know she won't leave me. Even if I order her to she would refuse it. There is something that I need you to do for me and Neo once you reach Zou."

"You want me to do something for you and Neo?" Chopper asked. He lifted his eyes back to Law. "What is it?"

"I want you to speak to my crew. They're going to be really worried about Neo," Law said. "Mostly, it's going to be a man named Penguin. He's going to want to know everything that's been happening. I want you to tell him, and everyone else, that Neo is fine and safe. But do not tell them about the baby."

"Huh? Why not?" Chopper asked.

"Our crew has grown very fond of Neo. And Penguin has developed a special relationship with her. They have a really close brother and sister bond. He'll be the most worried about her," Law said. "If he knew about the baby, without us being there, he'd freak out and leave to come and find us. I don't need a hysterical crewmember jumping onto our sub and coming over here."

"Right. I understand," Chopper said with a nod. "But it's not going to be easy to keep the baby a secret from them."

"It'll be fine. All you have to do is tell him that Neo is fine. He'll still worry of course, but he'll be more calm once he speaks to someone who's seen her," Law said.

"Yeah." Chopper nodded slowly. "Okay. I understand. I'll tell him, but keep the baby a secret. I suppose you two would want to inform your crew about that yourselves. And with how Neo is, it's probably better that way anyway."

"The only thing we have left to do here is destroy the factory," Law said, raising his voice to everyone else could hear him. He pushed up on his sword and stood back up. "After that's done, we'll be following after you."

"What?! No! We can't do that!" Nami protested. "We can't just leave like that! We're the Straw Hat crew! We won't set sail without our captain! Besides, you can't really let Neo stay here after everything that's happened. I know she's different from the rest of us with her-"

Law shot Nami a sharp glare instantly shutting her up from revealing Neo's pregnancy and any other secrets she was going to spout out in front of Caesar and Giolla. Before he could reply to her, a loud bang erupted through the air. They all looked up to see a navy ship casting its dark shadow over them.

"What the heck?! How is that navy ship flying towards us?!" Chopper shouted.

"But that's not possible!" Nami screamed. "Ships can't fly!"

Law narrowed his eyebrows. Fujitora. He's the only one with the power to do that.

"Ah! It's Doflamingo! He's coming at us again!" Brook then shouted out.

"And the navy ship is getting closer!" Chopper said.

"Someone do something!" Nami said just before the navy pointed their cannons at their tiny little ship. "We're going to die! Where's Neo?! She can easily take care of this!"

"You all are free to do what you wish. If you want to stay behind and wait for the rest of your crew, then wait for them. But do not give them Caesar," Law said. He grabbed the hilt of his sword just before the navy started firing on them. Loud booms went off cannon fire and smoke filled the air. The cannon balls hit the water with violent splashes. Erratic waves knocked into the ship. The pirates stumbled around the deck from the unpredictable jerking.

Chopper, regaining his footing, looked up into the sky when something caught his attention. A reddish orange ball was hurling towards them. He tilted his head at the object before realizing that it was falling right at them. "Ah! There's something falling from the sky! It's coming right at us!"

"Huh?! It's a meteorite?!" Nami gasped upon seeing the ball of fire. "Where's Neo?! We need her here! She can easily take can of the ship and the meteorite! Tra! Do something! Get Neo back here!"

"Yes! I can't in good conscious let Neo stay her any longer!" Chopper added, despite knowing it wouldn't do any good. "It's not good for her in her condition! She has to leave with us! I know what we discussed before, but this is insane!"

"No," Law said. She won't leave. No matter how much I want to get her away from Doflamingo. I'd have to tell her the truth. There would be no other choice if I sent her away. I can't tell her that yet. She won't be able to handle that without me. "She's staying with me. She'll be just fine. I won't let anything happen to her."

"Condition?" Caesar asked, but no one heard him. "What condition?"

"Tra, we Spiral Hats are ready to leave!" Nami announced with tears streaking down her cheeks.

"I agree, but only barely!" Chopper added. "I really don't want to leave her behind like this!"

"Then get going already," Law said.

"Leave her behind like what?" Brook asked. "You seem a bit more tense than usual, Chopper."

"I'll explain it later!" Chopper replied. "We have to get going now!"

"Hey, Law. I understand that we have brought Caesar as far as we could. And I completely understand that we have to leave this place now. But Dressrosa was just supposed to be a way point for taking down our target Kaido. Is it just me or are you too hung up on taking down Doflamingo?" Sanji called out. He narrowed his eyebrows when Law twitched at his question. Kneading his eyebrows, he marched right up to Law and looked him right in the eyes. Lowering his voice, he said, "Does Neo know the real reason to why we're here?"

Law hesitated. He stared back into Sanji's dark eyes for several second before finally answering him. He should have known that Sanji would have figured it out. This one was smart and noticed details unlike the rest of the Straw Hats. "Yes. She knows everything. With the obvious exception of the current one, I don't keep secrets from her."

Sanji sighed. It was clear he wanted to ask Law what he had gotten himself and his crew into, but both knew Law wouldn't answer him. They didn't have time for a lengthy backstory anyway. Lowering his voice even more, and barely moving his lips so no one could read them, he said, "If anything happens to her or the baby…"

"It won't," Law said with a stern confidence. His eyes flared up with fire and his hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. "I won't let Doflamingo touch either of them. And we will leave this country safely. You take the ship and these crewmembers of yours and get to Zou. She'll want to know that you all are safe. Despite only knowing you all for a short time, she's become very fond of you all. This is the first time she's opened up to people so quickly and easily. Don't disappoint her. And don't make her cry."

"I wont." Sanji nodded. "I'll make sure we get to Zou safely."

Law nodded in acceptance to the blonde man's words before turning his attention back to the meteorite falling towards them. He ignored the screams of Nami and Chopper and guided the flaming ball away them and into the hull of the navy ship. "Takt!"

The metal caved in with a loud groan. Law then turned his attention to the approaching warlord while the Straw Hats ran about their ship in preparation to leave the country. He swiped out his sword to the strings that Doflamingo shot out at them. They wrapped around his sword. He tightened his hold on his sword, hoping the Straw Hats were ready to take off. "Nami! Listen up! Head for an area that doesn't have clouds!"

"That doesn't have clouds?!" Nami asked. "What for?! What good would that do?!"

"Doflamingo uses the string string devil fruit! He can fly through the air by attaching his strings to clouds!" Law told her. "He won't be able to follow you if there are no clouds around for him to grab on to!"

"Are you serious?!" Nami gasped. She looked up at Doflamingo and how he was suspended in the air.

"Strings, huh? I guess that would explain it how he was able to catch me like he did," Sanji said.

"Get going now!" Law called before he severed the strings from his swords.

"Fine! We're leaving! But you better take care of Neo!" Chopper shouted. "We'll see you all in Zou! Here we go! Get ready for the Coup de Burst!"

Law nodded. He stepped over to Giolla. Grabbing her hair, he pointed his blade to her neck. "Hey! Doflamingo! Look over here!"

"Law?! What in the world do you think you are doing?!" Giolla demanded only to get Law's sword twisted more towards her neck.

Law locked his eyes onto Doflamingo's sunglasses before warping himself and Giolla to the nearby fog covered bridge. He clenched his teeth. His hand tightened on his sword hilt when Doflamingo walked out of the fog that was covering the bridge. He focused on Neo. Or he tried to. Her magic was still out. At least she wouldn't know immediately on what he was about to do. But he knew she would sense what he was about to do.

"Was there a point in letting only half of the Straw Hat crew escape?" Doflamingo asked. "We both know that the others are back in Dressrosa. I can easily take them as hostages. Then the half that just took off would come back and hand Caesar back over to me to save their friends."

"You think so? I thought there were several people who underestimated the Straw Hat crew and got burned for it," Law said. He forced back a smirk when Doflamingo frowned. "Despite that. Our alliance with the Straw Hat crew ends here. When we joined forces with them, my only purpose was to use them and have them shut down the manufacture of SMILEs. Even if I can't or don't kill you here and now, Kaido will do it sooner or later because you lost all of the SMILEs for him."

"I see. Your plan was to sacrifice yourself to kill me," Doflamingo said. "Or so it seems. But Neo is mixed up in this as well. Were you planning on sacrificing her too? Did she agree with that?"

"I would really like to see how the world falls into chaos after your death, but first, we're going to settle the score to what you did thirteen years ago! Joker!" Law hissed, ignoring the man's taunts. Forgive me, Neo. I know you don't want me to fight Doflamingo, but I have to. You know that. I know you know that. I promise that I will make this up to you.

Once free of the navy and Doflamingo, Sanji picked up the transponder snail. He dialed it in to Franky's transponder snail and waited for the cyborg to pick up. When he did, Sanji informed them of what happened on their end then Franky told them everything that happened on their side of things before asking about their missing friends.

"So what are Luffy and Law doing now?" Franky asked from his end of the transponder snail. "Is Neo still with Luffy at the coliseum? That's where Zoro told me she was earlier."

"Yeah, she's still there," Sanji replied. "Zoro and Kin'emon are there now too."

"That's good to hear," Robin said.

"As for Law…" Sanji's voice trailed off. His mind wandered to the warlord that had warped of the Sunny just before they had taken off.

"Hey, what were you saying before about Neo?" Brook asked Chopper.

"Oh, that," Chopper said. He looked at the skeleton then at Sanji.

When the cook caught the doctor's eyes, he said, "Might as well tell him. Pretty much everyone else, but for Luffy, knows by now."

"Right." Chopper nodded. He looked over at Caesar, to make sure the man was far enough away before leaning closer to Brook. "Neo's pregnant."

"What?!" Brook shrieked. "And we left her back there with that crazy warlord?!"

"The blue haired woman is with child?" Momonosuke asked, looking up at Nami.

"She is." Nami nodded. She placed her finger over the boy's lips as if silencing him. "But don't tell anyone else. We're trying to keep that a secret from certain people."

"I understand," Momonosuke said with a nod. "I will not utter a single word of this to anyone."

"You're such a good boy," Nami said. She hugged the boy in her lap. A few minutes later, she got up from her spot to reclaim the helm. The rest, but for Sanji who was still on the transponder snail, fanned out on the ship to make sure no one was following them.

Chopper looked over the horizon before walking back over to Sanji. He said, "Hey, Sanji? Will Law be okay?"

"He'll be fine. His plan is to let Kaido of the four emperors kill Doflamingo. As long as he focuses on escaping, he'll be fine," Sanji said. He pulled his cigarette from his mouth and smiled. "But that's not the real reason your worried, is it?"

"We just left her behind," Chopper said, tears pooling in his eyes. "I'm trying not to worry, but I can't help it."

"I understand how you feeling. But Law has no intentions of losing either of them. He'll make sure they all escape alive. And we'll reunite with them in Zou," Sanji said. He reached over and placed his hand on Chopper's hat. "Let's just focus on getting to Zou."

"Right." Chopper nodded.

Neo stood up. All she could do was either let herself worry or try and distract herself by watching the fight. But all she could do was worry. She worried about Law. And she worried about Rebecca. Mostly, she worried about Law. Rebecca she could see on the screen before her. And currently, the young gladiator was backing herself up to the edge of the ring. If she backed up anymore, she would fall in the water and lose the match.

"Hey! Stop, Rebecca! Stop backing up!" Luffy cried out to the screen. He grabbed onto the bars as if it would help her hear him screaming. "You're at the edge of the ring! If you back up more, you're going to fall off!"

"All right, Rebecca! Keep at it!" the black haired prisoner cheered.

"What are you saying?!" Luffy snapped. "She's going to fall off! She'll be out of the fight if that happens!"

"No, she's not going to fall!" the black haired prisoner said.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"Just watch," another prisoner said. "Rebecca knows what she's doing."

Luffy and Neo turned their eyes back to Rebecca. They watched as she easily took down three opponents at the same time. Luffy asked, "What did she just do? Wait a second. I didn't know she used observation haki."

"You're just now noticing that?" Neo asked him.

"When did you figure it out?" Luffy asked, turning to look at the woman beside him.

"Not long after she brought us into this room. You were eating so I guess I'm not really surprised you didn't noticed it then," Neo said. She leaned closer to Luffy and lowered her voice to a whisper. "She used it on me. She knows I'm not human. Or she assumes I'm different at least."

"What?!" Luffy gasped.

"Shh!" Neo looked at the prisoners. Luckily, they were too focused on the battle and Rebecca to notice or hear Luffy's scream.

"Are you okay with that?" Luffy then asked, lowering his voice back down.

"Yeah." Neo nodded, turning her attention back to him. "She's a good person. We both know that already."

"She sure is," Luffy said before looking back at the screen. The announcer was confirming what they already knew about Rebecca. The announcer informed the crowd of how she's never hurt anyone in battle. That she always throws them out of the ring instead of resorting to violence and blood shed. "Yeah! Rebecca! You're so cool!"

Neo nodded slowly in agreement to Luffy's words. She just wished the crowd could see what a good person Rebecca was instead of hating her for something she had nothing to do with, or she assumed Rebecca had nothing to do with it. She didn't know the complete story after all. All she knew for sure was Rebecca wasn't a bad person.

"This is so irritating! What's wrong with those people?!" Luffy asked when the crowd started jeering at Rebecca again. He tightened his hold on the bars he was clinging to. It was clear he wanted to wrap them around someone's neck.

"It's just like I told you. That's how much they hate her," the black hair prisoner said. "All because of what her grandfather did."

"But that has absolutely nothing to do with her!" Luffy snapped. "She's a really nice person!"

"We all know that already. I know personally," the black hair prisoner said. "After one of my fights, when I got seriously injured and my life was hanging in the balance, she was there for me. She sat up all night and kept encouraging me to live. She kept telling me I was going to be fine. And it wasn't just me. She's been like that with all of us. Everyone here really likes her. We support and encourage her. But the people outside of this place will never forget what happened that night."

"That night?" Luffy asked. He and Neo glanced at each other then turned their eyes to the prisoner.

"It's a long story but-" the prisoner started to say.

"Never mind then," Luffy said, cutting the man off.

"What?!" the prisoner gasped. "You asked!"

"Go, Rebecca!" Luffy shouted, ignoring the man. "Go for it!"

"Excuse him," Neo said to the prisoner. "He apparently has a very short attention span."

"I noticed," the black haired man said.

"Will you tell me what happened to her?" Neo asked.

"You want to know?" the man asked.

"I do." Neo nodded.

"All right. I'll tell you, but it's not a very happy story," the man said.

"That's fine. I've… dealt with my fair share of turmoil," Neo said. "Just give me a quick version of the story. I'm sure we're more concerned with watching Rebecca's match anyway. Besides, there are some things that I can't handle listening to, as I'm sure you've noticed."

"Right. I'll leave out what I think you can't handle." The man nodded. "Well, to be blunt, Rebecca's grandfather pretty much burned down the entire country after asking the citizens to give him all of their money."

"What?" Neo asked with a light gasp.

"It took everyone by surprise. The king was really loved by all of the people. We trusted him and he betrayed us," the man said. He dropped his one eye to the floor and sighed. "The Doflamingo and his family came and stopped the former king. He saved this country. That's how and why he's the current king."

"That's…" Neo's voice trailed off.

"Terrible," the man finished for her, assuming that's what she was going to say.

Neo stared at the man for a few seconds before turning her eyes back to the screen. She watched as Rebecca continued to dodge the fighters, forcing them to fall into the water. That doesn't sound right to me. I don't know why though. Something about all of this just doesn't feel right. Doflamingo just happened to show up at the same time the former king went nuts and started to set the country on fire? I wonder if he also has something to do with the toys in this country. "Excuse me, but when did all of these toys start appearing in Dressrosa? Have they always been apart of this country?"

"They started appearing shortly after the arrival of the Doflamingo family," the black hair man replied before turning his attention back to Rebecca.

I see. Everything about this place is just so crazy. I wonder what's really going on in this country. Neo looked back at the screen. Her heart clenched when she saw that Rebecca was now standing face to face with a large man that the announcer had called Rolling Logan. Her heart clenched again when Rolling Logan managed to disarm Rebecca. The young gladiator was nimble enough to avoid getting hit by the man's attacks when he bombarded her with them, but she was slammed onto her back when his finger caught a hold of her cape. She grabbed onto the bars and shouted when Rolling Logan picked up the pink haired girl and started squeezing her. "Rebecca! No! Let her go!"

Neo released the bars and shot her hands up to her ears when Rebecca screamed out in pain. Flashback started to roll through her mind again. It made her stomach spin. She whipped around and walked away from the screen. She didn't know if Luffy noticed. And she didn't really care if he did or didn't. She just wanted, needed, to get away from the fight. She walked the length of the room then walked it again. Stopping at the door, she reached up and pulled Law's hat down over her eyes. She was about to turn and walked back to Luffy when she suddenly got a very bad feeling about Sanji. He was in trouble. She shifted from foot to foot, while her body trembled, wishing her magic would come back so she could speak to Law, so she could leave this horrid place. But it didn't. It didn't obey her desires at all.

She released a frustrated growl and kicked the door multiple times while she waited for this feeling to either go away or get worse. Her breath started coming in short, sharp gasps. She knew she would hyperventilate if she kept this up. She closed her eyes, forced her breathing to slow down, and tried to figure out where Sanji would have been right now. Last she saw of him, he was fawning over that dark haired woman back in the town. But would he still be with her? Was she the reason for this bad feeling? Was that woman causing pain to Sanji? Was she hurting him? She knew Sanji had a weakness for women, but she believed he could handle himself no matter what came his way. She was still worried, however. Then, just as quick as the feeling came, the feeling was gone. The bad feeling was replaced with relief. She exhaled. Whatever happened, whatever danger Sanji was in, it had passed by. Upon feeling lightheaded, she leaned against the door.

Neo took a couple shaky breaths to steady herself while pressing her hand to her warm face. She stayed like that for a minute before finally feeling better. She pushed herself off the door. She took only one step towards Luffy and the prisoners before she felt like her heart had stopped beating. Her body grew cold, her knees buckled, and she dropped to the floor, clenching her aching chest while gasping desperately for air. "Law… no… don't…"

Neo's teary eyes dropped down to Law's ring. The light from the room was bright enough that it should have glinted off of it, but his ring looked dark to her. The light wouldn't reflex off of it at all. She knew Law was about to do something really stupid and very reckless. And she knew exactly what that was. She knew he was getting ready to fight with Doflamingo. And not like he had been doing. She knew he was about to fight Doflamingo head on. Something must have happened. But she didn't know what. She was completely in the dark on what was happening outside of the coliseum. And she hated it. She hated every single second that she didn't know what was going on with Law. She hated being away from him. She needed to be beside him. If he was really going to fight Doflamingo, then she was going to fight beside him. She had to get out of this horrible place and get back to Law's side.

Pushing herself to her feet, she brushed her tears away with the back of her hand before stomping back towards Luffy as her mind went over all of the abilities of Luffy's that she knew about. She was getting out of here one way or another. Since her magic wasn't working, Luffy's gum gum devil fruit was the only other option. It might be long shot to pull it off, but he could use his gum gum rocket to launch them over the moat and into the crowd. He then could use it again to, hopefully, get them to the top of the coliseum. They could jump over the side and he could use his gum gum balloon to safely land them on the ground.

She started to mentally curse at herself for not thinking of this before, but stopped herself upon remembering Law doesn't like it when she uses such words. She wasn't use to using such words anyway. She pushed those thoughts from her mind and continued towards Luffy. As she got closer to her friend, her steps and determination almost faltered when she saw Luffy, for some reason, was running in place. She pushed it aside as she continued to march up to him. Luffy didn't notice her as he continued speaking to the prisoners in the cell. "I thought everyone in this country was happy. That's how it seemed while we were walking around the town. But after meaning you all, I guess that's not true."

"What you saw was the bright side of this country. That's where the winners live happily. Doflamingo labels those who obey him without question the winners while the people who openly disobey him are labeled the losers," the black haired man said. He waved his missing hand to emphasize his point. "It's kind of like the world government. The losers are basically like trash and once you hide that trash in the darkness, the country can look nothing but good on the surface."

"Hm. That kind of sounds like the place I grew up," Luffy said thoughtfully while he continued to jog in place.

"When you get the feeling that something is wrong, you start seeing strange things happening," the black haired prisoner said. "We believe there's an even darker side to this country. You two better be careful. If you openly defy Doflamingo, you could end up like us."

"Yeah. We'll be fine," Luffy said.

Neo almost faltered at the prisoner's words. He spoke the truth. She had gotten the feeling that something wasn't right in this country. That door opened up for her when she sensed that tiger. Then it became even clearer when she spoke to the elephant trapped inside of a toy and even more so upon meeting Rebecca and these prisoners. She shook those thought from her head. They didn't matter at the moment. Law did. She had to get to him. Marching closer to Luffy, she grabbed the front of this shirt. He blinked at her before asking, "Hm? Neo? What's up? You looked kind of upset about something. Are you feeling sick again?"

"We're leaving!" Neo told him before jerking him towards the door. "Law's-"

"Of course we're leaving!" Luffy then said. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand off his shirt, and then dashed down the hall to the door with her in tow.

"We are?" Neo asked, feeling completely off guard by his words. Did Luffy have the same bad feeling that she did?

"The view down here is terrible!" Luffy said, pulling her towards the door with a high amount of enthusiasm. "We're heading back up to the viewing spots for the other competitors!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Neo snapped. "That's why you're so excited?! I thought you had the same bad feeling that I did about Law!"

"Huh? What about Tra?" Luffy glanced over his shoulder at her.

"He's in trouble!" Neo replied. She felt her frustration growing at her helpless situation. It made her heartbeat increase to a level she knew was too high and Law wouldn't be happy about.

"Oh?! Did your magic come back?!" Luffy asked.

"If it did I wouldn't be stuck here being dragged by you!" Neo snapped again, causing her frustration to grow even more. She needed to calm down. She took a deep breath to calm herself down when she felt like she was going to become hysterical. She knew this wasn't Luffy's fault. She had no reason to blame him or yell at him for it. Once she felt herself becoming more stable, she spoke again. "Luffy, Law and I are really close. I don't need my magic or our magical bond to know when something bad is happening to him. And something very bad is about to happen to him right now. He's going to fight Doflamingo head on. I think he's already fighting him. I know he is."

"You can tell all of that without your magic?" Luffy asked. "How?"

"I just told you how! But it's also more than that! Law's had a ven-" Neo clamped her mouth shut after almost telling Luffy the real reason they were after Doflamingo. She was taking a bit by surprised at how easy and quick she had come to trust the Straw Hats. Her eyes lifted up to her godfather's hat. It was still covered with a black hat. Part of the disguise that Kin'emon had done for Luffy. She got a sudden strong feeling of nostalgia for her godfather. She wanted to see him, both in person and in their dream world. She knew the quickest way she'd see him was in their dream world. It has been a while since they have talked. She wondered what he was doing. She also wondered if he was still paying attention to the newspapers. She shoved that thought away. She knew he was. He always followed their journeys. She wondered what he thought about their recent ventures. He hadn't called her in a panic yet so either he figured they were fine or he didn't know yet. Maybe he didn't know. Her magic was out after all. He could be trying to get a hold of her right now and she wouldn't know it until her magic came back. She figured he wouldn't like them going up against a man like Doflamingo. She shook her head. There was no time to think about that. She would call for him after they got out of this country, to check in if nothing else. She turned her attention back to Luffy. "Look, Luffy, just trust me on this. Law is in a whole lot of trouble. We have to get to him. You can use your gum gum rocket to shoot us to the top of the coliseum. Then we can jump over and use your gum gum balloon to land safely on the ground."

"That's a good plan. But we're not going to do it," Luffy said.

"What?!" Neo gasped. She tried to pull back on him, but he continued to barrel down the hall with her. She didn't have the physical strength to stop him. She had no choice but to follow along with him.

"Don't worry about, Tra. He's going to be fine," Luffy said, casually. Too casually for Neo's liking. She frowned at his back, but he continued to run forward completely unaware of her displeasure. "We need to cheer for Rebecca right now."

"Luffy!" Neo growled under her breath. "So help me… once my magic is back I'm forcing you out of this coliseum!"

"Relax! It's going to be fine!" Luffy smiled. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Tra! So here's what we're going to do, we'll go cheer on Rebecca so she knows we're there for her then we'll leave. How's that? It's not like you can help Tra without your magic anyway, right?"

"Luffy. Fine." Neo sighed. His smile was so comforting that she couldn't help but believe him. It still bugged her that he was being so carefree. No other words were passed between them. They had reached the exit to this room. Luffy pushed it open for them and they found the strange rooster hair styled man, which was chasing them before, greeted them with a startling cry. Neo tilted her head in confusion, her anger and worry momentarily forgotten as she stared at the green haired man before them. She tried to figure out if he was excited, happy, sad, or if he was on the verge of having a heart attack. His emotions were all mixed together as he cried, literally, at the sight of Luffy. "Huh? It's one of the guys that was chasing you before. What do you think he wants? He doesn't look like he's out to kill you or anything like that."

"Yeah." Luffy nodded. "I'm not sure what he wants."

"L-L-L-L-L," the green haired man stuttered. He ducked behind a column of the coliseum. His eyes sparkled with stars before he jumped back out from the column. Fresh tears shot out of his eyes like rivers. "Mr. Luffy!"

"He knows who you really are!" Neo gasped in a low tone.

"Mr. L-L-Luffy!" the man cried again before his eyes took on a dreamy expression.

"Shouldn't you see what he wants?" Neo asked.

"No," Luffy replied. He slid his hand from her wrist to her hand and started running down the coliseum hall. He looked around as they went. "Let's see. Which way was it? We need to find the place to watch the fight."

"You don't know where we are?" Neo asked.

"Nope." Luffy smiled.

"Just great," Neo grumbled. She looked around. I'm not sure where we are either. I didn't pay close enough attention when Rebecca brought us to that room. I guess we're just going to have to ask someone for directions. Surely someone is nice enough to tell us without trying to hack Luffy's head off.

"Wait, Mr. Luffy!"

"Huh?" Neo said just as Luffy stopped running and turned back around. "It's that rooster haired guy again."

"Yeah, I remember you now," Luffy said as they walked back to the green haired man. "Your name is, um… Ack! Wait a second! My name isn't Luffy! It's Lucy!"

"That doesn't matter. It's not important," the man said before casting his eyes down to the floor. "Oh, I can't! I can't even speak! I'm too nervous!"

"Is he okay?" Neo asked. She tilted her head to the side when the man dropped to the ground and leaned backwards. Suddenly feeling nervous at the strange man and his even stranger actions, she stepped closer to Luffy. "We don't have time for this. We need to go."

"Right. Well, if you got nothing to say, we're going to leave now," Luffy said. "We have to support Rebecca then go help a friend of ours."

Neo gave the man one last look before following Luffy back down the hall.

"Wait, Mr. L-L-Luffy! Mr. Z-Z-Zoro to asked me to… to…" the man called.

"Huh?! Zoro?!" Luffy skidded to a stop.

"We're never going to get out of here," Neo grumbled to herself as they walked back to the green haired man. Feeling aggravated she openly spoke to him. "Look, mister, we're in a hurry. What is it that you want from Luffy?"

"Huh? Who the hell are you?! You're not part of the Straw Hat crew! How do you know, Mr. Luffy?!" The man tilted his head as he took Neo in. His eyes ran over her body then stopped their connected hands. He's voice shrilled with happiness as he threw up his hands in the air. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know that the great Mr. Luffy had a girlfriend!"

"Huh?" Neo gaped at the man. It took her a few seconds to find her voice and really register what he had said. She lifted her left hand and waved it at him. "Oh! No! We're not a-"

"You're wearing Mr. Luffy's ring!" he gasped. Tears poured down his cheeks like mini waterfalls had magically implanted themselves on his face. "I don't believe it! There has been no word about this at all! But I suspect you would want to keep it a secret so no one would be able to use her against you!"

"Who are you?" Neo asked completely dumbfounded at this strange man and the bizarre idea that she was romantically involved with Luffy.

"Please, Mrs. Luffy, call me Bartolomeo," Bartolomeo said. He placed the back of his arm over his eyes and continued to cry. "I'm so unworthy!"

"I'm not Mrs. Luffy!" Neo snapped. Anger flared up in her chest at being calling something other than Neo or Mrs. Trafalgar. Tears stun her eyes. "I'm Mrs. Trafalgar! I'm married to Law not Luffy!"

Luffy laughed at the man's outburst.

Neo turned her tear eyes at the Straw Hat captain and said, "It's not funny, Luffy! I'm not married to you!"

"Right, right. I'm sorry." Luffy then stopped laughing. He turned to Bartolomeo and said, "What did you want?"

"Oh! Right! Mr. Z-Z-Zoro asked me to bring you to him!" Bartolomeo said after composing himself. His eyes bounced between Luffy and Neo before dropping down to their connected hands again then to the ring on Neo's hand. Tears began flowing again. "I can't believe it! I'm so happy for you both!"

"You're making a mistake," Neo said, trying again to get through to him. "We're just friends."

"Really? Zoro's looking for us? Where is he then?" Luffy asked.

"You could help me here in correcting him," Neo said. She gave Luffy's hand a squeeze then a jerk but he didn't respond.

"H-he's outside of the coliseum! I can take him to you!" Bartolomeo said as he covered his face with his hands. He scissor walked sideways passed Luffy and Neo before dashing down the hall. "I-I-I can show you! Follow me! You and your wife come this way!"

"I'm not his wife!" Neo snapped.

"All right! We're counting on you, Rooster Head!" Luffy said. "Come on, Neo! Let's go!"

"Aren't you even going to correct him?!" Neo asked while Luffy once again started to drag her down the hall. "He thinks that we're married!"

"So?" Luffy asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

"What do you mean 'so'?! We're not married!" Neo said with an annoyed sigh. "Law's not going to like this one bit! You have to correct him!"

Before Luffy could reply to her, Bartolomeo suddenly dropped to the ground and started crying again. Luffy said, "Huh? Hey, what's wrong?"

Bartolomeo didn't reply.

"This is just great. You attract a lot of weird people," Neo said. She placed her free hand on her hip and stared at Bartolomeo. She noticed he didn't even hear Luffy talking to him. "Let's just go. It doesn't look like he's going to stop crying any time soon."

"Yeah. I think you might be right," Luffy said. "Let's go."

Neo nodded. Finally. Hold on, Law. Please, don't do anything stupid until I get there. And don't let Doflamingo get to you. Don't let him use me against you. Keep your head calm, clear, and focused. You know I'm safe. It's going to be fine. We're going to leave this country. Alive.

NOTICE: I'm taking a break this week from this story. I'm going out of town for a few days anyway so it's a perfect time to take a breather. We're at a hundred chapters now. My longest story ever. So next chapter for this story will be up sometime next week, depending on when I get back and get the chapter finished, as long as nothing happens between now and then. Thanks for reading, liking it, and for the reviews. See ya next week.

Loveanimation4life: Thanks. A hundred chapters is a lot. Glad you're still with my story and still liking it. Law's just that good I guess.

Inazumame1997: Thanks. Glad you like what I'm doing with that.

Barnold72: Thanks a lot. I would like to give professional publishing a try. Gotta get a book written first. Right now all I got is an idea for a story. ^.^' I'm very good a procrastinating.

Apple Bloom: Thanks. More coming.

Guest: Yeah, I'm trying to get a few small scenes with what the HPs are doing and how they're handling Neo and Law being gone. Penguin's not doing so well. Mingo's a good villain to hate.