Warlords

Law took a deep breath. The calmness of the world around him was putting him on edge. Nature was eerily silent, the birds had stopped calling, the ocean waves had stilled, the wind was nowhere to be found. It was like nature itself was waiting to see what the outcome of this battle was going to be. He narrowed his eyebrows and wondered if Neo, despite her magic still being absent, was sensing the odd change in nature.

Or was nature acting on her behalf? Was nature holding its own breath in anticipation to the outcome of this fight?

His body started trembling to that thought. Nature did have a habit of protecting her. He took a strained breath and slowly released it through barely parted lips in hope Doflamingo wouldn't notice. It was really pointless. The older warlord already knew how much Neo meant to him. Doflamingo probably knew that, or at least assumed that much, the first time Neo was revealed in the papers to be one of his crew. Doflamingo was, after all, a very smart and dangerous man. And he had trained Law for those few years when he was just a kid.

"So you want to make me pay for what I did thirteen years ago?" Doflamingo asked with a tilt of his head.

Law felt like rolling his eyes at the man clearly trying to pretend he didn't know what he was talking about. He said, "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I don't linger on the past, Law. I'm more concerned with the here and now," Doflamingo said with a dark chuckle. "Like how Neo still hasn't come to your aid since that first time in the forest of Green Bit. You know I still can't figure out where she actually was during that time. Her crystals were clearly there, but she wasn't. I know you trained her as a sniper. So keeping her distance would normally be the position she would be in. However, as the news reports have said, she always entered the battle up close when someone she loves is in danger. And she didn't this time."

Law forced himself not to show any kind of emotion to Doflamingo's words. He gritted his teeth and held tighter onto the hilt of his sword in a desperate attempt to not let his emotions get the better of him. Neo was a source of great strength to him, but she was also his greatest weakness. If he wasn't careful, he could lose control. And that would give Doflamingo a huge advantage over him.

So he let his hat brim fall over his eyes to calm himself down and control his thoughts again. He felt both Doflamingo and Giolla's eyes carefully watching him. He knew this move was pointless since Doflamingo had it all figured out. Neo's moves in protecting those she loved were obvious. Even people who have no battle experience would be able to figure it out just from the reporters' words in newspapers. But this time was different. And Doflamingo noticed that.

A lump formed in Law's throat. His mouth turned dry. And his heart took several rapid beats as he tried to brace himself for Doflamingo's next words.

"There's something going on with her, isn't there?" A light shimmered across Doflamingo's dark sunglasses when Law couldn't keep his body from reacting to his words. A smile curled on his lips as his eyes danced over Law's twitching body. "What is it, Law? What's going on with her? Is she hurt? Is she sick? I know she can feel your pain. And with how protective she is of you, there's no way she would just sit back and do nothing. Or did you order her to stay away? Is she that obedient to you? Huh? Is that all you have to do? Just order her to stay away and she'll do it?"

"Enough!" Law hissed. He tightened his hold on his sword and angled its blade closer to Giolla's neck.

"Trying to use her against me? You should know better than that, Law. So what are you going to do, Giolla? Both you and Law know what kind of family we are," Doflamingo said with his grin growing wider.

"He's right, Law! You know I don't mind sacrificing myself for the young master at any point in time!" Giolla snapped. "Holding me hostage is pointless!"

Law ignored her words. He knew full well what kind of people those in the Don Quixote family really were. He had almost become one of them once before. Without a word, he formed his Room and warped the loud mouth, multicolored haired woman away from him and behind Doflamingo. Taking her place was a small, insignificant rock that was just another reminder of Neo. His mind wandering over all of the ways she could have used that little rock as a weapon to protect him. He tried to force her out of his head. He didn't need to be distracted right now. That would give Doflamingo a huge advantage over him. But how could he not think about her? Still, he tried. He said, "You have the chance to run. Get out of here while you can."

"What are you saying?! There's no way I'm going to leave the young master and run away!" Giolla snapped. She wiggled her oddly shaped body on the ground until she managed to get on her knees. "Have you lost your mind, Law?!"

"Go! I don't need you here right now!" Doflamingo said. He kept his eyes on Law instead of looking back at the shocked woman behind him. "I don't need you here, Giolla! Just leave now!"

"Y-yes, sir!" Giolla said. She jumped up from the spot that Law had warped her to then scampering off towards Dressrosa without a second glance behind her at the two warlords.

"Considering that Blackleg arrived near Green Bit earlier I've come to the conclusion that our plans haven't gone like I had wanted them to," Doflamingo said. "If they had, then he would have been dead by now. I wonder what happened."

"You've lost your trump card, Doflamingo. That's what has happened. And you'll never get Caesar back from us now," Law said, holding up the back of his hand to Doflamingo so his tattooed fingers featuring the word 'Death' could clearly be seen by the older warlord. "And while you're fighting me here, you're going to lose the SMILE factory you have here is Dressrosa. Your time is coming to an end."

"You're just being very unreasonable, Law. You have no reason to hold a grudge against me for anything," Doflamingo said. His lips still curled into a smile. "I only did what was necessary. You're just lashing out like a spoiled child."

"I'm not lashing out! I've been living my life until this day to attain that man's long cherished ambition!" Law cried out. His body took an automatic pause to see if Neo's magic had come back. It hadn't. I've got to finish this quickly, he thought before raising his sword towards Doflamingo.

"Very well then! I would like to see how much pain I can inflicted on you two before your precious lover comes to save you!" Doflamingo said.

"Leave her out of this, Doflamingo!" Law hissed.

"I didn't bring her into it, Law! You did!" Doflamingo shot back.

Law's heart clenched hard at Doflamingo's words. The older man was right. He did bring Neo into this. It was his fault that she was here. It was all his fault she was here and pregnant. It was his fault that she was this close to a madman who wanted to kill them both. And that number would increase to all three of them if Doflamingo ever found out that she's pregnant. His mind and body relaxed a bit know that Doflamingo didn't know she was pregnant and had no way of knowing she was. But that good feeling quickly vanished when he remembered the man Sanji had mentioned to him before, the scientist who had been living and working for Doflamingo for several months. Who exactly was that guy? What did Doflamingo have him here for? Did that man know something about Neo and her people? Obviously he did since Doflamingo knew Neo was an elemental and a royal. But was there a way for the enemy to figure out that Neo was pregnant, other than through the tradition means?

A large splash broke through Law's thoughts and the thick silence that nature had settled down on them. With his Room still in tact from warping to the bridge, Law launched his first attack at Doflamingo at the same time Doflamingo launched his first attack at Law. Doflamingo's strings and Law's severing sword slice flew towards each other. The sounds of iron breaking and the shocked cries of the fighting fish filled the air when their attacks sliced through them with ease. The debris fell into the water causing large waves and scaring the sea life that might just happened to be below the bridge as it broke the surface.

Doflamingo shot his strings up to the clouds above. Once they were securely wrapped in place, he pulled himself into the air. Angling his body so he could easily speak to Law, he asked, "How much pain can she handle, Law? I know elemental bodies are different from human bodies. And I know how much pain Vergo can inflict on someone. Did she suffer the same amount of pain that you did? Or did it hurt less because she wasn't the one taking the beating?"

"What makes you think I'll tell you anything?" Law asked, trying to sound like he wasn't bothered by anything the older warlord was saying. He warped when Doflamingo lifted a finger at him and fired a string shot at him.

"I actually don't expect you to tell me anything. But I will find out all I want to know, Law. And I don't need you to tell me anything. Once Neo has joined my side, I'll just conduct experiments on her." Doflamingo chuckled. He swiped his strings at Law.

"Why are you still going on about that?" Law asked. He used his sword to deflect Doflamingo's strings. The strings clanked against the metal of his sword, it rang through his ears before the sound faded away. "Neo will never join you!"

"I guess we'll see soon enough," Doflamingo said. The two warlords struck out at each other again. Their attacks missing each other, but sliced up more of the bridge.

Law took a quick glance at the destruction around them. He wondered how much this bridge could take before it collapsed around them. He knew that Doflamingo could easily pull himself away from the bridge if it did collapsed. He, himself however, would not be as lucky. He could feel his power draining. He was fighting too much. He needed to either end this battle soon or get closer to the island so he could easily warp himself to safety if the bridge did decide to collapse under their battle. But then, moving closer to the Dressrosa, meant leading Doflamingo closer to Neo. It looked like no matter what course of action he took, Neo was fated to fight against Doflamingo. But how would she be able to do that when Doflamingo's strings could slice through anything? Her earth, air, and wind crystals were basically useless. That left her fire crystals. Would she be able to melt his strings with her fire if she turned up the heat enough on them?

The sounds of their shoes thumping against the floor filled their ears and the halls of the coliseum as they ran through the building. They ran passed multiple doorways and people, but none of them were the correct ones. Still holding on to Neo's hand, Luffy cursed and looked around their stone surrounds, unaware of having passed by one of the coliseum workers that noticed them when they almost ran into him when he stepped through a door.

"Hey! Careful! You almost…" The gladiator-clad man cut his own voice off quickly when he noticed the spotted hat that Neo was wearing underneath her raincoat hood and her electric blue eyes as they ran passed him. "Huh? That looked like Trafalgar Neo. I'd know those eyes anywhere. I better report this to Mr. Diamante. He'll want to know that she's in the coliseum with Straw Hat Luffy. But when did she get here? And how did she even get in? The gates have been closed for several minutes. Was it possible she snuck in with Straw Hat? Oh! Forget that! I've got to report this right now!"

The man turned and ducked back into the door he just stepped out of.

"Ah!" Luffy groaned in frustration. "That stupid rooster head! What happened to him?! He said he was going to take us to Zoro, but then he just collapsed on the floor and didn't move!"

Neo glanced over at the black haired teen beside her. The way he was looking around gave her the impression that Luffy thought Zoro would just materialize in front of them if he looked hard enough. She said, "I'm sorry. I know coliseums are big. I've heard my crew talk about them before and I've read about a few in some books, but I had no idea they were like mazes if you weren't familiar with them. Books are always kind of vague with details like that. They want you to use your imagination to insert yourself into the story. But it's okay. We'll find Zoro soon enough. We're on the ground level so if we keep running around right here near these windows, we'll come across him eventually. The entrances are closed to the public. So it's certain that he's still on the outside of the coliseum. There's nowhere else he could be. Plus, that green haired man said that he was going to take us to Zoro because Zoro asked him too. So Zoro knows we're coming. He wouldn't leave anyway."

"I suppose you're correct. But Zoro does like to- Hey!" Luffy said just as he spotted Zoro's outline out of one of the barred windows. "There he is!"

"Yeah." Neo nodded. She looked out the bars to see that Zoro was also with Kin'emon. She was glad to see them and ran her eyes over their bodies. She breathed a sign of relief when she saw no signs of injuries. So despite the trouble that had been going on, they didn't look like they had gotten into any fights.

"Hey! Zoro! Kin'emon!" Luffy called out to the two men on the outside of the coliseum as they rushed up to the window.

"Huh?" When they got about four feet to the window, Neo noticed for a split second that the bars were sea prism stone. She tightened her hold on Luffy's hand and pulled him back with as much force as she could summon. "Luffy! Hold on a second!"

"Ah!" Luffy cried, stumbling back to her. He straightened on his feet and looked at her before he could stumble to the floor and take her with him. "What? What did you do that for?"

"My magic came back for a split second. Those bars are sea prism stone," Neo informed him. She pointed to the three inch thick bars separating them from their friends on the outside. "So don't touch them. We need you at full strength to help Law."

"Huh?" Luffy looked back to the bars. "Oh! Okay! Thanks for telling me! I'll be careful not to touch them!"

Neo nodded before the two walked the last four feet to the bars. She paused when she got a strange feeling coming from nature. She looked up at the sky. Despite the cheers from the coliseum crowd and all the noise from the town, she could still hear nature going oddly quiet. It was the calm before the storm. Law was seconds away from clashing with Doflamingo in a serious fight. Her body started trembling, but she forced herself to stop. She was with Luffy, Zoro, and Kin'emon. And once they were all on the outside of this coliseum, they would go to Law.

She brought her eyes back down to the two men. She locked onto Zoro's shirt when something moved inside of it. She wondered if it was Wicka. The little Tontatta was the only reason that Zoro's shirt would be moving like that. She wanted to ask Zoro if the little blue haired person was still with him, but she didn't think she'd be able to without someone else noticing. And since the Tontattas didn't reveal themselves to the people of Dressrosa, Neo didn't want to disrupt that. So she pulled her eyes from Zoro's shirt and focused on the man instead.

"Hey, guys! Here we are!" Luffy called. He waved to their friends like it would help them be seen. "Zoro! Kin'emon! Over here!"

"Luffy! Neo!" Zoro called back. He and Kin'emon ran closer to the coliseum and looked up at the two trapped inside.

Kin'emon gasped. Holding up his finger to his lips, he quickly tried to shush Luffy despite the rubber man having already called out their names. "Shh! Shh!"

"Don't shout out our names like that, you idiot! Do you want someone to figure out who we are?!" Zoro demanded.

"Shh! Shh! Sir Zoro, please!" Kin'emon said. He looked at the swordsman standing beside him. "You shouted out their names as well!"

"Oh, sorry," Luffy replied with a laugh. "But I'm really glad to see you two!"

"I'm glad to see you two as well," Neo said. She placed her hand on the edge of the windowsill and carefully looked them over again. "Are you two all right? You look all right."

"We are fine, Lady Neo," Kin'emon replied. "Rest easy now. It will not do you any good to get upset."

"Sorry. I'm already upset. Law's in trouble," Neo said. She felt relieved that they were fine, but also sad. She blinked away the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, not understanding why she felt this way. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand before placing her hand on her stomach. "We need to get out of here and get to Law."

"Indeed. We all are in trouble with everything that has happened. But I am very glad that you two have arrived here. I did not think we were going to be able to depend on that guy we spoke to before. He was acting so weird, but it seems like he was able to do what we asked of him," Kin'emon said. His eyes wandered around the area in an attempt to find the green haired man, but he wasn't there.

"Speak of that guy, where did he go anyway?" Zoro asked. His eyes also wandered around the inside area of the coliseum where Neo and Luffy were. "Didn't he come with you two?"

"No, he collapsed on our way here for some reason," Luffy replied.

"Really? Did something happen to him?" Zoro asked, bringing his eyes back to Luffy. "He really didn't seem all that well when we spoke to him. Did he get sick or something?"

"I don't know. He might have been," Luffy replied with a carefree shrug. "He was crying a lot. Maybe he was hurt. He did just fight his match in the coliseum."

"Or maybe he was just insane. He completely lost it when he first saw Luffy. I thought he was having a heart attack or something. He saw Law's ring but thinks Luffy and I are married," Neo then said. She held up her hand and flashed Law's ring at them before glanced down the hall to see if the green haired man was coming in sight before looking back to Zoro and Kin'emon. "I tried to correct him, but he wouldn't listen to me. Law's not going to be happy about that."

"He thinks you two are married?" Zoro asked. His eyebrow lifted up in confusion. "Why would he jump to that conclusion?"

"He also thinks I'm part of your crew as well. Probably thought that we were involved because Luffy's been holding my hand for a while now. He saw our connected hands when we first spoke to him. Then saw Law's ring when I tried to correct him and jumped to the wrong conclusion. I suppose us holding hands was what gave him that impression," Neo told them. "But I've held hands with several of my own crew before and no one jumped to that conclusion."

"You're my friend," Luffy said. He smiled at Neo when she brought her bright eyes to his. "And you're Shanks' daughter. Why wouldn't I hold your hand? I want to make sure you're safe."

"I know that, Luffy." Neo gave him a smile and squeezed his hand. Her heart flittered a bit at how protective Luffy was being over her. Her eyes flickered to the brim of the straw hat hanging on Luffy's neck. She wished he were wearing it. The helmet he was currently wearing didn't suit him at all. Or maybe she was just feeling sentimental. She did feel like tears were going to come again. And she felt a strong sudden desire to contact her godfather. She wanted to snuggle up to him in their magical world and talk to him until she fell asleep. Feeling her tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, she took a slow deep breath to push them away. Now wasn't the time for crying. "Godfather would be pleased to hear you care so much. Though it would be best not to mention to anyone there's a connection between Godfather and me. Despite that, Law's still not going to be please to know another man thinks me and you are married. And that man seems kind of dangerous. He might attack Law if he sees us together. But there's no time to discuss this. We have to get out of here."

"Don't worry about that guy. It'll be fine," Luffy said. He then turned back to Zoro and Kin'emon. "But Neo is right. We need to get-"

The sound of metal hitting the floor cut Luffy's words off. He and Neo looked down the hall to see a dagger discarded in the middle of the hallway. Neo blinked in confusion at the out of place item. She asked, "Someone was there? Did they even notice they dropped their knife?"

"Hey, Luffy. What's wrong? What is it?" Zoro asked.

"It's nothing. Someone just dropped a knife," Luffy said, turning his eyes back to Zoro. "Anyway we-"

"Ah!" Neo screamed when a sharp pain stabbed through her head. Her knees buckled under her. She released Luffy's hand so she could steady herself on the windowsill.

"Neo!" all three of the men shouted.

"Neo? What is it? What's happening?" Luffy asked. His eyes roamed over her body, desperately searching for what caused her this pain. "Did your magic come back? Are you feeling Law's pain or something?"

"I don't- Ah!" Neo started to speak, but was cut off again when another sharp pain shot through her head. Her vision blurred and split in two. She closed her eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over her. Her body started to tremble. It caused her to lose her hold on the windowsill and collapsed against the wall. Curling into a tight ball, she clenched a hold of her head. Warm tears from the pain streaked down her cheeks.

"Neo?" Luffy asked, kneeling down with her. His eyes still roamed over her body despite nothing being there. He felt helpless. He didn't know what was going on with her. And he didn't know how to help her. He wasn't their crew's doctor, Chopper was. And Chopper wasn't here right now. "Just hold on! It'll be okay! We'll get you some help!"

"N-no…" Neo choked out through the pain. "It's… okay. It's just a headache."

"A headache?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah." Neo started to nod, but the movement caused her head to hurt more. So she halted all movement and waited for the pain to pass. "I'll be fine. Let's just get out of here and get to Law."

"We're not going anywhere with your head hurting like that," Luffy said.

"Luffy, we have to." Neo cracked open an eyelid and looked at him. Through her blurry, double vision she managed to see his eyes were filled with concern. It was sweet of him to worry, but now wasn't the time for that. She forced out a smile and tried to stand up. The movement shot more pain through her head, forcing her to drop back down to the ground.

"You are not going anywhere until that headache goes away," Luffy said in a stern captain tone. It took Neo by surprise. She didn't think he had such a serious tone in his voice. "Both Tra and Shanks would not be pleased to know you're in such pain. Now you just sit still until it goes away. That's an order! Do you understand me?"

Neo looked at Luffy in confusion. For a second, he sounded like Law. She knew he was correct. She couldn't even move or stand up. She had no choice but to wait it out. Reluctantly she gave into him. "All right."

"Room! Shambles!" Law cried out as the bridge beneath his feet started to crumble. He warped himself away from the damage their fight was causing to the bridge and to keep himself from falling into the salty water. His chest heaved up and down with exhaustion from his fights as his current Room disappeared. The blood from earlier was starting to dry causing his skin to itch.

"What's wrong, Law? I thought you wanted to kill me!" Doflamingo said as he swung through the air. He swiped out his hand, shooting strings at Law's back.

Law ducked to the ground just before the strings could slice him up. Instead they flew passed him and sliced up the more of the bridge. He knew at this rate they were going to completely destroy the already damaged bridge. At least he didn't have to worry about any more fighting fish. Though he didn't know why exactly. Perhaps their battle was enough to scare off the enormous fish. Either way he was glad they were gone. He didn't need the added distraction trying to eat him. He shifted his thoughts back to the bridge. Thinking about how the shattered bridge gave him plenty of weapons to use against Doflamingo. He held up his hand to recreate his faded Room and lift pieces of the bridge debris. "Room! Takt!"

Law shot one column into the air knowing full well that Doflamingo would easily be able to slice it up with his strings. He used that by immediately shooting multiple columns up towards the older man while the first column blocked his vision from the rest that were headed his way. He then warped himself up to Doflamingo by replacing a piece of debris with his body. He swiped his sword, but Doflamingo blocked his blade with strings. Taking the opportunity, he thrust out his hand in an attempted to take Doflamingo's heart. "Scalpel!"

"Tell me something, Law," Doflamingo said while dodging Law's attack. Instead of continuing with what he was going to say, he slammed his foot into Law's face.

Law gritted his teeth in frustration, ignoring the iron taste that filled his mouth from his busted lip. He looked over his shoulder at the rapidly approaching bridge. He knew he needed to get himself to land safely back on the bridge for Neo's sake. He managed to warp himself to it before his back could collide with it. On his hands and knees, Law panting hard while he kept his eyes locked on Doflamingo. He quickly checked to see if Neo's magic had came back yet. It hadn't, but for a quick split second of it. She was still unable to feel the damage he was accumulating in this battle. Still worried thoughts paraded across his mind uninvited. Stress could cause problems to pregnant women. Assuming elementals were the same, how much could Neo handle of this battle without causing harm to her and their child? She always got stressed easily and with the trauma of her past... Law mentally cursed at himself. Neo was going to be a high-risk pregnancy. And he was just adding to that stress by fighting and ordering her to stay away. He shot his eyes up when he felt Doflamingo's presence above him. He grabbed his sword and stood up. But it was too late.

Doflamingo grabbed the front of his coat and pinned Law to the ground. Law's sword clanked back to the ground. Chuckling, the older warlord leaned down to Law's ear and said, "Tell me, Law. How is she in bed? Is she good? Does she give you everything you desire? Does she fill your needs as a man?"

Blinding rage built up in Law's body. His heart took sharp, angry beats. His eyes narrowed to sharp points and glinting with murderous intent as he looked at the man pinning him down.

"You two must have some very interesting romantic encounters with those abilities of hers," Doflamingo said, feeding off the rage he set loose in the man beneath him. "I can just imagine all the sexual things she could do to you with those crystals of hers. Perhaps I'll find out for myself. Perhaps my experiments on her will include sexual ones."

Law snapped. His vision completely blurred to the point all he could see was a white-hot wall in his eyes and all the ways he could murder, no, torture the man above him. Murder was too good, too quick. He wanted Doflamingo to suffer for suggesting such a thing, for thinking of doing something like that to his love. He grabbed his sword and swung violently at Doflamingo's head. He growled angrily when all he managed to slice was air. Doflamingo had moved far too quickly for him to make contact. Still he lung forward, taking multiple, rapid swings and thrusts of the sword towards Doflamingo.

"What's the matter, Law? Did I hit a nerve? She is a pirate after all. Most have been with more than one lover," Doflamingo said with a dark, sinister chuckle. He easily dodged each of Law's attacks, knowing the younger warlord was far too angry and tired to land a blow. Or so he thought. Looking down when his skin stung he noticed several places on his exposed skin did in fact get cut. His warm, sticky blood leaked out, wetting his skin. Iron filled his nose as his smile vanished from his lips. He looked back up at Law in time to see the young man coming at him again. He shot his strings around a cloud and pulled himself away from the sword swipe. Pausing in air, he said, "Pathetic. You're completely out of breath and completely unfocused now. If you had gotten this angry before, then this battle might have gone in your favor. But now it won't be much longer until your powers completely fade away. And your precious lover is still nowhere in sight. Is she waiting until the last moment to come and save you?"

"Room!" Ignoring the man's words and his tiring body, Law pushed himself to form another Room. It didn't come. He gritted his teeth in frustration and pushed through his exhaustion. Finally the blue film fanned out around them. He ran towards a broken piece column of bridge before switching it with a surprised Doflamingo. "Shambles!"

Law swung his sword towards Doflamingo, hoping to slice off the warlord's head, but only hit the unbreakable strings. He gritted his teeth and pushed against the strings despite knowing he wouldn't be able to cut them.

"So this is the power of the op op fruit, huh? It's so annoying yet clearly very useful in battle. If you were fighting anyone else here you would clearly dominate the fight with those powers of yours, but only if you end the battle quickly. This particular devil fruit has a limit, doesn't it? It wears the user down the more they fight with it. And before now, you had to deal with the meteorite that Fujitora pulled down, fought against me after that, and then had to rescue Blackleg when I fought with him. It makes me wonder… how much longer are you going to be able to draw this fight out, Law? I can see that you're wearing down. Do you think you will run out of energy before your lover comes to save you?" Doflamingo said before bringing up his leg and kicking Law again. "Or should I say my lover?!"

"Ack!" Law stumbled back away from Doflamingo, somehow managing to stay on his feet. His Room disappeared from his exhaustion while he panted uncontrollably from the beating he was taking. He was so tired that he was barely able to keep his hold on his sword and his anger. No good. I'm not going to last much longer. And I can feel Neo's magic is starting to come back. It feels like she has a headache again. This one feels a lot stronger than the last ones. This is so frustrating. I can't even go to her. And it's really bothering me that she's having these headaches. I know that during the first trimester for a human pregnancy the woman's body experiences a surge of hormones and an increase in blood volume so they have frequent headaches. But does that mean elemental women do too? I can't believe I was so stupid. I should have protected her better. I shouldn't have gotten so over confident in thinking I could prevent her from getting pregnant. And I shouldn't have let her come here. Doflamingo isn't joking about keeping her as his… Law gritted his teeth. There was no way he was going to let that happen.

"Bullet string!"

Law grunted at the pain when four bullets made of strings slammed into his upper body. He felt himself flipping over backwards. His sword flew from his hand and clanked hard to the floor of the bridge. He felt his body hit the ground then skid to a stop. Pausing momentarily to make sure he didn't have any broken bones, he pushed up on his hands and knees. His arms trembled under his weight. He barely had enough strength to hold himself up. His breathing came fast and hard he thought he might pass out. Holding his hand up, he tried to form his Room again, but he couldn't. It faded away once more and he dropped to his right forearm. Just great. I'm too exhausted now to do anymore.

"So what are you going to do now, Law? Dressrosa is just right behind you," Doflamingo said. He stalked up towards Law, wiggling his fingers in anticipation. "And I assume your lover's there. Surely she's not just ignoring all of the pain you're in. You know, I've been thinking about her while we've been fighting. And I've come to a conclusion about her whereabouts."

Law gritted his teeth and glared at the man.

"She's with the Straw Hats, isn't she?" Doflamingo asked. "Are they protecting her? Are they keeping her from coming here? Did you set up your plan to have them protect her while you came here to fight me?" He paused in both his words and walking when his transponder snail started to ring.

Ring, ring, ring… Ring, ring, ring

Reaching into his shirt, he pulled out his transponder snail, and answered it. A voice coming over the snail said, "Hey, Dofy."

"Diamante," Doflamingo replied.

Trying to take advantage of the distraction, Law grabbed his sword, leaped to his feet, and charged forward. He lost his balance and stumbled forward when Doflamingo shot strings at his leg. He released his sword and grabbed his now injured right leg.

"Oh, sorry. It sounds like I caught you in the middle of something," Diamante's voice said from the transponder snail.

"No, it's not really that important. Go ahead," Doflamingo said. "What did you call for?"

"I'm calling to let you know that Violet did in fact betrayed us," Diamante said.

"I see. I figured something like that happened when Blackleg showed up here a few minutes ago," Doflamingo said. His sunglasses covered eyes remained locked onto Law. He carefully watched to see if the younger warlord was going to try something, but figured he wouldn't since his powers no longer worked.

"We weren't about to find out what the Straw Hats were up to with her glare glare fruit power," Diamante told him. "She's run off too. We're trying to track her down. But that's proving to be impossible since she can see us coming."

"Oh, don't worry about her for now. Just deploy Lao G. and the others to guard the entrance to the SMILE factory," Doflamingo ordered.

"What?! I can't do that! They're going to fight in the finals! That's coming up here in just a few minutes! The people are really looking forward to seeing them! They will be upset if they don't appear!" Diamante said.

"You can handle the finals by yourself," Doflamingo said. "They'll be very pleased with your presence alone. You're the champion of the coliseum after all."

"Please stop it! You're making me sound like I'm some kind of genius or something!"

"But you're the only one who can do this," Doflamingo said.

"Like I said, you're making me sound like I'm a genius!"

"Just admit it. You're a genius, especially in the coliseum fights," Doflamingo said.

"All right! I'll if you insist on it, I'll do it!" Diamante roared. "Oh, yeah. By the way, Straw Hat has been spotted running around the coliseum with a young woman."

"I see. That must be Neo," Doflamingo said. "The coliseum is closed to the public now. And you would have known if it were one of the Straw Hat females with him instead. She must have used her wind crystals to fly in. That would be the only way she could have gotten into the coliseum."

Crap! Law cursed. Now he knows for sure where she is! I thought she was laying low! Something must have gone wrong!

"Yeah. She's definitely not one of the Straw Hats. The man who reported her to me said she was wearing a spotted hat that looked like Law's and she has electric blue eyes," Diamante said. "Would you like me to capture her for you?"

"No. That's not necessary," Doflamingo said with a smile. He glanced at Law, easily seeing the fear in the young man's eyes. "I'll handle her myself. You just do as I told you."

"Yes, sir! You can count on me!" Diamante said before hanging up.

Doflamingo chuckled deeply. He tucked the transponder snail back into his shirt before giving Law his full attention again. "So, there it is. Is that where she's been hiding all this time? But she helped you once before when we were on Green Bit. How was she able to do that? If she was already there then she wouldn't have left. Does it have something to do with her magic? What all does that entail, Law? There's no point in remaining silent. You know I have my ways of getting what I want. And I will get what I want from her."

"You'll get nothing from her!" Law growled.

"Law… let me see if I understand your plan correctly. While you were drawing my attention here the Straw Hats were suppose to be destroying the SMILE factory. So, even if you die here, as long as they get the factory destroyed, Kaido will kill me once I've lost all of the SMILEs," Doflamingo said as he walked towards the injured man again. "But you didn't buy as much time as you had hoped you could. You didn't even utilize the strength of your strongest fighter. Neo would have been a better asset to you if you had just sent her to destroy the factory. She would have been a better asset if you had just let her fight me instead of keeping her away from me. And because of that, because of your mistakes, the Straw Hats aren't doing so well. You told me that you were just using them to get the factory destroyed. But for that to happen it requires absolute faith in their abilities to pull off something like that. And I can see in your eyes how protective you are of that lover of yours. You wouldn't let her just run around with anyone. She must have some strong trust in the Straw Hats as well. But why? It doesn't suit what everyone says about her. Why do you two trust Straw Hat so much?"

"I trust Straw Hat because I know that the 'D' will cause another storm! As for Neo's trust in him," Law said with a confident smirk. He chuckled upon thinking how Doflamingo would react if he told him that Neo was the Emperor Red Haired Shanks goddaughter, his daughter. Part of him wanted to reveal that fact. He wanted to see the color drain from Doflamingo's face upon realizing he targeted an emperor's child. But he didn't. He just sat back and watched as the veins in the older man's forehead become more pronounced and his jaw tremble with anger from the words he had already spoken. He braced himself for Doflamingo's next attack. There was nothing he could do to block it so he took it head on all the while hoping the damage would be done before Neo's magic came back completely. It would hurt her a lot less if it were already over with.

"What happened to her?" Wicka asked upon hearing the distress in the men's voices. She poked her head out of Zoro's shirt. She looked up at the green haired man before looking to the coliseum. She couldn't she Neo at all, but knew she was there. She could sense her inhuman nature just beyond the thick walls of the coliseum. "Is she all right?"
"I don't know," Zoro replied to the little person in his shirt. "She just cried out in pain and suddenly collapsed. Hey! Luffy! What happened?! What's wrong with Neo?!"

"Did Lady Neo get hurt or something?!" Kin'emon added.

"She's just having another headache. Just give us a minute, okay?" Luffy stood back up to glance out at his friends. Once the two men nodded, he knelt back down to his friend. Upon seeing her face was flushed red, he placed the back of his fingers on her cheek. "Neo, you're burning up."

"I'll be all right. My fever never left me from before. My headache seems to have just upset that and made it worse. But don't worry. Once my magic comes back, I can heal myself with my solar crystal. You go ahead and speak to Zoro. We need to get out of here and get to Law as soon as we can," Neo said. She glanced at Luffy with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Right. You just relax for a moment. I'll see what all Zoro and Kin'emon wanted. Then we'll get moving." Luffy nodded to her before standing up.

"Okay." Panting, Neo leaned her head against the wall, the pain slowly subsiding from her head. She closed her eyes. Blocking out the light seemed to help her headache subside even faster. She also felt her fever coming down, but was starting to shiver. She shifted her body so she could lean her back against the wall. She wrapped her arms around herself, pulling more into her raincoat, and listened to Luffy and Zoro's disembodied voices.

"How's Neo?" Zoro's voice asked.

"She'll be fine. She just needs to rest for a minute. What did you want, Zoro?" Luffy's voice asked.

"You idiot! If you knew this competition was going to happen, why didn't you tell me about it?! I would have joined too!" Neo couldn't help but giggle lightly. She knew she shouldn't since a stranger could hear her bells, but Zoro and Luffy's carefree attitude and desire to participate in the fight while all heck was breaking loose around them, she couldn't stop herself. She knew she had to be getting sick if she was acting this crazy. Once this was all over, she was going to force Law to lay down with her and take a nap. And if she were luck, they would sleep together until they arrived at Zou. She would wake up to her family surrounding her and this whole thing would seem like nothing but a crazy dream.

Luffy's laugh filled her ears. He said, "I'm sorry about that! I guess I should have told you! But you did run off after that fairy that took your sword! I didn't know where you were!"

"This is so aggravating! You were here having fun while I was running all over the town!" Zoro growled.

"Are you kidding me?! That's not why we came here!" Wicka snapped. She clamped a hand over her mouth when she remembered she wasn't supposed to be seen or heard. She quickly ducked back down into Zoro's shirt, hoping no one else heard her.

"The little one is right! That is not the reason that we came here, Sir Zoro!" Kin'emon said.

Neo opened her eyes slightly when she heard Wicka's little voice. Poor Wicka. She must have been with Zoro this entire time. It probably hasn't been easy for her. Maybe there's something I can do for her since I left her with Zoro earlier today. Feeling a little better, she pushed off the wall. She sat there for a moment to see if her headache was going to come back stronger. It seemed to continue to fade away.

"And how could you possibly let that old man beat you like that?! What were you doing?!" Zoro demanded.

"Old man?" Neo wondered. She couldn't recall Luffy being beaten by an old man.

"Hey! I didn't get beat by him! I won that match!" Luffy protested. "Didn't you see the move I used on him?! It was my gum gum thor elephant gun attack!"

"Oh, right. That old man," Neo whispered to herself. "The one who was chasing Luffy after that match."

"Never mind that for now, Sir Zoro," Kin'emon said. "Am I doing this right?"

"What are you doing with that?" Zoro asked.

"Sir Sanji told me to call him once we met up with Sir Luffy," Kin'emon told him.

"That reminds me… Luffy, the coliseum had been surrounded by the navy," Zoro said.

When Neo didn't hear Luffy's reply, she looked up to find him picking his nose in response. She quickly looked away when the action caused her stomach to spin. She clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle a gag. Suddenly she felt grateful for emptying her stomach up on the roof of the coliseum instead of doing it here and now inside the coliseum. She heard Kin'emon shouting about something, but couldn't make it out over her gags. A few more inaudible voices spoke before her gagging finally stopped. She sucked in several gasps of air before hearing Chopper's worried voice flowing into her ears. "Neo! Neo, are you all right?! I've been so worried about you!"

"Chopper?" Neo asked. She shifted her feet underneath herself and tried to stand up.

"Hm? Are you feeling better?" Luffy asked. He watched her struggle to her feet then lean against the windowsill. "You still look flushed."

"I'll be fine," Neo told him before raising her voice so Chopper could hear her. "I'm okay! Don't worry about- Ah!" But was cut off when her headache and magic started to come back. She felt every single painful spot in Law's body. The pain and exhaustion coupled with her headache and her anger flaring up in her chest towards Doflamingo was almost unbearable. Her solar crystal tried to come out, but she forced it away. She couldn't risk it being seen since they weren't alone. She opened her mouth to speak, but the pain in her body was too much for her to even form a single word. She crumbled underneath all of the pain.

"Neo!" Luffy grabbed his female friend before her chin could collide with the stone structure.

"What was that?! Why did you scream?! Neo!" Chopper wailed, the transponder snail mimicking the facial expression of the reindeer that they couldn't see.

"It's all right, Chopper. Neo's just having a headache," Luffy replied while picking up Neo in his arms to support her better. He cradled her against his chest while as she clutched her head.

It's not just the headache, Luffy. It's Law. He's in a lot of pain. But I can't tell you that now without you shouting it out for the others to hear, townspeople included. Neo peeked through her eyelids. Her vision was blurred and unfocused. There's no way she would be able to use her crystals with her head pounding like this. She mentally growled in frustration. Every time it looked like she was going to be able to go help Law something seemed to get in the way. She felt like the entire world was against her. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on getting better, on Law. She could fell his own frustrations about everything that's happened, but he was keeping a tight guard on his thoughts. She knew he would do that while fighting Doflamingo, but something else seemed to be bothering him. He seemed to be guarding his thoughts for another reason. And some how she knew it was about her. Giving in to her pain, she summoned her solar crystal underneath her raincoat and closed her eyes.

"A headache?! I've never heard someone scream out like that from a headache!" Chopper cried. The transponder snail leaped and thrashed in response to the doctor's movements. "Is she having any other symptoms?! Something like several cramping in her stomach? Vision changes?! Bleeding from her lower areas?!"

"Bleeding from her lower areas?" Luffy asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Why would a headache cause her to bleed?"

Kin'emon and Zoro exchanged expression, knowing exactly why Chopper was asking these questions. And both wondered if their current situation was extreme enough that they should tell Luffy about it.

"Just answer me, Luffy!" Chopper demanded. He grabbed the transponder snail and started choking it while envisioning it was Luffy's neck he was holding. "Answer me!"

"Chopper," Brook said, feeling sorry for his worried friend.

"Hey, hey!" Nami said. She grabbed the reindeer's wrists in an attempt to pull the transponder snail away from him before he could damage it. Momonosuke, who was sitting on her lap, quickly crawled out of the way so he didn't get hit from the two struggling pirates. "Take it easy!"

"No! I need to know!" Chopper said. Tears poured down his furry cheeks like rivers. "Tell me, Luffy! I need to know if Neo is experiencing any other symptoms! It's important for me to know because she's pre-"

"Chopper! Enough!" Sanji said before snatching the transponder snail out of Chopper's hooves. He covered his hand over the transponder snail and looked over at Caesar. He carefully studied the scientist's expression. Caesar was watching them from his spot on the Sunny's lawn, but didn't say or show any signs of connecting the dots. Sanji came to the conclusion that he wasn't able to figure out what Chopper was going to say. He sighed internally, completely grateful that nothing was revealed to their enemy. He looked down at Chopper. "Look, I know you're upset about everything, but you can't go shouting things out like that."

"I know." Chopper sniffled. He brushed away his tears. "I'm sorry. I'm just upset and worried."

Sanji nodded before turning his attention back to the transponder snail. "Listen, Luffy, is Neo having any other symptoms?"

"She's been running a fever. And she got sick earlier, but that's it," Luffy's voice said. "Why? Is she getting sick or something?"

"She might be," Chopper said. Sanji lowered the transponder snail back down so the reindeer could speak into it easier. "Zoro! Are you still there?!"

"Yes, I'm still here. So is Kin'emon," Zoro's voice said.

"Good! Then keep a close eye on Neo!" Chopper ordered. "I don't think anything's happened to you know what, but still keep a close eye out for other changes and symptoms. Do you understand what I'm saying?!"

"Yeah. We understand," Zoro said. "We'll make sure that they are fine."

"Good," Chopper said with a sigh of relief.

"Feeling better now?" Nami asked.

"Yes." Chopper nodded.

A soft whimper passed over Neo's lips before she managed to open her eyes again. She looked up to see Luffy's lips moving, but she couldn't hear what he was saying due to the pounding and ringing in her ears. Carefully, she watched Luffy's lips move while the noise in her head started to subside due to her solar crystal, but her magic faded again. Still she was able to use her solar crystal enough to get the noise down to a more bearable level. She lowered her hands from her head and leaned against Luffy's shoulder. While resting and watching his lips move, she managed to gather a few words and realized he was still talking to the rest of his crew. She turned her eyes back out the window just as she heard Franky's voice coming over the transponder snail. He said, "Hey, this is Franky speaking now! Usopp and Robin are here with me too! Listen up, everyone! All of us are inside Dressrosa and we're with the King Riku Army, an anti-Doflamingo coalition in this country! They're a bunch of little people!"

"Little people?" Luffy asked.

"He must mean the Tontattas," Neo said. She lifted her leg and placed her foot on the floor, slipping out of Luffy's hold. She kept her hands on Luffy's shoulder to keep her balance. "They're little people that run around the country. The people here call them fairies. That's who the toy in the restaurant were actually talking about." She winced. "Ah!"

"Never mind that. You just hold still," Luffy said. "You're still in pain."

"I'll be fine. I was able to use my solar crystal a little bit before my magic disappeared again," Neo replied. She pulled her hands from his shoulders to prove her point. She wobbled a bit, but remained standing.

Luffy eyed her carefully. He kept his hands out, to catch her if she lost her balance again.

"Hey, Luffy? Do you remember that toy soldier that we met outside of the coliseum earlier today?" Franky asked. "He's actually the commander of this little army."

"He's the commander of the little people?" Luffy asked, turning his attention back to the transponder snail once he knew Neo was stable on her feet.

"Yeah. They're going to take down Doflamingo down today!" Franky said.

"A soldier?" Luffy questioned.

"Would that be the toy soldier Rebecca was talking about earlier?" Neo asked.

"Oh, right! That was the toy soldier she was talking about! Yeah! Rebecca told us about him shorty after we met her!" Luffy said. "You have to stop him! Franky, stop that army!"

"No! I'm not going to do that, Luffy! I can't stop them! I'm going to help them!" Franky replied. "So you have talked to that Rebecca girl?!"

"Yeah! Both Neo and me have! She's a really nice person! She bought me three lunch boxes even though she didn't have much money! Despite being so nice, when she entered into the ring for her fight the entire audience started shouting at her! They were yelling and screaming for her death! It made me so angry! Neo got upset too!" Luffy said.

"I know! I was watching her match on the transponder screen!" Franky said then paused. "Luffy, I… I can't follow Tra's plan!"

"Franky! What are you saying?!" Usopp's panic voiced screeched.

"Look, I know we were suppose to destroy the SMILE factory and let Doflamingo live so he can clash with Kaido, but then, what would happen to all of these people here who want to take him down?! We can't stop them! I know this place seems like a very fun little country, but there's a very dark side to it! And these people are ready to fight a dangerous battle to get rid of all that darkness! They're pretty small in size, but they have very big hearts! And this brave, little army is ready to challenge their filthy, monstrous enemy who has been oppressing them! And I can't… I won't abandon them to defeat!" Franky said. "Do you really think it's better for us to let Doflamingo win this battle?! Luffy! No matter what you say! I'm going to fight with them!"

Neo's heart skipped a beat when Luffy shot his fist through the bars. She thought he was going to touch the sea prism stone. She breathed a sigh of relief when he pulled his hand back inside the coliseum, untouched by the energy draining stone. He said, "Franky! Go ahead and give them your worst!"

"Yeah! Thanks, pal!" Franky cheered.

Before anyone could say anything else sounds of a battle erupt through the air causing the townspeople and the pirates to turn their heads to the noise. Tops of buildings fell off the main body structures and fell to the ground. Dust was kicked up into the air, choking those close enough to have it fill their noses.

"What was that?! I hear a loud noise coming from your side!" Usopp said.

"Something's going on with the town. It's…" Kin'emon started.

"It's coming this way!" Zoro said.

"Ah!" Neo cried out when her magic flickered back and forth between working and not working. Through the indecision of her magic, she could feel every single hit Doflamingo had and was currently inflicting on Law. And she felt him coming closer, directly towards them. She knew it wasn't just a coincident. Doflamingo had learned where they, or she at least, was.

"Neo?! What the heck?! I can't see anything! What's going on?!" Luffy asked.

A growl passed over Neo's lips as she struggled to keep herself up right. She pressed her forearms on the windowsill to steady herself. A strange calmness washed over her as she waited for her magic to finally stabilize. She felt like Law's sadistic nature over took her. She shivered at the dark thoughts washing over her mind of what she wanted to do to Doflamingo for all the pain he was inflicting upon them. He was going to pay.

"Hey, take it easy," Luffy said, putting his arm around her waist. "What's happening?! What's going on?!"

Neo swallowed down her desire to scream when Law's body collided with the ground in front of her. Pain shot through her back. The air from her lungs vanished. He was unconscious. The brim of his hat fell over her eyes. She clenched her hands together, releasing a low rumble of thunder overhead from the dark clouds materializing at her command. Despite her magic still jumping back and forth between working and not working, nature still obeyed her. The wind started to blow. The ocean started thrashing against the island. Plants shifted, threatening to grow past their normal size. Fire flickered and flared. The animals in the country looked up towards the sky, baring their teeth, growling, hissing, or releasing their respective noises before sensing her fury and rushed for cover. They were the only ones aware of what was coming next.

The dust finally cleared. Doflamingo appeared. His sunglasses clad eyes were locked onto Law until he looked towards Neo. He grinned and said, "Hello, Princess. I've brought your lover to you. He wanted to see you before he died."

"Huh?! Doflamingo! Tra!" Luffy cried out. "Hey, Tra! You weren't suppose to fight with Doflamingo-"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Neo snapped. The world around her faded as her anger flared up in her chest with the force of a wildfire. The stinging from the gunshot wounds was fresh in her flesh, but it was drowned out by her rage. Grabbed the ribbon on her raincoat and jerked them off. Tossing it aside, it turned back into the leaf it once was. Her magic stabilized. Her crystals appeared around her, shimmering with her desire to attack. There was no more waiting.

A sharp clap of ear piercing thunder sent the pirates and townspeople's eyes looking up towards the dark clouds that had gathered above them without anyone noticing. Neo lifted a finger towards the sky. With a single swipe of her finger, she brought lightning bolts down at Doflamingo. The townspeople screamed and ran for cover while Doflamingo easily dodged the lightning by attaching his strings to various objects, pulling himself from harm but only by a mere second. Vines grew up out of the ground, snapping furiously at the man. His smile vanished as he continued to dodge lightning and slice up the vines trying to hit him. A yellow flower grew up from the ground and chomped down on him. Thorns busted up out of the ground, angled, and punctured the flower only to get sliced up by Doflamingo's strings.

"What the heck is going on?" Kin'emon asked. He dug his shoes into the stone path beneath him when the wind threatened to knock him off his feet.

"No!" Zoro said, his voice disappearing amongst the howling winds. He whipped his eyes back to Neo. Raising his voice as loud as he could, he shouted, "Neo! Don't! Luffy, stop her! She can't fight Doflamingo!"

"What?!" Luffy looked at Zoro, holding his cape back from slapping him in the face.

"You have to stop her! I'll explain later!" Zoro demanded. "Just don't let her fight!"

"Right!" Luffy turned to Neo. He grabbed for her, but was too late. Just as his hand was about to grab her arm, her body disappeared.

Neo had slipped into the wind stream and disappeared from their view.

Doflamingo chuckled when he saw Neo vanish from the corner of his eye. The lightning and vines stopped attacking him. "That's it, Princess! Come fi-"

Neo reappeared mere inches in front of Doflamingo. She wrapped her winds around her fist before slamming it into his jaw. Blood and two teeth shot out of his mouth causing iron to fill the air before the violent winds blew the smell away. She pushed on through with her attack, sending Doflamingo sailing away from her.

"Wow! Did you see that?!" Luffy shouted. "She totally creamed him! Way to go, Neo!"

Neo didn't hear him. She followed after Doflamingo. Moving her earth crystals forward, she wrapped vines around his ankles. Before he could react, she slammed him into the ground then into the nearest building then another building. She ignited her fire crystals and send flames spinning around the vines towards Doflamingo.

Doflamingo's eyes widened from behind his glasses at the fire spinning towards him. He cut the vines up with his strings just before the fire could hit him. Shooting his strings into the air, he wrapped them around the clouds above him and flew upwards. Feeling like he got away, he looked down to smirk at the angry young woman but found she was already in front of him.

For a moment, neither moved nor spoke. They just hung there, suspended in the air with only the thunder and howling of the winds the only noise passing between them. Then the noise vanished. Nature stilled as Neo finally lifted her eyes from underneath Law's hat to the warlord. Her eyes filled with all the wildness of nature and much disdain for the man in front of her.

Doflamingo studied her. Realizing for the first time how dangerous of an opponent this young woman really was when he saw murderous intent flickering in her eyes. He knew she would be a serious problem for the world if she did act on those murderous thoughts. But he knew she wouldn't. He could see she was forcing those thoughts away with desperation. A small smile curled on his lips. "Go ahead, Princess. Do it. Kill me. I know you want to. I can see it in your eyes. And you clearly have the power to do so. I've hurt your precious lover after all. That's one thing that you really can't stand, am I correct? Just look at you. You're a pathetic mess. You hate it when someone you love is in danger yet you're not willing to kill anyone to protect them. Why? Why do you have such an issue with killing? Choosing the life of a pirate you must have known that you would have to kill at some point. If you don't have the will to kill, you're only giving your enemy a greater chance of killing you or someone you care about. Yet you go on refusing to kill. There's no reason for that. Unless… I see. You must have suffered from some seriously traumatic event in the past to keep such a strong hold on your natural desire to kill. Is that why you refuse to kill? Have you killed someone before?"

Neo's eyebrow twitched at his words.

"That's it, isn't it?" Doflamingo asked with a low chuckle.

Neo parted her lips to speak but curled them into a smile instead. When Doflamingo's smile vanished, she said, "You should have known better. I bend nature to my will. And you just grabbed a handful of it."

Doflamingo's eyebrows kneaded in confusion to her words before he realized what she was talking about. He shot his body backwards just before a lightning bolt came down on the spot he was just hovering at. He cursed under his breath and questioned whether or not she would act upon her desires to kill him if it meant saving Law's life. "Rotten brat! You're just as bad as Law!"

Neo disappeared into the wind stream again. She brought down several more lightning bolts to distract Doflamingo. Flying above him, she gathered up a hundred of her water crystals around the warlord. She knew if she wanted to have a chance of actually beating him, she needed to weaken him. Once they were in place she shot out heavy streams of water at the man. She growled when he easily dodged her attempts of weakening him. He was just using her clouds against her. If she wanted to hit him, she had to get rid of them. Summoning the winds to her, she blew the clouds away.

Doflamingo cursed in anger when his only source of flying got taken away. He fell from the sky several feet before shooting his strings up towards Neo.

Unfortunately distracted by blowing the clouds away, Neo didn't notice the strings until it was too late. They wrapped around her body, pinning her arms to her sides.

Doflamingo chuckled.

"Don't get so smug!" Neo snapped. "I'm nature! Remember?!"

Doflamingo's smile vanished when Neo disappeared again. He cursed upon forgetting she did that to get out of the coliseum. He knew he had seriously underestimated her when she reappeared in front of him.

Neo tucked her head in, wrapping hurricane force winds around herself, she flipped and slammed both the heels of her boots into Doflamingo's stomach undoubtedly cracking a few of his ribs.

Doflamingo felt the ribs in his body cracking underneath her attack then felt the rush of wind around him when he flew through the air before feeling all of the air in his lungs being forced out of his body when his back collided with the ground. His body stilled as he watched dirt and cracked stone fly up around him. He started up at her, thinking about how much more powerful she was than he thought, thinking about how much of an asset she could be to him once he got a hold of her. Law definitely wasn't using her to her fullest potential. But he would. He chuckled to himself as he watched her gathering the elements to her. "Well, it looks like I might have underestimated her just a little bit. The focus and strength she has when angry is impressive. It's a good thing that I have a plan to control that."

Neo called out hundreds of her crystals. Using her earth crystals, she pulled up vines from the ground and wrapped them around his limbs. She then shot out thorns from her earth crystals, pinning his clothes to the ground. She angled a hundred of each of her element crystals to Doflamingo's left, another hundred of each to his right, his head, his feet, and above him, she spun all the elements together. She didn't care if he could slice through all of her attacks. One way or another, she was going to hurt him for hurting Law. She shot out the twisting elements towards the already injured warlord. She was too angry, too focused on him that she didn't sense the attack coming towards her. An invisible force slammed into her right side, knocking herself and her fury out. She flew through the air, back down towards the coliseum.

Author's Notes: I'm back! Sorry if I miss a lot of mistakes. Didn't intend for this one to be so long, makes it harder to proofread. *exhausted sigh* Couldn't figure out how to trim Law and Mingo's fight down and still get the parts about Neo in there. ~.~ Still feel like I'm not getting Neo in there smoothly. But not too bad considering it's my first OC insert into an already existing story.

PuddyKatz: She's growing up a bit. Something that's going on does have to do with Mingo and the scientist thought.

Sarge1130: Thanks. 100 chapters. That's a lot. I'm ready for Neo to know as well. But it just can't happen yet. Neo's cycle will be address and she does notice a bit that something's different with her. She might notice more along the way. Glad ya like Neo and Rebecca. I'll have more of them later on.

Noble Pirate: I'm hoping to have a little fun involving Barto, Neo, and Law. I couldn't figure out how to handle him and Neo, but I like how it came out.

Inazumame1997: Me too!

Godzno: Thanks! Never thought I'd ever write such a long story. Of course a lot of it was already written from One Piece's story line, but I try to change as much so it feels more like my story and I'm not just copying everything. I've come across people who do just copy word for word and it was painful to read.

Apple Bloom: Thanks! Here's a lot more! Over 11,000 words!