Chaos in Dressrosa

Part One

Luffy stared down at the stone floor beneath him as he exhaled and relaxed from all the running he had just done to get here. He, and his two tagalongs Viola and the toy soldier, had finally reached the Suit Chamber where Law was being held and where Doflamingo also was, but he couldn't do anything. Viola had persuaded him to wait until the Tontattas took down Sugar and all of the toys were turned back into humans. So he did. But he hated it. He hated having to wait since his target and his friend was right there, mere feet from him, but he waited nonetheless. While he waited he thought about his other missing friend, Neo. He really didn't want to leave her in the hands of the navy. But he really had no idea where she might be right now. With Law, he knew Doflamingo wouldn't go anywhere other than the palace. The navy could have taken Neo anywhere within the boarders of the country. She could have been on the island or in one of the navy ships at the coast.

Luffy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew he made the right choice, but he still felt guilty for not going after her. He felt like he chose Law over her. He really didn't know why though. They both were his friends and he couldn't rescue them at the same time. He knew he would go after her as soon as he could. He clenched his fists tightly together and wondered why he still felt so conflicted and guilty over this. If there was only a way he could know for sure how she was doing and where she was. He exhaled just as Viola asked, "Are you all right, Straw Hat? You look kind of depressed about something. Are you worried about your other friend?"

"Neo," Luffy said. He opened his eyes and looked at Viola. "Yeah. I'm worried about her. The navy admiral took her."

"Would you like me to check on her?" Viola asked.

"You can do that?" Luffy asked. He turned his body more to the woman beside him.

"Yes." Viola nodded. "My devil fruit powers give me the ability to see anything from any point in this country."

"You mentioned that before! That's so cool! Then do it! Tra can sense where she is but only if her magic is working! She's been having trouble with that lately!" Luffy said. "I really need to now if she's okay!"

"Magic?" the toy soldier asked. He lowered himself down from the window he was using to peer inside of the Suit Chamber and looked at the Straw Hat pirate. "What do you mean by that? Isn't she a devil fruit user?"

"What?! Of course she is!" Luffy said. He waved his hands wildly. "I mean that-"

"Shh!" the soldier hissed. He clamped his hands down on Luffy's mouth, pushing the pirate down on the floor. "Please! Keep your voice down! They can hear us from here if we get too loud!"

Luffy muffled an "I'm sorry" from behind the soldier's hands. He waited for the toy soldier to release him. A few seconds later, after making sure no one heard them, the toy soldier finally released him. Once freed, Luffy sat back up and fixed his lopsided hat before looking at Viola. "Well? Have you found her?"

"Yes." Viola nodded, her eyes closed in concentration. "She's actually not very far from here. They took her to a navy base down on Carny Street."

"Is she all right?" Luffy asked. "Is she hurt?"

"She doesn't appear to be hurt. She's unconscious right now and… huh?" Viola kneaded her eyebrows.

"What?! What is it?!" Luffy asked in a forced low tone.

"A man just walked into the tent and sat down beside her," Viola said. "And he's not one of your friends."

"Then who is it?" Luffy asked.

"I think its Cethin," Viola replied.

"Who?" Luffy asked.

"Cethin is a man who's been living at the palace for a while now," Viola replied as she kept her concentration on the man with Neo. "I have no idea what exactly he's been doing for the young master, but he's been working on something. It has something to do with Neo. And right now, he's holding something in his hand. Its kind of diamond shaped with something green and glowing on it."

"Green and glowing?" Luffy tilted his head.

"The glow is flowing over her body. It looks like she's in pain from the glow," Viola told them.

"What?! What's he doing to her?! What is it?!" Luffy grabbed Viola's shoulders and shook the woman, breaking her concentration.

"Straw Hat! I can't see them anymore!" Viola said. She grabbed Luffy's wrists while the toy soldier grabbed his arm.

"Stop shaking her like that!" the toy soldier said while he tried to pull Luffy off Viola. "I can understand your frustration considering she's pregnant, but you can't keep jumping around like that and screaming! You're going to give away our presence!"

"I know! I know!" Luffy released Viola. He rested his arms over his knees before looking at the toy beside him. "Sorry. I'm just… wait a second. Neo's not pregnant. She and Tra don't want kids because of their lives as pirates."

"Huh? You don't…" the toy soldier started. He paused when he remembered what Franky and Zoro had told them about Neo. I forgot. They said that Neo was scared of new things because of her past. If she doesn't know, then it's possible not all of her friends know about her pregnancy. I probably shouldn't say anything more about it. The toy soldier looked at Luffy and Viola. He started to open his toy mouth to speak again, to brush the pregnancy thing off, but paused when a strange feeling flowed through his tin toy body.

"Dofy!" a voice shouted from inside of the Suit Chamber.

"Huh? What's going on in there?" Luffy asked when they heard the voice shouting out. He and Viola crept back up to the window and looked inside to see the transponder snail sitting near Doflamingo was crying.

"I'm sorry, Dofy!" the voice from the transponder snail said. "It's Sugar! She… she…"

"What is it? What happened to Sugar?" Doflamingo asked.

"P… p… passed out! Sugar has passed out!"

"What? What's going on?" Luffy asked.

"I don't believe it! Sugar has passed out?!" Viola asked.

"And that means?" Luffy turned to Viola.

"They actually did it! With Sugar out, all of the toys should be turning back into humans right now!" Viola said.

"Yes! I told you my crew would take care of it!" Luffy said with a smile.

"And- uh!" Viola gasped. All of her forgotten memories of her brother-in-law came flooding back to her. She and Luffy looked up when the window they were looking in suddenly opened up and a man bolted through it.

"Hm? Who's that?" Luffy asked.

"Kyros!" Viola exclaimed.

Law kneaded his eyebrows in confusion over Trebol's words coming over the transponder snail. What the heck is going on? Who's Sugar? And what are the Straw Hats doing?

"Dofy! Look at the coliseum!" Buffalo said.

Law lifted his own eyes to the transponder screen on the wall. The transponder screen that once was showing the fight of the coliseum was now showing all of the toys in the seats turning into humans and animals. His eyes focused in on the animals when they all started to run wild in the seats. He knew without a doubt that they were scared and confused. But why were they toys in the first place? And how was their rampage going to effect Neo? The animals voices were going to hammer into her once her magic returned. And she would be put under more stress if she couldn't go help them calm down.

He growled under his breath and tugged on the chains that were holding him down and draining his energy. He was set to give them another useless jerk when Neo's magic finally returned to them. And just as he knew, the animal voices were a lot for her to take at once. 'Neo?'

"We don't have time to stand here all day and just stare at each other!" Neo shouted. She placed her feet back on the ground. She started to stand up, but caught herself and remained sitting. She still didn't know who all knew she wasn't a devil fruit user.

'Neo? Neo, are you okay?'

'Am I okay?! Don't give me that, Law! You're the one who was fighting Doflamingo and getting the crap beat out of you! And don't you dare tell me to watch my language! What were you thinking?! Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you?! It's bad enough when I know you're fighting and feeling your pain! Do you know how much worse it has been being cut off from you?! I had no idea what was going on with you! You're off fighting Doflamingo and the next thing I know we're practically dead! Doflamingo shot you, Law! He shot you three times right in front of me!' Neo gritted her teeth and relaxed her facial expressions in a desperate attempt not to start crying and reveal to the two navy soldiers in front of her that she was having a conversation with Law. She didn't think they would notice since they knew nothing about their bond but for the shared pain thing. She hoped they would just pass it up to the animals running wild in the country and for trying to get them to let her go. For the moment, Fujitora was still contemplating her suggestion and getting nagged at by the soldier beside him. She drew in a slow, deep breath. Her tears faded away but she still felt very angry with Law for fighting. She wanted to simultaneously slap him for being so stupid and snuggled up to him. She rubbed her hands over her face in frustration and confusion. 'I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so snappy. I'm just… tired. I guess. Today has been too much. You know how I get when I get stressed. I really need a nap.'

"You can't just let her go, Admiral! What would the higher ups think?!" the soldier asked. "She's a wanted pirate! She might not have a high bounty like the Surgeon of Death and Straw Hat Luffy, but she still wanted! And everyone has been wanting answers to all of our questions about her!"

'I know, I know. And I'm so sorry about all of this. But we'll talk about all of this later. Right now, I need to know how you're doing. It doesn't feel like you're in much pain. But what's going on over there? I know there are animals going crazy in the country. How are you doing with that?'

'I know. I'll be okay. The animals are just confused and scared. Someone's been turning animals and humans into toys. I met one of the animals earlier today. It was an elephant trapped in a toy's body. He told me he felt someone touch him one day. Next thing he knew, he was a toy and there was a little girl standing there.'

'That must be this Sugar they keep talking about.'

'Sugar?'

'Yeah. Whatever happened here, the Straw Hats are responsible for it. They've been running around underground with some little people or something.'

'Little people? You mean the Tontattas?'

'You know about them?'

'I met one of them earlier too when I was with Zoro.'

'Geez. We really are out of the loop when your magic isn't working.'

'Yeah. I really hate not being able to feel where you are and not being able to talk to you.'

'I know, love. I hate it too. But at least its character and strength building for future moments like this.'

'Don't you dare turn this into a lesson! I won't hear of it! I just want to be with you again! I've had enough of being separated for one day! But I need to calm down the animals first! They're only going to get hurt if they keep running wild like this! The navy wants to shoot them!'

'All right, you do what you feel you need to do. But do it quickly. I want you back by my side. Doflamingo is not happy with everything that's going on. I don't want him attacking you alone while your magic keeps failing. Come to me, Neo.'

'Right. I'm working on getting away from the navy right now. You're not going to believe what Admiral Fujitora wanted from me.'

'So he did take you.'

'Yeah. He wants me to join the navy.'

'What?'

'Yeah. But we'll talk about that later. We both have stuff to do. Luffy's near you. I'm sure he's going to save you.'

'Stupid Straw Hat. No one told him to come here.'

'I did! And don't you dare turn him away! Get out of there! Do you hear me?! That's an order!'

'Yes, ma'am.' Law thought to her with a chuckle.

"Well, Admiral?" Neo then turned her attention back to the soldiers before her. "Are you going to make up your mind or not? Do you really want those animals running wild? They're going to hurt a lot of people if they do."

"Come on, Admiral! Tell me you're not really going to listen to this pirate!" the soldier said with exasperation.

"Would you really prefer to let them run wild? You might have guns, soldier, but guns can easily be destroyed," Neo said. She narrowed her eyebrows and gave the man a pointed look. "Humans will always be weak against nature. If you don't let me go, you've lost this fight."

Fujitora stared blankly in Neo's direction. His thoughts were going over this situation of having this pirate in his custody. On one hand, he really had no intentions of keeping her. He wasn't quite sure of his reasons for that. He just didn't want to keep her as a prisoner. And after realizing how much pain she had already been through, he didn't want to add to that by keeping her as a prisoner of the navy. But, on the other hand, if he just let her go it would cause far too much trouble for him. And it would put his job as a navy admiral at risk. He was already pulling some risks as it was. If he did too many, he wouldn't be able to fulfill his mission of abolishing the seven warlords of the sea system. And that was something he was going to see through to the end. Still he couldn't just let the navy keep this young woman. Nor could he let on that he wanted to help her escape.

"I'm sorry, young lady," Fujitora said. He pushed on his knees and stood up from the stool.

"What?! You're not really going to keep me, are you?! You can't!" Neo said. "You have to let me go!"

Without a word, he turned and headed for the exit. On his way there, he bumped into the only other soldier in the tent. "Oh, sorry about that."

"No worries, Admiral," the soldier said. He rubbed his hand on his arm where Fujitora bumped into him.

"Wait! You can't do this! Please! If you don't let me go then those animals are just going to hurt people and get themselves hurt!" Neo begged. Her heart pounded in her chest. She suddenly felt stupid for thinking this admiral was different from the others. She thought he was a trustworthy man. "Please! You have to let me go! You have to let me help them! You're not like the others! You want to help people, right?! What about everything we talked about before?!"

"Young lady," Fujitora said. He turned around and walked back over to her.

Neo expected him to keep the cot she was laying on between them like before. He didn't. Her heart skipped a beat when he rounded the cot and came down the small isle between the uncomfortable beds. She scooted down the cot until the tent brushed against her arm. Her breathing started to come in short, raspy gasps. Her mind buzzed with the question of what he was planning on doing to her. Then he stopped. With only two feet between them, he stopped and stared at her behind his closed, blind eyes. She forced her breathing to slow down. Despite being a bit scared and uncomfortable, she couldn't shake the feeling that she could still trust this man. She flinched when he lifted his right hand up. She relaxed when all he did was scratch his side then lowered his hand back down.

"Young lady, if you wanted to help people then you should have taken me up on my offer to become a navy soldier. But you chose the life of a pirate. It's my duty to capture pirates like you. You might be nice, kind, and very gently, but you are still a pirate. I cannot turn the other way now that I have captured you," Fujitora said.

Neo kneaded her eyebrows. The man's voice was raised. He was talking louder than he was before. It confused her. Was he just making a show of having captured her? She glanced over at the other soldier. She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at his smug smile. He looked like a man who had shot a twenty four point buck or something.

"I'm sorry that your secrets have been exposed. I'm afraid that after today everyone is going to know about that. It's not in my power to keep what has been learned here quiet. I'm sure you have your reasons for keeping who you really are quiet, but you need to start getting use to having the world know," Fujitora said as he turned and walked away from Neo. "Until later, Trafalgar Neo."

Neo watched him walk away in confusion. Did I hearing him right? He's talking like I'm going to have to deal with the world. How can I do that when he's not going to let me go? I know I can escape since these sea prism stone don't affect me. But is he faking it? Her eyes dropped down to the ground when something caught her eye. It took all she had to not react to what she saw. It was the key to her cuffs. Her mind flashed back to the movements the old man made. Fujitora bumped into that other soldier despite being skilled enough to not do that. And the way he moved his hand to scratch his side he could have easily dropped the key at that point and used his raised voice to cover the sound of the key hitting the ground.

Neo looked back over to Fujitora. She watched him lift up the tent flap and exit with the other soldier. Did he bump into the other soldier just to pick his pocket and get the key to her cuffs? But why? Couldn't he tell with his observation haki how she escaped from the coliseum? She could easily turn into the wind and get out of these cuffs. So why go through the trouble of getting the key for her? Was he still trying to protect her secrets?

Neo shook her head. She had no time to sit here and figure that man out. She shifted into the wind. Wrapping the winds around the chains, so they didn't make too much noise, she laid them on the ground next to the key. That should give the navy the impression that she escaped using the key, despite it being pointless at this point in time. Shaking the thought from her head, she slipped back into the wind stream and slipped underneath the flap of the tent. Her winds blew the soldiers clothing around, but none of them noticed that it was her escaping. She figured it would be a few minutes at the least before they noticed. That was plenty of time.

"I can't believe she escaped," the soldier from before said. He had gone to check on their prisoner a few minutes after Neo had escaped to find she was missing. The only thing left was the tent, cots, key, and the chains she was suppose to be in. He ran outside to inform Fujitora of this, but with no leads on where she could be, the admiral shrugged it off with a warning for his soldier to be more careful next time. "I was being so careless. She must have picked my pocket for the key."

"Are you serious?" a second soldier asked. "How could you have been so careless? You heard the rumors that she wasn't a devil fruit user."

"I know. But how else could we have stopped her?" the first soldier asked.

"I don't know. Her kind must have a weakness," a third soldier said.

"But what is it?" the second soldier asked. "We're going to have to discover it soon if we're going to have to deal with her kind."

Fujitora sighed softly at the chatter of his men as he stood around under the warm sun. He turned his blind eyes up to the sky, listening to the cries that filled the air while he waited to make their next move in stopping the Straw Hat and Heart Pirate alliance. And I am sure the navy will work nonstop at finding her weaknesses. For whatever it's worth, just be careful, Neo. You have entered into a danger war by going up against Doflamingo. I do sincerely hope that you and your child escape from this place unharmed.

Neo sighed to herself as she flew higher into the sky. The air whipped around her, brushing passed her skin, weaving through her blue hair. She felt like she had been set free from being trapped inside for months, but it was quickly cut off from her. Everything that had just happened, plus everything that had been happening all day, started buzzing around in her head. She felt like she had about a half a dozen beehives inside of her head. It made her wonder if she was going to be able to concentrate enough to call out to the animals over this entire country. Some of them felt like they were going to be too angry and confused for her to connect to.

Trying not to worry about it, she cast her eyes down to the country below her. The people and animals on the ground looked like nothing but small black dots scurrying about erratically. She then realized she was far too high in the air, especially with her magic fading in and out like it was. It wouldn't do her or Law any good if she was this high up in the air and her magic disappeared on her again. Plunging to her death wasn't very appealing. It made her shiver. Or she thought it made her shiver until the coldness that entered her body didn't go away. She rubbed her hands on her bare arms while she lowered herself to a roof. "Dang. Why did I all of a sudden get cold? Maybe I am getting sick. That would explain why my magic is so messed up. Anyway… time to get to work."

Neo glanced over to the palace. It would have taken her a several minutes to walk over there. But as long as she had her magic, she could easily fly there in seconds. Just a few more minutes and she would be able to be with Law again. She would be able to heal his wounds with her solar crystal since she knew he was going to fight again. They all were going to have to fight now. That was very clear at this point. She lifted her hand to her torso where her body was stinging from the three gunshot wounds Law had taken. It reminded her of the time she was shot by Ren. And that was only once. Law was shot three times.

Neo clenched her fists together, releasing a rumble of thunder. "Doflamingo. You're going to pay for that."

She shook her head. There would be time for that man later. Right now, she had another mission to take care of. Closing her eyes, she opened up all of her senses to the world around her. Her heart clenched tight in her chest when she realized doing this was going to use up a rather large chunk of her magic. She was already feeling exhausted from everything. But it had to be done. Hopefully she could get a few minutes of rest and heal herself with her solar crystal before having to fight anyone. That way she could replenish her magic. With a deep breath, she reached out to all the animals the best she could. "Listen to me, everyone. I know you're scared. I know you're confused and angry, but you all need to calm down. Yes, I understand that you all are animals and not toys. No, I'm not sure who turned you into animals. Yes, it has something to do with the king of this country, but not the old king. Doflamingo is the current king. He's responsible for this. I'm not sure how he did it though, something to do with a little girl, maybe. I'm going to try and figure that all out. I can understand how you feel, but please calm down. If you keep rampaging through the country, the navy soldiers are going to shoot you. I know none of you want to die like that. Just trust me. My friends and I are going to fix this. It's going to be all right. Can you all just calm down for me? I really would appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I'll try to do something for you all later. Just remain calm. Hopefully this all will be over soon and we can all relax. Behave yourselves now. I have to go meet up with my love and friends. I'll talk to you all later."

Neo breathed a sigh of relief when she felt all of the animals on the island relaxing. She had done it. She managed to get them all to calm down, probably confusing some people in the process but she didn't care as long as everyone was calm now. Now all she had to do was get to Law and Luffy. She took off into the air only to pause a few seconds later in midair. She lowered herself closer to the ground with an annoyed huff at her temperamental magic. "Magic disruption. Stay close to the ground or end up on the ground in a very uncomfortable way."

Law sighed internally when he felt Neo's relief in getting away from the navy. He had no idea what Fujitora was thinking. Asking Neo to join the navy? Did that man hit his head or something? Why would a pirate do that? He really wanted to know exactly what the navy admiral said to his love, but knew that was a conversation that was going to wait until later. Right now he had to focus on his own problem. Neo said that Luffy was coming to save him. He didn't really want that, but he would let him for Neo's sake. Still, he had to make their interactions convincing enough. He could do that.

A sudden whack and shout broke Law from his thoughts. He looked up to see a one legged man, dressed in a gladiator outfit, and wielding a sword rushing into the room and right towards Doflamingo. Who the heck is that guy?

"Is that you, Kyros?" King Riku's voice shouted out amongst the confusion.

"Yes, sir! Sorry to have kept you waiting for ten long years!" the man shouted before he leaped at Doflamingo. Swinging his sword he managed to slice the warlord's head off. "I've come back to reclaim the real Dressrosa!"

A round of surprised gasps filled the room at what the gladiator had done. Everyone's eyes locked onto Doflamingo's head as it flew through the air.

"It can't be," Law said. He stared at Doflamingo's decapitated head as it rolled along the floor to a stop. He didn't believe it. He couldn't believe. It wasn't possible that the man had been taken out so easily. People who get their heads cut off typically don't come back to life. But how could he deny it? It was right there for them all to see. Doflamingo was presumably dead before his eyes, before all of their eyes. He forced his eyes off the man's head and looked at the man who had done the severing. The gladiator man was now slicing through Doflamingo's forces so easily. The man cut down the three normal soldiers, then snapped Buffalo's neck and threw him out the window, before easily blocking Baby 5's bullets and sickles before knocking her against the wall. Law was so shock that his nose didn't even register the gunpowder now coating the air in the room.

"Tra!" Luffy's voice then shouted out through the chaos. Law turned his attention to the rubber man as he finally ran into the Suit Chamber from wherever he was hiding. Luffy's smile brightened when Law looked at him. "I'm here to save you! I'm glad you're still alive! But, listen! Neo's been taken by the navy! I saw that admiral guy flying off with her! She's not hurt though! But I'm sure you already know that!"

"Straw Hat?" Baby 5 asked. She looked between the two pirates before letting her eyes settle on Law. "What did he mean by that? You couldn't possibly know how she is!"

"What are you talking about?! Neo's not here! You just said that yourself! What are you even doing here?!" Law said, trying to redirect the enemy's attention.

"Right, right!" Luffy said. "I know!"

"Get out of here! You have no business here, Straw Hat! What about the factory?! Has it been destroyed yet?!" Law snapped. He growled to himself when Luffy didn't answer. All Luffy did was look down and say something to the dark haired woman he was carrying under his arm who was holding up a key. Law assumed it was the key to his cuffs. But he brushed them off for the moment and turned his attention back to Neo. She was finally away from the navy admiral. He felt her coming closer to the palace then stop. He hoped she was low enough to the ground so if her magic failed her again, she wouldn't get hurt. He knew she was smart enough to do just that, but it still worried him. With all this bizarre confusion going on at the moment, she might be too distracted to think about that. He shook it from his mind. She was smart. She knows how to take care of herself. He raised her well enough. He wasn't going to hover over her. Or he was going to try to not hover over her. With her pregnancy, being practically magicless most of the time, and being in Doflamingo's territory changed the situation a lot. They had gotten far deeper in over their heads that he had originally thought they would. It terrified him. He was worried over her and their child's safety. Of course he was forcing those thought down to the darkest depths of his mind so Neo would notice them. But he wondered how long he would be able to keep them from her. And despite not wanting Luffy's help, he still wanted to get out of here and get to Neo as soon as he possible could. He looked back up towards Luffy when Gladius' voice shouted out in anger over the death of his master before dropped his attention back to Luffy and the dark haired woman running towards him.

"I'm here now! And I'm going to rescue you!" Luffy said. Once he had reached the chair that Law was chained too, he sat down the dark haired woman on her feet then smiled. "Glad to see you're okay. Neo has been really worried about you."

"Thanks for the concern, Straw Hat, but the alliance between us is over!" Law said. "Get out of here!"

"What?! What are you talking about?! I came all the way here for Neo's sake! You're being so selfish! You have no right to make those decisions! I'll be the one to decide when our alliance is over! You shut up!" Luffy replied.

"Who's being selfish now?!" Law snapped.

"Here's the key. We need to get him unlocked," Viola said as she held up the key to Luffy. "You two can argue over this later. We need to get out of here and go help Neo now."

"Oh, right. That guy might still be with her," Luffy said. He took the key from her then turned back to Law. Slowly, he started to move the key towards the cuff on Law's right wrist.

"What guy?" Law asked, a feeling of dread washing over his body. "What are you talking about?"

"A man that's been working for Doflamingo for a while now," Viola replied. She gave Law a sympathetic look. "Sorry I don't know who exactly he is or what he's doing here, but he's with Neo. His name is Cethin. He was doing something to her."

"Doing something to her? What are you talking about? Neo didn't mention-" Law cut his own voice off and turned his eyes away from the dark haired woman. What's going on? If this woman is speaking the truth then this guy must have been with Neo when she was still unconscious. She wouldn't have known he was there. But what was he doing to her? Was he just checking up on her? Trying to take her blood like Caesar did? He gritted his teeth in anger. He really wanted out of this place. He wanted to ask this woman what exactly it was he saw this man doing to his lover.

'Law? What's wrong? You just really angry all of a sudden.'

'It's nothing. Straw Hat's here right now. He's trying to get me free of these sea prism stone chains.'

'Oh, okay. Just hurry up and get out of there. I managed to calm the animals down for the moment. But I'm not sure how long that will last since the people in this country are rioting. I'm heading towards you now.'

'Yeah. I can sense you coming. Just don't come into the palace.'

'What?! Why?! If you're still-'

'Neo, please, just don't come inside of here. Doflamingo's out of the picture for the moment, but his men are still around. I don't want you fighting if your magic is going to quit on you. Let me get free first. That way I can protect you easier.' Law exhaled. He wasn't exactly ordering her to stay away from him. He wanted to, but she had nowhere else to go right now. Luffy was with him, he had no clue where Zoro was, half of the Straw Hats were on their way to Zou right now, and he had no idea where exactly the rest of the Straw Hats even were. All he knew was they were somewhere underground and trying to get the factory destroyed. His protective forces for Neo were dwindling and scattered around the country. He had to get out of here and get back by her side, especially with some strange man running around doing who knows what to her.

'All right, Law. I'll stay out of the palace.'

'Thank you. We'll get out of here soon enough. Just wait for me.'

'I will. Be careful.'

'You too.'

"How could you have talked to her if she's several minutes away from you?" Viola asked as she stared at the warlord in front of her. "I know there's speculation that she's not a devil fruit user, but still. Even if she weren't you still wouldn't be able to know anything about how she's doing… or would you?"

Law took a quick glance at the dark haired woman before looking back down at the floor. Even with the majority of their secrets already blown, he still wanted to protect them and Neo. But how much longer was he going to be able to do that? Turning the attention back to the Straw Hat captain, who was still trying to get the key into the stone cuffs, he hissed, "Stop it, Straw Hat! I told you that there's no more alliance between us! We're not on the same side anymore! If you set me free, I'll kill you!"

"Stop moving! These things are hard to unlock because they're sea prism stone! I can't touch them!" Luffy snapped before he continued to try and poke the key into the small hole before him. He growled when the key hit the cuff instead of the hole. "Aw! Come on!"

"You're not even listening to me!" Law growled. "I said get lost! I don't want your help!"

"Shut up! I'm not leaving here without you! I promised Neo that I would protect you both! Besides, I know that you're lying! You want to get out of here and get back to Neo! She misses you! And I know you miss her! You're worried about her! I can see it in your eyes! So stop being so stupid! You're not fooling anyone here!" Luffy snapped at Law. He then held out the key to Viola again. "Here! You do it!"

"I can't! I'm a devil fruit user too!" Viola said.

Law blinked, slightly confused at how Luffy was being so insightful. Even back on Sabaody two years ago, he never got that kind of impression from this pirate. The Straw Hat captain always seemed too stupid or childish to really show insight to anything. Or he thought the young man did. Perhaps he didn't know him all that well. Or was it something else? Was Neo the reason Luffy was acting like this? The Straw Hat pirate really did have a thing for wanting to keep his friends safe and save them when they were in danger. And Neo was now the Straw Hat's friend, whether Law wanted it or not. Of course a lot of that had to do with her being Shanks' goddaughter. But he wondered if it was also because of Neo directly. Neo did have a way of softening people up. She did that to Smoker on Punk Hazard. And apparently to the navy admiral Fujitora here on Dressrosa.

Neo did say she was going to send Luffy over to help him on Green Bit. And Luffy would have promised her that he would take care of them no matter what.

Law sighed. With that promise, he knew Luffy wasn't going to go anywhere. And he really couldn't force him to leave. He didn't want to. He just had to put on an act to give Doflamingo the impression that their alliance was over, despite the older man not really believing it. He sighed again and let Luffy do as he pleased. This was really the only way he could get out of the sea prism stone chains anyway.

Just then a deep, dark laugh filled the room. It halted everyone's actions. They all looked over to Doflamingo's body, all of their eyes widened in shock that the laugh was coming from a dead man. Then a loud rumble floated through the air a split second before the ground underneath them started moving. A part of the floor rose up. The movement threw Law, Luffy, and Viola into the air. The risen floor shifted into the face of a person. Law gritted his teeth and growled at the familiar looking stone face. It was Pica. Just great. He just had to show up here.

"Never have I thought I'd be taken out like this," Doflamingo's severed head said.

"What?! Mingo's alive!" Luffy shouted.

"Young Master!" Baby 5 said.

"Young Master!" Gladius echoed.

"The whole country has been thrown into utter chaos now that the toys have turned back into people," Doflamingo's head continued to speak. "And for whatever reason, the Revolutionary Army is here secretly as well. And the royal palace is a complete mess now. This whole situation has become a very difficult one. There's only one solution to fix it. I'm just going to have to use the birdcage."

"The birdcage?!" Law asked. His heart took a sharp jolt at the memories of what kind of damage the birdcage can do to people. A cold shiver ran up his spine. Neo could easily escape from it by turning into the wind, but the rest of them were trapped with no way to escape it. And Neo wouldn't leave Law or their friends for anything. If they all were going to die here, then it would be together.

"That's right, Law," Doflamingo's severed head said with a smile. "You remember that, don't you? Judging from your expression, I say that you do remember it. That's good. How do you think Neo would react to it? During our confrontation earlier, she managed to escape the coliseum by turning into the wind and flying through the bars. Think she'll escape from the birdcage? No, I don't believe she will. She'll stay here with you. She's loyal to you after all. She wouldn't abandon you like that."

Law barely heard Doflamingo's words as he felt his mind fading into the darkness of the memories of the first and last time he saw the birdcage. It was the same day that he had lost Corazon. Doflamingo had killed so many people on that day. And now he was possibly going to lose his love, their child, and his own life to that abomination. He couldn't fathom it. There was no escaping from the birdcage at all unless they knocked Doflamingo out. And that wasn't something that happened often, if it had happened at all. Law couldn't recall a single time that Doflamingo had ever been knocked out cold. He didn't get any more time to think about it as the ground beneath them started rocking. It shook him out of his thoughts and threw everyone off their feet. He watched helplessly as Pic closed his stone hand around them, cutting off the light.

"Ah! What's happening?!" Luffy's voice asked from the darkness.

"It's Pica!" Viola said. "He's throwing us out of the palace!"

"He's what?!" Luffy asked just before the light returned to them in a heart stopping way. Pica had moved them to the outside of the palace. He opened his stone hands and dropped them from several feet above the ground.

Viola screamed.

The men clenched their teeth as the ground below them started to rapidly approach them.

Law growled. If he was free of the sea prism stone chains he could easily warp them safely to the ground. But he was still trapped and helpless. In the midst of all the panic, Law spotted his hat falling with them. It fell close enough that he was able to reach out and grab it. He tightened his hold on it, not wanting it to get away from him mostly because Neo was recently wearing it. His thoughts were broken again when he heard Luffy shouting.

"Gum gum balloon!" Luffy cried out. He sucked in the air around him so his body would expanded for his friends to land on him safely instead of the hard ground that was waiting for them below. Once they were all had landed on him, he released the air inside of him. They all climb off of his body when he deflated enough, but for Law who landed a bit roughly on the ground since he was helplessly chained to the chair. "That was way too close. Is everyone all right?"

"I think so," Viola said. She looked at Luffy then over at her father and Kyros. "Are you two all right?"

"I've had better days, but I'll be just fine," King Riku said.

"I'm all right as well, Lady Viola," Kyros said with a nod.

"Wow! He threw us all the way out into the garden of the Rampart Tower," Luffy noted. He looked around the garden they were in before looking back at his friends. "What now?"

"Well, we're not going to be able to get anywhere near Doflamingo with Pica near by," Viola said. She stood up and brushed the dirt off her dress. "He'll just throw us out again like he just did."

"What's going up there?" King Riku asked. They all turned their eyes up to the sky to see what he was talking about. Strings were flying up from the palace and into the air. "What is that?"

Law gasped at the strings flying up into the air. He said, "It's started! The birdcage!"

"The birdcage? What do you mean by that, Tra?!" Luffy asked. He turned his eyes down to Law. "What is Doflamingo doing with those strings?"

"Before the truth behind this country can be exposed to the outside world, he's going to simply massacre the entire population!" Law replied. He gripped a hold of his hat so hard he thought his fingers were going to puncture right through the fabric. He had to force himself to loosen up his hold before he actually did that.

"He's going to do what?!" Viola said as everyone else gasped. Before anyone else could utter another word, the ground started shaking and rumbling once more.

"H-h-hey! What's going on?!" Luffy asked. He looked around and noticed the ground was moving downwards. "The ground is descending! What's happening?!"

"It's Pica!" Law replied. "Since he can merge with stones, he can even shift the geography of the world around him!"

"Hey! The royal palace is taking off!" Luffy said. He gaped at the stone building, demanding the inanimate object to come back like it would listen to him before turning to Law. "Stop, royal palace! Come back here! Hey! Tra! Call Neo here! Quick! Tell her to bring the palace back!"

"What are you saying?! She's already on her way here! And I'm not going to have her move an entire palace closer! It would put far too much stress on her! If you want the palace back so badly you go to it instead!" Law snapped.

"How could Neo possible move all of that? I know she can control nature through her crystals, but…" Viola said. She watched Pica drag the palace off before turning to look down at Law. "What exactly is going on here? Why does Doflamingo want her so badly? I know he has some issue with you from years ago…"

Law looked at the dark haired woman and thought about her words. He knew there really was no point in keeping the secret any longer. Now that Doflamingo and the navy knew, it was only a matter of time before they released that information to the public. And since these people have proven to be allies, he figured it might be best if they did know. Still, he didn't have time to explain everything. "It's a long story. But Neo's not a devil fruit user. She can do a lot more with her crystals than we have let on."

"Are you serious?! Then what is her power?!" Viola asked.

"She doesn't have a power. She has magic. She's an elemental," Law said.

"Tra?" Luffy asked. "Are you sure about telling them this?"

"It's fine, Straw Hat," Law said with a sigh. "Doflamingo and the navy already know. It's only a matter of time before everyone else does too."

"What?! Doflamingo knows?!" Luffy shrieked.

"She didn't tell you?" Law asked.

"No! She only told me you were in trouble!" Luffy shrieked again. "The navy knows too?! And she's with them?! They're not going to let her go now! We have to go after her right this second!"

"Calm down. I already told you she's on her way here. She managed to get away from them. And I guess she was too upset to mention everything that I told her before. My safety would take top priority over everything else," Law said. "I don't know how, but Doflamingo somehow figure out that Neo is an elemental and a princess."

"Neo's a princess? I never would have guessed. I wonder if it has something to do with that guy that's been staying in the palace for the past several months," Viola said, rubbing her finger over her chin in thought.

"I remember now that Blackleg mentioned him before. I guess you're the one who told him that. And you called him Cethin," Law said and Viola nodded. "How long has this guy been at the palace?"

"For about seven months," Viola replied.

"Seven months, huh?" Law said. "That's about how long we were on Punk Hazard."

"At least Neo's okay," Luffy said. "Viola checked on her for me a few minutes ago. That Cethin guy was with her."

"You are able to check on her?" Law asked.

"It's my devil fruit. I can send my gaze far and wide. I saw Cethin inside of the navy tent with her. He was holding some sort of medallion in his hand. A strange dull green glow was coming from it. It flowed over her body and looked to be causing her some pain before it pinpointed at her stomach."

Law's heart skipped a beat. A medallion with a strange glow? It… it couldn't possibly be Neo's birth medallion. Doflamingo did say that he had a wedding present for us. But it couldn't possibly be that. Could it? With a ragged breath, he asked, "Did this medallion have four crystals embedded in it on each corner and Neo's name on it?"

"I don't think so." Viola shook her head. "All I saw was that strange green glow. It was spread out over the medallion so I really couldn't see if there was something else on it or not. It looks like the glow was some kind of veins weaving through the medallion."

"What was the shape and color?" Law asked.

"It was diamond shape and silver," Viola replied.

Law cursed under his breath before saying, "It can't be. He couldn't possibly have it."

"Couldn't have what?" Viola asked.

"Neo's birth medallion," Law replied.

"Birth medallion?" Luffy asked.

"All elemental royals are given a medallion when they're born. It has all four of the element crystals embedded in it and a small portion of their magic inside each crystal," Law said. He clenched his fists together. His fingernails dug into the skin, breaking the flesh apart. Closing his eyes, he slammed his head back against the chair he was still trapped on and cursed again. "It was taken away from her when she was just a kid. She never found it again."

"Don't get ahead of yourself now, Trafalgar. It's possible that it's not even hers. It could be something else that just has the same shape as her medallion. But despite that, could it be used as a weapon against her?" Viola asked.

"No, I don't think so. At least not by itself," Law replied. He opened his eyes and stared up at the sky. His eyes by passing the birdcage they were trapped in. "But I don't know about that other thing that was on it. Whatever it is it's not a part of her medallion, if it is hers."

"So what now?" King Riku asked. "If it is her medallion then it's clear that Doflamingo has done something to it. She would be in danger then."

"We're all in danger, Father," Viola said.

King Riku looked at her then down at the ground with a heavy sigh. She was right. They all were in life threatening danger.

"First things first. Let's get you out of that chair," Luffy said. He pulled back his fist.

"Wait! What are you-" Law started. He was cut off by Luffy's cry before the rubber man punched the back of the chair with his fists multiple times.

"Gum gum gatlin!"

"How reckless!" Viola gasped as pieces of the chair broke apart from Luffy's punches.

"You idiot! You could have at least warned me you were going to do that!" Law growled. "What if you hit me?!"

"Sorry!" Luffy laughed while pulling Law off the chair and putting him in a sitting position.

Law grumbled and glared at the younger man but didn't say anything as he picked up his hat. Placing it back on his head, he looked to his right. Neo was in that direction and should be with them soon. But suddenly she stopped. 'Neo, why did you stop?'

"Hey! Luffy!" Zoro then called out. The small group looked over at the swordsman running over to him.

"Zoro! There you are!" Luffy waved to him. His eyes then landed on the fourth sword Zoro was carrying. "Oh! I see you have Tra's sword!"

"Yeah." Zoro nodded. "I managed to get a hold of it."

"Great," Luffy said. "He'll need that for later."

"Law, something's wrong," Neo said. Her eyes were up on the birdcage above her then they dropped down to screams of the people below her. She watched as navy soldiers and civilians started attacking each other. The smell of iron from their blood floated up to her with their confused and pain filled cries. "This is Doflamingo's birdcage, isn't it?"

'It is.'

Neo's eyes widened when a man lifted up his sword to a young boy. He cried, "No! Someone help me! I can't stop myself!"

"No!" Neo shouted out before diving down to the man. She summoned an earth crystal. Wrapping the man up while pulling the child into her arms.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! I almost killed my child!" the man said with tears running like rivers down his cheeks.

"Daddy!" the boy in Neo's arms said. He wriggled out of Neo's hold and ran over to his dad. Wrapping his arms around his dad's vine wrapped body. "Daddy!"

"It's okay, son! Is okay! We're fine now!" the man said. "This young lady saved us! Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"No problem," Neo said. She turned her eyes away from the man and his son. Summoning more earth crystals, she wrapped up as many people as she could that were trying to hurt others. Rage burned inside of her at how Doflamingo was treating these people. A small storm gathered over her. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed. Her eyes shot to the palace off in the distance. Wrapping the wind around her, she took off towards the palace.

'Neo! I order you to stop!'

Neo flinched to a stop at Law's order. "But… Law…"

'I know, Neo. I know you're upset. I know you just saved a kid from being killed by his own father. I know this is all Doflamingo's fault. But you can't go off and face him on your own.'

Neo gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She knew he was right.

'Just come to me. We won't let Doflamingo get away with this.'

"Right." Neo nodded. She turned and headed back in the direction Law was in. "But I have to help them."

'I know. You can do that while you're on your way to me. Okay?'

"Yeah." Neo nodded. Flying low to the ground, she used her crystals to disarm and trap anyone she passed that was being controlled by Doflamingo.

Author's Notes: This one was hard. Think I messed up in several places.

Thinking about doing more chapters for this story but posted under another title at some point. Just to give more development from Neo's first months on the ship through Punk Hazard that I should have but didn't do here.

MacheSalas: Bummer. I would have like to read it. But this site can be weird when it comes to comments. I didn't even get a notification in my email about it so who knows where it went. Their conversation didn't come out exactly like I wanted. It sounded so beautiful in my head. I'm gonna try and revise it later to fix it more like I wanted. As for Touching Time, I'm just getting ahead of myself. I won't be able to update it very often since this one takes of so much time because of having to watch the episodes to get the words and scenes right. But we're close to the manga so it shouldn't be much longer before I can work more on my other stories more often. It doesn't help I keep posting short stories. I want to get to 30 posted stories this year. Those short stories will be under 10 chapters, couple might go over. Getting ready to post another one too. I feel like a writing gluttony. Lol! So many ideas. More Neo and Law stories too. Still plan on getting Neo on Shanks ship for a while.

Apple Bloom: I hope so. I keep second guessing how to deal with Neo on what I have planned. We'll see soon if it comes out fine or not.