Chaos in Dressrosa
Part Two
"Hm?" Neo lifted her eyes to the sky when a transponder screen had appeared. Her heart jumped into her throat when Doflamingo's face appeared on the screen. "What's he up to now?"
"Citizens and guests of Dressrosa. Let's be honest here, I could have reigned over you all with an iron fist from the start. After finding out the truth, I bet there are a great number of you who want to kill me right now for everything that's happened. And that's why I've prepared a little game for you all to play. It's a game where you have to kill me. I'm here in the royal palace. I won't run or hide from any of you. If you can take my life, the game will end there, of course. But there is another way for you all to finish the game. And here's how you can do that. All you have to do is kill all the people that I'm going to name off here in a minute. I will be awarding a large prize for the death of each one of them. This game is kill or be killed. Everyone in this country will become bounty hunters. The only way for you to survive this game is to kill somebody."
"What?!" Neo gasped. She faltered in her flying, dropping a couple feet, but quickly righted herself. Rising back into the air, she paused, hovering in the air to listen to what this man had to say.
"Nobody is going to come and help you at all. Nobody is going to get out of this birdcage. You can't make contact with anyone in the outside world either. You're all going to die here and no one out there will know until it's too late. Your neighbors who are running wild will keep randomly harming others. It doesn't matter if their family or close friends or citizens who they swore to protect. Even if you try to run or hide you'll still be found. There is no safe place for you in the cage. The terror of the birdcage will go on for days. It's just a matter of which will happen sooner. You all die or you finish the game."
"You! You can't be serious! What else can you do to us?!" Neo demanded. She kicked fruitless at the air in frustration. Gathering her crystals, she pointed them at the man on the screen. She wanted to fire at him, but didn't. She knew it wouldn't do anyone any good. She'd only be wasting her magic. Banishing all but her wind crystals, she dropped her arms to her sides and continued to fly in Law's direction.
"Scream! Hate! Suffer! You people are all innocent victims here! Think about it! You either come to kill me or side with us Don Quixote family and punish the twelve rebel fools who rebel against me. Making the wrong decision here will not end the game for you all. It will still proceed. Now for the twelve criminals… I'll pay a hundred million berries for each star rating I give them. There are twelve criminals in Dressrosa. First, are the one star criminals…"
Neo clenched her fists when Doflamingo started showing the country who the criminals were. Despite knowing who all would be labeled as a criminal, her heart still skipped a beat in her chest when their pictures rolled over the screen. With each one, her anger grew but she couldn't stop herself from looking at them. The one stars included Rebecca, Robin, Foxfire Kin'emon, Viola, and Cyborg Franky. One of them, Viola, she didn't know. But she still didn't like the fact the woman was on the criminal list. Next he showed the two stars, Kyros and Pirate Hunter Zoro. But it was the three stars that really upset her.
"And as for the key figures of each group I give three whole stars for them," Doflamingo's voice said.
Neo wanted to force her eyes from the screen. She didn't want to see who she knew was going to be on there. Still, she couldn't look away as they were shown. One of them was a blonde man and the former king of the country she didn't know. The last two she knew. Her heart pounded erratically in her chest when she saw Luffy and Law's pictures on the screen with three stars that looked to her like execution orders.
"Plus, there is the man who ticked me off the most today. It's all his fault that you people have to play such a bloody game. The one who gets him will get five hundred million berries! 'God' Usopp. You have no time to wonder what to do. People are falling and towns are burning by the second. Either you kill me or the twelve criminals. Now the game is on!"
Neo gritted her teeth and growled at the man's face on the large screen hovering in the air before it disappeared from her sight. Her ears and chest were burning so hard from the words the warlord had just spoke and from his actions that her fire crystals appeared and flared up so hot the fire burned blue. With the clench of her fists, several claps of thunder released from the gathering dark clouds above and a strong gust of wind whipped through the country from her anger. "Doflamingo!"
…
Cethin held out his arms to steady himself as the ground suddenly began to rock erratically beneath him. Stumbling backwards, he tripped over his own feet and fell back on his backside. He growled in frustration at the lack of warning he had for this. He had just come back from being with Neo and he had important information that he needed to give to Doflamingo right away. But instead of that he was stuck here lying on the ground as the palace shook and broke away from its current location, its rightful location. He knew it was Pica. Despite not mingling with the Doflamingo soldiers, he was still informed of their devil fruit powers, names, and faces. That stone man was the only one who would be able to do this, except for Neo. And she was as little tied up at the moment. Or he assumed she was. He knew that she wouldn't be in the hands of the navy for long. One way or another, she would escape from them and would soon be coming here. The thought thrilled him a little bit, but not enough to push away his current situation.
Finally after several minutes of nonstop shaking, the palace had stopped moving. Pushing himself off the ground, Cethin fixed his lab coat and proceeded to enter then wander through the halls of the palace. He climbed up the stairs, walked down the hall, and then paused at four intersecting hallways. He looked down each one before the map that Doflamingo had given him of the palace returned to his head. He headed down the one right in front of him until he got to another staircase. He was thankful for the map but wish he had been given permission to walk through the palace a couple of times to memorize the place. He preferred that to maps. Maps didn't always have all the details needed for roaming unfamiliar territory. His eyebrows perched up on his head when the voice of Doflamingo rang out over the entire kingdom and somehow managed to get inside of the palace. He reached the bottom of the staircase that led up to the floor where the Suit Chamber was located and paused at the sunlight shining down from the stairs. Once at the top, he saw what there was so much light and why the palace was moving like it was. The top of the building had been cut off. He rubbed the back of his neck, a little surprised that he didn't notice that a large part of the palace had been missing. But then he wasn't surprised since he had such wonderful information to share with Doflamingo. He didn't care about much else so it made sense he didn't notice. He shoved his hands into his pocket as he walked into what was left of the Suit Chamber. His eyes ran over the broken floor, the pieces of the missing roof and walls that was scattered on the floor, and the dirt smudged fighters standing around. He said, "I see things got a little out of control here. And a little warning about having to move the palace would have been nice. You can wander through stone. You should have come told me about it."
"Shut up," Pica snapped. "I was following orders like I was suppose to. I didn't have to come tell you anything."
"Whatever." Cethin rolled his eyes at the ridiculously high pitched voice while adjusting the goggles on his head. He shoved his hand back into his pocket, his skin brushed against the medallion inside. He had almost forgotten about it and his news. Almost. His lips twisted into a gleeful smile.
"Sorry about that. Things did get a bit out of control. But it's all been taken care of. So what news do you have for me, Cethin? Honestly, I didn't expect you to come back this quick," Doflamingo said, unfazed by anything that just transpired in the room. He hopped upon the now broken stonewall of the palace and looked to the scientist. "What happened with Neo? Is everything going according to plan? Judging from the smile on your face I'd say it all did go well."
"Yes, Young Master, everything went just fine. Despite her being unconscious I could easily tell that everything is going according to plan," Cethin said. He turned to the warlord. "Well, but for one minor thing that we didn't anticipate."
"One minor thing?" Doflamingo said with a frown. He glared at the young scientist before him. The vein in his forehead started to become more pronounced from all of the disruption from today's events. He didn't need something else going wrong. "I really don't like when plans get disrupted. And I'm not in the mood for more bad news. I already have the Straw Hats running around trying to destroy my SMILE factory. And they just took down Sugar too. All the toys have turned back into humans and animals."
"I can understand the dire state your country is in right now, Young Master," Cethin said. "But I assure you this is some good news. Or at least some news that you will want and probably be very pleased to hear about."
"And what would that be?" Doflamingo asked.
"I believe I've discovered the reason as to why Trafalgar Neo has been as far away from you as she could get while inside the country's boarders," Cethin said.
"And what would that be?" Doflamingo asked. "What is it?"
Cethin smiled. "Trafalgar Neo is pregnant."
"What?!" Baby 5 asked. "Are you sure about that?! Why would a pregnant woman enter into a battle like this?! Especially when that pregnant one is Neo, Law's wife?! We all know how protective he is of her! There's no way he'd let her come anywhere near the young master if she was really pregnant!"
"Elemental bodies are different from human ones. Their bodies are stronger than ours. Plus they have their crystals that help protect unborn infants. Just because she enters a fight doesn't necessarily mean something would happen to her or the baby. And I'm a hundred percent positive she's pregnant," Cethin said with a nod. He pulled out the medallion from his pocket and let it dangle from his hand. "The glow pointed right at her stomach. It wanted to influence, if not kill, the child as well."
"I see," Doflamingo said with a chuckle. "My dear little sister in law is pregnant. No wonder she hasn't been around. Law wouldn't want her anywhere near me. Can't say that I blame him on that."
"Perhaps they didn't know about this before coming here. Surely if there were signs of it back on Punk Hazard Caesar would have noticed and he would have informed us of it," Baby 5 said.
"That's possible, but also unlikely since sometimes women don't know they're pregnant right off. The signs might not have been there for Caesar to notice. If that's true, then Law must have only recently noticed himself. They were rather busy causing trouble for you while on Punk Hazard. And he is very protective of her. If he knew before hand, I don't see him actually letting her come anywhere near you considering your history together," Cethin said to Doflamingo. "I find it rather interesting that they were able to conceive a child. I've never come across an elemental and a human hybrid before. I always suspected that an elemental and a human could have a child since there are such similarities in our biology, but I was never able to prove it. I would love to study both Neo and the child. I could get some useful data from them. There are so many questions I have."
"I'm sure you do," Doflamingo said. "For now we're just going to wait. I want you to go ahead and proceed with the next step."
"Very well," Cethin said with a sigh. "When exactly do you want her to come to us? It would be very easy right now to get her here. She should still be separated from Trafalgar Law."
"That would be too soon," Doflamingo said. "I want Law to suffer as much as possible. He and Straw Hat are coming here soon anyway. Surely Neo won't leave Law's side again after everything that's happened. Besides, I want to see the look on both their faces when I reveal to them that I've had Neo's birth medallion this entire time. And I want to see the look on their faces when I reveal to them that I know she's pregnant and now under my control."
"I guess that's why you didn't put her on the list of convicts," Baby 5 said. "You don't want the people to kill her."
"Indeed. I don't want the people trying to kill her. She's already going to cause them enough problems when they try to take down her friends," Doflamingo said. He looked up at the storm above his country. The storm he knew was created by Neo, probably from the bounty he put on her lover's head. He lowered his eyes back down to his forces. "Also, I don't want any of you fighting her. I know it's going to be a bit difficult, but I want you all to avoid fighting her if possible."
"It shouldn't be all that difficult since her magic keeps failing her," Cethin said.
"What do you mean about that?" Buffalo asked.
"Pregnant elemental magic always fluctuates and often doesn't work during the third and fourth months of their pregnancy," Cethin said, turning to the orange clad man. "So going by that and the fact she doesn't have her baby bump yet, she's probably only in her third month. It's not surprising at all that she doesn't know she's pregnant, assuming she doesn't know of course."
"How is it you know all of this?" Baby 5 asked. "Just who the heck are you?"
"I'm no one important," Cethin said. He lifted the medallion up to his face. He stroked his thumb over the murky green thing embedded in the crystals. A dark grin spread over his lips when the thing started glowing and pulsing under his touch. "Just someone who has had a little interest in elementals since the first time I met one."
Doflamingo chuckled deeply while the others in the room gasped at the medallion glowing and from the soft but piercing shriek coming from the strange tube like thing embedded on the crystals. They gasped again when the thing started to grow and expand over the medallion.
…
Law stared off in the direction of the palace as Neo's little mini storm slowly began to die down. After listening to Doflamingo turn the entire town on them, his mind was buzzing with the fact that the warlord didn't put a bounty on Neo's head. He knew Doflamingo was after her, but this just added more suspicion and questions as to why and what he wanted with her. Was Doflamingo going to make a move on her long before they reached the palace? Surely that man knew that Neo wouldn't sit back and let the people hurt those she cared about. She would cause Doflamingo the most trouble of all. So why was the man leaving her out of this sick game of his? He turned his attention back to the group he when he heard Robin's voice.
"Zoro?" Robin asked from over the transponder snail.
"Yeah. I'm here," Zoro replied.
"Where exactly are you right now?" Robin's voice asked.
"I'm with Luffy and the others. We're at a place the people here call the King's Plateau. It was where the palace used to be. Things are sure getting messy around here, aren't they?" Zoro said.
"Hey, Zoro, is that Robin on the transponder snail?! Robin?! Did you just hear all of that stuff that Mingo said?! What a jerk! But putting a five hundred million berry bounty on Usopp's head was hilarious! I'm just really glad Neo isn't on the list!" Luffy said to the transponder snail.
"What did you say, Luffy?!" Usopp snapped in the distance from the small snail.
"I'm glad she's not on the list either. Is Neo with you all?" Robin asked.
"Not yet. But Tra said she's on her way here right now," Zoro said. He looked over at Law for more conformation that Neo was fine. When the Heart Pirate captain nodded at him, he added, "She's fine according to him."
"I'm glad. I've been really worried about her," Robin said with a sigh. "Rebecca's relieved as well."
"So she's there too, huh? I'm glad since Rebecca was also on the list. Is she all right?" Luffy asked.
"Rebecca is…" Robin started.
"I'm right here, Lucy! And I'm just fine!" Rebecca then said. "I'm glad to hear you both are okay as well!"
"It's good that you're there with my friends! Yeah, we're fine over here! The soldier is also here! Hey! Where did the soldier go?!" Luffy looked around for the man who used to be a tin toy soldier. But the man was nowhere to be found. "He was here just a second ago."
"What?! Don't tell me he's…" King Riku said.
Law sighed at the conversation and turned his attention away from it. He once again focused in on where Neo was and how she was doing. He could feel her getting aggravated at Doflamingo as she flew closer to him. He could also feel her magic taking short dips in strength from her pregnancy. He knew she wanted to help everyone, but he couldn't keep letting her linger anymore.
…
"That jerk," Neo said, still fuming over Doflamingo putting his own personal bounties on her friends and lover's heads. Staring down at the chaotic kingdom, she continued to disarm and bind those who were under Doflamingo's control. A sharp pain stabbing into her right temple forced her anger at the man to subside. She pressed her fingers to her forehead and sighed. She dropped down to a rooftop to rest a minute. "Why is he turning all this into a stupid game? He's enjoying all of this. The cocky bas-"
'Don't you dare say it, little girl. You know better than to speak like that.'
"I know. But I'm just so frustrated. So much so that it's started to hurt me physically. I'm getting another headache," Neo said. She turned her eyes back down to the chaos in the town. She wrapped more puppet victims of Doflamingo in vines just before some navy soldiers came running over to them. One of the soldiers looked up at her. For a second she thought he might fire his gun at her, but instead he just nodded thanks to her. She nodded back then took to the air again. "He even put a bounty on Rebecca's head. I know she's strong, but there's a lot of stronger people in this country. She's just an ordinary human. Yeah she has observation haki like I do, but still, she can't compete against everyone here."
'You don't have to worry about her.'
"What do you mean?" Neo asked. She landed on the ground. Snapping vines out at a couple people being controlled by Doflamingo, securing them in her hold. Summoning a fire crystal, she put out a small blaze nearby that was threatening to grow larger. The pain in her temple continued. Sighing, she rolled her head around in an attempt to stop the pain. "Is Rebecca with you? Do you even know who Rebecca is?"
'No, I don't know who she really is. But she was just on the transponder snail with Straw Hat. She's currently with Nico and safe. If your head is hurting that much use your solar crystal.'
"I'm glad she's fine," Neo said with a small smile. She scanned her eyes around the chaotic country for more Doflamingo puppets. Her area seemed quiet now. Only a few soldiers and civilians running around, but not being controlled. "I know it might not be possible, but I'd like to see her again before we leave this country. I'll use my solar crystal if it gets worse."
'I know you'd like that. Just don't count on it happening. Listen, I know you want to help the people but you need to come to me right now. Doflamingo might not have put a bounty on you but that won't stop people from trying to bring you in to him with the thought he might give them something for you.'
"But-"
'No buts, Neo. I know you feel like your magic is about to give out on you again. I want you with me. Right. Now.'
Neo sighed. He was right. She was feeling like her magic was about to give out on her again. And she was feeling extremely tired. She wouldn't be able to handle a fight, even if it was against mere citizens, feeling like she was. The throbbing in her temple wasn't as sharp as before but it was a steady drumming pulse that was starting to make her feel queasy. "All right, Law. I'll fly there as quickly as I can. But I think my magic is going to cut out any second now. I'll might have to run on the ground until I get there."
'I know. Just make sure to pick up a weapon or make one. You'll need a way to defend yourself until your magic come's back. I have to deal with Straw Hat over here now. He causing trouble again and pulling us right into the middle of it.'
"Okay then." Neo nodded while wondering what exactly Luffy was doing and saying right now. Summoning a couple earth crystals, she created herself some rocks, wove together some leaves and vines to create a slingshot, then created a stone bo staff and created a vine strap and pouch to carry everything with. They weren't the best or strongest weapons she's ever used, but they would do just fine until her magic came back. Once everything was set, she took off running in the direction she knew Law was in.
…
"Do you have any idea of what you're doing here, Straw Hat?!" Law asked after breaking off his conversation with Neo and hearing Luffy's promise to Rebecca on taking down Doflamingo. "Our plan was to destroy the SMILE factory and provoke a conflict between Doflamingo and Kaido! If we take down Doflamingo now, Kaido will direct all of his anger over losing his precious SMILEs at us! We'll be the ones having to fight face to face with a furious emperor!"
"So what?! None of that matters now! Just take a good look at this country! It's a mess because of us! There's no way I can stop now! If I do, what's going to all the people here?!" Luffy asked. "I can't stop! And I won't!"
Law sealed his lips. He knew exactly what was going to happen to this country if Doflamingo was allowed to continue with his plan to kill everyone inside the boarders. He had no way of winning this argument.
Luffy stomped over towards the other captain. He wrapped one arm around Law's neck while wrapping his other arm around Zoro's neck. "All right, if we're done talking, let's go!"
"Wait a second! I'm still cuffed!" Law said, dangling from the rubber man's hold.
"So? They'll fall off eventually," Luffy said.
"No! They! Won't!" Law snapped.
"You all go on ahead. I'll look for the key," Viola said.
"Do you know where it is?" Law asked, straining to look at the woman.
"I saw it when we were falling," Viola said. "So it must be somewhere here on this plateau with us. I'll look for it and when I find it I'll- What?! Hey!"
Luffy, not giving the woman a chance to finish, bolted off for the edge of the plateau. Dangling from his captain's hold, Zoro asked, "How are we going to get there?"
"By going the direct way!" Luffy replied just before he jumped off the plateau with the two panicked swordsmen helplessly dangling in his hold. "Wait for me, Doflamingo! I'm coming for you!"
…
Law forced back a string of curses as he flew over the edge of the plateau with Luffy and Zoro. There was only one way he was use to flying, this was not it. He silently cursed under his breath while thinking of several ways he was going to kill Luffy for doing this. He gritted his teeth just as Luffy started to suck in air that expanded the rubber man's body. He expected to land on the ground like they did when they fell from the palace, but they didn't. He held back another string of curses when they bounced off the ground and spun out of control before finally coming to a stop on the ground. Once his mind stopped spinning from the erratic movements, he noticed they landed on the ground in the middle of a bunch of bounty hunters looking for their heads.
"H-hey!" a man said.
"That's… Straw Hat Luffy! Trafalgar Law! And the Pirate Hunter Zoro!" another man said.
"Ack! Looks like we landed in a whole mess of trouble here!" Luffy gasped when he noticed at the armed people around them.
"If these cuffs ever come off, I'm to kill you first, Straw Hat!" Law said while glaring sharply at Luffy from his upside down position over the younger man's shoulder. "You better be thankful that you didn't put Neo through all of that!"
"I don't think there was a good place for us to land anywhere in this country since everyone here is hunting us down," Zoro said while he took out his swords. "Anyway, we have got to run. We don't have time to stay here and fight everyone."
"Okay!" Luffy said. He looked at Zoro then looked around for a way to get out of this situation. "Let's go!"
"After them!" someone shouted. "Don't let them get away!"
"Zoro, that's not the correct way!" Luffy called out when Zoro took off in the opposite direction of the palace.
"That's not the correct way either, Straw Hat! The palace is that way!" Law snapped. He sighed in frustration as Luffy and Zoro finally turned towards the palace. The voices of the men hunting them rang out into the air about them being two three stars and a two star and how they wanted them to stop. But he ignored them. Luffy and Zoro could take care of them easily enough. They had more important things to worry about than a bunch of low level thugs looking for a quick payday. "How can you to possibly miss something as big as the palace?! You can easily see it from here!"
"Sorry about that! Oh! Wait! What about Neo?!" Luffy asked as he ran down the streets of Dressrosa with Law and his sword draped over his right shoulder. He looked down at Law. "Shouldn't she be here by now?"
"She's coming. Her magic faded out again so she can't just fly here quickly as she could have, not even with her wings," Law replied. "Once her magic comes back, she'll fly to me immediately using her wind crystals."
"Ah! There you are, Brother Law! It's so nice to see you!" a voice said as someone appeared beside the two pirates. The young man smiled as he skipped along side them. "Is Neo here?! She's not, is she?! Such a shame! I've been wanting to meet her!"
"Huh? Who's he? Do you know him?" Luffy asked. He looked at the young blonde haired man skipping beside them with a carefree smile on his lips.
"That's Dellinger! Don't underestimate him! He's…" Law said just before Dellinger disappeared from their sight. The blonde man then reappeared in front of them. A sinister grin spread across his lips just before he shot out a kick at Luffy and Law.
Luffy saw it coming and easily jumped to his left to avoid being kicked. He skidded to a stop and started to take off again but paused when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone swimming. He looked for the source of the sound and saw someone coming towards them through swimming in the ground. He turned and ran away from the person but hands reached up and grabbed him by the ankles causing him and Law to fall to the ground. "Ah! I've been caught! This freaky guy just came swimming out of the ground somehow!"
"Do it, Vise!" Senior Pink, the man holding Luffy's ankles, called out.
"Huh?" Luffy looked up to see who the swimming man was talking to. His eyes widened when he saw a heavy looking man flying over them. "Who's that?!"
"Run! He's a super weight human!" Law said.
Luffy struggled to get his ankles free. He tried to pull himself free, but couldn't. "What?! Dang it! Let go of my feet! Let go!"
"Ton ton! Ten ton vise!" the man above them called out.
Luffy pushed down on the stone street underneath him. Flinging his upper body forward, he managed to stretch out his legs and managed to keep the heavy weight man from landing on him and Law. But his feet were still stuck, weight down by the heavy man. Pulling himself and Law along the ground by his only free arm, trying to pull his feet free. "I can't pull them out! My feet are stuck!"
"Do something, Straw Hat!" Law snapped just before Dellinger appeared in front of them.
"I'm not going to miss it this time!" Dellinger said, pulling back his right foot for another kick. "Pistol high heel!"
...
Zoro sliced and kicked a few men away from him before turning to check on Luffy and Law. He narrowed his eyebrows when he saw that Dellinger about to attack. He sliced down a couple more attackers then ran over to his captain. He kicked the young man that was about to kick his captain. He knocked Dellinger off balance, causing the young man to stumble forward and kick his comrade instead and freeing Luffy and Law.
"Finally! I got free! Thanks, Zoro!" Luffy said. He jumped up to his feet and smiled at his swordsman.
"Be more careful next time, Luffy! Let's go!" Zoro said. He turned to run towards the palace but a wall of men slide in front of them, blocking their path. "Great."
"We're taking you all to Doflamingo! Your heads are worth eight hundred million in total!" one of the men said.
"Prepare to die!" another one added.
…
Neo huffed as she ran through the destroyed streets of Dressrosa. Slowing down to a walk, she paused at the corner of a building. Placing her hands on her knees, she took a minute to catch her breath. "This is just great. I haven't been running for all that long. I shouldn't be this tired. That's it. Once my magic comes back I'm flying directly to Law. Flying is so much faster than running anyway."
Neo looked up while she continued to suck in some much needed air. There were a few people running around but none of them paid her any attention. Luckily, she hadn't been attacked by anyone either. But she knew that probably wouldn't last for every long. And with how tired she was she knew she wouldn't be able to stand up to anyone if they had several years of experience of fighting. At the moment she wasn't even sure if she would be able to fight off a normal citizen without any experience in fighting. Feeling like that she knew she had to get to her friends and Law before she got into a situation that she couldn't handle. Pushing herself forward, she bolted down the streets. A few seconds later, while running down the street, she finally felt her magic came back to her. Not wasting it this time, she immediately summoned her wind crystals and slipped herself into the wind stream. Flying forward, she managed to get to Law and the others in just a few seconds. She found a group of men armed with swords, guns, shovels, and other such weapons had surrounded them. She watched as Zoro charged forward towards the men. Before he could disarm, or kill them like she thought he would, she gathered up their weapons in her winds.
"Hey! What happened?!" a man asked.
"My weapon just flew out of my hand!"
"So did mine!"
Law smirked just as Neo revealed herself to them. She landed on the ground near Zoro with a smile while hovering the men's weapons just out of their reach.
"It's Trafalgar Neo!"
"Give us back our weapons!"
"Good! We can take her in with the rest of the convicts!"
"But she wasn't on the list!"
"Doesn't matter! Surely Doflamingo will give us something for her!"
Just as I thought. They want to take her in too. At least she's with me now, Law thought. He cranked his head enough so he could see her. He ran his eyes over body, making sure she was okay despite not feeling any harm had come to her. He did, however, feel that she was tired. His eyes then landed on her stomach. She hadn't done much running or fighting so he knew it was because of her pregnancy.
"Hey! I was going to do that!" Zoro protested at being stopped.
"Sorry." Neo smiled before winking and sticking her touch out at him. Zoro smiled at her playfulness but didn't say anything. She then walked over to Luffy and Law while placing all of the confiscated weapons on the roof of a near by building.
"See? Told you I'd protect him!" Luffy said with a bright grin.
"Yeah. Thanks a lot, Luffy," Neo said with a nod. She then lifted herself back into the air so she would be somewhat imitating Law's position over Luffy's shoulder and smiled at him. "Hey you. You look really good like that. I'll have to remember it for the next time we have-"
"Don't you dare finish that thought out loud," Law warned. He shot a playful glare at her. She snickered at him, but didn't say anything else due to a man yelling about the male pirates star statues.
"There are the two star and three stars!" a man shouted out. "Get them!"
"Dang it! Theses people are becoming nothing but a huge pain!" Zoro growled. "I know some of them are just civilians, but can we go ahead and chop them up for being stupid?!"
"Don't you dare hurt them, Zoro! They might be chasing after us but they're just pawns in Doflamingo's stupid game!" Neo snapped. She stomped up to him and poked him in the chest.
"But they're trying to kill us," Zoro said.
"That doesn't mean we have to kill them! You're far stronger than they are! They have no chance at all for defending themselves against you!" Neo said, repetitively poking Zoro on the chest.
"They're trying to kill us! It's only natural for us to retaliate with the same line of thinking!" Zoro said.
"I said no!" Neo said. She glared at the swordsman before poking him one last time. She crossed her arms over her chest. "And that's an order!"
"What?! You're not my captain!" Zoro said." Look I know you're pre-"
"Zoro!" Law snapped before Zoro could finish. "Neo, that's enough!"
"Sorry," Zoro said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. I don't know why I reacted like that," Neo said, letting her arms fall to her sides. "I know we're being hunted and we have to do what we must to get out of this alive."
Law sighed. Mood swing averted. But I have no idea how much of this we can take without someone spilling the truth to her. At least Neo won't believe anyone but me about it. That's something for now. I just hope it'll be enough until I can properly talk to her about this.
Luffy laughed at the two bickering pirates then said, "You two are weird. I'll just use my haki to-"
"Stop it. There's no point in just shooting blindly like that," Fujitora said as he and a small army of navy soldiers walked up to them.
"Fujitora?" Neo asked. She ran her eyes over the soldiers behind the admiral. One of them was the soldier who was in the tent with them. He wore a very unpleasant glare at her for escaping. She took a couple steps closer to Law and Luffy and summoned her crystals.
"I didn't expect to see you so soon either, Neo," Fujitora said. "But I know I shouldn't be surprised. I'm after your alliance after all. It's only natural that you would be here with Straw Hat and Law."
"The navy admiral," Zoro said, taking a step in front of Neo so he would be between her and the navy.
"The old gambling man who took Neo?" Luffy said. He looked at Neo. When she nodded he turned his attention back to the admiral. "Whatever! She's back with us now and you're not going to take her again! And I'm going to kick Doflamingo's butt now! So get out of my way!"
"You are quite the brash one, Straw Hat. But I'm not going to step aside so easily," Fujitora said. He grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled it from its sheath.
"You want to fight then?" Luffy asked. He clenched his left fist and gritted his teeth.
"I'm afraid that we must despite what an unpleasant chore it is," Fujitora said.
"Neo, take Tra," Luffy said, his eyes locked onto the navy man in front of him. He took a step closer to Neo.
"What?" Neo asked while she used her wind crystals to lift Law off his shoulder. She sat Law on the ground and dropped to her knees beside him. She looked over at Fujitora, their conversation and his actions in helping her escape, ran through her mind. He wasn't a bad guy at all. And she didn't like the idea of having to fight him. "But, Luffy…"
"Neo," Law said, gaining her attention.
"Law…" Neo sighed. 'Fujitora isn't a bad guy.'
'I know you feel that way, love. But this is necessary. You know that.'
'Yeah. I know.' Neo nodded slowly before turning her attention to Luffy and the navy admiral. She watched as Luffy used his armament haki to coat his hands and throw a punch at the admiral's sword.
A loud clank resonated through the air from the hit. It was followed by Luffy's angry voice shouting, "Don't stand in my way!"
"Luffy!" Neo shouted when she felt Fujitora increase the gravity around them. Moving swiftly, she wrapped her winds around Luffy and pulled him away from the gravity man.
"Thanks, Neo!" Luffy said, brushing the back of his arm over his chin. "That was close!"
"That was that gravity technique again! Such a pain!" Zoro said running in towards Fujitora. He clashed swords with the admiral before Neo sensed another gravity attack. She wrapped her winds around the Straw Hat swordsman and pulled him away before he could get trapped again.
"You might not be able to control gravity yourself, but it's clear you can sense when I'm going to use it," Fujitora said, turning his eyes towards Neo. "That causes me a lot of trouble."
"Sorry. I don't really want to fight you, but I won't allow you to hurt my- Huh?!" Neo gasped when she felt the ground around her shifting in unnatural ways.
"What is it?" Law asks.
"The ground is moving in very weird ways," Neo said. She pulled her eyes away from Fujitora and scanned over the ground around them. She located the source of the odd shifting just before the ground started rising up and shifting into a giant size human figure.
"What the heck is that?!" Luffy asked. His eyes locking onto the changing ground before them.
"Law, isn't that…" Neo started.
"Pica!" Law replied.
Neo growled through her gritted teeth. She gathered her earth crystals and evaluated Pica's still growing size, wondering how much help she was going to be against this man who's had his earth shifting abilities longer than she's been using her own. "I don't know if I'm going to be much help in fighting him, Law. I remember everything you've told me about him, but he's so large and my magic is still acting weird."
"Then don't fight him if you're going to hesitate too much. You'll be too distracted and get hurt," Law said. He turned his eyes from Pica to her. He ran his eyes over her facial features until she looked at him. He locked eyes with her at that point. "I don't want you flying up that high anyway. Your magic could cut out and you'd fall. If you fight, stay close to the ground or the rooftops. That way you can land easier. And use your wings if you need to. Your safety takes priority over everything else."
"Right." Neo nodded. They both turned their attention back to the stone man just before he started to speak.
"Now, those of you who are rebelling against our family…" Pica squeaked.
"What?!" Luffy shouted at the sound of Pica's voice.
Neo bit her lip in an attempt not to laugh. Law had warned her about the stone man's voice long ago, but she didn't think it would be this high pitched and funny. 'His voice is so funny!'
'I know! Just don't laugh! He'll hurt you if you do!'
'I'll try not to, but…'
"I'm going to take you all down!" Pica announced.
Neo clamped her hands over her mouth in a desperate attempt to not laugh. She couldn't take him seriously. That high voice coupled with something that was supposed to be a threat just sounded like a pathetic attempt at acting big and tough. She closed her eyes and held in her breath. But a small chuckle passed over her covered lips. She felt all of her emotions shifting in a threatening way to take over her entire body. She was going to laugh. 'Law! I can't fight it! My emotions are taking over again! Help me!'
'Neo, I order you not to laugh!' Law thought to her just before she could lose all control.
Neo drew in a quick breath, her body relaxing to his words just like they always did to a direct order. She sighed and placed her hands on her knees. "Good grief. Right now I really, really love that you can control me like that."
"Me too," Law said with a sigh and extremely relief that she still obeyed him like that so easily.
"Too bad you can't do that to Luffy," Neo said just before the young man started laughing.
"Ah! Ha ha ha! His voice! It's so high pitched!" Luffy said. He wrapped his left arm around his stomach while pointing at Pica with his other hand. Four soldiers of Doflamingo's dashed over to the rubber man and desperately shushed him. "But it totally doesn't fit such a large body! It's such a funny voice coming from someone that big!"
"Straw Hat! If you get us killed…" Law hissed.
"Straw Hat!" Pica shrieked.
Neo readied her crystals. Eyeing Pica's burning eyes, she went through different ways she could stop the giant man. She knew her fire and water crystals were probably going to be useless against him. That left her with her wind and earth crystals. She could easily cut off pieces of his current stone body, but he would be able to generate more. He'd also be able to get passed her wrapping him up in vines. She didn't think she would be able to create thick enough vines to immobilize him anyway. They needed to get to his real body. She glanced over at Zoro. The swordsman appeared to be sizing up the competition as well. And front the look on his face, she figured he was trying to figure out a way to stop Pica. She turned her eyes back to Pica and wondered if she could immobilize him with her wind crystals long enough for Zoro or Luffy to find his body and knock him out. That is, if Luffy didn't get them killed because of all his laughing.
…
"P-p-p-please stop!" Luffy begged. "Stop talking! I can't take it!"
"Stop! Stop laughing, Straw Hat! Pica is sensitive about his high pitched voice! If he runs wild with that massive body…" a Doflamingo soldier said.
"You idiot! You made Pica angry!" another one added.
"What?! How can you not laugh?!" Luffy asked.
"We can't because we don't want to die!" they all screamed.
…
"Should I gag him?" Neo asked while threatening a vine out from one of her earth crystals.
"Too late," Law said.
Neo turned her eyes back up to Pica. The stone man had his fist pulled back. His eyes were burning hot with hatred for Luffy. She gathered her wind crystals and pushed back against Pica's punch when he threw it at them. She growled when she felt her magic starting to take another dip. "I can't hold him for long."
…
"Luffy! Stop laughing! You have to stop messing with your enemies like that!" Zoro hissed. "You're going to get us killed."
"I won't let you get away!" Pica squeaked. He pushed his fist forward against Neo's fading winds.
Zoro covered his mouth with his hand but was unable to completely stop his own laughter.
"See?! You can't help but laugh either!" Luffy said. "His voice is just too funny!"
"You guys…" Law growled. He glanced over at Neo to see how well she was doing. She was still holding back Pica's punch, but it was clear she wasn't going to be able to do it for much longer. They had no choice but to retreat from this fight for the moment. "We have to run! Zoro! Grab Neo!"
"What?! No! I'm- Ah!" Neo protested then screamed at a sharp pain that stabbed into her head.
Law winced at the pain passing to him. What the heck is going on with these headaches?! They're not pregnancy related at all! They're too sharp and frequent for that!
"Hush up! I can run faster than you can anyway! Besides, you're tired and in pain!" Zoro said as he sheathed his swords then grabbed Neo up into his arms and took off. He ran his eye over her pain filled expression as she clenched her head. "What happened? You didn't get hit by something, did you?"
"N-no… it's not that," Neo said through pants. "It's just a headache."
"A headache?" Zoro asked. "I've never seen someone collapse like that before from a headache."
…
"Let's go!" Luffy said as he grabbed Law and flung him over his shoulder before following after Zoro and Neo.
"You have to run faster, Straw Hat! Pica's going to crush us if you don't!" Law said as Pica's punch flew towards them.
"I am running faster!" Luffy said just before his body got violently jerked backwards. Pain shot through his back when he collided with the ground. He ignored the pain and pushed up on his elbow to notice Law's chain got stuck on a broken piece of debris from a building.
…
Neo lowered her hands from her head when she heard an angry string of curses and death threats flowing from Law's mind. She glanced over Zoro's shoulder and noticed Law and Luffy were on the ground instead of running with them. She gasped. "Huh?! Zoro! Stop! They got caught on something! We have to go back and help them!"
"No, don't stop! Keep going, Zoro!" Law called out to them upon hearing Neo's plan.
"No! Let me go! I have to help them!" Neo demanded. She grabbed Zoro's jacket and tried to pry herself from his hold. "Zoro! Let me go!"
"No! You can't do anything for them right now! You're in too much pain!" Zoro said.
"I am no- Ah!" Neo screamed when more painful sharps stabbed into her head.
"See? You're in no condition to fight right now," Zoro said. "I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you go face that guy. It would be suicide."
"But Law…" Neo's voice squeaked from the pain.
Zoro sighed. He knew she didn't like being separated from Law, but they didn't have a choice right now. "I'm sorry, Neo. Law will be fine. Luffy won't let him get hurt."
Neo winced at both his refusal to let her go and from the pain in her head. She knew he was right, but she still wanted to help Law and Luffy. Reluctantly, she obediently settled down in the swordsman's arms. Tears pressed against her eyes. She forced herself to focus through the pain and on Pica. She felt his fist about to collide with the ground. "Zoro, Pica's fist is about to hit the ground. Prepare for a wave of- Ah!"
"Yeah. I know. He's going to cause a huge gust of wind from hitting the ground with that much force and anger behind his punch," Zoro said. He glanced over his shoulder, hoping that Law and Luffy would get out of this just fine before turning his attention back to the young woman in his arms. He knew he had to focus more on her and himself. He didn't want to face Law's wrath at all if he allowed her to get injured from this. He had to find somewhere safe to put her until they could regroup with Law and Luffy.
Thought he didn't get a chance to figure out where a safe place would be for them to hide. Loud rumbles shot through the air just before a strong gust of wind blew him off of his feet. He tightened his arms around Neo when she ducked into his chest. Flying through the air, he tried to locate Law and Luffy. He found them hurling through the air. A wave of relief washed through him. At least they didn't get flattened by Pica's punch. But now they had another problem. They were flying through the air at a dangerous speed. He had no idea where they were going to land and how far away from their friends they were going to be. At least he had Neo with him. She could easily lead them to Law, as long as her magic didn't disappear on them.
…
Author's Notes: Sorry a bit dull chapter. Things should pick up. Hopefully soon.
Inazumame1997: Me too. Seems like that's going to be forever to get to. Right now I think most just want Neo to know she's pregnant. But that can't happen for a while still.
Sarge1130: Thanks. I'm glad people like it. I like how Neo has developed too. Just wish I felt that way on involving her in Dressrosa. I hope things get better once we're passed this 'running through the town' part. There's just not much for her to do here. Neo did have Law's hat up to the point she was knocked out by Fujitora. Mingo then took it. Though I might have goofed and said Law had his hat when he didn't. I'll check that chapter when I get a change and fix it if I did goof. Thanks for telling me, commenting, and reading this story.
Apple Bloom: Glad ya like it. We'll know soon what's going on with Neo's medallion. I don't think we've got too many more chapters until we reach that point.
