Chaos in Dressrosa

Part Three

Zoro gritted his teeth. He looked around him the best he could considering his body was flipping and spinning out of control and all over the place thanks to Pica's punch. Everything was blurry and twisting in his vision. He tightened his hold on Neo. He knew he had to get himself and Neo righted so he could clearly see the world around them. If they stayed like this, he'd never be able to see if he could get them back to the ground safely. Slowly their momentum started to slow down and he was able to stop their spinning to see they were several feet in the air. He scanned the area to see if they were possibly going to land on something that he could use to get them down to the street. A rooftop would do just fine. But he wasn't sure if he would be able to land near one since he couldn't control where his body was flying.

"I can fly," Neo said but winced at the sharp pain in her temple.

"Are you sure?" Zoro looked down at the young woman in his arms. Running his gaze over her face, he noticed her pain was finally starting to subside, but she was still in a great deal of pain.

"It might be a bit bumpy since I'm not completely focused, but I can get us down," Neo said.

"All right," Zoro said. "If you could just slow our fall enough to land without damage anything to either of us, then do it. But don't stress yourself out. Once we're low enough I can easily land on the ground."

"I can do it." Neo nodded and summoned her wind crystals.

Zoro gave the light blue crystals a skeptical look when they flickered a bit. Steadily the crystals stabilized and the wind around them began to shift until it had wrapped around them like an invisible blanket. Their bodies slowed down as the wind became more secure. Even though they were now securely in Neo's winds he still kept his hold on her firm. His mind automatically calculating how high they were in the sky and how many more feet it was until he could safely land without causing damage to himself or her if her magic decided to quit again. Fifty feet… forty two feet… twenty five feet… her wind speed faltered and they plummeted ten feet before she regained control. Ten feet… five feet… they landed. He didn't loosen his hold on her until his feet connected with the solid ground. He then sat her own feet on the ground but still kept his arm around her waist for support. "You're still in a lot of pain. You should use your solar crystal."

"I think you're correct. We got lucky just now. My head's hurting quite a bit. I'm going to need to use it if I have to fight at any point in time," Neo said. She summoned her solar crystal and let its soft glow wash over her. She closed her eyes as the crystal worked its magic over her and started to lessen the sharp stabs in her temple. A sigh passed over her lips. She opened her eyes and took a glance at Zoro. "Are you hurt? I can heal you, too."

"No, I'm fine." Zoro waved her suggestion off since he hadn't accumulated any injuries in his fight. He knew she needed to focus on herself instead of him. "You take care of yourself."

"All right then." Neo nodded. While continuing to heal herself, she noticed she was very thirsty and summoned two water crystals. Gathering water around each of them, she held one up for Zoro and one up for herself so they could have a cool drink. "Here, at least have something to drink. You're probably thirsty with all this running around you've been doing."

"Thanks," Zoro said. He leaned towards the bubbling crystal. Sipping the cool water in until his parched throat and mouth were satisfied.

"You're welcome. I thought you might need a drink," Neo said. She took her own sips of the cool water just before her stomach rumbled at her. She placed a hand over her stomach. "Guess I'm finally hungry after losing my lunch earlier."

"Then you should use your earth crystals and create you something to eat," Zoro said. He looked around the damaged town, finding that no one else appeared to be around at the moment. "Doesn't look like anyone else flew off in this direction. The citizens probably already evacuated to somewhere else too. You'll have time to eat something. But we need to get going. We have to find Luffy and Law. Can you sense where they are?"

"Yeah. They're about four blocks south of here. Looks like they flew farther than we did," Neo said as she summoned an earth crystal and created herself a couple of apples. She offered one to Zoro, which he took, then headed in the direction where Luffy and Law were. Weaving through the debris caused by Pica's attack, they munched on the apples and inspected the damage around them. All the buildings appeared to be either cracked or missing whole sections all together. It kind of reminded her of an abandon graveyard. The air was thick with the smell of dirt, stone, and spilled meals that people had been preparing or eating before hand. The destruction was everywhere. Her heart sank at all the damage that had been done to the country, to the people, to their homes. She wondered if anyone got hurt or was trapped in one of these buildings. Feeling tears gathering in her eyes, she took a couple slow breaths to push them away. She then activated her observation haki to see if anyone was in the buildings near them. Her heart thudded in her chest. She hoped no one was hurt. She couldn't do much for them if they were. Her solar crystal had its limits after all and Law was tied up with sea prism stone.

"Geez. A single blow caused this much damage?" Zoro asked. He sunk his teeth into the last bite of his third apple before tossing the core away. "This far out?"

"That's Pica for you. But at least it doesn't look like anyone's hurt. I don't see anyone's spirit from here," Neo said. She turned off her haki then held up the last apple. Mimicking Zoro, she tossed her own apple core away. She didn't like doing that, but there weren't any trashcans that she could find. Plus, with all the damage that was done no one would even notice a discarded apple core. "Would you like another apple?"

"No, thanks. I'm good. So how well do you know these people?" Zoro asked.

"Well enough. While I've never met them, Law did tell me everything he knows about them from the time he worked for Doflamingo," Neo said. She stopped walking to suck in a tired breath and press her fingers to her right temple. She closed her eyes when her vision split into two. Moving her hand to her mouth she when felt like she was going to be sick.

"Do you need me to carry you?" Zoro asked, eyeing how tired she was and the solar crystal that was hovering beside her. "Is your solar crystal not helping?"

"It's helping a little bit. But for some reason it's not doing much good. Probably because I've never had headaches before. It might not really work on them since it's not an all-powerful item. I'll be fine. I don't need you to carry me. I'm just sorry I can't fly us to them," Neo said. She opened her eyes, forced a smile on her lips, and continued walking.

"That's nothing to apologize for. If you can't fly, then you can't fly. I know you can't use your magic when you're disoriented," Zoro said, eyeing her carefully as they walked along. He couldn't help but noticed that she left out feeling tired on purpose. He wasn't sure why she did when it was so obvious. He wondered if she was trying to hide it because she didn't want to feel like a burden to him.

"At least I still have my magic at the moment. That's something," Neo said before gasping.

"What? What's wrong?" Zoro asked, his hands automatically going to the hilt of his swords. He looked around for an enemy but found nothing.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to alarm you," Neo said. "It's just… I forgot about the animals. A couple of them got scared with all the ruckus going on and ran into Doflamingo's strings."

"Oh," Zoro said. He lowered his hands to his sides and stared at Neo when she closed her eyes and stopped walking again.

"It's okay, everyone. I'm sorry about all of this. Please, just calm down. And stay away from the strings. They'll cut you if you try to escape from them. Hopefully this will all be over soon," Neo said. With a sigh, she opened her eyes. "Sorry about that."

"So how exactly does your talking to animals thing work?" Zoro asked when they started walking again. "Do you become the animal in some way?"

"No, nothing like that. I'm not really sure how to explain it. It's like my magic binds us together so we can understand each other. It just happens," Neo said. The two walked along a piece of broken building. Zoro jumped down from it first and offered her his hand. She took it and let him help her down. "I suppose you could call it a feeling. Like how when two people can talk to each other without words? Maybe?"

"This whole magic thing really doesn't make any sense," Zoro said.

"I suppose you're correct. But that's just how it is. There's never an answer to everything in the world. And this is just one of those things," Neo said. She smile when all Zoro did was give her a careless shrug. After that the two slipped back into silence, they just walked along, enjoying the presence of the other as much as they could being in the middle of a war zone and looking for missing loved ones. Her stomach started rumbling again so she mindlessly ate the last apple she had before creating some cherries and blueberries to eat. While munching on her treats, she finally remembered how she acted towards him earlier that day. She still needed to and wanted to apologize for that. "Hey, Zoro?"

"Hm?"

"I wanted to apologize for the way I was acting earlier," Neo said.

"What do you mean?" Zoro asked, tossing her a sideways glance.

"When we were chasing after Wicka? While you were carrying me through the town, I was acting pretty childish towards you," Neo said. "I was messing with your hair and earrings. I was also acting childishly in the restaurant. I'm sorry about it all. I really don't know what came over me. I've never done anything like that before. Not even with my own crew. We've gotten a little silly with each other before of course, but nothing like that has ever happened."

Zoro watched her from the corner of his eye as they walked along. He couldn't help but look down at her stomach for a few seconds before he lifted his eye back up so he didn't get caught. "Don't worry about it. It's natural for you after all."

"Natural for me? What do you mean?" Neo asked. She looked up at him and cocked her head to the side.

"I, uh…" Zoro quickly adverted his eyes from hers as she stared at him with such innocence and curiosity. Keeping a secret like this was harder than he ever expected it to be. Curse her eyes! Why does she have to have the ability to look so innocent?! "N-nothing. Never mind. Let's just get going. Your apology is accepted."

"Okay then," Neo said in confusion as she watched Zoro rush ahead of her a few feet. She followed after him, using her earth crystals to make herself a few more snacks. This time she created herself some vegetables. She was munching on a carrot when Zoro spoke up again.

"So where are they?" Zoro asked. He looked around. They had walked the distance she said, but he didn't see any sign of Luffy or Law.

"Who?" Neo asked innocently.

"Law and Luffy," Zoro said. How could she have forgotten? Is this an elemental pregnancy thing?

"Oh, they're up there," Neo said while pointing to the sky.

"Huh?" Zoro looked at her before looking up. His eyes widened when he saw Luffy and Law hanging from a broke piece of metal that was sticking out of a broken building, by Luffy's shirt. "What the heck?!"

"Hey! Zoro! Neo!" Luffy called out when he spotted his friends.

"Luffy!" Zoro shouted. "What are you doing up there?!"

"I got hanged!" Luffy laughed.

"Get down here!" Zoro demanded.

"How?" Luffy asked.

"Neo! Will you get us down from here?" Law asked a second too late. The metal holding them up snapped causing the two pirates to plunge towards the ground.

Neo summoned her wind crystals and wrapped the two pirate captains in her winds. She lowered them to the ground then put her hands on her hips and glared at Law. "I'm not very happy with you right now! First you order me to stay away from Green Bit and now this?!"

"I'm sorry, Neo. But you know you couldn't do anything to Pica with your head hurting like it is," Law said. He nodded at her solar crystal then gave her a pointed look. "You're still using your solar crystal. And the pain's not going away."

Neo sighed at Law being correct and her snappy behavior. She dropped her hands from her hips. "I'm sorry. I snapped again."

"It's okay. You're just under a lot of stress," Law said, beckoning her to come to him with his eyes. Neo followed his silent order and stepped closer to him. Kneeling down beside him, she put her arms around his neck. Since he couldn't hold her thanks to the chains, he rubbed his hand over her side while brushing his cheek against her hair. "But you're handle everything rather well."

"I suppose so. But I'm going to need a really long nap later. And you're taking it with me," Neo mumbled into his neck before pressing her lips to his skin.

"Of course." Law chuckled before she started sucking on his neck. He felt his cheeks grow warm when Luffy snickered and Zoro smirked at him. He shot them a glare but didn't address them any farther. He let Neo work her lips over his skin for a few more seconds before finally speaking. "Neo, we don't have time for this right now."

Neo sighed and reluctantly pulled away from him. "I know, I know."

Law squeezed her side with his hand before turning another glare at Luffy. "Straw Hat, what's the matter with you? Laughing at Pica's voice automatically means death. You could have gotten us killed."

"It all worked out, didn't it?" Luffy laughed. He then looked around at their surroundings. "Look how far we flew! Where do you think are we?"

"I don't have a clue," Zoro said. "I haven't seen any street signs. They probably got destroyed."

"I think we gotten even farther away from the royal palace," Law said. He scanned his own eyes over their surrounds but couldn't figure out where they were either.

"I don't really feel Pica anymore," Neo said, taking on a concentrated look while searching for the stone man. The throbbing in her head made it a little difficult, but with how huge Pica had made himself, she knew she'd be able to sense him if he was inside of his stone body and moving. "He might be back to his human self now. If not, he's just holding really still so I can't sense him this far away. My throbbing head's not helping anything either. I'm sorry."

Zoro grumbled while he sat down on a piece of near by rubble. Resting his arms on his legs, he leaned forward and said, "It's not your fault. It's all that blasted stone assimilation human's fault. He was even bigger than Oars was. If I only knew how to beat him…"

"Oars?" Neo asked.

"He was my zombie person back on Thriller Bark," Luffy said. "But he was no where near the size of that stone man."

"Oh," Neo drawled. She looked at Law but jerked her eyes away from him and banished her solar crystal, replacing it with her other crystals, when a slightly familiar voice suddenly spoke up.

"Straw Hat," the voice said.

Neo stiffened up at the voice and when the voice revealed itself to be the blonde man from the coliseum that wanted to kill Luffy. She gathered her crystals around her and Law, ready to defend him and the Straw Hats if she needed to.

"Cabbage!" Luffy said.

"You're Pirate Hunter Zoro, aren't you?" Cavendish asked, ignoring Luffy. He looked at Zoro then turned his attention to Law. "And Trafalgar… Law!" He pulled out his sword and swung it at Law.

Neo snapped out a couple vines and wrapped them around Cavendish, preventing the man from striking either of them. She narrowed her eyebrows at the blonde man, a small rumble of thunder emanated from her.

"Give me back my glory, you scoundrels of the worst generation!" Cavendish demanded, struggling against the vines. "Release me, woman!"

"No," Neo hissed, releasing more thunder. The wind picked up, teasing their hair and clothes.

"Did you just release thunder from your body?" Cavendish asked when he stopped struggling against her vines. His eyes blinked rapidly as he searched her over.

Neo flinched at him searching her with his eyes. She tightened her vines around his body, forcing him to grunt and close his eyes in pain.

"Easy, Neo," Law said, brushing his fingers over her knee.

"What are you doing?! They're on my crew now!" Luffy shout as he placed himself between Cavendish and the two Heart Pirates. "Don't attack them!"

"No! We're! Not!" Law snapped.

"What's wrong with you?! Are you still holding a grudge against me?!" Luffy asked.

"No, I'm not going to go after you Straw Hats anymore. Because one of your crew, God Usopp, saved my life!" Cavendish said. He went to sheathing his sword, but stopped when he remembered he was still trapped in vines. "You can let me go now."

Neo looked at Law. When he nodded, she released him but kept her crystals out. Tilting her head, she asked, "God Usopp?"

"Usopp saved your life?" Zoro asked.

"That's right! And I will never ever forget the brave image of him when he saved hundreds, sacrificing his life! Although I didn't actually see it," Cavendish said.

"Then why say you saw it?" Neo asked. "I don't understand."

"He's just being stupid," Law mumbled.

"Well, I'm happy when somebody says nice things about my friends," Luffy said with a smile.

"Hm?" Cavendish turned his attention to Neo and Law. His eyes narrowed in on the young blue haired woman. Carefully taking her inhuman feel in as she shifted closer to Law and glared back at him. "You're the girl that was with Straw Hat in the coliseum, aren't you? Well, I see that the newspaper reports on you were correct. You don't feel human at all."

"You stay away from her," Law warned.

Zoro grabbed for the hilt of his sword, readying himself to defend Neo if it was necessary.

"You better not attack her," Luffy said. "She's really nice and my crewmate."

"No! She is not!" Law growled. "Stop saying that! We're not on your crew!"

"No worries. I really don't have much interest in the girl. I have more important things to worry about right now. And I'm not really in the habit of attacking children," Cavendish said.

"I'm not a child!" Neo snapped.

"Really? You look so young. Oh, right. You married Trafalgar. Of course you're not a child. I remember now that they released your age some time ago. My apologies," Cavendish said, eyeing her once more before turning his attention towards Luffy. He leaned in towards the Straw Hat captain. "Anyway, do you want to know why I'm busy?"

"No," Luffy stated.

"All right, I'll tell you since you insist! I've decided to kill Doflamingo for you!" Cavendish announced.

"What?!" Luffy demanded.

Neo sighed and turned her attention to Law. She brushed her fingertips over the brim of his hat. "When do you think I'll stop looking so much like a child?"

"You don't look that much like a child anymore," Law said, running his eyes over her face. She still looked a bit young, but he thought she also looked a bit older. Or maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. He didn't think they were. She did look a bit older to him. He wondered if it had something to do with her being pregnant. "Would you like my hat back?"

"No. I missed seeing it on you," Neo said. Noticing his hat was a bit skewed, she adjusted it then ran her hand over his exposed chest to the top of his jeans. 'I'm missing you too.'

Law felt his cheeks grow warm at her suggestive gestures. 'Now's not the time for that either.'

Neo pouted at him.

Law chuckled and stole a quick kiss from her while Luffy and Cavendish were busy arguing over who was going to kill Doflamingo.

"Just leave the rest to me and go hide somewhere," Cavendish said, pulling the Heart Pirates' attention back to him and Luffy.

"No thanks! I'm going to do it! I have to return Rebecca the favor for buying me lunch!" Luffy said.

"You started this all over food?!" Law snapped.

"Rebecca did buy him lunch earlier," Neo recalled.

"Cut it out! I know you're trying to fool me!" Cavendish poked Luffy in the forehead. "You plan on stealing more attention from me by killing Doflamingo, don't you?!"

"More attention?! What are you talking about?!" Luffy asked.

"Think about it. If you take down a vicious pirate like Doflamingo the newspapers won't leave you alone," Cavendish said before going to a rant about getting famous.

"What is he talking about?" Law asked as he stared at the ranting blonde haired man.

"I'm not sure. But he was talking like this when we were in coliseum too," Neo said. "I think he likes being famous."

"Never mind him. Let's just go," Luffy said, walking over to Neo and Law. He grabbed Law and flung him over his shoulder. He then offered Neo his hand and helped her to her feet.

"I can take him," Neo said. "It would be easier for me to fly him anyway."

"It's okay. I got him," Luffy said with a smile. "Leave this to me."

"He's right," Law said. He paused to inspect the pain in her head. It was still there, less than before, but still stubbornly holding on. He also paused to consider the weapons she had on her. They would do fine, but they weren't as strong as his sword. His eyes dropped to her stomach. He didn't like the idea of her fighting in close combat while pregnant, but he hated the idea of her being practically defenseless without her crystals. She needed something reliable to fight with. "You need to conserve your magic and strength for now. Your head's still hurting. And I want you to keep my sword with you. You might need it. It'll protect you better than that stone staff."

"All right." Neo nodded. She took Law's sword from Luffy when he held it out to her. She tied it on to her back right next to her stone staff.

"Let's go," Luffy said before running off towards the palace.

"Luffy, do you know who that strange guy was?" Zoro asked while they ran.

"Oh, you mean Cabbage?" Luffy asked.

"Cabbage? Are you serious? Is that really his name?" Zoro looked at Luffy then at Neo.

"No, it's actually Cavendish," Neo said. "Cabbage is just what Luffy calls him."

"I met him in the coliseum. There were a whole bunch of strange people besides him," Luffy said.

"Oh yeah?" Zoro said.

"A whole group of them were chasing Luffy when I arrived there," Neo said. "One of them even thinks we're married."

"What?!" Law hissed. He lifted up on Luffy's shoulder and glared daggers at the Straw Hat pirate. "What did you do, Straw Hat?!"

"I didn't do anything. He just thought that." Luffy laughed. "He was probably the strangest of them all. He kept crying a lot."

"There they are! One 200 million and two 300 million," a man shouted out.

"Not again!" Neo said when the men appeared and her magic disappeared. She grabbed the hilt of Law's sword and pulled it out.

"Don't let them get away!" a man said.

"Gum Gum Whip!" Luffy kicked out his leg, knocking down a dozen of armed men who stood in their way.

"Two Sword Style! Rhino Cycle!" Zoro spun around, creating whirlwind that knocked out several more men.

"There's more coming!" Neo announced.

"Pay attention to yourself, child!" a man shouted. He pulled out his sword and charged at her. "Taking you down is going to be so easy! I noticed your not using your crystals, Trafalgar Neo!"

"I'm not a child!" Neo raised Law's sword. A loud clank resonated through the air when the blades collided. She quickly calculated that this man was almost two hundred pounds. She turned that against him. Quickly sidestepping to her left, she used his momentum against him. He stumbled passed her. She angled the hilt of Law's sword and slammed it on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

"Way to go, Neo!" Luffy cheered.

"Not bad," Zoro said before sliced five guys away from him. "You moved really quickly."

"Law and the crew trained me well. You saw the results of that back on the ship," Neo said with a shrug. "But he won't be out for long. He'll wake up in just a minute. I didn't want to completely lay him out since the Birdcage is closing in."

"That'll do just fine," Law said.

Neo nodded. She gripped Law's sword and faced towards more opponents. She knew they could over take her with their number and sizes, but she also knew she had Zoro and Luffy to help her fight. She clashed swords with a couple men. Pushing against their swords before sidestepping to let them fall then knocking them out. She then grabbed her stone staff from her back. Dipping down, she swung the staff and knocked a couple guys off their feet when they ran at her.

"Hey, Luffy! Without Neo's magic helping us this fight is going to take forever!" Zoro said before slicing down an opponent. "Let's just go!"

"Okay!" Luffy nodded.

"There you are, Straw Hat! Get out of my way!" another familiar voice said.

"Wait a second. That voice is…" Luffy said.

"Wait, Garp's grandson!" the old man called out.

"We've been looking for you!" Sai said.

"You can't get away from us!" Boo said.

"Isn't he one of the guys that was chasing you before?" Neo asked, eyeing the large old man from the coliseum coming towards them.

"Ugh! I thought that was him! Run for it!" Luffy shouted before bolting in the opposite direction of the old man and his two grandsons.

"Huh?! What's the matter?!" Zoro asked, running after his captain. "Who are they?!"

"More guys Luffy was running from in the coliseum," Neo said as she ran beside Zoro.

"What for?!" Zoro asked.

"I don't know," Neo replied.

"They're all so dang persistent!" Luffy said glancing over his shoulder.

"Wait!" Don Chinjao called out.

"They just don't give up!" Luffy said.

"Why can't you just wait a second?!" The group of pirates skidded to a stop when the old man rushed in front of them, blocking their path. Zoro and Neo tightened their hold on the hilt of their swords. They carefully watched the three men blocking their path, wondering if they were going to attack. "I said wait, Garp's grandson… I don't hold a grudge against you anymore."

"What? Really?" Luffy asked.

"We originally came to this country to take down Doflamingo's business. We really don't care about any kind of prize. We don't work for that small amount of money anyway." Sai said.

Neo tensed when the old man walked up to Luffy and put his hands on Luffy's shoulders. She relaxed when she finally felt no ill intentions coming from these three men. She let her hand and the sword fall into a relaxed position as Don Chinjao said, "I was saved by not just by you but by one of your crew as well, God Usopp."

"Usopp saved you?" Luffy asked.

"That makes you the second one," Neo said. "What did Usopp do?"

"Indeed. We all were turned into toys. He saved us by defeating Sugar, the one who turned us into those toys. Therefore, I have made up my mind to return you and him the favor by taking down Doflamingo," Don Chinjao said.

"What?! You can't do that! I'm going to be the one to kick Doflamingo's butt!" Luffy said.

Neo lifted an eyebrow when the old man's beard suddenly flew up. She bit back a giggle and asked, "Why did your beard just fly up like that? It looks funny."

Don Chinjao, not hearing Neo, demanded, "What did you just say?!"

"I said don't do that! Because I'm going to do it!" Luffy snapped back.

"What?! Are you going to disregard my kindness?!" Don Chinjao asked.

"There you are! Straw Hat Luffy!" a deep voice said.

Neo turned her eyes up to the voice finding that it was the giant that was in the same block as Luffy during the fights. She wondered why he was here and what he wanted with Luffy.

"Oh! You!" Luffy said.

"Let's just forget what happened in the match. For my pride as a warrior of Elbaf, I will kill Doflamingo and return you guys the favor," Hajrudin, the giant, said.

"Now you want to do it?!" Luffy asked.

Neo twitched in discomfort as more men from the coliseum started to appear and demand they were going to take down Doflamingo. She fiddled nervously with Law's sword and took a step back from the men.

"Cut it out! We of the Prodence Kingdom have long been in debt to King Riku! I, Elizabello, will bring Doflamingo down!"

"That's what he says! We don't want any prize."

"No! We are the ones who will kill that jerk!"

"The heavenly light shone down on god! It's hard to forget!"

Neo darted her eyes between the men. Her breathing started to come in short gasps. She became light headed. She took another step away from the men. Her body growing cold while her vision started to blur and warp. The men, in her vision, became dark, demon like. Their eyes started to glow red. She gripped Law's sword, wanting to strike all of them down.

"Let me make a confession."

"Wait, wait! If you're talking about Doflamingo, I will take him down!"

"Destruction is my repayment!"

"It's my job to execute someone!"

"No! I will take out Doflamingo!"

Neo's hands trembled. She tightened her hold on Law's sword to the point her hands ached. She knew she couldn't drop it. It was her only defense against these demon men. She took a step towards the men, ready to strike them down, wanting to strike them down, just before another stab of pain shot through her head. She winced at the pain and closed her eyes. She rubbed her fingertips over her right temple, massaging the pain away until she was able to open her eyes again. When she did, she found the men were back to normal. Confused she blinked a couple times to make sure she was really seeing them like they should be instead of dark, demon like with red eyes. Feeling scared and confused she stumbled away from them and stepped behind Zoro and Luffy. She placed her left hand on her knee to steady herself from her head spinning.

"Neo?" Law asked from his spot over Luffy's shoulder. He couldn't see her, but knew something was wrong. "What happened?"

"I'm… I'm not sure," Neo said. She moved closer to Luffy side, feeling a bit more secure after hearing Law's voice. "I think this headache is affecting my vision some how. Those men suddenly looked different, like demons. It scared me. But they don't look like that anymore."

"They looked like demons?" Law questioned. He took a glance at the men then at Neo, wondering why she would have seen them like that. "They're not demons. And they're not going to hurt you. Maybe you just go too nervous. You look rather pale."

"I know they're not going to hurt me." Neo nodded. "I'm feeling better now. I'm stabilizing."

"Where are all these idiots coming from?" Zoro asked after taking a glance at Neo, having heard her conversation with Law. He turned his attention back to the men. "They're making Neo uncomfortable."

"Don't forget about me!" Cavendish said coming up from behind them on his horse.

"Here comes that annoying one again," Zoro said.

"It's a horse! He's so cute! Think I could play with him?!" Neo said when her eyes locked onto Cavendish's white horse.

The horse, sensing her inhuman nature looked at her. He flicked his ear before walking over to her.

"Hey! Farul! Where are you going?!" Cavendish asked. He pulled back on the reins but his horse kept walking until he got to Neo.

With a soft whinny the horse nuzzled against Neo's cheek. She bit back a giggle and nuzzled right back. She then slipped Law's sword back into it sheath so she could use both hands to pet the horse. "You're so cute!"

"Well, looks like she's feeling better. Hey, do you guys really want to…" Zoro said before turning his attention away from the girl.

"You have to leave the task of taking Doflamingo down up to us!" Don Chinjao said.

"I can't and will not back out on this!" Hajrudin said.

"I need and must repay my debt!" Elizabello said.

"What the heck is going on here?!" Zoro asked. "Okay, how about this?! We'll take down Doflamingo! And you guys back us up!"

"No way! I will take Doflamingo down!"

"No! I will do it!"

"It shall be me!"

"I'll will do it!"

"We're not going to get anywhere with them like this. Their egos are way too big," Zoro said, resting his sword on his shoulder.

"Guys… all of you! That's enough!" Luffy shouted, breaking through the loud chatter and gathering everyone's attention. "I said I was going to kick Doflamingo's butt!"

"What did you say?!" Sai grabbed the front of Luffy's shirt. "We said that we were going to return the favor! Don't you understand that at all?!"

"I will do it!"

"I will destroy him!"

"I'm the executioner!"

"Duty!"

"Popularity!"

"Pride!"

"King Riku!"

"Our god!"

"A spear?" Luffy asked when the weapon pierced the ground between his feet.

"There they are!"

"Guys, let us help you!"

"One two hundred million and two three hundred million!"

"They are the ex-toys who were locked up underground with us, aren't they?" Blue Gilly asked.

"You're correct. They certainly are." Suleiman said.

"What shameless men!" Abdullah said.

"Let's go," Zoro said as the men from the coliseum clashed with those seeking the bounties on their head, filling the air with the sounds of yelling and clashing weapons. "This is our chance to get away."

"Okay," Luffy said.

"Come on, you," Zoro said. He grabbed the back of Neo's shirt and pulled her away from the horse.

"Hey! I wasn't done playing with the pretty horsey!" Neo protested.

"You are now!" Zoro said, hosting her over his shoulder. "You can play with the horsey later! We have a mission here!"

"Okay. I'll play with the horse later. But can I play with the bull now?" Neo said. "He's just as cute as the horse is."

"Bull?" Zoro asked. "What bull?"

"That bull," Neo said, pointing towards a cloud of dust. A large silhouette walked through the dust, revealing the large black bull that was in the coliseum fight.

"Huh?! Hey! Moocy!" Luffy chuckled. He waved to his animal friend. "It's me! Moocy!"

The bull looked at Luffy, carefully inspecting the rubber man before realizing how Luffy was. The bull then mooed happily.

"Ah, he remembers you, Luffy," Neo said with a giggle. "Look how happy he is!"

"Where did a bull come from?" Zoro asked.

"The coliseum," Neo said.

"What the heck was going on in that place?!" Zoro asked. "First all those nuts fighting over there and now this?"

"It was a very weird place?" Neo offered.

"Apparently," Zoro said.

"Hey! I got an idea! Let's ride on Moocy!" Luffy said.

"We can ride him?! Put me down, Zoro!" Neo said. She wiggled around on Zoro's shoulder until he had no choice but to put her down.

"Hold still a minute!" Zoro said. Through her wiggling, he managed to put her down on her feet and not drop her. "Must you get so excited?"

"Hey, bull!" Neo said, ignoring the swordsman. She skipped over to the bull and ran both her hands over Moocy's face, under his chin, and over his thick neck. The bull almost purred at her touch and affection. "You're so cute!"

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Zoro growled.

Law chuckled in amusement.

"Would you mind giving us a ride? I would be ever so grateful for it," Neo said, her magic having come back. The bull nodded in response. "That's great! You're so sweet!"

"That's Moocy! Here we go," Luffy said. He jumped up on the large animal and laid Law across the beast's back. He sat down himself before throwing out his rubber arm around Neo's waist. He pulled her up in front of him. "Are you ready?!"

"Yeah." Neo nodded. She adjusted Law's sword on her back to be in a more comfortable angle. "I'm ready."

"Then let's go!" Luffy cheered after Zoro jumped on. Moocy mooed in a cheerful way along side him and took off running. "All right, Moocy!"

"Wait, Straw Hat!" the men from the coliseum called out.

"They're following you again," Neo said. Turning around she glanced over Luffy's shoulder. Leaning towards him, she rested her chin on his shoulder and watched the men running towards them. She shifted and twitched nervously as they got closer to them and as she remembered seeing them as demons before. Her eyes remained locked on the men, unaware Law was keeping a close eye on her from his spot on the back of Moocy.

"Stop following me!" Luffy demanded.

Ignoring Luffy, some of the men jumped up and grabbed onto the bull. Gathering way to close for Neo's comfort. Unable to hold back a squeak of protested, Neo squeaked and leaned more into Luffy. "Too many! Too close! Law! Too close! Too close!"

"Get off, you idiots!" Law snapped. "You're far too close to her!"

"Yeah! Get off! You're scaring Neo!" Luffy snapped.

"Just breath, Neo. They're not going to hurt you," Law said, turning his attention to her. "You can still escape from them. Fly if you need to."

"I know, I know. I just can't… I'm still feeling a bit vulnerable from whatever happened before," Neo said as she took in slow, deep breaths. "I'm not use to being around so many aggressive men. You know that."

"I know. Give me your hand."

Neo slipped her left hand behind Luffy and placed it in his.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Much better." Neo sighed when Law's warm fingers wrapped around her skin. With her body now relaxed, she turned her eyes down to Law's. Focusing on him, she mentally reminded herself that these men weren't her enemies. They weren't going to hurt her at all. And they weren't demons.

"Luffy, what should we do about these idiots?" Zoro asked. "If anyone of them touches Neo, she'll freak out on us. We really don't need that right now."

"All right! Listen up! If anyone of you touch Neo, even just the slightest bit, I will kill you all!" Luffy shouted.

"What?! That makes no sense at all!" all the men shouted.

"And stop following us! I'm going to be the one to kick Doflamingo's butt!" Luffy said.

"Pica's moving again!" Neo announced. She summoned her wind crystals and wrapped them around herself with the intent of fighting Pica.

"Neo, I order you to not fight Pica!" Law said.

"I have to! If I don't we're going to get crushed!" Neo said.

"No, we won't," Law said. "You know he can just regenerate. And you stand no chance against him right now. Your magic could fade out on you again. Leave the fighting up to Straw Hat and Zoro."

"This is so frustrating! I know all of that! But we still need to get around him!" Neo said with an aggravated sigh. She looked back at Pica. Her eyes ran over his stone body. "Do you think we could use him in some way?"

"Use him how?" Luffy asked.

"When he throws his punch, I can fly us all up onto him," Neo said. "That shouldn't take too much magic. And we'll be on his body before my magic can cut out again."

"On his body?" Luffy asked.

"We should be able to save more time going that way. If we stay down here on the ground, all these men who are after your star bounties will just keep getting in our way," Neo said. "We can't keep stopping to fight them all. And this way we can get away from all those weird guys from the coliseum."

"She has a point," Zoro said. He turned his eye to the men running up behind them.

"He's moving?!" Sai asked, looking up at Pica.

"He's aiming at us!" Boo said.

"I'll bring him down!" King Elizabello said.

"No, I'm going to do it! Don't get in my way!" Blue Gilly said.

"That's absurd! Leave it up to me!" Don Chinjao said.

"You boneheads! Stop talking so stupid!" Pica said.

"What an unfitting voice!" They all laugh.

"They're still arguing," Zoro said. "Let's just go the way Neo suggested. Then we won't have to listen to them anymore."

"Fine with me. Do it, Neo," Luffy said.

"Law?" Neo looked back at Law to see if he objected to this or not.

"All right. Go ahead," Law said.

"I'm going to crush you all at once!" Pica said, swinging his large stone fist towards the fighters and pirates.

Neo looked at Pica then glanced over at the coliseum fighters. The majority of them were finally some distance away from her. But two of them were rushing towards the stone man. She took a guess at what they were going to it. It was the only thing they could do. They were going to shatter Pica's fist. She knew it wouldn't do them any good. But she still watched the two rushed forward, slamming their attacks on Pica's fist. Don Chinjao used his funny shaped head while the king using his punch to shatter the stone. She frowned when the debris from the stone fist rained down upon them. She guided the falling debris away from them with her winds while shouting out at the two careless men. "Watch it, you two morons! There are innocent people here!"

"Hm?" Law blinked in confusion at Neo's verbal assault. Sure it was normal for her to get aggressive with someone who was trying to hurt him or someone else she cared about, but the debris falling down around them wasn't really intentional. Something about her suddenly seemed off.

"You did it, Grandpa!" Sai said.

"That's my king!" Dagama added.

"We're going to take down Doflamingo!" Sai said.

"Huh?! I said stop following us!" Luffy said.

"Shut up, you idiot savior!" all the coliseum men shouted.

"What did you say?!" Luffy asked.

"Don't worry about them, Luffy," Neo said. "Just keep going forward. You too, Moocy. I'll cover you the best I can with my wind crystals so none of that debris falls on us."

"Right!" Luffy said and Moocy mooed in agreement.

Neo returned her eyes to the sky. She continued to guide the falling pieces away from them while Moocy dodge and jumped over pieces that were already lying on the ground in their way. Luffy gasped when a large piece of broken building fell in their path. But Moocy easily jumped over it. "That was a close one! Go Moocy! To the palace!"

"Sorry about that," Neo said. "There's just a lot of this stuff."

"Don't worry about it," Luffy said.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Let's just not get hit! We're counting on you, Moocy!"

"Huh? It's two of those coliseum guys again," Neo said. She glanced over Luffy's shoulder to look at the two men riding on Moocy with them. The style of their clothes was vaguely familiar to her. She remembered seeing the head wrap that the smaller of the two men was wearing before in a book, but she couldn't remember where the book said the guy was from.

"Hey! I told you not to come with me! Get off Moocy!" Luffy said. He planted his foot in the large man's face while pushing on the smaller man's head. "Go away!"

"Whoa, don't say that! Please!" the large man said.

"Straw Hat! Please let us come with you!" the smaller man said. "Moocy! We're counting on you!"

Moocy's hooves thundered against the stone path. A round of bullets being fired through the air soon overshadowed them.

"Don't shoot at my lover and friends!" Neo summoned her fire crystals. She placed her crystals right in the ends of the barrels and flared up the fire way hotter than it was needed. The men screamed and threw their melting guns away from them before the gunpowder in them could ignite and explode. Their reaction caused a small smile to spread over her lips. She then snapped vines at their bottoms. A small chuckle passed over her lips at the sight of the men trying to cover themselves while running away. "Stupid jerks!"

Law kneaded his eyebrows when he felt a light twinge of enjoyment coming from her. Calmly, he searched her feelings. Something about her was definitely off. He wasn't sure what he was looking for he just looked. But he found nothing. She seemed back to normal now. He forced himself to relax. Maybe it was just the tension from the day that was causing her to act a bit out of character, that or her pregnancy. That had to be it. This had to be just something normal. He was brought out of his worried thoughts when someone shouted, "I'm going to fight you guys!" He lifted up his neck to see a black haired man with strange arms fighting Doflamingo's forces. He felt his body suddenly lift up onto the air before realizing it was the bull jumping over a line of men that the strange arm man said he was going to fight.

"It's raining flower petals?" Neo held out her hand when a bunch of flower petals began to fall down on them. She jumped when Cavendish suddenly landed on the back of Moocy.

"Cabbage?!" Luffy said. "You startled Neo!"

"I apologize for that, Trafalgar Neo! I just realize my destiny again! I get a chance to bring down a warlord of the sea! I can get the better of these annoying rookies all at once! There will be stories about me in the newspaper everyday! I'm destined to be a star!" Cavendish said. He pressed one hand to his chest while holding out his other hand in the air like he was making some grand announcement to people who actually cared about what he had to say.

"He's talking about stardom again. Luffy, kick him off Moocy for me," Neo said. She glared at Cavendish then looked at Luffy with pleading puppy dog eyes. "Please? I have enough headaches right now."

"Right!" Luffy said. He turned and shot out kick at Cavendish. But before his foot could make contact, the blonde man jumped back to his horse. Just then the rest of the men from the coliseum had caught up to them and started to once again fighting each other over who was going to take Doflamingo down. "I said go away! I'm going to kick Mingo's butt!"

"So many headaches! And Pica's moving again!" Neo said, doing her best to ignored the senseless fighting of the men around her. She rubbed her fingertips on her temples. Her head was now pounding in sync with Moocy's hooves on the ground below them. She felt a jolt in her head each time his hooves connected with the stone street. It made her want to curl up in a ball and cry.

"Neo, are you okay?" Law asked, feeling her distress and pain.

"Not really. My head hurts so much," Neo said. "All of this yelling and gunfire isn't helping it either."

"Use your solar crystal," Law said.

"But-"

"No arguing. You're hurting too much. Use it," Law ordered.

Neo sighed and summoned her solar crystal. With so much chaos going on at the moment no one should notice it anyway. Still she tucked it as close to herself and Luffy as she could, letting it wash its healing magic over her body and over Law's. When she felt Law opening his mouth to stop her, she said, "Don't you dare tell me to focus on myself. You're still in some pain over your fight with Doflamingo. I should have been healing you all along. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry I can't remove those bullets from your body."

"Don't worry about it," Law said, thinking about the three bullets still inside of him. "I'll take them out once I'm free of these cuffs. Turn your attention to Pica. We're almost close enough."

"Right. I still need to lift us upon him," Neo said.

"If you don't think you can, don't try it," Law said.

"I know." Neo nodded before turning her attention to the giant stone man in front of them.

...

"Straw Hat!" Pica said, pulling back his fist to strike out at them once more.

"So annoying!" Don Chinjao said.

"I'll take him down again and again!" Elizabello said.

Neo sighed when she heard them, somehow, over all the bullets, screaming, and Pica's stone body crunching and groaning under so much weight. Didn't they understand that that wouldn't work on Pica?

"Don't bother with that! Even if you break his arm again, he can easily restore it with more stones!" Zoro said as they ran passed the fighters. "If you can't figure out how his power works, it's just a waste of your energy!"

"Then what should we do?" Elizabello asked.

"That is it! Be prepared to get crushed to death! Straw Hat!" Pica said, throwing his massive fist at the Straw Hat pirate.

Neo watched him carefully. Using her mind and her crystals to feel out, connect to, and calculate the distance between them and Pica's fist. She needed to wait and look for the right moment to fly them. She needed to make it look like they got hit by the punch. That way they'd have time to get some distance along Pica's body before he even noticed they were there. Then she saw it, their chance to get upon the stone man. She wrapped her winds around her little group. Using the sounds of breaking buildings and shouting as a cover, she lifted them into the air. Guiding the dust that Pica caused around them, she used that to give them more cover as she flew them up and over the large stone fist.

"Way to go, Neo! We made it! Good job!" Luffy said, laughing happily as if this was all nothing but a fun game for him. "Yeehaw! We're on the fast track now! Yeah! Let's get to the palace like this!"

Neo chuckled. "You're crazy, Luffy."

"Yeah! Go, Moocy!" Luffy said.

Neo wasn't sure if he heard her or not. He seemed to be having too much fun.

"That's right! Run, bull, run!" two voices said from behind them.

Neo looked behind Luffy to see they still had two passengers with them.

"Hey," Luffy said when he looked over his shoulder at their two extra passengers.

"Yes?" the smaller of the two men asked.

"Don't spur Moocy on like that!" Luffy said.

"Yes?" he asked again.

"Huh?" Neo asked, confused at why he repeated his question.

"Get off! You're weighting Moocy down!" Luffy said.

"Oh, yes. Excuse us for not introducing ourselves sooner. I'm Jeet and the big guy behind me is…" the smaller man said.

"I'm Abdullah," the larger man said.

Neo rested her chin on Luffy's shoulder. Quietly thinking about these strange men and how they introduced themselves despite no one asking. Her eyes then dropped down to Law. She noticed he was deep in thought about something. She almost entered into his mind to see what he was thinking about, but stopped when she got the feeling she needed to leave him alone for the moment. When he was in such deep thought it usually meant he was thinking about the past. And that meant he was either thinking about his family or Corazon.

Author's Notes: I hit another writing funk. I had no clue how to handle the coliseum men. All they do is argue. I'll try fixing it later when I do my revisions.