To Zou

Part Two

Neo tightened her blanket around her shoulders and shivered at the wind she was creating to push the ship along. She sunk down into the chairs that the Barto Club had pulled out for them again, and closer to Luffy who was sleeping beside her, when her magic and wind crystals disappeared, again. For the past five days, since they left Dressrosa, she had been trying to push them along at a faster rate. But unfortunately her magic and her pregnancy saw fit to not cooperate with her, and so did her lack of sleep due to constant nightmares of killing babies on Mertensia. She would be lucky if she got to use her magic for thirty minutes a day before it would fade out on her. So she was forced into waiting for the wind itself to push them along or for the men to grab the oars and paddle them.

Law was sitting on the deck of the ship when Neo's magic faded away again. He had Cethin's files, pencils, papers, and his sword scattered around him. With nothing else to do, and no words to comfort Neo, he spent hours compiling the notes he hoped to get out the elementals. He looked up at her when her magic disappeared. He watched her for a few seconds, studying her tired expression, before dropping his eyes back down to the files and forcing his own exhaustion away from his mind.

"Geez," Usopp said, looking at one of the files. He placed the file back on the deck and scribbled down the gruesome details on a piece of paper he had been using. "This guy was really twisted. Just reading about all these tests sounds extremely painful. Pushing elementals passed their natural limits, forcing drugs into them, making them go hours to days without sleep, even removing body parts… I think I'm going to be sick."

"Super twisted," Franky said with a shake of his head. He too was helping Law compile the files since there was nothing else for them to do. And between them, Robin, and a few Barto Club members, they had already completed ten books to pass out to the elementals when they got the chance. It wasn't much, but once they got these books out the elementals can make copies of their own to give to their people. "Is this going to be enough to help them?"

Law glanced up at the cyborg. "I don't know. It will help them in the information department. But, other than that, there's no way to tell."

"Is it possible at all for them to study the stone?" Gambia asked as he leaned over Usopp's shoulder to glance at the files.

"They affect the elementals bodies and magic," Law said with a sharp tone. "How are they suppose to study the stone if it caused them to become weak?"

"Sorry. I just meant if they had a friend that would help them," Gambia said. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away grumbling to himself. "You don't have to bite my head off. It was just a suggestion."

"He does have a point," Franky said. "There could be someone out there who might find a way to stop or block the affects of the pollution stone has on the elementals. Even just a little bit could help them get away from it. Or maybe they can find a way to destroy them."

"We can't take the chance. Cethin was a friend to the elementals until he was consumed by the power they held and how he could control them with the pollution stone," Law said. He turned his eyes back down to the files. The desired to kill the already dead man still burned furiously in his chest when he thought about it, which ended up being a lot since he had Cethin's files. He had to take a couple deep breaths to relax himself. Despite Neo's magic loss disconnecting their bond, he knew she could still feel his emotions being so close to each other. And he didn't want to stress her out anymore than she already was. "If someone did test the pollution stones then it would have to be someone we have undeniable trust in. Red Hair Shanks would be the closest one to do that. And the elementals would trust him with it. But there's still the chance of betrayal from someone in his crew. No one is above temptation. Despite all that, there's also the issue of the elementals traveling with him. Knowing him, there's no way he'd have them on his ship either, especially if there's even the slightest of chances that Neo could travel on his ship at some point in the future."

"Hm? You're planning on having Neo travel with Shanks?" Usopp asked.

"No," Law replied. "But if something happens that caused Neo to get separated from us and for some reason Red Hair is in the area, I know she'll go to him if the situation doesn't allow for her to return to me, our crew, or the sub."

"That makes sense." Usopp nodded.

"Well, there's still the option of you doing tests on them," Zoro said from his seat. He cracked his eye opened and glanced at Neo. He expected her to look up at him but all she did was remained curled up in her blanket and staring blankly into space. His eye then wandered to Law. A dark aura was surrounding the Heart Pirate captain. "It was just a suggestion. I know how you feel about them being around Neo. But you're going to have to make a choice. Either you want answers to whether or not they can be destroyed or you don't."

"Zoro," Robin said. She lowered her tea cup from her lips and looked at her fellow crewmate.

"It's something he needs to hear because it's the truth. They both do," Zoro said.

"You could be a little bit more sensitive about it. They're having a hard enough time as it is," Usopp said. All of their eyes went to Neo.

"I'm sorry," Neo said, lifting her grey eyes up a bit. "I don't mean to be such… I don't mean to be like this. I just don't know how to… I'm just not…" She sighed, unable to find the words she need or wanted to say here. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Usopp said with a smile. "Something like this just takes time."

"How much longer do you think it'll take to get to Zou?" Neo asked no one in particular.

"It's been five days since we left Dressrosa," Robin said. She looked up at the lazy puffs of clouds floating by them. "Hopefully we'll reach Zou within the next couple of days." She then lowered her eyes to Neo. "I know your magic has been cutting out, but have you been able to sense your friends yet?"

Neo shook her head. She was divided on whether or not she actually wanted to speak to the woman. But before she could decide the mail bird flew overhead and dropped the day's newspaper onto the deck of the ship right next to Usopp. Everyone, but the Barto Club who were scattered around the ship, paused to look at the newspaper laying seemingly harmless beside the Straw Hat sniper. The newspaper had become somewhat of a dreaded thing when it came. The report on Neo hadn't come out yet. But they all knew it was only a matter of time.

"Well, is someone going to pick it up?" Franky asked. For several more seconds, no one moved.

Then, with a slow reach, Usopp's hand moved towards it. He picked it up, opened it, and scanned his eyes over the front page. And there right on the front page was the article they had been waiting for. Neo's secrets were now public knowledge.

"And there it is," Usopp said. He sighed, as his eyes remained locked onto the newspaper that he was looking at. It was all there for the entire world to see was Neo's heritage as the royal of her people, being the goddaughter to the emperor Red Hair Shanks, her being pregnant, the pollution stones, and everything else that they knew Doflamingo would release to the navy. It was all there.

"Great," Neo mumbled.

"Well, it's not like we didn't know this would happen," Franky said.

"I know," Neo said. "I guess… I don't know. I guess a part of me was hoping this wouldn't actually happen. That maybe someone would stop it or something. But I know that's just me being naive. I knew that this was always a possibility when I chose to stay with Law and the crew. I guess there was just no real way of bracing for it. And it doesn't help that I'm p…"

Law sighed at the fact that Neo was still avoiding verbally saying she was pregnant. It was giving him the impression that she was trying to force this fact away from her or trying to deny it. Or maybe he was just tired from staying up at nights to keep an eye on Neo. Her nightmares were bothering him almost as much as they were bothering her. She seemed to have them each time she closed her eyes to sleep.

"What the heck?!" Usopp suddenly shouted. "That doesn't make any sense at all!"

"Huh?" Luffy said when Usopp's outburst woke him up. He adjusted his hat before saying, "What happened?"

"What is it, Usopp?" Robin asked.

"They're labeling Neo as Shanks' daughter not just his goddaughter!" Usopp said.

"Why would they do that?" Franky asked. He leaned closer to Usopp and looked at the words for himself. "It says that the navy feels Neo is a great threat to the people. It's undecided if her bounty is going to increase anymore because of this fact."

"Are you going to be okay with this?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," Neo said. "While I do call him Godfather I still view him as my father not just because of everything he's done for me and my family, but also because I love him so much. Besides, this is the life I chose to live. I have no regrets for my decisions."

"Good for you," Luffy said as he took off his hat and placed it on Neo's head.

"Thanks, Luffy. Look, if you all don't mind, I'm going to take a nap," Neo said. "I'm feeling pretty exhausted after using my magic."

"You know it's fine," Law said.

Neo nodded. She adjusting Luffy's hat a bit before lying down across the chairs and quickly fell asleep with her blanket cocooned around her.

Without a word, Luffy reached over his sleeping friend to make sure she was snugly tucked into the blanket around her shoulders, to make sure she was nice and warm. He then sniffed all the yummy spices that had floated out of the kitchen of the ship. "Something smells good!"

"Hey, lunch is about ready," Gambia said a few minutes later as he walked back over to the crews still working on Cethin's files. His eyes then landed on Neo. "She's sleeping again? I know it's typical for pregnant women to sleep often, but isn't she sleeping a bit much? She's been sleeping more than she's been awake since you all got on our ship."

"Just leave her alone," Law said. "She needs to sleep as much as she can. We all know she's not getting much sleep because of her nightmares."

"She's not the only one," Gambia said, eyeing Law's own tired expression.

Law shot the man a sharp glare but didn't say anything.

"Let her sleep," Luffy then said.

"You got it, boss!" Gambia cheered.

"Shh!" Luffy pressed his index finger to his lips and hushed the man in his own forced quiet tone. "I don't want you to wake her up!"

"Right! Sorry! I'll be quiet!" Gambia said, imitating Luffy's finger position and quiet tone. "But I just wanted to tell you all that lunch is almost ready. Are you sure you want her to sleep through it?"

"We can save her something for later," Robin said.

"All right then," Gambia said as he started to walk off. "It'll be done in about ten minutes. We'll bring it out here since it's such a nice day."

"Great. Thanks," Usopp said.

Gambia waved at them before disappearing back inside of the ship.

"I know you've told us that Neo sleeps when she's stressed out, but does she always sleep this much when she's stressed?" Franky asked.

"This is an unusual case for her. She's stressed out all the time because she hasn't accepted her pregnancy yet," Law said as he started to put away the files and other papers they were working on. "But I do get the feeling that some of this sleeping doesn't have anything to do with her being stressed. It's possible that elementals sleep more during a pregnancy than a human would."

"Another reason to get you two back to your ship," Zoro said. "You need to check and see if this is normal."

"Yeah." Law nodded. "I'm still monitoring her closely through our bond when her magic is working. And I'm not sensing anything that I should be concerned about. I do wish these boneheads we're traveling with had a medical room instead of relying on some crazy grandma for health information. I'd like to give Neo a full exam. I should have done that when I thought about it in Dressrosa. Or, at the very least, stole the equipment needed to do that." He shoved his papers into the bag then stood up. Leaving the bag on the deck, he walked over to Neo. He paused and studied her being cocooned in her blanket. It's been so many months since she had cocooned herself. He really hoped she was only doing it now because she was cold and not because of a relapse. Carefully, he unwrapped her a bit from her blanket until he could reach her wrist. Pressing two fingers to her pulse, she measured how fast her pulse was pulsing then pressed the back of his fingers to her forehead. When she shivered he wrapped her blanket snugly back around her, keeping the sea air off of her as much as he could. Then he adjusted the straw hat down over her face so it would also block the air. "Her blood pressure keeps slight increasing each day and won't go down. Most likely that's because of all the stress she's been under. And she's still gets a slight fever occasionally."

"Is this going to be a problem for her?" Luffy asked, standing up to meet Law's eyes. "She and your baby… they're not in danger, are they?"

"For right now, no. They're not," Law said. He straightened up and turned to the worried Straw Hats. "I don't know how long that will be for though. If her blood pressure keeps rising I'll have to have her grow and eat some foods that will help lower it."

"Well, at least we have a reliable doctor on board," Franky said as he stood up from the deck. "So there's no point in worrying about this."

Law nodded despite still being concerned.

"Let's get something to eat then," Robin said just as the Barto Club started bringing their lunch outside. She stood up and stepped closer to Law. "I'm sure we're almost to Zou. Just a little bit longer."

Law nodded. His eyes dropped back to Neo while the Straw Hats walked around him. A minute later, he finally pulled himself away from his love and joined them for lunch. He sat down on the deck with them as they often ate like that. Running his eyes over the vegetables, fruits, and meats that they had laid out, he filled a plate and then held it up to one of the Barto Club members. He said, "Here, I want this saved for Neo. Put this in the fridge."

"You put it in the fridge," the club member said.

"I'd appreciate it if you would save this for Neo when she wakes up," Robin said with a small smile for the man.

"Yes, ma'am!" he shouted before taking the plate and escorting it back into the kitchen where it would remain nice and cool for Neo later.

Law rolled his eyes. The actions of the Barto Club were always the same. It was really starting to get on his nerves. Zou was not going to get here quick enough.

Neo walked along a strange, darkened, unfamiliar pathway. She looked down at the ground beneath her feet. From the small amount of light that was around her, she could see that it wasn't like any other ground she's seen before. It was bumpy and slightly squishy when she stepped on it. From the dark world around her, she could see the color of the ground wasn't brown. It looked to her like it was grey. She rubbed her bare foot over the texture of this bizarre ground. "That's weird. It feels like some sort of skin. Wait a second… could this be…"

Neo looked up from the grey ground. Scanning her eyes around the darkness, she started to notice there was some form of structure in front of her. The darkness faded as she walked towards it. When she got close enough she found that it was an entrance of some kind with the gates ripped off their hinges. The gate had been forced open. Someone had broken into whatever this place was. She continued forward into the gates. A feeling of dread washed over her when baby cribs lined up the path she was walking in. She expected to hear the cries of the babies she thought were inside of them, but everything remained silent, eerily silent. Something wasn't right here.

Her eyes shot in front of her when she saw something appear. Her heart pounded in her chest when she noticed it was another crib, her baby crib, and small cries were coming from inside of it. And just like all her nightmares before, she walked over to the baby crib and peered inside of it. And just like all the other times, the same baby was inside of the crib. He stopped crying and started smiling when he saw her. She shook her head and said, "Don't. Don't look at me like that. I don't want this. I can't do this. I can't. You have to get out of here. I do nothing but kill you every single time I see you here. Just go. Disappear. I don't want you here."

The baby laughed. Reaching up for her to be picked up and held.

Neo stumbled back away from the baby. Her chest and mind filled with all kinds of emotions, emotions that she's only experienced when seeing this dream baby, and emotions that she couldn't explain at all. All she knew was it was some of the strongest emotions she's ever felt and they all had to do with this baby she kept seeing.

Taking a calm breath, she started to walk forward, back to the baby, until she saw movement. Looking up she saw a dark figure walking towards her. The figure didn't come off as threatening. In fact, she knew who it was. And just before he appeared in the light, she called out his name. "Sanji?"

Sanji stepped out of the darkness. He smiled and waved at Neo before turning and walking back into the darkness. A huge amount of dread filled her entire body as she watched him walk away. Something wasn't right. She had to get to him.

"Sanji, wait!" Neo called. She ran after him, only pausing momentarily by the crib. She didn't want to leave the baby. But she couldn't let Sanji go. She was confused and divided. She was even more confused when she started to reach for the baby to pick him up.

Then gunshots rang out in the darkness. It caused her to pull back from the baby and made the decision for her to run after Sanji. Surprisingly, as she ran she found that the baby and the crib were following her. It kept appearing along side the path that she was running on. "No! Get away from here! You can't be here! It's dangerous!"

She had no idea why she was telling a baby and a crib to leave. It's not like either of them had the power to actually do that. Suddenly, she summoned her fire and water crystals. She flared both of them up around the baby and crib. Small explosions went off from within her fire. Bullets had been fired at the baby. She had saved him without realizing it.

Leaving her crystals there to protect him, she continued to follow after Sanji. She had no idea where she was running or for how long she had been running. She started panting, her lungs burned in her body, when she finally caught up with Sanji. She pressed her hand to a tree as she tried to catch her breath. Her eyes remained locked on Sanji. He stood there, unmoving, and with another person that was completely covered in shadows. She eyed the outline of the second person. Whoever it was, was shorter than her blonde haired friend. He stood with his hands in his pockets, something stuck out of his mouth, and he wore a hat of some kind. Something about the shadow man's outline struck her as familiar, but she couldn't figure out why. She was more concerned about Sanji than this strange shadow person anyway. She took a few steps forward. "Sanji?"

Sanji turned to her, smiled, and waved before walking off with the shadow covered person.

"Sanji, wait! Where are you going?! Why are you leaving me?!" Neo followed after him. When she couldn't catch up to him by running, she summoned her wind crystals and flew herself. But no matter how fast she flew she just couldn't catch up with her friend as he continued to walk away from her. She had no choice but to watch him and the mystery person walk farther and farther into the darkness. "Sanji!"

More bullets, combined with war cries and other sounds of battle, rang out into the air. Several more shadow figures appeared around her, all of them fighting with each other. A war had broken out in this place. She couldn't tell who a single one of them was. She tried to push passed them but no matter how hard she tried to weave through them, they just continued to block her path and slow her down. She even tried flying around them, but for some reason she couldn't fly fast enough to catch up to her friend. It almost felt like someone was holding her back. She tried calling out for him again. "Sanji! Come back! Sanji! Can't you hear me?! Where are you going?! What's going on?! Why are you leaving us?! Sanji! Answer me!"

But he didn't. And then he was gone.

"Sanji!" Neo lowered herself back down to the ground. Her heart and head were pounding as the war around her continued to rage on. She grabbed her head, dropping to her knees. "Stop it! Stop fighting!"

Small giggles floated amongst the sounds of war.

"No!" Neo gasped when she heard the baby again. She jumped to her feet. But by the time she turned around to face the crib behind her, the scenery had changed. She was once again on Mertensia. And nature was once again going wild. A vine weaved around the baby crib, lifting it off the ground. Navy soldiers then appeared. They all had their rifles angle up towards the crib. Her heart shattered into pieces when she saw the crib being flung to the ground and bullets rang out once more. "No!"

"No! Don't! Stop it! He didn't do anything wrong!" Neo shouted as she snapped out of her nightmare. Her crystals flickered in and out of existence, making all of the Barto Club members uneasy, as her eyes darted around the ship. She sat up, completely confused at where she was. "Where?! Where am I?!"

"She's not going to release another storm, is she?" Bartolomeo asked as he and several others eyed the skies for dark clouds.

Ignoring the moronic land lovers, Law hurried over to Neo. He grabbed her shoulders, and like he always did, he gently coaxed her the rest of the way out of her nightmare with his voice. He rubbed his hands on her shoulders. "Easy, Neo. You're just fine. It was only another nightmare. Wake up now."

Neo grasped onto Law's arms before brushing a hand over her face and hair, knocking off Luffy's hat in the process. It fell backwards against her back but she didn't feel it. "Law! He's gone! Sanji's gone! And I kill him again! Both are gone!"

"Neo, it's okay. Breath," Law said. "It was just a nightmare. No one's gone and you haven't killed anyone."

"No!" Neo shook her head. She stared into Law's eyes with her own teary ones. "Law, something happened to Sanji! He's gone! He's not on Zou anymore! Something happened there!"

"Calm down, Neo," Law started. "It's going to be o-"

"No!" Neo shouted, cutting him off. She brushed his hands off her shoulders and stood up. "It's not going to be okay! You know it's not! Nothing's ever going to be okay again! And it's all-" She cut herself off and dropped her eyes to the deck.

Law recoiled a bit, slightly shocked from her outburst but fully knowing and understanding it was something she needed to do. If only she would continue with what she was going to say instead of cutting herself off. She needed to let it out instead of holding it in. Perhaps he was going to have to push her in speaking her mind after all.

"Is she talking about her nightmare still?" Usopp asked as he and the other Straw Hats walked closer to their Heart Pirate friends.

Law knew she wasn't exactly talking about her nightmare. She was talking about them and their baby. And she was right. Nothing was going to be the same ever again. But he couldn't bring himself to say anything about it, at least not yet.

"I'm not sure," Luffy said.

"Wait a second. Didn't someone once say Neo's nightmares have a habit of coming true?" Usopp asked.

"You don't think that this one is going to come true," Franky asked carefully. "Do you?"

"It's possible," Usopp said. "I mean, she did have a nightmare about Tra getting his arm cut off and that one came true."

"She's also had a nightmare about Bepo being injured," Law said. "I don't doubt her nightmares anymore. If she had one about something happening to Blackleg, then something happened to him. You should be prepared for the worse once we arrive in Zou."

"It doesn't matter if it does or if it doesn't," Zoro said. "That lousy cook can handle himself either way. Besides, it would take a lot for someone to remove him from the crew. I wouldn't worry about him."

"Zoro's correct," Luffy said. He walked closer to Neo. Reaching behind her, he grabbed his hat and put it back on her head. He then gave her a warm, friendly smile. "Don't you worry about Sanji anymore. If something did happen, he's more than capable of taking care of himself and the rest of the crew. I just know they are safe on Zou just waiting for us to arrive there. He and Chopper are going to be so excited to see you. So don't cry anymore."

Neo sighed. She wanted to believe him, but she just couldn't. She knew Sanji wasn't on Zou any longer. He went somewhere with someone. She just didn't know who that other person was that Sanji was walking away with. She still had a vague feeling that deep down she knew who it was, but she just couldn't place the figure to a name or face.

"You okay, Neo?" Law asked, noting she seemed a bit more off than usual. He already knew that she was dreaming about babies again. He hoped she would finally tell him what her nightmares were about exactly, but knew she wouldn't.

"I'm fine," Neo said. She flittered her eyes to him then let them fall to her bare feet. "I just need to do something for a while. Something to keep myself awake and my mind off my nightmares."

"You could fish with us," Usopp said. "It's often a relaxing thing to do. So how about it?"

"Yeah!" Luffy nodded. "You should fish with us! What do you think?!"

"I guess so," Neo said with a light nod. "It's been a while since I have gone fishing. But don't expect much from me. I'll probably distract all the fish with how moody I've been."

"It doesn't matter," Usopp said. "We're just fishing it pass the time away. Maybe we'll get lucky and some fish will preform for you." He leaned in closer to Neo and added in a whisper, "Or we could have a little fun with the Barto Club. They still seem a bit freaked out with how animals react to you. You could have some sea creature crawl onto the ship and scare the Barto Club."

A small, but mischievous, smile pulled on Neo's lips. "Maybe."

"Hm?" Zoro was the first to notice the mischievous smile appearing on Neo's lips. "Uh oh. Looks like she having another playful mood swing. It might not be a good idea to let her fish with Luffy and Usopp."

"Well, I'm going to fish with them whether you like it or not," Neo said in a matter of fact tone. She brushed her blanket off of her shoulders. She then linked her arms through both Luffy and Usopp's, leading them towards the railing of the ship. Keeping her arms linked through her friends, she pointed at Bartolomeo. "You, grab us some fishing poles."

"What?! I'm not your servant!" Bartolomeo said.

"Ah, come on, Rooster," Luffy said with a bright smile. "You already said we could borrow some fishing poles. Just bring one more for Neo."

"Yes, Mr. Luffy! Right away!" Bartolomeo said before making a mad dash for the storage room.

Neo snickered. "I think it would be fun to play with the Barto Club."

"Yes!" Luffy cheered.

"Oh great," Usopp said, sighing. He turned away from his two friends as they started plotting what type of sea creatures they wanted her to bring on board. "If she's like this while being moody, I wonder how playful she's going to be when she comes back to her normal self. I don't know if I going to be able to handle this."

"I think you should have an octopus crawl on board and attack them," Luffy said. "Have them suction cup their faces."

"That could be fun," Neo said, nodding. "I can sense some nearby."

"Mr. Luffy! I got your fishing poles right here!" Bartolomeo cheered once he returned with four fishing poles in his arms. "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing," Luffy and Neo said at the same time.

"Yeah, nothing at all," Usopp said. He sighed again before taking three poles from Bartolomeo.

"Would it be all right if I fished with you?" Bartolomeo asked with flushed cheeks. He waved the fourth fishing pole back and forth. "I… I won't get in the way."

"It's fine with me," Usopp said, passing off the other two fishing poles to Luffy and Neo. "It's your ship after all. You can do what you want. Right, Luffy?"

"Sure." Luffy nodded. "It's fine with me."

"Let's go then," Neo said. She summoned her wind crystals and lifted their small group to the railing. She sat in between Luffy and Usopp while Bartolomeo sat on Usopp's right side. The four lowered their lines into the water and waited to see what they might be able to catch.

This is so great! I'm fishing with both Mr. Luffy and Mr. Usopp! Bartolomeo gushed to himself. His body wobbled with all the excitement of it almost causing him to fall off the ship. He managed to catch himself before he could plummet to the blue sea below him. Keep it other, Bartolomeo! You want to impress Mr. Luffy with your fishing skills! This is your chance!

Neo peeked over at Luffy. The two snickered like children when they met the others eyes.

"Well?" Luffy asked.

"I'm calling the octopuses to me," Neo said. She glanced back over her shoulder and scanned the deck. Law, Franky, and Robin had went back to working on compiling Cethin's files, while Zoro fell into another nap himself, and the Barto Club was scattered around the deck of the ship like they often were. "They're about to work their way onto the ship. They're spreading out and getting ready for the attack."

"This is going to be great," Luffy said.

"What are you two up to?" Usopp asked.

"Nothing!" Luffy and Neo said, giving Usopp very unconvincing smiles.

"Yeah right," Usopp grumbled. "Whatever it is your planning, just leave me out of it."

"Okay!" Neo said.

"Great," Usopp said two seconds before two octopuses tackled him and Bartolomeo off the railing. He fell back onto the deck with a dull thud. He struggled to get free of the octopus as screams rang out from the Barto Club members. "Hey! You said you were going to leave me out of it!"

"I changed my mind!" Neo laughed. She and Luffy looked around the deck again. All around the deck all the octopuses she summoned launched their own attacks. Some snapped out their tentacles, snapping the men on their backsides, while some latched onto the men.

Luffy busted up laughing at the scene before him. One octopus climbed up Gambia's back and was giving him tentacle bunny ears. "Bunny ears from octopus tentacles! This is hilarious! Bring more sea creatures on board!"

"Don't you dare!" the Barto Club screamed.

"Get this thing off of me!"

"I think it's kissing me! Gross!"

"It won't stop spanking me!"

"This is so great! I was pranked by Mr. Luffy!" Bartolomeo cried while octopus tightened its tentacles around his body, cutting off his circulation and airflow.

"You're not going to stop her?" Zoro asked. He had peaked through his eye when everyone started screaming. "She's causing quite a ruckus."

"No," Law said. "Let her have some fun, even if it is because of a mood swing. It'll do her some good to laugh and play around a bit."

"All right," Zoro said, going back to his nap with a yawn.

"She's going to be a real blast to have around once she's back to her normal self," Franky said.

"Indeed," Robin said with a nod. "We're going to have to be extra careful when she's like this and around Luffy. If we don't watch it, we'll end up as their prey."

"She's going to be super fun!" Franky laughed.

Law glanced over at Neo. Despite the fact he was only hearing her bell filled laughter because of a playful mood swing, he was still glad to hear it. And it still made his heart flutter wildly inside of him. He couldn't stop a smile from spreading over his face.

Jory held his head high as he walked through the halls of the navy headquarters. Soldiers were standing all around, leaning against the walls, staring at him with malicious grins or some concerned looks, and some with hurt looks of betray. He knew he didn't betray anyone. Not really anyway. They were just confused with all that had been going on for the last few days, some even before that since they could sense his difference. As he walked down the hall to his destination, he could hear their whispers, their questions. He knew what they were going to say before they even said it. After all, they have been saying the exact same thing since Doflamingo was taken down. They were all questioning him and his loyalty to the navy, his own elemental nature, and his connection to his princess.

"I knew he was different, but I never would have guessed he wasn't human. How could we have missed that? It seems so obvious now."

"He's connected to Trafalgar Neo? Does that mean he'll attack us if we try and stop her?"

"Don't be stupid. Of course he won't. He's been on our side this entire time."

"I'm not so sure about that. He did confront her once before, but no one knows what happened exactly on that day."

"I know. I was there on that island. He claims that he too was knocked out, but what proof does he have of that?"

"He hasn't giving any proof."

"He's a traitor! He should be punished!"

"He's not a traitor. He's done his job without any incident."

"What do you call what he did now? Sending out Trafalgar Neo's wanted poster with the words Only Alive on it."

"I don't know. Surely he has a good reason for that."

"He does. He said that it's to prevent the elementals from striking out at us."

"That doesn't make any sense at all. There hasn't been a single incident with the elementals. We've only just learned about them. The only reason you all are so concerned is because of what happened in Dressrosa. Jory is our friend and comrade. We have nothing to fear from him."

"A comrade who kept his real identity from us. He should be dishonorably discharged from the navy."

"Perhaps we should just kill him."

"Shh! Don't say that! He's one of them! You've seen how powerful they can be through their princess! They all control nature! There's no way we can kill him!"

"You're just a coward! We have the pollution stones! We can easily get rid of him!"

"Stop it! Both of you! He's done nothing to us! He shouldn't be run off because he's different! He's been loyal during his service to the navy! Why are you questioning his loyalty now?!"

Jory sighed as he reached the door that he was heading for. He knew this would happen. But it was still a bit of a shock at how many soldiers had turned against him. He knew it shouldn't have been a surprise. After all these were soldiers who willingly employed pirates to work for them and were allowed to run amuck in places with no reprimand of any kind. That is until the Straw Hats and Heart Pirates alliance took Doflamingo down. That's what really shook things up. But what was done couldn't be undone. And he didn't blame them at all for taking the warlord down. He didn't like what Doflamingo was doing in Dressrosa, but his position in the navy he didn't have anyway of stopping it that didn't involve bringing in more elementals. And his people were still trying to keep a low profile in the human world. How was this going to affect them now? If the navy started targeting them would they have the good sense to return to Luminous? Or would they stand up and fight the navy? If they did, would the navy then declare war on his people? Was the navy going to seek out their homeland?

He didn't know. Even walking through the walls of the navy headquarters, listening in to what the soldiers had to say, he had no clue what was going to become of him, his people, or his homeland. The only thing he knew for sure was he was no longer safe here. He had no doubt in his mind that someone within the navy would turn the pollution stones on him. So far he had been lucky in keeping away from them. And he still had enough friends that had warned him about them when they had arrived that first day and since then if the stones were going to be moved. But still, he had to leave. He couldn't give the navy the chance to turn the stones against him. Or worse, use them to turn him against others, whether or not they were pirates or civilians. He just couldn't risk it. So lifting his hand to the door, he knocked on it.

"Come in," a familiar, but muffled, voiced said from the other side of the door.

Exhaling, Jory grabbed the doorknob, turned it, pushed it open, and stepped inside. He closed the door behind him as the familiar dark eyes of Commodore Raphael met his own eyes. He then pulled his eyes from his fellow commodore and let them cautiously wander around the room. Many times he's been in this room, as a friend, so he knew it well. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Not that there was much to move. The only things Commodore Raphael ever had in his office was the desk he was currently sitting at, two small round stools near the window to allow the sun to shine in on the plants that he had sitting them, and two chairs in front of his desk.

"Are you implying that I'm hiding some of those pollution stones in here?" Commodore Raphael asked, bring Jory's eyes back to him. "I was hoping since we've known each other for nine years that you would trust me more than that."

"I apologize," Jory said. "But can you blame me with how my fellow navy soldiers have been acting as of late?"

"I suppose I cannot," Commodore Raphael said. "I would be extra cautious too. Come and have a seat."

Jory nodded. He stepped away from the door and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his friend. He crossed his arms and legs, waiting patiently for what was going to happen next.

"I suppose I don't need to explain why I've called you here," Commodore Raphael said. He leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers together, and resting his elbows on the armrests.

"You all are wondering where my loyalty lies," Jory said. His eyes lifted to the painting just above the man's head. Scribbled on a faded white paper were the words 'Pure Justice'. Anymore he questioned if the majority of the navy even knew what justice was anymore.

"Well, it was you who published Trafalgar Neo's wanted poster as wanted 'Only Alive'," Commodore Raphael said. He ran his hand through his receding dark brown hair before lacing his fingers back together again. "And for the record, I'm not wondering about your loyalties. You have served the navy without incident for over nine years. However, I am a bit concerned about you and this whole thing concerning your princess and how you printed and distributed them with 'Only Alive' printed on them. Care to explain?"

"I only did that in an attempt to keep a war from breaking out amongst our people," Jory said. "While I have no plans to turn against the navy, I cannot say the same for those who will remain loyal to our princess. Our people have a history of fierce loyalty to our royals. Any aggressive move, more than what's already been done, will be treated as an act of war."

"Then why did she choose to be a pirate?" Commodore Raphael asked. He chuckled when Jory did nothing but stare at him. "While I still trust you, and I always will, I can't help but notice that your loyalties are divided. You did meet with her that one time, didn't you?"

"I never could hide much from you," Jory said.

"It's what friends do," Commodore Raphael said. "But I can't really blame you. Despite the fact that she chose to be a pirate, it's extremely easy to see that she's different from other pirates. And I'm not talking about her elemental nature or being a royal. I know you see that too and probably know the reasons behind it. Despite that, I'm sad that you are leaving the navy."

"Who told you about that?" Jory asked, not really feeling surprised that his friend knew about it.

"It wasn't a hard thing to figure out," Commodore Raphael said. "As I just said, your loyalties are divided. And with how the navy soldiers are talking about your people, I have to admit I'd leave myself to go warn them."

"So you've come to the same conclusion that I have," Jory said.

Commodore Raphael nodded with a drawn out sigh. "While I don't really want to admit it, I can't deny that there are some in the navy who will seek out your people and homeland in an attempt to either destroy them or take them as weapons. It's only natural that you'll want to leave and go warn them."

Jory nodded.

"I don't suppose you'll ever come back here?" Commodore Raphael said.

"Only time will tell," Jory said. "But more likely not."

"I suppose so," Commodore Raphael said. He then stood up and walked around his desk just as Jory stood up. He held out his hand to his friend. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Jory said, taking his friend's hand once he stood up.

"I guess you'll be leaving now," Commodore Raphael said.

"There's no point in staying any longer." Jory smirked. "But I think you already knew that I had them rush my discharge and that I've taken some personal time until it goes through. What's the point of staying around when so many want me gone?"

"There is no point I suppose. And I'd do the exact same as you. Let me walk with you," Commodore Raphael said. The two then turned and headed for the door. Several soldiers were out in the hall, most likely listening to the conversation that was taking place inside of the room. A few scattered when the door opened, but some stuck around to give glares at the one they believed to be a traitor among them.

Jory just kept his head held high. He knew they wouldn't attack him. They were too afraid of him and what he could possible do, despite not having a clue what his element actually was. Just being so closely related to Neo was enough to keep attacks at bay. At least they were for now. If it weren't for the pollution stones, he would have stayed within the navy without a doubt. But he knew they would be used against him at some point. He just didn't know who exactly would use them on him. He figured some of the navy soldiers would attempt it on their own, but he was far more concerned about the world government and the Celestial Dragons getting their hands on them. It would be beyond devastating if they did. They already had too much power as it was. And there was no way for him to steal the pollution stones without causing a lot of trouble since they were being heavily guarded at the moment. He would need help from humans. He didn't want his friends to get into trouble for him. Leaving the navy was the best and correct choice for him to make right now. He had to warn his people.

As soon as the two commodores stepped out of the navy headquarters they were immediately met with the warm rays of the sun and the salty wind blowing off the ocean. The two men paused to take in the view before them. Several navy ships were docked around the place, soldiers were scattered everywhere just going about their business as usual, while a couple seagulls flew over head before landing on part of the building. Commodore Raphael said, "So you going to steal a ship?"

Jory laughed. "Now wouldn't that be fun? But no. No ship stealing for me. I prefer to travel on something that won't gather so much attention to me."

"Oh? And what might that be?" Commodore Raphael asked.

Jory only grinned and signaled for the navy man to follow him. He led his friend around to the side of the navy headquarters. He could easily sense his friend's confusion to where they were going, but neither of the men spoke. So he continued to lead the man around. He led him down a small hill to a point where a bunch of rocks were gathered together. At this point he could feel his friend's confusion grown, so he turned to him and said, "Don't worry. Just keep following me."

"If I didn't trust you so well, I'd think this was some ploy to kill me," Commodore Raphael muttered.

"Not my style." Jory chuckled before skirting around a rock.

"Hm?" Commodore Raphael blinked when Jory seemed to disappear into a rock. Wordlessly, he followed and found that there was actually a pathway between the rocks. "What the heck? This place is big, but I've never seen the rocks split like this."

"That's because they weren't," Jory replied. He continued to weave his way through the rocks until he led his friend down to a small rock that jutted out into the sea. "I moved them around so I could have an escape route if it came to that. Plus, I used this as a secret hide away when I felt like getting away from the other soldiers."

"I see. But how is this-" Before the man could finished, a large grey whale popped out of the water. Startled, he felt back on the ground. "What the heck?!"

"This is a friend of mine," Jory said as the whale sang and rose up more out of the water to be petted. "He's going to give me a lift."

"You…you're going to ride on a whale?" Commodore Raphael asked, grasping his chest while his heart struggled to resume its normal rate of beating.

"You're not scared of whales, are you?" Jory asked when he noticed his friend looked rather pale.

"N-no!" he stuttered then mumbled, "Maybe."

"Well, you don't have to worry about this guy," Jory said while affectionately rubbing his hand on the whale's head. "He's very gentle."

"Th-that's nice," Commodore Raphael said. He then pushed himself to his feet and adjusted his shirt. "So this is it, huh?"

"I guess so," Jory said. His whale friend then sunk down into the water, waiting for him to get on.

"I see you two have done this often," Commodore Raphael said, eyeing the whale.

"More than you'll ever know," Jory said. He then jumped onto the whale's back. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat with you longer, but I have to get going."

Commodore Raphael nodded. "Take care of yourself. And, if you ever have time, come by and see me. I'm sure some of your other friends in the navy would love to see you too. And try not to worry about the pollution stones. If I can get rid of them, even one, I will."

"Maybe I can come see you again someday. And don't go getting yourself into trouble over my people and me. This is our fight now. See you around," Jory said as the whale started out into the sea. He waved to his friend, watching him growing smaller and smaller as they disappeared on the blue waters below them. He sighed heavily before setting his eyes forwards.

For a while he remained standing on the whale back, but after a while he laid down and just started up at the cloud lazily passing by him. I wonder where the princess is currently. Where would they have gone after Dressrosa? I know they're planning on taking down Kaido the King of Beasts. And the Beast Pirates are currently on Wano. But I don't think they would go there this quickly after that fight with Doflamingo. So where would they go? Where did Trafalgar station his crew while he and the princess were away? He sighed. Tracking his princess down was going to take a long while without any real leads. "Well, at least I have Dressrosa as a starting point. Perhaps some of the animals there can tell me where they went. Or, heck, maybe even a human can tell me. I'm sure Straw Hat has made friends there. All well, no point in dwelling on it. I have to get there first. I can always go wait for them at Wano. Surely they'll show up there at some point."

Jory closed his eyes so he could take a nap and clear his mind for his journey ahead. He wasn't sure how long he had slept, but the familiar presence of one of this own woke him up some time later. He opened his eyes just as a wind elemental landed on the back of the whale with him.

"Jory?" she said.

"Yes?" Jory sat up and looked up at his guest.

"Glad I found you." She smiled. "I've been sent here by Emperor Red Hair Shanks. My name is Bree."

"By Red Hair?" Jory asked.

"I was coming to see how you were doing," Bree said. Planting her hands on her hips, she scanned her eyes at their surroundings of nothing but water and a whale. "But I see that you're handling things just fine with what happened in Dressrosa. Did the navy not try to hurt you?"

"No, but I know some of them had plans to," Jory said. He stood up and met her eyes. "I decided it was best if I got out of there with the pollution stones so near by."

"Good. You know about them then," she said.

"Hard not to when all the navy headquarters does is talk about them and our people," he said. "But never mind that for now. Do you know where the princess is?"

"Indeed I do," Bree said. "Or at least I know where they are heading. They're in route to Zou right now."

"Zou, huh?" Jory mumbled. "I guess that's where the rest of the Heart Pirates were stationed."

"If you want to go there, I'd be happy to take you," Bree said. "I'm going to be meeting up with others on the way there."

"Others?" Jory blinked at her. "Who else is going to see the princess?"

"Two very special guests that Shanks has summoned," Bree said with a bright smile. "We need to get going. Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Jory nodded. He then said his goodbyes and thank you to his whale friend before the wind elemental lifted him up into the air.

Author's Notes: Ugh! Neo is zero fun to write like this. But it won't be for much longer. Not much longer. We're almost there. And sorry if I missed a lot of mistakes this time. This chapter just didn't want to be written.

Sarge1130: We'll know soon what Shanks is up to. And I'll get back to my other stories. Soon I hope.

Apple Bloom: You and me both. I really don't like writing for her like this. So I'm reworking my chapters and moving things up a bit. We'll get happy Neo back very soon. It wasn't harsh at all. If something annoys you feel free to tell me. It won't bother me one bit. :) I like hearing what people like and even what they don't like. It helps with improvements.

Starrat: Thanks. Next chapter coming.