Baby Love
"Are you serious?!" Shachi asked the next morning after Bepo and Penguin told the crew what had happened between their captain and Neo last night. The Heart Pirates had gathered together outside of their current dwellings. Some were standing around, leaning against trees or the building itself, while others we sitting on the ground as they discussed recent and coming events.
"Yeah." Penguin nodded. He sat down on the stairs of their temporary home. Resting his elbows on his knees, he laced his fingers together and pressed them to his lips. "I still can't believe she yelled at him like that. I'm so worried about her."
"At least the elementals are keeping an eye on her," Topaz said. She turned her eyes to the forest, scanning for the location of her missing princess. Since it was still rather early in the morning most everyone was still in bed. So it was easier for her to locate Neo and the elementals watching her. "There's four elementals with her right now."
"Shouldn't we go watch her instead?" Uni asked. "She might not like it if she wakes up and finds strangers around her. Or she could have a nightmare."
"No," Tero said, gaining everyone's attention. "She doesn't need us crowding her right now. Besides, she knows the elementals aren't going to hurt her and she knows where we all are. I'm sure they're keeping their distance like they said they would. And if she does have a nightmare the captain will sense it and go immediately to her. She'll be fine."
"I guess so," Uni said. He kicked a small rock in frustration and watched it bounce off a tree before landing on the ground. "Man! This is crazy. I feel so helpless here."
"I know we need to give her some space right now, but I still feel like we should do something," Ikkaku said. "No way this is going to be good for her to keep running from this. I mean we're about to go up against Kaido. She needs to be able to focus completely and help us fight."
"The captain will just have to restrict her to the sub if she doesn't snap out of this," Clione said.
"You know that's not going to work," Basil said. "She's very protective of us all. She won't let us go into battle against an emperor and not be there herself."
"She'll be nothing a liability then," Tero said. "The captain will have to bound her to the sub."
"That's easy for you to say. You've always thought of her as weak," Shachi said with a glare.
"The only time I have ever thought of her as weak was when you all refused to properly train her," Tero said. "And she was. You all babied her far too much. And you still do. If she doesn't snap out of this depression phase then she will be a liability in battle. She won't be able to help anyone much less herself. She should just choose to remain in the sub until she gets herself straightened out."
"Take that back!" Shachi said. He grabbed the front of Tero's boiler suit and pulled him to his face. "Neo is not a liability! You just don't like her!"
"Anyone who can't focus clearly is a liability in battle," Tero said, unfazed by Shachi's aggression towards him. "You have been a pirate and a fighter long enough to know that. And I do like her. I just think she still has a lot of growing up to do."
"Let him go, Shachi," Penguin said. "He's correct. You know not a single one of us will want her near a battle until she's back to normal."
Shachi gritted his teeth. Despite not wanting to admit it, he knew Tero was right. They all have come so use to having Neo with them that this entire issue was just wearing on them all. His tense hands released on Tero's suit. He shoved his hands in his pocket and turned away from the man. "Yeah, I know. Sorry. I'm just tense."
"It's fine," Tero said. He readjusted his boiler suit and leaned back against a tree.
"So where's the captain right now?" Jean Bart asked.
"He's still inside," Penguin said. He glanced over his shoulder at the door, wondering how his captain was actually doing right now. "But you all know he's not getting much sleep without Neo sleeping beside him. And you all know that he's been up at nights keeping an eye on her."
"I peaked in on him a few minutes ago before coming out here," Bepo said. "He's being very restless. I don't think he's really sleeping at all right now."
"Someone really should just sedate him when he gets like this," Basil said. "He's a doctor. He should know better than to stay up night after night just watching her sleep."
"Good luck with that," Bepo said. "You know he always stays up to watch her when she's in pain. And right now she's in a lot of pain with no relief from it."
"Well, you're not going to have to worry about her for much longer," Topaz said.
"What do you mean?" Penguin asked as he and the rest of the crew turned their eyes towards the fire elemental who had been very quiet. They all lifted their eyes to the sky when they found she was staring up at it for some reason. "And what are you looking at? Is there a storm moving in or something?"
"Or something," Topaz said. "It looks like Red Hair Shanks had a plan of his own to help Neo accept her pregnancy."
"Red Hair? What are you talking about?" Shachi asked. Then he saw what she was hinting to. In the distance of the morning sun lit sky was a group of small dots that slowly became bigger as they moved towards the pirates. "You have got to be kidding."
The entire crew watched in silent shock as the dots took shape into some very familiar, very welcomed elementals. They remained quiet while they watched the six wind elementals land their group on the ground with several packages with them.
"Geez! You all look just as gloomy as you did when you were waiting for her highness to wake up from being poisoned!" Healer Zinnia said, scanning her green eyes over the group before her. Her eyes then took in the new members of the Heart Pirates. "Ah, some of you are new. But you still look just as gloomy as the rest of them. I'm not surprised. The princess has put you all under her spell as well."
"Okay, I remember Jory from when we met him, but who the heck are you?" Tero asked, eyeing the new elementals with minor suspicion.
"It's Healer Zinnia and Kailen," Shachi said. "And a couple of the wind elementals are a few of the guards we met on Luminous, too."
"I remember now. You've all told us newer crewmembers about them before," Tero said. He looked at each one while he spoke about them. "She's the healer that took care of Neo back on Luminous when she was poisoned. And Kailen is her adopted brother."
"That's correct," Healer Zinnia said with a nod. She pushed her glasses up on her nose before shoving her hands in the pockets of her lab coat.
"Well, this is a surprise," Penguin said. He pushed himself off the stairs and walked towards them. Taking the hand of the familiar green haired man, he sighed with relief that they had some extra back up for this problem. It was possible that an outside source would help Neo better than they could. And Kailen was perfect for that job. He could talk to Neo more about their parents since he spent time with them before they were killed. "If we couldn't get through to her then you're the only one left who can. I would tell you were she is, but it's obvious you can sense her. So go right ahead. We'll give you plenty of time and space to do whatever is you came to do. There are currently four other elementals watching over her right now. So you might run into them on your way there."
"I don't know if I will be much help to her," Kailen said. Releasing Penguin's hand he took a hold of the strap of the backpack he was carrying. "But I think I might know of one way that will help ease her frustrations and concerns. Either way I'll do what I can." He then turned and headed off to find his little sister.
"So what's with all those?" Bepo asked, pointing to the large, covered objects that the wind elementals had sat down when they landed. "I figure some are clothes and other personal items like that, but it's still seems like a lot for two people. Or are all of you staying with us?"
"No, the wind elementals are only here to drop us off. Only Kailen and myself are staying with you two. The rest are surprises for the princess," Healer Zinnia said with a smile. "And a bit of an annoyance for your captain."
The Heart Pirates, or those who knew of their captain's tense relationship with the healer, all exchanged looks of worry with each other while the rest who weren't on Luminous to witness what they did exchanged looks of confusion.
Topaz chuckled. "Well, things certainly just got a bit more interesting."
"Hm." Healer Zinnia hummed. "You grew your hair out."
"Separation issues," Topaz replied. "And I'm ready for it to be cut. Hey, Shachi, since we're just waiting for our princess's return, how about you cut my hair for me?"
"Uh, sure thing," Shachi said with a nod.
…
Kailen walked at a fast pace through the forest. He was in a hurry to get to his sister, but he also didn't want to bother her if she was sleeping, even if it was restless sleep. Easily following her magic, he guided himself through the forest and soon came upon one of the elementals that were keeping an eye on his sister. He waved to the water elemental and said, "Good morning."
"Morning," he said, eyeing Kailen. "You're not from around here."
"No, I just arrived here from Luminous," Kailen said. "I'm Neo's adopted brother, Kailen."
"Ah, yes," he said. "The Heart Pirates informed us that she had a brother who chose to remain on Luminous." He jerked his finger over his shoulder. "She's that way. About fifteen yards, not that you need me to tell you that."
Kailen nodded. "Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I'll take it from here. You all can go."
"I suppose that will be fine," he said. "But we're still going to keep an eye on her."
Kailen nodded again then continued on his way. And just as he knew he would, he found Neo curled up on the ground with several animals around her, no doubt keeping her warm from the cool night air that was quickly being replaced with warmer air from the morning sun. He chuckled lightly before walking over to them. Kneeling down he said, "I see you all have been taking very good care of my sister as well. Thank you all very much for that."
He then turned his eyes back to Neo. He could easily tell she wasn't getting any kind of restful sleep right now. But he still didn't wake her up. He wanted her to get what rest she could before he spoke to her. He brushed her hair away from her face while the animals chittered and chattered at him. He sat the bag he was carrying on the ground then sat down himself. He settled in to listen to the animals express their own concerns over Neo while he waited for her to wake up.
…
Neo sniffled as a hand slowly stroked over her blue tresses, pulling her slowly out of her restless slumber. She opened her eyes to the semi-dark world around her and noticed the only light there was seem to be coming from the very spot she was laying on. And she found that the position she was in felt oddly familiar. This entire scene felt familiar and yet different some how.
"Are you finally awake?" a familiar voice asked.
Neo's eyes widened at the voice. She knew immediately who it was and where she was. With a gasp she shot up from his lap and looked right into his dark eyes. "Cora?"
"Hey, Princess." Corazon smiled.
"Cora!" Neo flung herself towards him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried. "Cora…"
"There, there. It's all right," Corazon said. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close to him. "Everything is going to be fine."
"No, it's not!" she said. "I've done something terrible!"
"No, you haven't done anything terrible," Corazon said. "You're just upset. Law knows that."
"But I yelled at him! And I… I blamed him for…" She sniffled, still unable to stay she was pregnant. "Cora, I'm… something happened and I'm…"
"Pregnant," Corazon said for her. He placed a hand back on her hair and stroked it a couple times. "I know. And I know it's been very hard for you to accept it. You're putting yourself under a lot of stress by denying it though. And that's not good for you or your baby."
"I can't help it," Neo said. She released him and sat back down on the ground. "I don't know what to do. I'm so scared and confused. And this is the first time I've never been able to talk to Law or Penguin about something. I hate it. I hate it a lot. But if I do talk to them… then this… this thing will actually be…"
"Hm." Corazon hummed for a second. Just quietly thinking about what she was going to say before she cut herself off. He clearly knew what was going on here and might know of a way to help get her on the right track. He then said, "Why don't we go for a walk?"
"Uh, okay," Neo said, slightly confused at why he would want to go for a walk right now. Nonetheless, she allowed him to take her hand and pull her to her feet. With her hand snuggling in his, they walked away from their current spot. And as they walked through this quiet world, just enjoying the other's company, she noticed that the light that was around them followed them wherever they went while the darkness remained at bay just outside the edges of the light. Slowly she started to notice that the darkness was fading away and some town was starting to take its place.
"So has anything else been going on?" Corazon then asked, bringing her attention from the changing landscape.
"Well, we were finally able to take down Doflamingo," Neo said.
"I noticed," Corazon said.
"That's not really what you wanted for Law though, was it?" Neo asked.
"Not really," Corazon said. "I just wanted him to be happy and live his life the way he wanted."
"Yeah." Neo nodded. "But he's free now. Other than the stresses I'm causing him, he's no longer obsessed with taking Doflamingo down. And Doflamingo can no longer hurt people. Dressrosa has been freed from their oppressor and the rightful king has retaken the throne. So that's a good thing, correct?"
"It is," Corazon said. "But it could have ended much worse since Dofy knew so much about you. I'm just glad you two, I mean, three made it out of there all right."
"Uh, yeah," Neo said, tightening her hand around his. From the corner of her eyes she noticed the darkness had completely faded. She started to turn her head to look at the area they were in, but was stopped when Corazon tugged on her hand. She mindlessly let him guide her to a swing that was tied to the branch of a tree. She sat down on it while trying to look back at the buildings. She was stopped again when Corazon stepped in her way. Her eyes lifted back up to his. "What are you doing?"
"Just going to push you on the swing," he said before grabbing the rope on each side of her. He pulled her towards him then gave her a gentle shove away. "We're going to have a little fun for a while. So don't worry about the area that we're in. Nothing here is going to hurt you. I'm with you. I won't allow anything to harm you."
"I know you won't, Cora," Neo said as the swing moved her back towards him. Part of her still wanted to look around and figure out where they were, but her eyes remained locked onto the blonde man in front of her. A stronger part of her didn't want to take her eyes off of him. It was rare for them to meet. And since Corazon was technically dead, there was no telling if this was going to be the last time she ever saw him. She wanted to spend as much time with him as she possible could. "Oh! I actually made some new friends."
"Really?" Corazon asked, pushing her again.
"Yeah." Neo nodded as her hair flew around her shoulders while she moved back and forth from Corazon. "They're the Straw Hat Pirates. Their captain is Monkey D. Luffy."
"D?" Corazon asked.
"Yeah, he's kind of crazy," Neo continued. "But he's also very nice and fun to be around. He's very loyal to his friends. We get along great because I'm Shanks' goddaughter."
"That's good to hear. I assume you get along just as well with the rest of the Straw Hats then?" Corazon said.
"Yeah, they're all great. I have a stronger connection to Luffy, Robin, Sanji, and Chopper thought," Neo replied.
"And who are those other three?" Corazon asked.
"Robin is their archaeologist. She's very smart and pretty. She's really calm too so it was easy for me to adjust being around her," Neo said with a smile. "Chopper is a reindeer who ate a devil fruit that gives him the ability to change his form. So he's kind of human now because of that. He's really cute. And Sanji is the Straw Hats' cook. He's given me some cooking tips and taught me how to toss pizza crust. He also a pretty big flirt with women. He's flirted with me too."
Corazon laughed. "I bet Law just loved that!"
"Yeah." Neo nodded. "But I'm actually fine with Sanji flirting with me because it's innocent. And Law doesn't really mind all that much because he knows I belong to him in every way possible."
"I see," Corazon said. "It seems the boy has matured a bit after all."
"I guess so," Neo said. "But then you've known him as a teenager. I've only known him as an adult."
"True, but he's not the only one who's grown up a lot," Corazon then said.
"Huh?" Neo asked.
"I can tell that you've matured quite a bit as well," Corazon said. "And that tell tells me I did the correct thing in bringing you here."
"Correct thing in bringing me here?" Neo asked. "What do you mean?"
Corazon grabbed a hold of the ropes again. He stopped the swing then placed his hands over hers. "I brought you here so you could see your nightmares through to the end."
"My… nightmares?" Neo felt her body go cold when the cries of a baby floated on the wind to her ears. "No…"
"Just relax, Neo," Corazon said.
"No!" Neo jumped up from the swing. She tried to move around Corazon but his arm wrapped around her, holding her in place at his side. "No! Let go!"
"Neo, calm down," Corazon said. "Nothing bad is going to happen here."
"How can you say that?!" Neo said. Tears streamed down her face as she tightly closed her eyes and tried to ignore the cries of the baby she knew was the same one she has been dreaming about. "This is Mertensia! I'm going to destroy this island and the ba… the ba… let me go!"
"No, Neo," Corazon said firmly. He wrapped his other arm around her, tightly pressing her into his chest. "You're not going to destroy anyone or anything. This is just a dream. It's not real."
"I don't care! Let me go! Just let me go!" Neo pleaded. She clung to his shirt, trying to pry herself free of him. "I don't want to be here!"
"I can't do that, Neo," Corazon said. "You need to see what happens."
"No! I don't want to!"
"You might not want to, but you have to," Corazon said more gently. "You haven't ever finished your nightmares since this baby arrived in them, have you?"
Neo stopped struggling. Confused, she pulled away from his chest and looked up into his eyes. "Wh-What do you mean?"
"When you've had these nightmares with the babies in them, haven't you always woke up before actually seeing the babies die?" Corazon asked as gently as he could.
Neo opened her mouth to protest. To say that she has seen the babies get kill but then she stopped when she realized that she never did actually see any baby die.
"That's correct, Neo," Corazon said. "None of the babies actually died. In your first nightmare with them you only saw them disappearing. And in the second one you woke up before the vines could actually smash the baby and the crib into the ground and the bullets never pierced the baby's flesh."
"But I don't… I don't understand," Neo said. "They were nightmares."
"Yes, they were," Corazon said. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and turned them both towards the town.
Neo trembled when she noticed that her past nightmare had returned. Nature was once again going wild, plants were grown at an alarming rate, winds were blow everything that was loose away, waves were crashing onto the shores, navy soldiers were somehow running around amongst the chaos, and in the middle of it all was one single baby crib made of familiar crystals. She watched in terror as a vine wrapped around the crib and pulled it high into the air like it did the time before. "No… no! Stop it! I don't want to see this anymore! I want to wake up now!"
"No, Neo," Corazon said, tightening his hold on her. "You need to see this."
"But I don't want to," Neo whispered. Yet she couldn't take her eyes off the crystal crib as it plunged to the ground and bullets rang out into the air. As she watched the crib plunging towards the ground, something inside of her snapped. Her wings unfurled behind her as she summoned every single one of her crystals, took a hold of nature, wrapped up the navy soldiers in vines, and flared up all of the elements around the baby before easing the crib back down to the ground. "Stop it! I won't let you hurt him!"
Then it stopped. Nature settled back down into peaceful bliss and the navy soldiers disappeared from her view.
Corazon released a smile of satisfaction.
Neo panted. Exhausted of everything that just happened, her knees gave out on her and she dropped to the ground. "What just… what just happened?"
"The real ending of the nightmare," Corazon said. "Look."
Neo looked up at him to find he was pointing away from her. She swallowed before following his point and found he was pointing to the baby crib. They were no longer in Mertensia, but in a field filled with beautiful flowers and lush green grass. She stood up and took one step towards the laughing baby before stopping to look back at Corazon. "I don't understand any of this."
"I know you don't," Corazon said. "But let's go check on the baby."
Neo swallowed hard before standing up. Reclaiming Corazon's hand, she allowed him to walk her over to the crib. Just as they reached it a black and blue butterfly flew into the crib. Shaking uncontrollably, she stepped closer to the crib and looked inside. Her chest filled with the strange emotions from before when she saw the baby sleeping peacefully with the butterfly perched on his forehead. She felt her heart fill up with warmth at seeing the baby was just fine. Suddenly the baby opened his eyes and looked at her with his familiar grey eyes, melting her heart. She couldn't help but place her hands on the railing of the crib and step even closer to him. Her heart then skipped a beat when he lifted his little hands up to her and giggled. She noticed he was looking right at her then off to the side a bit before smiling brightly. Curious at to what caused him to smile so brightly, she glanced over her shoulder and found her wings there. Turning her eyes back to the baby, she fluttered her wings, causing the baby to giggle and the butterfly to fly away. He continued to giggle, coo, and reached for her. "What does he want?"
"He wants you to pick him up," Corazon said.
"Why?" Neo asked.
"Because he's a baby. And he knows who you are," Corazon said with a chuckle.
"Is he…" Neo's voice trailed off. Could it really be possible that this baby was really hers and Law's? This was just a dream, wasn't it?
"I can't really say if this is actually the baby that's currently inside of you or if it's just a dream baby," Corazon said. "Dream or not, he still knows that he belongs to you. He knows that you won't ever hurt him and that you'll always do what you can to protect him."
"But how does he know that? I don't even know that," Neo said. She turned her eyes away from the baby but quickly found herself looking back at him.
"Babies are good judges of character," Corazon said. Stepping up to the crib, he crossed his arms over it. "And this little guy is right on the mark with you. Isn't that correct, Baby Law?"
Neo giggled. "He does look like Law, doesn't he?"
"Pick him up," Corazon said.
"I can't," Neo replied.
"Why not?" Corazon asked.
"I don't know. I just can't," Neo said. "I still can't even say it."
"Why?" Corazon asked.
"Because if I do then it's really happening," Neo said.
"Oh, honey, it's happening whether you say it out loud or not," Corazon said. "So what's the problem?"
"I don't know," she said.
"Yes, you do," Corazon said. "You just are afraid to say it. But you don't have to be. You have all the maternal skills you need to handle this."
"What do you mean?" Neo asked.
"Just think back to Punk Hazard," Corazon said. "Think about how you acted towards the kids there. Think about how you reacted when you felt yourself and your baby were being threatened by Monet. And think about how you react with your crew. You are already a mother like figure to them. You just haven't noticed it because you're just a natural at being a mother."
"So that's why you're here," Neo said. She dropped her eyes to her protruding stomach. Slowly, she lifted her hand up. She started trembling the closer her hand got to her stomach. She could feel Corazon's eyes on her, just patiently waiting to see if she would actually caress her stomach, her and Law's baby. Her entire body tensed up before she finally placed her hand on herself. She exhaled, releasing the tension from her body upon the contact of her hand to her stomach. "You've come to help me accept this baby."
"No," Corazon said.
"What?" Neo lifted her eyes to him. "Then why? Why do all of this?"
"I'm not the one who's going to help you with that," Corazon said, dropping his eyes back down to the baby. He reached into the crib and tickled the baby under his chin, earning a giggle. "That's reserved for someone else. And he's waiting for you to wake up right now."
"But who is it?" Neo asked, her heart racing with excitement from hearing the baby giggle again. She turned back to the baby. Crossing her arms over the crib's railing, she rested her chin on them and just watched the baby as he explored the world around him with his eyes. A smile pulled across her lips when the baby looked at her again and kicked his feet in excitement. "I don't sense Law so I know it's not him."
Corazon chuckled. "Why don't you wake up and see who it is? He's traveled a long way just to come see you."
"But I don't want to leave you so soon," Neo said. "And what about the baby here?"
"I know you don't want to leave," Corazon said. "But nether one of us are allowed to stay every long in this place. And this is just a dream baby remember? You don't have to worry about him or me. Even though you can't see me, I'm always watching over you and Law."
"Thank you, Cora," Neo said. She forced herself to pull her eyes away from the baby and looked at the man she was with. She then wrapped her arms around him, hugging him one last time before releasing him. "Thank you so much for everything you've done for us."
"You are very welcome," Corazon said with a smile as he began to fade away from her sight. "Say hi to Law for me."
"I will," Neo said, brushing away her tears.
…
Neo hummed before opening her eyes. For a moment she stared blankly at the spotted sunlit forest surrounding her. Still a bit hazed from her dream, she didn't immediately noticed all of the animals that were around her earlier that night had returned and she certainly didn't noticed the very familiar elemental that was with them. Sensing him moving, she turned her eyes to his familiar green eyes and smile. A surprised gasped passed over her lips when her brain finally register she was staring at her brother. She pushed herself up and stared at him in disbelief. She rubbed her hand over her eyes, thinking she could possibly still be dreaming. But she wasn't. He was really there beside her, smiling warmly with both his lips and his green eyes as he watched her. Fresh tears gathered at the corner of her eyes before she flung herself into his arms. "Kailen!"
"Hey, little sister," Kailen said. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to his body as she cried.
"You're here!" Neo said. "I can't believe it! You're really here!"
"I'm here," Kailen said.
"But what are you doing here? I don't understand," Neo said. She pulled back from her brother and looked at him. "I mean, I'm happy you're here, but…"
"It's all right," Kailen said. He tucked her hair behind her ears before taking her face in his hands and brushed away her tears with his thumbs. "Shanks send some elementals back to Luminous to inform us of what has been going on. We've actually been keeping track of you by leaving Luminous to get some newspapers, but we really didn't know what was going on until Shanks sent those elementals back to us after he spoke with you."
"Godfather did?" Neo asked.
Kailen nodded. "He was really worried about you when you spoke with him. He could easily see how much of a hard time you were having with this. So he asked Healer Zinnia and me to come see you. He thought we might be able to help."
"Healer Zinnia is here as well?" Neo asked. She looked passed her brother and towards the direction her family was. She could indeed sense the healer woman nearby.
"Yes, she's here too," Kailen said. "She's been worried about your current state with how stressed out you can become. So she was more than glad to come and keep an eye on you through your pregnancy. We're both staying with you for a while. Well, I'm planning on staying a lot longer than she might."
"You're officially joining the crew?" Neo asked.
"I am," Kailen said.
"I see. Godfather must have been really worried about me to do this," Neo said. "He's so wonderful. And I'm so glad that you've decided to come here. But still I'm…"
"You poor thing," Kailen said upon noticing her expression turning scared. "You really are worried about this, aren't you?"
Neo nodded. "I still can't even say that I'm… not even with Cora's help."
"You know that's okay, don't you?" Kailen said. "It's only natural for an expectant mother to worry about being pregnant."
"Others have said that as well, but," Neo said. She dropped her eyes down to a chipmunk that had crawled onto her lap. She couldn't help herself from stroking its soft fur lovingly. "But I'm…"
"You know our mother was also scared of having you," Kailen said, finally putting his own plans of helping her in motion.
"She was?" Neo lifted her eyes to her brother. "Really? But you said she was so confident when you talked about her back on Luminous."
"She was a very confident woman," Kailen said. He shifted his position. Leaning against a tree, he pulled Neo back into his arms. "But she was also very scared when she learned that she was going to have a baby. And not just anyway baby, a royal. It's just natural for mothers and even fathers to become scared when they're going to have their first child."
"Sanji and Robin have said something like that before," Neo said.
"You know, there's probably not a single person, elemental or human or even mink, that wasn't scared when it came to having their first child," Kailen said. "But you're a special case. You have a lot of fears of your past that you still haven't worked through. And having a child in the lives that you and Law lead just makes it even scarier. You know I was also scared."
"You were? Why? You weren't the one having a child," Neo said peaking up at him.
"I know. But I was getting a new sibling for the first time after being an only child for so long," Kailen said. "And it scared me that our parents might not love me anymore since they were having a biological child of their own."
"What?" Neo asked.
"I know it sounds kind of silly now, but I was just a kid then," Kailen said. "I had lost my own mother, never really knew my father, and was suddenly getting a new addition to my still fairly new family. But both mother and father picked up on it easily and talked to me about it. They told me that I was their son and always will be. They even let me go to the healer when mother went for check ups. So in a way, I got to know you a little bit before you were born. And that helped me accept you a lot easier. I knew that I would always be a part of your family and would always do what I could to protect you no matter how much more powerful you were going to be than I was."
"I'm not more powerful than you," Neo said. "I'm still very weak."
"No, you're not." Kailen shook his head. "You're a lot stronger than you let yourself realize. And I'm not talking about your crystals. Just think about all the obstacles you have overcome since you've lived with the Heart Pirates. And this is something you can also overcome with their help."
Neo dropped her eyes from him in thought before saying, "But I've been so terrible to Law. I yelled at him. I blamed him for this."
"You were just frustrated. I know he understands that," Kailen said. "And he's worried about you. He wants to help you but doesn't know how because you won't tell him what's going on in your mind. I bet you're also blocking your thoughts from him. That doesn't help anything either."
"You're correct. I've been pushing Law away in more ways than one," she said while she pondered on his words. Her eyes then happened to land on the backpack that was sitting on the ground beside her brother. "What's that?"
"A few of the presents we've brought for you," Kailen replied.
"Presents?" Neo asked, turning her eyes back up to his.
"Yeah." Kailen nodded. "I only brought these with me. The rest are back with Healer Zinnia." He grabbed the bag and pulled it closer to them. "Here, why don't you look inside?"
Neo took the bag from him. Unzipping it, she slowly opened it and pulled out everything that was inside. First came three toys that she immediately remembered seeing in her baby room in their parents' house. They were a bear, a rabbit, and a seal. She carefully examined them before placing them on her lap and pulling out the remaining items inside of the bag. It was her baby blanket and three shirts. "You brought me shirts?"
"They're maternity shirts that our mother wore before we had to leave Luminous," Kailen said. He ran his fingers over the fabric of the shirts. "They might be a little bit big for you but Topaz can easily alter them to fit you better. Mother would want you to have them."
She ran her hand over the multicolored fuzz of her baby blanket and the shirts as tears gathered in her eyes again. She gathered the toys back into her arms and hugged them tightly to her chest. "I've been such a child."
"Maybe," Kailen said. "But we all are allow our moments of weaknesses and fears. So you have nothing to feel guilty about."
"Yes, I do," Neo said. "I've been so distant and cold to the people I can most about in the world, especially Law."
"You can make that right again," Kailen said. "They're still very worried about you."
"Yeah." Neo nodded and wiped her tears away. She immediately opened her bond back up with Law. She could feel the restless sleep he was currently in. "I want to go see him. I need to go see him."
"Of course," Kailen said. He helped her put the items he brought her back into the bag before they stood up.
Neo immediately summoned her wind crystals. Wrapping her winds around them both, she immediately flew them right back to the crew. Momentarily shocked by Jory's arrival, but she forced that aside. She would easily get the reason for him being here later. In this moment all that mattered was getting to Law. So she rushed towards the building, but quickly addressed everyone before entering. "I'm sorry everyone. I'll apologize for my behavior later, but right now I really need to see Law."
"Don't worry about it, Neo," Penguin said. "We all know the captain comes first to you."
"You all come first to me," Neo said, pausing at the front door. "I love you all so much."
"We love you too!" the crew said.
Neo smiled at them before disappearing into the door. She rushed immediately to the room she knew Law was in. Jerking open the door, she stepped inside and closed it behind her. She then rushed over to the bed where Law was laying. She paused at the side of the bed and just watched him. Just as she felt before, he was asleep but it wasn't restful. The cover was tangled around his ankles, his hair was a mess, and he was hugging the extra pillow that she would have been using if she were sleeping beside him. She felt extremely guilty for what she had put him through and for what she had said to him last night. But it was time to get over that. It was time for her to confess her fears and everything else to him.
"Law?" She sat down on the edge of the bed. Placing her hand on his arm as she woke him from his restless slumber. "Law, wake up."
"Hm?" Law shifted before waking up fully. Startled from her arrival and being awake before he was, he sat up and looked at her. "Neo, what is it? Are you all right?"
"Law, I'm…"
Law grabbed her shoulders in concern. "What is it? Is something wrong?"
"Law, I…" Neo took a slow, deep breath. Forcing all of her fears and anxieties away, she finally said the one thing she hasn't been able to admit yet. "I'm pregnant."
"Uh." Law blinked in confusion. He wondered if his hazy brain from not sleeping and suddenly waking up was working correctly. He really had no idea if she actually admitted that she was pregnant or if he was dreaming. "Neo, what did you-"
"I am so sorry!" Neo said, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I've been so cold towards you and everyone else! I'm scared, Law! And not because of my neophobia! I'm still scared because this is new and everything, but I'm far more scared because of… because of how I was treated! So many people hated me because I was different! And I know that's going to happen to our baby! And I can't stand the thought of… of our baby being hated by so many people! But it's going to happen! Our baby is not only going to be an elemental, but he's also going to be born from parents who chose the life of pirates! All I can think about is how Fire Fist Ace was hated and killed because he was the son of the pirate king! And how I hurt so many people back on Mertensia! I'm afraid that I'm going to hurt our child as well!"
Law mentally cursed and kicked himself when she said that. He wanted to stop her right there, but forced himself not to. He knew she needed to get it all out before he spoke up.
"I've known since the beginning that I was pregnant! Since Monet cornered me in the Biscuits Room! I didn't realize it then, but looking back I already knew! I know this is really happening but still tried to pretend it wasn't by not admitting it! I was just being naive in think that if I didn't admit it then it wouldn't actually happen! But I know it is!" She placed her hand on her stomach. "I can feel our baby growing everyday! And instead of just talking to you about how I was feeling and about what was happening in my nightmares I blamed you for this! I blamed you and ran away from you! I'm sorry, Law! I'm so sorry!"
"Neo," Law said softly. Quickly, he placed the pillows behind him. He then grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "It's okay."
"No! It's not!" Neo cried. Her fingers curled tightly around his shirt as she continued to cry. "It's not okay! I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did! I shouldn't have blamed you for anything! I should have told you about my nightmares! I should have told you everything!"
"But it was my fault," Law said.
"No! It wasn't!" Neo insisted. "I know it takes both a man and a woman to create a baby! I know that! You taught me that!"
"Shh, love. It's okay. Really, it is," Law said. He kept his left arm tightly around her while he rubbed her back with his other hand. "It is my fault because I still knew this was a possibility and I didn't prepare you for it like I normally do. I got overconfident in thinking I could prevent this. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about how you unintentionally hurt so many people on Mertensia. And I forgot that society looks down on the children of pirates and executes them when they are captured. I also forgot that, while you didn't actually see Fire Fist's death, you were still there and saw what the effect of that took on Straw Hat. And you were correct in saying I was obsessed with my revenge. I was. If I weren't so obsessed with taking down Doflamingo I would have noticed that you were pregnant long before arriving at Dressrosa. I, too, was being naive. I noticed the signs, but just attributed them to stress from being away from the crew."
"Signs?" Neo asked. She pulled away from him just enough to look up at him. "What do you mean? I'm not human. You don't know the signs of an elemental pregnancy."
"I actually knew a small handful of them," Law said. His eyes filled with guilt while he brushed away her tears. "That healer woman actually snuck some elemental pregnancy books in with the rest of your books. When I found them I looked at one and saw some of the signs that you were showing. But, like I said, I was overconfident. I didn't think that I needed to read them and had Bepo put them down in one of the storage rooms. I'm sorry, love. I didn't really mean to keep you in the dark about them. I was just being stupid myself. After that I never thought about them again. At least, not until Blackleg help me accept the fact that you were pregnant."
"He did that?" Neo asked. "When?"
Law closed his eyes and tilted his head back while he gathered his thoughts. He then looked back down at her and said, "It was after we took our nap on the Straw Hats' ship. I went into the bathroom after jumping from that dream that I had when we were sitting at the table outside. You went up to the crow's nest with Nico. He was waiting for me to come out. When I did he took be to the library where he confronted me about my denial of the situation."
"You were in denial about it?" Neo asked.
"I was because I didn't want to believe it was true," Law said. "Because I was scared. I still am."
"You? You're scared?" Neo asked. She ran her confused eyes over his face. She couldn't get a trace of him feeling scared out of him. "But I don't sense it."
"That's because I've been guarding my feelings about this," Law said. He then relaxed his guard, letting her feeling his own intense fears of having a child.
Neo gasped when his feelings hit her. His fears were equal to her own. There were several questions running around in his head about how he was going to be as a parent, how he was going to be able to help her through everything that came with being pregnant, how he didn't have his own parents anymore to help him through this, now how their child was going to be treated by society, along with several other questions and fears. She couldn't really believe that he was actually so scared. He was always the confident one of their relationship. He was always the rock she needed to lean on. She never would have imagined that he, of all people, would be as scared as he was. "Oh, Law. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize. I didn't know that you were scared too. I should have. I should have noticed that you were hiding your feelings from me. I have been very selfish. I'm sorry."
"You weren't being selfish," Law said. "You were reacting normally. I knew you needed me to be the support that I've always been for you. So I hid my fears so I wouldn't upset you anymore than you already were."
"Stop it. I don't want you to do that anymore," Neo said. "I don't want you to hide your feelings from me about this. We're in this together, Law. If you're having fears of your own, I want you to come talk to me about it. And I'll try to work on not being so scared anymore. I'll try to be stronger and less afraid for you."
"You don't have to be less afraid. It's a normal reaction to thing," Law said. He picked up her hand and placed a kiss into her palm. "It can save your life in certain times. I want you to feel what you do. And I don't want you to feel like you can't come talk to. You know you can."
"I know," Neo said. "I won't run away from you again."
"I know you won't," Law said before Neo rested her head against his shoulder and pressed her eyes into his neck. He placed a gentle kiss into her hair before nuzzling into her. His hand then found its way to her baby bump. He softly caressed her while she placed her hand over his. "Neo, I promise that I will protect our baby just like I have and always will protect you. I can't control how other people feel about children from pirates. So I won't be able to stop them from hating our child, but I will do what I can to protect you both."
"I know you will," Neo said.
"Do you want to tell me about your nightmares now and why you were dreaming about a baby crib?" Law asked.
"They were the same nightmares as before. The only difference was babies kept appearing," Neo said. "One in particular was in a crystal crib."
"A crystal crib?" Law asked. "Yours from Luminous?"
"Yeah." Neo nodded. She tilted her eyes up to his, her mind flashing back to the baby in her dream. The baby that looked so much like Law that it had to be the child she was carrying inside of her. Though she had no way to prove if that was true. It was only a gut feeling she had. But was it possible for people to dream about their child and actually see what they were going to look like when they were born? Or was her dream just influenced by Law because she cared about him so much? "I thought that I was killing him and the other babies that had appeared. But I didn't. Cora helped me get through the nightmare and see that I actually protected our baby or the baby in my nightmare. I didn't hurt him at all. I was so scared that I did. But I didn't. He was fine. I saved him."
"I see. So you met with Cora again?" Law said. "And he helped you accept your pregnancy?"
"I like to think that he did by helping me see my nightmare through so I knew I wasn't going to hurt our dream baby," Neo said. "And, honestly, I don't think I'm really completely okay just yet with having a baby, but Kailen helped me by telling me that our mother was also scared."
"Kailen?" Law asked. He then sensed the extra elementals that were outside the building. "Wait… is that healer woman here too?"
"They both are. And so is Jory," Neo said. "Kailen brought some baby toys and my baby blanket that was back on Luminous. Godfather sent elementals back to Luminous to tell him and Healer Zinnia about me after I spoke with him. I think I need both of them here to help with this. It still might take some time though."
"Of course it will," Law said. "You can take all the time that you need to adjust to this. We're all right here for you. Don't worry about anything else."
"Worrying is what I do, Law," Neo said with a smile. "It's not going to stop. I love you all far too much."
"We're going to have to do something about that," Law said while he gently dug his fingers into her side, making her squeal and squirm. "Worrying while pregnant isn't healthy for you or our baby."
"Snuggles always calms me down," Neo said before snuggling more into him. "You'll just have to snuggle with me a lot more. And I mean a lot more. I want snuggles right now."
Law chuckled at her reaction and suggestion and tightened his hold on her more. "I think I might be able to manage that."
"Good," Neo murmured before both drifted off to sleep for a quick nap. Fifteen minutes later they woke up at the same time, both feeling better than they have since Law told her she was pregnant. She nuzzled into his neck and said, "Law?"
"Hm?"
"I want to see." She lifted her eyes to him. "I want to see our baby. As soon as we get back to the sub."
"Of course." Law nodded with a smile. His eyes lingered on her electric blue orbs for a few seconds before his brain registered they were back to normal. "Hey, your eyes are blue again."
"I'm glad," Neo said.
"I'm glad too," Law said.
"We're going to be okay," she said. "And so will our baby."
"Of course we will be. And so will our baby," he said before leaning down and capturing her lips with his own. He placed slow, tender kisses on her lips before tracing the tip of his tongue over her, asking to be let in. He growled when she didn't immediately give into him. Both smiled into their kiss before she gladly parted her lips for him. He instantly glided his tongue around her warm cavern, just tasting every single inch of her before she stole the lead from him.
Summoning her wind and earth crystals, she wrapped a couple vines around his ankles, and simultaneously, she lifted herself off of him with her winds and pulled him down into lying on the bed. She giggled at the shocked look on his face. "What?"
"I'm just still not use to you being so aggressive," Law said.
"Oh?" she asked playfully before she started to undo the buttons on his shirt and jeans. "Don't you like it?"
"I like it a lot," Law said. He placed his hands on her hips, grinding her into him. "It's just I'm not use to it so I'm going to have to get use to it. But I'm going to enjoy it."
"Maybe you will," Neo said teasingly while she threaded a vine into his jeans. She smiled at the lust she caused him as her vine slithered down his skin, curling halfway around him before she pulled it away with a mischievous grin.
"Neo," Law warned.
"What?" Neo asked innocently. "You said you were going to have to get use to this. I'm just helping you along. After all, practice makes perfect, correct?"
"No, you're not practicing anything. You're teasing me," Law said. "You have no real desire to actually have sex right now."
Neo hummed while she leaned down and placed teasing kisses and licks along his chest, shoulders, and neck until she placed her lips on his. She smiled against his lips when he bucked up against her in annoyance at the teasing. Barely parting her lips from his, she said, "You're absolutely correct."
"Such a shame," Law said. He ran his hands up and down her almost bare sides. "I would have loved to rip this dress off of you. There's not much there. It would have been so easy."
"Perhaps," she said before kissing him again. "But we have guests to attend to before we go meet back up with the Straw Hats."
"Oh, right," Law said just as Neo crawled off him and the bed. "I forgot about them."
"Get up and lets go see them," Neo said. Using her vines, she pulled him off the bed while placing his hat back on his head with her winds. "You can leave your shirt unbutton but button up your jeans. I don't want any other woman… on second thought button up your shirt too. No woman is going to look at your chest but for me. I already suffered enough of that while in Dressrosa. Despite not being around you much, I know other women were looking at you."
Law chuckled but did as she wished before grabbing his sword from where he perched it against the wall near the bed. He then walked over to her, stole one last kiss before the two headed outside in each other's arms. While heading outside she said, "You know, once your arm is completely heal you're going to carry me everywhere."
"I am, am I?" Law asked.
"Yes," Neo said firmly. "Consider it part of keeping me calm. I want as many cuddles with you as I can get for that and for making up for what you put me through."
"All right," Law said before pressed a kiss to her hair. "I'll do whatever you wish to make up for all the stupid stuff I've put you through lately."
"You're such a good boy," Neo said. She tilted her lips to him, mentally calling for him to kiss her.
He did. He pressed his lips to her in a short, but intense kiss before finally passing through the door. The two stopped at the top of the stairs to take in their crew and the elementals that were waiting for them to come outside. Aiming this question right at the healer, he said, "What the heck are you doing here?"
"I'm here to do my job," Healer Zinnia said with a smirk. "I knew this would happen at some point in time. So you can imagine how surprised I was when Shanks sent messengers to us about the princess being pregnant. And it's a good thing we came when we did. The poor thing was a complete wreck. What did you do to her?"
Law grumbled, unwilling to actually answer that question.
Neo couldn't help but giggle while she pulled him down the stairs to join the group waiting for them.
"Hey! You giggled! And it was real!" Penguin said, rushing up to his sister to hug her. "It's so good to hear your bells again! And your eyes are blue again too! You're back! Our favorite girl is back to normal!"
"Yeah!" Neo hugged him back. "I'm back to normal now. Or close to it anyway. I'm still very scared about having a baby though. But I know I have my family to support me and everything will be fine."
"You actually said it," Bepo said. "You said you're having a baby."
"Neo, are you actually admitting that you're pregnant?" Topaz asked.
"I am." Neo nodded. She then placed her hand on her stomach before looking at her family. "I'm pregnant. And I want to thank you all for being so patient with me. I'm so sorry for how I've been acting."
"It's all right," Shachi said as they all gathered around their captains to give their favorite blue haired one a hug. "We still love you."
"Neo," Bepo said a bit shyly once the hugs were done. "Would it be all right if I touch your tummy?"
"Uh, I guess so," Neo said. "But what for?"
"People often want to touch the stomach of a pregnant woman because they love babies. Some assume also because it about unification because babies are so fragile and so are their mothers at times," Law said.
"People are going to touch me?" Neo asked. Her face turned pale at the thought of a bunch of strangers' toughing her while she grabbed onto Law's arm for support.
"You just had to say it," Healer Zinnia said while shooting Law a disapproving glare. "Her blood pressure is probably off the charts right now. You should know better by now. I guess I'm going to have to monitor her blood pressure constantly since you're not going to."
"I am monitoring her blood pressure right now through our bond." Law shot the glare right back before tending to Neo. "Easy, love. No one outside of who you're comfortable with is going to touch you. I just want you to be aware that people are going to try and do it. I'm going to be accompanying you off the sub for a while once we get back on the sea. At least until you get use to people trying to touch you. But you'll use your crystals to keep people at bay easily enough so you won't have to worry about it so much."
"Oh," Neo said, calming back down. "That's good to know."
"I don't have to touch you," Bepo said.
"It's okay, Bepo." Neo took his paw and placed it on her stomach. "You know I don't mind, at least not right now. I don't know about how I'll feel about being touched later with my mood swings and all. But I'll try to warn you all if I'm going to get cranky or playful."
"Great," Tero said. "That's much appreciated."
"Don't be a jerk!" Topaz and Ikkaku said.
"Is it always like this?" Jory then asked.
"Pretty much," Uni said. "So, who are you exactly?"
"Jory," Jory replied. "I met your crew before you were part of it apparently. I was working for the navy."
"What?!" Uni screamed. "N-N-Navy?!"
"Don't worry," Jory said. "I'm no longer working for them. Things got a bit intense since the arrival of the pollution stones."
"So you had to leave after all," Law said and Jory nodded.
"I'm sorry," Neo said. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"There's no need for you to apologize," Jory said. "This is actually a good thing. If you two hadn't gone to Dressrosa and confronted everything there then we might not have ever known about the pollution stone until it was too late. This way our people can become aware about them and try to avoid them."
"That's not going to be easy since someone can just hide the stone then pull it out when they're on top of an elemental," Shachi said.
"But we still have a chance knowing they exist," Jory said. "Usually when you find one elemental in the human world more will be close by. And they'll be more aware now with these stones around. Plus we have human allies just as the princess does. We're not going to be wiped out or anything."
"But we still have the issue of the navy knowing," Clione said. "We've been told that Luminous is protected by magic and is hard to find, but it's still possible to get there. The navy could disguise themselves as civilians and attack Luminous."
"That's why I've decided to go back to Luminous," Jory said.
"You're going back?" Neo asked.
"I am." Jory nodded. "I only came here to check on you."
"I figured you'd stay with us," Penguin said.
"I thought about it," Jory said. "But I'll be more of use to our home island than I would be to you all. You and your crew already know how to handle the navy. Our people don't have a clue how to handle them. So I'm going to help train them and inform them on Navy tactics."
"That makes a lot of sense," Penguin said. "You can also take back the information we have on the pollution stones. The captain has compiled some files on the stones from the man who used them against Neo in Dressrosa."
"I have a copy of one of the books in my room," Clione said. "You can take that one with you when you leave. The elementals here are also making other copies. You can take a few of them with you."
"All right." Jory nodded.
"I'd also like to see the files on those stones," Healer Zinnia said. She pushed her glassed up again before smiling at Neo. "But that can wait until later. There's something else we'd like to do right now."
"Oh?" Neo tilted her head. "What's that?"
"I'm sure Kailen has already given you some of your gifts," Healer Zinnia said.
"Yeah." Neo nodded.
"Gifts?" Law asked.
"When Shanks contacted us through the elementals, he asked me to bring some stuff that I thought might help Neo with accepting her pregnancy," Kailen explained. "I really had no clue what to do about that so, after getting some advice from an anonymous source, I gathered up a few things from her baby room and a few shirts that belongs to our mother. But we do have a few other things we'd like to give you."
One of the wind elementals then summoned a crystal and moved two of the covered items they had with them right in front of Neo and Law. One looked like it was a tall box while the other kind of looked like a chair. Neo looked up at Law, slightly confused about this. But with a smile from him, she stepped forward with him by her side. Without another word she opened the two gifts. A small gasp left her lips when she saw what they were. They were the rocking chair and crib from her room back on Luminous.
Law was also in slight shock about seeing her crib and the rocking chair. They were the same ones he saw in his dream. He couldn't believe he had dreamed about them. He was glad Kailen had brought them since they were going to be used, but still couldn't believe that a part of his dream came true. Did that mean the baby that he and Neo have been seeing was really their child? Or was this all just a coincidence?
Tears glistened in her eyes as Neo reached out and ran her hand over the crystal bars of the crib that use to be meant for her. She said, "I don't believe it. You actually brought these with you?"
"I did," Kailen said. "I was hoping you'd like having them around. I know you never had a woman figure in your life, especially one who's had a child, so I was hoping that these gifts would ease your concerns about having a baby."
"Kailen," Neo said. She stepped away from Law and wrapped her arms around her brother. "They're wonderful! Thank you so much!"
Kailen smiled. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to him.
"This are exactly the same ones I dreamed about," Law murmured.
"What's that, Captain?" Bepo asked.
"Uh, nothing," Law said. He let his hat fall over his eyes and shoved his sword free hand into his pocket.
'Did you have a dream about these?'
'I did. But I didn't think they'd end up here like this.'
'So that's why you're so surprised. It's weird how our dreams are coming true, isn't it?' Neo looked over at Law. Locking eyes with each other they both had the exact same thought. 'Law, you don't think that the baby in our dreams…'
'I don't know. I also dreamed about our baby. It wasn't as vivid as yours have been. But still...' Law's eyes dropped to Neo's stomach.
"So what's all this other stuff? More gifts for Neo?" Shachi asked as he eyed the remaining packages.
"In a way," Healer Zinnia said. "I brought some stuff from my ward to assist in the princess' pregnancy. That means, while I'm aboard your ship I'll require a room to set up for the birth and for check ups."
Law grumbled under his breath, but still knew to give in to the healer. After all he didn't know what he was doing here. And even if he did read the books the healer gave him it still wouldn't mean he was capable of properly caring for Neo. He knew he was going to be in a mess of his own when she went into labor. Having someone here that knew what they were doing, and weren't as close to Neo as he was, would be beneficial. So with an annoyed huff, he swallowed his pride and said, "Fine. Once we get back to the sub we'll pick you out a medical room to set up however you wish. But I expect to be consulted in everything that concerns Neo and our baby."
"Nothing has changed with you since you two were on Luminous," Healer Zinnia said with a chuckle. "Don't worry. I remember all of your rules from that time."
"You're really going to travel with us while Neo's pregnant?" Shachi asked. "That's great, but what about your patients back on Luminous? Aren't they going to miss you? You are the top healer there after all."
"And that's why I'm here," Healer Zinnia said. "I don't believe there was a single soul on Luminous that didn't want me to come here. And you don't have to worry about anyone else. There are plenty of gifted healers on Luminous. You all remember Selene, correct?"
Law twitched in annoyance. Everyone remember her.
Neo frowned and grabbed back onto Law's arm. "Yeah. I haven't been able to forget her."
"What about her?" Penguin asked.
"She's actually improved on her skills and is working her way up to be one of the top healers on Luminous," Healer Zinnia said. "I think the little run in she had with the princess and Trafalgar here cured her of her incurable flirting habit."
"I didn't think that was possible," Shachi said.
"So you have nothing to worry about," Healer Zinnia said. "Everyone back on Luminous is in good hands."
"That's good to hear," Neo said, snuggling possessively into Law's arm. "But can we please stop talking about her?"
"Of course, Princess. I apologize," Healer Zinnia said. "I should have been more considerate. Your blood pressure is probably up right now because of me mentioning her."
"It's fine," Neo said. "It did upset me a bit, but we also need to meet up with the Straw Hats soon."
"Yes, of course. But before you leave, I'd like to give you a quick check up and put one of my crystals on your chest to monitor how your blood pressure is doing," Healer Zinnia said. "Would that be all right?"
"Yes, it will be fine," Neo said. She then looked up at Law, knowing he'd be more annoyed with this than she was.
"It's fine," Law said. "Let's get this over with."
The small group of three then started to move towards the house the Heart Pirates were using when suddenly Neo looked up at the sky. She smiled when a rainbow appeared. "Look. It's a rainbow."
"It's pretty," Topaz said as they all looked upwards.
"Yeah," Neo said. She looked at Law. The two shared a sweet smile before placing a hand each on her stomach. "It is."
…
Author's Notes: Well, there it is. Hope it was fine. Neo's confession came out so much better in my head though.
Sarge1130: I thought about having it be Topaz that snapped her out of it but then it didn't really make sense for Topaz to do that since she's an orphan too and never had a kid. So I brought back the one person who made sense in helping her. Glad you still like my story. I love reading your reviews. Hope to get my other stories going again soon.
Apple Bloom: Yeah. It's just a shame we're about caught up to the manga. If I can think of some small adventures to happen while they're traveling to Wano I'll do them. But for now I'll work on these last chapters, my other stories which I really need to get going again and my updates for this one.
