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Sanji left his friends to go to sleep, letting them laugh and chat with each other around the fire. He lit a cigarette and started smoking while walking and heading towards his bed, but as he passed by a small pond he noticed a figure sitting next to it. He stopped and then on closer inspection he recognized Law, realizing that he hadn't seen him for several hours and wondered if he had been sitting here all along. He observed him for a few seconds, hesitating, before finally approaching him.
Law watched the moon reflected in the water in front of him, slowly undulating in a movement that calmed him as he was immersed in his thoughts. He didn't even pay attention to the muffled sound of the Strawhat crew and his own a few dozen feet away, preferring to focus on the sound of the water flowing from a bamboo tree slamming against the rock at regular intervals.
He had been thinking about what was to come since they were in Wano and he didn't feel like taking part in the good mood between his friends and allies, so he decided to isolate himself a little. After a while he felt a glance on him and looked around to see who it was, that's when he noticed Sanji a few feet away from him.
"Kuroashi-ya," he said, surprised to see him here. "Have you been here for long?”
The blond man shrugged and stepped forward to sit beside him. "A few seconds. What about you?”
Law sketched a smile. "A few hours.”
Sanji wondered why he stayed alone so often, he didn't often see him taking part in conversations and parties with others, and when he thought he was alone he regularly saw him with a nostalgic look on his face. He sometimes asked himself what he could think about during all those moments when he was immersed in his thoughts.
Both of them remained silent for a few moments, one enjoying the soothing silence while the other was thinking while watching the smoke he was blowing dissipate in front of him. "Hey, Law... Can I ask you something?”
The surgeon looked up at him, surprised, but nodded.
"The plan you had to beat Kaido was really just to put Doflamingo out of business, wasn't it?”
Law lowered his gaze, it was already him who guessed something was wrong while they were still in Dressrosa. He simply nodded again as an answer.
Sanji hesitated before resuming. He heard from some of his friends what had happened on top of the royal palace in Dressrosa, but he was curious to know where his resentment had been coming from all this time. He watched Law's face for a few seconds, waiting for an answer that he doubted he would get when Law finally sighed.
"It's... complicated... and quite a long story," The dark-haired guy didn't want to bother Sanji with the sad story of his life, he was allied with his captain but he didn't want to bond too much with the Straw Hat crew or be pitied by them, after all, once Kaido was defeated they might become enemies again, although he doubted Luffy would see it that way. Even so, he felt strangely closer to Sanji than the other members of his crew, and he had a little less trouble talking to him.
"I have time," Sanji shrugged, he felt Law was not so reluctant to talk about him as he would have thought, and was too curious to pass up the opportunity to know a bit more about him, so he just kept silent, his eyes on him until he resumed.
The surgeon could see he wasn't going to get rid of the Mugiwara cook so easily, he seemed determined to learn the truth so he sighed again before beginning his story, not planning to dwell on the details. "Doflamingo... he killed someone very dear to me a while ago. It was his own brother, actually. »
In spite of himself he felt memories flooding into his mind: snow, the birdcage above his head and the silence of his cries as he fled without looking back. Sometimes he would wake up because of the images of a burning hospital, but in any case he usually couldn't sleep afterwards.
Sanji opened his eyes in surprise, he didn't think Law had undertaken this whole plan to avenge Doflamingo's brother, he was ready to ask him more questions and find out more, but he noticed his eyes changing. Seeing this he wasn't sure he wanted to keep talking about it, the other man seemed affected by painful memories, yet he kept going.
"It all happened thirteen years ago anyway, it's been a long time," He exhaled, trying to hide how happy and relieved he was to know Doflamingo couldn't do any harm anymore after what he had done. He felt that justice has been done, even though he might have preferred to kill him so he would know what it felt like. A life for a life.
Sanji watched Law in silence, waiting for him to say more as his cigarette burned alone between his fingers, too focused on the man next to him to smoke, but he didn't seem to want to continue. "I get that you know Doflamingo and his crew for a long time but... how did you met them?” If all this happened thirteen years ago Law must've been a child at this time. How does a kid join a pirate crew of this stature ? He was getting more and more curious.
Law smiled a bit with no joy. He had the feeling Sanji wasn't going to let him go until he told him everything from the beginning. "Alright...” he shifted a bit to face him. “Since you're from North Blue, I'm sure you heard about Flevance.”
The blond frowned and nodded, though he didn't understand the link between Law and this. “Yeah, pretty much everyone heard about what happened there. There was an epidemic and the World Government had to intervene to prevent it to spread outside the island. There was no survivor.”
Law chuckled hearing that “Well, that's the official version." He didn't want to dwell on the details and remember more bad things, but at least he wanted Sanji to know what it was really like. "The World Government knew about the Amber Lead Syndrom and hid it from everyone, then lauched a raid on Flevance to annihilate it later. As for the survivors... there was at least one.”
He let that sink in Sanji's mind and noticed the surprised look on his face. He saw him open his mouth and suspected it was to ask another question about it but even though he enjoyed his presence and talking with him, he didn't want to discuss the fate of his family and friends tonight, even though this event had happened years earlier he didn't have the courage to go back into it now. "Anyway," he resumed before the cook spoke. "It's after this that I met the Donquixote Family and to summarize it Doflamingo's brother... Cora-san, he took care of me and pretty much betrayed his brother to save my life.”
He lowered his eyes, feeling a wave of anger and sadness rise up inside him as he thought again about what had happened that night. He knew he could have avoided this if he hadn't made the mistake of crossing Vergo's path, then Doflamingo would never have known what Corazon had done and they could have simply left safely and healed. Unfortunately he will never know what could have happened if he had done the right thing, if he hadn't caused the death of the person he loved the most in the world and...
He suddenly looked up and out of his thoughts, feeling arms around him and a body pressed against his own, and looked at Sanji, surprised.
Seeing Law's expression darken from second to second as the silence stretched after what he said, the Straw Hats' cook couldn't help but do something to reassure him and the first thing that came to his mind was to hug him. He assumed Law felt guilty and was angry because of what happened, not only towards Doflamingo but towards himself as well. He hid his face against Law's shoulder, too embarrassed to look him in the eye now that he was in his arms and was surprised that Law didn't push him away. "Hey. I know it won't change anything but...At least it's over now, right? This bastard will rot in Impel Down for the rest of his life.”
Law moved to let go of Sanji's embrace but didn't in the end, the warmth of his body and the arms around his neck were pleasant. He hadn't felt this for a long time, so rather than moving away, he hesitantly put his arms around Sanji's waist to hug him too. "I guess you're right." He then closed his eyes and enjoyed the embrace.
Sanji kept hugging him for a while, until he felt Law laughing softly, then he released him with a questioning look and slightly red cheeks, a little embarrassed to be so close to him. "...What's so funny?"
Law shook his head gently and hesitated for a moment before raising his hand to ruffle Sanji's hair. "Nothing... thanks though,” He then stood up and picked up his gun and cap. "It was nice talking with you. Good night Kuroashi-ya.” Then he walked away, the blond man's gaze following him until he disappeared around a house. While the others kept having fun and talking, Law lay down and thought back to the warmth of Sanji's embrace and his expression as he fell asleep, a small smile taking place on his lips.