Chapter Text
Law looked up as Shachi slipped back into the room, shutting the door behind him as quietly as possible. Initially, the four Heart Pirates had planned to spend the night on the Polar Tang after having dinner at the inn, but then Doflamingo had shown up. (Law was still trying to wrap his head around that having happened. Part of him thought he might wake up and find that this was another nightmare.) The Warlord had arranged a room for them and insisted they stay the night. Probably to prevent them from taking off in the middle of the night.
Law sneered at the thought; after four years, Doflamingo didn’t know Law very well if he thought this arrangement would keep him from trying to escape—from trying to get his friends to safety.
“Well?” Penguin asked as Shachi turned back to the room.
Shachi looked over the group briefly. There were two beds in the room; Law sat on the furthest bed, his legs pulled up underneath him and his hat resting on the bedside table. Bepo sat on the floor next to him while Penguin paced restlessly at the foot of the beds. Night had fallen, and they had one lantern on, giving off only dim light to the four plotting teenagers. “He’s still downstairs, drinking wine and reading a book.”
No doubt the poor innkeeper was still wrapped up in strings, being forced to cater to the man’s whims. At least Doflamingo had allowed the other diners at the inn to leave after Law had agreed to return to the Family earlier that evening.
“Okay,” Law said. “We’re only going to get one shot at this.”
“We’re ready, Captain,” Bepo said. Shachi and Penguin nodded in agreement.
“Get some rest,” Law told them. “I’ll let you know when it’s time.”
“What about you?” Penguin asked with a frown.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen tonight,” Law said, rubbing an absent hand through his hair. Not with the source of his nightmares one floor down. Seeing the other man made Law so fucking angry but also so fucking terrified.
The moment Doflamingo had turned to look at him, Law had been transported back to Minion Island; he could feel the walls of the treasure chest pressing in on him as he was made a helpless witness to tragedy. And he’d been just as helpless as Doflamingo had threatened the lives of his friends to force Law’s hand.
Law hated that man.
“Law—” Bepo started, but Law cut him off.
“It’s fine. I’ll wake you up when it’s time.”
The trio gave Law skeptical looks, but Law responded with a level look of his own and they eventually relented.
The moon was beginning its descent in the early hours of the morning when Law sat up in bed. Long after the others had turned the lantern off and gone to sleep, Law had eventually laid down and stared up at the ceiling. When Doflamingo stuck his head in the door to check in on his hostages, Law had flipped him off, which he’d snorted at before retiring to his room.
Law took a moment just to listen but couldn’t hear any signs of movement in the inn. He reached a hand over the edge of the bed and gently shook Bepo’s shoulder. The mink started awake but swallowed his surprise when he saw Law pressing a finger to his lips.
They had to be absolutely silent if this was going to work.
Cora-san, Law thought with a pang as Bepo nodded and pushed himself to his feet. His fruit really had been useful, despite Law’s teasing.
Law grabbed his hat, rolled out of his bed, and glanced out the window but didn’t see any movement on the streets below. So far so good. He pulled his hat on as he headed to the door while Bepo woke Shachi and Penguin in the next bed. Law cracked the door and peered up and down the dark hallway. Doflamingo had taken the suite at the end of the hallway, and there was no light shining under his door. Even nightmares had to sleep, it seemed.
It was time.
Law retreated into the room once more and shut the door as quietly as possible. Then he turned and nodded at the other three. They nodded back. Law headed for the window and looked out again. When there were no signs of movement, he held out a hand and opened a Room. The blue dome washed over the four and expanded until it reached the street below. Law swapped them with four rocks.
He let the Room go once they landed, and they immediately ducked into a nearby alley. Law stared at the inn, breath caught in his throat as he waited for any sign that their exit had been noticed. After several moments of nothing, he let out a sigh.
“Let’s go,” he whispered, waving for the other three to follow him.
As he led Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin through the darkened streets, sticking to the shadows and ducking into alleys to make sure they weren’t being followed, Law was loath to acknowledge that the skills he’d learned from the Donquixote Family were helping him escape now—but stealth was one of the skills drilled into the children of the Family during their training.
Maybe one day he would use those skills to take down the man himself. But he wasn’t strong enough now, so he would get himself—and his nakama—out.
Once they left the small island’s commercial district without any signs of pursuit, Law felt a tightness in his chest starting to loosen. However, the next stretch would be dangerous without the cover the shops and restaurants provided in the town itself. Law slowed the group and gestured toward the tree line—the only available cover on the path—and the other three nodded their understanding. The quartet slipped in amongst the trees but kept moving forward.
Every step and crunch of dirt beneath their boots, every heavy breath from their rushed pace, sounded as loud as cannon fire to Law’s ears. At one point, there was a loud snap, and Law froze before turning to see Shachi scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
“Sorry,” he mouthed as Law glared at him.
Rolling his eyes, Law motioned for the others to melt back further into the trees while he crept forward toward the road. He looked up and down the path, eyes alert for any flash of pink in the moonlight, but the road—and sky—remained empty. After several minutes with no other sounds besides the insects chirping, Law jerked his head for the group to continue.
After what felt like an eternity, they reached the bend that led to the harbor, and, as they rounded it, there were several sighs of relief from behind him at the sight of the Polar Tang shining in the moonlight, docked in the harbor only a few hundred yards away.
Freedom was only a few hundred yards away.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Bepo murmured, and Shachi and Penguin muttered their agreement.
But Law remained silent. Something felt… off. There was nothing out of place as far as Law could see, but he couldn’t shake the creeping feeling at the back of his neck.
“Come out, Law.”
Law went rigid as a voice he’d never forget echoed on the air. No, not him. Anyone but him.
On the road, a large man in a white coat stepped into view. Even though it was the middle of the night, he was wearing sunglasses—and was that a slice of bread on the side of his face? He stood in the middle of the road, his arms crossed behind him in a mockery of his Marine position.
Vergo, Law thought, hands balling into fists. His body started to tremble, remembering blows delivered on a snowy night four years earlier.
“Who is that?” Penguin whispered.
“What should we do?” Shachi added.
When Law remained silent, Bepo reached out a tentative paw. “Law?”
Law swallowed, forcefully shoving aside memories of that night. He had people who needed him now. When he loosened his fists, he saw blood in his palms. “You need to go,” he said, absently wiping his hands on his jeans.
“What?”
“We’ve been caught,” Law said, shoulders slumping. “He’s one of Doflamingo’s. He…” Law trailed off, biting his bottom lip. “He wants me, so I’ll give him what he wants.”
“Law, no!”
“No way.”
Law slapped away the hands reaching for him, meeting each of his friend’s eyes one by one. “I’m serious. You don’t know how… How that Family,” he gritted out, “works. Not really.”
“I think we got a sense,” Penguin muttered, raising a hand to his throat in memory of the razor-sharp thread that had rested there in a deadly threat only hours earlier.
Law shook his head. “That was just him playing. I spent three years with them. I can…” He swallowed. “I can handle it.”
“But—”
“Don’t make me wait now, Law,” Vergo called.
“When I give the signal, I’ll open the biggest Room I can,” Law said, cutting Bepo off, the sound of Vergo’s voice sending a tremble down Law’s spine. “I’ll get you as close to the Tang as I can. After that, get to the ship. I want you guys to go.”
“Don’t we get any say in this?” Penguin growled.
“Captain’s orders,” Law snapped. He knew he didn’t have long to show his face before Vergo lost his patience and came looking for him. He softened his tone. “Just. Thank you. These last four years have been…” He trailed off, not really knowing how to put into words what finding these three had meant to him, how they’d helped him heal after Minion Island and had given him purpose to live again.
This… this was the best way he could show his thanks to them.
“Law, don’t do this,” Bepo whispered tearfully.
“On my signal,” Law repeated then pushed himself to his feet.
“What signal?” Shachi hissed as Law strode out of the trees, chest twisting at the unhappy sounds behind him. He’d rather them angry and free than the alternative.
Vergo’s gaze found Law immediately as he emerged from the forest though his expression remained stoic. “There you are.” He tilted his head as Law walked to the center of the road and faced him. “You’ve grown, Law.”
Law clenched his jaw, anger humming under his skin as he looked at the man in front of him. The man who’d nearly killed Cora-san and Law himself after Cora had risked everything to get the Ope Ope no Mi for Law. The first Corazon.
“Why are you here, Vergo?” Law demanded. Doflamingo could have brought any of his executives with him. Why Vergo?
“Doffy had a feeling you and your little… playthings would try to run rather than take his generous offer,” Vergo said, his expression tightening. “And it’s Vergo-san, boy.”
Law scoffed. “Generous, right.”
“I don’t know what the Young Master sees in you,” Vergo sneered in return. “But you should be thankful someone like him would grant someone like you favor.” Vergo paused and collected himself. “It’s time to stop this little rebellion and go back.” He glanced around. “Where are those friends of yours?”
“I’m alone,” Law said, clenching and unclenching his fist at his side. He just needed an opening to open a Room and get them out. “I left them at the inn.”
“Oh? Running off by yourself?”
“That’s right.”
“Running is always what you’ve been best at,” Vergo considered. Law’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Vergo wasn’t wrong; Law had been running since he was ten years old and hadn’t stopped. “But I don’t believe you.”
Law’s eyes narrowed. “Well, it’s true. I left on my own. They don’t have anything to do with this.”
“Of course they do, brat.” Vergo released his hands from behind his back and revealed a bamboo staff. Law tensed. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Law opened his hand wide. “I choose the hard way,” he hissed and charged at Vergo while opening a Room. He pushed it as far out as he could toward the harbor. He felt Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin in the woods; he felt for something to switch them with near the dock. He found a pile of rope and two life jackets and was preparing to Shamble his friends when Vergo vanished.
What?
He appeared once more right in front of Law, and Law’s eyes widened. Briefly distracted, he didn’t make the switch.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Vergo said, swinging his staff at Law’s head.
There was blinding pain and then nothing.
The first thing Law felt as consciousness returned was an intense throbbing in his head. He winced and reached a hand up, only to freeze at the sound of clanking. He slit his eyes open, and his stomach dropped as he saw shackles around his wrists. When he tried to reach for his powers, nothing happened.
Seastone, Law realized in alarm. He’d only been exposed to the metal one other time when they’d accidentally run into a squad of Marines while on shore leave. They’d taken Law by surprise, but Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo had gotten him free quickly, and they’d escaped the island before the Marines could regroup. The weakening effects had left him off-kilter for the rest of the day.
That explained the heaviness of his limbs, though he was fairly certain from the throbbing in his head that he also had a concussion.
A concussion from Vergo. Either he or Doflamingo must have put Law in shackles to keep him from running after that disaster of an escape attempt. Law’s eyes widened. Where were Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin?
Law made to sit up, but the movement caused a burst of pain behind his eyes and a wave of nausea to roll through him. His stomach turned, and on instinct, he rolled to the side of the bed he’d been laid out on. He barely had a moment to appreciate the empty bucket that had been placed there before he was emptying the contents of his stomach into it. He could feel sweat beading on his forehead as he trembled through the heaving. His head protested every movement, but his insides felt like they were trying to make themselves his outsides, and all he could do was go along for the ride.
Finally, the heaving subsided, and Law rested a weary, sweat-laden forehead against the rim of the bucket. Definitely a concussion, his clinical side diagnosed helpfully.
“Fuck,” he groaned as he slowly—very slowly—righted himself then, sweating and trembling, slumped back against the headboard. Between the effects of the Seastone and the concussion, Law felt like he’d been hit by the Tang.
Once his head stopped spinning, he tried to take in his surroundings, though his vision was having a hard time coming into focus. The room he found himself in was rather elaborate, though it was obviously on a ship. In addition to the four-poster bed Law found himself on, there were nightstands, an ornate writing desk and chair, and a chaise as well as bookshelves lining the walls and velvet curtains covering the windows. Thick rugs covered the wooden floors. Additional doors led to what Law assumed was a bathroom, closet, and the rest of the ship. The lamps were set at a low light, which Law’s concussed vision grudgingly appreciated.
This was Doflamingo’s ship, Law realized, instantly going cold. He was in Doflamingo’s quarters on the Numancia Flamingo.
And Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin were nowhere to be seen.
Maybe they’d gotten away after all. Law hadn’t been able to make the switch before Vergo had knocked him out, but maybe Vergo had been satisfied with bringing Law back…
Law knew that wouldn’t be the case before the thought finished forming. He dropped his head back against the headboard, his head throbbing in protest at the movement, and let his thoughts drift.
Law was pulled back to the present when the door opened. Doflamingo stepped through the door, and Law did his best not to recoil at the man’s presence.
“You’re awake.”
“Regrettably.”
“Vergo has always been… enthusiastic when doing his job,” Doflamingo conceded.
Law gave him the best unimpressed glare he could muster in his current condition. He was certain in that moment that Doflamingo had intentionally brought Vergo over the other executives to fuck with Law. Vergo’s sadism was simply a mirror of his master’s.
“Yeah, he really gets off on beating those weaker than him.” Including terminally ill teenagers and their seriously wounded saviors.
But what about Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo? Had Vergo gotten them? Had he hurt them?
Doflamingo hummed thoughtfully before moving toward the bed. Law tensed, but the Warlord simply sat down on the edge. Law eyed him warily, his instincts screaming at the danger Law found himself in.
“But, you know, Law,” he said as though teaching a child a lesson, “Vergo wouldn’t have done what he did if you hadn’t tried to run.”
“Don’t put this on me,” Law snapped irritably before his head protested the volume of his voice, and he sank backward, eyes squeezing shut. He pried one eye partially open to glare at Doflamingo. “You’re the one blackmailing me,” he said, though his voice had little strength behind it. He shut his eye again, suddenly exhausted.
“I’m simply bringing you back where you belong, Law.”
“In shackles,” Law retorted, eyes still shut as he gestured weakly with his wrists. The Seastone shackles clanked at the movement, and Law’s arms dropped back into his lap, worn by that little movement.
“You didn’t give me much choice,” Doflamingo replied evenly.
Law wanted to argue, to point out there was always a choice and Doflamingo had made his—just as he had that day on Minion Island—but he didn’t have the strength. Instead, he just huffed his disagreement. He knew it didn’t matter what he said, anyway. Doflamingo had won.
“Where’s my crew?” Law asked tiredly. That was the most important thing.
“They’re on your ship. With Vergo.”
The relief Law felt at the first part of the answer vanished at the mention of Vergo’s name. He forced his eyes open to see Doflamingo looking at him, lips downturned. When he noticed Law looking back, his expression shifted into a smirk. Law’s insides twisted into knots and not just from the concussion.
“I want to see them,” Law said.
“Of course,” Doflamingo agreed.
In hindsight, Law should have realized Doflamingo’s easy acquiescence could only be foreboding, but in the moment, he’d been too concerned about his friends’ wellbeing to recognize the danger.
Law made to get out of the bed, biting back groans of pain from his head. Once his feet hit the floor, he tried to stand, but his legs nearly gave out. He blinked in surprise to find Doflamingo’s hand under his arm, holding him up. Embarrassed, Law pulled his arm free. Doflamingo let go with an amused huff and led Law from the room. Law followed the other man slowly, the unfamiliar weight of the Seastone leeching his strength at every step.
Eventually, they passed through a door onto the ship’s deck. Law had spent quite a bit of time on this deck, though he’d hoped to never see it again. Law was surprised to see the pastel colors of sunrise stretching out across the sky; he’d been out for hours.
Doflamingo led Law to the ship’s starboard railing. The Polar Tang was anchored next to the Numancia Flamingo. Law’s eyes widened when he saw Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo standing on the Tang’s deck, Vergo looming behind them.
“Captain!” Bepo called in relief when he saw Law.
“Captain, are you all right?” Penguin asked.
“I’m fine,” Law replied, looking the trio over. They didn’t seem to have been harmed. “What about you?”
“We’re fine, Captain,” Shachi said. “Bread Face over here,” he added, nodding back at Vergo, “found us after he got you. Left us on the Tang and took you over there.”
Vergo frowned and reached up to his face. He pulled off the bread slice and glared at it like it had insulted Doflamingo before tossing it overboard.
Law nodded. There was a lot he wanted to say to his friends but not with the audience they had now. It could wait. He started when Doflamingo spoke.
“Vergo.”
“Young Master,” Vergo acknowledged with a nod and pulled out his staff. He stepped forward.
Law’s eyes widened in understanding, and he turned to Doflamingo. “What? No—”
“Did you forget the terms of our deal, Law?” Doflamingo asked coolly. “If you do as you are told, your friends will be unharmed. Yet you tried to run.”
“It was my idea!” Law said desperately, watching as Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo noticed Vergo closing in on them. “It’s not their fault.”
Law jolted at the first sound of Vergo’s staff making contact with skin. Shachi cried out and Law, Seastone and concussion the last things on his mind, made to jump to his friends’ defense…
Only he couldn’t move. What? He looked down to see strings wrapped around his arms and legs, holding him immobile. Helplessness surged in his chest as the blows and cries from the deck of the Tang continued, and Law desperately tried to summon his powers, but the Seastone kept them locked away. He wanted to yell, to curse, to do something—his friends needed him—but he was completely out of strength.
“Stop,” Law whispered as Bepo yelped in pain. His eyes slid shut in defeat. “Please.”
“Now, now,” Doflamingo said softly, cupping Law’s cheek with a hand. Law wanted to pull away but didn’t have the energy to move. “This is your punishment. You’re a member of the Family, Law. The future Corazon.” His tone sharpened. “It’s time to act like it.”
This was really happening. Law wasn’t going to wake up gasping in his own bed like he did from his other nightmares. He really was going to return to the Family. What would Cora-san think? The thought made Law sick.
But he didn’t see any other choice.
“I’m sorry.”
“What was that?”
“I’m sorry,” Law repeated, raising his voice from a pained whisper. His lips twisted around like next words like they were poison: “Young Master.”
Doflamingo looked momentarily startled before his lips spread into a sharp grin. He released his hold on Law’s face and straightened. “Very good.” He turned to the other ship. “Vergo, enough.”
“Of course, Doffy.”
Law sagged in relief then dared to glance over at the Tang. Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin were slowly pushing their bruised bodies to their knees. Law’s heart clenched at the sight. I’m sorry, he wanted to say. This is all my fault.
But he didn’t have a chance as Doflamingo declared, “We leave for Dressrosa.” Sailors Law hadn’t noticed before immediately sprang into action to prepare the ship for departure. With a heavy hand on Law’s shoulder, Doflamingo steered the stunned teen back inside the ship as Vergo barked orders from the deck of the Polar Tang.
“Come, Law.” Doflamingo said as they left the deck. “We have much to catch up on.”
Law had no choice but to follow.