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Law sighed as he kicked the door shut behind him.
“Hi, Torao!” Luffy shouted from the kitchen.
The doctor grunted and walked into the living room, toeing his shoes off by the couch and picking up the remote, turning on the television. One glance at the screen had his blood running cold, a familiar numbing sensation spreading throughout his body. The remote slid from his limp hand, clattering loudly on the hard floor.
“What are you doing out here, Tora...o...”
Luffy's voice trailed off as he entered the room, eyes locked on the news report.
“Caught in the crossfire between a group of criminals and policemen, 21 year old Portgas D. Ace was shot on orders of Police Chief Akainu, who claimed to have thought the boy to be a member of the gang trying to escape. According the medical personnel who arrived on the scene, he was mumbling, “Luffy, everyone, thank you for loving me...” before he succumbed to his wounds and died on the way to the hospital.”
Luffy fell to his knees beside Law, screaming as tears ran down his face. “Ace!!”
Law's knees buckled and he barely stumbled back in time to land on the couch rather than the floor. He felt like he couldn't breathe; was that how Ace felt when he got shot? Law felt his lower lip quivering, but no tears rose to his eyes. He slumped forward, elbows on his knees, and buried his face in his hands.
oOo
Law shoved both Ace and Luffy into the house, smirking at their complaints.
“Shut up,” he said in reply.
They grumbled and headed to the kitchen. Bottomless pits, Law thought. It's a wonder that we have food at all.
Tossing his backpack onto the couch, he picked up the remote and sat on the couch, turning on the tv. He clicked through channels boredly before leaving it on a news station.
“Hey, warm me up some pasta, Luffy-ya!” Law called.
“Okay!” the ten year old shouted, voice muffled and mouth probably filled to the roof with food.
“...it seems there has been an incident in the lake.”
Law turned his attention back to the television in time to see pictures of a speedboat crash. His mind helpfully supplied him with all the injuries possible to get from such a bad accident – one of them being death.
“An eleven year old boy had accidentally turned on the speedboat while looking for his hat, say witnesses,” the news woman continued. “As the boat approached the other shore of the lake, a group of people on another speedboat, uncaring of the first, rammed into the back, causing it to flip and its wreckage to be strewn in the water and along the shore. The body still hasn't been found, nor have the group who caused this tragedy, but the hat of the young boy was recovered.”
Law's eyes widened as Sabo's familiar top hat appeared on the screen. He heard the crash of ceramic breaking on the floor behind the couch, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from the blue item that was the last of one of his younger brothers.
“Sabo...” Luffy whimpered.
oOo
Law sat up suddenly, gasping for air that just wouldn't come. He remembered all too well that day; he'd been fourteen – Ace's age... – when Sabo had died. He remembered when they went to claim the hat, how afterwards, back home, they sat on the couch. Law had held it in his lap, staring blankly at the wall as Luffy sobbed, curled up against him, and Ace sat on his other side, looking furious and ready to cry as well.
Rubbing his eyes, Law got up and left his room. As he passed the living room, he looked in to see the dog pile created by friends and makeshift family of Ace's that had decided to stay the night. Marco was the only one up, and he was sitting on the couch with Luffy draped across his lap while all of Luffy's friends were leaning against him in some way or another. The blond looked up at Law, offering a small smile, though his eyes were slightly red; he hadn't had the signs of crying when he first came over, and Law had a feeling that he'd waited until everyone was asleep to let go. Law nodded slightly, to acknowledge the attempt at comfort, and went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water and read until it was time for school.
oOo
Law saw the news of the car accident just as he finished helping deliver a child. Desperation clawed at him as he grabbed his medical bag and ran for the door.
“Captain!” his assistants, Penguin and Shachi, shouted.
He ignored them as he grabbed his nodachi from the front desk (the town wasn't exactly safe) and left the building. He glanced around for a second before running down the street. The accident hadn't happened too far from where he worked and he was determined to get there before death occurred. When he arrived, a police officer attempted to stop him from getting closer.
“I'm a doctor,” he snarled.
The officer backed down, though Law was sure it was more from his murderous tone and nodachi than his words, but he didn't care as he approached the car. A pit formed in his stomach and he almost collapsed when he saw the driver.
He had called seventeen year old Luffy to pick him up from work. Now Luffy was trapped in a partially crushed car, showing no outer signs of being alive. The vehicle must've rolled at some point, because the front of the roof was folded down and crushed against Luffy's chest. Sliding his nodachi out of its sheath, after setting down his medical bag, he shoved the blade into the seam of the bent door and pried it open. As he ducked down to see if there was any space between Luffy's skin and the metal, he heard an ambulance pull up.
“Captain, we've got a stretcher,” Shachi announced as he and Penguin rushed over to him.
“Good,” he breathed, reminding himself to keep calm; Luffy had to be another patient at the moment, not his only remaining little brother, or he'd screw up. “Take this and open the other side.”
He handed Shachi his nodachi because he could see the bulk of a passenger on the other side. The brunet male struggled to lift the long blade and Penguin snatched it away.
“I've got the other guy,” he said impatiently. “You help Law with what he needs.”
Shachi looked at Law, clearly expecting instructions, and the doctor took one last look at Luffy as Luffy before starting.
“Let's see if we can move the seat back.”
oOo
The surgeries on both Luffy and his passenger, Jinbe – his and Law's neighbor – took hours each. It was early morning the day after the accident before both were away from Death's door. Law sat in their room, next to Luffy's bed, holding his brother's hand. He had told his assistants to not bother him unless it was an emergency. Law's eyes kept straying to the heart monitor, hoping fervently for some kind of positive change, but it remained the same. Luffy and Jinbe had the high possibility of going into a coma, the former more than the latter. Law just couldn't believe he had such bad luck that he lost his original family, his new caretaker, then his new brothers, one by one.
Law lowered his head. “If you leave me,” he whispered, voice cracking, “I swear I will never forgive you.” And for the first time since he received the letter that Corazon had died in battle*, he cried.
oOo
The door of Luffy and Jinbe's room opened and a man with wavy blond hair stepped in. He closed the door behind him, approaching the beds. He kept a serious expression until he saw Law sleeping against Luffy's bed, clutching the boy's hand. A small smile appeared, though it was more nostalgic than anything. He stopped by Luffy first, running his fingers through the younger male's raven hair. Going around to the other side of the bed, grabbing a blanket off of a shelf against the wall as he went, he unfolded the cloth and laid it over Law. He wanted nothing more than to settle Law in a position that wouldn't make his back ache when he woke, but covering him with a blanket was taking a risk as it was, since Law was a light sleeper when he managed to sleep. He knew personally because he used to find Law at his desk or the table more than once, and the older male used to wake up every time he tried to move him. Sighing softly, he turned to leave.
“Sabo-ya.”
Tensing, the blond turned to look at the other. But Law was still asleep. Relieved, Sabo smiled softly, fond instead of sad this time. The dim light from the corridor reflected the scar on the left side of his face.
“Goodnight, Law.”
He turned and quietly left the three alone again.
oOo
It had been two years since Luffy went into a coma. Jinbe had recovered just fine, and while Law was glad for that, he wished Luffy had had that much fortune. He continuously refused to take the boy off of life support. He knew it was cruel to force the nineteen year old to continue living like that, but some sort of gut feeling told him that his brother just needed a little time to recover... A lot of time, but he would recover. Or so that's what he told himself. Penguin and Shachi thought differently. It took them months, but they finally got Law to agree to let Luffy go. To their shock, he wanted to do it on his birthday. Though they strongly disapproved, they agreed.
The night before his birthday, Law decided to spend the night with Luffy again. It was cold for an October and he was bundled in a blanket, but not sick – luckily, or he wouldn't have been able to stay.
“It's been two years,” Law mumbled as he flipped through a book on internal trauma. “I really thought you'd be bugging me again by now.” He skimmed a few more pages before closing the book and setting it on the table next to the bed.
He gazed at Luffy for a long while, taking in the scar below his left eye and the large, 'X'-like one on his chest. He remembered seeing a similar scar on Ace's chest at his funeral; the tattoo he'd gotten on his back when he first started working for Newgate's tattoo parlor was totally destroyed by one, too. Sabo... Law would never know what scars he would've had at his funeral.
Law realized his vision was blurring. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears, but that only pushed them out. Cursing softly, he wiped his eyes as he opened them again, glaring at Luffy.
“I thought we were going to stick together because we lost Ace-ya and Sabo-ya...” he choked out angrily. “You're just as bad as everyone I've ever cared about.”
He rested his crossed arms on the bed and buried his face in them, crying silently.
“I'm sorry...” he whispered.
oOo
“Torao. Toraoooo~ Torao!”
Law woke to someone butchering his name. His back hurt like crazy and he wasn't in the mood to deal with the energetic little pest.
“Leave me alone, Luffy-ya...” he muttered.
“Shishishi~”
It took a moment for everything to come rushing back, and when it did, Law's head throbbed painfully as he sat up, staring wide-eyed at his younger brother. The boy laughed again at his expression, but stopped when his older sibling stood quickly and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Torao...?”
Law felt himself trembling, and Luffy rubbed his back gently.
“You were gone for two years...” the tan male said hoarsely. He straightened, grabbing Luffy by the shoulders and trying for a glare that fell flat with his red eyes and the tear streaks on his cheeks. “What were you doing, attempting to train that dull brain of yours?”
Luffy looked surprised, but then grinned. “Yep~ I was preparing to protect you forever!”
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because Law's expression crumpled and he began crying again, sitting down so he could hide his face better. Luffy picked up his straw hat off of the table next to his bed and pushed it onto Law's head. The older brother stiffened for a moment before sobbing even harder.
“It's okay, Torao,” Luffy said. “I won't leave you.”