Disclaimer: I don't own anything in One Piece.

Summary: When Law realized what kind of man his supposed family was like, he jumped onto the first ship he could and sailed away in hopes of running from his past. Unwittingly, he ends up in the East Blue on a small island and meets a pair of brothers in the process, having no idea that in another life, his now so called brother was his greatest ally and rival.

Note: I have no idea where this came from. I've become completely obsessed with One Piece, again, and thus, this fic was born. And yes, I have been working on my other fics too, so don't worry or start nagging. None of them are on hiatus and will be continued. Be patient! I will update soon, I swear. AU

Prologue

If any of the guards had been watching closely that night, maybe the young master never would've escaped.

However, this is unlikely since Trafalgar Law was quite an intelligent, sly individual who was used to sneaking around and having a backup plan whenever he endeavors to do something, especially when he had the proper motivation to do so.

With a thumping heart and sweaty hands, the teen had quickly jumped on to the ship he had beforehand prepared by the side dock and unwrapped the rope that held the ship to land. The island Doflamingo had decided to dock at for a while was fortunately very large, which would give the escapee a head start before the tyrannical man discovered he was nowhere on the island.

Law got the large stick he had brought just in case and heaved the small ship with the grinding of his stick onto the ground and pushed the large wooden transportation to get in the water. His efforts paid off as the ship broke free, causing Law to wobble and fall on his butt as the waves peacefully bobbed the ship up and down. Quickly getting over his brief moment of pain, the teen expertly managed the sails like a true sailor, darting around to make sure the ropes were tight before going to the steering wheel.

The black haired teen grabbed on to the handles, feeling a sense of power he hadn't ever felt before at being in charge. Doflamingo wasn't here to feed him anymore lies. The man was a monster, and he knew he could no longer stay and follow him.

He couldn't help but feel a pang of regret at this but instantly shook it off.

No. This was for the best. Besides, he has never been good at obeying other people's wishes.

Pushing his mind to the sea, a sense of elation tingled his whole body. He didn't have a destination in mind. He had no idea where he was going to go and what he was going to do with himself now that there was nobody to watch over him.

He grinned at the thought and viciously turned the wheel, finding the wind laughing along with him as he followed the cool breeze, excitement taking over his being.

Trafalgar Law was free.

-A-

Unknown to him, two brothers were sobbing their hearts out, a complete contrast to Law's joy.

The older boy who has never cried let go of his pride as he grieved for the blonde, top hat boy who had been there since the beginning of his loneliness. He clung on to the letter that was written with a childish scrawl as if it was a lifeline, his tears carried by the same wind that currently caressed another boy who was seas away.

The earnest younger boy with the straw hat felt sorrow unlike any other at the loss, well away from his older brother. And then, he did something he never did before.

He prayed.

Fervently, he prayed for Ace's happiness since even he knew that the older boy needed it more than him. He knew their departed brother longer and was probably taking the loss even harder. So he clapped his hands together and begged to the sea to have something good come this way, something that can slowly take the pain away.

He had no idea that the sea will indeed answer to his call, and bring a white spotted hatted teen towards their direction, changing their destiny in the process.

The sea was a fickle thing after all, and something that causes a child's tears is a crime in on itself.

Chapter 1

Scratching the back of his head, Law finally admitted defeat.

It was official. He was well and truly officially lost.

He knew he was somewhere in the East Blue, which was quite a feat since he had started out far north at the start of his journey. It's been a few months since he had travelled and the novelty by that time has worn off a bit, especially since he ran out of money.

He hadn't been careless about the gold either. He had tried to save the money as much as possible, extending it to even a month until he had a stroke of bad luck when his ship accidently got damaged from being bumped by another larger ship. He internally scowled as he recalled how the piece of shit didn't even bother to apologize because he was apparently some big shot captain around the area.

Considering East Blue was the weakest out of all the seas, Law had not been impressed.

Unfortunately, his opinion didn't matter as he had been left in the dust with his damaged ship, forcing him to buy equipment and wood at the next town to fix it himself. Buying another ship would've been a lot safer and quicker, but ships were expensive and he had nowhere near enough money to buy one.

Now battered and broke, here he was in the middle of the ocean with not a hint of land in sight.

Checking his log pose again – he had pickpocketed the device from a clueless villager the last time he had been with the flamingo smiling bastard – he watched carefully how the little needle pointed straight ahead from where he was standing.

Nodding in satisfaction, he changed his course and hoped he would have better luck this time around.

-A-

Staring, he idly thought to himself that he should've gone to the other side of the damn island because this was just ridiculous.

Everywhere he looked, not a spot of dirt or anything even remotely filthy met his disbelieving gaze. The streets and buildings were all unnaturally white, completely new looking as if never having faced age. Hell, they practically sparkled. Even the very air was stale and strange, the smell of the ocean unable to penetrate the walls of the Goa Kingdom. He felt almost sick from the absence of something that was so constant in his life.

In horrible comparison, the people here looked disgusting. Their ugly mugs would probably make even their mothers scream in horror. Their clothes were frivolous and neon colored, hurting his eyes. Even the guards who had been lazing at the entrance of the gate had looked clownish and silly with those frills. And they were apparently quite greedy seeing how it had been so easy to bribe them to let him in.

Now he seriously regretted that decision. The only reason why he had gone to this entrance was because he had been curious as to why there was a wall despite the wary caution he had simultaneously felt. If he had known how disturbing this place was, he never would've come here.

Stifling how truly unnerved he was, he calmly walked down the streets, intent on buying supplies as quickly as possible so he could leave. He didn't want to stay any longer than necessary.

Striding through the crowd, he glanced around and paused when he saw something that made him blink. Repeatedly.

An odd figure was stumbling awkwardly down the streets, feet nearly stomping the floors left and right as if trying to balance himself; Law presumed it to be a male from his large height.

For a brief second, Law swore that the man's hips actually jiggled for the lack of a better word, making him immediately suspicious. What the hell?

Narrowing his eyes, he took note of the rather large cloak that practically mopped the floor, covering the person's form completely. It practically screamed for unwanted notice and suspicion. The fact that no one was giving him a second glance spoke volumes for Goa's intelligence. Law was torn between annoyance and amusement over the figure's poor disguise and how nobody was questioning it at all.

Watching the odd spectacle for a moment, he was tempted to just go up to the person and mock him for his rather pitiful getup. Caution and his own blasted curiosity conflicted with each other yet again.

On one hand, he really didn't want to cause trouble to bring attention on to himself. If Doflamingo heard a whiff of news about him, who knew what he would do to this island if he came.

On the other hand, he hadn't had any fun in a while. Something harmless as talking to a person couldn't be that bad, right?

However, before he could come to a decision, it was made for him.

Without any warning, the cloaked form seemed to trip on his own feet, causing the person to stumble and fall in a collapsed heap in the middle of the street.

Only, it wasn't a man like Law presumed.

Instead, something tumbled out of the cloak, the sound of cursing and yelping loudly heard by everyone in proximity, muffled from under the cloth. The cloth flung off as something grabbed the thing from underneath and threw it away, revealing to everyone who had been under the disguise.

Two boys showed themselves to the viewers, one whose legs were tangled with the other boy's rather gangly arms. Unlike any of the abnormally dressed people in this fortress, the boys were actually wearing normal rolled up jeans and t-shirts. Both boys hair were midnight black and wild, the smell of dirt and the familiar sea hitting Law's nose.

The two kids didn't seem to notice the audience as both started to bicker and yell at each other.

"Shit! Luffy! What the hell did you trip for dumbass?!"

"Shut up! You try being the bottom, you're really heavy! And fat!"

"I'm not fat! Stop saying stupid things idiot!" with this, the older looking boy banged his fist on top of the other boys' head. The younger boy cried out in pain, grabbing on to the sudden injury while glaring at the other boy.

"AHH! That hurt you jerk!"

"Like hell it did! You're made out of damn rubber! And this is your fault! Why the hell did you suddenly take off so far here?! We're at the other side of Goa!"

"I smelled meat."

The older boy groaned and slapped his forehead, not looking surprised at all from this absurd answer.

"Of course you did. You're like a damn dog."

"But I'm hungry!" the boy whined, still rubbing his probably throbbing head.

Before the other boy could respond, the shocked crowd began to finally take action.

"Oh God! What is that doing here?"

"Quick, somebody get the guards! I don't want those things touching me!"

The older boy swore and snatched the younger boy's arm.

"Come on!" he yelled before promptly dragging the other boy along with him. Law watched as the younger boy started to run as well. Looking behind him, Law saw that the guards were starting to give chase as well, guns and swords at ready.

He felt his eyes widen. Weren't they taking this a bit too far? They were just a bunch of kids!

The injustice made him narrow his eyes and before he could think things through, he grabbed the sword that was wrapped around his back and drew out his large nodachi. It had been a pain in the butt to get the sword inside, but he had managed it in the end when he paid extra to the entrance guard. There was no way in hell he would go anywhere unarmed.

The guards paused at the incredibly long sword and gave him dubious looks.

"What the hell do you think you're doing kid?" Law twitched at the kid comment and simply gave a cocky smirk, lightly tapping the sword to the ground.

"I have a sword out. What does it look like I'm doing?" he said sarcastically. He thoroughly enjoyed the vein that visibly popped from his snappy retort.

"This is none of your business. You're just a visitor. Move aside."

"You don't tell me what to do." Law said unrepentantly. His smirk grew bigger. "Besides, I haven't had a short fight in a long while. So gentlemen, do entertain me."

To say they weren't happy by his mocking was an understatement. Without hesitation, the guards charged clumsily towards him. Law could already see that the men probably had never fought a real enemy in their entire lives. Pathetic.

Glancing behind him nonchalantly while he laughably deflected one of the men's blade, he saw the younger boy was looking at him, eyes wide with shock and curiosity. For some reason, he even stopped to stare at him more, the older boy yelling at him to get a move on. This thoroughly confused him. Shouldn't the boy be escaping by now?

Shrugging, he fought with ease, getting into the familiar rhythm as adrenaline pumped in his veins. From the way these men fought, he had absolute confidence in winning this unscathed and preferably without his devils fruit power. Using it with so many witnesses will definitely get back to Doflamingo like lightning.

Suddenly, without warning, a lucky shot managed to nick him by the side, causing him to flinch at the pain. One of the guards must've noticed because he dived headfirst to slash his sword at him. Law barely managed to get out of the way, thrown off by the sudden onslaught. He berated at himself for being so careless and before he could start to attack again, a furious shout blew from behind him.

Whirling around, he watched stunned as the two boys who were supposed to be running away came back, both having metal pipes in their hands as they whacked it on two guards' heads simultaneously. Surprisingly, the guards were knocked out cold by the force, collapsing onto the ground with eyes rolled inward.

The older boy snapped his head to look at him, brows furrowed deeply into a scowl. Now that he was close up, Law couldn't help but notice that the kid had freckles peppered across his cheeks, his dark eyes intimidating.

"Well? You coming or not?" the boy growled. Before Law could respond, the younger boy deftly latched on to his hand and started to run. The action was so sudden, that Law almost tripped as the boy steamtrained away from the men. The cursing shouts they got in response as they escaped made Law unintentionally smirk.

Suckers.

The younger one must've seen him because he threw his head back and started to joyously laugh, the sound bright and cheerful and unfitting for their current situation. The older boy whooped with a large grin and together, all three of them ran away from the law enforcements as if it was completely natural.

Law couldn't help but think it was weird but ignored it, too busy enjoying the moment.

How strange indeed.

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