Captured
Defeating all of the yonkou, one after another, left Law and Luffy feeling on top of the world. Together they claimed victory after victory to pave their way toward becoming the most powerful men on the seas.
With each new, shared accomplishment, Law's confidence grew. His pride swelled and slowly bled into reckless arrogance; or rather the recklessness may have rubbed off on him from being so desensitized by Luffy. Either way, he didn't care. He'd just assumed that when needed, Luffy would simply pull a miracle out of thin air to save them like the god of fate that he seemed to be, and if they got hurt, he would be able to heal them up for the next fight.
He really should have known better. Obviously the marines would be coming up with more and more cunning ways to capture them while they roamed about, so carelessly doing whatever they pleased.
Law was sure that if he hadn't come into the fight with such a flippant attitude, he and Luffy wouldn't have found themselves captured. But there he was, mentally kicking his own ass while being shoved down a hallway toward the holding cells on some shitty little marine base that they'd decided to pillage on a whim just to see what kind of food they had.
He heard Luffy stumbling behind him, his feet dragging weakly as he was ushered down the hall by the marines who'd opened fire on them with sea-stone bullets. The tense heat of anger swelled inside Law when he thought of how they had hurt his precious ally- his lover- his dearest treasure. Even though he knew he'd underestimated them, Law still wanted to think that the marines had just gotten lucky. He knew they were going to be the most unlucky bastards alive once he got his revenge, because anyone who dared lay a finger on his Luffy was going to find out why 'Surgeon of Death' was too light of an epithet to really describe the kind of person he could be.
Law eyed a small, bespectacled, pink-haired marine who saluted them in greeting from in front of the holding cell doors. If she was going to be any trouble, he wouldn't be above sparing her either.
"Wow, you really caught the pirates, Lieutenant! Wasn't it hard?" the little marine marveled, quickly pushing up the big, round glasses that dwarfed her face. She reached into her pocket to fumble nervously for keys to unlock the door to a metal-barred cell.
The girl barely looked old enough to be a marine and not nearly tough enough to play jailkeeper. Law might be able to take advantage of this one.
"It was almost too easy," the tall, muscular lieutenant spoke sternly around her cigarette, "but we've got the sea-stone bullets to thank for that." She pulled Law by his rope-bound hands and shoved him into the cell.
A broad-shouldered male marine followed, tossing Luffy in after him. The once-formidable straw hat captain's weak body collapsed to the floor, his breath shaky, uneven as he fought against the pain of the sea-stone bullets lodged in his flesh.
"Ya ain't so tough after all, are ya, Pirate King," the man sneered, sending a swift kick to Luffy's ribs.
Luffy barely responded to the unnecessarily brutality, letting out a wheezing breath of air from his feeble lungs, but Law felt his rage ignited, setting his blood to boil in his veins.
"Stay away from him!" Law growled, deep and carnal. He lunged at the man, who dodged him just as the lieutenant kicked him square in the back, using Law's momentum against him. Without his hands free to brace the fall, he struck the floor face-first, cracking his nose and jaw against the floor, issuing fresh blood to the cement. He heard a soft female voice gasp behind him.
"Your biggest mistake was underestimating the marines", the man commented, crouching down to dig his fingers into the two bullet wounds on Law's left shoulder and upper arm. Law let out a guttural growl, breathing heavily through his nose as the tried to bare the shocks of pain sent through his body.
"That's enough!" the lieutenant barked from the door of the cell, annoyance written all over her face. "Stand down. We need these two alive to get the reward money from Doflamingo." She took a drag of her cigarette while she waited for him to exit the cell and waved her hand agitatedly at the petite jailkeeper, motioning for her to shut and lock the door.
"But Lieutenant, shouldn't they be transferred to Impel Down, questioned and given a proper public execution afterward?" their jailkeeper asked, again pushing up her glasses. "It's our duty as marines to-"
"Your duty is to mind the prisoners, and follow the orders of your superiors, is it not?" The lieutenant spoke sternly, letting smoke pass out through her lips.
"Yes, sir!" the little pink-haired marine complied with a salute though the lieutenant had already turned to leave, her overly violent lackey following at her heels.
Law was now fairly certain he could make use of the little marine. She seemed naïve. If he used the right words and appealed to her personal sense of duty, he might be able to sway her- he needed to sway her. He needed to get help as fast as possible if the advancing weakness in his body and Luffy's shallow breathing was any indicator of how desperate his situation was. These idiot marines were about to have two dead pirates on their hands and the only thing they'd be receiving from Doflamingo would be his wrath for having killed them.
"Hey, miss," Law addressed her, trying to sound non-threatening as he feebly rolled over onto his back. Luckily, his voice came out fainter than he'd meant, nearly lost to the echo of the cement walls. He hoped that the blood covering the lower half of his face made him look pitiable rather than adding to his usually intimidating appearance.
Judging by the look of complete horror on her face and lack of colour in her complexion, however, Law was willing to bet that his plan wasn't quite working out the way he'd hoped.
"Y-y-your words are u-useless," she stammered nervously, adjusting her glasses on the bridge of her nose. "We don't ne-negotiate with pirates."
"Oh, that's just… too bad. If-" Law closed his eyes, drawing a few weak breaths, purposely breathing shallower than needed, before he continued, "if you don't help us... we're really… going to die… no Impel Down"
Her eyes flitted from him to Luffy, and back to him. She eyed him anxiously, her eyebrows knit together. She seemed to be weighing her decisions. Maybe just a little more effort would pull her over to Law's side.
Law opened mouth as if he were about to speak but let only the faintest sound pass his lips. He made a show of closing his eyelids slowly, letting them stay closed for a moment too long, but when he opened his eyes he found her attention had turned to Luffy.
"It's really him isn't it? The pirate king- Straw Hat Luffy," she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, strangely betraying something akin to reverence.
"He is."
"What do you need?"
"First aid kit... at least."
Law listened to the frantic clack of her boot heels against the cement floor as she rushed down the hallway. He hadn't even really registered if she was coming or going until he heard her voice directly above him.
"Is this what you need?" she spoke, her voice tinged with worry. She held a white, metal box marked with a green cross through the bars of the holding cell.
Law groaned, sitting up to move closer to her.
"I'm a surgeon but I can't work on myself. I'll need you to fix me so I can fix him," he informed her, turning his shoulder toward her as he sat down close to the bars. "Use the tweezers. Dig out the bullets."
"But, I-"
"You want us- him to die?"
"No, but-"
"Dig out the bullets."
She slowly pulled the first aid case back through the bars and set it down on the floor. She crouched over it as she popped it open to assess the materials.
"Wear gloves," Law instructed without looking in her direction. He heard the stretching and snapping of the latex as she pulled on a pair of gloves, but he still wasn't quite prepared for the shock of the cold metal tweezers against his open wound. He instinctively flinched at the contact. The act probably made her more nervous.
"There's too much blood. I- I can't see well," the marine whimpered as if she were the one in pain, "I think I'm going to be sick."
"You've got this," Law tried to reassure her, "You're tough. You're a marine." He was honestly annoyed at her incompetence at the task, but he tried to keep calm. He reminded himself that the sooner she got the sea-stone bullets out of him, the sooner he could help Luffy. He grit his teeth and tried to concentrate on anything other than the sensation of the tweezers pinching and pulling against his raw nerves to grab at one of the bullets.
Law heard a metallic clink as she dropped a bullet into the first aid kit. Out of habit, he opened his mouth to scold her for contaminating the materials inside, but caught himself, simply muttering, "The other bullet too." but the marine didn't move.
"I know who you are too," she spoke.
"Yeah, ok."
"I know what you can do."
"So…"
"So, if I take out the sea-stone bullet, you're gonna cut out my heart, right?"
"I couldn't without my sword. And if the cell is made of sea-stone I don't think I'll be going to get it," he lied, hoping that would be enough to get her to continue.
Even though he expected the pain to be alleviated now that he only had one bullet remaining, Law couldn't help but wince as he felt the tweezers digging into his flesh.
The moment the final bullet left his body, he felt like a dead man come back to life. The fog in his mind lifted. The air around him felt fresher. He could feel his power returning. Although his wounds suddenly felt more painful, his ability would naturally help him heal faster than an average person.
"Room," Law spoke purposefully, initiating his powers. In an instant the rope that bound him had disappeared from around his wrists and he found himself in possession of the first aid kit.
The marine blinked at him wide-eyed from behind the round lenses of her glasses. She apparently hadn't realized the full extent of Law's abilities.
Law took little notice of the words she spoke before she scrambled out of the room- something about wanting to help Luffy because he'd helped her dad become a legendary marine or something. He didn't actually give a damn about what she said, where she went or what she did. He had worse things to worry about. Luffy hadn't moved at all, and if anything his breathing was getting fainter by the second.
Law pushed his own pain from his mind as he turned to Luffy. Thanks to his ability he was able to scan Luffy's body and remove the bullets fairly easily, but stemming the blood flow and taking care of the wounds required his studied skills more than anything. The wounds on Luffy's leg weren't too bad, but the wound he'd taken to the chest needed immediate attention if he was going to live.
Law tried to remain calm as he watched Luffy smile at him feebly from where he lay on the cold cement. His lips parted but instead of his usual boisterous voice, a hoarse whisper spoke his name, "Torao…"
"It's okay, don't strain yourself," Law told him, giving him a sympathetic smile before he turned away. His gloved hands reached for a sterile dressing, hastily ripping the plastic away from the gauze. Grabbing up the tape, he used it to affix the sterile side of the plastic around the wound.
Luffy didn't make a sound as Law moved to expertly treat his leg wounds, though every second that passed filled Law with increasing worry. Having the sea-stone bullets removed should have been making Luffy feel more like himself, but he still seemed too subdued. Law had known he might need to carry Luffy away from here, though he'd expected to have Luffy resist.
"Luffy-ya, please, stay with me," Law turned to address the younger captain, pulling off his gloves and tossing them aside. He tried to suppress the fearful anxiety tugging at his heart as he held Luffy's pale face between his palms. "How are you feeling?"
"Better. You're the best, Torao." A reflexive smile slowly stretched across Luffy's face like the sun peeking out from behind the clouds and Law felt his own lips curving into a soft smile.
"You idiot. You almost got your damned self killed," Law admonished, his stern words betrayed by his misty eyes and the soft tone of his voice. He stroked Luffy's cheek with his thumb as he watched the colour slowly returning to his lover's face. Law leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to Luffy's lips before resting their foreheads together, wishing for all the world his powers could restore him completely right there and then.
"Got it!" a voice cried from behind them, nearly making Law jump out of his skin. There stood the little pink-haired, bespectacled marine holding his Kikoku out to him. "Are you ready to make your escape?"
"This has got to be a trap," Law spoke, standing to cautiously take back his nodachi.
"Of course it is," smiled the girl. "I've called an admiral to come and catch you properly because you're just too much for us."
"Well then, we'd better get out of here before they show up, right Luffy-ya?" Law smirked, "Room."