Broken boundaries
by Nekocin
Warnings: violence, character deaths, mindwipe, kidnapping, torture references.
Summary: AU - series of related one shots. Law is Death who picks up Luffy's soul to enter the road to the afterlife. Along the way Luffy decides to become Death as well and with his decision it triggers Law's memories before he became Death. A not quite bromance story.
Notes: I honestly don't have patience and the drive to write a long comprehensive big bang fic that is over 25k /sobs/ but I'm glad I did. The process was hard and painful but at the same time fun and engaging. If it weren't for the following lovely people, I probably would have given up already.
Thank you kiyoishiteppei for creating such wonderful artwork (check it out on my profile for the art link). Thank you sa-mu-uu for patiently beta-ing and holding my hand. Thank you to Imperialmint and Lunarshores for organizing this whole event, for the uplifting peptalks when I hit the very bottom. And at last, thank you ansa, tiggie, acorn, nadia, mon, and cham (you know who you are) for cheering me on twitter even though you didn't know what kind of project I was working on.
Despite the warnings mentioned above, I hope you still enjoy this. The writing isn't as dark as those warnings suggest it might be.
The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?
Edgar Allan Poe
Part I - X day with Death
He goes by the name of Death. Although he's not the only one who carries this name, it's the one he always uses to introduce himself to everyone he meets. A habit that never left. A title that is forever tacked on his face.
Before Death, he had many names. All of them long forgotten through the long passages of time.
All except for one: Law.
It was a name closely related to his profession, based on rules of the Universe, on balance against chaos in life.
It was the name given to him when his current soul form could no longer enter the afterlife to be reborn.
It was a reminder that he continued to exist because he was bound to the laws of the afterlife.
Rarely had he ever shared around with souls. If not at all. Why would he share it anyway?
There was no need for personal pleasantries while working as Death. Once the souls pass the Gate of Justice, they would forget everything. Including ever meeting him and hearing his name.
Such was how the world of the afterlife worked.
Death would escort the soul of the dead on the long road to the afterlife called Bridge of Hesitance and then deliver them safely at the Gate of Justice. Past the Gate is where all memories would be wiped out for the soul in order for it to move on to the next life.
Memories play a huge role during the process. They are the moments the dead have experienced during the times they were once alive, the moments when their dreams were made true and the regrets that weighed down their shoulders. It's only by wiping out all these moments, can the soul be sent off to the next life and start afresh. To quicken this process, Death was required to walk beside them on the Bridge of Hesitance, subtly erasing everything that was once a moment of life.
He had never questioned why this was the way it worked in the Afterlife.
Until souls started recognizing him.
The first time a soul recognized him, Law was floating ten feet under water.
The moon had not been strong enough to illuminate the cradle of the sea. Grey clouds had obscured most of its visibility, cloaking the sky in an ominous wool of uncertainty. A storm had struck for hours, carrying violent sea waves, torrents of rain and unforgiving winds that broke the main mast and torn the still-open sails of an unfortunate ship. It belonged to a traveling merchant and his little band of helpers.
One of the crew had slipped and got thrown into the violent swirling waters, drowning not long after his feeble attempts to resurface the crashing waves.
The name of the man was already in Law's book of death. It's only a matter of timing for Law would claim the soul from the body. Claim it too early, the soul would tear in half before its time and ultimately cut off the soul's opportunities in the next life. Claim it too late, the soul would cling harder to life and ultimately choose to turn into a vengeful demon spirit, haunting the living, while still thinking it's alive.
Before the man's body could get entangled with one of the sea currents passing through, Law stuck a hand into the man's head, brushed against the soul to wake it up and then whipped out his demon sword, Kikoku, to cut off the tie between man and soul.
"Houzi." Law said. It was the name that appeared in Law's book of death. A nickname his adoptive family had given the unfortunate man. His real name never existed since he hadn't been named upon his birth. The soul split from its host and opened its eyes.
Houzi immediately seeked out Law, as if he had known Law had been there all along. His eyes were clear. No signs of confusion. No sign of fear. As if he recognized Law's reason for floating nearby.
Death has many faces. The most famous one is the face of a skull, completely picked clean from skin, muscle, blood and veins, obscured by the hood of a long black toga. If Law had worn that face every time he picked off souls, he would never be able to finish any of his missions at all. The general consensus of the living is that Death would forever look like a creepy set of bones moving about with a deathscythe. That expectation in their imagination often terrified them that once Death came close they'd rather refuse to follow him.
So Law usually choose to wear the skin of a young man in his mid-twenties with deep set eyes and unamused thin set of lips, dressed in a large black trench coat, buttoned up to his neck and finished off with a puffy hat.
"Are you here to help me?" Houzi asked.
"No." Law ignored the nickname.
"Thought so." A sad smile crossed Houzi's face. "Any chance of making out alive?"
"None at all." Law said, his tone very dry and his expression dark. "I've come to collect you."
"Ah, you're Death." Houzi interrupted, "Is it already time for me?"
Law narrowed his eyes at Houzi and nodded once. "I've already cut you off from this mortal plane."
"I see." Houzi said.
"You never learned to swim. And yet you applied for a job that involves plenty of water."
"Mind your own business." Houzi sniffed. "I'm not going to regret it though. Not learning to swim, I mean. Nor am I going to regret taking this job. It's the only chance I had that could send me out into the world."
Houzi finally realized he was floating in deep water and stared at the swirling, weak moonlight above, a small school of fishes wiggled past his line of sight. "Can you bring my body to the surface, Mr. Death?"
Law shook his head, "I'm sorry. That is out of my hands."
"So there will be no body to bury back home..." Houzi sighed, dropping his proud act.
Law flicked his hands and opened a black hole in the waters. The seawater didn't stream into the hole, suggesting that it's an otherworldly phenomena. Just like Death floating with him nearby. "Beyond this door is the Bridge of Hesitance also known as the Road to the Afterlife. I'll be escorting you till the Gate of Justice. Along the way you are free to remember anything from this life, anything that you'd want to remember. Once I leave you at the Gate of Justice, you will be given a chance live another life."
The delivery of the speech sounded dry to Houzi's ears. It had been repeated so many times Death's voice came out flat and bored, and maybe a little irritated.
"So I just have to go into that place?" Houzi pointed to the hole.
"Yes."
"And that will lead me to this Bridge of Hesitance?"
"Yes."
Houzi snorted, "Who named these places?"
"If I knew, I'd send him to you to explain himself."
"Really? Would that person consider changing it to Corridor for Heroes?"
"No, of course not. Why would he?"
"Lame." Houzi snorted.
Law rolled his eyes. "Come on. It's time to go, Houzi." He herded to enter the black hole and escorted him into the afterlife.
Once Houzi passed the Gate to be reborn, Law and went back to the living world to collect his next soul. He didn't think the incident was important enough report to his supervisor.
After all, the first time might have been a fluke. It might have been the shock of being dead to the world that made the soul speak of recognition.
The next time a soul had recognized him was when Law entered an elderly home where colorful paper windmills hung down from the ceiling. The window shades were thrown wide open, letting the sunlight into the room. A simple wind chime in the shape of a small fish bowl hanging at the window, cast off bright circles at the far-off wall and made soft tinkling sounds every time a breeze passed through, sending the clapper and the tubes clinking into each other. Cheerful mementos decorated the desk table nearby, framed drawings done by children who visited the occupant, one thin blue vase with a bright sunflower inside, one jar filled with colored ribbon stars and another with silver glitters.
The brightness of the room was a stark contrast to Law's mission.
The owner of the room was no longer breathing.
Law stuck his hand into the dead, brushed his fingers to awaken the soul and pulled out his sword to cut the soul from the body.
"Yo," The soul greeted, holding up a hand without waving, "Grumpy Old Man."
Law quirked his eyebrows, sheathed his sword and strapped the scabbard on his back.
"Death," Law corrected belatedly, "I'm Death."
The new soul gave him a wide smile. "I know." He straightened and thrust out his stomach as he pushed both fists behind his lower hipbones in a mock super hero stance. "I've known Death would appear. I felt it in my bones. And it's you!" For a newly released soul, he seemed way too excited to meet Law.
Law shot a glance to the body the soul had left behind. The body was a frail old man tucked underneath thick gray blankets with a sad, wrinkling smile on his gaunt, thin face. One gnarly hand that stuck outside the blankets had one missing index finger, a small stump where the first bone ended in wrinkled skin stitched together.
Gramps D, D for Duke, Law went through the info mentally. Duke was once an infantryman, fought long battles alongside his king, climbed up the ranks to General and remained in service until his death. He never got married, despite having several relationships with court ladies, and died without having a namesake of his own blood to carry out his duties.
The soul looked familiar, but the face he wore in the Living world, not so much.
Law tapped the wall which opened a hole, the entrance to the afterlife. "Come along, the afterlife awaits for no one except for the-."
"Not yet." the soul, Gramps D interrupted.
Law sighed, muttering to himself "I knew this was too easy to be true." And he didn't hide the glare he shot at Duke. "We don't have all day." In fact, Law had too many missions to finish. Gramps D doesn't need to know that.
"Just for a while." Duke grinned and sat down on the chair beside the bed. Surprisingly he didn't go through the wooden chair (it might have been because he accepted his death like) and remained seated. He folded his hands on his lap and stared down at the body he used to have, thoughtfully studying his face and dredging up memories that faded away in time. "Thank you for this wonderful life. Thank you for living to your dreams until the very end."
Duke inhaled slowly and then turned his eyes to Law, standing up. "All right, let's go."
Law frowned at the grinning old man soul. He was too happy to move on this fast. Duke's twinkling eyes made Law pause, confused at first, because why was he staring, why was there a knowing look in those ancient eyes.
Duke blinked innocently. And then Law rolled his eyes.
Of course.
"You remember me now, god of Death?" Duke tilted head to one side, his lips stretched out wide in a big smile.
Law huffed. "How could I possibly forget." Actually, yes, Law had forgotten. But Duke didn't need to know that.
"Shishishishi! "
"Let's go." Law tapped the wall and opened a black hole. "Beyond this door is the Bridge of Hesitance also known as the Road to the Afterlife. I'll be escorting you till the Gate of Justice. Along the way you are free to remember anything from this life, anything that you'd want to remember. Once I leave you at the Gate of Justice, you will be given a chance live another life."
"Yes, I've heard it already. Now, let's go go go go." Duke skipped ahead and went into the hole in the wall with Law following close by. "I can't wait to see what else you have in store for me in the next life."
The third time a soul called him Grumpy Old Guy again, was when Law was staring down at a prone, mangled body in the middle of the street. The girl was staring wide-eyed at him, smiling for no reason as she called out to him. "Hey, Grumpy, we meet again." She would've grown into a successful woman had she not jump in front of a car to save a cat that day.
Blood already pooled around the body. Her eyes were staring unseeing ahead. The cat wiggled out from the cradle of the stiff hands. And people all around the area who witnessed the happening, were crowding around her body. Several of them started dialing the number for an ambulance, while others took pictures of her unfortunate state to share with the world on the internet. The driver who hit her was off by the sideline, kneeling on the road as his shaking hands tried calling for the police or his family.
It didn't take too long for Law to sever the soul linked with the body.
"Luka." Law stated.
"This looks bad, isn't it?" The girl asked, her smile wobbling. She surveyed her current self, the soul part, and then the body lying sprawled across the road. "You can tell me, Death. You don't have to spare me from all the gore."
Instead of answering Luka, Law simply going on his haunches beside the soul and said with a serious face, "I've come to collect you. The place I'm taking you, will bring you to peace. It's the afterlife. Once you pass, you will get a chance to start a new life in another body."
"Oh." Luka lowered her head. "There's no going back then. Here, in this one, I mean."
"Come, Luka." And Law drew open the black hole again to accept the new soul.
After escorting Luka through a relative short road to the Gate (a series of carefree moments where Luka had breezed through middle school and high school with average grades and impressive athletic abilities to adapt in any sport she was asked to fill in at the last moment), Law pondered at the nickname he had been called on three counts. Whatever was happening to the memory erasing qualities of the Bridge of Hesitance, Law started researching for similar strange cases in the Library of the Death Force.
Law wondered if he should've told his supervisor about these recurring incidents of souls recognizing him left and right. Either that, or leave it to be because there was no substantial proof as to why this was happening right now. And why exactly several of his cases.
It's only much later did Law realize it's the same soul that recognized him.
Over and over again.
And he had yet to meet the most annoying incarnation of them all.
"Luffy."
Luffy's eyes fluttered open. The wool of haziness that usually embraced his mind as he wakes up, was no longer welcoming him into the waking world. Instead, his sight was clear, undisturbed and open, as if he hadn't been sleeping for hours on end. As if morphine hadn't been pumped into his blood to ease off the pressure underneath the skin and the stinging through his bones.
Was it all a dream?
Luffy splayed a hand to his chest, feeling the soft skin and furrowed his brows.
There's no gaping hole there.
He rubbed his chest, drawing wide circles across the skin. Blinked a few times.
Luffy sat up, trying to look down to his chest.
Nothing.
There was no hole, no stitches, no dried blood. Only a cross-shaped, discolored, pale skin tissue strapped across what actually should have been a fatal wound right through his chest.
So it wasn't exactly a dream. The accident, that is. All he remembered is a disconnected sensation of being tense, cornered into an alley or some sort and then the hot, pole of something protrude into his chest, burning him inside out.
"Monkey D. Luffy."
Luffy reacted to his name, looking up.
A man was standing beside the bed, dressed in the long, pristine white coat. No mask on. He was neither a friend nor a family relative Luffy recognized. Given his record of memorizing people's faces, which is to say 'not that good', Luffy isn't too worried about who this man supposed to be.
The long coat gave his identity away. One of the doctors who treated him maybe?
Or at least that was what he first thought.
The furry hat on the stranger's head, though, was a completely different thing.
"Are you the one who saved me?" Luffy tilted his head to one side, his eyes focused on the other man.
The man's face was blank, unsmiling. A sliver of shadow cast across his eyes. He raised his left arm out, held his palm up and then curled his index finger and middle finger into a beckoning motion. The letters E and A tattooed onto the back of his fingers. A long black scabbard appeared before the man's hand.
"Wow, that's so cool! Can I hold it? How did you do this?" Luffy exclaimed, his arms stretched out trying to grab the sword.
"It's time to go." The man said his lips barely moving. "Room."
"What do you mean room?"
The man pulled out the sword kept within and slashed into Luffy's direction. Luffy didn't have time to scream. He threw himself back into the bedding, back pressed into the pillows, both his arms flung across his face out of instinct. The sharp blade caught the skin of his neck, down to the muscles underneath, into the core of bones and then-
-Luffy's ears were ringing, something in his chest unplugged and tore into two pieces. It didn't hurt though.
A loud drawn-out beep shrieked, breaking the silence in the room.
Luffy peered through the opening between his arms. The strange man sheathed his long sword.
"What the hell was that for?" Luffy snapped at the man, dropping his arms from covering his head, jumping out of bed to stab a finger into the white coat. Much to his displeasure, Luffy only reached to the other man's chin. His intimidation had failed.
"What gives you the right to attack me? Who are you?" He demanded.
"I am Death," The man pushed Luffy's stabbing finger away his chest, "I've come to collect your soul."
"Death?" Luffy blinked at the Man Called Death, "What do you mean death? Are you saying that I'm dead? There's no way-"
"See for yourself," Death tilted his head to point out the direction behind Luffy as he shoulders the strap of his black scabbard on his right. The sword disappeared once it rested on the shoulder.
Luffy frowned at Death and turned around.
True to Death's words, the world went gray while people dressed in hospital garb rushed around the room, shouting orders, dragging a machinery closer to the bed for reanimation. Luffy finally saw himself in the bed, bundled tight in blankets. His eyes were closed, his face bruised up.
His hospital gown was open at the chest. The rise and fall of his chest to indicate his body breathing was absent.
And the heart monitor showed a long flat line. The doctor and nurses tried their best to reanimate the body, shocking the heart twice. But all they managed to get was opening the chest wound that was starting to bleed over the
"Monkey D. Luffy. Time of death." The surgeon checked his wristwatch. "Four oh five a-m, February twentieth." The nurse beside him scribbled the bare necessities on the clipboard and then passed the pen to the doctor to sign.
He was actually dead.
"This can't be real?" Luffy shakes his head, his hands already raising to cradle his head, "Why did I die? How did I die? I haven't accomplished anything at this point."
Death doesn't comment at first. Often times the soul needs to have some bearing coming to terms that its body is no longer alive to house the soul. "An accident with a hot pipe."
"What? How?"
"I don't know the circumstances surrounding the accident. Just that you could have been killed instantly but managed to live a little longer until the operation room."
"How did I even get a hot pipe in my chest? This is too surreal."
"Come." Death ordered. With a snap of his fingers, the pristine white coat he was wearing disappears and in its place is a black, long coat with grey spots at end of it. He waves a general direction to the wall opposite of the bed. "The Gateway to Repentance awaits no one except for the non-living."
A pitch black hole opens into the wall.
"Oh no no no." Luffy shakes his head, angry, "Oh no, Mister Fluffy Hat. I'm not going anywhere! Put me back there!" He jabs a finger to the prone body in the bed, "Put me back into my body!"
Death gave him a long unimpressed look. "That's not my place to interfere." Death said. "And I'm not Mr. Fluffy Hat."
"What? What do you mean? Can't you just whoosh me back into my body? I can't die here. I can't."
"Your time is up, Monkey D. Luffy. I'm not god. I'm just a soul collector and your name happened to be on my list."
"Then tell that god to put me back in there." Luffy ordered. "Why did I die? I can't die just yet."
Death continued to look unimpressed with his insistence, and for a moment Luffy saw a scowl forming on his face before it disappeared in a blink. So Death wasn't as expressionless as he would like to be.
"No. It's your time to leave this world."
"I'm not going anywhere until I'm back in my body."
A flash of irritation passed through Death's eyes. "I have already severed your connection to this world. There's no way you can return into the Living world."
"You what? Bastard!" Luffy shot forward to thwap Death on the head as hard as he could, "Why did you do that for? Connect me back to it! Right now."
Death did not look like he was in pain, but Luffy's assault had surprised him. His eyes were wide, furious maybe, and he had dropped his jaw just by a fraction. Death reached a hand over to his hat and patted it as to soothe the pain Luffy had delivered.
By now, Death was out right scowling at him, "The link you once had in this world cannot be reversed. It's time to move on, Luffy."
"I don't want to. You can't make me." Luffy countered as he crossed his arms, glaring down at Death despite being shorter than Man-called-Death, "And it's all your fault."
"You stay any longer as a soul without a body you would easily destroy all your chances of a new life after this one."
Luffy sniffed, "Like I care. I want this life back."
Death let out a long, tired sigh. He opened his mouth to say something but then he looked to his right, where the long black scabbard had hung and dropped whatever he had wanted to say to Luffy.
"Fine. You can get a few minutes to see yourself carted off to the mortuary. I've a job to do."
"Like what?"
"This is a hospital. There bound to be more people dying and needing my existence." Death gave him a grin. It might have been the lighting or the odd angle, but a shadow thrown across Death's face made him more sinister than Luffy expected him to be.
The devil. He must be speaking to a demon. Luffy shivered.
Without further delay, Death stepped out of the room, right through the door and did not look back.
Luffy huffed at the closed door, making a face at it and then crossed his arms to study his body. He laid himself into the body, but slipped right through the bed. How was he going to fix this dilemma? Nothing was anchoring him down into the body. Nothing was keeping him from passing through it as well.
"HEY ME, WAKE UP! THERE IS NO TIME TO BE DYING RIGHT HERE!" Luffy shouted and slapped his body's face a few time. Although he was already aware he couldn't touch himself, his fingers simply passed right through in his attempt to assault his own body, he was still surprised at feeling nothing at all. not even an airy sensation. he raised his palm up to inspect his hand, but couldn't see anything of significance and slumped on the chair beside the bed. He fell through the cushions and ended up sprawled on the floor.
He's definitely dead right now.
There was no turning back.
"So have you decided yet?"
Luffy looked up, pouting at Death who materialized in the room. Death still looked blank and empty at him, except for that little smug light in his eyes.
Luffy glared at him, annoyed. "No! of course not!"
"We can stay here all day if you want, but that will be not in your best interests." Death crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. trying to look cool in front of a dead person. It ticked Luffy off.
"Tell me, Mr. Furry hat." Luffy raised his chin. "What is in my best interests when i can't even get into my body?"
"The afterlife."
"Why? Who decided that?"
"You're a soul. Your existence in the living realm is no longer valid to keep you alive. The only thing you can do right now, is to follow me to the afterlife."
"And what happens there?"
"You relive your memories for a moment and then you go through the gate of justice where they put you on a test to see if you can reincarnate into a new body or not."
"What kind of tests? What if I failed the test? does that mean I'll end up in hell?"
Death stared at him thoughtfully. "I don't know. My job ends at the gate. What happens behind the gate is a whole different realm."
"Tests huh. I don't do well with tests. What if it's theoretical test about my beliefs? I better just stay in this world."
"You can't. Your body is already dead. The link you once have is no longer going to sustain you in this world."
"So? I'll find a way to get back into my body."
"And yet, you haven't succeeded the time I've left you here." Death raised an imperious eyebrow at him.
"Shut up. I'm working on it."
"And I'm telling you, you can't. Not while i'm still on duty here. Your soul has to pass through otherwise you-" then Death stopped.
"Otherwise what? What will happen?" Luffy asked curiously.
"When you stay far longer than needed in this living realm, you end up turning into a vengeful spirit."
"What's so wrong about that?"
"You either take possession of someone's body or you begin a haunting. Either way, someone close to you, your family or friends, they will all die in some way."
Luffy stared at him in horror. "No way."
"Look, you are now a soul without a living vessel. At some point you'll start craving for a body because the connection you once had, is missing. Once the craving is at its highest level, you pick off a living person, usually it's someone close to you when you were once alive. And once you've successfully entered the body, you will automatically start a fight with the body's original soul. Your desire to get the body will corrupt the soul and after some period you absorb the soul which leads to killing that person's body you want to possess."
"No way!"
"Do you still want to hang around and take over someone's body now?"
"... what will happen to that person's soul then? Will they go to the afterlife?"
"They won't." Death paused. "They've ceased from existence the moment they lose to a vengeful spirit. they won't even get to see the road to the afterlife"
"Does this happen all the time?"
Death stared at him dead on. "Yes."
"Is there something you will do if I turn?"
Death gave him a pinched look. "I'll give your case to the Supernatural Force and they will deal with you."
"... deal with me. How?"
"They will exorcise you first and bring you in for an investigation."
"That doesn't sound too bad."
"It actually is. You're no longer qualified to follow the usual path to the afterlife and take the test. Instead, you go straight down to the hell and cease to exist anyway."
"So… either way, I'm doomed."
"This is death, Luffy. You're either dead or alive. There is no middle area."
The road to the afterlife was long and empty and practically looked like a desert at first glance. there was no cloud, no trees, no sand, nothing… only a long path etched on the floor, a barren wasteland. And some bright light coming from the back. Since there was no heat coming off the light source he assumed it might have been some magic mystery light floating in the back. Luffy didn't turn around to check.
Some mysteries were best left alone.
Instead, Luffy was interested in where they were going. He stretched out his neck, going on his tiptoes and peered through the long blank path as if making himself longer was automatically the answer to see far ahead. He couldn't see anything except for a blank horizon stretched out far and wide.
They've been walking for a long time. For who knows how long. Although Luffy didn't feel tired, he was pretty sure they've been walking for hours. Maybe even days. Death did say time moved differently in the afterlife compared to the living world.
With nothing else to keep him occupied, Luffy turned to his companion, Mr. Death. That guy had been quiet the whole time they had taken this long boring road trip.
"Are we there yet?" Luffy turned to poke Death with a finger.
"Not yet."
"how long is this going to be? how long is this road going to be?"
"As long as it takes."
Luffy tilted his head in confusion, his eyebrows quirking up. "that is how long exactly?"
"for some, it is short. While for others it is rather long."
"and how do you decide how long this road will be?" Luffy crossed his arms and puffed his cheeks, obviously not getting it.
"I don't. I'm simply walking beside you till we reach the gate."
"All right, then I want to be at the gate right now." Luffy stopped walking and pointed a finger at his toes.
Death sighed. "it doesn't work like that." He also stopped walking, turning just right to meet Luffy. "The road to the afterlife depends on yourself. it is built on your memories. So everything here is supposed to be what you remember at this moment."
"stop talking in circles and tell me." Luffy huffed. "what does that have to do with anything? can't i just run and meet you at the end of the road?"
"you can. you simply just need to make up memories that are dear to you." one of death's eyebrows twitched.
"why?"
"it's part of the process to make it to the end of the road. unlike yourself, this place has put boundaries on my existence. i am simply escorting you. Like a shadow that follows you. nothing more."
"So basically, your magic can't conjure a bike or a car like your sword earlier?"
"It's not magic!" Death snapped. "No. I can't. My capabilities end where I've cut you from the Mortal plane and lead you here."
"that's so stupid." luffy grumbled. "and i don't need another shadow. one is enough. It'd be weird to have two when you are too different from my own shadow."
Death's eye twitched and the corner of his mouth curled up a little in a half snarl and before slipping into a neutral flat line.
Luffy gave him a wide grin anyway. "so basically it's all in my hands right now."
"Yes."
"Does that mean I can do magic?"
"I told you, it's not magic. This is just the realm that depends on your memories. You only get to relive it once." Death snapped, his eyebrows furrowed in a near v sign on his face.
"Ohhhh. Bummer." Luffy drooped his shoulders. "I thought if this was a magic room like that magic light behind us, I would get my own robot suit and wear one the whole way till that important gate of yours. That'd be so cool!"
"Luffy, please. Can we just go?" Death raised a hand to rub his temple, as he sighed. "Just…" Death waved his hand around. "Just think of something. like your childhood? your parents? or the first time you got perfect scores on a test. Anything will do."
"Why would i want to do that? I can't even remember them." Luffy stared blankly at him.
This was going to go on and on forever. Death dropped his face into his palm.
"But as strange as it sounds, I can remember you though." Luffy tapped his chin. "You're the Grumpy Old Man."
As Luffy took several steps ahead of Death, the whole path leading to the Gate was filled with colors, scenes, faces and thoughts. Memories of Luffy's past.
Death noticed the change and raised his head from his hand. Finally, going somewhere. He gave the conjured scenes a cursory glance and pointed to a random one. The one where Luffy had his head underneath someone's armpit.
"Tell me about that one. Your family right?"
Luffy squinted at the scene Death had pointed to and brightened, lips stretched wide. "Yep. That's Ace."
"So what happened there?"
"We were under cover."
Death gave him a look. "Sunglasses don't do much to hide your faces. You'd utterly fail blending in."
"You're absolutely right, you know." Luffy puffed his cheeks. "I told Ace we should've worn moustaches and colorful shirts. We would've looked like cool Muten Roshi from Dragon Ball."
"That's the opposite of undercover work."
"That's what Ace said too! So we ditched the shirts and just went with the sunglasses."
"And? Why were you fighting? Your target spotted you?"
"Shishishishi." Luffy shook his head, grinning. "No, he didn't catch us. We were behind huge flower pots in the far corner. We saw everything."
"Everything?"
"Yep."
"Why were you undercover?"
"We were stalking Sabo and his date. To make sure nothing would happen to him."
Death quirked his eyebrows.
"We were trying to find who's this girl he had been seeing and decided to tag along."
"So how was she? Did she meet your approval?"
Luffy gave him a blank look. "She? She was… normal, I guess. Didn't pay too much attention. I was focused on ordering food from the restaurant. That's why Ace got mad and put me in a headlock. Shishishishi. Oh hey! Wanna hear a something cool?"
"It's not like you will listen if I refuse." Death said wryly.
"Awesome!" Luffy ignored the snark, grinning at Death. "Thanks~ so you better listen well, Mr. Furry hat."
"That's not my name." Death said through gritted teeth.
"Then what's your name? How should I call you? Mr. Bearskin?"
"Death. You can call me Death."
"Boring. But whatever, wanna hear it?"
"You might as well go ahead. Since you now have all the time in the world until the Gate."
"All right~." Luffy cracked his fingers. "Let me tell you about the time when I was a Dragonslayer and you're the witch I was hunting."
"Me." Death said. "A Witch?" Still he decided to play along.
"Yep! A very powerful immortal witch."
"Is this part of some fairy tale you humans tell each other all the time?"
"Of course not." Luffy sounded affronted. "You said you've been waiting for me for centuries." Luffy slapped Death's back twice.
"When did I say that?" Death snapped before he realized he had lost his calm. He huffed and rubbed his head. "What happened after that?" No use trying to steer the conversation away. Luffy will still find a way to control it all.
"Hmmm." Luffy tapped his chin thoughtfully and stared into the sky. "I killed you. I think. Your blood was strong enough to kill a dragon. That was the whole mission about. You wanted me to kill you anyway. So it was a success."
"Why," Law said flatly, "Would I want you to kill me?"
Luffy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you're lonely. You've lived too long and seen too much? Maybe you're the dragon everybody was talking about?"
"How are you not sure? You're the storyteller."
"Hey! The details are fuzzy. And I wasn't exactly there in my current life, you know? It seems like a movie at first but now I'm definitely sure you were the Witch once. How did you become the Witch anyway? And you don't look like you'd aged one bit"
"Like I would know? I don't have memories of my lives before I became Death."
"Oh." Luffy's wide eyes blinked at him. "Too bad. You seemed to be everywhere in mine."
The grin Luffy flashed at him no longer looked mischievous. If breathing were essential for sustaining his Death work, Law would have convulsed on the ground, gasping for air. Because surely, that smile Luffy sent his way should not even make him feel like he had dropped into an endless ravine without a ground floor in sight.
"Anyway, one time we met in jail." Luffy recounted as if Law's silence was encouragement to continue his stories. "I don't know what you did, but I was thrown in because I got caught in the middle of a fight with some gangs-"
Luffy's stories ranged from actual memories as Luffy and as other people, supposedly from another time, another place. Still, his stories were brought alive alongside the road to the Gate in a series of surprisingly elaborate movie sequences. They made Law question if the road Luffy was walking hadn't gone defect over the centuries.
"-and oh one time you got kidnapped in the rain. You followed someone into the other side-"
Law made noncommittal sounds to appear polite and listening when in fact he was mentally going through every rule book he had somehow memorized during his training, searching for a case that discussed memories that were never erased. Did something like this happen before? How frequent do these cases pop up? Who was his last Death escort? Why weren't his memories erased? The parts where Law was supposedly part of Luffy's many memories were still a mystery.
After what seemed like several hours of nonsense storytelling, Law put his foot down.
"All right, all right. I get it. I'm everywhere in your dreams-"
"They're not dreams."
"How do you even remember them?" Death side-eyed Luffy. "Are you just pulling stories out of your ass?"
Luffy puffed his face. "I'm not lying! You're mean. You weren't even listening, were you?"
"I was. Until the point you talked about us meeting in jail."
"You completely missed the exciting parts! Like the meat fest we had and I trumped you in stuffing meat in my mouth. Or that one time when we went fishing and you fell into the water and-."
"All right, all right. Stop, Luffy. I get it. We've met a lot of times." Probably only in his dreams, Law resisted the urge to snort at the thought. That's a first-the living dreaming about Death, about him.
"Can I ask you a question, Mister Fluff hat?" Luffy asked.
Law had long since given up on correcting Luffy's naming skill. He opened his mouth, ready to refuse at the tip of his tongue but then, he decided to go along with it.
"Fine." Law huffed. "What is it?"
"How old are you?" Luffy asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.
Law stared at him.
"Why do you want to know?" He finally asked.
"Just curious. I mean, for some reason the first thing that pops in my mind when I see you is, grumpy old man. but you don't look old at all. about the same age as my brothers."
Law pointed to his own face. "This is not a real human face that can make you guess my age. My actual face is-"
Luffy ignored him, instead he went back to the initial question."So? How old?"
"I've been around for a long time." Law said vaguely, dropping his hand.
"How long?" Luffy pressed on.
Law frowned at him. "It's not important."
"But it is!" Luffy insisted. "You keep saying you have no memories of your previous lives. What if." he stopped dramatically. "What if you were reincarnated into this one? Once your life here is up you walk this road as well, right?"
"That's imposs-." Law froze and then blinked his eyes, trying to collect his thoughts. No matter how taxing and random Luffy had been from the moment Law had cut him off from the mortal plane, Luffy understood the cycle now that he had re-lived many of his memories, including the ones from his previous lives. Some that even had Law in them for some reason.
"Wait-you may have a point there." Law rested his chin on a curled finger. There was only one case Law had personally witnessed where a Death passed through the Gate of Justice to reincarnate into the next life.
"It is possible." Law said thoughtfully. "What's your point?"
"Let's go back."
Law blinked at him. "What? Why?"
"I've decided I won't go through that big gate to take some test and get another body."
"Luffy-there's no turning back. I've already told you that. The only way is to move on." Law gestured to the long road ahead.
"Yes, I know. But I don't want to be reborn as a different person with other memories. I want to remember this life. This life I once had with everyone, with Ace, with Sabo, with Makino…" Luffy rattled off more names, most of them Law didn't recognized immediately but he assumed those were Luffy's relatives.
"All right, I get it. You don't want to forget." Law scowled.
"That's right. You're finally listening. I'm glad." Luffy deadpanned.
He rested his hands on his hips, puffing his chest. "I've decided to become Death."
Whatever Law had expected Luffy to tell him, it was certainly not that.