The night sky was shining brightly with the city's lights.
Agent Trafalgar Law was standing on the Reverse Bridge, the largest bridge in the area, and focused his eyes on the figure in front of him. The darkness made it difficult to tell but he recognized the person standing on the edge of the bridge as a very tall man, with short, spiky hair and dressed like he was going to join the Love Parade.
He wore a pink feather boa around his neck, a black shirt with a white tie and striped pants. It was impossible to mistake him for anyone else but the target Law had pursued for the last 24 hours. He pointed his pistol at the man and slowly neared his position.
"FREEZE!"
Hearing Law's loud voice didn't seem to surprise the man. He turned around and smiled at the agent revealing two rows of white teeth.
Seeing the man grin at him like that sent a chill down Law's spine but his expression remained stern.
"PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"
In the light of a street lamp, Law noticed that the man was wearing very distinct, purple sunglasses. It had to be him.
"DOFLAMINGO, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR THE MURDER OF-"
"You must be Agent Law, right?", the blond man asked.
Law gaped at him in surprise but quickly regained his composure.
"PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"
Doflamingo took one big step in Law's direction while the wide smile remained on his lips.
"Aren't you one of the profilers? Didn't expect you to show up on the streets.", he chuckled,
"I heard you're a true genius in psychoanalysis."
The man was trying to win time but Law would have none of that.
"I TOLD YOU TO-"
A large hand suddenly hit his arm and Law's grip around the pistol loosened. The gun flew down the bridge and into the river beneath them. His grey eyes widened in shock at the unexpected speed with which his enemy had attacked. Before Law could react, a long razor blade was held against his throat.
Doflamingo pressed him against the lamppost behind them with his arm against Law's chest.
"It was you, wasn't it? The one who busted tonight?", the grinning man whispered.
The arm that pushed him against the lamppost made it hard to speak but Law knew that every second could save his life right now.
"You know... we couldn't just let you kill that man... since he's one of our informants and all..."
Doflamingo laughed quietly and stared down at the agent who seemed so small and fragile in comparison to himself but still found the strength to sound playful.
"You mean that Disco guy? Well he's just hanging out by himself right now, fufufu..."
Law gasped at the sudden realisation. He glanced down from where Doflamingo had stood only moments ago and saw that a slender body was hanging from a rope down the bridge.
"How... how did you get him first?", Law gasped and stared at the body that was swinging back and forth above the water.
The blond man only laughed again.
"You know the tale about two madmen trying to escape from the psychiatry?"
Law's eyes narrowed at the purple sunglasses.
"One night, they make it to the roof of the clinic and one of them jumps onto the roof of a nearby building. The other guy calls out 'No way I'm gonna make that jump!'. The guy who jumped smiles at him and says 'No problem! I brought a flashlight! I will light the way so you can just walk along the ray of light and over here!' Now the other guy looks very sceptical..."
Law stared at Doflamingo with outmost confusion. But something deep inside his brain told him that he knew how to story would end.
Doflamingo tried to hold back his laughter.
"...and finally he replies to his comrade: 'Are you insane?! You will turn off the light before I'm halfway there.'"
In all of his years as an agent, Law had never felt more frightened and intrigued at the same time.
This man who called himself Doflamingo, was utterly insane and yet... he was one of the most illusive hitmen this city had ever seen.
Law was sure that his death was near when suddenly a loud BANG echoed through the night.
The next moment, Doflamingo's smile was gone and replaced by a grimace of pain.
The tall man sank to his knees as blood started to drip from a bullet wound in his shoulder.
Law recognized his partner, Agent Smoker, coming from the other side of the bridge. It was clear that he had been the one to shoot at Doflamingo.
"Law! Are you alright?!", Smoker exclaimed.
His partner rushed to his side and pointed his gun at the bent over figure kneeling on the ground.
"Yeah... how did you find me?"
"I spotted that lowlife informant of ours hanging from Reverse Bridge... more like no-life now, thanks to this asshole."
Smoker kicked Doflamingo in the side.
"Be careful, this guy is quick for his size...", Law mumbled.
"I should just end this guy right here and now but then we won't be able to get all the information we need to take out his employers..."
"Fufufu..."
Law and Smoker stared at the blond man to their feet who was suddenly laughing again.
The next second, a long leg kicked Smoker's ankles and broke his balance. The white-haired agent fell down and Doflamingo immediately climbed on top of him. One of his hands strangled Smoker while the other repeatedly smacked Smoker's arm which was holding the pistol, against the concrete ground.
Smoker released his gun and tried to push Doflamingo's strangling hand away.
The blond man picked up his razor from the ground and started to slice across Smoker's chest with fast slashes.
The agent's eyes widened in pain as the blood started to pour down his skin. He saw how the man above him smiled wickedly while he continued to cut his body.
Smoker felt powerless against the sheer force with which Doflamingo was holding him in place. His vision started to blur right when he noticed Law standing behind the enemy with his pistol in hand. Right before he passed out, Smoker witnessed how his partner swung the gun above Doflamingo's head and knocked him unconscious by smashing the weapon against the blond man's temple.
His heart was racing.
I have to get back, I have to get back, I have to...
He was running through the streets and back to his house.
Someone had kicked in the door.
He entered the kitchen and saw that the floor was covered in blood.
"Mom... d-dad...what..."
They were lying before him. With bullet holes in their heads.
A noise could be heard upstairs.
"Oh no... Lamie..."
Law jumped awake in his bed with a loud gasp.
Cold sweat was running down his face and back.
"Trafalgar? Something wrong?", he heard a soft voice next to him.
Margaret was rubbing her eyes and leaned back on the pillow to look at Law.
She ran her fingers through her unkempt hair as she observed Law with tired eyes.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
Law was staring into an empty space in front of him and couldn't find his voice.
"Are you okay?", Margaret asked and put a small hand on his shoulder.
Law moved away from the bed and her touch as he made his way to the bathroom.
"I'm fine.", he muttered and locked the door behind him.
He immediately turned on the shower and stepped into the hot spray as if to purify himself.
He hadn't experienced this bad of nightmare in months.
Law thought that it might have been the events of the night before that triggered the memory.
They finally caught Doflamingo, the hitman behind a series of contract killings during the last three months.
His partner's injuries were luckily mostly superficial and Smoker wouldn't complain anyway even if he was in a lot of pain.
But it was a close call for both of them.
Law sighed and slid down the shower's wall with his back against the tiles.
Today they would interrogate Doflamingo. Somehow he felt that they wouldn't get too far with that lunatic. They knew near to nothing about him to begin with except his alias and what he looked like based on witness statements.
And since last night, Law also knew that the man was not only dangerous but also highly unpredictable.
Analysing that man's psyche would at least allow Law to distract himself from his own trauma.
He turned off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist before he returned to his bedroom.
Law almost blinked at the naked woman on his mattress.
Margaret gave him a questioning look.
"Uh... I have to go to work. You can leave when you... when you're ready.", he uttered and opened his drawer.
Margaret wrapped herself in the blanket of Law's bed and slowly moved to stand beside him.
"It's five in the morning... don't want to eat breakfast first? So seem really out of it."
Law put on his working clothes, a black suit with a grey shirt and white necktie. He also put on his holster and put his badge in a small pocket inside his jacket.
He felt Margaret's dark eyes watching him as he moved around the room.
She was a detective of the same police department that Law was working for but part of a different division.
Law's superior was commissioner Hina of the first division, Margaret worked under commissioner Hancock of the second division. Although they saw each other regularly, Law felt they belonged to two entirely different 'families'.
They didn't talk much about work. In fact Law didn't talk much at all. One night a couple of week ago, they met at a bar drank a lot. Law had taken her home with him and since then Margaret had become a recurring visitor in his apartment.
And Law tried to keep it that way.
"I have to start early today, we got a hold on of a very important witness."
Dark eyes sank to the floor.
"I see."
Law clearly recognized the disappointment in Margaret's voice. He grabbed his suitcase and gave her a kiss on the cheek before he left the apartment.
On his way to headquarters, he picked up Smoker from the hospital and couldn't help but smile at the young nurse who was desperately trying to tell his partner that it was forbidden to smoke in front of the hospital's entry.
Law opened the door of his car and Smoker dropped down onto the passenger seat next to him. A smoldering cigar rested at the corner of his mouth.
"Good morning to you too, brat. Stop grinning like an idiot.", Smoker grumbled.
"You're feeling better?", Law asked and glanced at the numerous bandages covering Smoker's chest.
"Yep. That blond asshole sure didn't try hard enough. Still, I can't believe he got the better of me like that."
"It was the same with me. His flamboyant appearance easily turns your focus away from how dangerous he truly is. Even if he doesn't look like it, the man is a professional."
Smoker looked at Law as he took a deep drag from his cigar.
"Furthermore, it's his unpredictable personality that worries me. Something tells me that we won't get much information out of him unless he wants us to."
Smoker released the smoke from his lungs and stared outside the window.
"In that case, we may have to use more old-school methods of interrogation.", he murmured.
A chuckle escaped Law's lips.
Doflamingo rested on the bench in his cell and gazed up at the ceiling.
As the iron bars opened, a young woman with dark blue hair and glasses entered the room. Behind her stood two muscular security guards who looked at him with cold eyes.
Doflamingo smiled at them.
"Doflamingo, we will bring you to the interrogation room. If you offer any resistance we will have no choice but to-"
"Aren't you cute. A woman with a body like you shouldn't be afraid to present it in a more... alluring way, fufufu. I guess you're Detective Tashigi?"
The woman's eyes widened behind her glasses.
For a moment she seemed too bewildered to speak.
A hand appeared on her shoulder and she quickly turned around to see Smoker standing behind her.
"Don't listen to him."
Smoker stepped in front of her and looked at Doflamingo with a disgusted expression.
"Get that piece of filth out of here.", he ordered the two guards.
Doflamingo smiled to himself as they put handcuffs on his wrists and took him to the interrogation room.
The room possessed two mirrored windows with only a metallic table and two chairs in its center.
A single lamp at the ceiling emitted a bright white light that filled the entire room.
Doflamingo sat down on the chair in front of him and watched how a tall woman with light pink hair sat down on the other side of the table.
She smoked a cigarette while her eyes moved up and down Doflamingo's figure.
"Like what you see, commissioner?", the tall man chuckled.
Hina took a another drag from her cigarette before she leaned one arm on the table and blew the smoke right into Doflamingo's face.
"May I have one too?", he asked and extended his enchained hands.
"Maybe, if you cooperate."
Hina leaned back against her chair and gave him an apathetic look.
"You our prime suspect in case of six murders within the last three months. All of the victims were informants that had worked closely with our agents for months. The last one being a pander known as 'Disco' who we discovered to be hung from Reverse Bridge yesterday night. Two of our agents spotted you at the crime scene and you attacked both of them and repeatedly injured Agent Smoker."
Doflamingo huffed.
"Yeah, seems like he's still angry about that."
Hina gave him an icy glare.
"Let me explain your situation to you. We have enough evidence to put you in jail for the rest of your life."
"Do you?"
"If you refuse to cooperate with our investigation, I'll make sure that you will never leave Impel Down Prison until the day you die."
Doflamingo's lips opened slightly into a vicious smile.
The staring contest between him and Hina only lasted for a moment until she spoke up again.
"If you, however, assist us with the exposure of the underground network that infested this city, you might get a chance to shorten the time you would be spending in a jail cell."
The blond man sighed and rested his legs on the table.
"Interesting offer... and what if I say no?"
Hina looked at him for a second and suddenly raised from her seat. Without another word she left the room and closed the door behind her.
Doflamingo clicked his tongue when they turned off the light.
The next thing he knew was that someone grabbed the back of his chair and made him fall backwards and onto the floor.
When the light was turned back on, he recognized the two guards staring down on him.
One of them grabbed his shirt and was about to lift Doflamingo onto the table.
As he was lifted off the ground, Doflamingo rammed his head against the bottom of the man's jaw. The security guard groaned in pain as Doflamingo took the chance to get behind him and strangle his throat with the chain of his handcuffs.
"I would prefer a more gentle approach.", he hissed and lifted the man of his feet.
The second guard drew his pistol.
"STOP IT.", rang Hina's voice from a loudspeaker.
"RELEASE THE MAN, DOFLAMINGO."
"If I'm going to help you, I have conditions.", Doflamingo exclaimed.
"First, I will only answer questions in a face-to-face conversation without a third party involved. Second, you'll allow me to leave your headquarters in order to establish contact with suspects under the supervision of one of your agents. And third, I'll get to choose which agent I want to work with."
The guard's face was turning blue while Doflamingo smiled at the mirrored window.
A moment of silence passed which was only interrupted by the sounds of the guard's struggle for air.
"Alright. Let the man go.", announced Hina's voice.
Doflamingo dropped the guard to the floor like a sack of garbage and sat down on the table with his legs crossed.
He looked satisfied while the two men quickly left the room.
"Which agent do you want to talk to?"
Doflamingo smiled even wider.
"Trafalgar Law."