Summary: Law disappears. Not like this was entirely unexpected, but it seems like he has no intentions of coming back, which eventually makes the Strawhats look for their newly acquired 'ally'. What they find is certainly not what they, or anyone for that matter, would have expected.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one. Duh.

Spoilers: Set post Punk Hazard with established "alliance" - after chapter ~694.

Warnings: There will be swearing. More importantly: if you are not fond of possible violence, pain, needles, scalpels, ANGST - you might want to consider stopping here. Abandon all hope ye, who enter here. you have been warned.

A/N: Unfortunately, I really suck with plots, so if you should have anything to criticize about my plot that might find itself illogical and terribad enough to be on a Transformers/Michael Bay movie level (can it get any worse than that?) I shall not blame you. I always come up with ideas for single scenes but I usually fail to then make up a proper plot to embed the scene in, so eventually I end up dropping the idea. I tried to make this something else than incoherently glued together random scenes. x) I might not ever finish it properly due to lack of brain cells necessary to come up with a proper ending, but at least I wanted to write the part that I have fixed and somewhat ready in my mind.


Chapter 1

Doors, too many damn doors.

Zoro had to stop way too often for kicking in another of the grime-covered steel doors lining the sides of the underground corridor that had been assigned to him. He swore under his breath. Most of them were empty rooms, full of mould and dust and devoid of windows. In some, however, there stood solid stone tables – certainly not the dinner kind – and others had actual cells built with steel bars with the occasional iron cuffs linked to the walls by chains. He grimaced when thinking about what kind of… facility this underground complex probably used to be.

At least there were no additional corridors that would require turning left or right. It would complicate things, especially for him.

It certainly was a strange path that had led him and the other crew members to this place. The sudden disappearance having occurred a few days before of their recently gained 'ally', who they knew hardly anything about – not like it did anything to dim Luffy's immediate trust – and whose intentions and ultimate goals remained unclear to them, had them initiate an island-wide search, following their captain's command, who had – in a rather unusual serious manner - insisted that they wait no longer. Since they had found absolutely no trace of the missing surgeon they turned towards the locals, who had been displaying a surprisingly neutral attitude towards them – usually people were either very suspicious or weirdly fond of pirates – and had pointed them towards the long since abandoned underground tunnel system. Since it had pretty much been their last option they had split up after having found the entrance to the underground complex, which proved to be a lot more extensive than they had assumed at first. Their questions about the reasons for the tunnels' very existence remained unanswered; no one had given them more than very vague or uninformative replies when it had come to that matter.

The swordsman was once again asking himself why exactly they should bother with all the hassle it had brought them so far just to find someone who might prove useful to them in the future, but who had not exactly laid out his plans to them or was willing to elaborate on the details concerning his intentions. It was, however, not his place to question his captain's orders or decisions, although he did have his own views on matters and did not hesitate to speak his mind.

But no matter what, he would follow his captain and crew to whatever end.

He glared at the only source of light down here, the torch he had brought, since it did not look like it was going to last long enough to allow him finish investigating this part of the underground structure. He would have to hurry up unless he wanted to go back to find the others and get a new torch.

Another door gave in under the force of his boot slamming into it, revealing yet another empty, dust-covered room. He sighed in annoyance. This was a total waste of time.

He shifted his gaze towards the part of the corridor that he had not yet explored. It seemingly went on forever.

Bleh.

Suddenly something caught his eye, something that looked like it did not quite belong here. It took him a few seconds to realise just what it was, but then he noticed what had been bothering him.

It was one of the doors on the path ahead. It differed from the others since it looked a lot less unused than it probably should. He frowned. They had not found any signs of the Shichibukai so far, but it seemed fairly unlikely that he would take on hiding in a random underground complex on a random island for whatever reason after they had sailed together for several weeks, making their way to Dressrosa. Although, it was not like he was able to judge the man's character in any way since said man always kept to himself unless he was practically forced to do otherwise.

Zoro mentally shrugged, deciding that it was worth investigating anyway. He walked towards said door, which on closer inspection proved to also be a lot more reinforced than those he had seen so far. Kicking this one in might prove too much of a task. He unsheathed the black cursed sword, Shuusui, not too happy about the fact that he had to abuse a precious blade to cut something as profane as a door, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

One slash and the door, now neatly split in two, slammed to the ground. Zoro did not move for a few more seconds, listening for movement, ready for a possible assault. After all, his entry had not been very subtle. The room before him was as dark and seemed as lifeless as all the others he had seen so far, but it appeared to be more spacious than any of the previous rooms.

He remained alert, treading carefully as he fully entered the room, sword in one hand, torch in the other. He let his gaze shift across the walls, spotting nothing apart from a sink and a longer surface next to it that seemed to be covered with some sort of tools. It was not easy to make out details in the dim torchlight, but it seemed that no dust was to be seen here. He frowned. Someone must have been here, most certainly not too long ago. He listened. The crackling of the torch's fire was the only thing audible apart from his own breath and heartbeat.

Or was it?

He turned towards the part of the room that had yet to be examined, taking a few step into the direction of the sound he thought he had might have heard. It turned out that the room had an entire second section that had not been visible from the entrance given the absolute darkness.

Zoro now was able to hear what had just lingered on the edge of his perception: someone's breath, slow and laboured. He could make out the silhouette of what he had already seen in the other rooms: a table made of stone situated in the centre of the place.
And this one was not empty at all.

What. The.

"… Fuck."

It appeared that he had finally found Law.