"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

Smoker's voice was almost loud enough to reach through the windowpane that separated them from the interrogation room.

At least the glass seemed to vibrate with the volume of his voice.

Hina released smoke from her red lips and glared at Smoker.

"Agent Smoker... you know how important the information and contacts this man offers us are for the entire investigation."

"Are you seriously going to trust him?! He's gonna go on a rampage the second we take off those handcuffs!"

Another cloud of smoke escaped Hina's lungs.

"We will try this step by step. If Law says that he's willing to try to talk to him, I believe that he will be able to tell if the risk is actually worth it."

"Law won't be able to tell anything if this lunatic smashes his head against the wall until his brain pops out!"

"It makes no sense for him to attack me while we're still at headquarters. Even if we meet in a private room. He knows he won't be able to escape when there are so many cops around.", Law explained.

"Are you actually considering his conditions?", Tashigi shrieked,

"He will use every chance he gets to make a quick escape!"

Law sighed.

He couldn't deny the risk since Doflamingo's actions were highly unpredictable.

But still he said:

"I don't think he wants go the easy way."

"What do you mean?", Hina asked.

"He seems to me like the kind of man who searches for ways to entertain himself. Especially by manipulating and toying with the people around him. None of his murders were 'ordinary' so to speak. His first victim was killed with potassium cyanide, a deadly poison that he mixed with the drink in the victim's flask. The first victim's name was Carl Turing, he used to be a member of a racist underground gang and worked as a drug dealer in the downtown district. The way he was killed resembles the poisoning of several racial ideology leaders who used to rule over Turing's homeland back in the day."

"A-Are you saying this guy's not only a contract killer but also a psychopath?", Tashigi whispered.

Smoker slammed his hand against his desk.

"This is exactly what I mean! This man is too dangerous to grant him this much freedom!"

"He shows psychopathic tendencies in the way he kills his targets but he also seems interested in how we're going to solve this case.", Law interrupted.

"If we... if I... manage to arouse his interest... I'm sure that he will play along."

Smoker and Tashigi stared at Law in horror.

But before any of them could protest, Hina raised her voice.

"Alright, I will leave this guy to you, Law. You will meet with him in a private room but he will be wearing handcuffs during the entire meeting."

"What?"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

Hina turned around and stared at her two subordinates with strict eyes.

"We've been working on this case for almost a year now. The people behind this underground organisation are responsible for a drastic increase of drug abuse, street fights, murder and we even suspect them of human trafficking. This is the first real lead we got on them and since all of our other informants have been killed by this man, I'd say this is our only chance to get back on track as of now. END OF THE DISCUSSION."

The protest was evident on Smoker's face but the white-haired man only clenched his fists and turned away. Tashigi looked very confused as her eyes switched between Smoker, Law and Hina.

Law decided to do more research on the case before he would encounter Doflamingo.

He would have to deal with Smoker's complains later.


In between all his files Law found the list of Doflamingo's victims as well as Disco's last report.

Disco's last statement read that he was finally going to meet one of higher ranking officers who worked right under the head of the infamous underground network. In a different report Disco talked about a certain drug called "SMILE" which the network produced and distributed and that Carl Turing used to sell to his customers. The network's name remained a secret up until now.

Both Disco and Turing seemed to work under one of the system's officers although they never met them in person.

The second victim, a man by the name of "Gekko Moriah", was found dead in his cell after he got arrested by the police. The police suspected him of the abduction of several human bodies from the city's morgue. Witnesses had spoken of a strong 'stench of death' that surrounded Moriah's house and garage. However, when the police arrived they found no evidence that Moriah was hiding corpses on his property aside from the smell.

Moriah's dead body had been hanged from the ceiling of his cell with thin steel ropes wrapped around his arms.

The other three victims were all police informants. It seemed like someone made a hit list to clean out the trash from their organisation.


When Law entered the room to meet with Doflamingo, he found the man already waiting inside and smiling happily at his visitor.

"Hello there.", he purred.

Law didn't respond. He sat down on the table opposite Doflamingo and rested his hands on the top.

His fingers were intertwined as he studied the blond man with the wide smile.

"You look tired.", Doflamingo stated.

"Watching how your partner gets sliced to a bloody mess may steal you some sleep.", Law retorted.

Doflamingo formed a silent "Oh" with his lips.

He was still wearing handcuffs.

"So far we followed your conditions but if you attack me or any of my colleagues again, this will be the last time someone treats you like a human being."

Doflamingo held eye contact with Law although his eyes were hidden by the purple sunglasses.

"Your 'partner' shot my shoulder. One could say I was only defending myself.", he mused.

"You attacked me first."

"You pointed a gun at my head."

Law huffed.

Doflamingo leaned on the table thereby mimicking Law's pose.

"I just wanted to chat with you but you started yelling and that really scared me okay?"

For second, the blond man actually managed to sound like a frightened little kid.

But the illusion was quickly destroyed when a menacing smile spread on his lips.

"Don't try to threaten me, kid.", he growled.

The sudden deepness of his voice made a chill run down Law's spine.

His reflection in the purple glasses showed him his own frightened expression and Law felt a sudden rush of anger rise in his chest.

He wouldn't let Doflamingo take control this easily.

"Threaten you? The way I see it, I'm your free pass back to world beyond iron bars. If I decide that you are of no use to the investigation, you will be sent to Impel Down Prison in a heartbeat."

A smile tugged at Law's lips as he observed a vein forming on Doflamingo's forehead.

The tall man stared at him for moment and then moved even closer to Law.

"Maybe I will be satisfied with going to prison if only I get a taste of your blood first.", Doflamingo whispered.

Law tried to fight the wave of panic that built up in his body.

He forced himself to stay calm while he chose his next words carefully.

"I don't think that is what you want from me."

Doflamingo raised a brow at that and allowed him to continue.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it on the bridge. You knew my name and my profession. You also knew my specialty lay with psychoanalysis. So you decided to tell me this out of context story to test me. To see if I could decipher what you were really talking about."

"How sharp you are...", Doflamingo chuckled,

"Now I'm curious. Were you able to solve the puzzle? Fufufu..."

Law gulped nervously but felt that he was on the right track.

"The story you told me is from a comic book called "Batman – The Killing Joke" written by Alan Moore. The character who tells the story is the "Joker" and he tells this "Killing Joke" to Batman right before Batman captures him. "Joker" is an alias of an underground broker of the secret network we are trying to expose. Now I believe that "Joker" is the codename of the broker who hired you to do his dirty work. The way you talk about the two madmen also indicates that you saw yourself and your victim in the roles of those men."

Doflamingo clicked his tongue.

Law remembered him doing this before when the lights in the interrogation room went off and took a mental note that this might be a sign of nervousness.

"And how exactly do I see myself in the role of madman?", Doflamingo asked with a calm voice.

"You believe yourself to be 'different' in a way that you're able to outsmart other people. You like to play mind games with them and you put a lot effort into thinking of the most original way to kill them. This indicates that you harbor psychopathic tendencies but also that you have a strong need for recognition. I take that you seek a challenge more than anything else which is why you didn't kill me right away."

After Law had finished his explanation, Doflamingo hummed in satisfaction.

"You sure don't disappoint, do you?"

Law felt his breath stuck in his throat at the pleased sound of his opponent's voice.

"I'm going to answer your questions but I have one rule."

Law released the breath from his lungs and relaxed a little.

He had been right about Doflamingo's intention and managed to raise his chances of not being beaten to death in this room without any surveillance.

"What's the rule?"

"An answer for an answer. For every question you ask me, I get to ask you something about yourself in return."

"You like rules as long as you make them, don't you?", Law murmured.

He didn't like this idea of an "Ask me anything" game but it seemed like he would have no choice but to play along.

"Do you accept the rule?", Doflamingo asked with a smile.

Law narrowed his eyes at the man but nodded slowly.

"Alright then, ask away.", Doflamingo said as he leaned back in his seat.

Law took a bundle of files from his suitcase and spread them out on the table in front of Doflamingo.

"Who ordered you to kill these men."

Doflamingo smiled at the photographs of his victims before he focused his attention back on Law.

A moment of silence followed until Doflamingo replied with one single word.

"Kaido."

Law's eyes widened. He hastily took a note.

"Kaido, is that another alias or an actual name?"

Doflamingo slammed his hand on the table and some of the papers and photographs flew down on the floor.

Law stared at him in shock.

The man before him lifted his hands and waved his index finger in front of his face.

"Uh-uh-uh. Don't forget the rule, Agent Law.", Doflamingo lectured him.

Law nodded slowly.

Doflamingo smiled again and rested his chin on his palm.

"Now Law... when was the last time you got laid?"

A snapping sound filled the air and Law noticed distantly that his pen flew right across the table.

He stared at Doflamingo with wide eyes as he felt his whole body tense up.

His mind started racing.

Why did he ask him that question?

Was Doflamingo trying to lower his defenses with disrespect?

Was he trying to provoke him?

Was this another test or was he just fucking with him now?

Maybe this was a game of who would chicken out first?

Doflamingo waited patiently for Law to reply as if he had asked him about his state of health.

After a while he even bent down to pick up the pen of the floor and carefully placed it in front of the agent.

Law decided that it would take more than one indecent question to throw him off.

"Last night."

Doflamingo seemed pleased with the answer and readjusted his sunglasses.

"Is Kaido an alias or a real name?", Law asked in an attempt to retake control of the situation.

"I don't know.", Doflamingo shrugged.

He sensed Law's anger before the agent even spoke another word and decided to elaborate his answer.

"I met him at his club in the downtown district. He gave me a list of names and that was it."

"I see.", Law grumbled.

For a second, he really thought that Doflamingo was just playing with him and maybe he was but his explanation sounded believable enough.

The purple shades focused on him once again as Doflamingo thought of his next question.

"Was it good?"

The way he said the words like he was discussing dinner with an old friend made Law feel incredibly uncomfortable.

Law bit his lip and tried again to suppress his rising anger.

"Amazing.", he hissed.

"You're lying.", Doflamingo chuckled.

Law's hands clenched into fists.

He was dancing the way Doflamingo wanted him to and he suddenly realised that the more he struggled, the more Doflamingo would feel superior.

The faster he would feel bored.

Law tried to make his voice sound as blunt as possible when he answered again.

"I fucked her right after I came home from work. I only wanted to sleep so I made sure to be quick about it."

This time Doflamingo actually looked surprised.

"What?", Law snapped.

"I didn't expect you to correct your answer. I never claimed that it was part of the rule that our answers had to be true."

Law took another mental note:

He's definitely fucking with me.

Memo to myself: I'm an idiot.


During the next day, the investigation team started to dig up every information about "Kaido" that they could possibly find.

The only problem was that they couldn't find anything useful.

"This is no good. No 'Kaido' in any of the criminal records...", Tashigi complained from behind her computer.

"The blond bastard lied to you. I told you, we couldn't trust him.", Smoker murmured.

"Just because you can't find the name in our archives doesn't mean that the information was false.", Hina remarked as she lit her next cigarette.

Law's eyes glanced over the assemble of filled up ashtrays on Smoker's and Hina's desks before he left the office. All of them had been working overtime for the last weeks and the atmosphere was tense.

It all started when they got the first real clue on Doflamingo after a witness called the police because he had seen how a 'tall man wearing strange sunglasses and some feather thing around his neck' was breaking into the house of his neighbor. It turned out that said neighbor was no other than 'Disco' himself who was lucky to be 'at work' at the time.

Law had been gathering information about a possible hitman that was responsible for the death of five other people before Disco. It seemed unlikely to him there was more than one culprit. The way all the victims were killed seemed too thought-out.

It turned out that many witnesses had seen a man of Doflamingo's appearance at the different crime scenes. They also found fingerprints but no match to who they belonged to in any of the archives.

That only gave Law more reason to believe that they were dealing with a contract killer.

But he didn't expect a man with such a manipulative personality.

After his last meeting with Doflamingo, Law had felt like the man was toying with him.

At least he got a name out of him.

Of course getting that valid information had to go hand in hand with his mortification through a murdering psychopath...

When Margaret had called him last night, he had been too ashamed to pick up the phone.

What was he doing, telling a total stranger about his sex life?

Law sighed right before he opened the door to meet Doflamingo again.

The blond man seemed relaxed and smiled at Law when he saw him enter.

"You look tired again, had a busy night?"

The hidden laughter in between those words made Law experience a new rush of embarrassment.

But there was no going back now. Instead he just returned the smile.

"No, I just couldn't get our pleasant conversation out of my head."

Now Doflamingo laughed out loud.

"Fufufu, you're lying again!"

Law sat down and looked at Doflamingo.

"We haven't been able to find any valid information about someone named "Kaido". Did you lie to me about the name of the man who hired you?"

Doflamingo immediately stopped his laughing and leaned forward in his seat.

"Lie to you? How unproductive would that be? I didn't lie to you, Law. If you can't find anything on the name it's likely that "Kaido" is one of many codenames and that he keeps his real name very close to the chest."

Law frowned at the man before him but couldn't deny that he sounded sincere.

"Now it's my turn again.", Doflamingo announced.

The young agent sighed deeply.

"Law, how many hours do you sleep a night?"

"Around four to five hours..."

Law tried to ignore how utterly harmless that question had been.

"What was the name of the club where you met Kaido?", he continued the asking game.

"It's called 'The Zoan'. Z-O-A..."

"I get it.", Law retorted.

Doflamingo raised his hands apologetically .

"Do you often get nightmares, Law?", he mused.

Law tried really hard not to lose hold of his pen again.

Now he saw clearly what Doflamingo was getting at.

Last time he was simply testing Law's boundaries.

This time, he tried to find a weak spot in Law's psyche.

Law decided that he had to turn this conversation around quickly because if Doflamingo continued this road, Law wasn't sure if he would be able to stay in this room.

"Yes.", he whispered.

Now it was his turn again.

"Is your suggestion that I suffer from nightmares based on the fact that you experience them yourself?"

Doflamingo chuckled.

"It could be that. Or maybe those dark circles beneath your eyes gave me the idea."

"That answer sounds utterly evasive.", Law remarked.

It seemed that they were back to playing mind games.

"Because it is. Why did you choose to become a police agent?", Doflamingo asked ahead.

Doflamingo was trying to change the topic back to Law.

But right now, he had admitted that he suffered from nightmares as well.

"As you said yourself, I'm considered a genius at my profession. My talents can be utilized the best when I'm working on a case.", Law replied.

That answer didn't seem to please Doflamingo but Law ignored the look of disappointment on his face.

"Why did you choose to become a contract killer?", he fired back.

"You sound so sure of yourself when you label me like that. As far as I remember, I told you that I met with a man who gave me a list of names. Do you blame the trap or the hunter who sets it?", Doflamingo chuckled.

"A trap doesn't get to choose. A human does.", Law growled.

"So it seems I am considered a human being after all!", Doflamingo cheered.

An amused smile on his lips spread on Law's lips.

For some odd reason, he felt thrilled at the back and forth between them.

Doflamingo seemed to enjoy himself as well.

"I like that look on your face.", he mused.