Law picked up the wet wiping cloth for the eighteenth time and drained it in the bucket full of brown water. Then, he bent over the the marble floor again and rubbed the cloth over the surface until he could see his reflection in the stone as if it was a mirror.
He had been cleaning the floor of this huge room that only two people had walked into for the last hundreds of years, all morning. Still, i was nothing compared to what he had been ordered to do other days. At least today he was in the shade, and not bent over the arid soil with the sun burning his back.
They hated him.
Apparently his honest comment in the test had spread into this place of fanatics like a fire, and he couldn't spend a day in which he did not have to pay for it. He had seen the other blond boy with whom he had taken the test several times in the temple, Bellamy, fully integrated with the rest of the boys of his age and, of course, laughing at his back.
Law already hated this place and he hadn't even spent two weeks in it. The first day had not been very terrible, they had added him into the temple followers in a ceremony that tied his soul to the god's or something similar, and then they had showed him the temple and gave him a tiny room that he supposedly had to share with a boy who had never appeared.
Then he had found himself alone since he had taken his decision.
He had quickly gone to the bath room to relieve the tension of the day and get rid of the feeling of Kidd's touch still impregnating in his skin, the smell of home, his old clothes. God he missed it all. As they say "You do not know what you have until you lose it", and Law had lost absolutely everything. He missed the walks with Ace in the afternoon through the market, Luffy's dumb comments as they ate the delicious dishes of the house, or Garp's stupid, over-protectiveness. He missed his stallion, Penguin, his books, the hot springs of the neighborhood where he discussed had gone all his life.
But still, he couldn't think of Kidd.
The pain and sadness was too recent to be remembered. His chest tightened intensely and won't let him breathe, his eyes watered, his body paralyzed...He just couldn't think about that.
Trying not to think about it as he had been doing since he entered the temple, Law focused simply on cleaning the floor. Rub, rinse, drain. Rub, rinse drain. It was so ironic what his life had become because of the order of a single person. From the amazing books of medicine and applied chemistry, he had gone to the mop and scrub the floors. From have people who loved and supported him, to be surrounded by people who only wanted to take revenge on him and destroy him.
Law hated the people there, all with a blinded faith in God, laughing behind his back because he believed in filthy books instead of the impossible miracles. They despised his intelligence and knowledge, and believed themselves superior with his stupid prayers and praises, and, as if that was not enough, trying to ruin his life whenever they could.
That's why he was cleaning this room.
The job had been for another girl, but she had alleged, with complicit chuckles, that she had a terrible headache, and then the priest had walked around the apprentice room until he had stopped in front of Law, who had just come from the gardens with mud on his clothes. He still remembered the satisfied and cruel smile the man had given him when he had ordered him to do all this.
Law didn't care about all that hate and forced labor. Why take revenge when you couldn't get any benefit from doing it? Because of pride? The one he had lost when they had sent him to this place as if it was nothing? No, he no longer had strength or reasons to fight or stand up, and besides, physical tasks like this one distracted his mind enough not to think about...things he definitely didn't want to think about.
Even so it was true that his body began to resent all this routine.
He got up before the sun came up and helped with the other apprentices prepare breakfast, which consisted in some disgusting porridge of wheat and a very hard crust of bread. Then they prayed and prayed in the temple, and when Law thought that his legs had already died forever because they had been sitting in the same position for ages, they would get up again and fix the temple to perfection. Then another water-based meal with something floating thing on it, and up to bed.
Law used the last hour of the day to bathe. At that hour the people were comfortably asleep and the pool completely empty. The water was warm from the heat of the sun and he could see the sky full of stars through the hole in the ceiling.
He would spend hours swimming there. Enjoying the only free moment he had, remembering the names of the constellations in the sky and trying not to forget any of his stories or knowledge of astronomy, and then, when he felt his fingers wrinkled or the night too cold, he returned to the bed.
He sighed wishing that it was already night, or that at least, the room was not so big.
Actually, it was one of the biggest he had seen. The temple from within was much larger than what was perceived from outside. The public rooms dedicated to the common people who came to pray in the temple, were only a small portion compared to the rest. There were two main pavilions separating men and women as always. It had kitchens in which one could cook for an army, study rooms where the sacred books were read and the oracle chambers.
And then there were the forbidden apartments of the god and the high priests that no one could access without permission at the risk of punishment. That place that from the beginning had tempted his curiosity and had made him plan several strategies to sneak in.
Suddenly a few steps sounded on the marble behind him.
"Trafalgar Law?" Someone asked making the words echoed in the huge room with white columns and high ceilings.
Law raised his head with a tired face trying to guess what he would be ordered to do this time. Peel mountains of potatoes? Laundry? He swore that if he was asked again to take care of the grass from the garden he would murder someone. However, the man in front of him was someone he had never seen before. Tall, serious and much more muscular than all the priest in this depressing place.
"Yes?" he answered frowning.
"Follow me" ordered the other turning around with the confidence of someone who knows that they will be obeyed "The god wants to see you"
Law blinked¡for a moment. The God? Why? Law knew that he had entered the place because of him, but he had not seen him once since he had arrived, and at the end, he had supposed that it had only been a revenge against him for what he had said during the test. He hadn't expected the god to actually care about him.
Stumbling to his feet, he followed the other man through the corridors of the temple. They walked through corridors, crossing people who gave Law angry glances and bowed respectfully to his guide. They went deeper into the temple towards the forbidden and sacred areas where the god and the high priests lived. Law without hesitation made a mental map of the area planning future and not so legal visits.
"When you're in front of his grace, don't look at him in the eyes" the dark man who was his guide suddenly began "Don't speak unless he asks you, and remember your place when you do it, do not complain, do not protest and do anything he asks" he warned him.
Law nodded resignedly but unconsciously put on his impenetrable mask hiding his emotions and protecting himself.
Finally, after going through labyrinthine corridors that were exactly the same, they came to a room. Calling it huge would be a misjudgment. It was vast. The towering marble ceiling was decorated with detailed drawings of stories from mythology. So many, that Law knew that he could spend hours contemplating them and remembering their stories. The floors were covered with precious carpets from the neighboring Persian Empire and the golden colonnade of the east wall, showed an impressive covered garden that looked like a jungle, with a huge swimming pool in the center to bathe, the size three times bigger than the one he used with the rest of the boys.
The furniture that covered it was also mesmerizing. A huge bed against a wall seemed able to engulf you completely between the soft cushions and blankets of a fabric which Law had never seen before, but which seemed to be very very soft. There were gilded chairs with Egyptian decorations, sober trunks of dark oak from the north filled with books in strange tongues, a few tables with impossible meals that with their simple vision made Law begin to salivate. Was that a peacock? Rice?
It was a place beyond imagination.
That one room surpassed any luxury or fantasy that he could have ever imagined. Not even the emperor of Rome could have such a place. His guide led him right to the center of the room and made him kneel on a rug of flowery patterns with a sharp hit to the back of his knees. No mercy. As always.
"Here is the boy you wanted, sir"
It was then that Law noticed the huge man lying on one of the sofas, quietly basking in the sun that poured through the columns through the transparent curtains. Quickly he felt fingers digging into his neck pushing his head to the ground reminding him that he could not look at his lordship.
He gritted his teeth and when the hand pulled away from his head, this time Law was more careful to study the god, turning his head slightly and raising his eyes subtly.
The man had blond hair and he really looked like the statue he had seen in the temple. With that muscular chest, the arrogant posture of a man who had ruled since he was two years old, and the strangest crooked smile he had ever seen in his life. He wore trousers like those of gladiators, his chest bare except for a kind of open long jacket like the ones used by barbarians and a gold medallion decorating his chest.
He heard the man get up and come up to stand in front of him. Law held his breath preparing fro what was to come, as the light breeze rustled the curtains, making them ripple in the silence of the room.
He watched those strong, huge legs grew near, flex and the man knelt in front of him.
His guide shifted uncomfortably, while Law tried with all his strength not to look up and see the face of the man who had ruined his life, who had taken everything away and locked him here. The man gave a slight chuckle and raised a hand resting it on his chin. Law allowed the other to raise his head to look at him, and finally, his eyes moved on his own to search that face.
Violet.
Those damn eyes that he had seen the first time in the temple and had thought that couldn't belong to a human were again in front of him in all his glory. He trembled again, feeling again the weight of that impressive look on him, cutting off his breath, pressing against his chest, stronger, more powerful ...
He gasped stunned.
"Simply incredible" said the god for the first time, in a voice so deep and powerful that Law knew he could die if the other fancied it. The blonde's finger delineated his lower lip gently catching the accelerated breathing that escaped from his mouth.
The violet eyes kept scrutinizing him as if searching anxiously for something in him, all with that amused and dangerous glint that made Law sweat. Suddenly the God released him, got up and Law lost eye contact.
He breathed again.
"He is the only one who has been able to hold my gaze without fainting at such short distance" the blond man commented suddenly addressing Law's guide "Not even you resisted it, Vergo"
Law regained his strength and rage thanks to the air again in his lungs and watched as the blond man rested one hand on the shoulder of the man named Vergo with the same amused air he had used with him. Vergo frowned.
"Well, Trafalgar Law, do you know who I am?" The blond asked, again focusing all his attention back on him and leaving Law drowsy with his weird gaze.
Fuck it!
"The god of Delphi" Law hissed, giving him a look of pure hatred, ignoring the rule of not looking at the god's face and pretending, between all that, that he wasn't suffocating.
The god laughed cheerfully approaching him, he knelt again. Vergo behind him shifted uneasy and clenched his fists strongly, promising that this lack of respect was going to be painful.
"Yeah, well," the man rubbed his chin and leaned closer. Law concentrated on normalizing his breathing trying not to show any weakness "that's one of my innumerable names, but you Law, you can call me Doflamingo"
Law didn't know what was happening, but he couldn't ignore the tone of that last sentence. A low, soft tone, gentle, but with that suddenly serious look he gave him, the man looked more intimidating than ever. This wasn't a suggestion. It was an order from a god.
"Dofla-mingo," Law hissed weakly, trying to spell out the strange name and maintain his composure.
"Yeah, fu fu, very well" he replied again with that quick smile, flattering him as if Law was a dog that had managed to understand his master for the first time.
Law frowned.
But before he came up with an ingenious comment, which might offend but not seem like an actual insult, the blond took his arm and jerked him up leaving him standing.
"And now Vergo, leave us alone, Law and I have a lot to talk about" and without any more promptly he pulled Law into the courtyard with the pool, leaving behind the pissed off Vergo.
I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but I wanted to introduce Doffy, and explain Law's first steps in the temple. From now on I would focus more on the problems and other parts but it will be centred just in Law.
Hope you enjoy this, as always thanks for the comments and support, love you.