Waking up was a painful endeavor.

Most unfortunately, coming to in such a way was not a new experience to Law. This time around it was certainly unpleasant enough due to the dull ache that had settled its way into his arm. Again, not an altogether new experience, but nonetheless painful. The ache was aggravated by the way that he currently lay on what felt like an uneven surface. Law moved a little bit, had a rock dig into his back, and held still until he had better control over his limbs. In his still sleep addled mind Law decided that it was not the best of ways to wake up, but the dark haired pirate could think of a few other times that it had been worse than this. At that, Law hastily shut down past memories before they overtook the present. Law had to focus on the here and now, as he had the uneasy feeling that he and Luffy had been landed in the middle of something unpleasant.

Due to charging onward to the island completely blind and without any initially scouting and learning about the island first. Because Luffy had wanted to go on an adventure while at the same time going on a rescue mission.

Law snorted derisively and winced as he jostled his wounded arm. They were certainly having an adventure now. Not that he had wanted it in the first place, as he'd been dragged along against his will. The dark haired Heart Pirate inwardly grumbled a few choice words, mainly involving Luffy and his lack of definite plans as he attempted to shift away from yet another rock digging into his back. Law remembered what had happened before he'd lost consciousness. The ragged group of people that had set upon him and Luffy. They had to have been pirates, from the looks of them. But the way the two of them had been drugged into a state of sleep was what bothered Law more than the attack itself. The dark haired pirate presumed it was so that they could be dealt with more easily. But why that instead of just killing them was something that Law would rather not think about at this point in time. There was something else that was in the forefront of his mind.

The fact that he had been dragged along by the overenthusiastic Luffy to this damn island. It made Law despise the other captain for getting them into this new mess. It was bad enough that they had had to retreat from Kaido's forces not too long ago. That alone should have clued Luffy in to the obvious. That Law should have not come along on the search for the samurai's son. Not when it should have been clear that the Heart Pirate captain should have remained behind to recover from the rest of his accumulated injuries that he'd received at the hands of Kaido's second in command. Not that Law's opinion seemed to matter much when it came to the Straw Hat captain, and that was really starting to bother him the longer he was around Luffy. So much so that it actually irked Law more than their current predicament.

Law, as he woke further, held perfectly still with his eyes closed as he tried to determine if he had received any other wounds than the newest one on his arm. The dark haired pirate had his answer relatively quickly as he mentally ran over his entire body for the telltale signs of an injury. It was only his right arm that gave him the ache he currently felt. The aftereffects of whatever they had been drugged with via the air had left his system, as only the weariness remained. Law felt that was solely from the loss of blood and likely from the highly inadequate sleeping arrangements he'd awoken to.

A skittering sound and the shifting of rocks made Law decide that it was time to get a good look at where he was.

The dark haired pirate reluctantly opened his eyes and blinked the bleariness out of them as he looked drearily around him. He was no longer outside, that much he was certain of. It was instead some dim place with terrible lighting. A cave, perhaps. Law inspected the small cage he was in, and found that it was a shoddily made one at that. Law's lips curved into a faint smirk. A bunch of idiots had to have made the cage if they thought something so hastily constructed would prevent him from going anywhere. It would be a simple enough task to escape if he utilized his Devil Fruit powers.

The Heart Pirate eased himself into a kneeling position and as he did, Law realized that the cage was far smaller than he had initially believed. The different perspective didn't change the fact that it was still a terribly made cage, but it was clear from his new vantage point that standing up was out of the question. It was far too cramped for that.

The dull ache in his arm caught Law's attention for the time being. Getting out of the cage could be left for later as soon as he checked the wound over. The dark haired pirate frowned down at his arm in the dim light, to where he had wrapped a torn bit of his clothing around it. Law was relieved he'd managed to do so before he had been knocked out by the sleeping gas or whatever it had been. Otherwise he would have more to worry about than being held captive. He could have potentially bled out had the injury been deeper and he hadn't made an attempt to stem the blood flow.

Law looked his arm over more carefully, but came to the same conclusion. No, he'd done the right thing taking care of it with what he had on hand at the moment and during an attack. The bleeding from the wound had slowed, that was clear enough from the fact that he was not dead. However, the wound itself was still sluggishly letting out blood he couldn't afford to lose more of. No wonder Law felt lightheaded, kneeling as he was. A sudden sound distracted him from his inspection of the wound, and he lifted his gaze. Law found the source of the noise instantly.

Luffy.

Law resisted the urge to roll his eyes or otherwise sigh at the sight that greeted him when he saw the other captain. Luffy was still out like a light and snoring slightly as he rolled this way and that in a small cage of his own. Even in sleep the Straw Hat captain managed to irk Law. How could Luffy be so at ease and still sound asleep when they had just been caught by a bunch of people who obviously didn't have their best interests in mind?

The dark haired Heart pirate narrowed his eyes at the other cage, before a frown replaced the scowl. Was that sea prism stone that was in the bars of the hastily thrown together cage? Where had the people on the island acquired it?

Law gave a light shake of his head and turned his attention to his own cage bars. There did not appear to be any sea stone in his, and Law was able to confirm it by running his left hand along the bars within immediate reach of him. There was no telltale sign of the sea prism stone, and while that seemed to be a little strange, Law would take the oversight of their captors. Law allowed himself a satisfied smile. At least something was going right so far that day. The Heart Pirate captain figured that there was no point in sticking around if he didn't have to, and went straight to the business of getting the hell out of there.

Law reached for his Devil Fruit powers to make the sphere. To make it possible to teleport himself out of the cage and leave a rock behind in his place. There were so many of them on the ground that it would be nothing at all to him to swap places with any one of them. Law stretched out his left hand, trying hard to focus on the powers and not the dull agonizing ache that was his right arm. "Room."

Nothing happened.

Law grit his teeth. That wasn't a good sign, nor was the lethargy he was feeling. The dark haired pirate took a shaky breath. That wasn't right. There should have been some sign of his powers. Law knew that his exhaustion would be a bit of a problem, but he should have had enough stamina to get out of the damn cage at the very least. And try and get Luffy out of his, if he was feeling generous.

Which Law wasn't exactly feeling at the moment.

Though that could have been because the Heart Pirate had just realized that there was another reason why he was so damn exhausted. It wasn't just due to his injury, it seemed, and that was confirmed by the fact that the wound wouldn't have impacted his ability to call upon his Devil Fruit powers, even temporarily. Law carefully ran his left hand fingers over his upper right arm, just above the injury he'd received. He winced faintly before dropping his hand. Another emotion replaced the fatigue he felt when Law figured out just what was around his arm.

Sea prism stone.

There was a sea prism stone band locked around his arm, sapping his strength. That was likely why his cage had none in it. Their captors obviously didn't see him muscling his way out with his wound anyway. Law felt the beginnings of anger pass over him. He couldn't fathom someone putting something so vile on another person when they were clearly in no position to fight back. Well, make a half assed attempt to fight back, anyway. Overly cautious, Law decided, as he tried and failed to ignore the insidious bit of stone around his arm. Now that he knew it was there, it was very hard to pretend that it wasn't.

"Ah! Tra-guy! You're awake!"

Law settled onto his backside, as kneeling didn't seem like the best idea for how dizzy he felt now. From the pain or the sick feeling of the stone around his arm, he didn't particularly know or care. The anger that had washed over him was overtaken by a small spark of annoyance at the sight of Luffy. The Straw Hat captain was now awake and was currently sagging against the cage he was in, hands on the bars. Law let out a hiss of exasperated breath. Honestly, Luffy couldn't be that much of an idiot could he? "Fool. Don't touch the cage. There's sea prism stone in it." It appeared that neither of them was going to be going anywhere fast.

How inconvenient.

Luffy let go of the bars, and almost instantly looked none the worse for the wear. He even brightened and had a smile on his face. "Oh, so that's why I felt so tired." Luffy swiveled his head around as he took in their surroundings. "Where are we?"

"In a cave, I assume." Law said absently in return. He didn't feel well. That much he knew as soon as he had opened his eyes in this dismal place. Law blamed the sea prism stone for that as well. He also knew that he needed to do something about his injury before he lost too much more blood.

Luffy misinterpreted Law's exhaustion, as he apparently hadn't noticed the other captain's wound yet. "Are you hungry? I am too. Did you have one of the lunch boxes yet?" Luffy looked around for the food. When he couldn't find it, Luffy became visibly upset. "Hey, the backpack's gone! Someone stole it!"

Law didn't particularly care about that either. It was obvious that their captors must have taken it when they had dragged them off to who the hell knew where. It was probably better food than they could get on the island anyway. Law felt even dizzier than before and more or less ignored Luffy and his indignation about the missing food. Which he was still going on about, even though it would do no good. It wasn't like bitching about it being gone would bring it back.

"Those jerks stole the food!" Luffy huffed indignantly. But the Straw Hat captain momentarily forgot to be upset about the theft when he finally seemed to realize that something was wrong with Law. It was near impossible for Luffy to miss the sight of the dark haired captain collapsing onto the ground. Luffy's expression became puzzled. "Huh? Hey, Tra-guy, are you going to take a nap?" Luffy finally seemed to notice Law's still bleeding right arm, and concern took the place of confusion immediately. "Hey! When did that happen? How?"

No response.

"Maybe we should have brought Chopper with us!" Luffy rattled the bars of his makeshift cage, despite the fact that the sea stone wore him down. "Hey! Wake up!"

Law lay limply where he'd fallen, unresponsive.

"Law!"

The dark haired Heart Pirate heard Luffy calling to him, but couldn't make sense of the words. At the very least Law was spared the sight of Luffy continuing to touch the bars of the cage and wear himself out in the process. Law sagged further on the ground, displeased that he was unable to do anything about his own wound until he got his hands on some medical supplies. It would just figure if the wound itself became infected, and he wasn't able to utilize his powers to do something about the potential infection.

Law felt strongly, more so than before, that he should have been more adamant about remaining behind on the Thousand Sunny. Hell, listening to Kidd bitch about his own wounds and not being able to get out of bed would be less painful than listening to Luffy being overly optimistic about everything. No matter how bleak the situation may be.

Much to Law's consternation, as soon as he became conscious enough to form coherent sentences again, he would find himself even more involved in the island's problems. He would not have even considered such a thing possible since he had ventured to make an alliance with Luffy on Punk Hazard. It was something Law should have come to expect from the unpredictable Straw Hat captain and his knack for sticking his nose into other people's business unintentionally, especially after all that had happened thus far.

-x

Around the time Law began to inspect the cage he was in was when Luffy had woken up from his drug induced sleep. The teen figured out what had happened, and sat upright abruptly.

Luffy tilted his head to and fro, taking in the sight of the dull as rocks scenery. Luffy crossed his arms and furrowed his brow in a look of intense concentration, before he nodded at whatever had just gone through his mind. "Huh. That was a clever trap. They sure got us." Luffy sprawled out on the ground and stared up at the top of the cage. Whether he was thinking about leaving the cage with a few well-placed punches or pondering if there was food in the cave was a mystery only known to Luffy.

Whichever it was vanished from the Straw Hat pirate's mind when he caught sight of Law in a cage of his own. But no matter what he said, Law either gave a monotone response or ignored him completely.

Luffy wore a displeased look at being ignored and rattled the cage to get the other captain's attention. That action, however, wore the Straw Hat captain out for some reason. "Huh? Weird. I feel kinda funny."

"Fool. Don't touch the cage. There's sea prism stone in it."

Luffy heard the surliness in Law's voice, but ignored it, because he figured it was smart of the people that had caught them to use sea stone. Luffy was puzzled at the sight of Law sagging closer to the ground of the cage. At first Luffy thought it was because the other was hungry, but he had received a nasty glare in return for the suggestion. Law said a few more things, but Luffy was mainly tuning him out, as he was more upset that someone had stolen the food from them. But that suddenly wasn't as important as soon as Luffy caught sight of Law suddenly collapsing the rest of the way to the bottom of the cage he was in.

Luffy rattled the cage he was in, calling out to Law, but to no avail. It was incredibly frustrating that he couldn't do anything, and Luffy couldn't be sure if Law was awake or unconscious at this point. The Heart Pirate captain had made no motions either way, but at the very least, still appeared to be breathing.

The Straw Hat captain tried to provoke Law, as that seemed to have worked for reasons unknown in the past. "Hey, Tra-guy! Make that room thingy. You know, the one you used when you weren't trying to kill me on the Sunny? When I fell in that fish tank 'cause I was hungry?" Luffy was ignored again, but that likely meant that Law was passed out. He wasn't making any attempts to argue for or against using his Devil Fruit powers to help him. It seemed like a long time ago, but it had only been a week or less.

As Luffy ran his hands pointlessly over the bars of the cage again, an entirely new problem made itself known in the form of unknown individuals entering the cavern.

The Straw Hat pirate captain didn't miss a beat. He immediately began to harangue the individuals that had just entered the cave. "Hey! What did you do to him?" When Luffy saw that the men were taking Law out of the cage, he grew more desperate, even smashing himself into the cage with pathetic results. "Hey! I'm gonna kick you asses if you hurt my friend!" The laughter as the men dragged along a barely conscious Law away didn't improve Luffy's mood at all. Especially not when they disappeared from his sight.

Luffy set about trying to smash the cage again despite the sea stone. He didn't like the sound of the scuffle that broke out moments later, but Luffy could imagine Law receiving a beating for not moving along fast enough. That only spurred Luffy further into action. He was going to go make sure Zoro and the others were okay, as soon as he knew that Law would be all right. At the very least, he'd seen signs of life in Law, in the way that Law had woozily flipped off the people that had dragged him off with his uninjured hand.

Luffy stopped rattling the bars as he tried to figure a way out that didn't involve being drained of energy by the sea prism stone. There didn't seem to be anything else to do other than continue to try and bash the cage apart. It had thin enough bars that he might be able to manage it. While Law might still refuse to admit any friendship and the help he was going to receive one way or another, it didn't change the fact that it was Luffy's fault that the Heart Pirate captain was on the island in the first place. Luffy hadn't realized that Law was more hurt than he let on from his run in with Kaido's second in command.

Luffy stared at the cage he was in and made a decision. As soon as he was out of it, Luffy was going to kick those people's asses. Not only had they taken their food that Sanji had made specifically for them, but they had interrupted Luffy's adventure on the new island and hurt one of his friends. Luffy reached a hand up to move his hat to be firmly on his head.

The fact that he'd only ruffled his own hair spurred Luffy into a furious assault on the cage. What he had just noticed would have been reason enough to kick ass all around the island as soon as he was free.

Someone had taken his straw hat.

-x

Several miles away from where the island where Luffy was finding out the hard way that sea prism stone cages were a bitch to break down, badly made or not, one pirate had more to think about than where it was he wanted to go. It was more that he needed to figure out where not to go, so that his tagalongs in the distance wouldn't follow after him.

Crocodile scowled a bit as he glared at the specks in the distance. It couldn't be coincidence, no matter how much he wanted it to be. Mainly because Crocodile believed that the conversation he had made not so long ago had been picked up by way of wiretapping. There was no other explanation for what he had just caught sight of.

It didn't make him any happier to have a certain blond haired pirate on his ship, as it was likely that what he had just seen was because of the laughing bastard's presence.

Crocodile didn't much like the looks of what he now saw. The shapes were getting closer and had been since early that morning. By the way the shapes were steadily getting closer and the way the shapes made a direct beeline for his ship, Crocodile assumed that it was the marines. The violet haired pirate let out an aggravated sigh. No doubt the navy had figured out that Doflamingo was on his ship. Not a particularly welcome idea. It would have meant that someone had caught wind of his and Doflamingo's conversation. Marines and their damn wiretapping. Crocodile's jaw set as Doflamingo sidled up to him to join him in watching the shapes got closer, and take on the form of ships.

"Fufufufu. The marines, eh? They sure did make their move quickly, didn't they?" Doflamingo grinned nastily. "Though what do they hope to accomplish? If they start a fight, they have to know that I have no qualms about killing the likes of them."

"Maybe they want to capture and question you. The former king of Dressrosa." Crocodile ventured after a moment, heavily implying the former part as he watched several marine ships head toward his ship. The ship that was in need of repairs for the last time he'd had a run in with the navy, and had yet to make those repairs.

Doflamingo's lip curled at the intended slight. "Capture me? They can try, but those that make the attempt will find themselves cease breathing very quickly."

Crocodile decided the marine ships were more important to focus on than the blond haired pirate now leering at him, and swept off without a word. It wasn't like he really had anything to say to Doflamingo in response to his comment anyway. "Get ready to open fire as soon as they're within range." Crocodile demanded to the nearest of his crew.

Those within hearing distance quickly complied, so that when the first of the navy ships was close enough, several canons fired off, many making their mark, but not causing too much more than superficial damage.

The marine ships returned the favor, but as Crocodile had his ship veer out of the way, the shots went wide. One, however, made its mark, and it was one that Doflamingo didn't particularly appreciate. Sea prism stone shackles whipping through the air to wrap around his middle, which led to an embarrassing meeting with the deck of the ship.

The pirates that had witnessed the sight wisely didn't laugh at the cursing pirate on the deck, nor did they say anything. Doflamingo already appeared furious enough to murder someone, and there was no point in being that casualty by doing or saying something stupid. Crocodile's mood, however, apparently improved on the sight, though he could not gloat at the moment as he had more important things to focus on.

Crocodile's eyes swept over the fleet of marine ships, and saw more approaching in the distance. He wasn't about to stick around. It was rather inconvenient that Doflamingo had allowed himself to be caught off guard like that. He probably could have taken care of a few of the oncoming ships on his own. But Crocodile had not planned to stick around anyway, and had been steadily angling the ship away so that the wind caught the sails in a way that allowed it swifter progress through the sea. The marine ships were larger and more cumbersome, and Crocodile was confident that they would soon outrun them.

How long they would remain ahead was something Crocodile didn't care to think about. That was something to be thought of when the current danger passed.

Doflamingo wore an irritable expression throughout the narrow escape from the fleet of ships, his forehead creased in anger. He must have been losing his touch if he had allowed himself to be such an easy target. By the time the coast was clear, and Dellinger had come forward to help remove the sea prism stone shackles, Doflamingo was back to grinning. It was as if the attack had never happened.

Crocodile wasn't fooled in the least bit as he approached the other man. He could tell that the blond haired pirate was in a terrible mood. Crocodile flicked away a stub of a cigar and drew out another one. He lit and took a puff from it, staring out at the marines getting farther away from them before he spoke. "Maybe I should have had you thrown overboard. Let the marines fish you and your gaudy coat out of the sea. My problems would be solved."

Doflamingo laughed darkly as he leaned against the deck railing and sneered at Crocodile. "The marines are going to come after you now as well, since you are aiding me in my escape and avoidance of them."

A fight broke out on deck, and it drew Doflamingo's attention. With a shake of his head, the tall blond crossed the deck with heavy steps to prevent Baby 5 from firing uselessly after the marines.

Crocodile puffed away at his cigar again, irritated yet again. He regretted now more than ever agreeing to Doflamingo's terms. Annoying pink feathered freak was going to be the death of him. Doflamingo had better hold up his end of the bargain at the very least. It would be interesting if he did, but Crocodile would not be at all surprised if Doflamingo wormed his way out of it. Either way, Crocodile would be able to see something interesting, and the violet haired pirate had no doubt that the marines would be more frantic to put Doflamingo down than capture him if they had any idea of what he had in mind.

Crocodile vaguely flicked his half smoked cigar out to sea and turned around to bark orders at his crew.

The New World was certainly turning out to be an interesting venture with what all had been going on. And what would come to pass, depending on several individuals' choices, Doflamingo being one of them, and Luffy another. The marines didn't count. They were doing more than one thing, and it didn't impact outcomes nearly as much as the pirates that they were after.

Crocodile pointedly ignored Doflamingo's grinning visage as the taller man passed him by. The violet haired pirate noted that the man had managed to stop the woman from shooting at the now out of range marines. Crocodile cast a glance over his shoulder to find Doflamingo leaning against the railing of the ship once more. The grin was rather eerie as the blond haired pirate looked out to sea. As Crocodile watched, the smile on the other man's face curved wider.

Whatever it was that was going through Doflamingo's mind, however, the man kept to himself.

For now.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Thanks for the favs/follows (and review)! I'm glad that there is interest in this. I feel that I have to admit that I am mostly winging this story with vague outlines for each little section of story (especially from this part onward) mainly due to the fact that this fic was originally meant as a one shot (as in it was just supposed to be the first chapter), but kind of exploded into a full chaptered fic due to a few comments that had been made earlier on. So...I'm happy I kept it going because I'm having a lot of fun with it. Even if the IC seems to go back and forth with occasional OOC stuff.

I do have an ending for this in mind, and have since last year, but at this point I honestly can't say how many more chapters or how long it will take to get there. I'm also at the point that some previous chapters are bothering me enough that I want to edit them. But I figured I'd leave that until the whole fic was finished first.