Chapter23: Bad news.
Law was not in the mood that day, he was actually very irritated about his hospitalization, lying in bed without doing anything was not his habit, he was an active man who regularly slept a minimum of hours during the day so as not to damage his brain, but now, he was doomed to do the thing he hated the most, to rest, plus he was used to being the doctor not the patient, if he didn't understand why Penguin insisted on keeping him immobilized, the surgeon of death would have resumed his work as soon as he woke up, but luckily he was aware of the seriousness of his injury.
Law was going to have a breakdown, the only distraction he had was walking a few steps down the halls to stretch his legs, and although he had the capacity and the authority to return to his normal life, he did not do so because he wanted his wound to heal better before that, luckily the Straw Hat had decided to go home, at least Law wouldn't have to put up with the other man's antics anymore, his patience with him had already reached its limit.
Checking his phone for the umpteenth time as he sat on the edge of his bed, Law was waiting for a response from the red haired woman who had apparently ignored his message, Nami was overreacting in her reaction to what happened the day before, though it was just a stupid prank, was she so devoid of a sense of humor? Law thought she should feel flattered after he told her he like her, he wondered if maybe she hadn't liked the way he had used to tell her that? Because according to stereotypes, women had their heads full of romantic ideology, they loved candlelit dinners, bouquets of flowers and men kneeling, begging to grant them their love, by conclusion, the things that made Law vomit, for him texting was much better.
He sighed as a strange feeling tickled the bottom of his heart, there was a painful gap that needed to be filled, and he was sure he would be relieved when he will see the pretty face of the woman who haunted his mind, he missed Nami a lot and would give anything to be with her right now, which is not going to happen because she was mad at him, and unfortunately, it will take a while for her to calm down.
Law had decided to quit pretending he was not interested in Nami and lying to himself, like it or not, he had fallen for her, and now he needed her to put out the fire that was consuming him from within and above all, he wanted her to relieve him of this feeling both painful and pleasant; he burst out laughing when the realization hit him, it was the joke of the year, Trafalgar Law, the surgeon of death himself had heartache.
As he lay down in his bed, Law began to hear the sound of footsteps coming closer to him running, he couldn't figure out how many people there were, all he knew, it was that there were two or more of them, a grim foreboding grew in him as he stared out the door waiting for news that could be bad.
"Boss!" Shachi cried out as he entered the room, out of breath and sweaty, the man looked like he had done the marathon with his face turning dark red from the physical strain he was having made to get to Law, stopping by the bed, he began to breathe in and out quickly, unable to answer his boss's silent questions.
"We have a problem." Penguin said what his companion was about to say, if he wasn't busy catching his breath. Hiding his eyes even more under the shadow of his hat, he fell silent, fearful of giving out more information.
"What is it?" Law asked raising an eyebrow, his hoarse voice coming out from the bottom of his stomach so dark it was, starting to feel irritated by his subordinates who made the suspense last with their silence, he gritted his teeth to be able to restrain the curses he wanted to spit on them.
"Lamy and Nami disappeared," Shachi replied after Penguin nudged him to speak, panic erupting in the form of cold sweat as his face crumpled. "I went to pick them up as planned and when they didn't answer my calls, I went upstairs to check, but couldn't find them." He added quickly, speaking the words all at once and not even bothering to breathe.
"I don't understand a thing at all," Law growled as he grew even more confused, putting his hand on the spot where his injury was to try to calm the pain that was starting to wake up from the sudden movement he made when standing up, Penguin and Shachi rushed over to him, forcing him to sit down. "What does Lamy have to do with Nami-ya? Explain everything to me from the start." He prompted his subordinate to speak by looking at him with his narrowed golden eyes.
"As you know, I took Lamy to her house to collect her things and Nami accompanied her because she wanted to go out," Shachi started to explain before taking a pose to swallow a large amount of his saliva that was stuck in his throat. "When I arrived at Lamy's, I called them several times, but each of them was not answering her phone, which is why I went up to the apartment, and after knocking on the door several times, I turned the handle and it opened because it was not locked."
"Spare me the unnecessary details." Law interrupted him after heaving a long sigh, he felt like watching a dramatic movie where the scenes were playing in slow motion.
"Okay," Shachi nodded shamefully. "I didn't find them in the apartment while the light was on and their purchases were in the living room, which proved they had been there before." He took two phones out of his pockets. "They even left their personal belongings as you can see, I thought it was best to keep their phones in case they call."
"If something bad happened to them, they'll call their phones because that's the only number they can't forget," Law thought out loud as he studied the situation in his mind, unfortunately the result he had achieved was not positive, his nose sniffed at the smell of kidnapping. "Give me Nami-ya's phone?" He asked, reaching out to his subordinate who rushed to give him the black Smartphone. "If they've been kidnapped, Nami-ya is the one who is able to cope with this kind of situation, she can find a phone and call, unlike my sister who will be busy crying in a corner."
"So you think it's kidnapping ! This has never happened before," Penguin looked at his boss skeptically, not believing such a thing could happen. "Maybe they went out shopping a second time."
"They left the apartment open along with their personal belongings," Law remarked as the expression on his face turned much darker than it had been before. "Besides, lately I've been very reckless and playing with fire, it's very likely that someone has found out about Lamy's existence," His head fell as his mouth tasted bitter from the words he had spoken, it was the truth, he had put his sister in danger. "I don't even know who could have done it because I have a lot of enemies."
"We will find them boss." Shachi tried to encourage him, which was unnecessary in the plight of the surgeon of death.
"I'll start the search right away." Penguin said, trying to sound upbeat.
"Don't bother doing it, if they were kidnapped the kidnappers will contact us soon," Law explained, his forehead creased in worry betraying his confident voice, he himself was not sure of his guess. "We'll wait for their call and see what they want in return for the two women, in the meantime send some of our men to investigate Lamy's apartment." He stood up slowly and began to walk towards the closet where there was an outfit. "I think this is the end of my recovery."
"No, you haven't recovered enough!" Penguin protested, rushing behind his boss. "Don't worry; we'll take care of everything."
"I'm going to dress," Law pointed out in a bossy tone before turning to his subordinates. "Get out!" He ordered with a dark eyebrow, he had made his decision and nothing and no one could change it.
Law waited for over an hour as his blood rushed more and more to his brain, occasionally massaging his temples to try and calm his nerves, he couldn't fight the worry that was gnawing at him from within, his two subordinates who were also waiting with him, kept silent so as not to attract the attention of their boss who might explode at one point or another.
The heavy silence that weighed in tons broke as Law's phone began to ring, the surgeon of death did not know whether he must be feeling distressed or rejoicing when he saw that an unknown number was displayed on the screen, what was certain was that his guess was correct and that he hadn't waited for nothing, quickly his pulse slid the green circle to the right to accept the call.
"Where are they?" Law growled a question after he picked up, signaling the person on the other end of the line to start speaking without delay.
"So you know why I'm calling you, it saves me time." A cold, calm voice echoed from the phone, making the surgeon of death cringe when his fears were confirmed. "For the moment your sisters are safe, I count on your collaboration so that their situation does not worsen," The man had apparently paused to weigh the reaction of Law who remained silent, not understanding why he was using the plural when speaking of his sister. "Here's the deal, tomorrow night at midnight, you can exchange them for the weapons you stole from Crocodile."
"Where?" Law asked as he restrained himself from destroying the phone with the force of his fist, inside his mind he was swearing and cursing the day he made the decision to go and steal the Crocodile cargo because of this he almost died and now his sister and Nami were in danger.
"I'll call you back before time to explain the terms of the trade," The Kidnapper said haughtily, making it clear that he was the one who set the rules of the game, Law's right eyelid began to twitch spasmodically as he felt the vapor coming out of his ears, he felt he was being led through the tip of his nose. "Don't try to deceive me or do anything that will affect the situation of the two women." He advised, slipping subtle threats before ending the call.
Law stood in the same position for a while, still keeping the phone glued to his ear as he tried to stabilize his breathing, inhaling and exhaling through his nose, he felt he had a strong urge to kill the bastard he had just spoken with, with effort his mind was fighting a hard fight to be able to control the beast that had awakened in him, he needed to calm down, because without it he couldn't think rationally, which was not good for the current situation, he needed all his mental strength to find a solution.
His physical form wasn't helping things either, he was still in bad shape and his wound hadn't healed yet, plus every time he moved, the pain was starting to sting and a feeling of unease choked him, standing on his feet required a lot of effort on his part, not to mention the walking which was even more difficult for him.
Although his thoughts were completely clouded, Law was sure there was a solution to this shitty situation that would end with the arrival of the Angel of Death who will come and harvest the souls of the losing side, all Law had to do was force the doors that had closed in front of him to open, even if he had to make sacrifices, all that mattered was getting the hostages safe and sound, and also winning the fight, as he couldn't easily submit to his enemies, it wasn't his type to follow the rules of the game, he used always a wild card.
Feeling a lot more relaxed, Law began to have several ideas he could use to get out of the mess he was in, all he had to do was do a filtration and use the method that won't endanger the girls, but before making any decisions he needed to talk to his allies because just like him, they had participated in the theft of the cargo.
"We're going to the Straw Hat," Law said before turning his head to Shachi. "Call Eustass-ya and tell him to meet us there urgently," He ordered his subordinate as he started to walk towards the door without waiting for a response.
When he arrived at the Thousand Sunny club, Law found it calm as Luffy had emptied the place so that he could better chat in peace, it was an urgent matter, which is why everyone had to concentrate to be able to come up with a good plan that will solve the matter without the three allies suffering a defeat, Law had a broader view than the others, he thought that now, Crocodile knew who had stolen the weapons, he will not be satisfied only with the kidnapping case, therefore, it is necessary to take measures against future conflicts with the man.
Besides, if the story of the cargo theft reaches Kaido's ear, the plan to bring him down will be completely crushed, as Law will be in the Emperor's sights and even Doflamingo will turn on him, it will be a disaster that will be avoided by removing Crocodile which was a difficult thing to do, but not impossible, they just have to take the time to think and find a way out to do it.
"I want to kill Crocodile," Law said after explaining the current situation to his allies, everyone present was surprised to hear the man who avoided unnecessary conflict decide such a thing. "I think this is the best thing to do."
"I'm voting for, at least a little bit of a vibe in this boring alliance." Kid nodded as a sadistic smile spread across his face, he loved violence, that's why, he won't miss the opportunity to go wild a bit.
"The priority is to save the girls." Luffy commented seriously, he had been silent until now as he tried to restrain himself from rushing over to Crocodile to slaughter him, he knew he would put the hostages in danger if he rushed in without thinking.
"I know," Law growled, feeling the lump inside his chest tighten more and more, he was the main one in this matter, the two kidnapped women were both close to him, one was his little sister and the other the woman he was having feelings for. "That's why we're going to play their game for now, they want the guns, we're going to give them back nicely without arguing."
"What does it mean?" Kid asked as the expression on his face crumpled. "Are you going to submit?"
"Yes, because if your retarded little brain hasn't caught it yet, they have hostages." Law replied, articulating each word so the redhead could understand it, luckily the other man didn't try to argue, he just muttered curses between his teeth.
"We have to fight." Luffy spat as he clenched his fists, he refused to give up because he knew there was always a method of retrieving the hostages, without surrendering or submitting.
"I have an idea," Law said before turning his gaze to Franky who was sitting in the background. "I need your skills."
"I'm super happy to be of help." The blue haired man grinned broadly, emphasizing the word super.
"You know, we're no telepath, we can't know what's going on inside your genius brain." Kid remarked wryly, starting to grow impatient.
"I'll surrender as agreed," Law began to explain after he felt everyone present was of the same opinion as Kid, they all had a questioning expression on their faces, wanting to understand the surgeon of death's intentions. "I want Franky-ya to succeed in rigging the weapons with explosives, so as soon as Crocodile gets them I'll detonate them."
"So you want to kill Crocodile from afar," Zoro supposed, arching an eyebrow. "It's not stupid." He added after the Surgeon of Death nodded to confirm his guess.
"I am against it, your plan contains no action, it sucks." Kid protested as he slapped his mechanical hand on the table, he thought he was finally going to feel the adrenaline he liked to feel when fighting, but no, Trafalgar Law always has a stupid plan that settles things without direct conflict.
"On the contrary, it is wiser not to have a direct fight." Killer contradicted his boss in a neutral tone.
"But I want to hit Croco guy." Luffy complained as he felt his hands itch.
"You would have the opportunity to fight in the future," Law felt like he was allied with children, which is why he had to treat them as such and speak to them in a way they could understand. "We are forced to do this because our enemies have hostages. He turned his gaze to Luffy. Ask Nico-ya to investigate, maybe she'll find out where the girls are, if we find them there will be no exchange."
"Okay." Luffy picked up his phone to call his undercover subordinate.
"Franky-ya," Law called the blue haired man. "I would like us to discuss about your task." He added seriously.