A/N: welcome to phase three. lets hit the ground running, shall we? (woah that rhymed)


41. Still Alive


Law is bored out of his mind.

It's been just over three weeks since everything has gone down, but he still couldn't get back to work because of his arm, so he's been lounging around at home with the occasional walk around his neighborhood. He's also been popping in and out of the hospital for some last minute paperwork as well- and not to see his friends, he swears. They may or may not tease him on his way down those familiar halls, and he may or may not secretly enjoy it. He kind of misses just hanging out with them.

Law's been visiting Amazon Lily more often, too. Watching his boyfriend's glorious return behind the counter, flailing around the machines as he does best, was an experience Law wouldn't trade for the world. Luffy was getting better, already much improved from when Law first met him, but he was still exponentially worse than his coworkers. But damn it he tried his best, and Law loved watching him during his trips there, offering to be his silent pillar of support through secretly shared smiles.

As endearing as it was watching Luffy work and as amazing it was to have his alone time, it was all his days constituted of.

It was getting repetitive.

Luffy swings by with a cup of coffee and a plate of assorted sweets. "Hey."

"Hey," Law greets, smiling as he wraps his fingers around the warm cup. He takes a small sip and sighs delightfully. "Just the right amount of milk, too. You're getting good at this."

Luffy grins and takes a seat across from him at his table. "I try, just for you."

"I'm flattered," Law says with a chuckle, bringing the soothing drink back to his lips.

Luffy shifts then, uncomfortable, a clear question in his eyes. Law sets down his drink and raises his brows curiously. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I just." He scrunches up his face, and Law thinks it's the cutest little thing. "I was just thinking of a lot of stuff."

"Like the things that happened?" Law asks, voice lowered as he leans forward.

"Yeah," Luffy affirms, sighing. "And I just. Sometimes...there's something that Doflamingo said that stuck with me."

Law feels a wave of anger flash through him. "You can ignore anything that bastard said to you. He's full of shit and lies."

Luffy nods, but didn't look as convinced as Law hoped. "I know I can, but it still stays with me."

"What..." Law begins, grip tightening on his mug. "What did he tell you?"

The younger averts his gaze. "'If you think this'll solve all your problems, you're sorely mistaken. You don't know my nephew.'"

Law feels just the slightest amount of worry at Luffy remembering the blonde's statement word by word after three weeks. "You know he just wanted to mess with you. Don't think about it too much."

Luffy nods, blinking away the memories. "Right...but Law?"

"Yeah?" he asks, bringing his cup to his lips once more.

"You've..." Luffy bites his bottom lip as he trails off. "...you've still not told-"

"Hey, dumbass!"

Law's attention is snapped to Mari, who stands behind the counter with a large bag of coffee beans. She stares at Luffy pointedly. "A little help?"

Law begins to stand, frowning, but Luffy motions him down with a light laugh. "You know how she is. I'll be right back okay?"

"Sure," Law relents, sighing as he relaxes back into his seat. He watches the younger go off back to his workplace, the conversation between him and the brunette delving into something about replacing beans. Disinterested, his gaze wanders off, and he finds himself staring outside the cafe window. It's a hazy morning out, just barely warm. The sun peeks in and out behind clouds, shining only here and there, and that's why it takes Law more than a millisecond to realize that someone is staring at him.

A very familiar someone.

He blinks a few times, eyes scouring the exterior of the cafe. Sure enough, a dark set of eyes greet him, coupled with the telltale sign of a smoking cigarette. Law quickly looks away, hand covering his face, turned to the other side of the room to finish his drink. God, he thought he would never see them again. What the fuck were they doing he-

"Law?"

The tattooed jerks up to Luffy, who watches him worriedly. "Everything alright?"

Law nods slow, lowering his eyes to the table because he's sure Luffy could see his every emotion betrayed in them. "Yeah. I, um. Give me a minute."

He excuses himself from the table and stands, brushing past Luffy with a mumbled "Excuse me" and a sickening churn in his stomach. He could feel the younger's stare on him, clearly confused, and Law's sorry, but this was important. If this person is really who he thinks they are…

His mind raced as he pushed through the front door of Amazon Lily, letting it clank shut behind him. The moment he stepped out into the chilly air, he's shoved against the bricks just short of the large window's periphery by a slim forearm pushing insistently into his neck.

"Don't run."

"I never had the intention to," Law sighs, curling his fingers around their wrist. "Now would you let me go?"

His attacker slowly removes their limb, tense as if ready to pounce if Law so much as breathes too deeply. "Fine."

Memories of his childhood come rushing back to him, and Law can't help but feel a pang of nostalgia amongst the annoyance. "What the hell do you want, Baby 5?"

The woman beams up at him, takes a couple steps back. "Law! I've missed you! I can't believe you live around here!"

Law blinks at her. Has she finally lost it?

"Not bad, just so...peaceful. It's not like you!" She laughs, wide smiles and pink gums. "How've you been, healthy?"

Law glares at her to shut up, and the woman recoils, frowning, tears threatening from the edges of her vision. She's always been like this. Thank god that part hasn't changed.

She continues in a smaller voice, rubbing at her eyes. "I just wanted to see you."

"As if. I know you're not stupid enough to just so happen to wander into the same place I'm at," Law says, fixing his former sister with a hard gaze. "What is it? Drop the act."

Baby 5 sighs deeply, shoulder hunching. She straightens again, a new resolve painting her expression. "I finally found you after three weeks. You realize what you've done, right? About Doffy? Everyone in the Family already knows about it. And they're not happy."

Law shrugs. "So what? I don't give a shit what those guys think of me anymore. And they shouldn't either. It's been ages."

"Just listen," she seethes, coming closer to him. "I'm not here to threaten or hurt you, Law. What you do with your life is none of my business. But the Family's lives are."

"I thought they dissolved though," Law says suspiciously, "after the Rocky Port Incident."

She turns to lean on the brick beside him, blowing out a stream of gray. "We were, but we still keep in contact with each other and consider ourselves family. Anytime we need a hand with something or another, we'd help each other out." She pauses and looks at him. "Of course, that went for you, too."

Law knows exactly what she means by that, and to think that the Family would still be up for being involved in that sort of thing even after official breaking up makes him a bit nauseous. "Not that I would've taken the offer, but 'went'?"

"Yeah. As in not anymore," Baby 5 explains like Law needed it. He rolls his eyes as she continues. "The moment you touched Doffy, you bit the hands that fed you. All of them. They're pissed, you know."

Law rolls his eyes, and Baby 5 makes a frustrated sound. "Law, you need to understand the gravity of the situation. Even dissolved, we all still respected Doffy. No...respect him. Imagine if someone took down a person you cared deeply about. How would you feel?"

"The irony is strong, considering I did take down someone who hurt and killed a person I cared about," Law mutters.

Baby 5 groans, little hands forming fists, and pounds on the brick behind her. "Stop, Law! This is no time to wallow in your little 'victory'!" She says the last word with exaggerated air quotes. "Like I said, I'm not here to threaten you. I'm here to warn you."

Her tone turns soft, and she curls in on herself slightly. "Because I still care about you, even if you don't care about me. Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo, they were part of the family too but you…you were special. To everyone. And that special you took out Doffy."

Law is silent as the information settles over him. Just the thought of his former cliche makes a nasty tremor crawl up his sides. He would much rather avoid the, if at all possible. Also, from what she was saying, it seems as though she doesn't know that Luffy or the Revolutionary Army was involved. That's some good news, if any.

Baby 5 crosses her arms. "Don't you have anything to say?"

He didn't. "Thanks, sis," he cuts, so cold that the woman beside him actually jolts. "But like I said. I don't care."

"You really should," Baby 5 replies smoothly. "Go talk to the Family and set things straight before shit hits the fan. I know you know where they are."

Law ignores the words and walks away from her, suddenly disinterested in the returning into the heavenly scent of Amazon Lily. He'd call Luffy later to explain. It's just. The mere mention of actually interacting with those clowns made him lose the remainder of his appetite. He couldn't go back there in good faith to eat when he knows he won't be able to keep it down.

"I love you Law, I always will, but you reaaaally fucked up this time!" Baby 5 calls out, and Law grits his teeth as he enters his vehicle, slamming his door shut.

"Shut the hell up," he grumbles, fumbling around for his keys and jamming it into the ignition. He did not want to go back to the Family for any reason. Reminds him of the bullshit he had to go through in his childhood. Not to mention, he didn't care what it took to bring down Doflamingo.

That son of a bitch deserved it.

He curses as he eases the car into reverse, speeding off and away from the woman he once called family.


Luffy eases open the door to his dorm and actually finds Barty there for once. He gives him a big grin. "How was the shift?"

Ever since Barty returned to college, their relationship has deepened even further. Not that they weren't good friends before, but something about discovering your roommate's other identity as part of an underground organization and risking your lives side by side to overthrow a drug manufacturing gig run by two mafia-esque bosses kind of did that to your friendship.

If there were any barred topics they had from before, then they could certainly talk about them now. He's a bit more open, a bit more realistic with Luffy. His personality hasn't changed much at all from its previous sunshine and rainbows, but it now had a bit more bite to it. Just how Luffy liked.

"A bit weird," he admits, throwing down his bag and kicking off his shoes.

He feels Barty's eyes on him as he makes his way towards the lofted bed. "How so?"

"Law," Luffy mutters, and his roommate makes an indignant sound in the back of his throat.

"If that guy is causing you trouble-"

"No!" Luffy quickly raises his hands in defense. "No, he's not. It's just..."

Barty raises a brow. "Just?"

He sits up on his bunk bed, legs hanging off the edge, hands folded in his lap. "Earlier today, he looked kind of distracted. I wanted to ask him about it, but didn't really get the chance because we were busy."

The green haired bobs his head, lets him know he's listening. Luffy continues. "When I catch a free moment though, I notice he's gone. Then I see him talking with someone outside the cafe. A woman."

His roommate slams an angry hand on the table. "No way, you don't think he's-"

"No! God, Barty, of course not," Luffy hastily interrupts, face crumpling in disgust. "I have more trust in him than that. I'm just worried because he looked...angry."

"Angry," Barty repeats a matter-of-factually. "Why would that be?"

"I have no clue," Luffy admits, swinging his legs onto his bed and lying on his back. He stares at the ceiling, a bit torn. "I want to ask him about it, but I want to give him his space. He'll probably call or text me when he's ready, and when that happens, I'll be all ears."

Barty snorts from his desk. "You guys are such good boyfriends."

Luffy grins, a small chuckle bursting from the depths of his chest. "Hey," he chides good naturedly.

Then, a sound rips through the air. A ding of a text from a cell phone.

"Oh, that must be him," Barty says, yawning. "He'd better explain himself."

Luffy hops off the bed and lands with a small wince. "Yeah, yeah." He rummages through his bag and pulls out the small cellular device. With a flick it's on, and he opens his messages. Upon seeing who the newest message is from, he pales. When he reads and rereads the contents of the message, he pales even further.

"...What is it?" Barty asks after a beat of silence, watching his roommate curiously.

"Oh my god," Luffy breathes, hand shaking. "Oh god."

The green haired stands quickly, voice gaining a scared edge. "You're killing me here man, what?"

He raises his eyes to the green haired. "It's my grandpa."

Barty's brows rise to the ceiling. "Your who?"

Luffy rereads the text for the third time, pure terror surging through his veins. "And he said he'll be visiting tomorrow."


It was actually pretty funny watching the younger man fuss around his dorm room.

Situation from the morning long forgotten, Luffy called him over that afternoon to help him get his dorm room in order as best he could. Barty had left them in favor of a library or cafe or something- kicked out by Luffy apparently, though the exact words weren't nearly as mean.

"Help me move these things over here," Luffy points to a bag of trash and nods over to the doorway, "right, that- no, not the brown one, blue!"

Law carefully maneuvers around the small area as best he could with his cast, even more of a mess than before now that Luffy was doing a deep cleaning of it. Sometimes things had to get worse before they got better he knew, but this heap was something else entirely.

"What's the big deal about your grandpa anyway?" Law asks, hefting up the bag and placing it where he was directed. "I thought you said you didn't have any family."

"I don't, save for my grandpa," Luffy corrects, frantically organizing the papers on his desk into their corresponding folders. "Last time I was in contact with him was several years ago. He always texts from different numbers, so I can never get into contact with him. He only contacts me."

He sighs, lowering a stack of papers. "It's partly why I had to shoulder all of Ace's debt by myself."

"Oh wow," Law murmurs, moving to the area under Luffy's bed where the other miscellaneous objects lay about in unlabeled boxes. "So that's why it's such a big deal he's coming tomorrow."

"Yeah. My grandpa..." Luffy begins, humming as he moves from his desk to his closet, "he's a peculiar guy. He likes giving me a hard time, calls it 'tough love'."

Law smiles to himself. Corazon did similarly back when he was a kid. "Maybe that's just his way of loving you?"

"Or his way of hurting me," Luffy mutters deadpan, obvious bad memories replaying behind his eyes.

Law chuckles at that, and Luffy chucks a frustrated pillow at him. "Not funny! His fists hurt like hell."

He catches it swiftly, sending his boyfriend a victorious smile as Luffy scowls. He tosses it on Luffy's bed then moves to fix the haphazard covers. "I'm sure he loves you," Law goes with, in mock fear of another pillow being hurled his way.

Luffy just laughs.

A knock at the door sounds, interrupting the two. Law pauses and looks at Luffy, who groans. "I swear if that's Barty-"

"Maybe he forgot something?" Law offers, watching Luffy do his way to the front door.

"Maybe," the younger murmurs, twisting the knob and opening the door.

It takes Law all of three seconds to realize that Barty would never need to knock on the door to enter- he has a key. It's his dorm room as well, after all.

It takes another three seconds to realize Luffy's on the floor, holding his hurt head and looking up at their visitor with wide, angry eyes.

A tall, wide girth of a man enters through the doorway, clenched fist poised in the air from his attack on Luffy. Law's instincts quickly fly into motion, mind tuning out everything but the means to bring this man down to his knees for hurting his lover. Luffy grumbles and looks up at the intruder with teary eyes. "G- G- G-"

The older pauses, about a steps' length from socking the elderly man in the gut with his good arm.

Luffy blinks back unshed tears and glares at the man in the doorway. "Grandpa?"

Law's nearly choked on oxygen. This was his grandfather?

He looks him up and down, relaxing. Certainly didn't look much like him.

"I thought you were coming tomorrow!" Luffy whines as he stands, and wow, he whined. It's another side of Luffy he's yet to see. Law watches the exchange raptly.

"You fool!" His grandpa bellows, storming in the room and grabbing Luffy by the shirt. Law moves away, a bit lost as to what to do.

"Hey!" Luffy struggles in his grip clawing at his meaty arms. "Let me go!"

"Did you really think I was coming tomorrow? You idiot!" The man drops his grandson on the floor, where he lands in an ungainly heap. "I've been telling you to become more responsible, but you just won't listen! I can't believe how incredibly stupid you are- now come and give your grandpa a hug."

Law watches, transfixed as the man wraps his arms around Luffy, the younger shifting uncomfortably in the hug before sighing and giving into the love. Ignoring Law, the man pulls away and smiles down at Luffy. "Oh, that's right. I have dinner reservations for tonight. You're coming. Dress nice."

The younger frowns. "No way, I want to spend the night with L-"

"You're coming, boy," the man finalizes, standing up. "Oh, and that's right."

He moves back to the doorway and exchanges a few words with a man outside of Law's vision. When the grandpa returns, he brings a pink haired man with him. He's shy, the poor thing, wringing his hands, head bowed as the older man makes space for him with what little room they had.

Law's eyes work him over. He knows this guy, he's seen him before. He racks his mind for exactly where, but alas, the recognition is elusive.

Until it isn't anymore.

His blood immediately runs a freezing cold.

He's the same guy from way back when he was in the police car after discovering the drugs in the van, right before he was told he couldn't trust them by Corazon.

When Luffy calls out his name, his nasty suspicions are confirmed.

"...Koby?" Luffy asks, mouth slack open. "Oh my god, is that you?"

"Luffy?" the man returns, squinting, brows lowered. "No way! It's been forever!"

The two men celebrate their reunion in the midst of a panicking Law, whose lazer sharp gaze was trained on Koby the entire time. His heart pounded against his chest, beating so loud he's sure others could hear. His palms were slick with sweat, brain working in an awful overdrive as one question bounced around in his head with such ferocity it made him dizzy.

How in the hell was he still alive?


A/N: Thank you for reading! Another short chapter, but sometimes it be like that. Lol. Welp, until the next!

P.S. I've waited a millenia to connect the lil passing mention of Koby way back in chapter twenty-three. It's VERY subtle. Also, I edited something last chapter, a lil detail I forgot to include. It's the convo between Law and Luffy in the beginning! (If you read the last chapter on 9/30/20 or after, you're good lol)