A/N: ten more chapters to go. almost there! And 9000 hits? I'm so so SO grateful. Thank you!


50. Large X


Baby 5 is silent as she leads them out of his room and through the various hallways of the castle. The building was huge and spanned several tall stories, a little old fashioned but homey enough. Even if Luffy managed to escape there's no way he'd find his way out; there were simply too many corridors and rooms that led to nothing. He'd get caught in an instant.

A few minutes into their walk, he sees a large room on his right. Four high backed chairs, each shaped into either a diamond, club, heart, or spade, stood in the middle, facing windows that overlooked the city. There were no other pieces of furniture. Strange. But the room seemed important. He took a mental note of it as they continued.

The castle was more lively than Luffy thought it would be. Various others, who he assumed were also a part of the Family, gave him questioning looks as he walked by before turning back to bickering amongst themselves. Maids and butlers bustled to and fro, cleaning, arranging, and dusting after the Family members. When they arrive outside, it's a landing to a pool full of bikini clad women, playing around in the water and giggling up to the sun.

Luffy looks at the scene with confusion. It's as though they treated this place as a resort.

"You're in the city of Dressrosa, Luffy," Baby 5 informs, glancing over her shoulder. "Things like this are common."

Luffy blinks. Dressrosa? That was a good few hours' drive from his hometown. They haven't taken him far, but it was still far enough. He wanted out.

She falls back into silence and walks around the pool, nodding her hello to the girls, who cheer and wave back at her. Luffy grits his teeth and follows begrudgingly. Though not physically restrained, he still feels as trapped as ever. Her threat from earlier hung over him like a guillotine, ready to slice and kill if he so much as made a misstep in the wrong direction. It was a scary feeling that had shivers going down his back.

Once they make it out to the city, they find themselves a sidewalk to stroll on. Tall buildings with Spanish architecture tower over them as they walk, shadowed by the sun high in the sky. There weren't many people, it being midday, so they had the pathway all to themselves. Baby 5 called it a miracle. Luffy thinks the opposite. He can't sneak away into the crowds if there are none to begin with.

Now that they were far away from the castle, Baby 5 falls into step beside Luffy rather than in front of him. When Luffy looks over, he finds himself surprised to see the expression from earlier he thought he imagined. Something like pity tugged her features downward, blue eyes softened with sadness. It's a complete one eighty from what she was like in the castle. What was with her?

"You're probably wondering why you're here."

Luffy huffs and crosses his arms, raising an annoyed eyebrow in response. He didn't want to speak to her. The last thing he wanted to do was hold a conversation with his kidnappers, but the way she was looking at him expectantly, as if waiting for a response, it was best to comply for now. Last thing he needs is to tick her off. "You think?"

"You're a hostage," Baby 5 deadpans. "Haven't you figured that much?"

The word crawls down his spine like ice. "Hostage?" Then suddenly, it clicks. "No wonder I've been treated so well," he marvels, mouth falling open in disbelief.

Baby 5 only nods. "Right. We have to. What good is an important hostage like yourself dead?"

Dead. Luffy feels dread curl in his stomach.

Baby 5 chuckles. "Hostages are supposed to sit pretty and wait until the deal is over. Be grateful I'm allowing you on this outing."

"Grateful?" Luffy repeats the word like its poison. "You kidnap me and I'm supposed to be grateful? And 'sit pretty'? I did, and you threatened my life!"

"Well," she intones, a glint in her eyes that put Luffy on edge, "I said sit pretty, not try to escape."

Luffy frowns at her. "I wasn't trying to!" Outwardly at least.

Baby 5 shrugs. "I'm sure you were crafting something up in that pretty head of yours."

They walk in silence for a long stretch of time after that, going up and down several stairs, passing by a water fountain with a small crowd of people, and meandering down the main street of the city. It's when they're alone again that Baby 5 begins to speak, tone thoughtful.

"I probably shouldn't tell you this," she says, studying a building far ahead of them, "but the Family had their hands on the one and only prototype of a new version of SMILE. Phase 3."

Stunned, he turns to her. "How do you know about SMILE?"

She only looks at him pointedly, brows raised.

Oh. Right. Doflamingo.

"We actually didn't know about the new drug...not until the first sample was already made." She pauses and looks directly at him. "Around the same time you and your little crew bust into our boss's scheme."

Luffy doesn't know how to respond. He remains quiet, waiting to see where the woman was going with this sudden upheaval of information.

"A couple of our highly respected family members went to go get it. Pica and Diamante," she explains. "We saved the sample, thinking it would be put to good use. And that's when Diamante hatched this kidnapping idea."

She stops walking and turns to face him, looking nothing but apologetic. "They wanted to use you as a test subject, Luffy."

"Me?" Luffy swallows around the lump in his throat. "But why?"

Baby 5 shakes her head. "To get back at Law for what he did to Doffy."

All of Law's warnings about his past and his family starts to make an awful kind of sense.

"We already used the drug on you, you know," she says offhandedly. "Back at that nightclub. Viola slipped it into your drink."

Luffy frowns. That would explain a lot.

Baby 5 looks to the sky thoughtfully. "You passed out, but you weren't supposed to wake up. And even if you did, it shouldn't have been so quickly, and without any side effects."

She eyes him with suspicion. "It's like you have a resistance to poison or something. Our one way of trying to hurt you didn't work, so we changed our plans and took you as a hostage instead."

The fact that his life already hung in the balance the second he sipped that drink from who knows how many nights ago was terrifying. He could've died from that. If the sample of the drug had been completed, he might not even be here right now.

Luffy was truly fucked. He might leave this place, but not without a huge fight. Not unscathed. The Family were a ruthless bunch of people, and Luffy was just a puppet in their hands to play with. It makes him clench his fists in anger. He had to at least try and escape. Something told him that he would regret it if he didn't.

But the threats on his life if he did...

Baby 5 stops walking and suddenly turns to him. "Look. I don't like doing things this way. Kidnapping someone, keeping someone hostage— it's not my style at all. It's the Family's. I'm only doing this because I feel like I have to. But at the same time, I don't want to incur Law's wrath, so I want to help you escape."

Luffy narrows his eyes at her. "But you said-"

"I said what I said because we were in the castle, where others could overhear," she informs softly. "I was lying through my teeth, Luffy. In reality, I want to help. I'm the closest to Law out of all my siblings, so I'd hate to see his lover going through his because of something he did."

The younger chews worryingly on his bottom lip. They still don't know that he actually did help Law take down Doflamingo.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" he asks.

The woman's expression morphs into the one of pity from before. "I care for Law. He's an idiot, but I care for him. And he cares for you deeply. Therefore, by extension, I should care for you to some degree. Right?"

"Um. Sure?" Luffy wasn't sure where she was going with this, but if it ended in his leaving, then he didn't care.

Her tone is gentle, almost friendly. "Unlike my idiot family members, I can see both sides of the situation. Law has valid reasons as to why he did what he did. Frankly, I don't blame him. What he went through is enough to make anyone go a little crazy."

They continue walking, and Baby 5 places her hands in her pockets as he muses to herself. "Me and my brother, Buffalo, are going to go pick up Law later today. He'll be here by seven pm."

That gets Luffy's attention. Unfiltered hope surges through him, and for the first time since he's been kidnapped, he feels nothing short of happy. "Law's coming?"

"Yes," she affirms, "he is. Under the threat of your life."

His hopes come crashing down in a matter of seconds.

She looks downwards. "But in reality, they're going to kill him, Luffy."

The world goes dark.

Luffy feels time slow to an unbearable stop, going by so slowly the seconds seem to be minutes, and the minutes seem to be hours. His head swims and he's drowning in the thick of it, lungs struggling desperately to get air, but it's no use. The information gags him and robs him of the valuable substance. It rips him apart and puts him back together within the same second, over and over and over again.

"Kill him?" a voice that sounds like him repeats brokenly.

He was scared of his own death yes, but the thought of Law's death downright petrifies him. It robs the warmth from his body and leaves it a shell, cold and rotten. He couldn't live without the man, it was an inconceivable thought.

He loves Law.

Luffy loves Law so much, and he wants nothing but happiness and well-being for the man.

Not this.

God, not this.

"No," Luffy finds himself saying, brought back to reality with a sharp inhale of breath. "No, that can not happen. You've gotta— we've gotta help him. Please, I don't want him to d-"

"Shut it!" Baby 5 hisses. "Trust me, I don't want him to, either. But I've already started to help by telling you all of this shit. You think I'd take you on a walk just for fun, Luffy? I have better things to do with my time!"

Luffy's breaths are haggard, his heart enveloped in pain. God, this can't happen. It simply can't. He needs Law, probably more than the man needs him. There's nothing that could ever replace his love, his touch, his smile, his laugh. If that were to disappear, Luffy would be left a twisted kind of broken.

"He's coming in five hours." Baby 5 walks ahead of him now, lighting a cigarette. "We're gonna get you out of here before then so when he does, he can go wild without having to worry about your safety."

Sensing the topic was done and over with, Luffy doesn't respond to the comment and instead blinks the tears welling in his eyes away. He was so worried. He can't help but tear up at the prospect of Law's life hanging in the balance over him. Him! It wasn't worth it in the slightest. Take him instead.

"Cry later, Luffy," Baby 5 grunts from ahead of him. Luffy wipes at his eyes, oblivious to the fact that he was loud enough for her to hear. "I promise I'll get you out of here."

She faces forward again. "Law won't have to worry about a thing."


When they return to Luffy's room, Baby 5 stops in the doorway, fingers holding the frame like her life depended on it.

Luffy tries to look around her curiously. "Hey, what's the issue?"

"Where did you go?" a voice asks from inside.

Luffy watches the blood drain from the woman's face with growing concern. Just what in the world was she looking at? "I...took Luffy on a walk."

"We told you to care for him, not give him an opportunity to escape!" another voice booms, and Baby 5 actually winces.

"But I handled it! You know I'm not that stupid, there's no way I would've just let him go!"

The first voice huffs. "Well, at least he's back now. Come, sit him down. We've discovered something."

Baby 5 shifts so that more of her body covers the doorway, effectively blocking Luffy's view of the room. "What have you discovered, Diamante? Pica?"

Luffy manages a glance into the room anyway, and two figures, one tall and lithe, the other wide and muscular, stand on either side of a handcuffed chair. Situated by their feet is a large metal cauldron of sorts, with a pipe sticking up and out of the bowl.

"The brat," Diamante sneers, ugly snarl directed behind Baby 5, to Luffy. "We thought he was just an innocent little bystander, just a side piece in the grand scheme of things, but in reality, he helped Law take Doflamingo down!"

"Unforgivable," Pica growls, gripping the back of the chair with a vengeance. "Unforgivable. You will pay for this."

"Wait, what the hell are you two talking about?" Baby 5 steps into the threshold, hand lingering on the doorway. "I thought Luffy played no part in that!"

"Oh he did," Diamante corrects, "they were working together! I can't believe we just figured this out now."

Baby 5 glares at him. "Who in the world did you hear that from?"

Pica walks towards her. "An informant came by earlier, gave us the details," he explains simply. "Now move."

"Hey!" she grumbles as she's pushed out the way, revealing a confused Luffy.

Pica smiles evilly down at him, surely scheming something wicked. "Luffy was it? Come."

He's not given a choice as a thick hand curls around his forearm, dragging him to the chair. He thrashes in the grip, curling tiny fingers around Pica's wrist in a vain attempt to peel them off, digging his heels into the floor as he's dragged.

"Hey! Let go!" Luffy cries out, tugging at his arm, but to no avail.

Diamante laughs at his struggle. "We still need him alive for Law to come and save him, so instead of ending his life, let's do something that'll piss Law the fuck off."

He's sat down into the chair by force, and held down by Pica as Diamante straps him in. Cool leather bites into his wrists, chest, and legs, effectively restraining the limbs. He was soon trapped in the chair, unable to move anything but his head. His terror rises exponentially. "What the hell are you doing? Stop it!"

Diamante slaps him so hard, his neck actually cracks as it jerks to the right. The force of it makes Luffy bite his cheek hard enough to draw blood. The taste almost burns in his mouth, making his head go dizzy with pain. He turns lazy eyes to his attacker, who glares down at him venomously.

"I'd stop making demands if I were you, boy," Diamante spits.

"What the fuck do you two think you're doing?"

Luffy almost forgot Baby 5 was there. Her hands were on her hips, head cocked to the side, eyes angry. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I told you." Pica says with a grin. "We're gonna piss Law off."

"Yes, but-" the words falter on her tongue as she sees Diamante make for the hot cauldron, bringing up the branding iron from the smoking coals.

Her eyes widened in shock. "No."

"Yes," Pica chuckles, stepping aside for Diamante to come closer to Luffy.

Her voice begins to shake. "You wouldn't."

"We would." Diamante leans forward and licks his lips. Luffy whimpers at the action, pressing himself as far away from the face as possible, but given his precarious situation, it was proving impossible. Fear rooted him to the spot, it crept up his sides and settled over his skin like a blanket.

"What are you doing?" Luffy asks, trembling he was so scared. If Baby 5 was acting this way, worried for him, then he was fucked. So incredibly fucked. The blood in his veins runs cold as his suspicions are confirmed, and Diamante smiles down at him, holding the branding iron victoriously.

"Since the poison didn't work, we'll use something that does." He points with his free hand to his shirt. "Pica, take that off, would ya?"

"Yes sir!"

Luffy isn't given a choice as his shirt is ripped from his torso, his bare chest on full display. Cool air hits him and he shivers despite it all. He looks back up to the white hot tip of the metal, then to himself, and reality sets in like a slap to the face.

They were gonna brand him.

Luffy begins tearing up now, absolutely petrified. God, they were going to hurt him so bad and he had no choice but to shut up and take it. What happened to the plan to help him escape? He glances at Baby 5 through his teary lenses, and she doesn't seem to be looking his way, the guilt of not being able to help him out of his current predicament too heavy.

"What do you think, Pica?" Diamante asks, humming as he points the iron towards his chest. "A big one on his chest would be a good idea, no?"

"Yes," the man agrees, "maybe a large X would be good, right front and center so Law can't miss it."

Diamante laughs demonically. "You always have the best ideas, Pica. An X it is."

"Wait!" Baby 5 comes close and puts a hand on their shoulders. "Please, don't hurt him."

"And why the hell should we listen to you?" Pica asks with a low growl. "This boy has caused us more trouble than we thought. He deserves much worse than this."

The woman's expression turns desperate, and she looks between the two of them frantically. "Imagine what Law will do when he sees this!"

"I don't care about that fool. Let him do what he wishes! I'd always wanted to kick his ass when he's angry, it's more exciting that way. So back off, Baby 5!" Diamante shakes off her hand and glowers at her harshly. "Your role here is done. Pica, escort her out. I don't think she'd be able to handle the boy's screams."

Luffy feels bile rise in his throat as a thrashing and screaming Baby 5 is forcefully removed from the room. She curses and yells at the both of them, but her words fall on deaf ears. She throws Luffy an apologetic look that makes his skin crawl. The expression only accentuates his acute terror, and when he looks back to his captors, he sees that they've locked the door and started to close in on him. He's sobbing now, brain short circuiting from fear, nerves snapping, heart pounding. He's almost woozy from the force of his tears, and the men before him only laugh at his display.

"Oh hush boy, this won't take long. Hold still," Diamante drones as he lifts the sizzling iron and presses it into the skin right below his collarbone. The burn from that alone was already immense, clouding Luffy's mind with it, sending wave after wave of pain down his body. It makes him seize up, limbs shaking, mouth dropping open as a scream rips from his throat. He grits his teeth in a tragic attempt to silence himself, but the scream only doubles in volume and pitch as the iron rod begins to drag slowly and diagonally across his chest.

Diamante grins manically. "Let's mark you in a way Law never could."


"Let me in! Let me in, damn it!"

Baby 5 pounds on the door to Luffy's room, fists red and pulsing from the force of her strikes. She's angry. No, she's livid. How dare they force her out like that! And after all she's said to Luffy too...she feels awful for getting his hopes up, only for them to be squashed the moment they stepped back into the castle. She should've let him go when they were outside.

She stops pounding for a moment, remorse buckling her brow. She couldn't have let him go. If she did, not only would be ostracized by the Family, but she'd be hunted down and killed for insubordination! She was in just as much of a troublesome position as Luffy was.

But at least she wasn't getting burned with a branding iron.

"Let me in! Let me-"

"Baby 5."

A hand stops her from hitting the door again, and turns her around. It's Buffalo, looking down at her with a curious expression. "What are you doing?"

She looks to the door with a pinched frown, wincing when Luffy's screams pierce through the walls. "I'm trying to stop that."

"You know," Buffalo sighs, "you really shouldn't be getting so attached to the boy. It'll only hurt you in the long run."

Her lips begin to tremble and she blinks back her tears. "I'm not attached."

"Yes, you are." Buffalo lets go of her hand. "You try so hard to put up a scary front with him, but I know you. The scarier you are to your victims, the more you actually sympathize with them."

Baby 5 averts her gaze. "He just...reminds me of how Law was as a child sometimes." She returns to him, resolving her stance. "This isn't an ideal situation. It's Law they really want, not Luffy. Once he realizes what they've done to his lover, he's gonna fuck all of them up. That's assuming he wouldn't fuck us up when we go get him."

Luffy's screams turn downright bloody, and Baby 5 slaps hands over her ears. "Oh god, I can't do this."

"Let's go somewhere else," Buffalo suggests, ushering her away from the door. "We need to start repairing anyway. It's a two hour flight to where Law is. We must start getting things in order."

Baby 5 lets herself get led, desperately begging herself to stop feeling so damn guilty for leaving Luffy. She would help him no matter what. It might not happen right then, but it would. It's the least she owes him for abandoning him like this in his time of need.


"What's wrong Sabo?" Koala asks.

The blonde leans forward on his desk, hands folded, chin laid daintily in them. "My brother senses are tingling."

The woman laughs. "You've been saying that ever since you've separated from Luffy. What is it now?"

"I dunno," he admits, sighing. "I just have a bad feeling. Those senses of mine are real, you know. They've only gotten worse over these last few days."

"Sure it has," Koala chuckles. "Anyway, have you found anything else out about that underground lab?"

Sabo purses his lips. "Well after that call with Law, it's confirmed that the people who took the sample were the remnants of the Don Quixote Family. So we've planted a spy over in their old HQ, Dressrosa, to see if they're still there."

"Okay..." Koala drones, "did they find anything?"

The blonde nods. "Yes, just this afternoon, actually. They found a woman walking around the city with a young male. She's confirmed to be Baby 5, part of the Family, but they couldn't identify the man."

"Why in the world would she walk around in broad daylight?" Koala wonders aloud. "Surely, she knows her status. Family members don't usually do things like 'walking around' unless they're pillaging the place."

"Exactly," Sabo points out. "It's almost as though-"

Koalas eyes go wide. "-she wanted to be caught."

He smiles. "Stole the words right out of my mouth."

"That doesn't sound good," she murmurs to herself. "If so, then going down there sounds like a trap waiting to happen."

"But we have to," he says evenly. "We need to recover that drug before it's used on anyone, and then figure out who the boy she was with is."

"But it just doesn't make sense." Koala murmurs, crossing her arms. "Why would she basically confirm the Family's location for us? Why practically invite us there? Trouble's afoot, I can sense it."

"I don't know, but we'll find out once we get there," Sabo says, standing. "Let's go as soon as possible. Right now."

Koala slams her hands on the table. "Wait! Would it kill you to make some sort of plan first before you go jumping headfirst into things like this? You're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!"

"Guess I'm gonna have to just take your heart then," Sabo grins, fingers tapping lightly on her shoulder.

Koala turns a pretty shade of red and slaps his hand away playfully. "Sabo! This is no time to be flirtatious!"

Despite everything, Sabo chuckles and moves towards the door. Koala stares after him, huffing. "Also, how are we gonna get down there, the heli?"

"No, we're taking the private jet this time." He glances over his shoulder. "We need to bring soldiers with us. Something tells me this is going to turn into another big brawl like last time."

Koala writes something down on a clipboard. "Alright. I'll go begin the preparations."

Sabo gets serious. "And Koala?"

She pauses at the tone of his voice. "Yes?"

"That substance...Phase 3? It's very dangerous. There's so many ways to abuse it. If the Family has it, then they could use that sample, replicate it, and start up what Doflamingo was doing again. We need to find them and nip this whole thing in the bud for good before that happens."

Koala gives him a soft smile. "Of course. Let's stop this once and for all."

It's currently 3PM.

Three hours until the Revolutionaries leave for Dressrosa.

"Hopefully this bad feeling is unwarranted," Sabo mutters.


A/N: thanks for reading! Until the next!

P.S. Luffy's branding was hard to write. :'(