Mazout: I like the little details of little mundane things. Sometimes, I think I get into them too much but I think it's important because it sets a tone. And the demon reveal is in this chapter! So things will definitely clear up, now :D And don't worry about it – the confusing aspects are probably as much to English readers, as well – I catch my mistakes and hastily correct them when I can, but after writing and rereading several times, I don't realize until a reread months later that something wasn't as clear as I could've made it (I've palmed my fivehead many a times for this ha ha!) Loo and Snooj's affections will be made more clearer….soon… I'll look up Retirony!
12: I've Got This Friend
Sanji began to wonder if he were imagining things, pulling at the ties of his hoodie with vague repetition as he listened to Law explain his conclusions to the sleepy-eyed group at the bar. Penguin had his head pillowed with both arms atop of the counter while Shachi guzzled from tall cans of energy drinks, and Jean Bart sat atop of one stool with his usually meticulous uniform loosely buttoned. All of them looked exhausted, but Law paced with an energy that didn't seem to diminish as he spoke his theories aloud. Luffy was sitting at the counter with a scowl to his face as he braced his hands onto the counter and lightly swung his feet. He had admitted he was in a bad mood because he'd been jailed unfairly after the battle. His lockbox sat nearby, where Sanji had cut through the ducktape with a borrowed knife.
But he wondered if he were seeing things, because he was starting to notice that Law kept looking at him. Not passing glances, but looking.
Not that I'm complaining, Sanji thought, stilling the repetitive movement as he caught Law looking at him. Eye contact, a full frontal face turn – not that quick glance from the corner of his eye, or sneaking look in one of the bar mirrors. He looked away, unsure how to take the sudden attention and feeling his face heat ever so slightly. What changed his mind…?
"You got all of that…" Penguin spoke up, not lifting his head but patting the counter for the newspaper clipping between him and Shachi, "from just this piece of paper?"
He rattled the paper once he came into contact with it, Shachi looking puzzled as he waited for Law to give the answer.
"From just a picture…? You decided he was a booze smuggler and had all this history based on a couple of words, when we couldn't find anything more than his exploits? Even the other team had as much information as we did, and he's a full blown murderer without motive, not…!"
"It makes sense, Penguin. He can't talk about it, and the timelines match with the information I was able to learn. Why wouldn't a church speak of the unnamed shipment if they weren't in partnership with smugglers they can't name? Also, the impression left behind suggested this – he deliberately left the sensation on me," Law insisted, pausing in mid-step. To Shachi, he said, "Why aren't you looking this up? Find that man's name, the big one with the sideburns."
"You're so bossy when you're all manic," Shachi complained, but he did pull his battered laptop from the counter to his lap, opening it with a grunt. "Finding that sort of history is hard. Why can't we just go back to the library, sneak in to the archives and find what Robin wanted you to find in the first place?"
"Or ask the asshole himself?" Penguin questioned, sitting up. He had pulled a black beanie over his meticulously kept hair, but Sanji could see where he'd lost a section of it from the fight last night. He wondered why the man kept hiding his face, so he envisioned terrible scarring or uncontrollable eyebrows. Maybe a missing eye from the war. "Why can't we just ask him? If he's sneaking around, spying on us – just do a knock for 'no', two knocks for 'yes'."
"Because that's stupid and lazy," Law told him, Penguin's jaw tensing and face reddening. "And I'm right."
"You're stupid!"
"All you guys do is fight," Luffy complained. "How do you get anything done?"
"Didn't you notice that the thing was a man?" Law asked him, pinning him with a stare. "In battle, you were all over him."
No wonder my skin feels all rashy, Sanji thought, looking down at himself. All he found were light scratches that were easily dismissed and some knuckle soreness, but overall, he wasn't as trashed as Law was.
"I felt a lot of fur," Luffy confessed, hands up to allow his fingers to pinch the air. "A lot. I felt it on my skin, I felt his little horns, and some spots felt rough, like weird lizard hide – it wasn't a dude, I'm one hundred percent sure it was a mutt. A demonic mutt! You said it was talking to you, but I couldn't hear any words! Unless you were doing Professor Xavier stuff, and having conversations in your mind…"
"Maybe you just weren't listening…"
"I was standing right there behind you!"
"A living person such as yourself can layer the gleams of various ghosts over you, and they all take on a different, collective personality," Jean Bart spoke up over the boy, being that he couldn't hear him, "but can a ghost do that without a living host? Piggy back atop of each other?"
"It's a possibility," Law murmured, rubbing at his goatee. "Gleams are a supernatural strength that I actively use – that we actively use to escape aging, acquire superhuman powers and such…why can't this be a possibility?"
"Is Gin really dead?" Sanji asked tentatively, knowing that answer already. "Because you guys have lived decades without aging because of your soul stealing and that in itself is fucking vampirism, you shitty vampires…"
Oh my god, Shachi thought to himself. We really are vampires!
"Every case is not the same, Sanji," Law told him patiently, and Sanji stared at him because even the man's tone was different. The maintained eye contact had him nervous, a flutter in his stomach because he wasn't used to this unusual attention (his ex may have looked at him this way, but that was different – same face, different attitude – different layers). Sanji's eyes darted away because he didn't understand the sudden change, and didn't want to get any of his hopes up.
No more aha! moments, he thought desperately. At this point, I don't think I could take it…
"The supernatural isn't textbook. We learn something new each and every time," Law continued. Now that he was okay – now that he felt assured and confident – he couldn't stop looking at Sanji. It was as if he were seeing him for the first time – the familiarity with him already left Law comfortable, left him feeling positive that everything was going to be okay.
He just had to change himself, adjust to the change because it wasn't helping either of them by maintaining his old values. If he were going to make this "his last job", then he did need to modernize himself…
Small, but wide steps, he affirmed to himself.
"You trying to start a fight?" Penguin asked Sanji. "Calling me a fucking Dracula…?"
"Return to your hair cave and think about what you just said to me," Sanji retorted.
Before Penguin could attack, Shachi pressed the bottom of his foot against his friend's hip to keep him seated, saying aloud, "I did some research based on the church's location and present re-decorating, and, yes, it was remodeled sometime after 1929 to become a bustling motel, and it was rumored to be haunted, and – "
"The most haunted place in town!" Luffy chimed in happily. "Scared the bejesus of everyone that ever went there!"
" – but there are internet rumors that the church was a storage place for smugglers to hide their alcohol in because the priests there were bought by these guys, so, yeah, makes sense. But an image search of this photo doesn't come up successful, AND," Shachi added, flicking through various windows with rapid presses of one fingertip, Penguin and Luffy looking over his shoulder with puzzled expressions, "when I bring up Gin's old Wanted pictures, never once does it mention that he was doing his crimes with someone else present, BUT…!"
He paused on one window, opening up another energy drink that Jean Bart took away from him with a firm shake of his head. "…in the towns where he DID commit his crimes, The Man was often on the lookout for groups that were suspected of smuggling alcohol and were busting down illegal breweries where Gin just happened to be. The people he happened to kill were…unfortunate victims connected to the smuggling. Deals gone wrong, probably, retaliation and shit like that…the Prohibition was no joke at the time. Can you imagine…? I can't."
"We'd no doubt be just as involved," Jean Bart said firmly, picking up his own mug and taking a sip.
Shitty alcoholics! Sanji thought with disgust. It's nine in the morning!
Shachi clapped his hands then cracked his knuckles. "If he is who you claim him to be, Law, then you need to ask him point blank who he was working for and who he's taking the fall for because all indications on the world wide web point directly at him for being the bad guy! I've done my job, here. Squeezed the last of the juice from this knob."
"What a glorious dork he is," Luffy whispered with awe, Sanji struggling not to laugh.
"I still say you fucking knock to find a real answer," Penguin grumbled, chin propped up by fist. "If he ain't going to say a name while living, he ain't gonna say a name while being fucked-up dead."
"Language," Shachi chided him sternly.
"I've beaten countless men to sleep for attempting to be my mom!"
Luffy laughed noisily. "You're so unreasonable!"
"Gin, you working for someone? One knock for yes, two for no," Sanji said with exasperation, watching Jean Bart reach out to patiently separate Penguin from Shachi while Law stared at the laptop with a puzzled expression.
"Make it go back," he instructed Shachi. "There's a picture – "
The single knock from the counter caused all of them to tense, unsure if they'd heard what they heard. Considering the position of the counter to an empty bar, none of them were sure where the sound had come from.
"Just show yourself!" Luffy called out with exasperation, scanning the area with big eyes, as if that would help him see the ghost.
"Knocking will not spell out the name of the dude that he's working for," Shachi whispered impatiently, Penguin frowning at him.
"Who did that? Stop fucking around," Penguin then snapped at the others, looking at Law suspiciously. Law gave him an exasperated look, signaling that he wasn't the one to do it. "Where's that kid? I bet it was you, wasn't it, dork?"
"I can't even see to knock," Sanji hissed at him.
"…What does that even mean - ?"
"I answer ridiculousness with ridiculousness!"
"It had to be you, you and that stupid turtleneck – why are you wearing that? Why even get a tattoo if you're just going to cover it up?"
"Why are you so angry all the time?" Luffy asked Penguin with sympathy as Law looked down at his shirt with mystification.
"I bet his intestines are fucked up," Shachi answered for him, opening up another energy drink that Jean Bart took from him, pouring it down the sink. "Dude, stop!"
"What does that have to do with - ?"
"Gin," Sanji interrupted the chatter, signaling for the others to quiet down, "is all of this true?"
Everyone remained still and went silent – the subdued noise from the busy city outside of the bar continued on unfazed. Someone's cellphone buzzed, and a woman screamed nonsense from just outside of the door. After several long moments of no response, Sanji glanced at Law, seeing that his eyes were meticulously studying the stretch of counter, hand on his sword.
The single knock chimed out once more, but it was short and clipped, coming from a different direction than the first.
"But you can't name the one that's actually behind it…?"
Another knock from a different direction came shortly after that question, and the silence stretched on for some time. Law shook his head to indicate that he could not see the ghost.
"Can't you just come out and talk to us, like a fucking man?" Penguin asked with exasperation, watching his friend cautiously.
From the door came a couple of knocks before silence descended.
"That's enough of an answer," Sanji murmured thoughtfully. "We can work with that."
"What's creepy about this situation is that dude is hanging around us without any of us noticing that he's there!" Shachi exclaimed. "He's listening in and if he is working for someone else, he's no doubt going back and reporting on it! Haven't you guys noticed that you'll see or hear him first, then that other guy comes around?"
"The van tire," Jean Bart murmured, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"The reason why no moves were made upon us in public," Sanji said, eyebrows lifting, "is his boss is still attacking under the cover of stealth to remain nameless, blameless. That thing is attacking every time it's in a secured area."
Law looked at him with realization, then nodded to agree.
"So…was Gin doing the killing? Or this guy, and Gin was taking the blame for it? He's the one with blood on his hands," Jean Bart said, wearing an expression of confusion.
Sanji recalled that both Gin's and the demon's hands were black – the vision he remembered when Gin took him over recalled looking at his own bloodied hands, pill bottle in hand.
"He probably does have blood on his hands," he murmured. "Maybe he isn't as innocent as the situation is trying to play out…but he's conscientious enough to want to fix something now."
"Fat lotta good it's gonna do now!" Penguin snapped.
"There's nothing wrong with trying to fix something," Luffy said. "If it's broken, why can't it be fixed? He's trying to fix something, and didn't Law say that this thing can do what he can do?"
"They can't hear you," Sanji reminded the boy gently, causing Luffy to slap his forehead with exasperation. "But you have good words, kid. I'm glad that you and I can agree to this, because I've felt the same way."
"You think he can be saved?" Luffy asked him tentatively. "If he's participated, like…he's still killed people, but he can help remove the bigger threat."
"I don't know how to feel about it after learning this stuff…I think it's important that he at least spare us some time to explain. I don't understand why he's still so attached," Sanji murmured, rubbing his chin. "I don't know what he fears if he's already dead, but…maybe the guilt caught up to him, and this is the only way to remedy this."
"Maybe. I guess. I don't know, I think you should talk to him because all of us," Luffy waved a hand to gesture at himself and the others, "just want to get rid of him. Robin entrusted me to help, and so I'm going to, but details…eh…I mean, I have nothing to lose. Maybe I can be reborn and come back as something else!"
"If Gin is gone," Jean Bart said, rising from his stool, "it's to be expected that the other thing will be back."
"A dog," Law murmured, half an ear on Luffy and Sanji's conversation, "that will retrieve or assist his master."
"Did he really have a puppy, or was this just a tall tale?" Penguin asked curiously.
"Maybe the other guy killed Gin's dog, and that's what he's really upset about," Shachi answered.
"It's like none of you really listen," Sanji muttered incredulously.
A single knock reverberated throughout the bar, but none of them could pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from. Some of them looked up, some looked behind them, some looked down at the floor. Frustrated with this, Law sheathed his sword.
"I think you should continue to track down the names of the other members of his crew. Sometimes, the supernatural won't respond or react unless they are directly addressed by their name," Law said.
"Like Valek from 'the Nun'?" Luffy asked, eyes huge against his face.
"Shouldn't you be mad at her?" Penguin asked Law impatiently. "She's playing you like an idiot."
"As a result of some of our interactions," Law said slowly, "my old brain is still in fine working order. Our long lives need extra stimulation, but…true…I am a little perturbed at this almost deliberate misleading."
"She didn't mislead you," Sanji argued, "you just didn't ask the right questions. And how could we with what we had?"
Penguin shifted in his stool to point at him. "Enough from you, you're making me angry!"
"People just have to breathe to make you angry," Shachi whispered to himself, shaking his head.
"I heard that!"
"Penguin, please find your happy place," Jean Bart said with a tired sigh, finishing his drink.
"My happiness burned when I was drafted!"
"If they were smugglers," Luffy said slowly, face scrunched with concentration, "of alcohol, then why aren't they drawn to this place where there's a lot of it?"
Sanji and Law frowned at him, then looked at each other. Once the trio realized the pair had gone quiet, they were given curious looks.
"Ghosts are drawn to things they love, or can't roam outside of their death areas," Law murmured, rubbing at his goatee, "but those with a gleam can go wherever they want. That thing felt threatened by my intention and wants to do away with me before I can stop him. He also mentioned consuming a gleam that had known of me."
Shachi exhaled noisily, then lifted his eyebrows. "Penguin, call that team and find out if they'd lost one of their members! Demand that they tell you the truth!"
"I will beat them senseless if they lie to me," Penguin vowed, grabbing Jean Bart's cellphone, then staring helplessly at the lock screen before setting that down and waving for the bar's cordless phone. "I can't stand liars…!"
Luffy laughed at him, hand to his stomach while Shachi gave Penguin a shake of his head.
"You're too intense, man," Shachi complained. "Tone it down!"
"I've beaten men for having less sense than me," Luffy mimicked Penguin in a gruffer tone and a waving fist, including the older man's likeness with jutted chin and scowling frown. Luffy then laughed noisily to himself as Penguin snarled at Shachi, "I've beaten men brain dumb for attempting to soothe my outrages with common sense!"
"Aw, shaddup, and have a Moon Pie!" Shachi faced the ceiling, leaning against the counter. "Why do I want one so bad…? I haven't had one in ages…random…"
Jean Bart poured himself another glass.
Did he have a gleam? Sanji wondered, looking down at the scarred countertop. Who was the man that had captured such devotion and loyalty from a man like Law?
He lifted his eyes to look at Law, lost in his imagination until he realized Law was looking at him again.
That man was me, Sanji thought with heavy realization.
"He has the same abilities as I do," Law then added grimly. "He figured it out. Perhaps Gin was telling the truth in that. That was one of Robin's earlier concerns. This man-demon is what he is because of what he can do. He'd collected gleams all this time in that forest to thrive as he did."
"And Gin is a ghost," he added as an afterthought. "This is…perhaps the other is piggybacking on him still in this state. The pair weren't seen together in that forest – the demon was in dog-shape, causing witness to assume it was Gin's dog. Perhaps people have been seeing both in that shape all this time. If Gin is as much of a victim as Sanji claims – "
"He is," Sanji argued, but without weight to it because his mind had been scattered.
" – then perhaps he is helpless to fight the other's whims. I need his name! Shachi, can't you break into the library camera's feed to at least view the basement? Perhaps the person we were supposed to talk to is there."
"Ghosts are hard to capture on camera on purpose," Shachi reminded him. "Besides, I've been checking in throughout the day, and they've had the power off to begin repairs to the building since this morning."
"Sanji," Law spoke up, looking startled, "where are the ghosts that you see here? Perhaps you can ask one of them if they have seen them."
Sanji lifted his head and looked around them with a similar expression. In all of the chaos that had happened, he had no idea when the Polar Tang's invisible crowds had dissipated. A feeling of horror gripped him. "They're not here," he said, confused.
"There were ghosts here?" Luffy asked curiously. "Wait…what?"
"Are you thinking that they were removed?" Jean Bart asked, vaguely alarmed. "Shachi. Go check on the remaining boxes in the basement."
Shachi hurried off to do so while Penguin held a conversation on the phone at the end of the bar.
"I didn't see any ghosts here," Luffy scoffed. "Just us. I mean…y'know…me and Robin and Gin."
"We can't see all of them," Law said impatiently. "I can only see the ones that approach and speak to me. And those with gleams. If this criteria isn't met, I see nobody."
"My brain is broken because I don't understand," Luffy whispered, wearing a confused expression. "I'm a ghost, of course I can see everything and anything!"
Sanji struggled to think when he'd seen the patrons, and he could only remember seeing them before Gin's arrival. He could not remember anything else after that.
"Kill the dog, you kill the man," Law muttered with annoyance.
"But it feeds off those that are tortured, right?" Sanji murmured. "The stronger the upset, the powerful the gleam."
"Sometimes, those with gleams have lived a very healthy and happy life, but I do remember him mentioning that. That is what he prefers…he'd wanted to get to you to get to me because he knows my feelings," Law said with remorse.
"Bait," Jean Bart said firmly, gesturing at Sanji, who cringed at the thought. Luffy hit Sanji with the back of his hand.
"We can do it!" he said cheerfully. "I threw a car at the guy, and he had trouble trying to fight me back! We make a great team!"
"…Threw a car?" Sanji repeated skeptically.
"It was a tiny one, but we threw it!"
"…we can do that?" Sanji whispered, looking at his skinny arms with doubt.
Law moved to speak, then shut his mouth. He glanced around them suspiciously, hearing the sounds of the city carry on outside of the Polar Tang. There was a meter maid talking to the woman screaming nonsense on the street, and moving pedestrians that barely looked up. The upside-down chairs on the tables, the gleaming floors and laid back atmosphere of the bar gave him no strange lines or movements that he'd find suspicious.
How to see a ghost that could use his surroundings as camouflage, he thought with frustration.
"Robin," he then said aloud, attuned to the sound of her skirts.
Sure enough, she emerged from the other end of the bar – lightly flowing like water from thin air. Luffy startled so badly that he nearly flopped over the counter as Sanji whipped around to look at her with a light gasp.
"I heard everything," she assured Law, tipping her hat ever so slightly. "What do you need?"
"How'd you know she was there?" Luffy cried, waving at her. "I didn't see or hear her!"
"She's watching," Law stressed. "Now that you know what we know, care to contribute?"
"Are you angry at me?"
"Annoyed, yes, but…like I said earlier, it keeps me young."
Robin tittered behind one gloved hand, fluffing out her skirts. "After all these years, Trafalgar, you finally catch on. Yes, you're correct – as for seeing the one you seek, it's just as you say. Unfortunately, he knows as much as you do."
"Never did like cops."
Gin's voice floated to them from the far corner of the bar, but his shape was still hidden by his surroundings.
"Gin is here, speaking to us," Law reported low to his team. Jean Bart and Penguin turned to face the direction Sanji and Law were focused upon. While on alert, Jean Bart used his cellphone to text Shachi, who had yet to return from the basement.
"Snoopy and invasive, accusatory and all of them are liars," Gin continued.
"Both of us stand on a line that divides us from them," Robin told him firmly. "While this isn't a situation that demands my attention or involvement, I will become involved if forced. It's up to you to give up what you know in order to rectify a situation you can't pull yourself away from on your own."
"I don't trust you," she continued, Luffy staring through the hole in her head with an expression of horror, "but I can trust that you'll make a desperate decision. One that none will agree to."
"You speak of a loyalty that can't be broken," Gin said low, the sound of scuffing footsteps moving slowly from one end of the wall to the other – as if pacing. "Understand my place."
"If this was an evil man pining shit on you, then give him up! You're dead, it's easy," Law snapped, hand on sword.
Gin snickered, bumping lightly against one table that caused the chairs to rattle. "That easy for you to say, boss? Considering your situation?"
Law frowned grimly, finding it difficult to say anything at all.
"If you're taking turns to speak," Sanji said quickly, slipping off his stool, "then take advantage of the fact that you can use one of us to hide from him when – "
"I don't get it," Luffy exclaimed, hands out. "You don't like him because of what he did to you, so how can you still be loyal to a jerk that just uses you?"
Gin sighed noisily, a window creaking with weight. The impression of that gesture caused Sanji to picture the man leaning against it, and as he squinted in that direction, imagining the picture, he was able to see a very slight blur of a shape against the glass.
"This is something I can't seem to escape," he said low. "The feelings I had when I was alive are still the same now that I'm dead. At my own hands," he added, glass whispering as he shifted away from it. "Doing what I did then just to stop it – it took a certain type of desperation and advantage to do so. Neither of which…feel appropriate, now. I can't speak for him when I bring up meeting you in the forest, because it was his decision to follow."
"So, he's hiding in you…? You can separate, this was proven before – "
"These tactics you speak of…? I've no clue that he does until I see him for myself."
Law glanced at the others, lingering on Sanji until the weight of his eyes caused the blonde to look over at him. At that point, Law looked away, rolling words across his mind until he exhaled shortly.
"My situation is different," he said tersely. "When you brought up 'loyalty'. I…I loved that person, more than I loved myself. Are you saying you have the same feelings for the one using you?"
I mean, this isn't a surprise, Sanji thought, feeling a twinge in his chest. It wasn't a secret. I accepted this position knowing where I stood. I accepted knowing that I wouldn't be The One like that one was.
"But I came into peace with the loss of them, and managed to learn how to move on," Law said slowly. "I moved on. I found my peace. That's something you can do, too, even where you are."
"But you're not a ghost, and you didn't die with these feelings," Gin insisted. "They're a prison."
"Not an excuse. Even in the afterlife, things can change."
Can they? Sanji wondered, thinking about that unfortunate encounter with his own mother, whose feelings for her children remained the same even after she spent years with their ghosts. Zeff's feelings towards Sanji, who insisted on fattening him up every chance he had. Corazon's feelings for Law – Luffy's for his brothers. Sanji wondered of the man who loved Law; what was the waiter like in the afterlife? Did he try to hold onto Law with both hands, loving him so much that he couldn't move on? Sanji struggled to put his own feelings aside.
"Well," Gin murmured, "maybe you should try standing in my shoes to understand the situation more clearly. For a man that has been embattled with us, you sure lack an understanding of us."
"Trafalgar," Robin interjected firmly before Law could reply, "this situation is dangerous, and unnecessary. There is only one thing to do."
Law glanced at Sanji, noticing his troubled expression. He made a mess, he realized suddenly.
"If you're talking about that guy," Penguin interrupted suddenly, hand lifted with annoyance, "the waiter…? Like, it wasn't a secret, Law. We all knew you were a homo. And," Penguin added, looking in the direction of Gin with an expression of exasperation, "trying to fight Law with that argument only solidifies our decision to get rid of you first to get to the other guy. Trying to use your mind tactics against him would be pointless when all of us know everything. He's being nice, stupid, talking like this."
"Nice," Gin repeated slowly, looking at the man. At that point he materialized into view (Robin's, Law's, Luffy's and Sanji's) – leaning against the window with his hood pulled tautly over his head, but his hands tucked into his trouser pockets. "That's what this is."
"Giving you a chance," Sanji added, voice slightly thin. "Take this chance to settle this before you can move on.'
"Or we can just beat you to a pulp to help you understand," Luffy suggested. "I don't mind that part. All this feeling stuff? I think you're just talking to distract, and you're giving the other guy a chance to sucker punch us from behind."
"Who's making this argument, anyway?" Penguin asked. "You, or the other guy? Using you to get some sympathy, or to lower the guard so you can sucker punch us?"
"That's what I said!"
"You, or the other guy?" Law repeated. "Are these really your feelings, or his?"
Gin was silent, dark eyes moving from person to person until resting on Sanji's. Law instinctively moved towards him, pushing Luffy aside to make room to do so. Luffy straightened himself and stood down on the floor, pushing the sleeves of his jacket up, then adjusting his hat to sit backwards atop of his head.
"That's a good question," Gin said softly. "It's hard to tell, anymore."
"Think about your dog, Gin," Luffy encouraged him with a fist pump. "How did it make you feel when that guy pulverized your puppy?"
"Kid, what if it weren't even me giving you that tale?"
"They're so intertwined that saving him might not be an option," Robin murmured. "I can't tell where one ends and the other begins. But this uncertainty is useful to hear."
"My empathy," Sanji whispered, "could put us in danger. Hearing all that – I'm useless, here."
Law glanced at him, understanding that Sanji was giving him a go-ahead. It troubled him that Sanji wasn't looking at him, but he'd have to fix that later. "You should join Shachi in the basement," he suggested.
Sanji gave a reluctant nod. He slipped off the stool and headed in that direction without looking at any of them. As soon as the door shut behind him, Law felt that he could relax, unsheathing his sword while Luffy ducked out of his way to allow him room to do so.
Gin smirked, removing his hands from his pockets. "Not all parts of this place are protected," he said, parts of him wavering – like heat rising above a desert floor. Filmy black smoke began to gather at his booted feet, causing Luffy a nervous exhale.
Robin's skirts rustled as she took a few steps forward, lifting her hands as the tension mounted. "I don't take threats to my friends lightly," she warned. "I gave you a chance, demon. Both of you."
"What can you do without a gun, copper?" Gin sneered at her, facial expression shifting in variance – almost as if a shadow of another person was threatening to emerge from him. "You can't exactly shoot a ghost, anyway."
"I'm not a cop," she assured him before crossing her arms and lifting her palms. From the folds of her dress shot out various arms, causing Luffy and Law a jolt as they stretched outward and multiplied around her, moving in a building fan with hand grasping forearms so that they nearly formed a webbing behind her.
"Get out," Law told Jean Bart and Penguin, indicating the basement. "Don't come out until I tell you to!"
"What's the password?" Jean Bart asked him hastily as similar arms sprouted from Gin's person, startling the ghost into looking down at himself as more of Robin's arms sprang outward and grasped him. Luffy cried with shock and awe, hands to his face.
All Jean Bart could see was Law's eyes darting about, his expression alarmed. The bar remained still and unmoving, dust motes flashing against the windows. The shadows moved, but only because of the moving world outside of it. Sirens blasted in the distance, and a man ran by, yelling for a bus to wait. Nothing seemed to indicate a rising situation, save for his friend's expression.
"The usual," Law instructed him, Jean Bart nodding before ushering Penguin into the basement, Penguin complaining about seeing or hearing nothing.
Law looked back in time to see Robin's multiple arms rip Gin from the filmy shadows, encasing him within a crushing restraining hold; her multiple gloved hands tore and shredded at the filmy shadows around him, creating a ripping sound within the empty bar that made Luffy exclaim with disgust. Gin's arms flailed to fight as more arms and hands sprouted from his body, gloved fingers ripping pieces of moving shadow from inside and around him. Other gloved hands pinned his arms and hands to his body, rendering him immobile, his expression completely startled.
Multiple voices cried aloud, rising from the pair in ghostly, tonal howls, ice crackling noisily. Luffy pressed his hands against his ears to ease the ear-piercing sounds while Law watched with fascination – he'd never seen Robin in action, before, the woman using only her wits and intelligence to get by. Her gleam continued to produce more hands and arms that shredded at Gin and the emerging shadows from within his ghost, creating more bodies that fought against her prying hands.
"Law," Robin ordered from gritted teeth, focused on her task. "Gin."
Law darted forward, sword held within both hands as he focused on the man struggling to escape Robin's clutching hold. She continued to tear more ghosts away from him, shadows building around him in the shape of the demon he was now familiar with. A man's low snarl began to rise above the noises, growing stronger as the shape began to grow more defined around Gin.
Before his blade could touch Gin, who watched him with startled fear (unable to fight or defend with Robin's hold on him), a mighty fist created by both hand and parts of captured ghosts plowed into Law from the side, knocking him into several chairs and tables that cracked and broke upon impact. He skidded across the floor, Luffy charging in after him. The demon's shape broke free of Gin, forcing forward with an oily smile.
Robin strained to hold onto Gin and continue forcing the demon away, her face shifting with various expressions. Once she was able to pry the last of the filmy shadows from the ghost, she pulled him hard up against one of the walls, her arms slithering around him in a restraining hold. More of her arms began to sprout up around the demon, causing it a startled expression once it registered her gloved hands wrapping and clutching as Luffy charged.
Law slowly pushed himself to his feet (it'd been awhile since he'd taken full impact without any layers) as Luffy flung himself at the demon, using Robin's arms as leverage to punch. The demon's head snapped back a few times before it released a roar, gathering shadows around it to rebuild with strength. Law kicked aside chair debris and charged forward, feeling every impact he'd taken so far (forgotten what it was like to be an actual living being).
Punching the air towards him, the demon struggled to keep Law at length while fending off Luffy's attack and battling Robin's multiple hands. The shadows within the bar began to fade, preventing the creature from growing bigger. The wailing ghosts that Robin had torn away from it began to pop, emitting sounds like firecrackers as Law cut through them with his sword to prevent the demon from gathering their energy. Ashes coated the floor and dusted the tables, fading into nothing moments after.
Gin struggled against Robin's hold, straining to be released. Her gloved hands tightened around him to keep him pinned against the wall, her exertion clear on her determined face. Law slashed through the various fists the demon flung at him, then began cutting through the tables and chairs that were then flung in his direction. Luffy punched, then had to maneuver deftly through the throng just to land a fist into the demon's body and face. The chaos was loud and immense, and only Law was visible through it all. The bar was destroyed within moments – pictures flying from the walls, tables and chairs rendered into useless piles of wood and metal, glasses shattering behind the bar counter. The mirror itself collapsed noisily upon impact with debris, raining down onto the black mats below.
The basement door was flung open, and Shachi gaped at the spectacular mess with the others peering around him. They all ducked when debris was flung their way – all they could see was Law fighting off invisible threats with furniture and fragments flying around him in a chaotic shower of mixed debris.
"Krieg!" Shachi shouted, feeling awkward with his revelation as bottles and various glasses exploded underneath impact of flying chairs and tables. "The big guy's name is Krieg! He was the leader, Gin's boss!"
The demon screamed noisily, heaving a roar that made Shachi's ear drums tingle and Law to attempt to cover his ears as the sound caused the very air to shudder. Sanji slapped his hands over his ears and gave a startled shout as Robin cringed and Luffy dropped back, palms against his ears as his entire body trembled underneath the force. Gin managed to rip his way out from Robin's loosened grip, physically affected by the angry scream.
But the demon began to shrink and change shape, a man's body emerging from the oily shadows with slow unveiling until he lacked the uniform characteristics of an otherworldly creature and took on the depth and length of a dirty man dressed similar to Gin. Gin looked at him incredulously as the air in the bar seemed to lose that radical tension, dust motes glittering in the air as the heavy man slowly straightened from the dirty bar floor, his eyebrows furrowed with irritation. A man of his time, Krieg would have been bigger than most, but compared to the men facing him, he was shorter in height, stout and with a hairstyle that lacked modern day recognition. His trousers were high waisted, dirty and repaired, his shirt sweat stained and dusty, but around his thick neck was an ugly, gleaming accusation of murder.
Blood spilt over his chest and stained his shirt, gleaming darkly in the bar's dim light. His skin, dirty and lightly sweaty, suggesting a lack of regular bathing. He smelled of alcohol, sweat and dust, Law noticed, the back of his hand touching his nose with disgust. Luffy winced and wheeled backward, but didn't drop his guard as the man faced them with a surprised and confused expression.
Gin exhaled forcefully, but his earlier confidence was shattered. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost – he was pale and nervous under the bigger man's confused gaze. Krieg's gaping neck wound spurted with severed muscles and tendons, bones flashing in jagged pieces. His eyes were spotted with broken blood vessels, his neck and jaw bruised by unknown forces. His lips were bitten and swollen, teeth stained with his own blood. His own tongue had noticeable wounds to it, flickering behind his teeth as he gasped for breath. For a moment the big man wavered, stained, dirty hands reaching up to his neck and finding the damage.
He staggered ever so slightly, much to the confusion of Luffy and Law while Robin watched grimly, hands still upraised.
"Gin," Krieg croaked with confusion, looking at his hands as he pulled them away. His bleary eyes widened with horror upon finding them stained with his own matter. He looked to the other man, who had himself pressed up against the wall, as if trying to evade detection.
Shachi and the others had no idea what was happening – all they saw was a wrecked establishment, and Law looking at something near the front doors with an expression of light confusion.
"Psst!" Shachi hissed. "What's going on?"
"It's Krieg," Sanji answered in a whisper, leaning over the redhead to investigate. "It's like…he's confused."
"So typical to miss out on everything," Penguin muttered in disgust. "Seeing shit like this – how am I supposed to react? Just look like I know what I'm looking at?"
"The tension is very strong," Jean Bart murmured with concern.
"Get back in there," Law warned them without looking back at them. "I don't know what's going to happen next."
Sanji looked at him with worry, but Jean Bart pulled the door shut, ushering the men back into the basement. Sanji lingered at the door, pressing an ear against it and finding it troublesome that he could barely hear anything. He gave Jean Bart a frustrated expression, pushing the door open. The bigger man grabbed his arm to stop him.
"I can see and hear everything, and he might need my help," Sanji hissed at him, yanking away and moving quickly to hide behind the bar.
"All the gleams are gone," Jean Bart reported to Law before he closed the door behind him.
Ah, fuck, Law thought with some anxiety. No matter. I've done this before without a gleam.
Law then looked back at Krieg as the man seemed to choke, hands pressed against his throat as alarm began to register in his expression. He fell to his knees with a heavy thud, wheezing and choking as blood spilt to the floor in a gushing mess that didn't seem to stain anything. The continuous flow seemed to evaporate once it hit the tile, pulsing from the savage wound around Krieg's entire neck. Krieg's wild eyes flitted around the bar, moving from Law to Luffy and then to Robin; he then found Gin near the wall and locked in on his former associate.
Gin froze, like prey caught in the gaze of a predator. Sanji cautiously peered over the counter, noting the reactions with a puzzled furrow of his brow. Everything exuded from the two ghosts seemed to play like a drama in front of him; as if Krieg didn't know he'd been killed by his friend's(?) own hand.
"Gin?" Krieg croaked, one stained hand braced against the floor while the other attempted to hold the wound closed at his neck. "What's…what's happening…? What happened to me?"
Gin looked to Law, and Law didn't understand the expression. He wasn't sure if the ghost were appealing to him for help or an explanation. Law wasn't even sure of Krieg's theatrics, looking to Robin for some sort of clarification. Robin's expression didn't move, but her eyes narrowed as her palms remained upright, and multiple hands began to grow from the floor around Krieg like a warning.
The man looked at them with utter fright before looking to Gin once more. The modern day bar caught his attention, and his wild eyes took in his surroundings with utter confusion, hand pulling away from his neck. Gin began to take cautious steps away from Krieg's line of sight until the man looked at him once more, seemingly perplexed. Looking down at his own blood spilt on the floor, Krieg seemed to be in a daze until he realized his wound was fatal.
"Who did this to me?" he asked, winded as he spoke. He looked to Gin with alarm, the man freezing once more. "Who did this to me?"
"He's a good actor," Robin said with warning, lifting her voice to be heard. "Do not let him close. Any of you."
"What happened to me?" Krieg cried, fingers stretching to his throat as he realized his head nearly dropped from what was left of his vertebrae. His face couldn't color as it would have, but it seemed to bulge and strain with veins that were black and stringy. His skin color was pasty white and blue, face slack without muscle strength. Sanji thought that he looked like a corpse (he's a ghost), a shell of a human being without its soul. He glanced in Gin's direction to see that the man looked absolutely terrified.
Don't do anything stupid! he admonished himself, clasping the edge of the counter as he looked to Law. Don't do anything stupid – boundaries!
"Did someone…kill…me?" Krieg asked as a broken man, appealing for answers in the faces of those that watched him without sympathy. "Am I dead…?"
"Krieg," Gin spoke up, his voice lacking in any strength and confidence. Once the man looked at him, hands down on the floor to brace himself with, Gin continued with, "we're dead. Both of us."
"…why?" Krieg asked on a near whisper. He wore a devastated expression, mouth open with shock. "Why…? Who…?"
"He did, Krieg," Robin spoke up firmly, her voice ringing out over the stillness. Krieg glanced at her, then looked back at Gin with betrayal. Gin looked at Krieg with absolute apology, head shaking ever so slightly before he could speak. "Gin killed you."
"You were out of control, man," Gin explained, voice shaking ever so slightly. "Out of control, there was…there was no way out of it. If not by me, but by a firing squad eventually."
"…How could you…?" Krieg asked, staring at him with such betrayal that Luffy made a sympathetic face. Law reached out and slapped him in the shoulder, causing the boy to look at him with a scowl. Krieg rose to his feet while Gin looked distinctively uncomfortable, as if he had no other place to escape.
Robin's gloved hands clamped down around Krieg's feet, holding him in place. Krieg looked from those to her, seemingly panicked – his breath coming and leaving him in strangled whistles. He looked to Gin again, appealing for help with his shocked expression.
"Sanji, Luffy," Robin spoke up, her voice commanding in the tension. Luffy jerked at the sound of his name and Sanji winced, Law looking back at them with warning. "They work well with each other. This was how their victims fell for the act."
"This is no act," Gin sputtered, glancing at her. "I…I…!"
"A wound that jagged with a corpse's face that twisted…Krieg knew what was happening," Robin explained. "He was looking right into his killer's face as it happened."
Luffy swallowed, his hands to his own neck with some sort of empathy while Sanji watched Law for his reaction; not trusting his own if he looked at either man. Law looked to Robin with an assessing exhale, then looked to the men without feeling to his expression.
Krieg dropped his hands, his expression changed. Gin remained subservient. Gone was the shock and betrayal from Krieg's features, his blood continuously dripping downward to stain a shirt that wouldn't change. Gin swallowed tightly, the sound catching Sanji's ears as he looked over at him cautiously.
"You scumbags think you're that smart, eh?" Krieg uttered with disgust. He smirked.
