A/n: Sorry for the delay – a HUGE THANK YOU! to all those that have read and reviewed this fic and waited ever so patiently for this essential employee to update (not like we have anything else to do *sad laugh*) I DO want to mention that I will be rewriting The Heart Wants What It Wants because I had a different story hit me suddenly during a night of sleeplessness. It will be deleted shortly, and remastered. :D The glorious pic that it's based off will still be its inspiration (thanks Mazout! Heart Heart!)
14: She Sings A Simple Song
"This guy is panicked," Krieg murmured to Gin as he observed the clumsy way Law now held his weapon. The man's body language had changed, losing that earlier strength and determination and now clumsily posed as some sort of action hero. The unrest amongst his friends and companions was obvious, causing Krieg some interest. "It's interesting how, despite his base, he is not in complete control of himself. Still, he would be a fine addition to my collection. All of them would be."
"So, not dead?" Gin confirmed apprehensively, fingers tightening on the wooden handle of his cleaver.
"I could live forever in that form." Krieg looked bitterly to his missing hand. "With all my limbs."
Krieg then glanced at his companion as the ghosts ahead of them sorted out their differences dramatically. Seeing the apprehensive look to Gin's face, Krieg scowled. "Why are you hesitating?"
"I'm not," Gin denied quickly. "I'm just thinking – there's four live men standing over there. My name would – "
"You're dead," Krieg reminded him impatiently. "What does it matter?"
Gin swallowed, then shouldered the heavy knife. "You're right. My mistake."
"Once I am complete," Krieg continued, "we could live again. And find you a shell of your own."
"I've already lived once," Gin answered quietly. "This…is more suited to me."
"I've seen you," Krieg then stated, turning to face him while Gin looked up at him apprehensively. "Conversing with that fellow. It's not the first time. I feel like you're attempting to pull a fast one on me."
"No pulling," Gin said quickly. "Just trying to understand some things. This world, this time is new."
"I've never known you to be soft, so don't pull that attitude with me, now. Not when we could continue living forever," Krieg warned him, seeing Law pull in the new ghost's gleam, merging their forms fluidly while Luffy turned to face the pair with a renewed expression of determination. "But I noticed a new hesitation in your hands since Pearl."
Gin gave a 'tch', taking some steps away from Krieg to give some fighting space. Krieg thought he heard Gin mumble, "He was just a puppy," but Krieg didn't know why it mattered so much. He looked back at the others, seeing Robin's lips form a slight quirk to it that made him apprehensive. That woman wore the look of a person who was used to fighting men like him – the feeling of 'cop' was all over her attitude. Her outdated clothes confused him, but he didn't give it another thought. Considering her ghostly abilities, she was dangerous. She could slow them down.
If he could just get to Law, the fight would be over. Krieg had a feeling the man was more powerful than the others could handle – but Luffy was confusing as well. Krieg wore physical damage to himself that he had not felt in years; not since he was alive. His jaw ached, his body was sore – the whelp had kicked and punched him with such force that it felt like all the spirits Krieg had stolen throughout the years were eventually leaving him. But he knew they all remained trapped within him – he could feel their combined gleams powering his limbs.
But the boy was just a boy, and Law could only use his sword to hurt him. Without it, Law was useless.
Krieg grinned, steadying himself. The filmy black oil bubbles began to build and overflow around him, seemingly staining the surfaces of the floor at his feet and over the busted debris of the tables and chairs left shattered around him.
He tensed his muscles and closed the fist of his remaining hand, watching as Luffy grinned and Law froze. The ghost hunter trembled for a moment, then spazzed out, sword sweeping around. Even his voice had changed.
"He's still so scary!" Law cried, Luffy ducking and rolling away as Robin quickly shuttled to the side with an expression of alarm. "Even as a ghost, I can't stand scary things! That's a scary thing! How the hell did I hunt ghosts for fun?"
"What is wrong with you?" Luffy shouted back with disbelief.
"He's all menacing! He's going to suck out my ghostly innards like spaghetti! Even with this sword, I can cut him down but will he stay cut? No…focus!" Law snarled, gripping the handle with both hands – knees shaking violently. His voice changed ever so slightly, deepening to resemble a near version of his natural voice – but the influence of others were clearly present. "I can do this! I'm a warrior, I've watched Samurai Champloo plenty of times! I'm going to die, but die with honor!"
"This is a bad idea!" Robin murmured with distress. "Perhaps those gleams aren't the right move - !"
"Don't tell me what to do, I can do it," Law interrupted her, taking a shaky step forward. His shirt was soaked with sweat, and he clumsily wiped at his face with one arm. His teeth clattered together noisily before he clamped them together. "I can be brave when I'm needed, to."
Luffy rose to face him, facial expressing shifting ever so slightly to reveal Sanji's. His face was full of fear and confusion as he looked the man over, fingers pulling with nervous action.
"Don't be a dumbass," he said low, Law's fear wild eyes snapping over to him with a startled expression. "If you can't do this…maybe you shouldn't."
Law collected himself – mashing those gleams together until his base personality came back to his facial expression and his hands shifted grip on the sword. He stood with confidence as distant memories and thoughts of strangers collided together in a murky mist, giving him the knowledge that he wasn't all himself, but allowing himself to think and react rationally. But this knowledge seemed to waver a bit – allowing him to grow disoriented as to whom he really was. All these personality conflicts merged and sloshed together, barely allowing him a sense of confusion in his base personality – it was gone before he could register it.
That far off ominous whistle occurred once more, and he locked eyes with Krieg, everyone else fading to the black.
"Have you seen Kill Bill, Sanji?" Law asked casually, causing Sanji a mystified expression before Luffy erupted into an incredulous laugh. His face twitched as personalities battled for dominance, but it was Luffy that appeared to Law.
"Why?"
"Before Beatrix kills her enemies, she gains a sort of red and black vision as she sites that person with the wrongs they had caused her. And all I hear is that damned whistle. But like Beatrix," Law finished low, sword swiping through the air dramatically before once again in full pose, "I will cut down my enemies with just action."
"Okay," Luffy said with a weird look, "whatever."
"If only I was wearing the appropriate uniform," Luffy heard Law whisper with frustration.
"I don't remember a gleam obsessed with such a movie," Jean Bart murmured with trouble.
"Maybe you should start labeling them with these kinds of quirks!" Penguin snapped while Shachi stood fretfully nearby, sweating profusely.
"Hey, asshole, get it together!" Penguin then shouted at Law, who jolted at the sound of his angry voice, throwing them a worried look. "I'll beat you senseless if you lose this fight, and you'll regret ever being my friend again!"
"What kind of a friend are you?" Law cried back.
"I don't know, man," Shachi whispered, "I never saw Kill Bill in my entire life! Was I always filled with such murderous rage? Maybe that's why I couldn't do the war, man. I was too dangerous…!"
"It's curious how Law's base is so affected by these gleams," Jean Bart continued, rubbing his big chin. "Almost as if his heart isn't in it."
Penguin waved a fist about. "You get in there and take control of yourself like a goddamn man! Stop letting weaklings make your decisions for you! I'll kick your ass worse than the invisible man can!"
Luffy looked over at him to laugh when Krieg's large, meaty fist slammed into the side of his head. Penguin and the others cringed as Sanji's body flew past them to hit the floor with a solid thump and squeak as he slid over the tile. Law looked over at this with alarm before whipping his head forward with a determined look. Much to their surprise, he took several light steps atop of sturdy debris and balanced himself atop of a teetering table, Krieg looking up at him with alarm. Gin threw his cleaver at the man, Law glancing at the weapon before dramatically flinging himself back into an angled pose while the blade sliced through the air and missed him by inches to bury into the nearby wall. Law straightened up and slashed through Krieg's arm with a short, brisk movement that carried his weight off his unsteady base and for Krieg to examine the loss of his arm with a shocked look. The remains of his arm sizzled noisily, bubbling and spilling with filmy black oil splatters before it revealed itself as a long dead limb. Shachi shrieked in horror while Penguin wiped at his face pensively.
"Krieg…!" Gin exclaimed, shocked at the sight of the one-armed man as Krieg stumbled backwards in reaction. The man retrieved his cleaver, all the while focused on Krieg with a disbelieving expression. The older man's eyes seemed to wobble within their sockets as Krieg stared at a stump of an arm cut at the shoulder. His shaking hand from his remaining arm lifted and clamped over that ruined area with light clenching. From his posed position on the floor, Law narrowed his eyes, drawing his sword before him with both hands and then slashing back and forth with dramatic fashion before turning and facing Gin, blade gleaming from what remained of the overhead ceiling lights.
Gin watched as Krieg fell to pieces behind the man, who wore Beatrix Kiddo's satisfied smirk. Krieg's pieces began to smoke and bubble, seemingly melting like acid into the tile below.
"Shit," he muttered, a stricken expression to his face as Law used flinging motions to clean the blade of his sword.
"Law…!" Robin warned cautiously, hands upraised in front of her. "It's not time to relax just yet - !"
Turning quickly, Law avoided the swipe of a swinging fist as the "animal" form of Krieg burst upward from the bubbling pieces. All traces of the ghost's human remains disappeared to take on the dog form, Gin scrambling for distance with a panicked look to his face. Luffy caught sight of this and was in the ghost's face before Gin could think to defend himself. Gin's head snapped back as Luffy plowed his fist directly into his nose, sending the ghost flying back first against a nearby wall. His cleaver hit the floor with a loud clatter as Luffy caught himself and followed up with several consecutive punches that kept Gin from escaping. Robin's hands burst out from the wall and latched onto the ghost's limbs, folding over and building until Gin couldn't move. Luffy turned and faced Krieg as he roared – windows rattling, floor vibrating, debris shaking noisily – and saw Law poised calmly in front of him, sword up.
"Demon…!" Law snarled, blade snapping back and forth. But along with that action, his short blue-black hair was giving a lashing motion that perfectly captured Beatrix Kiddo's ponytail whip.
"Why is he whipping his hair around?" Penguin muttered incredulously, looking to Shachi. "This is all your fault - ! I blame you!"
"Be a lot cooler if I did," Shachi mumbled, fiddling with his red hair. Jean Bart impatiently scooted them further into the basement, hand on the door to pull shut.
"For your unforgiveable shenanigans in terrorizing those weaker than you," Law continued over their hasty words, "I myself shall render punishment unto you."
"Okay, Sailor Moon," Luffy said impatiently, darting over to back him up once he confirmed Gin's immobilization, "enough talk! More action!"
Krieg roared furiously, various hands rising from his shadowy form. He began pelting Law with fists, all of which Law deftly sliced and slashed his way through. Each time he cut a limb, it would hiss and sizzle before reforming another that took its place. He darted this way and that, Luffy occasionally casting aside a loose fist that slashed down in his direction. Luffy was looking for Krieg's weak points while the demon unleashed on Law, their movement causing the floor to tremble under foot.
Jean Bart slammed the basement door closed as debris began to lift and fly, Robin standing pensively as she gripped Gin with all her strength; the ghost himself was struggling to get loose, visibly fading in and out. Luffy leapt over Law's head, the man ducking with a surprised reaction at the height taken and the strength and power behind a single kick into the demon's mid-section. All those waving hands and arms seized, then went limp as the creature slammed into the back wall – causing more pictures to fall, for lights to shatter overhead and the brick to crumble.
Law gaped at Luffy, straightening with an incredulous stare while Luffy cracked his knuckles noisily, striding forward to face Krieg head on. The demon's various limbs all seemed to shimmer and shake before suddenly stiffening – sensing a change in the air, Law jerked Luffy back by his waistband. Krieg's limbs then shot out in various directions, spearing into various surfaces like a harpoon. The pair ducked and dodged as best as they could, but sharp points still raked across their bodies like a knife. Robin stiffened and grit her teeth as her extended limbs around Gin were pierced, causing hands and arms to shrivel and fade away, Gin working his way out of what remained over him. Robin averted her strength and power to cover herself, effectively capturing several points before they could touch her. Parts of the bar exploded as it was pierced, glass shattering and various dishware exploding like mini-volcanos.
Kikoku flashed as it twirled through the air, slashing through various limbs and sending them flying throughout the damaged bar space. Luffy dove behind him clumsily as Law moved from right to left, keeping up with the flurries.
Krieg roared with displeasure once again, drawing in all his remaining limbs. For a moment, Law saw something in that action that caused his entire body to tense – amidst the darkness of his shape, he'd seen something glitter, like a white crystal in the back of Krieg's throat. It seemed to pulse differently from Krieg's shifting movements.
His weak spot, something whispered within his instincts. It wasn't Law's feeling. One of the gleams, he supposed. Why that particular area…? He wondered.
Luffy watched as Gin shot towards them, cleaver in hand. Gin avoided Robin's reaching hands and arms, the woman lowering her fan of arms just to exert more energy into the effort. Luffy reached back, grabbed Law by his shirt and forced him to face forward, to look into Gin's incoming action. Law shifted his stance as Gin neared him, Luffy facing Krieg. The demon pulled itself into a monstrous, constantly shifting shadow against the wall, filling out the space. Once again reverted to dog form, Krieg's mouth opened, oily film dripping from his teeth.
Even with his back turned, Law could sense that spot – like his vision had some sort of target attached to it. How was he able to see that impossible thing? It seemed to beat at his mind like a drum.
I can see it! Another voice assured him, and Law vaguely recalled it as Ussop's.
Gin engaged into a furious battle with Law, both of their weapons clanging off each other in a charged momentum. Law was driven away from Luffy, wearing a stiff expression as panic started to set in. Gin was faster, more aggressive, and he was relentless with the simple weapon in hand. Law shimmered for a moment before allowing most of his body to go ghost (Danny Phantom!) and Gin's cleaver cut through his torso – Gin's expression changed to surprise before Law brought Kikoku over the back of his neck with a victorious lunge and grunt of effort.
Time stopped at that moment as the ghost lost his head. His body stiffly hit the floor while his head rolled, still wearing a surprised expression. Luffy turned to see what happened, eyes widening with horror briefly before Sanji's expression filtered through. Krieg tightened then exploded outward, showering the room with a black, filmy explosion of oil and bubbles. Law whirled around without admiring his work, stabbing just past Sanji's head to force the blade through Krieg's opened mouth.
Sanji jolted with fright at the ghost's nearness, wheeling away from the demon as it gurgled noisily. He realized just how close he'd been to almost having his head chomped off, his shaky, battered hands reaching for his neck in an unconscious gesture. Without hesitation, Law slashed downward into Krieg's throat and pulled out from his chest, severing him from chest to left shoulder.
"Damn you," Krieg mumbled, before his entire body collapsed with a hissing sizzle – staining the floors and debris at their feet with inky black evidence of his existence. The lack of ashes indicated that this ghost wasn't gone. Heaving for breath, Law froze to assess the situation, watching as film dripped from his sword. Sanji turned to look at him, Luffy's expression fighting him before the timid blond ripped the boy's gleam away from him, allowing the separation to be complete. Luffy stumbled, fixing his hat as Sanji stared down at Gin with discomfort. The man's body and head slowly crumbled to ashes before fading away without any real fanfare.
"I did it," Law said with a low sigh, flinging blade to the side to dislodge the remaining oil left. "I spotted his weakness, almost as if I had a third eye. Yet, a warning – he wasn't fully returned to ash. A formidable foe, yet one that can be destroyed."
Sanji glanced at him skeptically while Luffy straightened his jacket and checked his shoelaces, throwing Law a puzzled look. Once he realized the condition of himself, Sanji hugged himself with a snarl of dismay towards Luffy.
"Clothes are restricting," Luffy explained lightly as Sanji hurriedly searched for his shirt. Robin found it, handing it over with a hand extending from the floor, pushing up from debris leftover from the fight. "Law, what's with all the chaos? Why aren't you totally yourself? You're freaking out, and it's weirding me out."
Unable to answer that question, Law focused on the details that he could see. He glanced about, noticing Gin's ashes – "I hit that point, I'm sure I did!" Ussop cried from somewhere deep within him – and then examined the oily imprints left by Krieg's disappearance. He didn't relax his grip on his sword, listening for something out of place by the lax remains of the others' voices.
"Don't relax your guard," he warned, scanning the debris-coated floor. "Krieg is not fully gone. That coward has retreated somewhere – stay alert!"
"Everyone grab a broom!" Luffy cried, looking around wildly. "We'll sweep him out!"
"Or he'll retreat," Sanji suggested, giving a nervous look around his feet. "He strikes me as a man that's only brave in front of others' eyes. And…Gin is gone."
"Less threats to us," Law said, dismissing him as he looked suspiciously around them, visually inspecting the darker corners of the room. Sanji scowled sullenly in his direction, struggling to align himself with Law's dismissal.
Boundaries, he reminded himself – still feeling the regret.
The basement door opened cautiously, three heads poking out slowly.
"He dead yet?" Penguin asked crankily, Jean Bart frowning with suspicion.
After glancing at Robin, the woman still fully guarded against threats, Sanji attuned himself to their surroundings. Luffy was chattering on about finding a broom, but the living couldn't hear him. Law was watching the shadows on high alert, sword held like a bat in both hands. His pose was ridiculous. There was something familiar about it that made Sanji pause in his own effort.
Why is he doing something so stupid - ? Sanji wondered with bewilderment before he caught something that didn't fit the overall picture. He held his own breath, trying to ignore the useless chatter around him. He stilled, eyes shifting through the debris as that particular sound – faint and thin – held onto his attention. Breathing. Someone was breathing.
The sound was so wide and yet so faint – like it was coming from all points of the room, and yet drawing his attention to the cluttered floor. He remained unmoving, aware that his blood was pulsing soundly as he continued to hold his breath. There were so many oily splotches everywhere that each spot glimmered like an accusation. He swallowed tightly before exhaling, breathing in through his nostrils with careful deliberation.
From his peripheral vision, every form blurry without his glasses, Sanji saw Luffy turn in his direction. Something else shimmered, bright and fast, from his left. He whirled around as his skin bubbled with goosebumps, every hair lifting like it were pulled by a magnet. Kikoku shuddered as it slid like a hot knife through butter through oily black substance that built and appeared like a bubble around Sanji. He saw Krieg's opened mouth poised behind him, and quickly fell back with a wild yelp to escape the demon's proximity.
Teeth clamped down onto the sword's blade with a noisy twang, Krieg roaring with fury and displeasure. Luffy swept past Sanji with a wild cry, using his entire body to slam into the visible butt of Kikoku's handle, shoving the sword deeper into Krieg's mouth. The demon whirled up and away from the boy, fluttering from one end of the room to the other, visibly shimmering and fluttering in and out of sight. But his form erupted with wild smoke and bubbles that burst with accusing hisses as the demon's arms flailed in shuttered action.
Law was immediately there, grasping the handle of his sword while Luffy careened over the creature's back, thin arms clasping around its neck. Krieg shook from side to side to dislodge them both, Kikoku once again firmly clasped in Law's hands and Luffy slamming against the front doors with a grunt.
Sanji kicked to his feet as the demon roared noisily, causing his eardrums to vibrate. The basement door slammed shut as the three living men retreated. Debris crashed and flew as Krieg swept through it, head vibrating in place as a single hand went to his throat. He noisily coughed and gagged, struggling to stand strong as Law watched him cautiously from Sanji's side.
"Choking on your crimes? Krieg?" Law asked with a smirk. Sanji noticed that his knees were suspiciously weak and wobbly, looking at the man with absolute confusion. He was a sweaty mess, and his voice seemed to have changed ever so slightly. "You'll have a long time to think about it, now! If you ever think again!"
"…Coward…!" Krieg mustered, black film dripping from his mouth like oil. He coughed noisily, resuming human form.
"GET HIM!" Robin and Luffy shouted at Law in unison, the man jolting at the sound of their voices. He gulped noisily, Kikoku trembling in his grasp. But his expression visibly snapped to a focused seriousness that still didn't resemble the man in the slightest, shooting forward to finish the job.
Krieg pulled away at the last second, rolling to the side as Law's blade missed him by sheer inches. His one hand shot out, releasing his throat and causing more oil to spill over the floor like a flood of black water. Smoke hissed from his shoulders, and Sanji watched as he landed a successful punch to Law's legs, forcing them to buckle. The man dropped clumsily, sword clattering over the debris.
Robin's arms shot out from the floor, hands grasping at Krieg while her protective fan slowly unraveled to allow more strength in that gesture. Krieg ripped himself from them, standing slowly while he continued to heave and gag. Law looked up at him in alarm, frozen with uncharacteristic fright. Sanji grit his teeth and flung himself at Krieg, Luffy joining him moments later – both of them yanked Krieg's head down to the floor, Law hastily ripping the gleams from his person with an exasperated heave of sound. Ussop rolled out onto the floor, Shachi's collection stumbling and tripping over each other as the ghosts looked around themselves with disbelief and confusion.
Law grabbed Kikoku and cut through Krieg once more, Sanji and Luffy retracting their arms with alarmed cries as the blade narrowly missed them both. Frustrated, Law watched as his blade swept through the ghost with seemingly harmless action – inky black tendons snapped and yet pulled back into each other like snakes, reforming Krieg's neck to body. Law then reached into Krieg's back, yanking out gleams as if they were trash, flinging them aside as Krieg roared.
The demon swept through his discarded gleams, Robin's lips tightening with apprehension. Her hands shot up from the floor around those that were left, her multiple arms snatching hold of each scared, confused ghost and ripping them apart. Ashes coated the air, popping like balloons and sparking like firecrackers.
"Friendly! Friendly!" Luffy cried frantically, waving his arms about.
Krieg roared with displeasure as he saw this, Law reattaching himself to the demon's back and pulling out multiple gleams that Robin caught onto with a determined expression. Sanji stood back, nearly covering his ears as ghosts "died" within a hot pop and sizzle, coughing as ashes blanketed his clothes and disappeared slowly without leaving anymore of a trace. Various arms shot out from Krieg, flying in random directions in an effort to grab what Robin hadn't – but Sanji was watching his form steadily shrink, taking back that original human form he had.
Law snatched his sword and jumped back to steady himself as Krieg finally stood before them as the man he was, heaving for breath. His wild eyes shot around the room, hand slapping uselessly at his chest as he stumbled weakly from side to side.
"No," Krieg denied, winded as he stood there. "No, no, no!"
"Oh, yes!" Luffy responded, shoving his jacket sleeves up his arm before removing and flinging that aside, his hat following. Sanji watched him skeptically from the corner of his eye, then gave him a worried look as the boy removed his shirt as well, surprisingly defined muscles flexing as Luffy faced off with Krieg with an eager look.
"Why do you have to undress for this?" Sanji muttered disbelievingly.
"Freedom, man!" Luffy told him before looking back at Krieg with a grin.
Pensively, Law glanced around them to take in the state of the bar, jaw clenching with irritation. He moved slowly around Krieg, keeping the bigger man in sight as he motioned for Sanji to step away with an impatient wave of his hand. Insulted, Sanji bunched his fists at his sides and prepared to move if he had to. Krieg looked as if he were defeated, his expression clearly in disbelief as he examined the loss of one arm and for the fact that he could no longer change. The ashes that had coated the room had slowly disappeared, signaling the end of the gleams he'd collected.
"I'm not ready," Krieg sputtered, voice thick with apprehension. "I'm not – you've taken my life away. My life, the life of my comrade – and for what? We were living peacefully in the forest before you appeared. You did this."
"For entirely good reasons," Law answered smoothly, Sanji and Luffy relieved at the sound of his normal voice. His facial features were once again that of a 'grumpy old man' without any lingering changes or differences that it held when he possessed a gleam. "And none of us feels sorry for you, understand that. Had you decided that life wasn't enough, it would be good to stop you now."
"And you're satisfied with being judge, jury and executioner?"
"…It pays the bills."
Krieg stared venomously at Law, ghostly body shaking with some undetermined emotion. Luffy cracked his knuckles, ready to jump at a threat while Sanji watched Krieg in silence, trying to understand the man's mood for sympathy or excuse. Robin was silent, but her arms were still upraised, hands silently shooting out from the floor between Krieg and the trio standing a distance away from them to provide a barrier.
"And who polices you when you're out of control?" Krieg asked Law.
Law didn't bother to answer him - my last job – his hands tightening around the handle of his sword, vaguely comforted by its weight in his grip. "Time to disappear, Krieg," he said with a firm nod. "The only thing you should be comforted by is that your name was never known or soiled like Gin's, was. So perhaps the only route available to you is Hell."
"If such a thing existed," Krieg said with a smirk. "Where do we go when we're done, here? Where do you think you'll go? I might have taken lives by my servant's hand, but you've taken them and stored them like they were mere items, decided to do what you want with them like a dictator….you and I are the same."
"We are not," Law snapped at him. But he hesitated, eyes glancing briefly to the basement – vividly reminded of the lockboxes with treasured items and gleams that were used to give him power. Then his eyes took to Sanji, who grew aware of the weight of his hesitation, glancing to him with careful action.
In that short length of indecision, Krieg latched onto it.
"You're a weak man," he murmured before shouting, "and I refuse to fall before such a liar!"
Krieg charged at Law clumsily – his body stiffening and jerking, as if he tried to activate powers he no longer had. In that space of a moment, his expression reflected his chagrin before Law cut off his head with a solid strike. The bar was silent as Krieg's head bounced lightly upon the debris, his body trembling as it continued to stand. Slowly, it broke down into ashes that built an oily black pile of trembling mass before it, too, faded slowly away.
Disappointed, Luffy relaxed his fists and straightened his shoulders. Law watched the last of the ashes fade, allowing a rare moment of victory to lighten his expression. Sanji watched him cautiously, Robin's hands fading away and the woman giving a low exhale of relief.
"That's it?" Luffy asked with disappointment, gesturing where Krieg stood. "That's…all this glorious fighting, this battle – just…just to end like that?"
Law glanced at him with vexation before carefully flicking some oily matter from his sword before drawing blade away from his leg to clean it. "What were you expecting? Something from a movie?"
"Well…yeah! Duh! This huge guy gave us such a big problem, and he's gone like…that?" Luffy cried, snapping his fingers. "It feels like a waste!"
"It's over and done with, why is spectacular fanfare required of a victory?"
Giving him a look of exasperation, hands flailing, Luffy struggled to explain, but failed.
"Are you sure?" Sanji asked Law quietly as the man turned away from him, searching for his sheath. "This is it?"
Law didn't answer him, the answer fairly obvious for him as he glanced where Krieg had stood. It bothered him that the man was right – his last job! – but the guilt was something he'd just have to bear for later. He was no better than Krieg, but at least he could change his way, now. This was his last job. With his vast knowledge and experiences throughout the years, he could surely find something else (safe) to stick with. To live again.
Sanji exhaled shortly as Luffy looked to Robin to whine to, searching for his discarded clothes. "Don't let whatever that guy tell you bother you," Sanji said low to Law, who frowned petulantly with his back to him. "I mean…he was right…? But only one of you is doing the right thing."
Finding his sheath underneath some table debris, Law jerked it out from there, slapping it against his thigh to lightly clean it. Dust rose into the air, glittering briefly within the streaming sunlight from the nearby windows. He sheathed his sword, muttering, "Am I?"
Sanji frowned at his back as he then ventured towards the basement, opening it to give the all-clear. The trio exclaimed noisily at the mess, in shock and awe over the state of the bar and the resulting story.
Before he could step away, he heard a quiet, "Psst!" from beneath some debris nearby. Sanji's heart jumped into his throat once he heard it, prepared to run if he had to. His eyes scanned the piles around him, looking for something dark and oily to pop up where Krieg had fallen. But he saw Ussop's nose – barely blending in with the ragged broken legs and battered pieces of unfortunate furniture – moving ever so slightly.
"Is it safe to come out?"
Sanji couldn't help but smile as the worried ghost waited for an answer.
