law: quam afflictus - "how wretched"

Where to begin…

xxx

He fingered the pins of the grenades. They rattled and clinked against each other, oddly liquid, swishing, (or were those the gasoline tanks they'd rolled through the streets?)

The large fat one and the tall lanky one spat curses at him. The spiked one made no sound, watching his hands. Law didn't care who they were.

The glass of Doflamingo's shades was tinted red. Beneath Spider Miles' strangled sunlight, they shined like wet blood. The room reeked of smoke and metal and incinerated church wood (or did it? Law had not been able to smell anything else in weeks).

"What did you say, boy?"

"I wish to destroy everything," Law repeated, and would repeat as many times as it took to be believed. He felt no heat, no fear, no bluster. He was so full of hate that he could barely breathe. There wasn't enough room inside his child body.

Men, women, children, animals, everything, everything

ALL MUST PAY. ALL MUST PAY FOR WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO ME.

Doflamingo stared, elbows leaned on his thighs. Law imagined the empty gaze wandering his tiny, wasted frame, his bruises and cut-up face. Not impressed maybe. In need of convincing.

"Why?" Doflamingo asked.

"I was born in the White City."

Nothing moved. The henchmen's eyes dotted him, as if trying to locate where the Amber Lead slept, as if they could see it ravaging his skin. Law did not waste his time noticing them further. A tilt of interest finally peaked on Doflamingo's lips.

"Is that so? How sad for you." The tone was airy and a little amused. Much, much later from now, Law will look back on this moment and still have no idea what Doflamingo had been thinking.

"Come along if you want, little Trafalgar. That is, if you are truly ready?"

There was such coldness in those words, such thick, implacable darkness. All those terrified whispers about Doflamingo, all those unspeakable rumors, Law was certain of their truth then. He stifled a laugh, reshaped it into a smile, felt every broken part inside him shiver and shine.

"I am…"

(dying, dying, dying)

"…ready."

xxx

(The first thing he did was dispose of the grenades. Five sticks and three fragmentations, oh, how frightening. He wondered from where the boy had swiped them.

Trebol, Diamante and Pica hovered near his vacated chair. They warned him for a twelfth time to be careful. Doflamingo had no idea what they were so embarrassingly afraid of, because the boy barely moved.

He allowed Doflamingo to manipulate his arms up and down like a doll's, as he checked for more hidden weapons. Two daggers and a switch knife clattered to the floor. Doflamingo pulled out the handgun, half-tucked into the ash-blackened capris. It was far too large for him and the recoil could've dislocated a shoulder. He didn't doubt Law would've tried to fire it anyway.

There was something he recognized in this ailing, faithless twig of a boy. Something familiar in a sense he'd never felt before. It was downright fascinating.

"Is there anything else?"

The boy shook his head.

"Shall I strip you to confirm for myself?"

His small face wrinkled. The boy yanked his arms out of his grasp and Doflamingo chuckled at the sudden childishness. Reaching under his shirt, Law peeled off something taped to the middle of his spine.

A toothbrush shiv was produced in his tiny palm, the blade made of glass and wire. It was well-constructed and Doflamingo whistled as he peered at its sheen, amused by its size. The boy must have whittled it for days to have it at such a fine point. It almost resembled a scalpel.

"Keep it," he said, when it was offered to him, "I appreciate good effort when I see it."

Law blinked. He did not cheer or protest or speak. The blade disappeared back into his pocket.)

xxx

Doflamingo took him around personally for the introductions. Law did not honestly care to meet any of the freak-shows that manned this blood-splattered crew, but figured he should at least get a handle on which ones he'd have to deal with on a regular basis.

To his faint surprise, none of them were fazed by the fact that he was a child. There was some resigned amusement at most, with lots of weird faces leaning down to examine him. No one in the whole damn building seemed to know what personal space was. At one point, Law was practically hiding behind Doflamingo's leg, but that didn't seem to impede them at all.

A particularly crazy lady named Jora even lifted up Doflamingo's coat to pluck Law into her arms. (Oh, you are adorable! Wherever did you find him, Young Master? Oh, so cute, so cute, I can imagine the little outfits I'll have you in already!)

The muscular guy next to her wearing fucking rabbit ears asked Doflamingo if he was trying to start up a daycare. The casual gibe blew Law's mind. He prepared to witness the guy get hacked to pieces before his eyes, when Doflamingo simply retorted that Law had demonstrated his moxie and signed up of his own free will.

"Keep that in mind," he added, sounding exceedingly annoyed, "before we start sharing funny assumptions with the more outraged among us." Jora laughed a little sheepishly at the pointed stare. Lao G shrugged. They went back to their cards. Law trailed after Doflamingo out of the room in speechless silence.

The final place they visited was the lounge, where Baby Five, Buffalo and Gladius were trying to tag team Machvise in an arm-wrestling match.

The last time Law had seen anyone around his own age, it had been Lammy's terrified face as he helped her out of her hospital bed. It had been her tear-riddled eyes as he shut the closet tight.

He was not remotely ready to encounter other children again, but Baby Five and Buffalo rushed over immediately. They circled Doflamingo on either side. Trapped Law in the middle.

"So you joined to be a pirate? Ehhh, is it because you didn't have any good food where you were? You look kind of like one of those warehouse kids. Oh, oh, is it because you didn't work hard enough? Is it because they beat you?"

"Law, huh?" Baby Five said, skeptical, "What a weird name. That's not your real one, right? You don't look like a 'Law' to me."

She drew closer, tried to touch him and they ended up weaving in and out of Doflamingo's legs for a frantic beat, before Law managed to glare her into submission.

Doflamingo laughed. "You should learn to get along, Law," he said, as a whimpering Baby Five clung to his shin, "Worst of it is yet to come." The last part was half under his breath and Law blinked. He was nudged further into the room before he could ask however, with Doflamingo entrusting Gladius and Machvise to show him around the ship later.

"Young Master only has one rule," the former recited, after he'd gone, "Mistakes are forgiven, but betrayals will pay. In this sense, he's incredibly easy to please. Don't disappoint him or us."

Machvise patted Law's head clumsily. His beaver-like tail thumped in the air.

"Did something sad happen to you too?" he asked, "Don't worry, little Law. You're part of our family now. The Young Master protects everyone in the family."

You're not my fucking family. Law almost snarled, letting the words tear out from the seething, screaming pit in his heart.

He barely caught himself in time, sealing them back inside, next to his parents and sister, next to Flevance when the summer light cascaded down.

All memories charred and gone.

xxx

(The White City had been pristine and crystalline. A place of milk and honey. Fairytale houses. Paradise skies. Snowy treasure glittering in the bellies of the mountains.

All now to bones and rubble.

Doflamingo shut the book. He took a swig of wine.)

xxx

The Donquixote Family seemed involved in every crime under the sun. As a rookie, Law was sent out to shadow other members right away. There were hostages to be ransomed, blackmail to be arranged, areas ripe for violent takeovers to begin.

They didn't kill indiscriminately, but they killed plenty enough. Baby Five made a special detergent just to wash out bloodstains. She and Buffalo whispered after every fight, naming which ones cried in the end and which ones begged and which ones did both and pissed themselves too. Law tuned them out, staring sightlessly as he lay in his bunk.

He didn't know why they felt the need to fixate and he didn't care. He cared little for anything.

xxx

(They lingered on the islands surrounding Spider Miles for the rest of the week. Rosi had yet to return from a planned hit and Doflamingo was starting to get antsy. There was a nagging voice in him that had been going on and on, unable to sort through whether it was concerned, possessive or suspicious.

Eventually, he grew bored of its tone and shunted it aside altogether. The things it whispered of were inconceivable.

Doflamingo cracked his neck with a sigh, cool water and sand rushing along his ankles as he trailed the shoreline, hands in pockets.

Times like this, he really wished Vergo was still here. The man could make almost any conversation entertaining. Not to mention local women just weren't as fun to fuck. Perhaps they could give the phone sex idea another try after all…?

"Young Master!"

He dropped the thought like a hot plate as Baby Five came charging over a dune, a huge jar held over her head.

"Look at all the shells we found, Young Master!" she chirped, skidding to a halt in front of him. She strained upwards as far as she could, which wasn't even to his waist and he snorted, kneeling down so they were somewhat eye-level.

"Show me your spoils."

Baby Five giggled and pointed at the glass, turning the jar different directions as she gushed. "See the red one there? Jora found that one. And Buffalo found this weird stripy one here and I found this one with the spikes that kind of looks like Pica-san."

Doflamingo blinked at some of the collection. He was pretty sure a couple of the shells were still occupied, but didn't comment. It'd be a fun surprise for Jora.

"Oh, there you are, Baby Five! I told you not to bother him! The Young Master needs some peace." As if summoned, Jora appeared over the dune, hands on hips and Buffalo at her side. Doflamingo waved her off.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," he said, ruffling Baby's hair, before Law of all people trailed in after them, "Fufu, well this is a surprise. So you've decided to enjoy the beach after all, Law?"

The boy scowled and crossed his arms. His eyes were hooded. His face rigid as stone. Baby Five launched into an instant tirade about how Law hadn't wanted to move from the ship at all, how she'd had to drag him off and then how he'd done nothing but glare at her ever since. Another of such aforementioned glares cut her off abruptly and sent her fleeing to Buffalo.

Jora sighed and took her hand. "Come. Let's not keep troubling the Young Master. There must be more shells down near the tide pools." She led an instantly delighted Baby Five away, Buffalo following close behind.

Doflamingo watched them go with half a smile, before glancing at the dark, huddled shape that hadn't budged from his side.

"Not going with them?"

Law scowled harder. He moved a deliberate distance away and sat down in the sand with his legs drawn up. He glared at the sunset with such intensity Doflamingo wondered if he was trying to make it combust.

"They're just shells. What am I supposed to do with them besides set them down somewhere to collect dust? It's worthless crap."

Doflamingo canted his head. He was rather entertained by Law's bluntness, biting as it was, and how it paired with his dramatic, hollow-eyed cynicism. Most of the time, the boy was not worth the bother of correcting, and yet...

"Not necessarily."

He kicked up some water as the scarlet waves frothed in again. The waning sun leaned towards them. His smile crept slowly as the child glanced over.

"I'm sure you've heard of the Sky Island, right Law? Being the well-educated brat that you are."

Law looked at him, confused. He hesitated a beat, before shaking his head. Doflamingo pretended ignorance and after another moment, Law's low, slightly flat voice spoke, "What is it?"

"Hm?"

"The Sky Island."

"What about it?"

"That's my question! What the hell is it? What does it have to do with fucking shells?"

"Language, Law. We're pirates, not savages."

Well, Doflamingo was of the opinion they were one and the same, such as his life was now, but it was fascinating watching Law's face turn puce with anger. For all the boy's proclamations otherwise, that spark of life in him still burned fiercely.

"If you really want to know, then come closer. I'm not going to shout at you from way over here."

The boy made an irritated noise. He barely spared a minute though, before standing again and shuffling nearer, halting just within talking range. Law crossed his arms, a slight bounce in his feet.

"There. Are you going to tell me or not?"

He really did have some curiosity left in him. Doflamingo chuckled, and his mirth was slightly less black than before.

"Alright then…"

So he told Law about the ancient civilization that supposedly existed above the clouds of Paradise. How it floated on a different sea composed out of pure white clouds. How this sea had its own fare of monsters and treachery, but no real waves or methods to propel a ship forward for travel.

"That's where the shells came in." Doflamingo gestured down the coast, toward where Baby Five and Buffalo were peering over the rocks. "The Sky people started picking up ones that were washed ashore, crafting them into these special devices known as 'dials.' They're basically like improvised motors, or so the theory goes."

"Shells for motors?"

"That's right."

Law was turned fully towards him now. "How does that work?"

There was nothing written on the subject so Doflamingo shared his own opinion that the shells likely possessed some sort of storage mechanism for absorbing matter. Then Law wanted to know if the dials could be used for other purposes and what other evidence there was that the Sky Island existed at all.

By the end, Law was barely three feet away, kneeled in the sand and trying to draw out for him what he imagined a map of a sky island to look like.

"And these would be the bridges," he said, nudging Doflamingo's coat aside to point at the center of his drawing, "Because they'd need a transportation system if it's a bunch of interconnected islands. It'd be made of clouds."

"Hm, I see," Doflamingo stooped down, careful not to disturb the child's picture, "White bridges to white towns, huh?"

The air went thick and still.

Law stiffened as if he'd just been kicked in the stomach and Doflamingo watched his tiny hands drag grooves in the sand and form into fists. Doflamingo supposed he could've played off his words then as an accidental slip of the tongue, but they hadn't been. He was curious about the kid's situation and reading could only take him so far. There was a cruel part of him that wanted to taunt Law and ask if he thought the Sky Island would burn and crumble one day just as Flevance had, but he restrained himself.

Their talk had been enjoyable and Doflamingo was no longer bored. On that basis alone, he felt the boy had earned a bit of delicacy from him.

"How did you escape, Law?" he asked instead, chin rested on a palm, "Are there any other survivors from the city?"

The answer was more abrupt than expected.

"I don't know. I made it out of the gates by hiding in a wagon of corpses."

The ocean waves crashed and receded, soaking the sand and their feet in a darkening horizon. Seawater spilled across the map, flooding the houses and wrecking the bridges. Sand slurped and mounded and within seconds, Sky Island had been swallowed.

Law stared at the empty spot, face devoid of expression. Doflamingo stared at Law. His chest stung a little and he felt it at a distance as he always had. He did not pity Law, because he pitied no one.

But he thought he might've understood then—the bottomless despair of those eyes.)

xxx

"Hey, brat…"

Doflamingo stood, graceful and silent, tall beyond words. There was a flicker, Law thought, of his real eyes in the creeping twilight.

"…what would you say to a couple of books?"

xxx

(Law read with a ravenous appetite. Doflamingo had never met anyone who could outpace himself, but the boy was already finishing up to two books per day and his appearance at Doflamingo's door was starting to become routine.

"Fufu, you're turning me into quite a librarian," he said, handing over two more titles from his shelf, while sliding back the ones Law had returned.

"Ugh," the brat's nose wrinkled, "Don't put images in my head." He still received the new books eagerly though, flipping through some of the pages with fervor before suddenly pausing and giving Doflamingo an odd look.

"What?"

"Nothing, just…you have a lot of stuff on Mariejois."

The quill nearly snapped in Doflamingo's hand. He chuckled.

"Well, you should always educate yourself on what you hate, Law."

An owlish blink.

"You've got a problem with the Celestial Dragons?"

"Oh, it could be said I have a couple."

Hesitation clouded Law's features. Doflamingo could almost see the thoughts churning beneath that spiky black hair. It occurred to him the boy might be equally curious of someone who despised the World Government as much as he did.

Even before the question was asked though, Law was cradling the books close to his chest, as if afraid they would be demanded back.

"…What happened?"

Doflamingo sat down again, fingers tapping on an empty bottle.

"Maybe someday I'll tell you. It's not a story fit for kiddies."

Complete bullshit, considering the things Law had already been through, but Doflamingo wasn't in the mood. As expected, the boy did give him a nasty look, but the offense bled quickly and strangely out of his face. What remained was too calm and deliberate. It studied him and reminded him of Rosi, and if there was anything that could make him feel ill at ease, it was that.

"Whatever," Law mumbled eventually, "And by the way, you should give it a rest with the drinking. That's like your third bottle today. Your liver's probably a wreck."

He stormed out before Doflamingo could even process what he'd said.)

xxx

For an agent of chaos, Doflamingo's organization was a well-oiled machine. Over five hundred men had been divided into miniature armies, with each group having its own officers and executive.

In general, Diamante, Trebol and Pica seemed more involved with the daily hum and bustle of activity than Doflamingo. It wasn't rare to come upon their leering hides in the lounge or barking orders on deck. More than anything, Law hated bumping into them. The cartoonish limbs and disproportioned bodies gave off to him an alien appearance. From some angles, they barely looked human.

"Oh, Law, just wait until you meet Cora-san!" Baby Five said, when he muttered this, half to himself, "He should be back from his mission tomorrow and he's way better-looking than Trebol-san or Diamante-san."

"What was that, brat?" Diamante snapped from where he and Trebol sat on the couch, somehow hearing them from across the room, "If you've got so much free time to chat, how about you get me a drink?"

Baby Five lit up like a shooting star. She winked at Law, before skipping out with her serving tray in hand. Law's brows furrowed. He turned to Senor Pink, who was hunched at a desk a few feet away, feverishly texting his wife.

"Who the hell is Cora-san?"

"Ah, that's just some nickname the other kids have for him. It's actually Corazón. The Heart executive. Doffy's younger brother too." Law's eyes widened. Doflamingo had never mentioned a brother and he'd already been here for weeks.

"Oh."

"Behehe, you're going to just love Corazón, Law."

The couch groaned as Trebol stood, having been silent up till then. Law glared up at him as he oozed across the room, getting closer than necessary.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, for one thing, he's a clumsy, air-headed oaf that's going to trip over you or spill something on you almost every day, " Diamante chortled from his seat and Trebol's grin spread, "And for another, he isn't a huge fan of brats, so he'll probably try talking Doffy into dumping you somewhere first chance he gets."

"Maybe just off the side of the ship," Diamante added, and he and Trebol keeled over with laughter. Law was no longer listening.

Ice had filled his heart and was drilling sideways into his veins. The thought of vengeance was all that had managed to sustain him for this long. He'd gathered up every fragment of himself that was still worth a damn and poured them into that dream of aimless destruction—a rage that was boundless, unstoppable and without judgment. Only Doflamingo would be able to give him that.

And this Corazón was going to force him away? Law's knuckles went pale around his book. He felt suddenly sick with rage. Nononono, he wouldn't let him, wouldn't let him…

A few feet away, Senor Pink sighed and set down his Den Den Mushi.

"You know, little Law," he said, "Kids shouldn't believe everything adults tell them. Especially when they're a buncha clowns like these guys."

"Huuuh, wanna repeat that, Pink?"

"You've gotten pretty cocky over the years, haven't you, Pink? Behehehe! Ever since Doffy let you have your sweet ever after…"

Senor Pink ignored the bait with the same indifference he would grace a buzzing fly. "Think it through, kid," he said with one final glance Law's way, before turning back to the desk.

What did Senor Pink know though? He was a man who could afford to let things slide. Somewhere, far from here, he had a wife waiting at home, all lace and apple pies. He had a baby in the works who would love and cherish him. He had these pretty pearls to think about, to remind himself that a fight wasn't worth the price. These were the thoughts of a man who had something to lose.

But Law was a boy, not a man.

And he had nothing left to lose at all.

Not a thing.

xxx

("A minor inquiry has brought you this call. Still alive, I trust?"

A static-filled sigh. "I'm fine, Doffy. Sorry for the delay."

"Did you get it done?"

"Yes, the group's taken care of. I searched their warehouse too, but it looks like they stopped carrying Mariejois cargo months ago."

"Have they now? Interesting."

"…it's not healthy to obsess like this."

"Fufu, he said the same thing in so many words."

"Who?"

"You'll see. How long before you return?"

"Should be there by tonight actually."

"Good. We'll be waiting at Spider Miles.")

xxx

Corazón returned early.

Law crouched at the base of one of Spider Miles' many rusting, heaving junk piles. The moon was bright and full, clearer than a bell, pooling light down on him as he scrounged for loose bolts and spare tacks in the debris.

He only received about a second's notice when the giant shadow swallowed him and a hand was on his shoulder. Hard and wide as a slab of stone.

Law was yanked around to cigarette smoke—to golden hair and giant limbs and he mistook him for Doflamingo for several long beats, before he registered the black feathers.

"What are you doing here?" Corazón demanded, as if he had any idea who Law was, "What are you doing here, boy? Don't you know where this is?"

Law said nothing, all the words robbed from him. Corazón's form stretched across his vision. He had a loose maroon hood with long heart-shaped flaps and a shirt adorned with a similar pattern. The recognition sunk in like a knife.

Law couldn't really describe what happened to him then. Only that a myriad of thoughts grew clustered and tangled in his head. Like how this was Doflamingo's brother, who was going to try and get rid of him. Like how he couldn't let that happen. Like how fucking stupid Corazón looked, as if he'd gotten dressed blind and what kind of fucking world was this that someone who looked as fucking stupid as Corazón would get to survive when every single person Law had ever loved or cared about had died horribly?

Fury writhed in his head. It leeched the blood out of the rest of his body and tinged his vision with frost. The shiv was in his hand before he realized it. The one carved out of a toothbrush. The one that Doflamingo, for whatever obscure reason, had decided to let him keep.

The world emptied of everything, everything but the man in front of him.

And Corazón said, "You shouldn't be here."

Law gripped the blade and charged.