Hey everybody,

guess what? It's time again^^ After some productive (and long...) working hours I decided to do something really nice today, so here you go guys, the new chapter^^ Hope you will enjoy it and see you next week (with one of my personal favorite chapters^^)

Sharry

Chapter 17 - Lie

The sun was still hidden behind the waves as he finally reached Kaikkien Maiden with the night train.

The past day had been hell. He had been able to do nothing but wait and now he was here and although he had been expecting this day for months, he could not take his own feelings into account now, was not allowed to worry about his own feelings for now. This here was not about him, he needed a leveled head to save Law from whatever trouble he was in, and the one person, who could help him was inside of that administrative building.

He had thought about breaking in, but he didn't know the circumstances and didn't know what kind of new weapons the world had developed over the past 18 years, so he had chosen the main entrance.

Following the few early risers, he came to the entrance control.

"ID," the security guard murmured coolly.

"I don't have one," he replied coldly.

"Then I can't let you in."

"Can you give Sengoku a message from me?"

She looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Do I look like a post-gull?"

"It's important. It's a matter of life or death."

Now she rolled her eyes.

"Excuse me, but it's always about life or death. If I have everyone who..."

"01746."

"What?"

So he had been right, her posture, the accurate perfection with which she wore her uniform.

"A Marine code, please send it to Sengoku."

For a moment she looked at him, then she nodded and stepped aside.

"I understand, if you would please follow me."

Surprised by her sudden help, he was only too happy to follow her. Apparently luck was back on his side. People seemed to have become much kinder and more helpful over the last two decades than they were in his time.

He followed her through the entrance, up a few stairs, and through a door and suddenly several hands grabbed him from behind.

He tried to defend himself – could hardly believe that he had let himself be caught by such an obvious trick – but gave in when the woman in front of him pointed her gun at him.

"You are arrested."

"What?!"

"Take him away."

"Wait! What? No, please listen to me. Tell Sengoku..."

The two guards behind him dragged him away. The gun at his back made it clear to him that fighting was probably not a good idea, so he allowed them to take him to some kind of interrogation room and chain him to a table with odd handcuffs.

So he sat there, unable to do anything and not aware of any mistake. He had done nothing forbidden. As far as he knew, the Marine codes had no power anymore, but he had assumed that another former soldier might have recognized the significance of his code being that of a former special forces unit, they still had a meaning, even if the Marines were no more.

Damn it! What should he do now?! He couldn't afford to be locked up here. With every second, the chance that he would find Law still alive dropped.

But he didn't know what to do. His skills had rusted so much during the last year that he hadn't noticed that he had been lured into a trap, he hadn't even managed to get the keys. He looked at the metal shackles around his wrists, maybe he could break them with Haki.

"I wouldn't do that," remarked a young man with round glasses who had just come in and looked at him with raised eyebrows. "In any case of violence, you get a fierce electric shock, I can't recommend."

"This is a misunderstanding."

"Is it?" Said the other, sitting down opposite him and placing a folder on the table. It strongly reminded Rosinante of the interrogations of his past, but he had never been the one handcuffed.

The man in his suit looked at him for a moment.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Can't say."

"What did you want here?"

"Talk to Sengoku," Rosinante replied the truth.

"How do you know Sengoku?"

"Can't say."

"Why did you mention the Marine code 01746?"

"Can't say."

"Why did you want to talk to Sengoku?"

"Because a friend of mine is in danger and I believe that Sengoku is the only one who can help."

"A friend?" The other repeated. "What's the name of this friend?"

Rosinante hesitated for a moment, but then he realized again that Law was no longer an enemy of justice, even though former pirate, and that every second was precious. Rosinante may not have been able to reveal his own identity, but there was no reason for him to hide Law's.

"Trafalgar Law," he finally said.

"Trafalgar Law?" The other repeated with an eyebrow raised, to which Rosinante only nodded. "Why can't you tell me who you are?"

"Partly because I'm obliged to maintain secrecy and even if I were to disregard that order, your investigation into my person would contradict my statement and therefore you would probably have to check me for a possible fraud. I cannot sacrifice the time for such a lengthy procedure as long as Law is in danger."

The other tilted his head slightly.

"In what kind of danger is Trafalgar Law?"

"I don't know, but since he wanted to stop me from talking to Sengoku, I assume he has some answers."

"He wanted to stop you? Trafalgar? And he's the one in danger now? Why should he have stopped you from helping him?"

Not for a second did he dodge those clear eyes when the other pushed up his glasses and looked at him seriously.

"Because he's a fool who cares more about others than about himself and doesn't want to see me in danger."

The other remained silent for a second and scratched his headband, showing a scar hidden underneath.

"Why should the guard pass on the code to Sengoku?"

"Because then he would have understood."

"Would he have known who you are?"

"No, but he knows the code."

"And that's why you assume he would have agreed to meet you?"

"Yes."

The other got up and started walking through the room, something about his steps was strange, uneven, but Rosinante didn't care enough to pay closer attention.

"How do you explain the following situation? Yesterday morning we got a call that in the next few days someone would show up here trying to get to Sengoku via a Marine code and now you're here."

Rosinante huffed slightly.

"What a bastard."

"You know who that was?"

"Put two and two together, that was Law."

"Why would he do that?"

"That's what I just told you. Whatever a mess he may be in, he tries to deal with it on his own and so that nothing happens to me, he put me in this position."

The other eventually stopped and looked at him with his arms crossed.

"Do you know what the Marine code means?"

Rosinante did not respond.

"You could make it much easier for both of us here if you just told the truth."

"Can't."

"Because you are obliged to maintain secrecy? Or because you fear that I would consider your statement to be a lie?"

"Because it may be that what I have accepted as truth is in fact a lie."

He could see that the government employee wanted to ask another question, but this time he was faster.

"We could also make it much easier for both of us if you just got Sengoku."

The other scratched his headband again, pushing his glasses further back.

"Do you understand my reluctance to give you exactly what you want without really knowing what you are actually going to do?"

"Then show him a picture of me," he said coldly, "and then he should decide if he wants to come here."

"Why should I do this."

"If he doesn't come, I'll answer all your questions."

"You do realize that this deal is making me feel less likely to comply with your request?"

"You know what, I don't have time for any interrogation games. You seem to do your job well and know what you're doing, but with every second here we're gambling for Law's life, so please..."

"He's coming."

"What?"

He looked surprised when the other covered his ear with one hand.

"Of course we sent Sengoku a picture of the surveillance tapes directly after you asked for him so obsessively and I just got the message that he's on his way and I'm supposed to tell you not to do anything until he's there."

He could see the other being confused about the strange command.

Rosinante, however, was no less confused; how had the official received his instructions?

But when the other dropped his hand, he could see a tiny transponder snail over his ear, which had adapted perfectly to his headband.

Now that he couldn't do anything but wait, he took a closer look at the other. He was young, younger than Rosinante himself, but he too had this posture.

"You're a former soldier?" He asked, to break the silence and perhaps get some information, now that the other had to interrupt his interrogation and perhaps became careless.

The other nodded after a second.

"I was captain," he finally replied.

So he would have been superior to Rosinante if the Marines would still exist.

"But that was a long time ago. I have seen that the Marines served as the executive body of the world government in a sickening system, and since I have committed myself to justice, I have overthrown this system."

"So you are an ally of the straw hat?"

For a moment those honest eyes lightened up, but then the door opened and the former captain was forgotten.

"But..."

Rosinante fought back tears as his superior and father figure stood in front of him. He had grown old, nearly twenty years and a multitude of wars and losses had taken their toll on him and suddenly Rosinante regretted not having visited him much earlier.

Sengoku looked at him for a moment, then turned to the officer.

"Thank you, Corby, you can go. Turn off the recordings and give me the key."

"Are you...? Yes, sir."

"You don't need to salute; such days are over."

"Of course, sir."

Rosinante remained silent until the door behind the officer fell shut.

"So," Sengoku said very coolly, "what are you?"

"What?"

"These handcuffs are made of a special material that discolors when in contact with devil fruit users. So your ability has nothing to do with devil powers. What then?"

Suddenly he understood. For a moment, he became ice cold.

"I understand," he replied hollowly, "of course. Law made you believe I'm dead, so you think I'm an imposter who imitates your deceased ward to get to you."

He sighed. He hadn't imagined it that way.

"What the hell have you gotten us into, Law?" He murmured.

The old man looked at him for a long time. Whatever he thought was unrecognizable to Rosinante. He must have changed, back then he would have asked for the truth with a demanding voice. He had always been easily irritable and would probably have slammed him against the next best wall, but now...

"So you claim that you're not an impostor?"

"Do we have to go through these questions again now, Sengoku? My name is Donquixote Rosinante, my Marine code is 01746, you took me in at the age of eight and raised me to be a soldier, like a son. I was a commander and then I went on a secret mission to my brother..."

"Enough is enough." Now he could hear the quiet rage he had already expected. "I don't care how you got all that information about Donquixote Rosinante, but..."

"Law is in danger!" He tried to stan up, but the table was welded to the ground so that he could only stand in a bent position. "He manipulated me so that I wouldn't contact you beforehand, but you know something, otherwise he wouldn't have set me this trap, so..."

"What a nonsense! How dare you..."

"It's the truth!" He took a step forward and could feel the electric shock whipping through his limbs. "You have to believe me!"

"I don't have to do anything!"

"I survived! Law ate the Op-Op fruit on Minion and saved me. He made a mistake and I was in a coma for years..."

"Nonsense!"

"It's..."

"It's a lie." Now Sengoku approached him and suddenly he was the Fleet Admiral from back then Rosinante knew. "Trafalgar Law did not save Donquixote Rosinante. His brother Donquixote Doflamingo shot him."

"That's what I'm trying to explain to you! I did not..."

"And do you want to know how I know this? Because I was there and saw his body."

"What?"

"If you know exactly who Rosinante was, then you also know what he meant to me. How dare you come here, use his name, face, and voice and lie to me in the face that he might have survived if I was the one who carried his cold corpse away, when I was the one who buried him?!"

Rosinante staggered back and fell on the chair, barely noticing the electric shock.

"But... but that's impossible," he whispered.

"This is the first time we agree."

"No, I... Law said he saved me... he said that Doffy did shoot at me, but he didn't shoot me..." He rubbed his forearms over his chest as he remembered the gunshots. "He said he had almost lost me several times... my heart had stopped and therefore... my devil powers have disappeared... But... but that's..."

"What?"

Surprised, he looked up.

Sengoku looked at him suspiciously, and Rosinante became aware of the one thing that only Law, Sengoku, and himself knew. Once again, he decided to put his emotions aside for the time being and first solve the problem right in front of him.

"I had eaten the calm-calm fruit, but I can't prove it to you anymore because I lost my ability." He snapped his fingers. "You see? But maybe you wouldn't believe me anyway, because I'm wearing these weird handcuffs."

"How do you know all this?" Sengoku asked.

"Because I tell the truth, or at least what I thought was the truth. I'm Rosinante and Law somehow brought me back to life and now he's gone and I'm here."

"The raid," Sengoku whispered, stumbling a few steps back and eventually slipping to the ground at the wall, "the desecrated tombs last year. But this is impossible, there are no such abilities. No one can revive the dead..."

Then the old man looked at him.

"Rosinante?" He asked, almost hesitantly. "Is this really you?"

When he saw the tears in the old man's eyes, he could no longer stop his own.

"Yes, I... Commander Donquixote Rosinante returns from mission. I failed. I'm sorry."

And then he wept as the arms of the man, who had always been like a father to him, finally embraced him.