A/N: This chapter is chaotic. D:

HS: Grumpy Law will remain grumpy for the rest of his afterlife – no matter how long it is. Most of them, when they'd died, retained the personality of what they were at the moment – which is pretty upbeat, considering their last thoughts (save for Zoro's, who has yet to be truly revealed) But this story will wrap up somewhat neatly…somewhat…

Part Nine:

Your Death Is Not Permanent

Once he oriented himself to the busy area, the four behind him apprehensive due to the location, Law exhaled slowly while people passed through and around him. His mind was still running through moments of his past – almost as if he were rereading a treasured book that had been neglected. But he remembered Doflamingo Donquixote very well. The man's misdeeds had shaped him into a demon that used the hospital as his feasting grounds; taking advantage of the newly dead to consume and carry for his own necessary energy.

Law's job in removing souls non-stop was his way of denying Doflamingo's appetite. There were others like Law, Zoro's so-called "angels", but Law's motives were rooted with petty revenge. It made him smile crookedly at the thought of this. Looking at his hands, he acquainted himself with the frozen dead appearance he now wore as the result of his remembrance. Everything about him was blue or black, his skin colored in grey splotches.

"I remember mostly everything," he said grimly, clenching his hands into fists.

"That's great! Now you can focus on other things," Brook said cheerfully. Before Law could say anything, Brook pushed him along, all of them gliding through the hall entranceway in a single mass. "Now, if you remember where Doflamingo's body is – "

"I mixed an infected blanket with one of his own shortly after I was murdered. Then watched him die by his own hand once he realized what had happened."

Zoro was mystified how Law had thought to do this when none of them had the clear memory to do much of anything outside their routine.

"Admittedly," Law added, attention caught to the patient board behind the nurse's station, "I was assisted shortly after my death to understand these things but I was able to do this."

"So, someone did teach you how to haunt," Zoro pressed.

"Yeah." Law glanced back at him for a moment, then said with discomfort, "it was his own brother. He died hating Doflamingo and was so focused on the task that he…was able to remember. He helped me remember. But…when Doflamingo died, his brother took my name with him so that I wasn't a threat to Doflamingo. It's funny and terribly stupid how it was right there in front of him and he hadn't found it in all these years…"

"What's funny and terribly stupid is how I cannot stop comparing to you to that of a mummy," Sanji murmured, staring at Law with dismay. His upper lip curled. "It's those teeth…it's going to haunt me later."

He screamed as Law leaned down and bit him on the shoulder, causing Tony and Brook some terror.

Spitting out to the side, Law wiped his mouth. He then observed where he bit Sanji, who was rubbing that area with a horrified look. Seemingly disappointed, he muttered, "Damn…I have no ghostly vampire abilities…"

Sanji kicked him in the shin, Zoro watching Sanji closely for any signs of turning. "Keep your damn vampire abilities to yourself, doc!"

"You saw Doflamingo die then?" Zoro then questioned, eager to move on.

"Yes, I watched him turn a gun to his temple," Law stressed, glancing around. "He was already pissed at what I'd done to him – instead of being present to push him into an available doorway, I thought his brother would handle the task. I…don't know what happened but some changes occurred and Doflamingo is what he is presently. It has taken me all this time to remember these things – "

Trailing off, Law stared into the distance. "Either Doflamingo ate his brother or he moved on. I don't know."

"Is it possible Doflamingo could do away with your body? Or, why didn't he already…?" Sanji asked.

The urge to return to his routine was a warm burn that caused Law's fingers to twitch with agitation. "I don't have a body to worry about – he'd tossed mine into the fire pit which was used to burn all of the dead that were infected to avoid any confrontation. But his…his was buried here. There was a small graveyard to the left of the building back then. This place…surely it covers a large area, considering how fucking huge this room alone is…"

"Of course," Brook commented. "It takes up nearly three blocks, including the parking tower."

"Then I have to find the original floorplan," Law said, reaching out to the wall and dragging his hand against it, seemingly feeling for it.

"They could have moved all the bodies when they expanded the place," Zoro said with a puzzled expression, holding tightly onto Tony's hand as he pulled the boy close behind him. Tony was dragging his steps, sighing loudly every few steps.

"True," Brook said with a worried expression. "Once they find buried bodies, they tend to pull them and re-bury them elsewhere."

"Should we make haste to the cemetery?" Sanji asked curiously. Zoro mocked him, both of them shoving at each other in action.

"Ahhh! How terrifying!" Brook commented at the suggestion. "Mostly because I guarantee that we'll all be distracted by whom we run into over there. None of us has a real solid attention span…I know for myself I get distracted talking to all the lovely dead women – "

"How young are they?" Sanji asked with interest.

"Not like they'd want you," Zoro mumbled. "Not when you wear the same colors as they do…"

"No," Law said, his voice capturing their attention with the thoughtful way he said it. "It hasn't been moved. It's still here."

"How do you know?" Tony asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Do you have some sort of super sensory powers to tell?"

"It's just a hunch – he could feed off the outside world, but he chose to remain here. With the reliance I have built up in him being able to feed off the souls that avoid the light, I feel that this is his final resting grounds," Law said. "He returns here, pointedly, after every venture he makes off grounds. Why? There is nothing and no one to attach him here. We just need to find where his body is buried and deal with that."

"If only Ussop were more cooperative!" Sanji hissed, scowling. "Then we could have Sabo find these things for us!"

"It shouldn't take that long to find," Law said as he walked on, hand dragging on the walls. "I'm sure once I come into contact with it I'll remember it."

"He's walked through walls and taken old staircases that weren't part of this plan before," Zoro assured Brook.

Sanji squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember the route they took with Law upon first meeting him. It was a struggle, but once the images hit his memory, he hurried ahead. "Here! We came through here the first time, then moved upward through the back of this room."

They bypassed patients occupying various rooms, until Law lit up with remembrance. He pushed through the back of one wall, forcing them into a staircase that was broken and faded, out of date with the rest of the building. The wind whistling through the narrow way almost sounded like someone was forcing the noise through their own pursed lips. Almost at once, it stopped. Edges crumbled at their feet, dribbling noisily onto the step below. Tony hugged Zoro's arm tightly, just in case it collapsed.

Law seemed to remember the route he needed to take, and pushed his way through them to head downstairs. The walls around them were old and withered, voices murmuring softly in the distance. There was an occasional cough and a muffled sob – almost musical once they were aware of it. Once the group attuned themselves to the sound, they couldn't help but react with discomfort. Only Law seemed at ease.

"It's the sounds of the old place," he assured them. "No fancy machines, no telephones, no alarms - just us and what information we knew back then."

Touching down on the first floor, he pulled open a heavy wooden door that creaked noisily up the stairway. A blast of cold air hit them all at once, causing the ghosts to shiver in remembrance of the sensation. Once they were attuned to that, they all looked at each other with startled action; the concept that they remembered the feeling of the cold was something that only they should have remembered based on their individual memory. Not all at once; not because of the circumstances.

Law looked grimly into a narrow hallway that was darkened by heavy shadows and a veil of grey fog. Like a filter that had been inserted in place, everything looked as if it had been bathed in heavy applications of shadow and dark gray. The only thing that truly stood out were the clocks on the walls. The hands continued to move silently in the cold stillness of the hallway. Law had the bewildering thought of whom wound them regularly to keep them moving like this. The voices were gone, the heavy stillness uncomfortably heavy against their ear drums.

"They never stop just because we stop," Sanji told him, noticing that Law was staring at the moving hands. "I used to stare at mine in my own home."

Law exhaled, expecting to see his breath. But his hands fisted in the pockets of his overcoat as the others once again banded together in a mass, peering over his shoulders with cautious action.

Stepping out onto the clean floor, his footsteps rang out with all the abrasiveness of a gunshot – the others' followed suit.

"We're so loud!" Tony cried with apprehension, voice muffled by the others' as they hastily shushed him.

"'tch'," Law muttered, looking around himself without a sense of fear. Now that his hatred for the man had returned, he was dead – there was nothing to fear. The man couldn't kill him again. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Stop silencing him. If we have to draw that shit stack out this way, it's fine. You all can be the bait while I dig up his worthless body – "

"But not all of us want that," Sanji complained, Zoro looking at him with disgust. "Not all of us want to be bait! We've seen what he does to the monitors – why are we going to go up against something that uses the bodies of other ghosts as decorations?"

"If you sissies can drop your balls soon, we can complete this task and move on with our afterlives," Law stated, his step refreshed by his own declaration. The area was familiar to him – every part of it as cherished as a fond memory.

"Where would our balls go?" Tony whispered to Zoro, holding himself. Zoro tried not to laugh.

"We don't know this place very well, we can get lost," Brook pointed out, ensnaring the others' clothes collars while Zoro held onto Tony's hand with some confidence.

Sanji then realized a very important detail. "Did we just…travel back through time within someone's memory?"

"This is something even I can't explain," Brook said as Zoro's eye widened with understanding. Everything that they were seeing seemed straight out of a movie set, but it was Law's own return to the site of his murder that allowed them this ability. Much like how Sanji had led him around the school, forcing the familiarity of the area onto him so that he was able to negotiate the living's area with ease.

There was still the danger of wandering off to find their routine, but they still set their foot down as they followed after Law, taking in everything around them with a sense of awe.

Law turned down a narrow corridor. He could remember moving up and down this particular section, looking in on patients that were settled in various area. There was a gunshot victim still sitting in his bed with a dazed expression, clutching his stomach. In the next, a small pox riddled family clung to the hope that they'd be saved. In the main room, there was a man with his face missing thanks to a barroom brawl, and a woman in the corner that wept piteously over her bleeding wrists.

None of them looked up at the sight or sound of their approach, focused entirely on their own shock. It was surreal to see others lost in time due to their grief and misery, too focused on their deaths to understand that they were dead.

"Why didn't you help these ones move on?" Brook asked, standing outside a doorway. Law paused in mid-step, turning to return to them. They were looking in on the family that coughed from their beds, clutching each other. Because of the way their heads were covered by their own blankets, it was difficult to tell what features they had. They were only sounds emerging from blankets with body imprints upon them.

"I don't remember them being here when I was murdered," Law murmured. "Maybe I was too busy with the living without seeing the actual dead in front of me."

He then strode towards them. The ghosts looked up at him with surprise, acknowledging his presence before he opened a door to his left. Still coughing, the group quietly left through the doorway, leaving behind rumpled blankets and moist pillows. The room seemed to sizzle in their absence until it darkened completely.

Law exhaled heavily, understanding how significant his actions were.

"Let's find the body first," Zoro insisted, aware of how easy it was for the doctor to focus on outside tasks. "You can do this after we complete our real mission."

Law looked at the group of them, furrowing his brow. He looked at Tony the longest. "I can't help you two to the other side," he then said to Sanji and Zoro. "But the others are destined for a door."

"You said I can't," Tony muttered bitterly. "Because I am not dead yet."

"Your soul must have given up with your body being forcefully sustained," Law insisted, hands tucked into his jacket once more. "Finding your body shouldn't be that hard. Once you pass through the doorway, your body will die then."

Tony stomped his foot with frustration.

"You said your body died, but your brain continued on for some time," Law pointed out to Sanji. He glanced at Zoro. "You said you didn't know you died. Both of these things makes it difficult to backtrack the exact moment when there was a door available for you. I don't know if I'd mentioned it before, but it might be okay if you aren't recycled. After all…it took me years to come back and open a door for these guys. Perhaps…that's waiting for you later on…"

Sanji and Zoro looked uncomfortable, but quickly held onto their positivity.

"Eventually, I do want to find my body and get rid of myself at my own country," Zoro decided. "If those ghost hunters can travel, I can travel with them."

"That is a great idea," Brook said gently. "They can do this."

"Well, there's always more out there that need guidance," Sanji told Zoro. "Plus, Luffy and Sabo are looking for their brother! There's plenty to do if I can't find the light."

"Once you're least expecting it, I'm stuffing you downstairs," Law threatened Brook before turning away. "Enough of the chatter."

He pushed a door open, and Zoro caught his jacket as one step out caused the doctor to trip, looking down at a void of black nothingness below him. Sanji helped Zoro pull Law back in, the doctor looking shocked as he saw that the outside world did not exist. There was just a swirl of black that looked never ending before them.

Straightening his jacket, Law stared at this for several seconds before looking at the others. "Dead end."

The group seemed at a lost as to what to do next, staring into the void with puzzled expressions. Brook then leaned over Law to ask, "Where exactly is he buried?"

"The cemetery," Law answered, squinting ahead of him to remember the exact location. As it started to come back to him in vivid remembrance, the void opened up to reveal the pathway from the door. It was a gray existence – clumpy with grass, overgrown weeds and what looked to be a post for horses to wait. There wasn't a sky or horizon for him to see – just a worn path that he remembered using for back and forth trips from the hospital to home. It made him feel empty to look at a sky and not see it as he could remember it. His head was either down to focus on a book, or focused completely enveloped on a patient. So it made sense that the sky remained in the void.

Once that was familiar to him, the void opened to show off a dirt road that curled down to a quiet, sturdy town made of wood. Just to the side of the hospital's wooden walls was a flattened area with stones and crosses as headstones. He exhaled sharply, but wore a pleased expression. The others were taking in the scene with visible awe.

"It's like we're taking a step onto a 'West World' set," Brook said with a heavy breath, bony hands to his teeth.

Law marched in the direction of the cemetery. The others hesitated, unsure of whether venturing away from the building was safe. There was the thought that they'd drop into some endless void if Law forgot the area entirely as his attention was grasped by something else. Tony wore a determined expression, breaking free of Zoro's hold to race after the doctor. Seeing that he was running on solid ground, the others followed cautiously. Looking back at the building, they were startled to realize that only half of it was visible – the rest was shrouded within pure darkness, the void glaringly obvious like a universe upon itself. So the half of the building that Law only remembered from his vague scan looked oddly deformed as it stood against the gloom.

Law scanned the names of the crosses, a little frustrated once he realized that the wording wasn't what he remembered. All the letters looked as if someone had turned them upside down, switched them with a wing-ding. One of his hands went to his hair with frustration, looking for something that was familiar. But it seemed as if someone had deliberately written over the content he'd remembered.

Brook brightened. "This is Spanish. They're descriptions – oh, don't worry, I know some. I used to sail with them, too!"

"Doflamingo was a Spaniard," Law remembered. "He and his brother took advantage of….never mind…"

"You sure got around, didn't you?" Sanji asked Brook incredulously.

"I was an adventurer back then! You could do anything! Now, excuse me," Brook said politely, pulling out a pair of bifocals from his jacket pocket and slipping them over his face. All of them stared at him with incredulous action, unsure how the modern pair were able to stay in place when there was nothing for them to hang upon. "Woman, age 23 – influenza. Man, age 17 – gunshot wound. A dog named 'Bit'; mange."

"This will take too long!" Law said with a sigh as Sanji and Zoro examined the names for themselves. But they couldn't read it either – not until Sanji laughed and pointed at one.

"Grande," he said. "For Taco Bell! I remember looking at the menu and – "

"Big man," Brook said gravely, pushing him aside. "Age 44. Self inflicted."

"That's him," Law said, standing upon the grave and spitting onto it.

The world rumbled fiercely, causing them all to stagger. The hospital itself, the half that Law remembered seeing from this position outside, rocked tightly. Something massive roared in the distance.

"He's aware of what we're to do," Law muttered, narrowing his eyes as he crouched and began digging into the hardened ground. "All of you should serve as bait while I uncover him."

Sanji scowled at him. "We will get lost in here if we attempt to run away!"

"You've been to the hospital a few times," Law stated. "So even you should have a little memory of the route you supposedly followed me upon. Lead him back there."

"But you could be lost," Brook pointed out.

"Or I'll simply return to the area of the building I usually take on as a routine. We have to chance this." Law nodded, then pushed on Sanji and Zoro. "Go. Make me proud."

"I don't want to be bait!" Sanji whined, shoulders slumping, head back. Tony mimicked his stance for himself, something to use later on. "That's so bogus…"

Zoro exhaled heavily. "I'm no wimp or wiener. This is something I can do. If I can ride a motorcycle around the world and end up on a completely different continent – "

"That is NOT something that makes anyone brave! That just means you're stupid!" Sanji exclaimed.

" – then I can surely taunt a demon while you do whatever you need to up here. Let's go, He-Man," Zoro said, grabbing Sanji's shirt and jerking him along.

Law rolled his eyes with exasperation, pointing after them to Brook. "I'm pretty sure we just came from that way. Fix it, skeleton."

"Tony," Brook said, looking down at the boy. "Stay with the doctor. Do not leave his side. It appears you have a better memory than most of us. Make sure he stays focused on what he needs to do."

"Right," Tony said, lighting up with the important task while Law looked exasperated with the baby sitter.

Brook ran after the pair that were moving in the wrong direction, dragging them back to the building. The pair could hear Sanji explaining that they could draw Doflamingo out to meet the horde. Just as Sanji had spoken some reason, Zoro cupped his mouth, bellowing out Doflamingo's full name. Law pushed Tony to the ground, hiding behind the crosses that littered the dirt – in moments, the spider burst through the open doorway nearby, laughing with glee upon spying the trio racing away from him with startled shouts. The trio were swallowed up by a collapsing vision of the hospital's front parking lot as two of them remembered the scene. The spider managed to wiggle through the disintegrating memory like an insect escaping grave danger, leaving behind a few arms and legs that didn't belong to him.

Exhaling heavily with relief, Law began to dig, Tony helping him.

: :

The horde scattered like bowling pins as Doflamingo swept through them. His various arms and legs went to shoving discarded souls like chips into his moving mouth, keeping his most of his eyes locked on the fleeing trio. Brook was screaming shrilly, hands in the air while Zoro charged after him and Sanji gasped for breath alongside them.

"I forgot why I don't run!" Sanji coughed, hand to his chest. To Zoro's disbelieving eyes, the ghost lit up a cigarette in mid-jog, Doflamingo laughing jovially a short distance behind them. After exhaling smoke, Sanji slowed down.

The spider was inches away from them when Brook noticed his proximity. He shrieked again, pouring on speed, legs moving in a flash while Zoro pumped his arms hard. Sanji zipped past him suddenly, cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth. All of them were running up the street from the hospital, Sanji leading the way to the store he'd frequented.

"tHiS loOks fAMIaliAr, dOeSn'T It, bLaCk LeG?" the spider mentioned, the heads on the back of his body crying out with agitation. "hErE is WHerE yOu cRossED oVeR!"

Glancing around, Sanji saw that this was so. The moment he did, the vivid remembrance of his intentions for dinner hit his mind – the weight of the meat in the bag, the freshly baked loaf of bread. He remembered leaving the store and taking a step off the sidewalk – the car had blasted him just moments later, before his weight could settle onto the pavement.

"yOu Don'T ReMemBer wHy YoU wErEn't lOOkinG, saNji?"

His head was turned to the right, Sanji remembered, the memory presenting itself in full detail. Gone was the shadowy detail of the afterlife – he was once again a hip young man that smoked a cigarette as he cradled a bag of groceries at one arm, thinking about a pool party one of his friends was hosting that weekend. He was hoping to see a couple of classmates in their bikinis, looking as "bangin" as Phoebe Cates. It was so real that it felt like all of this had only been a passing thought.

The only thing that caused Sanji's brow to furrow was that he was looking down the street at a man that wasn't dressed for his time period.

Cool costume, he thought, intending on crossing the street as the man strutted with confidence down the sidewalk. If Sanji had been looking clearly, he would have noticed that this man was walking through people.

Zoro glanced back at the feathered-haired blond, finding him looking down the street while facing it – clearly intending on recreating his death scene. He stopped short as the spider reached for Sanji, all the heads on its back screaming out with warning as various legs and arms waved about like fine hairs. With a curse, Zoro turned on one ankle and heaved himself at the blonde's legs, tackling him to the pavement. The spider missed them both, tumbling head over legs until skidding to a noisy stop.

Sanji pushed Zoro away hastily, looking down the street. Sure enough, he was seeing that ghost in 1930's wear ambling down the street.

"HEY!" he shouted, waving his arm. The ghost paused, turned and looked in their direction.

"What's up, dude?" he shouted back, waving. "You can see me?"

"HELP!"

The spider straightened, looking over with curiosity as the ghost ambled over with a curious expression. Brook shrieked shrilly at the sight of him, afro straightening to a full ponytail. The ghost looked at Brook with alarm, then reacted with the same action. Sanji grabbed hold of Zoro, shaking him repeatedly while pointing at the ghost – the spider looked rather puzzled that he was ignored, disregarded easily. He wore an expression of dismay at this.

"That's why I died!" Sanji snarled, pointing at the newest ghost. "I saw him! I saw him and I fucking died!"

Zoro looked puzzled, standing to straighten out his flannel. "I…okay…I don't get it, but…"

"THat'S noT wHy I waNteD yOu to reMeMbER," the spider hissed at Sanji. "ThAt's NoT wHy I shOwed YoU yOur DeaTh!"

"Well, I remember that part – nothing else. And," Sanji added vehemently with an arm pump that made Zoro snort, "I'd rather not remember anything else! This has worked for me!"

The spider reared up with a roar, drawing all their attention to it. The heads on its back screamed with fright, Brook reaching out and ensnaring the newest ghost by his arm.

"By the power invested in me," he declared, "I am NOT letting you go!"

"What the hell is that?" the ghost cried in horror, staring at the spider.

"An AdDeD MeAL? i wILL nOt CoMPlaIN!" the spider roared majestically, seemingly enlarging itself. The limbs it had forced onto its body were lengthened from the back while the arms in front elongated to turn into one spindly arm – its body lengthened to that of a scorpion's, tail lashing over head with added flailing arms. The heads on its back all grouped and merged into a set of eggs, their screamed muffled by the new casings that swept over them. The dangerous hooking needle dripped with blood that splattered carelessly around it. The single head of a grinning man popped out from the scorpion's face, the baby arms converting to those of a child's. Fingers wiggled anxiously while his real arms flexed and bulged with anxious energy.

"lOoK At mE nOw," he giggled. "I aM bIgGeR! wItH MoRe mOutHs tO fEEd!"

Sanji shrieked shrilly, paling in the face as his skin broke out into goosebumps. Zoro looked at the spider with skepticism, trying to see it as the man that had confronted them into the hospital. He was stretching to find fear that he'd felt earlier, but now that he knew this was only a convenient illusion, he felt a little more clear headed. He looked from the spider to Brook, seeing the skeleton faint neatly into the ghost's surprised arms.

"Hey," he called over the spider's grand laughter and Sanji's continuous screaming. He reached out and slapped the blonde's back to interrupt that shrill sound, Sanji spitting out his cigarette and hacking viciously over the pavement. "Let's cooperate together. Clearly these guys are no good."

"Oh, dear Lord, what happened to your face?" the ghost asked anxiously, lip curled. "Did you really get that angry with your nose?"

"We're trying to get rid of this guy so we can go home. Can you help us?"

The ghost considered this with a thoughtful expression, looking from Zoro to the spider. He dropped Brook to place his hands on his hips. "I've got nothing else to do. Sure."

: :

Ussop shivered mightily. Something happened. Something felt different. A different sense of panic filtered through him, coating his blood with ice. He wasn't sure why, considering he could hear absolutely nothing, but something was wrong. He was unsure of how to express this as Sabo worked hard to find the answers he needed. He couldn't find a Trafalgar Law – nothing in his search pulled up anything about a German doctor in the same time period as Doflamingo Donquixote.

"It's been a long time since then," Sabo muttered, glancing at Doflamingo's face. "There's nothing on his death record – not even a family history. He's just…a very small article on the web that gives us nothing but a face."

Luffy leaned over him, glaring at the screen. "But they're afraid of him."

"No so much as afraid," Ussop corrected, teeth chattering. Franky looked up at him with concern. The apartment was comfortably cool, but not enough for the younger man to be so…cold. "But that doc definitely had a problem with him. It seems like they were enemies. Brook said that this…Doflamingo was responsible for the small pox outbreak here."

"What an asshole," Franky commented with concern.

"But…" Ussop trailed off, looking up at the ceiling with thought. "What makes this all so weird is how none of them are clear about their past. They were working on the doc to remember his – which says that…even if we do our best to find him, Luffy, Sabo, I don't know how successful we'd be if we continued looking for Ace."

Luffy frowned. "Sanji said he could help. I believe that guy."

"I do too," Ussop had to admit reluctantly. "Because he started this shit from the first moment! The others complained enough for me to feel comfortable with that…but even if he finds Ace after this…are we going to feel any comfortable knowing that he's still out there?"

Luffy sighed heavily, fiddling with his recorder. "I don't know," he mumbled. "I don't…I know there's an afterlife, I'm not…rejecting that idea that we just disappear right after. But…I…now I think it'd be better knowing that he's not around because he was pulled into the light."

"And even if he wasn't," Sabo chimed in carefully, "then there must be a way in which he can be allowed to move on."

Ussop nodded grimly, all of them lost in their individual thoughts.

"We're not going to get anywhere about this Donquixote character," Sabo said with a sigh, rubbing his eyes. "Even if we pursue this thread, what are we going to do about it? They're dead. Whatever problem they have in the afterlife – we can't fix."

"If we don't help them with this issue, Sanji can't help us with Ace," Luffy stated firmly. "So we must do whatever it takes to help them."

Ussop exhaled heavily. "Well…I'm sure we can just do what we can but…I'm not even sure what they need us to do. I'm pretty sure they returned to the hospital, so all we can do is what for them to show back up again. Even if…even if they brought the spider back."

"We can handle him if he's in man form," Franky said skeptically. "Now that I know he's a man, I mean…that's different. It's not like we've seen anything differently. Even that demon Brook helped us with was nothing other than a shadow mass that never stayed in one place. How scary can this thing really be?"

The apartment rocked with noise, screams and shouts. Ussop reacted with a startled scream, hands to his ears. Sabo spit his coffee into his laptop while Franky jerked up from his chair and tripped over it in his haste to run. Luffy fell backwards from Sabo, stumbling over the coffee table. But they were showered by game posters, pictures on the walls as something massive swiped them down. Pieces of debris rained over the four living beings as the screams persisted.

"kNoCk kNoCk!" the spider laughed merrily, the front door slamming open so hard that it left an indenture in the wall. Its arms shriveled with pain once it came into contact with the powerful protection spells in the foyer. It hissed, dancing in place as it pushed against the invisible force.

"HE'S HERE!" Ussop shrieked in surprise.

"aLL i WaNT foR chrISTmas iS tHe soUls of ThREe dEaD mEn," the spider hissed from the open doorway as Luffy, Sabo and Franky righted themselves with expressions of confusion on their face. Only Ussop was stiff with fear, listening to the sound of fearful screams, the movement of multiple limbs moving about. "aNd oNe boNEY sNaCK tO fEED mY chILDren!"

"USSOP!" Sanji shouted, hanging onto the man with both arms, breathing heavily while Ussop shrieked in response. "Your spells! HURRY UP! We're GOING TO die!"

"AGAIN!" Brook shrieked, catching sight of agitated monitors popping up around them. "Invite us!"

Without hesitation, Ussop screamed out, "ZORO SANJI BROOK TONY LAW! What are you doing?"

Almost as a collective effort, the monitors slipped away from the trio but valiantly did their best to grab onto Doflamingo. Their noises caused Ussop distress as they were felled by the spider's powerful arms; Ussop could hear them squealing and trilling as hurt animals, and he slapped his hands over his ears with a sound of misery.

The spider ripped the spells away from the walls with a cheered cry, the living able to see them being shredded right in front of them. The demon began to show itself in spurts of black shadow, the light from the landing showing them multiple human limbs and longer spidery legs that continued to pull into the apartment. Its laughter became very audible to them, causing more than one face to pale with the significance of the moment. But as he inched in, his limbs and those that didn't belong to him began to stick to the protection scrolls that covered the walls. Much like how fly-paper worked – it caused his own skin to sizzle and hiss.

Sabo could see the scrolls left behind flutter, burning like someone held a magnifying glass against a source of light against the paper. It was such a surreal experience for him to see that he did not know what to focus on first.

"tHeSe tHiNgS ARe aNnOyinG, sO i'LL jUsT rEmOVe tHeM nOw," Doflamingo said, shredding one long scroll in half and tossing them aside, allowing him more room to shuffle in. Despite his effort, the pieces were stuck to him – the living could see them flutter with the spider's movement. The doorway cracked and groaned as he lowered his tail to fit. But his legs protruded too far outward, catching in the small space allotted. He reached out, trying to grab onto the four that were just barely avoiding his reach.

Ussop ripped himself from Sanji's grasp – the sensation that he could feel coming from the spider urged him to give that area a wide berth. He raced to his room, hearing the screams of his friends and the ghosts trail after him. He scraped mirrors from the walls, the scrolls that seemed a little too useless. Running in, Sabo helped him with the armload, shoving mirrors down in front of the living room to reflect back at the open doorway.

"tHat HuRts, yOu bAsTardS!" the spider hissed, limbs drawing in front of his face with dramatic action. "yOu'rE KillINg mE!"

"Use the scrolls to overpower his legs!" Brook shrilled, snatching them from Sabo's arms and slapping them onto the spider's moving legs with concentrated effort. Every limb seemed to weaken significantly, causing Doflamingo to bellow with fury as each limb became useless; trapping him.

He then shrieked with renewed fury as their newest friend darted in to reach for the arms sprouted around his neck, twisting and breaking them with just a few short movements. The roar that erupted after that caused Franky, Sabo and Luffy to cover their ears, pale faced with the recognition of a monstrous noise.

"Now, Sanji!" the ghost roared at his new friend, Sanji darting in with a pale white object in hand that he used to stab deep into Doflamingo's main left eye.

The spider froze with statue-like grace while Sanji hurried out of his reach, breathing heavily. The ghosts watched the spider's legs slowly lower as one of Sanji's ribs bobbed with the movement of the spider's head. Zoro looked at Sanji with question, until Sanji lifted his shirt to show him where he'd retrieved the weapon. The sight of one missing rib from his battered ribcage caused Zoro to make a disgusted face, Sanji lowering his shirt with a huff.

Ussop breathed fitfully – he could hear the sounds, but not being able to see what was occurring was maddening. He could hear the others' whispers his way, demanding to know what was happening – he couldn't even explain what the ghosts had done, but he was damned sure he heard a new voice in the mix.

He was quite sure he knew that voice. He'd heard it countless times while Sabo and Luffy watched old videos of their brother.

It took him a few shocked moments to compose himself, his expression saying everything for him.

"…Ace?" he questioned, the name leaving him with a startled tilt.

The spider's arms lowered completely to the ground. One of Doflamingo's main arms lifted, fingers wrapping around Sanji's rib bone. He pulled it out – once the bone left his face, a dark fluid began to escape from him, splattering over the apartment floor with a spectacular gush. Zoro, Sanji and Brook "ew'ed" collectively while the newest ghost looked at Ussop with a confused expression.

"Yeah?" he answered with hesitancy, re-focusing on the spider as he tossed Sanji's rib.

"ThIs hAs oNlY mAde mE thAt mUch anGrier," the spider stated slowly, the remains of his eye spilling over his sharp cheek.

"Ace?" Ussop repeated skeptically, Sabo and Luffy looking to him with horror.

The ghost in the 1930's garb turned to look at him with a puzzled expression, straightening his fedora. "Who's calling my name?"

Sanji whirled to look at the others as the spider shifted shape, unfolding into that of the man that had faced Ussop and the others nights earlier. He was visible to the living, his other hand clamped to his wounded face while Ussop and the others focused on him with startled action.

"Who the hell are you?" Franky demanded as the man bled freely in front of them.

Sabo gasped because it was obvious that this man was the very same one they'd just seen on the computer screen minutes earlier. Luffy was still staring at Ussop, waiting for him to say something else.

"Ussop," he whispered urgently, as Doflamingo cursed fluidly, "Ussop, are you talking to Ace?"

Ussop gathered his breath.

"This was most unfortunate," Doflamingo snarled, pulling his hand away from his eye. It was ruined beyond repair, causing the living to react with disgust. His other eye bulged with angry promise. "Now I'll have to kill you all!"