A/N: Thank you all for reading this! It was a weird story for me to write. But it's finished without a real true conclusion – just like death itself ;)

HS: He's pretty happy at what he does lol

Guest: Thank you for checking in and reading! It wasn't meant to be horror, but just a story about life after death :D (though if you WANT to read horror, I definitely got a few)

Part Ten:

Not All Are Meant For The Light

With loud grunts, Tony and Law managed to pull the body from the plain wooden casket. The man was missing most of his face, cleaned expertly and laid to rest in brilliantly colorful clothes. But Tony was startled to see that the casket had entire nets of webbing clinging to the wood, spiders and their eggs spilling out with every movement of the body. With the loss of the man's face, he couldn't tell what sort of expression he was wearing at the time of death. It was a little more gruesome than Zoro's face, and Tony couldn't help but make an uncomfortable face.

Once Law managed to pull the body onto the dirt, he breathed heavily, hands on his back to rub at the ache caused by the effort. Mostly because he remembered how it felt to pull on a body that was bigger than his – the feeling was automatic. Spiders raced away from Doflamingo's stiff form, fleeing thick nets. He was a little surprised that this demon hadn't rotted away traditionally – he had to acknowledge that he looked more like a mummy with enough preservation to show off the familiar prickle of small pox, which extended up towards his neck and jawline. His big hands were folded over a bible. The very sight of the implication caused rage like no other to tear through Law's frozen blood stream, multiple bullet wounds gushing with strength. Law spit on his corpse, Tony watching him apprehensively while avoiding the blood spatter.

Law then reached for the door at his feet, fingers clenching upon the handle with determination. When he straightened he lost his grip with a puzzled stumble. He crouched to grasp the handle with both hands and yanked – but the door remained shut. Tony gasped.

"He must've locked it from inside!" he exclaimed. "When he was in there!"

Law considered this, standing straight as he panted. He'd removed his jackets, so his bullet marred back seemed to pulse with blood as his wounds oozed. Tony's lip wrinkled in disgust. "How would he get out?" he asked with a puzzled expression.

Tony frowned with consideration, then brightened. "Brook mentioned that was a limbo chamber – maybe he was able to get out once judgement was rendered onto him, but he chose to fight his way back. He's not like a human being as everyone else when you push them in, he has the ability to traverse between up and down."

Law frowned at him. "But that also means that the subject of heaven and hell is real."

Tony gave him a patient look. "You've mentioned for yourself that people are given a direction, Law. No matter the person, they go somewhere to be recycled. It doesn't necessarily mean that they go a specific place that the living has designated. After all, how can the living truly know what happens after if none of us have reached that designated spot? Considering our…spotty memories…"

Law found himself thinking about it. He did remember telling one of those dopes a near similar version of this. How he knew of it himself to say anything at all was something he couldn't explain. He shrugged a shoulder, straightening his suspenders. "Then…we have to destroy the body so that his soul is forced to go somewhere. I thought I could just shove his gross ass into that doorway and that would be it, but of course - !"

He kicked Doflamingo's corpse with all the fury he could muster at that moment, the body rolling over onto its front to expose its back.

" – he had to make this extremely difficult!"

"Do we…burn it? Corpses can be extremely flammable after being cleaned for burial," Tony said tentatively as Law crouched and grabbed the shoulders of the corpse's jacket. He slowly began dragging it towards the hospital, grunting as he did so. Due to the big man's size, Tony couldn't help but look down at it in awe – surely he was part of the Bigfoot family, he mused. This man was a literal giant.

"There are tools inside the surgery room I can use to break it down, and throw piece by piece into the fireplace in the main room," Law said with effort. "Don't go anywhere – if I lose you, I'm not finding you."

Tony sniffed haughtily, but he grabbed the corpse's left foot. He held it gingerly, trying to help Law. "You're not going to lose me. I'm more of a mind than you. If I don't keep you focused, you're going to wander off, then I'll have to save the day. That'll make the others reconsider sending me off."

Law snorted, managing to re-enter the hospital backwards. The sound of them dragging the body across the floor was gruesomely loud, ringing through the empty, shadow corridors.

"You can't avoid recycling forever, kid," he grunted. "When you're reborn, maybe your ungrateful ass will thank me."

"What's going to happen to you?" Tony asked curiously, pushing Doflamingo to assist with Law's dragging. "Can you move on?"

Law felt like Tony was asking if he wanted to – not if he were able to. It was an odd feeling.

"Never thought about it," he confessed. "I don't feel like being recycled. This job is more fulfilling than my life ever was."

"Well," Tony said, looking cautious about it, "you can help Sanji find more souls to recycle. Then you'll be busy all the time."

Law sighed heavily. "I'd rather throw myself through the bottom door than listen to that guy for one more minute."

Tony snickered.

Once Law found a space appropriate for the man's size, he went hastily for the cabinet with all the tools. Tony watched him from behind, his eyes widening as he saw that most of these things were tools he'd seen in his grandfather's shed; hand saw, scissors the size of his garden shears, what looked like a type of ice cream scooper, glass tubes that looked too big for medicine, hammers, huge tweezers – he could not imagine what all of these things did.

Law retrieved the handsaws and rummaged through some drawers until he found lamp oil and matches. He then stalked towards the corpse, shoving the oil and matches into Tony's hands. Then he started sawing away at the body, Tony looking away with disgust.

"This…will…fix…everything…I…assure…you," Law said between movement. His frozen face looked maniacally happy. "Ash…to…ash…dust…to…dust…!"

I wonder if all doctors feel this way, sometimes, Tony thought with unease, wondering if he'd caused his doctors any trouble. Law straightened up, pointing at him with Doflamingo's arm.

"Grab some of those weeds from outside, crosses, too. Get a bonfire started in that fireplace there."

Tony looked at him blankly, Law pausing a moment to see this. "I don't know how to start a fire. I'm pretty sure I never needed to in my whole entire life. I was born in a modern world!"

Law nodded as he threw aside the saw once he connected the dots on that one. Tony wondered how many limbs the doctor had sawed off in his lifetime to remember how-to in his afterlife. Taking the fire starters, Law started the fire – he wondered how the others were doing.

Law then began tossing pieces of the corpse towards the fireplace, hurling each one in with all the force of someone throwing a baseball. Flames licked the air noisily, but Tony couldn't remember the last time he heard the sound of fire. It just burned brightly, silently, as a shimmer of light and not of the quality that Law did. For Law, he was briefly reminded of the last time he stood before a fire – staring into the same fire place, thinking about the words that were entrusted to him.

The sound of incoming footfalls caused him to look up and back with a start. The villain stood in the doorway, alive and well – the day bright after a night's worth of snow fall. But the scene was entirely different from the one he'd left – everything felt like an afterthought as Law blinked repeatedly. His mind was already racing because everyone spoke rapid-fire English and he was struggling to keep up. He felt out of place and unwelcome because both his language and understanding of the country's every changing laws from territory to territory was confusing to keep up with. But he understood that this man was a monster – a demon walking freely amongst the living. Not yet dead but not yet alive, either.

"You save my brother yet, doc?" Doflamingo asked him, and it took Law a few seconds to understand what he meant.

"No," he answered simply, knowing he had to get the information to the nearest deputy. "No last words spoken, either. Don't know what to tell you."

"That's too bad, I thought he'd have a lot to say," Doflamingo said, his accent tinged words thick with sarcasm that Law was able to catch. "Considering he had a mouthful to carry with him onto the next life."

Law shrugged, hands in his pockets. He couldn't exactly look at the man, who was taller than most men and made most of them uncomfortable at the same time. But Doflamingo stared at him for such a long time that it caused Law a nervous twitch. The taller man leaned down to say, "Are you sure he didn't say anything?"

Law coughed, causing Doflamingo to draw away hastily. "Nothing. If you'll excuse me, I've got rounds to do."

"Wait."

"Law?"

Law snapped out of the memory. He looked down at Tony, seeing the boy's confused expression. "What? Are you offering to do something useful?"

"No, you ass! It looked like you…" Tony struggled to find the right word to describe what he'd seen. "Glitched. I almost thought you were going to disappear right in front of me."

Law looked at him with a blank look, but he understood what Tony was trying to say. "I was…reviewing a memory."

"It almost seemed like you were moving back into it. Maybe physically revisit it. You do that, you're going to leave me behind."

Law considered it for a few moments, then nodded. "Throw me a leg."

Tony did so, grunting with effort. Once sparks and ash fluttered about, the limb slow to flame, he looked at Law with agitation. "There's no need to revisit the memory when you have all you need to proceed. It's an unnecessary noise. All you are doing is reminding yourself how to hate again."

Law furrowed his brow, considering Tony's choice of words. Then he looked at the hairless boy with a start.

"Stay focused, Law," Tony said cheerily.

: :

The tall man was very human, Franky realized, pushing against him in an effort to get him out of their apartment. Luffy was at the man's feet, shoving with all his strength against legs that felt like pillars. Doflamingo laughed with amusement as he easily forced the two back, his eye spilling with strength. The apartment was in shambles; chairs strewn about, furniture overturned, the floor covered with debris. The battle was for their very lives as Ussop quickly gathered their protection spells and Sabo helped him.

The ghosts were doing their best to battle the scorpion tail and multiple limbs that waved away from Doflamingo's body, the ghostly form invisible to the living. While to them he was a man that spilled read blood, to the dead he was an impossible monster. With all the eggs on his back screaming in muffled fear, the ghosts weren't sure what to do.

"I'm working together with my murderer," Sanji snarled while looking at Ace, who looked at him with surprise. "Not the guy that physically murdered me, but murdered me because he distracted me."

"I thought you were one of us!" Ace exclaimed, ducking when Doflamingo's arms stretched out towards him.

"I never in my life was able to see ghosts until I saw you! Then I died."

"Will both of you shut up?" Zoro snapped at them both, picking up a kitchen stool and batting Doflamingo's reaching arms away from them. Ussop shrieked at the sight of this. "We're in the middle of something here!"

"None of this makes any sense," Brook huffed, laying on the floor stiffly, winded. "How were you able to travel through time, Ace?"

"I wasn't aware that I was! I was just following this dude in pirate clothes because I thought he was part of the party! He was a cool old dude," Ace huffed, lighting up, "I just knew he was cool – I thought he was one of those babe magnet billionaires…"

Ussop slapped a scroll onto Doflamingo's arm, the man roaring with outrage as it dropped with dead weight to his side. It allowed Luffy to jump and punch, throwing all his weight into a fist that knocked the man from Franky's grasp. Zoro and Sanji jumped out of the scorpion's grasp, its tail shooting outward in an effort to pin one of them. Ace and Brook dodged the multiple arms that stretched to catch its body in mid-fall.

It was a chaotic scene, and Ussop couldn't get a clear answer from anyone on what was happening. All he knew was that Doflamingo needed to be stopped. He was aware that Tony and Law were not present, which suggested to him that the ghosts had something going on – perhaps a distraction, perhaps they were gone forever – but he felt like they were okay. He ripped off a big piece of duct tape then forced his way in close to tape another piece of a protection scroll against the tall man's leg.

Doflamingo roared with a scream that wasn't human, his skin shimmering with shadowy action. For a moment, his true form was visible before he snapped his teeth shut, growling noisily as he easily swept aside Franky and Luffy with a swat of his hand.

"You imbeciles," he snarled, staggering up against the kitchen counter. He reached down and ripped off the scroll. "None of you can - !"

He paused, his limbs stilling for a brief moment. The ghosts watched as the heads on his back all snapped to look in one direction, falling completely silent. Then – his limbs began to fall away from his body, snapping away without any direct contact.

Sanji clasped his hands over his mouth with relief. "It's working!"

Doflamingo's face burned red as he scanned the apartment. Once he realized what was happening he gave an enraged scream, causing the living to look at him with perplexion. Brook grabbed Sanji's and Zoro's collars, giving a puzzled Ace an apologetic look.

"Tell Ussop there we are headed back to the hospital," he hissed as Doflamingo changed, taking on his spider form. He fell to the floor with obvious trouble, losing limbs by the second. Every part of him shook, like a spider dying under the spray of a chemical. Now that he was gone in the sight of the living, all they could do was hear Doflamingo rage and curse soundly. "Law and Tony are taking care of the body – that's where we'll be - !"

"Wait - !" Ace exclaimed as the trio slipped out of his sight. He looked at Doflamingo then to Ussop, whose hands were clapped over his ears. Ace brightened considerably once he saw his brothers, laughing noisily. "You guys! You guys, I can't believe it, I finally found you!"

Doflamingo released one final scream, and his spidery body enveloped inward until disappearing. In the silence that remained, only Ussop could hear Ace's cheered expressions. Franky shakily took to his feet as Sabo caught his breath, winded by his efforts. Luffy slammed into Ussop, forcing him to look up.

"Is Ace here?" he cried frantically, shaking him.

Ussop struggled to push away from him. "He is! Somehow he is!"

"Those guys lead me here!" Ace exclaimed with excitement. He couldn't touch his brother, but he looked upon him with utter joy. "I'm here! You guys have been looking for me?"

Ussop caught his breath. Wearily, his mind whirling with confusion and fright, he sought to get himself together. Having these ghosts in and out unexpectedly with their own battle within the afterlife had left him feeling ages older and definitely out of shape. He was quite positive his heart couldn't keep taking this tremendous stress.

"He is," he repeated, Luffy and Sabo lighting up with joy. "He is."

"That guy said I killed him," Ace said, mystified. "There were a lot of other words exchanged, but then this was happening at the same time."

"Killed who?" Ussop repeated, feeling his face fall. He knew the details of Ace's death – he was quite positive that the man wasn't a murderer.

"Sanji said he'd seen me the day of his death!"

Ussop looked puzzled, relaying what he was hearing to a set of faces that looked utterly perplexed.

"But," Sabo muttered, confusion heavy on his tone, "Ace died long after he did."

"I know the details, so I don't get what he's saying," Ussop said, sitting down heavily.

"I didn't even know I died. It just seemed like I was moving through a very long day that I really didn't think would ever end," Ace said with a perplexed expression, straightening his fedora and jacket. "But I had a kid come up and tell me that I did. Little guy said he was wandering around from the hospital to find his grandfather."

Ussop's eyebrows snapped together. "So you ran into Tony?"

Ace wore a puzzled expression, fiddling with his jacket hem. "He…there wasn't a kid with these guys…"

Ussop briefly explained who each ghost was, Ace furrowing his brow a little heavier each time. He then exhaled after Ussop waited for him to speak again. Ace turned his attention to his brothers, noting the differences in their features since the last time he saw them.

Sabo wrote hastily as Ussop spoke aloud and relayed what he could of Ace's words. Luffy was too emotional to even think of getting to his equipment, Franky shutting and locking their front door, leaning against it for strength. In the stillness and quiet of the aftermath, it felt important to speak at a lower volume than usual. Almost as if the three were desperately straining their own ears to hear Ace's voice –but only Ussop could do so. Because of the quiet, Ussop could hear Ace with no problems.

"I don't know his name," Ace replied, fiddling with his loose hair. It kept falling into his face, no matter how many times he swept it underneath his fedora. "I kind of had the idea I was dead when I saw the memorial at the party. The others there had no idea what happened. They're still there. I left to try and find you guys to figure this out, and…I'm glad I finally did. I couldn't leave my path…I ran into plenty of others while out there, but hell if I can remember all of them…all I did was retrace the route from the bus stop to the party…never occurred to me that I was getting nowhere. It felt like a never ending loophole. That kid came along and really punched it through me, but there wasn't anything I could do about it…"

Ussop nodded grimly. "They all say that," he murmured. "It's because you missed the light. You'll only repeat the route you'd taken that day up to your death…I guess it takes the power of another ghost to interrupt it or until you remember your name…"

Ace looked unsettled. He touched the nametag he'd had to write in upon entering the party – momentarily acknowledging the spatter of blood at the edge. "I knew my name. It's written on my name tag here. I just…was easily distracted, I guess. But I repeated it over and over because it felt like I needed to….wow…I just…don't know what to say…"

Luffy sniffled, sitting with his knees splayed onto the ground. Just knowing that Ussop was carrying a conversation with a brother that he'd lost filled him with such emotion that he couldn't think properly. Sabo reached out and rubbed his shoulder with some comfort as Franky returned to them – careful to step away from where Ussop was focused as Ace stood there.

Ussop fiddled with his fingers. He then said slowly, "You did die, Ace. At a Halloween party. Some disgruntled ex-boyfriend of some girl found her there with another man, and came back with a gun. A lot of people died when he went after her. The music was so loud, some people didn't know that there was a shooting so they didn't flee. It was…one of the city's biggest mass shootings."

Ace absorbed the information with a frown, then looked down at his clothing. He pulled his jacket out to see the bullet holes. Realizing that the hair he kept pushing from his face was blood – his fingers shook as he saw this. He knew he was dead, he just wasn't aware of how. The circumstances were mystifying, but the end result was that he was wandering the afterlife without any perception of time.

Ussop looked puzzled. "But that doesn't explain how you caused Sanji's death."

"Sanji died in the eighties – Ace's was…recent," Sabo said slowly, looking confused.

Ace considered this for a moment, then furrowed his brow with concentration. "There's a lot of people out there. Sometimes I would follow them and come back in time to walk my path again because I thought they were part of the party…"

Ace remembered when he walked right into Sanji. My dude! he'd exclaimed.

Now Sanji's mystification made sense when he called back, "…you can see me?"

Those that were still at the party were still partying, talking amongst themselves as if nothing had happened. Giving him those stiff, puzzled smiles whenever Ace brought up the sight of memorial objects that the living had left behind. The horror that this long day had finally come to an end left him with a frozen smile – unsure of what to do now.

He exhaled shallowly. "All their weird clothes – I guess they weren't costumes after all. I remember that guy because his clothes were hideously similar to an eighties' commercial, or something…I thought it was a costume! I guess now I realize he wasn't joking the first time I talked to him. Freaky, huh?"

Ussop chuckled weakly.

: :

Law tossed in the last of Doflamingo's body into the fire. It burned freely, crackling noisily – everything that he could remember of a fire. Tony watched with awe, mesmerized by the flames.

"It's a good thing we can't smell it," Law muttered. He didn't want to recall the memory of the fire pit from previous burns.

"Once he's gone, everyone can return to normal!"

"Move on, you mean?"

"I suppose!" Tony fiddled with his hands, obvious anxiety on his features. "I sure hope those other guys are okay…"

"Yeah, well…main thing is, once the body is dealt with, we can be free of this," Law muttered, rubbing at his back and shoulders. He sighed heavily as Tony watched him.

All at once, the trio burst through the doors down the hall, startling them.

"You did it!" Sanji exclaimed breathlessly, dragging Zoro behind him as the motorcycle man snarled.

"We even assisted with the others along the way," Brook said, nearly stumbling over the mess left behind when Law sawed the body into chunks. The skeleton couldn't help but release a horrified shriek.

"Did he disappear?" Law asked Sanji as the blonde dumped Zoro onto the floor, Tony laughing at him. "Did he go away?"

"NOOO!"

All of them jumped as Doflamingo's voice rang out from down the hall, the man staggering in with obvious trouble. He was wearing the clothes his body wore – the outrageous color standing out brightly against the shadows and grey of the hospital. All of them bunched together to stand behind Law as he turned to face him grimly. As Doflamingo approached, parts of him began to fall away as ash that fluffed and spurted over the windless air.

His winded breathing was noisy and loud against the still quiet of the hall.

"You think this is it?" he panted, parts of his shoulders and legs disappearing as he moved. "This is the end of my reign, or even the end of evil? It's not even that. This is a temporary matter that will resolve quickly, and not in your favor…I won. I don't get to be held accountable for a crime that was easily dusted over in history, and you will remain nameless…"

"Murderers will always excuse their actions under the guise of some sob story," Law snapped at him, slapping away Brook's clingy hand as the four of them kept themselves behind him. Once the doctor realized that they were using him as cover, he grew alarmed.

"I knew it was wrong," Doflamingo said slowly, mouth settled into a frown, "but it was survival for those times. Look at what happened because of it! Life flourished and expanded. Isn't that what death is? A chance to allow for the living to continue?"

"Not under your rule of thumb," Law snapped at him. Most of Doflamingo's upper torso began to flutter and disappear – his arms began to shorten, his legs cracking and snapping as they thinned. A large part of his head began to fall and did so with a gush of disappearing ash. "Death comes naturally – it comes as may! To force it isn't under anyone's command to give!"

"Not even God's?" Doflamingo sneered. "Surely you understand that I have a working relationship and understanding with Him – "

"Man has a way of clearing space for others," Law said slowly, "but it's not up to man to order a final decision of whom goes where or whom does what. That's if to say there is a God in the first place. Most of us don't wind up where we feel we should – we just end up repeating what was left of us to the next life."

"I don't think you understand the bigger picture here – there's not enough of you to designate us towards our final destination – "

"Because it never stops," Tony said, speaking up firmly. He stood away from Law to capture Doflamingo's attention, the man disappearing slowly in front of them. He stood on one leg while most of his upper half began to flutter away, leaving just enough space of his face to speak. "But every once in a while, when someone's hurt a lot of people – that's the end of your roll because you won't ever learn. You bypassed the system – took advantage of its weakness to continue living like you hadn't died at all. Sometimes it happens. And sometimes it needs to be this way to end. And your time is up."

"And who are you, little boy?" Doflamingo sneered down at him. He was nearly disintegrated – but still an imposing figure that had Law's hand drawing down protectively over Tony's head to push him back to the others. Sanji held onto him with Zoro taking the stance in front of them.

But still, Tony smiled at Doflamingo. Once he realized the answer, the man's face shifted. He moved to dart forward, all the screams and cries of the souls he'd collected crying out in once. Before he could touch any of them, he faded away into nothingness. The silence left behind was immense.

Examining the empty hall, Law exhaled shallowly. He looked back at the fire to see that only ashes remained. The others all released sounds of relief, looking at each other with victory.

"We did it!" Sanji cried, tossing Tony up into the air, the boy crying out with surprise. "Isn't this great? We solved the mystery! Just like the Scooby Doo gang!"

"It wasn't even close to that, Fred," Zoro snapped at him, arms crossing over his chest. Sanji paused to consider that insult, then lit up at the thought.

Now that affairs had been settled, the memory of the past began to shift. All of them were now standing in the hospital's grand lobby, where the fog had lifted. They could see the details of the floor as it was the living, and it was loud, bright and brilliantly clear. Sanji tossed Tony over his shoulder like a rag doll, sidling up to Law.

"Say it," he demanded, poking the man's frozen cheek. Law snarled at him, teeth clamping over thin air as Sanji skirted away safely.

"It's over for him," Law said reluctantly, "but we still remain. As much fun as this way, and I use that word loosely, I've still got a job to do. I'd like to continue doing it. Maybe with less enthusiasm, though…"

"I don't get to go into the light, so I'll just wait for the day when I hear you say 'Thank You'," Sanji said, a little too cheerfully.

"We've got something to finish as well," Brook said, gesturing at Tony as the boy sighed noisily.

Law smirked as he adjusted his suspenders, then pulled on his overcoat like it had been waiting in his arms all this time. Zoro noticed this, unsure of the mechanics present as Law adjusted his new name tag – embroidered against the top left pocket was his true last name. He furrowed what was left of his forehead with some confusion.

"I can do it," Law said. "I know where he is. Why don't you go back to the others so you can run this lost puppy back home?"

"I can't wait," Zoro said tiredly. "I feel like I ran a marathon, or something. I'm ready for a long nap."

"After all this time?" Brook asked curiously. "None of us can feel anything like that, again!"

"I just thought of it, so I just now remembered it. That's the rules, right? Once we remember something, we can feel it."

"Oh, after you run this kid back to his body, we have one last task for you," Sanji said, lighting up. "We found Ussop's friends' lost brother! He needs to go to the light."

"I keep repeating myself to you! Do you use your ears for listening, or are they for decoration purposes only?" Law snapped at him grouchily. "I don't care how you assholes die in the street –"

"Let me at least hang out with you guys to do that!" Tony complained. "C'mon, I helped you all this time, didn't I? Don't I get at least that?"

Before any of them could say anything, Penguin rushed up to them, papers flying from his arms. Breathing heavily, he found what he needed and gave it to Law. "Sixth floor. This needs your signature. Also, the ER is full again. Where have you been?"

"Enough of your insolence. I'll be responding shortly." Law handed him the paperwork, Sanji curious as to what needed the doctor's signature. He tried to look but Penguin took off just as hastily as he appeared, fleeing through a wall with a stressed look to his jaw. He sighed heavily. "Well, let's get this over with."