The fifth and final chapter of Gambling Affairs.
Just kidding 8'D It happens to be the final chapter for the year, in fact. I feel like it's a good way to end 2014, wouldn't you agree? Next chapter, you all will be getting a peek into Law's second life, and perhaps see a few well-loved characters (not telling still ^^;).
I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas, and may your New Year be deeeelightful. See you all next year!

Chapter 5.

The Royal Hall of Fame

The floor was finished and Law placed the mop back in its place beside the wine cabinet. He strolled back towards the sink and knelt down in front of the cabinet to pull out a large gray tub, already equipped with a ready-to-use dishrag. With the small Closed sign placedat the edge of the countertop in full view, Law maneuvered his way out of the bar to commence with cleaning up the rest of the casino.

The Royal House was designed in the shape of a pentagon; the interior housed all of the poker and roulette tables with dining areas able to seat up to twelve people surrounding the rim. People were already evacuating the dining area, so Law started there first.

His first table was a sizable one; the curved booth appeared like it could fit a group of fifteen comfortably. It was placed in a dark corner of the casino behind velvety red curtains and had pale lights illuminating the maroon tablecloth. Paintings of poker chips in Picasso art were lined up along the wall, a small light planted inside. This light made the paintings shine blue, green, red and yellow in a faded shadow which bounced off the maroon surface of the table. Because of its place setting, Law guessed the table was for special parties similar to Doflamingo's.

He went about gathering empty wine glasses that were scattered across the surface. There was an abundance of dishes right after the wine glasses, some still having leftover food on it. Law dumped the leftovers into the gray tub and made a mental note to clean it off before he left for home.

After wiping down the table with the dishrag, careful of the exquisite maroon tablecloth, Law grabbed the partially-full tub and made his way to the next table. It was smaller in comparison but still rivaled the other in wine glasses and plates of leftover food. Law collected the dishes and placed them into the gray tub so he could wipe down the table.

The other dining tables that surrounded him were starting to empty out group by group. Poker and roulette tables were being evacuated one by one after several hours of friendly games. Members of the Don Quixote Family were also leaving the casino; Doflamingo and his younger brother were enjoying their last few hours in the gambling area before they left for the exit.

Law watched them as he scrubbed the mahogany surface. His eyes trailed Doflamingo; he and his younger brother appeared to be in a deep conversation with one of the men Law saw at the round table earlier. He heard a glimpse of the men's conversation with Senor as he was getting ready to head out. "I see… you're leaving for the night as well?"

"Mm, not just yet. I have to check the vaults before we leave. Take care, Senor." Senor waved at the two blonde men with a flick of his hand and left the Royal House. Doflamingo, with his younger brother following after him, slipped through a pair of red and gold barred doors, different from the exit Senor took. Law caught a fleeting glance of a red-carpeted hallway before the vision was replaced with the doors again.

Half an hour had passed and the casino was devoid of sound and people once Law made his way to the main dining area. The only thing that kept him company besides his own breathing was the sound of glass hitting glass, and later hard plastic. Strange, he mused to himself. Of course he was to be alone when cleaning up the casino, but there was usually someone else in the building with him. Had they left too?

Several tables in and Law came across the large round table Doflamingo and his crew sat when he first met them. With no one sitting in the mahogany seats, the round table was massive, easily oversizing the others he had cleaned. It was more pristine than those, holding no wine glasses and few plates. Law took the plates and gave them a swift scrubbing before dropping them into the gray container to be washed. Applying the rag to the wooden surface, he started wiping down food particles and other bits before dropping that back into the tub as well.

Law took a step back to view the massive table. The largest of the seats stared back at him, standing tall and regal amid the others. Doflamingo sat in this very chair… Law thought to himself, the image of the man coming to him. Just like earlier, a faint shudder passed through his shoulders and down to his toes in relieving the small moment.

He had just stood before a man rumored to be the most dangerous in New York, with his entire crew beside him. A smile one could describe as victorious stretched across his face and later reached his eyes. Law didn't understand why, but to say he was face-to-face with a criminal made his blood rush through his veins and made more tremors attack his spine.

The grand chair before him was beginning to look enticing the longer he stared at it. The image of Doflamingo sitting in that chair had started to fade away and replace itself with Law's own body. How would he look sitting in that chair? Would he be able to look menacing and at the same time striking? Would he be able to make a death threat sound promising and irresistible at the same time?

Couldn't hurt to try, right?

Law was hesitant in moving to the chair, out of fear that someone might suddenly come around the corner and halt him in his tracks, or that he might chip it somehow. However, with one look at the red cushioning and smooth wooden surface, his subconscious took over his body and started to advance towards the kingly chair. It moved his legs closer and closer until the cushion was just a few inches underneath him.

The wooden edge bent his knees from behind and made Law drop into the plush cushions. Everything about Doflamingo still lingered around it and swarmed the man's senses: the warm imprint of when he last sat in the chair was still there, and the smell of the cologne he was wearing was still present. Law breathed in the cologne and moaned quietly—a hint of some exotic fragrance with just a bit of musk to top it off.

A sly, mischievous smirk started to play at his lips. He could feel a small rush of adrenaline go through his body, making him feel like royalty—as if he had unlimited power. His eyes focusing at the empty spot he once stood in, Law mimicked Doflamingo when he was first being interrogated by the man. He folded his hands tightly underneath his chin.

"Hey, where'd you get that bruise from?"

The sound of his voice reached his ears and made his body draw back sharply in the seat. Too high-pitched, he told himself. It didn't match Doflamingo's deep, alto voice, and it definitely didn't hold as much power as his did. Clearing his throat, Law tried again.

"Where did you get that bruise from?"

Wasn't bad, but definitely wasn't Doflamingo's, either. But it was improvement. Law cleared his throat for a third time, hoping to get it just right.

"That bruise. Where did it come from?"

The voice that bled into his ears brought a victorious grin to his face. That was the voice right there, he told himself triumphantly—it was spot-on to Doflamingo and felt just as powerful as his. The imagined Law jumped at his voice, a noticeable tremor going down his spine. Law grinned naughtily and went for another approach. He imagined himself feeding a little white lie to quickly answer the question. "That's not smart, kid. Lying is a dangerous thing to do in this world; it can and will get you killed."

Imagined Law shivered for a second time and turned his eyes away from Law. The man was having a blast at playing Pretend; he started to wonder if Doflamingo ever felt the same way. Does he smile when he put others in distress? Questions about the mafia leader plagued Law's mind along with perfecting his menacing voice.

He didn't realize how much thought he was putting into the man and how much he was trying to be like him; or when another pair of ears other than his own was in the building, picking up his deeply faked voice. He still continued his little game of charades.

"Are you badmouthing my little brother, brat? You must have a death warrant ready to be signed—no one fucks with my little brother and gets away unscathed."

No, sounds too forced. Law flinched at the harshness of the sentence.

"How about this; get the hell out of my face, and tell those damned cooks to hurry up with the food. I'm starving here."

Much better, he told himself. Improvement was definitely noticeable and it made Law grin in satisfaction. He cleared his throat in preparation for a final line when a much louder cough caught him off guard and nearly made him choke. Law launched himself out of Doflamingo's seat, tripping over the legs while doing so, and turned around only to stare eye-to-eye with Violet.

Her mahogany eyes were deadpan and held little glow to them, only making Law feel more and more embarrassed for what he did. "What the hell are you doing talking to yourself and sitting in Doflamingo's seat?"

Law opened his mouth to explain himself, but words suddenly seemed foreign to him. He rubbed his hand up against his wrist and glanced away instead, unable to provide an answer for the woman. "What were you doing, playing Pretend Mafia Leader? You're only embarrassing yourself and making Doflamingo sound like a fool."

A chagrined expression came across Law's face only to be wiped away with sudden fear. Was Doflamingo still in the building, along with his brother? Violet saw the expression and, with a tight-lipped smirk, held a small chuckle underneath her breath. "Good thing Doflamingo left while you were too busy playing Pretend, huh? Though it now confirms my suspicion that you and I are the only ones here at the moment. Well, I'm glad I found you at least."

Gentle clacks were heading in Law's direction and he looked up to see Violet advancing towards him. She still had on her black and blue Flamenco dress, but the large black and blue flower once pinned to her hair was removed, and she wore a black jacket on her shoulders.

Law saw his recently spilled black vest draped across the woman's arms. Judging by the expression on his face, Violet figured she had found the owner of the slightly damp vest. "Is this yours? I found it lying on the barstool as I was walking by."

Law nodded while grabbing his vest. Memories of the incident passed through his mind, and a sudden surge of anger went through him as he thought about the ASD man who did it. "Curious to know what happened to the thing. Did you spill alcohol all over it or something?"

"Or something. It'll come off with a good wash." Law put the black vest on him. It was still damp in some places and had a faint bitter smell to it, but otherwise looked like nothing ever happened to it. After brushing off invisible particles from the black fabric, he started making his way back to his tub filled with dishes. Only when he grabbed the handles did it register what the brunette said earlier. "Wait, you're the only one here?"

"Other than you."

A rock settled at the bottom of Law's stomach. He thought someone would still be here, at least cleaning up the kitchen in the back. The suspicions he had earlier were confirmed, and another surge of anger jolted through him. Violet noticed the change of confusion and then rage that took part in Law's eyes as he hoisted the gray tub in his arms. "Shouldn't you be used to this? You have been doing it for a while right?"

A mumbled answer slipped through Law's lips as he made his way back to the bar, Violet following him. "Yeah, but I was only working in the kitchen back then. And I knew I had two other people cleaning up the tables and washing the dishes. Now, I have to do all that, plus more, by myself." He said this as he pushed through the kitchen doors and made his way to the back to dump off the dishes.

The kitchen wasn't as bad as Law had thought it would be; in fact, it hardly looked dirty at all. As if no one was hustling out food and slinging pots around for the last several hours he had been here. Violet took note of his surprised face and giggled quietly. "Well, looks like you don't have to do everything by yourself, huh? Someone already tackled the kitchen for you."

"Yeah," Law murmured thankfully, filling up the sink with warm water. It didn't take long for the water to reach midway, so he started to place each individual plate in the water to soak. Grabbing the tub, Law headed back out to restart the cycle.

Violet provided him with a great source of company as he cleaned and wiped off the tables. Through their conversations, Law realized she had tackled two major things that would have taken him hours to complete; resetting the poker tables and cleaning the strip club area.

"If you were to place the chips in the wrong order, Senor would shoot you down in a heartbeat. There's a certain way he likes his cards and chips stacked."

"Well, I'm glad for that. I could have cleaned the strip club area though; that is a part of my job and a portion of my paycheck."

Violet had shaken her head rapidly at this. "No way mi amigo. It's my job to clean up the stage and tables; you would have done nothing but ruined that as well."

Now, with the dining tables cleaned off, the dishes washed, dried, and stacked in their correct cabinets, the only thing left for Law to do were the floors. Grabbing the vacuum and mop, he started for the gambling area to get that out of the way. Violet helped him with stacking the chairs upside-down on the tables and stood back to let the man vacuum the carpeted floors.

Once he was done with that, the dining floors were next. The sound of water slapping at tiles invaded Violet's ears and blocked out other miscellaneous thoughts; the back and forth movement of the mop provided her with something to look at as Law cleaned up the tiled floors. "I appreciate you keeping me company by the way."

A nonchalant shrug came from Violet's end. "Hey Law?"

"Yeah?"

"Why were you pretending to be Doflamingo?"

The question caught Law off guard for a second time that night. He shrugged casually, hoping that that was the end of the conversation. It wasn't though—Violet pushed on. "Do you even know who Don Quixote Doflamingo is?"

"Oui, oui. He's New York's number one criminal or something along those lines. It's not like I was practicing in hopes of being like him one day—I was just doing it for fun."

Law heard Violet's lips smack at the answer he gave him. "I want to show you something after you're done with your late night shift."

The treasury room? Law punted the thought out of his mind just as it came to surface. She was just asking for him steal five hundred million dollars from the room a minute ago—unless she was showing him the directions to it. The sudden curiosity that embedded itself in his stomach quickly vanished at the thought.

Law finished mopping the entire dining area and stashed the mop beside the wine cabinet for the rest of the night. Grabbing his phone and wallet in the corner of the black countertop, he made his way to where Violet was patiently waiting on him. The woman pushed herself between the red and gold barred double doors the brothers once took, and the red-carpeted hallway stretched out underneath him.

The hallway seemed brighter than the Royal House at its opening hours and led all the way to another pair of double doors, this one straight mahogany. Law stood in front of the red and gold doors with his jaws agape, mostly at the immense size of the hallway. "You haven't seen anything yet. C'mon, follow me."

Violet led him down the red carpeted hallway. Law looked left, then right, and finally up, taking note of the golden pillars that stretched up to the ceiling and the porcelain walls that had paintings in between each of the golden pillars. The more Law focused on the paintings, the more recognizable most of them were—they were famous paintings from across the world, such as the Mona Lisa, Babel Tower, and Weeping Woman. Law started up a small game to name those that he knew, not surprising himself that he figured out all of them.

He would have continued with his small game if the final painting hadn't disappeared and was replaced with a very recognizable face. Violet had stopped in front of this painting and directed Law's attention to it, as well as the other recognizable faces along the walls. "Take a good look at these paintings. Especially his."

Violet stayed behind when Law started shuffling towards the mahogany double doors. His eyes were scanning over the faces of the Don Quixote members that he met at the round table and the golden plaques underneath them listing their names. There was Vise, his full name being Machvise. Senor was right beside him—his full name was Senor Pink, despite the fact he was wearing all black in the portrait.

Beside Senor Pink was Jora, her large orange and blonde hair giving her a spunky impression. Law still had yet to hear the woman actually talk to confirm that and secretly hoped she wasn't like Alvida or the other women at the table. Gladius, Baby 5, and the old man named Lao G took up the rest of the wall, and Law moved on over to see those on the other side.

There was a green haired woman with orange spiral glasses named Monet, a man with strangely cut sideburns wearing black shades named Vergo was next to Monet, and there was a large faced man with a strange haircut and buckteeth going by the name of Buffalo. He has more? Violet and Dellinger took up the last two spots right next to the executives.

Law turned away to face the mahogany doors and caught two great paintings sitting above them, staring at the male through shaded eyes. They were Doflamingo and Corazon. The real name of Corazon was in elegant, cursive letters like the rest; Don Quixote Rocinante.

A shudder passed through Law as he stood in the portraits' eyes. Violet came up beside him, her arms folding across her chest. "You were copying a man well known for causing death and destruction to New York. Have you realized it now?"

"W-Well, it was taken as a joke.." Law still couldn't give the woman a straight answer and hated himself for it. He also hated how Violet was starting to act like his mother in questioning and then lecturing him; or trying to, at least. Violet huffed underneath her breath and took her eyes away from the paintings. "They call this the Royal Hall of Fame—I bet you can see why, huh? Not only does it house famous paintings from around the world, but it shows the members of the family in painted royalty."

Law was thankful the brunette decided to change the topic. "Who painted these?" he asked as his eyes scanned over the portraits. Violet's finger was visible out the corner of his eyes and was pointing to Jora. "She did. Jora's starting to become a well-known painter around New York."

"Wow," Law slowly took his eyes away from Doflamingo's painting to look at the mahogany double doors before him. Curiosity started to prod at his senses. "Is this the exit?" he asked, somewhat to himself.

"No. That's the treasury room."

He must have been looking at her in a funny way, because Violet faced him with a perplexed expression on her face. "What? Don't you see the keypad and lock on the door?" When Law looked back, he noticed a gray keypad beside the large door and a small golden lock holding both doorknobs in place. "This is the treasury room? I figured it would be somewhere in the back… and not so luxurious looking."

A snort escaped through Violet's nose. "That's where the exit is; there are two. The entrance and the back exit where workers leave. This very door you stand in front of is indeed the doors to ultimate wealth."

Amazed, Law ambled closer to the mahogany doors. The curiosity that prodded at his senses only grew worse, and he found himself wanting to know exactly what was behind the double doors. "Careful Law," Violet warned as the man examined the keypad and lock. "You press the wrong five digits and you'll signal death upon you."

What was that, the fifth death threat in a single night? Law rolled his eyes as he made his way back to Violet. "It's not like I planned on stealing anything tonight. I got a long day tomorrow, and an even longer night probably." Violet turned away to hide the faint smirk on her lips. Just as Law was taking his slow time walking out of the Royal Hall of Fame, Violet followed him. The two followed the red carpet out of the hallway, Law glancing back to get a final look at the mahogany doors. His eyes lingered on the luxurious wood that protected the wealth stored behind it, and Law began to wonder how much valuable stuff was really in that room.

He strolled to where Violet was waiting on him when a noise invaded his left ear. Law stopped, craning the left side of his face in hopes of hearing the nose again. When it didn't return, he shrugged lightly and slipped through the red and gold doors. "Why'd you stop all of a sudden?"

The two were heading for the back exit located in the kitchen. "I could have sworn I heard chuckling in the treasury room." Violet giggled into her hand at Law's answer. "Yeah, right. Chuckling—that door's about as soundproof as it is bulletproof. You were probably just hearing things."

It was borderline midnight when the two reached their cars. The only light that provided them safe passage to their vehicles was the blinking in and out light of the streetlamp, and that only shone over Violet's car. Law pulled out his phone to check for the time and groaned quietly when he read the numbers. 12:05—I probably won't be getting home until half past twelve if traffic allows it.

"Nos vemos manana por la noche Law. Have a safe drive home."

The brunette's voice stopped Law's train of thought. He looked over to see her hop into a sleek black Mercedes and skillfully whip out of the narrow parking lot. Law watched her leave before getting into his less luxurious ride and shoved his keys into the ignition. As the car revved up, one final thought remained clear on his mind. He had to walk down that hallway once again.