Hiya fellow friends of the internet!
I know that this has taken me an eternity to update, but I haven't had much inspiration for writing lately. (I hope my inspiration will return soon...)
I would like to thank every reviewer! Thanks so much! The reviews mean awfully much for me! ( u v u )
Replies:
Baby trees: I'm continuing this, I'm just continuing very SLOWLY xD and yup, Doffy just wants some love~ Thanks for the cute review~!
torao-ya: Aaaa oh my god thank you so much dear! And I definitely have not overworked myself with this story... xD Thanks for reviewing!
LittlestR: I also want to hug Doffy, tbh. :'D Haha! Your review made my smile, so thanks for writing it!
yoo: He is indeed. And he only gets crazier... Thanks for the review! :)
alts92: Ah oh my god! Thanks for your incredibly kind words! :3 They mean a lot to me!
Ezakike: I hope you will, even if it has taken me like 4 months or more to update... Thanks for leaving a review! It made me really glad! :3
Yuki Artsa: omg it does seem like Aiko and Doffy have a lot in common... Maybe we shouldn't let those two meet each other..? And thanks for your reviews! :) They were super nice!
So yeah, the psycho continues in this chapter. It will be a bit more brutal in the next chapter, however.
~Enjoy~
Law woke up because of a highly unpleasant sensation of being watched.
When the young man with a lot of willpower finally was able to open his eyes, he saw a man standing before him, his hands behind his back in an odd, elegant manner. It looked as if the man was ready to either kill Law or serve him a glass of champagne. It was impossible to discern whether the man actually had any intentions of either deeds, incredibly enough.
The crisp clean clothes the man was wearing made it clear for Law that the man in question was someone who most likely worked for Doflamingo. Despite his blurry eyesight, Law was able to understand that the man was watching him with sharp, slightly judgmental eyes. Law wondered who the man was and what he was doing there, in the old abandoned church, but his body was still too weak and tired from the drugs to produce any kinds of sounds.
After a long, annoyingly inert process, Law noticed that the two bodies that had brutally had been hollowed the night before were gone. So were the crosses and the sticky blood. Swallowing nervously, Law shakily managed to bend his neck in a manner that granted him the possibility to peek beneath the fluffy blanket wrapped around him. Even the blood on his body was gone. Someone must have washed him.
The realization that someone had washed his naked body made him endlessly disgusted. Once again turning his gaze towards the odd and strict man, Law swallowed and hoped that the man hadn't been the one who had touched his body. Then it hit him that the other person who might have touched his body would have been Doflamingo, which only made him even more disgusted. Either option was highly objectionable. Frankly, he wished that no one had touched his naked body while he had been drugged into unconsciousness.
Once again it took his body a good while before it was properly activated again and his vision became sharp and colorful. His senses awakened and the dryness in his mouth left. Now he was able to smell the strong smell of a mixture of chemicals he knew very well. One mixture had been used for the floor, one for the blanket Law slept in, and one for Law's body. He knew all of these smells by heart.
When the man before him still persisted to watch him with disturbing eyes, even when noticing that Law had woken up, the young man decided to open his mouth instead.
"Who are you?" the question came way smoother than Law had anticipated. Admittedly, Law had been expecting a way hoarser and ruined voice, but his voice was quite smooth.
"Vergo. I am the young master's butler", the man used an irritatingly correct, stern but mostly superior tone when talking to Law. Law mentally grunted and wished he was in a better state. He probably looked more like a corpse than a living human being for the moment.
"What time is it?" Law asked. It seemed to be fairly bright outside, but the church didn't have many windows and was in constant obscurity.
"It is currently four o'clock in the afternoon", the reply came with courtesy, superiority lingering behind the polite manner of speaking. "Is the young sir hungry?"
"Young sir?" Law thought. "Will I be the new young sir of the Donquixote household?" The thought was disturbing and made him disheartened. He enjoyed his current life and did not like the idea of becoming a part of Doflamingo's household.
"No", Law replied. He did not feel any hunger at the moment, even if his body most likely was in need of proper nutrition. He had soon been without food for 24 hours. His body was most likely growing weak due to malnourishment as well.
"That is a pity. The young master will be arriving at six o'clock you see, and he is expecting you to dine with him", the butler named Vergo continued. Law blinked at the information he had received. Dine? Where? In the church? There were no tables here. Vergo must have noticed his confusion, as he unwillingly opened his mouth again; "The maids are bringing the tables, chairs and food with them. They will arrive at five o'clock and start preparing the dinner. After the dinner, the young master has prepared a show for the young sir's entertainment."
Law snorted at the way Vergo continued to refer him as 'young sir'. Soon his title would change, Law presumed, and then they all would insist on calling him 'young master' as well. The thought was highly unsettling for Law. He was perfectly content with being Doctor Trafalgar Law.
"Will I get back my clothes at least?" Law asked, partly sarcastically, partly because he was genuinely concerned. The thought of being forced to sit and eat dinner stark naked with a bunch of strangers around him was incomprehensively bloodcurdling.
"Naturally. One of the maids is bringing you a suit. The young master picked it himself an hour ago. He will be utterly pleased to see you wear it", Vergo reply, looking down at Law with cold eyes. The butler was obviously not fond of Law's sarcastic tone. Law swallowed and Vergo persistently stood in front of him, his hands resting behind his back in a somewhat alert manner.
There occurred an awkward silence between the men. Law was partly happy that Doflamingo wasn't present, but he was partly unhappy over it as well. He could at least try to negotiate with Doflamingo – he knew Doflamingo was weak for him after all. But, the butler was completely stern, like a statue. Vergo would definitely not let him go, even if Law would bribe him or threaten him. He still decided to ask, deciding that trying was better than giving up;
"When am I permitted to go home?"
"After the show."
Law blinked at the response. Were they serious? Were they honestly going to let him go after this? They would let him go, not fearing that he would go straight to the police? Were they dense or what? Law almost started chuckling of relief.
"The young master has already started planning on how to decorate your master bedroom", the butler continued, realizing that they were talking of two different things. Law was talking of his own home, while Vergo was talking of Law's new home.
"You can't be serious", Law breathed. "Do you honestly expect me to accept this? Are you guys fucking mad? I'm not going to live in your fucking dollhouse, acting like a happy family with you guys. No."
Vergo clicked his tongue demonstratively, cutting Law off. Law would have gladly continued his monologue, continuing to talk about how twisted they were and how unreal the whole situation was, but the way Vergo tensed his body made Law understand that shutting his mouth was better than performing a rebellion no one cared about.
"Alas, your words are horribly rude", Vergo stated, taking a step closer to Law. "I cannot say that I support the young master's decision of making you his husband when I hear how brutally you use our beautiful mother tongue. Is that really the same mouth you will be kissing the young master with? If that is the case, I will not have any other choice but to wash your mouth crisp clean." The man took another step.
"Are you threatening me?" Law asked. If he knew how to play his cards right, Vergo would not 'wash his mouth crisp clean', whatever that meant. Frankly, Law had no interest in finding out what 'washing ones mouth crisp clean' meant either. "I will tell Doflamingo." He knew it sounded like he was going to run to his mom and cry, but he also knew that this was the most effective way to make Vergo back off. Doflamingo had stated that he loved Law, and therefore, he would do anything to make Law pleased.
"And what will he think when I say how badly you spoke of him and his household?" Vergo took yet another step and released the hands he had held behind his back. He adjusted the gloves on his hands, making it clear for Law what he was going to do. "He will only be pleased that I tamed you, so to speak."
§
It was ironic.
It was ironic how the outside world looked so calm and slow – as if a cloud of tranquility had fallen over the entire town. The people calmly sauntered forwards, content expressions upon their indifferent faces and it looked as if the world suddenly had stopped and wasn't in a hurry anymore. It was ironic how behind these same facades, each step everyone took was filled with fear and how everyone sat alone at home in the dark and stared out of their windows, anticipating the worst.
It was ironic how the world had stopped and was waiting for better times – waiting for a hero – while the heroes working for their safety were running around with piles of paper and were living on cups of coffee. The heroes held unnecessary meetings about what to tell the media and how to proceed on their investigations. They ran around, could not catch a second of sleep and most of their spare time consisted of pondering about crimes and murders.
It was ironic how one part of the world was quiet and calm and the other loud and hysterical.
Smoker could not remember the last time he had had time to sit down by his desk, enjoy a cup of coffee and calmly be able to go through material from the investigations. Ever since the serial killer had appeared, he hadn't been able to catch a single breath.
Silently cursing the psychopath on a killing spree, Smoker sat down by his desk, quickly drank his cup of coffee and hastily started to read through the material his investigators had come with. He knew he soon had to stand up again and attend to a meeting, and after that he would be forced to talk with some news reporters. It would have meant the world for him if he had been able to skip the meeting and the session with the news reporters and been able to do his work for once.
When his eyes landed on a report of another missing person, Smoker literally groaned out loud. Now he had even more to take care of. Wasn't that young dead couple they had found in a farfetched forest far away in the countryside five in the morning enough already? Did he have to take care of more problems? He already had a lot of past murders unsolved.
Letting a loud sigh echo throughout his tiny office, Smoker unwillingly read the report. The report said that a certain Doctor Trafalgar Law had gone missing; a neighbor of his had seen the doctor leave his apartment but had never returned. The doctor, or actually surgeon, had not showed up at work either, and his phone had been found in an utterly obscure place.
"He is most likely dead by now", Smoker thought and mentally cursed again. This was a bit worse. Doctor Trafalgar Law was a quite known surgeon and doctor. People respected him and his researches, and various big shots in the medical industry had high hopes for these researches and studies. It would be a setback for the medical revolution to lose Trafalgar Law. "If I only knew who this lunatic is, I could maybe save him before it's too late."
Smoker set the report aside when he suddenly noticed a link between the disappearance and the dead couple.
"Trafalgar disappeared the same night the couple was killed..!" the realization came abruptly; Smoker accidentally dropped his empty coffee cup. Fortunately the cup didn't break and Smoker picked it up while his thoughts became more and more complicated. "Why wasn't his corpse among the two others? Has he been spared? And in that case, why? Or does this abduction have nothing to do with the murders?"
Smoker continued to dedicate the last bits of energy he had left to think of the odd connection he had discovered. Biting on his thumb while his mind was clouded with entangled thoughts, Smoker failed to hear how there was a silent knock on the door to his office. When the knock became a bit louder, the gray-haired man noticed someone behind the door and ordered them to come in.
"Ah, sir, I recently talked with Eustass Kidd, the man who reported Doctor Trafalgar missing and he said that a certain Jeremy had left Trafalgar's phone at a café a few miles from here", the person in question was Coby, a hard-working but quite nervous boy. "I thought that I would go and have a chat with the staff at the café, asking them how Jeremy looked like. I thought it would be good to track down this Jeremy, because he is the only connection we have. Do you think it is a good idea or..?"
"Yes, definitely", Smoker replied. He absently gave his watch a glance and noticed that he ought to be leaving in a few minutes. Coby was actually working for Garp's unit, but the old man had decided to work together with Smoker, uniting their investigation groups to one bigger unit. Therefore, Smoker got more people to boss around. Then again, Garp was the one who bossed Smoker around. "Would you also have a more all through discussion with Eustass? You could invite him here for a talk. We need to know more about him as well, since he apparently knows quite a lot about Trafalgar."
"Yes, sir", Coby replied, nodding gently. "Then, I'll be heading off to the café and talk with the staff right?
"Right."
§
Kidd smiled when he walked home, like he always did after a particularly enjoyable workday.
Today had been a good day and he still remembered every detail of it. The muscles, the sinews, the skin, the fat tissue… Every detail, every birthmark, every scar and every stretch mark had been engraved into his memory.
The customers had not complained and they had paid him well. He had not had too many customers to take care of and it had not been very stressful overall. He had even had time to eat a proper lunch consisting of falafel, chicken and rice and had remembered to eat his snack. After work, he had gone to one of the empty rooms at the sports club and done a long, quite painful stretching session to get rid of the worst cramps in his muscles. He had been sweating horribly much and his muscles had been trembling when they had been opened with force, but it had been worth it. After this, he had taken a long, warm shower and then carefully dried and styled his scarlet locks.
Currently his body was smooth again, moving in its usual elegant manner, making people turn their heads as he passed them. He was tall, handsome and incredibly well-built and people often tended to notice that.
Everything had gone like planned and there was no worry anymore. No one had complained.
His happiness was smashed when he remembered that Trafalgar was gone, however.
The two of them had so much to discuss – he really hoped that Trafalgar would survive.
§
For the past twenty-four hours, he had been treated like a doll.
He had been drugged, stripped from his clothes, trapped in a church and been forced to watch an act he much rather would have not seen. He had been kissed and touched in places he did not like strangers to even look at. Then he had been drugged into unconsciousness again, only to wake up and be violated, as Vergo violently had shoved his head into a bowl of water and soap until he nearly had passed out. He had coughed and apologized for his sarcasm and had then been dried as if he had been a helpless infant. Finally, he had been dressed and his hair had been combed.
It really felt as if he had turned into a doll.
Vergo had once again injected something peculiar into him, something that would weaken Law just enough to make him unable to defend himself but still make him able to eat dinner with Doflamingo. It was completely and utterly humiliating how he only was able to move slowly and shakily, his mind completely clear but his body endlessly pasty and slow. And it was even more degrading how one of the maids had attached catenae around his right ankle, just in case he would get enough energy to attempt an escape.
Law swallowed as the maid stood behind him, combing his hair and gently applying foundation on his tanned skin. She skillfully hid the dark rings beneath his eyes and carefully plucked his eyebrows. After a few minutes of work, Law looked more alive again, even tidy and clean.
It was highly odd how he was sitting on a church bench in a church, with a mirror in front of him and a maid combing his hair behind him. It was incredibly strange how the maids had decorated the altar with roses and moved a picturesque dinner table in the center of the altar, lighting candles and setting the table. Law blinked and wondered how much longer they would keep up with this act, and he was even more eager to learn to know why the maids even agreed to do this. If they would be found out, they would be charged for supporting and hiding several murders.
In the reflection of the mirror, Law was able to spot Vergo, who once again stood there with his flawless posture, hands behind his back in his annoyingly correct manner. Law snorted at the man, but quickly regretted his gesture when he saw how Vergo once again tensed his massive frame. It had been quite enough to almost have been drowned in a bucket with water and soap. Law did not want to push his luck and see how far the man actually could take things.
"Is the young sir satisfied with his look?" the maid asked kindly. She seemed perfectly content with the whole situation. Law began to suspect that all of them were raving mad – Doflamingo, Vergo and even the maids, apparently. Was he the only sane one in the entire building?
"Yes, quite", Law replied silently, his mind drifting off again.
His eyes traveled around the room, trying to find something, anything, useful for him. Anything sharp would do. Even in his weakened state, he could always cut his wrists open, forcing them to take him to a hospital. Or then Doflamingo had a personal doctor. Either way, they would be forced to take Law out of the church in order to save him – otherwise he would die. The problem lay nearly in the fact that Law did not spot anything sharp in his nearest ambient.
Then it hit him.
If they were going to eat meat for dinner – and knowing Doflamingo right, they would most likely eat something along the lines of Chateaubriand – they would have a meat knife to cut the meat with. The meat knife was sharper than the regular knife, maybe just sharp enough to cut his wrists open. Even cutting one wrist open would be enough. Doflamingo would piss himself of worry.
He had to force himself to prevent a feral grin of spreading across his face. If he now would blow his cover and give them any reason to suspect him for anything, his chance would be ruined. Instead Law gave the maid a charming smile, leaned backwards a bit and watched how the maids slowly started to prepare the dinner with sauce pans and frying pans they had brought along.
It was quite impressive how the maids managed to cook dinner with the tiniest imaginable kitchen they forcefully had squeezed into a suspicious-looking van. They had a small refrigerator, an adorably tiny oven and an even cuter stove with only two hotplates. They had brought along a few tables on which they were cutting vegetables and fruits. They had even brought along a mixer.
The smell of the food made Law feel sick and he wondered how he would be able to force any of that food into his mouth. But now he could feel at least a little more relaxed thanks to the plan he had come up with. Of course, it wasn't as if he had stopped his planning there. He was naturally trying to form other plans, or trying to come up with other scenarios that most likely would happen but also were avoidable.
After a few minutes of purely sitting and staring into the void, Doflamingo arrived. The man was also clean from blood and smelled deodorant and shampoo. He was wearing a fancy suit and was delighted to see Law dressed in something he had picked out for the young man;
"Ah, Law! You look utterly comely", Doflamingo smiled when he saw Law. Then the man bent down and gave Law a kiss on his forehead – a kiss Law gladly would have avoided if he had been able to anticipate it. Doflamingo must have noticed the look on Law's face; "Don't worry my dear, you will soon fall in love with me."
Law nearly snorted at the statement. He had an enormous urge to lecture Doflamingo and tell him that he impossibly would fall in love with the blond man.
"I hope you listened to me and didn't bring another couple with you tonight", Law replied, glaring two stinging holes into Doflamingo's forehead. The blond man had no idea of how hateful Law could be if he had to.
"Oh my sweetest, most precious darling", Doflamingo sung, his enormous hand caressing Law's soft hair. This time Law was unable to keep himself from rolling his eyes. "You are too kind. But I had to bring another couple – how will Eros otherwise hear our call for love? Today, I have decided that you do not need to be in your birthday suit. It is enough if we only remove your shirt later on, and do a little body painting."
"With blood, I presume", the mumble came filled with sarcasm.
The chuckle that left Doflamingo's mouth startled Law to no extent. He had completely forgotten how twisted the man truly was. The fear that completely had subsided after Vergo's brutal violation returned gradually. Law hated how the sensation crawled up for his back, all the way to his neck and left an unpleasantly cold feeling all over his body. His heart started to beat faster and he hoped that Doflamingo wouldn't expect him to actually fall in love with him.
Unfortunately, that was the only thing Doflamingo was expecting from Law.
"Oh Law, your sarcastic attitude is so charming."
After this, Doflamingo took Law's hand as if he was escorting him. The big, veiny hand that Doflamingo had gotten tanned by visiting various tropical countries, held Law's naturally caramel-colored hand in an elegant and gentle manner. Law did not want to know where Doflamingo had planned to put that hand after this evening – presumably all over Law's body.
"Come on, stand up my dear", Doflamingo smiled charmingly while his other hand slinked off behind Law's back and supported his waist in order to help him stand up. If he had been able to, Law would have tensed his body at the parts Doflamingo was touching him. Unfortunately, Law's body was disturbingly weak and shaky due to the peculiar drug Vergo neatly had injected into his shoulder. Law wondered how many marks from syringes he would have after a few days with these lunatics – they were constantly drugging him, leaving odd marks on his beautiful skin. "You really are stunningly gracious."
Law hummed as a reply, trying to make Doflamingo understand that he most definitely was not in the mood for these idiotic games any more. Did the man honestly believe that some farfetched rituals would make Law fall in love with him? From where had Doflamingo even gotten his crazy ideas in first hand?
The altar, that yesterday night had been decorated with two hollowed bodies of a young, sweet couple in love, was now decorated with roses, a small waterfall and various candles. The gramophone had now been moved, and was close to the small, round dining table that the maids neatly had set.
Doflamingo helped Law sit down and then proceeded to sit down himself. The smell of roses was faint, reminding Law of some old soap his grandma once had used when she had been alive. The forks, knives and spoons were all ordered before Law and there were several glasses as well. Law sighed and realized that this dinner would take an eternity.
His eyes gave the knives on the table a quick look. The metallic objects shone in the lights of the candles that lit the altar. He inhaled the air filled with the smell of roses as he felt his eyes shine with madness. He would take the opportunity while he had it. It was better to attempt to do it right away, than to wait a bit too long and accidentally blow his cover.
With a swift, used hand, Law grabbed the sharpest knife on his side of the table and pulled down the sleeve of his suit. He managed to cut once, but blood didn't spout out like it was supposed to. Instead he only started to bleed, slowly and steadily, and then he shakily attempted to do it again. Why, why, why?
He had barely managed to cut his wrist a second time, when Vergo took the knife away from him, along with all of the other knives on the table. The butler even decided to take away his forks and spoons. Law cursed himself and desperately held his bleeding wrist. It hurt like hell.
Why the fuck wasn't he dying yet?
"Law, why would you do something like that?" Doflamingo asked, obviously hurt. His majestic figure, which just a few seconds ago had proudly sat by the table, now sank down on the chair in disappointment and sorrow.
"Why the fuck do you think!?" Law hissed. His other hand was becoming wet of blood. It was strange, as if he had decided to shower only one of his hands. Soon the dark red substance started to drip down on the white tablecloth and on his expensive and brand new suit. He cursed the knife under his breath.
Doflamingo persevered to look at him with a worried expression upon his face, until he ordered one of the maids to take care of Law's wound.
"You do realize that it never would have worked, right?" Doflamingo said, his voice filled with an oddly thick empathy, making anyone realize that his empathy was not of the usual kind. How was it possible that everything the man said sounded so amazingly crazy? "In order to succeed, you should drink plenty of water to make your veins pop out properly. And you have barely drunk at all over the past twenty-four hours, my dear. Besides, to make it quick and painless, you need to cut along the wrist, not horizontally. Vertically. I thought you had studied medicine."
Law hissed at Doflamingo as his wrist throbbed with pain. The blood did not stop and when a maid approached him, he angrily tried to wave her off. He was not much of a fight, however, and the maid easily managed to grab Law's arms and tightly bandage the arm that he had cut. He cursed her and Vergo, but mostly he cursed Doflamingo, and even more he cursed himself for failing.
Doflamingo smiled and stood up from the chair he had just sat down on. When the maid was done bandaging Law's wrist, preventing it from bleeding much more, Dolfamingo kneeled down by the young man, took his bandaged wrist and kissed the bandage. Law shuddered in disgust and tried to kick the man before him. His kick ended up being ridiculously pitiful, however, and Doflamingo only chuckled at his desperate attempt to hurt him.
"Even your blood is beautiful", the smile on Doflamingo's face was flat out creepy. The odd, warm affection he was trying to convey was trapped behind a wall of ice – a wall of ice that was several miles thick.
Somewhere in the background, the gramophone started playing. This time it was not Chopin, Tchaikovsky nor Merikanto. No, this time it was Vivaldi. Law could easily recognize the piece; it was Spring from The Four Seasons, a set of violin concertos. Anyone, even small children, had at least heard bits of the piece, forasmuch as the piece was immensely well-known.
When the music began, Doflamingo sighed of happiness, enveloping himself in some kind of strange ecstasy. The man smiled up at Law, bent even closer to him, took his other arm in his hands and licked away the blood on Law's thin, thin arms.
"So beautiful… So fragile", Doflamingo mused. "And all mine."
§
Outside darkness had fallen over the town that now was dominated by a silence that anticipated the worst. Somehow, the darkness seemed especially overwhelming just today. It looked as if it was going to swallow people whole, suck them into another dimension and silence anyone who dared to raise their voices.
The darkness, which only made the fear people lived in worse, also brought a certain amount of safety. It was incomprehensible, it really was, but when the darkness had settled down for good, it felt like you were back in your mother's protective womb – warm and safe from any kinds of lies and harms. It felt especially safe if you sat inside of your own home, with your lights on and someone to spend the hours of darkness and silence with.
This was not the case for Coby, however.
The young, pink-haired man was stuck at the police station, pondering on Trafalgar's sudden disappearance.
A few hours earlier, he had sat down with a certain Eustass Kidd and chatted about his relationship to the skilled and well-known surgeon. The red-haired man had eagerly told Coby that the two of them had been neighbors for almost two years now, and had sometimes interacted like neighbors do. Apparently they had even gone out jogging together a few times too. Eustass had even been able to recall a few times when he had gone out for a drink with the said man. The man had insisted that they didn't know each other very well, however. In fact, Eustass had said that they couldn't even be considered friends.
When Coby delicately had inquired Eustass why he had noticed that Trafalgar never had returned, Eustass had embarrassedly admitted that he had picked up a bad habit of observing Trafalgar from his apartment. Eustass had insisted that he never looked at Trafalgar for his own entertainment, that his observing was more like a friendly way of making sure that everything was alright with lean doctor. Coby had thought that it was a bit suspicious, but had decided not to ask about it any further. He could always bring it up again, if he would be forced to.
Eustass had been at home sleeping when the couple had been murdered. Coby had naturally asked if anyone could confirm this, and the redhead had honestly answered that he had been completely alone and that he had no one who could confirm this. Then the redhead had mentioned that he had greeted on one of his neighbors when he had returned from work, so one of his neighbors had indeed seen him enter his apartment.
Gently scratching his head, Coby remembered what the staff at the café had said. A tall, blond man had dropped by and left a phone, telling them to look after it until a certain Eustass Kidd would arrive to pick it up. The man had worn an expensive suit, had been polite and had called himself Jeremy.
"Jeremy… We need to find this Jeremy and talk with him. We need to know where exactly he picked up Trafalgar's phone", Coby thought, digging his face into the palms of his hands. "Somehow I think that this whole Jeremy is a lie… But why would someone lie about their identity?"
In the back of his mind, Coby knew exactly why.
§
So far, the dinner had been indefinitely awkward and painful.
Ever since Vergo had taken away the forks, knives and spoons on Law's end of the table, Doflamingo had sacrificed himself to feed Law. Honestly, it did not seem like a big sacrifice for Doflamingo, who very much enjoyed cutting Law's food and shoving the silver fork into Law's mouth. The lean surgeon unwillingly chewed on the pieces of food in his mouth and swallowed the food with even greater disgust. He hated every second of the dinner.
Vivaldi had continued to play in the background. The Four Seasons had now reached the end of the Summer. Soon Autumn would start playing and Law only counted seconds until the whole event was over. Vergo gently took away their empty plates and brought new ones. Law thought about breaking one of the glasses in front of him. He would be able to use one of the shards to cut a new wound, but this time he had planned to cut his throat open. Or maybe throw the shards at Doflamingo.
"So, Law, my dear", Doflamingo suddenly said. Law had hoped that they would have continued this dinner in silence. He had thought that his attempt to slash his wrists had hurt and disheartened Doflamingo enough to make him keep his disgusting mouth shut. "How long have you planned on playing innocent?"
At first, Law was confused. What was the man in front of him talking about? It took him one entire minute to understand what Doflamingo meant.
How on earth did Doflamingo know about that?
"Innocent?" Law repeated the word, pretending that he had no clue of what Doflamingo was talking about. This seemed to amuse the blond man, as his lips curled into an odd grin – it was a strange mixture of delight and destruction.
"We both know I haven't killed those politicians or other random citizens", the thick tone he used made it crystal clear for Law that he knew. Doflamingo knew. But how? How on earth did he know? No one knew. Law had been careful not to leave any traces behind him.
"How did you know?" Law whispered back, his entire body as tense as it could be in his current weak state.
"Know what?" the entertained expression upon Doflamingo's face irritated Law greatly. But at the same time, he needed to know how Doflamingo had found out.
"That I'm the second serial killer", Law stared at Doflamingo with eyes that anyone would have taken serious – anyone except Doflamingo, it seemed.
"Oh, well, when I was over to your mother's place, I found some interesting things", Doflamingo stated. "I found a list of people's names attached with their photos and a map over the country where you had put crosses. And ultimately, you once killed one of my men. Of course, I didn't know you were the one behind it at the time, but when I saw the list of names and recognized his name among them, I was sure of the connection."
Law cursed underneath his breath. Mother had been careless..! He had told her to keep her list well hidden! But then again, she probably had hid it well; Doflamingo had just taken his time to look around really carefully. There was one tiny detail Doflamingo had missed, though. The list he had found had not been Law's; it had been his mother's. Law's own list was hidden in his own apartment. But yes, he had been present when the man Doflamingo spoke of had been killed. He was always there to assist mother.
When Doflamingo noticed that Law wasn't going to reply, he took a sip of the wine in his glass. Law sighed, not knowing how to deal with the situation now. Now they could easily charge each other. Law knew that Doflamingo was the serial killer, but Doflamingo also knew that Law was the serial killer. Now he really had to watch his actions and words, or Doflamingo could make it endlessly painful and complicated for him.
Law decided to take a sip of the wine as well, hoping that it would mess up the drug in his system just enough for him to lose consciousness. He would much rather fall asleep again than having to sit there, feeling Doflamingo looking at him with hungry, lustful eyes.
It was at that moment, when Law noticed something a few meters away from the altar, behind the wall of roses. Squinting with his eyes, Law was able to discern that the long, dark object on the cold marble floor was a coffin. And on top of the coffin was a picture – a photograph of the person who had died. Law's eyes widened when he recognized the person in the photograph.
It was Law himself.
"Do... Doflamingo", Law asked, realizing just what the whole dinner was all about. Were they planning on killing him? "What is this dinner about..? Like actually about?"
"Oh this? This is just your funeral."
~Thanks for Reading~