AN/ Hey guys! I'm back after an insaaaanely long break with the chapter I've had in my drafts all these years. I'm so so sorry for the long break, I just couldn't bring myself to write anymore, especially with what I left here in the last chapter. I tried going through my draft of this chapter a million times but could never be satisfied enough to even consider publishing it. Until last night when I suddenly had an idea and split the chapter in two and switched pov's for certain scenes and and and haha. I'm again excited to continue writing the story and having read all the comments you guys have left here along the years made me smile so wide. Thanks for enjoying the story and thanks for the support guys, you're amazing 3

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, because if I did, you know what it'd be full of lolol

Fifty shades of purple. The last thing he'd seen before he had passed out had been fifty shades of purple yet when he woke up, to the beeping alarm noise, what he saw was a familiar white ceiling he knew he recognized from somewhere. No fifty shades of purple. No color of any kind at all, but no darkness either. No wet, hard surfaces, no pitch black darkness, no cuffs, no nothing that made him feel horrid or afraid. Only things that existed and surrounded him right now were made of comfort and tranquility.

Soft bed, lots of cushions to support his body that didn't feel too bad compared to the past numerous times he'd woken up aching and hurting all over. The smell in the air was familiar. It was far away from the horrendous stench of the prison he'd been locked in the last time he'd been awake, so far away from it that it made him want to cry out of relief. He was able to breath in through his nose without his insides turning upside down, threatening to empty the contents of his stomach on the floor. He could breath in and actually enjoy the different smells lingering in the air.

The scent of a flowery detergent, most likely coming from the bed sheets he was lying in, was the strongest of them all yet he didn't miss the other two, more faint, scents either. The smell of hospital... yet he could tell he wasn't in one. The ceiling was familiarly way too high and the bed was way too comfortable to be one they had in the hospitals. The smell of hospital was not strong either. Just a faint hint of disinfectant and the scent of chlorine - which most people thought was the scent of sickness in hospitals.

"…"

Now that he was more awake and conscious about his surroundings, he could feel the IV canula and it's needle attached to the back of his hand, pumping a somewhat cold and tingly sensation under his skin. And the alarm... he realized it wasn't an alarm. It was the sound of the machines attached to him, informing someone who was monitoring him of his awakening.

And as he recognized the sound, he also recognized the last scent that lingered in the room, the most familiar of them all, the one that brought him comfort.

He heard the bed sheets rustling and felt someone tugging at them with a soft yawn next to him. A short second came and went, and the yawn was interrupted by a loud, clear yell that made his ears ring.

"Law!"

Home. The last scent he recognized was home.

/

A few hours went by, doctors running tests on him, reassuring his sister more than himself that his vitals were just normal and that he had steadily recovered from most of his injuries and malnutrition during the past 2 days that he'd been unconscious.

He had tried to open his mouth to tell Baby 5 he was just fine before the doctors had came in, when she'd woken up from next to his bed and shocked them both to death with her yelling, but his throat had felt like sandpaper so no voice had came out. After he'd been given water to drink, small sips at a time to get his desert dry throat accustomed it, he could reassure his sister about his well being knowing that the doctors hadn't really managed to.

Even if he was medically proven to be "running" normally, his sister actually had eyes in her head and she could see what he looked like. Every now and then, while the doctors had been doing their examinations, pulling his covers off and turning his body from side to side, Baby 5 had turned her gaze away as if she couldn't bear to see him. And Law couldn't blame her. He hadn't seen himself in the mirror after he had woken up but he had seen the bruises on his arms and legs back in the cell. Even if the light hadn't been much, it had been enough. He knew he wasn't anything pretty to look at. Having been beaten and cut to near death just did that to a person's appearance. Surprisingly so.

After the storm in his room had calmed down and the doctors had left them, though only after reassuring Baby 5 together with Law that she had no reason to be worried about his well being if he was just left to peaceful rest for a few more day, Law could finally relax and breath in the mixture of the three scents again. If it hadn't been for Baby 5's presence and not wanting to worry her, he would have probably cried. That's how relieved and safe he felt right now.

The calming of the storm brought another thing with it too, other than the feeling of relief and safety, and that was silence. Silence so thick and tangible that it almost made Law unable to breath the sweet air again after a few minutes went by. It was pressuring. Not knowing what to say was one thing, but that didn't bother Law. He just wanted to drift in his inner and outer peace and enjoy the feeling of comfort. But what bothered him was that he could feel how much the silence and 'not knowing what to say' bothered the other person in the room.

Baby 5 had settled down back to his bedside where she'd been when they had both woken up, silently holding onto his hand, squeezing it harder than she probably had intended to. She was trembling faintly, so faintly it wasn't visible but Law could tell, after all, since she was holding onto his hand. He could tell she wanted to say something, anything, but she didn't know what. She was afraid, lost about what to say, but still not wanting to say 'nothing'. Questions, apologies, monologues about self hatred and reprimand that she shouldn't have even thought about but they all still existed in her head. Law could tell from the variety of expressions that he saw on her face yet even after minutes, nothing came out of her mouth. She was shut tight like a lock.

In the end, Law couldn't take it anymore. Even if he didn't want to face anything unpleasant after his rather unpleasant near-past, that 'anything' including subjects to talk about, he still couldn't bear to see his sister in this state, trying to balance between self reprimand and grievance that leaned more towards pity than Law would have wanted to see. So, after those few minutes of enjoying the peace and comfort, he gave in to the pressure of the silence and turned to face his sister. He squeezed her hand a little, giving a small smile at the feeling of warmth he had missed, and coughed a little to ease his sore throat.

"You're gonna squeeze my hand off." Despite the choice of words, the tone he spoke in was soft. And a few sniffles later he got a reply from the sobbing mess he called his sister.

"You... You were gone for nearly three weeks Law." Her voice trembled and she blinked her eyes rapidly, shooing away the tears that were threatening to escape from them.

'Felt a little longer, like an eternity' – Was what Law would have wanted to say but he didn't.

"The doctor told me to keep you connected to this wire at least for two more days. They said it's medication and blood and nutrients or something. Since your body is lacking them..." Baby 5's voice became faint towards the end and her lower lip trembled. Law didn't know which one of them had a harder time seeing the other in their state.

"Canula." Law said finally.

"What?" Baby 5 blinked again, this time in confusion.

"This wire" Law pointed at the IV with his free hand "I'm attached to is called Canula." Law forced a cocky smirk despite it smarting the corners of his mouth. And judging by the small shift in her eyebrows and her lips curving up slightly, his attempt to make her... feel comfortable? Cheer her up? Whatever it was he'd attempted to do, it had succeeded.

"I can make it three days if you insist." She snapped back after a few seconds, rolling her eyes, yet the gesture didn't have it's usual frustration behind it like usual. Instead she went back to staring at him with unusual softness in her eyes and squeezed his hand lightly.

"I'm sure you can, but you wouldn't. Only a monster would dare to hurt a patient." Law snorted playfully, but much to his surprise he couldn't get his sister to laugh. She avoided his eyes and went back to looking at his cut, bruised arms and it looked like she would cry again.

"For how long was I unconscious?" Law hurried to ask, stretching his arms as far as the IV and the soreness, which was surprisingly easing already, let him.

"52 hours straight. I guess sleeping in a bed instead of hard floor allowed you to relax enough " She still sounded somewhat off, not facing Law, and not sounding even the slightest bit amused even though Law could have sworn her choice of words was meant as a joke.

"Or maybe the sandman decided to show mercy and compensate me for the past few weeks." Law laughed quietly at his own joke even if it sounded dry and tasteless even to his own ears. He just didn't want to shift back to sadness anymore, or more like he didn't want to see his sister shift back.

"Don't." She spoke quietly, finally bringing her eyes back to him. This time there was a hint of annoyance mixed with the softness on her face.

"Don't what?" Law asked, surprised at her tone and choice of words.

"Don't pretend you're alright."

Law opened his mouth but shut it again when she continued to talk.

"I can see that they treated you like shit." Her bottom lip trembled once again but she took in a deep breath and willed herself not to sob. "Hell, I figured they wouldn't let you go untouched if they had captured you. Torturing isn't exactly an unknown concept in our world. But seeing you like this, covered in cuts that cover more of your skin than not." She brushed her finger over a mostly healed but still sensitive to the touch cut on his wrist and he was glad he could hold back from flinching to not make her feel worse, more worried.

"Bruises that look weeks old but are still visible. Imagining what kind of tools they've been using, judging by the shape of your wounds. Seeing that man above you when…" Baby 5 paused to take in sharp breath and bit her lip as if to punish herself for talking about it. "You've lost so much weight you don't look like the same person anymore. Just what did they do to you, Law?" This time when she brought her eyes up to meet his, there was so much emotion, so much sadness in them that Law felt his own throat starting to itch and a sudden need to blink his eyes rapidly took over him.

"Please, tell me." She pleaded, fisting her hand on his bedsheets as if she needed it for support. "I have to know. Please Law." The desperation in her voice forced Law to close his eyes and lean his head back.

For the longest time, the room stayed silent. The monitors next to his ears, beeping, giving him concrete evidence and reassurance that he was fine now, he was safe and despite his mental being a mess, his body was alright and recovering now. It felt like he had just woken up from a bad, bad dream, and he had wanted to brush it away, not think about it at all and just bury it like he buried his other creepy nightmares. But he knew he couldn't. It hadn't been a nightmare, it had been real, no matter how much he hoped otherwise.

"I'm sorry... I didn't want to make you think about bad things. I'm sorry I won't ask you ag-" Baby 5 started but Law cut her off by raising a finger at where he assumed his face was with his eyes closed. She went along with it.

Law took in a deep breath and lifted himself up the bed to be in a more sitting position. He then reached for her hand and placed his over it, shifting his eyes to the furthest corner in the big room, picking a priceless Qing Dynasty vase to focus his stare on, and breathed out.

"I was on my way to Baratie, and had just managed to light my cigarette when this huge guy on steroids appeared out of nowhere, and tried to plant his fist into my face..."

/

/

/

Next day Sanji visited, and Law had to admit he had been surprised his family let outsiders in their mansion during a time like this. Most probably him weeping the whole night before with Baby 5 and her deciding he needed anything to make him feel better had something to do with it. She had probably cried more than him, wiping her tears more often than she usually blinked as she had listened to Law's story about his life in captivity.

Sanji hadn't asked any questions about what had happened no matter how painfully much his expression had told Law that he had wanted to. And Law was grateful for that. His best friend had gave him a gentle hug and updated him on their friend group's newest news. Luffy and Nami had gotten married and Usopp had started doing job interviews for companies in Finland to follow Chopper when his studies started. Law was glad to hear someone else talk so much after he'd exhausted himself mentally the night before doing that.

But he was exhausted not just mentally but physically also. After just an hour or so, he'd told Sanji he needed rest and his chef friend had nodded and told him to get a good rest, promising to come back the next day.

And he did, visiting for another hour the next morning before Baby 5 came to the room with a group of doctors and Sanji had excused himself, telling Law to call him later to give him an update on what the doctors said.

The doctors ran some tests, drew some blood and finally took off his canula, giving him jars of pain killers and other medication and warning him not to drink alcohol with them, Baby 5 listening carefully and writing down all the instructions in her phone's notes next to his bedside. The doctors also gave him a green light about walking around, as long as he didn't stress his body or exercise in any way.

Law was rubbing the back of his hand, where the IV needle had been earlier, for the past almost a week. It felt a bit weird and sore to the touch but not so bad. The rest of his body didn't feel so sore anymore either. His bruises had healed from the most parts and the cuts didn't hurt anymore when he showered with Baby 5's assistance. Thank God the doctors had given him a permission to shower alone from now on while she'd been listening. She had forced him to take her with him, blindfolded, to hold the IV bag and to make sure he didn't fall in the bath. As if she'd been able to catch him if he had slipped or something with the blindfold anyways. He did love his sister dearly and he did understand her worry, but he was also convinced that she lacked some braincells, no offence.

His head jumped expectantly at the sound of a door opening, and he couldn't help but let his shoulders drop a little at the sight of Baby 5 stepping out of the bathroom. He went back to rubbing his hand idly as Baby 5 walked to his bedside and sat down on the bench where she'd practically lived recently.

"He's busy planning what to do with baroque works." Baby 5 spoke softly, placing a hand on his to stop the rubbing motion while he faked innocence, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

"I know you're waiting for him." She continued, pulling down the sleeves of his shirt to cover his bruised arms. She'd brought him his favorite clothes for him to wear after shower earlier that morning and helped him change into them. He felt so much more comfortable in his own clothes compared to the hospital gown the doctors had put on him when he'd been out cold.

Baby 5 stared at him quietly, as if studying his face and not buying the innocent expression at all. She sighed and then continued in a quiet, almost whisper-like voice;

"I'm sure he just can't bear to see you. The night we found you, he trembled all the way from that cellar to Dressrosa, not letting anyone else take you to their arms when they said he looked unwell and his body swung left and right. I didn't see him sleep while you were gone. He went right out mad, killing..." Baby 5 paused and shook her head as if she was trying to forget something horrifying. "Anyways, to me it looks like he can't see you because he blames himself for what happened to you."

Law laughed. Low. "He wouldn't blame himself. He's not that dumb, it's not his fault. He's an intelligent man." His voice had a bitter tone in it. Baby 5 guessed it was because he hadn't showed up even once. Well, at least not when Law had been awake, but she didn't want to tell him that to make him worry about the family leader coming to switch places with her in the room every night, drinking whiskey in the chair and just staring at Law in silence. Every night. For hours.

"Maybe, maybe not." Baby 5 said, knowing very well what the very embodiment of guilt looked like, and how it smelled like old booze. "Maybe you can go and find out after we eat dinner in the dining hall."

Law's head perked up, like a puppy's. Baby 5 couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, not so secretly happy about seeing him cheer up at her words.

"Yeah Law, you heard the doctor. Green light for careful moving around. Let's head downstairs." She held her hand out, offering to assist him out of the bed, over the railing.

Law rolled his eyes but was too happy about being able to finally leave the room to make any comments about her brain capacity when he pulled the bed railing to lower it down and brushed away her hand, getting out on his own. He wasn't mean by not accepting her held out hand, he did it to show her no need to worry, I can do this on my own, look, I'm all better already.

The smile on her lips grew even wider and she slid her arm to hook with his, for the first time in over a month worry or sadness not being one of the emotions she was going through.

"I'm walking you down the stairs no matter how you've recovered, mister `I can do this myself´" She told him as she guided them down the hall, and this time his eye roll had some actual annoyance in it.

"Whatever, genius miss`I'll help you shower blindfolded so I can't see you fall´"

Baby 5 barely remembered his injures and stopped herself just in time before shoving her elbow to his side with a scary amount of force for a lady.

/

/

/

Everyone was staring at him as he entered the dining hall arms linked with Baby 5's. Nobody said a word, just looked at him, but much to his surprise he couldn't see looks of pity, maybe a hint of relief mixed worry on some faces, but mostly they were all smiling. Smiling warm, silently welcoming him back to Dressrosa, welcoming him home.

When he sat down on his seat everyone went back to eating like before, continuing their silent chatter, and nobody came to talk to him or ask him about his well being or anything else either. But looking at Baby 5 he knew it wasn't ignorance or because they didn't care. He gave her a small grateful smile and she returned it with an acknowledging nod. He guessed she'd updated them all on his health before and told them to act normal. He really was grateful to have such a sister by his side.

As he scanned the dinner table with his eyes, feeling more and more relieved and at home with every passing second, he also noticed that a few people were missing. Vergo, Trebol and Diamante were nowhere to be seen, which explained why the person who usually sat at the end of the table was missing. Law had checked that seat the moment he had stepped a foot in the dining hall, of course. Considering it was those 3 officers + him who were missing, it was surely a meeting. But if everyone else had been `warned´ about Law coming for dinner then surely he'd known too right? Was the meeting being held right now on purpose?

Law's doubts seemed to make more sense when the 4 didn't show up for the whole dinner. Maybe their food had been brought up to the meeting room? That wasn't a rare case either. But this time, Law, much to his disappointment, was sure that a certain someone was avoiding him. Was it guilt like Baby 5 had suggested? Law hoped not. He didn't want that.

After dinner, instead of letting his legs take him to Doflamingo's room, because he knew the man wouldn't be there because of the meeting, Law went to the bottom floor of the mansion. Baby 5 had told him that she had taken Robin there when they'd came back from the emergency evacuation. Not because she wanted to be mean but because she'd thought that Robin would be safer down there than up in the halls where Doflamingo was running rampant. Even if he didn't kill his closest family members who lived in the mansion, no matter how mad he was, outsiders like Robin weren't safe from that threat. Law was grateful to his sister once again.

"Your family is horrible." Law spoke, opening the lock to the one of the prison cells his family had mainly for torturing in the basement.

"I'm so sorry." Robin spoke from the other side, helping him push the door open and stepping out to the hallway that had lights so bright it blinded her momentarily.

"It's not your fault. You did nothing wrong. You're as much of a victim here as I am." Law shrugged pressing the cell door closed behind her as she blinked her momentary blindness away. She then took in the sight of what skin he had visible, his hands and his neck, and her face turned into a sorry grimace. But she knew better than to show him any pity in her expression, even if she had felt it. Their roles had been basically reversed once in the past and she'd been grateful he'd never openly pitied her, even though she was sure his kind heart had felt it more than once.

"I can see you met miss Doublefinger." She said instead, following in his tracks when he turned around to make his way back upstairs.

"She's a bitch." Law snorted.

She laughed wryly and nodded, more to herself than him, as she was facing his back after all. "She is. I never got along with her."

They walked up the stairs in mutual silence, not feeling awkward but neither just feeling like talking, at least in the hallways where they could run into his family members who were surely less charitable towards her now after the recent incidents had taken place. They didn't talk about it but both were aware of it, which is why Law was just hurrying to escort her to the safety of his room.

"And where might you be taking her."

Both their steps came to a halt at hearing the firm voice. To her, it was fear that struck her whenever she heard that horrifying voice, or saw a glimpse of it's even more horrifying owner. To him, it was because he wasn't sure if he was hearing things or if it was actually real. Hallucinating could be a symptom of severe trauma, or a side effect from the strong pain killers he was on, you never know. So he turned side ways, to the source of the voice, to check with his own eyes.

He could have hallucinated the sight also, but he doubted it judging by the scared look on Robin's face that he could see from the corner of his eye. The blond, gorgeous man a few feet away, standing in a door, dressed in fifty shades of purple was actually there, and talking to him. What Law couldn't tell though, was that the eyes behind the shades were looking slightly to his side, at the curtains on the wall behind him instead of meeting his gaze, not daring to look him in the eyes.

"To my room, I have questions to ask about her family because of... because of what happened to me." Law lied through his teeth, having no idea how he managed to keep his voice so steady when he felt like his whole body would tremble at the sight of the man. He missed the slight tremble of the man's jaw at the mention of the incident, probably because he was so focused on the mix of feelings that flowed over him at the sight of the man.

He was so close, yet so far. The man Law had been waiting to magically appear in his room the past few days, the man he'd waited to come and save him for the month he'd been held captive, until he'd finally done that. But he hadn't come to his room. Not even once. And because of that, Law felt slightly bitter no matter how grateful he was once again to his savior.

"We'll get going if you have nothing to say." Law said, signing at Robin with a nod to walk in front of him. He had a small, rational fear that Doflamingo might jump the woman and crush her skull against the window or something like that, he didn't know the mental state of the man after all.

Robin followed his silent instructions and Law tore his eyes away from Doflamingo, swallowing the thousand questions that were threatening to come out of his mouth. This wasn't the place nor the time for that. A. he wasn't mentally prepared and B. he for sure didn't want anyone else to be listening in on the conversation he wanted to have with the man.

Law barely got to take a step when a row of fingers grabbed his wrist firmly, almost painfully so, and he could have sworn his heart stopped for a moment from shock.

"Come to my room tonight." The low baritone voice behind him almost whispered, and Law could smell a hint of old whiskey filling his nostrils. Law felt like turning around to face him and say something, but the shaky, hesitant touch on his wrist told him against it. For some reason it felt like the older man was uncertain and not confident in touching him at all. And that was a first.

Law nodded and then slowly pulled away from the man, the latter allowing his wrist to slip away without protesting. He then hurried after Robin, frowning in confusion and remembering his talk with Baby 5 once again. He did feel guilty. 100%, Law was sure about it now, and he didn't want his savior to feel guilty, but he had no idea how to make it go away. Hell, he'd never thought the man was capable of feeling guilt in the first place. He was in shock.

What the fuck am I supposed to do now?

/

/

I know his recovery came fast, and I left out lots of hurt and psychological dialogue, but that's the only way I could find myself writing this chapter after pondering on it for so long. I gave our poor little Law too much for me to handle and had to speed run through some of the heavy emotional stuff so I could cheer him up again, felt so bad for him because of the last chapter, please forgive me for this xD