Memory Trap
Chapter Four: The Donquixote Family

A/N: So, I have been thinking really really hard on the whole rape thing. I think I'm going to take sarge1130's suggestion. "Maybe sexual harassment (like mere touching) or maybe an attempted rate (where the culprit is interrupted when he gets to the exciting part)." Would that be more…fitting for the story? (If anything, I'll save the full 'rape' thing for a future story.)

Mayday, mayday; the ship is slowly sinking
They think I'm crazy but they don't know the feeling

Nami had finally calmed herself down and gave a quiet sigh, staring off to the side as she and the rest of the crew all waited for the next memory to appear. The silence between them all was tense but no one dared to break it. Each member was lost in their own thoughts.

Usopp felt his hands shake as he desperately tried to erase the sight of all those dead children from his mind. He tried to forget the sound of their desperate and terrified screams and fought hard not to imagine how scared they must have been in their last moments on Earth.

Brook wasn't sure how to feel about what he just witnessed. It reminded him of how he had watched his own crew pass away, and how he'd been unable to keep them all safe. As an adult, it had been hard to deal with such loss. For a mere child to have to go through that…

Luffy didn't feel like smiling, like he usually did to try and cheer up his crew up. Didn't feel like laughing, didn't feel like pulling a joke. His mind was far too focused on Law. The loss of his little sister had been what pushed him over the edge. "That's what older siblings do. We look after our little siblings." "It was better that he died and you lived…than him having to wake to realize he couldn't protect his younger brother." How had Law moved on after such an incident? Luffy barely moved on, and it was only with the help of Jinbei (and Law) that he was able to remember he still had his friends to live for.

But Law… All his friends and family had just died.

How had he moved on?

Sanji's fingers itched to light a cigarette as he held back the urge to tap his foot on the ground. His question from earlier had been answered; Law had seen worse. It was a question Sanji wished had been left unanswered. But as he stood there, another question came to mind. "What are we going to do?"

The question seemed loud in the silence, and a few eyes landed on the blond chef. "What do you mean?" Franky asked, coming out from his own thoughts.

"When he wakes up. Do we tell him what's happening now? That we're witnessing his memories?"

"It would probably be a wise idea to," Robin spoke, her voice quiet. "He would begin to distrust us if he caught us in the middle of a lie. And in an alliance, you need absolute trust in each other. Especially since we'll be fight side by side against an emperor."

"But how can we trust him when he's obviously not telling us things?" Usopp asked, looking over the crew. "I mean, it's like we talked about earlier. He's fixated on Doflamingo more than anything, right?"

"So far it looks that way," Zoro answered. "It's probably for personal reasons."

"I have a feeling we're soon going to find out," Sanji sighed, motioning to the darkness that had begun to brighten and swirl.

The sight they were expecting was not what they were met with. Before them stood not a broken, crying Law like they had expected. Instead, the child had a blank look in his eyes that held a deep-seated hatred that made his eyes look almost maniacal. But that wasn't the only thing that caught their attention.

It was the bombs covering his body that had them shocked.

"Wh-What's he doing with all those?" Usopp asked, unable to connect how Law had gone from mentally broken to…this.

"Let me join your crew," the boy said, his voice even and void of all emotion. That was the voice the crew knew, the voice Law would use. Looking at who sat and stood before the child, they were met without he sight of pink. Doflamingo sat in his chair with three others standing behind him. One was a man with snot hanging out of one nose and had a very hunched back. Around him he wore a soft looking coat. Another man wore an open vest, striped pants, and a light colored hat. The third was a man of muscles who looked like someone you did not want to mess with.

"Hey, who the hell let a brat like this into the base?!" the man with snot asked, irritation plain in his voice.

"I want to destroy everything that comes into sight." Doflamingo raised an amused eyebrow, his smile ever present on his face. He let out a small hum, and Law continued. The small child gave a small hint of a smile, though it was cold and unfeeling. "I want to destroy it all. I grew up in the White City." That earned a mild surprised expression on the young master. "I don't have much longer to live."

A shiver ran down Usopp's back, and he suddenly felt very uneasy of the new Law before him. The child was completely and utterly different. Even the way he held himself as he stood was more standoffish. There was nothing friendly about this Law, no. He had no doubt that this Law would kill without a moments hesitation or thought.

Robin's eyes softened at the sight of how much the small child had changed. While she had stayed on the path of living and tried her best to do as less harm as possible, Law had gone down the exact opposite road as her. He no longer cared, it seemed, for anyone's life or safety. He had just witnessed the massacre of his entire island. He wanted revenge, wanted to make the world pay for they did to his family and friends.

Zoro stared at the small boy, and in a way he was instantly reminded of Ace. They both had held the same dark aura around them. Ace because he knew the entire world wanted him dead simply because he was the son of Roger, Law because the entire world had killed what he had held precious. Zoro had been mad at the world when it decided to take Kuina away from him just after they made their promise, but never once had he thought to curse it or wish to destroy it. He glanced once more at the hatred in Law's eyes and gave a quiet sigh.

Chopper gave a worried look at Law. He could only imagine what was running through the child's mind, and how much pain his heart was in. Chopper's heart still hurt when he thought about Dr. Hiruluk's death. How much did Law's heart hurt when he thought about his family and friends? The pain, he figured, was near unimaginable.

Doflamingo said something that had them all breaking out of their thoughts, and they looked up to see him exiting the room with the large muscular man. "Must be going to talk to the newbies," the man with the light colored hat said.

The man with snot looked at Law. "So you're going to die, eh? Beheheh! When will you die?"

"In two years and three months." Law's voice was sure and steady, not a single shred of doubt in it. It made some of the crew flinch, hearing a child state their time of death so easily.

"Did the doctor tell you that?"

Several memories flashed in Law's mind quickly. "So you want to be a doctor like us, Law?" His father gave a smile, as did his mother. "Well then. We'll teach you everything we know so you can become the greatest doctor you can." His mother pointed to the vein in the back of her hand. "This is where you stick the needle, okay? Make sure to get the vein though." His father entered the room and raised an eyebrow. "You're still awake? I know you have insomnia, but maybe you should still lay down. It'll help your body to rest so it doesn't exhaust itself out. Don't worry, the medical books aren't going anywhere." His mother and father stood side-by-side as they stood before Law, both with smiles on their faces. "It's amazing how fast your learning, Law. We have no doubt that you're going to be a medical prodigy." "We're proud of you, Law." "We love you."

"My dead parents were doctors," he said coldly. Despite how unemotional he looked, the Straw Hats could still pick up the trace amounts of sadness in his voice at mentioning his parents and how they were no longer alive. "I could see the medical data."

"Uahahah, you're smart boy."

"I'll kill a lot in these three years. I want to destroy everything." Law's eyes darkened, his voice still even and strong.

"Uhaha! Your head must have something wrong with it. We accept kids here. About a hundred have come so far, but most of them ran away crying after two days."

Law opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the voice of someone else. Looking to the window by his side, he saw a small girl and a rather plump boy smiling happily. "Niin! Trevor-sama, Diamante-sama!"

"Cora-san is back!"

"They're kids too, but they survived," the one the crew now knew as Diamante stated. "It's Buffalo and Baby5." The door behind Law opened, and he turned to see who it was. "And the one who just came back is…" The man who began to walk in was tall, at little under ten feet, and wore a deep red hat that had tassels in the shape of hearts hanging from it. On his back was a dark-purple feathered mantle. He wore a shirt with pink hearts, beige pants, mismatched shoes, and had odd making up adorning his face.

But just before Diamante could finish the introduction, the man slipped on absolutely nothing; falling hard and ungracefully onto his back beside Law. The other two children, Buffalo and Baby5, laughed at the man's action. "Kyahahaha! He tripped!"

The tall man got onto his feet, his head down so his blond bangs and hat shadowed his face. Without warning, his arm lashed out; hitting both Buffalo and Baby5 in the face which sent them flying. Sanji roared, yelling at the male in the memory never to hit a woman. The man continued on to an empty seat, falling down into it and crossing his legs. Baby5 approached him with a hot cup of tea and a bright smile. "Cora-san. Have some tea." The man took it and began to bring it up to his mouth.

"Doesn't the tea seem a little hot to…" Brook was cut off when the man took a drink of his tea and suddenly splurt it out, causing the little girl to laugh. This then caused the male to lean too far back into his chair, making it fall to the floor. "…drink."

"This guy's an idiot," Sanji sweat-dropped, earning several nods of agreement from the crew.

Diamante and Trebol looked on as if it was a normal, everyday occurrence while Law stood there in absolute silence; obviously not finding any part of it humorous. "Corazon, did you finish your job? Give me the proceeds. We must be honest with money."

Then Trebol spoke up. "Was your name Law? That's an executive, too. His name is Corazon. He's stupid and has no concentration, but he quite talented." Corazon, at his introduction, stood up and began to head for Law. "Probably because of his lineage. He's captain Dofy's younger brother."

"Doflamingo has a younger brother?" Chopper asked, eyes wide.

"If they're related, then this Corazon going to be hard to defeat," Zoro noted, a trace of excitement apparent in his voice. He always looked forward for a great challenge. And from what he heard, Doflamingo was quite the expert fighter. If his brother was anything like that as well…

"He can't speak because, apparently, he had a shocking accident in the past." Corazon's hand landed on Law's head, surprising the child. "Also…he hates kids. Be careful." But as the warning was being told, Corazon had picked Law up by the head…and threw him out the glass window. The crew looked on in shock, not expecting such a violent action. They watched Law fly through the air with a look of surprise. It was obvious he too hadn't expected such a thing to happen.

He fell through the air and landed in a pile of scrap metal, and Chopper and Usopp couldn't help but flinch at the impact. Nami, too, made a face. "That had to hurt." Inside, Corazon lit up a cigarette; causing part his feathered mantle to catch on fire. Baby5 and Buffalo screamed.

"Wah! He died!"

"He crashed into a mountain of steel!" Down below, Law pushed himself onto his hands and knees. He gave small pants and brought one hand up to the side of his face where blood gushed from an open wound. The look in his eyes sent shivers down a few Straw Hats' spines. That was a dark look the child was giving, one that promised nothing good whatsoever.

'What's with crazy guy…?! I'll kill you!' The crew heard Law's threatening thoughts, and turned to look at what all the commotion they were hearing behind them. They were met with the sight of Corazon up in flames just as the memory began to fade away. "Corazon is burning! Someone, put him out!"

"How could someone so clumsy be Doflamingo's brother?" Franky asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Looks can be quite deceiving," Brook answered.

"If he's an executive, he's got to be strong. I have a feeling Doflamingo wouldn't have made his brother an executive if he didn't believe the man was capable of taking care of himself and any missions he's sent on."

"Well, Diamante did say he was 'quite talented.'"

"Still, what a way to say hi," Nami mused. "Being thrown out a window isn't the best way to meet someone."

"You don't think Law meant that he was really going to kill Corazon, do you?"

"He meant it," Zoro answered. "You can tell by the look in his eyes and the way he talks. He no longer really cares about living. He simply wants to destroy as much as he can until the Amber Lead takes his life."

"It's like he suddenly has no heart. He doesn't care about anything. Almost as if his entire world went from being colorful to just...black."

"The death of his everyone he knew completely changed him," Robin stated. "Witnessing such a thing at a young age can twist anyone's personality."

"I like that Corazon guy," Luffy quietly laughed. "He reminds me of Gramps kinda."

"Not exactly," Usopp sweat-dropped. Garp was far worse with children. But, then again, they'd just met Corazon. For all they knew, he was just like Garp when it came to children. "I wonder how Law made it out of Frevance, though."

"I was wondering about that, too."

"I don't know if I want to find out," Nami mumbled. She couldn't help but feel as if something bad would happen again in Law's life.

And she certainly wasn't looking forward to seeing it.

A/N: I HAD WRITER'S BLOCK FOR THIS CHAPTER. So if ANYTHING seems wrong or forced, or if anything is lacking, please please please let me know. Sorry it's not as long as the last chapter but, like I said, I had writer's block. DX And I know Luffy hardly says anything, but I just...don't know what to make him say. If something dark/bad is happening, he usually just watches quietly, doesn't he? Ugh. I fail at writing their reactions/thoughts, but it's the best I can do. Sorry. o_o

Your shy ice elemental,
~»roo the psycho«