Everything was backwards, and he didn't like it.

It was one thing that Law was second guessing himself about attacking Straw Hat Luffy. It was another thing altogether that he actually felt some semblance of guilt for the actions that he had taken. And that made no sense whatsoever, since there was no reason that Law should feel anything like guilt.

A mistake.

He had made a mistake, and Law was frustrated with himself that he couldn't land on why he was so certain that it was that. A mistake. But why would harming Straw Hat Luffy be a mistake?

"Sir, should we do anything? Are you certain he won't attack us?"

Law reluctantly left the thought alone as he focused on the speaker. One of the marines that he'd seen from earlier that had approached him. Law studied the man silently, intrigued. Why would he have any reason to attack him, let alone the other marines? The dark haired man had no reason to attack him, so why were most of the people gathered around him nervous and clinging to their weapons like he was a wild animal? It wasn't like they were the ones that Law wanted to injure. So then why...were they acting in the manner that they were?

"There's no need to worry."

Law turned slightly to look at the one who'd just spoken. The brown haired man almost seemed familiar to him, but what Law couldn't remember was where and when. The longer Law stared at the man, the more uncomfortable he became. It was almost as if…there was a reason that he should stay away from this man. But the answer of why eluded him, as did many other things. Was it because of this marine that was now approaching him? Law tensed up as if to run, but by then the marine was already before him with a hand outstretched. Law felt that now would be a good time for his mind to tell him why he was getting such a bad feeling from all of this, when the marine spoke.

"Nix Memoria."

A blissful and worry free sensation overtook the concern he had been feeling moments before. So much so that Law held no desire to do anything unless he was prompted. Law felt that he had no reason to be worried, and that alone should have been a warning. But it would not occur to Law until much later, when it was too late to do anything about it.

-x

Vice admiral Fall let his hand drop back to his side as he peered at Law closely, before he gave a satisfied grunt. This time he was certain that his Devil Fruit power held sway completely over Trafalgar Law. He didn't see the spark in the pirate's eyes that he'd seen before, when he'd been interrupted using his Devil Fruit powers. Fall turned away. There was no will left in Law for the time being with his Devil Fruit holding the pirate's memories at bay. The vice admiral figured that because of the slip up from before that made the effects not last nearly as long, allowing Law to remember bits and pieces. Right now, since Fall was actively preventing Law's memories from going back to him, it would be a day at most before he would have to release the pirate from the powers again.

"What are we going to do with him, sir?"

Fall side glanced at the marine who's spoken, "For now he will go in a holding cell. I want headquarters contacted when I come back up on deck."

"Sir!"

The vice admiral barely glanced at the marine again as he called over to Law. "Follow me." Fall walked toward a cabin that linked to the lower decks, not bothering to look over his shoulder. He'd had ample time to test out his powers over the years, and knew their limits, as well as what they were capable of. He knew that the dark haired pirate would follow him. Law had no choice, really, with his memory all but gone.

"Vice admiral Fall? Why is he...like that?"

Fall heard that comment mixed in with the uneasy murmurs at the sight, and decided he may as well address them now. He'd forgotten most of his men hadn't seen the full extent of his powers. Fall knew what they would see. To them, Law must look like a lifeless marionette, waiting to be told where to go and what to do. It used to bother Fall in the beginning when he'd discovered that aspect of his powers, but now, it didn't so much.

"Don't feel bad for him. Don't forget that Trafalgar Law is a pirate. A wanted man. He is no longer a warlord being sheltered from being brought to justice." Fall opened the cabin door and stood aside as he ushered Law inside. "If I have to use my powers like this, I will do so in order to make the seas safer. Even if I have to take away someone's free will to make it come about, I will do so without hesitation." Fall didn't bother to see if the words had an effect or not, as he headed down a set of stairs to a holding cell. He nodded to the two guards outside the one of the cells, and one nodded in return as they opened the door. Fall noted that there was some unease at the sight of Law going into the cell without a word, and going so compliantly without even the slightest hint of resistance.

Fall turned away to return to above deck. He was going to make that call to headquarters immediately. He wanted to run an idea past them, and see if they would allow him to go after some pirates, including Straw Hat Luffy. It would be convenient if he could use his Devil Fruit powers on Law long enough for him to assist them. After all, the former warlord would then be doing what he had agreed to do in the first place.

Help take down other pirates.

Time was of the essence, and Fall could only hope that headquarters would agree with his proposition. Even now Fall knew that every time he used his powers on Law, the weaker they would become. And with repeated use of his powers, there was a higher chance that Law would be able to break free of the Devil Fruit power altogether. Especially since Fall was actively holding specific memories at bay. Perhaps he would have to loosen the control over Law sooner than he had anticipated, if he wanted to have full control later when it mattered.

-x

If it hadn't been for Franky getting the Thousand Sunny out of range of the navy's gunfire, Luffy would have been still yelling himself hoarse at the ship that Law had disappeared on to. It didn't, however, prevent Luffy from being upset about what had just happened right before his eyes. And it was quite vexing that his own crew was trying to tell him to stop and wait before going after Law. That he needed to get his injury seen to, which happened to still be bleeding.

The Straw Hat captain would get his wound seen to, but only after he knew that Law would be all right. Luffy couldn't believe that Law had gone over to the marines so willingly. It meant that there had to be something wrong with Law, and more than just memory loss.

"I'm fine! I just need some meat." Luffy insisted as he avoided Chopper, his eyes still trained in the direction the marines had sailed off in with the Heart Pirate captain in tow. "We need to go after them!"

"Luffy! You need to let me look at that! Law stabbed you!" Chopper danced about Luffy on the deck, medical supplies in tow as he tried and failed to get his captain to hold still. "Eating meat won't make the wound heal over just like that!"

Luffy might have argued the point, but suddenly he found himself on the ground and looking up at his friends, who were leaning over him and watching him with varying degrees of worry. Luffy made a slight frown. "Huh? Why am I on the deck?" Luffy noticed Chopper bandaging the wound that Law had given him. How long had he been lying there? Hadn't he been up and about moments ago? He'd felt perfectly fine. He'd just been hungry.

Nami was nearby. "You fainted. Law did stab you and you were losing blood. You're lucky that Chopper and Jimbei packed some blood so we'd have your type in case you lost too much again sometime." Nami shook her head. "I would say I'm surprised you didn't fall down immediately, but considering the amount of damage you can take, it's not so surprising after all."

Luffy grinned up at Nami as Chopper finished up. "Well, I got some sleep, so now I just need meat and I'll be good."

Nami let out an exasperated breath. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't given Law his nodachi back. You should have never trusted him while he was in that state."

"But he could have hurt me more than he did." Luffy smiled brightly. "I think the Law that knows us was in there somewhere before he stabbed me." Luffy sat up and rested a hand over the bandages, his face going blank briefly. Then, he looked up and around at his friends. "It wasn't his fault." Luffy's expression became serious. "I'm gonna kick that vice admiral's ass, so Law can remember us." Luffy smiled. "Beating up that marine will help, won't it?"

There were a few exasperated groans all around the gathered crew, but no one outright argued against Luffy's logic. There was really no point in doing so anyway, as it appeared that Luffy had already made up his mind.

"Defeating the Devil Fruit user would help break whatever they have done to Law, provided they are rendered unconscious." Robin commented thoughtfully from where she was seated nearby.

"See? It'll help." Luffy said confidently. The straw hat captain accepted Zoro's outstretched hand and he was back on his feet in no time at all. As soon as Luffy knew he wasn't about to fall over again, he grinned at his crew mate. "Hey, Zoro, you saw it too, right?"

Zoro inclined his head. "Law didn't hit you with everything he had. He hesitated at the last moment."

"He must have been fighting against the vice admiral's Devil Fruit." Robin said vaguely.

Luffy turned to Nami. "See? Zoro saw it too." They could probably catch up to the marine ships easily, and then he could kick the marine's ass faster. It was rude to make someone forget about other people like the marine had done. Especially when they were friends. "Let's go after them now!"

Before the rest of the crew could ask Luffy how they were to get Law out of the marine's clutches, they were all distracted by something off the starboard side.

"What's that?" Chopper hurried over to take a look, and tilted his head. "I hear something from underneath the water!"

"Is it a sea monster I can eat?" Luffy asked hopefully, sidetracked from going to help Law as he joined his crew mate and leaned over the railing to take a look.

"It appears to be a ship." Robin said as she crossed the deck to take a look as well.

Luffy watched the ship surface, and let out a whoop as the sails dropped. "Awesome! It doesn't even need that coating!"

"Isn't that Law's ship?" Chopper asked curiously. "Those symbols look like the ones he wears on his clothes."

Nami turned to Luffy as she spotted Law's crew coming out onto the deck. "Luffy, we can't tell them what happened to their captain. They'll be devastated."

Luffy gave no indication that he heard his navigator as he waved his arms and called out. "Hey, look! I's the bear!"

Nami nearly groaned as Luffy immediately started to yammer away at the Heart Pirates. Great. Not only was Law suffering from memory loss, but now he was in the navy's hands. And to make matters worse, Law's crew had found them. There was no way to avoid the topic, as one of Law's crew called up to them.

"Where's our captain, Straw Hat?"

There were a number of ways to answer that question to lessen the blow of the news, but Luffy bypassed all that and got straight to the heart of the matter.

"Oh, he doesn't remember us right now and the navy took him away, but we're gonna go rescue him and make him remember us."

The Heart Pirates panicked immediately, and there was no reasoning with them until they calmed down enough to rationalize. Luffy was far too blunt to be the bearer of bad news, even if he had good intentions to right the problem as he saw fit. No one was particularly happy at that point in time, even if the missing Law felt otherwise while his crew and Luffy's squabbled about how best to retrieve him.

-x

He was almost...happy.

It was a strange feeling to have, because he was fairly certain that he had no reason to be. But as usual, the 'why' evaded him as it had time and again. He hadn't even protested being led out of the cell briefly, nor going back into it, though the latter was likely because he was too exhausted to even care what he was doing at that point. And yet he was still strangely at ease, but even that did not last for much longer. It was a pity, because it would have been easier not to remember anything for a while longer.

And then reality decided to slap him hard in the face.

The haze and pleasant sensation of no worry or care in the world was abruptly gone, as if it had never been there in the first place. In its place was dread and annoyance and creeping horror. Dread at what had happened, and annoyance at Luffy and his crew. The horror was specifically for the embarrassment that had been forced upon him in the company of the Straw Hats.

Law gave his head a rough shake as if that would clear it, and looked around his immediate surroundings. It became apparent that he was not in a good position at all, and it was bad luck that he had woken up in what appeared to be a sea prism stone cell. Not the most pleasant way to wake up, but it was slightly better than waking up to Luffy's skeleton crew mate inquiring after his health.

Law sucked in a sharp breath. He remembered. He remembered everything that had happened after the vice admiral had attempted to use his Devil Fruit powers on him. Law promptly tried to forget about what had happened on Straw Hat's ship those few days he spent with them with a loss of memory.

He failed miserably.

Law rested his face in his hands and let out a low groan. He couldn't believe Straw Hat and his crew had taken advantage of his memory loss as they had. He wasn't sure if he could face them without wanting to end them all for making him make a fool of himself. Law would die before he admitted that he had enjoyed some of the idiocy. He would take it with him to the grave. Law let his face rest heavier against the palms of his hands as he flushed faintly in embarrassment at one thing in particular.

The singing.

The damn singing.

Law was never going to live down that singing, and the only thing that would make it worse would be if Luffy and his crew made mention of it to his crew. He'd never hear the end of it, and Law wasn't sure if being playfully teased was something he wanted to live with on his own ship. He was going to kill Straw Hat for this. Only, the dark haired pirate remembered that he had already attacked and wounded Luffy via the manipulation of his memory. Law groaned in irritation this time. Damn, he was unlikely to be allowed to forget that by being reminded of it by Straw Hat's crew. Luffy wouldn't hold it against him, but Law wasn't so sure about the rest of the crew.

And Luffy outright telling him that he was his friend. That Law wasn't ever going to be able to ignore or forget. There was no getting rid of Straw Hat if somewhere in Luffy's mind he'd adopted Law as a friend instead of just an ally. There was no escape. Why couldn't he just not remember what had happened during the stint with being affected by another's Devil Fruit? Why did he have to remember everything?

Friend...

Law wanted the ground to swallow him up so that he wouldn't have to face anyone at all. Especially not Luffy, because Law was fairly certain that already Straw Hat was trying to come and 'rescue' him. Law didn't want to be rescued. He'd rather escape and nonchalantly show on Straw Hat's ship. And then make a getaway to his own crew and ship. Anything else held the potential of too much embarrassment and Law was not prepared to be reminded of what he'd done.

But then, a brilliant idea came to mind. He would just play ignorant. That was perfectly acceptable. No one had to know that he remembered. So long as the Devil Fruit powers were only used on him. Law had no problem whatsoever keeping mum about what happened during his lack of memory of the Straw hats. The dark haired pirate let out a slow sigh.

Good.

Law no longer felt the need to fade away from the world. He was perfectly happy to play ignorant in order to protect himself from future discomfort and shame. So long as Luffy and the others didn't push to hard to get him to try and remember it, no one would ever have to know. It would be better that way. Law had an image to maintain, after all. He couldn't allow himself get swept up by Luffy and his crew's pace.

Their pace...

It was then that Law promptly recalled being forced into a pseudo group bath and that towel had been quite small and it had slipped down...

The guards outside the cell were startled by Law's vehement exclamation of death and dismemberment for that particular incident.

There was no way around it, Law was going to make someone pay. He didn't even have any dignity left in the face of the Straw Hats when he'd ended up drinking away with Zoro in the galley like he didn't have a care in the world, the towel barely staying on. Luffy had been laughing, and Law felt further shamed when he recalled Nami being on the other side of the door to the galley and yelling at them to cover up. And that had happened right before the singing had begun...

No, Law was most certainly going to do something he might regret when he ran into the Straw Hat crew again.

"Hey, he's awake."

"Should we get the vice admiral?"

"He said to get him only if he tried to get out."

Law lay down on the ground and faced away from the front of the cell. He was sure his face was still burning from the indignity of being dragged down to Luffy and his crew's level, but he hadn't meant to alert the guards. He hadn't meant to let the guards learn of his sudden recovery from Fall's Devil Fruit powers. Or rather, it seemed as if Fall had allowed them to leave him, which was suspicious on its own. It likely meant that Fall wanted to use the powers on him again, and Law didn't like to think what that meant. It had too many possibilities, and each idea that crossed Law's mind became more dismal and depressing.

The dark haired pirate let the hours slip by, but the more the time dragged on, the more suspicious he grew of the vice admiral's intentions. But even the idea of being manipulated by a marine was nothing compared to the embarrassing thoughts that came when his mind drifted back to what he'd done while on Luffy's ship. It was only when Law couldn't stand to think of what a fool he'd made of himself in front of the Straw Hats that Fall decided to show himself.

"You're awake. Good. That'll make this easier."

Law sat up immediately and gave himself ample room to be away from the cell door. He was weaponless, but he still had his powers, because none of the marines had bothered to handcuff him in sea stone. So if he could just get out of the cell, he might be able to evade them long enough to make a getaway. Unless they were out on the open sea, which would make things far more difficult. If that was the case, Law would be evading and tiring himself out for nothing. It was a shame that he'd left his Transponder snail in the cabin back on Straw Hat's ship. He might have been able to get into contact with his crew, and he could have made an underwater escape.

"There's no point in resisting now, Trafalgar Law. Not when you're cornered."

Law smirked at that. "You can think what you want. You may have used your Devil Fruit powers on me, but don't think things will continue to go smoothly for you." The dark haired pirate could sound as confident as he wanted, but the sight of the marines opening the cell door, and the vice admiral and many others standing to black his way made things seem much bleaker. But Law wasn't about to stay there and wait for them to take him somewhere or whatever it was that they had in mind.

Law darted forward without a moment's thought as the cell door swung open and the marines surged to meet him. Law weaved beneath the nearest marines and with luck managed to completely clear the cell and its draining effects.

"Room!"

The dark haired Heart Pirate captain made the room large enough to give himself ample room to clear the marines that had opened fire on him and twisted his fingers.

"Shambles." Law's smirk deepened as the marines fell back to avoid being shot, and made his way up the stairs nearby, swapping positions with the marines as he made his way up. He heard the vice admiral shouting something, but Law ignored it as he reached the upper deck of the ship. It became clear that the only other ships in view were other marine ships, and there was no land in sight.

Two strikes against his plans for escape, and the third came swiftly in the form of his own body as he stumbled. Why was he so tired out? Law dropped his room, breathing heavily. It was too hard to concentrate and keep it up without hurting himself more. Damn, he had hoped that he had recovered enough of his stamina to hold out longer, but apparently not. But why was he so...exhausted? It didn't make any sense.

"Tired, Trafalgar Law?"

Law kept his back to the railing. He didn't want the marines surrounding him from all sides. Law struggled to get his breathing back under control. "What did you do?" That was the only explanation. The vice admiral must have done something. Law knew that he hadn't been this worn out when he'd been on Luffy's ship.

Fall's look of disdain morphed into something like triumph. "I had some of my men take you out of the cell for a few hours and I convinced you to use your powers and sustain them until you exhausted yourself." The vice admiral walked across the deck. "I figured that if I released you from my Devil Fruit's influence that you might try and escape. So I made sure that it wouldn't be much of a problem to put you back in the cell should you make the attempt."

Law sucked in a breath of air and let it out. He didn't quite remember that, but when Fall mentioned it, Law could tell that yes, it did seem as if he had held on to his powers and used them for far too long. The dark haired pirate's eyes quickly swept the deck for potential routes to escape, but inwardly knew that it was going to be next to useless to keep on running. He wasn't going to be able to use his powers for very long if he called on them again. He was more liable to collapse in a worn out heap than get anything useful accomplished, but he wasn't going to make things that easy.

"Room."

Law wasn't going to let these marines dictate what he could and couldn't do. He would resist and try to find a way out while he was at it. At least, that was the plan, but Law hadn't accounted for several sea prism stone shackles to be shot at him, completely rendering his powers useless. Even with the draining effect and no access to his powers, Law struggled to prevent the marines from pinning him down. He had a really bad feeling about this, and felt that any kind of escape was better then what might happen to him in the immediate future.

The marines could have easily shot him and been done with him then and there. That they were merely restraining him now didn't bode well. And neither did the fact that the vice admiral had knelt in front of him as the sea stone was taken away.

Law gave the marine a defiant glare, but he wasn't going to waste words on the other man. There wasn't any point. But now he knew what the other's Devil Fruit powers were. Perhaps he'd be able to break through them this time around. It was obvious that the vice admiral had plans involving him with a loss of memory, and Law wasn't yet sure how that would be useful.

For his part, Fall hadn't said a word until he had his hand on Law's head. The vice admiral locked eyes with Law's defiant stare, and offered a very faint smile in return. "I told you it was useless to run before, didn't I?"

"Vice admiral Fall! Headquarters has agreed to your request of having Law assist against the pirates!"

Law's eyes widened a fraction as that sunk in, and immediately jerked his head to the side, despite the uselessness of the gesture. So that was it. He should have known that from the start. Should have guessed that immediately when they went after him instead of Straw Hat and his crew on the marines base days ago. It made perfect sense that the marines would try and turn him against his friends.

Friends...

Law was promptly horrified that that had crossed his mind instead of the word ally. The dark haired pirate blamed it on being worn out and surrounded by enemies that had very devious intentions to make him do something he had no desire to do. The last thought Law had was that he was going to never live it down if Luffy and his crew were the ones to save him from the mess he'd landed himself in, in addition to having to live with the memory of all the embarrassing things the Straw Hat crew had gotten him to do.

"Nix Memoria."

Law blinked. What was it that he was concerned about? It had been important, but what had it…been?

What was it?

"Remix memoria."

Law had a momentary lapse of all thought, but when he came to, he was sprawled on the deck of the ship and being looked down at by several perplexed marines. The dark haired man sat up slowly, a hand to his head. It felt like he had been knocked around roughly by some angry giant. That, or he'd drank too much the night before. Law wasn't sure which scenario he preferred. He just knew that he felt like shit.

"Trafalgar Law."

Law turned his head as glanced up. "…what?" The dark haired man looked around again, before he focused on the speaker again. "What happened?"

"Some pirates attacked the ship. You were knocked out." Fall indicated the side of the ship that was being repaired. "We are going to go after them."

Law frowned. That seemed…familiar to him. He nodded absently, "What were you thinking for a counter attack?" The dark haired man didn't notice several of the other marines' stunned expressions, as he was looking to Fall for confirmation. Law wouldn't have seen what the problem was anyway. It was a perfectly reasonable question.

"We're going to catch up to them within the day. You're going to use your powers to assist us." Fall said, his voice calm.

"And you're going to capture these pirates?" Law ventured after a moment, his hand closing around his nodachi's sheathe. Law missed the surprised gapes at the appearance of the weapon, when it hadn't been there before. It didn't matter. Law was focused on more important things. Like going after pirates that had managed to sneak in an attack and get clear away. That irritated him for some reason.

"Most of them, yes. Unless they resist."

Law saw that the vice admiral was pleased for some reason, but figured that it was because he was thinking about being the one to corner and capture the pirates. Law dismissed the tiny part of himself that made this seem like a very bad idea. The part of his mind that was telling him that this was wrong. That he shouldn't find any of this reassuring at all.

Wrong.

Danger.

Threat.

It was all there in his head screaming at him, but Law couldn't be bothered by such petty thoughts. After all, no one on this ship had attacked him, so there should be no problem. Yet the wrongness remained there in the back of his mind. But that was where it stayed. Because right now, all Law could do was look forward to the encounter with the pirates. It had been some time since he'd let loose against an opponent.

But first things first. He had something to attend to that was much more important than a looming battle against pirates. Law headed for a cabin without another word, not bothering to check with the marines if it was all right.

"Where are you going?"

Law answered the marine with a shrug, as if the question had an obvious answer. "I need to rest to regain my stamina. I appear to be lacking it at the moment. I won't be able to fight at full strength if I don't." Law closed the door and collapsed onto the nearest bed. He was exhausted, but it must have been from the previous encounter with the pirates. They must have put up quite a fight for him to be as worn out as he was. Law heard a crinkle in his pocket as he stretched. With a yawn, he absently drew a scrap of paper out to peer at it with tired eyes. Law immediately became more alert, despite his body's protest at not resting as he realized just what he held.

The scrap of paper was fluttering in his grasp.

A vivre card.

But whose was it, and why did he have it?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: This chapter is attempting to be a transition chapter into the next section of the fic. The beginning few chapters were supposed to be humorous since I decided it was going to do a 180 and be darker (?) later on (as shown by what's going on at the end of this chapter). I was also trying to decide while writing up the outline of whether to keep the fic strictly to Law's POV or not, but for the rest of the story to work as I currently have it outlined, it needs to be split into Law's POV and then the Straw Hat crew's POV (but when Law comes across them most of the time it will be told from his POV-I'll see how it goes. I think I worked out the issues with it).

The part with Luffy and co in this chapter didn't have much internal dialogue, mainly because it was supposed to be from Luffy's POV and obviously he's more action than thought.

And I'm trying to pace myself even though I already have the last chapter written. I'm not sure how long this fanfic will be but I'll probably mention when I get to the last few chapters. And I totally threw a few hints of what's going to happen by the end. Vaguely, anyway (it has to do with the vice admiral's DF and Law's decision to keep quiet about being able to remember things-it's going to backfire on him in the end, since he's not going to be the only person the vice admiral uses his powers on, and therefore Law will end up being in denial). XD