A/N: Slight spoilers if you're not caught up with the manga (though it is more of a vague allusion than anything regarding one of the characters in the chapter).

-x-x-x-x-x

Law had enough time to think things over with the time spent in that cell. And the dark haired Heart Pirate captain had been trying his damndest to get out of the cell since thinking things through despite it being made of sea stone. Because he had to get out. He had to get to his crew, and to Straw Hat and the others, before Fall and the other marines took them too close to headquarters.

The dark haired pirate tried to call on his powers, but due to the sea stone, all his efforts were for naught. And it frustrated Law that he was unable to do anything to help his crewmates. That he'd attacked them even and had been unaware of the time that they were not his enemies. Law grit his teeth as he stared unseeingly past the bars of the cell. And he had helped the vice admiral catch them without a second's hesitation because he had lost his damn mind.

Literally.

With a low growl, Law tried in vain to make a hole. Any kind of hole, in the side of the ship not lined with sea stone. And found out, as soon as his hand hit the wall of the ship, that it, too, had sea stone in it. Law grimaced as he collapsed to the ground as the worn out feeling washed over him.

He couldn't get out.

Law couldn't get out even though he knew that there were at least two ships headed in the direction of navy headquarters, and he was likely all alone on this particular ship. And Law was uncertain as to when and where Fall may use his Devil Fruit powers on him again. It frustrated Law to no end that he had nothing that he could do at that point in time to make things better.

Nothing.

Law was not used to being unable to do anything to get himself out of a predicament. There was always something that he could use to his advantage to get the one up over his enemies. But right now, on that marine ship, Law had nothing.

No allies.

No access to his powers.

And while he still had Kikoku with him, he couldn't even sure his nodachi could aid him in his escape. Law gave his head a brief shake before he used his sheathed blade to help him in standing up as he stared at the cell bars. He had to do something.

Anything.

So the dark haired pirate drew his nodachi and tired in vain to free himself, even though the cell bars did not yield under his strikes. But each one made Law feel a little better; a little more confident. That even if he was trapped he still had the opportunity to fight back should some marines come in to the cell and try to corral him in any way.

Most unfortunately, Law ended up wearing himself out further trying to get free of the cell. At least he had not bothered with his powers, but it was still a foolish thing to do when he had no idea when the marines or Fall would return. The Heart Pirate captain settled on the ground and propped his now sheathed notachi up over one shoulder as he eyed the direction the marines had left. They would come from that direction, and he would be ready when that time came.

Unfortunately, Law had worn himself out more than he had thought, because he had unwillingly drifted off.

It was a mistake.

One that he would regret the next time he was sound in his mind.

Law was rudely awoken in the middle of the night by several marines converging on him. Still half asleep and alarmed at what was going on, the dark haired pirate had no time to react to the fact that Fall was suddenly there and leering unpleasantly at him.

"It's been decided that you will assist in making sure that the other pirates that we have captured will not make an escape attempt from ne of our bases while we search for those that got away." The vice admiral gave no outward acknowledgment of Law's hand tightening around the hilt of his nodachi. "We will briefly hold them on a heavily fortified naval base, while the decision is made for who will be shipped off to Impel Down and who will be taken directly to be executed."

Law didn't even bother to say anything but attempted to fight and get away to prevent himself from being struck by Fall's powers again. The dark haired pirate's own Devil Fruit powers flared up in response to the vice admiral taking a step closer to him, but it was too late.

Fall had already used his powers.

However, Law felt that, even as his memories began to slip away from him again, that he had to stay away from the man that was before him. He had to get away before he completely lost his sense of self and became that mindless puppet again that had attacked those pirates. Pirates that Law couldn't help but think were familiar to him in some way. And at the least, he had a vague sense of Straw Hat and his crew. Because they had found him the last time that this marine before him had done something to him. Found him and had claimed friendship along with knowing who he was. Had only shown outward aggression when he himself had lashed out for some unexpected reason. But they didn't appear to mean him any harm. Therefore, Law felt that he needed to find them.

Wherever they were.

Law started to back away, and out of pure reflex, tapped into his Devil Fruit powers, and took himself and his nodachi up to the deck. The dark haired man held on to the blade tightly. Yes. It was his weapon, and despite the fact that his mind was scattered, and perhaps more so than the last time, he still had the urgeny to get away from this ship as fast as he possibly could.

Enemies.

He was surrounded by enemies.

Law knew he had to leave.

And much to his luck, he was able to do just that, because the ship had anchored. Law heard the vice admiral and some other marines shouting, and hastily made his escape from ship to land. He was careful to avoid the water, because he knew, somehow, that that would prevent whatever it was that he was doing. Law made it into the forest and decided to continue to run blindly until he reached the other side of the island, as if it would somehow help.

He wasn't sure how it would help; he just somehow knew that it would.

Soon enough, the shouts of the marines vanished to be replaced with the sound of wildlife. Law relaxed into a brisk walk, but kept his senses alert should that marine come out of nowhere. The longer Law walked, the tighter his wrapped his hand around the sheathe of his nodachi. He sensed something, or someone now, but Law couldn't help but feel that it was not the marines that likely still pursued him.

It was someone else.

Someone more dangerous.

Law did not even get to the shore like he though he would, because quite suddenly, there was something whipping thorough the air and slicing up the forest. It was a no brainer to drop to the grassy ground, as Law had no desire to be sliced clean in half like the trees. But before the dark haired man could think his next move through, there was the unsettling sound of someone rasping for breath, and then a satisfied yet slightly breathless laugh. Law started to rise at the sudden sound overhead, startled that he had missed just how close the other person had been. But it was for nothing, because just as he got to his feet was when Law was unceremoniously and roughly cuffed upside the head. Like the person who had struck him had just barely been holding themselves back. The dark haired man hit the ground in an instant, all strength gone from his limbs as the strike sent him spiraling into unconsciousness.

And then there was a voice.

An oddly familiar voice.

"Damn brat..." The voice wheezed. "What are you doing here?"

Law couldn't reach the memories of that voice, but he did settle on a name, and the name alone was enough to make him chilled to the bone for a reason he could not place.

Doflamingo.

-x

Luffy made one last ditch effort to smash the walls of the cell that he had all but been wrangled into.

Nothing happened.

So Luffy tried again before he let out a huff and puffed up his cheeks at the still intact wall. He had been whaling on the walls for what seemed like hours, and the Straw Hat captain wasn't sure why the walls hadn't yet yielded.

Maybe it was the sea stone.

The marines had made sure that he'd been shackled with the sea stone as well, but Luffy merely went at the wall with a single minded determination that it didn't matter. That no matter how much the shackles drained him of his energy, he should have at the very least been able to put a hole in the wall.

Luffy had managed it inside the ship before he'd been dragged off of it and into another cell on some other island. The Straw Hat captain drew his foot back for another strike when he paused at the sound of a commotion just outside the cell.

"Hurry up and get him in there!"

"Dammit! Why is most of Straw Hat's crew so damn powerful?"

"Did you hear? Trafalgar Law escaped!"

"What?"

Luffy was cheered to hear this, because it made him glad that another of his friends had escaped. And Luffy knew that since their crews were still in an alliance, that the Heart pirate captain most certainly would figure out some way to come and assist them. Even if Law didn't want to admit that he would, Luffy was certain that he would.

"I heard the vice admiral got him with his Devil Fruit powers."

"And he still escaped?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard."

Luffy wasn't sure what happened, but suddenly he had another person thrown onto him and he was toppled over and onto the ground. But the black haired teen wasn't too annoyed when he saw who it was.

"Hey, Zoro." Luffy greeted as his crewmate rolled to one side and sat up.

The green haired swordsman couldn't help but crack a smile in return at his cheerful captain. Even though they were in a troublesome predicament it just figured that it would have done nothing to dampen Luffy's mood.

-x

Things had gone downhill ever since he had been forced to flee from Dressrosa with every manner of marines at his heels, Sengoku and Tsuru included. He'd even wasted his energy on a string clone and that had nearly caused him to black out enough as it was. It was a damn miracle he'd even had the strength to make it off of Dressrosa and to this island without falling unconscious out of the sky from the effort.

But he would live.

He'd get them for this.

Straw Hat and Law.

Both of them would pay for what they had done.

Doflamingo grimaced yet refused to rest. Not only was he grievously wounded, internally, for the most part, and not only was he not even able to heal, but Trafalgar Law himself had to come waltzing into his presence like he had no care in the world. Doflamingo would have torn the brat to pieces if he hadn't realized that Law seemed to have a lost, confused look on his face like he didn't know what was going on. The former warlord had immediately decided to tear up the forest to see what happened, and was further convinced that something was going on when Law had a puzzled expression as he dropped down.

It was almost as if Law had no idea who it was that was attacking him.

Doflamingo made sure to get up close and personal to strike the little bastard, and that was when he knew something had to be going on, because Law had not gotten out of the way. He'd taken the hit instead and had fallen limp to the ground without a sound. Doflamingo walked unsteadily over to the dark haired pirate and nudged him in the side with a foot.

No response.

Law was out cold.

Doflamingo snorted at the sight. As much as he wanted to finish Law off then and there, it would be pointless to do so without Law knowing that it was him that would end his miserable life. The blond haired pirate looked Law over and decided that at the very least the other was not walking around and wearing that damn jacket that had had 'Corazon' across the back of it. Doflamingo knew that he should have known better than to think that Law would ever come back to the Family. He certainly seemed to have twisted himself into knots over finishing what Corazon had started and all that.

The blond's gaze fell back on Law and decided if nothing else he might get amusement out of making eye contact with Law without his glasses on. That would certainly tell him whether or not Law was with it. With a grin, Doflamingo flicked a few fingers at Law, as he had enough left in him to expend a little effort on his Devil Fruit powers. He might as well not take any chances, just in case Law was playing dumb in some roundabout way to finish trying to kill him. Doflamingo's abdomen throbbed in response to that thought, and the blond haired pirate may have let the string ride a little heavier around Law's limbs out of reflex. He did not want the Heart Pirate captain to try that little trick again; Doflamingo highly doubted he could repair as well as he had managed the first time.

Which wasn't much, all things considered.

When Law did begin to stir, Doflamingo had no idea that he was about to get a taste of what Luffy and the others had first seen when they'd found the dark haired pirate alone in the woods and out of his mind. Because when Law opened his eyes, it was clear, even to Doflamingo, that the brat had no damn idea where he was or who he was with. And Doflamingo knew that because that was one of the first things that came out of Law's mouth.

"Who are you?"

The sincerity of the statement was not something that Doflamingo had anticipated and it allowed him to settle on what had been bothering him as he had waited for the Surgeon of Death to wake up. If it was what he thought it was, it appeared as if Law had somehow lost his memory since Doflamingo had last seen him. And that memory loss seemed to include memories of him and what had happened between them on Dressrosa since Law was not outwardly aggressive toward him right now.

A grin worked its way onto Doflamingo's face.

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

A/N: I literally had no motivation to type this story for awhile even with the outline because I just wasn't feeling it. I think that I'm starting to get back into it, even if this chapter is on the shorter side. And based off recent chapters in the manga, there was a bit of a shift for how Doflamingo would run into Law (because I planned to have Doflamingo in this fic somehow).