Decision

Characters: Law. Rating: K+. Warnings: None

Law had done many difficult things in his life. He'd learnt more about the human body than almost anyone else alive, he'd performed surgeries on patients with zero chance of survival and they'd lived. Emotionally, he'd survived a massacre, survived a sudden life of piracy, survived the White Lead Poisoning. Never would he call any of those things easy.

But there was one choice he'd made that stood out in his mind even against those, competing with staying hidden under dead bodies, or in a treasure chest, knowing that everyone he cared about was dying, fighting the urge to help because he wasn't strong enough, would only get killed too, and they – Cora-san – wouldn't want that.

He chose to leave his crew.

His nakama were everything to him. For thirteen years he'd been inseparable from them, clinging to them like the lifeline they were through his teenage years and into adulthood. They'd always been there for him, from his highest points to his lows – and some of them had been truly low – and he could admit that, somewhere along the way, he'd become dependent on them.

It was for that very reason that, as they neared Punk Hazard, he made the decision to go the rest of the way alone. Zou, a perfect safe haven, was nearby. His crew would be safe there, hidden away from the world – from Doflamingo and his far-reaching strings – and that was what Law needed.

If he lost his crew, he didn't think he'd be able to put himself back together again. After Flevance it had been difficult. After Minion Island it had bordered on impossible. Each time had left him a little more twisted, a little more bent out of shape with cracks showing where the pieces didn't quite fit seamlessly any more. There wouldn't be anything left if he shattered a third time.

They almost won the argument when he told them, refusing to stay quiet even though he was their captain and they weren't supposed to talk back. Law had to keep the harsh images in his head – of that time, not so long ago, when Shachi had faced Kuzan alone to save him; of other times, when his nakama had jumped in to pull him out of danger at the risk of their own lives – to stand his ground. He couldn't let them near Doflamingo, couldn't let Doflamingo learn anything about them. His old captain had already killed one person as precious as life itself, and that was one too many. He would give him no more chances, even though it felt like he'd ripped his heart out of his chest (without the handy pain-numbing of his devil fruit) as he watched the Polar Tang disappear from sight.

He shouldn't be openly watching. He needed to infiltrate, to build the façade that he didn't need his crew, and if anyone caught him staring at the retreating yellow of his ship, with all the precious people in his life still alive (and Cora-san's smile and Lami's favourite colour because he'd once heard that the dead never truly leave so maybe their souls were still carried in the Tang) safely tucked inside, the mask would be destroyed before he'd even had a chance to craft it.

He wondered if his crew knew what he was doing, that he was watching them leave even though he shouldn't, because oh so slowly the Tang began to ride lower and lower in the waves, slipping further from his reach as she glided underwater until he could no longer see her, barely a ripple in the ocean to show where she'd been.

Law wanted to be with them, safe in their underwater kingdom surrounded by everything with any positive connotations in his life, but he couldn't hide forever; nor could he leave Cora-san's legacy unfulfilled, the sole reason he'd survived long enough to reach Swallow Island and find the first of his nakama, and the driving force behind everything he did. Doflamingo had to be defeated, and finally Law had found a chink in his armour, a weak thread in the web. It was the best opportunity he had to end it all.

Once it was over, he could go back to his nakama. He wouldn't need to live in fear anymore, Bepo wouldn't need to complain about overheating when they'd been submerged for too long because they were hiding. Penguin and Shachi wouldn't have to take over when they thought he wasn't paying attention because his demons had reared their heads again. They'd be free, truly free, and he'd never have to leave them again.

Thirteen years ago, alone on Minion Island, all Law had wanted was vengeance for Cora-san, a trio of tagalongs more in the way than not. Now, alone on Punk Hazard, all Law wanted was for it to be over, for Cora-san's ambition to be realised and Doflamingo utterly destroyed, so he could be with his nakama again.

With one last look at the empty ocean, he turned and headed for the factory. It was time for the beginning of the end.

Hard partings go both ways. Technically this could be considered an accompaniment to Loyalty (chapter 25). It may appear to contradict Yearn (chapter 48) slightly, but that's set later on, after Law's been playing the role on Punk Hazard long enough he had to forcibly repress his 'homesickness' for fear Caesar might notice.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari