Hope

Characters: Law. Rating: T. Warnings: blood, injury

There were many thoughts running through Law's mind as he finally, finally came face to face with Doflamingo, in the ruins of what had once been a magnificent throne room but was now just a roofless rubble.

It was time at least. Thirteen years of running, hiding, and gathering information had all led up to this single moment – him against Doflamingo. Cora-san's revenge.

For much of the fight, it dominated him. Even as he lost Mugiwara-ya and ended up two-on-one against Doflamingo and Trebol, his mind focused on the pain and injustice of those three years, starting with the Flevance massacre and ending with Cora-san's death on Minion Island.

Then Doflamingo mentioned his crew, in amongst a hail of bullets cascading down on Law, or rather, where Law had been, would have been, if Doflamingo's rage hadn't made him miss the first shot. On a lower level of the castle, down an arm and forcibly pushing the screams of his nerves away, he took a moment to catch his breath. Doflamingo's rant was perfectly clear, the Heavenly Demon delighting in being the centre of attention even if his only audience was a corpse and his puppet-on-a-string Trebol.

"Your crew, the Heart Pirates!" Doflamingo raged, and something in Law ran cold. It had been naïve to forget that Doflamingo would have at least known of his crew. With the newspapers declaring it at every opportunity, the name would of course have meant something to Doflamingo. It was almost an inside reference to the two of them, the rest of the world assuming it had something to do with his 'Surgeon of Death' theme. The idea made Law sick, but Heart was Cora-san. It wasn't Doflamingo, nor did Doflamingo have any claim to it.

What was worse was the gnawing doubt that suddenly hit. Doflamingo knew his crew's name, but what else did he know? Bepo was, thankfully, the only one with a bounty, but Doflamingo dealt in the underworld, so who knew what else he'd heard through the grape vine. Law had kept them safe and under the radar, somehow, for the last thirteen years, but had it been enough?

Mugiwara-ya's enraged cries drew his attention to the fact that Doflamingo had stopped shooting his double. For the first time since their initial attack, Law had the advantage, and he was going to use it. Cora-san had to be avenged.

Back face-to-face with Doflamingo, his blond hair and ridiculous height clearly marking him as Cora-san's brother, it was easy to slip back to the avenge Cora-san mentality, pushing the temporary relapse from his mind. Besides, as long as he won here, it wouldn't matter what Doflamingo knew about his crew, so he pushed the what-ifs and panic from his mind to replace them with his purpose.

Of course, because this was Doflamingo and he was a complete and utter demon, not even destroying him from the inside was enough to stop him. The bastard gloated, referring to his Gamma Knife as a Kamikaze attack, and Law wished he wasn't right. He had no strength left, not even enough to roll away from the foot descending on him with a vengeance, and his overflowing frustration burst out of him in a single curse.

"DAMN IT!" He was going to die. He'd failed; everything he'd spent the last thirteen years doing hadn't been enough. He'd let his crew, his ever-loyal, faithful, crew down. Let Cora-san down.

He barely registered when the attack was blocked by a single sandaled foot, stopping it dead a foot above his head and saving his life – again, how many times would Mugiwara-ya save his life before this was all over, one way or another?

What caught his attention was the wave of Conqueror's Haki overflowing from his ally, the sheer force of its collision with Doflamingo's own sending him flying, out of immediate danger. The landing settled his thoughts, shocking him back into the now, where Monkey D. Luffy was standing up to Donquixote Doflamingo in a battle of wills and not losing.

Law didn't have Conqueror's Haki. He could stand against it, but he couldn't pour his willpower out in the way required to overpower weaker wills than his own. He had many disadvantages against Doflamingo, but that was the one he'd never been able to do anything about. Now, Law was staring straight at a man – others might call Mugiwara-ya a boy, but as Law watched him stand his ground against a demon all he could see was a man – who could do that one thing Law would never manage.

Mugiwara-ya was better suited to defeat Doflamingo. Law had played all his cards and lost, the steady drip drip of blood from his right shoulder and the hole through his chest a message that nothing he sacrificed would be enough. But there was Mugiwara-ya, tall, proud and dangerous, better suited for this victory. Law didn't want to give up, was – in the words of his crew – stubborn beyond all reason, but he was a realist. Even if, by some medical miracle beyond what even he could do, he managed to reach his feet again, all that awaited him was death.

Half an hour ago, Law wouldn't have cared. Even five minutes ago, he wouldn't have cared, his mind full of nothing but avenge Cora-san, finish what Cora-san couldn't.

Then Doflamingo had mentioned his crew, and battered, almost broken and on the edge of death, Law remembered the idiots that had promised to wait, as long as it took. He couldn't beat Doflamingo, but he didn't have to, not when Mugiwara-ya was still playing the part of his puppet. It wasn't a perfect situation, but Law was resourceful. He had been the mastermind behind the confrontation, so no matter which of them killed Doflamingo, it was still his win.

Law wanted to live. He wanted to take down Doflamingo and live, because his nakama were waiting for him, and Doflamingo had made a big mistake mentioning his crew, because now Law was thinking again, rather than charging blindly like that bull he'd spend too much time on the back of.

Law was always most dangerous when he thought.

Doflamingo he would have to leave to Mugiwara-ya, no matter how much his pride rankled. He barely had the strength to move a single finger, and while he wasn't so heartless as to simply abandon the other captain – it was his revenge, after all, and Law hadn't gone thirteen years to flee and leave it up to someone else – he was nothing more than a liability until his strength returned. If it returned; there was always the chance that he wouldn't receive medical attention in time and die. Quite a large chance, in fact.

Trebol, on the other hand, he could do something about. Law was all but immobile, but against the dumber executive he still had two weapons at his disposal. He'd always been good at winding people up, and took a perverse pleasure in once again reverting back to the bratty kid Trebol had always hated, coaxing him closer and watching as he let his guard down, believing that Law was on death's door. And maybe he was, but Trebol would be going there first.

His pride as a captain, he claimed it to be as he manipulated his own severed arm to clutch Kikoku and bisect the mucus man. He couldn't leave it all to Mugiwara-ya, he added, although whether anyone was listening to him was an unknown.

He almost hoped they weren't as he slipped up, mentioning his own crew and how he wouldn't be able to face them if he couldn't at least do that much. An innocent sentence, spoken out of pride, betrayed his desire to be able to face them again, to survive and reunite with the crew that had got him to Dressrosa in the first place.

Luckily for him, Trebol was too enraged to pay attention to his exact words, and as the fire engulfed Law, regret bubbled up – couldn't avenge Cora-san, wouldn't survive to see his crew again – before his body finally gave out and everything went dark.

There were a lot of thoughts in Law's head during Dressrosa, first and foremost his devotion to Cora-san's memory and vengeance. But there were times, sometimes, when he was at his lowest point and Doflamingo seemed undefeatable, that his mind strayed to his faithful crew waiting for him on Zou and his resignation to death turned to a grim determination to live.

So we all know that Dressrosa is all about Law wanting vengeance for Cora-san etc., but there's that one scene, when he takes down Trebol, where he mentions not being able to face his crew if he didn't at least take one of them (Doflamingo/Trebol) down. T hat comes shortly after Doflamingo mentioning his crew in his tirade, and also seems to correspond to Law shifting from must kill Doflamingo to appearing to almost give up and rely entirely on Luffy to finish the job. Coincidence? Maybe not.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari