"C'mon men, MOVE MOVE MOVE!"

"SIR YES SIR!"

The platoon of marines turned down the deserted alleyway and continued running, stampeding for all they were worth towards the central plaza. Left right left right left right left right… Sweat dripping in droves down their brows. They could barely tell which foot they were moving, let alone where they were going. So they kept moving. And kept running. Until the alleyway they had run through was, once again, deserted.

Or… apparently so.

Strauss straightened herself from behind the crate of ammunitions she'd been hiding behind. It was just as well people were too busy to pay much attention to their surroundings, and that everyone with that so called 'observation haki' were either indisposed or too overwhelmed to use it properly. Otherwise she probably would have been caught by now.

Since as much as she hated to belittle her own stealth skills… This was way out of her league.

Still, she sighed, part of her couldn't actually believe she'd actually snuck away from Bogard to begin with. The excuse she'd used was… to call it pitiful would be generous at best. Her pride still internally cringed just thinking about it.

To think she'd asked to be excused to avoid calling attention to the fact she was a woman.

Fullbody had helped her cause, that was for certain, and Strauss had a hunch that Bogard had only agreed so quickly to avoid causing too much of a fuss. The way that pink haired idiot had continued blabbering on about 'waitresses' and 'damn cooks' was drawing more than a few pairs of eyes their way. It was sheer miracle that no one had seen her bounty poster yet.

Perhaps Ace was right on that front. Her bounty really was too low for people to notice.

…

With that thought lingering ominously in her mind Strauss quickened her pace, weaving through the alleyways and side passages as fast as stealth could allow. She didn't exactly have a destination in mind, nor any clear idea of how to navigate this maze outside of the few places she'd been with Coby and Helmeppo, but she didn't care.

Law had asked her many times in the past. What exactly was it about Portgas D Ace that was driving her to do something so damn stupid and reckless. And the simple answer, like most answers she had nowadays, was that she had no idea. None other than she just wanted to. Her new captain could never understand that. He was a man of logic, so anything without that was pretty much incomprehensible to him. At least without him saying it was foolish.

The sound of voices coming around the corner sent her skittering into the shadows, pressed flush against an external ventilation pipe.

And perhaps she was being foolish. Perhaps she was just twisting her unconscious insecurities and doubt way out of proportion until they were directing her towards something she wasn't even sure she agreed with. But… that didn't feel quite right. She'd spent so much time with Ace, and on such a small boat too… was it really so unreasonable to think that she could form some sort of emotional attachment? That this wasn't just another of her stupid stupid impulse thoughts?

That she would have regretted not taking this decision for as long as she lived?

Straightening once again, she continued off through the facility. Walking as firmly and purposefully as possible. As if she had every right in the world to be there. Which she did, but for a very different reason than the other Marines expected obviously.

Failure wasn't an option here. Planning and sheer luck had made her get this far, so like hell she'd stop and think about what to do next. Every second was precious. Every tick of the clock another moment wasted.

Tension pooled in her shoulders. Harsh and stiff and still drumming with morbid anticipation for what was to come as she marched onwards

She wouldn't fail here. She couldn't. It wasn't allowed to happen.

In the distance she caught a glimpse of two men in very official looking gear with obnoxiously large swords strapped to their hips. Too obnoxiously large to be anything but suspicious. Executioners perhaps?

A grim smirk flickered over Strauss's face.

Mark her words; she would save Portgas D Ace. Or die trying.

.

Sanji blinked. And blinked again, gaze flicking back and forth between Strauss and the lovely Marine Captain.

"Look, Tashigi-" Strauss pinched the bridge of her nose- "I get that we have a lot to talk about-"

"I know-" Tashigi scowled (rather cutely, Sanji thought)- "Now's not the time. You seriously think I don't realise that?" Her eyes flicked towards a large pile of rubble in one of the previous rooms. Rubble which Sanji had just ran through. "I've sealed off the door to the room to prevent the gas from flowing in, but we don't know if that'll hold or not."

A vein tensed in Strauss' jaw, but other than that she remained unreadable.

"Everyone!" Tashigi span to command her men. "Do all you can to save the children!"

Almost immediately the G-5 Marines began to splutter, "Wha… What are you going to do?"

"C-Captain?!"

Strauss turned towards the open doorway behind her, "Excellent plan. Now if you would excuse me…"

Only to be stopped by a hand on her arm.

"But mark my words," Tashigi leant venomously into Strauss' face, "We will talk about your choices later. I really thought you were better than this."

Sanji couldn't do anything but watch.

For once, he wasn't a part of a conversation involving Strauss. He had no idea what was running through her head, or what sort of history was between these two; since there must be history there! There couldn't not be! Not with the way they were acting…

He was lost.

And he didn't know where to start again.

"Like I said before-" Strauss twisted her arm from Tashigi's grip in an instant- "sorry to say this but I'm not." Her face soured. "This is who I am, and who I've always been… so you shouldn't expect better of me."

Only that Strauss hated herself far more than she'd used to. Which only twisted the knife in his gut.

Eventually Strauss took a step back, gesturing vaguely to where Monet was just about to flap her way back into the air. "Now we can go on at length about how much of my future I apparently wasted, or we can actually get out of this alive. Since although I value my life, having a little heart to heart is obviously more important."

A deep flush spread over Tashigi's face, "That Captain of yours is a bad influence on you." She turned towards the snow woman with her blade outstretched, "You should know better than to take me for a fool, Valentino. Especially after the time we spent together."

"I'm afraid that's only made me think of you as more of a fool, Miss Marine."

"Tch!" Coat billowing in the wind, Tashigi pivoted back to face the snow woman. Deliberately not meeting Strauss' eyes. "We will talk about this. But later. Since my help is obviously needed here."

Strauss said nothing. Her face didn't even move. Instead, all she did was start was turn and stalk back towards the door.

"What…" A lump grew in Sanji's throat, for reasons he couldn't quite explain. "What was all that about? What sort of history do you two have together?"

"Oh nothing much." Strauss somewhat hastily turned back towards the gaping hole in the snowy door. "We travelled together onto the Grand Line. There's nothing else really to say. Now-" She glared back behind her- "Are you idiots going to come with me to find the Straw Hats' doctor, or would you prefer bleeding out over the snow?"

Nothing much was it? Sanji paused a moment, watching the G-5 Marines begrudgingly get to their feet and begin to trail out of the room. Oh he wasn't so sure about that. Sanji, although he admitted he could be particularly oblivious at times, was no fool. He'd seen that expression on Tashigi's face. It was… quite telling, to say the least. And the way Strauss' jaw had tightened slightly was even more telling.

Something roiled in the pit of his stomach.

But Strauss was right, as she often was now it seemed. They needed to leave and find Chopper. Some of these men had large gashes cut out of their sides and needed medical attention fast. Not to mention…

Almost unbidden his eyes flicked towards Strauss' retreating figure.

He wasn't sure why, but there was something about her that didn't look that good. Even compared to when he'd caught glances of her earlier… she looked drained. And there was the way she was favouring one arm over the other. He'd almost thought he'd imagined it at first, but her expression just now after Tashigi…

It was probably nothing. It was hopefully nothing. But still. He'd feel a lot better about everything if she let Chopper take a look at her.

"Are you coming or what?"

"H… Huh?" Sanji started a little, "Are you… not going on ahead?"

Strauss arched a brow, "What? Just because I can run fast doesn't mean I should all the time. Besides, it's safer for us to move as one group here instead of splitting up. We don't know where Caesar's gas is coming from, and for all we know we could end up getting trapped behind the shutters. And…" She trailed off, grimacing.

He waited, snow whipping around his face. As much as his gut told him something was up if she was acting like this… there was another tiny voice inside of him saying he could be completely wrong. And if he was wrong… and said something stupid…

It was better to let her figure this out herself.

"Look," she eventually lowered her voice until it was barely audible over the roaring wind, "I'm running on empty here. And if I go down…"

Sanji's nose wrinkled in distaste.

"...let's just say that not only my life would be in danger." Gritting her teeth, Strauss lent in to meet his eyes. "Get it?"

No. He honestly didn't. But he wasn't all that bothered about that right now. If Strauss… uh… Did that thing (even thinking about it made him feel all sorts of disgusted)... He'd hate himself. He would have failed.

His fists clenched.

And he wouldn't fail. No one on the crew of the future pirate king could ever fail.

"Yeah, I get it." The lies tasted heavy on his tongue. "Besides, you know the facility better than any of us don't you?"

Her brow furrowed questioningly, "Didn't Law draw a map of this place at some point?"

"If you think I'm going to remember a bunch of squiggly lines drawn in the dirt and match them up to a chaotic three dimensional scientific facility-" which he had, quite well in fact- "Then you've been around that neurotic captain of yours way for way too long already."

"Pft. You can say that again. Well guys?" The last part was barked out to the cheering Marines gathering around them. "You all alright to go?"

To Sanji's surprise, they looked particularly disgruntled.

Strauss, however, merely rolled her eyes, "Is this about earlier? When threw your little toys away?" The lack of answer was telling enough. "Are you really that petty? One wrong move here and you could die. We're on the same side here whether you like it or not, so suck it up and deal with it."

The men exchanged irritable looks, drawing imaginary lots to decide which would be the unfortunate sod who'd voice the group's grievances. Eventually the short straw was drawn by one of the burlier ones. He let out a curse, before putting on his most menacing scowl and directing it back at Strauss.

"How can you expect us to trust a cold hearted bitch li-"

Red flashed before Sanji's eyes and he was just about to open his mouth and give this idiot a piece of his mind (and shoe) but-

"Did you hear anything in there about trust?"

He hung back. This was her fight. As much as he wanted to stomp it into this little ingrate's skull that he shouldn't disrespect her like that… he knew full well that she'd be pretty angry at him.

"Look." Reaching forwards, Strauss grabbed the marine's collar and yanked him forcefully towards her face. "Call me cold hearted. Call me a bitch. I don't care either way. I don't care if you hate me. The only thing I'm focused on is getting out of this alive… so I'm just as pissed about this situation as you are."

Her grip loosened, and the man dropped with a flop onto the snow at her feet.

"All you've got to do is suck it up and deal, otherwise you're dead. No two things about it. You go- NGH!"

Sanji didn't even have time to react as an immense tremor ran through Strauss' body. And not the normal sorts of shakes due to the cold or even a fever. This seemed more serious. More… abnormal even.

"I'm fine," she hissed between gritted teeth before he could ask, in a tone that was more frustrated than anything else. "Just… gotta…" And before he could stop her, she slammed a fist directly into her chest. "There we go."

"Wha…" It was all he could do to try and keep the chaotic thoughts whirling around his head at bay.. "What was…"

"Oh I was just sending a message to a certain idiot telling him to finish up his damn fight."

In another area of the facility, a certain Warlord let out a string of loud curses while his body convulsed.

"Well then-" she shook out her hand irritably- "We should go. We've hung around here way too long already."

Sanji, despite his better judgement, bit back his questions. As much as he desperately wanted to ask them (and oh boy did he have questions)... she was right. Even though this conversation had only taken minutes, it still felt like a whole half hour. And they didn't even have minutes to spa-

A trickle of blood dripped onto the snow.

Sanji blinked for a moment. And glanced around. Monet was still on the other side of the room, battling it out with Tashigi and that damned swordsman. So why was there…

"Fuck." Strauss raised a hand to her lip, wiping away the thin line of red. "Didn't mean to bite…" She swayed. "To bite that…" And drifted. "Goddammit…"

Oh.

Before she toppled face first into Sanji's (thankfully) awaiting arms.

No.

"S… Strauss?" He wasn't sure what was trembling more, him or her body. "Strauss?! I-Is there anything I can do?! Can I… can I…"

"Just…" Her hand went to the buttons of her jacket-

Sanji jerked his head back and clapped a hand over his nose preemptively. "S-Strauss this really isn't the time just please cover up I don't want you to get cold!"

-and pulled out a warm, beating, cube.

"Take it." Those green eyes commanded him, shoving the cube into his hand. "Make sure you get this to Law."

Was that… was that a… a…

Sanji almost vomited.

Was he seriously holding a still beating heart in his hand?! An actual alive human heart?!

But then what about…

Despite his better judgement he glanced down to Strauss' chest. Where his breath hitched at the sight of the cube-shaped cavity cut out of her flesh.

Right where her own heart would be.

His grip on her tightened, every knuckle turning whiter with every passing second.

"Sanji… Sanji are you listening to me?"

The children? Caesar Clown? The alliance? All that bullshit was out the window now. He didn't give a shit. When someone hurt his crew he'd give them hell. That much was a given. When they hurt one of his closest friends?! Someone who… who… who was practically family?!

Strauss' protests fell on deaf ears as he bought her up into a carry, clutching her close to his chest.

He was going to murder Trafalgar Law. And that wasn't just a random thought, or even a promise to himself that he might break later. That, was a fact.

Surprisingly, to everyone but those who knew them, Trafalgar Law was not the one who had suggested the heart arrangement. In fact, he'd been against the idea from the very beginning.

"No." He'd said firmly when they were approaching Punk Hazard in the Polar Tang, quite some time ago now. "That's one of the most idiotic ideas I've ever heard in my life."

"Really?" Strauss had just narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest from where she sat one legged in the corner, "And yet you're willing to just hand over your own heart if it comes to it? Are you seriously hearing yourself right now?"

"Caesar will want some form of collateral before he agrees to us working with him-" If memory served, he'd then prodded the cross section of his crewmate's leg- "Bend your knee."

She had done so without argument, the disjointed movement of her disembodied leg perfectly natural to her now through the many times her captain had sliced up and examined her still living body. "I'm not denying that he'll want collateral, but don't you think it would be smarter to give him something less valuable than your heart?"

"It is a plan of my own making therefore I should be prepared to make the sacrifices necessary. Now flex." Then he'd jotted down his observations on a clipboard. "Besides, giving them mine would show greater trust. They'd be more likely to forgive us when we slip up if they believe they have something they know I cannot lose."

He didn't mean any offence by the statement, and she knew it full well.

"That's the exact reason why we should trick them." He could remember her sitting in the corner as she watched Law create an even smaller Room, slice off the tiniest portion of her muscle tissue, and position it on a microscope slide. "You're by far the strongest out of the two of us, it would make more sense for you to be operating without any risk of retaliation. I'm not saying that we just o-"

"The muscle structure here is far tighter than it used to be. Whatever training you're doing, it's working."

"Listen to me!"

Law had let out a yelp as her disembodied leg kicked him across the back of the head, "Do you want me to toss your leg into the stomach of a Sea King?"

She'd just waved it away, "I'm not saying that we just offer my heart outright. That would be foolish."

"Exactly, so-"

"So…" Strauss had interjected, an almost triumphant twitch in her mouth. "We let Caesar think he's got your heart."

And thus the plan had been born. The insistency of his crewmate's logic was hard to argue against even for him. Before they'd landed at Punk Hazard, Law had cut both their pulsing hearts out of their chests and they'd placed the other's in the vacant cavity. Looking at them side by side, they were clearly different- Law's was larger while Strauss' beat at a faster rate- but that was no matter. A heart was a heart, at least hopefully to Caesar Clown. The man was ultimately a biochemist, not a surgeon. Needless to say when the time came and Law faked cutting out 'his' heart, the scientist was too drunk on getting one over on a Warlord to bother investigating the organ any further. It had worked beautifully.

For a while Law was happy with this. Neither of them had done anything suspicious, and if anything it was easier than ever for Strauss to contact him covertly whenever her heart was touched (namely by touching his own heart a bit, which was disconcerting but efficient) so it could definitely be considered a success. When they had finally gathered enough intel to properly apprehend Caesar and his henchmen Law would take the heart back and that would be that. Hardly any danger involved, and he'd even begun thinking that perhaps Strauss was overreacting just a little.

Then Straw Hat had come along. And all Law's well crafted plans had been tossed out the window.

Now there was a very real risk that his crewmate could end up dead.

Back in the present, Law clawed his face off the grated metal flooring. On the opposite side of the platform White Chase was taking up the majority of Vergo's attention… The false marine had almost forgotten Law was even there at this point. Which was good. It meant Law's weak act was working… Time to plan the next move.

With his devil fruit he could sever Vergo in half in an instant. Law knew that. If he put his mind to it, he could do it right now.

The problem was Strauss' heart.

The moment Law did so much as conjure a Room between his fingers, it would be over. Vergo had an almost inhuman reaction time (although Law had also seen far better… like his crewmate's). One wrong move and…

Although come to think of it… why hadn't Vergo crushed her heart already? If it had in fact been Law's it would have made sense, Doflamingo needed his devil fruit to become immortal or whatever bullshit he was thinking up. Strauss was, as much as he hated to say it, expendable.

She didn't have a useful devil fruit. She didn't have connections to any major underworld powers. She wasn't even a particularly strong fighter. An effective one, sure, but not strong. She'd admitted as much herself. The only thing of note was her near impossible speed, but that couldn't be the only reason could it?

So… why?

Not that he was complaining. Oh dear god no. As if Law wouldn't take any opportunity he'd get. But he couldn't deny that it was more than a little strange. And Law didn't like things that he couldn't logically deduce.

It wasn't even as if she was going to be used to blackmail him (putting aside the fact that Doflamingo knew that Law was far too cold hearted to possibly care about anyone other than himself, which was obviously the truth in Law's eyes even if he didn't want Strauss to die. That was a decision based on pure pragmatism. Nothing else). If blackmail was the case than Vergo would've said as much the moment he found out that he was holding Strauss' heart. But he hadn't. And instead had chosen to continue fighting them while still keeping her heart alive. That wasn't easy, especially for someone who fights using martial arts like Vergo.

White Chase managed to land a blow on Vergo's torso, only for it to glaze past the Haki covered surface.

He had to think of something to sort this situation out. He'd promised to be her Captain as long as their deal held, and part of the responsibilities of being captain was taking care of his subordinates (which, at the present moment, he was failing miserably at).n Not to mention it would be outright foolish of him to let go of such a capable worker. She maintained the Polar Tang, solved the crew's grievances, managed their resources, allowed him to actively dissect her body and examine her… And made damn good coffee.

Did Doflamingo want a secretary? It was unlikely, but at this point Law wouldn't put anything past that feathered asshole. For all he knew, the bastard wanted Strauss for the same reasons Law did… because she was one of the only people on these seas who was mildly competent?

No. It sounded stranger and stranger the more he kept thinking about it. He'd sooner believe that Vergo had sprouted a conscience and was seconds away from breaking down in tears.

What the hell was going on?

Law's brow furrowed as White Chase was delt a particularly brutal blow to the stomach and went flying across the platform.

What did Doflamingo even hope to gain from this? What was it about Valentino Strauss that made it valuable to keep her alive?

Or who did she know who wanted to keep her that way?

A/N

H... hello.

It's uh... yeah. Not gonna do that again. I do it way too often hahaha... But it has been a while. Things have been... pretty rough for me recently. I'm alright now, but I just needed to take a break from writing for a bit. Should be back for the time being tho. Thank you all so much for all your lovely comments, I even have some screenshotted to use as motivation. Always makes me feel happy :)

This chapter was... both longer and shorter than I really wanted it to be. I had so many ideas, but this point really wanted to keep dragging on. Hope I did it justice, and gave you a good little cliffhanger to chew on at the end there (I'm told I'm good at those ^_^) Sanji was a little harder to nail down than he usually was, but I'm chalking that down to me not updating this in a while. Forgive me there.

A shorter A/N than usual since I know people don't always read these. I hope you all are doing well and are safe and happy. Have a lovely day/night people, and I'll see you next time.