For one of the few times Law could remember, his office was packed to the brim with almost every single one of his crewmates. He could barely move. The room hadn't been designed for so many people. But no one wanted to be out of the loop. Shachi was perched next to Law's chair, anxiously fretting over the tiny transponder snail even though he had checked and double checked the creature over ten times already. Penguin hovered by his friend's side. And Law could feel a wall of fur behind him from where Bepo was leaning over him like a marshmallowy wraith. His fingers steepled. So many people in such close proximity… even though he knew they were his crewmates he couldn't help but feel a little nauseated. Him and crowds had never mixed well. Although that was normally because of a mix between the sensation of people mushing all around him and the wave upon wave of senseless chatter that his head wanted nothing to do with… This crowd on the other hand?
They were quieter than the dead. He found he hated that more than the noise.
No one said a word. Law wasn't even sure they could anymore. Even though they had tens of thousands of litres of water pressing in on the Polar Tang from all sides… the pressure of what was going on above the surface made it seem like nothing.
And one of his crew was in the thick of it.
He continued staring in front of him. At that tiny little transponder snail… a perfectly innocent creature which was going to broadcast one of the greatest wars in living memory. As it kept on buzzing and buzzing and buzzing. Not yet put online.
The moment that static stopped… they would be witnessing history. And possibly even making it.
It stopped.
Law couldn't breathe. The air had frozen in his lungs even though he knew that such a thing was stupid and completely irrational. If he'd thought that buzzing was bad, the silence was worse. It magnified everything. The rustle of his crewmates' clothes. The sweat dripping down his forehead. The beat of his heart thumping in his chest. They all seemed so… loud.
And that was when the snail began to speak.
'I have something to tell you all.'
The voice was low, husky even, and full of age defying command. Even though Law had never heard it before in his life, he just knew that this was Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
That thudding in his chest increased.
'It is vital-' The snail seemed to be staring right at him. So mocking in its utter blankness- 'in order to fully understand the significance of Portgas D Ace's death today.'
His knuckles were white. Whiter than white. And still paling.
'Ace, tell the people the name of your father.'
Alarm bells. That was what the thumping meant. It was a sign of the alarm bells screaming inside of Law's head. Since a proclamation like that… It could never end well.
'My father…' Now that voice must be Portgas. 'My father is Whitebeard.'
'No.'
'YES HE IS! WHITEBEARD IS MY ONLY FATHER!'
It was piercing. Both the shriek and the sentiment carried within it. Law couldn't help but begin to think back… to cigarette smoke, kind feathered embraces, and hastily smothered fires. The memories that had lived alongside those of his real father and possibly even overshadowed them.
But for the Fleet Admiral to be pressuring the fact even when Portgas was willingly proclaiming himself as the son of an Emperor…
The alarm bells began to crescendo.
'We looked for you with all our might back then. All because we got a small tidbit of reliable information from Cipher Pol that HIS child might be in that area.'
No. Law's eyes stung with how wide they were gaping. It… It couldn't be.
'We checked all newborns, preborn children, and even their mothers but we couldn't find you. No wonder, when your mother risked her life to bear you. It seems we were not prepared for that woman's sheer tenacity and pride. That simple deception misled us… and indeed mislead the whole world.'
His hands dug under his hat and into his hair. Gripping and tugging and yanking so hard that he thanked his stars later that he didn't go bald.
'There is an island called Baterilla in the South Blue. On which lived your mother, Portgas D Rouge.'
She… Strauss hadn't known about this had she?! She couldn't have… right?
'She did something that completely defied nature for the love of her child, and kept her baby inside her womb for 20 whole months. An effort so great that as soon as she gave birth she lost all her strength and passed away immediately.''
Impossible. This was… impossible. Even putting aside the likelihood that a woman could control the gestation period like that, something like that was such a great logical leap! They were… The Fleet Admiral was just talking out of his ass. That was it. This was propaganda. Just propaganda.
But where there was smoke there was fire. And this fire blazed brighter than most.
'And so a year and three months after the father's death a child was born with the blood of the world's most heinous man in his veins. You, Portgas D Ace.'
He… They had to run. They had to leave immediately! Before… before… they got too messed up in this! But then they would have to abandon Strauss who was somewhere far above them in the centre of this chaos that she simply could not have known about!
'Surely you know. Your father is-'
BANG!
The transponder snail bounced a full inch off the desk as both of Law's clenched fists crashed into the metal. They stung. Blood beginning to pool beneath his nails. Which meant that this wasn't a nightmare. This was real. Oh so very real.
He gritted his teeth. Body shaking with barely suppressed emotion that was beginning to rise over the spilling point.
'-the King of the Pirates, GOLD ROGER!'
"What the fuck," Trafalgar Law snarled, "have you gotten us into, Strauss-ya?"
.
"Everyone hurry! Get on the truck!"
"Climb in at the front too!"
"Watch your step!"
"Kids you get on first!"
"Hurry up!"
The moment Strauss and Law had arrived with the transport cart, sheer chaos had broken out. People had all but sprinted for the cart, limbs flailing, voices bellowing, and it was all Strauss could do to let go of the rope and stand to one side to avoid being trampled. Just as it was all she could do to slump gracelessly to the ground. Deep down she knew she should do something… That she should at least step up and help some of the kids… There was a strange peach snake like thing that had suddenly appeared and she really should question… But her arms were aching. Particularly the side from when Monet had trapped her in that snow wall. She'd already pulled that cart hadn't she? And there were more than enough Marines there doing their best to hoist giant children into the blasted thing. She would probably just get in the way.
"How's your shoulder doing?"
She wasn't surprised that he knew. One of the few perks of having a doctor as a pirate captain was that he knew her body almost better than she did. "It's alright." Grimacing, she gave it an experimental stretch. "It got dislocated earlier. Think I popped it back in all right."
"I'll be the judge of that." Law crouched down, jabbing a rude finger around the aching area and humming tunelessly as Strauss's only reaction was a low hiss. "Were you facing Monet-ya when this happened?"
A terse nod.
"I thought so. The snow must have numbed the pain somewhat." As if to prove his point he prodded again. Resulting in an even greater wince. "There might be a bone splinter or two in there, I'll investigate a cross section when I've recovered more strength. Take this for now." He produced one of his lab-made painkillers from a small sachet in his coat and offered it to her. "Should help you think straight for this final leg. I'll take a look at it when Straw Hat-ya stops being an idiot and actually captures Caesar-ya like we decided in our alliance."
Strauss arched a brow.
"Oi. Don't look at your Captain like that."
"Well it was your decision. I had nothing to say about this 'alliance', otherwise I would have warned you."
He hissed out a sigh. "... take the pill and shut up." Rising to his feet, the circles under his eyes looking far more prominent in the meagre facility lights, Law shot one final look in her direction. "I'm going to talk to Straw Hat-ya about why the hell we haven't moved yet. Oh, and maybe Smoker-ya wants his heart back. Preserve your energy until we need it, since we will."
Strauss watched him go, tossing the pill into her mouth and swallowing as soon as possible. It was a horrid thing, both acrid and dry in the worst possible ways. In moments the mild throbbing in her shoulder dimmed as her nervous centre became hyper aware of the wretched sensations in her tongue. But hey. As long as it worked.
"Are you alright?"
She scrunched her eyes shut, tilting her head until the back lightly thudded against the wall behind her. "I appreciate the concern, but I am not an invalid. You don't need to check on me every ten minutes."
"Well excuse me for wanting to make sure you're alright." Warmth settled in as Sanji slumped down beside her. Thankfully on the opposite side to her aching shoulder. "What did you just take by the way?"
"Painkiller. Just so my head is clear." Lolling her head to the side she saw the look of horror on his face. "I'm fine. Nothing life threatening, just a dislocated shoulder."
His nose wrinkled into a grimace, "And you still pulled that heavy cart? Is Trafalgar your Captain or your slavedriver?"
The glare he received in return was frosty.
"Fine…" Sighing, he ducked his head. "That was a bit much. Sorry. And I know that you were probably the stubborn idiot who volunteered to do it."
Strauss felt herself relax. Which most would consider strange, given that she'd been insulted to her face, "You're right on that front."
"I figured as much. It's just I…"
Despite her better judgement, she turned to look at him. And her chest promptly clenched into knots.
"I was worried is all." An errant strand of his fringe was being twisted between two idle fingers. This way and that. Strangely boyish compared to this figure that was so much older than the one in her memories. "You're one of my best… or closest… The last thing I want is to see you hurt in any way." He glanced up at her now. Those blue-grey eyes bright beneath his lashes. "Physically… or emotionally."
Ah. So he was trying to ask about the war. Wasn't he.
And it wasn't as if she wasn't up for talking about it. The words were fine. She could sit there with a straight face and recount the entire situation if prompted. The problem was, like Sanji said, the emotions. Things she was notoriously bad at parsing through.
"Not… now," was all she said after what felt like an eternity of thinking. "Not when we still have the threat of imminent death hanging over our heads. But later-" she made sure to meet his gaze head on- "we can definitely talk. I owe you a chance to explain myself properly and without the fear of being interrupted. Is that… alright?"
His face softened, lips curling into a smile that somehow managed to wash all her worries away. "Yeah. It's more than alright. I think I owe you a thing or two too, to be honest. And there's so much stuff I want to talk to you about."
"Later then?"
"Later."
A low rumble echoed though the air. So perfectly timed that for a brief moment of immaturity, Strauss thought that this was the more metaphorical sensation of her sense of reason crumbling. But it wasn't. And nothing was crumbling. As she and Sanji both glanced up, they saw the gaping jaws of the R facility door ahead of them begin to shudder shut.
She was up and on her feet in an instant, "We need to move. I'll go talk to Law about what needs doing."
"Just wait on a moment." A hand latched onto her arm as Sanji joined her. "Usopp, Chopper, and Brook aren't here yet."
The panic began to bubble in. "Do they have transponder snails? Can you contact them somehow?"
"No." He at least had the decency to look sheepish. "That's not something we've ever done before. But considering how much we've been forced to split up recently, it's not a bad idea."
Not a bad idea, he said…
"Then… we've just got to go!" A moment of light dizziness caused her to stumble against the facility wall. A moment which she refused to acknowledge. "If they can't contact us we have absolutely no way of knowing if they'll be here in time or not."
"We've got to wait a bit. Just a little bit longer." For some strange and unbeknownst reason, he didn't seem all that bothered about it. Which, if anything, only raised her own hackles further.
"We… we can't just wait!" Her hand flung out towards the gradually closing door. "You realise what that is, right? That's an automatic airlock door. It's not actually manned, the thing's attached to several sensors on both sides to detect hazardous substances and separate them from the rest of the facility. If it's closing, the Caesar's gas is nearly here."
Sanji's own brow began to furrow, "I understand that, but we can't leave without them. They're going to pull through, and if we're just gone then they are… they are… they…"
"And what about us if they don't? I… damn!" Hissing, she made to pinch the bridge of her nose. Begging her pulse to slow. "I… get that you're worried about your crew and don't want to leave without them. I really do." That part was genuine. "I know I'm being an asshole here." Also genuine. "But what about the worst case scenario? What about if the absolute worst possible thing actually happens and they don't show? Are you seriously asking us all to just sit back and let our last chance of escape vanish because we don't know about what's happened to your friends?"
Strauss knew he wouldn't listen. Even though she didn't understand his priorities. Since just… what was she supposed to do here? There were no right answers. And while there was still some teenie tiny sliver in her brain that kept screaming and screaming that absolutely no one should be left behind, the majority… the majority…
…
"If it's really that important-" The words felt heavy. As if her mouth knew full well that what she was about to suggest was foolish, and didn't want to say a thing- "I can go look for them. Your crew I mean."
He froze. So stiff she wasn't even sure he was breathing. That one visible eye boring a hole through her from behind his fringe.
"Admittedly, it wouldn't be much of a search." Turning, she focused her attention towards the gradually decreasing gap between the metal doors. "The gas has closed in significantly… I'm not even sure how many corridors are still safe. But I'm fast enough to scan a relatively big area." Her feet ached in protest. "And if they are still alive, I can make sure to guide them towards the gate in time. That'd be all I'm able to do, since I'm not sure if-"
"No."
The sheer intensity was enough to shock her into silence. So forceful it stayed there, hanging suspended in the air. Stifling a wince, Strauss forcibly bit down on her tongue. The pain was good. Freeing even. It gave her something to focus on that wasn't the state of her own nearly spent energy reserves, nor the convoluted mess in her head. Blood seeped into her mouth, and she gulped it down. Hiding her moment of weakness.
She shifted her weight. Not quite brave enough to look him in the face. "No, what?"
"You're not going out there."
Another beat. Another gulp of thick blood to clear her mouth.
"And… why not?"
"Because…" Why did he have to sound so pleading? It tugged on every fibre of her morality and made her seem like an ass no matter what she did. "…you don't need to."
She didn't need to. Or, the obvious meaning between the lines, he didn't need her.
If only she wasn't so weak.
The thought didn't anger her like she had thought it would. Nor was it particularly upsetting. If anything, she was just… numb. And tired. Since deep down, no matter how hard she tried to stifle it, she knew that there was no point in fighting.
For all her training, for all those years of drills and experimentation and becoming faster and faster and faster… she still wasn't enough. She had grown stronger, but she was still too weak.
And she would forever be in his eyes.
"LUUUUFFYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
The cry echoed out of the distance, seemingly engulfed by a wave of purple gas. But it was clear enough. She heard Sanji turn behind her, most likely in an effort to try and catch a glimpse of Chopper's antlers or hat, and her head fell limp.
"Well." Her voice was barely a whisper, despite being drowned by the various expressions of glee and relief that rippled around the room, but she didn't have the motivation to raise it."I guess that solves that problem."
And with that she stalked off towards her captain. So silent and sure footed that Sanji didn't even notice she left. Save for a small glob of bloody spittle that she spat out as she left, and smeared under her boot.
"The passage is going to cave in!"
"This is no good! Luffy, stop punching rocks into the wall, you'll make it collapse faster!"
"Huh?"
Law resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "This tunnel is dug through a mountain. If it collapses, we'll be buried alive."
"Oi!" Usopp rounded on him. "Why the hell're you saying that in such a relaxed manner?!"
Because it was a miracle that they'd made it this far. A miracle and Law's own meticulous planning. Not that any of the Straw Hats appreciated it in the slightest…
Law felt his head loll from side to side as the cart rocked from Straw Hat punching aside another piece of debris despite the long nose's shrieks as they zoomed down the transport tunnel. He wanted to stay still. To stay alert. But he, just like his crewmate, was nearing empty. His eyes flicked along the people in the cart. Gently lingering on the Straw Hats' injuries… or rather, lack thereof.
It felt almost insulting. To see both himself, Strauss, and Smoker covered in layers upon layers of blood and scrapes and grit while the Straw Hats seemed so comparatively unharmed. As if they hadn't been taking this great puzzle he'd immaculately created seriously. He knew it was foolish. How were they to know the lengths he and Strauss had gone to the make sure this worked. Nor how he'd been forced to sacrifice anything and everything he could to make sure each piece was in the perfect exact place at the perfect exact time. It had sucked so much out of him…
And then Straw Hat just had to ignore him and the guidelines he'd set out, and punch Caesar into oblivion…
WHY?!
Groaning, Law pinched the bridge of his nose. Trying to summon the last remnants of self restraint to stop himself from giving everyone on this wretched train cart (bar himself and his crewmate) impromptu heart transplants.
Leaning against the wall of the transport cart next to him, Strauss chose not to comment on his discomfort. Although she did incline her chin a little towards him. Which he did not appreciate.
Alliance or no alliance, he should be allowed to remove a fool's heart if he wanted to!
A huge ceiling slab cracked free up ahead and crashed down in front of the tracks, which inevitably sent the various grunts on board into a panic. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. How G-5 had made it so far and gathered that terrible of a reputation while being pathetic cowards, he had no idea. As if to prove his point Roronoa stepped impassively forwards onto the thick metal wall of the cart, looking as if was honestly annoyed that he'd been forced to move by a hunk of rock.
Strauss stiffened next to him. Not incredibly visibly, although her injury made that shoulder twitch just a tad more sudden, but it was enough to catch his eye.
She didn't like Roronoa hm…? Interesting.
He could use this.
The rock was gone in a matter of seconds. Law had known that Roronoa was a talented swordsman, so this wasn't all that much of a surprise. What did catch him mildly off guard though… was the way the Straw Hat pirate began staring at a distant point behind them once he'd turned around. "Don't get too comfortable yet."
Law couldn't see. There were too many giant children blocking his view. He nodded at Strauss, who swiftly flipped herself up onto the cart edge to get a better look around the side.
"It's the gas. Shinokuni." Her eyes narrowed. "It must have come through some of the cracks."
Fuck.
Inwardly he was cursing his own negligence. Of course the blast doors wouldn't stop the gas when the various attacks caused by the Straw Hats, Smoker, and even himself had riddled the entire facility with battle scars. A gas was a fluid: it could get in any hole it wanted, no matter how small.
"Now we are going to be much more than merely buried alive if we fail," Nico Robin murmured.
Law's brow twitched. That was so similar to what he… was she mocking him? No. He shook it aside. That woman was as enigmatic as they came, it wasn't worth trying reason his way through her thought processes.
"Putting aside what is behind us, there is going to be gas around the exit as well," he voiced aloud, simply because it seemed that hardly anyone else had realised something that basic. Brow furrowing further, he flicked his eyes sidelong to inspect the Straw Hat navigator, "Can anybody here generate wind?"
The various marines and Punk Hazard grunts that Straw Hat had insisted on bringing along with them just stared at him in shock, "H-Huuuuuuh?!"
"You can't just expect to find a person with such a specific skill right when we need them!"
Strauss gave a slight snort.
"Oh," Nami raised an innocent hand. "I can do that!"
"YOU WHAAAT?!"
So she could. Interesting. Law had figured that she had a trick or two up her sleeve, given the rather peculiar baton pieces she had strapped to her belt. No one on the Straw Hat crew seemed remotely ordinary… or sane for that matter… So he'd reasoned that there should be someone who could be capable of at the very least clearing a space for them amidst the gas.
Maybe.
…
He had been a little worried.
"Hey!" Usopp's cry did little to alleviate his inward panic. "I can see the exit!"
He was right. After the near constant darkness of this tunnel and the sickliness of the fluorescent lights, actual sunlight seemed almost foreign. Law grimaced, resisting the urge to shield himself from the glare. Instead he merely inclined his head. "Be ready."
"Understood." Strauss dropped down next to him, fingers tensing in apprehension.
Straw Hat balanced on the front of the cart like… well… a monkey, an increasingly worrying grin splitting over his face. "We're almost there! Speed up!"
Almost as if it was listening, the walls of the facility began to properly give up on them. The marines and ex-Punk Hazard grunts shuffled backwards to shield some of the younger children from smaller pieces of debris that none of the Straw Hats could deal with fast enough.
Law sucked in a breath, turning to the figure standing on his other side, "You ready."
"Yeah." Nami nodded. "I am."
"Hey girl…" stammered one of the marines, "can you really generate wind?!"
Another gulped, "Are we really gonna be okay?"
"OI!" An enraged voice rose up out from the group, alongside a positively murderous aura. "Those of you who don't trust Nami-swan, get off! No, scrap that, I'll kick you off!"
"Again," Law couldn't help but murmur barely louder than a whisper, "you did all this for that one?"
Strauss didn't rise to the bait.
"It's alright!" The blue of Nami's odd bo-staff gleamed ominously in the dim passage light. "You guys can trust me!"
The exit was nearly upon them now. Growing closer and closer by the minute. And more and more purple. That first bit of light was gone, now that they were used to the brightness. Now the great swathe of thick purple gas was plainly visible in the gradually enlarging opening.
BAM!
Out of nowhere the entire passageway shook, echoing with enough force to leave Law's ears ringing. The cart lurched. The wheels dangerously free of the track. Then thudded back down in relief.
His nerves, on the other hand, were still threatening to derail.
Something big must have caused that reaction. A collision of some sorts? It would have to be an exceedingly intense one. Or had worst come to worst and Monet hit the facility's self destruct button. Since it had to be Monet. The only other person willing to blow themself up had been diced into minute pieces and stuck to a railing. But he'd thought he'd avoided that.
The pad of his thumb ran along Kikuko's fabric binding. Up and down. Up and down.
When he'd 'returned' Monet's heart to Caesar earlier, he'd hoped that the snow woman would be unintentionally impaled by Caesar's vengeful hand. But had she managed to press the button anyways? Should he have disabled the thing entirely… he hadn't before since he wasn't that well versed in electronics, but perhaps it might have been a good idea.
A cool hand patted down on his shoulder. "Captain."
His thumb paused.
"There was only one tremor." Strauss muttered, every inch of her tone level and calm. "If it was the facility self destructing, there would me more aftershocks. One of the Straw Hats is still outside. He could be fighting someone or something."
That… made sense. Law let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Maybe this alliance was a bad idea. His stress levels had practically tripled just by being in Straw Hat's nearby vicinity. But it was too late now.
At the very least, he knew that they'd make Doflamingo's life a living hell.
He didn't bother thanking her. She'd figure it out.
Nami stood at the very front of the transport car. One blue third of her bo-staff brandished towards the deadly gas like a blade. She sucked in a breath.
"Hey Strauss-ya?"
"Hm?"
"How did you know about the self destruct? It was something I only found out about after excessive searching. How did you know it existed?"
"Sorcery Climatact-"
Strauss stared at him in near disbelief, "This is a mad scientist's lab. Of course there's a self destruct button."
"-GUST SWORD!"
A pillar of air erupted from the end of that tiny staff. Roaring so fiercely that it sliced aside the gas like a blazing hot poker. Law could only stare at it blankly. Strauss's answer had taken him aback. Just a little. He hadn't thought she could come up with something that… naive? Simplistic? He couldn't quite figure it out.
But… for some reason…
"I guess you're right." A smirk slowly grew over his face, as the light at the end of the tunnel began to fully wash over them. "Or course they have a damn self destruct."
… he found that the relief stopped him from caring.
A/N
Yahooo! Another chapter! This one is a bit... mixed in my head? Mostly because yet again I've been rushed off my feet with life and head stuff. But we good. My goal so far is to just take each chapter as they come, since we are about to hit something that I've been waiting on for almost as long as I've been writing this fic.
Speaking of... WE'VE ALMOST HIT OUR 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! I'm out by two days! But still, WHOOOOOO! Genuinely can't believe we've been going so long. But I wouldn't have it any other way! Thanks again for all your lovely support and kind words, I really don't know what to say. This is probably one of my favourite fics to write (maybe since I actually have a plan for what's going on haha), and I'm really glad that folks like it! So yeah, I know I say it at the end of each and every update, but THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! It fills me with so much joy to know that there are people out there who like my work. Gives me all the warm fuzzies. Thank you!
Anywhoo, I'm going to wrap things up there for now. Thanks again for reading, and I hope to see you all with the next update! May you all have a lovely day or night wherever you are, and you are safe and happy! You deserve to be loved!