It was extremely late into the night cycle by the time Law managed to wrestle Luffy out of the drag club. So late that almost every store front had shut down. The streets were empty, the alleyways silent. It was quiet enough to hear the steady drip of liquid from the metal sky overhead.
The metal barricade at the front of the Kamabakka slammed shut behind Luffy, Law, and Obsidian Black.
From the second the doors of the Kamabakka closed behind her, Obsidian's entire demeanor changed on a dime. The pleasant expression on her face morphed into one of annoyance, and she had a cigarette lit between her lips within a matter of moments.
She fixed Law and Luffy with a steely glare. "Alright, who the hell are you and what the hell is all this about," she growled in a completely different voice from the one Luffy had heard within the club. It was baritone and rougher than sandpaper. Luffy's eyes shot into his hairline, and a delighted laugh bubbled past his lips.
"Woah, that was awesome!" He cackled. "How'd you make your voice change like that?!"
Obsidian rolled her eyes and flicked cigarette ash onto Law's shoe. The brooding man stepped out of the line of fire with a growl on his lips. "It's a gift," the drag queen replied dryly. Her stage persona only graced the world when inside the borders of the Kamabakka, it seemed.
Blowing a heavy mouthful of smoke into the air, Obsidian clenched her hands into fists and swung a powerful kick directly at Luffy's skull.
Law tugged him out of the way at the last second, his hand flying to the hilt of his sword and flicking it from the confines of its scabbard with his thumb. He fell into a defensive position between Luffy and Obsidian, Obsidian who was glaring daggers at the two of them with murder written all across her face.
"The hell was that for?!" Law snapped.
Obsidian growled, lowering her leg but not lowering her guard. She began to stalk Law, who held Luffy back with an arm as they followed the queen in circles. Luffy gawked at Obsidian, she was a lot stronger than she let on! His skin itched to fight, but Obsidian was a friend, not an enemy. There was no reason to do so.
"Tell me what you've got against Iva," Obsidian growled. "She doesn't send anyone to the Mid, it's a death sentence!" She glared at Law and Luffy with heavy suspicion in her eyes. "What's your game, Surgeon of Death?" she spat.
"Nothing I intend on telling you," Law shot back, doing nothing at all to help the situation. He slowly drew his sword. Hostility sparked like fire between himself and Obsidian. Neither of them were going to back down.
Luffy frowned, then made a decision.
He swiftly hopped over Law to get between the two of them, using the taller man's head as leverage. Obsidian and Law were quick to spit fire, but Luffy didn't flinch. He placed himself in the middle of the ensuing death match, his face blank and his stance unthreatening. He fixed Obsidian under his gaze.
"We're not trying to hurt Iva," Luffy said honestly. "We just need to make it to the Clear."
Obsidian gawked at Luffy, the rage on her face morphing into confusion. She then shook herself and snarled. "Yeah fucking right! Going to the Clear may as well be offering yourselves up to the Cloudies on a silver platter, what are you, nuts?! I won't let you twist Iva's arm, whatever shit you have against her will join you in your graves."
With that, Obsidian attacked. She rushed at Luffy with a ferocious kick that was too fast to follow. Luffy's eyes widened, but before he could contort his body and dodge, Law formed a Room and swapped their places.
Luffy stumbled as he dropped several feet away, and the clang of metal echoed savagely as Law blocked Obsidian's kick with the blade of his sword. The two of the dove into a brutal dance of sweeping blows and graceful dodges. Luffy's jaw dropped in awe as he watched Law and Obsidian clash in the middle of the street. Sparks flew wherever blade clashed with pointed heel, and after a painful span of minutes the first blow had yet to land.
When Law held his fingers out and summoned a Room, Luffy knew that he needed to act fast. The taller man was halfway through his incantation when Luffy extended his arm and grabbed him around the waist, swiftly pulling him away from Obsidian before he could slice her in half like he'd done to Bellamy.
Obsidian growled and turned her wrath upon Luffy, who had scrambled to get between her and Law once again. He planted himself between them with his arms held out wide, panting in excretion with his nerves lit from adrenaline.
"Stop it!" Luffy ordered.
"Out of the way, Straw Hat!" Obsidian barked. She leapt in a tight circle, leg careening for Luffy's skull at lighting speed. The raven didn't move so much as an inch.
Law gasped from where he was picking himself from the ground, his eyes blowing wide as he watched the kill blow hurdle directly at his new ally while he stood and did nothing. "Luffy!" he yelled in warning, already summoning a room.
He froze, however, when Obsidian's kick connected and Luffy's head was sent flying several feet down the street… while his body stayed in place, and his neck stretched out between the two like a rubber band.
Obsidian shrieked in horror, her voice returning to the pitch it had taken while strutting about within the Kamabakka. Law snapped his jaw shut and allowed himself to crumple into a seated position on the street. That's right. Luffy was made of rubber.
The rubber man's head snapped back into place, and he didn't move from his spot.
"What the hell are you?" Obsidian sputtered, struggling to regain her footing as she stumbled several steps backwards.
"Devil Born," Luffy shrugged. "I'm a rubbery person."
Obsidian gawked for a split second, before realizing herself and falling back into a fighting stance. Her fists shook at her sides. She panted, with sweat sticking her midnight hair to her face and neck and sending glittering beads of makeup dripping off the tip of her nose. Law picked himself to his feet, just as exhausted as Obsidian was. They were a frighteningly even match.
It brought a smirk to Luffy's lips that he was quick to bite back.
"There's no reason for us to fight," Luffy spoke. Sabo and Ace would have suffered a simultaneous stroke had they witnessed the spectacle. Luffy was the last person to condemn a street fight. But this time was different. He liked Obsidian's fire. Both the flame he'd seen while she performed on stage, as well as the flame he saw burning in her eyes as she defended Iva.
Obsidian was kind.
Luffy had already befriended several strangers that day, why not add another one to his winning streak?
"Oh, isn't there?" Obsidian scoffed in response to Luffy's uncharacteristic display of pacifism.
"You're trying to protect your family," Luffy stated. Obsidian blinked several times. Her fringe fell across her eyes. The seconds dragged their feet, and a steady stream of runoff from the pipes overhead echoed in a hollow song.
Obsidian blew her fringe out of her eyes, and slipped a cigarette between her lips. "Iva's not family," she snorted. "Don't be ridiculous."
"You're a terrible liar," Luffy said.
Obsidian scoffed. "I don't have family." Her eyes flickered with rage.
Sliding his sword back into its scabbard but keeping his hand on the hilt, Law drew up to Luffy's shoulder. He watched Obsidian with mistrusting eyes from beneath the shadow of his cap. His sleeves were stained with glitter and from blocking the queen's kicks. "Then what are the damn theatrics for?" he growled. "The deal's already made, you can't undo Iva's decision. Just take us to the goddess-damned Mid already, and we'll never have to see your ugly mug again."
Obsidian wrinkled her nose, but lowered her guard. Slightly.
"You're just as bitchy as they say," she scoffed.
Law ground his teeth and flicked his sword out of its scabbard.
Luffy glanced between Law and Obsidian, who were still facing off like a pair of street cats. But at least they'd stopped fighting? "Sooo," he hummed, "Which way's the Mid?"
Obsidian turned her glower upon Luffy, who flashed a friendly grin in return. The queen rolled her eyes and blew a cloud of smoke from her nose. "Whatever," she scoffed. "But this isn't over. I'll figure out what you have over Iva's head." She stomped down the street, heading deeper into the labyrinth of streets and rickety apartments that lined the Shade's walls.
Luffy shared a glance with Law, who rolled his eyes the second the queen turned her back. With a victorious laugh, Luffy hurried after Obsidian Black. Law was reluctant to follow, but did so in spite of his reservations. The three of them left the Kamabakka behind them, and just as Iva said, set out for the Mid as the clock struck midnight.
…
A half hour passed by in dead silence.
The walk was horrifically awkward, given the fact that the three of them (Law and Obsidian) had tried to kill each other the second they'd strayed from Ivankov's supervision. Though Luffy was alright with silence. This Layer was interesting.
He was occupied with stomping in murky puddles and kicking stray rocks across the uneven streets. Smoke curled around his ankles and burned his nostrils, Obsidian only being responsible for some of it. The lamplights cast a mellow blue over streets of pitch black and bleak gray.
Obsidian Black was like a beacon of light at the head of their procession. The sequins on her dress twinkled in the dark and reflected pricks of light against cracked brick walls and a ground of rusted metal. Luffy followed her lead, only straying off the path a couple of times.
The silence became more and more stifling the further they walked, and Law hadn't stopped staring daggers into the back of Obsidian's head from the moment they'd set off. It was a wonder that she made this journey every night in stilettos.
Luffy got bored soon enough, and hurried ahead to walk side by side with the raven haired queen. Law continued pouting and hanging several feet back.
"So do you, like, live here?" Luffy asked. His attempt at conversation was brave at best, considering the nasty glare Obsidian shot his way. Luffy didn't back down, however, and Obsidian submitted to his whims.
"On the Shade?" she huffed. "No."
"You're not getting us lost, are you?" Law retorted from further back.
"Fuck off," Obsidian snapped. Luffy gave Law a disapproving glance, to which he rolled his eyes and slunk further back. "I know my way around," the queen grumbled.
"I'm glad one of us does!" Luffy cackled. If he'd been trying to lighten the mood, it didn't work.
"Iva said that you travel back to the Mid every night," Law said slowly. "I assume that you're a runaway Shiftie?"
Obsidian blew a lazy cloud of smoke before responding. "You could say that."
"I've never met a Shiftie before!" Luffy perked up. He leaned closer to Obsidian, trying to catch a glimpse of the Shade's brand where it would inevitably be located on the inside of her wrist.
The queen angled her body away from Luffy with an unfriendly curl of her lip. "Well don't get used to it," she snapped. "If either of you get caught on the Mid then Iva won't be able to forgive herself. Don't go talking to random people, don't go talking to anyone. Dirties don't belong so far up."
Luffy frowned. Sabo had said something along those lines, too. Before he'd led him and Ace onto the Mid. Was it really so wrong to stray between Layers? They were all people, weren't they?
"Why do you idiots even want to go to the Clear in the first place?" Obsidian grumbled around her cigarette. She turned down an alleyway, and then stopped when they reached a dead end. The path led directly to the outer wall of the Layer; the border of the Shade.
Luffy stood next to Obsidian and craned his neck to gaze up into a nest of shadows. The outer wall was the same cold metal as the one on the Dregs. There was less rust and the metal was smoother and more sturdy, but nonetheless it was the same.
Obsidian rested her palm against the wall. "There's nothing of any worth up there anyway," she said, almost at a whisper.
Luffy frowned as he stared upwards. Right above his head, the Mid awaited him. Mere days beforehand he'd climbed up to the middle Layer for the first time. Now he'd be returning, but this time he'd be prepared. He wouldn't get caught this time. Not with Ace's life on the line.
"I need to save my brother's life," Luffy answered before the silence began to drag.
Obsidian snorted. "Brothers are worthless." Luffy frowned at her, but she ignored him. "What's your excuse?" she grunted in Law's direction.
The lanky man didn't meet her gaze, merely stared up into the shadows overhead. "There's something I need. A certain object. Iva tried to stop me, but I never listen." Obsidian rose a single curled eyebrow.
Law stepped up to the wall and rapped the hilt of his sword against it. "Where's your smuggler's gate?"
Obsidian scoffed and shoved Luffy and Law out of the way. "It's not a smuggler's gate. I'm not a criminal."
"You certainly act like one," Law muttered.
Obsidian stomped on his foot. He swallowed his grunt of pain.
"The military has the border to the Mid locked down, but they can't guard the cracks they don't know about," Obsidian explained. She ran her hands along the wall, feeling along welded seams and counting bolts the size of a palm. "I'm the only one who uses this one, and I'm extra careful. Iva guards the area so that helps too. If you fuck this up for me then I'll kick both your heads off and sell you out to the Cloudies."
"The border wasn't very guarded when I crossed a couple days ago," Luffy mused, ignoring the queen's open threat.
Obsidian blew her fringe out of her eye and shot Luffy a scrutinizing glance. "Well that was before the Okobore Town Incident."
"What?" Luffy and Law deadpanned in unison.
Obsidian scoffed. "Don't you pay attention to anything? It was all over the newspapers!"
"What's a newspaper?" Luffy whispered.
Law tilted his head towards Luffy, with his eyes trained on Obsidian in a glare. "The Dregs isn't blessed with media coverage like princess curly-brows over here."
Obsidian growled, but winced at her missight in spite of her annoyance. "Dick," she shot at Law. He flipped her off.
"If you must know," she griped, "The incident happened yesterday, and it's been all the Upper Layers are talking about. Okobore was a smuggling community on the far edge of the Mid."
"Was?" Law asked.
Obsidian nodded. "Military burned it to the ground this morning. They got busted for running a smuggling gig, but when the military was called in some big shot officer decided to pardon them instead of trying them all for treason."
Luffy's eyes rose into his hairline. "What?! But they were smuggling! Prob'ly crossing the borders illegally too! The officers always kill us smugglers on sight!"
"Not this time," Obsidian sighed. She hummed in satisfaction, and wiggled her fingers into a miniscule crack between two metal panes. "Don't get your panties in a wad over it. They threw the officer in prison on the Clear and burned the entire town to the ground as punishment. Military's locked the border down ever since, though. Don't want us Lowers getting any funny ideas, yeah?"
Luffy frowned and gazed at the metal ground beneath his feet. An entire community of people, killed just like that? The least they could have done was executed only the active smugglers and let the innocent live. But the military had been ruthless, and now the entirety of the Layered City was feeling the reverberations. All because of the actions of one officer…
"Why would a military dog try to pardon a smuggler?" Luffy asked.
"How should I know?" Obsidian retorted. She heaved with her arms and bent a large pane of metal back, revealing the hollow chamber of dripping pipelines and steaming machinery within. She ducked inside the wall, not waiting for Law and Luffy to catch up.
"They were probably off their rocker," Law offered. He stepped past Luffy, slapping him playfully upside the head as he ducked within the wall. "Come on, we've got shit to do and not a lot of time to do it."
Luffy smiled and followed after Law, though it didn't reach his eyes. His thoughts clung to Ace, and the psychos he was likely locked up with.
Don't worry, I'll get you out of there.
I won't let you die on my watch.
…
The prison was dank. The cells were cramped and the air was stuffy and hot. Everything smelled like hot shit and dried sweat. It was a shame, being held on death row. Ace's fate had been sealed the moment he'd given himself up in Luffy's place.
A Dirty straying too close to the Clear? It was all too convenient.
Had Ace known that shitty trade off had been between the Fishmen and the military core at Marineford, then he would have told Sabo to go sit on a dick.
Lucky him. He'd been in the worst possible place at the worst possible time, and rather than be lugged to the smaller, dinkier Cloudie prisons like the other smuggler riff raff, he'd been dragged in chains directly to the biggest military outpost in the entire Layered City.
Fucking Marineford.
He'd thought initially (within the half a second he'd taken to contemplate taking Luffy's place in military custody) that he'd be able to escape once he'd been thrown in prison and haul ass back to his brothers. Yeah right. He was completely fucking screwed. Dead. Done for.
Ace ground his teeth and hung limp in his chains. His wrists were bound in cuffs to the walls, his ankles wrapped in steel chains. At least it wasn't Sea Prism Stone. He huffed a humorless laugh. It seemed that Sabo's paranoia had worked out in his favor for once in his life.
Getting a Tweak didn't end up being such a bad idea after all.
This way I'll be able to die without having my true identity splattered all over the Clear and back… Sabo and Luffy will be safe. Those assholes at Onigashima won't suspect a damn thing. Portgas D. Ace will die, and no one will be the wiser.
How long would it be… a week? A day? A month?
Ace didn't want to think about it.
Not that it mattered if he feared his death or not. It was better this way. He didn't care if he died, so long as his younger brothers were able to continue living.
The melancholy of the prison was interrupted by the front gate slamming open on its hinges. Ace perked up, straining his ears to listen as the next inmate was dragged to their demise.
"It isn't fair!" a booming voice cried out.
"Hey, get back here!" an officer shouted. He was the one that tightened Ace's handcuffs every other hour. He was a dick.
"Why grant me amnesty?!" the voice demanded. "Burn me like you burned all those innocent people!" The rattling of chains grated the ears of the surrounding inmates. Criminals perked up in their cells and watched as an enormous figure stomped down the hall of barred cages in thick chains. A procession of frazzled prison guards followed closely at their heels.
"Please! My Lord, it's unbefitting of you!" another officer begged. She was the one that delivered Ace's meal every day. She had nice eyes.
"I refuse to sit back and allow this injustice to go unexcused!" the voice declared, drawing ever closer to Ace's cell.
"What would His Majesty think?" pleaded another officer. Ace didn't recognize that one, but he decided that he hated him. That voice was too shrill.
"I don't give a damn!" the stubborn voice countered.
Ace quirked an eyebrow, and glanced up through the bars of his cage as the spectacle drew to a stop before the cell across the hall from his.
An enormous man with a crisp military cloak draped from his shoulders stomped to a halt before a cell that had been emptied just that morning. Ace had watched as the man previously occupying that cell strangled himself, too afraid to face his impending public execution. Quite the scene to wake up to.
"I disagree with the ruling!" the hulking officer barked, before kicking the cell clean open and marching right inside. The soldiers trailing him tittered about in a nervous frenzy. Ace watched on in confusion.
"It's already been said and done! A smuggler is a smuggler, the circumstances do not matter!" one cried.
"You can disagree with the proceedings without causing such a scene!" another yelled in horror.
"Your father will have our heads!" a third pleaded.
"Lock the door," the officer ordered. His voice was firm, his presence commanding. The gaggle of soldiers quickly hushed up, and obeyed their orders like the dogs that they were. They locked the cell behind the officer, though continued milling about on the other side of the bars. Wringing their hands and clutching their guns indecisively.
Ace frowned and tried to get a good look at the officer who'd thrown himself in prison. He couldn't see him through the crowd in the hall. The only thing he could make out was a pair of curling horns, flashing in the mellow light of the flickering lamplights overhead.
The officer growled once several minutes passed and the crowd of soldiers still didn't dissipate. "Don't just stand there, I'm your prisoner! Leave me to my sentence!"
With that, the soldiers jerked into motion and scrambled to leave. They whispered amongst themselves as they left. Ace only picked up the words "Okobore," "Prince," and "again."
He watched them go until the front gate slammed shut once more, and silence overtook the prison. Ace blinked. The hell had all of that been about? He turned his head to finally see the officer who had caused all that racket. What sort of military man lowered himself to the level of the Lowers he kept under his boot?
Ace found a towering man, sitting with his legs crossed and chained wrists pooled in his lap. His eyes were screwed shut in a frown, and billowing white hair framed his face and tumbled down his back where it faded to a bright blue.
The pads on the shoulders of his cloak were pitch black.
What rank did that color signify again? Not that Ace cared. He rolled his eyes.
Of all the nutcases he had to be locked up with… There wasn't a single officer he knew of that would intentionally throw himself in prison. This guy was definitely out of his mind. Ace decided that it would be in his best interest to avoid eye contact.
…
Luffy stood with his back to the outer wall of the Mid. The air was just as clean as he remembered it. Though he didn't recognize his surroundings. He'd surfaced on the edge of a residential area when he'd traveled upwards with Sabo and Ace. But this side of the Mid looked different. Almost familiar.
The buildings were tall and repetitive. Rows of apartment complexes with dark windows and darker streets. It was quiet, abandoned.
Obsidian grunted as she bent the metal of the outer wall back into place. Once again, Luffy was at a loss for how she'd managed to travel so far on stilettos. Law stood beside Luffy, his eyes wracking across the abandoned cityscape that surrounded them.
"Have you been on the Mid before?" Luffy asked him.
"Once or twice," Law murmured. "Never been on this side before, though."
"Wouldn't expect you to," Obsidian chimed in. She walked over to stand on Luffy's other side. The flame of a lighter sparked against the darkness. "There's nothing out here. The buildings are centuries old, had to be evacuated a few years back. Word on high is that the Uppers are planning to reconstruct, but as you can see that hasn't happened yet. It's illegal to be over here, technically, but I have my ways."
Obsidian blew a cloud of cigarette smoke, then glanced at Law from the corner of her eye. "I'm sure you won't have any trouble getting past the barricade."
"Nope," Law confirmed.
"Good. Whelp, my job here is done." Obsidian slipped the lighter down the front of her dress, and walked off.
Luffy startled and watched her go with sad eyes. "What?" he whined, "You're not gonna stick around?"
"Why would I?" Obsidian retorted. "Iva told me to get you assholes to the Mid. I did that. I'm done. Just remember, Trafalgar. You owe Iva a favor now. Don't forget it." She turned a corner and disappeared around the next block. Law merely rolled his eyes and shifted his sword from one shoulder to the other.
"Aw man," Luffy sighed. He cupped his hands over his mouth. "BYE OBBY!" he screamed, waving dramatically to a woman who was already long gone.
"And good riddance," Law added at a grumble.
"Hey!" Luffy gasped, "She was nice!"
Law rolled his eyes and began picking his way down the street. "She was not."
"Was too," Luffy pouted. He was quick to tag along.
"Was not," Law muttered.
"Was too."
"Was not."
A pair of voices echoed against the quiet streets of the Mid's abandoned sector. It was true, the Uppers had forgotten about reconstructing the area decades beforehand. When one King had been exchanged for another. Now the sector lay barren, dead alongside the man who had promised its revival.
Not many people were reckless enough to cross the barricade closing the abandoned sector off from the rest of the Layer. But Law, Luffy, and the curly-browed Kamabakkan certainly were.
Far from the prying eyes of the military, Law and Luffy wandered the streets of the abandoned sector until they reached the barricade. It was an enormous metal wall, topped with barbed wire and charged with electricity.
On the other side of the wall loomed the capital of the Mid, an impossible amalgamation of hulking buildings stacked one on top of the other, connected by wide bridges and tunnels of plexiglass. The structure was enormous, a gargantuan creature that spanned a third of the Mid's territory and brushed the metal sky itself. The capital shone brightly in the night cycle, with the glow of lamplights shining upwards to stain the darkness gold.
If there was anyone that could get Law and Luffy to the Clear, they would be found somewhere in that mind melding maze. The only thing holding the two of them back was the barricade that closed the abandoned sector off from the grandeur of its neighbor. However there would be no hurdling the obstacle, as the marching footsteps of soldiers could be heard patrolling the outside.
"I'll have to teleport us across," Law sighed.
Luffy grinned up at him, "Let's go right now!"
The older man frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. "No. We should rest first. Plan our course of action for when we enter the capital."
Luffy crossed his arms and frowned, craning his neck to follow the capital's outer surface to where it touched the sky. "We've come this far already," he grumbled. "Let's just wing it!"
"No," Law snapped, quickly grabbing Luffy's arm before he could take off and jump clean over the twenty foot wall. "If we rush in blind then we'll be killed or caught. We need to rest and regroup."
"You sound just like Sabo," Luffy muttered. He pulled against Law's hold, testing his grip. The older man didn't let go.
"How flattering," Law drawled sarcastically. "Aren't you tired?"
"No!" Luffy lied.
Law rolled his eyes and splayed his fingers to cast a Room. "Whatever. Shambles."
Luffy gasped, and between one breath and the next the two of them reappeared within one of the abandoned buildings. They were high up, near the top floors. The structure sat right along the barricade, boasting a spectacular view of the hulking capital that spilled golden light against the darkness of the night cycle.
Law let go of Luffy's arm, and quickly dropped to the floor with a heavy sigh. He sat against the wall and leaned his head back. The room he'd transported them into was empty. Cold. They were kept company only by the cracked glass windows and piles of rubble that dotted the floor. It was no wonder the sector had been closed off from the public. The place was coming apart at the seams.
But it would due for one night.
Luffy ogled the view from the window. He hurried over to the window and leaned against the glass, eating the scene up with his eyes and committing everything he saw to memory.
"Imagine what it would be like to live there," Luffy breathed.
"Shitty, I would assume," Law sighed.
Luffy rolled his eyes. Such a pessimist. "No. Imagine all the shit you can steal! It would only take me one day of sealing shit from Shifties and I'd be able to pay off me and my brothers' debt twice! Who needs all that gold, like seriously." Luffy pointed to a Shiftie walking across a glass bridge in the far off capital. They were dressed head to toe in fabric that glistened like shattered lamplights.
"You'd get arrested within an hour," Law said. "Besides. Shifties don't like… Devil Born. Everything that happened with Bellamy would have been ten times worse if you'd been outed up here. People like us don't belong so far up."
Luffy frowned, his eyes refocusing to see his reflection against the glass. Greasy, matted hair that hung over tired eyes. Dirt staining his face and neck. Clothes pulled out of a junkyard and a hat stolen from a stand on the Street Market.
The jarring tattoo on the side of his neck.
Luffy's fingers strayed to his chest, where the jagged scar lurked under his clothing. "I guess," he murmured.
His gaze fell to the lamplight necklace he wore around his neck. It was small, a mere crystal. It glowed a crystalline white and flickered every now and again. Luffy wrapped his fist around the lamplight instead, reminding himself of all that he'd fought for over the years. He turned from the window and joined Law where he sat against the wall.
The two of them sat in comfortable silence. Their bodies ached from walking all day, but their minds churned with thoughts that ran in endless circles.
Law glanced at Luffy's fingers from the corner of his eye, where they fiddled with the lamplight around his neck. "Where'd you find that?" he asked, his voice at a rasp. "Personal lamplights are rare."
Luffy's lips turned up at the corners. "It was a gift from my brothers. When we agreed to be smugglers together. I've had it for years."
"Sentimental?" Law guessed.
Luffy nodded. He dropped the lamplight and scooted closer to the man beside him. Close enough for their arms to brush. Law didn't move away.
"Same for your sword?" Luffy asked, gesturing to where Law kept it balanced on his shoulder. "Sentimental?"
After a moment's hesitation, Law replied. "Yeah."
"...Can I hold it?"
"No."
"Damn."
"Go to sleep, Luffy," Law sighed. He pulled his cap low over his eyes and slouched further against the wall.
Luffy hummed, gazing at Law's profile for a moment. He had dirt smeared across his face. Just like Luffy did. The raven's lips flicked up in a smile, and he flopped against Law's side, resting his head on his shoulder. The older man stiffened at the contact, but slowly slackened when Luffy showed no signs of moving.
With a contented sigh, Luffy drifted off to sleep.
Law sat awake, watching the golden light from the capital play across the planes of Luffy's face. His ally snored. Such a strange man, this Monkey D. Luffy. He was a lot more trouble than Law had anticipated, but…
With a roll of his eyes, Law relented. He leaned tentatively against Luffy and allowed sleep to claim him. They had a long day ahead of them in the morning.
A long day indeed. If only he knew what the Mid had in store for them.