Chapter 17
Law clutched Luffy's hat on top of his head, gritting his teeth. It wasn't the right hat, but it still helped ground him somewhat. He wasn't the helpless child he had been when his world had burned down in Flevance. Law was stronger now, a better doctor, and a better witch, but still, seeing Flevance again ached painfully. His throat was dry and tight. His thoughts foggy and exhausted. Law swore that they hadn't even been here for an hour, yet the day passed by so slowly, yet so quickly at the same time. Everything felt so heavy.
Bepo wrapped him up in a warm embrace as burning hot tears ran down Law's cheeks. He hated this. It was so painful. He missed them so much, especially Lami, her death hurt the most. She should have been here. She had just been a little girl. A harmless, innocent child.
A flash of pink caught Law's eye. The flower offerings. He had forgotten about them. Lami had adored anything pink so he had made sure to grab this one for her. Law took them from Bepo's hands and gently lowered them to the ground. He remembered when he and Lami picked a bunch of flowers and pretended to make potions.
Father and mother had laughed themselves almost hoarse. It hadn't helped that Lami had to master the 'perfect' witch cackle and ordered Law to join in too. Law couldn't help but smile at the memory.
He missed them so much.
He saw Ace approach the ruins of the hospital and bow low before them. Law opened his mouth, ready to tell him that he didn't have to do that, but then Shachi and Penguin copied Ace. Law sighed and leaned more heavily into Bepo's embrace.
There was so point. These guys would do whatever they felt like anyway. Besides, talking through the thick lump in his throat was too difficult at the moment.
Either way, he owed the idiots a 'thank you'.
This may not be his home anymore, yet Law still mourned it nevertheless, and he couldn't help but feel relieved that he wasn't alone here.
.::.
"That little shit," Rouge huffed, crossing her arms.
Nico Robin had broken her neck. Rouge was impressed with Robin's ruthlessness and at the same time annoyed by it. Rouge smirked. Hopefully they'd meet again someday soon, and it might even be friendly depending on how much of a danger Robin was to Ace and Law.
She returned to the kids, but none of them noticed her, not even Ace. Jeez, it was taking her a while to recover. Bloody Robin. It had been hours. She noticed the crowd of flowers and food offerings laid in the park, right in the heart of the city.
"I'm surprised we haven't seen Rouge-ya. It's been hours," Law murmured.
Shit. Hours. Really?
She had hardly gotten to pay her respects dammit!
"Maybe she got distracted?" Penguin offered.
"Like a two year old?" Law snorted. "That would be an amusing sight."
Rouge twitched. Little asshole.
"What I'm worried about is what trouble that little squirt got himself in to on our ship while we were away," Shachi groaned.
Law grimaced.
"Hopefully he didn't do anything too bad," Ace laughed nervously.
"Are you okay, Law?" Bepo asked gently, placing a paw on Law's shoulder.
Law managed a small smile. "I'm feeling much better now actually. It was good to come back and say a proper goodbye. I wasn't sure if I could manage it."
Yeah, he was a tough kid. Rouge wasn't sure if she could go back to Baterilla. Not after the suffering she had lead there. She gritted her teeth. Law was strong enough to go back, and he was just a kid. Sure, people process differently, but she was Portgas D. Rouge, the lone pirate of the seas, she had to be stronger than this. For Ace. For herself. For her home.
Ace said something about leaving in two years? Then they would, but they would go to Baterilla together. She couldn't get very far without him sadly, she was attached to his magic, so unfortunately Ace would just have to come with her.
Yeah, they just had to keep moving forward. That was what life was all about. No need to keep looking back on the bad things, as long as they learned from them. Rouge grinned. She couldn't wait to get back out on to the seas and sail, this time with her kid. It was gonna be great.
"I'm sure they'd be really happy to see you come back," Penguin said. "Especially now that you've been cured yourself of Amber Lead."
"I might have been able to cut it out of me with my devil fruit, but I want to one day make a proper cure," Law said firmly, his eyes burning with determination. "So if this isn't too much to ask, I would like to carry a sample on it in the submarine."
"Is that a good idea?" Ace grimaced. "You're at quite the risk of getting it again, aren't you?"
"Yes, but I know my devil fruit powers can counteract it."
"I don't mind, Law," Shachi said, grinning. "Let's cure this shitty sickness, Captain."
"Yeah, we have your back," Penguin agreed.
"Let's do this, Captain." Bepo smiled warmly.
"Thank you."
.::.
Luffy hated waiting for so long. He did some stretches, punched and kicked the air, slept, ate the food Shachi had left out for him. Luffy had been tempted to go after what was in the kitchen, but Traffy would strangle him with Luffy's own legs (he should know, Law had done it to him before.)
He had stared down Ace's grimoire for a while, hoping it would do something, but nothing happened. Luffy didn't dare touch it though. It made witches uneasy when someone touched their grimoires without permission. He had done it once to Ace, and Sabo had screeched at him nearly all day while Ace took off with his grimoire. That had been a good few years ago, but still. Luffy wouldn't do that again. Sabo in lecture mode was horrible.
He was the one who knew about witches though, and he had told Luffy that witch grimoires were very important to a head witch. That it was apart of them and their history. Luffy didn't really get what it all meant, but it made Ace uncomfortable so Luffy didn't touch it again.
Luffy beamed when he saw Law's room and everyone reappear on the ship. Except the shadow lady. She was the only one not there. Luffy approached Law hopefully, and grinned when he saw that Law did look better. Law approached him and took off the straw hat, and Luffy frowned when he took his own hat back from Luffy's head. Luffy couldn't help but laugh though when Law planted the straw hat back on Luffy's head.
"Shishishi, I'm glad it helped!" Luffy grinned.
Law smirked. "It did, Luffy-ya. Thanks."
"You seen my mum here, Luffy?" Ace asked, glancing around. He frowned. "I haven't seen her in ages."
They all paused when a barrel fell over, then span in circles, and toppled over again.
"Okay, she is here, just not visible at the moment?" Ace mused. "I wonder what happened."
"Guess we can ask her when she's back," Law said. "But for now lets bring you two back home."
"Thanks, and sorry for the hassle," Ace laughed sheepishly.
"You came with me to help, I wouldn't just abandon you now," Law scoffed.
.::.
One Year Later
Ace paused in making breakfast when he heard the window being tapped on. One of the seagulls dropped the newspaper off with a bow of its head before retreating. It never tried to make them pay anymore, but after mum got a hold of it when it tried to charge her one too many times for its own good.
It had made some bird guy come out and he had gushed over mum who looked horrified at the sight of him. The next day they moved house, but not before mum had put the bird man in a headlock and dragged him out of Ace's and Luffy's sight.
He was not sure what his mum did, but he had heard a lot of squawking.
Ace took the newspaper and sat it down on the table, piling up the food. Luffy was already there, cheerfully tapping his cutlery, singing away, while mum poured out tea and juice for Luffy.
Then his mum choked.
"It's Traffy!"
Ace whirled round to where mum had the newspaper opened up wide, with Law's face staring up at him. He looked pissed off, and he was reaching out for the cameraman in the photograph. His fingers managed to cover a fair bit of his face, but not enough to not show the world.
"They finally found out about him then, huh?" Ace sighed.
"Fuck, and Trafalgar is printed on the newspaper and bounty too," Mum hissed. "Kuzan and Rosinante must have seen it and realised it was Law pretty quickly."
"What did he start out with?" Luffy asked eagerly.
"It's a bit of a generous one because of who he is," Rouge said. "70,000,000 beli on his 'ALIVE ONLY' poster. Of course that makes sense though, they've listed him right off the bat as being a witch. Those idiots, why would the Marines do something so stupid?"
"The clan names are pretty well known from what Sabo said," Ace sighed. "But I thought they might have been careful releasing the clan names out there with people like Doflamingo about."
"I can't believe he got so much on his first try!" Luffy cried. "What did he even do?!"
"It's not really clear to be honest. There was something about destroying a park?" Rouge blinked. "What? That's not really a Law thing to do."
Ace laughed sheepishly. "I can't imagine what his reaction is right now to all this."
.::.
"DAMN HAWKINS!"
Bepo winced as a cup went flying. Then a teddy bear- oh right, Shachi's bear- Shachi went flying after it, screaming. Law was chucking things- and people- everywhere.
"I know it was Hawkins fault that everyone now knows you're a witch, but you can't just launch everything everywhere!" Ikkaku complained.
"That asshole tried to read my fortune in front of an entire park full of people!" Law scowled. "I was only there for some medicinal plants!"
"Yeah, then the jerk blabbed out your name to everyone," Penguin huffed. "Trafalgar Law. I mean seriously? Why?"
"Look, I got him with one of my throwing daggers, okay?" Ikkaku offered. "Does that make you feel better, Law?"
Law crossed his arms over and huffed. "A little bit."
"Now we have to keep our heads down for a while," Penguin said. "There will be bounty hunters swarming the area looking for Law, not even including the Marines, where Admiral Akoiji and Marine Commander Rosinante are hunting for Law in particular. And don't even get me started on the Donquixote pirates."
"Damn Hawkins," Law grumbled, then smirked. "At least I managed to land a curse on him before the Marines showed up to stop our fight."
"What kind of curse did you hit him with?" Penguin asked.
"He's gonna be shitting himself for at least a week if I have something to saw about it," Law chuckled darkly.
