He… he was going to die here. Wasn't he.
It was strange. All his life he'd thrown himself into the face of danger, tempting fate every chance he could, but now that he was here? At the end of it all?
This was a fragile platform he'd built for himself. A small and lonely stage.
Ace practically laughed at himself. The hell was he doing now, waxing poetic? He was about to get executed in some dumbass public show of power and he was philosophising? God if Sabo could see him now.
… Though they'd be seeing each other again far sooner than he'd expected.
He'd never been an introspective person. But it wasn't as if he had much else he could do. His hands were bound. The guards spat at him if he tried to talk. The only place he had to retreat to was among his thoughts.
And his thoughts welcomed him with open arms.
"Do you regret it?"
The spectral figure walked through the crates behind him before turning and leaning against the wall as if she was actually something solid.
"Going after Blackbeard I mean. Now that you've ended up here."
This was another thing he'd started doing. Seeing her. At first it had been a self defence mechanism, bought about by his time of malnutrition and emotional turmoil in Impel Down. He wasn't sure at first why it was her of all people, instead of Pops or Marco or even Deuce, but through time… he could kinda figure it out.
She'd been one of the few people who just listened. Just the two of them, on Strider, travelling the seas together. It sounded dumb but… that was rare. For him at least. Especially when she refused to sugar coat things and gave her thoughts plain and simple. But even then, she never tried to dissuade him from his task. Never once tried to change his mind.
Because she knew she was doing something just as dumb as he was.
The figment still stood there, blinking those colourless eyes at him. Since he couldn't even remember the basic details about her anymore. He hadn't bothered to try and remember. If he could go back… well. There were a lot of things he would've done differently if he went back. But one of them would be to properly look at her. To try and memorise the way she scowled. The way her toes curled while she stretched. The way when her face softened at the very mention of Luffy's crewmate.
Maybe he could even have asked her to tag along with him for longer. Just for the company.
Nah. He mentally rolled his eyes. That would never have happened, and was only something he was thinking about now out of desperation. She'd had her own mission the same way he'd had his.
Phantasmal Strauss cocked her head, still waiting for an answer even now. "Well? Was it?"
Good question. One that she'd asked time and time again and he'd never quite had the answer for. Ace felt the shackles dig ever deeper into his wrists. A reminder of his fate even now. Did he regret it? After all that had happened, and that absolute shitfest of a fight?
No.
He… didn't.
Even though it had inevitably led to… well… this, he knew deep down that if he hadn't gone after Teach he'd be consumed by guilt. Thatch had died under his watch, and that fact would have eaten him away from the inside out if he hadn't left. Perhaps it was stupid, and perhaps he was just a stubborn fool, but that was the honest truth.
He had no regrets about what he'd done. The only thing he was ashamed of was letting Pops and the rest of the crew into this mess. That was it.
"I see."
He pictured her smiling, an odd image that he couldn't quite visualise no matter how hard he'd tried. Suspension of disbelief broken, Ace opened his eyes to see no one there. Just like there had always been. The guards either side of him stiffened, having returned from their brief break, before demanding him to shuffle onwards.
But even though he couldn't picture her, his head still created the final words.
"Then that's all that matters."
.
Strauss woke up to two things. A dull pain in her chest, and a wave immense shame. How the hell was she supposed to help Law with his plan if she just went and passed out like that? That was… it was… pathetic! She hadn't trained, and slaved, and worked so hard only to… What if it had been during a more critical moment like in the heat of battle? It could've been the difference between life or death.
Just went to show how weak she was. Weak weak weak weak WEAK! There was no way in hell she could go any further in the New World being this weak.
Had that promise to herself back then meant nothing?!
She needed to get stronger. Far, far, stronger.
Finally realising that she was staring at a blurry version of the ceiling she attempted to sit up, only to be met with a rush of blood draining from her head. "Nnnngh!"
"Y-You're awake!" A fuzzy blur moved into view, only to materialise into a G-5 Marine. "Oh, that reindeer doctor said to tell you if you woke up to try not and move too much. Now I dunno what exactly happened to you but-"
WHAM!
"Fuck off."
The marine went flying, head jerked backwards from her sharp blow to the underside of his chin, until he landed on the ground with a sickening crunch.
"I'm fine." Shaking off the dizziness, Strauss rose shakily to her feet. "I'm well enough to fight which is the only thing that's important."
"Dat's da ding," the marine squawked amidst the blood streaming from his nose, "dat liddle reindeer dude said you'we not! An' big bro said dat if anyding happened to you dat he'd-"
She shot him an icy glare. Paling, he retreated back to his crewmates.
Good.
"H-Hey calm down!"
Her eyes glanced around the room. At all the shrieking and wailing children of various sizes currently getting syringes jabbed into their bodies.
"Don't resist, children!" Nico Robin groaned, her gigantic sprouted limbs straining with the effort of holding back the equally large kids.
So they'd caught up with Chopper and that other girl- Mocha, that's right her name was Mocha- during the time she'd been out… so she hopefully hadn't been unconscious for that long. They were nowhere to be seen, but she put that down to too many large drugged up children and not much space. And now her eyes were finally focusing again, she could vaguely recognise the hallway as one quite close to an airlock to building R. Also good, since that would be one of the last places Caesar would let get filled with gas.
"OI! Keep still you brats!"
Strauss stiffened at the sound of his voice. And instantly forced herself to relax.
"Sedate them already, G-5!"
"Only a few more to go, brother!"
Broth-? She wasn't going to question it. It wasn't worth it. Besides, she knew full well how magnetic Sanji could be with his personality… especially for men who obviously idolised their very much female captain.
Urk!
A few quick slaps to get blood flowing through her cheeks again and Strauss prepared herself to get to work. Her muscles still ached, equal mix stiff from being flat against the floor and tense from extensive use, but she could manage. Since she couldn't exactly sit around doing nothing. Although considering she didn't think Chopper would appreciate her physically harming the kids and knocking them out her usual way involved a slight risk of paralysis from the neck down… She could still administer syringes she supposed. Law had taught her how to give injections after all.
First things first, she should contact Law to tell him that she was alright. He'd hopefully realised as much thanks to her beating heart (she checked her pulse… definitely beating), but it still wouldn't hurt to confirm it. All she had to do was give his own heart a little…
Her eyes flicked down to the empty cavity in her chest.
Right. She'd given it to Sanji. Things had been so hazy at that point that she struggled to remember. Well now that she wasn't dead like she'd thought she'd be, it would be good to get it back. Having a living beating heart around while fighting was risky at the best of times, and it'd make far more sense to continue keeping it where she knew it was there.
She glanced to where Sanji was precariously clinging onto a clump of hair as the massive child in question tried to shake him off.
Maybe later.
"Oi. You." One of the G-5 marines passing by flinched as she called out. "You got any more of those syringes?"
"The syringes… uh… yeah? I've got some he-"
"Thanks."
Snatching one out of his hand she started sprinting towards the nearest squirming child who was just about to break free of of Robin's 'limbs'. The child hissed, eyes unfocussed, twisting out of the giant arm's grip to swat a massive hand where she stood. Right before the collision Strauss lept backwards-
WHACK!
-only to latch onto the child's vacant wrist.
"UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Ignoring the bellowing roar Strauss held firm, even as the arm she was now gripping began to be lifted into the air. Her legs encircled the child's flesh- not quite enough to reach all the way around, but enough to secure her- just before the entire world turned upside down.
It was hard for her hands to remain steady. Especially now this frantic child was wildly flailing his one free arm around in an effort to dislodge her. But she was used to being off balance. And used to keeping a calm head in the most wild situations. She was even used to operating her limbs as entities separate from her body thanks to her ridiculously analytical captain.
Being flung upside down through the air by a gigantic screaming drugged up toddler while trying to carefully find the correct vein in the back of his hand to plant a syringe in and administer a sedative without ripping the skin would be absolutely fine.
Finally her fingers found the spot she was looking for. Stretching the skin taut, she attempted to move the syringe into position. She had one shot at this… better make it good.
Sucking in a horribly cold breath, she pushed the plunger.
"UAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The screech, which would be loud in its own right, was practically deafening when aimed almost directly into her ear. Wincing, Strauss removed the needle from the skin as seamlessly as possible. She wasn't exactly an expert at giving painless injections. Finally feeling the child's arm grow limp, she relaxed her legs and dropped effortlessly to the ground.
"You should be resting."
Not even bothering to shoot a glare in his direction, Strauss moved to dispose of the needle while the child behind her slumped into a drugged stupor, "I've been resting. For quite some time apparently."
"Oh I'm sorry," Sanji hissed as he marched after her, "I didn't realise that rest is another word for being unconscious for you and that damn warlord! Is this something you're used to with that bastard?"
He was pissed. Of course he was pissed. Just… great.
Her brow furrowed, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak about my captain like that."
"I can talk about that shithead however the hell I want." His hand latched onto Strauss's shoulder and whipped her around to face him properly. "Especially when he fucking cuts out your heart!"
Part of her was mildly flattered he was so angry about this even after she'd gone and punched him in the gut.
Emphasis on mildly.
"Don't think I haven't figured out where yours is by the way." An accusatory finger got wagged in her face. "I'm not that dumb. How dare that bastard hand your heart over to those assholes pretending it's yours! How dare he even touch it!"
"It was my idea."
"Wha…WHAT?"
Strauss felt the satisfaction of the footsteps behind her slowing to a stop.
"It was… What do you mean that it was…"
"If you want to yell at someone for a stupid plan-" She span on her heel to face him once more- "then yell at me. Because it was my plan. If anything, Law was against it, so you really shouldn't be blaming him."
Sanji's brow furrowed, presumably with the great strain of having to reconcile the fact that Law was not the ultimate evil here. "I… why…?" The thought sent a jolt through him as he once again stormed towards her. "Why would you do such a thing? Why would you just… just… give your heart away!? I-i-it doesn't make sense!"
"Do you really not know me that well?"
He couldn't answer that. Of course he couldn't. Since he knew, just as well as she did, that even back at the Baratie she would've pulled something like this. Both of them would have.
They were the same in that regard. Always had been.
"Still-" He was still protesting, even now. Even though it was clear in his eyes that his arguments were beginning to crumble away in his fingers- "you wouldn't have had to do something like this if it wasn't for him coercing you onto his crew! He was the one to drag you into all this mess. You…"
"Sanji."
God the way he looked at her. That one visible eye of his looking so… pained. Not quite on the verge of tears but nearing the juncture. All because of the sheer worry coursing through him. It practically made her want to grab those shoulders of his and blurt out just how much she'd missed him. How many times she'd wished he was there to talk to. How worried she'd been by how he'd seemingly vanished off the face of the earth for two entire years… while she was left broken by grief.
"I…"
"Brother! Silver Foot!"
Both their heads jerked back towards the sudden cry.
"We need you over here." The marine ducked under another child's flailing arm. "We… We can't deal with these kids without you!"
But that was the thing wasn't it? It was never the right time. Never the right place. Which was why for so long all these negative feelings… the sensations of doubt and loneliness… had been crumpled into a tight little ball. Never to unfurl. And stow it away in the deepest darkest corner of her heart.
She could keep it there for a little longer.
A little longer.
"Can I have Law's heart back." Miraculously, her hand wasn't shaking as she gestured towards him. "It would… We might risk crushing it if we get into a fight. It's probably safer with me. I only asked for you to take it in the first place because…"
She'd thought she was going to die.
"Oh… Yeah… Sure..." It was tucked into a jacket pocket. Wrapped in an elegant silk handkerchief. "To avoid staining my clothes," he explained as she arched a brow. "I… didn't want to get covered with blood after all."
"Everything remains within the bounds of Law's choosing." Unwrapping the beating organ, Strauss discretely slipped it back into the cavity in her own chest. "The boundaries basically act as a teleport back into the original body, which in this case is Law's. So it would never have caused a mess."
"Ah. I see…"
"Do you want me to…?" She motioned to the handkerchief questioningly.
"Mmh? O-Oh, no no no." Sanji shook his head, closing Strauss's fingers around the silk square. "You just… give it back to me later. Just in case you… uh… need it…" he finished weakly.
Strauss blinked at her clenched fist in strained disbelief. Logic screamed at her to ask why he thought she would even need a handkerchief in the first place, but was promptly kicked aside by another part of her she didn't want to acknowledge.
"Thanks." It was slipped almost subconsciously into a pocket. "I'll… wash it before giving it back to you."
"That would be… good."
"Good?"
"Yeah, good."
"...good."
"BROTHER! SILVER FOOT! WHILE YOU TWO IDIOTS ARE HAVING A NATTER OVER THERE, WE'RE BUSTING OUR ASSES OFF TRYING TO SEDATE THESE KIDS! HURRY IT THE FUCK UP!"
The two looked at each other with equal faces of embarrassment. Before dissolving into peals of light chuckles.
"It's good to see you again you know."
Sanji's gaze met hers, and Strauss realised with a jolt how much he'd changed physically. That beard he'd always wanted was beginning to stubble in. He was still lanky, but a muscular sort of lanky that in theory didn't make sense but for him just seemed to work. She swallowed a lump in her throat.
She seemed so weak in comparison… and small…
"Yeah." Her face forced itself into a smile that, no matter how hard she tried, never reached her eyes. "Same to y-ngh!"
"Strauss! Are you alright!?"
"I'm fine." She waved away his worried hands as they made to 'catch' her. "This isn't that bad… probably just after effects of Law fighting. Just… caught me by surprise…"
"That does it then." Sanji's brow furrowed. "You're resting. No questions asked."
"But-"
"Did that damn captain of yours give you any particular orders for you to carry out?"
"No, b-"
"Is there anything right now that you specifically can do?"
"I can still help out if n-"
"Then do you think you'll be useful to anyone if you overexerted yourself doing something you didn't have to and then couldn't help when we need you?
Silence.
"That's what I thought." Huffing, a light smile spread over his face. "Look, I know you don't like not doing anything, but right now all you need to do is hang in there until your heart is safe. I take it you'll know when that is?"
She shrugged. "Not really… But I should be able to figure it out when it happens."
"Good. Then you-" His hands planted themselves on her shoulders and gently pushed her into sitting- "stay right here, and explain what's going on to this kid." Sanji gestured to the child Strauss had sedated, who was now beginning to groggily open his eyes. "I'm sure he'd be grateful to know what happened. Okay?"
It wasn't as if she had any say in the matter apparently. "Okay."
"Perfect."
"BROOTHEEEER!"
"Seems like that's my cue to go," he chuckled limply, scratching the back of his neck. "But if you need anything-" At once his face turned serious- "Let someone know. Don't be a stubborn idiot."
Strauss smirked despite herself. "Takes one to know one."
"Oh ha ha." Flicking her forehead, he straightened. "Seriously, take it easy. You'll be useless to everyone if you go and have a heart attack."
"I know, I know, so just go already." She gestured to the absolutely livid marine. "Before someone else comes down with a heart attack."
"Fine, I'm going! But seriously-"
"Go!"
"I am!"
It was only as he finally turned his back on her that Strauss realised she was smiling. And not those small curls of the lips she was used to; it was a full blown grin. She hadn't smiled like that since… well, since the Baratie.
He'd always been the one to make her laugh.
"Uh… miss…"
Turning, she raised her head to look at the large child seated behind her, "I take it you would like an explanation for what's going on."
His head nodded. "Uhuh. My head feels fuzzy…"
"Well, that's because we had to sedate you…"
He'd also been the only one who could ever get her to rest.
He… He'd got it. He'd actually got it.
Law breathed heavily, trying to blink past the trail of blood trickling past one eye. Around him the smoke dissipated as White Chase spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm… that one disembodied arm vanishing into thin air now that it had done its job.
And deposited Strauss's heart safely into Law's waiting hands.
It pulsed, in a slow but steady rhythm. Almost hypnotic to the eyes.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
Under his breath Law let out a heavy sigh of relief. She was alive. His crewmate had gotten out of this alive. He'd been worried there for a moment. There had been times he wasn't sure how strong Vergo had been squeezing her heart during the fight, and of course he didn't have the pain receptors to tell.
But not having feeling the pain of the contortions only made it easier for him and Smoker to get it back.
She was going to be so proud of herself knowing that idiotic reckless plan had actually worked. And he was going to have to try even harder next time to stop her from doing something that foolish again.
"So. That was why you turned to smoke." Vergo's saccharine tone finally broke for what felt like the first time that battle.
"Now-" Smoker flopped back against the railing, heavily bleeding but still with enough energy to smirk- "we're even."
"You don't wanna owe a pirate, huh?" Law flipped open his jacket and pushed Strauss's heart inside the vacant cavity in his chest. It was a tad too small. A barely inperceptible difference before he felt the gaps between the two pieces of flesh. But that didn't matter.
Her heart would be safer in there. For the little time he would keep a hold of it.
The marine scoffed, "I would've done it anyway to stop Valentino from dying. Helping you was an added benefit. Just… finish him off already, otherwise Tashigi will be mad I let that kid die."
"Fine, fine. But still-"
With a flex of his fingers a blue sphere encased the platform. No, more than the platform. The entire room- the entire facility. Out of nowhere a fur hat, once lost to the depths of the processing plant, reappeared into its owner's hand.
"-that was just the help I needed."
Vergo's face looked like thunder, veins pronouncing from his forehead at an alarming rate that Law nearly found himself impressed the blood pressure hadn't killed him already. Eyes remained unreadable behind those mirrored shades. Yet the anger radiated off him in waves. As the stick of bamboo in his hands practically snapped from his sheer grip strength.
"It's over."
But it wasn't. Not really. There were so many battles left to fight, even on this island… let alone Dressrosa. Caesar hadn't been taken down. God only knew what Straw Hat and his band of merry idiots were getting up to. And there was still that matter of that wretched 'Land of Death' gas to deal with.
This battle however… had reached it's inevitable conclusion.
Despite himself, the corner of his lip twitched upwards.
"Vergo… san."
And he couldn't be more ready for it.
Law had done something. Strauss could tell that much when the border of his Room rushed over her. A border that hardly looked one. The curvature was a lot… oh how to describe it… it was as if the sphere was bigger than anything she'd ever seen. As if the centre was so distant to her.
Shock rooted her feet to the ground, practically causing one of the children to stumble right into her before she regained her composure and took off again.
This was easily the largest Room she'd ever seen Law cast. Which could mean a variety of things, but the most likely was…
"Hah…" Her hand clenched over the irregular heart beating in her chest, a petrified smile growing over her face as the entire facility began to shake. "Hahaha!"
"Is everything alright, Miss Valentino?" Nico Robin glanced her way as she kept pace beside her.
"Ooooh he's an idiot…"
Out of the corner of her eye, Sanji flinched.
Robin blinked, "I am… I'm sorry?"
"Trafalgar Law is a goddamn genius idiot. Oi!" Cupping a hand to her mouth, Strauss raised her voice for the others. "Guys! Stop!"
Everyone slid to a messy halt.
"Strauss?" Sanji zipped over to her in an instant. "Is everything alright? Are you hurt? Has one of your wounds opened up?"
"I'm perfectly fine just try to keep as low to the ground as possible! Particularly you… uh… big boys and girls-" she gestured wildly to the abnormally large kids- "Try and curl up as small as you can! And fast!"
Nami's brow furrowed as the kids questioningly did as Strauss asked, "What's the big worry? Is this shaking something dangerous?"
"You could say that," Strauss gritted her teeth, "Especially since we might end up with a bunch of decapitated children."
The confusion on Nami's face rapidly turned to horror, "HEY KIDS!" She whirled around despite the speed in which they were travelling. "DU-!"
Shhhhng!
…
Silence.
Complete. And Utter. Silence.
Strauss shuddered, yet not from any sense of fear. The sudden temperature decrease was shocking even while wearing winter clothes. The wind howled, eagerly spitting snowflakes this way and that almost as if Monet had somehow caught up to them.
But it wasn't Monet.
In fact the sudden chill wasn't anything unnatural.
The snow was just snow. And the cold was just cold.
The unnatural thing was the other half of Caesar's facility suspended in midair above them. Perfectly cut in two. Floating as if it were weighless. Truly a magnificent… yet bone chilling sight to see. And one that would haunt her dreams for days to come.
Not for the first time, Strauss reminded herself to never cross Trafalgar Law.
Tap tap. Tap tap tap.
She glanced down to where she sensed rather than felt the prods against her chest. Finally. Slipping a hand inside her jacket, she produced her captain's heart and held it flat on her palm.
"S…" Sanji moved up behind her. "Strauss what are you-"
She ignored him and instead flexed a finger to tap against the fleshy boundaries of the heart-cube.
Tap. Tap tap. Tap tap. Tap.
The response was instantaneous.
Tap tap tap. Tap. Tap tap.
A smile flitted across her face.
Tap.
Sucking in a breath of bitingly refreshing air, she tried to envision what he was doing… wherever the hell he was. Standing in the middle of the blue sphere, heart resting on his palm just the same as her.
Strauss closed her eyes, a vivid picture of her captain now present in her mind. As across the whole divided facility, they both muttered the same word. Even though neither of them particularly needed to say it.
"Shambles."
A/N
Helloooooo lovely people! How is everyone doing? Good? Good! It's simply lovely to see you all again! Things over here have been little chaotic recently... what with trying to do adult things and go to job interviews, but I'm still going to stick around and try to write. Just... be prepared for updates to not be AS regular anymore (as if they ever were in the first place hahahah...)
In happier news, I've finally made the decision to try NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those who don't know)! And with something original (kinda). I'm planning on reworking one of my existing fanfictions into something that's more 'me'. And no it won't be kinky. Unfortunately. But getting to 50k words in a month will eat up quite a bit of my remaining time because... that's about 1,700 words a day and I usually write a third of that. But I'm going to try. And do something original. Maybe something will come from it, maybe it won't, but I still want to give it a go. So please please please bear with me just for this month. After that... eh. Things might still be hairy. We'll see.
Thank you all so much for reading! I love each and every one of your comments and they genuinely do make my day. I seriously cannot say that enough. You all are amazing lovely people and I wish you the best of happiness 3! I hope you stay safe, and have a lovely day or night wherever your timezone is