A/N: Originally I had wanted to update banish every gaslight first, but then stuff happened, so you get this instead.

Five

It started with a subtle touch by the bonfire, something discreet and easily overlooked by others gathered around Tokage's shipyard. Then Robin excused herself, with Law following not too long afterwards. He looked for her amongst the docked ships and building materials with little success and was about to give up when she popped out of the shadows and kissed him with… desperation…?

"Hey, what's this?" he asked, trying to keep his voice low. The bonfire was not too far away, after all, and neither were their ships. "This isn't like you."

"The alliance is going to end soon," she reminded him. "I don't know how long it will be until we meet again… let alone reach our goals… I don't like not knowing…"

"Then come with me," he offered again. "I don't care about being King of the Pirates; you and I can find the missing history instead and let the morons fight over the One Piece."

"…except, the missing history is tied to Gold Roger's treasure and you know it," she said. Robin held Law's face in her hands—her real hands—and they languidly kissed, his own hands finding her waist and back. She broke the kiss, feeling absolutely silly. "You can come with us too, you know."

"My crew would kill me."

"They can come along in the Polar Tang."

"Being around Luffy that much longer will actually kill me."

"Fair enough." She idly played with his earrings for a moment as she studied his face in the moonlight."I stole some condoms from the Victoria Punk."

"That shouldn't be so sexy."

"Get us to my room on the Sunny and I can make it more so," she claimed. He opened his mouth to protest, only for her to press a finger to his lips. "Nami knows to stay away, and no one else needs to be there tonight. We'll have it all to ourselves." He moved so that the tip of her finger slipped between his lips and he held it gently with his teeth before she removed it.

"Can we do no Devil Fruits then?" he suggested. "Once we're up there… would you… would you like to pretend we were normal?"

"Normal…?" She furrowed her brow as she tried to parse his meaning. "As though we weren't pirates? People who go to work and pay bills and act like there's little to do outside their hometown?"

"I mean… people who can afford to believe, at least for a little while, there's nothing outside that wants them dead."

In answer, Robin closed the miniscule gap between them and kissed Law, pulling them tightly together as he opened a Room and transported them to the deck of the Thousand Sunny. While it was tempting to lead him over to the swing instead, Robin broke the kiss and led Law up the stairs and into the bedroom, where it looked like Nami had visited recently, as a bottle of wine was set out to chill and some of her long-burning candles were lit in an effort to set a mood.

"Did… you do this?" he wondered, taking off his coat and tossing it over a chair. She shook her head and chuckled while she slipped out of her geta and he kicked off his boots.

"I think Nami finds us amusing, at the least. It's unlike her to discourage a relationship provided it doesn't put her in a tight space."

"…and here I still had a bit of hesitation about the bed you and… your roommate sleep in." She shrugged at that, completely unbothered.

"As long as we change the sheets, she doesn't care." Robin eased Law down to sit on the edge of the mattress and took his hat off him, carding her fingers through his hair to fluff it back up. His face stayed hidden against the obi around her torso as his hands felt her thighs and ass under the kimono—she wasn't wearing anything underneath, making his cock throb. "Your housemates wouldn't be able to leave us alone for one minute if we were there instead, would they?"

"Fuck no," he said, gripping the skin on her upper thigh. "I don't regret living with them but they are too needy some days." He pressed his face against the fabric of her kimono and let out a breath she didn't realize he was holding. "I want to be able to taste you the entire time you're off to that conference."

"We can try," she smirked. She removed one of his hands from under the kimono and guided it towards the bow at the back of her obi. "I think it's time to open your going-away present."

"Not that I'm complaining, but usually the one who is going away gets a going-away present," he replied. Law slowly pulled at the bow, then undid the obi and let it fall to the floor. "This might be a little backwards."

"Not the way I see it," Robin said. She allowed his hands to travel further, hungrily touching more and more skin as he went. "Tell me: have you thought about what you're going to do when your contract is up? That's coming soon, isn't it?"

"I… don't know…" He nuzzled his way past her open kimono to kiss her bare abdomen. "Doubt I'd get rid of my housemates for good, but I was considering moving out."

"Oh…? Where to?"

"I had been thinking of a quaint brick house with a white picket fence, but that's a little too cliché for me, isn't it?"

"A bit, but not entirely unreasonable." She melted into his touch as one hand went up and down her thigh, while the other splayed out on her back as he began to kiss the inferno that was the skin under one of her breasts. "That's a big change from living with your housemates to being alone."

"I was thinking of getting a dog," he replied between nibbles. "A little white one with a black patch that can bounce around in the yard like a stupid riceball."

"How cute; and that's all you'd come home to?"

"I was thinking… maybe… coming home to someone… when they're not coming home to me, that is… and…" He was between her breasts now, clinging to her as though afraid to let go. "Would you like to know what I would do to greet them after they come home from a long day at work?"

Robin scratched at his scalp and hummed, giving him permission. He eased her kimono off her shoulders and let it pool on the floor, then carefully flipped them over so that she was on her back while he shucked off his shirt and unbuckled his jeans. Once their clothes were all in a pile, he pressed their bodies together, feeling the electricity of skin-on-skin as he languidly kissed her shoulder, neck, and throat, eventually making his way to her mouth. They kissed slowly, deliberately, methodically as he ground their hips together, limbs tangling as they tried to hold onto one another.

Eventually, however, Law shifted so that he rested his weight to one side and reached between them. He did not break their kiss as he found the folds between her legs and began to massage them open as he felt her chest heave up and down with her increasingly-staggered breaths. Feeling himself start to leak and harden, he allowed his lips to move from her mouth to her cheek, jaw, then finally to the bit of neck behind her ear. He breathed deeply, committing her scent to memory in hopes that he would keep this for longer than until the next time their crews met.

Once Robin was nearly a complete shivering mess, Law repositioned them once again and knelt reverently between her legs, leaning down to kiss her abdomen as he gave her a moment to catch her breath. Fingers loosely curling into his hair was his cue; he grabbed one of the condoms from the nightstand, rolled it on and slid himself into place with almost no resistance at all. He couldn't feel how wet she was, but she was warm, seas help him, and she was tight enough of a fit to make him gasp when she flexed around him without warning.

With stars in his eyes, Law set a slow, methodical pace as he thrust in and out of Robin, their hips making barely any noise as they connected. They had fucked before, they had made love before, they had even stroked and sucked one another off before, yet this… this felt different. There was a desperation behind it that had nothing to do with quelling their carnal needs, nor taking comfort in one another in the moment. Amongst the rolling of their hips and the entwining of their fingers was a promise—one that both were too terrified to give life with words—and despite the fact it had never been closer, it was still so far from their collective grasp. He felt her tip over the edge as her whole body tensed, which prompted him to shakily bury himself in her as he filled the condom and choked down a shout that would have alerted anyone near the Sunny that something was going on. Law waited until they had both come down from their highs before he slipped himself out, laying down on one side so that he could rest his head against Robin's shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Robin," he breathed.

"Hmm…? Yes, Law?"

"When we're done with… everything… will you be that person? I…" He swallowed. "I don't want to share the house and the fence and the dog with anyone else. It… wouldn't be the same."

"I'm going to want kids one day," she warned. His grip around her waist became just a little tighter. "Is there enough room in this house of yours for a child or two?"

"I'll pick up Olvia and Lars from school and after playtime and homework they can help get dinner going, so that when their mom comes home from her late lectures, everyone… can eat… together." He closed his eyes and tried not to cry—fuck! Not now! They didn't have time for this! She rolled within his grasp and rested his face in her chest, rubbing gentle circles on his back as he burst into full-on sobs.

"I think… that's enough of the roleplay for the time being," she crooned. More of her arms sprouted, not only helping to lift them up, but also grabbing the tissue box from the table. She did not rush him, instead simply holding him as pent-up emotion all came flooding out.

After all the years of getting bear hugs from Bepo as he cried about his past, Law wasn't used to being embraced by his paramour as he cried over the possibilities he wanted for the future.

"Don't worry," she assured, "I have you."

They sat like that for a while, with Robin holding Law gently as he swung between sniffling into tissues and hiccuping out ugly, self-loathing tears—ones even his oldest friends had rarely seen. She shifted them backwards so as to take advantage of the headboard, using extra arms to clean them both up and pull the blankets over them. He eventually sunk down into a laying position, curled around her legs as his head rested in her lap.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, voice hoarse. "You shouldn't have to do this."

"Realizing you want to live for the future after a lifetime of living for something else is a frightening thing," she admitted. "No one should have to go through that alone. My friends were there for me, and I can more than be here for you."

"This is different," he croaked.

"I don't see how."

"Friends care about each other, but I…" He drifted off, hesitant to give his thoughts life by speaking them aloud. She used two fingers on his chin to turn his gaze towards her, eyes red and face puffy from crying.

"…but what…?"

"I think… I think I love you."

Robin let out the breath she had been holding, relieved to hear those words. She slid down until she was laying down next to him, holding his face in her hands. Sure, he looked like hell, but he was also the person most like her that she had ever known.

"Four years ago, I never imagined I would hear someone tell me that, and even though my friends love me very deeply, it is not the same kind of love that you're admitting." She brushed the hair from his forehead and kissed him chastely. "Something tells me you're the same." He nodded. "Then let's take a quick nap to clear our minds. I gave up running two years ago, but this? I don't want it to have power over tonight. Agreed?"

"Yeah," he mumbled.

Sleep did not come easy, but at least…

The days that passed were unnerving, to say the least. Both Robin and Law had to grit their teeth and accept congratulations from colleagues that did not exist and Trafalgars who were no longer living for a wedding they had no intention of planning. It was beyond weird to say the least, but they were able to cobble together some sort of front to hide behind as they privately began to panic. Keeping up the false pretense of the dreamscape took up so much effort that they would reconvene again and barely had enough energy to function. It wasn't even like they could ignore things like sleeping or eating or grocery shopping or anything of the sort, because the real-world consequences were mimicked eerily well. They were trapped, and they knew it, and the only way to figure things out was to live through the cruel farce.

One specific thing brought them solace, however, and that was that they were together. Law told his family—fuck, now it was so weird to refer to them as such—that he was going to stay with Robin for a bit so that they could have time to talk about "what was coming next". His parents gave him knowing smiles and Lami was insistent that he not stay away for too long. With that awkward conversation over with, he packed a backpack and moved over to the flat, where the pair were able to openly share their findings on how the dreamscape operated. They talked as they cooked dinner, completed chores, and held one another close at night; it was all so quiet and domestic and unsettling that they knew it as a waking nightmare.

What else would they call something that gave them nearly everything they ever missed or coveted, with none of what truly made them… well… them? Although they had worked hard and made personal sacrifices in the dreamscape's timeline, there was nothing about the pain that shaped them. The former Marines that shaped their lives by showing mercy did not seem to exist in this life, which posed a series of questions: why did they not exist? Why were they not simply in other roles? Did the parasite's ability not have the capacity for such complications? Or was it emotional depth? Why did it take away the comfort they found in friends and the adversity they had collectively overcome? Did the fact that they knew what true hunger and despair looked and felt like scare the parasite? They had so, so many questions and very few answers with any sort of relevancy. It was all about how this version of Flevance worked, or what was in their invented lives instead of what was missing, creating an environment that was so chilling that they were loathe to think about what it would have been like for a Celestial's slave to unknowingly be pulled from such a hallucination and back into their master's casual malice.

Nearly an entire week had gone since Law had been exposed to the lie he was in when he was caught by surprise by a free afternoon and used the time to walk down to where Robin had her office on the university's main campus. As he made the trip, he slowly forced his mind to actively remember all of the things the parasite was trying to make him still think was a dream. He even stopped in front of one store and stared—flashes of a busted-in window and gas mask-wearing soldiers murdering the clerks crossed his mind, only to be gone just as quickly. A child waiting for her mother's shopping to be packed saw and waved at him, which he awkwardly returned before continuing on his way.

Once at the university it was an entirely new set of horrors. If he remembered correctly, the soldiers had a station there for rounding up citizens and murdering them in large numbers. He passed where a pile of bodies had been on his way towards the university's museum and archaeology department, though in the dreamscape it was just an outside study group basking in the autumn sun. How long was it since his class had been there on a field trip? Probably almost twenty years. The security guard waved him in with a smile and he passed by a few exhibits—none of the items on display had labels or descriptions. A heaviness sat in the pit of his stomach; he was the only one who could have remembered what was said there, and now it was simply gone because it was not his main interest.

Law eventually wandered his way towards the staff offices and found the door with Robin's name on it. He knocked before poking his head in, seeing that his fiancée was at her desk. She looked up at him with a sense of relief—it was only him.

"Good, it's you," she breathed. "If I see one more graduate student I've never encountered before I think I might scream."

"That's me and nursing techs—feels like there's almost a hundred in my unit alone, not including Penguin and Shachi," he replied. He went to her side of the desk and leaned down, their kiss lingering for longer than should have been appropriate for her workplace. "Hey, why don't we cut out and take a walk in the park? There's something I want to show you before it gets crowded after school and office work is done for the day."

"I should be free." Robin double-checked the schedule she had found to find that yes, she was technically free all afternoon. "There's so much on my brain that I think a walk will be a nice change of pace."

"Then let's go," he said, offering his hand to help her up. She allowed the help, with him quickly grabbing her jacket as well. They were gestures they were rarely able to indulge in under their usual circumstances, and if there was something to be thankful about within the entire ordeal, it was that they were able to relish being normal while they figured out what they needed to do.

Normal… it was not the same as conforming, oh no. Instead, for Law and Robin, there was something novel about not worrying about the Government and Navy chasing after them, existing in a place where they could pursue their interests without their looming shadow hung low on the horizon. Their jobs had nothing to do with piracy and they were accepted into this version of Flevance without question. To be "normal" was to be uninteresting and left alone, which was a reality neither had known for a long time. Once Robin's coat was on and her bag slung over her shoulder, Law pulled her into another kiss, this one deeper and longing as he held her close and a hand reached for her ass. She hummed in delight and gripped his shirt as she felt him squeeze hungrily.

They were two freakish remnants of bygone eras and here, in a twisted world created to kill them, they belonged.

"Dr. Nico, I—oh!" Law and Robin stopped kissing to see that one of the department assistants had walked in, her face tinging pink in embarrassment as she hid behind the papers in her hand. "Sorry! I didn't realize Dr. Trafalgar was here!"

"You're okay," Robin chuckled. She felt Law's hold on her grow tighter. "My afternoon is clear, so Dr. Trafalgar has decided to escort me to the park."

"…and if you are asked for personally, ma'am?"

"She had an immovable appointment," Law answered firmly. The assistant squeaked out an apology and left, with Law leaning towards Robin's ear as he murmured lowly, "I want to be selfish and show you what I can't on the outside."

"I see," she said, her voice remaining in an even register. "Then let's go. I don't want to miss it."

Law offered his arm and Robin took it, allowing him to escort her out of her office and towards the exit. Varied staff members greeted them on the way out—the security guard even wolf-whistled, because why not—and the couple took their leave.

"You know… she didn't have any symptoms when everything happened," Law said as they went down the front steps of the university. Robin made a noise and tilted her head; huh? "The security guard; she's a year older than me—her parents came to Flevance from Notice to work in the Amber Lead trade. People came from a long way to capitalize on our wealth, so it's honestly a wonder how few people realized the correlation."

"I'm personally amazed that the immigration didn't cause friction." They walked down the sidewalk, keeping close so as to not allow anyone else to hear. "Most cases I've read about, there is at least a vocal minority of long-established locals who feel displaced during a high-immigration period."

"Amber Lead could lavishly support us if half the North Blue decided to come here for medical tourism and refuse to lift a finger otherwise," he said. "Besides, our population had been in decline before then; the old folks who would have normally complained about not having enough grandkids to go around suddenly had plenty of help. It was a win-win." Law paused before leading them across the street, heading down another road. "I remember taking this route a lot with my class when we were brought on walks. Being so familiar with it… helped."

"When everything changed."

"Yeah." They were quiet for a moment before turning into a park. "This was one of the places I nearly died." Her eyebrows raised and his expression remained flat; only his voice gave the slightest bit of a waver, the sole indication he felt anything. "The soldiers tricked the teachers into bringing their students here under the guise of getting them on an aid ship. My classmates tried to get me to come with them, but I didn't because of Lami. When I tried to rejoin them after things went even more to shit, they were all laying dead in the street."

"That's… awful," she replied. Robin thought back to her own tragedy, going over mentally all the sins committed within the Buster Call. "In Ohara, whomever didn't burn, drowned instead. I imagine none of it can compare to each other."

"No." He stopped at a bit of grass, far enough away from the woman on the bench feeding birds to stay out of earshot. "After going from a home where each person was to be treated with dignity and respect to children being murdered without a thought, it's a miracle I was ever pulled back from believing in Doflamingo's lies." He pressed a kiss to her temple and lingered, whispering, "They're buried here."

"…in the real Flevance?"

"Yeah; this park is full of mass graves. If I take you there one day, this is where I should have been. I would have rather told you after we settled down, but I can't really top this." Robin could feel a tear not her own fall onto her face; all the acknowledgment she gave was a squeeze of his arm. One day they would start truly unpacking it all, but it had to first be when they were safe and, at the very least, out of the dreamscape.

"Oh… you figured it out… how annoying."

The pair turned around to find that the woman sitting on the bench was within earshot after all, with Law immediately recognizing her: the one from the marketplace that put them in this mess. In Flevench clothes while feeding birds, she blended into the setting so perfectly it was chilling. Law put himself between the woman and Robin and grunted.

"You're the one who did this to me," he spat. "Why?!"

"It's my Devil Fruit," the woman smirked. She dumped out the rest of the seed bag and the birds continued to peck happily at the ground as the rest of the park around them slowed to what was a near-complete stop. "I can create these… things. They allow me to invade someone's mind and make for them a perfect paradise, but at their body's expense. I'm just the latest in a long line of people with this ability—the Celestial Dragons have been making use of this for hundreds of years to keep their slaves in line."

"A former slave is who tipped us off," Robin said. The woman frowned. "If you worked for the Celestial Dragons, then why are you not in Mary Geoise right now?"

"They were growing bored of me; I'm supposed to pass on the ability soon now that the bloom is off the rose," she said bitterly. "Each one of us in the line gained the ability from eating the previous user, who then gets discarded with the rest of the trash. I never wanted that for myself, so in the commotion the Revolutionary Army caused, I was able to run away."

"What do you mean by that?" Law asked. "People get their powers from Devil Fruits."

"You are what you eat, or so they say," she shrugged. "It wasn't like the dick tasted good anyhow. How was I supposed to know? I was twelve." She leaned back against the bench and looked up at the trees above. "I thought if I bit it off, at least he'd kill me and then I'd be done with, but instead it went down and…" she sighed, "You certainly do come from a lovely place, kiddo. I'm impressed by your memory. Couldn't've been all that old when everything went tits up."

"…but why target me?"

"It's not so much you, but your bounty," she explained. "I might have a power the Celestials want, but those soft inbreds did themselves a disservice and never branded me. It's dead or alive, right? Bring in your corpse, I get that three billion beri bounty, and I can live out the rest of my days in peace." She glared at Robin. "You're a complication, however."

"We're being watched over by our crews," Robin replied. "Even if you were able to kill us, they would never let you cash in the bounties."

"That is true…" The woman trailed off and hummed. "Maybe I'll just have to take them as well…"

"You'd never!"

"Honey, I took out loverboy here in only seconds without so much as a struggle and I didn't even need to hunt you down—I'm not afraid of whatever is waiting on your ships." She stood and the birds ignored her as she turned to face her prisoners. "I'll be sporting though—if you want to get this thing off you, then you'll have to find what's anchoring you here and destroy it."

"Yeah, we figured as much," Law scoffed. The woman laughed.

"Don't worry; I do my best to not make it anyone. I'm not going to make you kill your dead mothers all over again. It's always too melodramatic for my taste." She grinned at them, at which Robin sprouted a bunch of arms and put her in a headlock. "Oh, I couldn't tell you what it is anymore now that it's the both of you in here. You're just going to have to figure that mystery out on your own."

"…but it's so much simpler making you do the dirty work for us," Robin replied.

"Tick-tock; the clock is running out," the woman said. "Either find your way out of here or I continue using my ability to track down the creature and get filthy rich by taking out both your crews. Happy dreams." Robin went to snap the woman's neck, but she vanished into nothingness before that could happen, leaving the spare limbs hovering in the air for just a moment before dissolving into flower petals. The rest of the people in the park began to move normally again as though nothing had happened.

"Shit," Law hissed. "At least we know how we got here."

"True, but I don't know what about her we can trust," Robin replied. She could feel her hair standing on-end; having met the Devil Fruit user, things now felt much, much worse. "My guess is that she does know what it is that is anchoring us here, though telling us obviously would ruin her plans." Some kids ran down the pavement and disrupted the birds, sending them flying, eliminating the final trace that the other woman was ever there. "We're going to need to think creatively."

"Clearly; we're literally the only things keeping her from tracking down our crews, which is a threat I consider credible. If she or any of her parasites come within a hundred meters of Bepo…"

"We'll stop it before then," she assured. There was a nasty feeling twisting her gut and she wasn't entirely sure what to think of it. She caught one of the other park-goers staring at them, prompting her to gently tug on his upper arm. "Come on; let's go home before the streets get crowded, like you said."

Taking the hint, Law allowed Robin to pull him from the park and down the road towards Rivierstraat. Considering she had never been to Flevance (and part of it was likely made up anyhow, no matter how much he wandered as a child), she had a very quick and solid grip on the city layout. They made it back to the flat without incident, though it only meant that it now contained Law as he attempted to pace himself into an answer.

"We have to think," he said. "We now have confirmation that there is a linchpin holding us in place. There is one thing that needs to be destroyed or upended or something in order for us to get out of here. The only question is what?"

"You need to relax," Robin warned. When he did not stop pacing, she sprouted some hands from the floor and held his ankles in place. "Law, listen to me: I don't know how much experience you have infiltrating other organizations or taking them apart, but the key here is going to be how we react. As difficult as it is going to be, the best possible way to find what we need is to be calm about this."

"This isn't the life you could have had," he grumbled. "It's just mine; you were only inserted in it."

"Don't start down that," she warned. "That's a dangerous path. If you don't recognize that this is the life that we cobbled together out of our unconscious thoughts, then it's only going to make it that much more difficult to find a way out."

"If this is what you want, then why isn't your family here?" he asked. She released his ankles and frowned. "I'm the one with everything: my family, my friends, my fucking amazingly perfect fiancée, my hometown intact and thriving… what does this place have for you?"

"It has my amazingly perfect fiancé, for one," she mentioned. "Also, we both have wonderfully-fulfilling careers, a safe environment in which to thrive, the promise of a life we normally can only dream about…" She held his face gently; she needed him to look directly at her, amber to brown. "That woman meant to rile us, and it's working too well. Don't let her win."

"She won't." She leaned in and lightly kissed him, his hands finding their way to her upper arms. "I am going to grind her into the dust."

"An approach expected of an Emperor-class threat, but is it the one that needs to be taken?"

He paused at that. "What do you mean?"

"I mean: let the professional spy do her job," Robin smirked. "You trust me here just as much as you trust me outside of here, correct?"

"Well… yes…"

"Then relax. We'll get out of this." She kissed him again, this time lingering and more tender. "Our crews have us on the outside, so let's concentrate on our work inside, alright?"

He nodded.

"Good." She pressed their foreheads together as they held each other in the middle of the flat. A far-off rumble indicated that a storm was about to move in, making it all the better that they were already indoors. "Now, do you want to know why I think my mother is still in Ohara, the Tree of Knowledge is still full of life, and I was able to have Professor Clover in my life until very recently?"

"…why…?" he wondered, voice quiet and almost raspy. He braced himself for what she was going to say—they both knew it was true.

"I moved on."

Tears stung at the corners of Law's eyes as he sucked in a breath—she was right. As good as it felt knowing that Doflamingo was in Impel Down after all these years, it didn't change the fact that the original source of his rage, his ire, his pain… nothing truly had been resolved. There was no amount of jailing old bosses and destroying other roadblocks that could bring him closer to coming to terms with the fact he was alone… the Last of the Flevench, and he always would be. He closed his eyes as Robin brought his face down to her shoulder, holding it there as she rubbed his back. No Devil Fruit. It was just the two of them, there, in spite of everything, and he wanted to do so much better.

The storm indeed rolled over Flevance, allowing Law cover for his tears as they moved to the bed so he could bury himself in Robin's grasp. He let himself fall apart, knowing that she could hold the pieces together long enough for him to pull together later. She held him knowing that, idly playing with his hair as he sobbed helplessly in her arms, knowing precisely how small he felt because… well… that had been her at one point not too long ago.

Even in this world of lies and danger, he trusted her completely, just as much as he trusted her with his name back in Zou. It felt like so long ago now despite the fact it really wasn't. Robin kept her real limbs on Law as she conjured another entire body to put together some tea. He was nearly cried-out as the copy brought the tray over to the bed and vanished in a flurry of sakura petals, the action so calm despite the storm raging outside.

"Come on, drink this," Robin said, leaning to reach a mug of tea. Law sat up and she passed it to him, waiting until the steaming drink was underneath his face before she took her own. "We'll get through this; I promise."

"We've been here at least a week—I don't know how long our crews will be able to hold out," he said quietly. "She's right. If she was able to take me out easily, then everyone else is in real danger."

"We have to trust them just as much as we trust each other." She gently scratched the nape of his neck as he took a tentative sip of his tea. "None of us are going to give up that easy. I guarantee it."

After they both had a cup of tea in them, Robin summoned another replica of herself so that she could remain in bed with Law, the pair cuddling together as they watched the storm through the skylight above. The rain and storm was calming, pricking the tension out of him bit by bit with every drop that snapped against the glass.

Sleep did not come easy, but at least… at least he had Robin despite it all.

Chopper's ears perked up as he noticed something odd: a wetness was leaking out from underneath the parasite on both Robin and Torao's side, as though they were crying despite their faces being covered. Huh. That was interesting. He took a tissue and dabbed them both dry before writing it down and doing a quick double-check of their vitals. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he simply made sure everything was logged and kept going—he trusted Robin and Torao to get out of there on their own.