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Law choked off a cry as the whip bit into his back yet again; the sleeves of his yukata had been pulled down to give his torturers better access to bare skin, which had turned into a palette of dark purples and ugly greens. His hands, suspended above his head, clenched and unclenched against the Seastone cuffs that left him feeling weak and cold. His fingers, missing several fingernails, throbbed with each movement. His toes barely touched the ground, and he swayed with every blow, which put extra pressure on his bloody, chafed wrists. Spots danced in front of his eyes—one of which was nearly swollen shut—he tasted blood in his mouth, and his head slumped forward in exhaustion.
In addition to regular interrogations with Hawkins and Kaido’s other brutes, each of whom favored a different form of torture—though they were all happy to cycle through any number of various methods and myriad tools—Law was not allowed to sleep; the only sleep Kaido’s men allowed him was when passed out during a session, though he was always roused from unconsciousness with more pain.
His eyes slid shut as that day’s interrogator, Fujiwara, paused to select a new tool. “You know you can stop this at any time,” he said, tone indicating he didn’t care either way what Law chose. “Just one name of a collaborator. One meeting place. One part of the plan and this can end.”
Law remained silent, just as he had for the last… how long had he been here? Hours? Days? Months? There were no windows in the cell, so once Law had lost consciousness the first time, it was impossible to tell how much time had passed.
“You’re only making it worse for yourself, Trafalgar,” Fujiwara said. His voice sounded muted, like it was coming from under water—or was Law the one underwater? One of Kaido’s interrogators particularly enjoyed dunking Law’s head underwater, holding it until he was about to pass out, dragging him out to suck in gasping breaths, and then shoving him back under again.
Law tensed when he felt cold metal against his neck; Fujiwara was good at what he did and let Law sit, tense, for several long beats as he waited for the pain to come. Where would it be coming from this time?
A sudden boom echoed from the main floor of the prison. Law’s eyes opened as the blade withdrew; he blinked heavily as Fujiwara exchanged looks with his men. There was another bang and subsequent shouts.
“Go see what that is,” Fujiwara ordered, and one of the guards bowed and headed off. He then lifted the small blade and twirled it around his fingers as he looked Law over, clearly assessing where to make his next mark.
Another crash came from much closer, and Fujiwara spun on the other men in the cell. “Go!”
The other men drew their swords and charged out of the room. Fujiwara turned back to Law, eyes narrow. Law, unable to help himself, forced his cracked lips into a bloody smirk. “Having problems?”
“Nothing for you to concern yourself with,” Fujiwara growled in response, slapping Law across the face. Law’s vision whited out from the sudden motion, and, as Law blinked, the entire world took on a fuzzy quality. His ears were also buzzing.
He was sure the slap must have loosened a screw in his sleep-deprived brain when he heard a familiar voice call, “Torao!” from close by.
No, that can’t be right, Law thought hazily. But when he managed to raise his head, he saw Fujiwara had turned his back to Law to look at the figures in the doorway that were a bit too far away for Law to make out in his current state.
“Get away from him!”
“Straw Hat!” Fujiwara exclaimed in shock. “You should be in Udon.”
“I’m not going to tell you again to get away from Torao.”
Law grimaced as Fujiwara tangled a hand in his hair and pulled his head upright. “Oh, you mean this one?”
“Captain!”
Now Law knew he had to be hallucinating—because that sounded like Bepo, and Law had told Bepo not to tell Luffy about his capture. Bepo, as much as he might hate the orders, wouldn’t just disobey him like that. Relieved that this couldn’t be real, Law let his eyes fall shut once more.
Fuck, he was so tired.
Some heated words were exchanged that Law couldn’t make out, but Law’s eyes flew wide open when he felt a white-hot pain in his stomach. Fujiwara’s grip on his hair suddenly let go, and Law’s head fell forward, allowing him to see the interrogator’s blade buried to the hilt in his abdomen.
Same place Doflamingo shot you, his brain absently noted with a deranged sense of amusement.
Something warm and wet dribbled down his chin as the darkness encroached the edges of his vision. That felt very real, he thought before darkness took him.
“Torao!” Luffy cried out as Kaido’s man shoved his knife into Torao’s already-bruised stomach.
“Captain!” the bear cried out in horror from behind Luffy.
Without thinking, Luffy stretched his arms out and grabbed the man, pulling him away from his allied captain and throwing him into the far wall with a furious strength. The man crumpled lifelessly to the ground, but Luffy only had eyes for Torao. Luffy rushed forward, the bear on his heels, to the Heart captain. Luffy’s chest twisted uncomfortably as he took in Torao’s state; his eyes were shut, and a streak of blood dribbled down his chin. Torao was completely limp in the chains Luffy immediately recognized as Seastone. Dense Seastone.
Kaido did this to him, was all Luffy could think, red tinting his vision. Kaido is going to pay.
“Shit,” the redhead said, running up to Torao’s side. He reached up to Torao’s jaw, looking for a pulse. A moment later, he sighed in relief as he turned to Luffy and the bear, who was wringing his paws. “He has a pulse.” Luffy let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “It’s slow, though. We need something for that,” he added, nodding at the knife in Torao’s abdomen, “and to get him the fuck out of here.”
Luffy looked around but didn’t see any towels, so he grabbed the hem of his yukata and tore a long strip off. He bunched it up. “We can use this.”
“I got the keys.” Luffy turned to see Penguin hat coming toward them, a keyring in his hand. The redhead raised an eyebrow, and Penguin hat shrugged. “He wasn’t using them anymore,” he said, nodding back at the interrogator.
Penguin hat came up to Torao and cursed at his captain’s condition before trying a key in the lock on the shackles. When it didn’t work, he tried another one. He made a frustrated sound when that one didn’t work.
“No offense, Peng, but hurry the fuck up,” the redhead muttered.
“Not helping, Shachi,” Penguin muttered. He made a victorious sound when the next key clicked in the lock, and Torao’s arm dropped limply from its restraint. Shachi immediately pulled Torao’s arm over his shoulder and took the taller man’s dead weight then gestured for Luffy to hand him the cloth ball in his hand. Luffy did, and Shachi pressed it to the blade and the bleeding wound around it.
Penguin unlocked the other shackle then tossed the keys to the bear before getting under Torao’s other side. Torao slumped bonelessly between them. Bepo made a confused sound, and Penguin smirked, looking a lot like his captain at that moment.
“It would be a shame to waste this chance to cause some chaos by releasing the prisoners.”
Bepo tightened his grip on the keys and nodded. “Right!”
Luffy nodded grimly. Chopper was waiting in a safehouse Kin’emon had arranged not far from the prison. They just had to get Torao to the safehouse, and Chopper would fix him. Torao would be all right.
“Let’s go.”
As the comforting embrace of unconsciousness released its grip, Law first became aware of his aching body. Every inch of him seemed to hurt, though the pain was dulled by what he recognized as the effects of morphine. The second thing he realized was that he was on a bed, and something niggled in the back of his mind. Why didn’t that seem right?
He blinked his eyes open and found himself looking at an unfamiliar white ceiling. Natural light illuminated the room, and Law tilted his head to the side to see a window framed by gauzy curtains that didn’t block out the sunlight. There hadn’t been windows where he was before…
Law’s eyes widened as memories slammed back into him. He glanced down to see sheets loosely draped over his bandaged stomach. It took more energy than it should have to lift a hand—fingers bandaged to cover the missing fingernails, he briefly noticed—to touch his abdomen. He winced as he lightly pressed down.
So, it had been real.
Did that mean—
“Torao.”
Law turned his head to the other side of the bed and found Luffy sitting in a chair at his bedside. There was an unreadable look on his face that had something twisting uncomfortably behind Law’s breastbone.
“Straw Hat-ya,” Law rasped. His throat, raw from screaming, protested.
Luffy grabbed a pitcher from the nightstand and poured water into a glass then placed a straw in it. He moved to sit on the edge of Law’s bed and offered the glass. Law reached for it with a nod of thanks, but his hands were shaking so hard that water splashed over the sides. Luffy immediately wrapped his own hands around Law’s bandaged ones, and Law’s throat tightened. He swallowed and accepted the help, sipping water slowly through the straw. Once he’d had enough, he nodded and Luffy put the glass back on the nightstand.
“Can you sit up?” Luffy asked.
Law took a moment to assess his state and decided it was worth a shot. He nodded, and Luffy helped support him as he shifted back and upright. His arms were trembling from that little effort—having his arms suspended over his head for so long had done a number on his shoulders—and Luffy adjusted the pillows behind him then returned to his chair.
“So, I wasn’t hallucinating you at the end there,” Law said finally. “I wasn’t sure.”
Luffy’s lips pressed into a thin line, but he shook his head. “No. We were there.”
“Are Bepo and the others…?”
“They’re fine.”
Law nodded, relief washing through him so strongly that he felt dizzy. The whole reason he’d given himself up was for them. Knowing they were safe made it all worth it. “Where are we now?”
“Safehouse,” Luffy replied. “Chopper fixed you up.”
That made sense. “Where is Tony-ya now?”
“Sleeping.”
Law frowned at that. “How long was I out?”
“Day and a half.”
That was a long time to be out; Law had no idea how long he’d even been in that prison or what was happening with the plan. How far away was the Fire Festival? Now that he was free, he didn’t have time to be sleeping for so long, yet he could already tell he wouldn’t be awake much longer; his battered body was demanding more rest. He yawned and winced at the stretch in his jaw.
He knew Luffy was the wrong person to ask, but he was also the only one in the room, so Law ventured, “And the plan?”
Luffy scoffed and crossed his arms. “Is that all you care about, Torao?”
“What?”
“Because you obviously don’t care about yourself.”
Law stared at Luffy for a long moment before raising an eyebrow. “That’s rich, coming from you after what happened the last time we saw each other.”
“That’s different. I thought our nakama were dead!” Luffy argued, leaning forward in his chair.
Law crossed his own arms and grasped his elbows in a weak effort to disguise his trembling. “So, rather than go check on them, you challenged an Emperor and blew both our covers.”
Luffy threw his hands up. “Would you stop with the plan, Torao? You could have died for the dumb plan! I don’t know what I—” Luffy cut himself off and looked up to meet Law’s surprised eyes. It seemed to take him some effort to control himself. Law, honestly, was impressed that he was even trying; he didn’t usually even attempt that. “I was fine in Udon. Kaido didn’t want me dead. He wanted to beat me down so I’d join him, but, obviously, that would never work.”
“Obviously,” Law agreed, lips twitching slightly, though he was still irritated.
“And Raizo was there the whole time. ”
Law narrowed his eyes. “What—”
“You gave yourself up, Torao,” Luffy said quietly.
“For my nakama,” Law replied evenly. “You, of all people, should understand that.”
“Of course I do,” Luffy snapped. “But why didn’t you want them to tell me?”
Law sighed. “Which one of them told you?” he asked, leaning his head back against the headboard tiredly.
“They didn’t.” Law turned his head to look at Luffy again. “I figured it out.” When Law gave him a skeptical look, Luffy relented. “Nami figured it out.” That was more like it. “The Hearts kept saying you were working on your own, but no one had seen you since your nakama got out, and they wouldn’t say where you were or what you were doing.” He clenched and unclenched his fists where they were gripping his yukata. Law absently noticed that some of the fabric at the bottom had been torn off.
Law turned to stare up at the ceiling. His eyes were heavy, and he blinked a few times, trying to force himself to stay awake a bit longer. “I didn’t want you to come for me,” he admitted quietly. Because he somehow knew that the minute Luffy learned Law had been captured, he’d come for him—just like he had on Dressrosa.
“Because of the plan,” Luffy said flatly.
“Because of the plan,” Law agreed, still looking wearily at the ceiling.
“They were torturing you, Torao.”
Law snorted. “I’m aware.” He was aware of it with every strained breath that he took. He blinked heavily against his body’s increasingly insistent demand for rest. “I knew what I was getting into, and I would do it again.” Luffy made a frustrated sound, and Law glanced at the other captain out of the corner of his eye.
“I know, okay?” Luffy said then pushed himself suddenly to his feet. He stalked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress once more, though he kept his gaze on his lap. Law watched him curiously. “I know you would. But I…” He looked up at Law, something raw in his expression. “I would always come for you, Torao. I can’t lose you.”
Law’s breath caught in his throat. What was he saying? He started and looked down to see Luffy reaching for his hand. Law, too shaken to protest, let him take it. For a quiet moment, Luffy stroked the bandages with his thumb before squeezing Law’s hand gently.
“When I saw what they had done to you, I wanted to tear the whole place down,” Luffy admitted. “And then he stabbed you and…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “You’re worth so much more than any plan, Torao.”
“Straw Hat-ya…”
Luffy leaned forward and reached a hesitant hand toward Law. When Law, his heart rate pounding, didn’t move, Luffy gently touched his jaw. Law inhaled, startled by the way his own skin buzzed in response to Luffy’s touch.
Luffy’s touch was so soft, so safe, that Law leaned into it without thinking. He didn’t realize his eyes had fallen shut until he felt Luffy’s forehead rest against his own. He tried to pry his eyes open to look at the other captain’s face, to see his expression, but his body had finally reached its limit.
Luffy’s lips brushed against Law’s own as he whispered, “Sleep, Torao.”
The last thing Law felt before sleep took him was Luffy softly easing him back against the mattress and a graze against his cheek.