Hey Everyone! So I know what you're thinking... not another one! You got it, another LawLu is heading your way, another collab! fic might I add, this one is done with emygrl99, go give her drabble a look! You wont regret it I promise! She also has this to say:

Emy: Hello! Many hours of sleep have been lost to the planning for this story so I hope you all enjoy (:

Now before we start, please note that this is a LawLu, and for this chapter (maybe a couple more later?) their names will be altered because reasons:
Matthew: Law
Eric: Rocinante (Cora)
Diego: Luffy

We also don't own anything in regards to One Piece (or the cover picture), nor know much about WPP because we've never been part of it... And now, please Enjoy!~

"Eric, I'm back!" Matthew called out as he entered his apartment. It had been a long day of work at the hospital, the highlight of it being a woman who was rushed in after eating a tapeworm to help herself get thinner. It's surprising how far some people are willing to go to lose weight, Matthew mused as he walked into the kitchen, tossing his keys onto the counter.

"Eric, are you home?" he called again, wondering where his friend had disappeared off to. Hearing no response, Matthew glanced at the clock. Eric should be home by now, but then again, he had a habit of disappearing for a few days at a time for his work. His friend hardly needed looking after, but Matthew couldn't help worrying about the older man.

With a sigh, Matthew headed for his bedroom, eager to relax with a nice book before going to bed, but then he heard a muffled scuffling sound coming from behind and paused. He turned around. There was nothing there.

Puzzled, Matthew backtracked to the lounge area and peeked inside. "Eric, if you were home, you should have said something." Silence greeted him, and he took a few steps further into the room.

"Eric?" There was still no answer, and unease started to trickle through Matthew's veins. He slowly reached over to pick up a lamp, gripping it tightly almost as if he were wielding a baseball bat instead of a lamp.

"Who's in here?" he muttered unwilling to let even the smallest hint of unease show in his voice, his fingers restless around the lamp.

Then, he noticed a slight movement from behind the couch, and Matthew creeped across the room, trying to avoid the creaky areas on the floor. As he came around to the the other side of the couch, Matthew found the source of the noise. To say that he was surprised, was putting it mildly.

Matthew found himself staring at a stranger. What he saw was a skinny teenager pressed up against the fabric tightly, gripping a butter knife with a wild look in his eyes. He had dirty black hair and was wearing a torn up vest with shorts and sandals, despite the cooling weather outside. There was a straw hat hanging off of his neck and a thin scar underneath his left eye. As the teen tried to scoot back from him awkwardly, Matthew noticed the muscles rippling underneath his dirt-caked skin and he suspected the intruder was stronger than he looked. Despite this, his breathing was fast and shallow and there was a faint tremor in his hands as he gripped the butter knife firmly.

Matthew had dealt with panicked patients in the past, so he was more or less used to the situation, but in his own home? What was the kid doing here anyway, had he wandered in? Matthew decided he would find out after he dealt with the blunt weapon in the teen's palms. With practiced ease, he slowly placed the lamp down and opened his hands so the teen could see he wasn't going to be attacked. Gently and very slowly, he crouched down so they were eye level with each other, knowing that any sudden movements might send the teen into further panic and the aftermath would probably not be pretty.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you, see? Put the butter knife down and we can talk, okay?" Matthew murmured in a soothing tone. His words had the desired effect of soothing the agitated teen. His grip on the butter knife relaxed some, but his eyes were clearly saying I don't trust you. He stared at Matthew intently, following the doctor's every move.

"There you go, you're not in danger," Matthew continued to speak quietly, his mind racing. If he could somehow take the butter knife from the teen, he would be able to relax and finally figure out what the hell was going on. Unfortunately, the teen noticed Matthew's eyes flicker down to the butter knife and he tensed up again, unwilling to let it go. Matthew sighed, wondering how he had gotten into the mess. There was a random kid in his apartment with a butter knife, his friend was still missing, and Matthew couldn't even shift his weight without the teen's grip on the butter knife tightening, so calling the cops was out of the question.

The front door slammed shut, and both of them jumped, attention immediately drawn to the sudden noise. In the doorway stood Eric, and Matthew breathed a sigh of relief. Eric however, looked horrified.

"Shit," he swore under his breath, taking in the situation, before offering a sheepish smile. "So, Matthew. I see you've met my friend," he said, and Matthew looked at him in disbelief.

"You know this kid?"

Eric ignored him, and Matthew watched as his friend walked past him, kneeling next to the teen. He then gently removed the butter knife from his shaking hands and placed in on the floor next to him. He looked at the teen with a warm smile, and Matthew was uncertain how to react to any of this.

"How do you-" Matthew's question was cut off by a sharp knock at the front door and everybody turned their heads to watch as a tall man with bushy black hair sauntered into the room, his hand holding a clipboard as he made himself known, seemingly unaffected by the stares he was receiving.

"Excuse me gentlemen, but I need you to come with me. You are in danger and need to be placed into the Witness Protection Program. Walk quickly and quietly, and bring nothing with you. All of your questions will be answered on the way to the airport." He offered the group, followed by a vaguely reassuring smile. The man stepped aside, motioning towards the door. His words had sounded like they were a suggestion, something they could consider but deep down everyone knew that there was no room for argument in that statement. They were to follow this nameless man's orders without question, for now.

Matthew stood up, ignoring the command in the man's voice and attempted to ask his question anyway."The Witness Protection Program? What-"

"I promise we will attempt to answer as many of your questions as we can, but time is of the essence, we need to hurry."

Matthew started to protest again, but Eric silenced him with a sharp glance. He also stood up, pulling the confused teen with him. Together, they walked past the man and out the door, leaving Matthew as the only person left in the room. Still feeling uncertain, Matthew followed them out of the apartment and watched as the tall man turned off the lights and closed the front door with a final resounding thud. Matthew had a horrible, sinking feeling that he would never see his home again.

The man ushered them down the stairs of the apartment complex and out a back door where a discreet van was sitting at the curb, engine running. Nobody said a word as the four of them climbed into the back and the van drove off, whisking them away into the night.

"Alright, now answer my questions," Matthew huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at the man.

"Certainly. Let's start from the beginning," the man nodded and introduced himself as Aokiji. He then went on to explain how they have reasons to believe that he and Eric have become targets of a notorious drug cartel that operates from somewhere in South America, run by a man named Joker.

"He's well known for killing anybody who might have information on his actions and has several trackers at his disposal, all of them as skilled and as ruthless as their leader." Aokiji pulled out several grainy pictures of a tall, skinny man wearing what looked like a pink feathered mantle. It was hard to make out facial features because the pictures were all taken from a distance at awkward angles, but Matthew could see that he was smiling grotesquely.

While Aokiji continued to talk, Matthew observed the teen out of the corner of his eye, looking for a reaction of some sort. After some time though, it became clear that the youngest of them all never once lost his hold over the look of blank indifference that governed his young features. That is until a certain term was uttered, at the mention of Joker, the boy paled and went painfully still. Eric, having noticed this nudged the teen gently, giving him a small reassuring smile.

"-in your best interest to enter the Witness Protection Program. Of course, you can refuse our assistance, but then you'll most certainly be killed," Aokiji finished. Matthew blinked, having missed most of what he said. He had gotten the jist of it, but there was a nagging thought in the back of his mind.

"Why is Joker after us though? I've never heard of him until today." Matthew pointed out.

"That is what we'd like to know as well, but it may be a case of guilt by association. It's possible somebody you know is a member of the cartel, or has recently escaped from it. And now in order to keep his dealings from being known, Joker is looking to silence anyone who might have even the smallest hint of information on him."

Somebody I know? Matthew mused. Who do I know that could possibly be part of a drug cartel? He didn't have many friends, but Matthew prided himself on the ones he had. Clearly he doesn't know them as well as he thought he did if one of them is involved in drug dealing. There's no way it could be Shachi or Penguin, they may act weird sometimes but they definitely weren't drug dealers, much less murderers. The only other person is could be was one of his relatives or Eric, but surely Matthew would have noticed strange behavior from his friend, they were living together after all!

Matthew's train of thought was interrupted as a white envelope was placed in his lap. He looked up and noticed that Eric and the teen had received identical envelopes.

"In those envelopes, you will find your new identities. Everything you'll need to get settled in your new life is included, a birth certificate with your new name on it, a different social security number, and a starting check that should last you for a few months or so," Aokiji explained, and Matthew stared at his envelope, a wave of apprehension washing over him. Inside this envelope was a his new life. His old life is gone now, dead to everybody except for Eric. He looked to his older friend, who had already opened his own envelope, peering at its contents.

"What's your new name?" Matthew asked, curious.

"Corazon."

"That's an interesting name," Matthew said carefully.

"Isn't it? Call me Cora," his friend grinned, jokingly holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Cora," Matthew smiled back. The name suited him quite well, actually. "Do you care to introduce me to your friend now?" He motioned to the silent teen.

"Oh, yeah. Matthew, this is Diego. Diego, el es tu nuevo amigo*." Cora said, looking strangely proud of himself. "Diego here is mute, and on top of that he only understands limited Spanish even though he's from Columbia," he explained upon seeing Matthew's confused expression. The teen looked up at him, offering a small smile. Matthew looked at the teen curiously, wondering what had happened in Diego's life to make him feel the need to stop talking. Was it connected to this Joker person? Is that why the kid had been hiding behind his couch back in their apartment? And now that he thought about it, why had the teen had picked a butter knife of all things from the kitchen? Matthew kept his sharper, carving knives together with the rest of the silverware, so why had the teen opted for a duller blade if he meant to protect himself?

He was torn from his musing by Cora nudging his shoulder.

"What's your name then, huh?" he asked Matthew expectantly.

"Oh, um, let me see." Matthew opened the envelope and pulled out the stack of papers, searching for the birth certificate. The name on it was long, and complicated to say the least. Was it possible to mispronounce your own name? Matthew wondered idly.

"From now on, I'm Trafalgar Law."

And there you have it, chapter one of this wonderful tale, as with another Collab, she will take over one chapter and I'll get the next, yay teamwork! Please let us know your thoughts, comments, revisions? Anything helps.

And for our non-spanish speakers we'll be providing you translations at the bottom of each chapter until further notice!

feel free to drop a favorite or a review if you liked it! They really gets us motivated to write.- emygrl99 and Leafy

*He is your new friend*