It's ya girl back at it again. Shameless shmoop and angst and big men crying bc they've waited a long time for this. Shoutout to FactCheck for the beta. Thanks for reading. Enjoy with some fine, aged WD-40. Now, release the hounds!

Testimonial

Chapter One: Reunion

Law had just finished tending to everyone's wounds, including Bellamy's without prompting (something about seeing someone look up to Doflamingo so absolutely only to be saved by an idiot with a giant grin and an even bigger heart struck a chord with him), before Robin had strongly suggested getting some rest himself. Law knew that the woman had not been requesting so much as subtly threatening him.

Luffy and Bellamy had long been passed out, and Law was on his way to joining them.

"Law-land," Kyros called from the door. "There is someone here to see you."

Law blinked, having been half-asleep when Kyros answered the door. He made a noise of confusion mixed with acknowledgement, getting to his feet as he grabbed Kikoku and went to the door, Kyros stepping out of his way.

Law's breath caught in his throat when he saw who was at the door.

The visitor was tall, standing at an easy ten-feet, mussed blond locks visible under a red cap, a heart-patterned shirt and pressed white pants under a black-feather coat, a lit cigarette hanging from a wide red smile and a familiar blue starburst of lashes under his right eye.

"Hey, Law."

The blond smiled, looking a touch nervous, but his voice sounded exactly the same as Law remembered: deep, soothing, and with a slight rumble.

Law was unsheathing his nodachi before anyone knew what was happening, aiming the blade at the blond.

"If you do not give me satisfactory proof of who you are within the next few minutes, I will eviscerate you where you stand." Law stated, his own voice low and eyes blazing.

He had dreamed of a scenario like this for so long that now that it was here, it seemed too good to be true. It couldn't just be this easy.

Law didn't just get miracles without some sort of death attached to it.

Behind him, the rest of the cabin's inhabitants tensed. They understood that something was wrong, and that whatever the visitor said next would determine whether they were dealing with another enemy or not.

The blond laughed, raising his hands placatingly. "Alright, I can understand that. I suppose we can start with this: my name is Donquixote Rosinante, rank Marine Commander, Marine code zero-one-seven-four-six."

"O–Oi, he didn't j–just say 'Donquixote' now, did he?" Usopp whispered furiously to Zoro.

Zoro watched Law, and nodded, hand resting on his own katana. "Yeah, but unless Tora-o does something, we don't either."

Usopp swallowed, more than nervous, and scooted closer to Zoro, hands clutching at the other's shirt as he peeked past him at the door.

"Sengoku-san placed me undercover with the Donquixote Family in order to bring Doflamingo down, knowing he would take me back considering I was his little brother." The blond continued, gaining a shocked gasp from Usopp. "When you were ten, you came to Doflamingo after escaping Flevance with only a few years left to live due to your illness. Our first meeting didn't go that well, did it?" The blond said, smiling sheepishly. "I threw you out a window and you stabbed me in the back for that, haha," he laughed.

The cabin members who were still awake sweatdropped at the last part.

"I didn't say anything to Doffy, and he took you into the Family. You, Buffalo, and Baby 5 were stubborn little shits," the blond frowned. "No matter how much I beat you all up, you never left," he sighed, scratching under his hat as he shifted his stance, body language reading uncomfortable and guilty.

"Because we never had reason to believe that Doflamingo would do anything worse to us in the future," Law replied. "Despite the criminal activities we partook in, we were still children with all the naïveté to go with it." He said, still not lowering his sword.

The blond looked saddened at that, guilty, even, as he worried his cigarette between his teeth.

"I'm not yet convinced. Continue," Law ordered.

"When you were twelve, I heard you say your real name for the first time: Trafalgar D. Water Law." The blond began.

Robin's eyes widened when she heard the D. While it explained a lot of things to her about Law, it also added to the ever-unsolved mystery of the D.'s.

"I knew then that you couldn't stay with Doffy anymore, he would've killed you." The blond grimaced. "Though, when I revealed my cover to you and the danger of staying with Doffy, you just ran away to tattle. You were such an uncute brat, you know," he huffed, sending Law a look that read of parental weariness that anyone who had experienced a relationship with a guardian had recognized.

Usopp's eyes widened when he heard the blond say that, eyes flicking back from the carefully-blank-faced Law to the huffing blond. He was expecting the surgeon to cut the blond's tongue out or something, but he did nothing.

"I recall keeping quiet about your undercover status," Law reminded.

"Because I didn't rat you out before when you stabbed me, yeah." The blond nodded. "So, since you weren't going to leave Doflamingo voluntarily, I kidnapped you and took you to see what turned out to be a string of shitty doctors to try to heal your illness. I burned down a lot of hospitals and punched more assholes than I ever did while I was in the Family," he scowled.

"There are still wanted posters all over the North Blue hospitals," Law said after a moment.

The line of conversation the blond and Law were having was more confusing than informative to the outside observers, but it still somehow helped the Straw Hats understand Law more.

The blond took a drag of his cigarette, flicking some of his ashes on the ground. "I'm not surprised," he murmured.

He didn't notice his coat was on fire until Robin used her powers to hand him a towel.

"Ah! Shit, I thought I would've gotten over that by now!" the blond cried, patting out the fire.

While it wasn't by much, Zoro noticed that Law lowered his blade some.

"Right, sorry about that. Where was I?" the blond asked when he finished putting himself out.

"You burned down hospitals and punched assholes, aow!" Franky replied helpfully.

The blond nodded. "Right," he said before a contented, happy smile overtook his features. "Then, one morning, you called me Cora-san for the first time and it sent me over the moon. You were so cute despite being a little shithead," the blond sighed fondly.

Usopp's jaw dropped and Robin giggled at the image. Law's mouth pursed, and if his ears looked red, no one commented.

"Anyways, Doffy called, saying he was going to steal the Op-Op Fruit. I knew that you were the one more suited to eat it and worked out a plan to steal it from Doffy and the Marines. Unfortunately, you started succumbing to your illness at the time.

"You did well, hanging on for the weeks after," the blond's voice had dropped into a murmur. "I managed to get the fruit for you, but…I messed up a bit so I was injured. I needed you to deliver all the information I had compiled over the years to the Marines."

Law stiffened, because he and the blond both knew how this was going to end.

"Out of all the Marines, you somehow found the one who was working for Doffy." The blond sighed, but it wasn't accusatory. "Vergo found out that I was a traitor and had almost managed to get the Marines Doffy's plans for Dressrosa."

Kyros tensed, and he looked at Law and the blond with furrowed brows.

"He tore up that document and beat us real bad, didn't he?" The blond murmured, and his hand rubbed at his stomach subconsciously.

Zoro noted how Law's grip on his hilt tightened before forcibly loosening.

Kyros himself was still processing that Dressrosa could have been saved, but Doflamingo really had had the devil's luck and things had still gone his way.

"I managed to get us away, but when Doffy put up his birdcage, I knew I wouldn't be able to get the both of us out." The blond continued.

Everyone shuddered in some form at the mention of Doflamingo's monstrous technique, and Franky and Robin felt sympathetic for Law when they realized the surgeon had to live through the birdcage twice.

"So, I hid you in a treasure chest after using my powers on you to keep any noise you made silent, and then went to confront Doflamingo." The blond frowned. "I managed to convince him you escaped, but when it came to pulling the trigger…"

"He shot you four times."

Law had spoken with a certainty that made the blond's brow furrow, because Law could only be that sure if he'd held onto the memory for the last thirteen years.

"You were tossed in the snow to die like some kind of broken toy, and you still kept your powers in use long enough for me to escape." Law's voice wavered as he finally lowered Kikoku.

"One last thing," Law swallowed. "What were your last words to me? Before you closed the chest?" he asked quietly.

The blond smiled, exasperated and fond, radiating nothing but sheer affection for the surgeon.

"'Hey, Law: I love you.'"

With that, Law sheathed his nodachi and tackled the blond in a fierce hug that had the both of them toppling onto the ground. During the process, both Law's hat and many of Rosinante's feathers went flying.

Zoro moved his hand off of his swords, Robin smiled as Franky started sobbing about the "beauty of love and family", and Kyros and Usopp exchanged puzzled glances before deciding that the easiest thing to do about the situation would be to just accept it.

"You lied to me about Doflamingo and then you died!" Law accused, face buried in Rosinante's chest. "I spent the last thirteen years planning out Doflamingo's demise, fueled by your loss, so why are you here right now?! How are you even alive?!" he demanded.

Rosinante hugged Law back, placing a hand on his head as he smiled, closing his eyes as Law wetted his shirt with tears and snot.

"I was in a coma, so Sengoku-san put me at a special hospital. I woke up a few days ago, and when I found out what had happened, I knew I had to come to Dressrosa right away. I had to see this last mission through.

"A part of me was praying you wouldn't be here, but Issho-san's report said otherwise. You know, we still have to talk about how you threw yourself into danger." Rosinante frowned, displeased with how careless Law had been with his life.

Law mumbled something into Rosinante's clavicle, wet and exhausted, and Rosinante couldn't help but soften.

"Though, it looks like right now you need sleep more than anything else. Come on, brat, I'll use my power to give you a good night's sleep like old times," he offered.

Law nodded, but made no move to move, hugging the blond tighter.

"Well," a new voice spoke up from next to them. "Looks like I'm not the only long-lost blond loved one back from the dead, it seems."

"Who is it now?!" Usopp whined, clutching Zoro again.

"I'm Luffy's other older brother, Sabo." The blond in the top hat introduced himself before reaching down to help Rosinante stand, and the older blond took it, Law still clinging to him.

The sight had Robin placing a hand over her mouth, blushing at the unexpectedly cute sight.

"He has another one?!" Usopp gasped in shock, looking over at where Luffy slept.

As the attention shifted from Rosinante and Law to Sabo, the Donquixote chose an unoccupied corner of the room. He made to sit, but tripped and hit his head on the wall on his way down.

There was something that sounded suspiciously like a snort against his chest, and he felt Law's upturned lips, but the surgeon didn't comment.

Rosinante ignored it, readjusting Law slightly so that the surgeon could lay on him. He snapped, creating a bubble of silence around Law alone.

"[Silent]."

It wasn't long before Law fell asleep, and Rosinante had been half-listening to Sabo's story, not having much background but recognizing some names.

He took the time to study Law, and his brow furrowed when he took in the extent of his injuries. There were too many bandages and Rosinante wondered if Law's face had always looked so gaunt, even as a dying child.

"He's been through a lot." Robin said suddenly, getting Rosinante's attention. "We don't know all of it, but I'd say much of it was in honor of you." She continued, making Rosinante's eyes widen. "He wore a coat with your name on it, but it's currently in disrepair."

Robin's eyes shadowed, and Rosinante's stomach twisted at the thought of all the ways in which that could have happened.

"He's different now from when we first met." Robin's eyes flicked to where Luffy lay, watching Sabo beam down at his sleeping brother. "Our captain has a way with helping others change," she smiled fondly.

Rosinante glanced over at Luffy consideringly. "I knew Law was in an alliance with him, but I didn't know that…" he trailed off. "I'll have to thank him," Rosinante decided before turning to Robin. "Thank you," he bowed his head.

"Don't leave again…" Law breathed quietly into Rosinante's neck.

Rosinante looked up at the ceiling, blowing out another puff of smoke from his cigarette as he ignored how watery his eyes were getting again.

"It's a promise."

i live and die for comments feed this trash weeb pls check out the next chapter which contains the actual angst thx