It's a dick move, Kanjuro appearing with Momonosuke. Luffy's an experienced fighter, his concentration breaks only for the hair's breadth of a second, but against legendary monsters like Kaidou, it's enough. Law has been staying as out of it as he can, prepared to assist Luffy out of a pinch, perhaps nervous after his lover's previous clash with the Sea Emperor. The traitor's arrival startles him as well, and so much for watching Luffy's back, Law falters when it's most important. Kaidou's spiked maze comes down on Luffy's steaming form without hesitation, a swipe of death that has crushed hundreds of rookies and enslaved an entire country.

Luffy's taken such a skull-crushing blow once before —which is precisely the problem. How much more trauma can he sustain this week?

(It's a testament to Luffy's performance against Kaido that the enemy has resorted to kidnapping as a bargaining chip, but there's nothing to be proud of right then because Law cannot breathe.)

The battlefield falls silent, more than one dispute pausing in the eye of the storm at the solid hit between the main event of the night. Until that moment, Luffy's been pushing back. He's wrecked, always is when it comes down to fighting the impossible, but Kaidou's bleeding, maybe for the first time in decades.

"Luffy-dono!" Momonosuke's shrill voice gives voice to the acid climbing Law's throat because he's seen this before, and he felt just as helpless then. The boy wails, trying to wrestle out of the artist's hold. The boy being displayed over the masses by the hands of a man who had vowed to serve him. More than one person is cut down for paying too much attention to the heir to Wano's throne, but Law only has eyes for one person.

Luffy's standing when Kaidou raises his maze and his heart soars only to stutter immediately when Kaidou goes for a second blow. Not again.

"Room."

His arms are full of Luffy and blood, way too much blood. He'd thought he'd found him dazed, but Luffy's unresponsive and critical, he'd been standing more by chance and raw guts than for any sign of resistance to the haki-infused blow. Law's quick to lay the man to rest, keeping a room around to dissuade the rabble. Kaidou must be confused, and the battlefield is hardly the place to offer medical help, but there's too much blood.

Law's examination has him swallowing vomit. He thinks that were it not for his medical training, his stomachal content would be splattered all over the floor. Penetrating head injury, right through the dura mater, further complicated by a skull fracture, is the result of his first exploration.

There's no going around it.

Luffy's going to die.

Law looks down at him, the younger man pale and cold.

"You're going to die." He informs him. A deranged type of numbness shrouds his thoughts, and there's absolutely nothing Law can do about it. Luffy has minutes to live. Honestly, were it not for the rapid up and down of his chest, Law rather thinks he could be dead already. (Gone, just like Cora-san.) Law's eyes burn, it feels like someone's scooped out a chunk of him with a spoon and is munching on his insides, leaving only agonizing emptiness behind. He grabs on to Luffy, delicately bringing the body towards him and wishes. Nothing, in particular, comes to mind, and he's too much of a cynic to pray for a miracle. Even with all the proper equipment in the world, Luffy's survival for emergency intracranial surgery is minimal at best, much less in a contaminated corner of a war. There's no scalpels, sutures, blood transfusions, fuck, Law doesn't even have soap.

Roronoa finds them like that.

"Torao," he's impassive, and Law flinches violently at the nickname from where he's holding on to Luffy in despair he hasn't managed in 14 years. There's something wild behind the swordsman's eyes as he waits for an explanation, "I saw him vanish from his fight, what happened?"

"He's dying," Law doesn't recognize his own voice. It's like he's not really there. There's white creeping at the edges of his vision, everything looking too bright and blood rushing through his ears. He knows Zoro calls out to him more than once, he can see the man's angry frown and mouthing of his name, but it takes a minute before Law can actually hear him again.

"—falgar what the fuck!" The man is kneeling next to them, eyes roaming uselessly all over Luffy's limp body. "Don't just freeze there, fix him!"

Fix him, he says. Law chuckles darkly. The sound has no mirth, it's the overture to the end of Law. All the little patches Luffy's sown into Law coming undone at once, and leaving him nothing more than a tattered remnant of an amalgamation of tragedy. It's the sound of the shattering of the bells Law's mother hanged in their terrace, the ones who used to chime in the wind. They broke from a burst of Haki meant to disable the citizens of Flevance, their splintering woke Law up to his new personal hell, out of the last peaceful sleep he would have in 13 years.

"It's impossible to operate on him here," Law is morbidly fascinated by how concise and professional he sounds as if his whole world wasn't bleeding out in his arms. Luffy's blood is thick and muggy, where it sinks inside his kimono, dirtying Law irreparably.

"Then let's take him somewhere, I'll help you," Roronoa-ya is dauntless in the face of adversity, but he clearly sees something in Law's face that he dislikes because the former bounty hunter grips his swords as if it's Law he's going to cut down.

"Roronoa-ya…" Law hates how weak his voice sounds, terrified beyond belief because of the sudden horror that overloads his existence, too much torment trying to cram itself inside his person, leaving every piece of him itching for some type of cleansing. How can Law only love things -people- meant to die? Why why why why "I'm afraid that if we move Luffy-ya too much, brain matter is going to fall out of his skull."

There's no other way of putting it really, Kaidou's weapon has basically lobotomized him.

Law goes green at the gills at the thought.

"Stop it! Stop!" Roronoa-ya screams, "there's gotta be something we can do! Can't you cut him up or something?" His words are ignorant of the centuries of research modern medicine is based on. Contrary to fighting, where Law is aware Roronoa-ya excels in, medicine and healing aren't swayed by trying your hardest and wishing for the best. Luffy's brain has sustained a grievous injury, even if Law manages to stabilize him - which would be miraculous in and of itself - it is impossible to determine in what state Luffy-ya would be in.

Never did Law think he'd see the day where Roronoa Zoro would plead.

"And what?" He barks out harshly, cruelly, and almost burying his face in Luffy's chest as if to smother himself and his words. (Take me with you, please). "Reconstruct his brain? Do you think I don't want to be able to fix him? I'm supposed to have the ultimate—!" It sinks into him slowly, and he looks down at Luffy again. He's not struggling for breath anymore, now his breathing is so slow and shallow Law has to actually put him back on the ground and check his pulse. It's almost gone.

Black Leg-ya arrives.

"I felt something up with— holy shit!" The blonde barely steps into their circle before he's turning around to puke. There's a puddle of blood beneath Luffy and Law, a pool of gore to drenched the earth beneath them, paint it in unfairness and blasphemy. Just the sight of his captain, corpse-like and at death's door, is enough for the chef to turn around and puke. He coughs a couple of times and actually clasps a hand on the swordsman, who's equally frozen, before straightening himself out. Law notices how his gaze avoids Luffy and his wrecked skull. "Is he going to be okay?" He whispers, faces ashen in discomfort and hands shaking so hard he can barely light up his cigarette, and Law knows he hardly has to explain the answer to that after Sanji's reaction.

(They can't all be out of the battle for too long, his strategic mind whispers, he needs to hurry.)

"Sanji…" Zoro starts, and Law thinks it's the first time the swordsman refers to the cook by his given name. Law snaps out of his stupor, mind razor-sharp, and single-minded in his goal.

"He will be."

This ability is instinctual, and in the earlier days, Law had pondered endlessly whether he would ever use it on anyone. If so, on whom? (He always wished he could've used it on Cora-san).

"Trafalgar, you just said he was dying!" Roronoa-ya roars, in confusion and mild panic, a man adrift at sea.

"What?!" Sanji drops his lighter on the ground, brow shooting up into his hairline and voice a bit higher-pitched than usual.

"He is," Law clarifies because there's no doubt about that, "but he won't." Not if Law has anything to say about it.

Law is so angry at Luffy.

For always throwing his life away without a care, betting on stupid, stupid odds without thought. He's so envious - and relieved - that his lover's surrounded by people who are always there to pick up the pieces of what's missing for the success of whatever crazy whim he's on that week, making his will law. The surgeon remembers being amazed when Fire Fist jumped in front of Luffy without a single thought, only his tattooed back between Luffy and certain death. A split moment decision that Law - who had been an older brother once too - knows the other pirate would never regret given a chance. Still, Luffy had seemed like such a small existence then. (Law knows better now).

A part of him had long made up his mind that if the time came, Law knows what he has to do.

He's afraid, though. He's often seen death like oblivion, the end, nothingness. Now that he faces it, he wonders. What becomes of people like him?

(And are they waiting for him where he's going?)

It's so unfair.

Law has spent the better part of his life wanting to die, unattached to life and all its pleasures. Only recently, he's been dragged along to picnics and sunbathes and long hot showers. Law played monopoly before Luffy left Zou, and he was fondly unsurprised that even board games were an extreme sport with the Straw Hats involved. He had trouble showing it, but he'd seen his crew meet Luffy's, mix in like one more colorful thread in the tapestry of destiny Luffy-ya wears as a cape and thought that he was glad to be alive to see it.

Law's finally tasting freedom for the first time after being born with a death sentence hanging over his head and now has to give it up. (It's not a sacrifice if the offering is worthless). He has to give it up because there is no way Law walks off this battlefield if Luffy doesn't, there's simply no equation with such a result. He'll die first. Law will die first.

(Maybe it's karma for taking the life Cora-san gave him for granted.)

"I need you to promise me two things," Law begins, hand settling on Luffy's head. He's worried he won't have time, Luffy's unbearably still, but it's starting, his hand feels with supernatural light and warmth. Law flinches when the heel of his palm feels the emptiness of Luffy's injury, but Law keeps his focus on healing. "Please, make sure my crew makes it off the island, no matter what."

"Oi Torao, what the fuck is happening?" Law ignores him; His golden gaze firmly upon Roronoa-ya. The man is tense, crouched across from him, and hovering over Luffy. His swords are out, half resting on the floor. He looks like a true samurai as he shoulders the shinigami's duty, but his eyes betray the fear there. Law knows that such a man won't falter at his request, much less with Luffy-ya's life in Law's hands.

"And what else?" There's a creeping cold pricking his head, it crawls like water down Law's neck, and he cannot suppress a shudder. He knows it's working because Luffy moans. It's the first sound he's made since Law teleported him away from Kaidou.

"Tied into that, I need you to give them a message. Tell them…" The cold is solid and alive as it sneaks down his vertebrae, one by one burning cold from deep into the marrow of his bones. It spreads so fast that it keeps his lungs from expanding correctly, and he has to lean against the wall they're taking refuge in to avoid face-planting on the floor. Sanji crosses the space in two long strides, Law doesn't have the strength to protest, as the other man hesitates before sinking next to him in the mess of Luffy's blood. The cook slings Law's free arm across his shoulders, helping the surgeon remain upright, Law lets himself sit down instead of crouch, feeling weakness overcome him. Sanji's grumbling all the way, and he avoids Law's face, but the man doesn't have the strength to respond to the gesture. "Tell them I had to do this. Tell them that… Thank you, because I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without them."

Fuck, Law cannot believe he's crying. He cannot say he's sorry though, he cannot. Law isn't sorry.

His crew… His crew that had stayed true to Law despite what an absolute moody bastard he is, and Law's leaving them behind.

He's trying not to think of what Luffy will say, trying to forget what he looked like rampaging around the Polar Tang after Fire Fist's death. It's going to be scarily similar, his lover is going to wake up to someone he loves having died for him. (It's almost treason, what Law's going to put him through because he knows Luffy would rather die). Though arguably Law's dying to save everyone here because, without Luffy-ya, chances of success are slimmer than ever. With an immortal Luffy, though…

He sags against the wall and Black Leg-ya, struggling to keep his eyes open long enough to see Rorono-ya's pinched expression and solemn nod.

Here they are, a still snapshot in the middle of carnage in an isolated country fighting to defeat a staple of the world's great powers. All wanted men with pasts and ambitions, crouch in worry over one teenager that has brought them all together. Law had scoffed at the idea of ever joining Luffy's crew, too prideful and independent, too disdainful of ever admitting there's someone worthy he'd follow. Someone worthy of dying for.

Law thinks he's not the only man present that is willing to trade his life for Luffy's. In fact, it is that understanding, a camaraderie of loyalty that cannot be spoken about, he can read translated into the other men's silent acceptance of Law's choice.

Sacrificing himself sounds very noble, but suicide is just as accurate.

(Deep down he knows they would all follow Luffy to the grave).

He's glad he sailed on the Thousand Sunny, if only for a short amount of time.

All through his monologue, the light shines in between the three. A steady surge of promise, eager to be swallowed by the man it's desperately trying to regenerate into the bright future Law had foreseen.

"Luffy's going to be livid," the smell of nicotine is close to his face, and then, "we'll take care of the idiot for you," Sanji assures him, his voice weighty. It does make Law feel a little better, the reminder that this time Luffy-ya's Nakama are going to be there for him. His hand has gone numb from where he's been running his fingers in Luffy's hair, the light softening like dusk. The injury has mended itself back together at some point, and it makes Law smile tiredly.

Luffy might never forgive him, but this is bigger than either of them.

Law loves him.

He wishes he had told him sooner, wishes he would've had impossibly more chances to kiss him, to keep knowing sides to him no one else is privy to. Law loves his kindness and his strength and every single stupid antic of his that never fails to annoys him and amuse him. Law feels like the last couple of months have brought with them more laughter than he's experienced in years. He loves to think that with people like Luffy around, Cora-san's views of the world live on.

D will surely bring another storm.

Law is unsure about all the prophecies and the void century and ancient weapons, despite how he's discussed the topic with Nico-ya at length, but if such a thing exists, Luffy is smack in the middle of it. Doflamingo called Ds the enemies of the gods, and Law doesn't think he meant the abstract figure of worship. Times are changing, Luffy is a vital part of this era, if not the guiding light of it, and Law believes in him more than he has ever believed in anyone or anything.

Law is going to save Luffy because maybe Law can do some good in the world too.

(And because he cannot live in a world without him, as selfish as it is).

"Torao," Roronoa calls out to him, and Law has to blink several times before he can focus somewhat on his face, when did he close his eyes? "What's the other thing?"

"Huh?" Law answers incomprehensibly, leaning entirely against Black Leg-ya, whose warmth is scorching against Law's chilled form. It takes him a minute. When he understands, a vicious smile graces his face, but his gaze is out of focus. "Make sure… Luffy becomes Pirate King." He will have to assume Roronoa-ya nods and imagines for a moment that Sanji's let out a strangled sob.

(Law didn't really think someone would cry over him, but things are so different now from how they were before...)

If he has to describe dying, at least via the Perennial Youth Operation, it's a slow, hazy thing. In fact, by now, Law has forgotten how the entire process started. All he knows is that he cannot move, and the stinging aching to frostbite is long gone, leaving only numb stiffness behind. He can feel Luffy's heartbeat inside him, and maybe it's delirium that pleases him so to know some part of Law has migrated into Luffy, to protect him until the end of days.

"Torao?" A voice calls out. Luffy's voice. It warms Law down to his bones. He's succeeded. Thankfully. "Torao? Sanji?" Luffy's confused, and Law's chest already aches for him, but he's not sorry. Law is not sorry.

"Luffy, he…"

"Zoro…?" Luffy's voice catches strength, vibrating in the air around them in familiar comfort. It's what he sounds when Law tries to push him away, and Luffy doesn't let him. It doesn't matter what happens to him, Law is going to miss him. "Torao? NO!" The Haki brushes over him as Luffy catches on to what's happened, but it's muted, far away, as if Luffy is eons away instead of pressed against Law. He can barely feel his grip on his shoulder, and he thinks they might move him away from Black Leg-ya. Luffy shakes him, and Law tries desperately to open his eyes, maybe tell him he loves him one last time. Everything is so cold and heavy, though. "Undo it! UNDO IT RIGHT NOW! TORAO!" Luffy wails, a sound impossible to emulate from a human throat as he breaks down and weeps. Law's unbeating heart breaks. "TORAO"

"Luffy! —ffy, stop it! —op it! ... He's gone."

"Law!"

Law wishes he could have kissed him.

I have a huge deadline at work, but instead, this.

Let the mood of my last 3 OP oneshots hint at my mood this week.

As always, I look forward to connect with you on twitter ( slim_dee_) and/or tumblr (deedee-writes) where I post snippets, teasers and take requests :)

much love,

Dee