Chapter 2: Tonight His Life's a Perplexing Maze

A/N: In the manga, Doflamingo is already down and yet, I'm still wooing his character. Odd… Another thing, I'm searching for any volunteer to BETA my works and help me minimize my extremely, extremely, massive grammar errors. I should have done this decade ago for my previous / current projects. I know, so I've been told. There were few who had volunteered, but back then, I was ignorant enough to ignore such help. *Sigh*

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Breakfast was definitely enjoyable for Doflamingo.

In contrast with the bustling city streets outside, anyone would be struck by the flawless elegant décor, excellent mahogany furniture, with richly toned wood paneling and the natural daylight pouring from the mid-century style leaded windows, providing a warm and serenity atmosphere.

They had picked a table near a fireplace where the fireplace itself was equipped with carved stone mantel while gold and crystal chandelier hung magnificently above them. For a moment, the man felt like he was drowning in world of sophistication and splendid luxury, the setting in the room itself felt like magical. The food on the other hand was prepared with the highest quality of ingredients and prime cut meat, sourced both locally and globally. Conspire these two together—the setting and food—, breakfast felt marvelous.

For Doflamingo, at very least.

But for Luffy… They have been sitting there for less than fifteen minutes and the boy already looked like he couldn't bear being inside his own skin. He fidgeted, he squirmed and he kept glancing around as if he was expecting someone from the neighboring table to suddenly come and smack his senseless. Every fiber of the boy was tense and not to mention, taut. His brows, his lips, his hands and his back—all of them were so taut that Doflamingo feared with just a flick of a finger, every muscle available in that lithe body could snap and crumple under that simple force.

Clearly Luffy was feeling uncomfortable to the core and damn to hell if that didn't make the blond miserable as well. It felt like he had just brought with him a small gerbil; dine in the mist of wild cats. Doflamingo was not amused in one way or another. One thing however, that caught his interest and dragged him away from the itsy-bitsy frustration was Luffy's table manner.

It was flawless—aside from the fidgeting and squirming of course.

It was easy to tell that Luffy was familiar with dining etiquettes. Back straight, the teen knew when and how to properly place the napkin on his laps and which fork to be used for the fruit salad. Not even once had the teen rest his elbows on the table and each time Luffy wanted to drink, the raven haired boy would put his fork and knife in the center of his plate with the tips facing each other in an inverted V before taking small sips of his orange juice. There was no slurping noise, no loud chewing and no flying piece of ham into somebody else's plate. Luffy even pat his mouth with the napkin instead of wiping them.

Perfect and flawless indeed. Except that, the act itself seemed coerced and Doflamingo knew the teen was feeling uncomfortable.

"Boy…" Doflamingo started, having enough with Luffy's fictitious manner. "Would you just relax? No one here is going to maim you if slouch your body a bit. Just watching you eat is making me anxious."

Luffy paused for a moment before continued; cutting the chicken-apple sausage into bite sized pieces and grumbled, "Can't… Everyone look so formal and high class." He brought the cut-up sausage into his mouth, popped it in and chewed in moderate speed. After the teen had made the last swallow, it was only then he looked up and locked his eyes with the blond man.

"Even you look formal."

And the boy did hit the mark. They weren't many people dining at the restaurant at that time but those little people were all either in a formal working attire or high class clothes. It was either man in their sharp looking suit or dress shirt together ties and ironed slacks, and woman in their wrap dress. Everyone looked polished, except for Luffy. While other guests appeared glossy and elegant, the teen was clad only in black and white stripe pullover hoodie and simple jeans which he had snatched from the floor in the bedroom not too long ago.

"Me? Formal?" Chuckling, Doflamingo sipped on his espresso and winced ever so slightly at the bitter taste.

"You're wearing a three-piece suit." The teen deadpanned and took another bite of his sausage. Even after sitting for more than fifteen minutes, Luffy has yet to touch the main meal of his breakfast and opted to grab the side dishes first.

Doflamingo put his cup down with a distinctive clack. "So?"

In respond, Luffy stabbed his sausage a little too hard to convey his frustration at the man's inability to understand his point just now. "I'm already sloppy enough with my bed hair and my clothes. People around us will talk more if I eat like a second grader."

The corner of the blonds' mouth curved into a smirk. "Didn't realize you're the type of kid that would care about what other people says."

"I don't." The teen replied after being in hiatus for a short time. "They can say whatever they want about me and see if I give a shit or two." A small huff then pursed the boy's lips, slightly annoyed when the lady sitting next to their table kept on glancing towards their direction. "But they're going to judge you as well if they see me eating like guy that has been starving for weeks. Right now, these people are probably wondering why a formal looking business man is sitting with a homeless brat from a different dimension."

For a moment there, the blond didn't say anything in particular. Even his face was straight, void of any apparent emotion as if he was deep in his own thought while the fork in between in his fingers was used to tap the brim of his plate repeatedly. Eyes still obscured by the heavily tinted shades, Doflamingo stared at the boy before him who was too busy moving his scrambled egg around without actually eating it.

Then, what came next was unthinkable.

In one swift movement, Doflamingo suddenly stood up, startling both Luffy and the guests sitting close to them. From there, the blonde took off his blue sharkskin jacket and hung it on the backrest of his chair. Next, came the vest in which the man shed the piece of article from hugging his large body only to have it join the jacket. He then un-tucked his white modern fit dress shirts, popped the first two buttons open before loosen up his necktie. After rolling his sleeves a couple of time and tousling his short blond lock with his fingers, only then Doflamingo sat and leaned back against his chair.

"Now I'm officially un-formal just like you." Doflamingo grinned, spreading his arms wide apart as he did so. "Let's see what they have to say about me and see if I give a shit or two myself."

On Luffy's end, the teen was temporarily speechless. His lower jaw dropped dangerously, metaphorically speaking, only few inches from touching the ground, if not the table. After another minute of the jaw dropping activity, Doflamingo began to get worried if his action just now had caused a mental breakdown on the boy. If that was the case, then his life would be in great jeopardy since Mihawk without doubt would maim him alive.

The blond was about to wave his hand in front of Luffy's face when all of sudden, the said teen broke into a series of hysterical fit. The fork and the knife in his hands were dropped on to the plate with a loud clatter since the boy was shaking too much from laughter. He clutched on his stomach with one hand, while the other used to cradle his face, almost knocking the glass next to him in the process. Every guest inside the restaurant by now was staring at them by now, murmuring towards each other in snobbish tone. Poor waiter also almost dropped the coffee pot in his hand but he was quick enough to use his other hand to gain control over the pot.

But Luffy appeared to disconnect himself from his surroundings. He laughed, he snorted and he giggled like a silly boy he originally was without a single care for the world. It was contagious. To see that side of Luffy, Doflamingo couldn't help but to let out chuckles himself.

It was after three solid minutes later that the teen finally calmed down. A healthy shade of pink dusted the boy's cheeks, replacing the previous grim expression.

"You're so weird, Mingo." An unintelligent snort came from the teen, coupled with a toothy grin as Luffy took sip of his juice to soothe his throat that has became raw due to the non-stop laughing.

"It's Doffy actually." Grinning himself, the blonde corrected the younger. He seemed pleased with the reaction he received. "Even if you have a hard time memorizing my full name, at least try to remember the short name I've been trying to pound into your head for the past half an hour."

"What's wrong with Mingo?"

Doflamingo gave a look that was a crossover between incredulous and amused. "Luffy, in case you haven't realized, the name 'Mingo' sounds a lot like a tropical fruit." He deadpanned as he picked few of the seasoned arugula leaves with his fork. "My name alone is ridiculous enough and I'm still having a hard time forgiving my parent for naming me that."

Once again, the boy laughed although with a lot more control this time. "Fine, fine. 'Doffy'." With one single stab of his fork, Luffy picked one of the hash browns and stuffed it into his mouth in only two single bites. Throw the perfect table etiquette out to the window, the teen was immediately digressed to a normal gluttonous, fifteen year old boy.

"But you're right though. Your name does sound weird, not to mention mouthful." Ignoring the crumbs clinging on his cheek, Luffy poked his scramble egg a couple of time before nibbling whatever that has stuck on his fork.

"If you think my name is weird enough, you should hear my brother's. Whenever I mentioned his name, people usually think that I'm babbling about a horse in some godforsaken ranch."

Luffy was an inch close from spitting his half-chewed egg but he was quick enough to swallow whatever inside his mouth. As soon as it passed down his throat, the boy released another set of contagious laughter.

Shoulders quivering like leaves in mid-autumn, the black haired teen snorted. "Stop saying weird stuff when I'm eating! You almost made me spit my food…"

Now that Luffy had buried his table etiquette six feet under the ground, Doflamingo could only watched in amusement as the boy slumped his body slightly forward and placed his elbows nonchalantly on the table while he began cutting his toast in half including the sunny side up that was placed on top of the peasant bread. The blond made a 'tch' noise when the yolk burst and began to spread apart, approaching the seasoned salad next to the toast with a dangerous speed. Isn't that peachy.

"Gods, my shoulders and my back hurt…" Luffy whined lowly and massaged his shoulders to get rid of the annoying kinks. He twisted his upper body from side to side, not stopping until he heard the satisfying 'pop'. With a small relieved sigh, the teen bend slightly forward and whispered, "How can these people sit up straight the entire time? I know women can wear corset and stuff to hold their body, but I don't think the guys want to wear it too and ended up dying from suffocation."

The assumption made the man barked a manic laughter as he tore small piece of the toast and used it as absorbent for the yolk. "Hm-mmh. And you were sitting like them just now." Doflamingo grinned when he saw the younger twitched under his knowing gaze. The piece of toast in between his finger, after it was covered with quite amount of the yolk, only then the blonde popped the sticky bread into his mouth.

"That's before I know that you're a weirdo." As he leaned his back against the chair, Luffy huffed. "But I'm glad that you're a weirdo… and a jerk."

Doflamingo shook his head and took another sip of his coffee. Fearless brat. They ate in silence afterwards with the blond busy scooping up the runaway yolk and Luffy separating the spinach leaves from the scrambled egg. On the fifth minute, it was the tycoon that was first to break the silence.

"So…" Doflamingo started, using his palm to cradle his chin as he placed his left elbow on the table. "What is it that you're having..?"

In front of him, Luffy paused from turning his egg into a complete artwork. He stared into the man's blue orbs for a quick second as if to he was trying to decipher the question before shrugging. "Just anemia."

"Just anemia..? Really now? Because if I'm not mistaken, 'just anemia' doesn't require constant medication."

"What do you know about anemia then?" There's a hint of challenge in Luffy's voice.

"Don't tempt me to conduct a lecture on anemia here, boy… My son is studying medicine." Doflamingo gestured for the waiter to have his coffee refill. "Just because he always babbled whatever he learned for the day at one in the morning, that doesn't mean I didn't listen to him."

And boy if that didn't make Luffy twitched again under the parent-like gaze. Somehow, the teen felt like he was regressed back to his ten year old self. The feeling was same like when his father asked him whether it was him or Ace who dumped the carrot on the their flower garden. Needless to say, it was unnerving which left him with no room to fool the man or even divert the topic.

Given with no choice, not that he had one to begin with, Luffy sighed softly. "It's Aplastic Anemia." The boy tried to make it sound like it was the dullest thing that was not even worth discussing, but the raised golden eyebrow told him otherwise. Worse, the adult appeared to be interested with the not-so-common disorder.

"My bone marrow is unable to generate enough blood cells, all three of them. The red, white and platelets." Eyes down, Luffy pushed his spinach to the far end of his plate as if it was the most revolting greenish thing in the world. "Your body probably has thirty to seventy percent blood stem cells inside your bone marrow but mine has lot less. That's why I need those pills to stimulate my cells regeneration."

The blond hummed in understanding and chewed on his toast plus egg with deliberate slowness. "And it's getting worse, isn't it?" It was a statement rather than a question and Doflamingo was nowhere off the mark when he saw Luffy nodded slowly.

"I've been sick since I was a kid, but not all the time. Back there even if I skipped my meds, I could still get through my day and play sport." Luffy paused to drink his juice before continued, "But since half a year ago, I've been getting sicker. Almost everyday. And dad gets worried a lot more than usual. He kept texting me to remind me of my meds time, he doesn't allow me to leave the house anymore unless I'm with someone he knows and he won't let me play sport because he's afraid that I'm going to pass out in my own pool of blood. He still let me practice mixed martial art though…"

Streams of emotions ran across Luffy's child-like face—gloom, distressed, upset even. It was unsettling and wrong in every angle, to say at least. Children like Luffy are supposed to be full of energy, daring and in high spirits at all given time. But Doflamingo and even Luffy were well aware, that in reality, what you desire the most, there are times when you still can't obtain it even after you've laid everything on the line. Be it prayers, blood and sweats efforts, technology and even medicine.

"You're his youngest son and you're sick. It's not just him. Every parent would be over-bearing if their child is not in their best shape, Luffy." Doflamingo tried to reason with the teen and watched Luffy pursed his lips around the tip of the fork.

"I know that…" Luffy mumbled around the fork. "I mean, I love dad and I know why he's being over-protective. But its soooo tiring..." Groaning, the boy allowed his head to fall back and hit the chair with a dull 'thunk'.

Doflamingo paused his eating and leaned back slightly to have a better look on the groaning boy. "How long, Luffy?" The blond asked, catching the discomfort look on Luffy.

"Hmm?" Hummed the teen while he tried to shift himself from Doflamingo's direct line of vision but the man's gaze pinned him in place. Drat. Luffy was well aware of the sub-text behind that question, but pretended otherwise.

Too bad for Luffy that the adult didn't plan on making thing easier. It wasn't a simple childish curiosity. It was a need to know the truth they are facing—an absolute necessary if one might say. "How long the doctor gave you?" Doflamingo repeated, this time more direct that left no opening for any confusion to take place.

There was no running and Luffy knew this more than anyone else. He rubbed his neck sheepishly before answering, "One year, top, without transplant."

"Hmm… No wonder you father freaks out." Doflamingo nodded and resumed eating his breakfast. He was one second quicker to stab the harsh brown Luffy has been eyeing on and smirked at the boy slightly annoyed look. "You have a donor?"

From annoyance, Luffy's expression twisted into a cheerful one. His prefect row of teeth was shown when the boy grinned slightly. "Yeah. It's Ace."

What surprised Doflamingo the most at that moment was at the fact that he wasn't surprised at all with the revelation. Those two brothers were protective over Luffy and it was almost natural for them to offer some of their bone marrow, especially if discovered that their stem cells are a match. Hell, even if they offer their life for the sake of their little brother, Doflamingo would be the last person in this universe to be shocked over the news. Their affection towards family members was indeed touching with a hint of 'aaww' factor. At the same time, it was downright scary.

"You've said before you have a son." Without warning, Luffy suddenly changed the subject and it took as long as five seconds for the blond to have the question fully digested.

"That's right." Doflamingo was almost three quarter through his meal, in contrast with Luffy. The teen did poke and prod his toast, topped with scrambled egg and smoked salmon, but he barely took a bite.

"How old is he?"

"He'll be nineteen this October."

"Oh." Luffy paused, tapping his fork softly against his plate while the blonde waited patiently for the teen next words.

"Do you think he can be my friend?"

Taken off guard, Doflamingo clearly didn't expect that question to be thrown at him. He corked his head slightly to the side and watched the animated glint twinkling like crazy in the boy's dark orbs.

"I don't see why not." He finally answered the younger who in return, seemed pleased with the green light. In one way or another, it puzzled Doflamingo. It wasn't uncommon, really. But it certainly wasn't an everyday event for a fifteen year old teen to suddenly blurt out his wish to befriend with his only child. If Luffy by any chance a ten year old kid, then man certainly would not be surprised since small children are the type of creature with a habit of making anyone and anything their friends. But for a teenager… the blond have always thought that they would be a bit picky in selecting their peers.

Or at least… that was the impression his son has been giving for the last few years.

"To be honest, I'd really like that idea… But why do you want to befriend with my son?" Doflamingo just couldn't help himself from asking.

In respond, the fifteen year old frowned a bit as if Doflamingo had just questioned him whether pigs could fly. He stopped tapping his plate and gave a casual shrug. "Why wouldn't I? I've figured that he's a weirdo too, just like you. Or at least, not normal. And I like having un-normal friends!"

"Fufufuffufufufufu," The blond chuckled at Luffy's odd reason and shook his head. "Boy, 'not normal' is a bit overstated. I wouldn't use 'not normal' to describe him."

"He's a nightmare, Luffy. A nightmare with two arms and legs and one thousand-one ideas to drive people crazy." Deadpanned the man as he sipped on his third coffee of the day. He woke up at four this morning and drove all the way to Primula. So coffee, at that moment was a lot more than essential in order for him to get through his day without having to strangle anyone in the process.

"I don't care!" Without losing his cheer, Luffy grinned. "And I bet Ace and Sabo will like 'em too."

Doflamingo hid a smile behind his cup. "Don't say I didn't warn you, boy." As he settled his cup back on the table reached for sugar, something suddenly popped inside his head. "Speaking of Sabo and Ace… are they twin?"

The question was met with Luffy's child-like laughter. "Shishishishishi! Silly Doffy… There's no way Ace and Sabo are twin. Ace has black hair like me and dad. Sabo's blond. They can't be twin."

There was no sense in the boy's statement just now and Doflamingo just had to frown. For one, how would he know who has what hair color when he has yet to meet the older brothers? Secondly, Luffy seemed to have disregard the existence of fraternal twin where their features—face, hair, body type and even gender—may be different from each other. Long to short, the blond man was slightly confused at that moment.

Sensing the man's confusion over his remark, Luffy allowed a lopsided smile to curl his lips. It didn't exactly match with the boy's boyish face, but it really did a helluva good job in telling the world how amused Luffy was.

"Ace is my real brother." Luffy stated a matter-of-factly, catching a bored look the blonde threw at him. "And Sabo's adopted." There was a slight change in Doflamingo's expression where his eyes shone with interest.

"Ooh?" Hell yeah. Doflamingo was interested alright.

"I was six when Sabo became a family." Luffy slumped back against the chair, sliding his body down an inch or two and twirled the knife in between his fingers. "You know…"

All of sudden, the boy's gaze hardened and enraged hiss passed through his clenching teeth. "Sabo's real dad was a mean bastard. He used to beat Sabo all the time… Throw him from room to room. His mom didn't do anything but watched. When Sabo first came to our house, he got bruises all over his body."

Luffy's gaze fell on the almost empty glass of his juice. Although half tempted to make another order of drink, Luffy decided that would have to come later since it appeared that Doflamingo was waiting for him to continue with the telltale of his brother's background.

"Then one day, his dad was charged with murder and corruption about ten years ago. You've probably heard the case. He's a well-known property broker back in Green Bit." A waiter came to their table to collect the empty plates that was used to serve the sides. Before the attendant could grab them, Luffy was quick to stack the two plates on top of each other to ease the man's job, earning himself an appreciated nod from the waiter.

"What's his name?" Doflamingo asked.

"I don't know…" Shrugging, the teen motioned for the waiter to refill his juice. "I was too small to remember. Sabo and dad never talked about it. Ace was the one who told me bits and pieces of the story."

Few minutes later, the same waiter came back with Luffy's newly squeezed fresh orange juice and the boy beamed when the glass was placed in front of him. "Thanks!"

The waiter seemed startled with the teens' word of appreciation, not to mention the cheerful aura. Earlier when he had brought their meals, the boy appeared stiff and gloomy with eyes that showed wavering reflections of the sparkling chandelier lights. But now, he was seeing a peaceful joyful soul. He wasn't certain the reason behind the sudden change of mood although he did believe the smile that teen was wearing at that moment suited a strong, cheerful boy like him.

Once he noticed that he had stared the young teenage boy in front of him a little bit too long, the waiter quickly gave an awkward nod and left the table with Doflamingo's gaze trailing after him. The blond man cut his stare and went back to look at Luffy who in the middle of stirring his drink using the back of his fork.

"Anyway," Luffy took two large sips out of his juice before he continued, "Dad was supposed to be his defense lawyer. But after he found out what the guy did to Sabo, dad withdrew from the case. He said even if Sabo's dad is innocent, no parent has any right to cause harm to their own children and he didn't want to represent that kind of person."

"Was he innocent then?"

Luffy snorted. "Of course not. He was rotten to the core and was found guilty with first degree murder and corruption. Now he's serving life sentence in prison." A single push of his plate to the side, the boy then placed both of his arms on the table and rested his chin on top of them. "I'm glad that dad decided to take Sabo into our family. Before it's just the three of us, but after Sabo came into the family, now there are four of us."

The blond rocked his body slightly back and forth as the man made a mental count. Four… That would be Mihawk, Ace, Sabo, Luffy and... no more?

"What of your mother..?"

"Hmm..?" One eye opened while the other remained closed, Luffy tilted his head upward and saw Doflamingo was patiently waiting for his respond. "Ooh. Our mum died when I was still tiny. Even Ace didn't remember her much."

As he watched the boy finished mumbling into his arms, Doflamingo took one last bite of his toast and pushed the plate to the side for the attendant to collect later. He sipped on his coffee with deliberate slowness while he stared at Luffy who was inches from snoozing on the table. But before the teen could wonder to any Snoozefest, Doflamingo reached across the table and gently pulled Luffy's ear.

"Eat, boy. You won't grow any further if you keep leaving your breakfast around."

With a groan, Luffy pushed his body off the table and leaned back. Annoyed brown orbs was met with amused electric blue. "I'm not short."

"Never said you are." The blond only grinned as he pulled the plate of barely eaten breakfast back in front of Luffy. "But you still have plenty of room for growth. Don't want to waste any of that, do we?"

Although the teen didn't make any attempt to push the plate away, he did however, glared at the neatly arrange meal with greatest disdain.

"You don't like your food? I thought you like eggs." Doflamingo nodded at the yellow substance lumped on Luffy's plate. At this point, he refused to call it scrambled egg that surely had seen better days no thanks to Luffy's earlier poking and prodding.

"I do…" One more final push, the teen finally picked up the egg and smoked salmon even by only the tip of his fork and sighed. "I like eggs and I like food. But this…" Luffy frowned slightly as he chewed. But the more he chewed, the crease on his forehead only got deepened. "I can't feel anything from it."

Once again, Doflamingo was flooded with another wave of confusion due to the boy's remark. "What do you mean?"

Luffy scratched his head. His view of the world was a little bit different from others especially those of his age, that much the teen was well aware. So Luffy was at least half expected that his choice of words would only bring forward unwanted confusion to others.

"The food's great," Using his fork, Luffy tapped at the spot next to his eggs. "But I don't feel any 'color' or 'life' from eating it."

When confusion still etched heavily on the blonds' face, the boy continued. "I'm sick, Doffy. But that doesn't mean I want my world to be dull, black and white. It's boring and it's painful." Luffy lifted his head up and allowed their eyes to meet briefly before glancing to his side and by any means, towards the window.

Outside where the busy sounds of summer morning filled the air, the rosy hue of summer blush was pouring through the glittering panels, warming up every inch and every nook of the dining room. Even with the windows closed in every intention to shut out any noise from penetrating the room and thus, disturbing the customers, you still could hear the 'honk honk' of on road vehicles, the 'tink tink' of bakery bell and the 'clap clap' of shoes scraping along the concrete walkway. From where Doflamingo sat, Luffy's dark brown eyes seemed to be reflecting the mild, pensive morning ray and appeared two shades lighter—or more like a cognac brown. They glistened like crystal dew as the boy stared at the canary singing gaily as it sat perched on the windowsill with folded wings.

"The world that I see, smell and hear and even touch…" A small smile painted on his lips when the boy saw another canary came by and joined its companion. "I want it to be filled with colors and characters. I want to see stuffs that make my heart skip a beat. I want to experience things that make me see rainbow and I want to hear things that make me laugh like hearing the canaries chirping. Do you know what I mean, Doffy?"

All the muscles in Doflamingo's cheeks were contracting and relapsing as the blond hold back his amused grin. "Boy, when I heard your view of colorful life, the only thing that comes into my mind is sex."

Few comebacks were thrown back towards the man. First, came the groan. Next, a dramatic eye rolls and followed by irritated huffs.

"Gods, you sounded like a dirty old man! Of course I wasn't referring to your mind blowing sex life!" Luffy chewed the tip of his straw and ignored the neighboring lady spluttering on her black tea, staining her beautiful blue, shift dress.

The teen then continued despite that Doflamingo was cackling madly in front of him. "It's like that feeling when you are running along the grassy hill in the middle of spring or when you are watching fireworks during summer festival or—"

"—or when you lick the cinnamon icing off your fingers?" Doflamingo continued where the boy left off.

"Yeah! That's right!" Off the teen bouncing on his seat excitedly, almost hitting the man behind him with the back of his chair. "See, you do know what I'm talking about after all. Those kinds of little things just have to make you smile, doesn't it? Those life sparkling experiences…"

Luffy then made a motion with his fingers as he spoke animatedly. "I want to feel it all the time, every single second of my life. I want to be like those fireworks during New Year celebration… With colors and sparks everywhere."

"And the food..?" The man nodded at the barely eaten food in Luffy's plate. "It doesn't bring out any sparks then?"

No immediate answer to amuse the blond when Luffy appeared to need some moments to mull over Doflamingo's question. His dark brown eyes rested on the entity which used to be sliced smoked salmons—Luffy has been poking them too much that it was very hard to tell they were once called fish meat. More poking and prodding, the teen finally hand scooped the wheat muffin topped with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon and stuffed them into his mouth in one go. His face scrunched up in distress a bit over the chopped spinach and chives, so Luffy quickly swallowed it before the unpleasant texture of the greenery spreading all over his tongue.

"Nope." Luffy finally offered his reply after making his final swallow. "Technically speaking, they're good in term of taste, but there's no love." An almost sad frown was carving the teen's forehead as Luffy moved the leftover chives around on his plate. "It's almost like the one who made this only cook because he was paid for it, not because he loves it."

"… I'm not even sure if I could make it until the transplant, but at least for now, I want my breakfast to be filled with awesomeness." His voice was barely above whisper, but Doflamingo sure as hell caught almost ninety-percent whatever words escaped the slightly parted lips.

Doflamingo took another tentative sip of his coffee and swirled the dark liquid inside his mouth until millions of his palates could distinguish the rich creamy body and aroma with a touch of sweet, smoky caramel that mellow the brightness of the coffee, thinking—imagining if he was blessed with terminally disease. To be able to fill the monochrome, black and white scenes before him with rainbow of personalities, characters and colors, Doflamingo highly doubted he would be able to pull it off like how Luffy has been doing for the past fifteen years.

Fascinating, truly fascinating. And to take away such spirit is like taking away all hot-jam doughnuts from pastry shops and Dolamingo would have none of that.

"Is there any particular food you want to eat right now, boy?"

With eyes shone brightest than any stars out there, Luffy grinned at the man before him. Different kind of vendor food, burgers, meat pies and snacks filled his vision until the point he could almost see them, taste them and even smell them.

"Pizza, macaroni and cheese, three-storey hamburger, bacon omelets, spicy cheese sticks, chocolate chip pancakes—" With healthy vigor, the teen spewed words which was akin to language from other planet or even dimension. He might as well bit his tongue a couple of times in a process, but Luffy was too hyped to actually care.

Quickly, Doflamingo waved his hand in front of the teen to prevent him from speaking any more foreign languages. "Calm down, Luffy." Really now. If he was to allow Luffy to continue with his list, then the man feared that a six-inch notebook would be required to jot down everything. "I get it. You like unhealthy, fatty, fried and greasy food. With your anemia and whatnot, I'm actually amazed you've survived this long with that eating habit."

"But it's yummy!"

"Hmm—mmm…" The blonde hummed in acknowledgment and grabbed the napkin on his laps only to place it on the table just next to his empty plate. "Well, I doubt that you can get those here…" Before the teen could purse his lips into a tiny pout, Doflamingo quickly added. "But there's a big event going on right now. This city's having its fiftieth anniversary celebration this week starting yesterday and though the grand finale will be held on weekend, plenty of vendors, tents and stalls have been set up at the south city park by now and…"

As he trailed his sentence, Doflamingo noticed how the corners of the others lips were tugged upward with every word delivered. "—since two of today meeting agenda is cancelled, I can get back early and then maybe we can check them out later?"

By now, the grin splitting Luffy's face was so wide the blond feared that one or two muscles might snap any at any moment.

"But only with two conditions."

Almost instantly, the grin faltered, along with the imaginary puppy ears and tail wagging behind the boy. Doflamingo blinked twice. Odd… The ears and tails are still there.

"First," Doflamingo held up one finger. "Finish your breakfa—" The last part of his word died in his mouth when Luffy gobbled up the rest of his food in five seconds flat before giving away a triumph smirk. Nicely played…

"—secondly, your homework. I want the progress to be at least five-percent by the time I get back."

Luffy stopped mid-swallowing with eyes only a fraction smaller than the plates on the table. The teen quickly made few quick swallow, drank his juice, and only then he released the long suppressed whine.

"But Dofffyyy—"

"No but. You have to earn your reward. Surely your father has thought you that much, yes?" For some reason, the blond wasn't the least surprised when the imaginary puppy ears on Luffy's head has now flattened themselves and clamped close to his skull.

"But five percents is too much!" Luffy's voice was one tone higher than his usual childish voice and one could only imagine how Dolamingo just had to wince at the sudden change of pitch. "I thought I can forget about homework now that dad's not around, but you're even worse that him…"

"Hey now," Right after few sets of chuckles, Doflamingo tried to persuade the boy again. "It's important for you to have at least half of your homework done before your transplant, remember? So that after your surgery and rehabilitation period, you won't be having much more to finish what is left."

In respond, the fifteen year old chewed his lower lips in contemplation, clearly in dilemma about the agreement Doflamingo had just offered. To him, it appeared as though it was a one sided deal with less than one percent effects on the man. On the other hand however, if he could secure the part of the deal with that five percent of homework progress, then tonight meals would be none other than three storey hamburger, bacon omelet, spicy cheese sticks— Focus, Luffy! Homework... right, he could do that… perhaps.

"But most of them are math…" Luffy sipped on his juice until none was left, a small displeased frown carved his forehead as he placed the tall glass next to his empty plate. "I hate math."

Doflamingo sensed that the boy in front of him was only an inch from yielding. All he needed was one more gentle push. "Just start with easier subjects. Like social studies and foreign language. Then you can move on to math and maybe even science."

This time around, Luffy did yield, but only after releasing a soft whine and a long defeated groan. "Okaayy… But promise that you'll at least help me with my math."

As he let the anticipated answer hung, Doflamingo began collecting his coat, tie and vest and signaling the boy to get ready as well. Luffy was clearly unhappy when his request just now was partially ignored. The displeased pout was still there, settled calmly on his face as he watched the adult waved at the nearest waiter to bring in the bill. While Doflamingo fished out his credit card—in which Luffy was sure it was limitless—and generous amount of tips, the raven haired teen took the napkin in his laps, placed it on the table and made a bunny ears origami out of it. Simple as it was, it still managed to entertain the boy and brought out a small smile.

They left the table as soon as the payment was settled with Luffy one step behind the other. Doflamingo was a tall man after all and his strides were at least twice longer than someone as Luffy's size.

"I was pretty good at math. One of my strongest subject back in school days and I took it as minor when I was in college." Doflamingo suddenly break the short moment of silence as they walked slowly towards the elevator. With his tussled hair, un-tucked shirt and bundled up coat slung on his arm, the man appeared more like someone who suffered from an extreme hangover and woke up at the wrong side of somebody else's bed.

"So you'll help me then?" The grin was back when Luffy saw the blonde shrugged as he punched the up button. The elevator was currently in the tenth floor, so it might take a while for it to arrive.

Once again, the man looked right through the boy's question and made a gesture with his fingers. "Give me your phone. I'll save my number in—"

"Doofffyyyy..!" But Luffy apparently would have none of that as he needed the man's word.

A full stretched amused grin only meant that Doflamingo was indeed heard the teen's pleas just now, but was just being his mean self and literally ignored them. "Alright, alright. I'll see what I can do." He held up his hands to show off his submission. "But don't expect I can remember everything. I've left school more than two decades and I'm pretty sure seventy percent of my brain cells have withered by now."

Luffy grinned in satisfaction and only then he handed the blonde his phone which he had fished out from his back pocket just now. "Is it because of the whiskey and the rum you've drank? Dad always says that all the wine he's drunk so far probably had destroyed two millions of his brain cells."

"No," Doflamingo corrected as he took the phone into his hand. Earlier, Luffy had unlocked the password protected device with few taps of numbers. Typical teenager. "Fifty percent of them were incinerated due to stress of dealing with a wet, hissing cat which I'm very afraid to refer it as my son and yes, another twenty percent were destroyed by the alcohol."

After only two sliding motions and gentle taps to the phone screen, the blond man was already with his task in typing in his own personal number. He seldom—no, never provide his number just to anyone, especially to someone he has barely known for less than twenty-four hours. Even if he does, then the best thing that person could choke out of him would be his business number. If that person is lucky enough, he would probably reveal his desire in taking over the nation, become a tyrant leader in order to govern the citizens with iron and blood rules, all the while trying to initiate wars on other neighboring countries.

Needless to say, he wasn't serious. Most people however, couldn't accept it as a harmless humor and gave him the-wider-than-saucer look while formulating a fitting nickname for him inside their head. He was certain there were at least seven nicknames created just for him by now.

Once he saved the number, Doflamingo gave a quick missed call to his phone so he would be aware of the boy's contact as well.

"Call me if there's anything, alright?" Doflamingo handed Luffy his phone back at the same moment the elevator arrived at their floor with the distinctive 'ding'. Before, he had purposely punched the up button instead of down because he wanted to send the boy off himself. To make sure Luffy was still breathing and healthy by the time he steps into the elevator.

The door opened and Luffy took few steps to get inside. But before the door could as much closed in, he blocked the side with his foot and faced the man before him. "But you're going to an important meeting, right? You won't be able to answer my call even if there's a giant squid attacks this building."

Three sets of baffled blinking later, it was only then Doflamingo caught up with Luffy's words just now.

"Don't worry, boy. I'll definitely answer your call."

"Oh." The teen paused. The door tried to make an attempt to slide again, but Luffy's foot wouldn't budge. "What if send you text messages you? Will you reply them?" There's this sort of hopeful look clung on the boy's features and it would definitely take a titanium will to say no to such look.

"Yes, Luffy. I'll reply them. I promise." Doflamingo convinced the raven haired boy and took a super quick glance at his watch. If he doesn't move his asses in a shake or two in let say, two minutes top, then the like hood for him to be able to pick a seat at the very end of the round table and therefore, far away from the meeting chairman would be much thinner than a spider web string. Then, he would be forced to look up straight and nodding in agreement—regardless how ridiculous the issue was—and unable to play the puzzled slash criminal investigation game he had installed in his phone recently.

The younger appeared satisfied with the answer and when Doflamingo thought that he could finally leave, the boy once again, did the unthinkable.

Luffy spread his arms wide open.

Doflamingo stared at teen in front of him, feet still stuck to the elevator door for a good five seconds while Luffy too, stared back at him with anticipation. On the sixth second and onwards however, the anticipation slowly transformed into mild irritation when the other party did nothing but looked at him with slightly parted lips as though the teen was an anomaly from other dimension.

"Come on, Doffy! I can't move from here or else the door will close behind me. You have to come here for the good-luck hug." To emphasize his point—not that it made any sense to Doflamingo—, Luffy made a quick come-here-quickly gesture with his fingers.

It appeared that the tall man still had half of his brain cells trying to decipher Luffy's words. "A good-what what?"

"A good-luck hug." Rolling his eyes, Luffy repeated his term, slightly annoyed since Doflamingo was unable to make sense of his statement in less than one seconds for more than one occasion. But then again, no one out there really had the ability to be able to understand Luffy's unpredictable character.

"Good luck hugs work all the time to get rid the misfortunes. Dad has never gotten into any accidents because I gave him hugs every day." A short pause followed suit while Luffy pursed his lips. "Well, except that time when he stepped on a cat's tail and got scratched in the face and also when he almost ran over someone else's grandma. But that only happened because the hugs I gave him on those days didn't fill the quota."

By now, Doflamingo golden eyebrows have both reached his hairline. He parted his lips again, probably to say something, but immediately was silenced with a deep scowl etching on Luffy's face. At that moment, the adult realized that nothing, and he meant nothing in this world could dampen Luffy's emperor class determination especially with that frown, demanding, and exasperation vibe—

Oh, what-the-hell-ever. The teen just wanted to give a hug. Not to punch him in the gut.

In one and half stride—he has a naturally long legs after all—, Doflamingo closed the gap between them and allowed Luffy to wrap his arms around his mid section. He was a tall guy—again, to emphasize his point—, so that was the maximum height where the teen could circled his limbs fully without having to tip toe or twisted his body in a weird position. Then again, Doflamingo was somewhat relieved that Luffy wasn't any shorter or else, the boy would be having his hands at a VERY awkward region. If that was the case, the blond was almost hundred twenty percent how oblivious to the core Luffy would be at that time, clearly not aware of the tough position he was putting the adult in.

As gawky as it might seem, the blond man reciprocated the affectionate gesture by draping one hand across Luffy's small back while his other free hand went to finger the soft, raven locks. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly at the purring noise vibrated deep in the teen's chest for every gentle scrap of his fingers across the scalp. Kid even nuzzled his cheeks against his stomach and tightened his hold on Doflamingo. Gods, the boy really did remind him of his son, especially with that jet black hair. Doflamingo could remember as it was yesterday back when his child's height barely reached his thighs, still could cling on his legs, refusing to let go whenever he was leaving the house for business trip. This moment was the same as those, where the blond didn't have enough iron will to push the boy away regardless how critically important for him to leave as soon as possible.

However, the sweet, reminiscence moment was ruined by people who were as well waiting for the elevator—whom Doflamingo failed to notice. They stared at them, rather intently. Some of them—especially the petite lady in indigo pinstripe pantsuit—cooed at the sight, enough to unnerve the unusually calm blond man.

Flustered, he cleared his throat and loosened the firm hug he had on Luffy. "He's not my kid." Somehow, Doflamingo felt the need to state that fact for the onlookers to hear. But clearly the uncomfortable looks they were flashing later on only made the unnecessary panic sensation within him to sky jump.

"No, no, no!" Doflamingo awkwardly waved his hand to casual the mood. "He's actually the son of my acquaintance, not some random kid who suddenly jumped out of the elevator to hug a total stranger and, and—" Hell, he really didn't want to make himself look like an ass-holish father who refused to acknowledge his own son or even a potential offender in a worst case scenario. "—are you done there, Luffy— "

"No! It has to be at least thirty seconds or else it won't work!" Even though half of Luffy's exclamation was toned down by Doflamingo's stomach and his clothes, his slightly higher than usual voice was still loud enough to be heard by anyone within the vicinity. It might as well be his imagination, but the man could have sworn the sea-monster squeeze Luffy had on him just got even tighter.

Of course… Thirty seconds. More like thirty seconds of agonizing madness…

While he stood there with awkward expression stretching painfully tight across his face, coupled with the increasing cooing noises behind him, Doflamingo made a mental note in giving plenty of kudos later to Mihawk for being able to handle his son's randomness without passing out in a dead faint.

But for now, the blond just wished he could curse the onlookers to oblivion.

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Approximately two hours and twenty minutes later, Doflamingo found himself still sitting at cherry colored conference room table. Designed to impress the audiences, the table was indeed big as it provides enough room for everyone seated to place their own laptops and important documents. In fact, everything inside the conference room appeared like it was designed to saturate the room with an air of professionalism and seriousness. From the chairs, the table, the walls and down to the presentation board, members even. There wasn't a millimeter of space for anyone to suddenly be humorous like confessing that he had accidentally brought out a sausage from his briefcase instead of a black pen and later everyone in the conference room would be laughing about the sausage pen joke. No sir. Such liberty was unacceptable for all the meeting attendees, chairman included.

He wasn't sure about the other members, but all these professionalism elements that were crammed inside the room all together was starting to get under his skin. No wonder Luffy was unnerved this morning. Him alone was enough to make the teen fidgeted like crazy. If just by any miracle that Luffy suddenly popped out of nowhere like jack in the box—maybe from the coffee pot on the table—and forced to stand there, right in the middle of the room, surrounded by a total twenty people all wearing either three pieces suit or formal blazers with eyebrows now knitted together as one, Doflamingo mildly wondered how many seconds would it take for Luffy to crack up.

…Now that would be very amusing.

Doflamingo stifled a deep yawn—yet again— with the back of his hand, crossed his legs on top of one another before leaning his back further into the plush pillow top of his swirl leather chair. To be honest, the blond has never preferred swirly chairs during meetings as they tend to move off his own volition. Like just now, his chair almost flew backward and hit the wall behind him when all he had wanted was to stretch his aching legs. And now he had to practically dig the sole of his shoes into the carpeted floor just to make sure his chair stay in place.

Really now… Whoever genius designed this sort of fancy executives chairs obviously has never seated on them himself. It takes approximately two minutes for the meeting attendees to find their footing on their own chairs as soon as they were seated and at the moment, Doflamingo was more than certain that at least two third of the them were gripping the real wood conference table for their dear life. By the end of the meeting, the blond wasn't least surprised if a total of eighty angry marks were left on the table ad twenty holes made on the carpet beneath him. Now, rather than focusing on the presentation given by different governmental and privatized departments, everyone looked more self conscious as though any one of them could topple backward and have their chair fly around and hit someone in the head.

Just at the thought of flying chairs inside the conference room was enough to make the Donquixote family head chuckled faintly under his breath.

While the spokesperson from the department of transportation was busy presenting—approved projects, budgeting, last year review, etc—, Doflamingo made a quick, last time scroll of his own presentation slides in his laptop which he barely finished last night. He wasn't alone though. Everyone else were pretty much busy multitasking in between pretending to give occasional intelligent nods and polishing their presentation materials with nimble fingers tapping erratically against the keyboard.

Satisfied with his last minute prepared slides, the blonde clicked on the 'save' button before leaning back against his chair once more, eyes wondering all over the room. He would be up front after the current guy, which left him just about twenty minutes for toilet break, to yawn, to determine whether the guy sitting next to him was really wearing a lollipop printed socks—

… Oh-hoh…

In deliberate slowness, an unhealthy smirk crept its way into Doflamingo's supposedly serious façade which he tidily hid it behind his hand. Mischievous glints was twinkling madly in his blue eyes as the blond stealthy grabbed his cellphone from the table, brought it down under the table and pretended to type in a quick important text messages while all he actually did was angling it for a good photo snap of his subject. It took two—or maybe even three—attempts before Doflamingo finally able to obtain a perfect snapshot. Through the corner of his eyes, the tycoon made a quick scan to make sure none of the attendees caught his paparazzi act just now. Doflamingo was sure that at least one or two of them must have seen it, but deemed that ignoring was the best course of action.

With few swipes of his fingers across the screen, Doflamingo wasted not even a second searching for Luffy's number that was recently saved in his phone. He found it less than five seconds and once he did, he tapped on the teen's name and went straight for the instant messaging apps, lifting his left eyebrow a little when a fitting username flashed right next to Luffy's screen image. A soft amused smile worked on his cheeks' muscle while the blonde began typing.

[Joker]: {Image} *who says you're to old to wear cute socks?*Grin*

Doflamingo knew that he didn't have to wait that long to receive any type of reply given that Luffy was your everyday normal teenager. Meaning to say, that although the teen was attached to his cellphone, the attachment itself was in a moderate degree. And he knew he was right on track when the phone vibrated—a common type of alert for incoming instant messages. The blond then swiftly opened the unread message and suppressed a smile at the double laughing emoticon sent by Luffy.

[Pillow Featherbed]: Lollipops! Awesome! I got one of those printed socks for dad. Kittens and mini trucks.

For a quick seconds, the Donquixote family head mulled over the image of the state public prosecutor wearing kittens printed socks during court days. Mihawk in front of the court pulling a testimony out of an important murder witness while wearing cute printed socks underneath his pants… Nope. That doesn't look very lawyer-like, does it..?

Before the comical image could linger any further, Doflamingo was interrupted by the second vibration.

[Pillow Featherbed]: How's meeting?

[Joker]: Everything's horrible. The coffee's horrible, the presentation's horrible, even the chair's horrible.

[Pillow Featherbed]: Chair?

[Joker]: U-huh. Just now, a guy fell down while still stuck in his chair. It's like we're all sitting on a bear trap. Nobody can get away. *Sigh*

[Pillow Featherbed]: *Shocked* that's mean, Doffy! You should've helped the guy!

[Joker]: Can't. I'm stuck in the bear trap too, remember?

Triple laughing emoticons came in and almost immediately, the image of Luffy rolling on the floor laughing popped in his head. Even the childlike laughter seemed to be ringing melodiously in his ears. And before he added further reply, the blond closed the presentation slides in his laptop and ejected the pendrive containing his presentation materials before fiddling with his skull shaped cufflinks.

Now that he thought about it, he should have picked a more… well, appropriate cufflinks rather than something that made him appeared more like a S-Rated mafia king and less like a normal company head slash a father of a wet feline.

[Joker]: How's it going with homework?

As he waited for Luffy's answer—or complaint—, Doflamingo straightened his posture only to see the current guy was nearing the end of his presentation. It would be just about three, no, five minutes top before his turn arrived and—

His phone vibrated again. Odd… He would have thought that the teen would take his time in replying about his least favorite subject.

[Pillow Featherbed]: Bad! *whine* I've only written three paragraphs of my essay and I'm about to blow a fuse in my head.

[Joker]: What's the topic?

[Pillow Featherbed]: The causes and effects of Amber Lead Industry on Flevance Economy. What brought about the end of it?

Deep in his own thought, the blond stared at the lines of words luridly flashed in his phone screen. He then parted his lips slightly as though the need to speak with the boy existed, but then realized regarding their circumstances. So Doflamingo pursed his lips back together and began typing his reply, silently noting that the guy in front was in the middle of concluding his presentation.

[Joker]:Just keep on writing and try to finish it by today. I'll help check your essay later on.

Apparently, Luffy wasn't thrilled with the idea since the next text came in less than five seconds. How the teen was able to reply that fast was beyond him, really.

[Pillow Featherbed]: Doffy! No way I can finish the essay by today! Can't I just write half and continue the other half when you get back?

[Pillow Featherbed]: Please? You'll help me with my essay, right?

Doflamingo really had to admit. This boy knew his way around to get what he wanted. It's like he possessed a magical quality—or devilish charm perhaps—that could easily bend people to his will. He couldn't stop pondering over the amount of titanium will Mihawk and his two brothers possessed to be able to deny his wishes, be it sensible or not.

[Joker]: If the essay's not done by today, then we'll just have to cancel our plan since I need to 'help' you with your homework, yes?

Several of unhappy expression must be playing vigorously on the others' features at that moment—the one on the other line—, one after another. It must be. Instinct was telling him that. And so, before those not-so-happy expressions could be conveyed into words, or text in his case, Doflamingo quickly type in 'complimentary' text.

[Joker]: My turn's coming up. See you when I get back.

[Joker]: Don't forget your meds.

For some unholy reason, the blond felt proud of himself, being able to say 'No' the youngest child of the public prosecutor. Bullet dodged…

Then, as if on cue, the presentation ended, signaled by moderate clapping. And it was also served as a signal for the blonde to move his ass in a shake—or half shake even—and move on with today's meeting agenda. He had this inkling feeling that a pouty face and hopefully, a minor case of wrath would be waiting for him back in at the hotel but such worry was trivia at this very moment…

… Since Doflamingo still haven't figured out the perfect technique on how to get up from the damn chair without having to break it with a mallet.

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Luffy frowned, frowned and frowned some more as his chestnut brown eyes scanned the last sent text in rapid succession, left and right and back to left. A small pout followed right after—an apparent sign of displeased—when discovered that he had been denied in a subtle, indirect way. Only a few people out there had the ability to do so and it certainly puzzled the teen on where Doflamingo received the titanium will was beyond his imagination.

Even dad took almost twelve years until he was finally able to say 'no' to him…

His cheeks were swollen slightly as the teen puffed air of irritation while his fingers pulled and tugged on the loose thread of the carpet below him. Now that he was officially in an extreme predicament, Luffy couldn't do much besides resting his head on the coffee table he was sitting at. Less than five seconds after the teen pressed the side of his head against the surface, the coldness of the hardwood has seeped into the soft skin of his cheek in a punishing manner that made him shuddered. Still, the fifteen year old refused to yield to such coldness and stretch his arms further to the front and across the table. In dilemma, Luffy stayed in that position for at least two minutes before he sat abruptly and smacked both his cheeks with his palms a couple of time.

"Alright!" More smacking and Luffy finally opened his eyes, determination was blazing in those dark orbs. "Doffy's working hard, dad's working hard and even Ace's working hard, so I've got to work hard too!"

Once again, the scribbling, the crinkling of papers and the tapping against the table surface was heard throughout the suite along with a melodious humming of…

'Once our valleys were singing, with songs of our children singing…'

'But now sheep bleat till' the evening…'

'Hush, hush, time to be sleeping…'

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The second Doflamingo opened the door to the suite, he was welcomed by a sixteen pound and thirty-one inches in height stool hurled straight into his unprepared head. Accompanied it was a left shoe owned by a fifteen year old boy, hitting him straight in between his eyes.

That didn't happen, of course.

Indeed, Doflaamingo was half expected for such gore event to take place, or at least to have Luffy stormed and screamed obscenity at him… Instead, what he discovered later in the living room was beyond his imagination.

Right there, in the middle of the room and sitting Indian style on the carpeted floor by the coffee table was Luffy who didn't make any slightest move to acknowledge him. Eyes still fixated on his book, the teens' fingers moved fast across the paper, only pausing once in a while to munch on his chocolate covered peanuts. What stood out the most however, wasn't the fact that the fifteen year old boy was doing his homework, but the melody that passed through Luffy's murmuring lips. Nostalgia flew into him almost like a river although Dolamingo has yet to determine the reason behind such sentiment.

That song… The blond could almost recognize it—the melody, the lyrics—, hanging right in front of nose like he could grab them with his bare hands, but at the same time, it was too distant to give off this longing feeling.

"You're singing quite an interesting song." Doflamingo deep voice cut through the tranquility almost like a hot knife cutting butter.

Faster than any possible moment, Luffy snapped his head sideway—too fast indeed that Doflamingo could hear a 'crack'—, looked up with bulged eyeballs, scrambled backward for a good three meters and finally, screeched.

"D-doffy!" The teen stuttered as though there was a peanut butter stuck deep in his throat. Now that he realized that he has just been caught red-handedly by the blond man, the boy manner of speech only went from bad to worse.

"What are you doing here so early?! No, I wasn't doing anything weird or singing and—and—" Limbs were flailed up and down, left and right before Luffy reached for the throw pillow and pressed his face firmly into the soft material. The rest of his words came out in a muffled, incoherent mumbles as the teen crouched on the floor to hide from Doflamingo's amused gaze.

Of course Doflamingo did his very best to stifle his laughter for Luffy's sake. Only for ten seconds though, before the man released a long, hard cackle, enough to make him all tear up. For the first time in his life, all the muscles in his cheeks ached and he was out of breath due to continuous laughing. By the time the laughter ceased down to a tolerable degree where the blond could finally breathe without actually wheezing, the raven haired teen had half of his head pressed deep into the pillow.

"Calm down, boy." Hilarity has caused the man to shake his head and chuckle. "I just caught you singing. Not doing cocaine."

"Still!"

The blond grinned and stepped closer, despite the fact that Luffy could easily bite his legs off. Well, if he was in his feral state that is.

"What song is that?"

When his question was met with more muffled groans, Doflamingo took the initiative in tugging the throw pillow, but with less strength to steal it from the boy. The least he needed at that moment was a fifteen year old teen died in a dramatically way, smothered by a single plush pillow.

"Luffy?"

After a quick, gentle, tug of war, Luffy finally yield, most probably due to his lungs' need of fresh air. Bottom half of his face was still obscured by the pillow however when the raven haired teen took a tentative peek at the towering man above him with a larger than life pout hidden from the eyes of the world.

"It's not a song…" Came the small, barely there mumble in which Doflamingo had to utilize his hearing ability to the fullest extent to be able to catch it. Slowly, Luffy removed the pillow completely from his face only to have it hugged close to his chest and sighed.

"It's a lullaby." A short pause, accompanied by a frown with eyes fixated on the invisible spot on the floor. "Dad always sings it to me when I'm not feeling well."

"Are you now?"

A pained frown etched deeply on the teens' forehead that made Doflamingo's heart clenched. "A bit." Then came the mischievous grin and only then the blond knew the boy was only pulling his legs. "But I'll feel much better if I get to eat cotton candy and chili dogs."

Similar to this morning, Doflamingo let the remark hung in the air and bent down slightly to retrieve few papers from the coffee table. He lifted them up and scanned over the pages. The effort was there all right—the essay and some math calculation— no doubt about it, although the progress was below five percent as per agreement. Close, but not hitting the mark. And Luffy must have reckoned his barely there achievement just by looking at the man's disappointed features. By then, the boy felt the floor beneath him just crumbled and together with his spirit, they fell deep into the never ending abyss. Unnoticed to Luffy himself, coupled with the imaginary puppy ears clamped close to his skull was a disappointed whimpering noise.

That is, until a grin tugged both corners of Doflamingo's lips until they practically disappeared behind the tinted glasses.

"Well," Doflamingo returned the papers back onto the table and saw how the ears perked back up with vigor. He really needed to stop imagining the black fury ears nestled on top of the boy's head. "Progress is a progress, and promise is a promise."The blond added some more and patted Luffy's head slightly.

"So we are going?" From Luffy's point of view at the moment, Doflamingo was like the owner of a sweet shop who was about to give him free candy for the rest of his life. Just the thought of it made the teen bounced on the floor.

"Only if you want to."

"Woohhooo!" Luffy stood up and jumped, almost head butting the man in the chin if it wasn't for the fact that he was much, much, shorter than the man. Gummy bears and flowers, well, metaphorically speaking, were blooming all around the jubilant teen and the blond doubted any storms or even a straight jacket could bind the boy's spirit from escalating to a whole new level. Too much indeed that the raven haired boy began pushing the man's back just to get him moving.

"Hurry, Doffy! Change your clothes!" From gentle pushes was now escalating to relentless shoving, especially when the said man didn't budge an inch, only digging his feet firmer into the carpeted floor. "You can't go there with these three pieces!"

Four of perhaps five more attempt and only then Doflamingo began to walk towards the bedroom, not without leaning his weight slightly back so that Luffy would have no other option but to exert extra force just to make him budge. "There's no rush. It's still early." Unseen by the fifteen year old teen, the man smirked when he heard the one behind him began to huff in exertion.

"No!" Refusing to yield, Luffy changed his tactics by leaning his own weight against the adult using his elbows as leverage. It succeeded, even by the tiniest. "I want to be there early. And I can't be inside this cramped room anymore!"

"It's so boring staying here on my own." The teens' full lips formed a small pout as he trailed over. "I don't even have anyone to talk to…"

Doflamingo once more drilled his feet to the floor just to tease the boy a little bit further, but not long enough for any irritated noise to be brought up and be heard. "Fine, fine. I'll go change now." At last, the blond move his feet in sincerity, almost causing Luffy to topple forward and kiss the floor.

The teen huffed at the sudden mishap, dark eyes trailing over the man's silhouette until it disappeared behind the closed bedroom door. Now, free of Doflamingo coupled with a new level of excitement, Luffy hopped onto the couch, enjoying the feeling of his lithe frame bounced on the soft cushions. As he waited for the adult to get ready, the boy stretched his body across the couch, from end to end until his toes dug into the armrest. He kicked it repeatedly to express his excitement and fought the urge to call his brothers and gloat at them.

Now that he thought about it, they haven't been to night festival as this for a quite some time, at least as a family altogether. The last time was probably a year ago, just right before his father was appointed as the public prosecutor. He missed them—his brothers, his father and those times where Mihawk could still listen and submit to his every childish whim without actually putting a dent on his work schedule. Now however, was different. Deep inside, he was aware that his brothers and he were still a priority in his father's life, but he doubted he could still drag his father to the farthest ice cream shop in the town on almost every evening just so he could tell Mihawk the telltale of his day at school despite knowing his father's dislike towards sweet confectionaries.

He was indeed a patient man, Mihawk that is. And Luffy knew this since he was damn well aware that he wasn't exactly the most pliant person. His father would have ripped out every last strands of his hair long time ago if the man doesn't posses an emperor level of tolerance.

Luffy curled to his side, bit his lower lip and stared at the phone sitting idly on the coffee table. The initial urge to gloat at his brothers slowly and gradually frittered away and now replaced with the urge to call Mihawk instead.

"Ready to go, boy?"

That really startled the teen, but Luffy quickly collected his scattered mind, mended it and gave a sideway glance towards the towering man. Free from his formal attire, Doflamingo had opted dark maroon twill, military-style shirt for his casual wear which was on top of a simple white tank top, unbutton from top to bottom. The long sleeves were rolled up until his elbows, revealing the simple and classic dream catcher bracelet made with brass material clasped around his right wrist—probably the cheapest item Doflamingo possessed with him for the last twenty years.

When Luffy didn't respond to him immediately, the man's gaze shifted and lingered on the boy's phone. "Do you want to call your father first?"

Pursed lips. Contemplation frown. A short headshake. " Not really. Maybe later. Dad's in the middle of his conference. He couldn't pick up calls anyway. Still," Luffy sat down and hopped off the couch, hands in the air. "Fair!" Yelled the over joyous teen as he was ready to make a dash towards the door only to be stopped by Doflamingo's hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, ah, ah," Doflamingo grabbed Luffy's right hand and dropped something into his palm. In respond, the teen frowned as he stared down at the orange tinted canister. It was his regular pills.

"I've taken my pill." Luffy stated a-matter-of-factly.

Shrugging, the blond curled the fingers in his palm so they would get a good grip on the canister instead of dropping it. "I know. Bring them with you. Just in case." He then patted the teens' head gently before sauntering away towards the front door. "Come on."

Had Doflamingo lingered for another few seconds, the blond would have noticed the sad frown pulling Luffy's eyebrows together, as the teen fiddled the pendant of his necklace.

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By the time the elevator reached the ground floor, Luffy's mood has bounced back, off the chart even. The teen grinned, hopped and poked pretty much everything inside the metal box including his tinted shades. Lucky enough, the idea of poking some lady's breasts didn't come across the boy's mind, or else Doflamingo's would be having a very very time to provide some sort of explanation behind the boy's indecent act. And when the elevator door slid open, the man had to hold the boy by his arm because Luffy appeared to be ready to run his way out and deck everything within his path.

"Woaahh, there…" In his arm, the teen flailed a bit as the blond carefully maneuvered him to exit the elevator. "Try not to kill anyone before we get to your junk food."

Unperturbed with the way Doflamingo maneuvering him like a steering wheel, they left the hotel in quick step that made Luffy laughed. Only when they started to head towards the parking lot that the teen ceased his laughing and drilled his feet into the ground.

"Where are we going..?"

"To the car." Doflamingo simply responded, nudging the boy's shoulders gently as he tried to get the living bundle to move. Instead of having a compliant boy with the same purpose as him, the blond was met with resistant and… defiance?

Luffy frowned at the man as if he was just offered marijuana. "What? No! Why do we have to use car to get there?"

"Well—" The tycoon tried to reason the teen.

"We're only few blocks away. I don't want to be inside that monstrosity."

One golden eyebrow lifted. Monstrosity..? Did the boy just called his car a monstrosity?

"Luffy…" Doflamingo tried again.

"It's like walking to your neighbor's house. Would you drive to your neighbor's house?" The teen challenged him. Oh yess… Defiance was without doubt, Luffy's best nature.

"Uhh…" Yes, yes and definitely a big yes since the house was build inside a personal land which worth at least five football fields in area. "Not really I suppose."

Small, displeased pout pursed Luffy's lips together

In no need to prolong the argument, the adult gave up and put his hands up. "Fine, no car then."

In instant, the pout disappeared, replaced by a larger than life grin. Luffy didn't wait for Doflamingo and quickly hopped his way to the opposite direction—towards the avenue with the large man only falling five steps behind.

"Dear God… The day when I finally win against you is when I decided to throw all of my fortunes down the sea and become a reverend." The blond mumbled in a barely there whisper.

"Did you say something?" Sometime along the walk, Luffy had jumped back right next to Doflamingo in a blink of an eye.

Doflamingo was quick to mask it with a cough. "Nothing boy." And quickly changed the subject. "Nice necklace by the way."

"Hmm..?" As he walked next to the tall man, Luffy looked down, to where Doflamingo was nodding at. "Oh, this..?" He lifted the pendant of his necklace and fiddled with it in between his fingers while gracefully dodged the lamp post by simple side steps.

Luffy smiled brightly and simply continued,

"It's my treasure!"

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If defiance was Luffy's best nature, then easily distracted was next in line.

That is to say, the teen's mind was quick to be pulled away by the smallest occurrence. One minute he was walking next to Doflamingo, the next minute he was already running to the other side of the road to help some random old lady with her grocery bag. One minute he was telling the man about that time he almost drowned in the school's swimming pool, another minute he was already pinching some toddler's cheeks. In harmony of the child's giggling fit was Luffy's own trademark laughter. The parents didn't seem to mind the teens' sudden approach nor physical contact, but Doflamingo believed it had something to do with the boy's unique charm.

Or his sociability skill to be precise.

In any case, the thought of putting a harness on Luffy was indeed tempting, especially when Doflamingo felt the rate of air leaving his lungs was much higher than he could inhale in order to keep up with the boy's quick steps. He wasn't that old old, but he was definitely not that young where he could spend the entire night at the bar up until morning and still managed to attend morning classes without batting an eyelid. At some point, the idea of putting harness had came across his mind, if that what it takes to make the fifteen year old to stay in one place for let say, twenty seconds top.

Still, the image of a public prosecutor declaring war on him for treating his youngest child a bit less than a human dampened the idea.

Right now, Luffy was standing in front of a flower shop, acting a lot more like a five year old child inside a candy shop. Unless there were actual candies hidden in between the flower petals…

"Statice!" The teen grinned and pointed at the small, yellow, camellia-like flower before moving on to its neighbors—all neatly arranged inside large vases, obviously to attract the passerby. It worked well, clearly.

"Rununculus. Poinssetia. Lisianthus. Anemone. Lilac." Luffy continued. With each name, he would point at a specific flower and judging the confident smile the teen was wearing, Doflamingo was certain that Luffy knew his way around flowers. He didn't get to confirm it however, when the sales assistant beat him to it.

"You did well recognizing these flowers." She commented as set down the vase on the floor and shifted it here and there so it would be close to the displayed flowers, helped by Luffy not surprisingly. "Not many people can name more than two flowers. Most of them only know roses and tulips."

Luffy stood up and cleaned his hands by patting them on his pants. "My dad thought me a lot about flowers. We have this big flower garden in our yards and he planted five types of flowers there." The teen prodded the purple petal tulip softly, aware that Doflamingo was only three feet away behind him.

Petite with cotton candy pink, waist length wavy hair, the sales assistant re-tied her apron that had came a bit loose during her lifting activities. "Five? That's plenty."

"Uhuh." The fifteen year old confirm her. "To represent all of us." Luffy looked up at Doflamingo, sensing that the adult too, had a question mark hanging above his head.

Taking a step to the right, Luffy stood in front of flowers, shaped like bird's beak and plumage. One fleeting look, anyone could have mistaken the bright colored flower as bird in flight. "Mine's Bird of Paradise. Dad's say the flower represent joyfulness and paradise."

Then, from where he stood, the raven haired teen pointed at pink large flowers with artichoke-like appearance. "That's my first big brother, Ace. Protea means diversity and courage, because his personalities changes from when we were kids." A small laughter was bubbling all the way up from his chest, and Doflamingo too, smiled at Luffy's reason. "He used to be grumpy back then. But now, he laughs a lot."

"Sabo?" Now standing next to him, the man asked Luffy.

Dark eyes roamed along the rows of flower for few seconds, before settling on one. "That one." Luffy nodded at the shrubs looking plant residing inside few individual pots, each with different color and each with small, scale-like foliage. Grown from them were racemes of tiny bell-shaped flowers—some with single and some with double. Apparently, the one Luffy was pointing at was dashing in purple.

"Admiration and good luck." So the teen said. "Dad also said that they have protective power. I think that's why Sabo always look after us even though Ace is older than him."

Before the tycoon could make any comment, Luffy cut through him. "Want to know what dad's is?" His grin was anything but innocent, if the mischievous glint in his eyes was an indication. And when he was answered with a curious, multiple raised eyebrows, Luffy nodded at the clusters of red daisy-like flowers.

"It's Aster. During ancient times, people believed it has enchanted power that could drive away evil serpent." The baffling expression playing across his features clearly meant that Luffy was amused with the idea himself. "But today they're known as a talisman and a symbol of patience."

"Very fitting." A small snort vibrated deep in his throat as Doflamingo shoved his hand into his pocket—the comment even made the shop assistant chuckled. "I can only imagine he has to plant them across three acres land to give him just enough amount of patience in nurturing you."

Frowning, Luffy scrunched his nose in defiant. "We weren't that difficult."

"Ooh, not in plural, Luffy. I was only referring to one person. Really," The blond looked at the girl before nodding the kneeling teen. "You should see him when he's at his most vulnerable. It's like throwing a hamster into a cage filled with wild cats, only twice the worse."

From his position, Luffy tried to claw the man in the leg, but Doflamingo was a fraction faster to dodge the incoming feral attack by leaping sideway while the sales assistant held her laughter behind the miniature vase.

Luffy suddenly went eerie silent. When the blonds' eyes found him, the boy was seen kneeling down with palms cradled a single flower with such gentleness—pink, delicate, in which appeared almost like a small ruffled ball. Somehow, the ruffled appearance reminded Doflamingo of cheerleader's pompoms

"Love, fascination and distinction." The teen murmured. Just like this morning, his eyes glistened like morning dew as took a quick sniff on the sweetly fragrance flower confined softly within his palms. "Pink carnation—"

"—mother's undying love. It's pretty famous during Mother's Day." The girl's continued. She appeared stiffened at the first few seconds seemingly anxious if she had just touched raw nerves. But the tension was later removed when Luffy offered her a smile, just a small curve by the end of his lips.

"Doffy, how's your wife?"

Off guard, Doflamingo could only blink thrice, not expecting such question to be shot straight at him. Had he known that the subject of his wife could come up within his stay in Primula, he would have worn his usual double bulletproof vest if that what it takes to dodge sharp questions.

"She's…" The blond trailed his word. Most people whom had known him for more than thirty minutes would simply describe him as an eloquent speaker. But somehow, at that moment, Doflamingo felt like a fur ball—a very huge fur ball—has been shoved deep into his throat, decreasing his capability to speak by ninety-percent. Just why-oh-why did the kid chose to ask a very right question, yet at a very wrong place and a very wrong time.

"She's fine. Alive and well if that what you're asking." He rubbed the back of his neck lightly, eyes trained on the invisible spot on the concrete walkway.

But Luffy didn't make any respond indicating that he was satisfied with the answer, much to his horror. Of course. Then again, satisfaction wasn't really the boy's nature. Worse, the silence offered—really, that kind of silence was really uninvited—by the fifteen year old made it looked like he was expecting something more… as if waiting for Doflamingo to express more about his family, or about his wife in a worse case scenario.

Their eyes met after a moment of dilemma. And when they did, Doflamingo almost flinched because pure curiosity was reflected in those sparkling brown orbs.

"My wife's a very complex person, Luffy." The man finally began, feeling the tight closure in his throat slowly—to slow for his liking however—loosened up.

"Do you fight often?"

Again, with the razor-sharp question that made Doflamingo's head spun lightly. He wanted nothing but to dodge and move on to the next topic, oh dear God, how much he wished that, but Luffy's gaze pinned him in place. No, make it two gazes since the sales assistant too was staring at him with expectation. Really, if shameless and oblivious could be considered as a formula, then the girl was definitely one fucked up product in the flesh.

"We don't see eye to eye on lot of things." Defeated, the blond leaned his side against the only empty spot next to the window sill and stared down at the young boy as he crossed his arms over his chests. "Not enough to the point of divorce or war… but still,"

As he trailed his last word, a certain black haired, blue eyes beauty popped inside his consciousness, almost like daisies in spring season. One glance, she could be easily been seen as a princess of large, bucket-of-wealth country—a spoiled, selfish, pampered woman who wishes nothing but to place everyone beneath her heals. Seldom has she done benevolence duty and more than often she does things without much thought, merely out of whims.

Then again, after surviving—with hope he would continue to survive—the calamity referred as marriage more than two decades old, Doflamingo by some means managed to pick up verities of her, well, other personality. For one, she could be quite sensitive to critique and as well as pinprick comments in which she retaliates with only three—a hard punch to the face and additional few slaps for him only, a week worth of glares or the conventional waterworks.

None of them works well on the blonde or anyone on that matter.

Next in line was her compassion towards certain bunch of people. The amount was definitely something worth to be sniffled over as it was smaller than any life, but to those in list, she would take the greatest care as though her own life was in line. Her sisters were good examples and of course, their son. At least, Doflamingo could commend her on that. Sure, his son was raised and later turned out to be a little bit less than normal person with feline tendencies, but by any means, she was anything but a bad mother.

Though it was quite worrying when people around him noting on how his son took a lot from his wife. But Doflamingo had to digress. His only son was exactly an embodiment of her, minus large breasts and narrow long hair.

It was disturbing if anything.

"…both of us are like Alpha-male." Doflamingo finally picked his sense back after a long hiatus after massaging the side of his head with his fingers. Unless he had done something dire in his past life like distributing biological weapons to warring countries, the blonde was certain he didn't deserve this. "So we—"

"What's Alpha-male?" Confusion scrunched his nose a bit as Luffy captured a single water droplet sliding off the flower petal with the tip of his finger. He then rubbed it in between his fingers to moisten them.

Doflamingo bit the inside of his cheek, seemingly trying to shuffle through his vocabularies without actually sounding like a total scumbag. "It means that, Luffy…" Hard and bitter, the blond swallowed whatever lump in his throat. "We fight for control all the time. Worse, none of us want to be on the losing end. With the right prodding, it can be quite a minefield in our house."

By then, the fifteen year old was no longer had his eyes near the man. Rather than pinning Doflamingo in place and making the adult feels like an award-winning scumbag, Luffy was looking somewhere else—his gaze was distant, the adult understood. Instead of listening to at least one disapproving view, the blonds' revelation was met with silence as the raven haired teen stared at the clusters of lush, rounded bloom flowers which varies in colors. His gaze however, was focused more on the creamy white ones with double showy petals before picking up one of the sweet fragrant flower. After twirling the flower in his fingers a couple of time, Luffy then reached into his back pocket only to produce single notes before handing it to the sales assistant. Appeared confused at first, the pinkette eventually took it from the teen in understanding of Luffy wanting to buy the flower.

Few more twirling and Luffy murmured, "Never look away from those who are important to you, since you'll never know when you're going to loose them."

Soft, almost scolding expression reached the man. It was no easy to tell since the boy was facing the other way, but they were still perceptible alright. And like a sharp knife, Doflamingo felt how Luffy's words just now affected him greatly. But before it could reach the tender part of his soul, the teen suddenly spun on his heels to the side and grinned with the flower shoved into his face. The blond had to step back by few inches when the petals began to tickle his nose.

"Here, for you."

Something that he ate this morning must have killed a large portion of his brain cells since Doflamingo wordlessly accepted the flower. It wasn't until Luffy all of sudden, laughed and ran along the sidewalk that the blond finally snapped from his reverie. As a matter of fact, this was the second time he received such treatment in one day.

Really, like father like son.

The blond stared at the lush flower in his hand, deep in his thought. "What flower is this again..?" He pointed out, mainly towards the flower girl. Of course he shouldn't have referred the pinkette as such, but at very least, it was much better than cotton-candy girl.

"Peony."

A quick silence. "Tell me it doesn't represent scumbag… does it?" Doflamingo trailed over, watching as the pinkette picked few different flowers—five each type—, probably for flower arrangement.

"Nope." Accompanied the short delicate headshake was a small smile which didn't exactly reach his eyes. For some unholy reason, the blond dislikes the mild mischievous glint reflected in her eyes when she began walking back into the shop.

Before she completely entered her flower den, the pinkette turned to Doflamingo and said,

"It symbolizes good fortunes and happy marriage."

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The fair in the park—or carnival as expressed by Luffy—was everything a jubilant fifteen year old could imagine. Whilst the smell of fries, hot dogs, candy floss and smoke invoked sweet memories, the temperate breeze drifted the mid summer scents felt like silk against his cheek, making his heart skipped a bit with every slap of the wind. In the thick, sultry air of summer night, Luffy still could see, still could smell, still could identify the varied goods displayed by each and every vendor.

Earlier on, Doflamingo had predicted their arrival would be too early for anything to start, but clearly the minor distraction along the journey had them delayed by almost hundred percent than the expected time.

Although it's only the second day of Primula's fiftieth birthday celebration, approximately sixty percent of the city largest park was already occupied with stalls and vendors, and not to mention, people. In fact, there were events held today elsewhere in correlation with the celebration—the city hall, the art plaza as well as the sport complex parking area. Since Luffy had the week all to himself with the lack of his father's direct supervision, Doflamingo doubted the boy would stay still in the hotel and play whack-the-mole game in his cellphone. The meeting was the only thing that was in between Luffy and dragging the blonde all over the city to visit the events and activities rolling on.

God bless Primula for that. After knowing the teen in less than a day, Doflamingo highly doubted the slight complication with his health would dampen his adventurous nature.

"Doffy, hurry!" Without giving the adult even a minute for every charm to sink in, the teen grabbed his wrist and began pulling him towards the first raw of vendors that had caught his eyes.

It wasn't long—merely few minutes—before Doflamingo stood in front of the first vendor with Luffy still clinging on his arm. He barely noticed the puffs of air leaving the adult's lips and heaving chests when he had his eyes fixated on the freshly air popped popcorn that spilled like blossomed flowers over the decorated paper cups. While still catching his breath after being dragged by the teen, the blond noticed Luffy pointing at the caramel popcorn and looked up at him with anticipated grin as the vendor-man began filling the sweet, savory treats into the cup.

Doflamingo raised an eyebrow, which lasted only for a seconds before small chuckles vibrated deep in his chests while he gingerly took out his wallet to pay for the popcorn.

Does Mihawk even aware that his youngest child has the very potential in becoming a world class gold digger..?

Audacious aside, Luffy appeared to be enjoying the treatment he received as the blond funded for his nutrition-free, greasy and fatty foods, one after another. After filling his belly with two funnel cakes, pink colored cotton candy, freshly squeezed lemonade, hot beef sundae and chocolate covered bacons, Doflamingo have imagine the teen would have turned into a human balloon by now or took a breather at very least. To his horror, the boy only answered his imagination by stuffing his face with more deep fried butter balls, unhealthy enough to bring any doctors to tears.

Hopefully, his son wouldn't be one of them.

The food fiesta—at least, in Luffy's part—only stopped momentarily when a vendor selling handmade jewelries stole Doflamingo's attention. From tribal feather earrings, enamel bracelets, malachite rock necklace, rings and much more. One that caught his eyes was a pair of dangle earrings, made with a pair of frosted amber glass teardrops with an iridescent finish and later wrapped by hand in bronze wire.

With a newfound curiosity, the blonde stepped closer to the many displayed jewelries and held the earrings in between his fingers, carefully studying them under the poor illumination which seemingly designed to dangle from a matching bronze ball post earrings. Next to the pair was another earrings—same architecture, but only with sapphire blue sea glass as the pendant. Both of them were quite nice. But after weighing his options, Doflamingo decided on the first earrings as he reasoned that the color of choice would do marvelous for those with blue eyes. Funny thing, really, for neutral, earthy colors to be able to highlight the flecks of color in blue eyes and made them truly shine.

"I'll take this one." Satisfied with his reasoning, Doflamingo took out his wallet after nodding at the earrings. Cheap, night market thing certainly doesn't suit her elegance taste, but the blond did notice that she enjoyed simple, out of character charms on more than one occasion.

As the salesman wrapped the jewelry with colored paper, the tycoon took a quick sideway glance towards the bouncy teen just to make sure Luffy was right where he had last left him—a vendor that sold spaghetti and meatballs on a stick—and shook his head slightly. If the boy's disease doesn't kill him, then these foods definitely would.

Doflamingo was about to hand the money to the salesman when Luffy suddenly popped right next to him like a flower bud, startling the blonde to the point he almost dropped the money.

"What are you buying?" Without the slightest realization that he had just made Doflamingo jumped out of his skin, Luffy eyed the wrapped package handed to the man with ten thousand volt interest.

"Nothing." The blonde cleared the throat and convinced himself that he didn't sound like a man doing cocaine business just now.

"Who is it for?" Not faltered by Doflamingo's dismissive gesture, the teen reached for the small package but the other quickly use his height as an advantage and held it higher and far from Luffy's reach.

"No one." Doflamingo only grinned when the boys' multiple attempts failed and waved airily at the salesman who had his hand stuffed deep in his pouch money to get his change. Few coins would only add unwanted burden to his pants anyway…

"Seriously, what did you get, Doffy?" Luffy's voice was close to that of a whine by the time they moved away from the vendor and headed to the vendor selling sweet confectionaries, hands pulling at the blonds' arm rather persistently, in which Doflamingo only responded by pulling the teen closer to him so he wouldn't bump into people.

Now that the package was safe in his pocket, the blond had no worry over Luffy's curious eyes. "Just something."

"For whom?"

"Someone." The man barely satisfied the boy's curiosity and pointed at one of many displayed flavored marshmallows.

Luffy scrunched his nose in dissatisfaction, but quickly shrugged it off once he saw the sweet treat packed into a paper bag. "Caramel marshmallow! You're getting that?" The teen nodded at the bundled up, pillow soft marshmallows, wrapped in nice, thick caramel.

"Hmm—mmhh." The only hummed in respond and was about to reach for his wallet again when Luffy quickly jumped into action.

"I got this!" He chirped and quickly took out his own wallet, not before pointing at his marshmallow of choice. "And I'll have the toasted one, mister!"

"Oooh? How thoughtful. And here I thought you really are a homeless kid from another dimension." Note of amusement was laced in his voice as the blond watched Luffy thumbed through the notes of money in his wallet.

Giving the adult a sideway glance, the raven haired teen frowned. "I'm not that broke, you know. I just—"

"—want to be spoiled rotten. Yes, yes I've noticed that part long time ago." Doflamingo nodded intelligently and snorted when the teen next to him huffed, but otherwise, not in denial.

Two bags of springy, fluffy marshmallows were then handed to Luffy's awaiting hands. He peaked, sniffed and closed his eyes, allowing the sweet scent overtook his senses of his surrounding and let it lingered at the small part of his brain for few more seconds.

"Besides…" Luffy handed one of the bags to Doflamingo as the ventured further into the belly of the carnival, careful not to bump into the small children holding multicolor balloons. "This is the first thing you buy for yourself. And I still haven't thank you for bringing me here. So thanks, Doffy!"

Doflamingo blinked. For some unknown reason, he felt lost within the jollity radiated from the teen as though he was embraced by the warmth of colorful rainbow during summer sunset. Luffy's smile seemed to soothe his weary self almost similar to a mother comforting her child, more so when the teen suddenly released bubbly laughter as he hopped his way ahead and beaconing the blond to follow suit.

So the man smiled back and practically breathed in the moment—the refreshing and energy-jolting smell of cappuccino slushy, the merry laughter of small children mingling with the yells of the traders, ice cream machine and echoes of carnival rides. On the inside, Doflamingo could sense every fiber in his body was brimming with Luffy's life energy.

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Except that, the night didn't exactly go as smoothly and full of nice memories like Doflamingo had hoped for. Sure there was no massive earthquake or miniature tornado going around the fair or a group of children singing holy choir in the middle of the fair. No, something worse—shit happened.

…Luffy was nowhere to be seen.

And the exact second he realized that the fifteen year old was out of his line of sight, his heart palpated. Everything happened too fast. One second he was looking at the multicolor balloons twinning against each other in the air, the next second Luffy was already gone, not right next to him where he was supposed to be. If one missing teenager was bad, then one, missing, sick teenager was more than enough to make someone goes hysterical. Anything could have happen to the boy as he spoke. Luffy could have collapsed somewhere in the midst of the growing crowd, lying in his own pool of blood. Worse, the teen could be taken by someone — typical scumbags who bores ill intention towards Luffy's father, the State's Attorney.

"Shit, shit shit." As he mumbled vehemently under his breath, Doflamingo tried to make out the familiar silhouette amid the growing crowd, where the chances were next to zero, despite having the advantage of his massive height. Since an office hour mostly has ended for a couple hours, it was understandable where the pack of crowds came from. Not to mention most of them were visitors from outside the city that came just to experience a week worth of the city's celebration. It was truly frustrating when he still couldn't locate the teen after ten minutes of frantic search and the fact that he was still clueless of the scale of the disaster he had left Luffy opened to only illuminate his fear to a whole new level.

Fool. He was such a foolish person. Surely more than handful scumbags out there weren't happy with Mihawk—any lawmakers as matter of fact—, surely they have came to a desperate point in doing anything to get to the prosecutor, surely they have done research on the man's background, including his family and surely someone out there was able to recognize Luffy being his youngest child. And here he was, leaving Luffy with his own devices, exposed, unprotected…

Doflamingo shook his head. If he has time to be wondering which and what might happened, then he might as well do something productive like screaming Luffy's name on top of his lungs in hope that the captors dropped the teen out of surprised.

… Or he could just retrace his steps back.

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Everything was spinning, blurred, loud and out of focus. The blinding multicolor lights coming from vendors hit his eyes like laser beams and made him squint and groaned in agony. The shinny cups, the cotton candy, the people, the balloons—everything zigzagged and swayed across his vision and nothing appeared to be able to ease the painful thumping in his head even after he rubbed his forehead in smooth circular motions. He still could hear them clearly, could feel them clearly, from one side to another side and the ache was excruciating.

Luffy repeated the actions over and over—the deep shuddering breaths, the massages to his temple—while warding off the nauseous feeling in his stomach. On his shaky legs, the fifteen year old convinced himself it was probably because of the milk shake he just had, not the salty, iron-like taste at the back of his tongue. He was bumping against people's shoulders, stepped on probably a dozen feet and almost tripped himself more than a couple of times as the raven haired teen forced his trembling legs to move so he could find some sort of purchase for him to lean and take a breather. By now, he knew he was standing in the middle of way, separated from Doflamingo and lost—those facts he has long established.

More than anything, he just wanted to sit down and the music and the noise to just disappear.

But before he could reach his destination, white spots began to fill wavering vision, one after another, in rapid succession. He couldn't breathe without actually wheezing and in between the white and black spots, Luffy felt his body slumped forward with no energy left to prevent him from hitting the ground.

Five seconds…

Four seconds…

Three seconds…

Two seconds…

One seconds—

"Hey, watch where you're going."

Just like that, the countdown to the ground was halted, especially when his body was suspended midway from kissing the dirt. Something or rather someone must be holding on him. That surely was the case since there was a firm, yet gentle pressure in his forearm and shoulder that kept him upright. Somebody was speaking to him, the voice was close to his face, but at his current predicament, it was hard for Luffy to decide which is what and he ended up staring blankly at his captor slash savior. One thing he noticed was the little black and white spots was slowly dissipating, replaced by vibrant yellow.

"Doffy..?" Luffy's voice barely above whisper.

No, this person definitely wasn't Doflamingo, that much he could tell despite the lack of information of his features due to his blurred vision. Rather than pale, platinum blonde, this guy's—his hair was relatively long, but the was pretty certain he was a guy— blonde lock was like a mix of butter, gold and honey. Sure his eyes were out of focus at the moment, but Luffy was no color blind.

Apparently, the stranger failed to notice the slightly dilated eyes and went on with his rant, especially when the teen showed no remorse for bumping into him and spilling his soda all over his shirt. "Honestly, are your eyeballs made out of glass or—shit, you're bleeding!"

Confused, Luffy frowned. His consciousness was more and less began gathering in one tight spot rather than scattering all over the place and he was at least able to take in the man's words by forty percent if not hundred. Slowly, he reached up and use his knuckle to swipe the wetness under his nose that he has been feeling for a quite some time. When he looked down, red—blood red covered small part of his hand and immediately Luffy understood the reason behind the salty tang in his mouth. The fifteen year old opened his mouth a bit, probably to tell him that he needed to find Doflamingo. To his frustration however, his pounding head only made his speech capability trimmed down to a degree where he was slurring without any solid syllable passed through his lips.

That, or the fact that he was literally dragged across the people pathway by the stranger and towards the nearest bench. Fuck, was the bench this close all this time..? It was only five hops away.

Luffy sighed the second he was seated, the other blond next to him. He was still having a hard time breathing, but at very least, the series of thumping in his head was gradually lessen down to a tolerable degree. There were there alright, but getting fainter and fainter with every passing second.

Still fighting for air, Luffy was about to tilt his head back slightly in hope to clear his airway when the man next to him—whom he almost forgot—suddenly placed his palm on the back of his head and pushed it forward.

"Idiot! Don't lean back! The blood's going to get into your mouth if you do that!" The blond huffed when he was met with the slightest resistance.

"But—"

The other was having none of that as he kept his firm hold on Luffy's head while rummaging through his pants pocket. "Wait up… I think I have handkerchief around—"

"Cavendish!"

It must has been the guy's name since he responded to the call by looking up and to his right where the voice came from, only for a brief moment before he finally took out his handkerchief and placed it underneath the teens' nose to capture all those dripping bloods, almost dismissing the other person. "Here. Hold this. Pinch your nose a bit."

Luffy replaced the hand on his face with his, holding on the handkerchief close to his nose, not enough to smoother him and willed himself to do as he was told.. 'Cabbage… What an odd name.'

Once she arrived at the bench they were sitting on—Luffy assumed she was a girl judging by the effeminate voice—the girl gave a slight kick to Cavendish's legs.

"Why did you leave me there?!" Irritation was clear in her voice as he gave another kick to the other male. "You didn't even answer my—Cavendish! What have you done to him?!"

At when he considered as accusation, the blonde frowned at the girl. "Stupid cousin. What do you always assume that I've done something? This kid would be lying in his own pool of blood if I wasn't there to help him."

"Because Cavendish is Cavendish, the prideful, obnoxious prince that wouldn't do something without credit." She bent down slightly to have a clear look of the ill boy, tucking her long pinkish hair behind her ears.

Somehow, the guy named Cavendish wasn't all that disturbed with his cousin's remark, Luffy noted that. Up close with less blurry eyesight, the teen could finally make out bits and pieces of his features. Blue eyes with slightly wavy hair reaching his shoulder, the blond appeared slightly older than him. Five years top, most probably about Ace's and Sabo's age. At first look, the frown marring his face suggested annoyance, but at second look, he somewhat appeared… concerned?

"Well thank you, Rebecca." He flipped his hair back rather dramatically and smiled. "I am indeed most suited to be called prince—"

"Flower boy!" All of sudden, the girl named Rebecca cried, shrieked almost when Luffy's slightly startled face entered her vision.

Cavendish looked back and forth in between the teen and his cousin, readjusting the handkerchief in Luffy's hand from slipping down further. The girl's shout just now must have been the cause.

"Do you know him?"

"Sort of." She tried to remove the handkerchief from Luffy's face when Cavendish's smacked her hand lightly and nodded at the red spots littering across the fabric. The sight of blood only made her anxious even more. "Do you remember me? It's Rebecca. You came to the flower shop this afternoon."

When Rebecca was met with another confused look, the girl added. "Errmm… I think your name… Lucy was it? You're here with that tall guy, right?"

'It's Luffy, actually…' But his mouth and brain connectivity must have been very bad since the boy couldn't get the words out.

Rolling his eyes, Cavendish removed Luffy's hand a bit and satisfied when there were no longer streams of blood coming out from the boy's nose. The pinching motion must have sent pressure to the bleeding point and reduce the blood flow. He even shooed Rebecca from crowding the teen to give him more space to breathe. "Of course his name isn't Lucy. How ridiculous is that?"

The blond ignored the glare sent to him as the girl settled next to him and continued. "What's your name, kid? Are you sick? Do you need to go to the hospital? Anyone that you can call right now? Where's this guy you're with—"

"Don't ask him too many question at once, Cavendish! You'll give him headache!"

Indeed, the teen was suddenly attacked by the sharp, dull pain at one particular spot in his head. It didn't last long, only for few seconds, but the impact has left Luffy hissing in discomfort.

"Alright, calm down! I get it!" The blonde tried to push his cousin from smothering his back using his elbow only to have her leaned further against his backside just so she could speak further with Luffy. "Rebecca, you're suffocating me. Unless these two mounds of fat," Cavendish narrowed his eyes at the pinkette's developed bosoms resting against his shoulder. "Can dispense pills or antibiotics, then kindly remove them from my back."

Rebecca responded by smacking the back of the blondes' head.

Cavendish hissed at the retaliation. "Watch my hair you—"

"Luffy!"

Both Rebecca and her cousin exchanged looks, putting aside their daily basis bickering before slowly looking over into the crowd. There, from the midst of people, jogging into their direction—more like sprinting, really—was a huge blond whom Rebecca deeply recognized. He was fairly easy to be remembered considering his non-average height.

As soon as he was within the teens' breathing space, the blonde kneeled down and placed his palms on both sides of the boy's cheeks to cradle his heads. The fact that he was still panting for air from the fifteen minutes worth of running didn't stop him from bringing Luffy close to him.

"God, you scared me, boy." Shutting both his eyes, Doflamingo too few deep breaths to satisfy his lungs need for air, ignoring the thin line of sweat trickling down from his hairline down to the side of his face. "You really have no idea the kind of gore scenarios playing in my head when I've lost sight of you."

Knowing Luffy, the man have half expected for some sort of light hearted retorts—a big grin, childish laughter, small pout even—but when Doflamingo received none such responds from the teen, he just knew something was amiss. He snapped his eyes open in such urgency only to have them narrowed back when he saw the bloody handkerchief pressed loosely against his nose. Small part on the front of his t-shirt was also soaked with blood. What caught his eyes the most however was the slightly dilated and wavering pupils and how distant the boy's gaze at the moment. Nothing seemed to be reflected back. Even the previous healthy glow was flushed out Luffy's face, leaving him this sickly, pale complexion. It could be from the poor illumination, but even Doflamingo doubted that was the case.

As if compelled to, the adult grabbed Luffy's pliant hand and removed the handkerchief to confirm the severity of the nosebleed. "What happened…?" Doflamingo murmured, slightly disturbed with the teens' lack of response. "Let me see."

His hand felt cold in Doflamingo's larger one and slightly shaken when the blond accessed the nosebleed. Though free from fresh, running blood, it still alarmed the man how heavily fatigued Luffy was at that time enough to be a lot less comprehendible on his surrounding. It wasn't until the blond squeezed the teens' hand that Luffy finally snapped from his stupor and reacted to his presence.

"Doffy! You're still here!" With voice slightly muffled by the handkerchief, Luffy's eyes widened in realization as though the blond had just magically appeared before him. "I thought you've decided to become a king in some weird island." He tried to casual it up only to have the creases in Doflamingo's forehead deepened.

"It's just a nosebleed." Defeated, the teen leaned against the tree behind him and sniffed as he folded the ruined handkerchief in his hand. He didn't like the way Doflamingo was staring at him, nor the blond youth or even the pink haired girl. It upset him more than anything. Like he was a terminally ill patient. Like he was going to die.

"Massive nosebleed." Doflamingo repeated Mihawk's words and stood up, hand reaching into his pocket. "I'm going to call your father—"

Thin, streams of fear otherwise known as anxiety, suddenly seeped through his nervous system which rendered him to grab the blonde in the arm, just in time to stop Doflamingo from reaching his phone.

"Doffy, don't, don't…" His grip was lax despite Luffy's determination to stop the man. "… just don't." The teen then released his grip and shook his head weakly. "He can't know about this."

Luffy lifted his head with a glazed look. "It's just a nosebleed, Doffy." Repeating his statement, Luffy scrunched his eyebrows when a particular sharp sensation stung the left side of his head. "My pills…"

"What about your pills?" Alarmed at the sudden change of expression, the blond leaned down since the teens' voice was barely above whisper. "I thought you've taken them?"

Soft sighs and weak nods reached him as Luffy once again struggled for air. Even breathing was more like an act of challenge despite the pink haired girl has been fanning him rather erratically with a flyer in attempt to ease the boy's physical tremor. Still, the nice gesture comforted him in some way.

"I did." After one large inhalation, the fifteen year old finally answered. "But I have to take double the dose whenever I do extra works."

"Right..." Doflamingo raised one eyebrow and took a sit next to his left, arms propped against his knees. "And you just happened to forget that running all the way from the hotel to this place, hopping from one stall to another and eating twenty nutrition-free junk foods are perfect examples of vigorous activities?"

His body shook slightly when Luffy gave a sheepish laugh and reached into his pants pocket for his medication. "Sort of."

"I'll go get water!" Upon seeing the pills, Rebecca jumped to her feet and ran towards the nearest stall selling drinks.

"Get some ice too!" Doflamingo shouted, uncertain whether the girl had heard him.

The pills rattled and shook in the confinement of the canister when Luffy tried to twist the cap open but to no avail. Then came second, third and fourth and yet, the cap refused to budge. Now this is plain frustrating. His next, hopefully last attempt was aided when another hands was placed on top of his.

"Calm down." Cavendish spoke next to him, the extra pressure from his hands made it easier for him to get a good grip on the canister. The teen barely realized that he was spitting curses at the small inanimate object. "Breathe. Slowly. Don't think about anything. "

Breathe was what he did, and only then Luffy was able to pop the canister open with much help from the blonde youth. He spilled two of them on his opened palm just in time Cavendish removed his hands, just in time Rebecca returned with freshly squeezed blackberry lemonade and a small bag of ice.

"Sorry I couldn't find mineral water." She was panting a bit as she watched Luffy popped the pills into his mouth and washed them down with the juice.

Sighing in relieve, the teen shook his head and took another swig of his drink. "'s okay. It's better to have juice and sugar when I'm feeling light headed."

True to his words, it wasn't long before the color returned to his skin, especially his face, from ghostly white to healthy one—slightly flushed with blood filled with oxygen, slightly rosier even. Healthy complexion one might refer as. All the while, the fifteen year old closed his eyes, allowing the medication to work its magic. In between sipping his juice and pressing the unconventional ice pack against his forehead, Luffy tried to free his mind off any element of apprehension. He noticed this, whenever he let that emotion runs wild, his common sense and composure get compromised to a point where everything seemed wrong in his perception.

What ensued this morning was a very good example—when he distinguished Doflamingo as danger. Well, it was still somewhat his fault for barging into someone's room just like that without prior notice, but still…

"Dad can't know about this, Doffy." The blond heard the boy mumbled before his eyes flutter opened, searching for his own. Once he did, Luffy pinned him in place and he tried to ignore the way Doflamingo hardened his gaze. "You can't tell him."

"Luffy—"

"He'll get worried over nothing again." Another firm press against his forehead and Luffy heaved a sigh at the coolness the ice pack provided. "There're too many issues on his plate. The endless cases, the stupid conference, my brothers… My illness itself has cost too much already. Something as stupid as nosebleed doesn't worth his worry."

"This is not nothing, boy." Something wasn't right with how Luffy's tongue rolling the words around. "And trust me. Everything about you worth his worry. You're his kid."

Something in his remark just now must have touched the teens' raw nerves when Luffy clenched his fist and scrunched his brows. Like he was frustrated over something or the fact that the man wasn't able to comprehend what bothered him the most. Or at the fact that he was unable to express what exactly in his mind when in the presence of other people.

Really, even the teen himself didn't feel right—the way he furrowed his brows, the way he heaved his breaths, the way he clenched and unclenched his fist or the way he structured his sentences. Sure he only knew the boy less than a day, but Doflamingo wasn't born last night to not notice the difference between the person before him and the one he spent time with this morning. The side effect of the medication could be the trigger, but even the blonde himself was in doubt.

"You wouldn't understand." His voice sounded distance although he was sitting right next to the adult. "You will not tell him, nor my brothers." Shifting his lithe body, Luffy removed the ice from his head. "I need your words, Doffy."

Doflamingo appeared hesitant. "They have the right to know."

"Doffy. Please." By now, Luffy has abandoned the wish for the blond to grasp the situation—his situation. All he needed now was for Doflamingo to go along with his whim, whether he liked it or not. Heck, he was ready to wag his tail and all when the blonde gave a long defeated sigh.

"Gods, I've always thought my kid is the most complicated creature ever existed. Why does children these days have to be a three dimensional living thing instead of one..?" The man rubbed his face a couple of time before pinching the bridge of his nose.

Next to him, Luffy sniffed and bit his lower lip. He jolted when the adult suddenly stood up and grabbed him by the arm, in a gentle way by any means, prompting the teen to move along.

"Come one, let's get you back—"

Somewhat alarmed, Luffy gave a weak squirm.

"Luffy." The boy in his arm ceased his squirming activity, probably due to the sudden hard grip on his limb, in which Doflamingo regretted almost immediately when he felt Luffy flinched. Someone's health was compromised at the moment, so teens' non-compliance attitude wasn't any help regrettably.

Deep breath, the blond softened his hold, put his palm on the back of the teens' head and leaned down so he was in Luffy's line of sight. "I won't tell your father about this. But in return, we'll head back to the hotel so you can get some rest, alright? There's nothing much we can do when you're bleeding all over."

As soon as the words passed his lips, the man could hear his inner critic squawked in his ears, especially when the teens' slightly gloomy face came in view. He was an adult for fuck sake, and yet, here he was, handling the situation like a teenage high schooler. Apprehension apparently, had drained all of his thoughts, only leaving him with the image of getting Luffy to safety.

"We have until weekend, boy." Doflamingo continued. "We can still come back here until then."

Solemn at first, Luffy appeared to be in agreement and nodded softly. This time he stood up properly after hanging few inches from the bench and looked down at the bloody handkerchief in his hand.

"Your handkerchief…" The fifteen years' old remark was meant especially for Cavendish.

"Keep it. Or you can just throw it away." The blond nodded at the piece of fabric, still making a fanning motion by pinching the front of his shirt in between his fingers to air dry his top which has been drenched by soda when Luffy had bumped into him earlier. "I've plenty more."

"Oh." Luffy appeared hesitant at first, but eventually agreed with the other, stuffing the ruined handkerchief into his pocket. Now that the nosebleed has stopped, there was no further need for him to cover his nose. The ringing noises in his ears however, were still around—they came and go with every passing second. "Thanks… for everything."

Cavendish waved airily. "Don't mention it. Just make sure you don't go splashing other people with drinks—Oouucchh! Why the hell did you pinch me for?!" In pain, the blond hissed and rubbed the sore spot in his arm where Rebecca had just pinched just now with a technique she specially referred as 'crab claw'.

Luffy nodded awkwardly, somewhat not a slightest entertained by the childish bickering took place in front of him.

"Thanks, both of you." Placing his hand on the teen's shoulder, the tall man nodded at the cousins in appreciation before slowly maneuvering Luffy into the opposite direction and back into the crowd, and presumably, home. "Come, boy."

"Bye Lucy!" Rebecca shouted in hope that the boy could still hear her voice, perked up when he saw Luffy waved her back before the duo disappeared in the midst of crowd.

Still seated on the bench, the pink haired girl only watched as her cousin stood up and began patting his pants off any dried leaves and dusts. "Do you think he'll be alright?"

"How should I know?" Rolling his eyes, Cavendish picked up a handful of dried leaves from the ground and poured them right on Rebecca's head, snickering afterwards when she yelped and flailed around when some dirt managed to get into her eyes. She later retaliated by gathering small pebbles around her before flinging them towards the blond one after another.

Cavendish easily dodged the incoming attack, though few managed to catch him off guard and hit him in his forehead and chest. "And for the last time his name is not Lucy, you pink, cotton candy—"

'Scrunch!'

Scrunch? The blonde frowned at the sudden change of background noise. Or, rather than background, the sound felt like it came from underneath his shoes, as though he had just stepped on pieces of glasses. Curiosity later took over his perception as Cavendish blatantly ignored the flying pebbles smacking against his head and went to inspect the subject of his interest by removing his foot to the side.

There, lying on the ground appeared to be some kind of a necklace or perhaps, a charm, judging by the string and the pendant attached to it. The string, which was made from small multicolor beads connected together to form a loop, from where he stood, seemed to be falling apart. It must have snapped and now the beads were basically all over the ground. Few of them were already in pieces. Must have been when he had accidentally stepped on them.

Without thinking twice, Cavendish bent down and picked up the ruined necklace, cursing slightly when more of the beads came off. Under the poor illumination, he inspected the pendant on his palm. Handmade… probably made from resin, molded into oval shape. Something else was glued—no, something was inside the resin itself, like some kind of photo. If he squinted hard enough… well, slap him twice across the face. It was a picture after all and staring back at him was a shoulder length dark haired woman. Bundled in her arm was an infant, tiny—as expected—, wrapped in a baby blue blanket. The photo must have been taken in a hospital, judging by the background. But it was actually hard to tell.

Every noise, every movement surrounding the young man slowly dissipated as his vision narrowed down on the woman inside the pendant. Cavendish wasn't delusional or short sighted person. He definitely recognized the woman. If that wasn't the case, then someone who shared her features. From her jet black hair, beautiful smile, that luminous dark brown eyes and—and—

… Oh fuck.

"What is that?" All of sudden, Rebecca loomed from behind and peered passed his shoulder and down to the pendant he still held in his hand. Something interesting must have caught her cousin's eyes enough to ignore the pebbles raining down on him. Instead of shooing her away, the girl was met with an uneasy mumble.

"24-karat of apprehension."

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From the fair however, things just went from bad to apocalyptic.

Doflamingo immediately established this when he noticed Luffy was acting rather hysterically not long after they have returned to the hotel. Less than ten minutes to be precise, not enough time for the blonde to get change and take a bath himself.

The boy flipped every cushion available within the suit, walked from room to room, ducked under every the furniture and made this sort of patting motion underneath them with his outstretched hand. Each attempts failed to satisfy whatever the teen's need was judging by the upset huff that reached his ears. Fuck, everything happened tonight was beyond wild. It hasn't been two hours since the last incident at the fair and yet, Luffy was more than ready to tear the suit apart while still in his blood drenched shirt. By the time Luffy began dismantling his bed, pulling and tugging on the bed sheet and comforter, Doflamingo finally decided to crack the intense atmosphere.

"Luffy, stop." The blond walked towards the frantic teen, partly ignoring the man as Luffy went on throwing the pillows to the floor. "What exactly going on here? Look, I know you're still upset from—"

"It's gone!"

Confusion was the only thing stopping Doflamingo from grabbing Luffy's hand so the boy wouldn't think of throwing his bed through the window. "What is?"

"My pendant!" Luffy huffed and stomped his feet in frustration over the adult's inability to comprehend his dilemma. "It's gone! I can't find it anywhere! What am I going to do now, Doffy?!"

Doflamingo could only watch dumbfoundedly as the fifteen years old practically flung the bed sheet to the air in one go. "Luffy, Luffy, wait." The blond hold his hands up to stop Luffy midway. "It's going to be alright. So just calm down—"

"No, you don't understand!" Suddenly the boy's voice was three notes higher and cracked at the end. "This is not okay. This is—this is mum's. S-she made this for me—for us. It's my treasure!"

Every behaviors Luffy was displaying at the moment was anything but calm. He appeared agitated, nervous, frantic and distressed to the point he began scratching his head and tugging on his black locks as he paced from left to right. The agitation even left the teen stuttered and a bit shaky.

"I-I can't lose it, Doffy." Tears have begun to gather in his eyes, held back by the long lashes, only moments away from spilling over. "It's mum's prayer. It has always kept me safe. I don't—" Luffy paused only to bite his thumb hard, enough to hurt any normal person. "I don't know what will happen if it's not with me."

Doflamingo rounded the bed and moved closer to the teen, immediately pulling the reddening thumb from the confinement of Luffy's teeth. "Nothing will happen, Luffy. It's all in your head, boy."

No words seemed to reach Luffy at this point, not when fear was gripping every fiber in his body tightly. Unlike anger, sadness or sorrow, fear was like a pitch dark entity, had no limit as one would always fear all the possibility that may happen.

Too overwhelmed by the intense emotion, the teen sidestepped Doflamingo, feet reaching for the exit. "I've might have dropped it somewhere out there. I've got to find it."

Still in his arm reach, the blond quickly grabbed Luffy by his shoulder. "Now?! It's already late, boy." Doflamingo spun the teen around and gave him a reassuring squeeze to his shoulders as he tried once more to reason with him. "Listen, Luffy. I know the pendant is important to you, but if you want to search for it now…it's almost impossible. Its dark out there and there's still too many people in fair ground. We'll have to wait until tomorrow—"

"We can't wait until tomorrow!" Luffy was all shouting, giving himself a slight twist to free himself from Doflamingo's grip. To his frustration, the blonde hold was like iron. "…why can't you understand?"

"I am trying to understand here, Luffy!" A mixture of frustration and confusion forced Doflamingo to raise his voice as well. Gods yes he wanted to help the boy, but Luffy was being beyond reasonable. "And I can't do that if you don't calm down and take a breather."

"But—"

All of sudden, the fifteen years old jumped three inches off the ground when his phone went off, vibrating and ringing in his pocket. As if knowing the caller, Luffy shrugged Doflamingo's hands off his shoulders and fumbled through his pants for a good ten seconds before getting the phone into his hand. His shaky fingers made it hard for the teen to actually unlock the device and only on the fourth attempts that the teen finally able to swipe the correct coordination.

"Luffy, how was your—" Mihawk's voice sounded so distant in his ears and Luffy couldn't stop himself from breaking into tears.

"Dad, it's gone…" In contrast with his earlier panicky demeanors, Luffy seemed paralyzed and weak as he whimpered into the phone. "Mum's prayer. It's gone… I can't find it. What am I going to do, dad? Dad, where are you? I want to go home…"

"The pendant?" Luffy heard his father asked.

"U-huh…"

As he sniveled his words, the fifteen years old slowly kneeled down and crouched his body around, pulling his knees close to his chests as though he wished to make himself small. Damn, if that sight didn't make Doflamingo's heart ached as well.

"I don't feel so well." Indeed, Luffy at that moment, paralyzed by extreme fear, had this nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach, like that time when he went to take a quick deep in the water at the beach and he wanted to put his feet down on something solid, and yet unable to since the water was deeper than he had anticipated.

"Dad, I'm scared…"

On the other end of line, Mihawk tensed and felt the time around him halted. Listening to your youngest son choking on his own voice, spellbound by apprehension while coping with his illness was the worst nightmare any father out there could experience. Like he was buried alive beneath an avalanche, by the feeling of fear transferred indirectly from his son. But instead of yielding, the prosecutor quickly took few deep breaths, loosened his necktie and few top buttons of his shirt and took a seat on the sofa in his hotel room. He needed—no, he must regain his composure. Any additional stress would any aggravate the situation.

As soon as Mihawk felt his eyebrows were no longer knitting together, it was only then the raven haired man spoke. "Husshh now, Luffy. Breathe."

"But dad—"

"Breathe, my child." The man repeated. "You will feel much better. Can you do that for me?"

Luffy sniffed and swipe the trail of tears along his left cheek with his palm. He didn't even realize that he has been clutching on his stomach all this time."Y-yeah…"

"Very well. Follow my lead. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale—"

Silly as it may appear, the teen complied. He did the breathing technique in sequence with his father's words and he did them a bunch of times with eyes close—taking a deep inhalation before exhaling. On the tenth cycles, Luffy finally felt his taut muscles unfurled and his body relaxed where he was shaking no more. He felt much better as promised by his father, less goose bump. Mihawk must have sensed this when he started speaking again.

"Where are you now, Luffy?"

With a deliberate slowness, the raven haired teen opened his eyes only to have carpeted floor filled his view. "… on the floor."

The revelation didn't surprise the man a bit. His son was terrified and it was only understandable for the boy to act unpredictable. "Can you take a seat somewhere? The sofa, the bed, anything but the floor."

"'kay…"

Meters away, Doflamingo convinced himself that he didn't just flinch when Luffy suddenly rose up from his crouching position and padded his way towards his bed before taking a seat. The teen appeared a bit calm—a lot calmer than before in fact—as he pulled one leg up close to his chest and rested his chin on the knee.

To be able to soothe such unstable physiological tremors in short amount of time… That's the State Prosecutor for you.

"The pendant… where did you lose it?"

"Dunno…" The teen tried to fiddle with the bed sheet, anything to entertain his hands, only to realize there was none. It has been ripped out of the bed earlier during his panic attack. So he settled with the hem of his t-shirt. "I think I dropped it outside, when we went to the fair. The string must have snapped."

From the other side, the state prosecutor mulled over his son's words. Luffy mentioned 'we' in his statement, so it was safe to assume the teen went to the fair ground with Doflamingo, which was actually good news. Since now he didn't have to be concerned over his son hissing and spitting at the man's face. But then came in the panic attack issue—

"I wanted to go look for it. But…"

Mihawk was quick to snap from his inner monolog. "No, Luffy."

"But it's—"

"You will cause inconvenience to Mr. Donquixote." Luffy was patient enough to hear his father out. "And he was so nice to bring you to the fair. If you are to venture out now, he would most likely follow you as well out of worry. That will definitely disturb his schedule where I am more than certain that Mr. Donquixote has a meeting that starts early in the morning, yes?"

"… Yes."

"Do not trouble the man, Luffy. You are better than this." A man of logic he was indeed since the teen couldn't say nor do anything productive other than twisting his t-shirt into a small knot while keeping his sniffles at bay. "I HAVE thought you better than this."

One or two whimpers might have escaped off his volition. "The pendant…"

"Luffy…" Mihawk seemed exhausted on the other line, Luffy noticed this, but the boy needed this—his voice, his words, his reassurance. "The pendant is only an extension to your mother's prayers, not at embodiment. Even without the pendant, those prayers will always stay with you. Not once her thoughts and prayers leave you and your brothers. Not even mine. Do you remember that you told me there were times you felt her presence? Like a warm feeling hugging you?"

"Yeah. Sometimes when I sleep and sometimes when we went to visit her grave. Weird, but it wasn't scary at all…"

"Exactly." His father soft approach seemed to be working quite remarkably and Luffy couldn't help but to close his eyes, envisioning that Mihawk was right there in front of him alongside with his mother.

"That is the proof that your mother is always thinking of both you and your brother from where she is. Even without the pendant."

Picking up the thrown pillow off the floor, the teen hugged it close to his chest and sniffed again to clear his airway. The waterworks has in fact ceased some time ago, and yet Luffy could imagine the tears cascading his cheeks. When touched however, there was none, saved for the dampness it has left.

"Sabo..?"

Unseen by the fifteen years old, the man smiled. It was just like his youngest son to be concerned about his brothers. "Sabo too. I am certain she thinks of him like her own child as well."

Luffy smiled as he buried his face into the pillow.

A short pause. "Are you feeling well now?"

"Mmhhmm…" His father was answered with a soft sigh—or a mumble or two—which the man took it as a good sign.

"Can you pass me to Mr. Donquixote?"

Nose scrunched, the teen allowed the request hung for a moment before answering with a great length of reluctance. "…kay."

As soon as Luffy removed the phone away, he turned around; ignoring the way Doflamingo shifted his weight from one foot to another in a nervous manner. Well, almost. It was too hard to ignore to be honest, since the sight was too comical in at least two different way albeit the tense atmosphere. He then handed out his phone, dangling it few times in between his fingers when the adult failed to understand his move. Doflamingo took it eventually and brought it closer to his ear, legs slightly quaked as he walked to the door. Through the corner of his eyes, he noticed Luffy's raw and slightly puffy eyes followed him momentarily before the boy went to stare deep into his bare mattress as he leaned back against the headboard, both legs stretched out.

"Hey." The blonde began.

"I have troubled you too much in one day, Mr. Donquixote."

"Well… you can thank me by pardoning all the criminal activities I may commit later in the future." Doflamingo casual it up with a smirk and heard the other person on the line chuckled.

Leaning his back against the study table located close to the large window connecting to the veranda, the tycoon readjusted the phone in his hand. "But really, it would be very very helpful if you had informed me about his panic attack."

"Yes indeed." The chuckles ceased almost instantly before Mihawk continued calmly. "I should have informed you beforehand. The mistake is on me. It has been a couple of months since the last time Luffy had the similar… episode." A soft sigh indicating his guilt didn't escape Doflamingo's ear. "So I reasoned that it is the least of importance to inform you."

"I am considering of sending my elder son to pick up Luffy tomorrow morning. Sending him back home would probably be the most fitting option when he is not in his best condition." A familiar clinking noise of glass against another glass was heard in the background. It reminded Doflamingo of a nice glass of wine. Or maybe two glasses.

"Sabo?" From the table, Doflamingo walked over to the traditional styling wine cabinet, tucked neatly in the corner of the opposite wall. He was aware of the eldest's schedule with his repeat test paper, so the only one that came into his mind was the second born.

"You know of Sabo?" Mihawk sounded surprised.

His curiosity eventually led him to venture further into the collection of wines—all thirteen of them, not including the ones on the upper shelf.

Had he not met Mihawk this morning and recognized him as the state attorney, he would most probably under the impression that this room was previously belonged to a drunkard fool. Nonetheless, Doflamingo grabbed one of the red wine bottles and poured himself a glass. He was more of a spirit kind of guy, but wine would do just nice for now.

"We talked this morning on the phone, Ace as well." Doflamingo swirled the content in the wine glass few times before taking a small sip. It didn't take long—less than a second perhaps—for the rich texture and heady redcurrant fruit burst on his palate, followed by a smooth layer of cherry liqueur.

"They insisted to speak with me. Cheeky boys you have there if I must say." Taking another small sip, the blond moved back to his previous spot, back at the study table.

"I see." Though slightly interested with the development, the state public persecutor was aware that he needed to address the more important… well, issue. "So tomorrow—"

As if sensing the man's inner thoughts, Doflamingo waved him off before pulling the chair from underneath the study table and taking a seat. "The boy will be fine here. Don't fret too much, Mihawk."

"I do not think—"

"Relax." Again, Doflamingo cut him off, slightly wondering if the man minded the familiarity just now. "It's not a big issue. Sure, his episode just now made me panicked a bit, but I got through the behemoth somehow, someway. I can't think of anything worse than this. If his attack do comes back, I think I'll be able to handle it."

The other wasn't give enough time to think—no, Mihawk had more than enough time to think, but not enough time to answer when the blond easily brushed his words aside. "And I believe Sabo is needed to look after that mischievous first child of yours, yes?"

A long pause ensued, assuming that Mihawks was chewing over Doflamingo's logic just now, and not because he was currently chugging down the whole bottle of wine out of distress.

"I really do have to pardon all your future felonies in the future, am I not?"

Mihawk's attempt to jest worked quite remarkably since Doflamingo was heard laughing, barely enough to keep the room from shaking.

"Will you really be all right with this arrangement..?" The State Prosecutor asked once the blonde's laughter died down, his voice was less tense this time.

Out of concern, Doflamingo glanced at the bedroom entrance, just in case if the boy suddenly lost his composure again and decided to sprint out of the suit in pursuit for his treasure. "Yeah. I've survived worse horror; this is barely the tip of an iceberg. Besides," The man stared at the empty glass in his hand, crossing his legs on top of another. "Luffy was really looking forward to see all the events going on here. I'll feel bad for the kid if he misses them."

"Aaahh… Primula's Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration, is it not? Such a shame that the conference has been relocated or else I may be able to keep him within my notice."

"Luffy is fifteen and nothing will stop him from growing, Mihawk. We can't keep our boys within the protection of our wings forever and they will eventually need to learn how to be independent." It was quite similar to a scold, Doflamingo's tone that is. Protective was natural in his opinion, especially when one's child is diagnosed with a rare case of anemia. But overprotective however, could be less constructive if exaggerated.

The blond stood up from the chair only to settle on the sofa instead, leaving the empty glass on the study table. "And they will eventually fly out of the nest, whether if we want it or not." Doflamingo hissed slightly when he felt something sharp poked his bottom, just right in the middle of his left ass-cheek. He reached behind him, his free hand fumbling around before he managed to pull out a mechanical pencil that was stuck in between the cushion.

"Luffy will be fine. It's okay if you don't want to put faith in me. But have faith in your boy." Few times he twirled the pencil in between his fingers, keeping in mind to remind Luffy not to leave his things around. "He is stronger than you think, stronger than anyone I've met in my life. Really, he'll be alright."

Another cycle of silence reined, enough to turn a giant blonde male into a fidgety creature. Really, if Mihawk keeps doing this sort of cycles, his heart will wither by, let say, thirty percent at very least.

"There is truth in what you have said." At last, the business man was able to breathe the soon Mihawk's voice rang in the speaker. Honestly, some assholes must have placed a mind altering drug into one of chows back in the fair for him to grow extra balls to challenge the state prosecutor.

"Very well. I trust your reason and I shall put my faith on you… and Luffy as well."

Doflamingo grinned and leaned his head against the cushion. "Well, good for you then. Want me to pass you back?"

"..If you may. I thank you for your concern, as well as your counsel, Mr. Donquixote." Somehow, Mihawk's voice echoed a little too faint for his convenience and Doflamingo wondered if it has anything to do with his depleting energy.

Doflamingo stood up, stretched and walked back into the bedroom. "No problem."

Upon his appearance, Luffy perked up and shuffled on his hands and knees when the man dangled the phone in his hand, beckoning the boy to take it back. His eyes weren't as red as before, still puffy, probably because the teen has been rubbing them while he was away. He barely met Doflamingo's eyes as he took the phone from the awaiting hand.

"Hhmm..?" The teen mumbled into the phone and plopped on his stomach from where he was, the top of his head was a couple inches off the edge of the mattress. "Not really… A bit tired, but not that sleepy." Despite the denial, Luffy still yawned, turning to his side and curled over to face the window. "U-huh. The fair was awesome! Lots of food and stuffs, but the games booths won't be up until the day after tomorrow and there are other things going on—"

While the teen was doing this sort of rolling and stretching motion on the bed, Doflamingo came to a decision to allow Luffy to have their father and son conversation without any intervention. Shower at that particular moment, was proven to be an enticing idea as well. Usually, the blond would opt for a long soak in the large bathtub, taking full advantage of the luxury provided by the suit. But with a body suffering from physically and mentally exhaustion, a quick rinse was all in his mind, next to sleep and getting coma for the next twelve hours.

Of course, twelve hours was a bit far stretched considering his packed schedule. But the optimism was rather soothing in some way.

Luffy was still on his phone with Mihawk when the tycoon entered the bathroom, a couple of clothing articles in his hand.

Inside the relatively large bathroom, Doflamingo only did whatever necessary in cleaning himself—a quick rinse to his hair, few minutes of brief shower and a brush to his teeth. Rather than a night bath, it was more like a fast, short-of-time, hangover, morning shower. Still, fast as it might seem, the teen was already finished with the phone call by the time the blonde stepped out of the bathroom, fully clothed in his sleep attire. With his legs crossed over, Luffy was gazing at the full moon through the large windows as though he was trying to absorb every particle of the silvery ray.

"Hey." The man stood close to the bed, hand still ruffling his wet hair to remove the excess water.

Still staring at the window, the teen acknowledged him with simple 'hhm..?', stared at the moon some more for the better part of fifteen seconds before finally glancing up at the adult. From where he stood, Luffy looked tired, fatigued, like he hadn't had a nice, long sleep for weeks. Though, the leftover melancholy might be the major contribution to his current appearance.

"Tomorrow morning," Doflamingo settled the towel on his shoulder and bent down slightly. "I'll go down to the police station to see if someone has found your necklace. People usually bring it to the lost and found if they pick up things like that."

A small, tired smile painted his lips as the boy nodded softly. "'kay…" Then, he settled his eyes on the spot in between his toes, if it was ever existed.

As he straightened his posture, the blonde nodded at towards the bathroom. "Why don't you go—"

"Sorry, Doffy."

His next words clumped together in his mouth and it took longer than he had anticipated for him to rearrange the clumps and construct new vocabularies to answer Luffy. "..What?"

Luffy looked up, guilt met confusion which gave out this unsettling feeling, mostly affecting the adult. "I get crazy like that sometimes… getting upset over little stuffs…scares Ace and Sabo too whenever it happens."

"Not all the time?" Doflamingo teased the teen with a raise of an eyebrow with one hand settled loosely on his hip.

The black locks brushed against his eyelids slightly as Luffy shook his head, still keeping the bitter smile sewed to his lips. "Not really."

"Don't worry about it." The blonde ruffled the raven locks with his fingers before settling them on the teen's shoulder. "No harm done. You and your father somehow prefer to fret over small things, aren't you?"

The fifteen years old only pouted in retaliation.

"Go clean yourself up. Take a nice, long, hot bath. You'll feel better." Finally able to release the words that were clumped together previously, Doflamingo again nodded towards the bathroom. Luffy was still wearing his blood stained t-shirt with cheeks marked by dried tears as they spoke. So the man could imagine how uncomfortable would it be to sleep in that arrangement.

Before Luffy could open his mouth, the tycoon brushed his concern away when he noticed the dark orbs raked over the bare mattress and the ruined comforted lying on the floor a little too long. "I'll fix your bed in the meantime. Go now. Off you go."

A quick shooing motion accompanied the order and Luffy fought the urge to sit a little bit longer on the bed and sulked. Instead, the raven haired teen shuffled off the bed, walked the closet adjacent to the bedroom, snatched one of his pajama pants before hopping his way towards the bathroom. Doflamingo heard the running water of a faucet instead of shower, so it was safe to assume that Luffy had decided to have a long soak in the tub.

Wordlessly, the blonde began the routine of fixing the ruined bed. Most of the house chores were done by the maids so the man doubted his later handy work would turn out flawless. Even so, his teenage years was spent in a private, boarding school, so simple errands like fixing the bed and laundry were still considered simple tasks in which he could perform with a blindfold. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Like he was programmed by a super tiny microchip planted deep into the back of his neck—though Doflamingo had always imagined having a barcode printed into his hairline back when he was still a child—, the blond moved fast, swift and soundless, saved for the rustling of sheet against the floor and the mattress as he dragged all the bedding materials from the floor and back to their respective position. His long nimble fingers made it easy for him to tuck the bed sheet beneath the heavy, queen sized mattress.

Well, more or less, since he was accustomed to a single sized bed back in his dormitory. Hence, working on larger sized bedding has proven to be quite challenging tasks. But he made do. Fifteen minutes later, before him was a nicely, well made bed with comforter, the sheet and the pillows—all were neatly arranged.

Doflamingo nodded in satisfaction with his accomplishment before picking up Luffy's phone from the nightstand just to take a quick peek at the time. Soon, he would have to remind the boy that his time in the bathtub is up. One series of nosebleed and panic episode was bad enough for his heart, so any additional episode of heat stroke inside the tub would definitely shorten his life by ten years, if not instant death.

In the meantime however, the blond settled with the idea of a nice, warm cup of tea he had bought on his way back from the meeting today.

His journey to the kitchen was short and Doflamingo wasted no time rolling the long sleeves of his t-shirt few times as he entered deeper into the belly of the kitchen area. To convey the traditional concept of the room itself, the kitchen wall was painted with buttery cream color to compliment the wooden flooring and fully furnished with cabinetry with fluted pillars and molding details, granite countertops and ornate windows architecture. Everything about the kitchen—the architecture, the tone, the choice of cabinets, etc—was rather relaxing in the man's opinion.

Doflamingo grabbed one of the many provided mugs from the open shelves and snatched the paper bag he had sloppily threw onto the counter earlier before leaving the hotel for the fair. Inside was a can of caffeine-free herbal infusion tea which he had purchased specially for his son who's suffering from Restless Legs Syndrome on top of insomnia. Brat was obviously still in denial over his conditions, but he would later thank him for picking this shit up.

Dropping one tea bag into the empty mug, the blonde then began filling it with hot water by placing the mug under the instant hot water dispenser that sat contently like a sea cucumber on the sink, stopping once the water reached three quarter of the mug. The tea steeping procedure didn't take that long, approximately six minutes before Doflamingo filled one fifth of room temperature water so the drink wouldn't be scalding hot by the time it reaches Luffy. He even grabbed one of the essential oils, purchased together with the tea. The oils were in fact for him, mainly to curb the excessive stress he has been getting on lately.

With deliberate care, the tycoon walked back to the bedroom, tea and the small bottle of essential oil juggled in his hands. Now that he thought about, he should have stuffed the bottle into his pants pocket so he wouldn't have to worry about dropping any, or even both of them.

Back inside the bedroom, the blonde placed the mug on the nightstand next to Luffy's bed, listening to the sound of blow dryer inside the bathroom. He then sprinkled few drops of the oil—special cocktail blends for calming the nerves—on to the pillow with hope that the boy didn't catch him whilst in his deed and later put him under impression of someone who wished to drug a physically ill fifteen year old boy before cutting him into pieces and stuffing the mutilated body under the patio.

Odd… Somehow the impression suited him.

At the same time Doflamingo stuffed the bottle into his pocket, Luffy finally came out from the bathroom and it took every ounce of his will not to jump out of his skin. Fuck, now he really needed to stop acting like he had done something gravely wrong.

Fresh from a long soak in hot water—hopefully not scalding hot—and topless, the teen padded his feet a couple of times by the exit, crinkled his nose, stared at the adult with slightly dazed eyes for a better part of a minute before sauntering his way into the closet. Again. He reappeared later after he had put on his pajama top which was totally a mismatched with the bottom he currently had on. Doflamingo was unsure whether the arrangement was on purpose or was it a must for him to address the mistake. But the tycoon later digressed. One thing for sure, Luffy really had things for animal printed clothes since both of them—the top and the bottom—were animal printed pajama.

During his short walk from the closet all the way to his bed; Luffy dragged the damp towel in his hand along the floor, not stopping even until he reached his bed, though he did leave it at the corner as he climbed up the mattress. The blond had feared he would take that damp fabric to his sleep, but clearly that wasn't the intention.

"I made tea." Doflamingo informed, noticing that the teen has been circling and patting his bed for a quite some time now. Such behavior only reminded him of lion cubs, or kittens, or anything that had feline bloodline. Not a good way to describe the youngest child of the state prosecutor, really.

"Tea..?" The teen finally looked up after ignoring the man's remark long enough to create awkward atmosphere. He followed the man's gaze and eventually his too, landed on the steaming mug on the nightstand.

His movement in reaching for the mug was slow. And Luffy was careful enough to curl his fingers around the handle and he brought it close to him in unhurried manner. As his senses of smell picked up the scent from the steam, the raven haired teen breathed in a soothing chamomile and passion flower. There were more to the herbal blend—which turned out to be organic rooibos and valerian—, but the boy was unable to determine which scent belonged to what at that moment. All that was in his mind was this craving to take a sip of the herbal drink, blended well together to produce a sigh of sweet relief.

Two small sips the teen took and almost immediately, Luffy could feel the blissful effect that came from the gentle lull of the magical valerian. He closed his eyes, savoring the flavor and tranquility it produced before taking another sip.

"It's delicious." Luffy finally commented after his fifth sips. "What is it?"

Doflamingo only grinned after watching the content face Luffy was making. "Nothing suspicious." He joked as he used his fingers to tame down the massive flyways on the boy's head by raking them through the black locks. "Your hair makes look like you've been electrocuted." Commented the man as he picked up few clumps in Luffy's hair to detangle them.

"Dunno how to set the blow dryer in low setting…" The fifteen year old mumbled behind the mug in between sips, allowing the adult to tame his hair.

Nothing came back except for a short hum of understanding while Doflamingo continued combing the black strands. Once satisfied with the lesser amount of flyways—they would forever be there, there's nothing much could be done—, the blond patted the teen's head and moved away from the bed. "Finish it slowly. I'm going to unpack my stuff a bit."

No actual words passed through the boy's lips. Luffy did however, acknowledge Doflamingo with small nods, though unseen by the blonde. From the corner of his eyes, Luffy could clearly make out the adult gigantic silhouette inside the closet room as Doflamingo rummaged through his luggage, took out his one week worth of clothing and some files and began arranging his belongings. Quite logical if one might say, since supposed means would cut off any necessity for Doflamingo to dive into his luggage just for him to get hold on to single underwear. They both had to compromise seeing that they both shared the same closet space, but that fact shouldn't be able to impose any issue since Luffy himself didn't bring that much stuffs with him. Besides, their clothing had nothing in common for anyone to mistake for anything.

How awkward would it be for Doflamingo to accidentally put on his animal printed pajama pants for meeting..?

In short amount of time, they both were done with their tasks—Luffy with his tea and Doflamingo with his clothes arrangement—, almost at the same time even. The blonde noticed this and went over to Luffy to collect the almost empty mug.

"Thanks, Doffy." His words slurred by the end as Luffy shuffled beneath the thick comforter. Now that his nerves have been soothed, unbent and unwind, the teen could feel his mind slowly lulled away from consciousness. "Aren't you going to bed..?" With three third of his consciousness began to slip away, Luffy still somewhat aware how unready the man was for bed.

"I need to get something done first." Doflamingo pulled the cover up to the boy's chin while Luffy shifted here and there to make himself comfortable, curled his body to his side and nuzzled against the pillow. Something really smelled good—lavender, jasmine, sandalwood, and something along the line. Scrunching his nose, his mind tried to distinguish the lingering scents but to no avail. Odd… he didn't recall his bed smelled this good.

"Something?"

By now, Luffy's eyes were no longer wide open and he could barely register the adult's query. Even shaking his head appeared to be a difficult task, but the teen managed somehow. "… no. 'night Doffff…"

But honestly, something really smelled nice; nice enough to be able to knit the teen's consciousness into slumber—slowly, gently, embracing the spot in his soul that was the most apprehensive. Almost like a warm breeze in the middle of summer, the gentle splash of waves against his bare feet by the beach, the tender stroke of his father's hand on his head, and like the laughter of people whom are very dear to him, the scents gave him the sense of peace, warmth and safety.

They reminded him a lot of things.

They took him home.

-To be Continued-

A/N: I really didn't expect this chapter would be this long. Just when I thought I've written enough, instead of stopping and hit the deck, I ended adding more and more and more and the result is a total 63 pages! Worse, when it gets this long, it's hard for me to re-check my work. What a bummer…