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They stopped. They stopped! They were going back to their ships, right? They were leaving, right? Pirates did not like to linger in marine bases like they owned the place! So what the heck was this situation?

"Chica," Mihawk greeted.

"Captain," Lor nodded in return.

The marine woman stared blankly at the group still huddled in the room, conversing as if they didn't have a care in the world. She thought they were supposed to leave. And what was with the relationship between the four? The air was a lot more tense than the light conversation between Hawk Eyes and the Siren showed, and she had no doubt that most of the animosity originated from Trafalgar Law.

"Your captain was the last person I expected to become a Shichibukai," Mihawk said.

"Yes, well, other than the situation at hand, I seem to attract five things in life—devil fruits, powerful pirates, Shichibukai, people almost laughingly easy to tease, and assholes. Law currently fits four out of the five, since he obviously isn't a fruit," Lor said.

"Hey!" Law cut in, affronted. Did she just call him an asshole who was laughingly easy to tease?

"And I suppose I fit two out of the five?" Mihawk asked with a raised brow.

"Three," Lor corrected. "You are also too easy to tease."

"I… see?" Mihawk personally thought he was one of the worst people to tease, especially when he was woken from his nap. He did so enjoy his sleep, and preferred to use his sword to… dissuade people from ever disrupting him, and from attempting to tease or mock him.

Then again, Lorelei got away with a lot of things, even towards people who had no idea she was the Siren.

Wait… Was she teasing him again? He sighed. The smile on her face and the mischievous glint in her eyes said she was. The little brat…

"And captain," Lor said, all signs of light heartedness vanishing from her expression. Mihawk stiffened. "There is a… situation."

Mihawk frowned. "A situation."

"A situation," Lor nodded, then hesitated. "I would not have said anything because I did not want to unduly alarm you, but time is running out."

Mihawk's frown deepened. She was speaking formally. That could only mean something very bad was happening. He opened his mouth to ask, then shut it again. The gears in his mind spun quickly even as he took a deep breath, preparing himself for bad news.

And if she was pregnant, no god or devil fruit in the world could save Trafalgar Law.

"Cornelia and Karin have been kidnapped," Lor said.

Mihawk was in the middle of a sigh of relief when the full brunt of the words hit him. "What?!"

Lor smiled awkwardly at her former captain. She hadn't wanted to tell him, really. He was a Shichibukai, and if he got involved, he might have the title revoked. Her father was a high ranking marine, after all, and the Shichibukai did not clash against the marines without consequences.

"By my father and another man," Lor continued.

"Does Shanks know?" Mihawk growled through clenched teeth.

"… Yes?"

The strongest swordsman in the world felt his jaw tense even further. It took everything he had to force out a polite, "Excuse me."

Lor chose to ignore the 'while I kill that red haired idiot' that Mihawk muttered under his breath. She turned to Law, who raised his eyebrow at her. "Well, that went well."

"What part of it?!"

"He's going to kill Shanks instead of directly assaulting all the marine bases he could find?" Lor guessed.

Law sighed and slapped his forehead with the heel of his hand. "We should go too, then."

"Running away?" A new voice mocked. "How rude of you, not to properly greet me. Right, Law?"

Lor watched with curiosity and more than a little worry as Law's teeth clenched, and his hand shook with the effort of not forming fists. His eyes flicked over to her expression, and he tilted his head down, far enough for the hat to cast a shadow over his eyes, effectively hiding the pure hatred and murderous glint from her view. He didn't need her seeing him like that.

But Doflamingo didn't like being ignored.

"So you rose up in the world," Doflamingo commented, almost offhandedly, but the challenge was clear in his eyes. "But you're still the same tiny weakling begging to join my crew."

Law's eyes flashed, his teeth clenched. "I don't recall ever begging you for anything."

"No, you simply did what you wanted. Like the way you stole the Ope Ope no Mi," Doflamingo smirked. "Oh, it technically wasn't you though. Corazon stole it for you, didn't he?"

The nodachi was out of its sheath in a moment, and suddenly all weapons were out. Lor put her back against Law's, her knives ready to deflect any attack by the marines, but half her attention stayed on the blonde Shichibukai. He was more dangerous than all the marines in the room combined, and a furious Law was not the usual crafty, clever, powerful Law. At this moment, even though Doflamingo was the only one remaining in the room who did not have a weapon in his grasp, he had the upper hand.

"Put your weapons down immediately!" The female marine ordered.

But neither Shichibukai heard her. And if they did, her words went in one ear and out the other. All their attention was on the other, and the aura radiating from their bodies was enough to suffocate someone. In fact… Lor pressed her lips tightly together. In fact, if there wasn't any haoshoku haki coming from Doflamingo, Lor would be surprised.

There wasn't enough to fell all the marines. They were all still standing, after all, even if they were breathing hard and sweating madly. It was just a hint of what Doflamingo had to offer, a threat and a promise.

"Law," Lor murmured, tugging on his sleeve.

He jerked it out of her hand.

"Law," she repeated more forcefully, this time maintaining a tight grip on the material.

"Why don't you listen to your little whore, Law?" Doflamingo mocked, smirking. "You wouldn't want her to kick you out of her bed, right?"

"Lei-ya isn't a whore," Law forced out. "Talk about her, talk to her, or even look at her again, and I'll kill you."

"But you can't," Doflamingo sneered. "If you could, you would have done it long ago. You hate me, don't you, Law? Even though I was your captain… It was unfortunate, you know. If you hadn't joined my crew, Corazon would still be alive. You killed my little brother."

"You bastard!" Law lunged for the smirking Doflamingo, his eyes wild.

His nodachi stopped inches from the blonde Shichibukai's neck, and Law's eyes stared into amber ones. His expression shifted from fury to shock, and then to anger. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What, can't even touch me?" Doflamingo jeered.

"You shut up," Lor snapped, causing the older Shichibukai to blink in surprise. "And Law, stop being an idiot."

The surgeon wavered, eyes flickering between his enemy and his cook, before he sighed. And with great willpower, he re-sheathed his sword. All the marines sighed with relief and lowered their weapons.

"Why did you protect him?" Law said as calmly as he could, which was just about as calmly as a raging tempest.

"Who said I was protecting him?" Lor growled, scowling. "Now let's go."

Law reluctantly allowed her to lead him out of the room.

"You shouldn't have stopped him, girl," Doflamingo called out to Lor. "I could have taken care of it."

The girl stopped so abruptly that Law walked straight into her. He frowned at Doflamingo, taking a threatening step back towards the Shichibukai, but the tight grip on his sleeve stopped him. Law spun on his heel, opening his mouth to tell her to let go, but the look on her face made him freeze in his tracks.

"If you look at him or talk to him, I will let you be," Lor said, her tone dripping with poison, her expression mimicking the fury of hell fire. "But if you touch him, hurt him, try to kill him, I will hunt you down and make sure you live a long life of fear and agony."

With that, she turned and stormed away, dragging the captain of the Heart Pirates behind her.

Doflamingo's eyes widened for a second with a delighted surprise, and his tongue flicked out over his smirking lips. The hand inside his pocket let go of the gun.