Epilogue

The newspaper was lowered to the table, and there was a clink of porcelain upon porcelain as tea was sipped. Then promptly spat out.

"How many times are you going to do this?" Baby 5 asked impatiently around her cigarette. She stood next to the table in her prettiest maroon dress, the tray bounced against one thigh. "All my life I gave you hot shit, and you still manage to burn what's left of your damn tongue!"

"Let him alone, Baby," Doflamingo said with a wide smile, looking at his brother. He sat across from him with his own newspaper, leg folded atop of the other, his breakfast half finished. But the large bottle of wine across from it was nearly empty, and his glass half full. "I'm sure it was just the headline that caught his eye. Look at this, Rosinante. He's made quite a name for himself, hasn't he?"

He tapped a fingernail on Law's stoic picture, where the headline read of the latest Marine attempt to find the Strawhats after the massacre they'd left behind – after bodies were gathered and identified, the area 'cleaned up', the search for the bandits was on. All Western territories would be carefully 'monitored' until all the Strawhats and their accomplices could be picked up and publicly executed. Every one of their pictures were stacked across the bottom of the article, as well as information where the public could reach out for help if any of them were seen.

In a small article underneath it, there was mention of a small massacre of some miners that had been found living underground – Roronoa Zoro's picture was aligned with that one, the Marines accusing the swordsman of singlehandedly killing nearly thirty people. Since there wasn't any proof that he was there in the first place, the declaration of a higher bounty was held off. Doffy wasn't too interested in that article.

He gestured for Baby 5 to pour the wine, and she did, with much eye rolling and dramatic flair.

"I'm unsure of what to feel," he said, swishing the liquid around in the glass. "On one hand, I'm relieved that he is still alive. I was very upset to learn that none of my agents could not find him, all these years, yet I had thought he'd retreat to something closer to civilization, not some isolated desert landscape where there is absolutely nothing. Yet again, I thought a rival had managed to snatch off with him during one of his dramatic fits back to the house after work. You know the story."

"I don't miss him. At all," Baby said. She exhaled smoke in Doffy's direction. "Hopefully he dies out there. Little shit."

Doffy waved the smoke away with an absent gesture. "But he's alive. I would like a chance to speak with him, to be honest. I want to know why he'd never come back. After all we did for him." Doffy drank of the wine until it was nearly empty. Then he set the glass down, signaling for a refill.

"Why don't you just drink out of the bottle?" Baby mumbled, filling the glass.

"How could one abandon the family that raised him? We took him in, gave him a home, education, a life – and he repays us by disappearing. Playing cowboy in some dusty desert slop. I wonder what he looks like, now. This photo is old. Couldn't someone have submitted a more recent work?"

'I thought this one looked rather refined,' Rosinante signed with a pouty frown. 'I used this one for the matchmaker at that time.'

Doffy laughed. "'Matchmaker'? Did you want more kids, Rosi?"

"Why would he come back to this shit hole? Everyone hates it here," Baby grumbled. "And who'd marry him? He's such a freak! Nobody likes him. No self respecting woman would touch that crazy asshole. Rosinante, how could you even bother to try? Do you hate women?"

'Just you.'

As Baby sniffled, holding her cigarette aside to wipe sudden tears away, Doffy asked, "Rosi. Your thoughts on this article?"

Rosinante lit a cigarette. Baby grabbed his water glass and upended it over the man's head to put out the fire that raced up his sleeve. Rosinante signed his thoughts, and Doffy chuckled.

"' As long as he's happy', eh? Well, how are we to know if we don't ask? I'd think, with you spending all those years with him, you'd feel a little differently about it. Don't you miss him? You were quite attached."

Rosinante signed again, leaning down to tie his shoe. 'That's all I'd ever wanted from him.'

Baby 5 squinted at him. "I didn't catch that."

Doffy finished his wine, then indicated for more. "Well, I don't agree with you. I'm curious. Now, are we ready? The funeral should be starting within the hour, and it'll take us thirty minutes to get there. Let us go mourn the loss of our family members, Vergo and Pica. We'll talk about Law, later. I'm sure we'll come up with something different once we're more clear headed. We might even plan a trip out there. I heard it's quite lovely, this time of year."

As both men stood from the table, one of the house servants hurried up to Rosinante, passing him a telegram. Doffy waited curiously. "News from the other side of the city? Were they successful?"

Rosinante lit a cigarette, exhaling from the side of his mouth. After he read the telegram, he showed Doffy the contents. His brother frowned at him, pushing his chair back into the table.

"Why didn't your tailor just send you the completed outfit?" he asked curiously.

Rosinante signed hastily, following him out from the dining room. 'I want to make sure it fits.'

"Your size hasn't changed in ages. Why now?"

After reading Rosinante's indignant signs, Doffy then scoffed. "You have not been 'working out'. Don't be silly."

Baby 5 rolled her eyes, following after the overly tall men that had to duck underneath the doorway just to walk out from the foyer of the mansion.

"After the funeral, we'll go out for some drinks." With an arm slung over his brother's shoulders, Doffy led the way to the coach waiting for them at the curb. "He's been feeling a little down, lately. Not in the mood for small chat. I'd hoped going out later would cheer him up."

Baby 5 opened the door before the driver could, who scrambled back up to his post. With another roll of her eyes, she said, "Nothing will make him happy, unless you bring that guy back."

"Well then. That settles it." Doffy waited for his brother to board first, before he did. He shut the door on Baby 5, who flipped him off.

Rosinante stared out the window on his side, thinking nothing that would give away the slight jump of panic he felt when Doffy relaxed into his seat and grinned widely. "I'm still curious as to what he's been doing, all this time. Why won't he come back? Doesn't he know we saved his job for him? Ungrateful brat. I'll just have to ask him once it looks like he's settled down, some. I don't blame him for all the fun he seems to be having with these Strawhats. It's a adventure right out of a book. No matter. Another time and place, eh?"

'It has nothing to do with us,' Rosinante signed.

"But it might, considering it was the Strawhats' doing that caused Vergo and Pica's deaths. Then again, it was that Admiral's fault in the first place for being so incompetent as to think he could hold a Strawhat at this time, especially while in talks with the others. Fool. What an idiot. We lost that one, little brother, but it's okay. We're still reaching outward. There's gold in them mountains! Heh heh."

'You're taking these deaths very calmly.'

"It's not to say I'm discounting the Strawhats' power. If they were able to defeat Vergo and Pica altogether, then I'm definitely taking notice. But as you said, it has nothing to do with me if they're getting lucky making some noise. Vergo and Pica were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ah. Look! Trebol beat us. Look at his dumb face. I wish they'd fix his leaking. Sit with him. These pants of mine are new. I don't want them soaking up his disgusting body fluids, again."

'I'll just end up burning him, anyway. Make sure the fire department knows I'm here,' Rosinante signed with a shrug. He returned his attention to the window, and tried not to think anything of the boy he'd raised. But he had to admit, Doffy had taken notice of the Strawhats, and now that Law was involved with them, his brother was definitely more interested than he admitted.

: :

In the dusty tavern, Shanks found the one he was looking for. It had taken some time, some travel, but after all his reflections and efforts, he'd finally caught up. He dropped the newspaper he'd been carrying onto the table so that he caught his attention.

Mihawk frowned at the aged paper that settled over the remnants of his lunch. He looked at Shanks for a few moments. "What does this mean to me?"

"Good afternoon to you, too," Shanks said with a grin, taking up a chair opposite him. "Took me awhile to find you. It's getting harder and harder to ask around in these isolated areas."

"Which is why I prefer it," Mihawk said impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest. "Again, I ask, what does this mean to me?"

"Look at it! Isn't that exciting?" Shanks asked, his tone lifting as he gestured at the headlines. "How amazing is that? I was there, too! Yes, there were losses, but how cool was it that this tiny group of kids took out such a huge group of Marines? Using only a freaking fifty cal, a guy on a horse, and some only using their hands and feet, and explosives provided to them by freaking Sheriff Smoker?"

"I see your childish awe in such things has not diminished at all, at your age. Having said that, I read this quite some time, ago. There was no need for you to go out of your way to find me for a recap. I chose this area for a reason, and that was to get away from that headache," Mihawk said, lifting his tea.

"Look, to be honest, when Luffy called me in to help, I didn't expect to come out for it. But I did. Maybe I had a deathwish of my own, maybe I was tired of roaming around. I expected to do a whole lot less, but when I saw them fighting to the very end, I ended up letting some information slip to the press regarding the Strawhats' victory. Maybe I gave them some other pretty words, maybe I was involved with making sure all the strings around them were nice and tight," Shanks said with a sigh, pushing aside the paper and picking at what remained on Mihawk's plate.

"After all, even if they were successful against the Marines, they're only a small obstacle in their quest to see the ocean," he added.

"All this trouble just to see water?" Mihawk asked, lowering his cup.

"And a bunch of other things. One wants to be the greatest swordsman on this continent, one wants to open a restaurant, one wants to be rich, another wants to live a full life! They're all a bunch of really cute kids, I'm sure you'll like them."

"I hate kids. I hate noise. I'm here for a reason. Now, leave me be. You're making this tea taste bad."

Shanks gave him an exasperated look. "At your age, are you really that ready to hang up that sword? How about doing something exciting, for once, and getting involved?"

"I'm sure the path behind me can show just how much I loved being 'involved'."

"Yeah, ew. Seriously. You just leave those people to rot in the hot sun, that's disgusting. Don't you miss your kid? Roronoa?"

"He's not my 'kid'. And, no, I trust that he's in good hands. From what I've seen, his swords speak well of him."

"C'mon, I've got a request to ask of you," Shanks then said, leaning on the table, trying to look into his face as Mihawk wore his hat low to obscure his unusual eyes. With impatience, those eyes focused on him and Shanks sat back down. "With the Marines on the look out for them, I'd ask that you cover their backs. As a favor. Just until a few affairs are settled with the territories."

"You want me involved? That's your damn request? Couldn't you have penned a letter?"

"This is why I'm asking – I'd met Luffy years ago, when he was just a squirt. For some reason, he was inspired by me," Shanks said, taking a moment to stroke his chin. Mihawk's flat stare showed no expression, so Shanks grumbled and reset himself. "But his goal is simple – he just wants to get to the West coast with his friends. Things just happen to fall into his lap along the way. One of the kids involved has a big family back East that actually have a hand in the Marines' territorial expansion plans. Big money, big medical experimentation, big power. If the territories are under the control of these two powers, what do you think will happen to people like us?"

"Absolutely nothing if certain people just keep their mouths shut and stop tracking people down to bother them with their nonsense."

"We'll be tracked down, too! There's already talks that Buggy went down, two weeks ago. They're finding all of the old crew and eliminating them so there's no bigger bug on the window than the Strawhats. That's how big their name is, old friend! They want none of us to assist! So therefore, I'm asking you, if you can join in with me. All I do is sell information to the press, cause a little scene here and there to give Luffy his respect, and maybe, just maybe, do a little shooting on the side to keep the scene going."

"I promised to fulfill a single favor, in exchange for you covering my back years ago. If this is the favor you want me to fill, then, fine. But I'll do it my own way."

"Really? Hah! Amazing!" Shanks exclaimed, rising from his chair with a laugh. "I'll leave you to it, then. We'll be in contact. Just…please. Promise me something."

"It's already been too much, already."

"Enjoy yourself. Live the rest of your life knowing you've done something you at least had fun doing."

With that, Shanks walked off with a whistle, and Mihawk frowned ever so slightly, looking at the newspaper once more. He had no idea why Shanks would even think that he hadn't enjoyed himself thus far, but he wasn't going to think about it, anymore. He finished his tea and rose from the table. There was much he had to do to fulfill his promise.

: :

Luffy groaned heavily, hanging over the rock with dramatic action. Their wagon had broken an axle, so Ussop and Shachi were fixing it, and both of them were hot and angry because they didn't have the right tools or parts. Zoro had gotten lost somewhere after saying he needed to find a restroom, so Law had taken the horses to go back and find him. Nami was fanning herself in just her bodice and underskirt, so Kidd was hitting on her, getting shot down every time, and Sanji had wandered off to a nearby creek with Tony because Tony wanted to go swimming. They'd run out of food because Luffy had been 'snacking' on had been nearly a day's worth of travel, but to Nami, they hadn't gone very far. They'd burned Penguin's body so Shachi could carry the ashes with him, and that night, they'd agreed to leave their mourning behind.

"This is so unfair! I'm so hungry! I hate it here! Someone, go hunting!"

"This is all your fault!' Nami growled at him, adjusting the temporary shade over her head. "If you hadn't eaten all the food - !"

"I didn't break the axle!"

"Does anybody know how to hunt?" Kidd asked, looking wondrous. "I know the guys in my group did. I didn't have to do anything but look awesome."

"Sanji said his family were trappers, maybe he does!" Luffy said with a wide-eyed expression.

"That guy comes from traders? Hah! That explains it!" Kidd said with a laugh.

"What does that mean?" Luffy asked curiously, looking over at him.

"Never mind, Luffy, he's just being an ass." Nami shielded her eyes and looked into the distance. "Once we're done, all we have to do is continue heading west. There's a town over there. We should be fine."

"Let's just start walking, then. We should get there by nightfall!"

"We don't leave anybody behind! How's it going over there, Ussop?"

"Not good," he said with a sigh, straightening from the wagon as Shachi fanned himself with an uncomfortable look. Both men were sweaty and uncomfortable, having removed their shirts, and Nami shook her head because both were getting hideously sunburned."I need parts. Walking to town will probably be better."

"That settles it. Luffy, go find Sanji and Tony. I'll write a note to let Zoro and Law know where we are," Nami said.

"You won't have to," Kidd said, pointing off in the distance. "There they are."

"You found him!" Luffy cried in delight, running from the rock he'd been sunning himself on, then paused short with a suspicious look. "You guys both look like you were fighting."

"Wind storm," Zoro grumbled, sliding off the horse with a stumble, momentarily bow legged.

Nami frowned at both men. Luffy was right. Law had pieces of tumbleweed in his wild black hair, and Zoro had dirt and pieces of sagebrush all over him. Both looked angry and obviously battered, and she rose from her temporary shade to inspect them closely. She reached out and snatched pieces of the desert from them as they studiously avoided looking at each other.

"Some 'windstorm'," she said.

"I was thrown off the horse," Zoro said tightly. "I grew pissed about it. We had some words. Before the wind storm."

"And your excuse?"

"I kicked his ass for getting pissed at me," Law said.

"You didn't kick my ass! I kicked yours!"

"Ha ha! Okay, okay, truce, at least you're back, Zoro," Luffy said with a laugh, coming between them. "I'll go find the others. We're going to walk to town to find parts."

As he walked off, Nami reached out and grabbed Zoro by the ear and the reins to Law's horse, the animal stumbling as she pulled them close together. "Whatever this was about, you both drop it. Zoro, you ass, if Luffy hears that you went back to that cave after what you heard, he's not going to be happy. We don't kill people! Sanji had asked that we drop it!"

"Then next time, you tell me the truth!" Zoro snarled, kicking Law's horse, the animal leaping forward with a squeal, tossing the man while Nami jerked out of the way with a screech of her own, trying not to get trampled. "Hiding something like that from me - like I wouldn't find out? Fucking ridiculous!"

Law picked himself up from the ground with a snarl, and both men reached for their weapons. Nami rolled her eyes. "He'd asked that we not talk about it! And here you go, putting yourself in that position, slaughtering dumbfucks like they were chickens."

"You fucking didn't do it!"

"I only did the ones responsible for it!"

"For a guy like you, you're a fucking pansy!"

"Not Vivi?" Ussop asked cautiously.

"She wasn't there," Zoro said, sheathing his sword as he heard Tony's voice. He glared at Law, who glared right back at him, putting his knife away. "Next time, do it right."

"You should put those feelings away. They're not needed out here," Law told him, walking away to retrieve the horse while Nami looked at Zoro with a shocked expression. Zoro's face purpled, veins pulsing.

"Zoro?" Nami said tentatively.

"Isn't that what friends do?" Zoro asked with exasperation. "They kill whomever wronged a friend?"

"That's so sweet," Nami said with a delighted grin. "That is the sweetest! That is the first time you've said anything about Sanji being your friend!"

"Is this another cultural wall thing that I am not getting?"

Sanji and Tony reached them at that moment, Luffy talking excitedly about their next course of plans. He and Tony headed for the wagon to see what Ussop and Shachi had been doing. Sanji removed the cigarette from his mouth and grinned wide at Zoro. "How do you get lost taking a shit? Honestly. Do we have to tie you to the wagon?"

Zoro snarled at him, then stomped off, Sanji looking after him with amusement. He followed after him to continue giving him shit, and only hurried off when Zoro threatened to cut him. Laughing, he then walked over to Law and started picking the weeds from his hair. Luffy and Tony raced over to see if they could get a quick ride on the animal with some supervision, haggling Law to help them.

"Ugh, you guys! Honestly! The testosterone here drives me insane! Straighten up, and don't let Sanji know what you did, because then Luffy will get pissed, and we do not want to see that again," she growled low, heading to the wagon to retrieve some of her things. "Let's go! The town ahead will have what we need to cool off hot heads! I just hope it's ready for you."