"What do you mean 'I'm on my own'?!"

Kidd had the decency not to scream that out for the whole street to hear, but a demon's senses were strong, and Law still went out of his way to take a pause in his meal and give a concerned look his way.

Waving him off with a wave of his hand, the redhead was able to allow an amused smirk crack through- mostly at the expense of how hard Law was making it seem to use chopsticks, until Akainu's voice reached him again.

"I said you're on your own! We have no time or the money to waste on scavenging the globe for you-" Kidd pursed his lips at the boldface lie, "besides, if you were incompetent enough to mess up on a mission like this, then you might as well be better left lost"

Okay, now that...

Maybe it was because he was so sure Kidd wouldn't be able to ever return, but Akainu never dared go as to demean him that far, and there was no way Kidd was going to let him go that far, world's hailed exorcist be damned.

"What?! That's bullshit! I know for a fact-!" "Are you questioning me Eustass?!" The redhead flinched back and hissed for his poor, poor ear.

If anyone could beat him at yelling, it was Akainu.

"Listen here- you know what? Nevermind-" oh the apprentice could already feel the rage that must've been building up in waves.

"I'll be back in a week's time, so don't you worry about little old me, sir" voice dripping with sarcasm, by the time Kidd already hung up on the man, he regretted not sticking around a little longer, just to hear the fucker lose his shit.

The apprentice took a moment or two, staring hard into the public phone until a rapid knocking was heard against the booth's glass, like that was a trigger, a wide grin split along his face, and it only grew wider upon seeing Law pressed up against the glass, with his own smile puckered up by swollen cheeks.

Stepping out of the booth, the redhead laughed, allowing Law to hook an arm around his elbow and lead him to an alley, the best way to have a conversation clear from the street's many stray eyes.

"Well, it looks like we're on our own to get back" watching the demon swallow whatever he had in his mouth, Kidd only raised a nonexistent brow as Law pulled out a container of dumplings, seemingly from thin air, and spent no time ripping at them like a man possessed.

"I thought those noodles from earlier would've been enough.." although, suddenly the redhead felt concern as Law proceeded to finish the dumplings in record time, and proceed to pull out another container of food, and another, and another..

As the demon focused on nothing but the food in his hands, the apprentice leaned over the smaller man and studied his face for any abnormalities, "hey, you've been starved or what..?"

For the first time since Law tugged him off the street, the demon looked him in the eyes and blinked, evidently only beginning to listen to him now.

After what seemed to have been a real struggle with himself, Law moved his face away from the container and actively forced himself to keep his attention on Kidd, "sorry.. being in the middle of a place like this.. swarming with people's sins, it makes it hard to control my own"

That seemed to have been the end of Law's self control, as the demon immediately went back to stuffing his face with whatever he could get his hands on- as Kidd finally realized that Law was using magic to steal food from nearby vendors.

Kidd pursed his lips at the info.

So demons were affected by the sins of other people..

If that was the case, then his partner was utterly useless in this state.

Clicking his tongue, Kidd stepped back out into the street and looked for a more vacant area, only to curse to see it was crowded all around.

"Okay.. let's go find you a place to breathe" gripping onto Law's arm, the apprentice effortlessly dragged the other man along with him, although, most of that was because the demon was making himself weightless, mostly to ease the way for him and allow himself an easier time indulging in his sudden impulse of gluttony.

Eventually finding a pretty empty park, Kidd sat himself onto a bench and patiently waited for the demon's... whatever it was, to wear off.

As if being taken away from the crowd changed him instantly, Law froze in his eating soon enough, and promptly dropped the now empty dish to the ground- or it would've hit the ground if it didn't vanish first.

Smirking in amusement, Kidd watched as something akin to embarrassment coat a pretty red hue over Law's tan skin.

Shuffling over to silently give the man a break, the raven spent no time at all to seat himself next to the exorcist, all signs of embarrassment now gone.

"Sorry about that, I forgot how strongly a human's sins can influence me" Kidd shrugged his shoulders, "you didn't hurt nobody, 'cept maybe those vendors you stole from" Law had the gall to snicker.

"Like they'd miss a few dishes.. anyway" giving his wings a short stretch, Law reclined himself backwards, and Kidd had a full view of the demon's tattoos, before he could think against it though, he pressed a hand to one of Law's pecs and studied the images in growing interest.

"What do the marks on your body mean..?" Law, in turn, relaxed under the touch, awfully enjoying the feeling of warm hands on his bare body, well, mostly bare.

"Ah, well not all demons have them first off.." craning his torso to twist around, the raven gave Kidd a good view of his back, and consequentially, the base of wings as well.

The redhead softly trailed a hand down the spine of Law's body, and when he reached the beginning of where wings met flesh, he felt a dash of daring, and slowly derailed his hands to curve along the edges of the leathery appendages.

There was a shiver from the demon, but besides the slightest twitches of the wings, he spoke unperturbed, "only demons who were once human get these tattoos.." prying his eyes away from the shaking wings, Kidd paused at the mischievous expression Law held.

"I didn't know there were demons that used to be human" the raven snorted, folding his wings and leaning back, Kidd had to angle his face in a certain direction as to avoid getting his eye poked out by a horn, leaving them both in a position that one might accuse as cuddling.

Nevertheless, Law reveled against the contrast of his cold body and Kidd's warm one, only further complimented by the thick, furry coat between them.

"Mnn, not many people do.. it's uncommon, only sinners in hell the Devils or other big shots think are impressive- or amusing, get the honor"

Kidd hummed once to show he was listening, "and the tattoos?"

Holding Law closer as the raven let out an airy sound of his own, without thinking, the redhead pressed his face into his hair- and hey, turns out he liked the smell of Law's hair a lot.

In fact, he's never felt so content before, despite the utter shittiness of the situation, somehow, he just felt so fulfilled.

Kidd was just starting to think that Law forgot about his question when he spoke up, "they're a story.. of our sins before dying" humming thoughtfully, Kidd felt compelled to ask more, but then the conversation on the phone returned to him and his mood soured.

"Shit" hissing angrily, Law recognized the irritation in his voice and pulled away, seemingly having come to the same realization as him, "we're getting distracted here.."

Sitting back on his side of the bench, the demon tried not to look disappointed and failed miserably, though whether it was due to the lack of actually wanting to cover it up, or the sudden concern over the fogginess in his clear thinking, Law couldn't decide.

They really were getting off track, though that wasn't what suddenly annoyed Kidd, he was more annoyed at the fact that there was a track to keep to, because in that very moment, he just wanted to sit there and talk with Law until the sun went down.

There was a stretch of awkward silence, both men waiting for the other to prompt them into a new conversation, but neither made a move.

"So.. you were saying something earlier after that phone call?" Law was the first to break the ice, albeit almost hesitantly.

Groaning exasperatingly, Kidd carded his fingers through his hair, staring blankly into whatever was ahead of him without paying any notice to the things around him, "we need to come up with a way to America on our own, those bastards have been looking for a way to get rid of me forever-" the redhead abruptly sat up, "and we gotta do it in a week"

Lips instinctively twitching into a smile, Law craned his neck over the apprentice's shoulder and chuckled knowingly, "and.. is there a reason we have a week?"

Kidd shrugged, "'cause that bastard was being too fucking high and mighty.." trailing off again, Law didn't mind it until a few minutes went by.

"That was the first time I've ever really spoke my mind to him.." the demon's grin widened, "I could tell, your soul was radiating so brightly I nearly had to look away"

The redhead snorted and rose from the bench, "alright, we're getting distracted again, we gotta find a way to get back to that hellhole in a week"

Law made an audible gasp of recollection, "about that.."

Kidd quirked his head to the side, smile all teeth and interest, "oh? You got an idea? It's not flying over with those wings of your's, right?"

Though Kidd said that rhetorically, he grew stiff when the raven gave it a contemplating hum, "oh? That sounds almost better than my first suggestion.." luckily for Kidd, the smaller man just laughed at his expression, not being serious at all.

"Alright, enough games.. actually, there's a way we can get back, but the odds are.. risky" Kidd grinned at that, interest spiking at the hushed tone, the apprentice sat back down and leaned in close, eyes reflecting Law's with mischievousness.

"How so?" Kidd whispered.

Law's smirk broadened into a grin, "I know of an acquaintance who can transport us in a jiffy, problem is he's young and inexperienced, we could be transported right on their doorstep, drop somewhere halfway, or end up farther than we are now"

There was a brief moment of consideration before the redhead was already hoisting the demon off the bench, "which way do we go Law?"

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"This is the place?"

Kidd didn't really know what he was imagining, when Law described this acquaintance, the words that stuck out were 'honorable' and 'lazy', though the only reason the second one stood out so much was because Law followed that up with a telling that this guy supposedly hibernated for eight months every year.

It wasn't even a species thing, it was just his choice for some overly complicated reason that he ended up muting out.

Staring up at the abandoned temple, he analyzed the various depictions of some unrecognizable God and came up short of any answers.

"This acquaintance-" "is a God, yes" Law nonchalantly came out with the apprentice's assumption and watched as his expression slackened with surprise.

"He's new- a few decades old, that's why he's still not in control of his abilities, unfortunately though, all of his believers died off from a foul sickness a while after his birth, so I'm afraid he'll never get a hold of them"

Kidd hissed through his teeth, feeling somewhat sympathetic to this unfortunate God.

Smirking lightheartedly, Law patted Kidd's shoulder with a sigh before dragging him in, "no need to feel bad Kidd, he's much over it, in fact, since he's not exactly aware of what he's missing, he couldn't care less"

They passed a few statues on the way inside, and the redhead could tell someone was watching them from deeper within.

"Roronoa Zoro! Me and my companion could use some assistance!"

Like Law's call was a summon, a new being formed in the shadows, once settling into the appearance of a young, Asian man with bright green hair, he yawned dozily, and Kidd wondered if he was in the middle of an aforementioned hibernation.

"What do you want?" The God did not sound overly pleased with their visit, but Kidd was quick to notice that there wasn't any hostility either.

The guy just sounded like he wanted to go back to sleep as swiftly as possible.

Law gestured himself and Kidd, then stepped closer to the redhead, as if affirming that they were together, "me and my partner here need to go to America, so-" before Law could even finish they vanished.

Zoro glared into the void they used to be and stalked back into the shadows, "all these damn people using me like I'm some kind of teleportation device.." muttering as his form distorted, there was nothing but silence by the time he returned to his sleep.

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"-I was wonder-" Law cut himself off as they were both thrown face first into a tree.

"The fuck?!" Kidd clutched his face tightly, little pinpricks of tears sparked at the corner of his eyes from the pain, but the redhead refused to cry over a slam in the face.

Law though, looked exasperated more than anything, "we must have caught him at a bad time, looks like he just sent us over here on his own accord.."

Just as the apprentice was about to curse that stupid ass God, a pedestrian approached him, unknowingly walking through Law as he did so, "are- are you alright?"

This was when Kidd took notice of their surroundings.

It was the side of a road- a highway to be specific, and on the said road, was a parked truck, evidently belonging to the guy trying to help him out.

"You look roughed up pretty badly, were you mugged?" Again, the guy tried to help Kidd out, but he decided to just avoid that question in favor of his own.

"Which-" just making sure, he took a glance at the closest speed limit sign and yes, it was using miles, "-state is this?"

The man looked perplexed, and maybe a tad concerned, but answered nonetheless, "this is Washington.."

The redhead took a deep relieved breath, they made it to America after all..

Then he nearly choked.

Washington was roughly two thousand and five hundred miles from the capital Washington, their destination.

"I'm gonna kill that God next time we see him!"

Law just laughed.