~

"What, full already?" Law teased, opening another packet of Flevance specialty potato chips.

"I've been eating the entire day..." Luffy countered, pouting.

"First, you were studying without a break, now you are saying you're full, the world really is ending."

"My tummy hurts."

"Come here." Law pulled out a bottle of white syrup especially for tummy aches an acidity and fed two spoon-fulls to his boyfriend. "This will help."

"Tastes minty." Luffy smacked his lips together then cleared the area for sleeping.

After the music performance, Law had taken Luffy to a restaurant of his choice, for a nice dinner, then they went to the treehouse where Law had taken the liberty to stock various snacks from countries and cultures he had visited. Luffy had eaten through only a quarter of those food items before deciding he couldn't eat more.

"Thank fuck I can sleep tonight." Law mumbled under his breath, scooting closer to Luffy and putting his arm around the younger's torso. Luffy quickly changed their positions and slumped himself of top of Law, burying his cheek in the older's neck. "Luffy."

"Hmm?"

"What do you want as a present?"

"I can make a wish?" Luffy got up from his position, excited.

"Just one but it has to be reasonable and within the realm of possibility." Law answered. "What do you have in mind?"

"You've already said no to it."

"If it's about our rule then yeah, that's out."

"It's not that."

"Then try again."

Luffy took a break and looked at Law, thinking if making this particular wish would ruin the nice, comfortable air between them. But Luffy decided to trust Law, that since the older was giving him an opportunity to make a wish, he must be open to it, to some extent. "Get a house in Goa."

Law looked at Luffy then sighed. "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"Nope!"

"Alright then, let's hear your reasoning for that."

Luffy laid back down. "Well, hotels are cold for one."

"No they are not, there is always heating installed."

"Not that kinda cold."

"Oh..." Law recalled. "The kind of cold that settles in places that are not homes?"

"Yeah. Then it's so small all the time, with a house, you can make your own setups, have your own fridge with your own favourites foods."

"Luffy, who's going to manage all that?" Law asked, patting the younger's back. "I can't be bothered with all that after two long flights and I can't keep track of things even in Flevance, the guys do it all the time."

"So I'll do it whenever you are visiting. I'll get the house clean and restock so you don't have to worry about those things." Luffy offered.

"You'd just fill the fridge with meat, humans need a lot of different nutrients."

"Then I'll ask Sanji to help too."

"I can't cook so there's no point in having uncooked food."

"You can't cook?"

"Not the fancy kind of stuff Kuroashi-ya makes, not basic things either, just some packaged stuff that has ingredients and instructions already in it." Law shrugged.

"Sanji would have a heart attack if he heard you say packaged food." Luffy laughed.

"I've never had the time or mental energy or need to learn." Law defended himself.

"Then we can learn together if you want."

Law thought on it a little. "I'm not making promises about that but ok, I can learn."

"Back to the house, is there any reason you don't want to have one here?" Luffy thought he'd ask since it didn't feel like Law's reluctance was only limited to inconvenience.

"Well..." Law started and sat up, pulling his boyfriend along with him. "I don't like permanent things."

"Your tattoos look pretty permanent." Luffy countered immediately, just as a pointer, no bite to his words.

"I didn't have a home for the longest time so... I don't want too many and jinx everything."

"Then I will call it my home so it doesn't get jinxed." Luffy said puffing his chest, taking care on not asking about what Law had meant with not having a home.

Law chuckled a little. "You just want to stay over somewhere that's not a hotel."

"Yeah! Hotels are so stuffy!" Luffy complained and slumped. Law was quiet for a few moments, Luffy wondered what was going on through the older's head.

"Ok." Law said finally. "I'll get a house."

~

"I wanna go too!" Luffy whined, pouting and hanging off Law.

"You have your exams soon, stay and study." The older said patting his boyfriend on his head. Law was at Luffy's house, waiting for Franky and Usopp to join him so they could go look for houses.

"Fine." The younger was not happy about it but there was nothing he could do about it either, he was the one who had told Law repeatedly to look for the house soon. "Where have you decided you wanna look?"

"Preferably the old location, if the actual house can be salvaged."

"The basement house?" Luffy asked, Law nodded. "Because of the basement?"

"Yes, Smoker told me all the equipment is still there so best that house than somewhere else."

"Did you actually see the house though?"

"I know it has a lot of rooms, someone probably got murdered there, and maybe it wasn't on the market for lease because of that." Law shrugged.

"Then why do you wanna go there?"

"I'm not leaving my incinerator behind."

"I'll ask Robin if she can dig up some history on that house." Luffy offered and began texting his friend.

"I'll see you later, the guys are here." Law said and left after kissing Luffy on the cheek.

~

"What do you know, Law was right." Sabo muttered, incredulous at the things he was reading.

"Man this is just sad." Koala agreed.

"Dragon-san, what do you think?"

"Show it to Law first, see what he comments about this." Dragon said leaning back in his chair. The three were in their Goa office after Sabo had managed to obtain the research data from the computer and office of Ace's doctor. "Morgans will want this scoop."

"About Law..." Sabo started. "I found some things about him-"

"Don't look into his past and activities Sabo." Dragon's words were strict and final.

"But- you know he's from old Flevance, I'm curious how he got out alive, and how he's not ill, and-"

"You will not look into this any further."

Koala looked from Sabo to Dragon, nervous, the RA leader had never told Sabo to stop digging into things like this before. She understood that the blond was only doing this because he wanted to look out for Luffy but looking at Dragon, she thought it would be better if Sabo stopped.

"Do you know something I don't?" Sabo asked, eyes narrowed.

"Law's past and present circumstances are of no significance or threat to us or Luffy. You will stop while you're ahead." Dragon said and walked off.

It was exactly like Sabo had suspected, Dragon knew more than Luffy's brothers did, he knew more than Luffy himself did. Right when Luffy had went missing, the Revolutionary Army leader had given it some time to see if it was just a phase Luffy was going through that he had run away and would be back himself, but when months went by, the boy's father had begun his own search and it wasn't until news reached him that a teenage boy in a yellow submarine had wrecked sex houses in the North Blue that Dragon realize where Luffy had been all along.

Dragon sighed, he knew who Law was right from the moment the older boy had saved Luffy, and he had let Law take care of the younger boy without intervention, not sensing any threat from him. Even now, Dragon knew about the illegal activities and research Law was involved in, the kind of demons that had followed him but were now keeping their distance, Dragon knew all of it and he was ok with the relationship the boys had. Even if Luffy was a little naïve and ignorant in the ways of the world, Dragon had found him a great judge of character and it had never harmed Luffy before. Even if he wasn't much active in Luffy's life, he was still his son and in his own way, Dragon cared.

~

"This is the house you were telling me about?" Franky asked looking over the building that looked like it was not only going to fall but gave the aura that it would combust spontaneously as well.

"I... it wasn't this bad the last time I was here." Law defended, confused with what had happened. "The basement was in my use and even if I wasn't using the rest of the house, it didn't look like it would fall over."

"Isn't this the same house that was in the news before it all got covered up?" Usopp asked, legs shaking a little when Franky decided to go inside and inspect.

"Yes, it is." Law confirmed and followed the big man inside. "They could have at least cleaned the blood off." The doctor covered his face with his masks again, not wanting to risk any contamination.

"B-b-blood?"

"Hmm. The news that got covered up," Law began. "I had a patient who ended up causing problems. The garage side might also have damage from when I backed the car up in the last guy's body."

"Oh the time you got shot! Luffy wouldn't shut up about it!"

"He really wouldn't." Law rolled his eyes.

"Should we even be here? Isn't the government holding the rights on this place?"

"My grandfather is government, I can get this place easy."

"Law bro, this place has a lot of rooms! And check out the size of this living room! Awouh!" Franky called attention to the present. "Are you sure you want a place this big?"

"I don't think Luffy can help himself from inviting you guys over whenever he wants and I don't want to tell him he can't bring his friends over because there is no room so... the bigger the better I guess."

"His friends? Law brrrroo! You are nakama too bro!" Franky patted the doctor on his back, crying. "Such a big heart!"

"Are you buying for yourself or for Luffy?" Usopp asked checking the durability of the pipe hanging from the ceiling.

"You really think Luffy is going to leave me alone whenever I am in Goa, with a house under my name?" Law asked shaking his head.

"Yeah, no. My bad, sorry."

"Ok let's check out the basement now." Franky said and Law led the way.

"Ughh!" Law coughed when he opened the basement door, then closed it immediately. "Back away, out."

"What's the problem?" Usopp asked.

"Do not go down there without a mask on." The doctor said pulling out extra masks from his fanny pack and handing them to the men. "The whole room is filled with incinerator dust."

"What's so bad about that?" Franky asked confused, pulling the mask on.

"The thing that's bad about it is, that I threw a guy in the incinerator when I left so it's probably his dust that's clouding the room."

"You burned a man in there?" Usopp was back to his shaking.

"He shot me, what choice did I have?" Law muttered and headed back towards the door, walking in the basement. Everything was exactly as he had left it, the police hadn't moved a thing.

"A lot of stuff here." Franky noticed looking around.

"I hope it's still working." The doctor went to machine after machine, checking the condition of each piece of equipment and bagging the surgical instruments in a zip-lock bag.

"You didn't come back here after the incident?"

"Laying low or something in those terms." Law scanned the rest of the area, went through the cupboards and frowned. "I should just burn all of this."

Usopp and Franky shared a look behind Law's back and shrugged when they couldn't guess why the doctor had said what he did.

"There are a few other houses too, you wanna check those out?" Franky asked instead.

"Yes please." Law said immediately turning away from the things he was inspecting and going up the stairs and out of the house.

~

Luffy was looking at Law sipping hot tea, cradling the mug in his hands for more than a minute, then sipping again. The older had been quiet since he got back and Luffy tried getting answers from Franky and Usopp but they didn't know what had happened either. Robin was also at Luffy's, also observing the surgeon, sharing brief glances with Luffy every now and then.

"Torao." Luffy called but the man's eyes were fixed somewhere else. "Torao."

"Yes?" Law snapped out of his daze and looked at Luffy.

"Why are you so quiet?" The young man asked but the older was already zoning out again. "Torao!"

"What- sorry what?"

"What's wrong? You keeping spacing out."

"I was just thinking..." Law shook his head and turned to Robin. "Were you able to find something on that house?"

"Just that it belonged to a family of eleven. Twenty years ago when they hit sudden poverty, the man hanged all his nine children, shot his wife and then himself. The house has been abandoned since." Robin explained, smiling.

"Add two more to the overall death count in that house."

"So you're not getting that house fixed?" Luffy asked moving closer to Law, gauging it was alright now to approach. The older looked at his boyfriend and smiled.

"No. I went into the basement where I was shot and I... I wanted to burn that place down."

"Why?"

"I got angry at the sight of everything there, wasting like that."

"Franky can fix your machines too, you know."

Law shook his head. "No, I'd probably scrap it all, or I don't know, donate it to a hospital."

"Oh we'll take it then, for Grey Terminal."

"That works too."

"Did you find a house then, in the end?" Robin asked.

"Yes. It's closer to the hospital, there's a big yard in the back too."

"Are you getting it?" Luffy asked, excited.

"I think so. Robo-ya is going to go back and review the renovation factors, then he'll get back to me with updates and advice." Law slid his empty mug on the table in front of him and sighed.

"You're not making another basement for your black market patients?"

"Not here."

"Is Law here?" The party heard Sabo ask when he got back home.

"Yes." The surgeon answered and took the folder he was handed. "What's this?"

"Ace's doctor's research."

"Oh!" Luffy jumped closer to Law, looking over his shoulder as the older pulled out the pages from inside the folder and began reading through them. "This is hilarious." Law bit his lip to keep himself from chuckling publicly. "Adrenal gland in the brain... adrenal gland..." Law then turned to Luffy. "Where is the adrenal gland situated?"

"On top of the kidneys." The younger answered immediately.

Law patted Luffy's head and smiled. "Good. You've been studying well." The doctor then turned to his boyfriend's blond brother. "See, even Luffy knows and this quack has written that the adrenal gland is in the brain. I doubt anything in his research is going to be medically correct."

"I just read over the part where the prescribed medicines were generations old but this..." Sabo frowned.

"I will read over this and highlight the messed up parts, give me a few hours."

"Can you help look for another doctor too?"

"If you can provide me a list of names, I can help choosing one." Law offered. "I do have to ask though, Ace-ya's boyfriend, Marco-ya, he is a proper doctor himself, how is it that I am the person who's noticing the errors of this quack?"

"Ace's attacks, oddly enough, rarely happen with Marco around." Sabo rubbed his chin, deep in thought himself now.

"And somehow he didn't even know about the medicines too? I'm not buying that."

"Ace probably didn't tell Marco anything." Luffy said this time. "He keeps things sometimes even from us."

"Well, I will help where I can." Law suppressed his laughter again thinking about the blunder he had read in the research. "Guess we're both studying." The older told Luffy with a small smile.

"Let's study together in my room then! It'll be fun!"

"I get irritated when someone disturbs me so don't do that." Law warned.

"Ok!"

"And if you get up to anything funny, I will kick you out even though it's your room."

"Luffy, better study now before meeting Vivi tomorrow." Robin interjected, flipping through a magazine she got from somewhere Luffy didn't know, sipping her tea that Luffy didn't know when she got.

"Oh yeah! Torao!" Luffy turned to Law. "Vivi's here! And we're gonna meet up tomorrow for the laws thing."

"I'll be there." Law agreed and got up from the sofa to go to Luffy's room, taking the younger along with him. "Give me some highlighters."

"You can take the bed, it's comfier." Luffy said handing the markers to his boyfriend and sat down on his chair to open his own books. "Robin's here to tutor me some stuff so she's gonna be in here when she finishes her tea."

"Ok." Law put on his glasses and made himself comfortable on the bed, beginning his reading through the most atrocious piece of research he had ever read. Law knew Luffy was stealing glances every now and then so Law threw a pillow at the younger when he noticed him looking again. "Eyes on your book."

"Boo!"

Sabo kept an eye on the boyfriends with the pretense of bringing snacks every now and then, he found out he didn't even have to worry since Law was so focused he barely noticed Sabo coming and going. Sabo had to admit, Law looked like an actual, professional, best of the best, doctor with his glasses on. Ace thought so too when he got back and peeked in the room. By that time, Robin was also there, helping Luffy through some history.

"Torao looks like he's become a statue." Luffy whispered to Robin when the woman told him he could take a small break. Robin also looked over at the doctor and found him completely still, reading, moving only to turn pages.

Robin chuckled. "He certainly does, very admirable focus."

"I can hear you both." Law glared briefly in the direction of the two then got up and put his glasses away. "I'm going to tell your brother about my findings."

"Ok."

~

Nefartari Vivi, to Law, was a human even more beautiful in person, not only in terms of looks, but confidence and ideals and the efforts she was doing in bringing those ideals to reality, it was all very beautiful. Law could feel it all radiate off her even without saying a word to her and when he did, he was stuck in the moment for a few seconds.

"Trafalgar Law." Law introduced shaking the girl's hand.

"Nefartari Vivi." Vivi shook the hand with an impressive grip.

"Ok that's enough!" Nami complained pulling Vivi close to herself and Luffy pouted pushing Law away from the blue haired royal.

"Torao!"

"It's not every day I meet impressive humans, let me bask in it." Law clarified.

"That's all?" Luffy narrowed his eyes.

Law rolled his eyes and they went to Nami being protective of Vivi and despite himself, Law whistled, making both the women turn red. "So that's what's going on."

"What!" Nami shrieked, defensive.

"You got yourself a sugarmama, I think that's the right term."

"Don't say that about Vivi! I really love her!"

"No doubts there." Law grinned when Nami and Vivi turned redder at the realization at what Nami had said.

"Ok let's study those laws!"

The group went to the Thousand Sunny where Sanji already was ready to throw himself into work for whatever the women wanted to eat. The four read through the laws Vivi had drafted, Law had pointed out some things for clarifications and substitutes for other things and it was quite some time before they called it a day.

The days that followed were mostly Law studying the list and qualifications of the list of doctors Sabo had provided, Luffy had his examinations, News Coo brought forth a very funny illustration of the quack and his bad research, Franky got back to Law about the house and a huge party at the Thousand Sunny for no reason other than the fact that Luffy wanted to party.

Luffy was once called to the school a few days before the graduation ceremony for something the younger hadn't told anyone and his moods weren't giving anything away either. Law was a little worried that the younger might be getting held up in a subject or two but Luffy assured him that he had passed all his papers. And so came the day of the graduation.

Usopp graduated first position in his entire grade, which was something to celebrate. The long-nosed boy had made a speech about being grateful to everything and everyone. What nobody had expected was for Luffy to walk to the mic once Usopp had left, looking over at the principal who walked and handed Luffy his diploma with a sigh and a disbelieved shake of the head, nodding for the teacher at the other mic to make the announcement.

"Monkey D. Luffy, second position in the grade."

A loud chorus of 'WHAT' erupted from the crowd which calmed down when Luffy laughed his signature shishishi. The young boy leaned into the mic and grinned.

"It's all thanks to niku, nakama and Torao's promise of buffets." Luffy said and ran off the stage for the ceremony to continue.

Two positions in the Strawhat group called for a big celebration, Luffy being one of the positions called for an even bigger one. Pictures were taken, hugs were given, hats were thrown in the wind, the last of the Strawhats were done with their schools too.

Law and Luffy were walking the block one night after the graduation, the older still not being able to digest that Luffy not only fulfilled his promise of graduating but got As in all his subjects, those were going to be a lot of buffets, but Law didn't regret making the promise. The only subject Usopp excelled at more than Luffy was plant biology and Luffy wasn't sore it, he was glad it was all over.

Law breathed in the night, feeling like he should head back to Flevance now that he had attended Luffy's birthday and graduation. He was going to bring it up with the younger but remembered that nothing was holding Luffy down anymore and Law's stupid rule about not going to Flevance while still in school was also now over.

Law looked over at his boyfriend and smiled. "So now that you have graduated as well, wanna come back to Flevance with me?"

~