~

"Fucking hell where did that shithead go?" Law cursed looking around. The two had left the building to explore and eventually go to the memorial site but once passing through some abandoned buildings, Law had lost Luffy. The older rang his boyfriend's phone and thankfully it did ring this time and because the area was abandoned, the ringtone got carried with the wind, Law followed the music.

It took some time but Law found the correct path where the flow of the music was the clearest. Unfortunately, Law recognized the area... it was...

Panic settled in the older as he began to run, made haste to get to Luffy and didn't stop when he found the younger crouching in front of some rubble, stars in his eyes. The moment Luffy noticed Law, he turned to the older.

"Hey Torao! Look! A white rock! So cool!"

Law couldn't get the correct words out but he ran faster when he saw the younger about to take the said white rock in his hand. The distance wasn't closing as fast as Law would have liked it to so the older opted to use his long leg and kicked Luffy in the face, to create some distance between the young man and the rubble.

"What's the big deal Torao?!" Luffy whined rubbing at his nose. Suddenly Luffy's vision was filled with a very panic stricken face of Torao, the older's hands gripping Luffy's arms hard.

"Did you touch it?" Law asked, breathless from having to run as fast as he had.

"Huh?"

"DID YOU TOUCH IT?!"

"No I-" Luffy started but the first word was enough for Law as the older brought Luffy in a tight hug, whispering things the younger couldn't quite figure out.

"Not you- I won't let it take you." Law kept whispering until Luffy pushed him a little away.

"What's wrong Torao?" Luffy asked trying to decipher what was going on with his boyfriend.

"Stay here and do not touch anything." Law said and got on his feet. He took out his phone and dialed his grandfather. The old man wasn't picking up so Law left text messages.

|I'm in Flevance. Why aren't the mines boarded and shut?

|There's white lead rubble outside! Why hasn't that been cleared off!

|Any idiot could accidentally get exposed!

|Do something about it!

When Law was done with the texts, he took Luffy's hand and quietly dragged him away from the abandoned mines and towards the city and population. The younger kept asking questions about what had happened but Law didn't have the mental stability to answer at the moment.

~

"You're much calmer than before." Luffy noticed looking at Law as the two got closer and closer to the memorial site, the earlier happening got pushed aside because Law wouldn't address it.

"Before?" Law inquired, not stopping the swinging of hands Luffy had started, he was a little tired from the sudden panic that went through him at what happened earlier.

"Yeah, when I was with you. Even I could tell, you were all over the place."

"I was visiting for the first time, that tends to do that to some people."

Luffy hummed a response, looking ahead at the blue stones that were now only a few feet away. "Did you visit after that?"

"Every now and then, when I want to tell them something." Law replied in a small voice and sighed to get the pressure off his chest. "Doesn't make it easier though." The older tried smiling.

"Robin and Sabo always get really weird when someone mentions Flevance or something about your family, you just told me that they all died but there is more to it, isn't it?"

"Are you asking for an elaboration?" Law raised an eyebrow.

Luffy shrugged. "Not really, it's up to you."

"Thank you." Law said and led his boyfriend through the stones, passing the people he knew. "Flevance, when it was actually Flevance, was a very rich country, pure white and shining." Law found himself telling when Luffy stopped to put a sunflower at each stone. "Our land was rich because of the mines, people all over the world adored the product of those mines, the world government and the nobles more than anyone else."

"Nothing good happens when those two are involved." Luffy said getting back up from putting a flower and taking Law's hand in his, stopping to listen what his boyfriend was clearly having trouble saying.

"Yes. The product of those mines, the ore, was beautiful and white, it was made into numerous artifacts and jewelry and gems and whatnot, the entire country was made of it, the effects turning nature white too, the entire country was white." Law took a breath and made eye contact with Luffy. "The miners were first when the extended exposure to the white rocks caused disease and poisoning. Then it was their families, children, grandchildren... each generation with a comparatively reduced lifespan because the poison got so integrated into chromosomal DNA that it started manifesting sooner in every new generation."

"...what did the poison do?" Luffy felt like he had to ask to make it easier on Torao to tell.

"It turned skin and hair white." Law started. "There would be high fever and chronic pain that would not be dulled by any amount of painkillers. The pain would only get worse until the person died."

"There was no cure?" Luffy asked, horrified by the idea that people had to suffer until their very last moments.

"The tragedy, as I like to call it, was that the entire population of Flevance started exhibiting the symptoms of poisoning at roughly the same time. From the eyes of the outsiders, imagine what that would look like, if people all over a country were getting sick at the same time with the same thing too."

"That'd be an epidemic." Luffy answered instantly, remembered having studied it.

"Correct. But amber lead, the name that was given to the poisoning, it was not infectious or contagious. Regardless, the neighboring countries started panicking and Flevance was quarantined."

"Your parents were doctors though, right? Did you guys find a cure?" The sad smile Luffy saw on Law's face made him shut up and made his heart pound hard in his chest, aching for something he hadn't seen and for someone he hadn't known.

"Even before we were quarantined, my parents were the first doctors who had begun research on the poisoning to find a cure, they had yelled themselves hoarse at the representatives of the world government that the poison was not contagious, at least not from patients. They were displaying symptoms themselves but that didn't stop them for being doctors." Law took Luffy's hand and started the walk again. "I was also helping around in the hospital when we heard the first gunshots... the government had sent squads to... exterminate the infected before they crossed the borders and spread the disease to other countries-"

"But you said it wasn't contagious."

"They knew that Luffy, they knew it since the time our ore made it to export. The neighbouring countries were panicking and to appease them and the nobles of the world, my people were mercilessly shot down." Law said finally, taking a flower from Luffy and putting in on a special stone. "This is for the sister of the church, she was helping the children cross the borders, keeping them safe."

Luffy looked at the stone, it was bigger than all the ones in the same row. The younger had so many questions with the direction the story was taking but he was keeping it all to himself until Law finished his side.

"A squad member had tricked her and the children, lied to them that he would take them to safety... but he led them in an open field to be slaughtered. All my classmates were among those, the kids I saw my future with, the boys who begged me to go with them to safety too. They were all murdered." Law rubbed his eyes and turned around, pointing at each individual stone. "These are all their stones."

Luffy couldn't speak, he was overcome with rage like none before. He wanted to march up to the world nobles and punch them in the face, drag them down from their holy mountains and make them pay.

"Don't get your eyebrows in a knot." Law poked the crease in his boyfriend's forehead and beckoned him to follow to where the older was leading, to the heroes of Flevance. "Lami, my younger sister, was the first in our family to collapse from the symptoms. I was majorly tasked with taking care of her in addition to attending to the other patients while my parents took on the bigger cases and the research." Law pointed at the stone that was Lami's and Luffy put a particularly big flower in front of the stone then proceeded to do so with Law's parents' stone as well. Law sat down on the ground and took off his hat. "Lami was in a lot of pain when the shooting was going on and I was running low on pain medication for her, so I told her to wait for me till I got her medicines from my parents in the research wing of the hospital. I hid her in a cupboard because it didn't feel safe to leave her on a bed in the middle of an extermination."

"Take a breath Torao." Luffy said rubbing the older's back when he choked on his words.

"I found my parents shot dead when I got to them. The hospital was burning by the time I was able to make it back to Lami." Law spoke quickly, he buried his face in his palms. "I promised her I'd be back with her medicines and she would be okay, I promised her she would be safe- but I couldn't keep that promise, she died alone- nobody probably even heard her screams, it would have taken a lot of time to die burning like that-"

"Stop." Luffy pulled Law in a hug, burying the older's face in his shoulder, he knew by the shaking that Torao was crying. Luffy didn't like the self-loathing turn Law's thoughts had taken, blaming himself for not being able to keep that promise to his sister, his mind expanding on the painful death his sister had experienced- Luffy didn't like the way Law's brain worked against him.

The two stayed like that for a long while until Law had stopped crying and his hiccups had subsided, the sun was beginning to set by then.

"Why did you choose sunflowers?" Law asked taking a deep breath, turning his head on the side so he could look at the bright flowers around the stones, contrasting so beautifully that it made the tragedy louder.

"White lilies are too gloomy." Luffy said and started standing up, taking Law up with him. "Sunflowers look way better!"

"So they do." Law agreed.

"You hear that, Torao's parents and Lami? Torao likes the sunflowers too! Oh I am Luffy by the way!"

"I've told them probably two dozen times by now."

"But I gotta introduce myself too." Luffy said and faced the stones again. "Torao and I are dating! I like Torao, he's fun! And a really cool doctor! You guys would be so proud of him! Torao saved my life! And Ace's too! And he helps people all the time too! Torao's kind. So you guys don't have to worry ok? Torao's alright! And even if he isn't, I'd make sure he gets better!" Luffy looked at Law then grinned, as if he was about to say something that would get the older in trouble. "Did Torao tell you he got tattoos and piercing? It's all so cool! But everyone always says doctors aren't supposed to be like that. I think you'd have liked the tattoos and the earrings, Torao looks good in those!"

"Ok that's enough." Law said with a roll of his eyes and tugged Luffy towards him to leave the place but the younger brought Law closer to himself and the older noticed that all the mischief and fun had left Luffy's face.

"Torao doesn't talk a lot about you guys, guess I kinda understand now why, it isn't really easy- I can't talk about some stuff too so... it took Torao a lot of time to open up like this too, he's not doing ok most of the time, he forgets to eat, he can't sleep, he has nightmares and weird spasms in his lungs like that one time,"

"Oi-"

"But Torao's alive." Luffy said with a wide smile that didn't reach his eyes. "He remembers you all even though he doesn't say it, he carries you all with him every day. I think you guys would feel more at ease if you knew what is troubling Torao and that he has friends who love him, he has Nami and Nojiko and Bellemere-san and the dead-bird hat Navy grandfather man and Torao has me, we would never let Torao feel alone or hopeless, so you guys can rest easy. Torao's going to be ok."

Law hated himself at how his eyes started watering again. This boy, that Law had saved for entirely selfish reasons, this boy that Law had pushed away so many times, he was standing in front of the memorial stones and talking as if... "They are not even buried here Luffy, they're not even here."

Luffy looked at Law again with a look that dared Law to defy the words that accompanied it. "If they're here to you, they're here to me."

~

Luffy treated Law to some ice cream to calm the older, even shared his own soft serve a little to make him feel better. Luffy looked at Law against the darkening skies and understood a bit more about the man he liked. The young man forgave Law for the kick in the face earlier after knowing what those stones were and how much Torao had lost to them, it was a given that his boyfriend would be so distraught over the possibility of Luffy having come in contact with the ore that led to the demise of an entire country.

Luffy realized that maybe it was because of his family and his people dying from poisoning that Torao had taken those measure when Luffy had gotten himself poisoned too, giving the younger all his blood, risking his own life like that. Luffy understood the anger now that Law had displayed in the medbay in the Polar Tang that time too. Luffy understood a lot about Law now.

"But Torao, didn't you get sick too?" Luffy found himself asking, the thought occurring to him all of a sudden. Law stopped for a second then resumed the walk around the city again.

"I started showing symptoms shortly after Lami, by the time everyone was dead, I already had white patches on my skin and the fever, I was ten and after reading through my father's journal and running a diagnostics test on myself, I found out I'd be dead by thirteen."

"But you didn't die."

"I didn't. I expanded on the research my parents were working on and made a cure. It didn't take long, they were so close- nobody would have had to die if the government had given them a few weeks- they were so so close."

Luffy squeezed Law's hand. "They'd be proud of you, your parents."

"They're dead, they can't be proud of anyone." The two walked in silence again until they crossed the mall. "The church used to be here, back in the old Flevance."

"So that's why you were tense back then."

"You noticed that? You weren't doing well yourself but you noticed that?" Law looked at Luffy trying to figure out once again how the younger was so perceptive of other people.

"Yeah." Luffy shrugged and continued the walk to Law until they both decided to call it a day and head back home.

"If anyone asks why I seem like I am in a bad mood, tell them I stepped in dog shit and got angry." Law told Luffy before he unlocked the front door.

"But that didn't happen."

"My friends don't shut up and start getting weird when they find out I am not doing well because of bad memories."

"What's wrong with that? They care Torao, let them." Luffy said with a shrug again, not agreeing to lie.

"I don't want to be cared for sometimes." Law said and opened the door, leaving no room for more conversation. The older went directly to his room ignoring the calls of dinner from his friends.

"Is he ok?" Penguin asked Luffy who did go to the kitchen when called for food.

"Torao said to tell you guys he stepped in dog poop and that made him angry."

"Like hell." Shachi rolled his eyes. "He's always like this when he visits the memorial site, can't blame him though."

"I'll take the food to him." Luffy volunteered and took the tray with his and Torao's food to the older's room and opted to force feed when Law showed no signs of eating his meal himself.

"You know... I don't even remember their faces anymore... my parents' and Lami's..." Law said after Luffy had taken the dinner plates back and the two were in bed, the younger playing with Law's hair. "I think I know what they looked like but the memory is really faded, they're more just there than have any details."

"You don't have any pictures?" Luffy asked, sad.

"No, everything burned. Only I managed to escape..."

Luffy thought about that statement a little then connected the dots. "Is this what you meant when you said you were living off countless lives?"

Law opened his eyes, surprised at the way his boyfriend had made the connection. "Yes. I hid in their corpses to flee."

"They were already dead, you didn't kill anyone to save yourself."

"Might as well have... I was only looking out for myself by the end, I really didn't care who else got caught or died. I should have been smart enough to realize that sister and the children were being lied to, helped in some way..."

Luffy's arms around Law tightened. "You were a kid too Torao... how could you have known? It isn't your fault that your hands were too small to save anyone."

"I still could have done something-"

"You did, you survived and you don't owe it to anyone, you survived through all of the burning Flevance through your own capacity." Luffy heard Law sigh and nuzzled his cheek in the older's head. "Nobody is going to hurt you if you smile more or want to do something fun, no one is going to shame you for any of those things. You don't need to keep holding back."

"I can't let go that easily either."

"Then I'll help you and I'll kick anyone's butt who tries making fun of you!"

"My hero." Law said jokingly with a roll of his eyes and that let Luffy know that for at least now, Law was ok.

When Law had fallen asleep and the moonlight from the opened window, that Law had insisted stay opened, fell on the older's face, Luffy could see the white patches again, they had been his secret ever since he had met Torao. On a subconscious level, Luffy had known not to verbalize the existence of the faded patches to Law but Luffy had always been able to see them. So now that Law was fast asleep, tired and exhausted from an emotional adventure, Luffy considered it safe to touch the skin where it was white.

This time, Luffy knew why the white patches were there. This time, Luffy revered them more.

~