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They said Flevance was haunted.
Law had heard the tales for years, but he had never been one to put much stock in ghost stories. He chalked it all up to government propaganda, an effort to keep people away from the White City so their involvement in the massacre wouldn’t be discovered. Besides, he was a doctor, a man of science. Ghost stories were nothing but fantasies made to scare children.
At least that’s what he had thought when he lived in North Blue, when he was young and cocky and thought he had seen the worst the world had to offer. Before he set out to the Grand Line and realised how big the world truly was.
Now, 26 years old and having learned enough to realise how little he actually knew, he wondered if there was truth to the stories after all.
“Are you sure about this, Captain?” Bepo asked quietly beside him. Everyone had taken to speaking softly since they arrived, anchoring some hundred metres off the coast of the fallen White City. Law wasn’t sure if it was the city or Law’s demeanour that scared them. Probably a bit of both.
“No,” Law admitted. “But we’re already here. Tomorrow morning, I’ll go ashore. Alone.”
“Captain. Law, ” Shachi said, pleading. “We just got you back.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Penguin added.
Law sighed, looking over the water towards the ruins. Strangely, he kept expecting the city to be on fire, kept expecting screams of the dying, explosions and gunshots to cut off their screams. Instead, there was silence.
It was almost worse.
They had returned to North Blue a week ago, to “lick their wounds”, as Shachi had put it. Blackbeard had crushed them, bodies and spirits both. Although Law and Bepo had managed to free the others, they weren’t the same crew that had sailed out of Wano, filled with optimism and hope for the future. The loss of the Polar Tang still weighed heavy on their hearts.
Law had made the decision to take them home, all the way back to North Blue. They were injured and weak, and he feared what would happen if they were attacked again. It was unlikely anyone would follow them out of the Grand Line, but if they did…
Law looked at the dark shore again. No one would bother them here. Flevance’s reputation would protect them for a time, and they should be safe staying in the outskirts of the city. Provided the dead would suffer their company.
A mournful scream rang out over the water. For a moment Law thought it was his imagination, a memory of the purge surfacing against his will, then he realised Shachi and Penguin had jumped at the sound, and were hugging either side of him. The warmth of their bodies made him realise how cold it really was.
“What the fuck was that?” Shachi whispered, clutching at Law’s waist.
“Was that the ghosts?” Penguin asked. “Um, I mean…”
He glanced up at Law.
“I don’t know,” Law said honestly. “It could have been the wind. Or…”
Actual ghosts? In Flevance? If there were ghosts anywhere, he supposed it would make sense for Flevance to be haunted, but he hoped it wasn’t true. The thought of his childhood friends, his family , all the people whose faces he had long since forgotten, trapped here for the last thirteen years… it hurt. It hurt more than the physical wounds he was still trying to recover from.
“Are you okay, Captain?” Bepo asked, his concerned voice shaking Law out of his clouded thoughts.
“I’ll be fine,” Law sighed, gently patting Bepo’s arm. “Let’s head back under deck. Clione is making soup, and I could use something warm.”
They headed down, with Shachi and Penguin hot on their heels. The ship they had stolen from Pirate Island was small, but functional. It was an adjustment for all of them to travel on a regular ship rather than a submarine, but they made do. They had no other choice.
At least the Polar Tang had been their only casualty. The crew were injured, some permanently so, but they were alive. Law was very aware how lucky he had been to be able to find his family again after all seemed lost.
Jean Bart was sprawled out on the floor as they got down to the mess, not quite asleep but clearly making an effort. The big man had to crouch down to walk under the deck, and couldn’t fit into the lower decks at all. Seeing him like this reminded Law of how he had been when Law first recruited him, forced to walk on all fours and degrade himself. Law hated it. Jean Bart had assured him that he was fine, that he was just glad to be free again after being put into chains by Blackbeard, but Law had sworn to him that they would find a larger ship as soon as they were in a fit shape to fight for it.
Even sitting below deck, with Clione’s soup warming him up, Law felt the cold down to his bones. Looking at his crew, he could tell they felt the same. They were huddled up into little groups, seeking warmth and comfort from one another. No one except the two on watch duty were up on deck.
It wasn’t just the cold. Most of them were from North Blue. Despite getting used to warmer climates in recent years, the cold usually didn’t bother them much, but here, they were shivering. Even Bepo looked cold.
“We should leave, Captain,” Uni said, looking up from where he, Hakugan and Ikkaku were sitting in a pile on the other side of Jean Bart, leaning against his back for warmth and comfort. “We’re not welcome here.”
Law nodded. He had planned to wait until the following day, but his crew wasn’t happy, so he might as well get it over with.
“I’m going ashore,” he said, handling his empty bowl to Shachi. “I’ll be back by morning, and then we’ll decide what to do.”
“Captain!” Shachi protested. “It will be night soon!”
“Do you want to wait here another day?” Law asked, and Shachi looked away.
“You shouldn’t go alone, Captain,” Penguin tried, and Law gave him a small smile.
“If there actually are ghosts, and if the ghosts are as violent as the stories say, then I have to go alone,” Law said. “I have the right to be there. They won’t attack me.”
He tried to sound confident, but seeing his friends so uncharacteristically ill at ease gave him pause. If there really were ghosts in Flevance, it was very possible they would attack him anyway. Because he left. Because he abandoned them.
Because he survived.
He grabbed a lantern and took one of the lifeboats to shore. Normally, he could have just shambled from the ship, but he was still recovering from his battle with Blackbeard. His defeat. He was lucky to have survived, to have had a friend who cared enough to carry him to safety. Flevance had not been so lucky.
The cold feeling got worse the moment his feet touched the ground. What remained of the White City looked still around him, almost peaceful in the orange light of the setting sun, but he felt it down to his soul.
He wasn’t welcome.
Law forced himself to walk forward anyways. The path along the harbour had largely collapsed into the river, either in the purge or over the thirteen years of no maintenance. Law carefully made his way around and over the fallen structures, trying to remember what it used to look like.
He hadn’t been interested in sea-travel as a child, content to stay inside with his books, but he recalled one time he had been walking along the harbour with his parents. Lami had still been in a stroller at the time, but she had been far more excited about the surroundings than Law had been, pointing at the ships and yelling in delight, not quite managing to form words.
There wasn’t much left to be excited about. All the fishing huts were destroyed, all the boats had been sunk. Nothing but ghosts remained.
And Law was one of them, he supposed.
The main street leading into the city was still where he remembered it, though the buildings surrounding it were not. Some still stood, dirty with old ashes, but many had collapsed into rubble. At one point the road was blocked by rubble, forcing him to take a detour into a smaller road. The walls of the still-standing buildings seemed to close in on him in the narrow alleyways, white stone charred with black threatening to entomb him. He hurried his steps, making his way back towards the main road. As he walked forward, he heard a crack to his side, and looked over to see the roof of a partially collapsed building sliding towards him. He rolled out of the way, watching the roof hit the ground behind him. A cloud of ash and dust rose from the spot Law had just been walking on.
What were the odds that would happen right as he passed, after holding for thirteen years? Was the weight and vibration of his steps the final straw that made the roof collapse? Or was the city angry he hadn’t heeded its warning?
The shadows seemed to close in on him as the sun disappeared behind the ruins. It wasn't completely dark yet, but it would be soon enough. Law made his way up the street, holding his lantern high to illuminate the charred cobblestone path into the city.
He wasn’t alone. That became clear with the creaking of wood, the cracking of stone and howling of the wind that seemed to follow him up the street. Flevance didn’t want him here, and she was getting angry. She had every right to be. Flevance had had her share of uninvited guests, leading to her destruction. Was it any wonder then, that she wanted him to leave?
Law frowned. He belonged here. He had been born here, raised here. A part of him had died here. Was he truly not welcome anymore?
Or did Flevance no longer recognise him as her own?
A cold wind swept by him, bringing with it another scream, echoing straight from his memories. He had reached the town square. Last time Law was here, it had been littered with corpses. He had hidden among them to escape.
There were no corpses now. They had removed them from the city, to burn and be buried elsewhere. Their souls were still there, though. Law could feel them watching him from the growing shadows. He couldn't see them, but he didn't need to. He felt them there, as real the ground under his feet or the cold against his skin.
Law closed his eyes, thinking of Flevance. Flevance as she used to be, before the purge. The town square had been a sprawling marketplace. Law’s mother used to stop by the stands to buy vegetables and, if Law and his sister were good, she would get some treats for them. There was an elderly lady who sold confectionery at the south side of the square. With his eyes closed, he could almost remember the taste, but there was only shapeless rubble where her stand used to be.
He opened his eyes and turned away. On the north side of the square there was a little stage, where bands would play during the festivals that Lami loved so much. She used to grab his hand and demand he dance with her. He was always terrible at dancing. He would complain loudly as she twirled around him, but he never stopped her. The stage was still there, but there was no music now. Only the howling of the wind.
On the east side of the square stood the church. Law’s parents had been people of science, but they had been religious, taking Law and Lami to church regularly. Law used to believe, as well. As a child, he dutifully learned his psalms and said his prayers. Even his school had been run by the church, placing importance to the dedication to a benevolent god. But no god worth the worship would have let Flevance fall.
The wind howled louder as Law looked around, his memories of Flevance thirteen years ago overlaying the reality he now saw. Shadows creeping closer from the ruined buildings. A fallen city. Dead, but not abandoned. Still protected. Still loved.
“I’m home,” Law said in Flevian. Even after all this time, the language fell effortlessly off his tongue.
The world stilled around him. The wind seemed to die out, leaving only a deafening silence. Not a welcome, but not a rejection either. Not yet, at least.
It was hard to breathe as he turned from the church and headed up the once familiar path toward his home, and the hospital. He could feel Flevance around him, a shapeless presence following him. Watching him. Waiting to see what he would do.
Law’s usually steady hands were shaking as he finally reached the ruined hospital. His heart was beating hard in his chest, like it had any right to do so. Especially here, in this place, where he had left his sister to die.
And she was still here.
Her pain, her fear, her loneliness, came raiding out from the ruins of the burned hospital, threatening to send him to his knees with every step he took. But he had to move forward. Law climbed over fallen walls and debris, trying to find where the feeling was strongest. Trying to find her.
“My big brother will come back. He promised.”
She was nothing but a shadow in the dark, a curled up figure in a corner of the ruin. Vague, not truly there, much like Law’s memories of her. He could feel her more than see her, pain radiating off her like a dagger in his heart. The anguish of a little girl who died alone, all because he couldn’t protect her.
He fell to his knees in front of the figure.
“I’m here,” Law said, voice failing him. “I’m here. I’m sorry it took so long.”
The sobbing stopped. A wave of anger washed over him, hot like fire. He couldn’t breathe, and his skin burned from the heat surrounding him. It was unbearable, but not because of the pain itself. The worst was the knowledge that this was how she had died. This was the last thing she felt in life.
“I’m sorry,” Law sobbed. “I should have protected you. I’m so sorry.”
The heat stopped. Instead, the vague shadow in front of him threw her arms wide, and Law didn’t hesitate. He put his arms around the shadow. They went straight through and he felt nothing but the heat from his own body, but she was there. He knew that she was there, holding him in return.
“I always believed you would come back.”
“I promised,” Law agreed, tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry.”
He wasn’t sure how long he remained there, in the dark ruins of the hospital, holding himself, holding her, but he knew when she left him. He felt a light touch like a kiss on his cheek, and then she was gone. Free to move on to whatever came next, if anything. She had deserved so much better.
Dawn rose over the White City, bringing with it a light snowfall. Law remained where he was, sitting in the ashes of the burned hospital. His limbs were stiff, and his tears were freezing on his face, but the air didn’t feel as heavy to breathe.
The ghosts of Flevance were resting, he supposed. Perhaps they were placated by the fact that the city hadn’t been entirely wiped out, that Flevance still lived on through him. Perhaps they expected him to avenge them.
Perhaps they had all just stayed to protect one little girl desperately waiting for her brother.
Either way, Law doubted he or his crew would have any trouble staying in Flevence while they recovered. If he could convince them to stay.
“Captain!”
Law looked up at the voice, seeing Shachi running towards him, dirty from climbing over the rubble. “I found him!”
Law got on his feet with some effort. He had been sitting in the cold for hours, and had trouble moving. He hadn’t even realised how cold it had been.
Shachi was horrified when he touched Law to support him.
“You’re freezing,” he said. “Bepo! Come here!”
Law felt himself being swept into warm, fluffy arms. “I got you, Captain,” Bepo said. “We need to get him back to the ship.”
“You didn’t come back, so we decided to come find you, ghosts or no ghosts,” Shachi said as they moved towards the harbour. “But something changed around dawn. We could all feel it.”
Law nodded. “We can stay here for a while now. It will be fine.”
“I understood about a third of that, Captain,” Shachi said. Law blinked. He must still have been speaking Flevian. Or maybe he was slurring because of the cold.
It didn’t matter, he supposed. He could tell them later.
Law soon found himself wrapped in blankets back on the ship, with his feet in warm water and his hands wrapped around a mug of hot tea, with a bit of rum mixed in. His crew were fussing around him. He had worried them, he supposed. Again.
“You need to take better care of yourself, Captain,” Bepo said.
Law nodded. He did, didn’t he? He needed to stay alive. For his dreams. For his crew.
For Flevance.