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It's late at night, late enough that anyone who isn't sleeping isn't going to bother to come into the treasury, especially with the celebration of Doflamingo’s defeat still ongoing. Law doesn't bother to turn any lights on when he enters though, just in case someone passes by and gets curious. The glow of his power skimming around his fingers is enough for him to see by, especially since the object he's here for isn't exactly small.
The chest Cora-san had hidden him in on Minion Island looms in the back of the room. It's worthless to most in its emptiness, but to Law it carries priceless memories. It takes less effort than he'd thought to pry the lid open; really the hardest part is keeping the hinges from squeaking loudly enough to alert any guards. Idly, Law considers that it might be worth it to revisit the idea of developing some way to mimic Cora-san's Silent, but then he sets the thought aside as he sits down in the chest and closes the lid shut over his head.
It's both bigger and smaller than he remembers, this last place he'd ever seen Cora-san. Objectively, he knows that he's more than twice as tall as he used to be, but it's still a shock to realize that what used to be a cavernous empty space is now a tight squeeze. He bends his legs, curling up into a fetal position as he leans his back against the wall of the chest. Human imagination is a powerful thing. If he closes his eyes, he can almost feel warmth radiating through it from a broad back pressed up against the other side.
“Ah…” Law swallows down the lump in his throat, choked up by nostalgia and longing. “Cora-san. It's been a while.”
He spreads his hand out against the rough grain of the floor and tilts his head back to stare up into the darkness.
“I finally did it, you know. I took down your brother for you.”
His fingers tap a droning tattoo against his leg, a nervous tick that he doesn't try to halt. No one here will judge him for it.
“Did you see?”
Law stares out into the darkness and bites his lip. After a long pause, he whispers, “Are you proud of me?”
There's no answer. There was never going to be.
Law sighs, letting his head fall back against the chest with a thump. Suddenly, he jolts when he feels three taps against the lid from outside.
He scrambles to shove the chest open and stand up, looking around wildly, but there's no one there. The treasure room is just as empty as it had been when he came in.
“Cora-san?”
Law falls to his knees, still in the chest. He tugs his hat off head to run his fingers through his hair, wondering what has just happened.
Faintly, on the wind, he can hear the echo of a beloved voice.
Law! I love you!
“I…” Law’s voice cracks. He considers staying quiet. Maybe he's just hallucinating. It would be embarrassing to shout into the emptiness on a whim... right?
But what if...
The question squeezes his heart, and he decides that he's not too proud to say it. Not this time.
“I love you too, Cora-san,” Law croaks. He sucks in a breath that's almost a sob, then clutches his hat tightly in his hands and presses it against his eyes, pretending that it's not getting wet. “Thanks. For everything.”
Law will never know for sure what happened on that night, but in that moment, he swears that he feels the press of a pair of lips on his cheek, that he smells the whisper of cigarette smoke on the wind.
He walks out of the treasury in a daze with his hand pressed to his face. When he looks at his fingers later, there's a familiar shade of waxy red smudged across the tips.