章 22: CHAPTER 020(Merry Christmas)
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CHAPTER START---
---Japan, The Matani Estate...
CLANG!
The metal bar crashes down onto its resting place above the weight bench. 440 pounds -200kg- of metal plates once again coming to a rest.
Law sits up from his spot on the bench and wipes the sweat from his face. Taking a deep breath he focuses for a moment then exhales, feeling his heart steady itself.
In the past nine months since meeting Nezu, his life has changed so much, and now the dreaded day has come. He'd finally get to speak to them...
He stands up and looks around his home gym, more like a mini commercial gym, it even had a boxing ring. A wall of tinted glass windows shows the heavy snow falling outside, the gentle slope of his backyard hill covered in snow for a hundred meters before it cascades into the boardwalk separating his lawn from his private beach.
Now risen to his full height the differences in him now and nine months ago are glaringly obvious.
Now standing at 192cm -6ft3.5- and more muscular. His much leaner physique was now gone in exchange for more muscle. Still perfectly defined and almost statuesque. Coming in at 190 pounds -86kg- with a head of messy black hair and his cold white-blue eyes.
His face was shaven completely clean, but peeking out from his loose top, the most obvious standouts were his tattoos.
As he turns off his music and cleans the sweat from the equipment he takes off his shirt to cool off, exposing his tattoos.
A massive heart on his chest, covering much of his chest with the curved outline of a heart, the base of it as well as the two arches at the very top have tendrils extending out from them, three on each side. At the top they extend as if trying to go over his shoulder and onto his back, stopping in the middle of his shoulder.
When the high arcs of each side of the heart meet they touch at the center of his chest connection to a checkered-teeth smiley face, Horizon's logo.
His shoulders have similar curvy hearts, concentric with a smaller identical heart within, his father's symbol.
Lower on his forearms is a large gear, his mother's symbol, and within is a solid black circle with spokes coming out of it. Bits of a broken circle are attached to each of the six spokes.
Lower down is the tattoo at the back of his hand, a solid black circle with only four of the spokes protruding out, still holding bits of a broken circle on them.
And finally the only non-symmetrical tattoo on his body, his knuckle tattoos.
On his right hand, they spell 'GIVE', while on the left hand is 'TAKE', with only the thumb having no letters. Positioned in such a way that to read them he'd either have to hold his hands up like a surgeon having a nurse put on gloves for him, or more likely, he'd be giving you the middle finger.
Perfect for the man who gives and takes both life and time from people.
"Shambles," Law disappears from the gym and appears in his bedroom. Moving from the second to the third floor of his house, the floor which contains a few things, most notable his massive bedroom. With the connected private lounge, hot tub, bathroom, and office.
After a warm shower he shuts off the water and runs a hand through his hair, not bothering to even use a towel he simply mutters "shambles," and appears in his large walk-in closet.
The water on his body remained in the shower, allowing him to instantly dry off. With enough familiarity with an object, he could bring it to him without needing a substitution to make locking onto it or space easier. With enough familiarity with a location, he could warp around as he pleases. And he'd spend some time getting used to his new home.
Getting dressed he pulled on a simple short-sleeved black t-shirt, the same tattoo from his chest was printed on the front of the shirt in yellow. A pair of long black pants, some simple dress shoes, and a long blue high collared coat. Leaving it open to show off the t-shirt, the coat also sports a print of his tattoo. The hearts on his shoulders are in yellow at the same spots.
Everything Law Matani wears has his tattoos on it somewhere, and everything Horizon wears has Horizon's logo printed on it. All done personally with the clothing press in his home.
"Because branding is everything," Law mutters as he looks in the mirror. Putting two simple gold earrings in each ear, both sharing the earlobe, small enough to go almost unnoticed but enough to get someone's attention if he wanted to.
SHAMBLES
He appears in his bedroom, seeing his body glove, sword, and visor, laid out on the bed. Freshly cleaned, he sighs and moves to get his phone, keys, a simple black and gold watch, and his wallet.
After making a quick stop in the kitchen...
SHAMBLES
He appears in the only basement floor of this three-story house, his garage. Twenty-five cars, but he only ever really planned to use a few.
Walking a few steps he arrives at a jet-black two-door, four-seat, sports car, the same design from his chest on both its doors. A custom Pagani, made with the best 2114 tech a civilian can get.
"Money well spent," he chuckles, sitting in the driver's seat and starting the engine. The entire garage is drowned in a cacophony of noise for almost an entire second before it settles into a low grumble, still slightly echoing off the walls.
Far too much power to be street legal in any country, but nothing a healthy donation to the police pension fund didn't solve.
ROOM
Securing his protein shake he expands his room to 1500 meters and speeds up the ramp.
He begins racing down his hundred-meter driveway to the first barrier. A tall black metal fence formed a circle around his home, almost two hundred meters in radius.
Already pushing nearly two hundred miles per hour -320kmph- by the time he's a few feet from the still closed gate he smirks.
SHAMBLES
His car swaps places with a few pieces of snow on the other side of the gate and he continues accelerating.
Out of the first barrier, he was suddenly driving down a road surrounded by forests. Large mountains in the distance just barely peaking over the trees.
He slows down as the roads begin to wind, settling into a cruising speed as he takes out his phone.
He idly scrolled through some options to order his breakfast.
A few moments later and he arrives at the second barrier, a ten-meter tall metal barrier, and blocking the road is a solid black gate which also had his logo in yellow metal at the center of it.
The Matani Estate began here, then two kilometers in is the main house. And all of this is only twenty minutes from Musutafu.
Following the only mountain road leading to his estate, empty as usual, he enters the city and switches his car into quiet mode to avoid waking up everyone too early.
Before long he pulls up to a pizza shop, he can't imagine they're happy to be working on Christmas, but he also wanted pizza for breakfast.
Shutting off his car he gets out and walks into the store, noticing that it was completely empty, as expected. Approaching the register the man behind the counter gulps nervously. Appearing not much older than Law, no older than twenty.
His eyes flicker up at Law, almost having to lean back to look at him properly, then they move over to the two small golden earrings in each ear, and finally down to Law's hands, knuckle tattoos, not good news in his line of work.
The man sighs, "seriously? It's Christmas..."
Law sighs even louder, "order for Matani? That's me," he says flatly.
"Oh," the man looks away, "sorry I just---"
"It's fine, happens a lot, but maybe next time you think someone is here to hurt you at least prepare to defend yourself instead of waiting," he shakes his head in disappointment.
"Right, thanks," the man moves to place three medium pizzas on the counter. "That'll be twenty-five dollars."
"Perfect," he takes out his wallet and drops a stack of hundreds on the counter, "Merry Christmas," he takes the boxes and leaves before the man can even process what just happened.
Only driving a few blocks back the way he came Law pulls into an underground parking area, above it is a modest five-story building, bland and unassuming. The entire place completely empty as he bought the entire building, converting the office space into a secondary living space for him, or more accurately, for Horizon, if ever needed.
Taking the elevator he enters the top floor suite, carrying a protein shake and his breakfast as he enters the living room. Placing everything down on the coffee table he sits back and enjoys the view.
On the other side of his wall of glass was still heavy snow falling from the sky. But only a few streets away was the foot of the road leading up to UA, the surrounding forest on the entire hill dusted white with snow. And he gets an unobstructed view of the entire thing from his fifth-floor vantage point.
Taking off his coat and draping it on the back of the couch he takes a gulp of his protein shake before leaning forward. He opens one of the boxes, an extra cheesy Italian pizza greets him, steaming hot.
"Mmm," Law grabs a slice with a napkin and takes out his phone. "I'm here," he says into the phone.
"I'm just finishing up some work...but you do know we still have until one PM yes?" Nezu asks.
"I rather not miss this," Law grumbles. "Just call when you're done and I'll bring you here."
"I don't like warping."
"You'll get over it..."
---4 Hours Later...
Law is still sitting in his same spot, one less pizza -now just an empty box- and his protein shake already replaced with a second one.
He watches a fantasy movie on TV until his phone rings. Before it rings a second time he answers, "ready?"
"Yeah I just got done here," Nezu says.
ROOM
Law extends his room all the way up the hill to UA's main building. Five thousand meters up to Nezu's office.
SCAN
Focusing on UA he doesn't sense anyone but Nezu on campus. Opening his bottle he flicks a drop of water over to one of the single seats...
SHAMBLES
Nezu and the water droplet swap places before it hits the couch.
"Still annoying," Nezu says. Holding a laptop in his arms.
"That's half the fun," Law says between quiet deep breaths, taking a sip of his shake as he closes his ROOM, the strain of maintaining such a massive ROOM eating away at his stamina.
"So your Quirk does have a limit after all," Nezu says curiously. "Guess you aren't as invincible as you claim."
"Tch, I'm actively trying to push my limits, but trust me, in a head-to-head fight, I won't lose, not even against All Might."
"Ohhhh," Nezu says dramatically. "Quite a bold statement, but I doubt warping and healing are enough to hurt the symbol of peace, perhaps one of the tricks you refuse to tell me about?"
"You'll have to wait and see," Law shrugs.
A few minutes later while Nezu is eating a slice of 5-cheese pizza, Law asks a curious question.
"Do you always spend Christmas alone at UA, or is that just because of this?"
"My work keeps me busy," Nezu says between bites.
"So this is the usual huh."
"Mhm, how do you normally spend it?" Nezu asks.
"Well," Law thinks about it for a moment, deciding exactly how much to share. "Normally we have this little tradition, no matter where any of us are or what we're doing, birthdays, christmans, and new years, we all get together and have Katsudon."
"Katsudon?"
"And a glass of whisky," Law shrugs.
"So that's where your bad habit came from."
"Not a bad habit if alcohol doesn't work on you."
"Fair point, that sounds like a wonderful tradition, but one question---"
"Why katsudon?"
"Mhm."
"It's what they had on their first date."
Nezu sighs and shakes his head, "do you know why we never expected you to be with Arsenal that day?"
"Hmm, why?"
"Because, every criminal psychologist we passed her file to came to one conclusion. A bloodthirsty psychopath incapable of caring, of feeling sympathy, of love..." Nezu freezes for a moment as he sees Law glaring daggers at him, "BUT, we were wrong." Law's gaze softens.
"She does care, and love, for you, and your father. Maybe nothing even a step beyond that, but the fact that she cares shows we were wrong."
Law nods, "I know how the world, and especially places like America and Japan view villains, although Japan isn't as brutal as America is on theirs, but I'm not gonna make any excuses. People make choices and if you can't defend your choice or accept responsibility for it, then you shouldn't have made it. We made ours, and now we're paying for it, that's all it is."
"But you never really got a choice," Nezu says. "You're still only fifteen, as accomplished and mature as you are, you never really had a choice."
Law scoffs, "tell that to Chrome, or Mind-Binder, or Shifter. I could have just stayed in the clinic with dad but I chose to be an adventurer like my mom too, I made that choice, and I led us here, to ruin..."
"Adventurer?"
"Not hero or villain, we just do whatever we want, hurting and saving people isn't even considered in our lives, the most pure way to live," he says with a bit of reverence for the idea. "Like the ocean."
"The ocean?" Nezu was even more confused now.
"Taking and giving life without bias or personal attachment, too powerful for anyone to really stop it from doing whatever its wants. It's perfection."
"Why the ocean, of all the things that meet that example, why that?" Nezu asks, still wanting to learn more.
"It's where my mom began. Nearly drowned, got pulled into a current when she was a little girl, she managed to get onto a rock to survive, barely, but it taught her."
"Taught her what?"
"That the weak don't get to decide anything, not even how they die," Law looks toward Nezu and smiles, "but the strong, we can do whatever we want...."
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Nezu checks his phone before opening his laptop and placing it on the coffee table.
"Tartarus is starting the video feed in a few minutes, get ready."
"Yeah, I'll be ready...time to say hi to my parents..."
END CHAPTER---
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章 23: CHAPTER 021(Toxic Matanis)
Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk
pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
Law leans back into the couch with his arms spread across the backrest as he nervously taps his foot. Feeling his heartbeat in his ears, staring at the black screen on the laptop as it connects to Tartarus.
He glances to the left to see Nezu sitting quietly waiting for the connection to be established.
"I can't believe this is happening," Law mutters quietly. "I expected that the next time I see them would be when I get them out..."
Nezu nods, "I know that's what you expected, but with more and more international pressure demanding their executions we have to move them into isolated confinement for a while, at least until the next big story overshadows them... this is the only chance you'll have until you get them out."
Law runs a hand through his hair, "thanks."
"It's the very least I could do, although getting a connection through Tartarus was difficult, even I didn't have enough leverage for it to happen alone, thankfully All Might is a UA alumnus," Nezu says.
"All Might? Did you---"
"No," Nezu waves off his concern. "He trusts me enough to allow me to use his name without asking questions. And I sent Naomasa ahead to inform them not to say any names on the call, the camera in the laptop also isn't working, you'll be able to see them but they can't see you."
"How much did he tell them?"
"Only that they'll get to speak to you without revealing your identity or connection, what you decide to speak about will only be known to yourselves and me, even the Tartarus guards won't be able to hear you..."
"Right," Law sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes to focus his mind. "Just a few minutes to unpack all the things that happened...no big deal," he says bitterly.
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Before he can even focus the screen goes live, split down the middle, the left showing his mother and the right his father.
His heart drops at the sight, a sickening feeling permeates his body as he stares at the screen for a few moments.
To the left is his mother, strapped and chained to a metal cross with her limbs spread out, stuck upright with her body wrapped in white durable metal mesh fabric, and tubes flowing into the floor from in her wrapping, likely for waste. All to avoid her using her Quirk. Her long black hair seems to blend and merge perfectly with the sleek grey metal cross holding her. Taking a closer look he sees the division between flesh and metal is non-existent, it was as if the cross was attached to her very skin.
As he feels his rage bubbling up he looks at his father, the man was in a much different cell. While his mother was bound to a cross in her empty cell, his father had much more relaxed accommodations.
The man sits on a metal chair, a metal table in one corner of his cell while a small single bed was neatly made in the other, wearing a white jumpsuit. What Law noticed however was a metal cord connecting to his left wrist, it didn't take a genius to assume that it was also fused to him like Kiku's cross.
'They basically merged them with Tartarus, since I can't warp only part of an object I can't just grab them out of their cell unless I can move the whole prison...and they probably have implants that explode if I do move them,' he scowls at the screen.
Taking in the forlorn look of both his parents Law speaks up, "hi mom, dad..."
They both suddenly burst with excitement at his voice, "Son!" they yell in unison, both equally surprised to hear each other's voice, the entire family on this three-way call.
"Have you been ok?" His father asks.
"I should be asking you two that," Law frowns. "I'm sorry things went like this. I---"
"It's not your fault," his mother cuts him off sharply. "We trained you to do exactly what you did, and you performed perfectly."
"But---"
"She's right son," his dad cuts in. "You can't blame yourself for this, you did everything right, but sometimes that doesn't mean you win, that's just life. We're just glad you're not in here with us," the man chuckles, he actually manages to chuckle in this situation.
The sound of his laugh surprises Law, bringing back memories of old.
"So what have you been up to?" Kiku asks, "how did you manage this call into Tartarus of all places?"
Law takes a deep breath and gets right into it, without mentioning the specifics he explains everything, and their faces shift from curiosity to complete disappointment.
"---And when I've done enough then I can get you guys out on some special conditions, then we'll all be back together again," he says with a hopeful tune in his voice, for the first time he sounds like what Nezu would expect a fifteen-year-old to be like.
That youthful vigor of hope that he always tries to nurture in his students. As expected it only comes out when he speaks of or to his family.
Dead silence fills the air as both his parents take in exactly what they just heard, and in one voice they speak in unison.
"No."
"What? What do you mean 'no,' what's wrong?" Law asks.
"This isn't right," Kiku says. "You got out fine, and now you're giving up this chance at a new life, to be truly free, for us...no."
"We chose the lives we did," his father says. "Now you get to start a new one, why waste so much of it chasing after the past?"
"But I...no...this is how we get back together," Law argues, "this is how I fix it, how I make our family whole!"
"You sound so fucking pathetic," Kiku spits out the words harshly. Nezu almost falls off his seat in shock. "We taught you better than this!"
"Apparently not enough," Corazon agrees.
"We don't bow to anyone," Kiku says. "We do whatever the hell we want, because we're adventurers. And we certainly don't play that stupid hero-villain game, we're above that."
"And we especially don't do things we don't enjoy," Corazon adds. "You'll hate every moment you spend risking your life and wasting your time to save those useless people who can't fend for themselves, people who always need some wannabe hero coming to hold their hand just to cross the street. You're too good to be spending time on people like that."
"But I'm not doing this for them!" Law argues. "I'm doing this because I want you two back. I just need to save enough people."
"You need to follow your training!" Kiku yells. "Did you forget what the fuck I taught you?! Always talk only to the man in charge, and if he has leverage on you, get rid of it, so why haven't you gotten rid of it?!"
"..." Law sits back and just stares at the screen, he knew this is what he was supposed to do, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. "Because you're my parents..." he says in a quiet voice.
"Yes," Corazon agrees. "And parents exist to help their children, to nurture them and build them up. We've done that perfectly, you're perfect son. You're more than we could each ever be, you've taken everything we taught you to heights we could never have dreamed of, you're a god, and now we're holding you back from living the life you want."
"Let us go," Kiku says. "Just let us go and they won't have any leverage, then you can really do whatever you want, and nobody in this world can even hope to stop you."
"But...but, you'll die," Law says in a quiet desperate voice.
"And you'll be truly free," Kiku says, and both of them nod. "You're a perfect god, and we've clearly outlived our usefulness, it's time for you to show the world what you're really about, and do it all your way."
Nezu nervously fidgets about, not at all expecting this turn of events, and now slightly unsure of how things would go.
A tense silence befalls the trio as Law leans back and considers his options.
"You're right," he says, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, fingers knitted together under his chin. "I am a god, you trained me to be perfect and peerless, and I am. You've both outlived your usefulness to me."
Both his parents smile at that, at the prospect of their son being truly free.
"But," Law says. "Since I can do whatever I want, that means I can save you... because all I want is for us to be whole again, and to fix my mistake. So I'm going to play this game out, complete this contract, and save both of you, you'll see."
Corazon shakes his head sadly, but with a small smile on his lips.
Kiku scowls, "you really are a fucking disappointment," she curses. And after a tense moment she cracks a wide smile, " but I also couldn't be prouder, deciding your own path and not letting anyone stop you, not even us, that's exactly the kind of person you're meant to be son. Just do us one favor."
"Anything."
"Show them why you're the best, peerless, a god. If you're gonna play the hero-villain game, then crush everyone and everything that tries to compete with you, alright."
"Of course, that was always the plan," Law chuckles.
"We really couldn't have asked for or raised a better son," Corazon admits. "Don't let what happened to us distract you anymore, and remember, we love you, no matter what."
"Yes, no matter what, we love you, always," Kiku says.
"I love you too," Law says. "And I promise I'll get you out of there, and then we'll never have to worry about anything else again."
Kiku chuckles, "in that case, we can't wait to see what you'll have become by that time, we're counting on you."
"I'll be on top of the world, I promise."
"We don't doubt that one bit," Corazon says. "That's where you've always been meant to be, we'll see you then."
"Yeah...I love you two..." Law says as the connection cuts off.
As the screen shuts off Law leans back, head tilted back on the soft couch to stare up at the ceiling. Taking a deep breath he suddenly feels mentally and emotionally exhausted.
To his left Nezu is breathing a sigh of relief, the conversation ended how he expected, but the road to get there was certainly filled with surprises. But at least now he's seen firsthand where Law inherited his thought process.
Nezu checks his phone then sets it aside, "they're already moving them down to level-5 of Tartarus, down there on the deepest floor it's inevitable the world forgets about them, we just need to wait for the international pressure to settle down."
"Right..." Law sighs and gets up, opening a massive ROOM reaching 5km in every direction, enough to cover UA's main building. Feeling it straining his energy he doesn't let it show at all, the perfect facade of effortless power. "With that out of the way I need to get back on my routine, and I'll need to go to Monaco to check the modifications on the new Megayacht."
"Oh... And perhaps visit that Nami girl you were running around with a few months ago in Monaco?"
"I prefer new shiny things," Law shrugs. "I just need to get as many miracles under my belt before UA, when Horizon goes public during the sports festival the higher the number the better it looks."
"And how many have you done thus far?" Nezu asks.
"Only eighty-seven."
Nezu's supercomputer brain instantly does the math, "with a fifty million minimum bid that's at least 4.3 billion, not bad for nine months of work at 15."
"Yeah, nothing compared to you, but thankfully I don't have most of my money wrapped up in UA and other companies, so I have more spending power than pretty much anyone else."
"The joys of working in cash," Nezu muses. "Well, you can send me back to my office now, I'll contact you if needed, aside from my usual calls."
"Gotcha, see ya," Law snaps his fingers.
SHAMBLES
Nezu disappears from his seat, swapped with a single pen from in his office.
Closing the ROOM, Law takes a deep breath and wipes a hand down his face, feeling the emotions hammering away at him.
"C'mon," he says to himself. "You're perfect, let's just get the job done, just three months left until UA, time to make the most of it..."
END CHAPTER---
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