You're all along for the ride

Canon happens, but Law returns for Corazón and finds him still alive, barely, but still. He does his best to patch Corazón up with what little he they have on themselves before dragging him away from the scene. It's a hard endeavour, one that he's sure will Doom them both, but what looks like an abandoned church in the distance gives him hope.

He expects to find the interior as dilapidated as the exterior looked, however, the inside is well furnished and beautifully decorated with colourful murals and tapestries, golden ornaments with gemstones ingrained in their designs, and aromatic candles that lit up his path, illogically spacious in comparison to the size seen from outside.

He puts Cora in a nice, warm room and finds the furniture's’ cabinets and drawers full of medical equipment, so he takes the medicines and the balms, the alcohol and the gausses and gives Cora the best treatment he's ever given anyone. Somehow, he manages to stabilise him, he cleans Cora some more and falls victim to his own fatigue.

Sleepy, he thanks their mysterious host.

He thinks he hears a hissing laugh.

He wakes up to breakfast by the bed and, finding the food safe to eat, forces some soup into Cora’s stomach. He spends that day looking after Corazón, never needed to go out of the room since anything and everything he needs simply appears. When he thanks their host that second night, he hears a clear “you're welcome” accompanied by that hissed laugh.

The third day is just like the second, however, slowly, he starts talking to their host, not expecting a reply, but said host turns out to be a bit of a chatterbox, more than happy to talk Law's ear of or listen to his many stories. And as the days go by and Corazón heals more and more, Law finds himself exploring the palace-like church, covered from floor to ceiling in treasures and artefacts of untold value; the rooms are innumerable, and all are as fantastical and incredible as they are different from each other. Honestly, if it wasn't for their host’s guidance, Law would have gotten lost a thousand times over.

Corazón Is still a little feverish and delirious when he wakes up, disbelieving his own survival, but Law is happy nonetheless. Corazón has gotten thus far, he's sure to heal and survive.

They stay in the magical church for a couple of months, until Cora is able to stand up and walk. It's a little sad to leave, but they must, they have to; their little haven is nice and all but Law is finally cured of White Lead Disease and he still has a whole world to see, and that's not counting that staying stagnant would only make it easier for Doflamingo to find them, no matter how magical their haven is.

Their host is heartbroken, he doesn't want them to leave, he's grown too attached to, especially, ‘Torao’. Still, he won't stop them, however, when Law asks how he could pay back his hospitality, their host asks him to “return and keep me company as my partner”, unsure of what exactly that means and sure that he will have a long time to fulfil this promise, Law agrees.

First they move to Swallow Town, where Law accidentally gets himself a small group of followers and Corazón befriends the old man that gives them a home. They stay there for a while but move away after protecting the town from some powerful miscreants, their new friends go with them.

First they travel further north, then go further south and turn west, collecting friends along the way. By the time they arrive at Hakuriki Town in Tottoland’s Komugi province, they've become a small caravan of almost 20 people (2 adults and a bunch of youngsters who calls Law ‘Captain’), and they've become somewhat known as travelling doctors.

Law tells himself that this is alright, after all, he makes sure that neither his name or Corazón’s are ever revealed in front of strangers, and he's sure he's going to be remembered more by his tattoos than another feature that Doflamingo might recognise… hopefully.

Their stay in Hakuriki is a lot longer than first planned, the reason being the arrival of the Minister of Flour, Charlotte Katakuri, who asks for their help in the care of one of his younger sisters. So they stay in the man's manor until the sister, Charlotte Pudding, has fully healed from her illness (and Law manages to stop the strange virus from spreading). Then, they stay longer after that, for everyone notices the growing closeness between Corazón and their Minister host, and although it fills Law's heart with trepidation and makes his stomach churn uncomfortably, he sees his guardian’s and hesitates to give the order to leave.

It's not until he and Corazón finally sit down to talk, having sorted their hearts out, that Law and his merry and of nurses leave the town, while Corazón and old man Wolf stay with Katakuri, promising to keep in touch through letters, a promise they keep.

So Law and his hearts keep on travelling around the world, his time in that magic church having become little more than a far away dream. The only thing he has from that short time being a strange golden coin, the first of his ever growing collection.

It's become his lucky charm, keeping him from going into a panic when he learns that Doflamingo has identified his little caravan and has started hunting him down, it grounds him when his mind becomes a mess of hypotheticals and fills him with hope when he feels his heart hesitating on the edge of the precipice.

Until they're caught.

Not by Doflamingo however, but a different merry band of lunatics led by a man wearing a straw hat.

And the first thing that said man does once he finds Law, is take a strong hold of the doctor's wrist and declare “I found you, Torao”.

Prince Henry suffers from an arranged marriage, signore... among other things.

He adores his little shit of a son ✨