Chapter Text
When Law first found out about the man called Monkey D. Luffy, the first thing that stood out to him was that smile. That ridiculously wide-mouthed, happy-go-lucky smile of his brought back memories, both pleasant and unpleasant. Frayed memories surfaced. White snow and warm hugs. Bonfires and laughter.
Cora-san used to smile like that.
Law kept that first wanted poster, just to make sure he wouldn’t forget the face. Little did he know that newspapers would continue publishing articles about the Straw Hat crew consecutively with their captain at the centre of every problem. Overpowering the Arlong Pirates in the East Blue, defeating Warlord Crocodile in Alabasta, openly declaring themselves as government enemies at Enies Lobby… There was never a dull moment with that crew.
He stared at Luffy’s new 300 million beri bounty for longer than he’d thought.
“Is there something funny in the news, captain?” Shachi asked, grinning. “You’ve been smiling at it for a while.”
Law snorted and tossed aside the newspaper, then, denying Shachi’s assumptions, but if he was honest, the articles about the Straw Hat crew did entertain him immensely. Every time, it was one government figure or another that they’d decide to topple over, and nothing gave Law more satisfaction than seeing people bloated with their own ego being taken down a notch.
Amongst those boring throwdowns between small fries that called themselves pirates, Law found his daily highlight in the newspaper, waiting to see what else Straw Hat Luffy would pull off next.
Never did he think that he’d one day be able to witness it himself with a fated encounter on Sabaody Archipelago. It had been more glorious than anything Law could’ve ever imagined Luffy doing—His form bathed in fury and his face with not a single ounce of regret as he punched that obnoxious Celestial Dragon through the resin bubble covering his head. He’d risked everything for his fishman friend who’d been shot, and a mermaid in a tank.
“Straw Hat-ya Luffy.” He murmured to himself, trying to suppress a smile. “So that’s him.”
With that righteous anger and big grin, he was almost magnificent. Law put his hand on the jolly roger that decorated his sweatshirt, feeling just a little warmer from the sweet memories that came to him at that moment.
When dark king Rayleigh relinquished the responsibility of taking care of the navy to them, it went without saying that Law stood by Luffy, even if it was Eustass Kid who initially egged him on. After all, who knew when he would next be able to see Luffy’s laughable antics up close again?
Not that long, as it turned out.
“Straw Hat Luffy again??!” Penguin groaned, passing the newspaper to Shachi, who imitated him.
“No way,” he said, his jaw dropping. “He broke out of Impel Down??? When did he even get captured?!”
“He broke in! This motherfucker is insane! What the hell is he even trying to do?”
Law snatched the newspaper, ignoring the exclamations of disapproval from his crewmates, and skimmed through the article. Defeating the Arlong Pirates returned autonomy to the Conomi islands, Crocodile's fall let the Alabastan King reclaim his throne, and the war on Enies Lobby was for the demon child. Whatever he knew about Straw Hat Luffy pointed out that all his motivation to do anything was to help somebody or something. If he’d broken into Impel Down, this could be any number of people.
He tried to think of any relevant news from the past week that could lead to this and recalled that Portugas D. Ace was due for execution in the coming few days. He couldn’t help but think this had something to do with the Impel Down break-in, but couldn’t find a way to correlate the two things.
Bepo looked at him in concern. He had limited interest in Straw Hat Luffy and gave more attention to Law at all times. A good first mate if there ever was one. “Captain? What’s wrong?”
“Turn the submarine hard to starboard,” Law commanded, and his crew immediately gave their attention to him. “We’re changing our destination to Marineford, Bepo.”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” Came Bepo’s response while the rest of his crew broke down into various wails of objection.
Law threatened them with a fun time without their limbs if they didn’t shut up and comply.
It hadn’t been what he’d expected.
They’d kept their spy camera above water the entire battle to make sure that they wouldn’t need to put themselves in unnecessary danger. Law had only meant to spy on the war and then leave—nothing more. When Straw Hat Luffy freed Portugas D. Ace, that’s exactly what he’d prepared to do. He didn’t know what had happened in the time he’d turned away from the projector to tell Bepo to leave, but the gasps around him made his eyes return to it. Ace, who only moments ago had been a free man, was now a dead man.
Straw Hat Luffy turned his head towards the heavens and bawled, a sound so devastating that Law’s bones ached with it.
Law had come to Marineford to see Corazon in Luffy again. To see a wide-mouthed smile with all teeth and squinted eyes. Instead, Law had been met with the sight of a man whose sorrows even the gods should've been able to hear. He was reminded of when he’d realised Lami was dead inside a burning building and when he saw a dying Corazon on the cold, snow-covered ground. Instead of seeing the light of Corazon’s smile, he saw his miserable, pathetic, broken self in this Straw Hat Luffy.
Law ground his teeth and clenched his fists as he watched Jinbei pick up Luffy and begin running with him through the projection. Even with all the remaining Whitebeard Pirates helping them, they could not be guaranteed safety like that.
“...Bepo.”
As always, his first mate always seemed to know best what he was feeling. “Captain… are you sure this is for the best?”
Law wasn’t sure, but he knew one thing: If he were to turn his back on Straw Hat Luffy right then, he’d regret it for sure.
“Prepare to ascend.”
He was in worse shape than Law thought. Although the outside of his body did not have the same, vulgar wounds that Jinbei did, the inside of his body was mutilated. Unless he took out every single organ and began to work on it from the inside with his room , Luffy would not survive to see the end of the week.
“Do they need anaesthesia?” Penguin asked.
“No,” Law said, snapping on his white surgeon gloves. “Their bodies have received so much damage that their pain transmitters must’ve stopped working for the time being. It’s not like they’d have the energy to complain about it anyway.”
He grinned, looking at Luffy. “This will be an interesting operation.”
As the attacks began to chase after them even underwater, Law kept his concentration pinpoint. He could not afford a distraction during surgery.
You won’t be dying today, Straw Hat-ya. Law promised in his head as he stuck his hands into the bloody cavern of Luffy’s body. Not when your doctor is me.
Despite that, he’d lost faith in himself a few times in between, only to pick himself up stronger in a few seconds. It would be a shame to let Straw Hat Luffy die when he had the most capable doctor in the world performing his operation. In the end, he had to use his Devil Fruit on Luffy for longer than expected to make sure he wouldn’t be subjected to a table death. At least Jinbei hadn’t been so difficult to deal with.
The surgery had taken quite a few hours, and by the time he was done, he’d noticed a new presence onboard. Who would’ve thought that the pirate empress herself would come to visit Straw Hat?
“Is he okay?” Boa Hancock asked him, her beautiful face marred with worry.
“I managed to stabilise him, but he took great damage,” Law admitted, wiping his hands with a towel as he walked on deck.
From the opposite ship, Emporio Ivankov stuck his head out, “It’s no wonder! He could hardly stand at Impel Down!”
After a few back and forths between everyone on deck—including Jinbei, who had decided to grace everyone with his half-dead presence—Boa Hancock began to lead them to Maiden Island, which was well-known for never allowing men to set foot in it.
Law was aware that it wouldn’t be so easy, even before the old woman who stood as an elder in their council declined them entry into the city. However, he had to make sure that they also knew that without him, Luffy had no chance at survival.
“You do not have my equipment. He will die if his wound opens up.” Law told them with a hollow smirk. “Take him if it matters that little to you.”
On cue, the Snake Princess began to moan and groan about how her beloved’s death would mean hers, and the old woman caved, letting them borrow the bay of the island.
Straw Hat Luffy was a monster, and Law briefly thought that saving him was probably a mistake when he saw the damage Luffy had wreaked on his Polar Tang on waking up. Then he immediately rushed into the forest and began throwing large boulders at literal mountains and breaking them apart in his anguish.
Law really hoped Jinbei would calm him down soon.
He sat by the sea with his crew as they fished, a firm grip on Luffy’s signature Straw Hat as Law waited for his patient to return. He’d kept the Straw Hat with him ever since Buggy the Clown had thrown it over. It carried the moniker of Luffy’s crew and was no doubt important. That was why Law had to hold onto it himself.
When Rayleigh showed up a few seconds later, taking down several sea beasts in his wake, Law briefly thought about leaving the island for good, despite his tightening grip on the straw hat. He had no obligation to take care of Luffy further than this, after all. He even got to his feet, prepared to hand over the Straw Hat in his hands to Rayleigh. But, just as Rayleigh reached out to take it, Law pulled it back out of reach.
Rayleigh blinked at him in surprise, as did the rest of his crew. Law couldn’t blame any of them because he had surprised himself then. Now that he’d already done this, it was too late for him to back out.
“I’ll hold onto it after all. Straw Hat-ya has been in my care so far, and I intend to see it through. He’ll get this hat back when I see him.”
Rayleigh’s mouth pulled into a grin. His eyes were too knowing as he examined Law’s face. What could he know that Law didn’t, anyway?
“Alright, give it to him yourself. It would’ve been a shame if you’d left without a word to him anyway. You are his saviour, after all.”
Law frowned and looked away, grumbling in a low voice, “I didn’t do it to be a saviour.”
“Then why did you do it? Don’t even try lying to me, I can see dishonesty a mile away.”
“Why are you so interested?”
From the corners of his eyes, he could see his crew freak out about how casually he spoke with the dark king.
Instead of answering immediately, Rayleigh looked out to the sea, viewing somewhere further than just the horizon. His eyes sparkled, and his smile did not falter. It was a mature look that Law could only correlate with the Corazon in his memories.
“I’m planning to take Luffy-kun as my disciple, that’s why,” Rayleigh said finally and turned to look at Law again. “Now that I’ve answered your question, why don’t you answer mine?”
He hadn’t even had time to process that Rayleigh had come all this way just to take some hard-headed kid as his disciple when he realised that Rayleigh was also asking for an answer from him. It would’ve been easy for Law to come up with any number of reasons. He could just say it was on a whim, which it was. But Rayleigh stared at him like he needed something more substantial than the half-hearted reply that Law was tempted to give just out of spite.
“I pitied him,” Law ended up saying, finally, “that’s all.”
Rayleigh lifted an eyebrow, and Law hoped he wouldn’t ask more questions. Especially not ones like ‘Pity? What invoked pity in someone who is known for their ruthlessness? Thankfully, he let the matter go and shook his head in amusement like Law was a ten-year-old child or something. Perhaps he seemed like one to someone as old as Rayleigh, but it still made Law indignant to be treated like one.
“Fine, you can give the hat to him yourself. Now’s your chance.” He said with a laugh as he pointed a finger towards the forest.
Law’s gaze followed the direction of his finger to where Jinbei was returning with a far calmer Luffy on his back, thankfully with all his bandages in place. His eyes lit up with recognition when he saw Rayleigh and then grew sombre when he saw Law, who was holding his hat. Luffy hopped off Jinbei’s back and headed towards Law, eyes on the Straw Hat.
Law rolled his eyes and tossed the hat at him, which Luffy caught with a smile.
“Thanks. You…”
“He saved your life, Luffy,” Jinbei said, coming up from behind. “This is Trafalgar Law.”
“Yeah, we know each other. I met Toraga…um… Torao back in Sabaody! Right, Torao?” Luffy grinned at him, and Law almost let out a sigh of relief at which he did a mental double-take. Why would he be relieved? He decided not to think too much about it as Luffy chuckled slightly. “So you treated me, huh?”
“And you almost undid my treatment with all your rampaging, Straw Hat-ya. My ship even has a hole in it, thanks to you,” Law said, gesturing at the Polar Tang behind him with his thumb.
“Ah, my bad, my bad. Old man Rayleigh! What are you doing here?”
Law brushed off the abrupt loss of Luffy’s attention and turned to his crew as he supervised them patching up the hole in the Polar Tang.
Jinbei had already gone to greet the living legend, somewhat starstruck at the unexpected guest, when Luffy approached them too, and they began talking among themselves. In a few moments, the Kuja Pirates also came into sight, and Law took that as his sign to disappear into his submarine.
Night fell, and Law, as usual, could do little but toss around in his bed.
Every time he managed to fall asleep for a few seconds, there it was again: Corazon’s smiling face right before his death. The body Law was forced to look at getting covered by snow as he was carried away out of the birdcage on Minion Island. He wished he hadn’t known the exact moment that Corazon died, but he did. That had been the most painful part.
Law sat up, his heart palpitations having reached a painful degree, sweat rolling down from his hairline as he tried to calm himself down. He clutched at his chest, biting down on his lip painfully.
Now that his sleep was thoroughly ruined, Law might as well go and get some fresh air. Kikoku in hand, he quietly slipped out of his room and made his way to the deck where the full moon shone down upon them. Nights like these were when Bepo was at his strongest. Ironic that they never get to utilise the power of the full moon for his Sulong state.
He leaned over the railing and let the calm atmosphere of the night wash over him, hoping that it would ease his heart. He thought about cutting it out for a moment, just so that he could be an outsider looking in for a few minutes—he already did it often enough, anyway—but then he saw a figure by the shore of the bay, kicking his feet just above the water as he looked up at the sky silently.
Straw Hat-ya? Law thought with a raised eyebrow. He almost turned around and walked back into the Polar Tang when Luffy spotted him from where he sat. He did not smile, but Law still found himself drawn towards him. Before he could think about what he was doing, he’d already created a room and shambled himself next to Luffy.
“Whoa! That surprised me!” Luffy said, scrambling to his feet. “I forgot about that weird power of yours!”
“Yours is still weirder, Straw Hat-ya.” Law scoffed and swept his observing eyes over Luffy, searching for any blotches of red on his bandages. “You’re supposed to be resting. You haven’t slept much.”
“Neither have you.” Luffy scowled petulantly. “Jinbei said you were taking care of me the entire time.”
“He said some unnecessary things then.” Law tutted and sat down where he stood. “I had to monitor your condition to make sure you wouldn’t destabilise. My crew is familiar with most medical procedures, but they’re no better than fresh nurse,s so I couldn’t leave you unsupervised.”
“Well… thanks anyway, I guess,” Luffy said and also sat down.
They both looked out at the horizon in silence, and Law began to think that it was a mistake to subject himself to this voluntarily. He’d been doing a lot of things that he normally wouldn’t have done. He glanced at Luffy briefly, trying to figure out what exactly it was about this man that made Law do such impulsive things consecutively.
“You’re a good guy, huh, Torao?” Luffy smiled out at the sea. “A lot of people have been helping me lately. I’m lucky.”
“Stop that. I’m not good; I’m a pirate.” Law tightened his grip on Kikoku. He wondered how Luffy could call himself lucky when it had been barely two days since his brother was brutally killed right in front of his eyes. His face back then had been of unbearable grief, and Law couldn’t help remembering his own sorrow every time he thought of it. His stomach churned just by recalling it. “I helped you on a whim. You owe me nothing.”
When Luffy took his time to reply, Law chanced a look at him and was met with a bright eye staring at him.
“Hehehe, see? I knew you were a good guy.”
For just that moment, Law found that he couldn’t look away from Luffy. He was glowing again, with the light he exuded through even his wanted posters. Law tore his gaze away and forced himself to look out at the sea, focusing on the reflection of the moon that rippled along the waves. The night was too quiet on this side of Maiden Island. Had his crew been sleeping nearby, at least he’d be hearing them snore or grind their teeth.
“I need to find a way to tell my friends that I won’t be going back to Sabaody soon.” Luffy sighed, and Law wondered how they’d gotten to the point that he’d somehow become a confidant. “But we’re all over the place right now. What a pain in the ass.”
“The fastest way would be to get it in the news,” Law replied, fingers fiddling with the grass on the ground. “You’ll have no problem with that. Use a tattoo or something.”
“Oh! Great idea! I should go tell Rayleigh—”
Before Luffy could wake the entire island, Law caught his wrist. “Calm down, you idiot, they’re all asleep right now! You can tell them tomorrow. Go to sleep already!”
“You aren’t sleeping!”
“I can sleep whenever I want, I’m a doctor!”
“That’s not fair! If you won’t sleep, why should I?”
Law almost argued back until he felt like just as much of an idiot as Luffy was. This was below him to do. It was downright childish. He should just get back on his ship.
“Fine, I’m going,” Law relented and stood up, hoisting Kikoku over his shoulder as he created a room. “You'd better be going to sleep too, Straw Hat-ya.”
He twisted his wrist, feeling the rock he’d replaced with himself on the deck in his room, but with a start, felt something coil around his waist just as he shambled himself back to the Polar Tang. Once he was on the submarine, he glared at the grinning face that stuck to his chest. He had wrapped both his arms around Law twice, keeping them both in place.
“Straw Hat-ya!”
“Shishishi, I wanted to see the ship.” Luffy unwound his arms from Law’s waist and stepped away from him. “I didn’t get a great look last time.”
“You mean the time you almost destroyed it?” Law asked, dryly. “Get off, Straw Hat-ya, I have no energy to give you a tour.”
Luffy was already running into the ship, though, paying no attention to Law, one hand secured over his hat so that it wouldn't fly off. Law felt his blood vessels boil.
“Hey!” He said and followed the hyperactive bundle of rubber. “Be quiet, my crew is asleep.”
“Whoa, there are pipes and buttons everywhere!” Luffy exclaimed, ignoring him.
He continued to explore the ship, not being as quiet as Law would like him to be, as he opened one door after another. He’d already seen the kitchen (from which he snagged a few fruits and shoved them into his mouth despite Law’s protests that they belonged to someone else on the crew), then took a look at the control room, where they had multiple screens that gave them a view of the outside area through the cameras they were connected to. When they reached the OT, Luffy smiled sheepishly at the patched-up hole above the room where he’d rocketed himself out in his lapse of self-control after waking up.
“Have you had enough?” Law sighed, not prepared to go back to that moment even in conversation.
“Hm… well. Where’s your room?”
“I’m not going to show you my room.”
All it took was one grin from Luffy, and Law began to sweat.
He ended up taking Luffy to see his room. It was better than having him wake up the entire crew and having the Heart Pirates then ask him several hundred questions about whatever was going on. Not that anything was going on.
Luffy looked around Law’s room in wonder and stared at all the medical posters he had up, the blackboard that was covered with chalked notes and the several medical journals on his desk.
“Your room looks just like Chopper’s infirmary. He’d love to see all these things.” Luffy laughed. “Chopper is the doctor of my crew.”
Law wouldn't have asked, but Luffy clearing things up on his own made it helpful to understand what he was saying. It didn’t take long for him to get bored with all the things in Law’s room, and he stuck his face to the window, staring outside it.
“Bet this looks great when you’re underwater. We should go for a spin!”
“I’d rather throw you overboard and watch you drown,” Law said. He placed his hat aside and lay down on his bed, deciding to let Luffy do as he pleased. His bedroom was soundproof because of the number of times he woke up screaming from nightmares, so even if Luffy caused a ruckus there, it wouldn’t matter.
“Hm, what’s all this makeup?”
Law’s eyelids shot open as he watched Luffy walk over to the vanity desk, where several bottles of face paint and makeup sets were strewn on it.
He picked up a pencil and created a room to shambles Luffy with it. It wasn’t a good idea, considering that he was originally holding a pencil that weighed just a few grams, and the next moment had a whole person falling over him.
“Ugh!” he grunted as Luffy’s weight bore down on his arm.
“OOH! That was fun! Let’s do it again!”
Before Luffy could get up, Law pulled Luffy down onto the bed. He was so tired that he almost convinced himself that he could sleep. “Just fucking lie down, Straw Hat-ya. You’ve done enough. Don’t touch the makeup on the desk.”
“Is that why you did the switchy thing with me?” Luffy asked, lying down more obediently than Law thought he would after keeping his hat aside on the same table that Law had kept his on with one elongated arm. The only problem was that Law’s arm was still underneath him, but Luffy’s body was soft in a way that only a rubber man could be, so he wasn't as imposing as someone else would've been. Luffy laughed next to him, nasal and more cheerful than he had any right to be. “You’re dumber than you look, Torao. You could’ve just told me not to touch it, and I wouldn’t have.”
“I can’t trust anything about you,” Law mumbled. “You’re way too unpredictable. How do I know that it wouldn’t have made you even more eager to touch it?”
Luffy didn’t answer. In a few seconds, he heard snoring come from beside him, and Law turned to look at Luffy in disbelief. He would not have believed it if he hadn’t seen for himself that Luffy was sleeping. His breathing was completely evened out, too. How did he manage to fall into such a deep slumber within just a few seconds?
He must’ve been more tired than I thought, Law thought to himself. He tried to retrieve his arm without waking up Luffy. And though that would’ve been a disaster, what happened next was nothing short of awkward.
Luffy began to shift over Law’s arm and came closer, throwing an arm and leg over him and sticking close. Law’s body stiffened, unused to such close contact with anyone other than Bepo. He began to formulate a plan as to how to push Luffy away when a quivering sound came from the one who had his head resting on Law’s chest.
He looked down just as tears escaped Luffy’s eyes in his sleep. Those tiny drops soaked into his shirt at once, leaving only a slightly glimmering trail on Luffy’s face as evidence that they ever existed. “...Ace…”
Law really felt like he was an idiot then.
Luffy had been smiling the entire time, and he’d taken it for granted that he was already healed. Of course, he wasn’t. Law had been grieving Corazon for over a decade. How could it have been possible for Luffy not to grieve his brother for more than a few days at least? It was probably why he wasn’t sleeping despite how exhausted his body was.
Despite himself, Law sympathised with Luffy. Both of them were slightly broken, no matter what anyone saw from the outside.
He’d let Straw Hat Luffy sleep next to him just this once. Law felt like he owed it to him after accidentally seeing his vulnerable side like that.