Chapter Text
It was a hot summer day. Cicadas’ buzzing for mates resounded loudly around, birds chirped high in the trees and leaves protected the forest soil from the harsh sun rays, leaving it fresh. The forest was at peace, nature was thriving and-
“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Leave me alone stupid trolls!”
Law had been relaxing under the shade of a tree on the borders of a small clearing, throwing his baseball in the air to pass the time, when he heard a voice shouting angrily. Catching one final time his falling ball, the teen straightened and looked at the thick forest around him. Tall tree trunks and bushes was all he could see and brushing of leaves against each other pushed by the wind was all he could hear. As he thought it might have been his imagination after all, Law laid back against his seat when three figures pierced through the forest’s shrubs and barged in the clearing some meters besides him.
“I said leave me alone!” The first figure shouted in a youthful voice. Now alert, Law straightened again and pushed himself against the tree bark at his back, one knee on the ground ready to bolt if necessary, clenching his baseball in his hand.
The first figure was hidden by the two bulkier bodies that followed it in the clearing and it looked like two older teenagers were bullying a poor kid. The young teen gritted his teeth and his hate for humans only grew at the display in front of him. Wherever he went, humans always picked on the weakest. Cowards . They were cowards and that made them just as weak as their victim, just as bad as demons.
The trio didn’t seem like they had noticed him or like they were leaving anytime soon. Law wasn't in the mood to interact with anyone and could probably leave without being seen… But this interruption of his afternoon getaway pissed him off. He wished they could have just gone and brutalized their victim somewhere else so he could finally have some peace and quiet away from Doffy and his lessons.
So Law decided to take revenge and ruin their afternoon plans in return.
He looked at his baseball clenched in his hand and quickly threw it as hard as he could square at the back of the bald head of one of the older teens.
The three figures stopped their thrashing.
The forest stilled.
The two older teens slowly turned back towards Law, only for the teen to see their faces and, most importantly, their horns.
Two onis were looking straight at him, one with two eyes and one horn on top of its head, the other a cyclop with three horns protruding its forehead. Law could see what looked like scratches on their faces as they both frowned at him, leaving their still hidden victim behind them.
“And who the heck are you, huh small fry? You the one who threw somethin’ at me?” Tri-horned sneered but kept a safe distance from Law.
“Yeah small fry, who the heck are you? And what’s with the white splotches on your face, you’re a weird one.” The other added, pointing in disgust at him.
Law felt momentarily self-conscious of his marks but quickly swept away the imminent self-hate for later as he had now the attention of the two brutes. Lucky for him, onis weren’t known for their intelligence. He took the scariest smile he knew to do, the one adults called unsettling on the face of a child, and picked up a long branch with which he practiced his sword stance earlier. He fully got up, which wasn’t that high to begin with, and took a step towards the onis.
“How about I don’t beat you to a pulp if you leave right now?”
The monsters, despite the afternoon heat, actually got a shiver down their spines.
“Y-y-you think a squirt like you can scare us?!” The cyclop gulped.
Law took another step towards the onis, raising his stick. The tri-horned actually let a small shriek as amber eyes fell on him. They should’ve shone like gold in the hot summer sun but instead looked cold as said precious metal.
“I said leave. ” Law lifted his stick as if to strike.
“Eeeeeeek!”
“W-what kind of demon is that?” Both onis turned and started to run away at the deadly tone and threat of a beating.
Law followed with his eyes the two monsters fleeing through the shrubs until they were well on their way and not turning back.
“Idiots.” He sighed as he let the stick down and scrubbed his face with one hand, exhaustion hitting him. As always, his cursed body was a pain to manage after physical exertion. He crouched down, rubbing his temples with his eyes closed when he heard a pitiful sniff. Ah yes, there was a third person. The teen opened his eyes to see a young boy kneeling in the grass in the center of the clearing. Tears were streaming down his face, yet his dark chocolate eyes were meeting his own golden ones fiercely. They could almost have been intimidating if not for the red cheeks and snot running down on his trembling, tightly shut lips.
Though, what really struck Law was the amount of blood gushing from the kid’s face, right under his left eye. The teen momentarily worried but remembered that facial and head wounds could bleed more profusely without being extremely serious. He shook himself out of his analysis and decided that, at this point, he might as well help the poor kid, his freetime was almost over anyway.
Wait.
That kid has been attacked by those two onis .
Did that mean he was like Law? Could he see… Yokais too? It would be the first time he met someone around his age with the ability. Maybe… Maybe this was a lucky encounter after all. Law’s bitterness at his freetime interruption melted away as his heart sped up at the prospect of someone like him, someone young like him that he, maybe, could befriend. What had Cora-san said about making friends? To look friendly? How did one do that? Oh yes, try to smile!
So, Law tried to give an honest smile at the bleeding raven haired kid. The latter then visibly shivered like the onis earlier and grasped at the grass under him, eyes watering a bit more as he stared at the teen.
Shit.
Law sighed at his failed attempt to look friendly and decided he should just help the kid with his wound and be done with this interaction. Who was he kidding? Even if someone could see monsters like him it wouldn't mean they’d like to be friends . He was too much of a freak and his cursed skin was a big giveaway of how people should stay away from him. He got up and walked towards the child, who recoiled as he approached but didn’t make an attempt to run away.
Law finally noticed the kid’s clothing; a red tattered and patched kimono. Ah, so there's probably a small local festival around, he was separated from his parents and got attacked by those onis. The teen got down on one knee in front of the still tearful kid and sighed again at his scared expression. However, Law could still decipher an ounce of fighting spirit in the kid. As if, if Law tried anything, the kid wouldn't go down without a fight. The teen kinda… Admired that in a child that young.
“Hey calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just wanna take a look at your cheek and then I’ll get you back to your family, okay?” Law said in a voice he tried to make reassuring.
That seemed to do the trick as the waterworks finally stopped and another pitiful sniff was heard.
“Really?” The kid practically squeaked.
“Yeah, really. Can I look at it?” Law briefly remembered, with heartache, his dad’s ethics as he worked at their clinic.
“O-okay…”
“What did you do to make these guys do this to you, anyway?” Law brought his hands up and got his face closer to inspect the wound. It looked like a deep cut. That kid was lucky it didn’t rebound on his cheek bone and into his eye.
“Oh they didn’t do this to me, I did.” Law dropped his hands an instant and felt his jaw slackened. He looked at the kid incredulously.
“What were you thinking?! You could’ve gotten blind! Are you stupid?!” The kid frowned immediately at the accusation and puffed his cheeks which he regretted instantly and brought a hand up to his left cheek with watery eyes.
“They said I was a wimp and could never achieve my dreams and said they were stupid! So I took a sharp branch and wanted to show them I was tough and no crybaby!” The raven haired kid proceeded to cry angry and hurt tears again and Law sighed again.
“And where did that bring you, huh?” Law proceeded to rip the bottom of his shirt in long rags and ignored the kid who looked at him with one surprised big eye, the other staying half shut. “You’re hurt and proved to them you were a crybaby.” Law took the kid’s hand off his cheek and, by holding his face with his left hand, started to slowly and delicately wipe the blood mixed to salty water from his cheek with his right one, careful not to put the cloth in the cut to avoid infection. “Next time, just ignore them or make sure they finish in a worse state than you.” Law finished with a smirk.
The kid stayed silent and looked at him with something akin to wonder in his eyes, the same look Lami would… The heartache came back and Law figured that must also be an unconscious reason why he had tried to be friendly with the kid. Those big childish eyes reminded him of his sister’s.
“You look really scary but you’re very nice! My name’s Luffy! What’s yours?” The kid smiled a thousand watt smile, seemingly forgetting his wound, his whole body relaxing. Law found himself thinking the smile fitted him as he finally finished cleaning around the cut, ending up with bloody cloths that were once part of his shirt.
“Trafalgar Law. You’ll probably need stitches. Once back to your family you’ll need to find an excuse and get to the hospital.” Law informed him but the kid didn’t seem to listen as he was trying to articulate something.
“Trafu- Tora- Toraful- Tragical!” The kid -Luffy- looked so proud as he uttered the word out.
“How is that even close to my name!? Just call me Law, it’s fine I don’t mind.”
“No, I’ve decided! You’re Torao!” Luffy smiled again, making a bit of blood gush out his wound. Law quickly applied the cloth underneath it.
“How is that better?! Stop smiling, you’re losing more blood!”
“But I don’t wanna! Heehee! Torao is nice and my new friend!” Luffy proceeded to laugh between his teeth.
Law blushed at that, he didn’t know how to respond as he was getting sucked in the pace of that weird child. Who declared someone as a friend after literally 5 minutes of knowing one another?! And yet, happy butterflies decided to invade Law’s stomach at the thought of having a friend. He never had any since, well, kinda ever as he was always being told he was scary and a liar growing up. Just because he could see those stupid yokais he ended up shunned. His family had believed and loved him but with them gone, he felt more alone than ever.
Luckily, he had Cora-san now but it would never be the same. So, well, maybe having a friend for once could be nice. A friend that could see the same things as him even if he looked quite younger. A friend nonetheless. So Law smiled as he continued to put pressure on Luffy’s cheek.
“Now hold onto this and get up if you can. Let’s find your parents and get you to a hospital.”
“I’m so happy! Thanks Torao! Besides my brothers I didn’t have any friends! Hey, do you wanna go fishing or maybe hunt after going to this hospital place?” Luffy got up excitedly, holding the cloth to his face and keeping up his ideas of what to do together. Law huffed looking up at him.
“You’re quite lively for a kid who was crying 2 minutes ag-” Wait, hunt ? For bugs maybe?
That’s when something extremely fluffy hit Law’s face. “Whoa!” The teen recoiled, surprised and saw black fur in front of him as he looked back down at what had hit him. What the hell?
And that’s when Law’s optimistic view of a new friend and good mood crashed down.
Right there, in front of him, Luffy was animated, speaking of snacks and whatnot, and was turning on himself as he pointed directions with his free hand. On his lower back protruded a fluffy black tail, lightly curled. It was wagging excitedly.
Like a dog.
Law fell on his ass. He looked up at Luffy. He seemed like any other kid. But he had a tail. That’s when he finally saw the two small, droopy and furry dog ears hidden in the mass of black hair which could only mean one thing.
A yokai.
Something in Law broke. Something he thought couldn’t break anymore. Something akin to hope. He clicked his tongue, feeling so stupid. How could he have not seen it? Was he that desperate? Apparently yes. Why would another human be so nice to him? (Why would that monster be so nice to him?) It was probably to mock him later or maybe it was a trap with those two onis.
No, Luffy didn’t seem like the type to do that. But he just met the kid -monster- it wouldn’t be the first time he'd be deceived by a yokai. Sighing frustratingly, Law got up and stalked back to where he had been resting before all this circus happened, taking his baseball on the way and his bag.
“Torao? Where are you going?” Luffy tilted his head, still holding the cloth and following Law, tail still wagging.
“Leave me alone, yokai!” The teen answered harshly, turning back to look at the demon. “How long before you would have told me the truth, huh? Did you have fun?”
“What are you talking about Torao?” The yokai’s eyebrows scrunched up, not understanding, the tail behind it slowing. The two dog ears flattened further into the mass of hair, completely disappearing. Which would explain how they were hidden earlier.
“I’m a human, dipshit!” Law shouted angrily, sneering back at the monster, using the little height he had on him to try and make him more intimidating.
Luffy froze. Law didn’t know if it was from the tone, the insult or the revelation but couldn’t care less. He couldn’t help the feeling of betrayal taking roots in his heart. (But was it really betrayal though? Luffy couldn’t have known either.)
He didn’t wait for the yokai to come back to his senses. Law’s inner doctor told him he should make sure the kid’s cheek would be okay but as the latter was a monster, the teen wasn’t too worried about the wound turning out to be dangerous. He huffed as he glanced one last time at the beast yokai, who’s tail had now completely stopped wagging, and walked away, not once looking back.